Chapter 14 of Matthew, beginning
in verse 22, says, In a straight way 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 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 a truth, thou
art the Son of God. Now this account takes place
right after the Lord fed the 5,000, the multitude, and I've often thought about the
logistics of Those things, I mean, you pause and think about a crowd
of 5,000 people, which is a considerable amount, and to think about speaking
to 5,000, now that's the men besides the women and the children,
so the crowd was probably twice that in reality of all the people
that were there, and yet the Lord was in their midst and he
taught them and they fed them and he took care of all of them.
And then as they were dispersing, which I'm sure that many of them
wanted to hang around after these things had occurred because they
weren't sure what had happened, how they had been fed with this
great bounty. which started off with five loaves
and two fishes. But the Lord told His disciples
to get into a ship while He sent the multitudes away. So while
the crowd was still there, He told His disciples to go get
in the boat and go on to the other side. Now, I'm sure they
must have been wondering, well, what's he going to do? But if,
as you pause and think about what must have already been going
through their minds, because those people in that crowd, while
they were all fed and they were happy, they really had no complete
understanding of what had actually occurred. Now, there was probably
a few of them that were right around there, but they had no
idea where that food came from. But the disciples did, because
they were the ones that were right there. And so while the
5,000 were fed, it was the disciples whom the Lord really blessed
in this miracle, because it was to them that He gave eyes to
see something that occurred, just like the men that filled
the water pots. on when the Lord turned water
into wine at the wedding of Cana. You see, that was a blessing
that was meant for them. Because the people that drank
the wine, I mean, it was just wine to them. They didn't have
any idea. But think about those guys that
poured the water in the pot. They said, now we poured water
in the pot. I know there was water in the
pot because I put the water in the pot. And so it is that the
Lord does things on a grand scale in the earth, but it is unto
a very few that He is pleased by His grace to minister the
truth of His Word and to cause them to see. Just like Brother
Al brought out there a minute ago about the Pharisees. And
they said, Well, show us the kingdom of God. He said, I tell
you, the kingdom of God is in your midst. It is right here,
but you cannot see it, because the Lord has hid these things
from the wives and the prudent, and He has revealed them unto
babes. So while the multitudes of the religious world are fed
by the five loaves and two fishes, while they are satisfied with
that, and they go away and they are completely happy, I mean,
listen, there's a bunch of happy religious folks in the world
today. And I don't want to disturb their happiness. I mean, if they're
happy, they're happy. But brethren, I'm not interested
in eating the five loaves and the two fishes, but to be with
the one who took the five loaves and the two fishes and fed the
multitude. Now you see, that's the place
where blessing is. And that's the place where the
people of God want to be, not just out here gobbling up fish
and bread. I mean, fish and bread is good. I like fish and I like bread.
And I like lots of it. And evidently they had more than
they could eat because they took up twelve baskets full when they
got through. So it is a blessing to be numbered
among the Lord's people. And so the Lord told His disciples
He said, You are going to get in the ship and I will meet you
on the other side. Now they did not know how he
was going to do that, but at that point in time they probably
said, I do not know how he is going to do it, but he is going
to do it. Because if they saw what he did, they were understanding
that he was able to do it. So they just did what he said.
And they got into a ship to go before him to the other side
while he sent the multitudes away. And when he had sent the
multitudes away, He immediately rushed to where his disciples
were because he was concerned about their well-being. But no, what did he do? He went
to pray. And I'm reminded in this because
the central character in this story is the same one whom the
Lord came to and He said, I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not." He
said, Satan has desired to have you. He has come to me and he
said, I want Peter. Just give me Peter. Just give
him to me and let me have my way with him. And just like he
did with Job, he let him have him for a while, did he not?
But he said, I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not. And I believe that when the Lord
went to that mountain apart to pray, and when the evening was
come and He was there alone, that He was not praying for the
multitude that had been fed, but He was praying for those
that He put in the ship. And he set out into the night. And he prayed for Peter. Now, this particular account,
it says in the fourth watch of the night, Jesus went unto them
walking on the sea. But when the disciples saw him
walking on the sea, they were troubled. Because people do not
walk on the sea. Do they? I mean, they've never
seen anybody walk on the sea. Now we would all say, man, we
wish we'd have been there where we could have seen that. No,
you'd have been scared to death. Because if you were out in the
middle of an ocean in the middle of the night and you saw somebody
come walking across the water, you'd be scared to death. You
wouldn't know what to do. You'd be just like they were.
And they said, it's a spirit. And they cried out for fear in
straight way. Jesus spake to them. And He said, Be of good cheer,
it is I. Be not afraid. Now the Lord would comfort His
people. And that's what the whole preaching
of the gospel is for, is to comfort the children of God. That's what
the preachers of the gospel are sent to do. Comfort ye, comfort
ye my people. Speak comfortably unto them. Tell them that the payment is
made, that the work is done, that I have laid up for them
treasures that they know not of. Speak comfort to the people
of God. Even as Jesus Christ came, speaking
comfort, to them, saying, Be of good cheer, as I be not afraid.
And Peter answered him, and said, Lord, if it be thou bid me come
to thee on the water. Now old Peter gets a bad rap
in many cases. But now think about this. He
is the only one of the whole bunch that stepped out of the
boat. He's the only one that said,
Lord, let me come to you. Because you see, Peter knew if
it was the Lord that he had nothing to fear. He knew that, did he
not? I mean, don't the people of God
know that if it is the Lord who speaks to us that we have nothing
to fear? Sure we do. We know that. I know that. You know that. Every one of us
knows that. But, oh, see, the Lord prayed
for Peter, because this wasn't something that the Lord was...
