Pray the Lord will bless his
word. This is one of my favorite passages
of scripture. We'll begin in verse 22 this
morning of Matthew 14. And straightway 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. First of all, I want you to notice
here how that everything that our Lord did accomplished several
things that we can observe. if he's pleased to show them
to us, and many, many things, no doubt, that we'll never know
about until we know, even as we're known. All that he did
was perfect and very complex. The gospel that he preached,
he preached in simple terms. But what he did was... They say when you play chess,
if you don't accomplish at least two or three things with every
move, and think ahead several moves in advance that you don't
even know how to play the game. When our Lord said to his disciples
to go ahead of him after he had sent the multitudes away, he
said, you go ahead of me. In other words, I'll follow you
there. I wonder if they thought, how
is he going to get there? They're going across this huge
lake, this sea in a ship. And even after the multitudes
had been dealt with, which would have taken some time, the disciples
still hadn't reached the other side. So it took some time to
go across it, directly across it in a boat. So to go around
on foot would have taken much longer, maybe even days. And
did they say, no, you know, Lord, we'll just wait on you and you
can go over with us? Did they question? And more to
the point, do we ever question what our Lord says? It may not
make sense to us. You know, his thoughts are not
our thoughts. And our ways are not his ways. Do we tend, and
I ask this, this is a rhetorical question whose answer is obvious
for me and for you. Do we tend to second guess the
clear will of our Lord? But our Lord sends them. And
think about what all he orchestrates here. He sends them on ahead.
and brings a storm to delay them, as we'll read in a minute, deals
with the multitude, which involved, I'm sure, talking with them some
and making sure that everyone had something to eat, as we'll
look at another time, and he creates for himself some alone
time. The disciples are gone ahead,
the multitude is sent away, and he's left alone while the disciples
are being readied for what will take place later that night in
the fourth watch. And with that same move accomplished,
you know, telling how many other things that we're just not smart
enough to even detect. And then we read these words
and he was there alone. Think about that. I thought about this recently
while enjoying a rare time of solitude myself that maybe you
get to enjoy once in a while. It seemed like that becomes more
and more rare. But it occurred to me then how
valuable such time is, especially seeing that our Lord thought
so. And how unwise it is that we
spend so little time alone alone. It might seem like a terrible
waste of time for the Lord, especially to be totally separated from
any company whatsoever. Surely this every waking moment
would be better spent in teaching or healing. And surely if any
man could ever live in this world without any time to himself at
all, it would be our Lord. And yet we find, however, that
it was his custom often to be apart. He would go into the mountains
apart to pray. from all activity, from all distraction
and quiet communion with his father. Let's learn this this
morning. Maybe we consider our time wasted
if we're not engaged in some activity that promotes our gain
or our entertainment. We live life in the fast lane.
After all, it's the new millennium. We don't have time really to
think about anything or just commune with our Lord. There's
too much to do, and if there's not anything to do, there's always
something on TV. We make thousands of decisions
every day, most of them without any thought whatsoever. It's impossible to give due consideration
to anything without this precious alone time. Peter committed a
grave error that he regretted his whole life, an error which
he considered himself to be incapable of. He said, I will never deny
you. And it wasn't until later where
it says he thought there on that he realized what he had done. Maybe if he had thought there
on before, We tend to see things in their
true perspective when we think they're on, if we're ever going
to. King David said this, I thought
on my ways and turned my feet unto thy testimonies. How often would our feet be turned
otherwise than they are if we took time to be alone and to
pray to commune with our Lord and to think on things that are
worth thinking on. Our Lord wasn't a recluse, and
neither are his people. He went about everywhere doing
good. He tirelessly conducted his Father's business, saying,
I must work the works of him that sent me while it's day.
The night cometh when no man can work. And we also, of course,
have business to attend to in this life. But how we ought to
prize, as he did, the opportunity to worship And do as it was said of these
at another time in Matthew 17, it says, then came the disciples
to Jesus apart. It's wonderful to worship him
publicly and yet even our public worship would be better if we
worshiped him more when we're alone. It was when Jacob was left alone,
that he met the Son of God and never walked the same again thereafter. We hear of the precious Lord
Jesus Christ who shed his priceless blood to wash us from our sins
and yet how often do we quietly just meditate upon his person
and his work and his grace without distraction, without interruption,
just commune with him. Surely He's worthy of our time. And we're our own enemy if we
neglect that. Look at verse 24 back in our text. 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. When the disciples
saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, it is
a spirit. And they cried out for fear. Think about this. We see our
childish foolishness in this. These are grown men thinking
just like we do things like this at times. They said to themselves,
well, it's not enough. We're having to deal with this
storm. We've been trying all night just to get across. to
the other side, but now here comes a ghost to haunt us. That's
ridiculous, isn't it? We're superstitious and ignorant
by nature, and we always have a tendency to think the worst.
