While you're turning there, we
have a new Greenleaf, Macy Elizabeth. I'd like to begin reading in
verse 23. And when he had sent the multitudes
away, he went up into a mountain apart to pray. And when the even was come, he
was there alone. Verse 24, But 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. And when the disciples saw him
walking on the sea, Did I get the right scripture?
I hear so many pages rustling. Matthew 14. Did I? OK, I guess
it seems like people are searching for Matthew 14. I'm sorry if
I didn't get it. Let me start over. Verse 23,
Matthew chapter 14, verse 23. 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. But 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. And when the disciples saw him
walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, It's a spirit. And they cried out for fear,
but straightway Jesus spake unto them, saying, Be of good cheer, it is I. Be not afraid. And Peter answered him and said,
Lord, If it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water. And he said, Come. And when Peter
was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water to go
to Jesus. But 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? 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." I have entitled this message,
Lord Save Me. Now, I have two goals in this
message. Here's my first goal. And I pray
that the Lord will cause this to happen. If there's somebody
who's never prayed this prayer before, I pray that they'll pray
it for the first time. Lord, save me. And here's my second goal. Somebody
who has already prayed this prayer, I pray that they'll pray it again. Lord, save me. Now, how did Peter feel as he
walked upon the water? This is a very familiar story.
The Lord walking on the water. Peter says, Lord, if it be thou,
bid me, command me to come to thee upon the water. And, you
know, even in coming to Christ, this is our prayer, Lord, bid
me, command me to come to thee. I'll come as you command me to
come, cause me to come. Now, the Lord says, come. And Peter, I love to think of
him being in that boat. He puts his foot over the edge.
He steps in the water and begins to walk toward the Lord Jesus
Christ. I want you to think of the faith
of that. That man, Peter, demonstrated great faith, didn't he? Put yourself in his place. What
if you were walking on the water? toward the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now, here's what I know I would do. As I was walking on the water,
I would probably look down at my feet. Am I really doing this? Yes, I am. I am walking on the
water by the grace of God, looking to Christ, But I am walking on
the water. Wow. I have faith. As a matter of fact, what about
John? What about James? What about
Nathaniel? None of those guys got out of
the boat. I'm the one doing it. I have faith. Now, I know it's
God-given faith. I'm not giving myself any of
the credit, but my faith must be growing. And then he looks to the side and he sees the wind, boisterous,
perhaps a wave coming at him, and he begins to sink. And he
cries out as he sinks, Lord, save me. And immediately the Lord reached
out his hand and caught him. And said, Oh, thou of little
faith. Wherefore didst thou doubt? Now, remember. Before this took
place, Peter was on the ship that was tossed in the wave when
the Lord was asleep. And remember when you can read
about this in Matthew chapter eight, before this event took
place, they come up to the Lord while the ship is being tossed
about and they say, Lord, don't you care that we're perishing?
And the Lord gets up and rebukes the wind, and there's a great
calm, and they say, what manner of man is this that even the
winds and the sea do obey him? Peter evidently had forgotten
about that. He was afraid. And he cries out,
Lord, save me. Someone once said this is the
shortest prayer in the Bible. And the best. Let me give you some facts concerning
this excellent prayer, Lord, Save me. First, it was very brief. Only three words in this prayer. I don't think that I would be
very far from the truth to say that the longer our prayers are,
the worse they are. There's more of us getting in
them. Lord, save me. But what a comprehensive prayer.
It covers every situation. Lord, save me. I don't care if it's a temporal
situation. I don't care if it's circumstances. I don't care if
you're talking about your sins. I don't care if you're talking
about your enemies. I don't care what you're talking about. This
prayer covers everything. Lord, save me. If you read the Psalms, David
used this prayer repeatedly. Lord, save me. God, save me. The waters are coming to my soul.
He felt like he was on a sinking ship. Lord, save me. And one
of the things that just kills me is the fact that these are
the words of the Lord Jesus Christ from the cross saying the waters
are coming to my soul. Lord, save me. That's what he
said from the cross. This is a very direct prayer. Lord, save me. He doesn't wind around. He comes directly to the source.
