In this sermon, the preacher discusses the story of Jesus walking on water and the disciples' reaction to it. He emphasizes that while it may seem unbelievable, the disciples had previous experiences with supernatural encounters and divine interventions. The preacher mentions the story of Gideon and the angel, as well as Joshua encountering the captain of the Lord's host. These stories serve as a reminder that God can work in miraculous ways. The preacher encourages the audience to trust in God's power and to be open to the possibility of extraordinary events in their own lives.

Mr. Willie said that there was a small number out at the meeting this morning. The wonder to me is not that there's a small group, but that there's any group at all. You are wonderful people. You come out here to meetings in the morning and in the evening, week in and week out. Those of us that come to visit with you and to minister the word to you, we do it for one week, but my, when I think how many weeks you have been faithful to the ministers of the word of God in this place. This is really great. Now, the other day, I made mention of a book by Dr. Culbertson, the president of Moody Bible Institute, called God's Provision for Holy Living. I had one of these mental lapses that sometimes I have and thought maybe they'd have this book in the bookshop here, but I forgot that we don't sell this book. It's not for sale anywhere, but you can have one if you want it without any cost. Dr. Culbertson wrote the book, and it is the piece that we always give away from the president's office at Moody Bible Institute, so that if you would like to have a copy of the book, write your name and the address to which you would like to have it sent on a slip of paper, and give me the slip of paper. Then when we get back home in April, I'll have the book sent to you wherever you indicate on the slip, and then you'll have it, and it won't cost you anything. But I'm sure that you would enjoy this book. It's a very wonderful book, really. God's Provision for Holy Living. This is the aspiration of the heart of every Christian to live a holy life, and sometimes we miss somewhat all that might be attained by virtue of the fact that we don't realize what God has provided for us in order that we live holy lives, and this is the subject of the book. This morning, I thought we would just look at one of the episodes in the life of the Lord Jesus that immediately followed an episode we've already considered. We've considered the feeding of the 5,000, as they call it. Well, immediately after that, something very interesting took place. So let's look at that, shall we? It's in the 14th chapter of Matthew. Oh, it's in Mark 2, but we'll look first at the passage in Matthew. Matthew chapter 14. You notice in verse 21, it says, And they that had eaten were about 5,000 men besides women and children. Well, that finishes the episode we've already thought about, and now we'll go into the next one. Verse 22. And straightway Jesus constrained his disciples to get into a ship and to go before him unto the other side while he sent the multitudes away. And when he had sent the multitudes away, he went up into a mountain apart to pray. And when evening was come, he was there alone. But the ship was now in the midst of the sea, tossed with waves, for the wind was contrary. And in the fourth watch of the night, Jesus went unto them, walking on the sea. And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, It is a spirit. And they cried out for fear. But straightway Jesus spake unto them, saying, Be of good cheer, it is I, be not afraid. And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water. And he said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water to go to Jesus. But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid, and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me. And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand and caught him and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt? And when they were come into the ship, the wind ceased. Then they that were in the ship came and worshipped him, saying of a truth, Thou art the Son of God. Now, this is quite a story. And some of us, because we were brought up in the scriptures and we've been Christians for a long time, we can read a passage like this and, you know, if the shine has gone off of it, as it were, we read it as though, well, this is just another episode. Oh, no, not so. It has been my very great privilege in my home assembly in River Forest, Illinois, to be the teacher of the adult class for five years. And at one time we were going through the book of Matthew and we came to this passage and we discussed it. And one of the women who was then attending the Bible class, she was not a woman in the assembly. She just came in from the neighborhood and was attending the classes. She went home and her husband said to her, well, what did you have in Bible school today? And so she said we talked about Jesus walking on the water and her husband grabbed his head and said, now I've had it. Of all the ludicrous, crazy ideas I ever heard of in my whole life, that's it. And he never would come to the class. Anybody that would think that anyone could walk on water was out of his mind. This is what I mean. We forget that it is so wonderful and that it strikes people that don't know the Lord and don't know the word of God as an