Matthew 14 starting in verse 22. In 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. He had just
fed several thousand people and 5,000 men and besides women and
children. So that was, oh my, thousands. There were 5,000 men and not
counting women and children. But anyway, it constrained them
to get in this, just go on, get in the ship, I want you all to
go in. And while he sent the multitudes away, when he had
sent the multitudes away, he went up into a mountain, a park
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 winds, 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
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 the truth thou art the Son
of God. Supernatural walk. A supernatural
walk. Our Lord Jesus Christ often puts
his people in some pretty strange situations. He constrained them
to get in this ship, to get to the other side. And he constrained
them in the sense, you know, he tugged at them and pressed
on them to do this, like he constrained their hearts. And when they got
in this ship, the Lord Jesus up on the mountainside alone,
Now you think our Lord didn't know this storm was going to
come? You think this storm caught Him by surprise? But He's going to teach them
something, He's going to teach us something. Now I tell you, He has a purpose
for everything, for His children. Our Lord absolutely does nothing
without a purpose behind Him. And look what it says there in
verse 24. But the ship was now in the midst of the sea, it was
halfway across, right out in the middle of it. Tossed with
waves. Now watch what it says here,
tossed with waves. And I tell you what, there's
often times we seem like we're out in the midst of the sea and
we're tossed with waves. David says, deep answers unto
deep, thy waves roll over me. And then look what it says, for
the wind was contrary to them. Contrary wind, that means that
you're fighting it and fighting it and you're absolutely making
no progress at all. You're going this way, the wind's
coming this way. You turn around and go that way,
the wind comes this way. Whichever way you're going, the
wind's against you. Contrary to you. You can't do
anything. And our Lord sends contrary winds. He sends winds that seem to be
against us, where we don't seem to make any progress. Where we
don't seem to be making any progress at all. And whichever way we
go, there's this wind that's against us. But now that's our
experience. God's people experience this
often. And then look what it says now.
And the disciples saw him walking on the sea. Now this is the condition
they were in. And in the fourth watch of the
night, he waited till things got bad. He gotta wait till things get
bad. And you know these are experienced
fishermen. These are experienced men. And when the disciples saw
him walking on the sea. Boy, I'd love to have seen that.
I'd love to have seen the Lord Jesus walking on the sea. I'd
love to have seen that. But here he come, walking on
the sea. And instead of rejoicing, instead
of being happy, instead of saying, it's the Lord. Oh, we're going
to be saved now. Everything's going to be alright.
You know what it says? They were troubled. Saying, well, it's the Spirit.
Men don't walk on water. They certainly don't walk on
top of waves. They certainly don't walk with
the winds contrary to Him. And they cried out for fear. Cried out for fear. Oh, how can
this be? Huh? And that's in this condition
that the Lord Jesus Christ went to them when everything was contrary
to Him. But now listen to what our Master
says. Listen to what our Master says. The straight way Jesus
spake unto them. Now he's out here walking on
the sea. They're in that boat. Waves are rolling. Winds are
blowing. I mean, it's a storm. Everything's going on. And they're scared to totally
to death. They're afraid, not so much of
the storm, but because they see this man walking on the water,
and they say it's the Spirit, and they get troubled, get afraid. And our Lord answered them, And
he said unto them, he spake unto them, they're in this boat, he's
going to speak over this storm now. He's going to speak over
this wind. He's going to speak over these
waves. He's got this calm birth here, and he spake with all that's
going on, and spake unto them. Now you notice he didn't talk,
he spake unto them, the only speech to his children. The only
speech to his children. They may not have heard his voice
yet, but he's only going to speak to his children. He only speaks
to his sheep. Ain't that right? And listen
to what he says now. Be of good cheer. You know how
many times our Lord told his disciples that? You get your
concordance down one of these days and go through that and
say, look how many times our Lord said, be of good cheer.
In other words, be happy. What are you scared of? Be joyful. I'm here. Be of good cheer. That's what Peter, that's what
Paul told him that night on that ship. He said, sirs, be of good
cheer. God told me that you're all going to be saved tonight.
