5th Sign: Who Else Can Walk On Water?, Part 1

Today on Fellowship in the Word, Pastor Bill Gebhardt challenges you to become a fully functioning follower of Jesus Christ. Many of us say, well, I tell you what, I want Jesus to help me find a job. I want Jesus in my life to find a spouse. I'd like to have Jesus in my life make some friends for me. I would like Jesus to give me the health and success that I'd like to have. I'd like Him to do that. I want the peace of God, but I don't want any strings attached.

You see, that's redefining Jesus. This is what I want from Him. I want Him to give me this.

I don't want any strings attached at all. You see, this is hard for us. Thank you for joining us today on this edition of Fellowship in the Word with Pastor Bill Gebhardt. Fellowship in the Word is the radio ministry of Fellowship Bible Church located in Metairie, Louisiana. Let's join Pastor Bill Gebhardt now, as once again, he shows us how God's Word meets our world. Why do people come to Christ?

It's a really interesting question. Why do people come to Christ? I was reading an essay and it was an interesting essay because what he said was it's changed over the history of the church quite a bit. And in the beginning, he said because of the Greek and Roman culture, most people came to Christ because they believed it to be true. In all the falsehoods with all the paganism they had, they decided to do it. They also had such a firm conviction about it, they realized the penalty they would pay for that. They realized the persecution and the potential martyrdom that would end up happening, but it didn't stop them. Then in the history of the church, Romanism and what you call Christendom, a lot of people decided they put their faith in Jesus Christ with what we call the gospel because they realized that religion wouldn't do it. And so they believed that the gospel, and once again, they also believed that they would be persecuted and potentially martyred.

So there's a big stake in it. And then since the reformation, especially in the 18, 1900s, a lot of people came to Christ for fire insurance. That was the birth sort of in the mid 1800s of the fire and brimstone sermon. And the whole idea was you're scared of bejeebers out of people with the idea that they're going to go to hell if they don't believe this. And so a lot of people converted because they didn't want to go to hell. Today, though, it's different. Not everybody, because everyone has their own reason. But today, a large portion of people say they come to Christ because they want him to make them happy.

That's why they come. My life's miserable. I'm depressed. My marriage doesn't work. My kids don't listen. You know, I find no good reason to live. I'm full of anxiety. And I like Christ to make me happy.

It's such a prevalent thing. Even back in the 1980s, a Dallas Theological Seminary put out a track, and it was a very good track in the steps of the gospel. But the title of it was How to Have a Happy and Meaningful Life. The hook being, if you want to be happy, come to Christ. Well, some people come to Christ, and they find out they're not really happy. They find out that their life's not better.

It's worse. You see, then they almost feel, from their point of view, they almost feel like the thing that ended up happening to them was someone did the old bait and switch with them. Someone sold them something and said, Jesus will make you happy, but he hasn't made me happy at all. It's interesting. Why would people do that?

Why? See, the real problem here is that people want to believe in the Christ that they have in their head. Once I establish what I think Jesus Christ is like, then I'll put my faith in that.

That can be extremely problematic. On the other hand, and I don't mean this in the sense of hyperbole, what's the single most important question of anybody's life, yours and mine? Well, and the reason I say that, it's the same question that Jesus asked his own disciples. Who do you say that I am? There's not a more important question.

Who do you say I am? In fact, that's why John wrote his gospel. Remember, at the end of John, I said this the first week in John 20 verse 31, John said, I wrote this so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name.

That's the most important question, and it's a very difficult one. It's not only a difficult question for the unbeliever or whether they become a Christian or not. It's a very difficult question for you and I as Christians. Open your Bibles to John 6 and let's look at verse 14. I'm in this series called Seven Signs of the Son of God.

That's why John wrote his gospel. He gives seven different signs to prove that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, that he's deity. And he does it more with these select miracles, these signs. It has a lot more in each sign than simply does Jesus have the power to do miracles. Remember, John said Jesus did so many miracles that I, and he meant it this in hyperbole, I don't think all the books of the world could contain how many things he did. He's not listing as many miracles as he can.

He's listing specific miracles for a specific reason, which revealed not only the power of God, but the nature of God through these miracles. So last time, right here in this chapter, Jesus fed, he fed the 15 to 20,000. It was a big miracle. Everybody got involved, everybody gathered, they were surplus.

It was really great. The response of the crowd is interesting in verse 14. It says, therefore, when the people saw the sign that he had performed, they said, this is truly a prophet who has come into the world.

Now that sounds pretty good. They said, this is the prophet that Moses spoke of. See, Moses said, who delivered them from Egypt, who also brought manna to them in the wilderness, Moses said, there's a prophet coming. He'll be the Messiah. They said, this is him. This is the prophet because he's fed us. You see, he sustained us supernaturally. And then they said this, so Jesus perceiving that they were intending to come and take him by force to make him king withdrew again to the mountain by himself alone. Wow. They were going to mob them. We're making him king.

