Who Is This Jesus Guy? "Truly, you are the Son of God."

[0:00] 20 years ago, 20 plus years ago, I was invited to a pickup football game in Columbus, Ohio. I was just out of college. I had a unrealistic sense of my own athletic abilities.

[0:21] And so I show up to this field thinking, man, you're going to see something today, folks. Well, we got into two different teams, and the guy that I was assigned to cover me was a rather large fellow.

[0:37] And I thought that my quicks versus his girth, I'd win every time. Plus, he had a phenomenal mullet. And so all party in the back, all business in the front.

[0:51] And so it gave me this sense, I think if I just get the ball, I can run around this guy. So we get into the huddle, and I say, give me a quick pass. Let me do a little dance, and I'll hit pay dirt.

[1:03] Set hike, throws it to me. I catch the ball, and upon the ball hitting my fingertips, all I can remember is see this mullet and these like 20-foot arms grappling, circling around me, and I'm down on my back.

[1:17] I bounce back up, shake off. I'm like, okay, everybody gets a chance one time, you know, gets lucky. Go back in the huddle, say, okay, do a quick pitch to me.

[1:28] Set hike, quick pitch. I catch the ball, and the guy with the mullet just wraps me up and drops me on my back again. It was instantaneous. And I'm starting to think, who is this guy?

[1:39] I go back to the huddle. I'm like, okay, one more time. Give me a five yard out. Set hut. Five yards out upon catching the ball. Again, 20-foot arms around me.

[1:50] He was on me like white on rice. Who is this guy? It was completely humbling. He's bigger, better, more athletic, more intelligent, and had a way better mullet than I did.

[2:05] Turns out this guy was the starting linebacker for his D1, D2 college team, and it was completely humiliating to me.

[2:20] Who is this guy? If you would open up your Bibles to Matthew chapter 13, I'm going to read you a length of Scripture. I'm going to read Matthew 13, 53 all the way through chapter 14.

[2:36] And as I'm reading this, be asking yourself this question. Who is this guy? Who is this Jesus? And when Jesus had finished these parables, he went away from there.

[2:54] And coming to his hometown, he taught them in their synagogue so that they were astonished. And said, where did this man get this wisdom and these mighty works? Is not this the carpenter's son?

[3:05] Is not his mother called Mary? And are not his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas? And are not all his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all these things?

[3:16] And they took offense at him. But Jesus said to them, a prophet's not without honor except in his hometown and his own household. And he did not do many mighty works there because of their unbelief.

[3:30] At that time, Herod the Tetrarch heard about the fame of Jesus, and he said to his servants, This is John the Baptist. He has been raised from the dead.

[3:41] That is why these miraculous powers are at work in him. For Herod had seized John and bound him and put him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife.

[3:52] Because John had been saying to him, it's not lawful for you to have her. And though he wanted to put him to death, he feared the people because they had held him to be a prophet.

[4:02] But when Herod's birthday came, the daughter of Herodias danced before the company and pleased Herod, so that he promised with an oath to give her whatever she might ask. Prompted by her mother, she said, Give me the head of John the Baptist here on a platter.

[4:17] And the king was sorry, but because of his oaths and his guests, he commanded it to be given. He sent and had John beheaded in the prison. And his head was brought on a platter and given to the girl, and she brought it to her mother.

[4:29] And his disciples came and took the body and buried it. And they went and told Jesus. Verse 13, Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a desolate place by himself.

[4:41] But when the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the towns. When he went ashore, he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them and healed their sick.

[4:51] Now when it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, This is a desolate place, and the day is now over. Send the crowds away to go into the villages and buy food for themselves.

[5:03] But Jesus said to them, his disciples, They need not go away. You give them something to eat. And they said to him, We have only five loaves here and two fish.

[5:15] And Jesus said, Bring them here to me. And he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass, and taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and said a blessing.

[5:26] Then he broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. And they all ate and were satisfied. And they took up twelve baskets full of the broken pieces left over.

[5:37] And those who ate were about five thousand men besides women and children. Immediately he made the disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side while he dismissed the crowds.

[5:49] And after he dismissed the crowds, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone. But the boat by this time was a long way from the land, beaten by the waves, for the wind was against them.

