Be Not Afraid - Part 3 of 3

Oh, for a thousand tongues to sing my great Redeemer's praise, the worries of my God and King, the triumphs of his grace.

This is LeSary Bradley, Jr., welcoming you to another broadcast of the Baptist Bible Hour. Master, the tempest is raging, the billows are tossing high. The sky is o'ershadowed with blackness, no shelter or help is not. Carish thou not that we perish, how canst thou lie asleep, when each moment so madly is threatening, a grave in the angry deep. The winds and the waves shall obey thy will, please be still.

Whether the wrath of the storm-tossed sea, or demons or men or whatever it be, no waters can swallow the ship, where lies the master of ocean and earth and skies. They all shall sweetly obey thy will, please be still, please be still. They all shall sweetly obey thy will, please, please be still. Master, with anguish of spirit, I bow in my grief today.

The depths of my sad heart are troubled, awaken and save, I pray. Torrents of sin and of anguish sweep o'er my seeking soul, and I perish, I perish, dear master, oh hasten and take control. The winds and the waves shall obey thy will, please be still.

Whether the wrath of the storm-tossed sea, or demons or men or whatever it be, no waters can swallow the ship, where lies the master of ocean and earth and skies. They all shall sweetly obey thy will, please be still, please be still. They all shall sweetly obey thy will, please, please be still. Master, the terror is over, the elements sweetly rest.

Her sun in the calm lake is mirrored, and heaven's within my breast. Linger, oh blessed Redeemer, leave me alone no more, and with joy I shall make the best harbor, and rest on the blissful shore. The winds and the waves shall obey thy will, please be still. Whether the wrath of the storm-tossed sea, or demons or men or whatever it be, no waters can swallow the ship, where lies the master of ocean and earth and skies. They all shall sweetly obey thy will, please be still, please be still. They all shall sweetly obey thy will, please, please be still. Today we come to part three of a message entitled, Be Not Afraid. There are many circumstances in the troubled world in which we're living today that can stir fear, but over and over again in scripture we're told, Be Not Afraid. I pray the Lord will use the message to be a comfort to you today. We'd love to hear from you if you want the program to continue on your local station.

Our address is Baptist Bible Hour, Box 17037, Cincinnati, Ohio 45217. Suppose I could tell you this morning that Jesus was in the next room praying for you. Would that make you feel better about what you've got to face in life this next week? He's not here on this earth. He's not in the mountain praying as He was when He prayed for these disciples. But I can tell you on the authority of the Word of God, Jesus is in heaven praying for you.

Right at those moments when you think, He's forgotten about me. He must not care because this storm is raging and He hasn't come to my rescue. He is praying for you.

Romans chapter 8 verse 34. Who is He that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. Today, right now, Jesus Christ is at the right hand of God making intercession for us. He sees every trial, every storm, every hurt, every difficulty, every disappointment that you face in life.

He sees it all and He's interceding for you. As much as He said for Peter, He prayed that His faith might not fail and He's praying for you. Yes, Peter had those times of failure in the flesh.

But I believe the Savior's prayer was answered because Peter was restored and used mightily of God. How wonderful to know that we can come boldly to the throne of grace to ask help in the time of need. Have the storms of life been particularly difficult for you in recent days? The winds of adversity blowing? Have you sometimes asked the question like the disciples did on the ship on the other occasion where Jesus was asleep and you've said, carest thou not that we perish? Lord, are you not mindful of my circumstances?

Where are you? Rest assured, you need not be afraid because He sees you. He knows all about you. He's thinking about you.

He's praying for you. Furthermore, we can see a lesson here from the standpoint that we often misunderstand in the midst of our trials. Back to the 14th chapter of the book of Matthew. It said that 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. You'd think, at last, the one they've been thinking about and wishing were present, He comes, but they're troubled.

Saying, it is a spirit. And they cried out for fear. I mean, as if it wasn't enough to be in the midst of such a terrible storm, the boat tossing about, they're exhausted from rowing for hours. They feel like they're not going to make it and then they look and here comes this form walking across the water. And at first, they don't see who it is and they cry out.

I mean, this is an alarm. They're petrified. How would you feel? You're out on a body of water and there's a storm raging.

All of a sudden, you look out there and here comes a figure moving across the water in the darkness of the night. They were alarmed. They were troubled.

Was there any reason to be troubled? No, this is the best thing that's happened yet. Jesus is coming. But what are they doing? They've fallen apart. They're squealing out in fear. They're petrified. But they've misjudged.

They haven't seen the reality of the situation. They decided, here's a ghost. But we're now going to be attacked by some unknown object here. You know, what else can happen to us when one thing goes wrong, everything goes wrong.

You ever say something like that? Well, yeah, that's the way it always happened to me. They don't just let it start one thing after another, get afraid to pick up the telephone because everything's going bad. Well, it looks like that to them.

Storm comes, they're worn out, they're full of fear, and then here comes a spirit moving across the water. And how many times do we look at situations and we say, everything's against me? That's just the way Jacob talked, you know, in old times. He said, everything's against me. Well, it wasn't anything against Jacob. It was all going for him because God sovereignly was at work bringing about in Jacob's life a purpose and design that he had which would be to God's glory and good for Jacob.

