The sermon titled 'He Alone Treads on the Waves of the Sea' by Jason Dohm discusses the miracle of Jesus walking on water as narrated in John 6:15-21, drawing a connection to Job 9:8. The sermon emphasizes that only God treads on the waves, highlighting Jesus' divine identity. The speaker discusses the chronology and geographical context of the events, including the background of John the Baptist's beheading and the disciples' recent preaching mission. Dohm elaborates on the transition from the feeding of the 5,000 to the stormy sea, where Jesus' authority and divinity are shown by calming the storm and walking on water. The sermon stresses the importance of solitary prayer, as exemplified by Jesus, and the spiritual kingdom Jesus came to establish, contrasting it with the earthly kingdom expectations of the multitudes. Dohm calls for believers to recognize the divinity of Jesus through these signs and to confront the implications of these miracles on their faith and understanding of Scripture.

Alright, the sermon text for today is John chapter 6. We'll be starting in verse 15 and reading through verse 21. To the mountain by himself alone. Now when evening came, his disciples went down to the sea, got into the boat and went over the sea toward Capernaum. And it was already dark and Jesus had not come to them.

Then the sea arose because a great wind was blowing. So when they had rode about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and drawing near the boat, and they were afraid. But he said to them, It is I, do not be afraid. Then they willingly received him into the boat, and immediately the boat was at the land where they were going. The title of the sermon this morning is, He Alone Treads on the Waves of the Sea.

And that's actually taken from Job chapter 9 verse 8. Really what Job is saying is fulfilled in our text today. He alone, God alone, treads on the waves of the sea. That's not to suggest that Job had a fully formed doctrine of the Trinity. He most certainly did not.

But it is to suggest that the inspired Job, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit to write Scripture, knew that it was proper to attribute only to God walking on water. Last week we started chapter 6. And in transitioning from chapter 5 to chapter 6, it represented a couple of things. One is it represented a passage of time, depending on what feast is mentioned in chapter 5. It's either six months or a year have passed between the end of chapter 5 and those historical accounts in the beginning of chapter 6.

So, either six months or a year of time has passed. Secondly, it's a change of setting. Chapter 5 happens in Jerusalem. Chapter 6 happens in Galilee, Jesus' home region. And at the time that Chapter 6 begins, two things have just happened.

Now, these are not to be gleaned from the Gospel of John, they're to be gleaned from other Gospel accounts. But we know from the other Gospel accounts that John the Baptist has just been beheaded by Herod Antipas and that Jesus has just heard of that. And that Jesus had just sent out the twelve. It was the first time he had sent them out. He gave them power to heal diseases and to cast out demons.

And he had sent them out to preach repentance. They had done that through the cities of Galilee and then they had just returned. And so Jesus has just heard that John the Baptist has been beheaded and The disciples had just returned from their preaching mission. In another gospel it says that so many people are coming and going that they don't even have time to eat. So Jesus takes them away to be alone with them and to rest.

But that is not to be. They are followed by the multitudes. The multitudes actually run along the shore as they are crossing the Sea of Galilee on a boat. So the multitudes are waiting on them when they land. And the Gospel accounts make it clear why the multitudes are there.

They're there for the show. They've heard that this man heals diseases. And Some of them have friends who are sick that they bring, some of the sick come, but the rest are onlookers. You get the sense from the Gospel accounts that they're sort of gawkers. They've come just to see an amazing thing.

Surprisingly, at least surprisingly to me, Jesus doesn't despise that sentiment. In other words, you might think that he would just go away, you gawkers. We've come to rest, but Jesus doesn't do that. He spends the day healing, spends the day teaching, and at the end of the day, knowing that they haven't brought food, he feeds them. He starts with five loaves and two small fish, and he feeds 5, 000 hungry men plus the women and children.

We have no idea how many of them there were. And they end up with a lot more than they started with after feeding thousands. They end up with 12 baskets full. So that brings us to our account. So we go to the text, let's go to the text in prayer, ask the Lord to help us.

Oh God, you alone tread on the waves of the sea. No one is like you. No one can be compared with you. Jesus, you are God. If it is ever on display that you are a God, what would be more obvious than you walking across the Sea of Galilee to your disciples in the boat.

