I don't know what was going through Simon's heart when the Lord revealed that it was him that was on the water that night with a storm raging and their superstitious fears gripping their hearts. And then the Lord Jesus reveals that it's him. And then in verse 28, Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water. There's no use speculating about it, really. I don't believe that Peter doubted it was him when the Lord spoke and said, don't be afraid, it's me. I suspect that they knew his voice and they understood that it was him. But it seems as though Simon, it wasn't good enough for him to be across the water. He wanted to be with the Lord Jesus himself. But it's interesting that he didn't just jump out and start swimming toward the Lord. He said, Lord bid me. Bid me. And that's how it is in salvation.

People don't come to the Lord of their own free will. They just don't. Our free will is our problem. if there's such a thing as a free will, and there's not, but if it were, what we imagine to be our free will is our problem. When God says, thou shalt and thou shalt not, the Lord demands obedience. Where does free will come into that? It's not time, when the Lord says, come unto me, it's not time to say, well, I've got a decision to make. That's blasphemy. When the Lord says come, it's not up to us.

It wasn't up to the sun to shine when he said, let there be light. There was no sun then. It was before he created the sun, he said, let there be light. And there was light. Did me come unto thee. Not just bid me, not just Jesus bid me come, but Lord bid me come. If it's okay with you. And that's the assurance that we need. I wouldn't come before a holy God without Christ. And your bidding to come to God isn't in the law. Condemnation is in the law for you. Condemnation. Your bidding from God to come is in His Son. The Lord Jesus says, come unto me, all ye that labor.

It's his bidding to us that makes us confident in coming. Even knowing that this was the Lord's will, the publicans stood afar off. He still stood afar off, didn't he? We know that we have access. He was at the mercy seat. He was in the temple. He knew there was access to God. He cried for it, for mercy, for propitiation from God. But he stood afar off and did it.

And would not lift up so much as his eyes to heaven. I don't see people walking down aisles that way. with an understanding of who it is we're dealing with. Unless he bids you come, you better not come. And he does so only in the person of his son. He didn't bid the people come up to Sinai. He didn't say, come on up to the mountain here. I've got some things to say. No, no. And the people understood that, didn't they? They told Moses, you go talk to him and then come talk to us.

We don't get into the presence of God or the favor of God or even hear from God apart from a mediator. And there's one mediator between God and me, and that's the man Christ Jesus, pictured by Moses at Mount Sinai. What sinner would presume to come without his bidding, even knowing We're still in awe. There is in religion an unholy familiarity and presumption. They didn't have any desire to be where God was at Sinai. They told the mediator to go for them and come back for them.

And this is him in our text. We can't go to God. We don't know what terror is until we get a glimpse of what it means to appear before God in our sinful state. And yet in the person of Christ, God's son, he speaks to sinners and says, come now and let us reason. Not come when you get good and ready.

Not I'm available whenever you are. And you don't have to remember all that. All you just have to remember is who he is. And you'll never think a thought like that. Like I'll just say, you know, I'm not ready yet. Once I've sowed my wild oats, you know, I'll look for mercy. You need to know who he is. There's no thought of that. He says, come now. Now is the accepted time. Now is the day of salvation. I'm waiting for a more convenient season.

That's the straightest way to hell. Come now and let us reason together, saith the Lord. How can I come and how can I be together with God and commune with God? How can I have a conversation with God? How in the world Does that work? If he is of holier eyes than to even behold evil, how can he meet with me? Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. That's how. That's the gospel. Before I dare to come to God, There's no question of me accepting Jesus.

The question is, will he accept me? That's what Simon wanted to know. Will you receive me? Is it okay if I come to you? But look what our Lord said. He said, he that cometh to me, I'll in no wise cast out. And Simon said, bid me come Lord. And what he said, come.

When Peter was coming down out of the ship, he walked on the water to go to Jesus. The only way you're going to come to the Savior is by a miracle of his power and grace. Is that clear here? He walked on the water to go to Jesus. That's the only way you're gonna go to him too, is by a miracle of his power.

Just as I am, I still love this song even though we sang it 20 times trying to get somebody to come do something for Jesus when I was a kid. But just as I am without one plea, but that thy blood was shed for me, and that thou bidst me come to thee. O Lamb of God, here I come. Here I come. If he says come, we've got to remember who this is now.

