Comfort in Life's Storms

Matthew chapter fourteen, be considering verses twenty-two through thirty-three this Lord's Day morning. Years ago, I was invited to join a few pastor friends for a trip to Virginia. We were going to go on a fishing trip, and at that time, I was big into kayak fishing, and so we decided we'd kayak a well-known river together. And while I'd spent a lot of time kayaking, farm ponds, and lakes, rivers were a new beast for me.

So I did what I thought I ought to do. I set up my rig for floating a river and checked the weather to ensure we'd have clear skies. And after a few hours on this river in the Virginia mountains, the sky was enveloped by black clouds, booming thunder, flashing lightning, and rain that hit like BBs. And so the guys in my group, we decided we were going to get off and try to hide under some trees. And they decided they didn't like that idea, so they hopped back in their kayaks and they went on.

And so I joined them.

Well, the difference between our kayaks is theirs were sit on tops with drainage holes, and mine was a sit in with no drainage holes. And so, as the rain began to hit harder, they left me, and my kayak began to fill up with water and to sink into the rapids while we were out there. And so, that was a relatively exciting adventure for me that I am glad my my my wife was not there to see how foolish I was being. Likewise, in life, there are times where it feels like we're trying to do everything right. We're doing our due diligence.

We're trying to conduct ourselves accordingly, and it seems that we can't help but to find ourselves stuck in a storm. You know, I like to think about the Book of Proverbs as the way things ought to work. It ought to work this way: that if you live ethically, if you work diligently. If you if you love righteously, you will be rewarded. The book of Ecclesiastes is the reality that sometimes those things don't come to pass in a broken world.

And so, as we attempt to try and to live righteously in this fallen world, there are times where we seem to find ourselves encompassed by inescapable storms.

Well, as we consider Matthew 14 together this morning. We will find that Christ invites us to rest in His greatness, in His glory, while we face the storms of life. And so, if you are in a storm today, Matthew's gospel is here to offer help. And I believe we'll find it this morning. First, as we see that Christ is greater than you think He is.

Christ is greater than you think He is.

Now, this is not in my notes, but I do want to point this out. Did you notice while I was reading how often the word "immediately" is used in this passage of Scripture?

Now, Pastor Carnes is not here, so if you get it wrong, he's not going to judge you, unless I tell him. But you should know, after his time in the Book of Mark, that's that's Markian language. That is markin language there. This language of immediately. And the church is pretty settled that Mark is basically just the translator of Peter's record.

Peter is telling Mark what happened, and so there's good agreement that perhaps this story in the Gospel of Matthew is Peter's verbatim account of what happened to me in that event. It has information that none of the other gospels include, and so this perhaps is Peter sitting down with Matthew and saying, "Okay, let me tell." You, let me tell you what happened that day on the Sea of Galilee.

Well, Peter learned, as did the others, that Christ is greater than you think He is. Look with me at Matthew chapter fourteen, verses one through two. I want you to see there. The text reads: At that time, Herod the Tetrarch heard the report about Jesus and said to his servants, "This is John the Baptist." He's risen from the dead, and therefore these powers are at work in him. What this text is bringing to mind is is essentially that Jesus is now on Herod's radar, and in Mark six's account of this event, we find that the demands of ministry.

Are weighing so heavily upon the disciples that Jesus says, "We've we've got to go have some alone time. You've got to get away." Jesus has sent the twelve out to preach, and they come back telling Jesus all the things that happened with excitement, and Jesus says, "Let's retreat for a little while to the wilderness." Well. As is often the case, ministry follows him to his planned vacation, and thus we have the story of the feeding of the five thousand. As Jesus's popularity is continuing to climb, and the multitudes throng to him, and he performs that great miracle. John chapter six verse fifteen will tell us that the crowd, seeing the miracles and teaching of Jesus, is ready to take Jesus by force and to make him their king.

John six fifteen reads: Therefore, when Jesus perceived that they were ready to come to take him by force to make him king, he departed again to the mountains by himself alone.

