Walking on the Water

I want to invite you to take out your Bibles and turn with me to John chapter 6 and hold your place at verse 16, but also at the same time

I'd like for you, if you would, to have your

Bibles ready to move between John 6, Matthew 14, and Mark 6.

Now that may be asking a lot of you, a little bit more finger dexterity, how you're going to do that.

But what we're going to do today, we're going to be looking at the text where John tells us about Jesus walking on the water.

And this text is in three Gospels. It is in Matthew, Mark, and John.

It's not contained in Luke. And in John's Gospel, we have the most minimized version of this story.

We have the shortest text. And so, because this is a short text in John, I want us to also examine the parallel narratives in Mark and Matthew as well.

So we're going to read from John, but then as we're reading and studying and doing our exposition this morning, we're going to be jumping back and forth between Matthew and Mark as well.

So just preparing you, it is Matthew 14, beginning at verse 22, and Mark 6, beginning at verse 45.

So I know that's a lot, and I apologize in advance if that creates any consternation in your ability to follow along.

I certainly hope that it doesn't. In John chapter 5, Jesus said that the

Father had bore witness to him in three ways. Remember that under the

Old Testament law, all things were established, especially those things which were legal in nature, had to be established under two or three witnesses.

And so when Jesus is giving his, what we call his apologetic discourse in John chapter 5, he explains that it is the

Father who has borne witness of him, but the Father has borne witness of him in three different witnesses.

That the Father is bearing witness through these three witnesses, as it were, to fulfill that command of the law.

The first witness of Jesus is John the Baptist. John the Baptist was understood by the people to be a prophet.

John came and the people went and heard him preach. In fact, if you remember, the Pharisees were afraid to speak against John, because they said the people believe him to be a prophet.

If we say he's not from God, the people will be upset. So they understood, the people understood

John to be a prophet, and John had prophesied that Jesus was the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

Jesus also said that the Father had given him another witness, and that was the witness of Moses.

He said, Moses wrote about me. He said the scripture, going all the way back to Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, all of those scriptures point forward to me.

So not only has God given Jesus the witness of John, who was a contemporary human witness, but he had given

Jesus a witness 1 ,500 years before who prophesied about his coming.

That was Moses, and through his writings, he was a witness to Christ.

But there is a third witness that the Father has given to Jesus to testify to who he is.

There is a third witness to testify of Jesus' claim to not only be

Messiah, prophet, priest, and king, but to be the very Son of the living God himself,

God incarnate. And the testimony for that claim, the third of the testimonies given by the

Father to affirm Christ as the Messiah, was the works that he did.

The miraculous works were the testimonies of Jesus Christ.

No one had ever done anything like Jesus. Now some of the prophets of the past had done miracles.

But Jesus' miracles were so widespread, were so well known, that they could not be denied.

Remember the Pharisees, they did not deny them, but they claimed they came from the power of the devil. They said, you are doing that by the power of Beelzebul, and Jesus said, slow down.

You can speak against me, but when you speak against what I'm doing, and you're claiming it to be of the devil, you're actually blaspheming the

Holy Spirit, and that will not be forgiven you. Jesus' works were testimony to who he was.

There was no doubt that could be had about who Jesus was based upon his miracles.

And his miracles were done sometimes in public, and sometimes in private.

Last week we studied the story of the feeding of the multitude. 5 ,000 men, not counting women and children, fed by multiplying five loaves and two fish to feed that crowd.

That was, as I said last week, it's the only miracle outside of the resurrection that's contained in all four of the

Gospels, and it was the most widespread miracle of Jesus that we know of.

Again, up to and possibly more than 20 ,000 people experienced the blessing of that miracle in that single afternoon there as Jesus multiplied the bread and the loaves.

We could say of all the public miracles, that was the most public. No one could say this didn't happen.

Jesus' resurrection was seen by over 500 people, but this was experienced by thousands and thousands of people.

The most public of his miracles. Well, not all of Jesus' miracles were public.

Jesus did some of his miracles in private. One of my favorite stories from the life of Jesus, or narratives rather,

I don't like to call them stories, I don't want us to ever forget they're true, they're not just stories, they're life narratives from Jesus' life.

