Where sin abounded, grace did
much more abound. Grace did much more abound. There
ain't a sin ever been committed that God's grace has not put
away and cannot put away. Not a one. Matthew 14. Matthew
14. Start reading at verse 14. And
Jesus went forth and saw a great multitude and was moved with
compassion toward them. and he healed their sick. And
when it was evening, his disciples came to him, saying, This is
a desert place, and the time is now past. Send a multitude
away, that they may go into the villages and buy themselves victuals. But Jesus said unto them, They
need not depart, give ye them to eat. And they say unto him,
We have here but five loaves and two fishes. He said, Bring
them hither to me. And he commanded, the multitude
to sit down on the grass. Now the Armenian and the free
willers say, would you all please sit down? Please sit down. Would
you do it for me? And no, he commanded. He commanded
the multitude to sit down on the grass and took the five loaves
and the two fishes. And looking up to heaven, he
blessed and break and gave the loaves to his disciples and the
disciples to the multitude. And they did all eat and were
filled And they took up of the fragments that remained twelve
baskets full. And they that had eaten were
about five thousand men beside women and children. And straightway
Jesus constrained his disciples to get into a ship and to go
before him under 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. 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, 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. Back here in Matthew 14. Back
here in Matthew 14. My subject this morning is Saved
in a Storm. Not saved from the storm, saved
in a storm. Our Lord Jesus told his disciples
to get in a ship and go to the other side. He went up on a mountainside
to pray. They went out and got right in
the middle of the sea. A great big storm came up. But let me say a few things by
way of introduction. I truly, truly feel sorry for
people who feel that they're strong and can bear anything.
I do. They never have any weakness,
no inabilities. I feel sorry for people who are
self-sufficient, who are wise in their own eyes. For people
who arrogantly talk about what they can do or have done. And
oh, how sorry we feel for people too proud to own that they are
weak, frail, perishing creatures. And I'll tell you something about
time. Time is a time. It just keeps coming. It just
keeps coming. And it just keeps coming. And
one of these days it's gonna overtake us all. Gonna overtake
us all. God pity us if we don't learn
from life. But believers can say as David
did, my times, oh Lord, are in thy hand, thy hand. And I'm gonna
leave them there. But here are some people, here's
some people just the opposite of that. And they're in trouble. First of all, we have about 5,000
men, and that's just men. I don't count the women and the
children. They heard about the Lord Jesus Christ out in the
wilderness and the way they went. They were hungry, they were tired,
and our Lord Jesus Christ had compassion on them and fed them.
And then not only that, but all the sick he had among them, out
of all those thousands of people, he healed all the sick that was
among them. So those folks were in trouble,
and our Lord fed them and took care of them. And here is also
some of God's people in trouble in a storm in the sea. Down in
verse 24, look what it says. The ship was now tossed in the
midst of the sea. The ship was now in the midst
of the sea, tossed with waves, for the wind was contrary. And
there's this story is in all three gospels. It's in Mark chapter
six, it's in John chapter six. And then after our Lord had felled
that multitude, and he sent the disciples away, and then there's
this great storm comes to these disciples while they're on the
sea. And this storm, the salvation that's in this storm, being saved
in this storm is full of lessons. Lessons for us as we observe
the disciples in this storm and how our Lord deals with them.
You know, look what it says in verse 22. After they had fed about 5,000
men and women and children, and straightway, straightway, immediately,
that's what straightway means, immediately Jesus constrained
His disciples to get into a ship and to go before Him under the
other side while He sent the multitude away. Immediately after
He fed these folks, immediately. He told His disciples, You get
in this ship, go on to the other side, and I ll see you over there.
And He called His disciples, and He said immediately. And then it says He constrained
them. He wanted them to do this. He constrained them to do it.
You go do this. It was an urgency about it, and
I tell you, he genuinely left the disciples to dismiss the
crowds, but he stayed behind himself. Look what it says, to
go before him unto the other side while he sent the multitudes
away. Can you imagine being with the
Lord Jesus Christ? He just fed you, took care of
you. Disciples won't go down to get
into the boat. And he starts telling me, you
all go on back home now. You go, you know, go back where
you are and I'll take care. I see that you, you know, nothing's
going to happen to you. So he sends them back. But why
did I, Lord, have this sense of urgency? Why did He have this
sense of urgency for them to get into the ship and get to
the other side? I'm going to show you in John 6.15. Look what
it says over in John 6.15. Look what happens here, what
they're going to do to our Master, what they want to do. This is
the story over here. Oh, He's seen that miracle, and
they said, This is truth of a prophet. But in John 6.15, it says, When
Jesus therefore perceived that they would come and take him
by force to make him a king, he departed again into a mountain
himself alone." Oh, they just witnessed this incredible miracle,
and lots of it left over. And they said, surely this is
a prophet. And then they said, wouldn't
he make a wonderful king? That's what they wanted to do.