Now, at this time in the Jewish mind, there is a yearning for a deliverer to come and to free them from Gentile oppression. If you if you enjoy history, you may have enjoyed doing research on what we call the the the silent centuries between the writing of Malachi and the writing of Matthew. And if you have researched that time, you've probably heard of the Maccabees, who, being tired of of oppression, revolt. And we learn the great story of Judas Maccabeus, also called Judas the Hammer. And they have overthrown oppression.

And yet, after a while, Herod the Great comes and crushes them. And Rome begins to reign over the Jews. And so they're yearning, they're longing for this great, this great messianic state to be established. And when they see Jesus here, they see him, and they go, "That's the guy. That's the guy." Here he speaks with authority.

Here he performs miracles. This is him. And so they want to take him and to make him their king.

Well. Noticing the rising tensions, this this frenzy of of messianic expectation, Jesus is going to send away his disciples. The word there in verse twenty two, if you will look with me, Matthew fourteen, verse twenty two. Immediately, Jesus made his disciples get into the boat. The Greek there is extremely firm.

It might be rendered, "Jesus forced them." Jesus forced them to get into the boats and to meet him on the other side in the Sea of Galilee. And as I read that, I thought to myself, "Why, if Jesus brought these men to this place to rest with him, why is he sending them away? Better yet, why is he sending them away without him?" And as I've wrestled with that this week, here's my answer. Knowing that he's on Herod's radar (Matthew 14:1 and 2), and knowing that this crowd is excited to take him and to make him their king (John 6:15), I think that Jesus sends his disciples away so they don't get caught up in the messianic excitement of the crowd. Remember, Jesus is constantly informing these men.

I am not here to do what you think I'm here to do, and He is informing them of this all the way up until His crucifixion. Remember, Peter. As the Roman guards come to take the Lord, and Peter gets a little happy with the sword, we have great reason to think Peter was most likely not aiming for an ear, and so Peter is, in some instance, trying to force Christ into into inaugurating his kingdom then and there. The men just don't get it; they don't get it.

So Jesus, knowing the frame of his disciples, Jesus, knowing perhaps the temptation to get caught up in this this messianic frenzy, he sends them away, while he dismisses the crowd. With this in mind, it is crucial that we understand that Jesus is greater than you think he is. We are but feeble sinners. We are people who, especially in this day, get caught up with political expectations and worldly desires. And if we aren't careful, a danger that we can fall into is baptizing our personal desires with Christianese language, as though we can bind Jesus to bringing my agenda to pass.

Jesus is not interested in our agenda. It might be rightly said that prayer is not so much me bending God to my will as much as it is me bending my will to who God is. And so, as I look over my life, I can look back and I can see times where I've had expectations and plans and aspirations, and Christ, praise God, has thwarted them. And you look back and you go, "Thank God that He has not worked to bring my agenda to pass." Well, moving on to verses twenty three through verse twenty five, we find that the disciples are now in a storm, and that's that's not particularly surprising, knowing this area. We are about seven hundred feet below sea level in the Sea of Galilee.

Thirty miles north of them is Mount Hermon. Mount Hermon is about nine thousand feet above sea level, so pretty. Pretty strenuous change in topography as we as we get up to the top of Hermon, and on the other side you've got the warm air of the Mediterranean, and what it will do is that sea will blow that warm air into Mount Hermon. It will mix together, and these big storms will fall on top of Galilee. It's not unusual.

It's not unusual. What is unusual is that this does not seem like your average storm. Remember what is the Occupation of some of these men, the fishermen. They know the water, and yet, if this is an account of Peter, how does Peter describe this storm in particular? The word there is tossed.

We were tossed by the waves. The word there means to be buffeted by, or better yet, we were tortured by these waves. We were tortured by the storm.

Now, the text does not tell us how long they are on the waters, but we can make an educated guess. And in verse twenty-three, it says, "When evening came." When evening came, so that gives us one timestamp. And then in verse twenty-five, it says that Jesus arrives to them in the fourth watch. Jesus arrives to them in the fourth watch. The fourth watch is a The Jews had three watches, but the Romans had four watches, and the fourth watch of the night is the time of of three a.m.

to six a.m.

So they've been on the water since the beginning of evening to sometime between three and six a.m.