I pray that this account would confront us today and force us to decide about scripture, what it is. Is. If your spirit would prompt us to believe that this unbelievable event is a true historical account then everything else that should fall in place as a result of deciding that would, that we would trust the Bible, that we would believe on your son that he is able to save us from our sins. Oh God, come, attend to the preaching of your Word. Come and own your Word through the preaching God.

We pray in Jesus' name, Amen. So I'm going to do this week exactly what I did last week in terms of structure. I'm going to begin by speaking of the fullness of the account. So if you're taking notes on the handout and you're filling in blanks, it's fullness. The fullness of the account.

What that means is I'll just be bringing in outside information from the other Gospel accounts that give us a version from another Gospel writer of this same event. I'll be pulling from Matthew chapter 14. I pulled from Matthew chapter 14 last week because Matthew 14 also has the feeding of the 5, 000. And I'll be pulling from Mark chapter 6. Again, I pulled from Mark chapter 6 last week because Mark 6 has the feeding of the 5, 000.

So in every case, Matthew 14, Mark 6, And now John 6, our text for the day, you have exactly the same sequence. The feeding of the 5, 000 and then the disciples being sent out in the boat and Jesus walking to them on the water. So there's no mistaking about whether these gospels are talking about the same events they must be. Our text begins with verse 15. Look on.

Verse 15. John 6 verse 15. Therefore, when Jesus perceived that they, these multitudes that have just been fed, that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, he departed again to the mountain by himself alone. John is the only Gospel writer that records this. In Matthew 14 and in Mark chapter 6, there's no mention that the multitude that's just been fed want to come and take him by force, if necessary, to make him king.

But John records this. This 5, 000 hungry men and the women and children who are with them have been fed from essentially nothing. So Like I said last week, there's a barley loaf per thousand hungry men. And there's less than half a small fish per thousand hungry men. That doesn't even account the women and children.

So you essentially started from nothing and you fed five thousand hungry men plus the women and children you ended up with 12 baskets full the crowd sees this and they say our deliverer King hail King Jesus But when they say hail King Jesus, They don't necessarily mean what we mean when we, trusting in Christ for salvation, say, Hail King Jesus. They mean, Hail Earthly King Jesus. Hail earthly King Jesus who can provide for us, hail earthly King Jesus who can save us, deliver us from political oppression. Jesus knows what they're thinking. The verse says Jesus perceived that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king.

He knows exactly what they're thinking, and he's not about to let that happen. So he acts. In Matthew and Mark, it's recounted that Jesus makes his disciples get into the boat and go. He makes them, those are the words in Matthew 14 and Mark 6. He makes them get into the boat and go.

In John It sort of sounds like it's possible that they would have done that on their own initiative. Not so Matthew and Mark are crystal clear. He makes them get into the boat and go. He sends the multitudes away. So again, we don't get that in our text in John, but in Matthew and Mark, it's clear.

He sends them away, and then he goes to pray. This is Jesus taking authority and breaking up this gathering. If you want to take Jesus by force, and he doesn't want to be taken by force, there's not enough force in the history of the world across the universe to take him by force. So here's what we see is Jesus the God man taking authority over everything that's happening. He makes his disciples go away.

He sends the multitudes away, contrary to their inclinations, and he goes to pray. In John it just says he goes to be alone. In Matthew and Mark it's explicit that his going away to be alone was to pray. And this is really the sense of what we get from the whole purpose of Jesus bringing his disciples to this deserted place anyway. Having just heard that John the Baptist had been beheaded, he wanted to be alone and to pray.

Now he's doing that. Let's think about Jesus as King, because he has many connections across all of the Gospels. So think about Jesus as King. After Jesus was born, wise men came from the East and they said this to Herod the Great, a different Herod than the head of John the Baptist. Herod the Great, the wise men came from the east and they said, Where is he who has been born king of the Jews?

Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we have seen his star in the east and have come to worship him. Somehow these wise men from the east knew that there were going to be signs in the heavens that indicated that a king had been born to the Jews. They came probably 1500 miles from the east and they spoke to Herod and Herod was terrified at this because he thought he was being replaced as an earthly king and so he when the wise men don't come back and tell him, but they have been warned to go and not tell him, he kills every male baby two years old and younger in Bethlehem because he's terrified that he's being replaced as an earthly king. Also Jesus' favorite self-designation, in other words what does Jesus call himself more often than at any other time?

