Trinity Baptist Church

Jesus Said...

Be of Good Cheer!

Matthew 14:22-33

 

We are beginning a new series of message entitled, "Jesus Said" In the next few weeks we will read some of the most important words that ever came from the mouth Lord. 

 

Today's message is found in Matthew 14:22-33,

 

Now this story has been often ridiculed by the skeptics and the scoffers.  It’s amazing to to me that man will believe we went to the moon, but have trouble believing God can walk on water!  I don't have any trouble believing God can walk on water. In fact, it seems to me that what God is teaching us in this story is that we are to walk on water.  We are to be unsinkable saints in the midst of the storms of life. 

 

Now it’s interesting that in verse 14 we are told that Jesus made His disciples get into the boat and go across to the other side.  Now we know they aren’t Baptists because nobody makes Baptists do anything!

 

But here is Jesus, the omniscient Son of God, knowing all things, knowing that a storm was brewing, knowing that these disciples would be involved in a great turmoil, deliberately made get on the boat and go to the other side.

 

 He said now fellas I have to have some time alone with the Father.  I have to go into this mountain and pray. 

And while I am gone, you just go ahead and go on to the other side.  He just insisted that was what they do because Jesus knew that there was a lesson the disciples needed to learn, that they could not learn in any other circumstance except the circumstance of a storm. 

 

It’s kind of interesting that Jesus always gives the test first and the lesson afterwards.  And that is what He did in this story.  He gave them the test then He taught them the lesson.

 

As I look at this story, it has so much meaning for life today because the first thing you notice is

 

 

These disciples found themselves right in the middle of a terrible, terrible storm.  The wind was blowing and the waves were tossing the ship on that stormy Sea of Galilee.  They looked around and it was dark.  They thought, “Perhaps tonight we die.”  These men were involved in a storm. 

 

You may be involved in a storm today.  You may be involved in a storm in your home.  Many homes right now are caught in terrible storm.  You may have sailed on the ship of life into the eye of the storm in your personal life, in your family life, in your business life.  And it seems you are about to go under.  You are like a ship being tossed on the waves.  The wind is blowing and you are trying to get your bearings.  You are trying to keep on a level keel but it seems the storm is slapping you this way and that. 

 

 

That is the way these disciples were on this particular occasion.  I want you to see some things about the storm. 

 

First of all there was the problem of the distance from the shore.

 

v. 24

 

The Bible tells us they were in the middle of the sea.  The Sea of Galilee is, on average about 10 miles wide, so it is safe to assume they were maybe 4 or 5 miles from shore. There was no turning back. There was no way to change the circumstances.  They had committed themselves to a course and they were caught in the middle and there was nothing seemingly they could do. 

 

That is the way the problems are so many times.  It seems that you didn't cause the problem, you don't know why the problem came, you don't know why the storm came, but it came.  And so there is the distance from the shore.

 

There was also the direction of the wind.

 

Verse 24 says that the winds were contrary.  That means that the winds with angry fists were beating upon the water of the Sea of Galilee until the angry waves were tossing the ship until it seemed it would just be engulfed in that water. 

 

Then there was the darkness of the night.

 

Verse 25 says it was the fourth watch of the night. 

 

 

That would be about 3 in the morning, in the very darkest hour of the night. And there they were with their backs bent as they were rowing with the oars.  They were doing everything they could, trying to keep that boat afloat, just trying to keep things together. They couldn't even see the faces of their friends.  Perhaps they said one to another, surely tonight we will die.

 

And remember, they were there because Jesus made them go!

 

That is the way storm are many times.  It seems very dark, that your life is being threatened, that your home is being threatened or your very purpose for existence is being threatened. You’ve been trying to live right and do what Jesus tells you to do, and the bottom falls out. 

 

It is a terrible thing to be caught in a storm in life.  It becomes so dark because there doesn't seem to be any answer.  There doesn't seem to be any solution.  There doesn't seem to be any way out.   That is the way these disciples were, the problem of the storm. 

 

I know that describes a lot of people today.  And you may be there, going through a storm. Well, welcome to the human race! Jesus didn't promise us there wouldn't be any storms.  We all have the problems of the storm.

 

But that’s not all, in verses 25-27 we get to see

 

 

 

Notice what happened. The Bible says here that Jesus came to them walking on the water.  What a sight that must have been!  I mean the Son of God as He comes from that place of retreat.  He comes from that place in the mountain.  It is dark and yet Jesus Christ comes striding toward His disciples across the waves. And as they looked out at first they could only see His garments. 