This is our guy. Now, my first point is this. Moses will not let people use him for their own purposes. Not then, not now. He will not let you use him for your purposes.

Their purpose was this is going to be great. Let's make him king. And just as Moses delivered us from the Egyptians, he'll deliver us from the Romans. He'll throw the Romans out.

This is going to be great for us. Jesus would have none of that. Now, you might think that's a little superficial on their part, but how many of us say, well, I'll tell you what, I want Jesus to help me find a job. I want Jesus in my life to find a spouse. I'd like to have Jesus in my life make some friends for me. I would like Jesus to give me the health and success that I'd like to have. I'd like him to do that. I want the peace of God, but I don't want any strings attached. You see, that's redefining Jesus. This is what I want from him. I want him to give me this, but I don't want any strings attached at all. You see, this is hard for us.

Let me show you an example of this. You can hold your place here, but go with me to Matthew 16. Matthew 16 and verse 13. Very famous section of scripture. Matthew 16, 13. And in verse 13, it says this. Now, when Jesus came to the district accessory of Philippi, he was asking his disciples, who do the people say that the son of man is?

That's one of his favorite ways of expressing it to himself. And they said, some say you're John the Baptist, and others Elijah, and some still others Jeremiah, or you're one of the prophets. Then this question. And Jesus said, who do you say that I am? Well, Simon Peter answered, you're the Christ. You're the Christos. You're the Messiah. You're the son of the living God. And Jesus said to him, blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but my father is in heaven. He got it exactly right. Now, in the other gospel accounts, other disciples had said the same thing, but Jesus says this.

Now, what's fascinating to me about this. Normally when Peter opens his mouth, normally, his foot goes in it immediately. That's just Peter.

He almost always has the wrong conclusion about something, but he says this. And I'm sure if Jesus, Peter must have felt pretty good after this. In our day, Jesus put a star on his forehead. Peter's like, hey, what about that?

I got that right. But let me show you something. Look down to verse 21. From that time, Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem, suffer many things from the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed and be raised up on the third day. Now, remember, he's saying you're the son of God. You're the Messiah of Israel.

This is really good. So Jesus said, yes, I am deity. I am God incarnate. And here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to go to Jerusalem and I'm going to be by my enemies, the scribes and Pharisees and Sadducees. They're going to arrest me.

Then they're going to kill me. And then I'm going to be, I'm going to rise on the third day, resurrecting the dead. Now, don't forget who said this? Jesus. What is Jesus? He's the son of God. Now, don't you think you'd been pretty much excited to hear this? I mean, really? Because remember, he even gave you the last phrase, I'm going to rise from the dead. Holy cow.

They didn't know anyone arose from the dead. He said, I'm going to do that. Now, watch what Peter does.

Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. God forbid it, Lord, this will never happen to you. I don't know if he shook his finger at him or not.

Probably. You're not good. That's never going to happen to you. Who you talking to? You're talking to God.

That's not going to happen. He just said five minutes ago who you are. Five minutes later, you see, I don't like that what you said. That's not who I want you to be. You see, that's not who, I don't want that to be the case at all.

He turned and he said to Peter, get behind me, Satan. You're a stumbling block to me for you're not setting your mind on God's interest, but man's. See how tempting it is to do this?

See how easy this is for us to do? Over and over again, you get this severe rebuke. They didn't like what Jesus said. Now, let me take a principle what the Bible says and what Christ says, and you don't like it either. One of the most important ways you're ever going to grow. One of the most important ways you're ever going to know God better.

One of the most important ways that you will ever be more conformed to the image of Jesus Christ is that you suffer in trials. Hands, please. Hey, I love that. I love that.

Remember James? Consider it all joy, my brother, when various trials come upon you. Why? It's for your good. I don't like that. I don't like that. I don't care for trials.

Can we just avoid the trials? Is he right? Do you act when trials come into your life or storms come into your life that he's right?

Be honest. See, let me show you another verse that will shed some light on this. You can hold your place, but go with me to Isaiah 55. Isaiah 55, Old Testament.

Another way to say the same thing. Now, in Isaiah 55, we're going to just start in verse 6. Isaiah is writing to religious people.

The Jews are extremely religious. Now, remember, a religious person believes the key to getting eternal life, and the key to pleasing God is I am going to do some kind of religious activities and God's going to be so impressed with what I do, he'll be fine with me. But Isaiah writes this. He said in verse 6, seek the Lord while he may be found. Call upon him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return to the Lord.

That's called an invitation. He says, come back. Just come back to me. Come back. Even if you're wicked, come back. Now, notice what he said will happen, and he will have compassion on him and to our God, he will abundantly pardon.

There's an Old Testament version of the gospel. You just come back, repent of your sins and I'll pardon you. Now, for you and I, we might say, yeah, that's true. If you're a religious person I don't think so. I don't like that.

I thought we had to do certain things. Now, what's the next verse to explain it? The word for is in verse 8. That means I'm going to explain what I just said, the reason behind it. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than yours. See, he explained himself. Religious person said, I don't get that.