He calls himself Son of man. We've already seen that four times already in the Gospel of John, and we're going to see it three more times just in chapter 6. Jesus is always calling Himself Son of man. Where does that come from? It comes from Daniel chapter 7 verse 13.

Jesus calling himself son of man would not have been lost on what he was saying by calling himself son of man. That would not have been lost on any good Jew. Any Jew who knew the scriptures would immediately think, Daniel chapter 7 verse 13, where one like a son of man comes before the ancient of days, God Almighty, and He's given a kingdom and an everlasting dominion. Any good Jew would have looked at Daniel chapter 7 verse 13 and said, this is the Messiah, this is talking about the Messiah. One like a son of man coming before God Almighty, the Ancient of Days, and being given a kingdom.

He's a king with an everlasting dominion. Also the triumphal entry, we're a ways from the triumphal entry. As you know that starts the last week of Jesus' life, and every Gospel is intensely focused, disproportionately focused on the last week of Jesus' life. He would die at the end of the week, and then he would be raised from the dead. Well, the triumphal entry has Jesus coming into Jerusalem hailed as a king.

Turn to John chapter 12. Let's fast forward a bit and look at the triumphal entry and see Jesus being hailed as a king. John chapter 12. I'll be reading verses 12 through 15. The next day a great multitude that had come to the feast when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him and cried out, Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, the King of Israel.

Then Jesus, when he had found a young donkey sat on it as it is written, Fear not daughter of Zion behold your king is coming sitting on a donkey's colt. That last quote, fear not daughter of Zion behold your king is coming sitting on a donkey's colt is a quotation of Zechariah 9 verse 9. It's a quotation of a prophecy about the Messiah that their king was coming and that they would know when they saw him coming sitting on a donkey's colt. The fact that Jesus called for the donkey and rode in on a donkey's colt tells you that he, so far from walking away from being considered a king, he is embracing being the fulfillment of Zechariah 9 verse 9. In fact, what is happening at the triumphal entry is just later happening what the multitudes have planned for him in John chapter 6.

Meaning, in John chapter 6 it's already said that the Passover was near. Why is that significant? Because in Jerusalem, the population goes from around 200, 000 to two or three million people at the Passover. The Old Testament law commanded at least all males to come to Jerusalem. Usually full families would come.

Jesus' whole family would come to celebrate the Passover in Jerusalem. That was customary. Most full families would come to celebrate the Passover. Jerusalem throughout the year has about 200, 000 people there. Josephus says this, the Jewish historian.

200, 000 people, but when the Passover came, people would come from all over Israel and the population would swell to 2 or 3 million people. So if you're going to announce the Messiah, this is the time to do it. This is why the multitudes are gathered at the triumphal entry because the population has swelled. There are people everywhere in Jerusalem. It is the time where you lay claim to a new king.

But in John chapter 6, it's not time yet. Jesus hasn't done all the work that the Father has given him to do and it's not his time to die yet. And this multitude has the wrong thing in mind. Jesus isn't going to Jerusalem at the time of the triumphal entry here in John chapter 12 in order to do the things that the people are calling on him to do now, provide for them in a physical way, deliver them from the Romans, Jesus is going to be a very different kind of king. Turn to John chapter 18.

Finally, in considering Jesus as king. The central point I'm trying to drive home there is that Jesus isn't opposed to being thought of as king. The wise men came from the east knowing that Jesus was the king of the Jews. And Jesus would embrace this later. He's coming into Jerusalem riding on a colt saying, I am the fulfillment of Zechariah 9 verse 9.

In John 18 verses 33 through 37, Jesus is brought before Pilate the Roman governor. Then Pilate entered the Praetorium again, called Jesus, and said to him, Are you the King of the Jews? Jesus answered him, Are you speaking for yourself about this, or did others tell you this concerning me? Pilate answered him, Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered you to me.

What have you done? Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews. But now my kingdom is not from here. Pilate therefore said to him, Are you a king then?

