The Majesty of Christ

Matthew 14, reading and exposition begins at verse 22 and will go through to verse 33. And straightway Jesus constrained his disciples to get into a ship, and to go before him unto the other side, while he sent the multitude away. When he had sent the multitudes away, he went up into a mountain apart to pray.

And when the 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 to 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.

Now keep your Bibles handy, will you please? Let me now, at this point, give you what's on my mind. I want to give you the structure. Remember the background.

Christ is on the mountain, the disciples are down there in the storm. Now, first of all, I want to speak to you on the majesty of Christ. The majestic Christ, revealed first against the severity of the storm, revealed secondly in the exercise of his sovereignty as he walks upon the water.

The majesty of Christ, seen against the severity of the storm and his sovereign act of walking on water. Secondly, I want to speak to you on the mastery of Christ, for he is master of ocean and earth and sky, master of every circumstance. And that mastery is revealed in three ways.

Verse 27, it's revealed here in the assurance that it brings. Be of good cheer, it is I, be not afraid. His mastery revealed in the assurance that it brings.

Verse 28, his mastery is revealed in the faith that it creates. Peter said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me to come unto thee in the water. His impression of mastery was that it created a new expansion of faith.

When I say the faith that it creates, it wasn't the beginning of faith, but it was a tremendous expansion of faith. Lord, bid me to come. Thirdly, the mastery of Christ is revealed, verse 29, in the power that it released.

He said, come! The mastery of Christ in the assurance that it brings, in the faith it creates, in the power that it releases. Look again. Thirdly and finally, I want to speak to you on the authority of Christ.

The authority of Christ revealed, first of all, please, in verse 30. Revealed in that he saved Peter, he rescued Peter. His hand went out and lifted him.

Authority revealed in saving and rescuing. Secondly, his authority revealed in verse 30 again. He, verse 31, he rebuked Peter, O man of little faith, why did ye doubt? And finally, his authority revealed in the fellowship that they enjoyed.

You say, I don't understand that one. All right then. When Christ lifted him, caught him by the hand and lifted him, he lifted him back onto the water.

And together they walked on the water back to the ship. Still in the midst of the storm, for the storm didn't cease. Verse 32, till they got there.

You talk about the walk on the road to Emmaus. What a walk this must have been for Peter. Yes, the authority in that he saved Peter, he rebuked Peter, and he introduced him to a fellowship again that he had given up when he looked away from Christ.

You've got the background. Now please, let me begin. Christ is on the mountain alone.

On a picture of Christ as high priest, representing us before God. The ship with the disciples represents us today in the midst of the storms of life. But we'll need to learn that Christ will come into the very heart of our circumstances and will be to us all and more than we need.

Now just a minute. This is going to surprise you. These disciples were in big difficulty.

Now no doubt about it. They were in difficult days. The storm.

But their difficulty arose from the fact that they were being obedient and not disobedient. You see, now listen to me. If you are willfully disobeying, if you are refusing to bow to what the scripture teaches, then you're in big trouble.

Big trouble. And the sooner you get to Christ, the better. But these people, these disciples were there because they were obedient.

You see, when everything was calm, the Lord said, go to the other side. So they got into the boat and went. Now that was all right.

And then suddenly, as on the lake yonder, down came the storm. The water's whipped up. The wind's blowing.

Everything's boisterous. Well, you might say to me, after all there was one or two fishermen there, why didn't they turn the boat and sail with the wind? That would have solved their problem. Ah, but just a minute.

The Master had said, go to the other side. And they're prepared to go, despite the difficulties, despite the storm, despite the distraction. He had said it.

So they were in trouble because they were obedient. Why do you think that if you're obedient, life should be easy? Why do you think that the storm should hit other people and not you or me? And so here they were. You see, the fact of their obedience was such that it enabled them to see Christ.

You see, this was a rowing boat. The destination was behind them. That's why when they were rowing, they saw Him coming.

Don't you be too occupied about the destination. There's going to be a lot of difficulties to get you home. But we'll need to learn that Christ will come right into the circumstances.

