You know, I have a lot of faults, but I don't think ingratitude is one of them. So I wanted to express a heartfelt thank you from my wife and I to all of you for how you've made us feel so at home. A wonderful church here, a wonderful area here. We've just had a great, great time for these three Sundays that we've been here.
So thank you so much, just for your kindness, very kind.
Scripture Reading: Matthew 14
Let's turn our Bibles for my last message in Matthew chapter 14. Now, I'm going to ask you to have to do something a little bit difficult, and that is there's a parallel passage I want you to flip there when I tell you to flip there. I won't tell you that passage yet, but it's in Matthew 14. And the thing about Matthew and Mark is they do seem to run parallel.
Luke does as well, but he does in a more expansive way. So Matthew, Mark, and Luke, definitely have parallel passage. This one begins in verse 22 of Mark chapter, I mean Matthew chapter 14. I will probably say that, make the mistake, so bear with me.
Matthew 14, this is the word of God. I'll begin in 22 and go to 33. Immediately Jesus made his disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side while he sent the multitudes away. And when he had sent the multitudes away, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray.
Now, when evening came, he was alone there, but the boat was now in the middle of the sea, tossed by the waves, for the wind was contrary. Now, in the fourth watch of the night, Jesus went to them, walking on the sea. When the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, It is a ghost. they cried out for fear. But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, Be of good cheer, it is I.
Do not be afraid. Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water. So he said, Come. And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus.
But when he saw the wind was boisterous, he was afraid and beginning to sink, cried out, saying, Lord, save me. And immediately Jesus stretched out his hand and caught him and said to him, oh, you of little faith, why did you doubt? When they got into the boat, the wind ceased. Then those who were in the boat came and worshiped him saying, truly you are the son of God.
Scripture Reading: Mark 6:45–52
Let's go over to Mark chapter six. The parallel passage is found in verse 45. He says here, immediately, he made his disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side, to Bethsaida, that would be the Sea of Galilee, while he sent the multitude away. And when he had sent them away, he departed to the mountain to pray.
Now, when evening came, the boat was in the middle of the sea and he was alone on the land. Then he saw them straining at rowing, for the wind was against them. Now about the fourth watch of the night, he came to them walking on the sea and would have passed them by. When they saw him walking on the sea, they supposed it was a ghost and cried out, for they all saw him and were troubled.
But immediately he talked with them and said to them, be a good cheer, it is I, do not be afraid. Then he went up into the boat to them and the wind ceased. and they were greatly amazed at themselves beyond measure and marveled. For they had not understood about the loaves because their heart was hardened."
Introduction
When you come to this amazing portion of God's Word, we have Jesus walking on the water. It is, I'll use the word amazing, but that word just really doesn't make it. It doesn't really give everything of that experience of what the people saw our Lord walking on the water. And so tonight what I plan on doing is when one preaches, I'll just let you into my study, there's a couple of things that those that preach should be able to do and that is they should take a text and make it easy to understand.
And I think you should have everyone in mind from the kids to the older ones, I'm one of those older ones now, to those that are in between. You also want it to be compelling. Preaching should be compelling. You must believe this of what it is that I am proclaiming to you.
And then it should have some measure of a picture, if you will, of one thing that sticks out in your mind. Oh yeah, he was preaching about this, that, and the other. Just like when you look at a picture, if you get up close to a picture, you see a bunch of lines and colors and that sort of thing. But it's not till you stand back and take a look and go, oh, OK, that's a picture of my wife, whatever it may be.
So that's hopefully what I will do tonight is to explain the context and explain the text. Now, before we get into the context and text, there is a reality and truth that needs to be accompanying us as we go through this passage. And that is fear. Fear.
Fear as a Consequence of Sin
Before sin entered the world, there was no fear. There was no sickness, there was no sorrow, no sin, no death, and no fear. Adam, before he sinned, was not afraid of anything. Think about that.
No pain. sickness, no sorrow, no death, and as a result he lived in perfect peace. After he sinned he became guilty before God as well as the entire family of Adam. Do you remember in Genesis what he said to the Lord? I heard you in the garden and I was afraid.
