John chapter 6. John chapter 6. I want to look at verses 15 through
21. Where the Lord walks on water. But the title of the. The message
is this. It is I. Be not afraid. We ought to put that somewhere,
we ought to put that all over our house. When we go to bed
at night, we lie down in this evil world, put this scripture,
it is I, be not afraid. Sometimes when we have to lie
in a hospital bed, remember this scripture, it is I, be not afraid. You and I have no reason ever
to be afraid. Ever. Ever. And I'll show you this when we
get toward the end of it. Now the disciples. They saw. Many miracles. They saw all of them. I mean,
they were there. They watched him. They watched
him. They were eyewitnesses. of His
Majesty." Peter says this in 2 Peter 1, 16. But we have not
followed cunningly devised fables when we made known unto you the
power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses
of His Majesty, His glory. And yet how often did our Lord
say to them, fear not. Why are you so fearful? Be not afraid. How many times
does he say that? Now in verse 15, the crowd wanted
to take the Lord Jesus Christ by force. And make him a king. That's what it says there in
verse 15. They're going to make him a king. Well, the problem is he's already
a king. And he's listen, this just got
I just when Doug was reading this is going to make him a king. He's not a king. He is the king. He's not a king among kings.
He's the king of kings. Lord of lords. He's not among
them. He's above them and he's their
Kings and He's their Lord That's a big difference That's a big
difference But you can't make somebody a king that's already
king The scripture says that he is
born King he was born King We never make listen In this generation,
I wish this generation would listen. We never make Jesus Christ
anything. Make Him your Lord. You can't
do it. God did, but you can't. You and
I cannot make Him anything. He is who He is and He is what
He is without us. He is King of kings and Lord
of lords. We don't make Him that way, He
is that way. Now the Lord shows us here in verse 15, He shows
His deity, He shows it through this whole portion of scripture,
but it says here, it shows us here that He knows, listen, He
knows all things. In verse 15, when He perceived,
when He perceived, He knew their hearts. He knew their motive. He knew they wanted to make him
a king. First of all, they got a free
lunch. Let's make him a king. We'll get another one. But they
also wanted to make him a king, a king, their king, not the king
of heaven and earth, their king to deliver them from the Roman
government. The Roman government, the United
States government is not my problem. Sin is my problem. Sin is my
problem. Sin is the problem of this whole
world. Satan is my problem. I am my problem. I need one who
has the power to reign over me, to reign over Satan, to reign
over this world. He perceived he knew their hearts. He knew their motive He knew
that that he knew they wanted to make him king not for because
of who he is not for his glory but for their advantage But as I said, you can't make
him king because he's already king But he's a greater king
than what they were looking at the scripture says he's the king
of glory and That's on another level. That's on another level. They wanted to make him a king
of a bunch of unbelievers. They wanted to make him king
of a bunch of God-hating rebels. But God made him king of glory. And then his kingdom, listen,
his kingdom, he said, is not of this world. They wanted to
make him a king of just this world and of that little nation.
But he said, my kingdom is not of this world. That's what he
said in John 18. Jesus answered, my kingdom is not of this world.
If my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight
and I should not be delivered to the Jews. But my kingdom is
not from hence, it's from heaven. It's from heaven. He said in
one place, I could call a legion of angels and they would come
and they would destroy you guys. I just call a legion. I just
call one angel. You don't have to call the whole
legion. They can just call one. I know in the scriptures, one
angel slew 185,000 men, one angel. And he's the king of the angels.
He's their king. But he said, my kingdom is not
of this world. It's not a fleshly kingdom. They
saw a man standing in front of them. My kingdom is a spiritual
kingdom. Listen here in Luke 17. 21 neither
shall they say lo here or lo there you know as Christ. He
says behold the kingdom of God is within you You know the kingdom
of God if is within you if you believe If Christ is in you the
king of glory the kingdom of God is within you It's a spiritual
kingdom is what he's talking about It's a spiritual kingdom
But what they did not understand is is he didn't come into this
world for you and me to make him king. He didn't come into
this world for us to recognize him as king when he came. You know what he came for? 1 Timothy 1 15. This is a faithful
saying. and worthy of all acceptation
that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. That's what he came for. He didn't
come into this world for us to make him king. He came to save. He came into this world to save
sinners. He came to redeem. He came to die. He didn't come
to live, he came to die. Now he's going to live. Because
I live, you should live. But he came to redeem, he came
to die, he came to gather a people out of every kindred, tongue,
and nation under heaven. They just wanted him to be a
king of that little nation. But this king is going to gather,
his subjects are going to be from all nations, all walks of
life, all sorts of people, all sorts of sinners. That makes
up his kingdom. Now it says that they wanted
to make him king, he perceived what they were going to do, and
he departed. He sought not their glory. And listen, he did not seek his
own glory. He didn't seek his own glory.