[6:01] And in the fourth watch of the night, he came to them, walking on the sea. But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified and said, It is a ghost!

[6:13] And they cried out in fear. But immediately Jesus spoke to them saying, Take heart, it is I. Do not be afraid. And Peter answered him, Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.

[6:26] He said, Come. So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid. And beginning to sink, he cried out, Lord, save me.

[6:37] Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took hold of him, saying to him, O you of little faith, why do you doubt? And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased. And those in the boat worshipped him, saying, Truly, you are the Son of God.

[6:55] And when they had crossed over, they came to the land at Gennesaret. And when the men of that place recognized him, they sent around to all the region and brought to him all who were sick and implored him that they might only touch the fringe of his garment.

[7:13] And as many touched it, were made well. It's the Word of God. Who is this guy? Who is this guy?

[7:26] In these verses, there are five little clips about Jesus. five little vignettes all having to do with this question, Who is this guy?

[7:42] Matthew starts us in Nazareth. And then he moves us to Herod's palace. And then we find ourselves in a desolate place. And then all of a sudden, we're on the Sea of Galilee. And then we end up in Gennesaret.

[7:55] And there is this question being asked. Who is this guy? So let's look at what happens in Nazareth. And then we're going to move to Herod's palace.

[8:08] And then we're going to move to the desolate place. And we're going to spend the bulk of our time on the Sea of Galilee. And we'll wrap up in Gennesaret. So who is this guy? If you look at verses 53 through 58, what happens is Jesus shows up in his own town, teaches his hometown people in Nazareth, one synagogue, and what happens is they're astonished.

[8:30] They're amazed. And why they're amazed is the same reason they were amazed back in Matthew 7 after he preaches the Sermon on the Mount. They're amazed that he's teaching with this kind of authority. And so they're amazed, but they don't stay astonished.

[8:46] Their astonishment quickly turns to unbelief. And it's an unbelief that shows up in a set of questions. You can see those questions starting in verse 54.

[8:58] Where did this man get his wisdom and these mighty works? And then in 56, where then did this man get all these things? And the where that they're talking about is not like Walmart.

[9:11] They're not talking about him going to a store. The where is a reference of source. What gives him the right to speak with this kind of authority to us?

[9:27] After all, he's just the carpenter's son. Isn't his mom's name Mary? We know his brothers. Aren't his sisters among us? We know this guy. What gives him the right to speak with such authority to us?

[9:39] Now remember, when Jesus preached, he would be saying things, repent for the kingdom of heaven is near. And then he would, remember the Sermon on the Mount, he would say, you know, you've heard this said, but I tell you.

[9:51] And he would put a claim on the people. And so his authoritative preaching would call people to respond. And so the people that thought they knew him, when he preaches this way, he's like, who is this guy?

[10:05] And what gives him the right to do this? They didn't like that. In fact, if you look at verse 57, it says, and they took offense at him. And the Greek word for that word, took offense, is the word we get scandal from.

[10:20] They were scandalized by him. It was scandalous for their hometown boy to be speaking on behalf of God and calling them to something.

[10:30] They felt the claim. They felt the authority. But they were unwilling to believe it. They were unwilling to believe who this one really, really is.

[10:46] Jesus responds by saying, hey, a prophet's not without honor except in his hometown. Don't miss what Jesus is saying. He's saying, I have come to speak on behalf of God to you all. He came as the prophetic Messiah speaking to his hometown.

[11:02] And they wouldn't have anything of it. His hometown resisted his messianic authority. They thought they really knew him. They thought they knew him fully.

[11:13] But really, they just knew him partially. Everything they said about him is true. But they miss the greatest thing about him. This is the Messiah in their midst.

[11:26] Their unbelief resulted in them rejecting him. And today, people do the same thing. They presume to know everything about Jesus.

[11:36] But in reality, they don't. Their presumption blinds them to who Jesus is. They don't have eyes to see. They don't have ears to hear.

[11:47] They don't have a heart to believe. So if you're a parent in the room and you hear this being preached and you're thinking, oh man, what does this mean for my kids? Here's what this means for your parenting.

