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right why don’t we actually get started I know it’s a tiny bit early but good morning welcome to Sunday school thanks last week we looked at Jesus primary mission in coming into the world and that mission was to save Sinners income merely provide a good example or to write social ills or to make our lives more prosperous he came to save us we also saw last week how Jesus declared plainly declared a number of Salvation fundamentals to Nicodemus things like salvation is like spiritual birth you cannot do it yourself the spirit must do it for you salvation is by means of faith it’s not by works and you are responsible to believe if you choose not to believe Jesus further said you are condemned by God for in doing so you choose to reject his precious son the son who came into the world to save all men now I didn’t mention last week but it’s worth mentioning now I’ve been thinking about it a little bit since last Sunday we should realize that it’s not as if Jesus was describing a mode of Salvation to Nicodemus that was altogether different or altogether um unseeable in the Old Testament no indeed there is a reason that Jesus remarked to Nicodemus by saying are you the teacher of Israel and you do not understand these things the idea is that Nicodemus ought to have understood them and how could he have done that well by reading the Old Testament I mean consider how the truths we just mentioned are evident in the Old Testament first God’s sovereignty with Israel and the Patriarchs God’s sovereignty was clearly evident especially when it came to the choice of a descendant who would inherit the promise it was not necessarily the favorite son or even the firstborn or even the most righteous son it was whatever son God chose or with the Exodus and when we saw the plagues come on Egypt we saw both that Pharaoh hardness heart but also that God hardened his heart God told Moses from the beginning he will not let you go but that’s so I can accomplish my purpose and God even hardened Pharaoh’s heart to do that so God could display his mighty power through the plagues and throughout Moses and then later the prophets we have God promised Israel I will one day change your heart and cause you to love and obey me as you ought it’s their whole evidence evidence of God’s total sovereignty even in the Realms of even in the realm of salvation nevertheless the Old Testament is quite clear that man’s choice is determinative of God’s judgment and reward think about what Moses and Joshua both told the people choose today whom you’re going to serve Yahweh or some other God it’s your choice and you’ll be held accountable for that choice or we see the consequences of choices throughout the Old Testament both personally and nationally consider David he expressed the desire to build a house for God and God rewarded him for this he says because you had this desire I’m going to build a house for you wow we consider Davidson with Bathsheba and we see that it brought on him and on Israel painful chastening from God moreover in the history history books and in the prophets we see God reasoning with Israel pleading with Israel to stop putting their trust in useless idols and turn back to the Living God God treated them as having the ability to choose and he argued with them to them why they should choose him and we also see in the Old Testament that one is justified by faith not by works you say how could that be what about the law well let’s just consider a few examples it was clear with Abraham you know the text Abraham believed God and it was counted to Abraham as righteousness it wasn’t called because he was righteous God simply chose him but Abraham believed God if we think about the longest sacrificial system these should have made it obvious to all that God had a holy standard that one just could not meet it was a right standard it was a good standard but no one could keep it David realized this and old people of Israel would have realized that they needed a deeper cleansing they needed a fuller covering bite from God simply through God’s merciful means whatever that would be it would have to go beyond the sacrificial system that was given in the law and what does the Lord say to habakkuk towards the end of the Old Testament habakkuk 2-4 behold as for the proud one his soul is not right within him but their righteous will live by his faith now it’s true the Old Testament places much emphasis on the good work works that ought to demonstrate one’s faith in Yahweh but God has always been about the heart I mean we can just consider the greatest commandment of the Old Testament and what is that commandment that’s right that’s right love Yahweh your God with all your heart all your soul all your strength all of you this commandment goes to the inside it’s not enough for you to Simply do out outward Behavior the most important commandment is to love him from within and that love if it’s truly in the heart it will inform the actions of a person you will demonstrate love for God or we could say faith in God by obedience and then we can add to this discussion is incited by Jesus himself those who are saved by looking to the serpent in the wilderness they were not saved by their sights and what their eyes were doing but by what their hearts were doing their faith was what saved them and that Faith was demonstrated by looking to God’s means of Salvation and healing so all that to say Nicodemus should have known especially