If you will, take your Bibles
and turn with me to John chapter 6. There's three testimonies
considering this story, this particular story here of the
Lord coming to His disciples walking on the sea. I'm going
to read for you here beginning in verse 14 of John chapter 6. Then those men when they had seen the miracle
that Jesus did, said, ìThis is of a truth, that prophet that
shall come unto the world.î When Jesus perceived that they would
come and take him by force and make him king, he departed again
into a mountain himself alone. And when even was now come, his
disciples went down unto the sea. Now, this is after the feeding.
of the five thousand, and entered into a ship, and went over the
sea toward Capernaum. And it was now dark, and Jesus
was not come to them. And the sea arose by reason of
a great wind that blew. So when they had rowed about
five and twenty or thirty furlongs, they see Jesus walking on the
sea, and drawing nigh unto the ship, and they were afraid. But he saith unto them, It is
I, be not afraid. Then they willingly received
him into the ship, and immediately the ship was at the land whither
they went. Now the first of these narratives
is found over in Matthew chapter 14, and then another in Mark
chapter 6, and I recommend that you read all three of these because
I'm going to refer to different things where John had left out
some things these other men filled in the blanks. So if you hear
me say something, you say, uh-huh, that wasn't in there. It was,
it just wasn't in John's testimony. Now, in John's Gospel I just read
to you where he said it was evening. It was evening time. And they
went down to the sea. And then by the time they entered
into the ship and began their passage, he says, it was now
dark. Full dark. My brother Henry Mahan
told me one time, he told me this years ago up in his preacher
school. He said, the best advice I can
give you is to read your text, get through your introduction,
and ski-daddle to the cross. So that's what I'm going to do
tonight. There are no texts in the Bible, strictly speaking,
that do not lead to the cross. I don't care if you're talking
about baptism. You better go to the cross. Without
the cross, baptism has no meaning whatsoever. I don't care what
you talk about. You can talk about the law, but
what's the law apart from the cross? You can talk about morality,
but there is no morality apart from the cross. All of these
things lead us to the cross of Christ. In fact, he said this,
The brother just read it to us a few moments ago, ìTo him give
all the prophets witness.î To him give all the prophets
witness. And then listen to this. This
is the verse at the end of that. ìWhile Peter yet spoke these
words, the Holy Ghost fell on them which heard the word.î Well,
wouldn't it be something if he did that tonight? Well, let me give you three things
tonight. I just want to bring a brief
devotional tonight, and I'm anxious to hear Brother Chris, and I
just want to call your attention to a few things here in John
chapter 6. And the first thing I want to
talk to you is about this night at sea, a night at sea. Now, if you go through these
narratives, you'll find that it says the Lord constrained
them to go down to the sea. It wasn't their idea. They would
gladly have waited right up on the mountain for Him or accompanied
Him to the other mountain to pray. But the Lord knows what
He's doing, and He's in charge not only of His disciples and
of the message and of the food that He fed them, but of providence
itself. And He had some things in mind.
And he constrained them to go down to the ship and take shipping
and go to the other side. And this night at sea, really
if you sit and think about it, it's my story. And it's the history
of every sinner. He spends a night at sea. And
he's there by the providence of God. That's what leads him
there. That's how they got out into that mist. out into that
deep water. It pictures where the Lord found
him, toiling and laboring without any success. And it pictures
his very nature and his understanding. The natural man, Paul said, the
natural man. This generation in which we live,
and those before it, and I suppose if things continue, we could
say those generations yet to come. The natural man, the natural
man, every son of Adam ever born of a woman, that natural man
with all of his intellect and all of his philosophy and with
all of his degrees and certifications, the natural man with all of his
titles and stations, the natural man with all of his religious
credentials, experiences, and professions receiveth not the
things of the Spirit of God. That's what that darkness represents
out there where these disciples are. They still had things in
mind like natural kingdoms. They still had things in mind
like a king. They saw Christ being raised
up a king like David, like David, like Solomon. They had high expectations
of a kingdom that would come in the glory and honor of Solomon
and the whole world would look at Israel and say, wow, look
at that. Look at that. The natural man. He receiveth not the things of
the Spirit of God, and the reason he won't receive them is because
they appear foolish. Foolish. Neither can he know
them because they're spiritually understood. The Lord finds us
where we are. He finds us where we are. Took me 35 years to understand
that. The Lord finds you where you
are. Nobody wants to be where he is. But where he is is where the
Lord finds him. And I say this to you. He sent those disciples out there
to make them aware of where they were, and who they were, and
what they were, and how they were. There has to be, the first thing
that has to be is the Lord has to come where you are. And in a work of grace, bring
you down, bring you down until you can see who you are, and
what you are, and where you are. So you can't see spiritual things
up here. You see spiritual things down
there. There has to be a bringing down. There has to be a stripping
before He's going to close you. Was it Hannah that prayed, He
bringeth down? And He lifteth up. But the down
comes first. It comes first. Powerless. He took them out on
that sea. Powerless to do anything. Powerless
to make any headway. Powerless to reach their destination. Powerless against an unalterable
providence of God. You know, that's why we pray.
