In this sermon, the preacher focuses on the story of Jesus walking on water and Peter's response to it. He emphasizes the invitation from Christ to come to him and the importance of having faith in the midst of difficult circumstances. The preacher encourages the audience not to let fear overcome them, but to allow faith to have its full work. He also highlights the inclusive nature of Christ's invitation to all who labor and are burdened, emphasizing that salvation is found in calling out to Jesus for help.

First of all, we could turn to that passage in Matthew 11, what the hymn refers to, Matthew chapter 11, starting with verse 27. All things have been delivered to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son but the Father, nor does anyone know the Father but the Son, and he to whom the Son may be pleased to reveal him. Come to me, all ye who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest to your souls, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light. And then turn on over to the Gospel of John in the fifth chapter. Gospel of John chapter 5, starting with verse 39. Ye search the Scriptures, for you think that in them ye have life eternal, and they it is which bear witness concerning me, and you will not come to me that ye might have life. I do not receive glory from men, but I know you, that you have not the love of God in you. I am come in my Father's name, and ye receive me not. If another come in his own name, him ye will receive. How can you believe who receive glory one of another, and seek not the glory which comes from God alone? And then over in the sixth chapter, in verse 34 or 35. And Jesus said to them, I am the bread of life. He that comes to me shall never hunger, and he that believes on me shall never thirst at any time. But I have said to you, that ye have also seen me, and do not believe. All that the Father gives me shall come to me, and him that comes to me I will not at all cast out. For I am come down from heaven, not that I should do my will, but the will of him that has sent me. And this is the will of him that has sent me, that of all that he has given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up in the last day. And then going down to verse 44. No one can come to me except the Father who has sent me draw him, and I will raise him up in the last day. And then again in verse 65. And he said therefore, and he said, therefore said I unto you, that no one can come to me unless it be given to him from the Father. From that time many of his disciples went away back and walked no no more with him. Jesus therefore said to the twelve, will ye also go away? Simon Peter answered him, Lord to whom shall we go? Thou hast words of life eternal, and we have believed and known that thou art the Holy One of God. And then lastly in the Gospel of Luke, in the 18th chapter. Luke 18 and starting with verse 15. And they brought him brought to him also infants that he might touch them. But the disciples when they saw rebuked them, but Jesus calling them to him said, Suffer little children to come to me, and do not forbid them. For of such is the kingdom of God. Verily, verily, verily, I say unto you, whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child shall in no wise enter therein. Dear brother, what I have had in mind today, I guess is the invitation of the glad tidings. That is this thought of come to me. And how far reaching it is. And yet we see that there are certain conditions set upon things. And this this portion in Matthew chapter 11, very famous portion, one that's been preached many times from various pulpits, probably for the last 2000 years. And yet every time we read it, we draw comfort from it and hope. Because we see that the love of Christ is so extensive. And that the invitation here is to all, all ye who labor and are burdened. How wonderful it is to know that that includes me. It includes you. It includes all. Because all labor and burden. There is not one who would not come under this category. Because you labor and burden under your identification with sin. We've been born into this world and sin came into this world through one man. And because of that one man, sin has passed upon all. For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. It's a very sobering thing to think about the fact that we have come short of the glory of God. And men labor and burden and try to find their way back to God by doing good things, being good people. Many of them get involved with systems of ordinances and what we call offerings and so forth. Religiousness. They take up a pathway of religiousness. Hoping that is what's true in many people's minds. That all the good things that they have done when they die will have outweighed all the bad things that they have done. And therefore they will have acceptance before God. But that's not the pathway. And you will find that if that's the way that you choose, that you will come to the end of your line when you go to the grave penniless. You will have nothing by which to stand before God. Because even the best things that you can do fall short. So all of us labor and are burdened by our sins. How do we have a place before God? How can we have standing before him? Well, the invitation is here. Come unto me. Now there are many religious systems in this world claiming certain things in relation to God. But Christ's claim is exclusive. He says, come unto me. And not only that, but he promises something when you do. He says, I will give you rest. How wonderful it is to know that in coming unto Christ that we can find rest for our souls. We no longer have to be burdened with what we have done and the wickedness that has been found within us. And not only the wickedness that has been found within us, but what has been manifested by us. But there is rest to be had. But it can only be found in coming unto Jesus. He says, take my yoke upon you. Well, this is the area of responsibility. In being joined with Christ, linking on with him, becoming identified with him. A yoke, as most of us should know, we all perhaps know, is that symbol that they use to take oxen and they would yoke them together so that they would move ahead to plow as one. They would plow the fields as one or carry the burden behind them of a wagon or whatever it may