being a well-studied Pharisee what the Old Testament had always taught and demonstrated but he didn’t know because he wouldn’t know he along with the rest of the Jews had stubbornly ignored and rejected what God’s word says so that Jesus could say you do not accept our testimony I’m telling you we’ve told you the scriptures have told you but you don’t listen and is this not also true today regarding the Jews and also the Roman Catholics and the Greek Orthodox and the liberal Protestants it’s not as if God’s word or his way of Salvation has changed the fundamentals of Salvation are actually consistent throughout the scriptures and these religious groups they all have the saving text the Jews only recognize the Old Testament but and that that is God’s scripture they have it it shows what salvation must consist of but men do not understand these truths because what the rest of the passage says that we looked at because they still love the darkness and don’t want their deeds exposed by God’s precious light they obfuscate the text by their own Wicked thinking and by useless traditions of men but as Jesus makes clear all whom the father chose will come to Jesus and God will use us and his spirit and his word to bring them in now we’re moving on in our study of Jesus ministry today Jesus Earthly Ministry and where as we move forward this quarter our main theme that we’re looking at is the authority of Jesus and we’re looking at sub themes also and that sub theme that we’re going to be looking at today is Jesus power over nature and Jesus that the fact that Jesus has power over nature is clearly evident in the gospel records but how is this power over nature significant how did he demonstrate it what do these demonstrations show us about Jesus and how does that displayed power or how is that displayed power supposed to affect the disciples and even us today these are some of the questions that we want to investigate as we briefly look at two passages this morning we’re gonna first start early in Jesus ministry with Luke’s account of Jesus and a miraculous catch of fish and then we’ll finish by examining Matthew’s account of a later instance where Jesus walks on water let’s pray before we continue my God our god thank you for your word we thank you that you’ve opened our eyes to the truth that had to be your work I pray God that you continue to open our eyes and open my mouth to be able to declare it correctly and hopefully pray that you’d open the hearts of the people to take it in to be changed by it we know we are responsible but God we pray that you would work in Jesus name amen all right please open your Bibles to Luke chapter 5.
Luke chapter 5 verses 1 to 11 is where we find our first text let’s set the context Luke 5 1-11 Jesus has recently begun his preaching Ministry he’s also begun to do public miracles and at this point he has called certain disciples but he is not ask them to leave their vocations and follow him full time but that part is about to change in our Passage disciples are about to go full time or at least certain disciples as we read and analyze this passage think about how Jesus power is put on display what this power says about Jesus and what this power means for Jesus disciples let’s not read starting in verse 1 down to verse 11.
now it happened that while the crowd was pressing around him and listening to the word of God he was standing by the lake of ganesara and he saw two boats lying at the edge of the lake but the fishermen had gotten out of them and were washing their Nets and he got into one of the boats which was Simon’s and asked him to put out a little away from the land and he sat down and began teaching the people from the boat when he had finished speaking he said to Simon put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch Simon answered and said Master we worked hard all night and caught nothing but I will do as you say and let down the Nets when they had done this they enclosed a great quantity of fish and their Nets began to break so they signal to their Partners in the other boat for them to come and help them and they came and filled both of the boats so that they began to sink but when Simon Peter saw that he fell down at Jesus feet saying Go away from me Lord for I am a sinful man poor amazement had seized him and all his companions because of the Ketch of fish which they had taken so also where James and John the sons of Zebedee who were partners with Simon and Jesus said to Simon do not fear from now on you will be catching men when they had brought their boats to land they left everything and followed him all right let’s follow our inductive Bible study method observe interpret apply we’ll start with observation step one that’s observe notice that Jesus is first standing by the lake of genesra also known as the sea of Tiberius or the Sea of Galilee he’s there and the crowd is pressing in on him as he teaches them God’s word you need to see some boats he gets into Simon Peters he goes out a small distance and he teaches the people from the boat at the end of his teaching Jesus gives an odd command he tells Simon Peter take your fishing boat out into deep water and let down your Nets or and let down your nets now why is this an odd command a couple different reasons all right yeah that’s the first part Peter tells Jesus look we were fishing all night we didn’t catch anything what makes you think it’s going to be any better now but there’s a further reason why is it odd for Jesus to