Keep Your Eyes Upon Jesus ( Matthew 14:22-33 )- Pastor Kenneth Collins Maple

Amen and if you would please take your Bibles

and open up to Matthew chapter 14. Matthew 14

Matthew 14 · chapter mention

looking this morning at verses 22 through 33

as we continue in our sermon series through some

of the miracles of Jesus. Now, I'll be up front

with you. We're looking at Jesus walking on the

water, which is an incredible miracle. We could

have stayed in John six to see this from last

Sunday, but I want us to look in Matthew 14.

Because there, not only do we see Jesus walking

on the water, but we see Peter on the water.

This shows us something about Peter. This shows

us something about the disciples. And honestly,

this shows us something about ourselves. So would

you give attention to the reading of God's holy

word from Matthew 14 beginning in verse 22? Immediately

he made the disciples get into the boat and go

before him to the other side While he dismissed

the crowns and after he had dismissed the crowns

He went up on the mountain by himself to pray

when evening came He was there alone But the

boat by this time was a long way from the land

beaten by the waves for the wind was against

them and in the fourth watch of the night He

came to them walking on the sea But when the

disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were

terrified and they said it is a ghost And they

cried out in fear But immediately Jesus spoke

to them saying take heart it is I Do not be afraid.

And Peter answered him, Lord, if it is you, command

me to come to you on the water. He said, come.

So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the

water and came to Jesus. But when he saw the

wind, he was afraid and beginning to sink. He

cried out, Lord, save me. Jesus immediately reached

out his hand. and took hold of him saying to

him, oh, you of little faith, why did you doubt?

And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased.

And those in the boat worshiped him saying, truly,

you are the son of God. This is God's word. Let's

pray. Father, we do thank you for this word.

We thank you that once again we get to see Jesus

do the amazing Do the thing that others would

say is impossible Lord help us to look upon this

story is truth And would you build up our faith

as we study it this we ask in Christ's name amen

It was a sunny day on Long Island sounds just

off of New York when a woman named Louisa Stead,

along with her husband and their daughter Lily,

decided to go for a picnic. Beautiful day. What's

better than a picnic on a beautiful day by the

water? But as they were eating, they heard a

scream, the scream of a young boy. And Mr. Stead

hopped to his feet, and he ran to the water.

He ran to where he heard the boy screaming. and

he jumped into the water to save the boy. But

sadly, Mrs. Stead and Lily watched as not just

the boy, but Mr. Stead drowned in the water.

Understandably, they were heartbroken. They were

devastated. Additionally, as they dealt with

their heartache over losing husband or father,

they didn't have any money. their source of income

was gone, and so they thought, what shall we

do? They were left poor. But they continued to

look to Jesus for help. They continued to trust

God for help. And trusting in Jesus, Mrs. Stead

wrote a hymn that I think that you all know.

"'Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus." That's the

story behind the hymn. And shortly after this

incident, Louisa and her daughter Lily moved

to South Africa, where continuing to rely upon

Christ, they became missionaries. Friends, I

don't need to tell you this, but we live in a

world of tragedy. We live in a world of pain.

We live in a world of suffering and challenges

and affliction. And as Christians, we invite

even more of that upon ourselves. In a way, as

Christians, we sign up for suffering, that's

actually the story of Scripture, isn't it, of

redemption, but having to go through the storm

first in order to be saved. That's the story

of Noah. That's the story of Abraham. That's

the story of Moses. That's the story of Ruth.

That's the story of David. That's the story of

these disciples even. It's the story of believers,

and while it's unpopular to think, yes, I'll

sign up for struggle, God helps us through those

things, doesn't he? As he increases our faith

in Christ. Look in verse 22. Why are the disciples

in the boat, on the water in the first place?

I'll read it again. Immediately. He made the

disciples get into the boat and go before him

to the other side. You may be using a different

translation, but all the translations I looked

at said something to that effect. Jesus made

them get into the boat. Jesus told them to get

in the boat and go to the other side. Last Sunday,

we looked at the disciples along with Jesus as

Jesus feeds the multitudes, right? And then shortly

thereafter, the people are trying to make Jesus

king by force. And so what does Jesus do? He

sends the disciples. He wants no part of that.

He sends the disciples out to go to the other

side, to cross the Sea of Galilee. What does

Jesus do? Well, Jesus goes up on the mountain

to pray. Look in verse 24 They're out on the

water the boat is a long way from the land and

the storm is brewing and then in verse 25 it

says in the fourth watch of the night the timing

of this thing is very important because if you

again if you look in verse 23 you see that it

was evening when the disciples got into the boat,

but when Jesus comes to them It's in the wee

hours of the morning. The fourth watch of the

night, the way that the night was arranged to

be understood was in four watches of three hours

apiece. And if it's the fourth watch, or since

it's the fourth watch, it's between 3 and 6 a

.m. when Jesus walks on the water. The reason

that is important is because Jesus sent the disciples

out when it was early evening. Do you understand

what this means? It means that the disciples

are on the water all night long. They are rowing

hard against the waves and the wind all night

long, making little progress. The Sea of Galilee,

depending on where you depart from and where

you're going to, it's about four to five miles

across, going... two, three, four miles in about

nine hours is not good progress. They are getting

nowhere fast, but they're doing all they can.