One of the favorite narratives is when he raised the daughter of Jairus. Remember the

Jewish leader who came to Jesus, my daughter's sick, and then on the way, don't trouble the teacher anymore, she's died, and Jesus says no, she's only sleeping.

That was a private miracle. Now, many people probably found out about it, but it was just a family, it was just Jesus and a few of his apostles were there in the room to see it happen, to actually witness it, it was a private miracle.

The transfiguration was a private miracle. Peter, James, John, and Jesus were the only ones who were there on the mountain when

Moses and Elijah came and Jesus' face shone like the noonday sun.

Private miracle, only for a small audience. Well, today we come to another of these private miracles, right on the heels of a public miracle.

Jesus' public miracle fed 5 ,000 people and now, in the fourth watch of the night,

Jesus will demonstrate his power over creation, just in the presence of his 12 as he walks to them on the sea.

Let's stand together and give honor and reverence to God's word. We're going to read again the John passage, we won't read the others, we'll look at them later, but beginning in verse 16, we're going to read down to verse 25, but the main action happens between verses 16 and 21.

When evening came, his disciples went down to the sea, got into a boat, and started across the sea to Capernaum.

It was now dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them. The sea became rough, because a strong wind was blowing.

When they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea, and coming near the boat, and they were frightened.

But he said to them, It is I, do not be afraid.

Then they were glad to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat was at the land to which they were going.

On the next day, the crowd that remained on the other side of the sea saw that there had been only one boat there, and that Jesus had not entered the boat with his disciples, but that his disciples had gone away alone.

Other boats from Tiberias came near the place where they had eaten the bread after the

Lord had given thanks. So when the crowd saw that Jesus was not there, nor his disciples, they themselves got into the boats and went to Capernaum seeking

Jesus. And when they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, Rabbi, when did you come here?

Let's pray. Father, we thank you for your word. And Lord, as I stand in this pulpit, as I stand, as I have many other times before,

I pray the same prayer. Lord, keep me from error. May your infallible word be the center of this message.

May it be the focus of what we learn. And Lord, may I decrease and may

Christ increase. And Lord, as we consider the many implications of this passage, one, that Christ, in fact, is creator, sustainer, and author, authority over all of creation.

Lord, even able to walk across water. Lord, we also see his care and compassion for his apostles as he comes to them in their distress and loves them in their time of need.

Father, so much can be drawn from this passage, but let us, Lord, not miss the most important thing, and that is that Christ is exalted.

And Lord, may we exalt Christ as we study your word. By the power of the spirit, in Jesus' name, amen.

Last week, we began John chapter 6. We have been in a long study now of the gospel of John.

Now over a year, having been in this book, and we are not quite a third of the way through yet.

But we are walking through, verse by verse, seeking to understand this very important text.

And John 6 is one of those texts that could be a study all in and of itself.

It's very long, it's very full, and it contains in it some of the most theological, some of the most important theological information in all of the

New Testament. And yet it's contained within a narrative. It's not as if it comes to us as a theological textbook.

None of the Bible really does. We're not given a systematic theology in Scripture. The closest we have to that is the book of Romans.

And even that is not a textbook. Paul wrote it as a letter to explain the theology and doctrines of the faith, but it wasn't given like Wayne Grudem's systematic theology.

It doesn't come with headings and outlines and A, B, and C, and things like that. It's just not the way the

Bible comes to us. The Bible comes to us in various forms of literature, narrative, didactic, poetry, apocalyptic, all different kinds.

And so when we come to John 6, we see this chapter so full of theology, and yet it's behind the theology is this very important narrative that's taking place.

The story begins with Jesus trying to get away from the crowds. Now again, this is, you remember, we harmonized the texts of the different gospels, and John says they went away, and other gospels say it was because John the

Baptist had died, and they were sort of taking the time away for that, and also that the men had just come back from a time of teaching.

Jesus had sent them out to teach, and now they came back, and so they've gone away to a desolate place.

And now they fed the 5 ,000 men and the multitude, as I said last week, that were with them.