Think about it. The Lord had already said, I'll
come to you later. He said, you go ahead. In other
words, I'll be there, just not right now. And this wouldn't
have been the first time they had seen him do something unbelievable. Our natural unbelief is really
amazing, isn't it, when you think about it? It's just amazing.
Verse 27, but straightway Jesus spake unto them, saying, Be of
good cheer. Three words. It is I. Be not afraid. I wish and pray
to God that I could hear this. It is I. These three words spell
goodbye to every fear, every doubt, every sorrow, every grief. When you're going through a difficult
time and I, I'm real honest with you. I haven't been through much
in my lifetime. I've had a few sleepless nights
over the years and when my mind is troubled and my heart is breaking. It is as though the Lord speaks
the very words in my ear, it is I. What else will comfort
you, believer? Be not afraid, it's me. He doesn't
speak audibly to us, but he has spoken in his eternal, immutable
word and said, all things are working together for your good. For them that love me, to them
who I've called according to my purpose. We can't see all that he's accomplishing
in the moves that he makes in our lives, but we can rest knowing
this. It is I. There's a storm. It is I. There's
a ghost. No, it is I. How can a man dying of cancer
lying in a hospital bed and you've come there to try to be some
comfort to him. How is it that he's the one who
says, don't cry. I'm going to be okay. I'm supposed
to be the one to say that. But he did because the Lord had
spoken to his heart and say, it is I. Be not afraid. He knew who it was who had put
him there in that bed. But it's more than just earthly
troubles that our Lord has assuaged with these very words. There will no terror ever take
hold of you like that of your sin, if God ever reveals it to
you, just in part even. If he ever makes you, as Paul
said, to understand something of the exceeding sinfulness of
your sin. I've spoken with some of you
who said, couldn't sleep because you were terrified of God when he was dealing with you
that way. And he's, by his grace, given me some understanding of
my sin and what I deserve before him. But with Paul, I'm able
to say this, who is he that condemneth? It is Christ. It is I. that has laid down my life for
you and taken it up again. Don't be afraid at the thunderings
of Mount Sinai. Don't be afraid at the roarings
of Satan, the accuser of the brethren. Don't be afraid of
the terrors of hell. The Lord Jesus Christ speaks
peace to our soul. It is I. be not afraid. It's not just
that somebody named Jesus died on the cross at some point in
history and you know how they talk about the precious atoning
blood of Christ. They say foolish sentimental
things like he stretched out his arms and said I love you
this much and died on the cross. It's not about some Jesus that
died on the cross. The unshakable confidence of
my soul is the knowledge of who it is that died for me. We preach
Christ and Him crucified, not just a crucifixion, not just
the old rugged cross, but Christ crucified. If the Lord Jesus Christ died
for me, then I'm perfected forever. I'm sanctified. Eternal redemption
is obtained for me because He cannot fail. Because his blood
is precious and priceless enough to pay the debt for all of my
sin. The Lamb of God takes away the
sin of the world. He doesn't try to. He doesn't
make the taking away of sin available to you. He takes sin away by
his precious blood unto him that loved us and washed us from our
sins in that blood. That's what he did there. The Lord is my shepherd, David
said. I shall not want. I shall not want anything temporal
or eternal, physical or spiritual. Why, David? Because I believe
this, this, this. No, because the Lord is my shepherd. It is he. He didn't say to His disciples
before He left this earth, let not your heart be troubled, heaven
has streets of gold and pearly gates. He didn't say, let not your hearts
be troubled, I've done all I can do and now I'm leaving it up
to you, but you've learned a lot and you'll be okay. He said,
let not your heart be troubled, you believe in God, believe also
in Me. In my father's house are many
mansions. If it were not so, I would have
told you. I go. Let not your heart be troubled.
I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go to prepare a place
for you, I will come again. If what I'm about to go do is
done for you, then I'm gonna come get you one day. and receive
you into myself that where I am, there you may be also. Let not
your heart be troubled. Why not? I'm gonna go see to
this. I'm gonna go deal with it. I'm
gonna go make sure that you never pay for a single sin that you
ever committed. I'm gonna do that. Because of
what I'm gonna do, you should never let your heart be troubled
or afraid of anything. I'm gonna make all of your fears
unfounded and all of your troubles baseless. I'm gonna go do that.