Jesus answered, You say rightly I am the king. For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears my voice." Then Pilate says, what is truth? Jesus was a king. Jesus was not afraid to be called king, but Jesus was not about to be taken by force to become the kind of king that they were looking for.

The kind that would just provide for them physically and deliver them from political oppression. Jesus had a spiritual kingdom. He came to do spiritual work. So you have a multitude in John chapter 6 that have just been fed from nothing. Five thousand hungry men and the women and children fed from nothing.

Do you want a king who can make food out of nothing. Hail King Jesus! Do you want a king, an earthly king, who will deliver you from Roman oppression? Hail King Jesus! Do you want a king who is a suffering savior, who will be the lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, who lays down his life and claims lordship of your heart?

Silence. Silence. Not just a political king who will get rid of your oppressors, but one who will take lordship of your heart, who will deal with your sin, confront you about your sin, make you own your sin before He wipes you clean. And then He will claim complete Lordship over your heart. They were not looking for that kind of king.

So Jesus will not be taken by force. He dismisses the crowd. He makes his disciples get into the boat and go. He goes to be by himself and he prays. The disciples are rowing.

It's dark and a great wind begins to blow. Matthew says the boat was tossed by the waves for the wind was contrary. So The water is churned up, the boat is being tossed by the waves, and they're having to row against the wind. Mark says that Jesus saw them straining at rowing for the wind was against them. This is probably Jesus seeing spiritually.

It's dark, they're three miles out. He's probably not actually seeing them as you and I would, he is the God man. And he sees them straining at rowing, for The wind was against them. Now a comment about the Sea of Galilee, and any traveler can go there and experience this right now. The Sea of Galilee is a long ways below sea level.

It's almost 700 feet below the level of the Mediterranean, which is to the west. 700 feet below. More than two football fields down from sea level. And as a consequence, to the north you have mountains and towards the east, where they've been coming, where they're coming from, it rises up. You have the Golan Heights.

And what happens, it's a geographical reality, is that when it cools down at night, warm air rises, so you have the Sea of Galilee, you have this moist, warm air that's rising, and you have cool air from the heights coming down to take its place to displace it and it makes it very windy and it churns up the Sea of Galilee. It happens a lot. All the commentators cite people, either people from hundreds of years ago or people now. You can go here and experience this effect right now. As the warm air comes down and displaces, The warm air rises and the cold air comes down from the heights and displaces it and it churns up the Sea of Galilee and there are strong winds as a result of this effect.

Now don't forget, at least four of the disciples are professional fishermen. So don't think of it like us. Land lovers who would not be expecting this, would not know how to deal with this, would be surprised by this. No, Andrew and Peter, James and John were all professional fishermen fishing on the Sea of Galilee. This would have been par for the course for them.

They would have not have been caught by surprise by this. Doesn't mean they liked it. They wouldn't have been surprised by it. They keep rowing. They've rowed three or four miles.

Depending from what point on the eastern shore, you're probably talking about six miles from where they were starting to Capernaum, where they were going. They're three or four miles into that. Matthew and Mark say that it's the fourth watch of the night, which would be somewhere between 3 and 6 a.m. So they left at evening, it's now somewhere 3 to 6 am, we consider that the middle of the night. And they're still rowing.

So they've been rowing for hours and hours. And now the disciples see something. They see Jesus drawing near the boat and they are terrified. Our text says that they are afraid. Matthew recounts that the disciples said, it is a ghost and they cried out in fear.

Mark recounts that Jesus would have passed them by. It's looking like Jesus is just going to walk near the boat and then just keep going. He would have passed them by. And they supposed it was a ghost and they cried out. There is total panic in this boat.

It's dark, can't see well, the water's churned up and there is a man walking on the water. You'd be afraid too. You'd think it was a ghost too. But in spite of their fear, to counteract their fear, Jesus speaks to them. He says, it is I, do not be afraid.

He identifies himself and he tells them not to fear. Matthew and Mark add that Jesus said, be of good cheer. It is I. Do not be afraid. Be of good cheer.

Don't be afraid. Be happy. It's me. Listen to Isaiah 43 verses 1 and 2. Isaiah 43 verses 1 and 2.