When I was growing up, I was always taught, well, the Lord
was just seeing what Peter was made out of. And yeah, old Peter, he messed
up. No, Peter was Peter. Peter couldn't
walk on the water. What was going through Peter's
mind when he said, Let me come to you? I mean, how did Peter
think he could walk on the water to start with? Craziest thing
you ever heard of, isn't it? And so why is that amazing what
happened? It should be amazing because
every one of us has been right in the exact same place. Now
when the Lord said to Peter, Peter come to me, did he think
Peter was going to get out of the boat and walk over there
to him? No, but he prayed for Peter. You see, he prayed for
Peter because he knew what was going to happen, did he not?
He knows him from the beginning. There was never any doubt in
his mind what was fixing to happen. But he told Peter to come. Why
did he tell Peter to come? Because he loved Peter. He loved
Peter. And Peter was come down out of
the ship. He walked on the water to go to Jesus. Why did Peter
want to go to Jesus? Because he loved Him. And he
knew if that was Him, that was the best place for him to be.
He wanted to be with Him. But when he saw the wind boisterous,
and he was afraid, and he began to sink, and he cried saying,
Lord, save me. You see, the realization came
over Peter when he stepped out of that boat that he had no strength
of his own, that he had no power, and he was in an element that
he could not function in. He did not have any business
trying to walk on the water. This was not a failure of Peter.
It was just Peter being Peter. This was not some malfunction
in Peter. Oh, if it had been me, I would
have just walked right on over there. You wouldn't have ever
got out of the boat. But you see, the Lord prayed
for Peter. He prayed, Lord, Father, be with
Peter. Strengthen Peter. Help Peter. Now let me ask you a question.
Was Peter helped or harmed by what occurred here? Absolutely. Because you see, the best thing
that could happen to Peter was to begin to sink. The best thing. Think what would have happened
if Peter had walked over there and then he would have come back,
you know him and the Lord, they're walking back to the boat, you
know, he's got his arm around him and the disciples get there
and he gets in the boat. Yeah. Yes, sir, buddy. You've just got to have faith.
Buddy, you've got to have it. And if you don't have it, there's
something wrong with you. I've always been suspicious of
you. But no, you see, Peter got out of the boat and he started
to sink because he was Peter! And the Lord showed him that
he was Peter! And he said, Wherefore didst
thou doubt? Not because he wondered why,
but he knew that was the way of men, and he knew that was
the way of Peter, and he knew that was the way of the men that
he loved and those that he prayed for. And then he said, well, Peter,
if you'd have had faith, you wouldn't have drowned. I'm sorry
to see you. Isn't that what's being preached
around us? I mean, isn't that the message
that's going out? Well, buddy, you've just got
to do it. I mean, you'd have been healed, but you just didn't
have faith. You know, what can you expect?
Peter, if you can't walk on the water, you don't have faith,
you're just going to drown. No, dear brethren. The Lord guided
every step of Peter. Every step of the way to show
Peter himself what he was and what his need was. And he said,
Lord, save me or I perish. Because you see, I can't walk
on water. I look around me and I can't
stand, Lord. I'm going to fail. I know that
I am. O thou of little faith, Wherefore
didst thou doubt?" Now, I don't believe he was upbaiting Peter.
I believe he was merely teaching Peter what the situation is. Why do we doubt? Is it because
there's some grievous error and if we could just get to a certain
place we wouldn't know? It's because we're Just like
he said, if you had faith as a grain of mustard seed, you
could say, this mountain be thou removed and cast into the sea
and it would be done. And some people beat themselves
over the head and they work and say, man, we've just got to get
that faith. We've got to get that faith and we'll make that
mountain move. That's not the lesson. The Lord said, if you
had the faith, you could do that, but you don't have it. But it's
in me. Peter, it's in me. I'm walking
on the water, Peter. You can't walk on the water,
but I can." And when they were coming to
the ship, the wind ceased. Because you see, the storm was
put there for the purpose of bringing Peter to the place the
Lord wanted Peter to be. Oh, what a mercy it is that the
Lord will show us what we are by nature. There's no worse place
for a man to go to in life than thinking he can walk on the water.
You see, a man's got to be taught that he can't walk on the water.
And when a man learns that he can't walk on the water, then
he begins to cry out to the One who can save him out of the water.
But the Lord bid him to come out of the ship. A blessed place. The Lord calls on us many times
to step out of the ship. And once they would say, well,
Lord, You told us to do this. You ever been there? Well, Lord,
I felt like this was the thing You would have me to do, but
things are not working out. See, we think the Lord is leading
us to do things because it's going to work out. No, the Lord
often leads us to do things that He knows are not going to work
out. That's not the purpose. He's
not working everything out for us. He's causing all things to
work together for good to them that love God who are called
according to His purpose. Things don't always work out. But the Lord always works out
for His people. See, He always has the best for
those whom He loves. Why do we doubt? because we're
men, but thanks be unto God, He's that One who knows that
we're dust. He knows our frame. And this
is why He gave us this supper. Because He knows exactly what
we're made out of. You know, we talk about faith,
believing and all that stuff, but He gave us something that
you can touch and you can taste. Because he knew we were the kind
of people that had to taste and touch things. And he said, do
this. And when you do it, when that
bread is in your mouth and you can feel its texture there and
taste it, remember my body, which is broken for you. And when you
take this wine and it goes into your mouth and the aroma of it
fills your senses, Remember that I shed my blood for you. And be not faithless, but believing. Because you see, that is the
place the Lord would bring His people to. But He knows what
we are. And dear brethren, He was coming
to the ship where His disciples were because He loved them. He
called Peter to himself because he loved him. He snatched Peter
up out of the place where Peter was because he loved him. And he brought him back to the
ship safely because he loved him. And he caused the wind to
cease when the time was right. Oh, that the Lord might give
us a mind today to see what He has done for us in the giving
of Himself as a sacrifice for our sin.