And so I begin, as I talk to you about the majestic Christ, oh, the sight of Christ walking on the water, oh, the wonder and glory of this person, superior to creation, superior to wind, superior to gravity, the majestic Christ walking on the water, but against the background of the storm. Tell me, have the storms been blowing? Tell me, are they severe, disturbing? Let me open up a little, please. They could come to you personally in the loss of health.

Oh yes, the heart attack, the stroke, the sudden illness. Oh, how vulnerable we feel. Maybe it has come to you in the loss of your loved one.

And this first Easter conference without him and her has been quite a trial. Quite disturbing. It could come to you through what we call in the old country redundancy.

You lose the job suddenly and unexpectedly, and it's thrown you. It could come to you through your family. Your sons and your daughters.

Reaching teenage. You're beginning to become rebellious. Some of them are Christians and some of them are not.

Oh, these Christian children. You young folks, excuse me, won't you? Don't be too hard on me, won't you? You say, well, you're going to be hard enough on us by the sound of it. You know, I'm amazed.

I'm amazed at how cruel the Christians' children can be. Now listen to me. Now I don't say you've always been wise, but you've given them everything.

They don't know the value of money. You've laid it on their lap. And some of you maybe had a wee bit of a hard time earlier, so you're trying to cushion your children against it.

And they'll take everything and think it's their right. If they're not saved, they can hardly wait to leave home. Of course, some of them are saved and they're desperate to get away too.

Well, mind you, it's quite a storm in your life, isn't it? Now, I'm not being hard. But I'm a parent. And I remember what God said in Isaiah chapter 1, verse 2. I have nourished and reared up children, and they rebelled against me.

Now that would temper our criticism. Come again. But sometimes they're saved.

They take the first job. But they don't tell everybody they're a Christian. And after a few weeks, you suddenly realize they're saying to you, I would like to go with the boys or the girls to a certain place.

You're not at all happy about it. Well, they'll go. Then the next thing is, they start to go out with a boy or a girl that they met in a place where they should never have been.

And you're breaking your heart and the tears are flowing, but they're still going on. Maybe someday they'll walk in quite suddenly, for that's the way they do it, put the pressure on them. They're told that.

All the young fellows about them will say, no, don't worry about them, just put the pressure on them and they'll give in. So they come in one day and say, we're engaged. There's the ring.

Defying God, breaking every law in the book. And still maintaining they're saved. It's a big storm, isn't it? Big storm.

Let me come again. Is there quite a storm in your marriage? You say, you're not setting yourself up as a marriage counselor. No, no, that's a good thing.

I'm glad you thought about that. For I believe that men of God and teachers of divine truth and true godly elders should be marriage counselors. I believe there's a need for depths of understanding, far better than a godless psychiatrist.

Now I may have put some of you good men on the spot, but that's what I believe. Tell me that relationship you've formed. You might be engaged or you might not, but you're not just too sure about it and it's getting a bit stormy.

And the demands are being made on you. And you're just at that point, you don't know whether to make the right decision and you're loath to move or annexed. You see, there's a whole host of things that can disturb.

Life's real, isn't it? You see, I want to bring to you tonight not only the reality of life, but the reality of Christ in the midst of it all. And there they were. Can you get it? The night is dark.

The wind's howling. The waves are lashing. And suddenly, suddenly, they saw a figure.

Who is it? Oh, you know it's Christ, don't you? Just a minute now. They're scared. They say it's a ghost.

And they're frightened. Now you can understand this. You've got the storm, the wind, the waves, the spray, so that they would look and see him.

And then the spray would come up and they wouldn't see him. He's gone. And then suddenly they look again and there he is.

And he's still coming forward. Out of the storm, out of the heart of the storm, he's making for the boat. Out of the darkness of the night, Christ is coming.

And he's drawing near. Tell me, tell me, do you find that? Come on now. Be honest before God this afternoon.

Tell me, have you been looking for Christ to come to the boat? Are you trying to cope without him? Tell me please, now be honest. You don't believe in what the brethren call sanctified common sense, do you? I tell you it's not much use in the storms of life. I tell you what you're needing is Christ.

You're not needing advice for the brethren. You're needing the Lord to come into the storm. He'll settle it.

