While Walking On Water, I Sank Part 2

Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith. Violent winds can arise quickly on the Sea of Galilee, turning tranquility into terror. On this canvas, the Bible paints a vivid picture of faith coming alive in the midst of upheaval.

Picture yourself in a storm-tossed boat and stay with us. From the Moody Church in Chicago, this is Running to Win with Dr. Erwin Lutzer, whose clear teaching helps us make it across the finish line. Pastor Lutzer, we're studying the life of Peter, a man chiseled by the Master's hand. During a windy night on the Sea of Galilee, Peter joins Jesus on some churning water. And you know, Dave, Peter is able to walk on water just as Jesus is able to walk on water. But then it says this, but when he saw the wind. And my friend today, that's your problem and that's my problem. In the midst of all of the hustle and bustle and trials of life, oftentimes we see the wind.

Let me ask you this question. Are you blessed as a result of the ministry of Running to Win? If so, it's because other people have invested in this ministry. Together, we are making a difference. Here at Running to Win, we have endurance partners.

They are people who stand with us regularly with their prayers and their gifts, and they enable Running to Win to be in 20 different countries in four different languages. Would you like to join us? Here's what you can do. You can go to RTWOffer.com. Of course, RTWOffer is all one word. RTWOffer.com. And when you're there, click on the endurance partner button.

Or if you prefer, you can call us at 1-888-218-9337. Now, let us be reminded that in the midst of the storm, we have to keep our eyes on Jesus. For a brief moment, Peter is doing what his Lord is doing. He is also triumphant over the laws of nature.

He is also breaking that law of physics that a buoyant force exerted by a liquid is equal to the weight of the water displaced. And Peter is walking with his master on the Sea of Galilee, and he feels firmness beneath his feet as he walks to Christ. That's snapshot number two. Peter saw an opportunity, and he took it.

Snapshot number three. Verse 30. But seeing the wind, he became afraid and beginning to sink, he cried out saying, and you know, there's a time for long prayers. And some of you think that that happens every Sunday morning. It's time for a long prayer. And then there are times when you just don't have time for a long prayer. And so you say it in three words, Lord, save me. And this was a time for a short prayer.

And what does the text say? And immediately, Jesus stretched out his hand and took hold of him and said to him, Oh, you have little faith. Why did you doubt?

Jesus did not rebuke Peter because he was so desirous to come to him, but he did rebuke him for his lack of faith. Why did Peter look at the wind and the waves? Why did he do that? Well, just think, think for a moment, because he recognized that he was doing something that really no normal person is supposed to be able to do.

You're not supposed to be able to walk on water. It hasn't happened before. And furthermore, once he began to do it, it seemed to be so supernatural and the wind was so strong, it was pushing against him and the waves were making so much noise that in his distraction, he glanced over there and saw what it was that he was doing. And he took his eyes off Christ. That's what happened to Peter. And so he had to cry out, Lord, save me.

What are the lessons to be learned here? Lesson number one, will you remember that the water that threatens to be over your head in the storms of life, the water that threatens to be over your head is water. Believe me, that is under Christ's feet. Because if you're a believer, you share in the victory of a very triumphant, omnipotent, omniscient savior, and he's walking on the water in which you are drowning.

Always remember that. I want you to know that there is no situation in life, even the situations that took place in your life this past week, that are either a surprise to Christ that catch him off guard or for which he is ill prepared. He is the God who has been watching you in that storm. And he knew exactly when to come to the disciples at the fourth watch of the night, when it was as if they were exhausted and Jesus shows up at the moment when they desperately needed him.

