It is not that I did choose thee,
Lord, O Lord, that could not be. Yuba-Sutter Grace Church would
like to invite you to listen to a sermon by our pastor, Rick
Warda. We currently meet at the Yuba
County Library, located at 303 2nd Street in downtown Marysville,
California, on the corner of 2nd and C Street. Weekly services
are held on Sunday at 11 a.m. at the library. For more information,
visit our website at ysgracechurch.com. Now here's our pastor, Rick Warda. The text of our sermon today
is found in Matthew 14, verses 22 through 33. 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, Jesus went unto them, walking
on the sea. And when the disciples saw him
walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, It is the Spirit. And they cried out for fear.
But straightway Jesus spake to them, saying, Be of good cheer,
it is I, be not afraid. And Peter answered him, and said,
Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water. And he
said, Come. And when Peter was come down
out of the ship, he walked on the water to go to Jesus. But
when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid. And 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? And when they
were come into the ship, the wind ceased. Then they that were
in the ship came and worshipped him, saying, Of a truth, thou
art the Son of God. I've entitled this message, Be
of Good Cheer, It is I, Be Not Afraid. Let's consider the details
of this account recorded in scripture. First, in verse 22, Jesus constrained
his disciples to get into the ship. Jesus Christ is all of
our salvation. as Noah and his family in the
ark escaped the flood of God's wrath upon the world, as God
passed over the Israelites who were in the house where the blood
of the Passover lamb was sprinkled, and as the manslayer escaped
the avenger of blood in the city of refuge, so we can only be
saved in Christ. There is salvation in no other.
By Christ constraining His disciples to get into the ship, we see
His constraining call to His people in the Gospel to believe
Him. And believing Christ, we behold
all of our salvation from sin and the wrath of God in Him.
Believing Christ, we enter into the peace and joy and rest of
salvation that is ours in Christ. As the disciples must get into
the ship to arrive at the destination Jesus determined for them beforehand,
so every believer will receive the eternal life that God determined
for them before the world began in looking to Christ. We must
be found in Him. When Adam sinned, God came looking
for him. On the Day of Judgment, God will
search out every man, woman, boy and girl. When God comes
looking for me, I have but one place I want to be found, in
Christ. I want to be found in Him, not
having a righteousness based on my obedience, but the very
righteousness of God that is based on the obedience of Christ
alone. Against all the enemies of my
soul, I have but one place of safety, in Christ. And it is
God who puts His people in Christ. 1 Corinthians 1.30 says, Of Him
are you in Christ Jesus. Faith is God's gift of grace
to sinners to know that their only ground of acceptance before
God is Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Christ is our complete provision. Every blessing from God to His
people is in Christ. Our triumph over every enemy
is in Christ's victory. Eternal life and eternal glory
are in Christ alone, and it is God-given faith that enables
me to receive all that God has for sinners in Christ. Jesus
Christ therefore constrained his disciples to get into the
ship. I must be convinced that my salvation is in Christ alone. The Son of God as my mediator
by his substitutionary death and endless life is all of my
salvation. Matthew 1.21 He stood in the
place of his people. He acted and continues to act
on their behalf. He has accomplished their salvation.
God has received His obedience and His offering for them. Their
sins have been purged. God's wrath has been removed
from them. Forgiveness of all their sins
has been granted. They stand justified, without
blame, faultless, perfected forever by the one offering Christ made
for them. And all spiritual blessings are
known and received and enjoyed by faith alone. The word constrained
here is very strong. Jesus placed a necessity upon
his disciples to get into the ship. By compelling words he
made them get into the ship. He would not allow them to do
otherwise. They obeyed him in this. In this
interaction between Christ and his disciples we see our salvation. Christ constrains. I am the way,
the truth, and the life. And his people obey in faith.
He that hath received his testimony, John 3.33 says, has set to his
seal that God is true. He constrains us by convincing
us that Christ and him crucified is the whole truth about the
way things are between me and God. The truth we come to know
and are convinced of is how God can be just and justify an ungodly,
sinful man like me. Obedience to the Gospel is coming
to God on the sole ground of the blood and righteousness of
Christ. This coming is not done once
only. Looking to Christ is a continual
thing. Faith continually comes to Jesus. He is the author and finisher
of our faith. When you first believed, you
had no strength. You had no evidences and no experiences. You had but one plea. I am a
great sinner and nothing at all. Lord, save me for Christ's sake
alone. Saving faith comes to God with
no more than it had when we first believed. Colossians 2.6 says,
As you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him. As Jesus constrained His disciples,
the operation of God on us is a powerful operation of His grace. In Ephesians 1, 19-20, Paul prays
that we might know the exceeding greatness of His power to usward
who believe according to the working of His mighty power,
which He wrought in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and
set Him at His own right hand. Before we are saved, we are dead
in sins. When we were dead in sins, God,
who is rich in mercy, because of his great love toward us,
made us alive with Christ. By grace you are saved. Ephesians
2 verse 3 through 5. He raised us from spiritual death
to spiritual life. This is God's almighty power.