Jacob couldn't see it. The disciples couldn't clearly see Jesus here, so they were troubled. And many times we're troubled because we don't see clearly. And we need to be in the Word of God so we can think right.

Having our minds renewed by the truth of God's Word so that we can look at things in the proper manner. They feared at His coming and yet there was no reason to be alarmed. Next lesson we would draw from this is that Jesus does come to us in our trials, although they misjudged His coming at first and cried out for fear. But straightway Jesus spake unto them saying, Be of good cheer, it is I, be not afraid.

Oh, they recognized His voice then. It's Jesus. It's Jesus who has moved across the water to come to us. Isn't it interesting that the thing that they were fearing right then was water? They feared the possibility of drowning in the deep and Jesus walked on the water.

He used what they feared as a pathway to travel to meet them. Say, He's in control of all things. He is the sovereign God of glory, has all power. And Jesus says, Be of good cheer. That's the gospel word.

The word gospel means good news. It's a cheerful message. It's glad tidings. Be of good cheer.

It's I. Be not afraid. Be not afraid. He comes to us in our trials. See, there's no place we can be but what He can find us.

We sometimes think, I'm out of the Lord's vision. I'm out of His care. He's not mindful of me. He just doesn't respond to my prayer.

He doesn't know where I am. He doesn't know where you can go but what He's going to find you. The darkness of the night didn't keep Jesus from going right where they were. And there's no storm but what He can overpower and overcome it because the storms are in His hand. He comes to us in our trials. Isaiah chapter 43 verse 2. When thou passest through the waters I will be with thee and through the rivers they shall not overflow thee. When thou walkest through the fire, thou shall not be burned, neither shall the flame kindle upon thee. For I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Savior.

Oh, what a promise. When thou passest through the waters I will be with thee. He comes to us. He comes to us in our trials. And what was His word? The word of cheer?

It is I. Now from the human standpoint, we would think in terms that if we got a problem here on the sea, what we need is some advice. Rowing obviously isn't getting us anyplace and we need some information about some new technique, some new approach to take. Or we need a more positive mental attitude. We need to feel better about the situation. What did Jesus do? He pointed them to Himself.

What was His word of cheer? It is I. Oh, what a lesson. What a tremendously important lesson. Our focus must be on Him, on Jesus Christ. And that's the reason we sometimes are full of fear, because we're looking everywhere else.

We're looking for some new method, some new technique, some other friend, somebody that can help. We're looking for some new philosophy. We're looking everywhere else where we ought to be looking, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. The word of cheer, the good news that He brought, it is I. I'm here. All is well.

It is I. Quickly, let's observe a few lessons also from Peter's experience, which immediately follows here, verse 28. And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou bid me come unto thee on the water.

And he said, come. Now we know that Peter is impetuous and he sometimes does things that seem to be a little rash. The one thing about it, Peter was willing to get out of the boat.

That's more than the rest of them were. I don't think that Peter was trying to show off. I believe that Peter, from what we learn of him throughout the scriptures, really loved Jesus Christ. In spite of his weaknesses, in spite of his failures, he truly loved the Savior. And at this point, Peter is so stressed, so full of anxiety, so physically exhausted, so full of fear, that when he hears the voice of Jesus, he says, Lord, just let me come to you. And Jesus says, come. And when Jesus says, come, friends, it's all right. Look for a moment like it wasn't going to be all right, but when Jesus says, come, it's all right.

He said, come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water. I don't know how many steps he took, but friends, he walked on the water to go to Jesus. He wasn't trying to make a show.

He wasn't trying to establish a reputation so he could go on tour and say, I'm the man that walked on the water. He just wanted to get to Jesus, that's all. He wanted to be close to the Savior.

Is that not what we desire when the storms of life have tossed us about? When we're weary, we're worn, we've tried so hard, we've miserably failed, we're totally exhausted, we're at the end of our resources, we just want to be near Jesus. Lord, I can't bear my burdens without Thee. I can't go on with life without Thee. That beautiful song we used a while ago, because He lives, I can face tomorrow.

What a truth. Because He lives, if I can just be with Him, near Him, in His presence, in communion and fellowship with Him, whatever I've got to face, I can face it. He truly desired to be with the Savior. Verse 30, But when He saw the wind boisterous, He was afraid.

Here comes fear again. Now, there certainly wasn't any need to be afraid with Jesus right there. Jesus had already said, come, Peter, it's all right, come on, you can walk out of your tummy. And if Jesus said, come, everything's under control. But Peter got his eyes off Jesus.

And that wind was still whipping around him with tremendous force. And he looks down and here's water. And Peter isn't accustomed to walking on water. All of a sudden he thinks, water's not going to hold me up. I'm going to sink.

As a matter of fact, I may drown. He was afraid. And he began sinking and he cried saying, Lord, save me. Now, he didn't start one of these fancy prayers where he went back before the foundation of the world and tried to inform the Lord about everything that had been going on since the creation of time, friends.