Night has come, and Jesus is going to send them back across the

Sea of Galilee. Now, when

Jesus is doing this, he has gone off by himself to pray, and John's gospel tells us at the end of what we read last week, back in verse 15, that the people wanted to make him king.

The people had wanted to make him king by force, and Jesus withdrew from them.

He didn't, it wasn't his time, it was certainly Jesus is king, and he reigns in glory now, but at that time, it was not time to make him king, and so he withdrew from them, and he went off by himself to pray.

Now, as we will see through the rest of John 6, what is going to happen is Jesus is going to meet with the disciples on the sea, he's going to arrive where they are going, and they will end up in Capernaum, where Jesus is going to give a discourse in the synagogue in Capernaum, which is called the

Bread of Life discourse, where Jesus says, I am the bread of life.

And it is going to be one of the, if not the most, divisive discourse that Jesus will ever give.

Because at the end of John 6, it actually tells us in the narrative, that many of his disciples stopped following him.

After one sermon, after one message, these people who had been following after him, listening to him, listening to his words, many of them will depart from him.

There's a lesson in there somewhere. Just about the power of what one sermon can do.

One sermon can make a person extremely unpopular, depending on the subject. But that's the outline of John 6.

It begins with the feeding of the 5 ,000, it moves to the walking on the water, and then we go into this time of Jesus' teaching, and the people walk away.

Jesus begins at what we might consider to be the height of popularity. He's fed all these people, and the people want to make him king, to the point that at the end, they won't even walk with him anymore.

Jesus turns to his disciples, you going to leave too? To whom shall we go?

You have the words of eternal life. Now, I bring that up because I think it's a fitting thing to remember as we go into the text of the walking on the water.

The miracle of Jesus walking on the water does not begin with the men in the boat just enjoying an evening rowing trip.

But it actually begins with the men in the middle of the Sea of Galilee afraid for their lives.

It begins in a moment of great distress, where these men are afraid that the wind and the waves may in fact overtake them.

And we're going to see their response to Jesus coming to them. We're going to see Peter's response to Jesus coming to them.

We're going to see all these things. And there's even going to come a part, when we look at Mark's gospel, where Mark's gospel will say that they did not understand the lesson of the loaves, and their hearts were hardened.

And I thought about that this week as I was reading through the different narratives, and I thought, but wait a minute.

These are the guys who are going to stand with Jesus at the end of this chapter. These are the guys who are actually going to, when

Jesus says, are you going to go away? They're going to say, to whom shall we go? So these are not men who are not believers.

Save Judas. We've got to always leave room to remember that there was one traitor among them. But the other men were believers.

And yet believers can at times experience a hardness of heart.

Well that didn't get the amen I thought it would, so let me encourage you to remember we do allow for such things.

We read it this morning. I was thinking about it when Andy read the confession of sin. What did the confession of sin remind us?

That we all have the tendency for our hearts to grow cold. To be in states of unbelief.

To struggle with doubt. I mean don't we all really understand the man who brought his son to Jesus, and he said,

I believe, help my unbelief. I mean don't we all understand exactly what he meant?

We don't have to exegete that text, we just live it. I believe, help my unbelief.

Well this story, these men are in the boat, the wind is coming down, we're going to talk a little bit about the geography of the

Sea of Galilee in a moment, but the wind is coming down off these high hills, hitting the waves and it's creating this churning like soup, it's boiling beneath them.

And sitting with them in the boat is not Jesus. Jesus has left them.

They're by themselves, but they do have something with them. They've got twelve baskets of bread.

You remember, they were supposed to collect the twelve baskets of bread, so that they would have food that was left over from the meal.

They had a reminder of Christ's presence with them in the boat, and yet they were afraid.

Oh how quickly we forget that Christ is with us.

How quickly we forget that he is there. Even when we have things that should point us and remind us of his presence.

So let's begin back at verse 16. And again

I'm going to be jumping to Matthew and Mark, feel free to try to keep up and if you don't, no one's keeping a record of your grades, so it's okay.

In verse 16 it says, When evening came, his disciples went down to the sea, got into a boat, and started across the sea to Capernaum.

