Aren't you being hard on her?
No, he's not. And here's the thing. He knows
how far he can push this woman. He knows her exact level of faith.
You want to know why? Because he's the one who gave
it to her. He meted it out to her in the exact portion he was
going to give it to her. He knew exactly how much faith
she had. He knew exactly how far he could push her, and he
was going to push her this far so we would have this example. What
do I do when I'm confronted with the sovereignty of God? I fall
down on my face, and I worship, and I relentlessly beat down
that door, begging for mercy. Watch what happens. Verse 27,
and she said, truth Lord, wouldn't disagree with a thing you said,
you're absolutely right. Truth Lord, yet the dogs eat of the
crumbs which fall from their master's table. She said, I'm
your dog whether you want me or not. I'm gonna follow you
around like a lost dog, whether you beat me, whether you throw
stuff at me, I'm gonna follow you around. I have to have you.
You're the only one who can help. I'm your dog, and the dog eats
from the crumbs that fall from the master's table. What does
he say? 28, then Jesus answered and said
unto her, O woman, great is thy faith. Be it unto thee, even
as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole
on that very hour. So here's my question. I'm confronted
with the very sovereignty of God in salvation. He will save
whom he will, and he will pass by whom he will. What am I to
do with that? First thing you do is you fall down on your face
and you worship. You simply worship him for who he is. And the second
thing you do is this. You break down heaven's door,
begging for mercy. And the end of that story always
ends the exact same way. He says, be it to you as you
want it. You have mercy. He's never turned
away one person who came this way. All right, go back to your text,
Matthew 14. We've talked about this multitude,
but remember the Lord sent the disciples into a ship. Let's
see what's happened with them. Verse 24. But the ship was now in the midst
of the sea, tossed with waves, for the wind was contrary. Now I want you to put yourself
in the disciples' place for a moment, right? The Lord said, you guys,
go down there, get in the boat, go to the other side. They say,
yes sir, they go down, they get in the boat, they go to the other
side. If I'm one of the disciples, you know what I'm not expecting
right now? Trial. I'm doing what the Lord told
me to, right? Now if I got down there and looked at the boat
and said, eh, that boat does not look too safe, I'm going to go over
here and use that bridge, I'm going to fully expect that bridge
is going to like explode or something, right? But in this case, he said, go
get in the boat, go to the other side. They go down, they get
in the boat, and they get to the other side. They start rowing
to the other side. And what happens? All of a sudden, the winds kick up.
And that boat starts rocking left and right. And they're trying
to row towards the shore in the direction the Lord told them
to go. And all of a sudden, this headwind starts pushing on them,
right? And they're rowing and they're rowing. And they're,
we can't go anywhere. Everything seems so contrary. And in their
own estimation right now, everything was working against them and
against their purposes. And you've been there before.
So have I. So you had to make a decision, right? You go to
the Lord in prayer. You ask, Lord, I've got to make
a decision. I've got to go a direction with this. Which way am I supposed
to go? I don't want to make the wrong decision, right? And you
think it gives you some light to go in this direction. All
right, this is the direction I'm going to go. I'm heeding where I think the
Lord would have me go. And all of a sudden, everything around
you crumbles. Everything you touch turns to mush. All your
purposes fall. And everything seems like it
is working absolutely against you. And that's exactly how the
disciples felt right now. I want you to notice something
though. The reason that he put them through this, they felt
like this, everything was working against them, everything was
very contrary to their purposes. It might have been contrary to
what they thought. It wasn't contrary to the Lord's purposes at all.
He was in control of those waves. He was in control of that wind.
That wind was blowing as hard as he told it to, in the direction
he told it to. for as long as he told it to,
and he was going to stop as soon as he said stop. It was all according
to his purpose. This group of people who had
no interest in him, he sent them away, and they probably had clear
skies and plenty to eat and everything else. But these men whom the
Lord loved, he put them in a boat, fearing for their life. Why? Look at the very last verse of
your text, verse 33. Then they that were in the ship
came and worshipped him, saying of a truth, thou art the Son
of God. This is the very first time in
scriptures that they verbally say that. All this was happening
for one purpose. He was going to expose their
faith. He was going to galvanize their faith. He was going to
strengthen their faith. He was going to cause them to
say and to see that you are the son of God. Those ones who had
no interest in him, that he had no interest in him, he didn't
put them through the fire. He didn't put them in the ship.