Now a new emotion as a result of sin. And by contrast, the eternal state of salvation is described in Micah 4.5 in a metaphor, that everyone shall sit under his vine and no one shall make them afraid. Zephaniah 3.13, here you have the remnant, those that are saved, shall feed their flocks and lie down and no one shall make them afraid. And being afraid is common to everyone.
Kids, you get afraid of things. I was afraid of the dark. I was afraid of some of my dreams. And I was definitely afraid of my dad when I disobeyed my parents because I knew that I was going to get the backside spanking.
But it was a fear of love towards my father. These fears, which is common to all of us, might be fear of sickness, of sorrow, yes, of death, but all are afraid. Now we have our fears as Christians and we have our comforts as Christians, and when you come to a service, a church service, fear is probably the last thing on your mind, probably. Well, let's hang on to that for a minute. and let's move on now with the context.
Context of the Passage
We are in the midst of our Lord's ministry. After he hears the news of John the Baptist being beheaded, he takes his 12 disciples and goes to a deserted place. However, many hear of him and go to him, and he performs wonderful teaching and a wonderful miracle as he feeds 5,000 men with a very small amount of loaves and two fish. Wonderful miracle.
Then after he feeds them, in John's gospel, in John chapter 6, it appears that they're going to take him by force and make him king. Now, this was not the design of his miracle of feeding the 5,000 men. They were seeking to establish a temporary kingdom, and that was not our Lord's intention when he fed the 5,000. That was not his intention to do that.
So what he does is he takes the 12 and he sends them to go to the other side in the Sea of Galilee. Then he goes to the 5,000 and it appears that he instructs them and he sends them away. So, now he retreats up to the mountain by himself to pray to have communion with God. Now I have to stop here and say I find it interesting that here the Son of God The Son of Man found a need to pray.
And as I sit in that pew at many times, not this particular pew, but the one down in California, praying, and I'm in need of the Lord, And I pray, and yet the Lord Jesus shows his dependence upon the Father by going to the Lord and seeking Him in prayer. All of us sitting here, when we do pray, when the brother prays, we are praying with him. We are, yes, agreeing with him. Amen.
We know that God hears our prayers. We don't pray disbelieving. We pray believing that God will actually answer our prayers. He will bless our services.
He will save our children. He will cause us to grow in grace. But here, our Lord goes and prays, and I will submit to you, and I'm just being suggestive here. He's probably praying for his disciples that are rowing on the Sea of Galilee, which brings us now to our text.
And
First Fear: The Storm
in verse 24, here you have a boat with 12, and they're about halfway across the Sea of Galilee, and they are in trouble because the wind and the waves are against them. Now, four of them were seasoned fishermen. They were used to troubles on the water, but right now they were having trouble. They were losing the battle.
Some would call it Mother Nature. It's not Mother Nature. Losing the battle with the wind and the waves, being brought about by God's providence. They were in a battle and our translation says that they were in their fourth watch, in the fourth watch, which is between 3 a.m. and 6 a.m.
First watch is PM, 9 PM, second, nine to midnight, third, midnight to three, last watch, three to six. So it is late at night. It is dark. There's an angry sea, and there is no end in sight.
They didn't have motors back there. They just couldn't call the Coast Guard for help. They were in trouble. And as a result, they had fears.
The next verse in Matthew 14, 25, and in Mark 6, 48, either one, doesn't matter, you can go to either one, you see, or I should say the Lord sees them straining, and because of their current danger, he goes to them walking on the water. The disciples, without our Lord, are straining and fearful of their lives. They are literally afraid of their lives. fearful night on a Black Sea. I don't know if any of you have ever been on the Black Sea, I should say.
I went across a couple of times with my father-in-law, and there was one night, there was no moon, there was no stars, it was dark. We were between about 15 miles, we had another few miles to go until we got to Catalina. It was dark, and the waves were getting a little high. It was getting a little scary for us, and we were motoring, so we just, they weren't as afraid as I was.