So how long have they been out there? They've most likely been on this water for nine to twelve hours rowing. Nine to twelve hours rowing, and John's account tells us they only made it. About three and a half miles, somewhere twenty-five to thirty stadia.

Now, if you if you know the way that the Sea of Galilee is shaped, they're most likely right in the middle of Galilee at this point.

So I want you to imagine, for those of you who have maybe done canoeing or kayaking or rowing of some sort, that you are rowing, and the winds are blowing contrary to you.

So they're blowing in your face. The waves are working against you. The rain is beating down upon you. Jesus knows that you are tired. That's why He sent you out here to rest in the first place.

But you never got that chance for reprieve.

So you're exhausted, the wind's beating against you. You've got everything working against you, and you're halfway through the storm, and you're being tortured by the waves. I'm sure many of us can say that we have felt this way before. We have been tempted, perhaps, to cry out, "Lord, what am I doing wrong? What else do you want from me?" And if that is how you feel, if that is how you have felt, if that is how you are feeling, this passage is calling us to come to terms with this reality.

On the path of obedience, you will face hardship. We've got to come to terms with that reality. I really don't like when people bait and switch unbelievers while we're evangelizing. We are not Joel Ostiing the gospel message. We don't have to put makeup on this story.

We are not inviting you in to live your best life now. No, on the contrary, most of you who have been converted will concede that in many ways the hardest times of your life have come following your conversion, because for the first time in your life you have recognized the heinousness of your sin and you've gone to war with it. And so you find yourself in the storms. You find yourself being tortured by these tempests. You find yourself being beaten to a pulp.

And so, what we have to come to terms with today is that on this path of obedience, we should expect there to be hardship. There's another side that we need to get as a caution. Which is that we need to also have the maturity to recognize that not every time you're facing hardship is it because you're just being obedient, right? If you're if you're disobeying God's word, if you're not living righteously, then all who live righteous shall suffer is not yours, right?

So there's a there's there's a thing we need to understand. There, the Lord will often rebuke us. Turn our eyes back to Him. And yet, there's also a sense in which we do understand that there is an expectation of hardship on this path of obedience.

Well, beloved, Christ is a good Lord. He knows you. He knows your frame. He knows your needs. He knows.

He knows what we need for spiritual growth, and knowing how good He is, you need to know that there are times where He will send a storm into your life on the path of obedience. And we need to come to the point, as mature believers, that we understand that that is not His divine frown upon us, but He has promised to use those to make us more like Him.

So we have to ask ourselves, how do we make sense of this? Though, how do we make sense of this greatness of Christ while we're in the storms of life? And I believe that this text has something to say about that. And we'll move on to our second point, which is that Christ is greater than your storms. Christ is greater than the storm.

Now, while Christ has the prerogative. To send hardships into your life, we can find comfort not only in knowing that He is wise, but He is attentive. We are not deists. Christ is not detached from us. The Lord is not just created and abandoned us.

He is a Lord that is transcendent, outside of all, and immanent, present with us, in all.

Now, before Jesus appears on the water, we find that Christ spends the evening in prayer. Verse twenty-three: 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. He was alone there. I really struggled about how much I want to bring out on this. I think there's a lot there. I think there's something they're called an echo, where he's not directly quoting an Old Testament text, but I do think this is an echo of Moses's ascent to Sinai alone.

I think it's impactful that Matthew is highlighting that Jesus is by himself and alone. He's really emphasizing this this solo presence with the Father there.

Now, knowing that Jesus Christ is truly God and truly man, we need to remember that Jesus, in his humanity, got tired just like we do. We know he's exhausted at this point, and yet it's fascinating to me that following a day of demanding ministry, Jesus chooses to spend his alone time communing with the Father. In John's account, Jesus retreats to pray after seeing the intentions—the intentions of the crowd—to make him king. And so, I believe that this is significant because there is one other circumstance or instance where Jesus is offered a crown without a cross. And your mind should be beaming back to Matthew four, the satanic temptation.

Just go ahead and go ahead and bow to me. I'll give you all of this.