So be of good cheer. Don't be afraid. And look what our Lord says,
be of good cheer. It is I. It's me. Be not afraid. Be not afraid. Now look what
happens. And I want you to understand
that, you see, that boy, I mean, this is our Lord comes right
to him and he goes into this storm. He goes right into this,
he walks into this storm with them. The storm don't stop. He's on them waves. That wind's
blowing and howling. That ship's tossed here yonder
and about. And they can hear our voice,
our Lord's voice above the storm, above the wind, above the waves,
above their fears. He can hear His voice. His feet
squeeze. People hear Him. And look what
He says now. And old Peter makes a request.
And oh, what a request it is. Peter answered and said, Lord, If it is you, if it is you, if it is you, you tell me to come
out there on the water with you. Oh my, you know what, you talking
about a bold request. Nobody else on that boat said
anything like that. You talking about a fella that's
got, Peter's always So impetuous, always to say something. But
look what he says, he said, if it's your Lord, you beg me, you
tell me to come down, come unto the end of the water. Huh? Oh, and I tell you what, our
Lord is exceedingly abundantly above to do all things that we
could even think or ask for. And I tell you what, our Lord
Jesus Christ, you know, we want to walk like He walked, but I
tell you what, I can't walk on water, but look what He said.
And I said to Peter, he says, come. Just come. Come on. You know, he's walking where
human wisdom and fleshly feeling cannot walk. Everything about
the believers walks supernatural. Everything about it is supernatural.
And this is a supernatural act. And our Lord says to him, come.
Come. Now watch what happens. When
our Lord says come, can you come? When our Lord said, He told that
man who had the withered arm, He said stretch forth your hand.
A withered man can't stretch forth his hand. But with the
commandment comes the ability. If Christ says stretch forth
your hand, your hand is able to come forth. If a man ain't
able to walk, and ain't able to walk all the days of his life,
and by the Lord says, rise up and walk, a man who's never gonna
walk because with the command comes the ability. And he says,
Peter come. So when he gave, told Peter to
come, the ability for him to walk on water came with the command. And you know our Lord never did
ask anybody to do anything. He just gave commandments. They
said, well, he invited him to come. He never invited him to
do anything. He told him, you want to come out here? Come on! And then look what it says
now about Peter. Oh, listen. He's going to walk
where none but the feet of faith can go. And everything about
a believer's walk is supernatural. And he's walking by faith. And
I tell you what, every believer can walk with Christ and no matter
what deep the water gets, no matter how stormy it is, no matter
what's going on, we can walk with Christ when He says, Come! Come! And look what happened
now. Now just imagine, this storm's
going on. And look what happened when Peter
was come down out of the ship. You know what he had to do? He
had to climb over the side of that ship. Stick one leg over,
stick the other leg over, hold on to that thing, and then step
out like this and turn loose. He had to climb down out of that
ship. He didn't stand up on the bow, you know, and step off on
the wire. No, it says when Peter was come
down, he had to climb over the rail. and hang on that thing,
and then he's holding on to it, and I'm sure, you know, they
don't say this, but you can just picture what's going on. And
he got his hands on that boat. Am I going to take this or not? You know, should I try this or
not? You know, and the Lord told him
to come, so he's holding on and he lets go of it. And he's standing. And he's standing. And he starts
walking. He starts walking on that water.
He starts walking along. Peter done a lot of dumb things,
but none of the rest of the disciples ever walked on water. He's walking
on the water. Walking with Christ. Walking where Christ is walking.
The waves and the wind and everything. Nothing's changed yet. Oh my! Oh what a wonderful red! He comes
down and he starts walking. Oh my! And I'll tell you something,
let me show you. There's so many places where
it talks about people walking with God, walking with Christ.
If a man walks with Christ, he's walking by faith. He's certainly
not walking by sight. This man's walking by faith.
He's not walking by sight. And we all, when any walk with
God, people say, you know, I want a closer walk. And we do. I'd
love to have a closer walk. But every believer walks with
God. Every believer walks with Christ.