But when you're on a black sea, there is nothing. You look in front of you, behind you, above you, and all you see is black. And I would submit to you it's probably what they saw is nothing but black. Water potentially filling the boat, making them cold.
Their natural reaction is survival out of fear. Now that's one fear. Fear for their lives. The next verse is 26. with their backs toward their destination, because that's how most people row, like this.
They're not doing the forward one. They're probably doing the backward row. They've done this before. But they're back to their destination, weary from rowing.
Second Fear: The Supernatural
They've probably been rowing for around six, seven, eight hours. A new fear arises. Fatigued, they see their Lord walking towards them. But now a new fear arises.
It's a fear of the supernatural. They look at him. They do not recognize him as the Lord. And they say, in the Greek, it's a phantasm or it's a ghost.
That's how our Bible translates it. It's a ghost. Now their fears come to a new frightening level. When it's a new fear, brethren, it heightens quite a bit.
When I had cancer, before then, I just knew of cancer. Oh yeah, you might get cancer one day, Rick. When I had cancer, they tell you the news. I have to admit that that was a new fear for me.
Now my mortality came before my eyes and I was afraid. New fears right there seem to bring that scale up pretty high.
Christ's Word Relieves Fear
In verse 27 of Matthew, Jesus brings peace by a simple word. It is I. It is I. Do not be afraid.
Simple word. Do not be afraid. Our Lord knew that they were afraid. Amazing.
He gets into the boat. Everything calms down. Now, in Mark's gospel, he leaves something out. I don't know if you noticed that or not, I'm sure you did.
He left out Peter walking on water. Mark, why did you leave that one out? I mean, Peter walked on water. That should be something to write about.
Well, let's talk about this for a minute. Why is it in some gospels things are omitted and in other things they are added? The four gospels Do not necessarily question everything or have every single solitary fact in there. The intention of the writer may not have been with regards to Peter walking on water.
The thing is, is that's probably not the question to ask. Why isn't this in Matthew? Or why isn't this in Mark? That sort of thing.
Remember that the writers are writing to a particular people to impress their souls. And so there is an intention of the writer when he writes the gospel, whether it was Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John, they had an audience to consider, and their intention was to leave a different impression on their souls than someone else that they were addressing. So we probably should be taking up more with what is revealed as opposed to what is not revealed. And that's about all I'm going to say about that.
But
Peter: Faith and Doubt Together
Peter here, going back to Mark, I should say Matthew 14, Verses 28 through 32 exhibits faith and doubt. He exhibits both. His faith is courageous and his doubt also exists. Look at that.
He says, Lord, that is faith. If it is you, that's doubt, bid me to come on the water. That's faith. He gets out of the boat, walks on the water.
That's faith. Then he begins to sink. That's doubt. Then he looks up to the Lord.
Save me. That's faith. You see what happens there? In a very short period of time, faith and doubt existed with this believer.
And these men, except for Judas, were believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. They believed. Peter believed. He cries out to the Lord to save him.
And Matthew says he catches him. Imagine he got pretty close. And then he caught him. And then he says something to him.
Oh, you of little faith, why did you doubt? I don't know if our Lord had a smile on His face when He said that, but I think He had kindness on His face when He said that. Oh, you of little faith, why did you doubt? Why did you doubt?
Gets into the boat, and the wind ceases. Everything is calm.
Disciples Worship the Son of God
And here in Matthew's account, the disciples proved Jesus' deity by worshiping Him. If a Jehovah's Witness shows up on your doorstep, and you show them this verse, they will probably blow it off. And I found the best way to talk to a Jehovah's Witness is to talk to them about their sin. Once they're convinced of their sinnership, that they've sinned against God, It's not gonna be too difficult to show them that Jesus Christ is both Lord and Savior.
But here, the disciples prove that Jesus is God manifested in the flesh by worshiping him and praising him, truly you are the Son of God, meaning you have the same nature as God, the Son of God, the Son of the living God. Now, while Matthew adds something, Peter walking on water. Mark omits this. Mark, go to 6.51 now.