Mark 6 says that they were straining their oars.

They're rowing as hard as they possibly can.

Years ago, I was out on Lake Joe Cassie, lovely

place, love being there with some friends, rented

some paddle boards, beautiful day out paddling.

But as you know, if you've been on Lake Jocasse,

sometimes the conditions can change rather quickly.

So out in the middle of the water, the sky turned

dark, and the wind picked up, and we thought,

we got to get back to shore. And so we turned

around. But paddling into the wind, it felt like

it took hours to get back to shore. That's literally

what is happening here. The disciples are paddling,

rowing for hours. Maybe even nine of them, ten

of them. And they are frightened, they are exhausted,

and surely they're asking, where in the world

is Jesus? Well, we know where he was and we know

what he was doing. The text says that he was

on the mountain and he was praying. There's really

two responses to this miracle. It's either disbelief

or belief. Some people think this is ridiculous.

How could Jesus actually walk on the water? But

Christians believe this to be true, that this

is factual, right? It's in three of the four

gospels. So you can either love it and believe

it or not. But would you like to hear my favorite

part of this story? My favorite part is the extremely

ordinary and extraordinary prayer life. Jesus.

Jesus shows us time and time again how he just

desired to be with his Heavenly Father in prayer.

I imagine that as the disciples rode as hard

as they possibly could, Jesus prayed as hard

as he possibly could, probably praying for them

as well, and it makes you wonder, were they praying

while they were rowing? Again, Mark 6 says that

they are making painful progress, slow progress,

and yet the text tells us that Jesus saw them.

And so if their prayer was for him to come and

help, that's exactly what he does. Look in verse

25. In the fourth watch of the night he came

to them, and now you see it, walking on the sea.

Job chapter 9 verse 8 says that God tramples

Job 9:8

the waves of the sea and that's exactly what

Jesus does here. But please remember Jesus is

not walking on a calm water. Jesus is walking

on a water that is crashing with the wind howling

all around him and so the disciples they see

him from afar. They see something coming towards

them and they're terrified. And so you see their

reaction. They exclaim, there in 26, it is a

ghost. Now, a ghost is a fine translation, but

we could probably just use the transliteration

from the Greek, a phantasma, from which we get

our word phantasm. They are seeing a spirit coming

towards them. And here I'm wondering, you know,

Jesus has been casting out spirits. Are they

thinking this is a spirit, one of those spirits

coming towards us? But it's not. It's Jesus down

from the mountain. Jesus, who sent them out onto

the water, now comes to save them. But why? Have

you ever thought about that? Why would Jesus

send them out on the water just to come save

them? thinking three thoughts about this this

week. One, in doing this, Jesus demonstrates

his power over the laws of creation. John chapter

one tells us that Jesus was in the beginning

and that he created all things and so he shows

that these things, the laws of creation, are

in subjection to him. Just like when Jesus calmed

the storm in Matthew chapter eight, an entirely

different story. Here Jesus does something like

this again, the waves respond to Jesus. But second

thought, and it relates to the first, that as

Jesus treads the water underfoot, he shows his

deity. Look in verse 27. Immediately Jesus spoke

to them saying, take heart, it is I. Do not be

afraid. When he says, it is I, this is very important.

If you read it in the Greek, it would say, ego,

a me, which means I am. Do you remember the I

am statements of Jesus in the book of John? I

am the door. I am the good shepherd. I am the

resurrection of life and the life, right? And

so what is Jesus doing but saying that he is

from the great I am? We looked last. Sunday in

John 6 and we said that it's essentially a retelling

of the Exodus story. What happens before the

Exodus? Moses meets with God and God reveals

his covenant name. I am who I am. Yahweh. Jesus

in saying this, I am, ensures that the disciples

know that he is the promised son of God. Third

thought for the reason for all of this is Jesus

is testing their faith Jesus is strengthening

their faith again. He says take heart Jesus comes

to save but first they have to go through the

storm We're gonna talk about Peter in just a

minute in this text, but it's worth studying

the life of Peter To see this testing of faith

because Peter went through so much Peter persevered

through so much suffering. You can see it in

his time with Jesus. You see it in Peter's time

in the book of Acts, that Peter encounters opposition

and challenges and afflictions. Consider these

words from Peter. First Peter chapter one, six

and seven, it says this. In this you rejoice,

though now for a little while, if necessary.