tell them to go out in the Deep Waters and let down their Nets yeah during the day and why is that odd it’s odd because if we’re a little familiar with fishing practices at that time this is not a good way to catch fish the reason that Simon and his Partners were working all night is because that’s when the fish were in shallower waters that’s when their Nets could more easily reach the fish but during the day where the fish go out to deeper waters the Nets just can’t get down far enough or if they’re much less effective for catching the fish the fish are not in the same areas so when they were doing the proper fishing technique the night before they didn’t catch anything but now they’re going to do something that doesn’t make any sense how are they going to catch anything with this much less optimal arrangement if it didn’t work when conditions were more optimal so and we also don’t get an explanation from Jesus as to why to do this that that might have been odd but Peter agrees to do it remember Peter is already one of Jesus disciples at this point so he has a there’s a reason he calls Jesus master and there’s a reason he says all right I’ll do what you say but as he does a miracle occur curse and what a miracle not only do they catch fish they apparently do so relatively quickly and not only do they catch fish but there are so many fish in the net that the Nets begin to break and Simon has to call the partner boat to help with the net and when the two teams finally lug the fish aboard there are so many fish that the boats begin to sink the boats are so heavy with so many fish now imagine that you were there with Jesus and these others when these things happened you’re seeing all these fish just team into the boat you’re on the boat what would you be thinking how would you respond but notice the reaction of the people aboard it’s not exactly maybe what we’d expect Simon Peter doesn’t say this is great thanks for all the fish or Jesus you were right about where to go I should listen to your fishing advice more often no what does Peter do he prostrates himself at Jesus feet and he asked Jesus to go away and that it may seem odd itself but notice the reason he says go away from me Lord for I am a sinful man verse 9 further explains for amazement had seized him and all his companions and many of these were Jesus first called Disciples including James and John and probably Andrew but then notice what Jesus says Jesus doesn’t say you know what you are sinful man I’m out of here or he doesn’t even say that’s right your sinful so be afraid no Jesus says instead two things first do not fear do not fear and second from now on you will be catching men the verb tense there is rather interesting notice we’ll be catching this is in English future continuous that is it’s emphasizing an ongoing action in the future and that’s a good translation of what we have in the original language which is a future verb combined with a present participle the idea is continuous action that’s going to take place in the future so Jesus says and notice Jesus is not saying you will be trying to catch men in the future from now on but he says you will be a catching man so there’s a promise there and when the boat comes back to land notice what the disciples or notice that the disciples don’t do anything with the fish they caught at least there’s no mention of it they apparently leave the fish leave the other fishermen maybe maybe the crowd takes the fish and instead the disciples leave everything their fishing careers their fishing companions their fish and they start following Jesus as full-time disciples Okay so we’ve made important observations let’s move to step two interpretation why does Jesus initially get into Simon’s boat consider the situation he was in and his decision to get into the boat why would he do that yeah to teach why couldn’t you just teach from the shore yeah the Crowds Are pressing in on him too much it needs some room he’s going to be able to teach effectively he needs a little bit of space and if he gets into the water well the people are going to have a hard time crowding him so that’s what he does he gets on to the vote of course we could say in a more ultimate sense Jesus gets onto the boat to do this miracle that’s a little bit further in his mind now how did Jesus Miracle override the world’s natural order I say it’s a miracle why would it be a miracle yeah it’s it’s first of all unnormal that so many fish would be caught under sub-optimal conditions but the great quantity of fish doesn’t um that kind of end mass movement into the nest that just doesn’t happen naturally so many fish that they start to sink the boat so for this to happen Jesus either had to create fish in these Nets or cause the fish to act in a way that they wouldn’t normally they cause them to move up into the Nets and Mass he was showing control over these fish massive amounts of fish this was clearly a miracle and Peter was clearly amazed at what Jesus performed but for some reason this brought to mind Peter’s sin why would this miracle cause Peter to confess his sinfulness to Jesus yes is in the presence of what uh I’m sorry one more time yeah he’s in the presence of the Holy One yeah he realized that his holy Rabbi Jesus has superhuman Authority and Power um Jesus is able to command whole schools of fish and if you’re a sinful person the last thing you want to be is near someone who is both holy and Powerful and why is that dear sinful why don’t you want to