Turn back to Matthew chapter
14. Matthew chapter 14. In these verses we see the deity of the Lord
Jesus Christ walking on water. We will also see the tender mercy
of our Lord going to the aid of His disciples and gently chiding
them for their lack of faith. And we will also see strong faith
and weak faith in the same person. In the same person. Our Lord made it clear throughout
his ministry that he was no ordinary man. A man, yes, he was a real
man. But he is God. He is God. He is God in every
attribute. He is God in every way. Equal,
this man that they listen to every day, this man is equal
with the Father. He thought it not robbery to
be equal with God. And he has absolute power right
now, not just then, then and now. He has absolute power over
all things. All things. And that gives us
comfort as believers. That gives us comfort. He has
power over all things. There is nothing that is not
put under his feet. When you read the Gospels, you
do not read of one demon saying, no, I'm not coming out. Oh, when
he says come out, they come out. He healed the sick. with the
Word. It was just the Word. I wish
my doctor could do that. I keep getting this cold and
he keeps giving me medicine and I keep going back. But our Lord,
when He healed the sick, it says in verse 36, as many as touched
were made perfectly whole. Perfectly whole. His salvation
is perfect. Absolutely perfect. We don't
need to add anything to it or take anything from it. It's absolutely
perfect. He cast out demons with the Word.
He calmed the raging sea, the elements of nature with the Word. He raised the dead with the Word. His Word. He fed the 5,000 men
and plus it says women and children. It says he looked up, he blessed,
he break and he gave. He prayed, he blessed. It was just a word. Just a word. They said he spake
as one having authority and not as a scribe. When he spoke, things
happened. His word never returned unto
him void. And he never, never wasted a
word. Never wasted a word. He possessed
the authority and the power to execute his word. Peter said,
Lord, bid me. And that word just means command.
Lord, command me. If you command me to come to
thee, I can do it. I can do it. You just give the
command because you possess the power
to execute the command. If Jesus Christ is not God, then
His righteousness, His blood, His intercession, and His word
will do me no good. Will do me no good if He's not
God. Jesus Christ did not come into
this world to prove the existence of God. He didn't come to prove
that. He came to reveal the Father.
No man knows the Father, save the Son, and He to whom the Son
will reveal Him. He came to reveal the Father,
the Godhead. He came to redeem His people
from their sins. He shall save His people from
their sins. He came to bring in an everlasting
righteousness. And He came and He might bring
every one of His sheep home safely without spot or blemish. This
man, Jesus Christ, is God manifested in the flesh. That's who He is. If you want to identify God,
you have to identify Jesus Christ. I was watching a program on the
PBS channel And this young lady, she was valedictorian of her
class, and she had written the speech out, and they wanted to
see it. Now, she had professed to be
a Christian, and she was giving thanks and praise to Jesus Christ. Well, the principal went through
and they marked out the name Jesus Christ and just wrote the
name God. They said, you can use the name
God. You see, God fits every religion.
You can say God is holy, and every religion will say, you're
right. You can say God is sovereign, and every religion will say,
right. But if you say Jesus Christ is God, well, you just narrowed
it down. See, this was the problem. This
was the problem. He came into this world claiming,
I am God. And He is. And He's our God. He's the God of salvation, and
He's our God. And it says in verse 22, straightway,
Jesus constrained his disciples to get into a ship and go before
him and to the other side. He'd go ahead of me. He compelled
them. They did not want to go. Over
in John chapter 6, this story is given. And they wanted to
make him a king. And the disciples, had our Lord
gone into the mountain to pray and let them send the crowd away,
they would have got in cahoots with that crowd in making him
king. Because they were ready to do that also. So what does
he do? He sends the disciples away.
He says, you get into a ship, you go to the other side and
I'll be there. And I will send the crowd away. I'll send the
multitude away. We must always submit to His
will. Always submit to His will. There's always a purpose in it
for us. Always a purpose. There's not a purpose in everything
I plan on doing, but there's a purpose in it. His purpose,
His. He sent the multitude away, and
when He sent them away, He sent them away full. Every one of
them went away full. He fed them. They went away happy,
and He sent them away to their home. I thought yesterday as
I was going over this, oh, how blessed we are when Christ dismisses
the service. If He's the one who sends us
home, if we go home with His blessing, with His Word, Oh my,
it'll be a good day. And after he sent them away,
what does he do? He went into a mountain apart.
He got off by himself. It's good to do that. Just get
off by yourself. To pray. This was his meat. This was his meat. Communion
with his Father and our Father. He went away, he went apart into
that mountain to pray. And this also shows his intercessory
work. I have no doubt he prayed for
the kingdom. He prayed for his disciples as
they were going on. He knew that storm was coming.
It's his storm. And he prayed for them. Remember,
he said to Peter, Peter, I pray that your faith fail not. If
your faith does not fail, well, it's not because you prayed for
it. He may have moved you to pray for it, but it's because
he prayed that your faith fell apart in whatever storm it is. If the Son of God, who knew no
sin, was always praying, how much more ought we to pray? How
much more? What an example. What an example
He has given us in calling upon our Father. But while He is making
intercession, while He's communing with the Father, He's communing
with Heaven, while He's doing this, His disciples are in trouble.