His power irresistibly draws us and convinces us that we are
saved by Christ for no merit in ourselves and for no reason
ever to be sought or found in ourselves. God saved us for reasons
found only in Himself. He saved us by merit found in
Christ alone. In the simplest terms, God receives
us for Christ's sake alone, Ephesians 4.32. Ever since God gave His
people to Christ, by eternal election, He only regards them
as He regards His Son. God made Christ the representative
head of His people. He bore their sins. He endured
their punishment. He fulfilled their righteousness.
In all of this, God looked to Him for all He requires of them. In myself, I am a great sinner. I have no ground to believe this
is true of me. But Christ died for the ungodly. God does not consider what I
have done or what I will do someday. God justifies the ungodly. Romans 5, 6, and 8. Therefore,
in justification, God finds nothing in his people, but he finds all
in Christ for them. He accepts his people because
Christ acted in their place and on their behalf. In Matthew 14,
23, Jesus went up into a mountain to pray. After he rose from the dead,
Christ sent his disciples to preach the gospel throughout
the world. He ascended to heaven. He sat down on the right hand
of God. On his throne, Jesus Christ rules
heaven and earth on behalf of his people. Throughout the New
Testament age, they strive to fulfill His will against all
the opposition of this unbelieving world and hell itself. He determined
that it should be this way. He designed it to be so. But
He intercedes for us on His throne. Romans 8 verses 27 and 34. He
does not take us out of the world or out of trouble, but He brings
us through it, giving us faith to overcome by seeing He has
conquered as our Savior, our Lord, and our Mediator. And in verse 24 it says, The
ship was in the midst of the sea, tossed with the waves, and
the wind was contrary. In scripture, the floods and
waves often signify wicked men in their opposition to Christ
and His people. Isaiah 57-20 says the wicked
are like the troubled sea. In Psalm 18-4, the sorrows of
death compassed me, and the floods of ungodly men made me afraid. And then in Psalm 124 verse 2
and 3, If it had not been the Lord who was on our side when
men rose up against us, then they had swallowed us up quick
when their wrath was kindled against us. Therefore, the sea
signifies the flood of ungodly men who oppose Christ and His
people. And the sea also signifies the
judgment of God. In Jonah chapter 1, God sent
a great wind and a mighty tempest in the sea. The ship would have
been broken up and the men drowned, but Jonah told the mariners to
cast him overboard. When they did, the sea became
quiet and they were saved. By nature, we were the children
of wrath, even as others. Because Christ bore our sins
and endured the wrath of God, we are saved from sin and God's
wrath. Jesus sent his disciples into
the night on the storm-tossed sea. He sent them to preach the
gospel throughout the world against the opposition of ungodly men.
Hell and the world would oppose. A flood of deception would pour
out of the mouths of false prophets. Revelation 12.15 says the serpent
cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the church that
he might cause her to be carried away by the flood. Every enemy
of God's people opposes them, yet the Lord preserveth the souls
of His saints. He delivereth them out of the
hand of the wicked." Psalm 97 verses 9 through 10. Sin is our
greatest enemy. There is nothing I can do about
my sin. Psalm 65 3 says, Iniquities prevail
against me. As for our transgressions, thou
shalt purge them away. And I can't change my inward
corruptions. Paul said in Romans 7, 24 and 25, Who shall deliver
me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ
our Lord. Sin condemns me and would overcome
me, but Christ has overcome sin for his people. He has subdued
our iniquities. He has cast them into the depths
of the sea. Micah 7, verse 19. He has prevailed
over our iniquities. And then in Matthew 14.25, in
the fourth watch of the night, Jesus went to his disciples walking
on the sea. Christ comes to his people in
their darkest hour, when things seem their worst. At the end
of the world, all enemies will openly appear conquered, as they
now are in truth. 1 Corinthians 15.25 says that
Christ must reign till he hath put all enemies under his feet. And Jesus came walking on the
sea. Walking on the sea signifies his complete rule over his and
our enemies. Even the ordinances of God's
law that were against us have been nailed to his cross. Our
sins, the world, and the devil have been conquered. Nothing
can condemn one for whom Christ died. Isaiah 54, 17 says, No
weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper. Every tongue
that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn.