[12:01] When you raise your children in the fear and admonition of the Lord, you pray for them. You ask God to give them eyes to see and ears to hear the Savior.

[12:15] And then you know what else you do? You paint big pictures of Jesus for them. You point them to the Bible. Again and again, this is who Jesus really is.

[12:29] He's glorious. He's not just the carpenter's son. What we're going to see is He is the I Am incarnate.

[12:40] So that's Nazareth. Who is this guy? Is he just the carpenter's son? No, he's the unrecognized prophet, Messiah, king.

[12:56] They didn't recognize Him. And so when you get to Gennesaret, what you're going to see is a people who barely knew Jesus recognized Him. The people who grew up with Jesus didn't recognize Him.

[13:10] So let's move on now from Nazareth to Herod's palace. Who is this guy? Matthew just had us in Nazareth.

[13:24] Now he brings us into a conversation between Herod the Tetrarch and his servants. Now what you need to understand about Herod is this is a different Herod than the Herod in Matthew 2.

[13:36] That was Herod the Great. And he was a royal jerk to be honest with you. And Herod, this Herod in Matthew 14 is Herod Antipas. And he is one of Herod the Great's three sons.

[13:49] And he's a Tetrarch. He has control over one quarter of Herod the Great's kingdom. And that involved Galilee where Jesus spent most of his time on earth.

[14:01] But what we see here is a conversation. Herod has gotten wind of Jesus. Specifically the miraculous works that Jesus is doing.

[14:14] And if we were to ask Herod, Herod, who is this guy Jesus? He gives us the answer. Look at verse 2. I'll start verse 1.

[14:24] At that time Herod the Tetrarch heard about the fame of Jesus and he said to his servants, this is John the Baptist. He hears about Jesus and he says to his servants, it's John the Baptist.

[14:37] And not just, it's John the Baptist. He says, it's John the Baptist raised from the dead. And that's why he's doing these miraculous works. Now, what were his servants thinking?

[14:48] We don't know. But what are you thinking right now? You're thinking probably something like, why would Herod think that Jesus is John the Baptist and when did he die?

[15:00] Well, what Matthew does for us in verses 3 through 12 is he shows us the back story of why John the Baptist died, of how he died. And the story is brutal.

[15:14] John the Baptist had been preaching against Herod because Herod had taken his brother's wife. That's Philip's wife. Her name is Herodias. And when that happened, John the Baptist, we can just call him JTB, JTB started preaching against that and he's saying, it is unlawful for you to have your brother's wife.

[15:36] Well, that really ticked Herodias off. And so Herodias kept on pushing Herod to arrest the guy, throw him in prison. And so Herod finally did that.

[15:49] And then Herod kept him in prison. He wanted to kill him, but he wouldn't because he feared the people. And then there's this one day where Herod's birthday comes along and he decides to have this big banquet and bring in all these powerful people and Herodias' daughter, Salome, does a little dance.

[16:08] And Herod's impressed and he says, you just tell me anything you want and I'll give it to you. And Salome looks over to Herodias and she says, what should I ask for? What should I ask for? And she says, ask for John the Baptist's head on a platter.

[16:25] And so Herod, now fearing his guests, has to stick with what he says. Has John the Baptist beheaded and his head brought on a platter? What you need to see is the fear that is in Herod's heart.

[16:46] He feared Herodias, his wife. And so he's like, yeah, I'll have this guy arrested just to get you off my case. He feared the people. He was the Tetrarch over Galilee.

[16:58] And so he feared what the Jewish people in Galilee thought of him if he were to kill John the Baptist because they thought John the Baptist was a prophet. And so he feared what they thought.

[17:10] And then he feared the company, his guests at this banquet. He would not renege on having John murdered because of these esteemed guests in his presence.

[17:23] And that all kind of points to why he would be so JTP phobic when he hears about Jesus. He thinks that it's John the Baptist raised from the dead because he is fearful, he is ashamed, and he feels the guilt of murdering someone who is preaching the truth.

[17:42] And so now he hears about Jesus and he goes, oh no, it's John the Baptist raised from the dead and he's come to haunt me. Now before you think that this is just a John the Baptist problem, we all do that.