They wanted to make him a king. And I tell you, our Lord Jesus
Christ, they didn't understand that Christ's kingdom is not
of this world. He told Pilate that. He said,
are you a king? He said, did somebody tell you
this? Somebody else. Well, where's your kingdom at?
He says, if my kingdom were of this world, they would fight.
But my kingdom's not of this world. My kingdom's a spiritual
kingdom. My kingdom is to reign over a
spiritual people. And the scriptures tells us that
the kingdom of God, he said, the kingdom of God's not without,
but it's within you. God's rule and reigns inside
of us. And I'll tell you what, and I'm
grateful that's where he reigned. They didn't understand that.
They wanted him as a prophet. They wanted him as a king. But
oh, they didn't want him as a sacrifice. They didn't want him as a sacrifice
and a sin offering. They don't care for you being
a prophet. Don't care for you being a king.
But listen, one thing we don't need. We don't need to be saved
from our sins. We don't need to be saved from
our troubles. We don't need a sacrifice. We got priests to offer sacrifice. But I'll tell you what, beloved.
They didn't want Him in His cross. They didn't want Him in His redemptive
work. And He withdrew from them who
wanted to make Him king. And I tell you what, our Lord
Jesus Christ is not going to be a king over a nation of unbelievers. He's king over a nation of spiritual
people. King over, you know, He says
He gave Himself to redeem us from all our iniquities. And
I tell you what, He told Simon Peter, you know, Simon Peter
said, He said, You are peculiar people, a chosen generation who
hath called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. And
that s what He came to do, not to reign over a bunch of unbelieving
Jews. And He ain't going to do it after
a thousand-year reign either. He's not going to do that. He's
not going to go back over there. I'll tell you what, beloved,
He came here to save His people. That's the first and primary
purpose. And there's another office between prophet and king,
and it's priest. And you know what a priest does?
He goes between God and the people. He goes between God and the people.
He represents the people before God and represents God for the
people. And the priest has to have a
sacrifice to offer. And our Lord Jesus Christ is
our great hard priest. He offered himself without spot
to God. And beloved, He opened the way
into the holiest of holies by His own blood. And I'll tell
you something else, they couldn't make Him king. He is already
king. God made Him king. God made Him
king. I took a seminary course years
ago, and one of the questions in that course was how long is
Christ going to be a king or is He king? And I said, he is
king before he got here, king while he is here, and he's king
now. And I wrote a whole essay on
that, on Christ being king. And you go to a fundamentalist
church, a premillennialist church, and you tell them that Christ
reigns right now, and they'll throw you out. Because Christ
is not gonna reign until all the church is raptured out, seven
years of tribulation, and then Jesus is gonna go back to Jerusalem,
sit on his throne, and rule from over there for 1,000 years. Ain't
that the most, gonna leave glory and come back to this earth to
be an earthly king. Gonna leave all his throne in
heaven to come sit on an earthly throne. to come and watch him
offer sacrifices again when his own sacrifice put away sin once
in the end of the world by himself. If they didn't put away sins
then, what makes you think they'd put away sins now? Ah, no, they
don't. Kings, all right, but don't save
us, you know. And so here are these fellas
in the boat. Our Lord Jesus Christ sent them away and he goes up
to a mountain. They wanna make him king. And then look what
it says in verse 24 over here. in Matthew again, Matthew 14,
24. He is crossing the lake now. He sent the multitude away, went
up into a mountain to pray. His disciples are crossing the
lake. And these men, you know, and the ship was now in the midst
of the sea. These men were disciples of Christ. They were disciples
of Christ despite their faults, despite their weaknesses, despite
their shortcomings, despite their immaturity. They were His disciples. And He owned them and He claimed
them. And they were acknowledged followers of Jesus of Nazareth.
They acknowledged that I'm following Jesus of Nazareth. I've listened
to my Master. I follow Him. And let me tell
you something, they were obedient disciples. They were obedient. They did just exactly what their
master told them. They got in the boat, went as
he told them to. They didn't talk back. They didn't
argue. They didn't debate with him.