I'm gonna go make it so that you can and shall be with me
forever. It is I, be not afraid. Verse 28 in our text, and Peter
answered him and said, Lord, If it be thou, you see, Peter,
that was the thing to him too, whether it was him or not. If
it's you, then bid me come unto thee on the water. This is faith. This is God-given
faith. And notice this first, Peter
didn't just jump out and start toward the Lord on his own. He
said, Lord, bid me. And he didn't say, Jesus bid
me. He said, Lord bid me. There's a difference. How wonderful it is to have in
God's word, his bidding to us, come to me. No sinner dare presume to come
without his bidding. You can't come before God. unless
he says come. Even knowing that it was the
Lord's will, the publican stood afar off and would not so much
as lift up his eyes toward heaven and beat upon his chest. Do you
understand that? There is in religion an unholy
familiarity and presumption when it comes to being in God's presence. They walk down an aisle popping
their chewing gum saying, I'm going to make things right with
God. Really? That's not up to you. If things are going to be
made right with God, he's going to have to make them right. And when I say religion, I mean
the human heart that beats in every one of us. But look what our Lord said to
Peter. One word, come. The Spirit and the bride say,
come. And let him that heareth say, come. And let him that's
thirsty come. And when Peter was come down
out of the ship, he walked on the water with one purpose. Not so he could say, look at
me, I can walk on water. to go to Jesus, to go to Him. And here's the lesson here. He
did the impossible. Why? How? Because the Lord commanded
it. Dead people can't come out of
their graves. Everybody knows that, unless
the Lord says, come forth. Lame people can't walk. That's
what it means to be lame. You can't walk until and unless
the Lord says rise. And you can't come to the Lord
unless he says come and with the command gives the supernatural
ability to obey. Supernatural. It's beyond your
natural ability to obey him. That's not my opinion. The Lord
Jesus Christ said no man can come. And then he says, come. It's not complicated, is it?
You can't do it, but come. He commands it. How do you explain that? By grace
are you saved through faith, and that's not of yourselves.
It is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. Faith cometh by hearing and hearing
by the word of God, by the command of the gospel. He commands us
to come. And he doesn't invite us to come. He didn't invite the light to
shine out of darkness in the beginning. He commanded it to.
And Paul said, that's how he saved me. The one who did that
said, let there be light in my heart. And when he did, he gave
me light to see the glory of God in the face of his son, Jesus
Christ. That's what happened to me, too,
about you. Verse 30, we still haven't got
to our text yet, really, but we're getting there. Look at
this, verse 30, but when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid. He began to think, I can't walk
on water. Of course you can't, Peter. And
beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me. All faith is full of doubt and
unbelief. Peter was walking on water. You
don't do that except by faith. The Lord said, if you have faith
as a grain of mustard seed, you can say to these mountains, depart,
and they'll be removed. Well, faith, Peter was given
by the Lord a little bit of faith because you can't walk on water
otherwise. But all faith is full of doubt
and unbelief. We begin to look away from the
one who gave us the faith and the one who is the object of
our faith and look at what we can't do. Look at our own shortcomings
and inability. It took great faith for Peter
to step out on that water. Have you ever tried that? In
the middle of a storm, in the middle of a sea? And faith is
a great gift from God. By faith, Moses chose the reproach
of Christ as greater riches than the treasures of Egypt. By faith, Abraham believed God,
for he reckoned him faithful who had promised and believed
that what God had promised, he was able also to perform. But in the lives of Moses and
Abraham, and in our own experience, we see that though we do believe
our constant prayer must be, Lord, help thou mine unbelief.
I get to looking at the waves sometimes, don't you? And the
winds, the boisterous nature of my predicament. And this is not a one-time prayer,
Lord save me. It doesn't matter where you are
when you pray it. I don't recommend doing it down at the front here,
because that would just be religious, wouldn't it? But here's what
happens. The heart cries, Lord, save me. Not the lips only, the heart. If thou shalt confess with thy
mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that he's the son
of God, the risen son of God, the almighty sovereign son of
God, God will save you. But this is, I've been praying
Lord save me for a long time now, haven't you? Many times. Many times. I've seen the waves
and the winds many times. When I should have had my eyes
fixed on the one who bid me come. This is a brief and very urgent
prayer. You can't say Lord save me in
a lackadaisical way. You can't say, well, Lord save
me. It's a cry. It's an urgent shout
for mercy. There's no time now for eloquence
or pretense here. This is not God, I thank thee
that I'm better than everybody else because I've done this and
I've done that and blah, blah, blah. There's no time for that.
This is more like God be merciful to me. That publican prayed the same
thing Peter did, didn't he? Lord, save me. Save me. How does he do that? I will have
mercy on whom I will have mercy. That's salvation. This is an appeal to the only
one who can save a sinner. Lord. Only the sovereign Christ
is able to save the puny Jesus of this religious age in which
we, in every other religious age for that matter, is unable
to save. He makes a best effort and then
waits on you to do something that you can't do. You can't
save a fly, but this is a cry to the one who's able. If he leaves it up to you, what
if he said, well, Peter, I've done all I can do, now it's up
to you. Peter's a dead, drowned, floating piece of debris on the
sea. And you will drown in your sins
if he leaves it up to you. But bless God, my Savior is almighty
to save. He said none can stay my hand.