 

And they see His robe flowing in the wind.  So they cry out, they think maybe it is a spirit, a ghost, maybe we have already died and the spirits are already coming.  These disciples were afraid.  Then Jesus talked to them and they knew it was Jesus when they heard His voice. 

 

And Jesus said to them, "be of good cheer, it is I,; do not be afraid." 

 

Now watch this:  What He was really saying was, Don’t be afraid because I AM! 

 

Now, I AM was the sacred Hebrew name for God.  So I AM was a declaration of deity.  When Jesus came to these disciples in the middle of their storm and said I AM, He was reminding them of His deity.  He was declaring His deity.  They were reminded that when Moses was to go to lead the people out of the land of Egypt and Moses said God whom shall I tell the people has sent me to lead them out?  God said just tell them I AM has sent you.  That is the scared Hebrew name for God that speaks of the holiness and the might of the Almighty God.

 

 

 

 

And I want to tell you, many times God will allow that storm to come so that in the middle of that storm we can see Him coming to us and declaring His deity saying, “I AM greater than the storm.”

I AM the great, eternal God. 

 

Jesus often took up this name and applied it to Himself to remind people that He was not only the Son of God, He was God the Son, that He was God incarnate. 

 

Jesus thought of the hungry hearts of men and He said I Am the bread of life. 

 

He thought of the thirsty souls of men and He said I Am the living water. 

 

When He thought about the lostness of mankind, He said I Am the way. 

 

When He thought about the lies of the Devil, He declared I AM the truth. 

 

You see Jesus Christ again and again declared His deity.  He said I AM.  I am sovereign, I am God, I am greater than this storm, I am the alpha, I am the omega, I am the beginning, I am the ending. 

 

The Bible says that Christ is all and in all and many times we lose sight of that and a storm has to come to bring us to our senses.  When we face the darkness of the night and the direction of the wind and then Jesus comes and reminds us I AM.  I am greater than all of this, the declaration of His deity.

 

 

 

But it was also the proclamation of His presence because Jesus wanted to teach His disciples the lesson that a storm does not mean that God is not with you.  It doesn't mean that God has stopped loving you.  Illness may have come but God has not stopped loving you.  Hardship may have come but God has not stopped caring about you.  God knows what you are going through, because He is with you. 

 

Jesus came in the midst of their storm and just as Jesus came in the midst of their storm to say I AM and proclaim His presence, Jesus comes in the midst of your storm today and He proclaims His presence. 

 

In the midst of your storm He says I AM, you are not alone, I am with you.  The writer of Hebrews reminds us that God has said I will never leave thee nor forsake thee.  I will never fail thee nor forsake thee. 

 

A young seminary student had done an exegetical study of that verse for his class.  And he discovered that it used a triple negative.  And in the original language, the Greek language in which the New Testament was written that really the verse was saying, I will never, no never, not ever forsake thee or never, no never, not ever leave thee. 

 

So he was out visiting on his church field and he was visiting an elderly lady and he was trying to encourage her in the faith and he said, dear lady I want you to know you are not alone.  I want you to know that this verse doesn't just say I will never leave thee, it says I will never, never, never, leave thee.  She said, well it may have to say it three times for you Greek fellas but once is enough for me!  Amen?

I mean Jesus comes to speak and He comes to proclaim His presence to say I AM.  I am with you, you are not alone.  You may be ill but Jesus is with you.  You may be going through difficulty but Jesus is with you.  You may be going through hardship but Jesus is with you.  He comes to say I am here.  I proclaim my presence.

 

Not only was it a declaration of His deity, not only was it a proclamation of His presence, but it was an announcement of His abundance.

 

He came to say - in the midst of your storm, I AM.  It is an unfinished sentence.  There is a blank at the end.  I am _________, what?  I am and He invites you to fill in the blank.  You just fill it in.  Whatever you want, whatever you need, Jesus is in the midst of your storm. 

 

You see, the Bible says that He is already blessed us with every spiritual blessing.  Not that He will bless us, but He already has blessed us.  The Bible says that he is made to sit in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.  And that means that everything Jesus has is already ours.  We are heirs of God and joint heirs with Jesus Christ.  The Bible says that Jesus has made us to sit in heavenly places.

 

And thank God for that wonderful truth of the announcement of His abundance, that whatever He has is ours and all we need to do is claim it.  What do you need today?  Whoever you are and whatever your occupation in life, Jesus Christ is everything that you need in the midst of a storm. 

 

 

 

To the architect, He is the chief cornerstone. 

To the banker, He is hidden treasure. 

To the baker, He is the bread of life. 

To the carpenter He is the door. 

To the doctor, He is the great physician. 

To the educator, He is the master teacher. 

To the farmer, He is Lord of the harvest. 