They didn't act out of self-will as they had at other times. You
know, Simon Peter, twice, twice he tried to deal with the Lord
Jesus Christ as a man first of all when he told him said they
fished all night and he said we'll launch out into the deep
and let down Jeanette for a drought he said Lord we fished all night
we know fishing if there's anything we know we know how to fish he
said nevertheless at your word since you said for us to do it
we let it down and then they caught so many fish that Jeanette
was going And then that's when old Simon Peter said, oh Lord,
depart from me. Who am I to even question you,
to doubt you, to wonder about you? I should have not said a
word and just dropped the net. But I said, Lord, we've tried
to justify what a thing. Why should we let down the net?
We fished all night. But he said, I will. And then,
Another time, our Lord Jesus told them all, said, I got to
go to Jerusalem. I got to be delivered into the
hands of sinful men and I'll be crucified, I'll be slain,
but I'll rise again. I'll rise again on the third
day. And Simon Peter wretched got
a hold of him and said, oh Lord, be it far from thee. Don't let
this happen to you. And he said, oh, get behind me,
Satan. Oh my, so I tell you this was
the time he was at fault, but I tell you this time they didn't
talk back, they got in the boat and they were obeying their master
and they ran into a violent, violent storm. Now they was doing
what the Lord told them to do, they was in the boat when He
told them to go, And here they are in the middle of this violent,
violent storm. How can this be? I'm doing my
master's will, yet I'm in trouble. Yet I'm doing what he told me
to do. I'm in his will, I'm obeying
him, yet I'm in trouble. What's the problem? What's going
on here? Well, let me tell you that all storms, that all the
storms we encounter are not because of disobedience. That's something
that religion has come up with, that every time you get in trouble,
it's because you've disobeyed the Lord. Is there a day goes
over your head that you don't falter? have weakness and inabilities
and frailty. And oh, listen, they're there
just because God wills a storm to be there. God to teach us
some things and to wean us off of this world, and not only off
of this world, but to wean us off of our self. Self's the hardest
fellow to wean from. And no, this is not the Christianity
of this 20th century, where all is supposed to be sunshine and
roses. But you read down through history,
you read like Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress. The first thing he
found when he got through that wicked gate was a slaw of despondency. He was a slaw of absolute despondency. And then he got on the hill difficulty. After that, beloved, he had a
bypass metas. And then after that, he ended
up down in Vanity Fair, where Madam Bubble was. Then he went
by this place where they was mining silver, and they said,
come on over here. You can make lots of money over
here. He's tempted to go to the silver mine. And then he got
on the enchanted ground and fell asleep. But it wasn't the sleep
of death. God woke him up. And oh, listen,
this generation today, they don't want no trouble, but God's people,
I tell you what, they can be doing the Lord's will, be right
in the, doing what their master said, and still get right in
the middle of a bad storm, huh? Oh, our Lord said, if any man
will be my disciple, let him deny himself, take up his cross
daily, and follow me, follow me. And I tell you, a cross is
not a decoration on your lapel or something to be hung around
your neck. You know what a cross represents? Suffering, suffering,
agony, pain, heaviness, dying. That's what a cross represents.
And look what Peter said over here in 1 Peter 4. We need to
see this. Let's look at this together.
1 Peter 4 and verse 12. You know, And it was dark out
here in this middle of this sea when they was out there. It was
dark. And we live in a dark world. We live in a dark, dark world,
a world of trouble, a world that lies in that wicked one. And
I tell you what, this is a world full of trouble. And you know,
the more light we have, the greater, more darkness we see. And the
more we understand the rest and peace we have in Christ, the
more trouble we see in this world and more we want out of it. But
look what Simon Peter said here in verse 12, chapter four and
verse 12, Beloved, Think it not strange concerning the fiery
trial, which is to try you as though some strange thing happened
unto you. You think it's strange that you're
gonna have a trial, and a fiery trial, a hurtful trial, one that's
gonna really make you hurt, fire burn, but rejoice. Inasmuch as
what you're going through, God considered is that you're partakers
of Christ's suffering. that when, listen to this, that
when His glory shall be revealed, and it's gonna be revealed, you
may be glad also with exceeding joy. Paul said it another way. I reckon that the sufferings
of this present time are not worthy to be compared to the
glory gonna be revealed in us, huh? And listen, this was dark
and they was in a dark, dark world. And I'll tell you something,
beloved. Sometimes our Lord withholds the light. He turns off the light
and lets his people get tossed about, let them get sifted as
wheat, let them be tried severely, but he'll come in his time when
his purpose has been accomplished. He says, you know, he said over
in Isaiah 50, y'all can look at it yourself later. In verse
10 and 11 it says, they who are the children of Zion are walking
in darkness and those who are in darkness are walking in light.
