I Am, Do Not Be Afraid - John 6:16-21 - May 31, 2026

Matthew Poole: Good morning. My name is Matthew. I'm one of the pastors here. It is a joy to gather with you, and a joy uniquely to hear you sing to Jesus. Thank you, Mike, and the team this morning for leading us in song to our great God. It is good for our souls to sing to the Lord. Isn't that amazing? He commands us to sing to him. He's worthy and it is good for our souls. Let's pray as we open up his word. Let's pray for God's help, for myself, for all of us this morning. Would you join me? Heavenly Father, we thank you that you are a speaking God and your words, the words that you speak, are good, are life and blessing. And when we rightly apprehend your word, we respond in song. Your word is intended to do something in our hearts that changes them, that transforms them, that frees our spirits to sing. And so pray, God, you would do that even now. This morning, right now, in this message. God, we don't pray for merely more information this morning. We pray for life transformation. We pray for revelation. We pray for you to reveal yourself to us and to give us the grace to see it, to behold it, to enjoy it. God, did you do that this morning for your glory and for our joy now and forever? It's in your name we pray. Amen. Fear can take all types of shapes and sizes. I did a little Google search and a few fears that came up, phobias that are interesting. A few of these, here are these. Anatidiphobia. The fear that a duck is watching you. Hogonophobia, the fear of beards. Nomophobia, the fear of not having your mobile phone on you. Arithmophobia, the fear of numbers. Hippopata monstroso quipidale, the fear of long words. I don't know how real those are, but phobias exist. And phobias are when fears have gotten haywired. There there's a disconnect between the fear and reality. They've become irrational and they may even border on the ridiculous, unless you have them. If you have them, it can be very, very difficult and challenging. And one of the ways to deal with phobias is you give a small degree of the stimulus over time in incremental doses while the person while you can ⁓ embrace that you are still okay, right? And so increase the dose while knowing that, hey, yeah, I I'm still okay. The fear is not real, it's imaginary. It's one of the training strategies there is to desensitize ourselves. Two irrational fears. But what happens when the fear is real? What happens when our fears are real? When desensitization is only a pathway into denial and unreality. And while we may recognize that phobias are different among us, one fear that we all have in common as humans is the fear of coming face to face with our The holy one. The everlasting one who always has been and always will be will be and is perfectly holy and pure and good and true. Down deep inside every one of us, we fear coming face to face with this one God. The one before we live and the one before we must give an account. We must give an account to this God. As our creator and as our judge, we give an account to Him for every thought and every action. And more than just every thought and every action, every desire and motivation for every thought and every action. Exposed before Him. That means every lustful glance. Every time we selfishly inserted ourselves in a conversation just to grab the space and get the attention. Every word of gossip, every harboring of bitterness, every act of unlove and hate towards somebody else, even just the thought that you wish somebody would go away and be gone off the planet. All of it. We could go on and on and on and not get to the end of our sin. Deal is God knows it all. He sees it all. And He will judge every single bit of it. None of it escapes Him or His judgment. Some of you might say this morning, Well, I don't fear God. I don't even believe that He exists. That's fair. I can understand that perspective. The Bible just gives a different one. The Bible says down deep we all know that God exists. We've been doing what Adam and Eve, our great parents, great grandparents in the garden have been doing. Running and hiding in the bushes, afraid of God coming. We're covering ourselves up, afraid that God's gonna show up. We're hiding from him. And so what we do is we stuff the reality of our sin and we stuff the reality of God. That's the picture that the Bible paints. Somewhere down deep, we all know this reality. We just don't want to face it. Others of us this morning, we know God exists. And maybe right now we are actively struggling. Real shame. With real guilt. And it's causing untold amounts of pain and fear. That may be many of us. I think in some way we all, because of the fallen flesh, will struggle in some degree at this point. We may all struggle in some degree, fearing God's holiness and him showing up. And so the question is, what do we do? What do we do? Is there a technique? Is there a strategy? Is there some sort of desensitization? Would that work? Do we just do enough good works? Do we keep running and keep hiding? Is there anything we can do to stop the treadmill of just running and being exhausted? Trying to stuff reality and avoid? And maybe specifically, what can transform us from those who fear God's presence to those who delight in God? That's what I believe John 6 here is about. Let's hear what God has for us this morning. Starting in verse 16. When evening came, his disciples went down to the sea, got into a boat, and started across the sea to Capernaum. It was now dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them. The sea became rough because of a strong wind that was blowing. When they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and coming near the boat. So let's get this picture a little bit in our heads here. The disciples are getting in this little wooden boat, and they're going across the sea, water, and they're maybe three to four miles. So they're like maybe halfway across this body of water. We learn from one of the other gospels that it's probably like