[18:00] We allow our shame and our fear and our guilt inform what we think about Jesus. Jesus. Here's how it works out.

[18:14] Over and over again, I have heard this. I myself have experienced this. It's this kind of thinking. Maybe you've said this. Maybe this has come out of your lips. Or maybe it's in the back of your mind.

[18:28] God can never forgive me of that. That is so wrong. That thing I did is so awful.

[18:39] That that cannot be forgiven. Do you know what that is? That's shame. That's fear. That's guilt. And what that does is it begins to inform what you think about Jesus.

[18:57] Instead of going to God's Word and saying, God, what do you say about Jesus? Our experience starts to inform our theology. Instead of our theology informing our experience.

[19:12] And so what people can think is, oh man, I've blown it awfully and so many times Jesus can never forgive me of that. But the reality is, oh, He can.

[19:23] He can. That's why He came. That's why He walked this earth. That's why He died on the cross. He just didn't come from sinners. He came for the worst of sinners.

[19:35] That's why He came. And so when we see Herod kind of flipping out and thinking that Jesus is John the Baptist because of His shame and His guilt, we've all been there to some degree.

[19:52] We've all allowed our fear and shame and guilt to shape Jesus into something He's not. You know what the reality is? The only thing that Jesus says is unforgivable is when you attribute a working of the Holy Spirit to Satan.

[20:11] That's called blaspheme of the Holy Spirit. That's the unforgivable sin. Everything else is forgivable. Let me give you some good news. If you would turn in your Bibles to 1 Corinthians 9.

[20:24] 1 Corinthians 9. 1 Corinthians 9. 1 Corinthians 6. Starting in verse 9, you read this.

[20:40] Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.

[21:01] And right now, you may be saying, well, Mike, that doesn't sound like really good news because I fall into at least one of those categories and what I just heard is that that condemns me to a life apart from the kingdom.

[21:15] Well, look at verse 11. And such were some of you. But you were washed, forgiven.

[21:27] You were sanctified, made holy. You were justified, declared righteous in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. Did you notice the sin list?

[21:38] Those aren't small sins. But you know what Jesus offers? complete and utter forgiveness for it all. Don't let your fear misinform who you think Jesus is.

[21:57] Jesus came to forgive it all. The blood He shed is a powerful blood He shed. It is able to forgive.

[22:08] We tend to be more like Herod than we think. We don't need to be afraid.

[22:21] Jesus, but we'll see, He is the I Am and He is present. Who is this guy?

[22:34] Well, Herod thought he's John the Baptist raised from the dead. And we know that's not true. He's not some ghost haunting. He's God in the flesh saving. So now let's move towards the desolate place.

[22:48] We've moved from Herod's palace. Now let's move to this desolate place starting in verse 13. Here's what happens.

[23:01] Jesus gets word and what He gets word of, it's most likely, not John the Baptist's death, it's most likely He gets word that Herod is afraid of Him.

[23:14] That's what He probably hears. And He withdraws. We see the same, similar thing happen in Matthew 12, verses 14 and 15. When the Pharisees start planning to destroy Him, He withdraws.

[23:27] Because He's careful not to let things disrupt His messianic plan. His time had not come yet. So He withdraws and He withdraws to the other side of the Sea of Galilee.

[23:41] He was in Nazareth and He takes a boat over to what's probably Bethsaida. And what happens is there was a crowd of people that saw Him leave and as He's on His boat, this crowd of people, there's like this massive group of people that walk over kind of the northern rim of the Sea of Galilee and they are actually waiting for Him when His boat pulls up on the other side.

[24:08] And what we learn is Jesus wanted to get away from the crowds. And He shows up and here are at least 5,000 men and what we read is that He had compassion on them.

[24:20] And He heals them. It's late. His disciples say, hey, we've got to get these people out of here so they get some food. Jesus says, you guys feed them. They're like, we don't know what you're talking about.

[24:32] We only got five loaves and two fish. Jesus says, bring that stuff to me. He prays. He blesses it, breaks it, gives it to His disciples and gives it to the 5,000 men and everybody eats until they're satisfied which means they ate their fill.