Let there be light. And there was light. The Apostle Paul said, that God shined in my heart. He said, let there be light in my heart. And there was light. And I saw the glory of God in his face by that light. He did the impossible because the Lord commanded it. Doubting Thomas, you know what Doubting Thomas' testimony was before the Lord said, come hither?

I will not believe. That's all of us by nature. We're not going to believe on the Son of God in our natural state, and it's because of our will. I will not believe. The Lord Jesus said to the religious Jews, you will not come to me that you might have life. That's the problem. Don't trust your will. Your will is what's keeping you from the Savior. He did the impossible only because the Lord commanded it.

And when the Lord said, come, Thomas, and he showed him who he was by the wounds in his hands and in his side, come hither and reach hither that finger and put it into the nail scars, the nail wounds in my hand and thrust your hand into my side and listen to what he said next. Be not faithless, but believing. When your I will not believe meets his be believing, you're going to be saved. And not until.

The Lord says come forth, Come forth, Lazarus, come forth. Lazarus can't come forth unless the Son of God says come forth. That's what he does when the gospel is preached now. Thy people, he says, shall be willing in the day of thy power. Lazarus can come forth. A dead man can walk out of a four-day grave when the Son of God commands it.

And not until, not unless. You're not going to see anything about exercising your free will in the scripture, but I tell you what you will see over and over and over and over and over again, even in the new covenant, the Lord spelled it out. I will and you shall. The leper said, Lord, if you will. You can make me clean. That's what Simon is saying, the Lord bid me, if you will, I'm coming. And I can't do it without a miracle of your grace and power. He walked on the water to go to Jesus. By grace are you saved through faith and that's not of yourselves. It's the gift of God.

It can't be any plainer, and yet we're still learning it, aren't we? Still learning it. We're still learning to give Him all the glory. I've told you this before. I had this said to me, not in a while, but more than once in my lifetime. God would never ask a sinner to do anything that the sinner can't do. Well, that makes a lot of sense, doesn't it? If you don't know God, that makes perfect sense if you don't know God. But then when you start reading the scripture, you see that it's just the opposite of that. The Lord Jesus never asked a sinner to do anything that that sinner was able to do. Lazarus come forth, come unto me all you that labor and are heavy laden, I'll give you rest. He said, no man can do that except the father bring him. No man can come unto me. You can't do that.

Until he commands it, and he does that by the power of his gospel. Paul said, I'm not ashamed of the gospel because it's the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth. Everyone that believeth, believeth because God exerts his power in the preaching of the gospel and says, be not faithless. Believe on me. and you're gonna hear him or you're not by his design, by his purpose.

The truth is just the opposite. Lazarus, stretch forth thy hand. You think about that man with the withered hand. The Lord commanded him to do the only thing he couldn't do as a man. I mean, I guess he couldn't fly, but Anything that men can typically do, He could do it. Except one thing, His hand was withered. If the Lord had told Him to bow, He could have bowed. If He had told Him to run a marathon, He probably could have done it. He had a little time to train. But He ain't stretching forth that hand. until the Lord says, stretch forth thy hand.

Is that complicated? You may not like it if you don't know the Savior yet, or maybe you never will. You may not like it that salvation is of the Lord, but it's not complicated. You can't deny seeing that it's true. The disciples asked the Savior, here comes a man asking how he can go to heaven when he dies. Isn't that what religion is?

To my everlasting shame, we used to go door to door, and I didn't do any of the talking. I was just standing there, not knowing what was going on, I guess, at that point. But they would ask people, do you want to know that if you died today, you'd go to heaven? And either they didn't wanna hear from a religious person at all, and they'd just say, no, thank you, and close the door, or of course they're gonna say yes. Nobody said, no, I don't wanna go to heaven.

But the Lord, here comes a man, the rich young ruler, he wanted to go, he said, what must I do to inherit eternal life? And the Lord told him to keep the law. He confronted him with the law, and the man said, I've kept the law from my youth up. And the Lord said, there's one thing, there's one problem with that. One problem with that.

Go sell everything you have, give it to the poor, and come follow me. What does the law say? What is the message of the law? Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, all thy soul, all thy mind, and all thy strength. If that was true, he would have phoned in all the selling of his stuff, and he would have never let the Lord out of his sight ever again. You ain't kept the law. You haven't begun to begin to get started to keep in the first aspect of the law. Go sell all you have? What's the first commandment? Thou shalt have no other gods before me.

