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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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?
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.
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.
Turns out this guy was the starting linebacker for his D1, D2 college team, and it was completely humiliating to me.
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.
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.
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?
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?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
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.
And as many touched it,
were made well.
It's the Word of God.
Who is this guy?
In these verses,
there are five little clips about Jesus.
five little vignettes
all having to do with this question,
Who is this guy?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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?
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?
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.
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?
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.
They were scandalized by him.
It was scandalous for their hometown boy
to be speaking on behalf of God
and calling them to something.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Their unbelief resulted in them rejecting him.
And today, people do the same thing.
They presume to know everything about Jesus.
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.
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.
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.
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.
He's glorious.
He's not just the carpenter's son.
What we're going to see is
He is the I Am incarnate.
So that's Nazareth.
Who is this guy?
Is he just the carpenter's son?
No, he's the unrecognized prophet,
Messiah, king.
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.
So let's move on now from Nazareth
to Herod's palace.
Who is this guy?
Matthew just had us in Nazareth.
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.
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.
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.
But what we see here
is a conversation.
Herod has gotten wind
of Jesus.
Specifically the miraculous works
that Jesus is doing.
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.
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.
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?
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?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
We allow our shame
and our fear
and our guilt
inform what we think
about Jesus.
Jesus.
Here's how it works out.
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.
God can never forgive me of that.
That is so wrong.
That thing I did
is so awful.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
1 Corinthians 9.
1 Corinthians 6.
Starting in verse 9,
you read this.
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.
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.
Well, look at verse 11.
And such were some of you.
But you were washed,
forgiven.
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?
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.
Jesus came to forgive it all.
The blood He shed
is a powerful blood He shed.
It is able to forgive.
We tend to be more like Herod
than we think.
We don't need to be afraid.
Jesus,
but we'll see,
He is the I Am
and He is present.
Who is this guy?
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.
We've moved from Herod's palace.
Now let's move
to this desolate place
starting in verse 13.
Here's what happens.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
So we had the hobnobs
going on there.
Eating the best of food.
What was going on
in Herod's heart?
Fear.
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.
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?
His location?
Is it a palace?
It's a desolate place.
It's a wilderness.
Do you notice his company?
It's not the hobnobbers
of the day.
We're talking
10,000 nobodies.
No one would have known them.
What are they eating?
Nothing.
There's more people
than food.
You get to see his heart.
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.
Instead of selfless
or selfish,
brutal murder,
selfish,
compassionate
provision.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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?
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.
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?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
He didn't come in another
fishing boat.
Matthew's very clear.
He came to them
walking
on the sea.
It's a miracle.
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.
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.
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!
Explosions.
What are the disciples seeing?
Well, we're not told,
but in verse 26,
here's what we're told.
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.
But this is no ghost.
This is Jesus.
And so,
they say,
it's a ghost!
And they start crying out,
terrified.
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.
Take heart.
It is I.
Do not be afraid.
All together.
Take heart.
It is I.
Do not be afraid.
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.
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.
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.
Before Abraham was,
ego eimi.
Before Abraham was,
I am,
Jesus says.
And remember what the Jews did?
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.
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.
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.
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.
Peter,
Jesus says in verse 29,
come.
Peter steps out of the boat
and he steps
onto the solid ground
of God's Word.
Steps onto the solid ground
of that command,
come!
He steps out in faith.
Two things.
It's still windy and wavy.
And the disciples
are all watching this.
Peter starts making
his way to Jesus.
He gets distracted.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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?
It's another reference
to unbelief.
But Peter had
just enough little faith
in his big Jesus
that the big Jesus
saves him.
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.
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.
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.
They worship Him!
And they confess
with their mouths
to Jesus,
truly,
you are the Son
of God.
Did they fully know
all that Jesus meant?
when He said,
take heart,
it is I,
ego,
and me.
Do not be afraid.
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.
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.
Who is this guy?
He's the,
who does He say He is?
Ego eimi.
I am,
I am.
He wants us
to worship Him.
He wants us
to confess
to Him
that you are
truly
the Son of God.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
You know what
Jesus says to that?
Take heart.
It is I.
Do not be afraid.
Jesus
is alive.
He's not dead.
He's been raised
from the dead.
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.
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.
Who is this guy?
He's unlike anybody
you know.
He's more than
a carpenter's son.
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.
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.
It's very unlike
Nazareth
where minimal healings
took place.
They got it.
This morning,
I want you to ask
this question.
Who is this guy?
And have you
called out to Him,
confessed to Him,
truly,
you are
the Son of God?
Let's pray.
God in Heaven,
Lord Jesus,
we thank You so much
for Matthew 14.
Jesus,
we need Your help.
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.
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.
May all glory
and blessing
and power
and praise
be to Your name.
Amen.