[24:51] And so it's just not 5,000 men. You could probably double that with the women and children there. So we're probably talking 10,000 people. Now here's what is going on.

[25:04] It's very subtle. So let me try to draw it out for you. Do you remember where we were just at? We were in Herod's palace. And that place was a prestigious place.

[25:18] And when you're at a banquet with Herod, do you know what kind of food you're eating? You're eating the best food and you're eating a lot of food. And so probably there was more food than people at the banquet Herod threw for his birthday.

[25:33] And then it was Herod's company. Do you remember the people that were with him? These were his company. We read about it in Mark chapter 6. They were the nobles, the military commanders, the leading men of Galilee at the time.

[25:49] So we had the hobnobs going on there. Eating the best of food. What was going on in Herod's heart? Fear.

[26:01] Fear upon fear upon fear. The picture that Matthew shows us is a man in power who's afraid. Trying to use his power to keep it.

[26:16] And then it culminates in his brutal action. This murder of John the Baptist. But what do we see going on here in Matthew 14 when Jesus pulls up in his boat?

[26:32] His location? Is it a palace? It's a desolate place. It's a wilderness. Do you notice his company?

[26:48] It's not the hobnobbers of the day. We're talking 10,000 nobodies. No one would have known them. What are they eating?

[27:03] Nothing. There's more people than food. You get to see his heart.

[27:15] It's not one of fear. It's one of compassion. And that compassionate heart leads to selfless action. He performs a miracle in which he satisfies all 10,000 people there.

[27:29] Instead of selfless or selfish, brutal murder, selfish, compassionate provision.

[27:40] Life. That's what we see going on. And so what Matthew is doing is he's showing us a difference between the leaders of the people. I mean, Jesus is the leader we all want.

[27:55] He's the one who rules in a way that's always best for his people. He is compassionate. He is selfish. He gives self less.

[28:06] He gives his people what they need in the wilderness. Now this may ring a bell. God's people in the wilderness, they have nothing to eat.

[28:19] The leader calls upon God to provide bread. Ring a bell? Moses leading his people out. Jesus is the better Moses. Jesus is greater than Moses leading a better Exodus.

[28:33] And he outclasses Herod huge. It's interesting when Herod the Great, his dad, learned about Jesus coming. He talks to his scribe, where's this guy coming from?

[28:45] Where is the Christ to be Lord? He's going to be born in Bethlehem. And from that place will come a ruler. And that ruler will be the shepherd of God's people. And here is the son of Herod and he's being matched up with the Christ.

[29:00] The true ruler of God's people and it's on display in the feeding of the 5,000. It stands in sharp contrast to Herod. Do you see it?

[29:14] Who is this guy? He's the true shepherd. And what we're now going to see is he is the I Am. We move from the desolate place and let's move now to the Sea of Galilee.

[29:32] In chapter 14, verses 22-32, this is the climax of this stretch of Scripture. It's all moving here. Now, the location is on the sea.

[29:43] It's in the boat. It's during a storm. And we're going to have them all, Jesus and his disciples, together again. The last time that happened was Matthew chapter 8 and Jesus is asleep and his disciples are freaking out and they wake him up and Jesus with words says, peace be still.

[30:00] Everything's quiet. The disciples marvel. And we're going to see here's something here that's even more astounding. Jesus has just fed the 5,000.

[30:14] He gets his disciples into the boat. He says, go before me to the other side. He's purposefully staying behind. Why is he staying behind? We see the answer to that in verse 23.

[30:25] He stayed behind to pray. We learn from John 6, 15 that this crowd that he's just filled, they want to forcefully make him the king.

[30:38] And so what Jesus does, he dismisses the crowd, sends out his disciples, and goes and prays on the mountainside. His time had not come.

[30:51] And then, as the focus of this passage moves to the Sea of Galilee, we see something breathtaking. If you were on the boat, you would have responded in just the same way as the disciples.

[31:09] The disciples in verse 24 have been laboring at their oars of the fishing boat. They're crossing back the Sea of Galilee. They're going to go to the other side, back around Capernaum. They're going to land in Gennesaret, which is just south of Capernaum.