But it'll mean an expansion of your faith. He'll call you into a circumstance that's beyond what you ever thought. But he'll come.

And he's drawing near. Look now, will you please? He knew they were troubled. He understood they were crying out.

And suddenly across the water there came the familiar voice of the Son of God. Be of good cheer. It is I. Be not afraid.

Be of good cheer. What comfort. It is I myself.

What assurance. Be not afraid. What encouragement.

Christ is coming near. He's saying, listen, still your fears. Settle yourself.

I'm here, it's me. It's the Christ of the cross. It's the Christ of the throne.

It's the Christ who is your friend and priest. And he's coming and he's saying, I'm here. Do you feel he's right beside you? In the midst of it all, have you been looking for Christ? Oh, there's an explanation.

Now don't you try it on your own. Don't you think you've got what it takes to handle it? For you haven't. Now watch.

The mastery of Christ. Oh yes. He's master of ocean and earth and sky.

He's master of every circumstances. He's the controller of every element in life that affects you. And he draws near.

And now, please, please. He's not going to still the storm. Oh, I know how you feel.

You'd wish you could wake up some morning and get back to what it was before. It doesn't work like that. And suddenly you're beginning to sense Christ, but you're still in the storm.

Aren't you? The mastery of Christ. Seen now, first of all, in the assurance that it brought. Don't be afraid.

I'm here. I'm the same Jesus yesterday, today and forever. The same in the yesterday of your experience.

The same in the today of your necessity. The same in the tomorrow of your expectation. I am the eternal Christ, master of every circumstance.

It's mad. Be not afraid. Now watch.

Peter's listening. I want to talk to you about Peter. I like Peter.

Oh, I know now, please, we're not making distinctions between apostles. You're like Paul. You're the intelligent type.

I like this elemental Peter that reacts. That was Peter's problem. He always reacted, rightly or wrongly.

At times he would wear his heart on his sleeve, and other times he wouldn't. He was that kind of man. But listen, he heard the voice of Christ.

Tell me, does the Lord speak to you? Come on now. Maybe you don't believe in these sort of things I'm talking about. Peter heard them.

Now watch now, the mastery of Christ and the faith that creates. Lord, mind you, the storm's raging. The night's dark.

Lord, if it be thou, bid me to come unto thee on the water. Where on earth did he get an idea like that? You see, you and I have said, Lord, Lord, we're glad to see you come in. Not at all.

Not at all. Peter says, Lord, if it be thou, bid me to come to you on the water. Oh, tremendous, isn't it? You see, oh, this is amazing.

You see, in this situation, Peter felt he would be safer with Christ in the water than with the disciples in the boat. Do you believe that? Do you believe it's better to have Christ with you in the storm? Or do you like a few brethren round about you? They'll probably give you the wrong advice anyway. Lord, if it be thou, bid me to come unto thee in the water.

What an expansion of faith. He had never had a situation like this before. Oh, you and I don't know the latent power of faith.

Oh, this person that's prepared to step out into the unknown. And in stepping out, the waves will become a pavement for his feet. And, oh Peter, you couldn't be surprised.

I mean, you can't ask for things like that and then expect no. Lord, if it be thou, bid me to come unto thee in the water. And then it came, the power that was released.

The voice said, Come! Come! Oh, I tell you, you talk about raising Lazarus. You talk about, you remember how the Lord spoke. When he stood at the grave yonder and he says, Take away the stone.

And then he said, Lazarus, hither, come! Ah, but here it's all different. It's all different. And he heard the voice of Peter and he said, Peter, come! And when he said that, he released his power.

You believe that, don't you? Do you know that the method which divine persons have chosen to express their energy is by speaking? When they speak, they release energy. Is that right? Oh, quickly now. Genesis 1. God said, Let there be light.

When he spoke, he released his energy, and there was light. John 5. The man at the pool, 38 years there. Tell me, friend, would you like to be made whole? I said, Sure, I would.

He said, You know, I can't get any other place. Rise, take up thy bed, and walk. And when Christ spoke, he released his power.

The man rose, took up his bed, and walked. Revelation 19. Christ is coming to vanquish every foe.