But now thus says the Lord who created you, O Jacob, and he who formed you, O Israel, fear not, for I have redeemed you. I have called you by name. You are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you, and through the rivers they shall not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, nor shall the flame scorch you." I don't know if this is intended to be prophetic about Jesus.

So I'm not saying that this account is a specific fulfillment of this. I'm just saying that what God says to His people in Isaiah 43 verses 1 and 2 is exactly what is happening in our text in John chapter 6. It is the God of His people coming and saying, Don't be afraid. When you're in stormy waters, I will be with you. I will never let the fire burn you.

Fear not, for I have redeemed you. I have called you by your name. You are mine. When you pass through the waters I will be with you, and through the rivers they shall not overflow you." Jesus has laid claim to these men. They are His.

He's called them by name. And Now when they are in stormy waters, he is with them in an actual real and literal way. Now turn to Matthew chapter 14. Matthew 14. I said this is one of the parallel passages that recount these events.

Matthew chapter 14. By the way, if you look across the Gospels, Jesus saying, be not afraid or let not your hearts be troubled, things like that. These are things that are frequently on his lips. Why is that? Because even though we're his people, a lot of times we're afraid.

And he wants us not to be afraid. He tells us that we don't have to be afraid and not to be afraid. Matthew chapter 14. This is a part of the things that happened that John doesn't even mention a syllable of. But it happened right here at the same time.

Matthew chapter 14, I'll be reading verses 27 through 31. But immediately Jesus spoke to them saying, Be of good cheer, it is I, do not be afraid. And Peter answered him and said, Lord if it is you, command me to come to you on the water. So he said, Come. And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus.

But when he saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid, and beginning to sink, he cried out, Lord, save me! And immediately Jesus stretched out his hand and caught him and said to him, Oh, you of little faith, why did you doubt? If you've been humiliated by thinking of Peter as a man with a little faith, even though he's the one who crawled out of the boat, you're not alone. This should teach us something. Not only can Jesus do it in and of Himself as God, Jesus, I guess, has walked three or four miles defying gravity, meaning we have this thing that we've had this phenomenon that we have given a name to, gravity, things go down in water, things that weigh go down in water, and Jesus defies it.

Apparently for this period of time doesn't apply to Jesus but not only that, not only is he able to do that in and of himself, now he's able to command Peter and now it doesn't apply to Peter either for a period of time. At this point I should point out multiple places in the Old Testament where God is the one who alone treads on the waves of the sea. That's the title of the sermon. He alone treads on the waves of the sea. I said that comes from Job 9 verse 8.

Now listen to Job 9 verses 8 through 10. This is Job describing God. He alone spreads out the heavens. I think about what we've already seen about Jesus and His creative power. He alone spreads out the heavens and treads on the waves of the sea.

He made the bear, Orion, the Pleiades. These are constellations, these are groupings of stars that astronomers call it the bear, Orion, and Pleiades even today. We recognize these constellations, these groupings of stars today. He made the Barah, Orion, and the Pleiades, and the chambers of the south. He does great things past finding out, yes, wonders without number.

Or Psalm 77, what Josh read during our singing time, Psalm 77 verses 18 and 19, Asaph the psalmist says, The voice of your thunder was in the world when the lightnings lit up the world, The earth trembled and shook. Your way was in the sea. Your path in the great waters. And your footsteps were not known. There are other places in Scripture that say the same thing.

What are they saying? God alone walks on water. If you see someone, according to Job or according to Asaph, if you see someone walking on the water, it is God. He alone treads on the waves of the sea. You might say, well, Peter walked on water.

Yes, he did it at the explicit command of God who was physically present. Or Psalm 89, verses 8 and 9. Oh Lord God of hosts, who is mighty like you, oh Lord? Your faithfulness also surrounds you. You rule the raging of the sea.

When its waves rise, you still them." We're coming to that in the text, actually. If you see someone walk on water, it's God. If you see someone take a raging sea and still it, it's God. Sometimes we get caught in the trap of thinking of the so-called laws of nature. We'll put them in parentheses.

Laws of nature. As if they are what are unchangeable and eternal. As if they're above God. And even God is bound by the laws of nature. God created what we call the laws of nature.

