Well, good morning, everybody.
Love seeing y'all, love being here with you. If you want to
turn to your text, it's gonna be Matthew chapter 14. Matthew chapter 14, and if you'll
pick up in verse 22. Matthew 14, verse 22. 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.
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, 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. Now what we just
read comes on the heels directly after what is arguably one of
our Lord's most famous miracles. It's the feeding of the 5,000
with just two little fish and five little barley cakes. Y'all
remember the story, so after John the Baptist is killed, the
Lord takes a ship, he goes out into the desert, and these multitudes
that are spoken of right here in Matthew 14, they come out
to him. And they're sick and he heals them. And they spend
all day with him. And at the end of the day, the
disciples turn to the Lord and they say, Lord, they don't have
anything to eat. Let them go down to the villages and buy
themselves some food. The Lord goes to the disciples
and he says, no, you feed them. And the disciples look around, they
find some food. They said, all we have is two little fish and five
little barley cakes. We don't even have food to feed ourselves,
let alone 5,000 men and their wives and their children on top
of that. There's no way. The Lord said, bring it here. Give
it here. And he took it, and he broke it, and he blessed it.
And he handed it back to them, and he said, I said, go feed
them. And everybody sat down. Because when the Lord's going
to do something, everybody's just going to sit down. Everybody's going to rest. And
He fed 5,000 people, plus their wives and their children, with
two little fish and five little barley cakes. And in that miracle,
you see a couple different things. Number one, you see the omnipotence
of our Savior, of the Lord Jesus Christ. This man, this God-man,
was able to bring matter into existence that was not there
before. He was able to create out of nothing, something. That
is His power, His creative power. This also, though, is a beautiful
description of how the Lord saves a sinner. He purposed to feed
a multitude of people. He provided everything that was
necessary to feed this multitude of people, and He fed these people. He didn't go to the disciples
and say, you boys get a fishing pole, go see if you can catch
some more fish, help me out. He didn't go around and say, anybody
have any barley? Let's make some more cakes. No, he said, everybody
sit down. I'm gonna do this. And he does
the same thing for his people. He purposed to save a whole multitude
of people, an exact number. And he provided everything that
was necessary for their salvation. And he saved his people. What is so interesting about
this is that the people who are the object of this miracle, this
great feeding, they're the same multitude that is spoken of in
our text. And look at what it says about them. Look at verse
22. 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." Now that seems
odd. The Lord went to the trouble
to provide this food for these people to perform this great
miracle that his power might be known and then he sends these
people away. Why? The simple answer is this,
because these people only had a temporal interest in our Lord.
They had no saving interest in Him. They saw that He was good,
He was there when they were sick and He could heal them. When
they were hungry, He could create food. If there was danger, He could
probably protect them. They saw there was a temporal advantage of being
with the Lord, but they had no saving interest in Him. And here's
the evidence of it. It is because they left. It is
because they had the ability to leave. And it's because they
had somewhere else to go. Now, in Genesis chapter 32, you
remember a man wrestled with Jacob, a man. Who is that man? That is the Lord Jesus Christ,
the God-man. And that is so important. Jacob didn't wrestle with a man.
A man wrestled with Jacob. God initiated this. The Lord
Jesus Christ initiated this. And he wrestled with him all
night long. And when the day broke, the Lord said, turn me
loose, the day breaketh. Remember what Jacob said? I will
not let you go until you bless me. I can't let you go. What you have, I must have. You
are exactly what I need. I will not let you go until you
bless me. You can kick at me, you can punch
me, you can do whatever you want. I can't let go. I have to have you. He
had no place else to go and no one else to turn to. John chapter
six, Lord's preaching in the synagogue. He gives probably
the clearest declaration of his public ministry that he is the
Messiah. He's the one that every book of the Old Testament is
talking about. He's the man. And his disciples, the false ones,
they said, this is a hard saying. Who can hear this? left they
walked out. And you know what the Lord did
to the twelve? He turned to the twelve and He said, you boys
want to leave too? Because there's the door right there. And Peter
as a spokesman for every believer says, Lord to whom shall we go?
Thou hast the words of eternal life and we believe and are sure
that Thou art the Christ, the Son of the Living God. To whom
shall we go? Where else will we go? We've got no place else to go.
Now, here's my point. If I can fall away, if I can
be duped by If me holding on to Christ and clinging to Him
is based on some strength I must muster, here's what's going to
happen. I'm going to fall away. My grip strength is going to
be broken because we are powerless. But this is a description of
every believer. I want you to listen. This is 1 Peter 1.5.
