Walking on Water
by the faith of Jesus Christ.

14 Then those men when they had seen the miracle that Jesus did, said, This is of a truth that prophet that should come into the world. 15 When Jesus therefore perceived that they would come and take him by force to make him a king, He departed again into a mountain himself alone. 16 And when even was now come his disciples went down unto the sea, 17 and entered into a ship, and went over the sea toward Capernaum. And it was now dark, and Jesus was not come to them. 18 And the sea arose by reason of a great wind that blew. 19 So when they had rowed about five and twenty or thirty furlongs, they see Jesus walking on the sea, and drawing near unto the ship; and they were afraid. 20 But he saith unto them, It is I; be not afraid. 21 Then they willingly received him into the ship: and immediately the ship was at the land wither they went. John 6:14-21

Five Thousand men with full bellies, all Jews, all concerned about Israel’s condition under Rome, are thinking, This is the Prophet. The Prophet of whom they’re speaking is, of course, the one whose coming was prophesied all through the Old Testament. So they came. And when Jesus perceived that they would take Him by force to make him a king, he departed into a mountain alone.

They wanted Him to be king, obviously, for economic reasons. They were probably thinking, this could be great. If we can get this man as king, maybe we can get this economy cranked up. This was a first- century version of "It's the economy, stupid." They were concerned about the economy. They wanted this man who could supply all that they needed and feed all of their bellies. Remember that all of these men were now full. In another place Scripture says they had been following the Lord for some three days and were hungry. But now they’re walking away literally stuffed. And they’re saying, “This is the Prophet. He can do miracles. Let’s make Him king.”

But consider this: even though Jesus was to be the prophesied King, His immediate reason for being here was to be the prophesied sacrifice! Jesus was the sacrifice before He was the King. He was the Savior before He was the Lord. Of course He’s always been the Lord, but He didn’t come as Lord. He came to serve.

"You call me Lord and Master, and you say well, because I really am. But, I am among you as one that serves." He came to give His life a ransom for many. It wasn’t yet time to be king. It was time for sacrifice. So the Lord Jesus hid Himself. He went up into a mountain alone. It wasn't time to be king.

We’ve said this before, If Jesus had become king, we would have experienced that wonderful kingdom spoken of in Isaiah. "The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them."

The lions would be lying down with the calves and the wolves with the lambs. There would be no poisonous snakes or threat of war. That would be wonderful. However, the problem would be that all the people in that kingdom would still be sons of Adam, born in sin. Therefore they would have perhaps lived to a ripe old age and then died and gone to hell because the sacrifice had never been made. Sin had never been dealt with; death had never been conquered. So they would have lived in the kingdom of God while on earth, and then spent eternity in the lake of fire.

The Lord didn’t come for that. He wasn’t concerned primarily about our full bellies. Oh, He’s concerned about that, but those are secondary things, saints. God is concerned about our eternal life. Jesus will be crowned King at His Second Coming, not His first. His first coming was as the Lamb. The next time round He’ll come as the Lion of Judah and sit on the throne of David. He’ll then be King. And you know what? These same people won’t like it. We’re going to have a beautiful, wonderful world for a thousand years. But as soon as there’s opportunity to rebel, the whole world, apart from those whose names are written in the Book of Life, will rebel against the righteous government of God.

When Jesus therefore saw that they would make him king, He hid Himself.

Now I want to read a portion of the same story from Matthew 14. All of the authors of the four gospels wrote from a different angle, for a different reason. I always marvel that John left this out of his narrative, because I think this is one of the most spectacular things that happened in the New Testament.

“And straightway Jesus constrained His disciples to get into a ship and to go before Him unto the other side while He sent the multitudes away. And when He had sent the multitudes away, He went up into a mountain apart to pray. And when 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 on 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 spoke unto them, saying, Be of good cheer, it is I. Be not afraid. And Peter answered and said to him, Lord if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water. And he said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water to go to Jesus. And when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid and beginning to sink, he cried, Lord, save me. And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand and caught him, and said unto him, Oh thou of little faith. Wherefore didst thou doubt. And when they were come into the ship, the wind ceased. And then they that were in the ship came and worshipped him, saying, of a truth, thou art the Son of God.”

That’s pretty dramatic, don’t you think? This is the fourth watch of the night. The first watch would be six to nine, the second watch nine to midnight, the third watch midnight till three o’clock in the morning. So it is sometime after three a.m. and they’ve been struggling for a long time. They have rowed their boat three or four miles in that stormy sea, and by now they are pretty frustrated. It is a dark night; the wind is strong and contrary. Suddenly there appears a ghostly figure walking on the waves.

What was their reaction? What would yours be? Of course they were terrified, just as you would be. But the Lord calls out to them, "Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid." And Peter said, "If it’s you, Lord, bid me come walking on the water."

Peter was no fool; we can learn something from him. He wasn’t about to step out of that boat to drown himself; which is what would have been the result if he had acted presumptuously without hearing from the Lord. But if the Lord said, "Come," he was willing to obey.