The brother brought us a thing over here to prayer breakfast
this morning, was talking to us about prayer. That's why we
pray. We have no power, no ability
to do these things of God. None. None. I don't care how
good you can speak. I don't speak very well. But
it wouldn't matter. It wouldn't matter. I don't care
how well you speak. You can't accomplish that work
of God that has to take place in the heart. I don't care how
well prepared you are. I don't care how good your illustrations. I don't care how much you get
the people work there. It doesn't make any difference.
It takes that power of God to grip that heart and bring us
down and give us eyes and give us a heart and give us ears. They were powerless. They were
in the deep. That's where God does business
with men, in the deep. And they were in the darkness.
And there's a deepness that most men, I did, for a lifetime, just
overlooked. You know, this life is short,
to say the least. We were sitting here talking
a while ago, and I said some of these People, they come up
to me and they, you remember me, I went to church with you
up at 13th Street. That was 30 years ago. I don't
remember you. I'm surprised you remember me.
Everything has changed to me. Everything seems different. And
the years, they're just like that. They're gone. Gone. Gone. Just like a steam on that tea
kettle. Appears there for a minute and
it's gone. God. And this life is over in a heartbeat,
but your soul is eternal. It's eternal. It's eternal. There's a deepness. When we begin
To consider these things of God, by that work of God in our heart,
these things begin to take on a deepness. Paul said, I don't
use enticing words of man's wisdom when I preach, because I don't
want your faith to stand in the wisdom of men and the power of
men. Your faith is going to be tested
of God. This faith has to pass through
the fire. This faith has to stand the storms,
and God is going to let them blow. It has to be of God. And he said, this gospel I preach,
I preach the mystery. It's a mystery. You're not going
to figure it out. You're not going to go home and
open the book and figure it out. It has to be revealed. I told
our folks the other day, it's not a resolution, it's a revelation. We want to get all these things
fixed up and resolved and come to this and come to that. It's
a revelation. That's what it is. It's an opening
of the heart. I'm not trying to play down study.
I'm not trying to play down hearing. I'm not trying to play down any
of those things. All of those things are necessary. But more
necessary than that is that power of God that gives you eyes to
see. And here these fellows are, and God's led them out into the
deep. Into the deep. David said, they that do business
with God do business in deep waters. They're eternal waters. These are eternal matters. And
it's dark out there. There's no light. Paul said,
If our gospel be hid, it's hid to the lost, in whom the God
of this world hath blinded the minds of them that believe not,
lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ should shine
unto them. It's dark out there. It's dark
in this life. If you knew, didn't Paul say
that? If you knew, if you knew, if
you knew, but we don't know. And that's why we're not troubled.
That's why when things happen in our life, we're not excited.
That's why when things take place, we're not generally too affected. And then one day something happens
that changes all that. And then those things get deeper
and darker and deeper and darker. That's where these men were.
Dark out there. There's no light out there. And
there's a darkness of understanding and there's a darkness of ability
and there's a darkness of affection. And God brings you finally to
that place where you're alone in the darkness. You just sit
there alone in the darkness. And God brings you to the place.