He sent them along the way and they probably had fair skies. But
this group whom he loved, he put them through the fire. He
put them through the contrary winds to bring them to this place
that they would say the truth. You're the Son of God. Now, you've
been here, and I've been here, in those contrary winds where
you think everything is working against your purposes. It is
not according against the Lord's purposes. It is all happening
for this purpose that your faith would be galvanized, that it
would be exposed, that you would see that of a truth, He is the
Son of God. Romans 8, 28, and we know that
all things work together for good to them that love God, to
them who are thee called according to His purpose. That's right. Look at verse 25 of your text. 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.
Now I find this interesting. So he comes to them in the fourth
watch. This is actually a military term, right? So if you're out
in a combat zone, you're going to set watches at night. So if
you're not going to go offensive against the enemy that night,
you're going to be in a defensive position. You've got to dig in.
So you set watches, four of them throughout the night or however
you want to do it. The time that you have to be most on guard
is during this fourth watch, is the last watch of the night.
That is when the enemy is most likely to attack you. So right
before dawn, which is the way they do it nowadays, is everyone
comes up, everyone's behind their weapon system, and everybody's
waiting to be attacked, right? This is when you're at your most
vulnerable, this is when the enemy is most likely to attack. I think
it's very interesting, this is when the Lord went to these men.
I love Isaiah chapter 40, verse 1. Comfort ye, comfort ye my
people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem
and cry unto her that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity
is pardoned, that she hath received the Lord's hand double for all
her sins. Right? That's the gospel message. It's
a message of comfort. You're a sinner in need of mercy.
Come to Christ. You'll have it. It's a message
of comfort. But before there is ever comfort, there is terror.
The Lord has to tear down all those false refuges. He has to
destroy all those idols. He has to rip away anything inside
us that would give us any hope of something in me that God can
be pleased with. He has to destroy all this and bring us to a place
that we are terrified. And then He comes in that fourth
watch, in all that terror. And that's when He says, comfort,
your sins are forgiven. Look at verse 27. But straightway Jesus spake unto
them, saying, Be of good cheer, it is I, be not afraid. This phrase, be of good cheer,
is used nine times in six different stories in the scripture. If
you are a believer right now, if you are resting in Christ
alone, if all your hope is in him, it's not that just you should
endure. It's not just that you should
not be afraid in this life, though you should, and you should endure.
is that you have every reason to be of good cheer, to be joyful,
to live a life full of joy despite your circumstances. And I'm going
to give you six different reasons here. The first one is found
in this one. It says, be of good cheer because it is I. Now we're going to look at this
in spiritual terms. You can be a good cheer believer
because it's Him. It is Him, it is Christ, who
stood as your surety before the world ever began. He was the
one who went to his father and said, everything you require
of them, you look to me for. I take full responsibility, you
don't hold them accountable, you hold me accountable. Be of
good cheer, it's not you, it's him. It's his righteousness that
is your righteousness. It is his death that is your
sin payment. He is your prophet, he is your
priest, and he is your king. Be of good cheer, number one
believer for this reason, because it all rests on him, it's I. It's not you, it's him. Now be
of good cheer. Next one, turn to Matthew 9. Matthew 9, look at verse 2. And behold, they brought to him
a man sick of the palsy, lying on a bed. And Jesus, seeing their
faith, said unto the sick of the palsy, Son, be of good cheer,
thy sins be forgiven thee. Believer, this is the second
reason you can be of good cheer. It's because your sins are forgiven.
Now we talked about it in the Sunday school, but I'm going
to say it again. We as human beings, even as believers, we're
terrible at this thing of forgiveness. We're not very good at it. We
should be, because we're people who have been shown great forgiveness,
but yet we're really bad at it. Here's one reason for it, though.
There is no justice in our forgiveness. Now, if I wrong you, if I offend
against you, I can apologize. I can try to re-earn your trust,
which I should. What I cannot do is I cannot take the offense
away. I've offended you and that is going to be there and I can't
take it back. I can't take it away. Right? So you just have
to forgive me. Yeah, I'm going to get over it
and move on. But that offense is still there
no matter what. That's not how the Lord forgives. I want you
to think about something for a second. I thought it was very
interesting. After Adam offended against the Lord, he sinned in
the garden. The Lord kicked Adam out of the garden. You remember
what he put at the entrance of the garden to keep Adam from
coming back in? was cherubims. Cherubims. And they had a flaming
sword that twisted every direction to keep Adam out. And every time
Adam looked at those cherubims, what he saw was, because I sinned,
because I offended against this holy God, I can't come back in.
My sin has separated me from my God. I can't get back in.