He was monitoring it all from the hilltop. I want you to know today that Jesus Christ is triumphant over the storm that you're experiencing. Seven thirty this morning, the phone rings in the Lutzer household. It's a relative of ours in another state that is going through a messy, awful divorce. Husband that was unfaithful and now it's time to get that divorce, you know, and now suddenly he wants partial custody of the kids that he never loved when he lived with her. You know why he wants that, don't you? Is it because he loves them? Of course it's not because he loves them. He wants them because he needs to assuage his guilt so that he thinks to himself, you know, I'm a good father after all because I really do want these kids. And secondly, that's the bargaining chip to get at his wife, you see. And so the preliminary hearing is that he's supposed to get the children at least a little bit of the time and the children go over there and they cry because they don't want to be with daddy.

They want to be with mommy and mommy has to sit there and go through this anguish and anger and wondering how in the world she's going to make it. And so she found us at seven 30 today just for a little bit of encouragement because she said, I don't know if I can go on. I said to her, well, I want you to know that this morning I'm preaching at Moody church on Peter walking on the water. And I said, I want you to know that the water that engulfs you is water on which Christ is triumphant and is walking. But I said to her, remember this, that just because you look at Christ, that does not mean that the wind is going to stop.

It does not mean that the waves are going to cease to make their noise because even when Peter was walking on water, the storm was still blowing and the waves were still high. So remember, I don't know, dear lady, how much pain you are going to have to go through. I don't know how many tears you are going to have to shed.

I don't know how long these situations are going to drag on because I've noticed that sometimes they drag on for months and years and sometimes it seems as if the storm never ends. But remember that in your trial, Jesus Christ knows he understands and he's walking on the water that is threatening to pull you under. I want you to know today that Christ is triumphant. Christ is triumphant. Christ is walking on the water that seems to drown you. Now, when I was in the seminary many, many years ago, we used to always be told, you know, there should only be one point to a message really. You may, you may have an outline, but basically there's one bottom line. Well, I've given you one, but you know what?

For no extra charge, you're getting two today. Aren't you glad you came? The second bottom line is not only that Christ walks on the water that seeks to engulf us, but also the strength of our feet is determined by the focus of our eyes. The strength of our feet is determined by the focus of our eyes. You see, as long as Peter was looking at the Lord Jesus Christ, as long as he was looking into his eyes, the eyes of the savior, he was walking. Let the storm come as it may. But as soon as he looked at the wind and said, my word, I can't believe what I'm doing.

He went under. How long did it take for Peter to begin to sink when he took his eyes off Jesus? Second, I think of the many times I have failed Christ and I have failed Christ more times than I would ever like to admit.

And I have admitted those times to him. All those times when I've done my own thing, when I thought my own thoughts and I ask myself, how long does it take for me to cease thinking about Christ and keeping my focus on him before I collapse and fall into sin? And the answer is not very long, not very long. Those of you who are battling anger today and you are filled with resentment, have you ever noticed that when your mind goes along those trails and you begin to look at those waves and you begin to hear that wind, have you ever noticed how quickly it will engulf you and how soon you are going to be drowned and then you don't even know where to go because you can't swim and the water's pulling you down? It doesn't take long. Those of you who are filled with fears and anxieties and you look at those fears and those anxieties and as you begin to look at them, they grow in strength and they begin to say, I got you, I got you, I got you, I got you, I got you. And you try to look at Jesus, but he's so far away that all that you can do is to see the wind and all that you can see are the waves that are coming towards you and they engulf you and they say, you say, where is Jesus now? I don't even see him. It doesn't take long.

It doesn't take long. Early Friday morning, I flew to Cleveland and when I was on that United Airlines flight, God knowing that I was going to have to preach this message today, very kindly looked down from heaven and said, you know, I'd like to give Erwin Lutzer a concluding illustration for that message he's working on. I wasn't that gracious.

He wouldn't have had to do that, but it was just an extra unexpected blessing. I was sitting beside a man who used to be a commercial airline pilot and now flies a little plane, his own little plane. We're talking about flying. And he said, you know, he said, many people think that these big, huge jets are built more safely and that they are safer than those little planes. And he said, they think that because there are so many little plane crashes in comparison to those big jets. But he said, that's not true. He said, the reason that you have so many little light planes crash is not because of bad equipment. It is because of inexperienced pilots.