What a terrifying place. And yet this is the path of the
chosen sinner of God. I tell you this, the sea is unforgiving. It's unforgiving. And the sea
is to the sailor as providence is to the man. He's at the mercy
of it. Do you realize that? Do you realize
that there's an eternal God in control of providence, moving
and arranging, leading, driving? An eternal God. He's in control
of everything. He said not a sparrow's going
to fall to the ground, not a hair go unnumbered from your head.
Everything, everything in His property. We're at the mercy
of it. We're forced by its power. We're
carried by its courage. We're overtaken by its strength.
And then out there in that darkness, God sends a wind. Isn't that
what he called his spirit? He sends a wind and the storm
begins to brew and it renders all our efforts into this useless
toil. We roll this way hard as we can
go. And that wind just blows you right back. And you roll
this away, fast as you can go, and that wind just blows you
right back. Sovereign. Sovereign. Out on the sea of God's providence
in your little vessel, alone in the dark. That's where they
were at. Alone in the dark. Shut up to
God. shut up to grace and shut up
to Christ. And he wasn't there. He wasn't
there. Secondly, what makes our history
darkness? These fellows were fishermen.
They knew about ships. They knew about seas. They knew
about storms. We know about stuff, don't we?
Huh? We know about stuff. Well, I've
been knowing things about religion since I was that big. My daddy
used to take me and set me up on the feed sack over at the
Mission, and I'd listen to that man preach to those winos and
things. He'd take me down to the state campground, and we'd
go down there for two weeks every summer, and I'd sit in there,
and they preached all night long in there, all day long, all night
long for two weeks. They just went around, just one
preacher right after the other. And so just about every waking
hour, I had to sit down there and listen to something. And
I hesitate to even call it something. I don't know what I heard. But we have, we think we know
things, you know. They were fishermen. They knew
that sea. It's going to be all right, boys.
We're just going to put you back in it. Get that oil. Let's get
with it. Let's get with the program. Don't fold your hands up. Don't
get all cashed down. We can get out of this thing.
Get ahold of it." And they rode and rode and rode and rode. And
that's exactly what the sinner will do. He'll row until he's
exhausted. And the last thing he'll do is
look to Christ. That's the last thing he'll do.
Here's the providence of God. The Lord himself had sent them
out there. They knew that. And here they
are out on the sea, exactly where he told them to go, doing exactly
what he told them to do, sitting out there in that little vessel
alone, but here's all of their ideas and all their imaginations
still over on the bank somewhere. And here they sit out in that
little vessel, out in that darkness. Oh, we've got minds. We're not physically dead, we're
spiritually dead. And I tell you, I tell you what
makes our paths to be so dark. Paul gives us several things
over there in Ephesians chapter 2, but chiefly it's this. He said, now you remember where
God found you. That's what I'm talking to you about right now.
Where God found his disciples. He said, you remember where God
found you. And he began to tell them. And you remember one of
the things he told them? Without Christ. That's what makes
it dark. That's what makes it dark. Without
Christ, there's no life. Without Christ, there can be
no Savior. Without Christ, there can be
no understanding. Without Christ, there can be
no communion. No man cometh unto the Father
but by me. Without Christ, there can be
no intercession. To be without Christ is to be
without the promise of His person. That's what it means to have
Christ. You can memorize all the definitions you want to.
And I'm telling you this, a fella came up to me the other day and
he said he was thinking about coming to our church and he was
giving me a test, I think. I'm no good with tests. But he
said, what's the gospel? If you know the gospel, what's
the gospel? And I said, the gospel's not a what, it's a who. It's
a person. Everything God has for sinners
is in this person. So just tear yourself up and
throw it away. It's all in Christ. And he said,
no, that's a cop-out. Whatever it is, it's the truth.
It's the truth. And to be without Christ is to
be without the promise of His person, without the benefit of
His offices, without a sense of the value of His sacrifice,
without the affection of Him in the heart, and without the
power of His arms. without Christ. Ephesians 2.12
declares five miserable woes if you're without Christ. First
of all, you're an alien from the commonwealth of Israel if
you're without Christ. Israel is the only people in
the Bible that was promised Christ. Israel. Israel. Aliens from the commonwealth
of Israel. Strangers from the covenants of promise. No hope. Where's the hope apart from Christ?