Does He not know this? Of course He knows it. He's the one who controls the
wind and the waves. He commands them. He commands
them. As long as we are in this world,
trouble comes. You can just mark it down, trouble
comes. Even when we are in the way of duty and obedience, trouble
comes. It'll come. You don't have to
look for it. Henry used to tell us in the
preacher school, don't trouble trouble till trouble troubles
you. It's common. It'll happen. You don't have
to go looking for it. And they were in the ship, it
says. They were in the ship. They were obedient. They did
what they were told to do. They got in the ship. And they
were in the midst of the sea, and they were tossed with waves
with the wind and said it was contrary, it was against them. I thought this is a good picture
of the church in the midst of this world. The church of God
in the midst of this world is always tossed. Not by every wind
of doctrine. She's established in Christ,
established in the doctrine of Christ, but tossed by trouble
that comes from this world. The church will always suffer
tribulation in this world. Our Lord said, in this world
you shall have tribulation, but fear not. I've overcome the world. I've overcome. Everything about
them at that time, everything about them and under them was
unstable. Everything looked unstable. Everything was moving. They had
no place to put their feet, nowhere to turn. Their master is not
with them in the boat. You know, the last time he was
in the boat asleep and they went and woke him. Well, this time
he's not even in the boat. He's not in the boat. But yes, he is too. Yeah, he's
there. He's there. He's here this morning. Can you believe that? I'll tell
you, that is an absolutely sobering thought that the Lord is here
with us this morning. He's here in His Word. We've
heard it this morning. We've read it. He's in the heart
of His people. He's here this morning. Their troubles, their trouble
was totally beyond their power to control. And I have found
out, after 53 years, that all my troubles are beyond my power
to control. I just add to them. I usually
add to them by trying to straighten them up. I really do. And their trouble was absolutely
beyond their power to control, which is exactly what they needed.
They needed it. They needed it. His strength
is seen in our weakness. We would never know we had weak
faith without these trials. We would never cry, Lord, increase
my faith. Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief. It wasn't for
these trials. And notice when He came to them.
Notice when He came. The fourth watch of the night.
That's three o'clock in the morning until six o'clock. They endured
this for a long time. They were fighting this wind
and probably bailing out water for a long time. They were wore
out. They were wore out. He came in the fourth watch of
the night. Trials must run their full course for us to truly benefit
from them spiritually. They've got to run the full course.
They have to. When all looked hopeless and
they were at their wits' end, that's when they were at their
wits' end, Jesus, it says, went unto them walking on the sea,
walking on their troubles. That's what he did. He was walking
on their trouble. He wasn't in trouble. And really, truly, were
they in trouble? Is our life ever really in danger?
Our life is hid with Christ and God. It's never really in danger. It says, Jesus went unto them
walking on the sea. What was unstable to them was
stable to Him. It was stable to Him. It was
solid. He didn't go swimming to them.
He went walking. Walking on the water. Walking
on the sea. It's His sea. It's His water. He can defy physics. It's his. He can suspend it. He went to the aid of his children
when it was time. When it was time. There's a time
and a purpose for everything under heaven. And it was time. It was the fourth watch of the
night, and it was time. They'd had enough. But when they
saw him, when they saw him, it says they were afraid. They were
afraid when they saw him because they thought they had seen his
spirit. You see, I imagine that daybreak is just about to start. They may have a little moonlight
there. And then they see this form. They wasn't looking for
him. He wasn't in the boat. He didn't
come with them. And so they were not looking
for him. And then they see this figure of a man. coming and they
say, it's a spirit. And what they're saying, it's
an evil spirit. You know, when we are afraid, we always think
the worst. We always think the worst of
God. We always think the worst of others. We always think the
worst of our situation when we are afraid. They saw Him and
they became afraid and they thought the worst. It's got to be an
evil spirit coming to finish us off. And His Word calms their fears. Now listen. They thought they had seen a
spirit, an evil spirit. This wind is boisterous. This
is loud. This is loud. And I believe he
just spoke. Just spoke. He didn't holler.
He didn't shout. He just spoke. It is I. It is
I. Don't be afraid. They recognized his voice. Peter
recognized his voice. He didn't recognize his form,
didn't quite recognize his face, but he recognized his voice.
You recognize the gospel when you hear it, don't you? I know
you do. I know the gospel when I hear
it. They recognized his voice. He said, the I Am is calling
to them, the Master of the Sea. It's I. It's not an evil spirit,
it's I. Don't be afraid. Don't be afraid. Fear not. Everything's under
control. Everything is under his absolute
control. Everything. They were as safe
as if they were at home asleep in bed. Now, you couldn't convince
them of that. And when you're in real trouble,
you can't convince them of that. But he's got it to the jot and
tittle under control. He's got it. Then Peter answered him and said,
Lord, he recognized his voice. He couldn't quite make out his
figure, but he recognized his voice. If it be thou, command
me to come unto thee on the water. Lord, I want to be with you.
This is what Peter wanted. Lord, I want to be with you.