So, what do we make of this retreat to prayer? In passing, I believe that Jesus is not only displaying a premium with prayer, not only displaying the unceasing communion of the Son with the Father. I believe that He's reiterating His devotion to the will of the Father and coming to suffer for us. He sees the desires of this people. He sees that they long to make him king, and yet he knows that he is here to accomplish the will of his father.

He has rebuked Satan for this. He is dismissing these followers for this, and he is retreating to spend time with the father, as it were, to reiterate that I am here to accomplish the mission for which you sent me.

Now it's fun to speculate on. What exactly is Jesus doing while he's praying up there? What is he praying about?

Well, one thing is clear from the New Testament: it is that Jesus prays for his people. Hebrews chapter seven, verse twenty-five says, "He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them." He always lives to make intercession for them. One example, my favorite example of this intercessory ministry, is seen in Luke twenty-two. Jesus comes to Peter, and he says, "Peter, Peter, Peter, truly I say to you, Satan has asked that he might sift you like wheat." And you know. When Peter hears that, I'm thinking he's probably hoping that Jesus says something like, "And I told him to kick rocks." But that is not what Jesus says.

The way that Jesus encourages Peter is to say that Satan has set his sights on you, but I want you to know something: I'm praying for you. I have prayed for you that your faith should not fail, and when you have returned to me. Strengthen your brethren.

Well, beloved, there are seasons of hardship that we will face in this life as we follow the Lord. But it's a beautiful thing to know that not only is the Lord wise in sending these storms into our life, but He is attentive to us as He intercedes on our behalf while we face the afflictions of those storms. Robert Murray M'Cheyne, my favorite quote on prayer. He says, "If I could hear Christ praying for me in the next room, I would not fear a million enemies. But distance makes no difference.

Christ is praying for me. Praise God! I I I think that the older I get, the more joy I have over over my grandmother and grandfather's prayers on my behalf." That they took time to intercede on my behalf. I I regularly talk to Reagan about the men. Back home, who were very influential in my life of R.

G. Lee and G. W. and and Bill Ader, who intercede on my behalf, and yet they are but feeble and frail and inconsistent intercessors. And it's a joy to know that while we go through the hardships of this life, we can bear one another's burdens and intercede on behalf of one another.

But there's an intercessor who has ascended into the heavenlies. There's an intercessor who is seated at the right hand of the Father. He is the all-wise Lord who sends those storms into your life, and He is the all-gracious intercessor who intercedes on your behalf. And He does not slumber or sleep. He is not inconsistent.

He is not tainted with sin. The Father always hears the prayers of the Lord, and the Lord says, "I am praying for you." So as we toil on the sea of obedience, we can be assured of one thing: Jesus is praying for you. Jesus is praying for you. But not only is he praying, but he's perceptive of your suffering. Mark's account says: Now when evening came, the boat was in the middle of the sea, and he, that is Jesus, was alone on the land.

Then he saw them straining at rowing, for the wind was against them. And so Jesus is still up on the land, and he's looking down upon them while he's doubtlessly still communing with the Father, watching them fight against this. It's a delightful thing to know that our God sees us. He knows the hairs on our head and the hardships that burden our hearts, and He cares for us. He is aware of our sufferings.

On this, I'm reminded of of the martyrdom of of Stephen, in the Book of Acts, chapter seven. It says that while he faced certain death from the the crowd, while preaching the glories of Christ, it says that he, being full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and he saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God and said, "Look, I see the heavens open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God." It has been said that Christ allows Stephen to see that He is at the Father's right hand, so that He may be assured that Christ is in control. He sees Christ at the Father's right hand, so that He might pray for Stephen, that He might endure until the end, and He is seeing standing at the Father's right hand, so that He might personally welcome this martyr home. Beloved, I believe that our Lord sees the hardships that we face, and He is attentive to our needs in the midst of life's storms. And what a great thing that is!

He sympathizes with us. He has suffered with us. He knows what you are going through. There is not a temptation that you have that he has not likewise faced and overcame them all. And he can sympathize with you.

He can enter into your sufferings with you, and so he has an efficacious intercession because he too knows what that suffering is like.

Well. Seeing the torment of his disciples, Jesus comes to them.