[31:23] There's a headwind. Waves are hitting them. Big wind, big waves. And they're pressing on. In verse 25, we learn that they, this is the fourth watch of the night, which, according to Roman time, is 3 to 6 a.m., graveyard shift.

[31:45] And so what's been happening, the estimate is these guys have been rowing for six to nine hours when Jesus gets out to them. So imagine rowing a boat for six to nine hours into a headwind at night with big waves pounding you around.

[32:03] You're going to be wet. You're going to be miserable and cranky. And then something happens. If it wasn't in our Bibles, we would say it is simply unbelievable.

[32:19] Jesus came to them. He didn't come to them on a jet ski. He didn't come Baywatch style on a surfboard. He didn't come in a kayak.

[32:33] He didn't come in another fishing boat. Matthew's very clear. He came to them walking on the sea. It's a miracle.

[32:49] It defies physics. Now, His disciples probably thought He was just going to walk back around the rim of the Sea of Galilee. Jesus' mind is like, no, I'm taking the most direct path between two points, maybe.

[33:05] Billy, Matt, and I were talking at our staff meeting this week and we're talking about this and we're trying to imagine what this would have looked like to the disciples. So if it was windy and wavy, so the waves are going up and down.

[33:19] So how was Jesus doing that? Was He kind of walking up, walking down? Or was He doing the thing where He's just blasting through? You know, when you're walking out into the Lake Michigan, big waves, and you're like, pow!

[33:35] Explosions. What are the disciples seeing? Well, we're not told, but in verse 26, here's what we're told.

[33:47] They freak out. They think it's a ghost, which makes this the second haunting of our passage. Herod has already been haunted by the thought of Jesus being John the Baptist raised from the dead.

[34:03] But this is no ghost. This is Jesus. And so, they say, it's a ghost! And they start crying out, terrified.

[34:15] And what Jesus does is He immediately says, take heart. It is I. Do not be afraid. I want you to say that with me. Say it.

[34:25] Take heart. It is I. Do not be afraid. All together. Take heart. It is I. Do not be afraid.

[34:37] Take heart means be courageous. Do not be afraid. Jesus isn't saying, hey, don't be afraid of the waves. He's saying, don't be afraid of me. And what is in between the be courageous and do not be afraid is the it is I.

[34:56] Do you see it? It's the meat of the sandwich. It's the reason why Jesus can say, take courage. And it's the reason why Jesus can say, do not be afraid.

[35:06] It is I. Now, if you looked at that through the Greek language, that phrase, it is I, are two Greek words. Ego eimi. They show up in the Gospel of John, chapter 8, verse 58.

[35:23] Before Abraham was, ego eimi. Before Abraham was, I am, Jesus says. And remember what the Jews did?

[35:33] They pick up stones to stone them for blasphemy. It's a reference back to Exodus chapter 3, verse 14, where God, Yahweh, discloses Himself to Moses as, I am who I am.

[35:49] Do you know what's going on in the Sea of Galilee right now? Do you know who just showed up to this boat? I am incarnate is on the sea.

[36:00] And He's walked out to His disciples. And Mark said His plan was to actually walk right by Him. He stopped! It's amazing.

[36:13] And with those words, take heart, it is I, do not fear. There's an instant change in Peter's heart. Look at verse 28. Peter, Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.

[36:26] Peter, Jesus says in verse 29, come. Peter steps out of the boat and he steps onto the solid ground of God's Word.

[36:38] Steps onto the solid ground of that command, come! He steps out in faith. Two things.

[36:50] It's still windy and wavy. And the disciples are all watching this. Peter starts making his way to Jesus. He gets distracted.

[37:03] The fear of the wind causes him to lose sight of Jesus, of the Word come. And he starts to sink. Fear has this tendency to crowd out faith.

[37:18] Fear is like a bully that pushes aside faith. It can govern our whole hearts. When you fear something, it takes the place of prominence in your heart and you end up being ruled by it.

[37:35] So Peter's fear of the wind pushes aside faith in Jesus' Word and he begins to sink. But he had enough faith left to say, Lord, save me.

[37:50] And immediately, Jesus reaches out His hand, takes hold of Peter, and saves him. But here's what you need to understand. Jesus isn't in His own boat. He's not in a kayak dragging Him out.

