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Matthew 14:22-33 · Providence Baptist Church - Sermons

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  All right, our text this morning's Bible study is Matthew chapter 14, verses 22 through 33.
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  So if you can join me there in your copy of God's Word.
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  And while you're returning there, I want you to remember that we're encouraging each of you to read through the Bible with us using the plan from the Read Scripture app.
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  And we're doing a couple of things to help you do so.
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  One of those things is teaching each week from a text from the previous week's reading.
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  And we're going to kind of be hopping and skipping through the narrative.
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  But we're hoping that it'll help tie it together for you, a biblical theology of the large theme of Scripture,
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  which is the redemptive work of God for his people through the personal work of Jesus Christ.
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  And so we're going to kind of be hopping along.
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  And we just really want you to join us in that.
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  We think that you'll be greatly served in doing so, getting that broad narrative clear in your mind.
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  And this morning, we're going to consider the story of Jesus walking on water, which is found, as I said, in Matthew chapter 14, beginning in verse 22.
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  Immediately, he made the disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side while he dismissed the crowds.
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  And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray.
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  When evening came, he was there alone.
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  But the boat by this time was a long way from the land, beaten by the waves, for the wind was against them.
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  And in the fourth watch of the night, he came to them walking on the sea.
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  When the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified and said,
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  It is a ghost.
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  And they cried out in fear.
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  But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying,
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  Take heart, it is I.
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  Do not be afraid.
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  And Peter answered him,
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  Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.
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  He said, Come.
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  So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus.
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  But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and began to sink.
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  He cried out, Lord, save me.
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  Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took hold of him, saying to him,
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  O you of little faith, why did you doubt?
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  And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased.
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  And those in the boat worshipped him, saying,
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  Truly, you are the Son of God.
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  So let's first set the stage for this episode in the life of Jesus.
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  Matthew's labor in the writing of this gospel account is to speak to the nature of the kingdom of God
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  and specifically to the nature of its king.
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  He wants his readers to worship Jesus as the promised Christ.
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  So he has been recording the miracles of Jesus
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  and pointing to his fulfilling of the Old Testament prophecies concerning him.
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  We are to see in the miracles the one who has authority over every disease,
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  over demons, over nature, and even over sin itself.
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  We are to see Jesus as God and as the Son of God, Emmanuel, God with us.
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  At the beginning of chapter 14 of Matthew's gospel, we read about the death of John the Baptist.
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  And Jesus has told this news in verse 12.
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  The beginning part of verse 13 tells us,
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  Now when Jesus heard this, the news of John the Baptist,
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  he withdrew from there in a boat to a desolate place by himself.
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  Jesus goes off to be alone.
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  And I think it is a very safe assumption that he is going to mourn the loss of his cousin, John.
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  The remainder of verse 13, though, says,
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  But when the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the towns.
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  Jesus goes to be alone, and he is followed.
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  This is a point for myself, as I try to put myself in his shoes, that I feel annoyed.
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  But he doesn't seem to be.
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  Our Lord does not send the crowd away.
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  But verse 14 tells us that he had compassion on them, and he healed their sick.
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  He also taught them, and then he fed them.
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  This is the crowd of about 5,000 men besides women and children.
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  And it is this moment that our story begins today.
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  He has been grief-stricken over the loss of John the Baptist.
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  And then he has turned himself in compassion to this huge crowd of people who's been ministering to them all day long.
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  And that's where we pick up the story in verse 22.
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  And we see that he sends the disciples on ahead of him to the other side, and he gets the crowds out of there.
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  He dismisses them after dinner for them to head home to sleep that night.
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  And he goes up on the mountain, we see in verse 23, to pray.
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  Jesus once again goes to be alone to mourn the loss of John.
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  But not to sulk in self-pity, but to pray.
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  He goes to be with God the Father.
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  Now, this is not the primary point of today's text, but I want us to note the humanity of Christ.