It says, who are kept by the power of God through faith. and to salvation. See, it's not
my grip strength, it's not me mustering strength that keeps
me, it is the power of God that keeps me, the power of the Lord
Jesus Christ that keeps me coming back. But how is that power manifest?
How do we see that? It is in the complete and utter
destruction of anywhere else to go and anyone else to turn
to. To whom shall we go? Shall we go to law? What is the
purpose of God's holy law? Is it a manner of salvation?
Can a man be saved by obedience to the law? The law has one thing
to say to a man, just one thing, guilty. Guilty, that's it. That's all the law does, it proclaims
our guilt. To whom shall we go? Can I go to myself? Can I rest
in some sort of decision I've made? If the Lord has truly saved
a man, what he finds is that his salvation is in no way based
on a decision he made. based on a decision the Lord
made, and that before the foundations of the world were ever built.
If I believe my salvation rests on a decision I made, what I've
done is I've brokered a deal with an idol, and that means
I stand in my sins this very day before a holy and just God.
To whom shall we go? We are left with one place to
go and one person to turn to, and that's the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now, this was the first reason he let them go. It's because
they had only a temporal interest in him. There's a second reason
here. Turn over John's account in John chapter six. This is John's account of the
same story, and look down at verse 15. This is what the multitudes
wanted to do. John 6, 15, when Jesus therefore
perceived that they would come and take him by force to make
him a king, he departed to get him to a mountain himself alone.
Now, I want you to think of this in spiritual terms for a moment.
I want to make a very strong statement about this. A king,
a ruler, that can be made by a man is a king and a ruler who
can be unmade by a man. And that means he is no king
and ruler at all. Now, the Lord Jesus Christ is
the King of kings, and He is the Lord of lords. He is the
absolute sovereign, and no man makes Him that. He is appointed
to that position by royal authority of His Father. Acts 2 verse 36,
Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God
hath made that same Jesus, whom you have crucified, both Lord,
sovereign, ruler, king, and Christ. He's appointed that position
by his father. What does this mean, though, for him to be king,
for him to be ruler? Turn over to 1 Timothy chapter
six. These two verses in 1 Timothy
chapter six, you could devote several messages to it, there's
a lot here. But there's some wording here that is beautiful. What does it mean for him to
be king? 1 Timothy 6 verse 15. This speaks of Christ, which
in his times he shall show, who is the blessed, and I want you
to key in on that word, only. Only potentate, that word potentate
means absolute sovereign ruler, that means there's only one.
The only potentate, the King of kings and the Lord of lords,
who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light, which no man can
approach unto, whom no man has seen nor can see, to whom be
honor and power everlasting, amen. Now here's a synopsis of
everything we just read. This is the Lord Jesus Christ
when he speaks of his immortality. That means his everlasting person.
He had no beginning and he will never have an end. He is the
uncreated one who has life in himself. It speaks of the honor
the Father bestows upon him because of his holiness, because of his
righteousness, because of his faithfulness unto death. speaks
of his power. This is the same one who his
father empowered to speak the world into existence. That's
his omnipotent power. And it says this very clearly.
He is the only man who can stand in the light of his father's
holiness and find acceptance. and the only way you and I can
walk into His presence and find that same acceptance is in His
Son. There's only one man who can
stand there, and that's Christ. But what it says very clearly
is that He is the only potentate, and that means He is the absolute
sovereign over all flesh, over all decision-making, over every
heart, and especially in salvation. He will save whom He will, and
He will pass by whom He will, and He is right, just, and fair,
whatever He does. Now, here's my question. Me,
you, the sinner, the ungodly sinner. What am I supposed to
do with that information? I'm gonna show you what one woman
did. Turn over to Matthew chapter 15. This is gonna be a very familiar story
to you. What am I supposed to do when
I am confronted with the sovereignty of God and salvation? Matthew
15 verse 21. Then Jesus went thence and departed
into the coast of Tyre and Sidon. And behold, a woman of Canaan
came out of the same coast and cried unto him, saying, Have
mercy on me, O Lord, thou son of David. My daughter is grievously
vexed with the devil. Now, the first thing I notice
here, this woman is a wonderful candidate for mercy. She knows
exactly who she's talking to. She calls him Lord, the sovereign,
the ruler, the one who's gonna make the decision, Lord. And
she knows exactly who he is, the son of David. He's the Messiah. She says, you're Abel's lamb.