be. And Christ wants to be united to you and linked him. He wants to link himself with you to carry this burden. You shall find rest for your souls for my yoke is easy and my burden is light. Well, you may have been under the burden of sins and there is a burden that a Christian has to bear in this world. You know, one place Christ said to the disciples, count the cost. Well, that's exactly what we must do before we come to Christ, is that we have to count the cost. Is the Christian pathway an easy pathway? No, it is not. In fact, it's much more difficult being a Christian than it is a sinner. Because in the pathway of sin, you had no conscience about it until God came in and exposed you. But once you're a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ and to persist in a pathway of sin, you have conscience. And you cannot persist in self-will. And it means, it may mean leaving certain things. In fact, in Luke 14, in the 24th, 25th verse, it says, great crowds went with him and turning around, he said to them, if any man come to me and shall not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yea, in his own life too, he cannot be my disciple. And whoever does not carry his cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. For which of you desires a building a tower does not first sit down and count the cost. Well, if you're going to link on with Christ, you're going to have to be prepared that there is a cost. It's a cost well worth it, but there is a cost. And I take it here when he says that if any man shall come to me and shall not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and so forth, that these are the natural things that are the most dear to us in life. You see, we can afford to lose, and anybody in the world doesn't mind, however they may mind, but it's not as severe losing things. But to lose persons is another thing. And we may not be willing to let go of certain persons in order to serve Christ. That which is closest and dearest to us, our fathers, our mothers, whatever may hinder you, that's what Christ is saying. Whatever may stop you from pursuing me, if you do not hate these things, and he's not talking about literal hatred towards our fathers and mothers, we should respect our parents. He's talking about that this is the attitude that you would have, that if natural things come in to hold you back from following me, then you must despise it. You must turn your back on it, and you must pursue after Christ. That's being a disciple. So there is a cost attached with following Christ. But his yoke is easy, and his burden is light. And he's wanting to link himself with you and me to carry this thing through to the end. Well, in John's Gospel, we see a negative side of things in the fifth chapter. We see the Lord Jesus saying that you search the scriptures, for you think that in them you have life eternal, and they it is which bear witness of me. How many people have probably pursued this course, thinking that by memorizing and reading the scriptures, which are all good things, that they're going to have eternal life. Well, you're not going to find life eternal in there. They're the ones that speak of him. He's the one who is life eternal. He who has the Son has life. He who has not the Son has not life. Not the kind of life that God's talking about here. Not life eternal. And that is not life that goes on forever. Will it culminate in that? Yes. But that's not what he's talking about here. He's talking about quality of life in this world. Life of a different order. Life that comes from another man. He says, you will not come to me that you might have life. You may think that you have life in pursuing a pathway of self-will. A pathway of rebellion. A pathway where you do what you feel like doing, when you want to do it, and how you want to do it. But I'm going to tell you, my friend, that's not life. That's death. This is life coming unto Jesus. Being yoked with him, you will find life there. Eternal life. And he says, I do not receive glory from men, but I know you that you have not the love of God in you. Wow. What an accusation to be found. That you do not have the love of God in you. Well, that was true of all of us at one time, and had it not been for the intervention of God, none of us would be able to say that we love God. The love of God is coming to this world through the Spirit of God who has been given to us. And it is only because the Spirit is here that any of us can love God. I would not want to be found in this company as one who does not love God. Christ knows you. He knows your hearts. He knows what you're thinking. He knows your motives. He knows your background. He knows you. And sadly enough, these persons here had not the love of God in them. Well, in the sixth chapter, Christ says, I am the bread of life. He that comes to me shall never hunger. He that believes on me shall never thirst at any time. But we know that this is not natural hunger and natural thirst. This has to do with spiritual things in relation to God. Why? Because now we can say we know. We have found the truth. We have found the answer. We don't have to go searching through the worlds, libraries and archives, and whatever else may be out there trying to find the truth, because the truth has been found in a person. This One who gave the invitation, come to me. It's been found in Him. And so I no longer have to hunger after knowledge or anything else. My knowledge is found in Him. And not only that, but we can have full knowledge that satisfies and that is experiential and that is in relationship to Himself. And we never thirst any time. And that means that we're satisfied. How wonderful it is to know that Christ can satisfy our souls, can satisfy every need that we have. You know, if you have Christ, you can truly say that you need no other. You need nothing. Just having Christ, you have it all. Well, He has wonderful promises here. And He says, He that believes on me shall never thirst at any time. But I have said to you that ye have also seen me and do not believe. All that the Father gives me shall come to me. And him that comes to me, I will not at all cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not that I should do my will, but the will of Him that has sent me. And this is the will of Him