It was now dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them. Now it may seem odd when you read

John's gospel that the disciples seem to be unconcerned with Jesus not being there.

Well we're going to get, we got to go. So they just go and get in the boat, Jesus isn't there yet, so they just strike out without him, that might seem odd.

But this is where I think looking at the other gospel narratives is important. In Matthew's gospel, this is what it says in verse 22 of chapter 14.

It says, Immediately he, being Jesus, made the disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd.

See Matthew gives us a little bit more of the story. Jesus actually has instructed them to go without him.

He's instructed them, go ahead, go ahead boys, I got it. You go ahead without me. And Mark's gospel says the same thing.

Immediately he made his disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side, to Bethsaida, while he dismissed the crowd.

Now Mark's gospel adds a little bit of difficulty. Because Mark's gospel says they were going to Bethsaida.

John's gospel says they were going to Capernaum. And I'll add another part that's even harder, not to create confusion, but to always remind us that we do have to harmonize these narratives.

Luke says they were in Bethsaida when they did the miracle. Uh -oh.

Are they going to Bethsaida or are they coming from Bethsaida? Are they going to Capernaum or are they going to Bethsaida? This is one of those times where it's important to remember that the

Bible is written from four independent accounts. Not that they didn't know about each other and not that Luke, I'm sure,

I do believe Luke knew about Matthew and Mark and those things. But there are times where they are using different language to say the same thing and sometimes they're using different landmarks to say the same thing.

There's actually two places that were called Bethsaida. There was Bethsaida Julius, which was in one location.

There's Bethsaida in Galilee, which is in another location. And so very likely that's why there's one coming and one going.

And Bethsaida in Galilee was not too far from Capernaum, which means that going to one was like going to the other.

It was going in that same direction. So there's not a contradiction here.

This is just one of those times where if we take out a map and look, we can actually see what's going on.

And so that's why one might seem to say one thing and one seem to say another.

Now, verse 18 in John, back to John. It says, The sea became rough because a strong wind was blowing.

Now I mentioned before about the geography of the Sea of Galilee. The Sea of Galilee is 650 feet below sea level.

It is 150 feet deep. And it is surrounded by high hills.

These physical features make it subject to sudden wind storms that would cause extremely high waves as the wind makes its way down into the water.

And these storms would come up on the lake very quickly and very violently. And even though these men were consummate fishermen, these were men who had spent their lives, their father was a fisherman,

Peter and Andrew who were in the fishing business, right? And here they're in the water.

Still, there are times where the sea becomes very frightening. In fact, one of the things that we learn about Jewish culture was that the sea often represented discourse and struggle and chaos.

This is why, and I think Mike has talked about this in the Revelation study, when it talks about there being no more sea in the new heaven and the new earth, some people get very dismayed about that.

But I like the beach. I mean, you guys are beach people. I know Andy and Candy are beach people, right?

Like, does that mean no water? No, but the idea of turmoil and chaos.

And this is what the sea represented. Because when you're out on the sea and that wind starts blowing, there's not much you can do.

Even today, with our massive ocean liners, which seem to be not able to be moved by man or beast, the wind and water of the sea can cause them to shift and to shake and even to overturn.

The sea is powerful, and when you're in the midst of it, it's quite frightening.

Even for someone who is an experienced seaman. And so the men are out, and I'm reminded of the story in Mark's Gospel, in Mark chapter 4, you don't have to turn there, but you remember when

Jesus was with them on the boat? And they were out in the sea and the wind picked up and they started getting afraid, and Jesus is sleeping in the hull of the boat, and they say,

Master, don't you care that we are perishing? See, these men understood how dangerous the water could be.

I love that story too, because Jesus is sort of, what? Be quiet! Okay, it's over.

It's such a powerful thought that Jesus says, peace be still, the waters stop.

Well, these men are now on the Sea of Galilee. Verse 19 tells us that they had been rowing about three or four miles, and in Matthew's Gospel, it tells us that it was the fourth watch of the night, which would have been between 3 a .m.

and 6 a .m. in the morning. So it's nighttime, dark on the

Sea of Galilee, the winds have picked up, they can probably only see moonlight and white -capped waters.