Mark's Addition: Amazement Beyond Measure
He adds something that Matthew omits. Verse 51, Then he went up into the boat to them, and the wind ceased, and they were greatly amazed in themselves beyond measure and marveled. The disciples were greatly amazed, it says, beyond measure. Amazed that it was the Lord Jesus Christ and not a ghost, first of all.
They were amazed that he walked on water, should be, marveled. Even more so, the wind ceases. There's a lot going on here of why they would be amazed at our Lord. Their amazement went beyond words.
When it says beyond measure, there's probably no Greek or English word that can properly or perfectly describe what went on within them. They were amazed beyond measure. I can't give the right words. We're sitting here in the cool of this building here.
We're not on a sea that was tossing back and forth, and all of a sudden, everything gets calm. But why were they amazed? Why is it they were beyond measure in their amazement? And just, I find it amazing that they were amazed.
Because they didn't realize something. They simply didn't realize something. They didn't properly judge something. Well, their amazement springs from a lack of understanding.
The next verse brings it out, for
Hardness of Heart and the Loaves
they had not understood about the lows because their heart was hardened. Now think about that for a moment, okay? What in the world does our Lord feeding 5,000 have to do with their amazement that He walked on water and calmed the seas? By the way, this was not the first time our Lord calmed the seas.
Earlier, when He was asleep in the boat, things were getting rough, they come down, don't you care that we're perishing? He gets up, rebukes the wind and the waves. Oh, you have little faith. Why did you not believe?
This happened before. Now, if our Lord could, by His great power, feed 5,000 by multiplying a small amount of loaves and only two fish, it shouldn't be too difficult for our Lord to walk on water. and calm the sea, if he could feed 5,000, and he did. So if our Lord has that ability, they should have understood it. And I would submit to you that their thinking was lazy.
They did not conclude or think or meditate upon what our Lord had done with the 5,000. If they did, you can probably conclude it wouldn't be that difficult since he was able to multiply the loaves and the fish to walk on water. They should not have been greatly amazed. But I think something happens here that's not in either of the passages.
And that is, it appears that our Lord probably, and I'm making this suggestive in light of Matthew's account, that our Lord probably explained to them His deity, His power, His ability, Him being the Lord, because it says in Mark's and Matthew's gospel that they worshiped Him. It seems like something happened between the time that He gets into the boat, okay? They're greatly amazed beyond measure. Our Lord has to teach them and instruct them.
Then they say, truly, you are the Son of God. Again, I'm just being suggestive here. But I think that's probably what happened. Our Lord was constantly teaching his disciples, probably teach them, look, if I can, if I did, and I have fed 5,000 men, I can walk on water.
You should not be greatly amazed. You should believe that I am truly the Son of God. And they do, they do. Again, I'm just being suggestive there, but something had to have happened between their amazement to their unbelief.
Now, their hardness of heart was not to the degree of the Pharisees. Hardness of heart is used here, but it's not used to the degree of the Pharisees. I preached against the Pharisees in the first message. We already know their hardness of heart.
Jesus would do something, their heart was hard, they would not hear, they would not understand, they would not obey, they would not recognize him as the Messiah, as the Son of God. These 12, except for Judas, believed that Jesus was the Son of God. They were amazed. They believed.
However, there was a hardness of heart there, and they were not able to understand our Lord's miracle of the 5,000. Later on, He's going to feed 4,000, by the way. It goes from 5,000 to 4,000. They're not greatly amazed anymore.
They are believing. They are seeing this as the work of the Son of God. Now, was it wrong for them to be amazed beyond measure? Well, the very fact that our Lord doesn't reprove them for that, but it would appear that he had to instruct them.
So I would not lay sin at their door because they were greatly amazed at the Lord doing this. They were just, they did not properly judge what had happened when the 5,000 were fed. So
Application: Believe, Look to Christ
let's make some conclusions here regarding Matthew as well as Mark. Because we want to make sure that we understand and we don't have hardness of heart as well. And here's the thing is we should be amazed at our Lord. We should be amazed at our Lord.