How many times did he say, mine hour's not yet come? Mine hour's
not yet come. His chief end was to be glorified
of God, not men. Father, glorify thy son, that
thy son may also glorify thee. He made himself, the scripture
says, of no reputation. The only person who ever really
had a reputation, he made nothing of it. It says in John 8, I seek not
mine own glory. That's not why I'm here. This
is not why I'm doing this. I'm seeking the glory of my father
by doing his will. by doing His will. And we'll
see in John chapter 6, and this is the will of, in verse 39,
and this is the will of Him that sent me, that of all which He
hath given me, I should lose nothing, but should raise Him
up again at the last day. That's what, that's what His
meat was. He said, my meat is to do the
will of Him that sent me. That's to save a multitude of
sinners given to me. I'm going to save them to the
glory of my Father. That's what I'm going to do. And listen, he departed because
he sought not his own glory. He did not seek the honor of
men. And there comes a time to depart. That just stood out to me. When
his work is done, when his work is done, it's time to depart.
If you'll notice in the gospel, he goes everywhere for a little
while. Everywhere he goes, he's there for a little while, and
he moves on. He doesn't take up roots or lay
down roots, so to speak. He just moves on. He departs
for a little while. He's on a mission. He's on the
trail of his sheep. He has sheep here and there,
and he sends the gospel and gathers them out. Other sheep I have,
he said, which are not of this fold, them also I must bring
in. Some are in Samaria, some are
in Jerusalem, some are in Spring Lake, and I must bring them in. And the gospel will be here as
long as they are here. As long as he has sheep here,
the gospel will be here. That's the truth. That's the
truth. And after that, he says, he went
up into a mountain. He went up into a mountain, listen, alone.
Well, here's an example to us. There's a time to be alone with
God. There's a time for us to gather together like this, to
hear the word of God, to fellowship with one another. We need to
fellowship with one another. We need to do it more than we
do. But there's a time to be alone with God, private devotion. I can't tell you how important
private devotion it is to be alone with God. to refresh oneself at the throne
of grace, to spend much time at the throne of grace. But look here in verse 17 and
18, we find trouble in the path of obedience. And he told them
to enter into a ship here. Let me get back to verse 17.
or verse 16, And when evening was now come, his disciples went
down unto the sea. There comes a time, you know,
there comes a time here in just a little bit In just a little
bit, the service will be over. It'll be time for us to go back
down to the sea. It'll be time for us to go back
down where there's trouble. It'll be time to go back out into the
world. You gotta go to work tomorrow. Some of you gotta go to work.
It's time to go back to the sea. It's just, I tell you, every
sentence in the word of God is powerful, if he just opened it
up to us. And when evening, evening, that's
the end of the day, come his disciples went down to the sea
and entered into a ship. Now, if you read this over in
Mark, I mean, yeah, Mark, I'll reference Mark here a little
bit. He compelled them. He compelled them to get into
the ship, they didn't really, they didn't want to leave him.
He said, get into the ship, go to the other side. He wanted
to be alone. He wanted to be alone in devotion
with God and he told them to get in that ship and to go. And they did, they did. And they
entered into a ship and went over the sea toward Capernaum
and it was now dark. It's just so clear to me that
they go down after the service here and after being with him,
they gotta go back out to the, we have to go back out into the
world, you do. And it's dark out there, it's a dark world,
isn't it? And nothing. You think nighttime is dark where
there's no lights? Ain't nothing as dark as this
world. It's dark out there. And Jesus was not come to them. And the sea arose by reason of
a great wind that blew. You see, they entered into a
ship and went over to Capernaum. It was dark, which represents
this world in which we live. And he was not come to them and
the sea arose. The sea arose by reason of a
great wind, and I put out in my notes here a picture of this
life, a picture that sooner or later a wind of trouble is gonna
blow in your home. It's gonna blow your way. It's
gonna blow my way. You know, we have an example
of this in the weather every day. Some days it's beautiful
sunshine. Some days it's a storm. There's a spiritual lesson in
that every day. Every day there's a spiritual
lesson. Now, Mark tells us that the Lord
instructed His disciples to get into the ship and go to the other
side, and they did. And being disciples did not,
listen, it did not shield them from trouble. Being a believer
does not shield us from trouble. In fact, in this life, it ensures
us of trouble. He said, in this world, ye shall
have tribulation. You're going to have it. You're
not shielded from it. You're protected in it. You're
kept in it. When you go through the water,
I'll go with you. The fire will not kindle upon you. But you're
going to go through trouble. And we experience the same trouble
as the world experiences. This life is full of trouble.