And the water is flowing all around them, beating against the boat. This week, as I was studying,

I looked up a picture of what one of these little boats would have looked like. And let me tell you, it ain't no

Sovereign of the Seas cruise line. It's a fancy canoe. I mean, it was more than a canoe, but it wasn't much.

And you can imagine these white caps beating the walls here. Matthew's Gospel says they were a long way from land.

That's going to be important in a moment, we'll get back to that. But Matthew 14 says, but the boat by this time was a long way from the land, beaten by the waves, for the wind was against them.

Mark's Gospel says, he saw, notice this, it says, and he, being Jesus, saw that they were making headway painfully, for the wind was against them, and about the fourth watch of the night he came to them.

I like the fact that Mark mentions Jesus saw them. Because we have to step back and ask the question, does that mean

Jesus was high enough on a mountain that he could see three or four miles away, and he could recognize this little small boat in the middle of a uproaring ocean?

Possibly. But I tend to think of it more as I think of it when

Jesus first met Nathanael in John's Gospel, and he says,

I saw you under the tree, right, under the fig tree. Does that mean he saw him physically?

Could. Or did it mean that Jesus had in that an insight into his condition?

An insight into the fact that he saw him. Well here now Jesus is praying, and Jesus sees them in whatever way is intended by the text.

I tend to think a supernatural seeing. And so Jesus chooses to go to them.

Now it takes a little while to walk three or four miles. It takes time to go three or four miles.

I don't think it took Jesus that much time. Jesus saw their need, and he came to them in their need.

And so the text, going back to John, it says in verse 19, When they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw

Jesus walking on the sea, and coming near the boat, and they were frightened.

Beloved, understatement. John is king of the understatement.

First of all, three things that he is understating here. Number one, he says he walked to them on the sea like it was nothing.

Think of the nonchalant nature of the way, just read it again. And when they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw

Jesus walking on the sea. Walking, no explanation.

No stopping and saying this was a miracle. Nothing. Just here comes

Jesus making his way on the water as if that is not amazing.

But also, as he came near the boat, they were frightened.

Well, wouldn't you be? Mark's gospel says they thought they had seen a ghost.

That's Mark 6, 49. It says when they saw him walking on the sea, they thought it was a ghost, and they cried out.

Something else Mark tells us, and this is interesting. If you look at Mark 6 and verse 48, it says in the fourth watch of the night, he came to them walking on the sea.

He meant to pass by them. But when they saw him walking on the sea, they thought it was a ghost and cried out.

For they all saw him and was terrified. When it says that he meant to walk by them or pass by them, some interpret that differently.

And I don't want to be dogmatic about this, but I want to propose a thought. Mark says that he intended to pass by.

Did that mean that he wasn't really concerned about them? That he was just making his way to Capernaum?

As they were going by boat, he was going by foot, but just making his way by. And he just happened to see them in need and stop and look into their need?

Well, some may interpret it as such. But I think that there is something else to be considered here from this text when it says that he meant to pass by.

When we think about the Old Testament scriptures, and we read about the theophany language of the

Old Testament where God was in the presence of the people, oftentimes what we read is that God's presence was passing by the people.

If we think about Exodus chapter 33, we know that when the Lord had Moses up on the mountain, he passed by.

And he said, you will see my, King James, my hinder parts, right? But I will pass by.

In Exodus 34, it says the same thing. He passed by Moses. 1 Kings 19 .11

says he passed by Elijah. And in Job, this is interesting.

This really comes across in the Septuagint version of Job, which is the

Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament. In Job chapter 9, it actually says, in our

Bibles, it says God tramples on the sea. But in the Septuagint version, it says he walks on the sea like dry land, which is interesting.

But also in verse 11, it says, and he passes by them. As he's walking on the sea, he passes by them.

So could it be that in that reference of Mark's gospel, that this is saying, this is referencing again the deity of Jesus Christ, that like God had passed by the people of the

Old Covenant, Jesus was here and demonstrating himself as the God -man was passing by his people to remind them of his presence with them.