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  He needs time to be quiet, to contemplate, and most importantly, to pray.
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  I imagine, the text doesn't tell us, but I imagine his prayer was a pouring out to God concerning his grief for his cousin.
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  And I imagine that he is strengthened in his praying as he is about to do yet another miraculous thing.
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  And in so doing, in his humanity, going up on the mountain, grieving the loss of John, seeing his need for prayer,
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  he goes then and does this miracle that declares his divinity.
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  Now, this episode in the life of Jesus is wonderfully structured.
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  It is told by Matthew in two acts, Acts 1 and Act 2.
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  Each act is concluded with a statement of who Jesus is.
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  The first act ends in verse 27 with the phrase,
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  Take heart, it is I.
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  Do not be afraid.
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  The second act ends in verse 33 with the phrase,
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  Truly, you are the Son of God.
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  So this will be the simple outline for our study this morning.
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  Number one, Jesus declares, I am.
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  And number two, the disciples declare, you are.
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  So first, Jesus declares, I am.
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  Now notice that by this time, right, the boat is a long way from the land.
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  They have struck out across the Sea of Galilee, and it is being beaten by the waves, for the wind was against them.
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  So the waves are moving in the opposite direction that they are trying to go, right?
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  The waves are coming at them.
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  The waves aren't propelling them across the Sea.
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  They are working against them, and they are beating against the side of the boat.
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  This particular crossing has been a rough crossing.
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  And don't neglect that it is in the middle of the night that they are doing this very thing, right?
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  It is dark, it is stormy, and they are fighting against this wind to get to the other side of the sea.
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  And then we see that in the fourth watch of the night, the fourth watch is between 3 and 6 a.m., right?
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  So the very dark of the night, just before the dawn, Jesus comes to them walking on the sea, right?
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  And when the disciples see him walking on the sea, they are terrified, understandably, and say it is a ghost.
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  They cry out in fear.
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  But immediately Jesus spoke to them saying, take heart, it is I.
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  Do not be afraid.
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  So there's these two phrases, right?
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  The one, take heart.
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  The second, do not be afraid.
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  And they are teaching the same thing, but they're the opposite of one another.
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  So there's the positive side of it, take heart.
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  Or we could say, be of good courage.
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  Or be courageous.
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  And then the negative side of what he's teaching them here is, do not be afraid.
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  So do be courageous.
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  Do not be afraid.
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  Jesus says to his disciples, and I imagine he yelled it at the disciples,
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  because of the noise of the storm, have courage and do not fear.
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  He works to reorient their faith, and he grounds this work in his very being.
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  At the center of this positive exhortation to courage and the negative expansion of the exhortation,
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  Jesus says, as translated in the ESV, it is I.
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  In the original, in the Greek, this phrase is two words, and it is quite literally, I am.
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  And so listen to the verse read in this way.
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  But immediately Jesus spoke to them saying, take heart, I am.
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  Do not be afraid.
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  As a student of the Bible, this declaration should draw your mind to Moses on the mountain,
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  with God speaking to him from a burning bush.
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  In Exodus chapter 3 and verse 14, God tells Moses to tell the Israelites his name.
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  He says, say to the people of Israel, I am has sent me to you.
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  Of hopeful note, we see the combination of God exhorting us to fear not,
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  in conjunction with his declaration of I am, a number of places in the scripture,
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  and a particular number of places in the book of Isaiah.
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  And I want to share just one with you.
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  So listen carefully to this reading of Isaiah chapter 43, verses 1 through 3,
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  and see if you can pick up the similar theme happening here.
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  But now, thus says the Lord, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel,
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  fear not, for I have redeemed you.
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  I have called you by name.
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  You are mine.
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  When you pass through the waters, I will be with you.
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  And through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you.
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  When you walk through fire, you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you.
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  For, verse 3, I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.
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  And we see this again and again, the conjunction, these two things being paired up together.
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  God's declaration that he is, I am, along with this idea of fearing not or being courageous.