There's no hope. Man fell in the garden. God came
and reconciled him. And the first thing he did is
he said, here's what this reconciliation's all about. And this is the only
way it can be. And he slew that lamb. And he
took that covering and put it about him. And then he gave them
the promise of this coming Redeemer. And he says, that Redeemer that's
coming is to be understood with this slain lamb. Right here.
Right here. You've got no hope. You're without
God, he said. No man knoweth the Father save
the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal him. You don't have
Christ. You don't have God. And then at the end, he said,
you're in the world. In the world. That's darkness.
And this thing of calling on an unrevealed God is like dancing
around with the prophets of Baal. That's exactly what it is. Just
dancing around with the prophets of Baal and calling on a God
that can't speak or hear or do anything for you. And you can
cut yourself and dance and cry loud. You can do whatever you
want to do. He's not going to answer because
he ain't God. He ain't God. And to me, having been convicted
of God, converted of God, regenerated of God, to me nothing exposes
the darkness of man more than his superstitious exercises in
calling on a God that he knows does not exist. What could prove
your sin any more than that? Huh? Call on a God that you know
don't exist and sing about Him. I'll fly away, oh glory. That's what we do. Oh, aliens, strangers, no hope
without God in the world. Knowing God is eternal life. That's what it is. That's what
it is. In him is life, and that life
is the light of men. And he said this, this is condemnation
that light came into the world, and men love darkness rather
than light. So the Lord dispelled that crowd
that would make him king by force, who would sit him upon a worthless
throne over a worthless kingdom. He dispelled them. And then he
went up into the mountain to pray. Went up there to pray all
alone. And then he comes to him, not
on the bow of a ship, but walking upon the waters. And he plants
his footsteps, the old hymn writer said, on the sea and rides upon
the storm. He walks upon the sea because
the sea is his. That's what David said. Where's
your God, David? He's in the heavens. he hath
done whatsoever he pleased. Whatsoever the Lord pleased,
David said, that did he in heaven, in the earth, in the seas, and
all deep places. He's the Lord. And out of the
darkness and inability of the night came the Lord, the Lord
of life and life. He's the light. He's the day
star. That's what Peter said. He's
the day star. He said, you just camp right
here and wait on the day star. Wait on the light. He's the day
star rising up into the dark hearts of chosen sinners. And I want you to think about
this. Does not Christ in the gospel walk into the lives of
chosen sinners? Ain't that your story? If you know God, it is. You're
just going on your merry way until God makes an intervention.
And when He does, He just walks right into your life. You don't
even realize what's going on. The Prince of Glory arranges
things in such a way that He catches you by surprise. You're
not seeking Him, He's seeking you. Only thing those disciples were
doing was trying to save their own hides out there in that sea. That's exactly what they were
doing. They were getting ready to go down, and they knew it.
They weren't seeking Him. He was seeking them. It says
in one of the accounts, before they saw Him coming and all that
began, it said He saw them rowing, out there rowing. Oh, He walks into the lives of
chosen sinners. And does he not own and walk
upon the providence that tosses your ship? Does he not deliberately come
where you are, having ordered all things and fixed all things,
to have you right where you were when he came? I tell you this, he told those
Jews, they were just, boy, I tell you, had their uniforms on and
robes and broad phylacteries and all this stuff, and they
just I don't tell them what they look like. I think I can get
a good idea watching TV sometimes, but he came up to them. He said, you go learn what this
means. I'll have mercy. You don't know anything about
that. So you go learn what that means and come back and we can
talk some more. We can talk some more. He came into this world
to save sinners, fallen, desperate, exhausted sinners. Sinners brought
to the end of themselves, and sinners who have rowed until
they can't row no more. And into the lives of sinners
filled with fear and trouble and filled with confusion and
frustration comes the Lord of Glory walking on the water. Now
I'm going to tell you something, sweet little Jesus boy, you might
accept Him. You might accept Him. And that
poor sweet little boy in the manger over in Bethlehem, you
might find some pity on him. And that poor defeated reformer
that so many picture on a cross, he might decide to let you give
him some titles. He might. But to save your soul,
you're going to have to see him who walks on the water. You're
going to have to see the Lord. The When the disciples saw Him walking
on the water, they feared Him worse than they did the storm.