three, four, five in the morning. So it's been a long night. And the sea has become rough. So it's dark. Can't see. There's not flashlights. There's wind that could sweep into this, like a unique geographical anomaly. Winds could sweep up. And so there's wind blowing. There are waves. They're in this wooden little boat in the middle of this body of water. And they are alone. Jesus is not with them. This is an ominous scene. There's danger here. This is a lethal scene. They could lose their lives here. But listen, that danger is not the danger that John is communicating to us. John says nothing about the danger of the waves here. What is he saying? What is he communicating? Better yet, what is Jesus communicating? There is a fear. What are they afraid of? Not the storm. You're afraid of Jesus. Why? Because Jesus is walking on the wake. Out in the middle of this dark body of water. This is a display of divinity. They would have known and been familiar with Job chapter 9, which says, He alone, God, stretches out the heavens and he walks on the waves. He rides on the waves. This is a revelation of God here. They're seeing God. And their response is fear. I think what John is showing us is what is far more terrifying than a storm is the presence of the Holy Spirit. Far more terrifying. And maybe this is where we can relate to the disciples. Maybe this is where you are this morning. The sense that you have of the holy presence of God is giving you a sense of dread and fear. Maybe you can relate to these disciples. How does Jesus respond? Verse 20. He said to them, It is Do not be afraid. When Jesus says, it is I here, He isn't this is this is not a matter of him giving clarity to that to them, like they're confused and they don't know who he is. It's not him, hey guys, it's me. Remember the same guy that was just with you feeding the five thousands, it's me. That's not what's happened here. They they know it is Jesus, that's the problem. They know exactly who they're looking at. So when Jesus says, it is I, what is he communicating? Because it is I alone does nothing to their fear. Rather, I think we keep the literal translation of this. Which most translators, most all of them that I looked at, don't keep, except for the literal translator committees. The literal translation is I am. It's not it is I, it is I am, do not be afraid. So why? What's that all about? The clue is found in the connection between I am and do not be afraid. That is the hinge of this entire passage. This is the only. Little piece of dialogue in this section, which means it's critical. And here is the hinge. I am, do not be afraid. What is that talking about? Well this takes us back to Exodus chapter three. Where what is going on is the people of God have been stuck in slavery to Pharaoh for hundreds of years. Hundreds of years stuck in slavery, afflicted, oppressed. And God shows up to Moses in a burning bush. Seen the people, and I've heard their cry, and I'm going to send you to rescue them out of their slavery. Moses is trembling, and he says, Well, when I go to them and I tell them you've sent me, who do I tell them sent me? This is the response. Exodus 3, verse 14. God said to Moses, I am who I am. And he said, Say this to the people of Israel I am has sent me to you and then down in verse fifteen, This is my name for ever, and thus I am be remembered throughout all generations. God is revealing his name to Moses. But when God shares his name, this is more than a name tag. This is a revelation of God's nature. God is revealing Himself here to Moses. The double I am is communicating, it's stamping this eternal existence. The one who always was, the one who is, and the one who will be. There's a double I am, I am, or am, I will be, who I will be. He's communicating to Moses and to us, he is the God who is. He is the God who is. But more than that, it's the God who is and is for his people. Are you tracking with me? Listen to what Jeff Percewell as he summarizes this theologian and pastor, he says it this way. The name I am carries the promise of God's presence with his people and for his people. With his people and his actions for his people. And he unfolds that and he says this the name is relation. It's a covenant keeping name. The I am is the name by which God, listen, pledges himself to his people, and by which God binds his people to himself. God's very name, then, is a promise. His name is a promise, a promise of fellowship, of care. Of rescue, of support, of hope, of final rest and joy in his presence. His name is a promise of your eternal life. In his very name he has bound himself to the blessing of his Is it that? The revelation of God's nature in his most intimate way you can understand him in his very name. Inside of his nature is the blessing of his people. So who was it that heard Israel's cry in Egypt? I am Who saw the affliction under Pharaoh? I am dead. Who sent Moses to rescue them? I am dead. Who parted the waters and sustained them in the wilderness and led them into the promised land? I am dead. Who established them in the promised land and routed their enemies and judged all the enemies? I am dead. Who made Israel his chosen possession among all the nations of the world? I am dead. I am did that. Who dwells with Israel in the midst of the temple? I am. Now who has taken on flesh and enters into the this dark night storm tossed world of the disciples, standing before them on the water? I am Dus. I am Stan. Right here. For you. With you. For you. Do not Do not be afraid. You see I am God. Do not be afraid. Doesn't do anything. I am God, therefore do not be afraid, doesn't do anything for us sinful people. Power alone amplifies fear. That statement, I'm God, just amplifies fear in us. I am the covenant-keeping God who has been faithful for generations upon generations to my people. ⁓ that Let's us breathe. See, Jesus isn't calming their fear of the storm. He's calming their fear of himself. This is the hinge, and the hinge happens here for the disciples. Look at