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  In addition to this text in Isaiah, we also see in numerous places in the Old Testament,
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  declarations that God is powerful over the sea.
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  Here's one example from this morning's Bible reading.
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  So just this morning, from our Bible reading plan, Psalm 89, and this is verses 8 and 9.
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  O Lord God of hosts, who is mighty as you are, O Lord, with your faithfulness all around you.
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  You rule the raging of the sea.
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  When its waves rise, you still them.
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  So Jesus declares, I am.
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  And just in case you think that I'm making too much of this, you thought, what?
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  It's just him pointing out that he is Jesus and not something else, right?
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  If you've read past that many times in your life, as I have, that he's just saying,
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  no, no, I'm not a ghost, it's me, Jesus.
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  Allow me to show you one more thing about the structure of this text.
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  Here at the end of Act 1, Jesus says,
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  Take heart, I am.
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  In Greek, there are 91 words preceding this phrase, and you guessed it, 91 words following this phase, right?
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  So Matthew places right at the center of this significant episode
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  Jesus' declaration of who he is and his encouragement to his disciples to respond accordingly, right?
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  It's smack dab in the middle of these two sides of this story that is going on, right?
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  It is no coincidence that Matthew places this grand statement at the very heart of this story.
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  So Jesus declares, I am, with his words, but he also does so with his actions.
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  In the Bible, the sea is often employed to represent evil because it is powerful, it is uncontrollable, and it is deadly.
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  Let me just give you two examples, right?
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  So again, in Isaiah chapter 27 and verse 1,
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  In that day, the Lord, with his hard and great and strong sword, will punish Leviathan, the fleeing serpent,
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  Leviathan, the twisting serpent, and he will slay the dragon that is in the sea.
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  And then in John's vision in Revelation of the new heaven and the new earth, found in Revelation 21,
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  And I'll just read verse 1.
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  Notice what's missing from this new established place.
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  John records,
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  So the sea often represents the forces of evil.
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  What do we note in our text today?
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  What is so significant about what Jesus does as he declares, I am, as he walks on the sea?
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  He shows himself to be Lord of the sea.
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  In Job chapter 38 and verse 16, God rhetorically asks Job the following,
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  Have you entered into the springs of the sea or walked in the recesses of the deep?
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  Jesus identifies himself as God when he walks on the sea.
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  He declares, I have.
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  Jesus decides not to take the boat with the disciples to the other side of the sea.
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  He sailed with them many times before, but this time he sends them on and he goes up on a mountain
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  to spend time with his Father in prayer.
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  Jesus could have taken another boat.
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  He could have walked around the sea.
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  But he decides to walk in the recesses of the deep to be abundantly clear to his disciples
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  who was going to hang upon that tree for the remission of their sins and ours.
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  He wanted them to understand that he is the Christ, right?
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  This promised one, the Messiah, that would come to take away the sins of the world, right?
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  This is what he's establishing.
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  And it is significant to their minds that would have been steeped in the Old Testament text, right?
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  This is a massive way that he declares with his actions that he is, I am.
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  So that was the first point.
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  Jesus declares, I am.
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  Secondly, the disciples declare, you are.
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  This episode in the life of Jesus is primarily Christological, right?
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  Declaring who he is, right?
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  But it is also about us.
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  What does it mean to follow this Jesus, the great I am?
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  We can learn this morning something of Christian discipleship.
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  I think we can see two lesser lessons and one main lesson for following Jesus.
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  And first I want to look at the two lesser lessons.
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  But before we do, I just want to say that I read some ridiculous commentary this week on this passage.
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  Just some bizarre applications.
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  Just a very, very broad over-allegorizing of the text itself.
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  And we want to be really careful not to do that with these passages, right?
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  They're teaching us a particular and primary thing.
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  And so with a little hesitation, I even speak of some lesser lessons here.
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  As these are not the driving point of what we're meant to learn.