This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness
is of me, saith the Lord. Nothing can condemn one for whom
Christ died because Christ is their righteousness. When the
disciples saw Jesus, they were afraid, thinking he was a spirit,
and they cried out for fear. Only our sin and unbelief make
us afraid. The enemies of our soul instill
fear in our hearts. We fear the guilt and condemnation
of our sin. We fear our sin will overcome
us. We fear the world will drown us in its deception and philosophies. What are we to do? Look again
to Christ. As you have received Christ Jesus
the Lord, so walk ye in Him. When we first believe, or when
we are in any fear, the answer is always the same. Look to Christ. We pray, deliver us from evil,
for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Matthew 6.13 Trust in Him at
all times, you people. Pour out your heart before Him.
God is a refuge for us. Psalm 62.8 Our great God and
Savior walks on the sea of all that would drown our souls. He
has purged our sins and endured the wrath of God in our place.
In verse 27, the disciples cried out in fear and immediately Jesus
spoke to them saying, Be of good cheer, it is I, be not afraid. These words can be translated,
be comforted, I am, do not fear. Our Lord Jesus says that we have
no reason to fear because he is the eternal I am, the God
of glory, and he is for his people. Romans 8.31 says, if God be for
us, who can be against us? There are three other times in
the New Testament where Jesus said, Be of good cheer. In the
first, a paralyzed man was brought to Jesus by his four friends.
Jesus spoke to him. He said, Son, be of good cheer. By sins be forgiven thee. My
sin is the cause for all my inward fear and trouble. It is ever
before me. I can do nothing about it. But
in the Gospel, the Lord Jesus Christ says, Son, be of good
cheer. Thy sins be forgiven thee. If
Christ has forgiven my sins, if He says, Be of good cheer,
I have reason to be of good cheer. In the second place, a woman
with an issue of blood came to Jesus. The law pronounced her
unclean. She was plagued. She touched
Jesus' garments, and she was immediately healed of her plague.
Jesus said to her, Be of good comfort, thy faith hath made
thee whole. My sinful nature is my plague.
In the face of all my inward corruptions, if the Lord Jesus
Christ says to me, Be of good cheer, I am. It is because His
grace reigns through His righteousness where once sin reigned to my
death. Romans 5.21 He has overcome my
sin. I am under His grace. My sin
shall not have dominion over me. Romans 6.14 I will be enabled
to believe Him. I will be enabled to go to Him. And hearing Him say, Be of good
cheer, I am. Be comforted, I will love him. The third place Jesus used these
words is in John 16.33. He said to his disciples, These
things I have spoken unto you, that in me you might have peace. In the world you shall have tribulation,
but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world. I have no
peace but what I have in Christ. In his wisdom I am able to stand
before God. My peace is knowing that Christ
has fulfilled the obedience required for God to accept me, and I have
peace in His blood. God has accepted the sacrifice
of my Savior as my sin offering. He raised Christ from the dead.
He has accepted Him and accepted all in Him. I have peace in His
sovereign rule. Nothing in heaven or earth can
prevent Him from His purpose of love. Nothing can separate
me from His love. If Christ died for me, nothing
can condemn me. If Christ prays for me, if He
intercedes for me, I will be saved to the uttermost. Hebrews
7.25 and Romans 5.10 If He has overcome my sin, my sin cannot
overcome me. If he has overcome the world,
the world cannot overcome me. If he has overcome the devil,
the devil cannot overcome me. Therefore, I have the peace in
Christ that hell itself cannot shake. Now upon hearing, Be of
good cheer, I am, Peter asked Jesus to command him to come
on the water. I don't want to presume. Christ
must command me to come. I must wait on Him to do for
me what I cannot do. Yet it is always His way to promise
and then stir up His people to ask Him to fulfill His promise
to them. In Ezekiel 36-37 the Lord says,
I will yet be inquired of by the house of Israel to do it
for them. That is what faith does. Faith
asks God to do what He has promised. David said in 2 Samuel 7.25,
Lord, do as thou hast said. The psalmist prayed in Psalm
35.3, Say unto my soul, I am thy salvation. God has written this prayer in
his word for you and me in Isaiah 45, 22. Look unto me and be ye
saved all the ends of the earth for I am God and there is none
else. Jesus commanded Peter to come
and Peter walked on the water to Jesus. Psalm 71.3 says, Thou
hast given commandment to save me, for Thou art my rock and
my fortress. Lord, if you give what you command,
then command what you will. This is Christ's irresistible
command to his people. Come. And so hearing Jesus, Peter
walked on the water. As long as Peter looked to Christ,
all the enemies of his soul were as nothing. He walked on the
floods that would have otherwise drowned him. But when he saw
the wind boisterous, he was afraid, and beginning to sink, he cried,
Lord, save me! When Peter considered his success
in walking, when he saw the wind and the waves, he was afraid
and began to sink. Never be self-satisfied in your
performance as a believer. As soon as you begin to look