It's as easy for Jesus to walk on the waves as it was for him to make the waves. He made the waves. In a sense he's not suspending anything in order to do this. He does it simply because he's God. The author of Hebrews sets us straight on this point.

Listen to Hebrews chapter 1 verse 3. In other words, the law of Hebrews looks at this and the absurdity of the thought that there are laws of nature and that God is subject to them. He says, no, no, no. He reverses that. He puts God at the top where he should be and says that the laws of nature are just – they do his bidding.

They're his creation. They serve Him like we serve Him. Hebrews 1 verse 3 speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ. Who being the brightness of God's glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high." The author of Hebrews in Hebrews 1 verse 3 says that Jesus Christ upholds all things by the words of His power. Why do things go down when you drop it?

Because today it pleases the Lord Jesus Christ to uphold all things by the word of his power. We don't know what gravity is. We have a formula that quantifies it because the universe is orderly, but no one can explain to you why two objects that have mass are drawn to each other. We can quantify it, but we can't explain why it is. The author of Hebrews explains why it is.

Because today we woke up and the Lord Jesus Christ is pleased to uphold all things by the word of His power. They are working again today like they worked yesterday because Jesus, by the word of his power, is holding it all together. He's upholding it all. It was as easy for Jesus to walk on the water as it was for him to create the water, and it was easy for him to create the water. Matthew and Mark say that when Jesus got into the boat, the wind ceased.

John doesn't say that, but Matthew and Mark say, as soon as he got into the boat, the wind ceased. This normal phenomenon had been going on raging. The winds were raging. The waters were stirred up because warm, moist air was rising and cooler air from the surrounding hillsides were coming down into this bowl that's 700 feet below sea level, rushing down into this, creating a storm, but when Jesus gets in the boat, it's over. Here in John, it says that the disciples willingly received Jesus into the boat.

The ESV renders it, we're glad to take Jesus into the boat. That translation is really supported by the Greek. It has to do with a delight to have him come into the boat. Not just that they weren't trying to keep him out, they were willing to have him in the boat. No, no, no.

In delight they were taking him into the boat. Jesus, come in here with us. Listen to Matthew 14.33. Matthew 14.33. Then those who were in the boat came and worshiped him, saying, truly you are the Son of God.

Whatever they thought about Jesus before now, Now they are sure that he is worthy of worship as the Son of God. Now don't let there be any question in your mind about whether they think the Son of God is God. They are worshiping him. He is receiving their worship. Jesus is God.

They are acknowledging him as God. They are worshipping him as God. Listen to what Mark 6, 51 and 52 says. Mark 6, 51 and 52. Then Jesus went up into the boat to them and the wind ceased and they were greatly amazed in themselves beyond measure and marveled for they had not understood about the loaves because their heart was hardened.

And Mark it says they hadn't really understood about the loaves. What was it that they didn't understand? The crowd understood that they started with five loaves and two small fish and they fed five thousand hungry men plus the women and children. They ended up with twelve baskets full. And so they understood that much so thoroughly that they were going to come and take him by force to make him king.

Do this more. So it cannot be that the disciples didn't understand that. So what didn't they understand? They didn't understand, they didn't have it clear in their minds that this Jesus who they were following was God. And Now they worshiped him and said, you truly, truly you are the son of God.

Finally, the Gospel of John says, And immediately the boat was at the land where they were going. Immediately the boat was at the land where they were going. The commentators can't get a consensus of whether this was another miracle and they were literally just immediately at land or because the wind had ceased they could finally make some headway and in no time at all they were at land. It doesn't matter to me. Any way you cut it you have the calming of a storm and walking on water.

Now five important truths we learned. Just like last week, we bring all the gospel accounts together. Last week, all four gospels had it. This week, Luke does not have it. Matthew, Mark, and John have this account.

It's not in Luke. Now, five important truths we learn. Number One, Jesus knows our every scheme and has the final say. Jesus knows our every scheme, every scheme that you ever hatched in your brain, he knows about it and he has the final say. Thank God.

This is where we started in verse 15. He perceived they were coming to take him by force and make him king. That's not what happened. He dismissed the crowd, contrary to their inclination. He sent the disciples away.