I'm separated. I did that. And every time they looked at
that cherubim, that's what they were reminded of. Fast forward
thousands of years, the tabernacle, the temple, The holy place, the
holy of holies, there's a veil that separates the two. Nobody
can go into the holy of holies, right? Except the high priest,
once a year, and if he doesn't bring the blood with him and
do everything right, he gets killed too. Only one man can go behind
him, there's a veil that separates the two. On that veil, you know
what was on it? The embroidered cherubims. So when you're working
in that holy place, the constant reminder, I can't go in there,
Because I've sinned, because I've separated myself from my
God. When the Lord Jesus Christ died,
three things happened almost simultaneously. You know what
they were? The earth quaked, the rocks rent, and that veil
was torn from the top all the way down to the bottom. You know
what that means? That separation between God and
His people, that sin, the reason for that separation, has been
removed. to that holy of holies and you
could have absolutely no fear because that veil was no more,
that cherubim is no more, because that sin is no more. This is
the power of the death of Lord Jesus Christ. He now makes it
to where God can forgive his people for this reason, because
there is nothing there to forgive. So be of good cheer, because
your sins are not just forgiven, folks, they're gone. John 16. John 16, look at verse 32. This
is the Lord speaking to his disciples. Said, behold, the hour cometh,
yea, is now come, that ye shall be scattered, every man to his
own, and shall leave me alone, and yet I am not alone, because
the Father is with me. These things have I spoken unto
you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall
have tribulation, But be of good cheer, I have overcome the world."
Here's a third reason, believer, you can be of good cheer, because
Christ has overcome. Now there's a lot you could say
about that, of Him overcoming the world. He's overcome the
prince of this world, Satan. He's beat. He's just a pawn in
the Lord's game. He's defeated. Lord owns everything,
but what I'd like to actually look at and what gave me the
most hope was the context of the way he says this. He looks
at his disciples and he says, you guys, here's what's going
to happen to you. You're going to be scattered,
right? You're going to deny you ever knew me, right? Peter's
going to deny me three times. After I'm crucified, Peter's
going to go back. He's going to want to leave the
discipleship and go fishing. He's going to take a whole bunch
of you guys with him. There's going to be nothing honorable
about the way you guys conduct yourself. There's going to be
nothing good. No one's going to look at you
guys and be like, man, look at that guy. He did some really
great stuff. Everything you're going to do is going to be dishonorable.
Everything you're going to do is going to be unfaithful, right?
But be of good cheer, because I'm going to remain faithful.
In all this, in all your unfaithfulness, in all your dishonor, you're
going to do what you're going to do. I'm going to do my father's
will. I'm going to do exactly what I came here to do. I'm going
to go to that cross bearing your sins. I'm going to bleed and
die, and I'm going to finish the work I set out to accomplish.
That's what I'm going to do. And here's why you can be of
good cheer, because it's not about you. It's not about what
you do. It's about what I do. So be of
good cheer, because in every way, Christ is overcome. Next
one, Acts 23. This is Paul. Paul is in a prison cell in Israel. There are people who are plotting
to kill him. And here's what happens. Look at verse 11. Acts 23, 11. And the night following, the
Lord stood by him and said, be of good cheer, Paul, for as thou
has testified of me in Jerusalem, so must thou bear witness also.
at Rome. Believer, you can be of good
cheer because you know your end. Now, the Lord tells Paul where
he's going to end up. He says, after this is all over
with, you're going to go preach in Rome. What's interesting is
he doesn't tell them how he's going to get there from here.
Now put yourself in Paul's place for a second, right? He's standing
there. He sees the guards. He's in a
castle. He sees the big stone walls. He sees the gates. He
can't get out, right? All he knows is what he sees
in front of him. I'm in prison. I bet he thought, I wonder how
we get there from here. How do I end up preaching in
Rome from this place right now? Now, here's my point to all this.
Be of good cheer, believer, because you know your end. David said
this in Psalm 1715, as for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness. I shall be satisfied when I awake
in thy likeness. Be of good cheer because this
is your end. This is your end, perfect conformity to the person
of the Lord Jesus Christ. One day you're going to die if
the Lord doesn't come back to save you first. And when you open your eyes,
you're going to meet your Savior, your Redeemer, face to face.