The only one who could do anything for it. Nobody else can help
me. Lord, save me. And it was a very doctrinally
sound prayer. Lord, save me. He knew he could
not save himself. And he knew, as Jonah did, when
he was in the bottom of the ocean, in the whale's belly, salvation
is of the Lord. This is a very doctrinally sound
prayer. Lord, that's who He is. Save
me. I can't save myself. 2 Timothy
1.9 says, He saved us. That's everything we believe,
isn't it? He saved us. And He called us with an holy
calling, not according to our works, but according to His own
purpose and grace which were given us in Christ Jesus before
the world began. Lord saved us. And it was a very personal prayer. It wasn't generic. He wasn't
simply saying his prayers, Lord, save me! Lord, save me! And it was a very earnest prayer. He was sinking. He wasn't just
saying his prayers. Lord, save me! Oh, the earnestness
of this, the death of need. Lord, save me. And beloved, this prayer was
an effectual prayer. The Lord heard it and the Lord
answered it. And do you know that everybody
who prays this prayer, the Lord answers. There's never been anybody
who from their heart said to the Lord, Lord, Save me that
the Lord did not save. And this prayer was filled with
much doubt, filled with much anxiety. Look what our Lord says
in verse 30. But 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? This prayer was accompanied with
much doubt. Just as I am, though tossed about,
with many a conflict, many a doubt, fightings and fears, within,
without, O Lamb of God, I come, I come. Now, I'm not excusing
doubt, but wherever you have faith, it will always be without
any exceptions to this rule it will always be accompanied with
doubt now why do I say that? because the flesh is always here
and the flesh never believes the spirit always believes and
the flesh never believes so wherever you have real faith You also
have the flesh, and you have the doubt that comes with the
flesh. We're always saying, Lord, I
believe. Help thou. Help thou mine unbelief. It's always there. Lord, save
me. Somebody once said to Charles
Spurgeon, I never doubt." And he replied, I never had a
doubt about you. I always knew you were a hypocrite. But as weak as his faith was,
it was still effectual. You see, weak faith, thank God
for this, weak faith saves just as surely just as effectually,
just as certainly as strong faith does. Do you know you're no more
saved with weak faith than you are with strong faith? You know
why? Because it's the object of faith that saves. It's not
the strength of the weakness. It's the object of faith that
saves. Peter had this effectual, Lord, save me. And the Lord reached
forth his hand and pulled him out. Lord, Save me. Have you ever prayed this prayer?
Perhaps someone says, I'm afraid I'm not saved. Well, have you
ever asked the Lord to save you? I tell you what, everybody in
this room ought to be praying this prayer right now. Lord. Save me. Now, here's the reason why you
and I should be praying this prayer. When God describes Himself,
He describes Himself in Isaiah 63, verse 1, as mighty to save. Mighty to save. In Isaiah chapter 59, verse 1,
He says, The Lord's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save,
nor his ear heavy that it cannot hear. God is mighty to save. Now here's where everybody's
problem is. We have this God who's mighty to save, but the
problem with most people is, is that they're praying to a
God that cannot save. Let me show you this in the scripture.
Turn to Isaiah chapter 45. God says in verse 19. Let's begin
in verse 18. For thus saith the Lord, Isaiah
45 verse 18, for thus saith the Lord that created the heavens.
God himself that formed the earth and made it. He has established
it. He created it, not in vain. He
formed it to be inhabited. I am the Lord and there's none
else. I have not spoken in secret in a dark place of the earth.
I have not said unto the seed of Jacob, seek ye me in vain. I, the Lord, speak righteousness. I declare things that are right.