How will he do it? He'll do it by speaking. Out of his mouth went a sharp sword. The mouth is for speaking, the sword is for judgment.

That's how they do it. I could give other illustrations. Leave it there.

Suddenly the voice says, Come! And he released his power. That's right. His word travelled distance, right across to where Peter was in the boat.

Watch now, will you please? Peter started to go over the side of the ship. Now, let's talk to Peter. We have far more sense than Peter has, you know.

Now, Peter, just you stay there. Now, Peter, it's dark. Look, he's getting out.

Now, listen, Peter. You listen to us. We have a lot of wisdom, you know.

We've been through life quite a bit. Listen, it's not only dark, it's dangerous. Stay where you are.

But look, Peter's getting up and he's getting down out of the ship. Peter, listen to us. Now, listen, stop.

It's not only dark, it's not only dangerous. It's difficult. It will be fatal.

Stay where you are. But Peter's out. He's walking in the water, while I've been talking.

Did you notice him over there? He was walking in the water. But watch now. Watch what it says.

He walked on the water to go to Jesus. What's he doing? He's living above his circumstances. He's walking in the water.

He's doing what Christ could do. Come on now. Come on.

Now, don't evade it. Don't wriggle. He's walking in the water.

The power of Christ is lifted up there and he's doing what Christ could do. And you know, as long as he looked at Christ, he walked. Isn't that right? It's only when he began to look around and see the wind, isn't that right? Now, last night you were getting on fine, weren't you? Come on now.

You looked to the Lord and he was helping you to get through. And then you started to think about the problem again. And you began to get occupied with all the folks, and with all the circumstances.

And you began to get a wee bit bitter. And you're sinking. You're sinking.

You've lost the chance of a lifetime. There it was. Oh, those glory... You know, there are things in the Bible that puzzle me.

I can't understand why Peter never ever told us about a thing like this. Ah, maybe there's some experience too sacred to talk about. Here it is, it comes to him.

It can come to you. We're all different. Have you known what it is to walk in the water? Live above your circumstances? Forgetting the storm because you're absorbed with Christ? Christ can lift you up.

Christ can keep you up. Then he looked and he began to sink. Now we switch.

Oh, it's all together. The majesty of Christ. The mastery of Christ.

The authority of Christ. It says this. And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand and caught him.

I like that. The hand of Christ. It reminds you during these Gospels about the hand of Christ, won't you? The eyes of Christ.

The feet of Christ. And he caught him. You see, when you're listening to all this and you're saying to yourself, Ah, there he is now.

There he is. He's failed. He'll sink.

He'll never sink. Don't you believe one word of it. He'll never sink.

He began to sink. The hand lifted up. Oh, the... Isn't it good that Christ overlooks our lack of faith? Isn't it? Have you never got down on your knees and thanked God that he didn't hold everything against you? Have you never thanked him for the grace that bore with you in the lost opportunities? They lifted him up.

Back up beside him. Hold on. I wish I had words to describe such scenes like this.

There they are. They're standing in the water together. They're still howling about.

And all the disciples on the boat there will come to them in a minute or two. Then what do you think the Lord said to him? Be of good cheer, it is I. Not that at all. Oh, that's past.

That was in Act 1. He looks up and he says, O man of little faith, why did you doubt me? He rebuked him. Peter, you forfeited an experience. Hm? Should have made you the king of the saints.

O Peter, why could you doubt me? You saw me walking. Yes, and I brought you to me. And you walked in the water alongside of me.

How could you forfeit a thing like this? Eh? Oh, I know. Oh, you see, it must have been seventh heaven. I'll allow that.

The Bible says there are only three heavens. But we'll allow it's a seventh heaven experience. Eh? Cloud nine, eh? Watch now.

So when they were coming to the ship, he says, Come on, Peter. Come on. And together they walked in the water back home.

How could you? I'd have given my right arm to have been there. Hm? Given my right arm to have been there. And they walked back.

You can see the disciples watching them. There they are, coming back. And it was only when they reached the ship that the wind ceased.

Now, I'm drawing it to a close now. Only one man in twelve could do it. There were twelve of them there.