It is full of heartache, sorrow. I was telling someone the other
day, I said, when you're young, these young girls here, I said,
life just seemed to be so, and for lack of a better word, I
don't like using the word magical, but you understand what I mean,
it just seemed so magical when I was young. It just seemed like
it was just so full of life and youth and energy. But as you get older, I'm not
sadder or morbid. Getting older didn't make me
morbid. But you realize the troubles of life. You realize
them. You see them. Not only in yourself. When I was young, their age,
I didn't see trouble anywhere. I didn't. It was just like party all the time. It was just
like, I didn't see it. But now I see it. see it in this
world you have tribulations and I thought of this they entered
into a ship he he put them in this ship they were caught in this storm
it's his storm every storm is his storm I've got I took a video
here a few weeks ago we had this lightning storm never seen one
like it It, the sky over here was constantly lit up. I sent
it out to a couple people, but the sky was, it was a constant
lighting up of the sky. I'd never seen a storm like it
before. And I stood there and watched it. Madison was here
and I had her, showed it to her. She watched it. That's God. That's God in action. I'm watching God Almighty. This
is his storm. This is not just a storm. This
is his storm. And he's made me aware of it
and I'm watching him work in the weather. It's his. Now listen, they entered into
a ship, they're caught in a storm, they're trapped. They are trapped. They could not go anywhere or
just somewhere for refuge. They couldn't get, they're in
a boat and they're about three miles out. 25, 30, I said 30
furlong. They're about two to three miles
out. they can't walk on water they are trapped in a boat the
lord did this on purpose whatever he puts us through he puts us
through on purpose they couldn't get out of it because
he's going to prove their faith he's going to try their faith
he's going to prove their faith and they are going to get another
glimpse of his glory as god as god The Lord put them in this
situation, just as he does all his children. Job was put in
that tough, tough, tough situation. God puts us in these places. I don't think we've ever realized
how minutely God works in our life on this earth. It's, I mean,
it's right down to the, listen, he said the hairs of your hand
are numbered. That's how much he notices you.
Every hair on your head is numbered. He knows it. Now, he put them in this storm
and they are falling apart over. Marcus says the rowing, the rowing,
and that's the way we do. We get in trouble. We try to
row out of it. You ain't rolling out until he takes you out of.
You pray and ask him, Lord, deliver me, Lord, carry me through this.
You can row all you want. You ain't gonna change the trouble.
Cause he sent it. But here's the, I want to give
you something that just comforted me. The Lord went up on a mountain
alone. He put them in a ship. He sent
them over there. He sent that storm. That wind
is him. I can just see him on that mountain blowing. God I can see him just blowing
that wind at him and they're just tore all the pieces They're
just tore all the pieces We're not gonna live this is gonna
take us the Lord's not with us. We're alone turn over mark check
chapter 6 We are alone where is he at does he not see my trouble
What is the problem? We trusted him. We've left all
our In Mark chapter 6, let me find the verse. I'm going to
give you something just real comforting. Well, let's go to verse 45. And
straightway he constrained then his disciples to get into the
ship and to go to the other side before unto Bethsaida, while
he sent away the people. And when he had sent them away,
he departed into a mountain to pray. He went there alone. Evening
was come the ship was in the midst of the sea and he alone
on the land and They're out there rolling. They're out there toiling.
They're out there falling apart. Where's he at? Look in verse
8 or 48 and he saw them toiling He's watching them We don't get they don't tell
us that in math or in John but the Lord is standing there and
He's standing there watching them. He's watching them in the
storm. He's watching them grovel around
and crying around and carrying on. And he's watching them. They're
safe. They are safe. On the shore, he's watching. Thou God, thee is me. See it's me. He saw them toiling and rowing.
He sees our pain and our suffering. He sees it. We don't feel like
it, but he does. He's watching from heaven. Well,
I started to say from heaven, he sees us, but he's in you.
He's in you. He's right there. He is. He's
he's right there with you. And he saw them toiling and rowing. That's such a beautiful verse.