Those who, God's children, walking in darkness and the world walking
in light. Explain that. But it also says
this, they're walking by a light of a fire they kindled themselves. They started their own fire and
they're walking by their own light. But oh my. And I'll tell
you, listen to me now, many are confused by this issue. They've
been taught that suffering presupposes sin, that the reason people suffer
is because they've sinned. Lots of people, I mean, there's
people all over this county and all over the United States that
actually believe that and are taught that. I've heard lots
of preachers saying that. You know, if you're sick, you
sinned. You need to find out what your
sin is and repent of it. You need to find out what you
did wrong. If a storm comes, you sinned. I've heard preachers
say, boy, I'll tell you what, if you don't give God what's
his, give him 10%, and you know you'll be going down the road
and your engine blow up and your car says, uh-oh, I told you,
I told you God's gonna get you. Wouldn't that be awful to live
under that kind of bondage? But oh, I remember somebody right
here in this congregation several years ago said they was sick
and they was having a hard time. And they said, I was wondering
what sin I've done. And I told them right then and
there, I said, God took care of our sin. We're not gonna suffer
over sin. This body is weak and frail and
we're gonna die. But God put away our sin and
God does not punish us for our sin under any circumstances. We're going to have troubles.
We're going to get sick. We're going to have heart attacks.
We're going to have cancer. We're going to go blind. We're
going to go deaf. But it's not because God's punishing,
it's just part of the curse. God put our sin away. And if
you get sick, it's because you're sick. How many people here take blood
pressure medicine? How many people take heart medicine?
How many people take stuff for their thyroid? How many people
take stuff for their nerves? Does that mean you sinned? Oh,
what do we expect in a world where sin reigns? And self is
God and death is ever present. And bless God for the believers'
futures. These disciples ran into a storm
doing exactly what their master told them to. Huh? And we've
been in a few storms. Somebody may be in a storm right
now in this service today. I don't know. But I do know one
thing. You'll get to the other side. get to the other side. Oh, look
in the storm. Now back up here in verse 24
again. The ship was now the midst of the sea. It was a long, long
way from the shore. Here's in the middle. It was
caught between this shore and that shore. Oh, some people say
it was eight or nine miles. And then it says the ship was
tossed about with waves. Big waves, it was a severe storm. Oh my, and the wind was contrary
to them. You ever heard the Irish blessing?
And this says, two parts of it, I know is this. It said, may
the road rise up before you and may the wind always be at your
back. But the wind was contrary to these fellas. It was contrary
to them. I mean, they was going this way
and the wind was coming this way. They's trying to get there
and the wind's pushing back. They's trying to go this way
and the wind make them go that way. So the wind was contrary
to them. And oh my. And let me show you
something. Look with me over in Mark. This
is such a blessing. Mark chapter six. This is such
a blessing to me right here. In verse 48. Well, look at verse
46, and then we'll set this thing up here. Now they're out on the
boat, they're out in there, and I mean they're in the midst of
this storm, waves tossing that boat around, the wind contrary
to them. And when he had sent them away,
he departed into a fountain to pray. And when evening was come,
the ship, now see, was in the midst of the sea, and Christ
is alone on the land. Now listen to what he says here.
He's alone on the land, he's over the mountainside praying,
and he's salty. What did he see him doing? Toiling
and rowing. He's over here on the land. They're
out in the middle of that sea. He's over here calling on the
Father. He's praying. And yet he saw them toiling and
rowing for the wind was contrary to them. So I tell you what,
he's over here on the land and he knows exactly what's going
on with his disciples. He's over here and he sees what
they're going through out there. Oh, my soul. Oh, where's our
master? He saw the disciples, what they
was going through, and he's up on the land. Where's our master? He told us to get in the boat,
cross the lake. Did he know this storm was coming?
Where is he? We're in trouble. What's he doing
while we're in the storm? And oh, listen, he was watching
them. He was watching over his disciples. He saw them toiling. He saw them rowing. He saw that
trouble going on. And our Lord's on the mountainside.
