Would you turn back to Matthew
chapter 14? I've entitled this message. Have
you walked on the water? Have you? Walked. On the water. When you're walking on the water.
You're doing something that is holy supernatural, something
that is impossible for you to do. Do you know that there is
a greater miracle involved in you believing the gospel than
there was in Peter walking on the water? Let me repeat that. There is
a greater miracle, more power exerted by God in you believing
the gospel than there was in Peter walking on the water. I've been thinking about this
passage of scripture for a couple of weeks now, and the thought
occurred to me that the life of every believer is recorded
in this story. If you're a believer, you'll
see that this is an accurate representation of you. In 2 Corinthians 5, 7, Paul said,
we walk by faith and not by sight. And don't you know, when Peter
got out of that boat and was walking on the water, he knew
that each step was upheld by divine omnipotence. He knew it
had nothing to do with his strength, his faith, His ability, he knew
it was wholly the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Isn't that what faith is? Verse 28. And Peter answered
him and said, Lord. If it be thou. And the Lord told him it's I.
Where is this coming from? If it be thou, the Lord said,
it's I. I think this is the same thing
as Satan saying, if you're the son of God. If. This is the if of unbelief. And
unbelief is always with us, isn't it? Always, as long as you have
an old nature, you'll have an unbelieving nature. It's not
good when he said, if it be thou, but faith was here too, wasn't
it? Faith was here too. Lord, if it be thou. Lord, I love the way he called
him Lord. You know something? I don't know if I've ever noticed
before. I was, I was reading in Matthew where the Lord said,
one of you all are going to betray me. And all of them began to
say, Lord, is it I? Every one of the disciples, they
thought, is it going to be me? Am I the one that's going to
do it? And then when it got down to Judas, he said, Master, is
it I? Teacher, is it I? You see, no man can say Jesus
is Lord and really believe it in his heart, but by the Holy
Ghost. That's what the scripture says.
Lord, If it be thou, bid me come to
thee on the water." Verse 29, and he said, come. And when Peter
was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water to go
to Jesus. But, verse 30, There's always
a but with us, isn't there? But when he saw the wind boisterous,
strong, he was afraid and beginning to sink. He cried, saying, Lord,
save me. I would say that he had prayed
that particular prayer many times before. And this is an oft-used
prayer in the life of every believer. Lord, save me. Now, on that very day, the Lord
fed 5,000 men, not including women and
children, with five biscuits and two small fish, perhaps sardines. Each one of the disciples were
involved in this miracle because when they were finished, they
took up 12 baskets, each one of the disciples holding a basket
that were filled with the fragments of the fish and the bread. Now,
what our Lord did in this miracle, he demonstrated creative power. He brought something from nothing. Only God can do that. He brought matter into existence
that was not there before. And the disciples were in on
this. They saw this. And we read beginning in verse
22, after these people had been fed, and straightway, Jesus constrained
his disciples. He urged. He forced. his disciples
to get into a ship and to go before him under the other side
while he sent the multitudes away. Now, the fact that he constrained
them implies that they didn't really want to do this. They
didn't want to leave the Lord. They wanted to stay right there.
But he made them get into the ship. He constrained them. And
what I thought about when I thought about that is I'm thankful for
constraining grace. I'm thankful that he makes me
and causes me to do things that my flesh would not want to do. Aren't you thankful for that?
Philippians 2, 12 and 13 says, work out your own salvation with
fear and trembling, for it's God which worketh in you, both
to will and to do his good pleasure. And when I say that, Lord, work
in me. Both to will, I can't even come
up with the will. I won't be willing unless you
make me willing. Work in me both to will and to
do thy good pleasure." Can you pray that prayer? He constrained
him to get into the ship while he sent the multitudes away.