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  But I still think they're worth some mention.
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  So in brief, I'll mention two lesser lessons.
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  Number one, if you follow Christ's commands, it does not mean you'll be spared adversity.
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  If you follow Christ's commands, it does not mean you will be spared adversity.
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  Notice verse 22, right?
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  Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side.
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  Following Jesus does not mean easy sailing.
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  Jesus knew the storm was coming.
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  He knew that the wind would be against them.
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  And he knew that the waves would beat against that boat.
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  All the same, he made the disciples get into the boat and go.
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  Beloved God's commands are good.
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  And we, at some point in our Christian maturing, will have to allow God to define what is good and what isn't.
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  And if you find yourself this morning constantly fighting against that, I just would encourage you to stop.
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  Stop thinking you know what's best.
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  And start believing that God does in fact know what's best.
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  That he's always working for your good.
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  In your favor.
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  To the end that he is glorified.
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  You stop defining what is good.
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  And let him define what is good.
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  Your life may be full of adversity for your good.
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  God asks us to follow him into the storm.
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  Secondly, Jesus knows our adversities.
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  And he knows how to rescue us.
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  Jesus knows our adversities.
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  And he knows how to rescue us.
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  Just notice in brief verse 32.
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  And when they got into the boat, he and Peter, the wind ceased.
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  So all this, this whole episode, this storm is raging on around them.
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  And in verse 32, the storm stops.
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  We don't read exactly how Jesus stopped the wind.
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  But just that he stopped it.
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  I imagine that he whispered to it.
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  Too low for Matthew to hear him.
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  And I'm reminded of an episode from Jesus' life just a few chapters prior to our text today.
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  Where he vocally, loudly rebukes the wind.
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  Back in Matthew chapter 8, something not unsimilar has happened.
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  Beginning in verse 23, when he got into the boat, his disciples followed him.
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  And behold, there arose a great storm on the sea so that the boat was being swamped by the waves.
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  But he was asleep.
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  This picture of courage and not fear.
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  He knew he was secure, even in a boat being rocked by a storm.
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  But they don't feel this way, the disciples.
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  Verse 25, they went and woke him saying,
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  Save us, Lord, we are perishing.
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  And he said to them,
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  Why are you afraid, O you of little faith?
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  Then he rose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm.
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  Verse 27 tells us,
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  And the men marveled, saying,
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  What sort of man is this that even the winds and sea obey him?
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  And we'll see in this text, the second time that Jesus calms a storm, that they come to understand what sort of man this is.
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  The rescue of Jesus is clear in these two stories, right?
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  In both cases, he stops the storm.
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  But rescue doesn't always look like this.
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  Sometimes as we follow God into the storm, he stills the storm.
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  Sometimes he gives us the strength to weather the storm.
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  So these are some lesser lessons.
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  I think that we are, as a church, fairly familiar with this lesson.
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  But it seems especially worth mentioning in a difficult time that we walk through right now.
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  The main lesson, however, for us in this text is about the nature of Christian faith.
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  And that is this.
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  Christian faith is courageous.
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  Christian faith is courageous.
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  Or Christian faith does not fear.
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  And I want to suggest to you that anxiety and fear are synonymous.
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  Anxiety seems to be kind of a brooding fear, a subliminal fear.
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  Fear is the crying out.
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  Like, we're being destroyed.
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  Our boat is being broken to pieces by these waves.
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  Anxiety works in kind of underneath.
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  And I can imagine that many of us may feel that kind of fear even this morning.
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  So Christian faith does not fear, but it is courageous.
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  I do not think that I was planning to ignore Peter.
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  I was not.
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  Peter's part in the story shows us both the positive and the negative of the lesson in just a few verses.
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  At the end of Acts 1, Jesus says,
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  Take heart, it is I.
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  It is I.
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  Do not be afraid.
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  Right?
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  He says, in essence, because I am, be courageous.
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  Then Matthew begins Act 2 immediately.
