Turn with me, if you would, to
Matthew chapter 14. Matthew chapter 14, I'd like
to continue our study through Matthew tonight. We looked at verses 15 to 21
last Wednesday night, on the Lord feeding the multitude
with five loaves and two fish. The next account is when Peter
asked the Lord if he could walk on the water and everything that happened
before that and after that. And we're going to start into
this account tonight, but I only want to look at part of it. I
just want to look at the part that leads up to Peter asking
the Lord if he could come out on the water with him. There's
something in these events and what all is said right here that
I want us to see and I pray it will bring great comfort to us.
I've titled this message. Absolute sovereignty in all things. Absolute sovereignty in all things. Let's read the verses that will
be our text. Verse 22 to 27. It says, In straightway
Jesus constrained His disciples to get into a ship and to go
before Him unto the other side, while He sent the multitudes
away. And when He had sent the multitudes
away, he went up into a mountain apart to pray. And when the evening
was come, he was there alone. But the ship was now in the midst
of the sea, tossed with waves, for the wind was contrary. And
in the fourth watch of the night, Jesus went unto them, walking
on the sea, And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they
were troubled, saying, It is a spirit. And they cried out
for fear. But straightway Jesus spake unto
them, saying, Be of good cheer. It is I. Be not afraid. Be of good cheer. It is I. Be not afraid. That's sovereignty. Now, let me just ask you this.
How often do you forget that like I do? How often do we forget
that? Our Lord Jesus Christ holds absolute
sovereignty over all things. How often do we forget that?
I forget it all the time. I would say every day, but it's
more than every day. I forget it all the time. He
holds absolute sovereignty over all things. And I want us to
start by noticing that in each one of these verses. Verse 22
says, And straightway Jesus constrained
His disciples to get into a ship and to go before Him unto the
other side while He sent the multitudes away. And when He
had sent the multitudes away, He went up into a mountain apart
to pray, and when the evening was come, He was there alone. Our Lord Jesus Christ has absolute
sovereignty over all of mankind. All of mankind. He did then,
and He does now. Sovereign power over man. John 17 verse two says, the father
has given him power over all flesh. Aren't we so glad for
that? Aren't we so thankful? Don't
you look at this world? Doesn't it create such fear and
chaos and turmoil and uncertainty and Being reminded that the Lord
Jesus Christ has absolute sovereign power over all of mankind. Every man who stands on this
earth, every woman who stands on this
earth, absolute sovereign power. That just makes me so thankful.
All of mankind is being ruled over. All of mankind, everywhere, is
being reigned over. And I'm so thankful. I am so
glad that God rules over this wicked world, and I'm so glad
that God rules over wicked me. I truly am. Man has his devices and his wicked
ways, but man is not going to have his wicked way with God.
God is going to have his way with wicked man. There are two
accounts in the scripture. That I just love so much. Every
time I read these or think about these, I love so much. One of them is in John 7. You
don't have to turn, but one of them is in John 7 when the Pharisees
and the chief priest sent officers to take the Lord Jesus Christ. They sent officers to get him
and bring him to them. And when the officers got to
the Lord, he was preaching. And the officers, as soon as
they walked up and heard him preaching, they just were dumbfounded. They just stopped and listened. absolutely taken by what he was
saying. And when the Lord was finished
preaching, the officers just turned around and went home. And when they got back, the Pharisees
and the chief priests said, where is he? Why didn't you bring him? And the only answer they could
give was, no man ever spake like this man. No man ever spake like this man. This man speaks with authority.
This man speaks with power. How often did they try to take
him and he just walked right through? How often? Where the word of the Lord is,
there is power. There's authority. where the
word of the Lord is. Whatever the Lord's word is on
something, you can count on it. How often do we read this word
thinking, I hope that's so. I hope that comes to pass. I hope we can count on that.