be next to someone who is Holy and Powerful yeah Mary yeah there’s a sense of Shame and guilt you feel like you’re not worthy to be next to that person but what else yeah opposites don’t attract well usually um Holiness doesn’t cannot abide the presence of sin if we think about the Old Testament so he has reason to fear what does he what should he fear judgment his sin will be exposed he will be judged he will even be destroyed if this person this man in his presence and this one is so holy and Powerful Peter’s ruined and we can also note that Peter may be even more fearful because who’s going to benefit from this miracle this large catch of fish stenfully it would be Peter he’s the fisherman right this is a large catch Peter would get a good amount of money from selling these fish it’s quite a gift but Peter knows his own sinfulness and he knows I don’t deserve this so for all these reasons Peter cries out to Jesus please go away I fear your Holiness and power I’m not worthy to be around you or to receive any gifts from you and the Old Testament foretold that the Messiah would come with Holiness and power he would be Israel’s King with clear Authority from God so what does Jesus obvious display of divine Authority prove Jesus to be he is the messiah we could also say he’s the Holy One he’s the son of God this is not just a holy man this is the Messiah God’s King with Divine Authority note the connection between this display of authority in a miracle and Jesus identity and this Accords with Jesus’s own words later expressed in the Book of John when speaking about his miracles and his righteous Deeds Jesus says in John 10 verses 37 to 38 . if I do not do the works of my father do not believe me but if I do them though you do not believe me believe the works so that you may know and understand that the father is in me and I am in the father so note that Clear Connection now does Peter realize that he’s dealing with God himself here well perhaps the one thing you’ll notice as you go through the gospels that the disciples understanding of who the Messiah is grows over time they have a basic understanding and confession of him even at the beginning but they don’t quite understand the way that they do at the end even after this moment when Jesus calms the the storm one time on the Sea of Galilee the Twelve Disciples together ask who then is this that even the winds and the waves obey they had already understood who Jesus was but not as much as they did after that moment so even if they confessed him to be God’s son and and even in a way God himself I don’t think they quite understood what that meant in the beginning but they come to understand it more as they spend more time with Jesus but Peter makes this anxious request to Jesus go away from me but consider Jesus poignant response but Jesus tells Peter do not fear what was Jesus demonstrating about himself he is merciful yeah isn’t that amazing this holy and Powerful God man in the presence of sinful Peter is good and merciful Jesus understands why Peter’s afraid but he assures Peter yes I am Holy I am powerful but I will not destroy you you can actually experience my goodness and you will therefore do not be afraid More Than This Jesus says I’m actually going to use you far from destroying you you will become one of my fishermen who will catch men for God and how was Peter going to catch Men by using Peter’s skills or his wisdom will consider the miracle there’s a connection between the two types of catching mentioned here if Jesus has power over nature and can bring hundreds of fish into Nets and nearly sink two boats by the hugeness of the catch and he also has power over men and he will bring men into the spiritual Nets of the disciples to be caught and to be saved the disciples will catch Men by the same power that Jesus displays here power is not in the disciples it’s in their lore now what is the decision to leave everything behind reveal about the disciples other than they were becoming full-time followers Jesus says these things what are they what are they doing in their hearts that causes them to follow they believe him they believe him when he says do not fear and I’ll make you Fishers of Men they say all right I won’t believe you and they become as full-time disciples and this is Faith right this is the essence of Salvation merely believing the word of God as expressed in Mercy Holiness and Power now before we move on to step three talk about application from this passage let’s look over at our other text turn now back in your Bibles to Matthew 14.
Matthew 14 and we’re going to look at verses 22 to 33.
Matthew 14 22-33 or now later in Christ’s Ministry opposition opposition against Jesus has increased John the Baptist has just been put to death and Jesus is now teaching the unbelieving crowds in Parables while he continues to do miracles immediately before our text Jesus displays more power over Nature by multiplying bread to feed five thousand men and additional thousands of women and children but let’s now start reading in verse 22.
it’s in Matthew 14 verses 22 to 33.