Now, I want you to see. I think it's interesting that while Matthew says they're struggling with this storm, the first mention of fear only comes when they look up and they see someone walking on top of the water. That's the first mention of fear.

Now, there's a lot to unpack here. I don't have time to unpack everything that I'd like to, but there is an Old Testament reason for this. Jesus doesn't just go, "This is going to be great," and just go for a stroll on the waters. There is a reason for why this is occurring. As a matter of fact, when I look at this text up to this point in the Gospels, I am convinced that this is the clearest, most dogmatic claim that Jesus is God.

Let me give you four passages to consider that are either quoted directly in this passage or are what we call an echo of of this passage. The first Old Testament reason I want you to see is in Psalm seventy-seven, verse sixteen through twenty. I can read them for you, or you can turn there. Asaph is struggling. Asaph is having a hard time.

And yet we see at the end of this that he contemplates the glories of God over the chaos of the waters, and he says, "This, the waters saw you, O God. The waters saw you, and they were afraid. The depths also trembled." And then it goes down, and it says, "Your way was in the sea. Your path was in the great waters. Your footsteps were not known, and you led your people like a flock." By the hand of Moses, and Aaron.

I am convinced that this psalm is not only reflecting back to God's miraculous work in the Exodus. But I think that it is also anticipating the miraculous work of Christ and what we call the second Exodus. Jim Orrick mentioned a few weeks ago that as Jesus is speaking on the Mount of Transfiguration to the others, it says that He is speaking with them concerning His departure, and the Greek there is His Exodus. He is speaking with them concerning His Exodus. I think that we are seeing a foretelling, a prophecy, an anticipation of Jesus, who not only conquers stormy seas in Matthew 14, but that itself is something of a signpost pointing forward, declaring that Jesus will lead His people through a true exodus from sin.

In His life, death, and resurrection, He is the victorious conqueror. For those who are facing the storms of sin and God's judgment upon it.

Now, furthermore, in Job chapter nine, Job is really helpful here. Job is going to give us kind of an understanding in earlier chapters about the the Jewish fear concerning the sea. I said I wasn't going to go into this, but I am. In Genesis chapter one, verse two, the the world is just a blob of chaotic waters. The Spirit hovers upon them, and He is ushering forth land and hospitality to grant this Edenic dwelling with God and man.

In in books like Job and even poetic literature, we we find that the The sea is is the dwelling place of the Leviathan. The father says, "Which one of you can put a hook through the nose of Leviathan and bring him up? You dare not wake him from his slumber." And then going all the way to the book of the Revelation, where we see this great dragon, this great beast arising from where out of the sea.

So much so that in the new creation, it is mentioned that there is no sea there. And so there is this this idea in the Jewish mind of chaos and evil, and this this inhospitable reality of waters versus man.

Well, I say that to say in Job chapter nine verses four through eight, we read, "God is wise in heart and mighty in strength. Who has hardened himself against him and prospered? He alone spreads out the heaven." And it implies he alone treads on the waves of the sea.

Now, to pick it up and intensify it even more, Mark's account says that Jesus came to them walking on the sea, taking us back to to texts like Psalm seventy-seven, taking us back to texts like Job nine. But then it says in Mark's account. That he would have passed them by. He would have passed them by, and we we've been thinking today a little bit about Exodus's and such. And so you should you should be reminded when you hear this phrase "pass them by" would have passed them by.

There should be a flag that goes up and takes you back to Exodus thirty three, where we see God passing someone else by, Moses. Remember. Longing to see the glory of God, God says, "You cannot see my glory." So I am going to hide you in the cleft of the rock, and my glory will pass by, and you can gaze upon my back. And that is what occurs. And what do we see here, though, in the Gospels?

Theologians will say that Jesus is the exegesis of the Father. Jesus is the one in whom the Godhead is pleased to dwell bodily. In John fourteen, Philip looks at Jesus and says, "Lord, show me the Father, and that'll be enough for us." And Jesus turns and says, "Philip, I have been with you all this time, all this time, and you do not know me. If you have seen me," You have seen the Father. It's as though, in the midst of this storm, these men, petrified, being tossed about and tortured by the waves, are getting to glance into what Moses longed to see.