To the geologist, He is the rock of ages. 

To the horticulturist, He is the Rose of Sharon and the Lilly of the Valley. 

To the jeweler, He is the pearl of great price. 

To the lawyer, He is our advocate. 

To the missionary, He is the message of the gospel.  To the philosopher, He is the truth. 

To the traveler, He is the way.

To the sick, He is the Great Physician. 

 

Whatever you need today, fill in the blank.  Jesus already is and He comes to you in the midst of the storm and He says, don't be afraid I AM.  I am everything you need.  Oh what a wonderful Savior who comes to us when the hour is dark and when we think we are going under, Jesus arrives on the scene.

 

So there is the problem of the storm.  No doubt about it, we are going to have them.  And praise God, when they come we have a Savior Who is Able to Perform

 

But don’t miss this:  In this story we also see

 

 

Notice a little phrase in verse 26 that is key.

 

He taught them by Vision.

They saw Him “walking on the sea”.

 

And you know something? We will never learn to believe God and walk on the water and have victory in our lives until we see Jesus doing it.  We will never learn to do it until we see that He has already done it.  That is the point here.  They saw the vision. 

 

Listen, if there is anything I could wish for you and for our church it is that we would have a vision of Jesus. 

 

We need a vision of who Jesus is and who we are in Him.  How we as individuals need a vision of Jesus in the midst of a storm.  What you are going through right now and what you need more than anything else is to see Jesus.  If you come to church today and do not see Jesus then you missed the point of it all.  It is not to see the each other and listen to the preacher.  It is not just to hear songs and study the Bible.  What you and I need in the midst of heartache and sorrow and difficulty and a tough decision and tough things that happen, and in the midst of brokenness is to just catch a glimpse of Jesus, and see His power and His glory and His ability.  Look at Him walking on the water!

 

Think about what processed through the mind of Peter and those disciples as they realized this was Jesus and He’s walking on the water. 

 

“This storm ain’t no big deal!  Jesus is Lord over it!”  All that water, all that storm that threatened to engulf them was already under the control of Jesus Christ. 

 

And I want to know, not only was that storm under the control of Jesus Christ, the Bible says that God hath put all things under Him.   All things are under Jesus today.  As Peter watched he saw a vision of Jesus and it enraptured his heart.  It thrilled his soul.  It captured his imagination and he was saying in effect, Lord I want to share in your victory.  Lord if that is you, then let me do it too!

 

Now Peter moves from vision, to Voice. 

 

Verse 29

 

Here comes this voice and the voice of Jesus said to Peter come, come.  Peter steps out of that boat, and walks on water.  How did he do it? 

 

He is simply being obedient to the voice of Jesus.

 

Now think about what we learn here.  The Bible teaches us that because Jesus Christ is in the victory, we are in the victory.  Because Jesus Christ is over all, we are over all.  Because Jesus Christ has all power, all power is given unto us.  Jesus said all power and authority is given unto us.  Jesus said, "All power and authority is given unto me in heaven and earth, go ye therefore and teach all nations". 

 

And the Bible teaches us that when Jesus died on the cross, we died with Him.  What happened when Jesus was raised from the dead?  We were raised with Him.  What happened when Jesus ascended on high?  Bless God, we ascended with Him.  And now today we sit at the right hand of God where Jesus is seated.  We are at the right hand of God, over all because all things are under Him.

 

Many times we say when somebody asks us how we are doing we say pretty good under the circumstances.  Well, circumstances are like a mattress, you are supposed to be on top of them not under them!  But the only way you can be on top of your circumstances in the midst of illness and heartache and trouble is through Jesus.  That is the only way.  He is over your circumstances. 

 

So they got a vision of Jesus.  Then they heard the voice of Jesus. 

 

Then notice the venture.

 

The Bible says that Peter walked on the water to go to Jesus.  The only man in all of history, besides Jesus, that ever walked on water. Simply defying the laws of gravity and nature, Peter did the supernatural.   No tricks, no mirrors, no rocks and no stumps!

 

Question:  Upon what, then, did he stand? Someone says, “Water.”  He didn’t stand on water. 

 

When he put his feet out of that boat and when he put his feet on that water, upon what did he stand? 

 

Listen:  He stood on the same thing you are to stand on in the midst of your storm.  He stood on the Word of God.  He simply obeyed the voice of Jesus who said come.  And God caused him to stand and to walk in the midst of the storm.

 

There is not a more graphic demonstration of faith in all the Bible than what we witness here.  Faith is getting out of the boat at the command of God. 