They quit worrying about the storm because they feared Him. Now that's what happens, and
you can talk all the religion you want to, when you see Him
walking, and when He walks into your life, you're going to fear
Him worse than the trouble you're in. Was there a man known any more
as the loving disciple than John? And John saw him on the Isle
of Patmos and fell on his face like a dead man. Was there a
more moral, upright man than Daniel? A man with more integrity
than Daniel? And he said, When I saw him,
my comeliness melted into corruption. Was there a more faithful man
than Job? I'll tell you little things in
Providence happened to me and about three days later it dawned
on me, this is the Lord. They took everything that man
had, his health, everything, his riches, his family, his children,
took it all. He said, it's the Lord. Wouldn't you like to just do
that one time in your life from your heart, right when it happens,
right then? It's the Lord. The Lord giveth,
the Lord taketh away. Won't you just curse God and
die? You talk like the foolish women. Into the lives of chosen sinners,
filled with fear and trouble, filled with confusion and frustration,
comes the Lord of Glory. Oh, they feared Him worse than
they feared the storm. And listen to this. This is a
storm now. This ain't no calm lake. This
is a storm. That's a pretty good size vessel.
It's a fishing vessel. Pretty good size. I think it
says in one of the narratives that they even went down inside
this thing. It's a pretty good size boat.
So these are pretty good size waves. I'm guessing higher than
this church. Very big waves going around. He wasn't walking on
the glassy sea. He was walking on the storm.
And he came, and they saw him. How'd they see him? It was dark. How'd they see him? It was a
storm. I remember moving down to Louisiana
years ago, and I was over at Brother Stoniker's having supper
one night, and he said, you all probably ought to go on home.
He said, it's getting very gray. And I said, You know, I'm 30
years old. This ain't the first time I ever
drove in the rain. And we had a, I think it was about a 1968
Cadillac. That big car, big window, big
windshield wiper. Well, I wasn't afraid of that
little storm. I got out there and you couldn't see the hood
ornament on that thing. We don't get rains like that
in Kentucky. It was storming out on the lake. This was a storm.
It wasn't no little thing. They feared for their life. And
it was dark on top of it. How come they could see Him? Huh? Because He made Himself
known. And that's why you see Him. And that's why I see Him. And the Lord made like He was
going to go on by. And they sat and watched Him. He's going to pass this up. I tell you what, if the Lord ever
gets a hold of your heart, that's exactly what you're going to
think. You're going to know who you are and what you are and
why you are and why you're there and who He is. And you're going
to see Him in His glory. And he's going to make like he's
going to pass by. Ain't that what he did to Bartimaeus?
Huh? It says he was passing by. Why,
he came there for Bartimaeus. He just made like he was going
to pass by. Huh? Jesus, thou son of David! Hush! Hush, the Master's trying
to speak. This is the Master. Jesus, thou
son of David! Have mercy on me. Oh, the Lord
of glory came up in the storm and made like he was going to
pass by. And they wasn't about... I'm going to tell you something.
When the Lord gets ahold of him, you ain't going to let him pass
by. Can I just say that? Now, you can take all this stuff
you want. I'm telling you the truth. You're not going to let
him pass by. You're going to cry out. Oh,
don't leave me here. Don't leave me in my darkness.
