In our last study, we consider
our Lord's teaching the meaning of the Sabbath day, if you recall
from last week. We read, we rest in the works
of our great Savior. We're going to come back to Matthew
again. And then last week, we looked
at chapter 11, verses 28, where our Lord said, Come unto me,
all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly
in heart, and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke
is easy, and my burden is light." Right after he tells us this,
that very thing that he just said, he goes on to teach himself
the Lord of the Sabbath. As the apostles and his disciples
were walking through the cornfield, they took of the corn. And what
happened to the religious people? Those who were self-righteous,
who thought themselves above everyone else. What are you doing? It's the
Sabbath day. How dare you do that on the Sabbath
day? Oh, and our Lord rebuked them
so much. Who do you think you are? Did
not David take his men through the corn and eat of the special
corn for the priests only? And then he said right out, I
am the Lord of the Sabbath. Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Sabbath
is nothing more than a picture of His work and His work alone. Our recognition and our observation
of the Sabbath is resting in Him. We rest in His works. We stop working our own. We stop
doing things that we think we have to do because the world
says, this is what you've got to do to be righteous. And we
look to the only One who is righteous, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
Right? Isn't that right? Today I want to jump forward
to the 14th chapter of Matthew. Now there's a lot in between
where we left off and where we're going to next. But like I brought
out at the beginning of last study, we're looking at things
specifically verbally. We see the things that Peter
is learning firsthand. Now obviously he's there with
the Lord in many times, but this is where the next place where
we see his name mentioned. So I've jumped forward to this
lesson to specifically understand what Peter is learning. Eventually,
after we see these things that Peter has learned firsthand,
we're going to look at those two epistles that he wrote. And
we're going to look at those in a real in-depth look. But
this morning, we're going to start at chapter 14. Look at
verse 22 through verse 31, please. And straight away, Jesus constrained
his disciples to get into a ship and go before him unto the other
side while he sent the multitudes away. He had just finished feeding
5,000. He'd just done the miracle of feeding over 5,000 people
with five loaves of bread and a couple of fishes. Not only
did he feed them, but there was a whole bunch left over afterwards. Peter had just witnessed this
feeding over the 5,000 with the small backs getting the loaves
of bread. And he goes on to say here in verse 23, and when he
had sent the multitudes away, he went up into the 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." Once again, we see the storms
of life coming against God's people. The things that rile
us up and concern us. Things against our loved ones
could be considered a storm. Things against ourselves could
be considered a storm. Oh, how many different storms
we have in this life, huh? And the wind was contrary. Verse
25, 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. Who's ever walked on water? They
had never seen this before. And all of a sudden, here comes
the Lord Jesus? Oh, wait a minute, what in the
world is this? But straight away, Jesus spake
unto them, saying, Be of good cheer, it is I. Be not afraid. And Peter answered and said,
Lord, if it be Thou bid me come unto Thee on the water. And he,
speaking of our Lord, said, Come. And when Peter was come down
out of the ship, he walked on water to go to Jesus. But when
he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid, and he was beginning
to sink. He cried, saying, Lord, save me. And immediately Jesus
stretched forth his hand and caught him and said unto him,
O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt? Peter had just
witnessed the feeding of over 5,000 people. He saw the miracles
of the Lord Jesus Christ over and over again. He had witnessed
our Lord saying, going out into the deep. He had experienced
the very fact that our Lord was a miracle worker from God. He
proved His authority over everything. by telling him to go out into
the deep and drop his nets. And what did they do? They caught
all those fish. So much that it almost sunk both
ships. So Peter is getting used to seeing all this stuff happen,
but yet, here we go, once again, does this remind you of anybody?
Does it remind you of you? It reminds me of me. Here I go,
John, once again, forgetting that my Lord has it all under
control. What am I going to do about this? How am I going to get this done? Another one of these? Really? Did it have to happen there?
Kathy heard me say that this morning twice, that's why I had
to say it. Oh, how quick we are to forget
who our Lord is. Just like that. Just like that. What a miracle that was. The
miracle of feeding 5,000 people, right? And now he sees the wonder
of our Lord and Savior walking on water, defying the laws of
nature. How? Because Jesus Christ is
the law of nature. He is our creator. And if He
created everything, He has the authority over it. And that includes
us. That includes our will. He is either sovereign over everything,
or He's not God at all, is He? If He's not sovereign over everything,
then we're wasting our time here. We might as well go play golf.
Well, OK, you guys want to go do something else, that's fine. Jesus is Lord of everything. What a pump of adrenaline that
must have been for Peter. Could you imagine? Can you take
your mind out of this world where we're at right now and imagine
what it would have been like for somebody who'd never seen
an airplane fly, never saw a refrigerator working. All he'd ever known
is how to survive day by day. Because it wasn't that long ago,
folks, that's what life was like. The conveniences that we have
in today's world is made of soft. So here Peter is. He had just
seen this wonderful miracle of the 5,000 people being fed, and
now the Lord is walking on water right in front of him. Could
you imagine? Could you imagine the excitement? Whoa! Look at that! Ain't that cool? I could just picture myself in
that very same instance going, whoa, that's really neat. I didn't know anybody could do
that. But here we see this very one who's been declaring himself
our creator. Could we not understand how he
could do anything he wants? Peter was to witness the power
of the Creator before his very eyes, and then to be granted
that power to join Him. Well, I get to go out and walk
on water too! I would be ready, I would be
ecstatic! Just to be able to walk on water! What an adrenaline pump that
must have been for him! How exciting that must have been
for him! To stand where it is impossible
for men to stand. Yet our lesson here is where
should we be looking? You know, how quick are we to
stop what we're doing when we're in trouble? How quick are we
to cry out, Lord, help me. Lord, my son is sick. Help me. Whatever your problem might be,
Lord, help me. What about when we're excited,
when we're pumped up, when something's really got our adrenaline going
really nice? Lord, thank you. I can tell you this. I've been
on my motorcycle at times, riding through. And I've shared this
with you one time before, where Kathy and I were in the ice fields
of Alaska on our motorcycles. And it is the most gorgeous thing
I think I've ever seen in God's creation on this earth. The colors. If you've ever stood at the foot
of the El Capitan rock in Yosemite and looked up, it's just wow! That's what I'm talking about.