I said, tell me more. He said, you know what inexperienced pilots do is, their error is they refuse to believe their instruments. He said, they are absolutely convinced, for example, that the altitude of the plane is increasing. There's an internal mechanism that tells them that, but he says it's not. And they disbelieve the instruments and they begin to adjust the plane accordingly, or they begin to think that the plane is actually turning, that it's banking and it's not.

And they adjust to bring it back to where their sense of intuition says it should be. And eventually something happens and they end up crashing. He said, you wouldn't have nearly as many light planes crash if those pilots blindly and devotedly believe their instrument panel rather than accepting information that is coming to them through their senses.

I shook his hand and I said, I want to thank you for that sermon illustration. You think of all the Christians who have crashed. Some of you who want to give up on the Christian life because you're saying, you know, Jesus doesn't work when you're about to crash. We wouldn't have nearly as many crashes spiritually if we ceased accepting information from our senses and from the wind and the waves and the circumstances of life and the people who do us in and the job that doesn't work out and the struggles that seem to engulf us if we didn't receive information from them but kept our eyes on Jesus on the instrument panel.

We'd make it even in a storm, even in a storm. So how do you keep your eyes on Jesus? Well, I don't have much new to say, but I'll tell you what I'm going to say now is incredibly important. First of all, of course, through the word of God. You know, there are some of you here whose souls need to be purified by the word. What you need to do is to read several chapters of the Bible out loud every single day. You read the chapters and you memorize the verses. Wednesday evening a woman in this church who is here this morning, but I am not now looking at her, told me that memorizing the first 17 verses of Colossians totally changed her attitude and really changed her home. It's amazing what the word of God can do. You say, well, we came here to the Moody Church. We gave money in the offering plate to hear stuff that we already know. I know that you already know it, but that's not why I'm telling it to you.

I'm telling it to you that you might do what you know. And that's a big difference. The infusion of the word of God meditating in the law of God day and night. That's number one. Number two is prayer. Number two is prayer. And then number three, absolutely essential. You and I don't sing in the choir here.

And in many instances, there may be reasons for that. But I'll tell you, there is nothing like singing and like a song to keep your eyes on Jesus. There is absolutely nothing like it. In fact, when some of those songs are in your mind and heart and you know, you can sing these to yourself, so nobody's going to think that you need special counseling or anything. When you fill your mind with the word of God and when you begin to pray and when you have in your mind the hymns, the songs that exalt Christ, when you have that, you will be absolutely amazed. But here's what's going to happen. The winds and the waves are going to constantly keep beating against you. Always these distractions, always this problem is going to occupy your mind. That problem is going to occupy your mind. And what it really wants to do is not just occupy your mind. Ultimately, it wants to absorb your mind. It wants to take all that is in your mind and it wants to grab you and drown you in despair. You say, well, that's the way I feel this morning.

Well, for openers, would you do what Peter did? Lord, save me. Help me. Jesus, I need you. I cannot bear my burdens alone. The load is too heavy. I'm tired. Like the lady said to me at seven thirty this morning, I can't take it any more. Lord, save me.

Help me. Did Jesus say, well, you know, you got yourself into this fix. It's up to you. Get it out, buddy. Tough. No. Immediately, immediately, verse thirty one, Jesus stretched out his hand and took him and said, oh, you have little faith.

Why did you doubt? And together they got into the boat and then the storm stopped. Jesus is here. Jesus is here. And he's here not just to help you in your storm, but he's also here to save you from your sin. He is the triumphant Christ who walks on water.

And I invite you to him today. I ask you, I urge you to come to him, whether as a Christian who's got burdens that are far too heavy for you to bear or someone who doesn't know where he stands in his relationship with Christ. I ask you to come to the triumphant savior Christ, the Lord, who is the only one that can keep us from drowning.