He went alone to pray. Listen to James 4 verses 2 and 3. James chapter 4 verses 2 and 3. You lust and do not have, you murder and covenant and cannot obtain, you fight and war, yet you do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive because you ask amiss that you may spend it on your pleasures.

That is exactly what's happening in our text. They ask for something good. Hail King Jesus is good if you're thinking about it rightly. But they wanted from Jesus to spend on your own pleasures, request denied. They were asking the right one, and they were asking for something that in a context can be good, Jesus' king is good.

They were asked so that they might spend on their own pleasures. Jesus knows our every scheme. Sometimes he knows it's so much better for you to say no when we're asking for things after our pleasures, not for the advancement of His Kingdom. It's a safe place to be to have an all-wise God fielding the prayers and answering them. Heaven forbids sometimes that we should get the things that we want.

God save us sometimes from getting what we want. Praise God that there is an all wise God in heaven who is receiving these prayers and disposing of every one of them with perfect wisdom. Number one, Jesus knows our every scheme and has the final say and we should thank God for that. Number two, Jesus had a pattern of life which included solitary prayer. Jesus had a pattern of life.

In other words, we see a repetition of this in the gospels. Busy Jesus going away to pray. Multitudes wanting to see Jesus, but him sending them away and carving out time that you would think he didn't even have in order to go and be alone with God. Jesus had a pattern of life which included solitary prayer. Now Jesus was no monk.

A monk says, I'm setting aside all other things in order to just have a solitary life of prayer. That's not biblical. That's not biblical. God would have us to have a vigorous life of pushing forward the boundaries of the kingdom of heaven, but don't forget that Jesus himself had a pattern of life that included solitary prayer. I'll think about that for a minute.

I don't understand this. I've not come here today to try to explain this. But somehow Jesus as God consistently made time to be alone with God in prayer. And my only argument is, if Jesus did, who am I to live life as if I don't need that? If our beginning point for Christlikeness is anything else, why?

On what basis? We desire to be conformed into the image of the Lord Jesus Christ because it's such a beautiful image. It's a perfect image. We want to be less like us and more like Jesus. If your starting point for that is anywhere other than having a pattern of life that includes solitary prayer, being alone with God.

Why? It seems like it for Christ, Christ-likeness began in a sense. I don't want to say anything that's not Trinitarian here. I don't mean anything like that. Jesus began with being alone with his Father.

Number three. In Jesus' discipleship program, gloriously good times are often followed immediately by tremendously difficult times. In Jesus' discipleship program. So in our text we have the disciples of Jesus. But I also consider myself a pupil of Jesus.

I'm a disciple of Jesus. I'm a student of Jesus'. So there's something for us to glean here. In Jesus' discipleship program, in which I say I'm enrolled, gloriously good times are often followed immediately by tremendously difficult times. In the early years of your Christian walk, you'll be surprised by that.

By the time you're 47 and have gray hair like this, you won't be surprised by that anymore. You will have seen that cycle happen a lot. Gloriously good times. The presence of God, the blessing of God immediately followed by tremendously difficult times that you did not foresee at all. Brothers and sisters, I would say this, forewarned is forearmed.

In other words, learn the lesson here so that you are braced for it. You're not surprised by it. You're not disillusioned by it. Put off as if God has stopped caring for you. No, that's not what it means.

We see that in our text. Jesus cared the whole time. Listen to what Ryle says. J.C. Ryle says, it was a strange transition.

From witnessing a mighty miracle and helping it instrumentally amidst an admiring crowd. To solitude, darkness, winds, waves, storm, anxiety, and danger, the change was very great. But Christ knew it, and Christ appointed it, and it was working for their good. Trial we must distinctly understand is part of the diet which all true Christians must expect. It is one of the means by which their grace is proved and by which they find out what there is in themselves.

Winter as well as summer, cold as well as heat, clouds as well as sunshine, are all necessary to bring the fruit of the Spirit to ripeness and maturity. We do not naturally like this. We would rather cross the lake with calm weather and favorable winds with Christ always by our side and the sun shining down on our faces." True. And then a little bit later he closes this section of his commentary with this, Affliction and crosses are the grindstones on which God is constantly sharpening those instruments which he uses most. Maybe you should be very encouraged by the hardships that God has brought you into, because it means that He's put you on a grindstone to sharpen you, to use you a lot.