What was his stuff? He had great possessions so he couldn't follow Christ. So what was that stuff? It was his God. He confronted him with number one. And he failed miserably, like all of us by nature do and shall, until he commands the blessing. And his disciples ask him, then who then can be saved?

And in no uncertain terms he told them, with men it's impossible. With men it's impossible. Is there anything ambiguous about that? You can't get it done. You can't walk an aisle and decide to be saved. With men, it's impossible. Who can come then, Lord? Who can be saved? With men, it's impossible. But with God, God can save a sinner. By his will, it can happen, not yours.

And you know what he did after that? He left that place and he went to Zacchaeus. where there was a multitude of Jews gathered around and Zacchaeus climbed up a tree. And you know what he's, you know how he dealt with Zacchaeus. Here's this rich young ruler, he said, go sell everything you had.

He gave him a choice, didn't he? He had a choice. Go sell all, it was a command when the Lord speaks it, but go sell all that you have and give it to the poor and come follow me. He wasn't given a choice, but in his heart it was a choice. And as long as it is, you will choose yourself every single time.

You know how he dealt with Zacchaeus? He said, Zacchaeus, you come down, because I'm going home with you today. That sounds like there's not a lot of choice in that. And you know what Zacchaeus did? He gave everything he had to those he had cheated as a tax collector. The Lord didn't tell him to do that. He told the rich young ruler to do that and he couldn't do it. The Lord saved Zacchaeus by command. And Zacchaeus freely restored everything he had cheated and the rest of what he had, he gave it to the poor. That's how sinners are saved, by the power, by the command, by the will of Christ. Simon's walking on the water, that's the only way, by a miracle. But then Simon saw the wind boisterous, verse 30, and he was afraid, and he began to sink, and he cried, saying, Lord, save me. You know when he began to sink? When he started thinking, I can't walk on water. When it became an issue of his ability, down he goes.

As long as he was looking at the Savior, By the miracle of his grace, he was coming right to the city. He was headed just as straight for Christ as he possibly could. But when he saw the wind, he saw all the reasons why he was insufficient. He saw all the reasons why this was impossible.

Instead of looking to the Savior, he saw the wind boisterous and he began to fear. What did the Lord tell him at the very start here when he revealed himself? Don't be afraid. Don't be afraid. When he saw the wind, he was afraid and beginning to sink. You see, here's another aspect of salvation.

The Lord brought him to the place He showed him his hopelessness. I can't walk on water. And listen, we've got to realize what was going on here. Simon didn't say, Lord, if I have to swim to you, it's going to take a lot longer. No, he said, save me. Save me. I'm going to die here. I'm a goner. And I still think this is the greatest prayer that mortal man has ever prayed. Lord, save me.

What are you going to add to that? What are you going to add to that? We're going to talk about that more tonight, I believe, instead of trying to go along today. But I'll tell you this. He said everything that needed to be said, the Lord brought from his lips, from his heart, through his lips, the heart of the matter, who he is, what I am, and what I need for him to do for me, not what I'm gonna do for him.

It's not, Lord, I'm coming, it's just gonna take me a little longer now. No, no, save me, save me. He didn't have time for pretty words, did he? He didn't have any inclination whatsoever to impress the Lord with his eloquence. I believe every sinner cries this prayer, not audibly, but in our hearts. Lord, the only one that can save me is whoever's sitting on the throne. Lord Jesus, save me. Save me. Have mercy on me. Lord, have mercy on me. I'm the sinner. and immediately. Immediately. Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.

But how shall they call on him of whom they've not heard? How shall they believe on him whom they don't know? And how shall they call on him whom they've not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? Are they going to hear a preacher unless God sends one?

Not the World Baptist Fellowship. God's got to send them. He said to his disciples, pray the Lord of the harvest that he would send forth laborers into his field. So the gospel is preached and we see our inability, we understand Simon took off on the water to begin with, and it was a miracle of God's power, wasn't it? But Simon needed to understand that. And so the Lord showed him the waves and the winds. He showed him his chances without him. It caused him to cry out. for the Lord Jesus to do for him what he could not do for himself. Amen.