 

Faith is going against human logic and human ingenuity and human wisdom and human strength and human power, and entering into the realm of the supernatural, standing on the promises of God, walking at the command of God, and claiming the promises that God has for us.

 

In the midst of your storm when you feel you are going under, you can get out of the boat and commit every ounce and every inch and every nerve and every fiber of your being to God and claim the promises of almighty God that are yea and amen in Jesus Christ.  That is what God wants us to do. 

 

People want to talk about how great Peter was, and no doubt he was a great man of God, but only because he believed and acted on the word of God.  The only thing that made Peter great was a God who could back up His promises. 

 

And in that regard, Peter was no greater than you or me we dare to believe and follow the Word of God. 

 

Some say, well that takes a lot of faith to step out of a boat in the middle of the sea.  Listen: he was safer out on the water with Jesus than he would have been back with the disciples in the boat. 

 

The safest place you can ever be is in obedience to the command of God.  That was the venture. 

       

Then Peter experienced the victory. Remember that old ABC Wide World of Sports logo, “the thrill of victory”?  Can you imagine what a rush it must have been to step out of the boat, in the middle of a storm and not sink? 

 

What a thrill to discover the power of Christ that comes through obedience!  What an experience to , step out on faith and just believe God and do what God had said and know the victory of living in the supernatural power of God.

 

That’s where God wants His people to live.  That is where God wants His church.  Sometimes God will bring us face to face with a situation that is so great, that is so demanding, that there is no way on this earth that it could be accomplished in the human realm.  There is no way on this earth that it could be brought to pass and God brings us face to face with that.  And then He says get out of the boat because you are going to see what I can do.

 

Jesus did the supernatural, He walked on the water and because He did the supernatural, a man could do the supernatural.  And Peter knew the thrill of victory in the moment.  And man, I wish the story ended there, but the rest of that little jingle talks about “the agony of defeat”.

 

And Peter experienced that also.  He experienced the Void.

 

I don’t know if it was pride or fear or emotion or just what, but something caused Peter to begin to concentrate on the storm rather than the Savior, and

when he took his eyes off Jesus the Scripture says that immediately he began to sink.

 

And I wish I didn't have to bring this up.  It just kills the whole story.  I mean it just ruins the whole thing in many ways for me.

 

He began to sink. 

Can you imagine what it was like he finally got back to the boat?  The disappointment and embarrassment that He experienced?

 

Why does the story include this detail?  Well, that’s the way it happened and God never pulls any punches.  He tells it like it is. 

 

But it is also a reminder to us of our utter dependency upon God. The Bible says that when he began to sink he cried out saying Lord save me and immediately Jesus reached down and took him by the hand and lifted him up. 

 

And that tells me that in the midst of the storm, your faith may sometimes fail but even when it fails Jesus doesn’t! He will never fail you!  The Bible says the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord.  And to paraphrase, "and though he sink, he will not utterly drown for the Lord upholds him with His right hand."

 

Then we see the value. 

 

Notice verse 32.  When they got back in to the boat, the Bible says the wind ceased.  I mean the wind stopped howling just like that.  And the sea became calm.  The disciples began to worship and praise Jesus.  They began to say; truly this man is the Son of God. How did they get back to the boat?  I mean Peter either had to be carried back in the arms of Jesus or he had to walk back.  How did they get back?  I think he must have been carried in the arms of Jesus. I think Jesus just reached down and lifted that big old hulk of a fisherman up and lifted him up in His arms and just kind of loved him up a little bit. 

 

And I think ole Peter just laid back in the arms of Jesus and said through it all, though it all I have learned to trust in Jesus.  I have learned to trust in God.  And if I didn't have any problems I wouldn't know that God could solve them, I wouldn't know what faith in God could do.

 

And when they got back to the boat the men began to worship because Jesus had done the supernatural and a man had done the supernatural in response to Jesus and in the power of Jesus after he had gotten a vision of Jesus and obeyed the voice of Jesus, a man had done the supernatural.  And when the disciples saw that, they worshipped and said of a truth, He is the Son of God.

 

Listen: God allows the difficulties to come so that in the midst of the storm of life, we can learn the truth that we are unsinkable saints.  And as we praise God in the midst of the storm, and as we stand on the promises of God when everything tells us to go our own way and to forget it and to write it off, as we do that and Jesus is glorified, the world sees us and they say of a truth, Jesus is the Son of God.

 

And even when we sink, we learn that Jesus is there and He will carry us.  Did you know something?  You ‘re not going to drown.  How can I be sure? 

 

The Bible says Jesus is the head of the church.  And I have never seen a man drown yet with his head above water.  He is our head today.  We cannot be anything but unsinkable through Him.

 

Let's pray together.