Command me to be with you out there in the sea instead of this
boat. He wanted to be with the Lord. But right here, we are going
to see great faith and weak faith in the same person. In the same
person. And our Lord, He said, He said,
Come. Well, come on. Come to me, Peter. Come. And Peter, it says, went
down out of the ship. He had to get down out of that
ship and go down into that water. And he walked on the water. Here
is this clay pot. This sinful man walks on the
water. Those who believe in Christ,
those who believe Christ, can do all things through Christ
who strengthens them. Paul said, I can do all things
through Christ who strengthens me. I have wondered, have we yet
seen the man other than Christ, the man Christ Jesus, have we
seen what a man can do that truly believes God? To truly believe
God. Take him at his word and move
forward. Those who believe Christ can
do all things. Peter believed and he walked
on the water. He believed it. He believed he could do it. He
believed he could come to. And he wanted to come to him.
As soon as he got on the water and he started to walk, it said
that wind was boisterous. And he started looking at the
wind and the waves and the trouble. And he took his eyes and his
focus off of the one he wanted. That fast. How fickle we are. Oh, I'm so
glad that salvation is all in him and none of it's in us. That
fast. He probably made just a few steps.
It started going down. Great faith turned to weak faith
that fast. Oh, Peter, Peter, Peter. We can
only be successful in duty and even in our everyday lives as
we look to Him, as we focus in on Him. That's the only way we
can be successful. Faith is not believing you can
do something. Faith is bleeding. Christ can
do it. And go into Him. Trust in Him. Trust in Him to
bring it to pass. Trust in Him to carry you through.
Trust in Him. All things are possible, it says,
with God. All things are possible with
God. And here's the greatest prayer, one of the greatest prayers
ever prayed. And Peter cried out, Lord, save
me. I'm going down. I am sinking. He's going down in that water.
This prayer has everything in it needed for salvation. Here
is a recognition of His Lordship. He cried, Lord. You're the Lord
of heaven and earth. You're the Lord. You're the one
who rules and reigns over all things. Lord, save me. Here's a recognition of His power.
Lord, save me. You can do it! You can save me. There's a few people that know
that. There's a few who know that the Lord can save. And then
here, Peter recognizes his need of salvation. Lord, save me.
I'm going to perish if you don't do something right now. Save
me. And immediately, he did. You
know, he didn't chide Peter until he saved him, did he? He didn't
say, well, Peter, believe. Muster up the faith and you'll
start coming back up. No. Immediately, it says, caught
him. Caught him. He was on the way
down. They just reached down and caught him. Reached down
and caught him. The Lord in grace caught him
and lifted him up. Lifted him out of that miry clay.
Lifted him out of that watery grave. He lifted me up. Christ is our salvation. Then he says, after he lifted
him up, after he saved him, then he said, O thou, O thou of little
faith. He didn't chide him while he
was going down. You don't kick a man when he's
down. But he lifted him up and then he said, O thou, O thou
of little faith, why did you doubt me? Why did you doubt? Why did you doubt? Why do we
ever doubt his power and grace? Why? What reason has he ever
given to us to doubt? What reason? Little faith. You know what little
faith equals? You know what it equals? A whole lot of unbelief. Little faith. But even great faith, even great
faith is not great all the time. Not all the time. When was it
that Sansom was strong? When the Spirit of God came upon
him. When is it that we are strong in faith? when we are absolutely
focused on Him. We are focused on Him. And when
they came unto the ship, it says, the wind ceased. It stopped. The trial is over. It's over. Weak faith has been exposed and
Christ's power to save has been demonstrated. And His deity revealed. Now, it's over. They learned
something that night. They learn something. Here's
what they learn. Of a truth, thou art the Son
of God. That's the first time I think
they ever said that. Up to this point. Of a truth,
thou art the Son of God. But here's the end result of
trial in verse 33. Here's the end result of every
trial that comes our way. They worship Him. I honestly
think that And I don't know if I'm saying this right, but it
purifies our worship, if we can say it that way. It really makes
us to focus upon Him and realize our need of Him and His greatness. It says they worshipped Him.
If our troubles do not cause us to worship Him even more,
then we're really in trouble. And notice how they end, and
I'll close. Here in verse 34. And when they were gone over,
they came into the land of the Gennesaret. And when the men
of that place had knowledge of him, when they had learned of
him, had learned of his presence, they knew about him. They knew
he was able to save. They knew he was able to heal.
And the first thing they did was go home. And they brought
people and their families and friends that were sick and diseased.
It says, diseased. And they sent out into all that
country round about and brought unto him all that
were diseased and besought him that they might only touch the
hem of his garment. Just let us touch the hem of
your garment. And as many as touched were made perfectly whole.
They ended the day. The disciples ended the day.
Watching Him save others, just like He saved them. He never
stops saving sinners, does He? He goes from one place, and you
notice this as we've been going through this, it's just one multitude
after another. Saving, healing, feeding, all
day long. That's wearing, isn't it? He never wearies. He never wearies. of saving sinners and showing
mercy. He never wearies of doing that. As many as touched were made
perfectly whole. Salvation in Christ is perfectly
complete to everyone that has it. If you have Him, you have
a perfect salvation.