immediately he made the disciples get into the boat and go ahead of him to the other side while he sent the crowds away and after he sent the crowds away he went up on the mountain by himself to pray I wanted what he when it was evening he was there alone but the boat was already a long distance from the land battered by the waves for the wind was contrary and in the Fourth Watch of the night he came to them walking on the sea 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 courage it is I do not be afraid Peter said to him Lord if it is you command me to come to you on the water and he said come and Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came toward Jesus but seeing the wind he became frightened and beginning to sink he cried out Lord save me immediately Jesus stretched out his hand and took hold of him and said to him you have little faith why did you doubt when they got into the boat the wind stopped and those who are in the boat worshiped him saying you are certainly God’s son all right let’s observe this passage notice that Jesus sends the disciples into crowds away so that he could pray alone on the nearby Mountain he’s Again by the Sea of Galilee at evening Jesus is there at the mountain and while the disciples are a long distance away on the sea but their progress across the lake is being impeded by battering waves and contrary winds now this is not a storm exactly but just heavy winds that are contrary to the direction the disciples need to go and Jesus comes to them during the Fourth Watch of the night okay what’s the Fourth Watch well think back then for soldiers and Sentinels Knights were divided into watching periods of three hours each so starting at 6 PM you would have two watches between six and midnight and then two watches between midnight and 6 00 am this was military distinction but this type of language became common among the regular people as well so if Jesus comes in the Fourth Watch of the night what time is it approximately say it again please that’s right through it three a.m to 6 a.m so early morning could still be dark or maybe just a little bit of light is beginning to show and the disciples have to be exhausted by this point they’ve been rowing nearly all night I can’t use the wind to propel them and they’re making little if any progress in their Voyage but then they see a man walking toward them on the sea imagine you’re on a lake or an ocean at night and all of a sudden you see a man walking towards you on the water what would you think how would you respond Tex says the disciples were terrified and they said it’s a ghost also could be translated in Apparition or a Phantasm and they cried out in fear there were cries of Terror coming from the boat as Jesus approached but immediately and notice that phrase in the text but immediately as Jesus heard their cry what does he do he speaks to them he says take courage I imagine he shouted this considering the distance since they didn’t recognize him it must have been some distance away and there’s the noise of the wind and the waves so he probably shouted to them take courage it is I do not be afraid Peter wants more proof and he comes up with a somewhat odd test if it’s really you Lord command me to come to you on the water apparently Peter believed that a ghost or Mirage or some other kind of spirit he wouldn’t give Peter such a command but Jesus agrees with Peter’s test and He commands Peter saying come now imagine again you’re there the wind and the waves are still Furious there’s this man standing on the water claiming to be your teacher and he’s just commanded you to walk on the water to him would you hoist yourself over the side would you go out there and walk to him but Peter does he begins walking on the water and he comes toward Jesus but then it says he saw the wind and Peter became frightened and he begins to sink and if Peter sinks he’s probably done for the sea as difficult as it is the boat and the men in it probably won’t be able to get to him Peter’s going to drown so he cries out Lord save me and again immediately appears in the text I’m not told how far Jesus is from Peter at this point but whatever the distance Jesus is the only one able to save Peter he rushes to him or he simply stretches out his hand to Peter and he grabs hold of him but then he asks Peter you have little faith why did you doubt they both then get back into the boat and when they do the wind and presumably the waves they stop in fact the other one of the other gospels in its record of this instance says that the boat immediately arrived at the destination they realized oh we’re there and notice the reaction of the disciples they worshiped Jesus confessed him to be God’s son that’s another title of messiahship with these observations let’s consider interpretation again why did did the disciples cry out in fear when they thought Jesus was a ghost What’s So Scary About a ghost possibly I mean they think it’s a spirit of some kind if you were to encounter a ghost not that we believe that ghosts exist but why would that be scary what are you supposed to do like a year and a half like you know what they’re going to do to you or yeah yeah multiple reasons why we would find encountering a ghost scary first of all it’s very unnormal you’re encountering basically an alien creature you don’t know anything about it you don’t understand it and there’s nothing so fearful as things you don’t understand and you don’t know what its intentions are and when we think about ghosts we usually think of malevolent intentions this ghost does not have my good in mind you can point to any number of modern horror movies to talk about how just evil ghosts are or how how much how much we think as a society the ghosts have our ill will or they have ill will towards us so if this is a ghost or Spirit you don’t know its intentions you don’t understand it and it might do you harm