That would cast our current troubles in a different light. Number four, Jesus is with us, we need not be afraid. Number four, Jesus is with us, we need not be afraid. Life is full of fearful things if we walk by sight. Yes?

Full of fearful things if we walk by sight. Yes? Full of fearful things if we walk by sight. But a loving Father and a self-sacrificing King and a comforting Spirit has sent us into those fearful things. The triune God, the loving Father, the self-sacrificing Son or King, and a comforting Spirit has sent us into those storms, into those fearful things.

That's what's happening in our text. Jesus made them get into the boat and go, full well knowing what he was sending them into. He sent them there. God is with us. So let me repeat the words of Jesus, be of good cheer, it is he do not be afraid.

Be of good cheer, be happy. Even though it's dark and The boat is tossed and you've been straining against the winds and making almost no progress hour after hour. Be of good cheer. Jesus will come to you at just the right moment and deliver you. J.C.

Ryle says this, Let all true Christians take comfort in the thought that their Savior is Lord of waves and winds, of storms and tempests, and can come to them in the darkest hour walking on the sea. There are waves of trouble far heavier than any on the lake of Galilee. There are days of darkness which try the faith of the holiest Christian, but let us never despair if Christ is our friend. He can come to our aid in an hour when we think not, and in ways that we did not expect, and when he comes, all will be calm. Amen.

Praise the Lord. I know that there are various fearful things that are confronting you. I know a lot of them in the room. If I just go row by row, I know of various fearful things that are confronting the people in our church. And I know I don't know one speck of all that there is to be known.

But I come to you with a text of scripture. It should encourage your heart. When it is dark and when the storm is raging, Jesus will walk to you on the water at the right time and all will be calm when he comes. He has not forgotten you. He's seen out.

He knows that you've been straining at the oars hour after hour and that you're discouraged. He won't wait too long. His timing will be perfect. Number four, Jesus is with us. We need not be afraid.

Number five, Jesus is God for the zillionth time in the Gospel of John. Jesus is God. He alone treads on the waves of the sea. Only God. If you're seeing in our text, someone walking on water, when that happens you know on the authority of Scripture it's God.

What I appreciate about the Gospel of John, particularly the signs that we're seeing, they are signs. There's a truth beyond the sign that the sign is screaming. That's true. Jesus is God. No one can do this if they're not God.

And so these accounts back us into a corner. They force us to decide what we're going to do with this book. Good. But better to be backed into the corner and to decide than to live a half-hearted, dispassionate life, sort of assenting to the truths, but you never really grasp what this means. This is a confrontation.

Did he walk on the water or didn't he? If he did, what is the implication of that? He is God. He is Lord. He commands Lordship over your heart.

He will not simply be one to give you free food and to make your life comfortable. He might do exactly the opposite for his own glory. He claims you. What will you do with these accounts? If this isn't true, this is a diabolical fraud that has been perpetrated on the human race for 2000 years.

You see the high stakes, how high stakes this game is? It couldn't be higher. Either it's true and he's God and he has a claim on you that you dare not resist, or this is the most devilish fraud that has ever been imposed on the human race. Decide. You've been confronted with it.

He's haunted with it. If these miracles can and should be explained away, you and I are dead in our sins. Only the God man can take upon himself the weight of your sins. The sacrifice must be perfect to be acceptable. If he's not God, you're dead in your sins.

If you give up the miracles, you give up the whole Bible. Let me ask, what kind of deliverer do you really want? People had in mind what they wanted. They wanted someone who would feed them and keep them from oppression. Jesus was claiming to be their God.

Father, thank you for this beautiful text of scripture and I thank you for the confrontation of these mighty miracles. Either they happened or they didn't happen and the implications reached to the most utter outer reaches of all of life. Pray that there would be people in this room who have never thought of these terms that would make up their minds today. Oh send your spirit to convict them, to convince them that these things are true, that Jesus is God. And that the implications would begin turning their lives upside down.

Oh Lord have mercy. Pray in Jesus' name. Amen.