He's praying and watching and watching and praying. And while
he's commuting with his fathers, he's also watching over his people
in that little old boat. And him and his father are conversing. And at the same time, he's watching
those people out here in the boat. How that can that be? It's easy for him. It's easy
for him. Oh my, the father's on the throne. The son's over here on a Palestinian
hillside. But the father and the son both
are watching that storm, storm-tossed boat, and they're talking about
it together. You know what they're talking
about? God. Said, I'll spare not my son,
but deliver him up for us all. And with him shall he also freely
give us all things. Who shall lay anything then to
the charge of God's elect? Is Christ the died? Yea rather,
not only did he die, but he rose again. Where's he at now? Sitting
at the right hand of God. What's he doing? Making intercession
for us. That's what he's doing. oh my
and together they watch this boat tossed about the first watch
second watch and the third watch as of the night they watch till
the fourth hour uh-huh and I tell you what they see them in the
dark and their way out to sea beloved Oh, how can we ever doubt
that our Lord knows where we are and what we're going at any
moment in our life? How can we doubt that? There,
he's up there, and he watches them rolling in total, huh? Ah,
he's able to save to the uttermost, able to sub to them, and he ever
lives to make intercession for them. He knows our circumstances,
knows our enemies, knows our problems, knows our fears, and
he's watching over us. But now wait a minute, he's waiting
and waiting and waiting and waiting before he ever does anything.
Now he could have come to him that quick. He could have stayed
on the shore and took care of that storm. He could have stayed
on the shore and said, stop. I want this storm to cease. I
want my disciples to be on the other side. He could have done
that from the shore. But he waits and he waits and
he waits and he waits. Why does he wait so long? He
waits till the storm has served its purpose. And every storm
has a purpose. Everything God sends our way
has a purpose to it. God doesn't do things capriciously. And you know why He sends storms?
You say, boy, storms going to bless us. This storm's going
to bless me. When you're in that storm, you don't think that.
But I tell you what, you've been through a few storms and you
say, yep, this storm's going to bless me. I'm going to get
a blessing when this storm's over. I'm going to get a blessing
while I'm in this storm. We get enriched in these storms. And He's able to cause these
storms and whatever happens to us to bless them to our spiritual
life, to give us some new knowledge about ourselves, give us some
new knowledge about God, give us some new knowledge about His
ways. Learn to trust Him more. It's like Moses said, Lord, if
I found grace in Your eyes, show me now Thy ways. that I may know
you. Show me your ways that I may
know you. This is one of his ways. Oh, what did he mean for
them to learn? What does he mean for us to learn?
That was the Lord was mindful of them all along. He seen exactly
where they was and what they is going through. And it's another
thing he teaches us here. Don't trust your boat. Don't
trust your boat. And don't trust your ability
to sail. Don't do that. And that your
most strenuous efforts avail very little. They were toiling
and rowing and didn't get nowhere. Didn't get nowhere. Stayed right
in the middle. They were totally helpless. And this is the thing that happens.
Must happen. Must happen. And it happens to
us over and over and over again. They must come to the end of
themselves. Come to the place where they
absolutely say, well, we're in this storm. We can't get out.
We can't get ourselves out of it. And they got to write the
sentence of death on themselves. And until we learn this, he won't
come until the fourth watch. And we're going to learn it.
These men were familiar with the sea. They were familiar with
boats. They were familiar with wind
and rough water, and yet no matter what they know and what natural
ability they have and experience, they can't navigate by themselves.
Our Lord said, without me, you can do nothing, do nothing. Christ
alone, Christ alone is our hope. Christ alone is our strength. Christ alone is the only help
we have, as far as this life right here goes. And teach us,
oh Lord, teach us. And then look what happens here
in verse 24 and 25. But the ship was now in the midst
of the sea, tossed with wave, for the wind was contrary unto
them. And watch this, in the fourth
watch of the night, Jesus went unto them, walking on the sea. He's watched and he's waited,
and now he comes. And here we, we as believers,
we must learn to expect the unexpected. Now these fellas didn't expect
to see the Lord walking on the water. They certainly didn't
expect to see that. But Christ comes in the most
unusual ways, and he comes in the most unexpected ways. And
when you expect him to do one thing, he'll do something else.
And here he comes walking on the sea, and came walking to
him. They said over in Mark chapter
six, or John six, that they'd already forgot the miracle of
the bread and fish. And here our Lord Jesus Christ,
that storm is still going on. Those waves are high. Those waves
are still tossing that board. And our Lord Jesus Christ walks
so majestically, stepping on those waves. Just step on a wave,
step on another wave, step on another wave, step on another.