He said, you don't have to get it. I don't think like you do. You see, I just don't think like you do. My thoughts are so much higher.

They are as high as the heavens are above the earth compared to yours. In other words, God says, you're never going to think your way to me. You're only going to trust your way to me.

You're going to have to take your security and comfort in my thoughts. You see, that's a very important aspect of this whole idea. Now, moving on from there to the second point, Jesus wants us to really know and trust him for just who he is.

This is harder than it looks. This is a struggle for all of us. Peter said, and we wrote the epistle, that we are to grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ. We are to grow in our grace and the knowledge of Jesus Christ. We are to know him better and better. From the moment I became a Christian until today, all these years, the whole idea is do I get to know Christ in a better and better way? Do I know more and more about him? When I became a Christian, I only knew a little about him. You see, I need to know who he really is so that I can truly understand him and I can then actually trust him. Paul, when he wrote to the Ephesians, he spent some time in the beginning of Ephesians 1.

You've heard me teach on it before. It's the longest sentence in the Greek New Testament. And he says, you and I have every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. Every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. God says, I've given them all to you.

So that sounds really good. But as you go on in chapter one and Paul then says, I'm praying for you. Well, what does he pray for? In 118 he says, I pray that the eyes of your heart will be enlightened. You'll begin to understand something. I pray that you will know what the hope of his calling is.

You need to know this. I pray that you know the riches of his glory and the greatness of his power. In other words, Paul says, here's what I pray for you, though. You've got to know God. You've got to know Jesus Christ. You see, the more you know Jesus Christ, the more you trust Jesus Christ. And just because you're a Christian doesn't mean you know him in that context. Remember, Jesus said in John, I've come to give you life and give it to you abundantly. You'll never have the abundant life if you don't really know Jesus Christ.

You just won't. Now, what's interesting about this is he uses these trials and storms that teaches this. Let's go back to John six. This time, verse 16. A stranger to the sun and this great miracle, and there are several miracles here. John gives us the Reader's Digest version. This is pretty short.

First time I read it, it's like, hey, they've got to be more than this. But Matthew and Mark also, Mark six and Matthew 14, they speak of the same thing that John does. Now, remember the context of this. The context is he just fed 15 to 20,000 people miraculously. The people are so overwhelmed by it, they want to make them king. Now, we know the pretense of the disciples are the same way.

I think they would have got into the chant, make them king, make them king, just as they would have. But notice what it says here. It says in 16, now when the evening came, the disciples went down to the sea after getting into the boat. Now, that's nice John wrote that.

But it wasn't exactly that way. Mark six tells you a little bit more. It says after this, Jesus made the disciples get into the boat. Get into the boat, guys. They're like, no, no, wait, we're going to make a king here.

We're going to be behind the people. He said, you get into the boat. So, they get into the boat.

That's what ends up happening. The way he tells them what he wants them to do. Now, when they get into the boat, you can tell by the other accounts, they first went, remember they're in the northeast corner of the Sea of Galilee, took a short row to Bethsaida, and then a long row over to Capernaum on the northern shore. Now, please understand one thing. Of all the disciples, seven of them are fishermen. So, they have a lot, and remember, they only fished in the Sea of Galilee.

They know it. Storms happen all the time on the Sea of Galilee. It's 700 feet below sea level, and on three sides, ribbed by mountains. Cold air rising and falling down the mountains creates all kinds of turbulent on the sea. It is known for its terrible storms.

To put everything else in perspective, it's shallow. And you know from Lake Pontchartrain, you have water that's shallow in high winds, you get great waves. So, they're used to that. Now, what John writes here, which is kind of interesting, is that he says then, and after getting into the boat, they started across the Sea of Capernaum. It had already become dark. Jesus has not yet come to them. And the sea began to be stirred up because of the strong wind that was blowing.

Wow. It's about sunset. So, they get in this boat. Jesus doesn't come. He tells them to get in the boat and go. And now the wind picks up, and the storm is coming. Now, what's interesting about that is that it says in 19, right in the beginning, then when they had rowed about three to four miles. Now, we know from Matthew and Mark, it's the last watch of the night.

Okay. It's three o'clock in the morning to six o'clock in the morning. So, they started in the water at sunset. So, now it's 10 hours later or so, and they're getting nowhere. They can't get anywhere.

So, this is an amazing thing when you think about it. These are fishermen, and they can't make any headway at all. They've gone three or four miles.

They have an awful long distance to go, and they're not making any headway. And now they find themselves in a storm. Now, it came up as suddenly as possible, and that's the truth of most storms though, isn't it? I mean, they come suddenly. Think of the storms in your life.

Sometimes they come slowly, but how often do they come suddenly? You've been listening to Pastor Bill Gebhardt on the Radio Ministry of Fellowship in the Word. If you ever miss one of our broadcasts, or maybe you would just like to listen to the message one more time, remember that you can go to a great website called oneplace.com. That's oneplace.com, and you can listen to Fellowship in the Word online.

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