verse 21. Then they were glad to take him into it. And immediately the boat was at the land to which they were. Their fear has turned to joy. Their fear has turned to joy. I mean, this guy's showing up walking on water, and they're like, ⁓ my, I mean, do you just jump out of the boat? Do you try to block him? Are you are you on the ground? Just trying to figure out what you're gonna do to avoid this guy coming any closer. That was their situation. Now it's like, okay, come aboard, sir. Happily come on in. A transformation has happened. The fear and the resistance has given way to glad acceptance and the reception of Jesus. And at this point, for the disciples and for us, God's covenant-keeping work in Jesus is coming into view. It's limited, it's partial, like a like a wet piece of film that is being developed. You can see some of the image, but not yet the whole image in its entirety and in full clarity. And what that means for us is that John the writer is intending us to look back to Exodus three, Moses rescuing the people, and to look forward in his gospel where he is taking us. And he's taking us to the cross. He's taking us to a greater exodus and a greater slavery. And greater joy in God. A slavery that is not to Pharaoh, but to sin and Satan. Our fear is not. Not need to be Satan and sin. Our fear that we've been talking about this morning is the fear of sinners, slavery to sin, and then the fear of sinners appearing before a holy God and being judged. That's the fear. This is what we need to get Exodus out of, is ultimately out of the wrath of God that is due us. But here's the question. How can God both be loving and just? That's assuming you would already agree that the Holy One, for Him to be good, for Him to be just, He has to judge evil. It has to happen. So how can He love us and judge evil? That's the big question. God can't just sweep sin under the rug. He can't do it. That would be to deny his very nature. No, he deals with it. How does he deal with it? He does this by becoming a perfect substitute for you and for myself, for anyone that believes in this gospel. He becomes a substitute for sinners, taking the judgment that we deserve, the righteous for the sinner. Here it is in one statement, I think. The I am who walks on the waves of the sea chose to be swallowed up by the waves of God's wrath so that we could enjoy the light of God's presence. The one who rides on the waves of the sea. Went through the waves of God's wrath for you and for myself. He goes where no man can go and No one served. Think tsunami. Don't think casual surf down at Elasticsearch. No one comes out of this alive. No one survives. But survive he Because he's Death could not hold him. He comes out of the grave, vindicated, as the righteous substitute, good payment for sin. Praise God. And rising from the dead, he testifies, listen, he testifies that the judgment is in the past. It's dealt with. It's gone. It's gone. It's in the past. It's not in your future. You believe. It's dealt with. He comes out of the grave. It's done. And now he's declaring there is a new life to be lived. There is a new heavens and new earth coming in you, made new in the image of Christ to enjoy God's favor forever and ever and ever. That's what he comes out of the grave declaring and offering to us. So when Jesus says to the disciples and to us this morning, I am, do not be afraid, what he's saying is, I'm the God who takes your judgment, therefore you don't have to fear it. You don't have to fear it anymore. It's gone and taken away, and now there's only an inheritance ahead for the people. Why does he do this for us? Because he loves us. Because he loves us, a love that keeps covenant even at his own expense. This is how the covenant keeping God saves his people. He's not willing to part from his nature in order to save them. He's already bound their blessing inside of his name. So he upholds his name, says, I will do whatever it takes to save and rescue my people. I will even die for them. That is. Love love that's a love that transforms us from those who fear God's presence into those who gladly welcome it. Come aboard, sir. Glad to have you. You see, power alone amplifies fear. Power with love. Casts it out and produces worship. Power and love have been met in our God for us. Our response is worship, joy, gratitude. That's the hinge that the disciples experience. And my question this morning for us is have we, have you received Jesus? Have you received this transforming work on your behalf? We all want transformation this morning, I'm sure, in some way, right? This text is showing us, and the Bible is showing us, transformation does not come through a technique or a strategy or a life hack or any sort of training that we can do or flexing our muscles, and no amount of good works can transform our wicked hearts. It comes through the person and the work of Jesus Christ. If you want transformation, it's found in a person. The person of Jesus. The deal is for us when we face conviction and we face the acknowledgement of sin, God's holiness, we run in two different directions. We either despair or we run into denial. We despair because our sin is so great. Woe is me. I'm awful. Nobody could ever love me. God certainly could never love me. I am just too bad. Or we go into denial. We try to rationalize the whole thing away. You know what? I'm not. You know what I could stand before God on that final day of judgment and I'll be just fine. God's standard maybe isn't that high. He ain't that holy. Both are errors. Only in the gospel can we face reality. The reality of our depravity and just how wicked we are. And the reality of God's holiness and his justice. And come out with glad all. The gospel allows you and I this morning to face our sin, to face God's holiness, but to come out seeing the gospel of Jesus Christ. Seeing in the gospel forgiveness, love, hope, grace, mercy, goodness. In the gospel, that's what we find. Therefore, in the light of the gospel, our fears about God, if we believe, are