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  And Peter answered him.
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  Right?
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  So in response to what Jesus has said, Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.
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  And he said, come.
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  So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus.
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  So we see first the courage of Peter, the positive of the lesson.
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  Right?
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  If it is you, you are the I am, then command me to come to you and I will.
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  I will be courageous.
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  In response to Jesus' statement, take heart, it is I.
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  Do not be afraid.
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  Peter says, you have told us to be courageous, so I will be courageous.
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  Some have suggested and respected commentators have suggested that Peter was asking outside his station.
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  That he should have recognized that his place was on the boat and not out in the water.
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  But I just disagree.
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  I just flatly disagree with this estimation.
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  Because Jesus does not hesitate to reward his courage with a beckon to join him on the water.
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  There is no reason to think that Jesus didn't want him to come out with him.
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  Second, we see the negative or the opposite of the lesson.
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  So Peter is initially courageous, but verse 30 tells us, when he saw the wind, he was afraid.
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  And beginning to sink, he cried out, Lord, save me.
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  And then Jesus immediately reached out his hand, takes hold of him, saying to him, O you of little faith, why did you doubt?
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  If we are not courageous, if we fear, Jesus says to us that we are doubting.
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  That we have little faith or are faithless.
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  We find ourselves in fear, in having anxious hearts.
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  It's because we have failed to believe something he has said about himself or something that he has said he is doing in the world.
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  Peter takes his eyes off Jesus, the great I am.
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  He allows the adversity of his circumstance to strike fear in him.
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  He stops looking to Jesus.
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  He starts looking to the things that are going on around him.
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  Note that when he is afraid, he cries out to Jesus in faith.
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  He knows that Jesus can save him.
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  It seems like suddenly his attention gets brought back to the Christ.
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  And Jesus is not slow to do so.
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  Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took hold of him.
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  Jesus rescues us from our fears.
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  And he does so with immediacy.
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  Beloved, none of us are sinking in the sea in the midst of a storm, literally.
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  But we often find ourselves sinking in the sea in the midst of a storm, metaphorically.
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  And Jesus will calm our fears and grant us courage with immediacy.
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  Not metaphorically.
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  Actually, but he'll do so by his word.
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  He has spoken about who he is and what he is doing.
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  And Jesus is quick to speak.
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  The problem is that we are too often really, really slow to hear.
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  So, Christian fear...
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  Excuse me.
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  That's a mistype.
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  So, Christian faith is courageous.
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  Christian fear is not courageous.
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  That's not right.
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  Christian faith is courageous.
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  In this episode of Jesus' life, he declares, I am.
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  And the disciples declare, you are and they worshiped.
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  So, once he and Peter rejoin them on the boat and the storm is calmed, verse 33 tells us,
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  those in the boat worshiped him, saying, truly, you are the Son of God.
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  So, we have that very opportunity this morning to recognize that whatever we may be going through in our life,
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  the storms that tend to toss our little boats.
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  If we are in Christ, we are secure in him because he is the great I am.
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  And we have an opportunity to lay down our fears and anxieties and say to him,
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  you are.
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  You are the Son of God.
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  You are the one who came and died to take away the sins of the world.
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  You are the King of the kingdom in which we are citizens.
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  So, I pray that will be the case for us this morning.
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  You are the one who died to종 the brothers in theует.
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  You are the one who died to종 the brothers in theует.
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  You are the one who died to종 the brothers in theует.
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  You are the one who died to종 the brothers in theует.
• 27:16
  You are the one who died to종 the brothers in theует.
• 27:18
  You are the one who died to종 the brothers in theует.
• 27:19
  You are the one who died to종 the brothers in theует.
• 27:20
  You are the one who died to종 the brothers in theует.
• 27:22
  You are the one who died to종 the brothers in theует.
• 27:24
  You are the one who died to종 the brothers in theует.
• 27:25
  You are the one who died to종 the brothers in theует.