that has sent me, that of all that He has given me, I should lose nothing. Well, what a promise to know that if you're Christ, that Christ is going to hold and maintain you before God forever. What a promise. He will lose nothing that God has given to him. I take it that give means in the sense of that which has been committed to Him. Has God committed you to Christ? If you feel that tug in your heart to respond to the Lord Jesus, then He has. He has. And no one can come to me except the Father who has sent me draw him. And that means to draw toward. And the Father is the one who initiates this, and He is using Christ to attract you to Himself. There is never a man like Christ. There never will be a man like Christ. And how wonderful and how beautiful of a man He is, as we read through the Gospels, and we see that here was one who was like no one else. Here's one who responded to life situations like no one else. Here's one who responded to questions like no one else, hard questions, like no one else, hard questions, like no one else, like no one else, like no one else, like no one else, like no one else, like no one else, like no one else, like no one else, like no one else, like no one else, like no one else, like no one else, like no one else, like no one else, like no one else, like no one else, like no one else, like no one else, like no one else, like no one else, like no one else, like no one else, like no one else, like no one else, like no one else, like no one else, like no one else, like no one else. He had the answers. He knew because He was the answer. And He was sent here by the Father. He did not come to do His own will. Well, there's not a one of us here who can say that we have not served our own will. Not one, but the Lord Jesus could. He never did one thing in his life that was for his own will. Amazing thought. But he did the Father's will. And he delighted the Father to the extent that the heavens opened at his baptism and he said, this is my beloved son in whom I have found my delight. In whom I have found it. It was all in him. God the Father found Christ delightful. And now he's drawing others to him. He's attracting others to him. Because he is a man like none other. A divine person, yes. And a glorious man of a new humanity. Exactly what God had in mind when he created man. Exactly. No one comes to the Father. No one comes to me except the Father who has sent me to draw him. Well, in the 65th verse, no one can come to me unless it be given to him from the Father. And that is, that is given as a gift. Here again, it's not what you can do, how good you are, or anything, any basis other than that. God loves you. In this same gospel it says that God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever, whosoever, and that means you. Whosoever. That means me. Whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. Would not perish. God is not willing that any should perish. Not a one. There is not a soul in this world that God does not love and God does not care about. Not one. He loves all. He loves his creation. And he loves you. And he thinks about you. He knows your name. He knows how many hairs are on your head. He knows what you're thinking today. He knows what you'll think tomorrow. He knows whether you love the Lord Jesus or you don't. He knows the motives of your heart. And what is the source of your actions. Well, no one can come to me unless it be given to him from my Father. And sadly enough it says from that time many of his disciples went away back and walked no more with him. What a sad state to be in. That you would be found in a place that you would walk no more with the Lord Jesus. And he even turns to his disciples and he says, will ye also go away? Will ye also go away? Oh, what a searching question that we have to each one face. Because there will come a time in your Christian pathway when you will have to make a choice for Christ or the flesh. Will ye also go away? But Simon Peter answered him and says, Lord, to whom shall we go? Not to what, but to whom? You see there is no, there is nothing in this world that can compare to the person of Christ. Nothing. And so Peter sees through and he says, to whom shall we go? They've left all to follow him. And Christ was all that they wanted and all that they needed. He says, thou hast words of eternal life. And we have believed and known that thou art the Holy One of God. How wonderful it is to know that there is faith here in Simon Peter. Faith that would see him through. He wasn't going to turn back. He was going to go on. He was going forward. Well, that's one of the aspects of the preaching of the glad tidings and that it would draw our affections afresh to prod us to move forward. To link ourselves on afresh with Christ. The one who is so attractive and to pursue onward with him. Where does that lead? To death, my friends. To death. There has to be death to self. And a coming to an end of your own will. To follow and do the will of another. Well, we're all learning that still. That's what being a disciple is. It's a learner. We're in a school. It's the school of Christ. And he's teaching us through life's experiences and the opportunities that are there to serve God what it is to be his disciple. To whom shall we go? Well, in the Gospel of Luke, I read this passage because I thought of the children amongst the saints and that the call of the gospel extends to the little children. The call of the gospel is not just for adults. The call of the gospel is for the children. It says, And they brought to him also infants, that he might touch them. But the disciples, when they saw it, rebuked them. But Jesus calling them to him said, Suffer little children to come to me. And do not forbid them. For of such is the kingdom of God. Do not forbid the children. Christ loves the children. And the word suffer here is not in the sense in which we suffer like we're suffering in pain. It's not that sense at all. It means do not hinder. That means do not hold back. It means to let go. It means to let the children come to Christ. We would never want to be found doing anything that would hinder our children from coming to Christ. Christ loves the children. He gave himself for them as much as he did for the adults, as he did for the whole world. He loves