Verse 23, and when he had sent the multitudes away, he went
up into a mountain apart. to pray. You know, oftentimes
we read in the New Testament when he would go up on a mountain
and he would spend an entire night in prayer, in communion
with his father. And at this time, I believe that
he was praying that the Lord would send a storm on that lake
that his disciples were on and that he would protect them through
that because that's what took place. As a matter of fact, if
you look at Mark's account, Mark tells us that he was watching
while this was taking place, while they were in this storm
and the ship being tossed about. He was up on the mountaintop
watching them. He could see everything. You
see, the Lord sees everything. He's in control of everything
and nothing happens without him. He was the one who asked his
father to send this storm while his disciples were in this boat. Verse 24. But the ship was now
in the midst of the sea, tossed with waves, for the wind was
contrary." You and I will face contrary
winds. Winds that are against us. Winds that seem to be adversarial
as far as we can see and how we're tossed about. I like to
think of the disciples in this ship. I mean, the waves were
big. It was going up and down. They were tossed about. This
word tossed about is the same word used in Ephesians 14 to
describe an unsettled and unstable state of mind. Children tossed
to and fro. carried about by every wind of
doctrine. And Mark tells us, during this
time, they were toiling in Roe. They were vexed. They were distressed. They were tormented, unable to
stand before this contrary wind. But remember, who sent the contrary
wind? Verse 25. Now here they are,
scared to death, fearing for their lives, not knowing what
is going to take place in this ship being tossed about. Verse
25, And in the fourth watch of the night, at the darkest time,
Jesus went unto them, walking on the sea. Boy, I sure am thankful
when the Lord comes to me. I can't get to him unless he
comes to me. And when he comes to me, I come
to him. Now, he came to them walking
on the sea. Now, by all the laws of physics,
this was impossible for a man to walk on water. But he who
made the laws of physics can change them when he's pleased
to do so, to accomplish his purposes. And he comes to them walking
on the sea, verse 26. And when the disciples saw him
walking on the sea. Instead of rejoicing. Instead
of feeling confidence. Instead of being happy. They
were troubled. They were troubled, saying it's
a spirit or a phantom. And they cried out for fear. Now, remember what they'd seen
that very day. That very day, they had seen
the Lord give undeniable proof that he's God. He brought matter
into existence that was not there before, and they had no excuse
to have this kind of response, but they did. And if you read
Mark's account, Mark says their hearts were hardened because
they considered not the miracle of the loaves. They'd forgotten
about it already. Now, before we get too hard on
him, how much is that like you and I? How quickly we forget
his power and who he is and what he's done. You see, unbelief
is always accompanying faith. Always. You know, how can you
believe and not believe at the same time? Well, two natures,
that's how. Your new nature believes. Your new nature rejoices in the
gospel. Your old nature does not believe. Now, that's what was going on
with these fellas at this time. But here the Lord comes to them,
and they cry out for fear. They say He's a phantom. They
were scared to death. But straightway, immediately,
Jesus spake unto them, saying, Be of good cheer. Even while the ship is being
tossed, and they're scared to death, and the wind is contrary
to them, He says, Be of good cheer. It's I. Be not afraid. Now, five times in the New Testament,
the Lord tells us to be of good cheer. And if the Lord tells
me to be of good cheer, I have reason to be of good cheer, don't
I? Now, the first time is found in Matthew 9, verse 2, where
he looked at that man who those men had broken up the ceiling
and let him down through the roof while he was preaching.
They let him down there, and the Lord looked at that man and
said, Son, be of good cheer. Thy sins are forgiven me. Now, talk about something to
be of good cheer about. My sin, oh, the bliss of this
glorious thought. My sin, not in part, but the
whole, has been nailed to the cross and I bear it no more. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Oh, my soul, what a reason to
be of good cheer. My sin that's ever before me.
My sin that I hate so bad. My sin that I can't do anything
about. It's been forgiven me. I'll be of good cheer. You know
where it says, it's I? He says, it is I. Literally,
I am. I am. That's enough to make you
a good chariot. I am. Be not afraid. And then he said to that woman
who had an issue of blood for 12 years, and she'd spent all
of her money on many physicians, and she wasn't better, but only
grew worse. She says, if I can just touch
the hem of his garment, I'll be whole. And she comes through
the crowd behind him and touches him. And the scripture says immediately
she felt in her body that she was whole of her plague. And
the Lord said to her, he said, Daughter, be of good comfort.