This is what I'm talking about when we're in those kind of situations.
Do we stop and say, Lord, wow, look at that. Last night, Kathy and I were
coming back from dinner. And we looked out over the valley
as we were coming by the airport over here. And you could see
a rainbow, but you could only see a line of it going straight
up and down, not curved. It was straight up and down,
and there were some clouds right behind it, and the sun was over
here shining on it just right. And we just thought, wow, look
what the Lord's done. Look at what the Lord has done. Isn't
that great? Peter, seeing the Lord walk on water. He's about
to learn. a lesson that we all need to
learn over and over and over again. Until the Lord takes us
home like Henry Manhattan, Carol Garner, and I can go through
the whole list and spend an hour listing off all the brothers
and sisters who stand with him now. Until then, we have to learn
this lesson over and over again. Lord, help me. Praise you, Father,
for all things are under your control, including those men
who are harassing you in the middle of the night, Paul and
Mary, including them. Think about that next time they
do that. Lord, will you continue to have them harass me? We don't
need guns to shoot in the air. We don't need guns to shoot in
the bushes like we talked about. We have the biggest gun of all. Do we not? Do we not have the
most powerful gun of all, the Lord Jesus Christ? All He has
to do is think it and it's done, sweetie. Our lesson here is to keep our
eyes on Him. Notice that as soon as Peter
took his eyes off of Christ and looked at the wind around him,
the boisterous wind What has it happened? He began to sink.
Turn your eyes upon Jesus. Look full upon His wonderful
face. And the things of this world
will turn strangely dim in the light of His wonderful grace. Amen? But what caught my eye
most about this very lesson was this. Look at the last part of
verse 30. And beginning to sink, he, Peter,
cried, saying, Lord, save me. And here comes the wonderful
grace of Jesus. And immediately Jesus stretched
forth His hand. That's what I say, isn't that
cool? Isn't that wonderful? That's awesome. Immediately,
our Lord and Savior reached forth with His hand and got a hold
of Peter. Peter, Lord help me, he wasn't
reaching out for the Lord. The Lord reached down and grabbed
him. I'll save you. You're mine. I died for you. Why wouldn't
I save you from a little bit of water? I shed my blood for
you. Why wouldn't I save you? What have we got to worry about,
folks? We've got a little bit of a problem
with our flesh. Maybe we've got a little cancer. Maybe we have
a boss who's a jerk. What have we got to worry about? Our Lord's not going to let us
go. He gave Himself for us. His love
is so great, He would never let us go. If He did, then He wouldn't
be God. Peter, just as all of us, had
a weakness. The flesh is weak. Our Lord's strength is manifested,
made perfect, as I brought out in last week's message. It's
made perfect in our weakness. As Peter was seeking, he cried
out, but even more important, the Lord stretched forth His
hand. Our God will not leave us. He gave Himself as a sacrifice
for you and I. Could anything separate the chosen
blood-bought children of the Most High? Could anything separate us from
Him? Folks, He paid with His life. He paid with His life for
you and I. Would He let anything pluck us
from His hand? No. This is the lesson for Peter
and for us. It is that our Savior has our
back. Plain and simple. He's either got you and going
to keep you or you were never His in the first place. What is there to fear when the
worst that can happen, the worst thing that could happen to any
one of us is that we would be left, leave this life and go
into paradise? That's a pretty good thing. You
know, Henry Mahan right now could tell us that very thing if he
could speak to us. Paradise is a pretty good thing.
Why? Because this is where the Lord
Jesus Christ is. and sitting at His feet. What
could be better than that? Turn over to Romans 8, and we'll
conclude this lesson this morning. When we think we're on top of
everything, when everything is running smooth, when all of this
stuff in life is going along according to what we think is
right, I tell you this, if you're a
child of God, the storm is about to come. The storm is about to come that
will humble us and remind us of who our Savior is. This world is not our home. We're
just as Abraham was, we're sojourners, tent dwellers, passing through
a weary land. Our great God has loved us before
time ever started, and He chose us to be with Him in glory. And He will have us. For what
could stay the hand of a Creator? Are you with me in Romans chapter
8? Let's begin at verse 29. for whom he did foreknow. For
whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed
to the image of his son. Predestinated all of his children. Predestinated us to be conformed
to the image of his son. Oh, what a day we have to look
forward to in paradise to be in the perfect image of our Lord
and Savior, Jesus Christ. That He might be the firstborn
among many brethren. Moreover, whom He did predestinate,
them He also called. And whom He called, them He also
justified. and whom He justified them, He
also glorified. What shall we say then to these
things? If God be for us, who can be
against us? Amen? Let us never forget that very
thing, folks. If God be for us, who can be
against us? He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him
up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us
all things? Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. Who
is He that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea,
rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand
of God, who also maketh intercession for us. Who shall separate us
from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress,
or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or the sword? As it is written, for thy sake
we are killed all day long. We are accounted as sheep for
the slaughter. Nay, in all things we are more
than conquerors through him that loved us. All that other stuff is just,
doesn't matter. We have God on our side. For I, are you? Are you? For I am persuaded. Are you? That neither death, nor life,
nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present,
nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature
shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is
in Christ Jesus our Lord. We're going to call it a lesson
right there, folks.