the children. And the call says, Suffer the little children to come to me. Do not forbid them. For such is the kingdom of God. And then it says, Verily, I say to you that whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child shall in no wise enter therein. And I take it that just means that we're to be simple about things. We don't need to get all theological and full of high sounding words. But the gospel is a very simple thing. The presentation of a person who is saying, Come to me. Turn with me if you would to one last passage. In the gospel of Matthew chapter 14. Starting with verse 22. And immediately he compelled the disciples to go on board ship and to go on before him to the other side until he should have dismissed the crowds. Having dismissed the crowds, he went up into the mountain apart to pray. And when evening was come, he was alone there. But the ship was already in the middle of the sea, tossed by the waves, for the wind was contrary. But in the fourth watch of the night, he went off to them, walking on the sea. And the disciples seeing him walking on the sea were troubled, saying, It is an apparition. And they cried out through fear. But Jesus immediately spoke to them, saying, Take courage. It is I. Be not afraid. And Peter answering himself, It is I. Be not afraid. And Peter answering himself, It is I. Be not afraid. And Peter answering himself, It is I. Be not afraid. And Peter answering himself, It is I. Be not afraid. And Peter answering himself, It is I. Be not afraid. And Peter answering himself, It is I. Be not afraid. And Peter answering himself, It is I. Be not afraid. And Peter answering himself, It is I. Be not afraid. And said, Lord, if it be thou, command me to come to thee upon the waters. And he said, Come. And Peter having descended from the ship, walked upon the waters to go to Jesus. But seeing the wind strong, he was afraid, and beginning to sink, he cried out, saying, Lord, save me. And immediately Jesus stretched out his hand, and caught hold of him, and says to him, O thou of little faith, why didst thou doubt? And when they had gone up into the ship, the wind fell. But those in the ship came and did homage to him, saying, Truly thou art God's son." What a wonderful story of salvation, present salvation that is found here for Peter. Well, there have been many things said in the past about what the boat is and all these types of things, but I'm not going to go into the boat. That's not the subject matter. The subject is Christ. And the fact is, is that he went up to pray. And we find this one who is high priest, and he is interceding for you. And you might be out in this boat, and there might be storms and winds and commotion going on through this world on this scene that seem like no other. And you don't know how you're going to get through. But there's one who is interceding for you. And he not only is interceding for you, but he comes to you. See, he's making the first move. He's coming to you. And he's walking on the water to get to you. And Peter says, Lord, if it be thou, command me to come to thee upon the waters. And the invitation comes from Christ, and He says, Come! Come! And Peter gets out of the boat. He gets out of the boat, and he walks on the water to Jesus. Many want to deride Peter because he had such little faith. I don't know if I had the faith to even get out of the boat. But he got out of the boat, and he went to Christ. But he saw the winds. It says, Seeing the winds strong, he was afraid. Well, there are circumstances that come up in our lives. And we may see things that look like everything is all against us. And there is trouble on every side. And we can become afraid. And fear is the opposite of faith. Do not let fear get a hold of you, my friends. We must allow faith to have its full work. And it says that, Seeing the winds strong, he was afraid and beginning to sink, he cried out. Don't wait until you've sunk. Cry out when you're beginning to sink. See, Peter knew where salvation was. He says, Lord, save me. I perish. There is not a one of us who can go through this world unscathed and untouched by it. There are storms on every side, and yet there is a Savior. Not one just for your soul, not just one who will take you into eternity and will be there to greet you when you pass through that door of death, but one who will save you now in this present world from the present world. He wants to save you. Have the faith of Peter to call unto Christ and say, Lord, save me. He will, you know. He said, I have come into this world to save sinners. That was his purpose. It's still his purpose today. He has not changed. He is Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today, and forever. He will never change. And he wants to be your high priest and intercede for you and take care of you and to save you out of this world, to bring you back to the boat. Well, the boat was what only the means in which they were using to get across to the other side. But without Christ in the boat, the boat is useless. But Christ enters into the boat, and it says that the winds fell. And the result of seeing this was worship. It says that they did him homage, saying, truly thou art God's son. Well, you can know the saving power of Christ and know of a surety that Jesus Christ is God's son. Why and how? Because he will reach out and take your hand and save you. But you have to say, Lord, save me. I perish. He's willing. He loves you. He died for you. He gave his all so that you could be with him and for him here. I just wanted to lay this impression upon us, brethren, that Christ's love is so great, so wonderful, and so far-reaching. He loves us, and the invitation is there, and it's open to all. And the love of God is consistent. It never changes. It's not dependent upon what you've done or what you're doing or what you're going to do. His love remains the same. Now, your relationship with him may change because of your behavior, but God's love towards you has not changed. Has not. Christ's love has not changed. It remains the same. And you can enter back into a relationship by confessing your sins and acknowledging Christ's rights over you and asking him to save you. And what a wonderful thing it is to know the saving hand of the Lord Jesus Christ. So may it be so for his days.