You can count on it. Where the word of the Lord is,
there's authority. There's power. The other account
that I love so much that declares this and demonstrates this is
in John 18. When Judas brought that mob of
men to take the Lord, to bring Him to Pilate, ultimately to
the cross, when the mob got to the Lord, He asked them, Whom
seek ye? They said, Jesus of Nazareth,
He said, I am. And it says, as soon as He said,
I am unto them, they went backward and fell to the ground. Wouldn't
you have loved to have seen that? I would have loved to have seen
that. I am. Like dominoes. Psalm 29 says, Give unto the
Lord the glory due unto His name. The voice of the Lord thunders. The voice of the Lord is powerful. The voice of the Lord is full
of majesty. The voice of the Lord breaks
the cedars. The voice of the Lord divides
the flames. The voice of the Lord shakes
the wilderness. The voice of the Lord makes the
hinds to calve. The voice of the Lord holds absolute
sovereignty, absolute sovereign authority over all things, all
things, especially man, especially man. That just comforts me. He says,
go and we go. He says, do, and we do. He says, go get in a ship, go
out into the middle of the sea, into a great storm, so much so
you think you're gonna die. We get into a ship, we go out
into the sea. Absolute sovereign authority,
absolute power over all men, all of mankind. Daniel chapter
4 says, he does what he will with the armies of heaven and
the inhabitants of the earth and none can stay his hand or
say unto him, what doest thou? So he sent the multitudes away
and they went away, this great crowd of people. He said, go
away. They went away. He sent his disciples
into a ship, out into the middle of the sea. They got into a ship,
went out into the middle of the sea. Verse 24 says, But the ship was now in the midst
of the sea, tossed with waves, for the wind was contrary. What caused that wind and those
waves? Well, it comes from warm air
rising and cold air taking its place. Where does that come from? Well,
the warm air comes from the sun. Where does that come from? Jesus
Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ. All things
were created by Him, and without Him was not anything made that
was made, including wind and waves. This great storm that
just rolled in a few hours ago, that was God. I was in my office
listening to it thunder, and every time I heard it thunder,
I couldn't help but think, I have glorified it, and I will glorify
it again. The son said to the father, glorify
thy son, so that thy son may glorify thee. And when the father
spoke, everybody said, it sounds like a thunder. All things, wind, waves, no matter
what it is, Our brother just read Psalm 107 to us. It says,
He raises the stormy wind and lifteth up the waves thereof. He does that. God does that. The Lord Jesus
Christ. Mark 4 tells us from an account
when His disciples woke Him up from sleeping down in a ship
They woke him up because the storm was so great, they thought
they were going to die from it. Carest thou not that we perish?
And that account tells us that not only is he the one who raises
the wind and the waves, he's the one who rebukes the wind
and the waves and says, peace, be still. With such authority,
there is a great calm immediately, just immediately. A great, great
calm. Not only does our Lord Jesus
Christ have absolute sovereign power over every soul on this
earth, He has absolute sovereign power over every element on this
earth. Everything, everything. At His
command, the rocks cry out. At His command, the trees of
the field clap their hands. At His command, the fish swim
to the particular hook or net that He determined for them to
go to. Isn't that what happened? Cast your net on the other side. I just can't, I just enjoy so
much thinking of all those fish fighting to get into the net. He told Peter one time they had
to pay taxes and Peter said, we don't have any money. Will
the Lord provide? He said, go fishing. First fish
you pull up, reach into his mouth. There'll be enough money in there
to pay my taxes and yours. At His command, the ravenous
bird flies from the east. Isn't that what Isaiah 46 says? At His command, the ravens bring
bread and flesh every morning and every evening to a man sitting
beside a brook. At His command, wild asses' coats
are tamed. And donkeys too. Don't you love the absolute sovereignty
of our God? The absolute sovereignty of God
over all things. The moment you become disturbed,
the best thing you could do is stop listening to the news. It's
news to us, but none of it is news to God. Breaking news. This is what God sovereignly
did today. And this is what God sovereignly
did today. But every time that you do become
overwhelmed and disturbed, you just remember God is absolutely
sovereign over everything. Every man, every wind, every
wave, everything, everything, everything. Verse 25 says, And in the fourth watch of the
night, Jesus went unto them, walking on the sea. Walking on the sea. Not only
does our Lord Jesus Christ possess absolute sovereignty over every
human being on this earth, the adversary cannot do anything
without permission. And not only does He hold absolute
sovereignty over every element and everything and every creature
on this earth, He also holds absolute sovereignty over every
binding force, every limitation, every bondage that keeps us here. Gravity is keeping us here. We're all ready to just fly away.
We got gravity against us, just keeping us here. Even gravity
is subject to him. The things that are absolutely
impossible with man, Jesus Christ holds absolute sovereignty over
all those things, all of those things. all of the binding, burdening
tribulations that we're subject to. He said, in the world, you
shall have tribulations, but be of good cheer. And that's
what we're getting to tonight. That's the point of all this.