at yourself, your feet have already slipped. You are not looking
to Christ. With all of our faith, there
is always much unbelief. Yet even in this, we are saved. Our fears arise. We call upon
the Lord in our trouble. And when we do, He delivers us
out of them all. Psalm 107, O that men would praise
the Lord for His goodness, for His wonderful works to the children
of men. Peter's prayer is every believer's
prayer. Lord, save me. Have you ever
prayed this prayer? Sin, in all of its forms, is
as natural to us as drinking water. The world would swallow
us up. We are no match for the devil,
but we overcome all by looking to Christ alone. Revelation 12.11
says, They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb. And in 1 John
5.4 he says, Faith overcomes the world. If you know this,
call upon him. Say, Lord, save me. Immediately Jesus stretched forth
his hand and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little
faith, wherefore didst thou doubt? The Lord's hand is not shortened
that it cannot save. Christ immediately stretches
out his hand whenever we call. If you cry, Lord, save me, he
will save you. He delights in mercy. Micah 7
verse 18. He is more ready to show mercy
than we are to receive it. The Holy Spirit of God gives
sinners this prayer to pray in Psalm 2511. For thy name's sake,
O Lord, pardon mine iniquity, for it is great. If you are a
great sinner, if you have no power over your sin, then call
on Christ to save you from your great sin. He has promised to
do so. Him that cometh to me, Jesus
said, I will in no wise cast out, John 6.37. His promise comes
from his heart. He cannot lie and he cannot fail. And then when they were coming
to the ship, the wind ceased. Jesus could have stilled the
sea and calmed the wind long before he entered the ship, but
he had a greater purpose. Faith always grows out of trouble. Until we see our guilt and condemnation
and helplessness before God, we will not understand the glory
of God in the gospel. That glory is that God has made
known His righteousness in Christ when we were utterly unrighteous. He has destroyed His and our
enemies. He has fulfilled and honored
His law. He has satisfied His justice.
He has magnified His perfections and His name. But none of this
means anything without the trouble of soul that arises from the
conviction of sin and my helplessness to overcome it. This is painful,
but it is necessary. As soon as the Lord Jesus Christ
was with the disciples in the boat, the wind ceased. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego
were cast into the fiery furnace. The Son of God appeared with
them there, therefore they were not hurt by those flames. The
smell of smoke did not even linger on their clothes. If Christ is
with me, I can face all enemies without fear. He conquered sin. He has dominion over my flesh.
He overcame the world. He destroyed the works of the
devil. In all these, we triumph in Him. He is with every believer
even now. Hebrews 13, 5 and 6 says, He
has said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee, so that
we may boldly say, the Lord is my helper. I will not fear what
man shall do unto me. When He comes to gather His saints
in the end of the world, then all sin and trouble and labor
and fears will cease. Sin and all of its consequences
will have been more than overcome. We are more than conquerors through
Him that loved us. Romans 8.37 In John 6.21 it says
they willingly received Jesus into the ship and immediately
the ship was at the land whither they went. When we believe the
Lord Jesus, we then possess all that we hope for. Faith is the
substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Christ has justified his people. He has made them holy. He has
given them his own spirit. They are now the sons of God.
But none of these things appear to us in our experience. 1 John
3 verse 2. How then do we know we have them?
Because we believe God's word. Colossians 2, 9 and 10 says,
In him, in Christ, dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily,
and we are complete in him. Seeing Christ as all, we receive
grace in every trouble, in every fear, and in every doubt. We
possess by faith what we now hope for. When Christ is with
us, we have all things. And the disciples came and worshipped
Him, saying of a truth, Thou art the Son of God. When by faith
we see Jesus Christ in the Gospel, we know that He is the great
I AM. We see that He overcame all of
our enemies. And we hear His voice, Be of
good cheer, I AM. Do not be afraid. Hearing and
seeing Him, we worship Him. He is the Son of God. His people
will be brought to the destination He determined for them beforehand. He has devised both the end and
the means of our salvation. The end is eternal glory with
Christ. The means is being in Christ. And the means is looking to Christ. We overcome all of our enemies
by looking to Him. We live and we walk by faith
in Christ alone. In light of these things, may
this prayer be our cry from Psalm 35 verses 1-3. Plead my cause,
O Lord, with them that strive with me. Fight against them that
fight against me. Take hold of shield and buckler,
and stand up for my help. draw out also the spear and stop
the way against them that persecute me. Say unto my soul, I am thy
salvation. You've just heard a sermon by
our pastor Rick Warda. You may contact us by email or
by phone or download a copy of this sermon by visiting our website
at YSGraceChurch.com