For the wind was contrary to them, just like the world's contrary
to me and you. And about the fourth watch of
the night, about three o'clock in the morning, I think it was, he cometh
unto them when it was time. When it was time to come to them,
he came to them. When they had, they wore out. It was evening when they got
in the boat. This is about three o'clock in the morning. They
were exhausted. And when they were totally exhausted,
they couldn't row no more, here he comes. And that's exactly
what he wanted to do, bring them to that point. His eye was on them all the time. His eye is on us all the time. They didn't see him, but he saw
them. They're out there in dark. It's dark. It's dark. Children of light sitting in
darkness. That's who they were. And so back to John in verse
19. So when they had rode about five
and 20 or 30 furlongs, which is about two or three miles,
and they were come to the end of themselves, really, they see
Jesus walking on the sea. drawing nigh unto the ship, and
they were afraid. They were afraid. You know, once
you get into a fearful state, it seems like you can't get out
of it. They were afraid of the sea, they were afraid of the
wind, and now they're afraid of Him. Fear just takes over. So when they rowed and they rowed
and they rowed, and the Lord watched them and He watched them
and He watched them, they were safe. They saw Jesus walking
on the sea. What was unstable to them was
solid to him. Christ was not, listen, he was
not and is not tied to the laws he gave to natural creation. He supersedes all laws as God. I mean, the wind is, the waves
are crashing, the waves are up and he's walking. He's walking
around on top of that, all of that. He doesn't sink under our troubles
like you and I do. We sink under trouble. Woe is
me. He doesn't do that. He walks
on our troubles. But I'm going to give you something
here that's from the scriptures and it's comforting. This is
where we get comfort is from the word of God. Christ is walking
on water. Christ is above all things. all things have been put under
his feet now listen to these scriptures ephesians 1 22 and
hath put all things under his feet and gave him to be the head
over all things to the church he's the head over that sea he's
the head over that storm he's the head over those waves he's
the head They've been put under His feet.
Now, listen to this. Hebrews 2.8, Thou hast put all
things in subjection under His feet. For in that He put all
in subjection under Him, He left nothing that is not put under
Him, that sees under Him. That sea's under him. But now
we see not yet all things put under him. You and I see through
a glass darkly, don't we? Dimly, we can't see much. We
can't see much, but you know all things are put under his
feet? All things. That sea and that storm and that
wind and those waves are under his feet. That's powerful. My troubles are under his feet.
They're under his feet, there is subjection to him. Satan,
under his feet. This world, under his feet. All
nations, under his feet. Heaven and earth, under his feet.
And he's our God. He's our God. And they were afraid. They were
afraid. Why were they afraid? Flip back
over to Mark. Let me see if I kept that. Mark,
here's why they were afraid. And this is exactly why you and
I get afraid all the time. Here's why we're afraid. In verse
51, He went up unto them into the ship, and the wind ceased.
The trouble ceased. Oh, when He makes Himself known
to you, the trouble, I can just go on and on and on this morning.
The trouble ceased when He's near, when He's with us, when
we perceive Him. Trouble ceased. And they were
so amazed in themselves beyond measure and wondered, and they
considered not the miracle. They forgot the loaves. They
forgot the miracle. Listen, for their heart was hardened.
How sinful we still are. Here's why they were afraid.
They forgot what they saw. How many times has the Lord delivered
us and we forget it? How many times has he kept us?
Here's the reason you and I get afraid. Hardness of heart. Callous. We forget those things. Our hearts and unfounded fear
are revealed by unnecessary fear. But he saith unto them, and here's
the title of it, and I'll wind this down. He saith unto them,
he didn't chide them, he didn't scold them with their ignorance. And he could have said, you all
just saw me feed 15,000 people, or give sight to the blind, raise
the lame man. Really? He said, it's I, be not afraid. You see, he remembers our frame
that it's dust. Why did the Lord say, be not
afraid? I'm going to just give you a few things here briefly,
and I'm going to close. Here are a few reasons why we
are not to be afraid. Because he's God and our God
is God. Our God's not sitting on a shelf.
He's not someone we whittled out. He is the eternal, self-existing
God. He says in Genesis 15, it says
to Abraham, after these things, the word of the Lord came to
Abram in a vision saying, you're not. Remember, he told Abraham
to go out to Didn't tell him where he's going. He said go
Can you imagine going out in that heathen nation and all those
heathen nations I don't worshippers like Paul had to deal with And
he said fear not Abram I am thy shield Do you ever see God as
a shield? Do you ever see Christ as a real
shield? I'm not shield and I exceeding great reward. We have Almighty
God Almighty God's full protection and Isaiah 41 13 for I am the
Lord thy God will For I the Lord thy God will hold thy right hand.