absolutely ludicrous idea. And yet God has seen fit to keep this record in the word of God for us. He wants us to know about this. He's kept it there twice, here and in Mark, so that we might think about this. Now, it says at the beginning here that the Lord Jesus sent the multitude away, and I'm sure we can visualize this. We can see him telling these people it's late and it's time you went. And he had fed them well, and he talked to a few of them as the crowd began to break up. But he said to his disciples, now I want you to go across the lake, and come on, you go ahead of me. And they probably said, well, we'll wait until you're ready to go. And he said, no, I want you to go on, because it says he constrained them, which means that he sort of had to put a little pressure on them in order to get them to go. And so he got them into the boat and said, now go ahead, I'll meet you on the other side. How are you going to get over there? Well, don't worry about me. You just go on, and I'll meet you on the other side later. And so, although they didn't like the idea very much apparently, they got into their boat and they started across the lake. And after Jesus had sent everyone away and everyone was going on home, he was alone, and he went up. And when the evening was come, it says he was there alone. I think this is a wonderful picture God gives us of the Lord Jesus, alone with his Father. The crowd is gone, the disciples are gone. There wasn't very many times in the Lord's life that he was able to be alone. But on this occasion, he was alone. He was alone with his Father for a long time, because it was the fourth watch of the night when we next pick up the story. This is quite, this is sometimes called the morning watch. So most of the night, the Lord was in prayer after the crowd had gone. But by the morning, out on the lake, the wind had come up, as the wind can on the Sea of Galilee. The way the mountains are formed around there, the wind comes through a pass in the mountains, and it can whip up quite a storm in a very short time. And it says, of these disciples, in the record that's given to us in Mark, they were toiling in rowing. These were fishermen, remember. These are fellows that knew how to handle a boat. They weren't like I am. When I was up at Berea in New Hampshire once at a conference, I got out in a rowboat, and the wind came up on the lake, and it was really something to row. Of course, I didn't have the power that these men had as fishermen. They were accustomed to rowing, and I wasn't. But first thing you know, I lost one of the oars, and here I am out in the middle, that if there was one thing in my life I would never get caught at again, it's going out rowing. And I expect to keep it. But these men were, they were experts at this. But they were having a hard time. They were toiling in rowing, which means that they were having to put their muscle into it. And it was a hard thing, because the winds were contrary, and the waves were great. I heard Wilbur Smith once preach a sermon on this phrase out of this story, the winds were contrary. And believe me, he made quite a case of this, that when you go out into the Lord's work, you go out to do something that the Lord Jesus has told you to do, you can count on that the winds will be contrary. But they were. Let's take a look at Mark 6. There's one or two things in the record there that perhaps we want to make reference to, and it would be helpful if we had read it. Mark chapter 6, and verse 45. You see, you get the same connection here that you had in the other, in the Gospel of Matthew. In verse 44 it says, And David did eat of the loaves which were about five thousand men. And straightway he constrained his disciples to get into the ship and to go to the other side unto Bethsaida, while he sent away the people. And when he had sent them away, he departed into a mountain to pray. And when the even was come, the ship was in the midst of the sea, and he alone on the land. And he saw them toiling and rowing, for the wind was contrary unto them. And about the fourth watch of the night, he cometh unto them, walking upon the sea, and would have passed by them. But when they saw him walking upon the sea, they supposed it had been a spirit, and cried out, for they all saw him and were troubled. And immediately he talked with them, and said unto them, Be of good cheer, it is I, be not afraid. And he went up unto them into the ship, and the wind ceased. And they were sore amazed in themselves beyond measure, and wondered, for they considered not the miracle of the loaves, for their heart was hardened. Now I want to ask you about this last verse. Have you considered the miracle of the loaves? What did that mean to you as we discussed it the other evening? Or have you forgotten it already? You know, even the disciples who were there and saw it, they forgot it right away. They considered not the miracle of the loaves. And that's the way we seem to be made. The Lord does something and manifests forth his power and speaks to our hearts, and the very first thing you know, we've gone away and we've forgotten it. That's why I said the other evening, as we close the meeting, don't go away and get involved in a lot of conversations about other things, and forget this too quickly. The Lord wants to say something to us in these episodes. And we often follow in the steps of the disciples, and we forget right away. So