truly irrational. They're irrational based upon the testimony that God has already given us. in his son Jesus. Our response is not to try to desensitize ourselves to sin, but we need to sensitize ourselves to Christ. Shame and guilt make us try to run away and hide in the bushes and cover ourselves. We need the courage and the faith to run towards the gospel in those moments. And I love how Paul paints this in Romans 7, and he's cataloging just how he's just not what he wants to be. All this sin, he he climaxes it by saying, Who will rescue me from this body of death? Could stop there. You could stop there. And in fact, Satan would love for you to stop there. Shame, wallow in it. It's not what he does in 24, 25 of seven. But who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God in Christ Jesus. And then the glorious launching out into Romans 8. Therefore there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. We are more than conquerors through him who loves us and has freed us. Nothing can separate us from the love of God. Absolutely nothing. We are purchased. Who's gonna bring any charge against the people of God? Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died. More than that who was raised from the dead, who's at the right hand of God, is right now interceding for the saints. Who's going to separate us from the love of God? No one. Tribulation, distress, persecution, danger, danger, fam, famine, sword, on and on and on. Paul goes. He's just cataloging all these potential obstacles to make us think we are too far gone. From the love of God, or the obstacle ahead of us is too great for the love of God. No. No, none of it. So we apply the gospel to our fears here. When last night's moral failure comes into your mind. Hear the words of Jesus. I am do not be. When the moral failure from 10 years ago haunts you, hear the words of Jesus: I am, do not be afraid. When you realize how selfish you've been, I am, do not be afraid. When you told the lie and you did gossip and you were bitter towards God and towards other people, hear the word of Jesus. I am, do not be afraid. Don't run. Don't run from God in your fear. Run to Him. When you think about standing before the Holy One, should He come or should you die? Do not be afraid. Whatever your fear is this morning, Jesus comes into your dark world, your storm-tossed world. And he says, I am, do not be. We don't have to fear. Right. It's as if you know, everybody's room is clean as long as the lights are When the lights switch on, then we realize this is a mess. Now you and I this morning don't have to fear the light being switched on. God already sees it all, and Jesus is telling us this morning, I've taken care of it. The light no longer brings exposure, it brings joy and gladness and blessing. The covenant keeping I am is with his people and he is for his people. Even in their sin. That was the whole mission. He's died for sinners like you and myself. Once Jesus gets in the boat, the disciples make it to the other side. What we see here is just that the I am is sufficient. The I am is sufficient to cast away our fears of exposure and judgment and to lead us to the land of blessing. To a land of rejoicing forever in the presence of God. Jesus with us is enough. He is sufficient to get us where we need to go and to the welcome of God in his presence forever. May our lives be lived now as a response to this with great hope, with great celebration. May our lives be a sweet aroma of praise and worship to our great God. And his work in Jesus Christ his Son. To the one who rides on the waves. May we live in response in worshiping this one until that day we see him face to face. And listen, church, our joy will be. Father, we thank you, God, that you have come into our dark worlds with the light of Christ, with the light of the gospel. God, we thank you for the judgment you have borne in our place. Help us to believe it. Help us to embrace it. Help us to treasure it. God, we thank you for the great act of salvation and the redemptive history to just see your plan in the fullness of time, how you have revealed your covenant-keeping nature. How unthinkable that the most powerful being in the universe would also be the most loving being in the universe. And that you would use both power and love to rescue those who are sinners, who have been your enemies. God, may this grace transform our hearts. May it transform our lives. May we be glad testifiers and witnesses to the resurrection of Jesus Christ, that there is hope beyond this world, and that there is hope. To stand before a holy God, not with our heads held low, not with shame, but heads held high, glad as the children of God. Lord, what a joy it is to be your adopted children, to know that you sing over us, to have hearts that long for you. And we cannot wait, God, to be with you fully. We cannot wait for the new life that is coming. The life beyond the grave, the life beyond sin, the life beyond flesh, the life in the presence of God. In the fullness of not only your perfect delight of us, but in our perfect delight of you. God, we long for this day. The communion that we have with you now by faith. We can't wait till it's manifested in all of its reality. То си а ковенет кипінь гад фейс та фейс. What will it be? What we do know is there's no need for any fear. May there only be glad worship, the right apprehension of reality, and the right apprehension of your nature. Means we run into your Maybe even now this morning, what some of us need to do, Lord, is run into your presence. Need to stop hiding, need to stop covering, need to stop avoiding and dismissing and denying. And it roots because we think that there's judgment. We're afraid. But God, you come to us. You came to Adam and Eve. And you're coming to us now, right here. God, may we run to you, confessing our sin and embracing our Savior. Help us to be the forgiven, free, fearless people of God for your glory and your praise alone forever and ever.

Job 9 · chapter mention Exodus 3:14