Assemble yourselves and come. Draw near together, ye that are
escaped of the nations. Now listen to this. They have
no knowledge that set up the wood of their graven image and
pray unto a God that cannot save. The God who loves everybody. The God who wants to save everybody. The God who died for all and
wants to save all, but can't unless we let Him. The God who cannot save us unless
we of our own free will decide to accept Him That is a pygmy God. That is
a non-existent God. That is an idol. That God can't
do anything for anybody. They have no knowledge that pray
unto a God who cannot save. If the God you believe can't
save you unless you do something, that God won't do you any good
at all. That's a false God. That's an
idol. That's the figment of man's imagination. He won't do you any good. Now,
let's go on reading. Verse 21. Tell ye, and bring them near,
yea, let them take counsel together. Who hath declared this from ancient
time? Who hath told it from that time? Have not I, the Lord? There's
no God else beside me, a just God and a Savior. A God who saves in a way that
honors His justice. He's a just God first. But thank
God he's also a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Then he says in
verse 22, look unto me and be ye saved all the ends of the
earth. For I am God and there is none
else. So. Don't pray to a God that
can't do something for you unless you do something that releases
his power or enables him to do it, that that's a false God.
At God cannot save. Pray to the right God. Turn with
me to Matthew chapter one. You're there in Matthew. Matthew
chapter one. This is the announcement of the
angel. To Joseph. Verse 21. And she shall bring
forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus." It means Savior. For he shall save his people
from their sins. He shall save, not might, not
will, make salvation available, He shall save. Who shall He save? His people. Not every son of Adam. His people. He shall save His people from
their sins. Now, here's what I need. Salvation
from my sins. The sin of my nature. The sins
of my nature. Those are my enemies. I can't
stand before them. My sin. I need to be safe from
my sin. My sins. I need to be safe from
myself. Who's my greatest enemy? It ain't
you. It's me. It's the enemy within. It's the wicked. I need safe
from my sins. That's my problem. Listen, I
want to be safe from my circumstances. When things are going bad, And
when I don't see, Lord, get me out of this. I pray that. Lord,
save me. Save me from this circumstance.
Save me from these, my enemies. But here's my chief. Here's my
problem. Save me from my sins. That's what I need because I'm
a sinner. Save me from my sins. And that's what he came to do.
Thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people
from their sins. How's that work? Well, my sins,
God's a holy God and just, and He commands that sin be punished.
If I'm in Christ, I'm saved from the punishment of my sin. There
is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus.
That's justification. Nothing to punish me for. If
I've been saved from my sins, I'm justified before God. To
be saved from your sins is to be saved from the power of your
sins. where they don't reign over you. Sin shall not have
dominion over you, for you're not under law, but under grace.
You see, there was a time, I've said this before, you say, well,
my sin seems awful powerful in me. There's a time when you didn't
see that. That's when it did reign. That's when it had complete control.
The fact that you see your sin, that means the Lord's taught
you something. Save me from the presence of
my sin. And we have that in glorification. Called them, He also justified
whom He justified them, He also glorified. And it's not talking
about a future event. If Christ is glorified, I am
too, because I'm in Him. Now, that is salvation, isn't
it? Thou shalt call His name Jesus, for He shall save His
people from their sins. Now, do you believe that verse
of Scripture? When God looks in your heart,
does He see somebody who believes the truthfulness of that verse
of Scripture? Thou shalt call His name Jesus,
for He shall save His people from their sins." I believe that.
Now, here's my big question. How can I know if I'm one of
His people? How can I know if I'm one of
the people that He has saved from their sins? Now, let me tell you how this
can be known, how you can know right now if you've been saved
from your sins. Turn with me to first Timothy,
chapter one. Verse 15. This is a faithful saying. It can be utterly relied upon.
This is money in the bank. You can rest your soul in this
saying. And it's worthy of all acceptation. Everybody ought to receive this
as the best news they ever heard. You ought to receive this as
the best news you ever heard. That Christ Jesus came into the world To save sinners of whom I am the chief. Notice what it doesn't say. It doesn't say Jesus Christ came
to save elect sinners. Although He did. It doesn't say
Jesus Christ came to save believing sinners. Although He did. It doesn't say He came to save
repentant sinners. Although He did. It doesn't come to say He saved
sensible sinners. You read that in the Puritans
a lot. He came to save sensible sinners. Well, there's no such
thing as a sensible sinner. Sinners are stupid. Who did He come to save? Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners. No adjective. No description. Sears. If you are one of those. He came to save you. The only way you can determine
whether or not he came to save you is if you fit the description
of the people he came to save. He came to save sinners. What's a sinner? He's the one
who does the sinning. That's simple enough, isn't it?