they forgot about it, did you? Do you remember what the lesson was about the loaves? About how he feeds us, and he gives us the bread so that we may pass it on to the others? Well, now we're talking about this episode. Now, of course, we read here that they supposed it had been a spirit that came to them on the water, and we live in the twentieth century. We're much too enlightened people to think of there's spirits around, or to believe in ghosts, aren't we? You know, this is what some people say about this. This is a silly story, because it shows how naive the disciples were, imagined thinking it was a ghost. But what would you think? Now, these fellows were fishermen, and they had been brought up on the shores of this lake. They knew that the water in this Sea of Galilee was just as thin as the water is in any other body of water. Whenever, as boys, they had walked out into the water, they had stayed on the bottom, you know, they'd walk in the water. And whenever, as young people, they had fallen out of the boat, they had gone into the water. They hadn't fallen on top of it, they'd fallen into it. Isn't that your experience? Haven't you had an experience? Has anybody here ever walked on water? No. You see, the common experience is that when you get in the water, you get in the water. And the disciples were no different, first century or twentieth century. This is what happens, and people get in the sea. So at this part, so far, it isn't too, too fantastic, you know, naive. On the other hand, if you saw somebody walking on the water at night, in a howling gale, what would you think it was? What would you think it was? Oh, there's somebody out walking on the water. Would you think that? Would you say that? This would be pretty hard to believe, wouldn't it? I mean, this isn't something you see every day. Oh, there's John, he's out walking on the water. You never see this, you never hear of this. It simply doesn't happen. On the other hand, these were disciples that were taught in the word of God. And they remembered the old story about when Gideon was thrashing wheat out behind the barn in days long past, and an angel appeared to him and called him into the service of God and had a conversation with him. They remember that story, they knew that story. They also knew that one day just before leading the people of God into the promised land, Joshua had been out walking in the evening, and here all of a sudden there was a man standing before him with a drawn sword. And Joshua said, are you for us or for the enemy? Who are you? And this man said, as the captain of the Lord's host, I am come. Take off the shoes from off thy feet. The place whereon thou standest is holy ground. They remember that story, and now they see a man walking out on the water, or what looks like a man. What else are they to think except that it is a spirit? This isn't so naive, and if ever anybody asks you about how ridiculous this is, just ask them to give them a better answer than the disciples had. This is the only thing you could think, even in the twentieth century. Because people can't walk on water, and they knew it. And so they cried out for fear. Now there's something about it that whenever a human being sees a spirit, or thinks he sees one, he gets afraid. This is the common record in the Old Testament. Whenever angels appeared, or the Lord appeared to men, they fell down in fear and worship. This is a deeply moving experience from the record. I haven't had it personally, but from the record I know it's a deeply moving experience for a man to meet an angel. And so they cried out for fear. I remember one time when I was riding on a bus from Bethlehem to Jerusalem, and it was in the days, oh it was some years ago now, but there was fighting all the time between the Arabs and the Jews, just like there is now. But as we rode this bus along the road from Bethlehem to Jerusalem, all of a sudden everybody started yelling, and everybody hit the floor of the bus except me. And I wondered, has everybody gone crazy? But the noise in the bus was deafening, the yelling and everything that went on. Well, I seeped, and I couldn't understand what anybody said, of course, until after a while everybody quieted down, got back in their seats, and a young fellow that spoke English said to me, up over that ridge over there, there was a couple of soldiers came up just a minute ago, and we were afraid they were going to shoot up the bus like they've been doing lately, so everybody was ducking. But I thought as I was riding along about this scene in the boat, it must have been pretty much the same. They all cried out, they were all scared to death of what they saw. And it was a noisy boat, just like I was in. And the Lord heard the noise, and so he called to them and said, don't worry, don't be afraid. It must have had quite an effect. And in a howling wind, and a beating waves, and shouting disciples, and Jesus' voice comes quietly and calmly, don't worry, it is I, be not afraid. Be of good cheer is not exactly the way we would say it today, but it's the same thing. We'd say, don't worry, it is I, be not afraid. And so this sort of quieted their hearts a bit. And Peter, who always had something to say immediately, he called out to the Lord and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come to thee on the water. Did you ever hear a stranger statement in your whole life than this one? Did