You're the rock that got smoke and the water came from. You're
the burning bush. Every Old Testament story. I
know exactly who you are. You're the Messiah. She knew exactly who she was
talking to. And she knew exactly what she needed. She needed mercy.
Mercy. The Lord ever brings to this
place, we'll know exactly what we need. We need mercy. But look
down at verse 23. But he answered her not a word.
And his disciples came and besought him saying, send her away for
she crieth after us. But he answered and said, I am
not sent, abundant to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Now she has been confronted with
the sovereignty of God and salvation. She says, I need mercy. I know
exactly who you are and I need mercy. And here's what he says,
I didn't come for everybody. My father has a people. I agreed
to be surety for those people, for their salvation. And I am
here to do my father's will, to save those people. But I didn't
come for everybody. She is confronted with the sovereignty
of God and salvation. What did she do? Verse 24, I'm
sorry, verse 25. Then came she and worshiped him,
saying, Lord, help me. Now this is twofold, twofold
right here. So number one, what did she do? She was confronted
with a sovereign God. He says, I will save whom I will, and
I'll pass by whom I will. You know what she did? She hit
the dirt. She took her rightful place before a just and a holy
God, and she justified God whatever He did. She worshiped Him for
who He was outside of what He was going to do for her. It's
the first thing. But notice this, being confronted with a sovereignty,
the Lord's sovereignty, this didn't make her fatalistic at
all. It didn't cause her to shut up. She didn't sit back and say,
well, you're in control. I guess I'll just sit back and
see what your verdict is. No. The more she cried, Lord,
help me. It didn't slow her down one bit.
Keep on reading. Verse 26. But he answered and
said, it's not meat to take the children's bread and cast it
to dogs. Now, it almost seems like the Lord is being harsh
with her, right? She's begging for mercy. She knows who she's
talking to. Is the Lord being hard on her? Not in the least.
He's too kind to be cruel. The Lord knows exactly how far
he can push this woman, and it's for this reason. He knows exactly
how much faith she has, and she has a whole lot of it. And he
knows that because he's the one who gave it to her. He meted
it out to her in the exact portion that he was going to give it
to her. And he knows exactly how far he can push her because
he's going to give us this template, this example. I go on reading,
what's her answer to this? Verse 27, and she said, truth
Lord, a dog? You're calling me a dog? Which
is a wicked and evil thing in the scriptures. Is that what
you're calling me? If you're looking for me to argue, you're
not going to find it. Truth Lord, I'm a dog. No doubt about that.
And she said, truth, Lord, yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which
fall from their master's table. Here's what she's saying there,
she's like, absolutely, Lord, I'm a dog. Wicked, evil, wretched
dog, no doubt, but I'm your dog. I'm your dog whether you want
me or not. I'm gonna follow you wherever you go, and as your
dog, you can kick me, you can beat me up, you can do whatever
you want, that's your business, but I'm not going anywhere, and I
desperately need some crumbs of mercy from your table to fall
my way. but I'm your dog. The importunity
of this woman is what I'm gonna point out to you. She kept on
coming, she would not be discouraged in any way. Look at this, verse
28. Then Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, great is thy
faith, be it unto thee, even as thou wilt. And her daughter
was made whole from the very hour. When I'm confronted with
the Lord's absolute sovereignty and salvation, what am I to do?
Well, here's what you do first. You hit your face in the dirt,
and you worship Him for who He is, justifying God, whatever
He may be. And with importunity, without
ceasing, without stopping, with everything you have, you beg
for mercy. Have mercy on me. Have mercy
on me. The kingdom of heaven suffereth
violence, and the violent take it by force. And you know what?
Everybody who comes this way, justifying God, no matter what
he is, worshiping him, begging for mercy, will not be turned
away. It's always the same thing. Be it as you'll have it, you'll
have mercy. He's never turned anyone away.
All right, so he sent the multitudes away, but he sent the disciples
into a ship. Look back at your text at verse 24. Matthew 14,
verse 24. But the ship was now in the midst
of the sea, tossed with waves, for the wind was contrary. Now I want you to put yourself
in the disciples' position for a moment. Lord said, you fellas,
go down, get in that ship, go to the other side. They went
down, they got in the ship, and they went to the other side.
If I'm the disciples, you know what I'm not expecting right now? A trial. I'm doing exactly what the Lord
told me to do. I'm not expecting any hardship. I'm expecting we're
gonna have fair skies and smooth sailing. We're gonna get to the
other side. We're doing what the Lord told us to. But all of a sudden,
they get in the boat and the waves start kicking up. And then
a headwind hits, right? And they're rowing, they're trying
to get to the other side, but that wind is pushing against them, blowing
hard, and everything felt like it was working against them.