Same word, be of good comfort. Thy faith hath made thee whole. Now, what was her faith? She
knew that if she could simply come into contact with him, if
she could touch him, she'd be whole. You know, I know that,
too. I know that, too. Be of good
comfort, thy faith is made thee whole. And then he said to his
disciples in John chapter 16, shortly before his death, he
said, In the world you shall have tribulation, but be of good
cheer. I've overcome the world. In me. These things have I spoken to
you that in me. In my person, in my righteousness, in my intercession,
in who I am, in me, you might have peace. You know, I have
peace in Him. I don't have peace anywhere else,
but I have peace in Him. If He's everything in salvation, if all
my acceptance of all my standing before God is simply in Him,
I have peace. These things have I spoken unto
you, that in me you might have peace. In the world you shall
have tribulation, but be of good cheer. I have overcome the world. And then when Paul was in jail, he'd done wrong. He was getting
ready to offer up the vow of the Nazarite, a blood sacrifice. You can read about it in Acts
chapter 21. After the Lord had already been sacrificed and he'd
already died, but he was going ahead and doing this, trying
to keep the peace. He got tired of the conflict.
And he did wrong. And the Lord in his mercy had
him arrested before he could carry out that thing. But before
the seven days were ended, before he could offer up the blood sacrifice,
the Lord had him arrested, which I believe is a great mercy. Aren't
you thankful for the things the Lord prevent you from doing that
you would do if he didn't prevent you? Listen, any sin you haven't
committed up to this point, it's only because he has prevented
you from it. That's the reason, not because
of any goodness in you. But Paul was prevented from this,
and he went into prison. And I believe that he realized
what he had done, and he was depressed. He was discouraged. You look at yourself, you will
get depressed. And the Lord said to him, be of good cheer, Paul. As you've testified of me here
in Jerusalem, you're going to go to Rome and testify of me
also. And then here in our text, whatever's going on, Even in
the contrary winds, the Lord says to us, I don't care what's
going on. He says, be of good cheer. It's I. I'm the first
cause behind this. I'm the one who's in control
of this. Be of good cheer. It's I. Be not afraid. Verse 28. And Peter answered
him. Who would you guess that the
disciples would have something to say? You know it'd be Peter,
don't you? Peter's the one who would have
something to say. And Peter says, Lord, if it be thou, bid me,
and that word bid is command. It's not invite. It's command. If it be thou, and like I said,
he shouldn't have used this if, because the Lord said to them
in no uncertain terms, it is I. Be not afraid. And Peter says,
well, if it be thou, Lord bid me, command me to come to thee
on the water. Faith fears presumption. I want to go. And I know I can't. Unless you command me to. I'm
afraid. I'm scared to death. Command
me. Command me to come to thee on
the water. Now isn't that what faith does?
It comes to the Lord Jesus Christ. And The cry of every believer,
I want to come to him, don't you? Whatever it means to come
to him, that's exactly what I want to do. Because he said, all that
the Father giveth me shall come to me. I want to be one of those
people. And him that cometh to me, howling, no wise cast out.
So I want to come, Lord, command me to come to thee on the water. And here the Lord's command,
verse 29, and he said, come. Come on, Peter. come to me on
the water." Now, this is a command that is always obeyed. When Christ says, come, you'll
come. This is the call of irresistible,
invincible grace. Now, notice in Peter, verse 29,
and when Peter was come down, that's so important, coming to
Christ. Beloved, in some respects, I
guess you could call it a step up, of course, but it's a step
down. The way up is always down. He had to come down, down, down. And if you ever come to Christ,
and if I ever come to Christ, it'll be a trip down, down off
our high horse of self-righteousness and self-sufficiency and our
high thoughts of ourself, we'll come down as sinners. And notice,
he had to leave the place of his security, the place of his
safety. He had to leave the ship. In
order to come to Christ on the water, he had to get out of that
place where he found safety and security. And I'll tell you,
when you get out of the place where you feel safety and security,
when you don't feel like it's safe and secure anymore, that's
when you'll get out. When you see that there's no
safety in that place where you once thought there was safety,
you'll get out in order to come to Him. That's when you'll do
it. Not before then. Now, as long as you find safety
and security in the place you're at, you're not going to get out
and walk on the water. You're not going to believe Christ. You're
not going to Have faith. But when you see there's no security
in that ship, you're going to come down and you're going to
go toward the Lord Jesus Christ. Every believer coming to him
walks on the water. And actually, this is a great
believing the gospel. If you believe Christ right now,
this is a greater miracle. You doing this, this is a greater
miracle than Peter walking on the water. Let me tell you why. All the Lord had to do was reverse
the law of physics. He didn't have anything working
against him. He just made it to where he could do that. But
if you believe the gospel, you've got an evil, sinful nature that
has to be overcome. You have to be given a divine
nature, a new nature, a holy nature that you couldn't produce.