My hand's not shortened that it can't save. He's able to save
to the uttermost those that come unto God by him. He said in John
10, I lay down my life for the sheep and they shall never perish. Never. How many this morning
are praying to a God that cannot save? If He will, He can make you clean. If He will, He can. If I were you, I'd find out whether
He will or not. It never says that Peter tried
to swim back to the boat. That would probably have been
my first fleshly reaction. Wouldn't it be your maybe? Without any grace, we'd be, well,
I was fine when I was in the boat. Let's see if I can get
back to the boat. Never made a splash in that direction. He
didn't say, John, throw me a rope. No. He disregarded human ability. And that's what faith has to
do every time. When Paul said in Philippians
2, I've suffered the loss of all things. What was he talking
about losing? I was circumcised the eighth
day. I was a Hebrew of the Hebrews. I was a Pharisee. As touching
the law, I was blameless. He said, I've lost all of that. I count it, but dumb. What did
he lose? Everything that had to do with
him. Everything. He said, that's all done. Why,
Paul? That I may win Christ. I'm not going back to the boat. Not under my own power, nor with
any help from man. I've got to go to Him. That's
what faith says. Flesh doesn't say that, but faith
says that. God-given faith. That I may win
Christ and be found in Him. Peter left the boat in order
to go to Christ, and that's where he's going. He put all of his hope, all of
his hope, in the Lord Jesus Christ. Like Paul who said, I know whom
I have believed, and I'm persuaded that he's able to keep that which
I've committed unto him, Against that day. This is a prayer with
complete confidence in the ability of the Savior Lord save me And it's a prayer recognizing
his own complete and utter inability He didn't say Lord. I'm gonna
swim towards you and you meet me halfway Or I need a little
help in hand. He said save me and Paul said,
that's what my countrymen, the Jews need. They don't need an
attitude adjustment. They don't need to change their
opinions on doctrinal matters to come more in line with mine.
They need for God to save them. My prayer, my heart's desire
and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved.
I'm praying to God that they might be saved. That's what we
all, that's the condition we're in. It's one thing to believe
in the doctrine, of the immaculate, sinless, holy Son of God and
the effectual, sin-atoning blood. But Christ said, He that eateth
my flesh and drinketh my blood hath life." Where do we see that
in our text? Peter didn't just acknowledge
that Christ was a Savior. He said, Lord save Save me. That's more than just
acknowledgement of a doctrinal truth. The doctrinal truth is
precious and wonderful and glorious. But we have to come to the place
where we say, Lord, save me. Save me. You can't just know
about his person and work. You have to partake of it. He that eateth my flesh by faith
and drinketh my blood hath life. He that eateth not the flesh
of the Son of Man and drinketh not his blood hath no life in
him. We have no confidence in this flesh. Paul said we worship God in the
Spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence
in the flesh. not my flesh, not your flesh. That's true concerning ourselves
and that's true concerning everyone. We think about that with regard
to those that we love. Will my loved one come to know
the Lord? I'll tell you this, I have no confidence in their
flesh. They're not going to figure out the truth. They're not going
to come up with repentance and faith, it is the spirit that
quickeneth, the flesh profiteth nothing. So I commend them to the Lord.
Lord, if you will, you can. So this is inability on my part
and a personal cry for help. In this matter this morning,
This is between you and the Lord. It's between you and Him. If
He gives you faith in Himself, and He's able to do that, He's
able to grant repentance, and He gives the gift of faith, it's
not of yourselves. The fruit of the Spirit is faith. Christ is the author and finisher
of faith. And so I pray, and may God give
you grace to pray this morning. We're still crying, aren't we?
Lord, save me. Lord, save me. Save me to the uttermost. Thy
precious blood is able to wash every sin away. I'm still sinning,
but His blood atones for all sin, past, present, the sin that
I've committed while I've been standing in this pulpit. and
all of my future sin. Oh, may he by his grace hear
our cry like he did Peter's when he cried, Lord, save me. Urgent,
confessing inability and professing his ability. Personal, Lord,
save me. Doctrinally sound too, Lord,
save me. What a prayer. That's the prayer
of faith now. That doesn't come from the human
heart unless the Lord puts it there by His grace. Lord, save me. And immediately,
I love the way the Lord did it. Not only was the cry a personal
one, but the salvation was personal too, wasn't it? He didn't just
say, okay, rise, and Peter floated
up to the top again. He reached forth His hand. He
came down here where I was to save me, my friends. He came
right where I was and became what I am to make me what He
is, the righteousness of God. He was made sin for me who knew
no sin, that I might be made the righteousness of God in Him.
He personally came down here. He said, I go to prepare a place
for you, and He did. And he said, having done that,
I'm going to come again. And I'm looking for him, aren't
you? I'm looking for him. Let's bow
in prayer.