And we do it by faith. We're not walking on water, but
we're walking in storms. We're walking in waves. We're
walking in winds contrary to us. And if it's calm, we still
walk with Christ. Everybody walks with Christ.
And this idea, you know, that only real, real spiritual people
walk with the Lord. Only people who have a great,
a real deep spiritual and all that, they're the ones who walk.
Everybody walks with Him. Everybody that's been saved by
the grace of God walks with the Lord. Everybody does. And oh, look what happens now. He took the Lord in his words.
That's what it takes. Christ says come. He listens
to the Lord's word. And down out of that thing he
came. And I tell you what, you've got to come out of the ship of
self and trust the word of Christ. And let me tell you what happens.
Now look what he says. I'm not going to take very long
with this. And Peter answers, Oh Lord, if it be you bid me
come. Peter comes out on the water and he walked on the water. Listen to what it says now. Where
is he going to go when he is out on that water? To go to Jesus. He is not just walking on the
water for the sake of walking on the water. He is getting on
that water and he wants to go to Damascus. Wherever the Lord
is at, that is where I want to be. And he said that Christ told
him to come. Christ walked in there and he started walking
back toward the Lord. And that's where we go. Wherever
we're walking, we're walking toward Christ. We want to be
where Christ is at. And we want to be with our Lord.
We want to be where He's at, no matter where He's at. That's
where we want to be. And he walked to go to Jesus. And oh, now listen
to what happens. and this happens to us oh my
goodness this happens to us this is again our experience and then
all of a sudden it dawned on him where he was and what was
going on and then he saw the wind boisterous probably a big
old wave come right up in front of him he couldn't see the Lord but
a big old wave maybe rolled up I don't know but when he saw
the wind boisterous when he saw the wind real strong He was afraid. He was afraid. The winds blow,
the storms beat, the rains descend. Will the house stand? And already
saw that wind, and he was afraid. I tell you what, you get caught
in a real, real storm. You get caught in a real, real
place where God puts you between a rock and a hard place and He
takes away all creature comforts. He takes away everything that
you... He takes away the comfort of a bed. He takes away the comfort
of a home. He takes away the comfort of
everything you've ever had any hope or trust in and felt any
comfort in. He takes away all that and leaves
you in that storm. And then winds blowing about
you and nobody knows what's going on but you and one other person
maybe and then God leaves you like that. You'll get afraid
too. You'll get afraid too. And look
what it says, and beginning to sink. You know what that teaches us?
That without Christ we can do nothing. Without Him, we can
do nothing. And he was afraid and beginning
to sink. Oh my! You ever felt like you were beginning
to sink? Huh? You ever had so many things come
at you at one time you felt like you were beginning to sink? Maybe
a child was sick. Maybe a husband was sick. A wife
was sick. Mother. Something goes on in
your life and you feel like you're beginning to sink. And you just
feel like you can't get up. You just say, I just cannot get
up. I just can't get up. I can't
get out. I can't get from this. I can't
get out of this thing. I'm sinking and I can't get up.
But I tell you, He done the only thing
that anybody who knows Christ does when they're sinking, He
cried. Lord! Say to me. What else you gonna say? Lord! He's probably up to his knees. Lord! The Lord just told him to come
walk on the water and he was walking to Christ. And then all
of a sudden he began, that wind began to scare him. Them waves
began to scare him. And oh, his faith began to fail
and down he started going. But he done the right thing.
He done the only thing he could do. And he cried, cried. I mean he cried, I believe he
cried in earnest. I believe he cried in desperation. I believe he cried like, if you
don't save me Lord, there's no hope for me right now. He cried,
Lord save me. Oh my. And you know why he got
in such a condition? He got to worrying about himself.
He got to looking at himself. He wasn't looking at Christ.
He saw that wind. He took his eyes off the master.
We've heard that all our lives, but that's really, really what
happened. And oh listen, he cried, Lord
save me. He was afraid. He began to sink. Actually, he even began to come
down out of the ship. How long he walked, we don't
have any idea. But look what it says in verse
31, and immediately, Immediately when he cried, Lord save me.