You have been grieved by various trials so that

the tested genuineness of your faith more precious

than gold that perishes though it's tested by

fire may be found to result in praise and glory

and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

Why do we go through challenges? Why do we go

through suffering and afflictions to strengthen

our faith? and so that we will rightly know who

Jesus is and sing his praises. I like how J .C.

Ryle puts it when he says, by affliction, God

teaches us many precious lessons, which without

it we should never learn. He says, by affliction,

he shows us our emptiness and weakness, draws

us to the throne of grace, purifies our affections,

weans us from the world and makes us long for

heaven. In the resurrected morning, we shall

all say, it was good for me that I was afflicted.

We shall thank God for every storm. That's a

very mature thought, isn't it? To thank God for

the storms of life. That's very opposite of the

mindset of people today. We don't want anything

to do with it. But Jesus showed us what it's

like to follow him, to take up our cross and

follow him. The Christian life is difficult.

It's challenging. We go through so much, but

God sees us through these things according to

his purposes. I was talking with one of you this

week, one of you going through severe affliction,

and you said that you hoped that your struggles

would help other people who might go through

a similar thing. Again, a very mature thought.

A thought of somebody who's being sanctified

to be more and more like Christ who suffered

in our place. Now, these are mature thoughts.

Sometimes when I arrive at Peter within the text,

I wonder, what is he thinking? Is he thinking

maturely? Is he thinking with wisdom? Look in

verse... 28, to be honest with you, I'm not sure,

but he does exhibit faith. Peter answered him,

Lord, if it's you, command me to come to you

on the water. And so that's what Jesus does.

He says, come. And so Peter steps out of the

boat, steps onto the water. And remember, the

storm is still happening. It's not calm. The

wind is howling. If I'm in the boat, And I'm

watching Peter take steps on the water. I might

be saying to Jesus, me next. But then Peter makes

a mistake. Peter takes his eyes off of Jesus.

Peter focuses on the dangerous situation at hand.

When he's focused on Jesus, he's successful.

He's okay. But then doubt overcomes him. And

we can be like that too, can't we? When we trust

Jesus, we're okay, we're good. Everything's gonna

be fine, but when we focus on the problem, that's

where the trouble lies. And so now, as I see

Peter start to sink, if I'm one of the disciples

in the boat, I'm saying, no, Jesus, I'm good.

And so Peter cries out, Lord, save me. And as

he does, we might be thinking that we have heard

this before, if you know the Psalms well. You've

heard this before. Psalm 69 begins in this way.

Save me, O God, for the waters have come up to

my neck. I sink in deep mire where there is no

foothold. I've come in the deep waters and the

flood sweeps over me. Save me. So Peter cries

out and Jesus reaches out his hand. And here's

the beauty of the passage, that as Peter takes

his eyes off of Jesus, Jesus never takes his

eyes off of Peter, right? Friends, I read a commentator

who said this week, God does not wait for you

to have perfect faith to save you. He does not

wait for you to have perfect faith to save you,

no. He is the one who works faith into your heart.

He is the one who regenerates you. Jesus is the

one who saves you. And upon being saved, upon

having that saving faith, then the sanctification

kicks off, where Jesus grows us more and more

to trust Him and to be like Him as we have the

indwelling Spirit. Friends, this text shows us

that we may struggle with doubt. But for the

times that we do doubt Jesus is here to catch

us Isn't it true God designs troubles for the

purpose of our growing our trust in him remember

Jesus is the one who sent his disciples out onto

the water and then he rescues them and So you

see Jesus and Peter they climb back in the boat

and the wind ceases yet again Jesus calms a storm

And as the disciples see all of this, they do

the only thing that I think they can possibly

do. They worship Him. And they say, truly, this

is the Son of God. I believe, if I'm correct

on this, this is the first time that disciples

ever say, this is the Son of God. God the Father

says it at Jesus's baptism. This is my beloved

Son in whom I'm well pleased. The demons say

this is the Son of God, but this is the first

time the disciples say, Jesus, we know this to

be true. You are the Son of God. And so friends,

you see the purpose behind the miracle. Jesus

is not showing off. He is doing this so he would

be trusted and worshiped. Friends, God uses every

trial that we go through. So that we might be

like the disciples To better trust him to better

worship him to better prepare for the storms

ahead Is there a storm that you could possibly

face that God does not control? Think about that.

Is there a storm you could face that God does

not control? Is there a storm he cannot handle?

Of course not Jesus treads over these problems

with ease and he comes to you, and he comforts

you, and he saves you, and Jesus says to you,

Christian, trust me. Trust me no matter what

comes your way. Trust me, and I will take care

of you. Let's pray.