I’ve heard people laugh at Peter’s little faith. I don’t see Peter quite that way. I see Peter here as a remarkable example of what it means to walk the Christian life. First of all, he did not step out of the boat until he had a word from the Lord.

Christians, like everyone else, are capable of doing stupid things; and people criticize them for it. If they presumptuously do stupid things, then they deserve to be criticized for their stupidity. But if they do seemingly stupid things at the command of the Lord, like Peter did, then it is obedience and becomes a triumph of faith.

Obviously, Peter's faith was too little in the face of the terrifying circumstances in which he found himself; but his faith was great compared to those he walked among, and probably compared to most of us. Other than the Lord Jesus Christ, who ever walked on water? So that’s not small faith. But the problem was that it was Peter’s faith in Christ. Let me explain that.

As in Peter's case, your faith in Christ is not sufficient to keep you afloat. That may be a shocker to some of you. But here is the fact: It’s Christ’s faith in you that keeps you afloat. That does not mean that Christ has a lot of confidence in you. It means what the apostle Paul explained in Galatians 2:20: “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ lives in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”

Saints, hear this. God has given us all a measure of faith. When we hear the Gospel, our faith is directed toward Christ. When we place our faith in Christ, He comes into our lives; and with Him comes His divine nature, His faith. From that point on, it’s Christ that lives in us, both to will and to do of His good pleasure. Christ in you is your hope of glory. When Christ comes into us, if we will submit to Him, it’s the exercise of His faith in our flesh that causes us to do the will of God continually.

That’s the marvelous illustration here. Peter’s faith in Christ was enough to cause him to obey, but it was Jesus’ faith that caused him to walk on the water successfully after his faith proved insufficient. You can see Peter sinking and crying out, "Lord, help!" And the Lord reaches down to lift Peter from the peril of his circumstance to carry him in His arms on the sea. It was by the faith of Jesus Christ, not Peter's faith, that he returned safely to the ship. And in John's gospel the Scripture says that when Jesus entered the ship, immediately they were at their destination.

Looking at verse 21 of our text, we read, "Then they willingly received Him into the ship: and immediately the ship was at the land wither they went."

My next question is, "What is our objective? What is our destination? Where do we think we’re going? How important is what we’re doing?"

I was impressed as I read this: they willingly received Him, and immediately they were at their destination. I made a little note to myself in the margin of my Bible. It reads, "Jesus’ presence is our destination." That’s what we’re after. It’s not some great objective. Yes, there are great objectives, and we’ll reach them; but that’s not today's destination. Our destination today is the abiding presence of the Lord Jesus Christ in our ship. And if we're walking in the fullness of Christ, our destination and arrival, are His business, not ours.

He didn’t say we would drown. He said, let us go over to the other side. These disciples were on the course of obedience when circumstances overtook them. But Jesus’ presence was the shield their faith could rest in. Circumstances beyond our control are in His control. When we walk in obedience, even though our faith is weak, we will get to the other side in spite of overwhelming obstacles. Even when our faith is far too weak to overcome them, the faith of Jesus Christ is absolutely sufficient in every circumstance. The presence of the Lord will get us through.

Some people would make us think that we are remiss if we don’t worry about things. Saints, you’re not remiss if you don’t worry. You’re remiss if you’re not obedient to what God tells you to do. Don’t worry about the waves or getting in over your head. Instead, try being obedient. The Lord is going to take care of the other things.

I guarantee from my experience that you are going to be in some kind of trouble as you walk along and obey the Lord. You’re going to have some major problems to face. Some of them are going to be brought about as a result of your obedience to the Lord. It may even seem that the Lord has forsaken you; he’s not even in the boat. But I promise you, He is on the lake.

You have to recognize that whatever you’re into, saints, the Lord’s into it with you, especially if you got there by obeying Him. He said, "I’ll never leave you nor forsake you." And the testimony of the saints is unwavering steadfastness; an unchanging demeanor even when it is dark and it seems the Lord has not come.

I didn’t comment on that verse, “And it was now dark, and Jesus was not come to them.” How many times have we experienced that? It’s now dark and I can't see the Lord anywhere. Job said something about that. He said, I look before me, and it’s dark; I can’t see the light. I look behind me, and it’s dark; I can’t see the light. I look to my left and my right and I can’t see the Lord. Job couldn't see the Lord, but in the next verses he said that he was confident the Lord was working and that He would bring him forth as gold.

Saints, our testimony isn’t the miraculous. It might include that sometime; but our testimony is our abiding obvious confidence in the Lord and in His everlasting promises. The Lord is present and you can trust Him. We need to walk that way. That’s our testimony, saints. When our confidence is overwhelmed by the severity of our circumstances, the faith of Jesus Christ is sufficient to cause us to triumph.

Isaiah 11:6
Matthew 14:22-33
Colossians 1:27
2 Peter 1:4
Job 23:8-12