[38:01] He's not back in the fishing boat with the disciples. He's still on the water! Jesus is on the water and He pulls Peter out of the water while He's on the water.

[38:12] They're not in the boat yet! And Jesus says to him, O you of little faith, why do you doubt while on the water?

[38:26] It's another reference to unbelief. But Peter had just enough little faith in his big Jesus that the big Jesus saves him.

[38:39] verse 32, they get him into the boat. Again, Jesus didn't swim him over lifeguard style. He walked him over. As soon as they get into the boat, the wind stops and His disciples worship Him.

[39:04] His disciples have just seen Him feed the 10,000. The disciples have just walked out on water. They just saw Simon, Peter, step out on the water and Jesus pull him out of the water and bring him to the boat and when they got in the boat, the whole storm stopped.

[39:20] They just saw it all! They were just experiencing it all! And what do they do? They look at their clocks and say, well, it's time for pizza.

[39:32] They worship Him! And they confess with their mouths to Jesus, truly, you are the Son of God.

[39:52] Did they fully know all that Jesus meant? when He said, take heart, it is I, ego, and me. Do not be afraid.

[40:02] Do they fully realize that? No, they wouldn't fully realize that until after Jesus is raised from the dead. But they had enough sense that this is somehow God doing a work in their midst that they bow down and worship Him.

[40:15] And what Jesus done is like, don't do that, don't worship me. He says, no, you should be worshiping me. You should be confessing me that I am the Son of God.

[40:28] Who is this guy? He's the, who does He say He is? Ego eimi. I am, I am.

[40:42] He wants us to worship Him. He wants us to confess to Him that you are truly the Son of God.

[41:03] So here's how we're going to apply it. We have chartered a boat to go out on Lake Michigan the next time it's really windy and rainy. No, I'm just kidding about that. You guys have enough wind and waves in your life right now.

[41:21] Maybe it's at the end of the month, it's, you're trying to make ends meet and ends meeting is out the window and you're just starting to fear that you're going to be put on the street. That's where you're living right now.

[41:32] You're afraid. And it can take the place of prominence in your heart. Maybe you've been without a job and you fear another week of feeling useless.

[41:43] Maybe you're fearing what is going on in your body right now wondering how you're going to die. Maybe that you are an exhausted mom and you fear losing it again with your 4 year old or your 14 year old.

[41:57] Maybe you're a brother in the room who fears having your secret sin found out. Maybe you are paralyzed by fear of what people think about you because you're always wondering if people think that you're too fat or too ugly or too incompetent or too whatever and it paralyzes you and it rains in your heart.

[42:20] You know what Jesus says to that? Take heart. It is I. Do not be afraid.

[42:32] Jesus is alive. He's not dead. He's been raised from the dead.

[42:42] He's living and reigning right now. Which means this. You combine that with His promise that says I will never leave you nor forsake you. I am with you always even to the end of the age.

[42:55] No matter what happens to you this week, no matter the waves, no matter the wind, no matter what happens, He's with you. The I am is with you.

[43:14] Who is this guy? He's unlike anybody you know. He's more than a carpenter's son.

[43:28] He's not John the Baptist risen from the dead. He's not Herod-like in His ruling over the people. He is God's shepherd. He is the guy that walks on water and shows up in the storm and bails us out again and again.

[43:47] When Jesus ends up in Gennesaret, He shows up on the beach and people instantly recognize Him and they gather everybody they can around Him and they just want to touch His garments and He heals everybody.

[43:59] It's very unlike Nazareth where minimal healings took place. They got it. This morning, I want you to ask this question.

[44:16] Who is this guy? And have you called out to Him, confessed to Him, truly, you are the Son of God?

[44:32] Let's pray. God in Heaven, Lord Jesus, we thank You so much for Matthew 14. Jesus, we need Your help.

[44:46] we're so grateful that we can cry out to You again and again and again, Lord, save me. Lord, save us. And You do again and again and again.

[44:58] Lord Jesus, You are our risen King, our only hope. You are the One who reigns over all and You are the treasure of our souls.

[45:11] May all glory and blessing and power and praise be to Your name. Amen. Amen.