Let's pray. Father, we confess that we have often, often been engulfed by circumstances that we could have endured much better if we had looked to you. And so, Father, I pray in the name of Christ that you might help us at this moment to, like Peter, look into your eyes and say, Jesus, you're going to be my focus. You're going to be my life. You're going to be my all. Whatever our spiritual need is from those who are unsaved that may be listening to those who know you as savior but are walking in such defeat, such defeat, drowning, wallowing in self-pity and sin, despair, come and help us, Jesus. Lord, save us.

We need you. In Jesus' name, amen. Well, this is Pastor Lutzer. My friend, could I have a personal word with you? I can't help but think that there are many of you who have listened to this message, and you will not be walking to Jesus on the water until your little boat is smashed along the shore.

And then you will say, I need a captain to take me to the other side of the lake. Why don't you give up your striving right now and trust Jesus Christ, the Lord of creation, the Lord of the water, the Lord of the storms, and trust him? I'm holding in my hand a letter that someone wrote based on the message that you have just heard. This person says, I was in great despair and grief because of a relational conflict. Then Pastor Lutzer preached about the storms in our lives.

God got ahold of my heart, and now I have peace again, and I've decided to forgive my neighbor. It's always wonderful for me to hear from you to let us know how running to win is blessing you. Would you like to become a part of this ministry?

Would you like to become a part of what I like to call the running to win family? Here's what you can do. Go to rtwoffer.com. When you're there, you click on the endurance partner button.

Consider becoming an endurance partner. That's rtwoffer.com or call us at 1-888-218-9337. Together, we're making a difference.

Go to rtwoffer.com or call us at 1-888-218-9337. It's time again for another chance for you to ask Pastor Lutzer a question you may have about the Bible or the Christian life. Today's question, Dr. Lutzer, comes from a listener in Connecticut. He asks, Is it true that the Apocrypha was never part of the Jewish canon in Palestine? And the answer to that question is yes, you are right. It was never a part of the Jewish canon. It's important to realize that when Jesus was here on earth, the Bible that he referred to, the Old Testament, had exactly the same books as our Old Testament.

Now mind you, they were rearranged differently. For example, First and Second Kings, that would have been one book, the same with First and Second Chronicles, etc. So it might have appeared as if there were fewer books, but the content was absolutely the same as our Old Testament. The Apocrypha, these books, which arose some of them before the time of Jesus, were written in Greek, and they circulated. And the reason that they made some claim to canonicity is because Jerome, he was very reluctant to translate them, but he did translate the Apocrypha and they appeared in the Latin Vulgate. Now throughout all of history, hundreds of years, the church recognized that these books were not authentic.

They were not breathed by God. Jerome himself spoke about them as being a kind of second canon, a secondary canon. But then later on during the time of the Reformation, these books were used against Luther and so forth, and then the church officially recognized them, that is, the Catholic Church recognized them as being fully authoritative. So that's why there is this disagreement that still exists until this day.

But the bottom line, the answer is yes, the canon of Jesus is the same as ours, the one that he referred to, and the Apocrypha was never a part of the Old Testament canon. Thank you, Dr. Lutzer, for that lesson in history. If you'd like to hear your question answered, go to rtwoffer.com and click on Ask Pastor Lutzer. Or call us at 1-888-218-9337.

That's 1-888-218-9337. You can write to us at Running to Win, 1635 North LaSalle Boulevard, Chicago, IL 60614. Running to Win is all about helping you understand God's roadmap for your race of life. One day in northern Israel, at a place called Caesarea Philippi, Peter found himself entrusted with some keys, keys handed to him by none other than Jesus, keys to open a really big door. Next time on Running to Win, Jesus confers on Peter the keys to the kingdom. Tune in to find out what they opened. Thanks for listening. For Dr. Erwin Lutzer, this is Dave McAllister. Running to Win is sponsored by the Moody Church.