so they were afraid and they shouted they screamed but Jesus tells them not to be afraid I’m no ghost I don’t come with evil intent I’m your teacher I’m Jesus whom you know it’s me Jesus actually tells them to do the opposite take courage why should seeing Jesus cause the disciples to take courage oh first of all yeah it’s not a ghost so alleviation of what they did fear but why else should they take courage at seeing Jesus even Jesus walking on the water well they think about who they’ve come on to understand Jesus to be he is the holy one who has the power of God but he’s also full of goodness he hasn’t come to destroy he hasn’t come to terrify he’s come to help and Save he’s on the side of his disciples he’s not there to harm them but to help them even in the midst of this storm his power is on display and it’s going to be a power on their behalf they can take courage at seeing Jesus they don’t have to be afraid by going out to Jesus on the water what was Peter displaying that’s Faith right I mean we we knock Peter for what he does later but we got to give him credit for going out on the water none of the other disciples did that he says I’ll walk on the water to Jesus because I believe Jesus I believe in his goodness and Power but why does Peter begin to sink yeah Mary he got scared and what did being frightened cause him to do yeah he may have taken his eyes off of Jesus but in a more metaphorical way what does he do he doubts Jesus he either doubts Jesus power or Jesus goodness he sees the wind the text says which must imply that there’s some danger in the situation that has caused him to no longer trust his savior sees the wind he sees the situation he’s afraid of it he thinks he’s in danger and so he no longer trusts Jesus to take care of him and note the irony in all this when Peter simply trusted in Jesus when he exercised faith he wasn’t in danger at all he was actually walking on water but when he began to doubt Jesus that’s when he really was in danger and he began to sink what does Jesus Rescue of Peter show us about Jesus yeah again we see his goodness right see his Mercy he doesn’t just say bye Peter should have trusted more it’ll be an example to the rest no he’s he reaches down he may have even rushed over to Peter grabs him he saves him what are you gonna say Ron all right you’re drawing some application out there is a sense that yes it salvation doesn’t depend on us it’s on Jesus we know though that it is by means of Faith so um we can’t say that there’s no faith involved we know the means is faith but Jesus Does noticeably act and save Peter here even though Peter’s faith is imperfect he says you have little faith he did demonstrate some faitha coming on the water but he quickly doubted she says why did you doubt you didn’t have reason to doubt stinkers who I am Jesus walking on water was clearly a miracle it demonstrated that Jesus is both good and powerful and in doing this what natural laws was Jesus overriding if you’re gonna walk on water what natural principles are you violating yeah so it’s a combination of laws about gravity and density things sink because they’re more dense than water Jesus is more dense than water but he doesn’t sink he’s able to walk right on the water moreover as soon as he gets into the boat the wind stops Jesus is showing not only power over water molecules but also the air air currents and the behavior of the Wind so he’s demonstrating overriding command ability over multiple aspects of nature considering the actions of the disciples in verse 31 whom do they understand Jesus to be based on this Display of Power yeah Mary the Son of God that’s what they say and again that’s a word that denotes messiahship and even deity they worship him now here again this is this is important this may even be a mark of the development of their understanding they worship him they realize this is more than just only teacher more than even the Messiah that is a king he is God deserving of worship now do they understand that to the full extent yet no probably not but they’re getting there they’re seeing this displays of authority and they’re realizing who this person that they’re dealing with actually is we’ve of course sampled a number of only a few instances of Jesus showing power over nature in this lesson let’s now think about why the gospel writers record these events Jesus didn’t do these miracles to bless the disciples financially or to give them a thrilling experience why did he do these things why did he multiply the fish repeater why did he walk on water and stop the wind what was it to show yes say that again more loudly please uh it does display his glory and that’s an ultimate purpose of it but before we get what’s the middle step between showing his glory what else does do these things these kinds of Miracles display about Jesus yeah Steve yeah so it that’s another part of it it shows that he is from God he has God’s stamp of approval his words must be accepted because God is clearly validating him through these miraculous works and that’s going to be true of the Apostles later and it was true of the Old Testament prophets as well these are sign gifts validating the message of Jesus but also as we’ve emphasized in in our interpretation steps of these two Miracles this is about showing Jesus’s Authority it’s about showing his power even his messiahship and deity this is not merely to benefit people this is to show who Jesus is and the validity of his message besides believing correctly