Everything was contrary in their estimation. But in actuality,
everything was working for them. And you guys have been here,
and so have I. Let's say you have to make a decision, right?
Lord, I'm at an impasse. I gotta go this way or I gotta
go that way? You go to the Lord, you ask for direction on it.
Which way am I supposed to go? You think the Lord gives you
some direction on it, so you go down that path. And all of a sudden, as you go
down the path, everything you touch falls apart, and every decision you
make seems to just be the wrong one, and everything around you
is just on fire, and it's burning, and everything seems like it
is working against you, that everything is so contrary. But
the truth of the matter is, everything is working for you. Romans 8.28,
and we know that all things work together for good to them that
love God, to them who are the cold, according to his purpose. The disciples thought everything
was working against them. It was contrary. It wasn't contrary
to the Lord's purposes. He was in control of those winds,
he was in control of those waves, that wind was going to blow as
hard as he wanted it to, for as long as he wanted it to, and
as soon as he said stop, that wind was going to stop. That
was it. But he had a purpose behind all this. Those multitudes
who had no interest in him, no saving interest, he sent them
away, and I have no doubt that they walked under fair skies,
probably found something to eat along the way, there was probably
a well of water, I bet they were absolutely fine, but these whom
he loved, whom he chose to save, he put them in the boat, and
he turned everything against them according to his will. But
there was a purpose behind this. Look down at your text, verse
33. Then they that were in the ship
came and worshiped him, saying of a truth, thou art the son
of God. He's going to put them in this
boat. He's going to put them through these contrary winds. He's going to turn everything
against them in their estimation for this purpose, that for the
first time in biblical history that it is recorded that they
would come to this understanding, you are the son of God. He did
all this to strengthen and galvanize and expose their faith. What's
the purpose of the contrary winds? Of the trial, the tribulation,
things like that. One thing, at the end of the day, we would
see of a truth, thou art the son of God. But everything was
always working for them, all the way along. All right, look at verse 25 of
your text. 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. Now, I find this interesting.
This phrase, be of good cheer, is used in six different stories
in the scripture. This phrase, be of good cheer.
And here's what we need to keep in mind. This life is not just
to be endured. We're not just supposed to put
our head down and get through it. Every morning we wake up,
if you're a believer, if your hope is in Christ, every morning
we wake up we should be of good cheer. And I'm going to give
you six reasons for it. You don't have to turn to these.
I'm going to read it to you. We're going to go through it quickly. But I'm going to
give you six reasons every single morning you can wake up and you
can be of good cheer. The first one is found here.
He says, be of good cheer. It's I. We just talked about
it. The contrary winds, everything
was working against them. The waves were kicking up, but
who was in control of it? Who was in control of the winds
and the waves and everything else? It was him. He was in control
of it. And it was all for this purpose
that they would see that he was the son of God. Have no fear,
be of good cheer in everything that is going on at all times.
It's him. Here's the second one. Matthew
9 verse 2 it says, And behold, they brought to him a man sick
of the palsy, lying on a bed. And Jesus, seeing their face,
said unto the sick of the palsy, Son, be of good cheer, thy sins
be forgiven thee. Here's a second reason you can
wake up every morning and you can be of good cheer, because
believe me, your sins are forgiven you. After Adam fell and the
Lord expelled him from the garden, do you remember what the Lord
put at the entrance to the garden to keep Adam out? He's a cherubim. A cherubim with a flaming sword
that twisted every direction to keep Adam out. And every time
Adam looked at that cherubim, here's what he knew. My sin has
separated me from my God. What I have done has put a barrier
between me and my God. I can't go back in there. There
was a cherubim. Now you fast forward thousands of years, millions
of years, as far off as it was, the tabernacle and later the
temple. You had the holy place where the priest did their business.