I'm not just looking at the hinder parts of His glory. I'm staring in the face of God. I'm staring in the face of God. These men are tired. These men have not had time to rest.

The Lord called them apart to rest, and they didn't have a chance to. And beloved, with all of us, as we commit ourselves to the ministry in this life, whether it's caring for feeble parents, or caring for young children, or caring for the needs of the church, and whatever it is, there are seasons where you cannot escape the ministry that you are assigned to. But there's one thing that is essential for us to be able to faithfully remain in the work, and it's a glimpse at his glory. It's a glimpse at the glory of Christ. And we have what we call a mediated encounter with the Lord through His Word.

We are invited in the storms of life to gaze upon the face of Christ in His Word. He invites us to look upon Him. He invites us to retreat to Him. He invites us to, as we'll see in a minute. Be of good cheer.

It is I. Be not afraid.

Now, if this is not clear enough, when Jesus sees the fear of the disciples, He gives them what I like to call a sandwich of encouragement—a sandwich of encouragement—and I want you to see that. Let me see if I can find it. Verse twenty-seven. Please look there with me. Immediately, Jesus spoke to them, saying, "Be of good cheer; it is I." Be not afraid.

Do not be afraid. Jesus gives what I call two encouraging statements, bracketed around one doctrinal truth. He says, "Be of good cheer," or it could also read, "Cheer up, cheer up." This is not a rebuke. This is encouragement, guys. Cheer up.

Don't be afraid. Don't be concerned. And boy, you see, do not be afraid all throughout, especially Deuteronomy. Do not be afraid, and then right in the middle of that, Jesus says, "It is I." Now I don't want you to miss this. The wording behind "It is I" could be translated as simply, "I am." Cheer up, I am.

Do not be afraid. I'm fascinated that the only translation that gets this. If you're carrying the NLT, the New Living Translation, with you this morning, it gets that. It actually has a an asterisk beside it that captures that. It states literally, "The I Am, is here." The I Am is here.

That also should ring a bell, shouldn't it? John's Gospel gives us seven signs and seven "I am" statements that are looping us back to Exodus chapter three. Moses is being commissioned to lead the Exodus, and Moses says, "They're going to want to know who are you? Who do I tell them you are?" And God says, "You tell them I am who I am." Sent you. Tell them I am who I am, sent you.

And so here on the choppy waters of Galilee, Jesus looks at his fearful disciples and says, "Cheer up, fellas. The I am is with you. Do not be afraid." The I am who split the Red Sea and freed your fathers from Egypt is here. He sees you, and just as He has delivered your fathers safely, so too you will be safely delivered. And beloved, the God who has authority over the circumstances of the life of the lives of His believers is the same God that is attentive to our needs when the going gets rough.

He does not always remove the storms. We see that Paul seeks the Lord about this thorn in the flesh, and the Lord says, "My grace is sufficient for you." The storm does not pause as soon as Jesus pops up. Calvin will give us a statement in a minute on that that I think is helpful.

Well, when when Peter sees Jesus, there seems to be a struggle in in Peter. About whether or not this is the Lord, and so to remove all doubts, Peter says, "Lord, a sign of respect, but then there is a little bit of doubt. If it is you, command me to walk on the water to you." And Jesus responds to Peter's, "If it's, with one word, come, come." As though to remove all doubt, you said, "If it's, I am going to remove all doubt. This is me. Come to me.

Come to me." While there are a lot of opinions on this verse, I believe that it's admirable. This is an admirable act. I think that Peter wants to be like his Lord, and I think this is the point of discipleship, isn't it? To be like your Master. Peter sees Jesus.

He wants to be like Jesus. He wants to go where Jesus is at. He wants to do what Jesus does, and the Lord does not rebuke him for it. The Lord does not rebuke him for that, but as Peter steps out of the boat, he remembers storms are scary, gravity is real, water is not a solid walking surface, and he begins to look around and he begins to sink. And what do we see?

The Lord immediately rescues Peter. He immediately rescues Peter. In seminary, we had to deal with. The naturalistic arguments against this text. Jesus is on a sandbar, on a sandbar.