We should marvel. When we read of his miracles in this book, in his word, And what I find amazing is how God has been able to preserve his word all these thousands of years. This didn't happen in America or Canada. It happened way over on the other side of the world.
And God was able to preserve his word, have those words frozen on paper, and bring it to us here living in the 21st century. And I find it amazing when I read of our lords and miracles. When you read in your Bibles, and you should read daily, kids, Remember, when you get up in the morning, you should pray. Thank God for your parents.
Make sure you read. If you're able to read, read your Bibles. Start with Matthew. Start with Mark, okay?
And be amazed. Believe those miracles that our Lord performed. And believe those miracles. In one sense, let's be amazed.
Let's just, oh yeah, Jesus walked on water. Wake me when this is over. No. God would have us to be exercised when we read His Word.
It's not like you're reading the phone book. This is God's Word. God has been pleased to give us His Word. It is God's love letter to us.
We see it. We believe it. Lord Jesus, thank you. for this wonderful miracle that I've been able to see. You weren't there.
No, but God's been pleased to bring it home to me right here, right now. I praise the Lord for that. That will probably make your Bible reading a little bit different when you get up and do your devotions. Read believing.
God also has intended in our reading for us to increase in faith, as well as increase in our faith When we come here, our faith increases, our hope increases, our love for the Savior increases. We will look at our Lord's miracles probably a lot differently when we see the beauty of the Savior. Our Savior is a beautiful Savior. There's a hymn that we sing at Trinity, assuming you may sing it here, it's about beautiful Savior.
Wonderful hymn. He is. There's a beauty to our Lord. When you consider that He would take upon Himself our nature, and yet tempted in all points as we are, yet without sin.
Therefore, He is a Savior that can be trusted. These disciples believed upon the Lord. They trusted Him. Fearful as they may be, Let's cut them some slack.
We're probably not in the same boat as they are, so to speak. But what a wonderful Savior, a wonderful Savior. And for those kids, I would exhort you to believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ. Any here that are not believers, if you know your sin, the good news is Jesus loves to save bad people.
He loves to save sinners, loves to save disobedient children. God loves to do that. He loves to do that. Christ is more willing than you are.
Keep going to Him. Keep going to Him until you believe upon the Savior. So He's a wonderful Savior. If you want to know anything at all about Jesus, I know that many want to literally see Him.
We literally want to see him when he breaks through the clouds, when he breaks through the clouds in flaming fire, taking vengeance on those who do not know God and do not obey his gospel. We look to him by faith right now, longing for him to return. But I would submit to you, we have him here in the pages of Holy Writ. I want you to notice as well of the fears relieved by these disciples.
When they were alone in the boat straining, then they had fears. It wasn't until Jesus revealed himself to them that those fears were relieved. Jesus reveals himself in the word read as well as in the word preached. He is not an unknown savior to us and he gives us a peaceful word.
Do remember that our Lord sent these 12 into a fearful, I was going to say ocean, but a sea is what it is. He sent them there. They were sent by a loving Savior. Difficulties come our way.
In our congregation, we have many who've had sicknesses, cancers. One member had an open heart surgery with his heart removed and a new one put in. We've had a lot of difficulties in our church. When you're in a church for a period of time, those things happen.
I'm assuming you're not immune to that as well. But it would appear at times as if God had abandoned the person. I felt abandoned, even though I wasn't abandoned by the Lord. But then on the fourth watch, it seems, then the Lord came and comforted our people in different areas, in different sicknesses that they had, different fears that they had, even though it appeared it looked this way as if the Lord was gone, we couldn't recognize him, yet on the fourth watch he brought comfort to us.
Remember this, difficulties come by the hand of the Lord. And remember this, this is not original with me, but smooth seas never made a good sailor. Never did. I've competed a lot in sports and I would have to say that the difficulties that came along, the opponent that came along, that pushed you to a new level, I became a better athlete as a result of that.