I hate that saying, God loves the sinner, but he hates his
sin. That's not in the Bible, for one thing. And for another
thing, God doesn't put sins into hell. He puts the ones who committed
the sins into hell. What's a sinner? It's the one
who does the sinning. And if you're a sinner in the biblical
sense, and I know this is so, I'm giving my own testimony about
what I know about myself, if I'm a sinner in the biblical
sense, that means all I do is sin. It means I cannot not sin. It means that I cannot, I am
unqualified to look down my nose in judgment on anybody. It means if I believe I'm a sinner,
I believe I've got no claims on God, in this sense, if the
Lord God saved everybody in this room but me, and passed me by
and sent me to hell, I couldn't say that's not fair. No, that's
fair. That's right. That's just. That's holy. I've got no claims on God. Now
that person is the person that Jesus Christ came to save. If that describes you, yes, Christ
did come to save you. And beloved, He did it. When
He said it is finished, your salvation was accomplished before
you knew anything about it. He came to save sinners. Now, you might not be able to
be sure that you're one of the elect. Are you one of the elect? I sure hope so. You may not even
be absolutely sure that you've been born from above or born
again. Have you been born again? I hope so. Are you a sinner? Yes. Yes. Christ Jesus. came into the world to save sinners. Lord, I'm one of them. You said you came to save sinners.
I'm one of them. Save me. Lord, save me. Turn to John chapter 3. Verse 17, For God sent not His Son into
the world to condemn the world. Beloved, we already were condemned.
He didn't have to send the Lord Jesus Christ here to condemn
you or me. We already were condemned. Here's why He sent Him. That
the world through Him might be saved. Lord, You sent Him to
save. Save me. Lord, save me. Hebrews chapter 7, verse 25 says,
Wherefore, He is able to save them to the uttermost that come
to God by Him. Lord, the only way I know is
to come by Him. I'm not coming any other way. Just as I am without
one plea. but that thy blood was shed for
me, and that thou bidst me come to thee, O Lamb of God, I come."
I'm coming only by the Lord Jesus Christ. Lord, you said He's able
to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him. Now,
when Peter prayed this prayer, Lord save me, it was attended
with much doubt, but Peter believed the Lord could do it. Do you? Turn with me to Romans 10, verse 13. For whosoever shall call upon
the name of the Lord shall be saved. Whosoever. I'm in that bunch. I might not know whether I'm
one of the elect, but I know this, I'm a whosoever. That describes
me. Whosoever shall call on the name
of the Lord, not the God that cannot save, but the Lord who's
mighty to save. The Lord who is strong and mighty
in battle. The same one the leper came up
to and said, Lord, if you will, you can make me clean. That's
the one. That's the important name. The name of the Lord. It
won't do you any good to pray to this weak, contemptible Jesus,
but the Lord. The Lord of glory. Mighty to
save. That's the important name. And
this is so simple. She'll call. Whosoever shall
call, Lord, help me! Lord, save me! Whosoever shall
call, and listen to the sureness of this word, he shall be saved. Lord, I'm calling on Your name.
Save me. Look back in this same chapter,
verse 6 of Romans chapter 10. But the righteousness which is
of faith speaketh on this wise. Say not in your heart who shall
descend into heaven, that is to bring Christ down from above.
Don't even think what can I do to get Christ to come down here
and save me. Just strike that from your vocabulary.
Don't think that way. Or who shall descend into the
deep, that is to bring up Christ again from the dead. Don't say
what can I do to make what he did work for me. That's salvation
by works, plain and simple. Verse 8, But what sayeth it?
The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth and in thy heart, that
is the word of faith which we preach, that if thou shalt confess
with thy mouth the Lord Jesus. Is he Lord? Is he the dictator? Is he the
Savior? The Lord Jesus, He's the only
one who can do you any good. If thou shalt confess with thy
mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God
raised Him from the dead. Do you believe in your heart
that God raised Him from the dead? Now I'm not just talking
about the event. I'm not just talking about the event, because
we'll think, yeah, God raised him from the dead, and then we'll
think, well, what if he didn't? What if he didn't? What if all this
is a fairytale imagination? I'm not talking about just being
certain of the event, although your new nature is certain of
the event. You believe that God raised him from the dead, but
what that's a reference to is you believe that God was satisfied
with what he did. Why did he raise him from the
dead? Because sin was paid for. God was satisfied. Justice was
satisfied. God raised him from the dead.