you ever say anything and then sort of hear yourself say it, and say, did I say that? Some of us that speak more quickly than we should have that experience. Did I say that? Did I commit myself to this? Well, if it shocked Peter, and I think probably it did as he heard what he said, how do you suppose it affected the rest of the disciples? Now, they were used to Peter, you know, saying the wrong thing, jumping to conclusions, putting his foot in his mouth. This is characteristic of good Peter. But this time, you know, this time he was way out. He really had it now. As they heard Peter say, bid me come to thee on the water, can't you just see a couple of the other disciples looking at each other as much as to say, what in the world now, as he said? And then looking over at Peter as though, are you all right? Peter had said it, and here's one time when I am sure the Lord smiled. What a ridiculous statement to make. Bid me come to thee on the water. What made Peter think he could walk on water? Where did he ever get a notion like that? He was a fisherman, he knew better. And the Lord must have smiled out there in the dark as he thought, good old Peter, the things he'll say. Well, let's try it out, let's see if he'll come. And so the Lord said, come. Well, Peter was never one to back down, you know. Although I think maybe he felt like it about now. But he climbed out of the boat, it says, when he came down from the boat, he climbed out of the boat and got on the water. Must have been quite a feeling on the soles of his feet when he didn't go into the water, don't you think? He stayed on the water, and he began to walk away from the boat. I think he hung on to the boat as long as he could. I can just see him out there, way out, bent over, holding on to the edge of the boat. What I would do, believe me, hanging on to that boat until he had to let go. But he had to let go if he was going to go out to where Jesus was. And so, out he goes, beyond where he can reach. And he's way out on the water now. And what are the disciples saying now? Well, they're all lined up along the edge of the boat, you know, all watching this. This is really something. They have never seen anything like this in their whole lives. This fellow's really doing it. And they watch him. But the wind is boisterous, and that means the waves are high, and so I am convinced he got a lot of help from his friends in the boat. Not that anybody threw him a rope, you know, or not that anybody went out to help him, but that they gave him a lot of advice. And so they would say, watch it, Peter. And then somebody probably hollered out, here comes a big one, Peter. And Peter looked to see it. And sure enough, here's a big wave coming, and Peter, nervous enough to begin with, is more than he can take. And he gets afraid. And when he became afraid, he began to sink, it says. The only thing I have any experience with beginning to sink is a golf ball. If you drop a golf ball in water, it seems to hesitate for a moment, and then it begins to go down. Everything else I know of that you drop into the water just splashes and goes down. But a golf ball hesitates, and then slowly goes down. And I think this is the way it was with Peter, because it says he began to sink. It doesn't say he sank, but he began to sink. And as he began to sink, he had time to holler for help. And so he hollered for help, Lord, save me. And as soon as the Lord heard him call, the Lord moved over to him and put his hand out, and Peter caught hold of it. Then a very wonderful thing happened. It doesn't say much about it here. But Peter came up onto the surface of the water again. And he, Peter, and Jesus, walked together on the water to the boat. Right? They came to the boat. You know, I think the Lord said when he said here, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt? But what he was saying was, Peter, you were doing fine. What's the matter? And when they were come into the ship, the wind ceased. Then they that were in the ship came and worshipped Peter, saying, O no, uh-oh, uh-oh. It didn't say that, did it? And yet Peter had walked on water. Nobody ever saw anybody walk on water like that before. Peter did it. But did you notice how the disciples forgot all about Peter right away, somehow? They didn't pay any attention to the fact that Peter walked on the water. No, they worshipped him. They worshipped the Lord, saying of the truth, Thou art the Son of God. What made them think this? That he had come walking on the water? Well, Peter had walked on the water. They knew that it wasn't Peter that had walked on the water by himself. They'd seen Peter in the water too often, both hot and cold. No, they knew that if Peter walked on the water, he had walked on the water by the power of the Lord Jesus, not under his own. Now, this record is left for us, not just that we can read a very interesting story, and I think it is a very interesting story, but it is written for us that we might learn something from it. And so, I wonder about the application of this. We have spoken about the contrary winds. Those winds that blow every time we seek to obey the Lord Jesus in what he tells us to do. You read the word of God, you listen for the voice of the Savior, you say, Lord, what wouldst thou have me to do? And you have a conviction in your heart that you should do something, and believe me, as soon as you move out to do it, there will be reasons