Immediately. There was some distance between
them. Because he was going to the Lord. He was walking towards
the Lord Jesus Christ. So there was some distance between
them. But when he hears the cry of somebody saying, Lord have
mercy on me. When he hears the cry, Oh Lord
save me. When he hears somebody crying
out, Lord I need to be saved. Lord, I need mercy. Lord, have
compassion on my daughter. When he hears those kind of cries,
he's there just like that. And our Lord Jesus came to Peter
just in the snap of a finger. And immediately, Jesus stretched
forth his hand, now listen to what it says here, and caught
him. you catch somebody that's falling
catch somebody from hurt our Lord Jesus immediately stretched
forth his hand Peter's going down immediately he would stretch
forth his hand and caught him oh my it's like somebody you
know somebody's falling you catch them That's what he's doing,
he's sinking, he's going down. And our Lord was there immediately
and raised him up. And I'll tell you, the words
mean something. I mean, he caught him! Peter's falling, Lord catch me!
He did it! He caught him! Oh, I tell you what, I say Simon Peter had never
felt such relief He was so happy. He probably
felt like, Oh Lord, thank you. Oh Lord, you saved me. You caught me. You caught me. I was beginning to sink. I was beginning to drown. And
you stretched forth your hand and you caught him. Caught him.
I don't know, his head just may have been bubbled and our Lord
just rested. I didn't caught him and reached and picked him
up out of the water. You doubt for a minute that our
Lord didn't lift him up and bring him back on his feet back up
on the water. He didn't get him around the
neck and start swimming trying to get him saved like that. No,
no, our Lord when he caught him, he pulled him back up out of
that water. I believe that. I believe he
pulled him back up out of the water. Says he caught him. And then our Lord began to talk
to him. You know what he said? Now he's
holding him up. He's caught him. He's got him.
And I'll tell you something about our Lord's hand. His hand is
strong enough and big enough to hold every one of his children
at one time. You know how many of his children
he caught today? All over this world. Some in Mexico he caught. Some
in China he caught. Some in Africa he caught. Some
on the West Coast he caught. Some in Canada he caught. Some
in Texas he caught. He catches his people. I mean
he's always catching his people. Always saving his people. And
they're always crying out to be saved. And then he says to him, and
I believe he's got him standing right there beside him. I believe
he's standing there, him and our Lord standing there together.
I believe he raised him back up and he's standing there with
the Lord Jesus Christ. And he said unto him, O thou
of little faith, Why did you doubt? Why did you doubt? Didn't I tell you to come to
me? Why did you doubt? Didn't you
think you could get here? If I told you to come, didn't
you think you couldn't come? If I told you to get here, the
only reason you couldn't get here is something wrong with
you. Nothing wrong with me. And oh, little doubt. Oh, you
of little faith. He didn't say he didn't have
any, he said he just had a little. And I'd rather have a little
than not have any. And what he says, wherefore did
you doubt? And that was his problem. He
doubted that he could get from here to there. Because that wind
was so contrary. Now watch what happens now. And I'll tell you what. When
our Lord Jesus Christ, when He tells you to come, you can come.
And apart from my Lord upholding us, apart from my Lord keeping
us, apart from my Lord saving us, all we're able to do is fall
and sink. He has to pick us up. That's
why David says, My feet had well not slipped, but thy mercy, thy
mercy held me up. Now look what happens in verse
32. And when they were coming into
the ship, what? They had to climb, they had to
get back in that boat, they had to get back in that ship. Our
Lord wasn't in it. Simon Peter had to get back in
it and then our Lord got in it. I believe, now this is just
conjecture on my part. I believe that when they got
to the ship, our Lord had Simon Peter holding him. And I don't
believe they had to climb back in with Christ. I believe that
the Lord just stepped up into the ship and took Peter up there
with him. He just stepped up into the ship. Anybody that can
uphold the world with the word of his hand, with the word of
his power. Anybody that can walk on the
water, you know, he gonna step out of the water and step into
the ship. And I believe that he had Simon Peter with him and
they stepped back into that ship. I don't believe they had to climb
back in there, Simon Peter had to climb out. But our Lord took
him back and got back in that ship. And when they were coming
to the ship, that's when the storm stopped. The wind ceased. Not till they got in the ship.