It's over seven hundred feet deep. There, he's three and a half miles out into the water. These are professional fishermen. I think they would know the difference between. That's really impressive.

There's no boat around. How did he get to that sandbar? But furthermore, there's a sense of what C.S. Lewis calls chronological snobbery. That you look back two thousand years and you think that professional fishermen are so stupid they couldn't tell if a man was standing on a sandbar.

Furthermore, if Peter was out of the boat and so close that Jesus could immediately touch him, don't you think Peter would have known? Oh, I just got to straighten my legs. Jesus is walking on water. These men are not fools. He is performing a great miracle in their sight.

The Lord rescues Peter, and the only point of rebuke in this whole story is to the doubt of Peter. Jesus says to him in verse thirty-one, "O you of little faith, little faith, not no faith, little faith." There were people with with doubts about the genuineness of their conversion, about the genuineness of their faith. If there is a spark of divine affection within your soul, if there is a spark of true love for Christ, no matter how small, that spark is not there by your natural stoking up of affections for Christ. That is a supernatural work of the Lord. And in Isaiah we read that that Lord will not break the bruised reed; He will not.

Quench the smoking flax. He is gentle with those who are of little faith, and Jesus looks at Peter and says, "Oh, you of little faith! Why did you doubt? Why did you doubt?" The word doubt there gives the idea of someone trying to go in two directions at one time. Split.

I know I need to be with Jesus. I know He's right there, but I also know that boat's a whole lot better filling than walking on this water right now. And so he split in two ways. And I love, I love that Jesus forms this rebuke in the word of a question. I like, I like using questions because they're searching.

They cause you to interrogate yourself, as it were. Why did I think that way? Why did I doubt? J.C. Ryle writes here: What a lovely picture we have of the experience of many a believer.

How many there are who have faith enough to take the first step in following Christ, but not faith enough to go on as they began? They look at the enemies that surround them and the difficulties that seem to beset their path. They look at them more than Jesus, and at once their feet begin to sink, their heart faints within them, their hope vanishes away, their comforts disappear. And why is all this? Christ is not altered.

Their enemies are not greater than they were before. It is just because, like Peter, we have ceased to look at Jesus and have given way to unbelief. They are taken up with thinking about their enemies instead of thinking about Christ. And then he says pastorally, "The waters may seem deep, but if Jesus says." Come. We have no cause to be afraid.

We have no cause to be afraid. How beautiful and convicting that is! If the waters are deep, and they are, if the storms blow, and they will, if Jesus says come, if Jesus calls us to walk by faith in the middle of life's hardships, then we have no need to be afraid. This is the summons of our best friend.

Now, I think there is a few things I want to point out, or questions I want to ask as we consider this reality. The first is this: Ask yourself, "Do I think highly enough of the Lord to ask Him for the impossible?" Do I think highly enough of the Lord to ask Him for the impossible? There's something miraculous here about faith. This is a man with little faith. How many of you have walked on water?

He's the only one who had the boldness to do it, but he's got little faith. There's something about the glorious way at which we are united to Christ by faith, and Christ works through that faith to perform great things in our life. Do we have faith to ask Christ to do impossible things in our life? To reconcile relationships that are asunder, do we have faith to ask Him to mend those? Do we have faith to ask Him to grant us strength to raise up our children upright?

We have a means in which to do that, and yet we have to ask Him by faith to do the impossible. Lord, I can teach these children, but only you can give them hearts of flesh. Do the impossible. Do the impossible, Lord. As I share the gospel with men and women on the street, Lord, will you go before me?

Will you do the impossible? Doesn't matter how persuasive we are in our speaking, how cunning we are in baiting and switching the gospel, which you should not be doing. If the Lord does not soften their hearts, they will not come. Lord, do the impossible. Do we think enough of Him to ask Him for the impossible?

Second, do I believe that Jesus's word is more reliable than what I see and what I feel in this storm? I've used this term before. The term is epistemological autonomy. Fancy way of saying, in the Garden of Eden, when God sets Adam and Eve in the garden, the Bible still was needed by them. They're not just frolicking through the tulips, unneeded, unneeding God's mediated word.