That's a greater miracle. More powers exerted in mere you
believe in the gospel than there was in Peter walking on the water.
If you believe the gospel, you're walking on the water right now.
You're doing something that is totally beyond your ability to
do. And don't you know that each
step Peter took toward the Lord, he knew he was being held up
by divine power? He knew it was the Lord doing
it. He knew it didn't have anything to do with his works or his ability.
He didn't think anything so foolish as, well, at least I've allowed
him to let me do this. I've accepted him as my personal
Savior and here I go. Nothing foolish like that. He
came out, each step was trembling in fear, amazed that he was able
to do this. Walking on the water to go toward
the Lord Jesus Christ and how we admire Peter The faith he
demonstrated in getting out of that ship. Think about him putting
his leg over the edge and stepping on the water for the first time
and putting both feet in. And there he is walking on the
water. I admire his faith very much. Got to put yourself in his place. Do a little bit of imagining
right now. He knew the only way he could
walk on the water was by Christ enabling him. But you know what? At some point he thought, hey,
I'm walking on the water. This is awesome. This is amazing. I'm walking on the water. And
then I have no doubt that he thought about his buddies back
on the ship. They're not doing this. I don't see them getting
out of the boat. Surely I'm somebody special.
Surely I'm a man of great faith. Look what I'm doing. I got out
of the ship, left my security, those fellas didn't. I'm a cut above the average Christian. Verse 30. But when he saw the wind boisterous,
there's always a but with us. And at this time, he had stopped
looking to Christ, didn't he? He saw the wind. He saw the waves
and he saw the strength of the wind. And he stopped looking
at the first cause, the Lord Jesus Christ. And he looked at
the secondary cause and down he went. I wish I could express this the
way it ought to be expressed. When you look to Christ, You
look to Him only. You don't look to Christ and.
You don't look to Christ along with. You look to Him only. Nothing more. Nothing less and
nothing else. You look to him only as everything
in your salvation. You don't look to your feet.
You don't look to your walking on the water. You don't think
about your faith. You look to him only. And the moment you start looking
to your faith, the moment you start looking to your walk, you
quit looking to him. 1 Corinthians 1.30 says He's
made unto us. God's made Him this to us. Wisdom
and righteousness, sanctification and redemption. That's everything,
isn't it? We look to Him only. But Peter at this time looked
at the waves. He looked at the wind boisterous. And he begins to sink. And don't you find in your own
experience Whenever you look anywhere other than Christ, you
begin to sink. Down Peter goes. And then Peter prays what I believe
is the most excellent of all prayers. He says, Lord, save
me. Now, this prayer is brief. It's only three words. It's adapted to every need and
every situation. I don't know how many times I've
prayed this prayer in the last week myself. Lord, save me. Save me. Another thing I like about this
prayer is it sounds in doctrine, isn't it? Isn't that our doctrine?
Lord, he's the Lord. Save me, I can't save myself,
I can't do anything to save myself. I'm totally dependent upon you
to do something for me. Lord, save me. Salvation is of
the Lord. And that's our prayer, Lord,
save me. You know, true prayer is always
in accordance with the truth of the gospel, isn't it? If it's
not in accordance with the truth of the gospel, it's not real
prayer. Lord, save me. It was personal. Lord, save me. It was urgent. It was direct,
Lord. Lord, look down in mercy on me. No, he just said, Lord, save
me. Lord, save me. He's the Lord. When he said Lord,
it wasn't an empty title. He knew he was the Lord of creation.
He knew he was the Lord of providence. He knew he was the Lord of salvation.