not to do it. All kinds of things will come up to keep you from doing that thing. Because it is the common experience that when we seek to obey the Lord Jesus, the winds are contrary. The God of this world takes care of that. He sees to it that it is not easy. Another thing that we read is that the disciples were distraught. They were terribly upset with this storm. Though they were fishermen, it was a bad storm. And then, in addition to that, they think they see a spirit, and they were really distraught. And you may put this down, that when you seek to do something for the Lord Jesus at his command, not only will there be things that rise up to keep you from doing it, but that if you persist, you will run into circumstances that make you distraught, and you will wonder whether you really ought to do it. Then Jesus comes. Jesus comes. When we seek to obey him, and the winds are contrary, and we don't know whether we've made a mistake or not, at that point Jesus comes. This is the common experience. That's why this story is so important to us. Then we wonder whether it really is him. Dear old Dr. Max Reich, head of the Jewish missions course for many years at Moody Bible Institute, said to me one day, Brother Constable, the hardest thing for me to know in my Christian experience has been, did the Lord say this? Was it the devil? And that's the question that will come. Was this really the Lord that told me to do this thing, and I'm getting into so much trouble doing it? That's the question that comes. Or was this just a crazy idea of my own? That's why it is important that when we ask the Lord for something to do for him that will bring honor to his name, and look, we have to ask for this. He doesn't order us into his service. He allows us to serve him. And if we are going to be successful servants of the Lord Jesus, we are going to have to ask for the assignment, to offer ourselves to him. And when we do that, then we need to wait and be very sure it was he that said come. Sometimes we get the idea of what we would like to do for the Lord, and we just go right ahead and do it, without really having had the word from the Lord Jesus to come in. This accounts for a lot of frustration in Christian work. A lot of people worried about whether they're in the right place, or whether they're doing the right thing, or whether they are in the will of God. They haven't waited for him to say come, until they get that inward conviction in their hearts that this they've got to do. Because the Lord wants them to do it. This is important, to wait for the Lord to say come. Peter waited. It didn't take long before it came. The Lord doesn't keep us waiting a long time. When we say to him, Lord give me something to do that will bring me closer to you, that will glorify your name, he doesn't wait for me, giving us something. But we have to ask, and we must wait. And then there will be the inevitable help of our friends, the others that are in the boat too. And do you know what they will say to us? What makes you think you can do that? Where did you get the idea that you could do anything like that? You aren't cut out for that kind of thing. You ought to wait until somebody that knows something about it can do it. Don't you know the trouble you're going to get into if you get involved in this kind of thing? This is what the friends say. And I have no question whatever that the disciples had a great deal to say about Peter getting out of his boat. What made you think you can walk on water? You ought to know by now you're a grown man, you've had enough experience in the sea to know you can't walk on it. These are the things people say. Our dearest friends, these were Peter's dearest friends. And it is our dearest friends that can tell us most quickly when in their opinion we get out of line. But what that got to do with what the Lord said. I'm very glad that Peter at least had enough character so that no matter what the rest of the disciples said, he got out of the boat. If he'd taken the advice of his friends, he'd never have gotten out of the boat. And if you just take the advice of your friends, you'll never do very much for the Lord Jesus either. There will always be people around to tell you why you can't do it. Well, then what about his experience? What about the whole experience here? Well, Peter made a brave start, didn't he? He called out, Lord, if it is thee, bid me come to thee on the water. And then when Jesus said, come, he didn't back down. He said, alright, here goes. And out of the boat and out onto the water went Peter. He made a brave start. And then he ran into problems. The fact that the wind was blowing so hard and the waves were so high. Of course, they weren't real problems, but they seemed to be problems to Peter and they would have seemed to be problems to you if you were involved here. So let's not get critical of Peter. You know something? I suppose a lot of you have got Schofield Bibles. And believe me, I'm a great believer in the Schofield Bible. I have been the director of the correspondence school at the Moody Bible Institute in the course of my life. A great blessing this was to me. And as the director, I used to move about the country a great deal, calling on classes that were studying the word of God and using the correspondence courses. And probably the longest and the best course that we have ever had is the Schofield correspondence course. And