God gives them commands as soon as He creates them, and that's the lens by which Adam interprets His presence in the world. What happens when man begins to try and walk to the beat of his own drummer? Eve takes the fruit. Adam sins against God. Beloved, what I'm asking us to consider this morning is this: Do I believe that Jesus's word is true and reliable and something that I can stand upon when the ways beat against me, or not?

Do I want to trust in divine reason or stand upon my own reason? It depends. Are you wanting to build your house on sand or on the solid rock of Christ? We are a people of the book. God has given us His Word.

He has preserved His Word. He has given us His Spirit to aid us in interpreting His Word. Do we look at the Word as sufficient? Do we flee to the Word in the midst of hardships? Do we grab it by faith?

And seek to walk on water. Third, when I struggle with the weakness of my faith, do I remember that Jesus is faithful? When I am not, boy, we are feeble. We are so much more like Peter than we care to admit, aren't we? Lord, I will, I will never, I will never deny you, Lord.

I'm going to be, I, I am your most zeal, I'm your guy. And then one little wave begins to blow it, and we are, we are ready to jump ship. We're done. And yet, when we fell, the Lord is faithful. He is so much more faithful than we are.

When we are faithless, the Lord is faithful. And that draws me to my concluding point. Christ's glory draws us to worship. It's only two paragraphs, so I'm not holding you long. Christ's glory will draw us into worship.

Jesus gets into the boat, verse thirty-three, and as they got into the boat, the wind ceased. Then those who were in the boat came and worshipped him, saying, "Truly, you are the Son of God." This collection of miraculous events provokes worship from those on the boat. And what I find interesting here is the the contrast from verse thirty-one. We see the word "there" is doubt, and then what do you see in verse thirty-three? Truly, truly, I'm doubting.

I'm not sure. And then in verse thirty-three, it is there is no doubt. You are the Son of God. On this, Calvin writes: Though Christ appeared at the proper time for rendering assistance, yet the storm did not immediately cease until the disciples were more fully aroused, both to desire and to expect His grace. As we consider this.

I think the two most pressing things for us to consider are: first, when facing the hardships of life, do I pray, Lord, let there be glory given to Your name through this difficulty? That type of response, beloved, is a divine response. The natural man does not care about that. Do we pray, Lord, let Your self receive glory through this storm? Do we pray, Lord?

I don't know why this is happening, and I don't pretend to enjoy it. But I do know that you have sent it on a purpose, and may your name be glorified in it. And lastly, we need to consider whether Christ is rightfully adored in our lives after He delivers us. The response here is a proper one. The storm has ceased.

Praise be to God. Does Christ receive glory from us, or are we like those lepers who are healed in Luke seventeen, where only one returns? Beloved, our Lord has cured us of a disease far more gruesome than leprosy. He has calmed a judgment far more horrifying than storms when He conquered sin for us. And on top of this, He has graciously.

Delivered us from hardship after hardship, given us abundant grace, and even blessed us with more than we can number or name. And so, knowing the greatness of the Lord, we should ask ourselves this morning: Is Christ adored in my life? I believe that this text, this passage, is given to us to teach us to rest in the glorious truth of who our Lord is, while the winds of life howl around us. Christian, are you going through a storm this morning? The Lord is speaking, and He says, "Cheer up!

The I Am is with you. Do not be afraid." We are called to put our faith in Christ, not to put our faith in our faith. And in according to Isaiah, our Lord will not break the bruised reed. The Lord is gentle with us, Church, and when our faith falters. Our Lord is faithful to save.

This is Matthew chapter fourteen, verse twenty-two through twenty-three or thirty-three. Let us pray. Most kind and gracious Father, we are thankful for the grace that you have extended unto us in this great work of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Overcomer, the Conqueror, the One that we can look to, are not only our example but our Redeemer. Not only our Redeemer but the Victor. And we rejoice this morning, knowing.

Greater is He that is in you than He that is in the world. Let us look to you by faith this morning, Lord. Regardless of whether the skies are clear and the waves are calm, or whether the skies are dark by a dark providence and the waves are choppy, help us to walk by Your Word. We'll be sure to give You great praise in Jesus' name. Amen.