Don't take away that sight of Christ. Don't leave me. And he
came to them. He came to them. Exhausted and desperate and afraid
and dying. Oh, they saw the Lord. But before
he saw them, he saw them. He saw them. We're not going to let them pass
by. They cry out for mercy. And the Lord turned and spoke
to them. And then what happened to you? He speaks to you. He speaks. Call on Him. I tell you this,
by all means, call on him, but don't settle for the call. Listen
for the voice. Listen for the voice. Only he
can speak that peace to your heart. And he will. Just don't
quit calling. Just keep on calling. Well, how
do you know he won't pass me by? Because he said, if you seek
for me with all your heart, you're going to find me. And he ain't
a liar. I tell you why you can't find
him, you ain't seeking for him with all your heart. That's the
truth. And when he does speak, if he
does, this is what he'll say, be not afraid. Huh? Be not afraid. It's I. You know who that I is? I am. That's it. That's the same one
who said, let there be light, and there was. That's the same one that resurrected
that big body of land and gathered those waters into a place Job
talked about. That's the same one who created
man, put him in the garden, designed him, purposed his fall that he
might secure him forever in the Redeemer. Oh, I tell you this,
everything about the Lord cries peace. Everything in His eternal
appointments, everything in His promises, everything in His appearance
on this earth, everything in His resurrection and ascension,
everything in His priestly reign says, peace! Be not afraid. Old Paul said, I don't know about
you all, but he said, my gospel is not yea and nay, it's just
yea. in Christ. Oh, he spoke to a bunch of folks
who had pretty much written themselves off, and he said, don't be afraid.
And they said, well, you come into the ship. Don't man have a free will? Does
he? Why don't you exercise it? Because
it ain't free. but he'll make you willing, and
if he does, you're going to say, come into the ship. Come in here. We feel a lot better if you come
in here. We know who you are, and we know you own the sea,
and we know God's in you. We know that. But we a whole
lot rather you come in here in the ship. Huh? Come on in here. John said they willingly received
him into the ship. Faith is a convincing of the
mind and heart of the willingness, the power, and the ability of
Christ to save your soul. And it finds no negative of God
in Christ. You can't do it. It's not there.
It's not there. Find me another reason for Christ
to become a man and come into the world. I came not to judge. The world's already judged. It's
already condemned. I didn't come to condemn. I come
to save. He looks into the eyes of Christ
standing on that sea and he sees unquestionable love. No question
about it. Irresistible grace. Willingness
to have mercy. God delights to show mercy. Ain't
that what the scripture said? You know, sometimes men offer
to help. I've experienced this in my life. They offer to help,
but they don't really mean it. They don't really mean it. And folks know that. They know
that. Most of the time it shows. But
his willingness to help is without question. No other reason for
him to walk on the water of that sea up to that ship except to
help. And you can't find any other
reason for his appointments, his appearance, or his suffering
than the willingness of God to save sinners like us. Now watch
this, and I'll close. When he comes into the ship,
three things happen. They were amazed in themselves
beyond measure and wondered. We're going to quit singing me
and Jesus got a good thing going when we find out who Jesus is.
And we're just going to sit there in majesty and wonder and look
at Him. And for the first time in your
life, you're going to worship God. You're going to worship
God. Everybody in the ship, it said,
worshipped him. Everything they believed suddenly
was personified into a man. That's what happened on faith
call. Earthly kingdoms went out the window. Mysterious prophecies
went out the window. Legal reformation went out the
window. That wasn't what flooded their
hearts. What flooded their hearts was a person sitting in the ship
beside of them. talking to. And then secondly,
here's the second thing that happened. He said the storm was
over. It was gone. Isn't that what happens? When He walks into your life
and speaks to your heart, the storm's gone. The trouble's gone. That seed that once threatened
to take them away lay out there like a piece of glass. And then thirdly, John said,
when they willingly received him into the ship, now watch
this, they were at the place they wrote all night to be, and
it was immediate. Huh? When he steps into your
life, opens your heart, and comes in to abide with you, you're
exactly where you want to be. Huh? Immediately. Immediately the ship was at the
land where they went. So I say this to you, don't seek
understanding. Seek Christ. Embrace Christ. If you have Christ,
you have understanding because God has made Him to be unto us
wisdom. Seek Him. John said, and we know,
we know this. Believers know this. We know
that Christ has come and given us an understanding. And don't seek forgiveness. Seek
Christ. Forgiveness is in Christ. Get
Christ, you'll have forgiveness. We're accepted in the Beloved,
Paul said, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness
of sins. Don't seek assurance. Seek Christ. who's able to keep us from falling."
Isn't that what he said? You get him, you'll have assurance.
You'll have assurance. Oh, seek Christ. When you embrace
Christ and he comes into the ship, the storm's over, worship
becomes a reality, and we're exactly where we want to be.