Now, granted in the Christian walk we have difficulties that come our way. We hang in there, we believe, we look to our Lord and it will turn us into better seasoned Christians. But to look to Jesus. We look to Him, just as Peter looked to the Lord Jesus, we look to Him for our help as well as for our strength.
And look at this wonderful picture of salvation. Peter's sinking. He doesn't try to swim to the boat. He doesn't try to generate enough faith to walk on the water.
He doesn't look to his friends to save him from drowning. He doesn't look within himself just The self-awareness, that's what you need. He doesn't do any of that. What does he do?
He looks to Jesus. All he says is, save me. Save me. And did he turn him away?
No. No. He even said, oh, you of little faith, why did you doubt? Why did you doubt?
The tenderness of our Lord, his willingness to save, and he did more than that. He saved. Well. Faith and doubt coexist in the Christian.
That's my next point here for application. Again, look at Peter. Lord, that's faith. If that is you, that's doubt.
I'm saying all that to say that can it be that happens to us as well? Faith and doubt coexist within the believer. Not a doubting to condemnation, but there could be at times we doubt about our Lord's providence. Maybe we doubt His kindness.
Those things may exist within a believer. Faith and doubt do indeed exist. I think this is an example of it right here with Peter. And these disciples had a test of faith. and their failure was for their good.
Not that we're looking to fail. We want to endure. We want to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. But remember, every trial that comes our way is by the hand of the Lord, and it's for our good, even though not everything is good.
And faith is not hoping, oh, well, then it will be better. No. Faith is believing upon the Savior. Our trust is in Him.
Through good times and bad times, we hang on to Him. Sometimes we feel so weak, we just try to hang on that we can, but we have a strong, wonderful, compassionate, loving Savior who is head of the church. He's the head of the church. Not a pastor.
We're under shepherds. We're nothing more than slaves, and what we're trying to do, ministers, we're trying to get out of the way. We preach to you Christ, God gets all the glory, and we get out of the way because it is the Lord Jesus who is the head of the church, and he is the one that's teaching you in a wonderful way, because he loves his people. He has great love for his church.
He laid his life down for his church. Just remember this, my brethren. No tribulations, no trials. We would get pretty fat and lazy, wouldn't we?
Those things have to come. They come by the hand of a loving Father, by the hand of our loving Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, and we put our trust in Him. So, what have I done these last three weeks? Well, I preached to you the context of John 3, 16 the first time, which was Numbers 21.
And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that whoever looks upon him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever bleeds upon him should not perish, but have everlasting life. That was my first week here. Took you 45 minutes times two to say that?
Yep, sure did. Took me 90 minutes, maybe less, not sure. And then we had the sinful woman and the Pharisee. Remember that?
And our Lord has such comforting words to her. Her sins, which are many, are forgiven her. And he turns to her and says, your sins are forgiven you. Your faith has saved you.
Go in peace. Those are words for us. Go in peace. And then we have this wonderful passage today, this morning, with our Lord and with the command for us to be humble, not to be judgmental, see our sins greater, and see our Savior to be greater.
And that's what I'm bringing out here right now. We have a wonderful Savior. So my exhortation to you is continue on in the grace of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. I owe you a little faith.
Why did you doubt? We believe. We cling to Him. Let's pray.
Closing Prayer
Our Father, we thank you that you have granted unto us eyes to see, ears to hear, a faith to believe upon your Son, And we cling to you and we praise you. We give you thanks that you are the great God who has made the heavens and the earth and the sea and all that is in them. We give you thanks for the great honor it is to have communion with you through prayer, through the singing of hymns, through your word preached. We praise you that you are our great God.
Grant unto these dear saints for this upcoming week, the grace to walk with you. grant unto the children faith to believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ, cause this church to continue to grow in your grace and knowledge, raise up elders to continue to minister to the flock of God, the shepherd, the flock of God. We give you thanks and praise that you've established the church for the good of your people and for your glory. So we pause here At the end of this day, we offer up thanksgiving and praise unto you, for you are worthy, you are worthy, you are worthy. Hear our prayers, do good to our souls, for we pray with confidence in the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, amen.