There was only one man in twelve could do it. Are you that one person? Hm? When everybody else is keeping to the safety and security of the boat and refusing to step out in faith, refusing to take this venture of faith, just one man in twelve. You know, when I read the Old Testament, I like to visualise it, you see.

And when I come to this sort of thing, I'm visualising it. I'm talking to you about it. Do you know what I wish could have happened? See, the twelve of them, they're all saying, It's the Lord.

They're in the boat. It's the Lord. It's the Lord.

And Peter says, Lord, if it be Thou, let me come to Thee. Suppose the homo-liberal has said that. Oh, brother, it's past understanding.

Imagine twelve of them getting out on the boat and walking to Christ. Twelve of them. I tell you.

I tell you what. The fact that one did it just tells you it can't be done. Hm? Doesn't the Lord talk about this little faith? Little faith.

Listen. If you had faith as a grain of mustard seed, you ever seen grains of mustard seed out yonder in Palestine? You could hardly see a grain. It says if you were in as much faith as that, you could move mountains.

You could walk on water. And for Peter, every difficulty disappeared when he got absorbed with Christ. He's saying, Lord, there you are.

Here's the storm. All about it. I'll get to you.

That's it. That... You know, that was Peter's way of casting his burden on the Lord. Just saying, Lord, you're there.

I'm coming to you. It's all yours. One man and twelve did it.

Could I quote to you from the Bible? Just as I sit down. For I want you to grasp this. I could have spoken to you from texts of Scripture.

I could have explained them to you and expounded them. But I chose to take up the incident. Vivid.

Dramatic. That you might never forget the incident. And in not forgetting the incident, you might grasp the truth.

Can you... Can you hear... 2 Corinthians 12, verse 9. My grace is sufficient for thee. My strength is made perfect in your weakness. Do you believe he can do it? Whatever you are and where you are today, do you believe he can do it? My grace.

My strength. Oh, this... 2 Corinthians, we spoke on an address that had to do with Sinai. And do you remember that our good brother Crawford, when he followed me very kindly, told you what I've been talking about? Do you remember that? Remember he took a text out of his reading and he says, Now that was... He said, that's what Jack said.

He said to brother Hunter. We walk by faith, not by sight. Come on now.

Secular education will give you a place in this world. And it'll give you a standing. It'll never fit you for this.

We walk by faith. 2nd Scripture, Romans 8, verse 31. If God be for us, who can be against us? Eh? What's this? Peter, God's for you in the person of his Son.

There's no storm would swamp you if you would look to him. Thirdly, finally, listen to this now. Philippians 4, verse 13.

I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me. I can do all things through Christ who pours his strength into me. Now just a minute, please, now just a minute.

Give me a wee bit of credit, will you? I know the context of Philippians 4, verse 13. You give me credit for that. But you see, unlike some of my brethren, I believe there are certain texts in the Bible that at times leave contextual values.

Matthew 18 and 20. And this one, well I can see it all here as plain as daylight. I look at Peter, and I say you're doing it.

You're not going in your own strength, Peter. You're going in the strength of another. And Peter says that's right, I can do all things through Christ who pours his strength into me.

Tell me, have you ever met anybody in life that was living above their circumstances? Come on now. I'm thinking of a man, a brother, that came to the assembly I was in shortly after I got converted. He was a well-known ministering brother.

But, to all our surprise, when we went along to hear him, he was sitting on the platform. And he spoke sitting. And it was only when he got up that we realized he was son of Ben Owen.

He ultimately died of cancer. He was the first man in my life that ever took an interest in me. He even asked me when my day off was, and asked me would I go along with him for half an hour in the park.

He wanted to talk to me. That man gave me encouragement to go on for God. Will you take it with you? I can do all things.

Oh, this expansion. Oh, this limitless horizon. Oh, what you could do if you would just give yourself to Christ and leave yourself with him.

And abandon worldly wisdom and turn to Christ, the wisdom of God and the power of God. I can do all things through Christ who pours his strength into me. The storms of life, I bow me to thy will, oh God.

And all thy ways adore. Ill that God blesses is our good, oh God. And unblessed good is ill.

And all is right that seems most wrong, if it be his sweet will. Thank you.