in the savior how would these Miracles encourage the disciples they see who he is see his power why should that encourage them yeah Roy um yeah that’s well said Roy this is this should cause the disciples to trust Jesus to believe him and his words not just because he’s a representative of God but because he has the power to keep his word notice the connection in both of these Miracles between Jesus power and then the actions of the disciples Jesus tells the disciples that they will catch Men by his power Peter’s able to walk on the Water by Jesus power is it any wonder that Jesus says later in Matthew Matthew 21 verses 21 to 22 truly I say to you if you have faith and do not doubt you will not only do what was done to the Fig Tree as the one that Jesus cursed but even if you say to this mountain be taken up and cast into the sea it will happen and all things you ask in prayer believing you will receive Now understand it’s not that Faith itself is powerful but the one in whom they have faith is powerful Jesus Jesus didn’t do these things and say these things so they could claim lay claim to whatever they wanted to by faith health wealth prosperity rather it’s so that they would believe him and claim anything from him and from the father that Jesus Promised and that the father willed for them Christ promises to his people never will fail and why not because of what we see here he is both powerful and merciful he is both authoritative or he has Authority and he has goodness he is both able and willing to act on behalf of his own he is the Messiah he is God and if Jesus the king and Son of God is on your side and why should you ever fear why should you ever be anxious about your needs you can’t believe his promises you can trust him so this leads us right into our third step today application what how should this word affect us as Jesus disciples today a couple things to mention first if you’re a believer oh I already mentioned that okay if you’re a Believer what sort of promises can you confidently claim based on God’s power and goodness what’s a promise you know Jesus will keep but the father will keep to you based on his own power and goodness yeah for sure he said I’m not going to leave you so we can hold on to that Jesus don’t leave me you promised you wouldn’t anyone because he’s caught what else he’ll save us right that’s a really important one if he says believe me and I’m your savior then we can believe him to totally accomplish our Salvation you want to say I don’t know if Jesus is really going to save me I don’t know if I need to add to it he says no believe me I’m powerful I’m good I will do this what else foreign say that again yeah scripture is totally trustworthy you’re never wrong Jesus does make some specific statements about the scriptures that men will pass away but God’s words will never pass away everything in the world will pass away his word is trustworthy that’s a that’s something we can cling to we don’t have to say oh Jesus I don’t or would come to a certain scripture or something that you just said would say I’m not sure if this is true or this is believable Jesus says know all of it all of it is from God and can be held onto we could point to many other promises as well that God will provide for our physical needs that he will Deliver us from our enemies that even if their means is by Death that he will grow us he will use his word through us to save others he will use us to edify the church he’s given us gifts that’s promised in the scriptures he will build his church which is a great promise if you’re working and part of that you say I don’t know if this is going to be worth it I don’t know if this is actually going to help Jesus says I’m going to build my church and you’re my means his word would prove ultimately effective he will establish justice on the earth no one will get away with evil he will always be with us he will enable us to endure any kind of suffering and he will answer our prayers these are all promises so we can grab hold of these we can bring them before God and say God you promised these things therefore I’m holding you to this I’m gonna lay I’m gonna go out on a limb based on these things because I know that you’re powerful and good you won’t fail and that gives glory to God when we say God I’m going to rely on you on what your word says God is pleased with that because it shows that he is great so do we take advantage of this should we take advantage of Jesus power and love for us do we believe him do we wait on him or like Peter do we turn from Jesus as soon as danger arises thereby putting ourselves in real danger you know what’s the most dangerous place for any of you to be in the place where you stop trusting Jesus you stop trusting God that’s the place of real danger you’re not in danger Even If you experience a sudden difficulty in your life or you have somebody who hates you or speaks against you you’re not really in danger but you are in danger if you turn your eyes from Christ not in danger of losing your salvation if you’re if you’re actually saved but you’re in danger of falling into a snare giving yourself grief suffering needlessly coming under God’s chastening now do we realize that we can actually believe this is along the same lines do we realize that we can actually be greatly used by God if we actually believe in him not because we are great but because he is he’s promised to use us he’s promised that he glorifies himself through weak clay pots do we believe