I'm holding your hand you go through the storm and you go
through the waters You think you're alone ain't no I got you
by the hand. No, he didn't you'd drown It's
over your head He said I'll hold that right
hand Satan says, fear not, I'll help thee. That's a promise. That is a promise. Standing on
the promises we're saying. There it is. There it is. Isaiah 41, 10. Fear thou not,
for I am with thee. Be not dismayed, I am thy God. I will strengthen thee, yea,
I will help thee. Yea, I will uphold thee with
the right hand of my righteousness. Who's that? Christ. I will strengthen thee. Yea,
I will help thee. Yea, I will uphold thee with
the right hand of my righteousness. Can we stand on that promise? Here's another reason to fear
not. All things are of God. That's his wind. The earth is
the LORD's, the fullness thereof, and they who dwell therein. It's
all His. It's all His. All things are
of God. 2 Corinthians 5.18 And all things are of God, who hath
reconciled us to Himself by Jesus Christ. But all things are of
God. You know that our life is divinely
ordered from beginning to end. Throughout
eternity, it's ordered of God. Do you know anyone better? You
want to order your life? Well, how's that going? Can't
hardly pay the bills half the time. We get ourselves into so
much debt. No, Lord, you order my life.
Joshua 1 9 have not I commanded thee be strong and of good courage
be not afraid neither be thou dismayed for the Lord thy God
is with thee whether so ever thou goest You think well, I'm
safe I feel safe here, but I don't feel safe there You are safe
here as you are on a battlefield It doesn't matter Really? I mean it you don't feel that
way. I know you don't because of sin we don't feel that way
But I'm telling you, you could be in the hottest battle on earth,
and you're just as safe as you're sitting here right now. Would
the God we could realize that, what we have in Christ and the
protection we have in Him. He tells Joshua, had not I commanded
thee, and he commanded him to go forward, to go to battle.
He said, be strong, be courageous. I'm with you. I'm with you wherever
you go. I'm with you. THE STORM IS HIS. THE STORM IS
HIS STORM. THIS IS WHY WE'RE NOT TO BE AFRAID.
THE STORM IS HIS STORM. HE SAYS IN PSALM 107, 25 FOR
HE COMMANDETH AND RAISETH THE STORMY WIND WHICH LIFTETH UP
THE WAVES THEREOF. THAT'S HIS STORM THAT HE PUT
THEM IN TO PROVE AND TRY THEIR FAITH. AND HE STILL DOES IT TODAY. STILL
TODAY. As I said, well, let me show
you this one. Here's another reason not to
be afraid. All things work out for our good in providence and
salvation. Some of the things that we go
through, we say, how can any good come out of this? You remember that riddle that
Samson gave of the honey and the lion, honey out of the eater? And he gave this riddle of honey
out of the eater. God Almighty brings honey out of the eater
every time. He'll bring honey out of every
trial. Everything he puts us through, he'll bring honey out
of it. Then as I said, our lives are
divinely ordered by God from eternity. Listen, Psalms 37,
23, the steps of a good man. If you're in Christ, you're a
good man, a good woman. If you're in Christ, outside
him, you're no good. The steps of a good man are ordered
by the Lord. Every step. Every step. And he delighteth
in his way. And then we have in Christ, here's
another reason not to fear, we have in Christ all we need. Everything
we need is provided in him. Wisdom, righteousness, sanctification,
redemption. I'm not gonna come up short. I'm not gonna come
up short. And then last of all, last of
all, and this is, this is so good. Verse 21, then let's go
back to verse 20. But he saith unto them, it is
I, be not afraid. Then they willingly received
him into the ship and immediately the ship was at the land where
they went. You notice that when he entered
the ship, they were immediately at the land. There's two things
I'm gonna give you. First of all, when he's with
you, time is irrelevant. How many times have you sat under
a message and you think, already? I mean, I have heard some messages
an hour long, and they say, you're done already? I've heard some
15 minutes long, and it's like, too long. But I've heard of an
hour long, and it's like, already? Time becomes irrelevant when
the Lord is with us, when He's with us. But here's the last point. It says, immediately the ship
was at the land where they went. In Christ, I'm already there. In Christ, I'm already there.
You know, I'm already seated at the right hand of God. I'm
already there. It's just in a little while I'm
going to experience it, but I'm already there in Christ. It is
I. Be not afraid.