If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe
in thine heart that God raised Him from the dead, what? Thou
shalt be saved. Saved from your sins. Now, I want to show you an example
of somebody who in one day, he didn't even know he was lost. And all of a sudden the Lord
showed him that he was lost. Turn with me to Acts chapter
16. You're familiar with this story. It's the story of the
Philippian jailer. Acts chapter 16. Now, Paul and Silas were being
thrown into jail for Telling that woman who was saying these
be the servants of the Most High God would show us to the way
of salvation. He had that demon that was in
her cast out and they were thrown in jail because of this. Verse
20, verse 19, And when her master saw that the hope of their gains
was gone, They caught Paul and Silas and drew them into the
marketplace under the rulers and brought them to the magistrate,
saying, These men, being Jews, do exceedingly trouble our city
and teach customs which are not lawful for us to teach. to receive,
neither to observe, being Romans. And the multitude rose up together
against them, and the magistrates rent off their clothes, and commanded
to beat them. And when they laid many stripes
upon them, they cast them into prison, charging the jailer to
keep them safely. Who received such a charge, he
thrust them into the inner prison, and made their feet fast in stocks."
Now this was a jailer. He was a rough man and he didn't
care about Paul and Silas, but his job was to make sure he stayed
in prison. And as a matter of fact, if those
fellows got away, he knew that his neck would be on the line
for it. Verse 25. And at midnight, Paul and Silas
prayed and sang praises unto God. And the prisoners heard
them. Now, the jailer didn't hear him
at this time. I've actually thought, well, the jailer heard that and
he was impressed. No, he's asleep at this time. He didn't hear.
He didn't know what was going on. Verse 26, And suddenly there
was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison
were shaken. And immediately all the doors were opened, and
everyone's bands were loosed, and the keeper of the prison
awaking out of his sleep. And seeing the prison doors open,
he drew out his sword and would have killed himself, supposing
that the prisoners had been fled. Now, the only way I know how
to understand this is if he would have been tortured because of
this. And he thought, this is an easier way out. I'll just
go ahead and kill myself because I know what's going to happen,
supposing that the prisoners had been fled. But Paul cried
with a loud voice saying, do thyself no harm, for we are all
here. Then he called for a light and
sprang in and came trembling and fell down before Paul and
Silas and brought them out and said, Sirs, what must I do to
be saved? What a question. What must I do? To be saved. Now, one thing Paul
and Silas didn't say, They didn't say, well, there's nothing you
can do to be saved. That's works. Didn't say that, did he? He said, believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. You believe on him. You trust
him. to save you, and you shall be saved. You say,
Lord, save me, and you shall be saved. And if you're not saved,
you in your own wicked heart have refused to cry out, Lord,
save me. Now, somebody says, I said, Lord,
save me. You didn't save me. I don't believe you. I really
don't. You never said, Lord save me,
because if you really did, he would have saved you. You prayed
to some kind of different God, or you asked for something else.
Anybody who prays, Lord save me, he saves. One last thought. The Ethiopian eunuch. He says, Lord, He says to Philip,
Philip's preached the gospel to him. He's preached Jesus unto
him from Isaiah 53. And he says, what hinders me
from being baptized? What is it about me that would
prevent me from confessing Christ in baptism and believing that
I'm a believer? What hinders me? And Philip said,
if you believe with all your heart, you may. And he said,
I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. Beloved, if you believe that
Jesus Christ is the eternal God the Son, the only Savior of sinners,
if you believe that all He died for must be saved. If you put all your trust in
Him, you're saved in every sense of
the word. Lord, save me. Can you by the grace of God Pray
that prayer. Lord, save me. Well, if nobody else in this
room prays this prayer, I am. Lord, save me. Let's pray.