Oh my. He's in absolute and total command. The waves that are fearful to
them are under His feet. Under His feet. They didn't plead
for Him. They didn't pray for His help.
But here he comes anyway. And he can come to his people
no matter where they are. You know why? Because he's omnipotent. He's got all power. Because he's
omnipresent, that means he's everywhere at all times. And
he's omniscient. He's all wise. He knows just
exactly what to do. And look what happens now. Instead
of rejoicing, look what happens now. verse 26, when the disciples
saw him walking on the sea. They're seeing the Lord Jesus
Christ walk on the sea. They were troubled. They were troubled anyway. Why
are they troubled about this? Why, it's the Spirit. And then
they got afraid. Oh, there's a Spirit out here
on the sea. Oh, wouldn't you be troubled
and scared if you saw someone walking on water in a storm?
It'd trouble you, too. But look what he says. One of
these days, you ought to go through the Scriptures, see how many
times he says, be of good cheer. And oh, he said, and they cried
out for fear. But straightway, immediately,
Jesus said unto them, saying, now they heard him over this
wind. They heard him over this storm. And I tell you what, I
don't believe he hollered. He didn't have to holler over
that wind, didn't have to holler over that sea. He just spake
unto them saying, be of good cheer. It's me. It's me. And be not afraid. Be not afraid. Oh. He can save his people in
different ways no matter where they are. And oh, and he goes
on to say, look what Peter let you do. Look what happens now.
And old Simon Peter said, and here he goes, he is so impetuous. Oh my goodness, bless his heart.
This is me right here. Lord, if it really is you, that's
what he said. Lord, if it really is you, is
that you? If it really is you, tell me
to come walk out there. Let me walk on the water too.
If that's really you you don't let me do this and our Lord said
come come on and that day the storm still going on Storm still
going on and Peter Come down out of the ship and listen to
what it says here. He walked on the water. Where do you want to go? Oh He wanted to get to the master.
He wanted to get to Christ. I tell you, this storm's going
on and he still wanted to get to Christ. When he saw him, he
wanted to get to him. But look what happens. Look what happens.
But when he saw the wind, we want to get to Christ. We want
to go to Christ. But sometimes things scare us
and trouble us. But when he saw the wind, boisterous,
strong, he was afraid. And he started sinking. He started
sinking. You reckon, listen, I'm going
to drown out here. What kind of fool was I to step
out here on this water? And he said, oh, and he began
to sink. He started going down. Did he
get to his waist? Did he get to his knees? Did
he get to his chest? But he started sinking. What
in the world is he going to do? He's walking on the water. What's
he going to do? Lord, save me. And immediately, Jesus stretched
forth his hand, that's all it took, and caught him, and caught
him, caught him, and said unto him, while he was lifting him
back up out of the water, said unto him, O thou of little faith,
why did you doubt? Oh my, he'll let you sink only
so far, but look what happens now. And when they were come
into the ship, him and Peter got in the ship, Just like that, Christ came and
stopped. Now watch what happens after
the storm. And then, verse 33, then they
that were in the ship came, what did they do? And worshiped him,
worshiped him, worshiped him on that ship, worshiped him,
saying, it's true, really, really true, you are the Son of God. After experiencing our Lord's
faithfulness and power and love and care for them, Will they
ever again have doubts and fears? Yep, they certainly will. They
certainly will. You reckon you will? You reckon
there'll be any more storms? Uh-huh. But still, in spite of
unbelief, hardness of heart, fear and doubt, they worshipped
Him. They worshipped Him, saying of
a truth, You're the Son of God. And that's what we do. We say
that Jesus Christ is God's Son that came into this world to
save people in trouble. Save his people in trouble and
save sinners from the trouble of sin. Heartache and sorrow.
May he do it today. May he do it today. Our Father,
O Father, in the blessed name of Christ our Lord. Thank you
for your abundant mercy and grace given us today. Oh, such instruction
in your word. Lord, how many times, how many
times have you come and saved us from the storm. Come walking,
come seeking, come comforting, come telling us. We'll be full
of fears and doubts and in a great storm. And then you'll say, oh,
I'll be a good cheer. It's me. I'm here. And Lord,
we bless you that you do us that way, that we can always, always
know that you'll In your time, when your purpose and will's
been accomplished in our hearts and in our lives, you'll come,
and we know you'll come, because you've done it so many times
over the years for us. All of us here, you've done it.
And we thank you for it, and we bless you for it. In Christ's
holy, blessed name, amen, amen.