that now another question clearly we will receive anything that Jesus has promised to us but what about the things he has not specifically promised to us things like being healed from a particular sickness or seeing a certain people or a certain person revived and saved if we pray for these things and we can what should be our attitude yeah Rob yeah I think you hit the two elements of it based on Jesus power and his heart we ought to still pray for these things because we say God I know you can do it God I believe this is consistent with your heart you are a saving God I desire to see this person saved please save him but God I acknowledge this isn’t something that you specifically promised therefore God I submit to your will not my will but yours be done so on the one hand we want to expect great things from God to borrow a phrase from the missionary but we also want to let God have his way we acknowledge the power and goodness of God but we also acknowledge that we don’t necessarily know his perfect wisdom in a certain instance remember we saw this not too long ago with Daniel’s three friends well they were threatened with the fiery furnace remember their attitude they said we believe our God will Deliver Us from you and from this fiery furnace of Nebuchadnezzar but if not we’re ready for God not to do that know that we will not bow down to your statue so when we pray for healing when we pray for God to bring a spouse to us when we pray for the Salvation of a particular person or anything else not directly guaranteed by God we need to believe that God is able to Grant what we ask after all he is God it’s powerful and good but we also need to let him do according to his good will we also should pray even as we make those requests that he will enable us to endure and remain joyful and even to make his name great whether he grants that specific request or not now these things that I’ve mentioned these are applications who are for those who are actually Disciples of Christ if you’re not a true follower of Christ remember there are many false followers realize that Jesus power and goodness are not working on your behalf they’re actually working against you Jesus goodness and his power will not allow any secret sin to go unpunished even yours after all he is the Son of God he has Authority he loves Justice he is zealous for his own Glory he is incensed at how you have Dishonored him and his father by ugly hypocrisy and sin therefore if you have not yet surrendered to Jesus Christ if you have not yet repented of your sins you’ve got to escape from the powerful Wrath of God’s Messiah he will one day rule the nations with a rod of iron and shatter into pieces his enemies you will throw all stubborn Rebels into the Lake of Fire to be tormented forever including you if you have not yet repented as we said last week do not dare reject such a precious savior sent from God indeed these powerful signs that you might believe he was no mere man he was the god man the Messiah the Son of God who is currently sitting at God’s right hand therefore you don’t know Jesus leave your worthless and poisonous sins behind give everything to Christ do what the disciples did let him make you into a new creation is Jesus your master have you encountered Jesus the same way that Peter did aware of Jesus Holiness and power while being aware of your own sinfulness in either case take courage Jesus heart is good and merciful as displayed in both of these passages so that if you will turn she will save you and never cast you out it will actually make you like the apostles into a useful fissure of man any final comments or questions based on today’s lesson okay you think of anything you can always email me next week we look again at Jesus Authority but this time we’re going to talk about his authority over diseases let’s pray as we close our great God we thank you for Jesus Christ the great revelation of God fully showing us the father the brightness of the glory of God oh Jesus thank you for your kind heart your merciful heart that you came to save that for all those who turn from their sins run to you put themselves at your feet you won’t cast them out you will save them you will help them you will be with them and you will keep every promise that you need but oh God I pray that you would protect anyone at Calvary anyone in the world who believes himself to be a Christian and actually isn’t oh God you know the deceitfulness of our own Hearts so I pray that there’s anyone in that state that they would repent and turn to you God let us not walk saying thinking one thing but actually doing another we know God if we really believe you it will manifest itself in our actions God please be merciful to Calvary grow your people God forgive us for where in light of such power and such promises where we don’t trust you well we assume that somehow not believing you will make us in less danger than believing you when we’re in your hands God nothing can harm us there’s no real Danger God I pray that that people that would be so imprinted on the hearts of the people of Calvary today and anyone else who’s listening that when they’re in your hands it doesn’t matter it doesn’t matter what kind of dangers or hostility comes upon them in their lives because you’re powerful you’re good we thank you for your protection and for your love I pray that the people of Calvary rejoicing in that today as they continue to Worship in Jesus name amen all right see you all next week you’re welcome