Only when Christ got in the ship did the storm stop. And when
he got in that ship, it was over. It was over. I tell you what,
Lord get in my little old boat. Please get in my little old boat.
Oh my. And I tell you that's wonderful
that our Lord caught him. When the Lord caught him, the
wind ceased. Look what happens now. And that's what happens
when our Lord comes to save us. When our Lord comes and picks
us up and catches us. He has all power. He has all
strength. He has all ability. And then
they got in that ship, that's when the storm stopped. That's
when the storm stopped. Nick, what happens here? Look
at what they went from being in the storm, to Simon Peter
having to be saved, though he walked on the water, from the
Lord Jesus having to save him, they got back in the ship, they
went from the storm, to look what happens. Then they that
were in the ship came. They all stopped what they was
doing. All of these disciples, they're in this ship. And when
the they that were in the ship came, and you know what it says here?
They worshipped Him. Worshipped Him. Time to worship when the Lord
saves you. Time to worship when the Lord gets you out of the
storm. Time to worship when Christ lifts. Always time to worship.
Whenever He saves you, you stop what you're doing. Whenever He
does something for you, you stop what you're doing. Say, Oh Lord,
you worshipped Him saying, and this is what they say, confess
Him. They confessed what he was, they confessed who he was, they
confessed that he had all this power and they came and worshipped
him saying of a truth, of a truth, Thou art the Son of God, the
Son of God. You're God in this world, you're
God in this place, you're God who sent us And I tell you what,
Peter wasn't told to cry back in that ship and all that. No,
our Lord caught him, took him back in the ship with him. And
I tell you, beloved, our Lord Jesus Christ, next time you get
in a storm, next time you don't know what to do, you do exactly
what Simon Peter did, cry out, Lord save me. And how many times
has everybody in this building who's been a Christian very long
has done that? Lord save me. Lord save me. I don't think it's wrong to ask
the Lord to save you. Lord save me from pain. Save
me from trials. Save me from temptation. Save
me from fear. Save me from my nature that worries
and frets over things that I shouldn't worry and fret over. There's
lots of ways we can say, Lord save me. But when we get in a
storm, then we'll be in them just as sure as God's on His
throne. We're going to get in one. And we're going to get in
it. We've been in them. We're going
to get in another. And we'll be walking by faith. We'll be
just going along walking by faith and all of a sudden something
will come up. And we'll say, Lord, save me.
And you know what'll happen? He'll save you. Immediately he'll
save you. He'll catch you. And then when
he gets on there with you, gets in there with you, everything
stops, everything's calm, everything's wonderful. No wonder he says,
be a good cheer. They didn't know anything about
good cheer until he got back in the boat with them. That's the way it is. When he
gets back in the boat, that's when it's time we get joyful,
ain't it? That's when it gets joyful. Alright, the Lord bless
you. Oh, blessed, blessed Savior,
how kind, wonderfully gracious and compassionate you are. Such
a salvation that you give us. You only save people that are
in trouble. People only cry to be saved who are in trouble.
And so when we have these times, Lord, we know and believe that
you will hear us when we cry. You hear us immediately, save
us immediately. Lord, you're so ready to save,
ready to strengthen, ready to catch, ready to be merciful and
gracious and kind. And Lord, we all chide ourselves
because we are such a little thing. We chide ourselves because
we doubt. But Lord, don't be angry with
us and don't chide us. Because we're just nothing without
you, can do nothing without you, and we acknowledge that. We acknowledge
it. Lord, as these dear saints, Go
home with their lives, go home with their jobs, go home to their
homes. God bless them. Lord, meet all the needs of their
homes and their hearts, their families, their children. We
ask these things in Christ's name. Amen. Amen. We love that little old chorus.
We sing it often. upon Jesus, look full in His
wonderful face, and the things of earth will grow strangely
dim in the light of His glory and grace. Good night and God bless you. I'll see you when