Then you had the holy of holies. Nobody could go back there except
the high priest one day out of the year and he had to have the
blood sacrifice or he'd be killed too. What separated those two
places was the veil. You know what that veil was embroidered
with? Cherubims. So the priest's work, what he
saw was, I have separated myself, my sins have separated me from
my God. That was his constant reminder
throughout the day. I've separated myself from my God. When the
Lord Jesus Christ hung his head and said, it is finished, what
happened that day? That sucker was ripped from the top down
to the bottom in two. And those cherubims were no more
and free access to the Holy of Holies. Now, here's where you
can be of good cheer. Right now, you have no sin. Because
the Lord Jesus Christ has bore your sin in his body and bled
and died and put it away, there is no obstacle between you and
your God. You have free access to the Father in Christ. God
is not angry with you. The Father is in no way infuriated
towards you. You have all his love, you have all his favor
because you are in Christ and you have no sin. You have been
forgiven. That's a good reason to be a
good cheer, isn't it? This is John 16, 32. You don't
have to turn there, I'll read. This is the Lord speaking to
his disciples before he was crucified. Behold, the hour cometh, yea,
and now is come, that ye shall be scattered, every man to his
own, and ye shall leave me alone, and yet I am not alone, because
the Father is with me. These things I have spoken unto
you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall
have tribulation, but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world. I want you to consider the context
in which the Lord tells his disciples this. Here's what he says. He's
like, listen, here's what's going to happen to you boys. All of
you are going to be scattered. You're all going to deny you ever knew
me. Peter is going to act like a madman, have spittle running
down his cheek, and he's not going to acknowledge he knew
me at all. All of you are going to act like
cowards. You're going to act in such a faithless manner that
no one's going to have any confidence in you. Here's what you're going
to do. But here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to be faithful. I'm going to bury your sins in
my body. I'm going to go to that cross. I'm going to do my father's
will. I'm never going to stop believing
God. I'm going to do the opposite of what you fellows are going
to do. And here's the beautiful part. Believer, this is why you can
be of good cheer because it's not about you and your obedience. It's about him and his obedience. They were faithless, as far as
you could tell. They denied they knew the Lord, but it did not
matter. What mattered was He was faithful, that He went to
the cross, that He honored His Father in all things. And that's
where our salvation rests, in His faithfulness even unto death. Acts 23 11. Paul is in a prison in Jerusalem,
chained up, and the Lord Jesus Christ appears to him. This is
what he says. And the night following, the Lord stood by him and said,
be of good cheer, Paul, for as thou hast testified to me in
Jerusalem, so must thou bear witness also at Rome. Put yourself
in Paul's position. He's chained up against a wall.
All he can see is bricks in front of him, concrete, whatever it
was. He can hear guards outside. And the Lord comes to him and
he says, Paul, as you've testified to me in Jerusalem, You're going
to preach in Rome too. And if I'm Paul, I would've been
looking down that chain wondering, how do we get there from here?
How do we get there from here? Because right now I'm chained
up in this prison. How are we going to get there from here?
And the Lord doesn't tell him. He tells him where he's going
to end. He doesn't tell him how he's going to get there. I don't
know what's going to happen a year from now. I don't know what's
going to happen five minutes from now. I don't know what's
going to happen the next second. I don't know how we get there from here,
but be a good cheer believer because you know your end. At
the end of this valley of the shadow of death, we have an end,
and everybody knows it. We're gonna wake up in the likeness
of our Redeemer, and we are going to be with Him. There's not gonna
be any tears, there's not gonna be any sorrow, all faults of
sin. We won't even know what it's
like to be a sinner anymore, and we're gonna be with Him,
never to be separated ever again. How we get there from here, I
have absolutely no idea, and it doesn't really matter, because
we know our end. Last one is this. Paul had been
a prisoner on a ship, and the ship, what the captain and the
rest of the people want to believe is going to happen, is they're
all going to die. They're in the middle of a storm. And this is what
Paul tells them. He says, and now exhort you to be of good
cheer, for there shall be no loss of any man's life among
you, but of the ship. Be of good cheer, believer, because
Christ will lose nothing. Here's a scripture that came
to mind. John 6 39 says, and this is the father's will, which
has sent me that of all which he has given me, I should lose
nothing, but should raise him up again at the last day because
of whom you are represented by. because of who has stood in your
stead, because of whom stands as your surety, he is one who
cannot fail. He is incapable of it. And that
means your salvation is certain. All that Christ had, everyone
that he died for, their salvation is sure. It can't be taken away. He won't lose any. And here's
the final one. And this is the last one. Paul
speaking again to the same crew, he says, wherefore, sirs, be
of good cheer, For I believe God that it shall be even as
it was told me." Believer, you can be of good cheer because
everything he said in his word is going to come about. It is
all yay and amen. And I thought, what scripture?
Which one gives me hope? What's the one? Here's just one
of many, many. Matthew 11, 28, come unto me. All ye that labor
and are heavy laden, and I'll give you rest. Well, he's good
to his word. So you come to him. Come just
as you are, burdened with your sin, bearing it like a heavy
backpack, and laid at his feet, and he's going to give you rest.
That's where I'm going to leave you guys.