Be of good cheer. It's so much easier said than
done. Our prayer is, Lord, help us send cheer in here. Be of
good cheer. He said, I have overcome this
world in every way, shape and form. It is him. Be not afraid. It is him. No matter what happens. It's him. Be not afraid. I wanted
to take the time at the beginning of this to really set up his
absolute sovereignty, his authority over every single thing on this
earth in our life. Because truly being reminded
of that, that's what will allow us to be of good cheer in the
midst of all of the storms. We have so many storms. We just
have so many storms. One comes, and as soon as that
one dies down, another one comes right behind it. Just so many
storms. Verse 26 says, And when the disciples
saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, It is
a spirit, and they cried out for fear. That pretty well, perfectly
describes our life on this earth. We spend our time start to finish
troubled in fear over everything. Fear over everything. The reminder of His Word to us
is, it's Him. It's Him. Be not afraid. These
are all His controlled providences. All of them. That's what we see
all around us. All of His controlled providences. And as we see them, we're troubled
by them because we don't understand them. We don't understand them. Why would that happen? I just
don't understand how or why that could happen. As we see all these things, we're
troubled, we're afraid, And it's all because we forget who is
doing this. We forget who is sovereignly
reigning and ruling over every small detail of this world, this life we live. We forget everything is His sovereign
means accomplishing His sovereign will. Everything. Everything
is on purpose. There are no accidents. Two cars collide. That's a car
on, that's a crash on purpose. That's a car on purpose, not
a car accident. Everything is on purpose. Everything
is on purpose. No matter how awful, no matter
how horrific, no matter how devastating, We're so weak and pitiful and
doubtful in the flesh and we don't understand things, but
honestly, just look at the cross. Imagine if you had been alive
back then and you had witnessed the cross. The most horrific,
devastating thing this world has ever seen and God's people
had ever seen in the moment that it happened. Was our Lord Jesus Christ sovereignly
in control of that moment? Was He sovereignly in control
of all of those events? I understand He had to die, but
why did He have to go through everything leading up to that? I deserved everything He got
leading up to that. He was sovereignly in control
of all of it. He sovereignly gave Himself. He sovereignly offered Himself
to that accomplishment. He sovereignly bore the sin of
His people. He sovereignly poured out His
blood on that sin. He sovereignly bowed His head
and gave up the ghost. He sovereignly did that. He sovereignly
laid in that tomb. He was sovereignly in control
even of His own death. As He was dead, while He was
dead, He was sovereignly in control
of that. You say, how do you know that? It's because He said. I have the power to lay down
my own life. And I have the power to take
it again. That commandment I have received
of my father. He sovereignly walked out of
that tomb. He sovereignly ascended back
up to glory. And he sovereignly sat down on
his throne. Be of good cheer. Be of good
cheer. Those two on the road to Emmaus
were so sad because he was our Redeemer. But he died. And that's what the Lord said
to him. Be of good cheer. Ought not Christ to have suffered
these things. It's high. Be not afraid. This is what he
says to all of his people. No matter what comes your way,
No matter what storm you're in the middle of, no matter what
you're facing. It is a. It is him. You hear the news of great trials,
we have brethren who are going through such great trials. Brethren
who were praying for brethren who. We're trying to do everything
we can do for just such great trials. And I'll admit to you,
trials are not easy. We need the Lord's help on this.
This is easier said than done. Trials are not easy. Sorrows are painful. Sicknesses
are troubling. But let's remember this. Let's
remember this. It is Him. It is Him. The Lord is the one who sent
his disciples into the storm. They didn't just happen to wind
up in a storm. He sent them into the storm. He's the one who commanded
them to go. He's the one who commanded the
wind and the waves to beat against them. He's the one who said,
wind, waves, toss them about. Why? Why would he do that? Why
would he do that? It's because in His sovereign
wisdom, He used His sovereign means to teach them of His sovereignty. This is the reason why. Look
at verse 33. Skip on down to verse 33. It
says, Then they that were in the ship came and worshiped Him. saying of a truth, thou art the
son of God. That's good, isn't it? That's
a good end result from everything that happened to them. He says,
be of good cheer. Don't be afraid. All things work
together for good to them that love God, to them who are the
called according to his sovereign purpose. Oh, the comfort of God's
absolute sovereignty in all things. Absolute comfort. Every trial,
every temptation, every sickness, every loss. No matter what it
is, He sovereignly comforts us. His perfect wisdom. He's so wise
in what He's doing. He's so wise. His sovereign will. His sovereign love in it. That comforts us. We know this
poem well, but it's good for this and it's so true. God moves
in a mysterious way. His wonders to perform, His wonders. He plants His footsteps in the
sea and rides upon the storm. He's the one riding on the storm,
walking on the sea, it's Him. deep in unfathomable minds of
never failing skill. I love that line, never failing
skill. He treasures up his bright designs
and works his sovereign will. Ye fearful saints, fresh courage
take. The clouds you so much dread."
And don't we dread trials and sorrows? Nobody wants to be in
the middle of the ocean in a boat that's about to go down. The clouds you so much dread
are big with mercy and shall break in blessings on your head.
Judge not the Lord by feeble sense. That means don't say,
that should have never happened. I don't think that should have
happened. Judge not the Lord by feeble sense, but trust Him
for His grace. Behind every frowning providence,
He hides a smiling face. His purposes will ripen fast,
unfolding every hour. The bud may have a bitter taste,
but sweet will be the flower. Blind unbelief is sure to err
and scan his work in vain. God is his own interpreter and
he will make it plain. Just be of good cheer. It is
him. Be not afraid. May the Lord help
us to find some happiness and some comfort in that. May he
help us to do that. Lord, help us to be of good cheer.
Whatever it is, help us to say it's you and I trust you. It's
you and I trust you. You're sovereignly in control.
I pray so. All right, let's all stand together. Turn with me to 299.