He knew salvation was in his hand. He said, Lord, save me. Verse 31. And immediately. Jesus stretched
forth his hand. And caught him. You see, the
Lord has a very long arm. very long arm. You can't be so
far away that he can't reach down and get you. I don't care
where you are. The Lord has a very long arm. Behold, the Lord's arm is not
shortened that it cannot save, neither is it heavy that it cannot
hear. He's mighty to save, and immediately he put forth his
hand and grabbed Peter. Peter was sinking and there was
nothing he could do to prevent it. This was all he had left. Lord, save me. What else could
he do? He was going under. Lord, save
me. And the Lord saved him because
that's what the Lord does. He's the Savior. He delights
in saving. Listen to me. He delights in
saving. Thou shalt call his name Jesus,
for he shall save his people from their sins immediately." Listen to this. If you ever prayed
this prayer, the Lord will save you. There hadn't ever been anybody
who prayed this prayer that the Lord refused to save. Well, I prayed this prayer and
he didn't save me. Well, you might have used those
words, but you meant something different. I'm sure that you meant help
me to do this or enable me to do that, or you were in there
somewhere, not just the Lord saved me. It was something you
you were trying to strike some kind of deal or bargain, because
if you ever say, Lord, save me. He'll save you. There's never
been a sinner that came to him for mercy that he turned away.
Lord, save me. And immediately he stretched
forth his almighty hand, and he caught Peter and pulled him
back up. But look what he says to him.
And immediately, verse 31, Jesus stretched forth his hand and
caught him and said unto him, O thou of little faith, Wherefore didst thou doubt? Now he says to Peter, little
faith. That old thou's kind of added
in there. He just, he looks at me and says, little faith. Now
I'm thankful for little faith. I'll take little faith a whole
lot better over no faith. And he didn't say, oh thou of
no faith or thou of pretend faith. He said thou of little faith.
Now I like little faith. I mean, I don't have any problems
with little faith because that's what I got. And I know this,
little faith saves as surely as great faith does. Yeah, if
your faith is as grain as mustard seed, it's going to save you
just as surely as the man with the greatest faith in the world,
because strictly speaking, it's not faith that saves, it's Christ
that saves. And faith believes that. Little
faith is a good thing in one sense, but in another sense,
it's a bad thing. Why would you doubt? Has the
Lord Jesus Christ ever given you a reason to doubt? The answer is no, he hadn't. Now, doubting. You know, the
word here means literally standing in two places. Standing in two places. Doubting
is stupid, isn't it? Doubting is sinful. Doubting
is dishonoring to the Lord, and it's excuseless. He's never given
us a reason to doubt Him. But every one of us has. It's
called sin. It's called unbelief. O thou
of little faith, why didst thou doubt?" I don't think Peter ever gave
an answer. He didn't know how to answer
that question. I think he just kept his mouth shut and was thankful
that the Lord reached out his almighty hand and brought him
in. Verse 32, And when they were
come into the ship, the wind ceased Then they that
were in the ship came and worshipped him, saying of a truth, Thou
art the Son of God." Now, this is what happens when the Lord
reaches forth His hand and does something for us. We worship
Him. We worship Him. We worship Him
for who He is, as He's revealed in His Word, and we say of a
truth, Thou art God the Son, the Son of the living God. Same
thing Peter would say in Matthew chapter 16, when the Lord says,
Whom do men say that I am? Well, they say good things about
you. Whom say ye that I am? Thou art the Christ, the Son
of the living God. Let's pray. Lord, we ask in Christ's blessed
name that you would give us the grace, like Peter, to come to
thee. We ask that you give us the grace
to come down out of our sinking ship and to come to thee on the
water, totally dependent upon thee for all things. And Lord,
give us the grace to not look at secondary causes. Give us the grace to not look
to the wind boisterous. and all the things that scare
us to death, but give us the grace to look to thy blessed
Son, and to behold his glory, and to rest in him. And, Lord,
only looking to him do we walk on the water. Forgive us, Lord,
of our doubt. Lord, we cry with the man of
old. Lord, we believe. Help thou our
unbelief. Bless this message for your glory
and for our good. In Christ's name we pray, Amen.