it takes you through the Bible. And anybody that finishes that course knows his Bible. And there are thousands of churches around the country where you get very fine topical sermons from Sunday to Sunday, but you never really learn much about it. You just kind of taste here and nibble there and take a bite somewhere else. And what people need is a consistent study of the word of God. And I have been in many, many churches with these classes that have gathered around the Schofield correspondence course. And believe you me, the taught people, the people that are really the life of those churches are the people who have studied the course. So that I know the great good that the Schofield course has done across the world. Nobody can be more sold on the ministry of C.I. Schofield than I am. And I say this so that you won't misunderstand this other thing I'm going to say. If you have a Schofield Bible and you've been reading this story with us, you came to a paragraph heading in which Schofield wrote down Peter's little faith. Ha! How much water did Schofield ever walk on? You know, it's real easy to find fault with the other fella. When Schofield has walked a couple of hundred yards on the water, then I'm ready for Peter's little faith. But not until then. Now the Lord said, O thou of little faith. But the Lord had walked on the water. This is something else. And what is the lesson in this? Let's be careful of their Christian work, their ministry for the Lord, when we haven't done it ourselves. We can always tell the other fella how to do it better, but we can't always do it. And this is something we need to be careful of. Not to find fault with one another as we seek to do the will of God. Well, enough of that. He started out bravely. He ran into problems. He got scared. And I don't think anybody ever started to do anything worthwhile for the Lord that he didn't get scared. If it's worthwhile, it's beyond our own strength. And if it's beyond our own strength, we begin to worry about it. We begin to think maybe our friends are right. We shouldn't have gotten involved in this thing to begin with. And at that time, that's the time to start praying. Believe me. And so Peter started praying. He was on schedule. He just started to think, and he hollered out, Lord, save me! That's all. It doesn't take a long and vile theological prayer. You don't have to pray for the missionaries around the world. You just holler for help. Immediately, it says, Peter took hold of it. And then what happened? Peter walked on the water just as well as the Lord did. They walked together on the water back to the ship. Wouldn't this have been a tremendous experience? I think Peter must have told this to his grandchildren the day he walked on the water with the Lord. Boy, wouldn't that be a story to tell to your kids? I walked on the water one day with Jesus. Well, this story is for us. How many occasions do we have to say to our children and to our grandchildren, there was a time in my experience when the Lord called me to do something, and nobody had ever done this before, but I tried it, and it was not very good, I guess. I kind of went down, but the Lord came to my help, and with the Lord's help, we got the job done. Amen. Boy, this was great. And this has been the experience of many of the Lord's people. He was afraid, so he called, and the Lord was there right now, like he always is when we need him. Then the blessed fellowship with the Lord on the way back to the boat, and then this great wind-up of the story. When they climbed back into the boat, the disciples worshipped the Lord and said of a truth, of a truth, we've never realized it so much before, thou art the Son of God. Wouldn't it be great to do something for the Lord that had that kind of a result in the lives of our friends? They said, I would never have believed it. That guy, imagine, that fella, that woman, trying to do a job like that. And do you know it? The Lord blessed in it so much that it was accomplished. You know, I feel a lot like that about the Willys. I stand around like the disciples these days, and I say, hey, isn't this wonderful what God has done through these people in this place? This is tremendous. And I'm sure they had this exact same experience with the Lord. They've hit the days when they were sure they were crazy they ever came to Florida. And every now and then a big wave comes, and they think, this is it, I'm doused. But they call on the Lord, and he sees them through. Well, Willys, he's here in the front row. If I knew the story, I can believe that this story could be repeated in the second, and the third, and the fourth, and the fifth, and all the way back. I'm not talking to a lot of people that never heard this before, or that don't know the Lord. But I'm talking to people that have had this experience, and I want to encourage everyone, let's have it again, shall we? Let's walk on water. Let's call on the Lord, and not be afraid when he asks us to do something just because we think it's beyond our ability. Gracious Heavenly Father, how wonderfully thou dost speak! Thou art not a boss, although thou art our God, thou art our Father. Thou dost bring things to our remembrance, and speak to us in such gracious ways, and encourage us so tenderly, and lead us on so wonderfully to do thy will. Help us to learn. Help us to learn. Help us to trust thee. Glorify the Savior. We pray in his dear name.