He was in a hurry. He just said, Lord, forget the preliminaries, just save me. Save me. Sometimes in our deep troubles, that's the kind of prayer you've got to pray. Lord, save me.

No time for any introductory comments. I'm in deep trouble. If I don't get help, have it quick, it's all over.

Lord, save me. See, he was gripped by fear when he took his eyes off Jesus. You look at your own experience and travel, what have been the times that you've been most stricken with fear? The time you've been full of anxiety, the time you've been in trouble, the time you woke up in the night and you couldn't go back to sleep or you paced the floor and couldn't lay down to rest at night.

It's when you haven't had your eyes on Jesus. You were looking at the water. You were listening to the wind. You were looking at the circumstances. You were thinking about your troubles.

You were thinking about yourself. But when you looked at Jesus, that's where you found help. Verse 31, and immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand. Now there are times that I believe Jesus purposely delays deliverance.

You remember when the word was sent to Jesus that Lazarus was sick? He could have gone right away, but he didn't. He delayed. And when he got there, even Lazarus' sisters, Mary and Martha, were a little perturbed and said, Master, if you'd have been here, you wouldn't have died.

Like, we just don't understand why you didn't come right away. Obviously Jesus had a purpose in that, because now he's going to raise Lazarus from the dead. Jesus had a purpose in delaying his visit to these disciples out on the sea. He saw them out there toiling, but he let them toil for a while.

Sometimes God has a purpose in that. We have to struggle so that we're made to realize how weak we are and how dependent we must be upon him. He delayed his coming.

It was the fourth watch of the night before Jesus came walking on the water. But friends, when there was an emergency, when help was needed immediately, Jesus gave immediate help. We sometimes think we need it immediately, and he says you need to wait a little bit. But when he knows we need it immediately, that's what he does. He gives us immediate help. Immediately, Jesus stretched forth his hand and caught him and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt? Now, understand the sequence of events here. Jesus first pulled him out of the water and then admonished him about his lack of faith.

Have you mothers ever had a time when your child is crying and screaming and hurt? And instead of going to him and finding out what's wrong with him and trying to take care of his problem, I told you not to be out there climbing on that tree. You know, you've got what's coming to you. No wonder you broke your arm.

Don't you know any better than that? You know, if the kid's got his arm broke, he doesn't need a lecture right now. He needs help. And aren't you glad when we've gotten in trouble and we're hurt and bleeding and suffering, the Lord doesn't lecture us right then. He delivers us first and then teaches us later. He first pulled Peter out of the water and then he says, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?

If it had just kept your eye on me, everything was going to be alright. And when they were come into the ship, the wind ceased. Talk about a miracle. I mean, this wind has been atrocious. It's just been beyond anything they've ever experienced. But when Jesus came into the ship, the wind ceased.

It was calm and quiet. Sometimes it seems to us that the wind will never quit blowing. The storm will never cease to rage. And the truth is that even without changing our circumstances, when the Lord comes into our little ship, He can give us that peace within and be assured it's alright because He's here. And with Jesus present, I can be comforted and satisfied. And another of the Gospel accounts says that when Jesus got in the ship, not only did the wind cease, but they immediately arrived at their destination.

Been rowing for hours and getting nowhere fast. And when Jesus got on board, they were there. Oh, what a difference when He is present. Then they that were in the ship came and worshiped Him, saying of a truth, Thou art the Son of God. No wonder they worshiped. They had seen the Day of Miracle the day before, the feeding of 5,000.

I'm sure that to them this topped what they had seen at the feeding with the loaves and the fishes. They've seen Jesus enter the boat and the wind ceased and they worshiped Him. Oh, may we worship our Savior. Praise Him and adore Him when we see His power, see His might, see His sovereignty, see that He's in control.

And may we never forget when we're out there on the sea of life and our little ship is being tossed about and we say, Lord, I can't hold on much longer. He sees us just like He saw them from the mountain place and prayed for them. The church of God is sailing on the sea of time here and sometimes she has great suffering and trouble and persecution.

Just like on the day of Pentecost, 3,000 souls were converted and shortly thereafter persecution comes. Blessings come and troubles follow but He sees us and to know that He makes intercession for us. Can we not say then, be of good cheer, be not afraid. It is I.

It's Jesus. Today we have brought you the concluding part of the message, Be Not Afraid. If you'd like to get the complete message on CD, request it when writing us. That's Baptist Bible Hour Box 17037, Cincinnati, Ohio 45217.

Till we greet you next time, this is LeSaire Bradley, Jr. bidding you goodbye and may God bless you. Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine. Oh, what a foretaste of glory divine, Heir of salvation, purchase of God.

Born of His Spirit, washed in His blood. Perfect submission, perfect delight, Visions of rapture now burst on my side. Angels descending, ring from above, There comes a mercy, whispers of love. This is my story, this is my song, Praising my Savior all my day long. This is my story, this is my song, Praising my Savior all my day long. Perfect submission, all is at rest, I in my Savior am happy and blessed. Watching and waiting, looking above, Filled with this goodness lost in His love. This is my story, this is my song, Praising my Savior all my day long. This is my story, this is my song, Praising my Savior, praising my Savior, Praising my Savior all my day long.