And whatever personal relationship you feel with Him right now,
you will be with Him forever, really in His presence, really
worshiping Him for the first time, perfectly conformed to
His image, bearing His righteousness, having His thoughts, having His
heart. And that's your end. So be of good cheer. But here's
the thing. How we get there from here, I don't know. I don't know
what happens tomorrow. I don't know what happens in
two minutes from now. You know what I want to know. But we have this
great blessing. We know our end. Being conformed
to the image of Jesus Christ and being with him forever. Acts 27. I've got two more. Paul is being transported to
Italy at this point, and he has told his captors that it's not
a good idea for them to continue to sail, but they have not agreed
with him, have continued on. So here's what Paul has to say,
Acts 27, verse 22. And now I exhort you to be of
good cheer, for there shall be no loss of any man's life among
you, but of the ship. What Paul is telling him is he's
like, we're gonna lose the ship, but no one's going to die. Think
of that in spiritual terms. John 6, 39. And this is the Father's
will which has sent me, that of all which he hath given me,
that I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the
last day. So believer, be of good cheer,
because Christ will lose nothing. That one, that person in which
your hope lies, where your faith lies, where your comfort lies,
he is incapable of failure. He will lose absolutely nothing.
Everyone that his father gave him, everyone he came to this
world to live for and to die for, they must be saved. They will be saved because he's
incapable of failure. So be of good cheer because Christ
cannot lose. He cannot fail. Last one is just
a few verses down, verse 25. Last time it's used, wherefore,
sirs, be of good cheer For I believe, God, that it shall be even as
it was told me. And this is the last reason,
believer, that you can be of good cheer, that it's going to be just as
he told us. Everything in this book is yea
and amen. Everything in this book is absolutely true. Everything
in this book has already come to pass and is going to come
to pass. And that means scriptures like this is a faithful saying
and worthy of all acceptation that Jesus Christ came into this
world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. That will not fail
us. That's absolutely the truth.
Come unto me, all ye who labor and are heavy laden, and I will
give you rest. It will be just as he told us,
just as he promised us. So believe him. His promises
never fail. All right, go back to your text,
Matthew 14, look at verse 28. Verse 28, Matthew 14, and Peter
answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou, did me come unto
thee on the water. And I find Peter's statement
here highly relatable. It's so full of faith and so full of
unbelief all at the same time. He said, Lord, if it be thou.
Peter, a couple of days ago, he just healed a whole bunch
of people miraculously in front of you. Did you miss that? Peter,
he just fed 5,000 people with five little loaves of barley
and two sardines. Did you miss that, Peter? All
this time. Peter, if it be thou, he's a
lot like you and me. How many times have we heard
the gospel? How many times have we come here and we've been comforted,
and we leave full of doubts, full of fears? Very relatable.
He also says this, Lord, if it be thou, bid me to come unto
thee on the water. Every time you command, the command
comes with the ability. So if you bid me, if you call
me, I'll come. I'll have the ability. You'll
call me and I will come. I won't have any other choice. And I'll
walk on that water. All you have to do is bid me. All you have
to do is command it. So full of faith and so lacking
all at the same time. He's a perfect description of
us. Look at verse 29. And he said, come. When Peter
was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water to go
to Jesus. 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? A few parting observations
here. Number one, note the orientation
of Peter's gaze. As long as he is looking to Christ,
he walks on that water just fine. There's absolutely no issue,
as long as he keeps his eyes on the Lord Jesus Christ, he
walks on that water, never begins to sink. But then, he fights
the good fight of faith. And the flesh takes over, and
he starts looking somewhere else. Maybe he's looking at circumstances,
maybe he looks at the winds and things like that, and he gets
afraid and he starts to sink. Or maybe, he looks down at his feet,
and he is so overcome with the idea that he is walking on the
water, how cool is this, that he takes his eyes off Christ.
In any case, his gaze transfers from just looking at Christ to
looking somewhere else and sinking. Keep your eyes on Christ. But
also this. Notice this. What did Peter need that night? He tells us. He said, Lord, save
me. Peter needed saved that night.
Here's my parting thought with all of this. Peter's salvation
that night did not rest on the strength of Peter's gaze. Peter's
salvation that night rested on the strength of the Lord's arm
to hold him up. Now what do I mean by that? Faith
is not the cause of salvation. Salvation is the cause of faith.
Now don't misunderstand me in any way, shape, or form. Everyone
who God elected, he chose. That the Lord Jesus Christ came
here to die for. The Holy Spirit in time calls. He gives him a
new man. He gives him a new heart, and that heart is full of faith.
Everyone the Lord saves is going to believe. Understand this.
Salvation is the cause of faith. My salvation does not rest on
the strength of my faith. Because my faith waxes and wanes
with every single day. What faith I have is God-given,
but it waxes and wanes. My salvation rests on the strength
of the Lord's arm to pull me up out of those waters. That
is an arm that cannot fail. My faith believes that. I hope
this is a blessing to you guys. I hope you can leave here and
you can be of good cheer.