I think certainly that could be the case. He wasn't passing by to ignore them, that we know for certain.

But he was showing himself to be who he was. They were frightened.

Indeed, they were frightened. Wouldn't we all be? But Jesus was there. And then we get to verse 20, back into John 6 and verse 20.

But he said to them, Jesus said to them, be not afraid. Actually, let me read it in the

ESV. He says, it is I, do not be afraid.

It is I, do not be afraid. Now, all three gospels,

Matthew, Mark, and John, record this in the exact same

Greek word. And while I do not want to overstate anything,

I also do not want to understate the importance of the language here.

Because the language that Jesus uses when he calls out, do not be afraid, the language he uses is the

Greek term, ego eimi, which is the Greek word where we would translate, I am.

Now, we who are good Bible students would recognize the importance of the phrase,

I am. Because when you go back to Moses, and you go back to the time where Moses is speaking with God in Exodus 3, he says, who do

I say has sent me? And God says, I am who I am. Now, we know for certain there are times when

Jesus uses this self -designation without the predicate.

He doesn't say, I am he, or I am Jesus, or I am this, or I am that.

That's what we call a predicate. No, this is a non -predicate statement where he says simply, I am, nothing else.

We know Jesus uses this at times to indicate his own divinity.

Probably the most famous one being John chapter 8 and verse 58, when the

Pharisees and the other Jews are there with Jesus, and Jesus says, Abraham, long to see my day.

And they said, you're not even 50 years old. How can you say, Jesus, long to see your day?

Or how can you say, Abraham, long to see your day? And he says, before Abraham was what?

I am. Now, in that case, no doubt, there can be no doubt that Jesus is identifying himself with Yahweh.

Jesus is identifying himself with the Father. As the Father identified himself as I am before Moses, Jesus identifies himself as the

I am before the people. This is why they picked up stones to stone him, because they knew what he was saying about himself.

They understood and recognized they were going to kill him. When we get to John chapter 8, we're going to read all about it.

But the term ego -a -me does not always indicate divinity. I want to be clear.

I want to be clear. Such as when the blind man was asked, who was the one who was healed?

He said, I am. That's ego -a -me. It's I am. Right? I'm the one. Right? That's without a predicate.

So some people could say, well, the blind man wasn't divine. And he said,

I am. I get it. But I do think it's at least relevant at this point to say, that in all three of the

Gospels that have this narrative, when Jesus has come demonstrating authority over the elements to stand on that which you cannot stand.

None of you have ever stood on water. None of you have ever been held up by liquid.

But Jesus, as he controls the liquid. And I don't know how it happened. I like to think scientifically what's happening.

Is he hardening the water underneath him? Is he creating some kind of miraculous hovering?

What's going on? We don't know, but he's got control over all of it. He's got control over everything that's happening.

And he's walking to them on the sea, step by step, never dipping in, not even once.

This is the miracle that's happening. And they're witnessing it.

Jesus is walking to them on the sea. And he says, do not be afraid. I am.

It comforts me to think that in that moment, he may have very well been referencing his own divinity.

Now, Matthew's Gospel tells us something the other Gospels don't. Matthew's Gospel tells us that Peter got out of the boat.

Now, whole sermons can be done. Whole books have been written on that one. There's a book called something to the effect of if you want to see

God move, get out of the boat or something. You know, that whole idea of have more faith. You know what

I've always found interesting though? Only Matthew tells us about Peter's getting out of the boat.

John doesn't mention it at all. John likes to talk about Peter, especially about how fast he can run.

Because at the end of the Gospel, he's going to tell you he outran him to the resurrection site, the tomb.

But he doesn't mention it here. And the one that gets me is Mark doesn't mention it. Because Mark's Gospel from his church history tells us

Mark's Gospel is given to us from Peter's account. That the

Gospel of Mark is actually, we could in one sense say it's the Gospel of Peter. This is Mark writing the account of Peter's experience with Jesus.

And yet, Mark doesn't tell us. Some might say, well maybe Peter was fearful to tell that he had a lapse in faith.

I don't know. He's not afraid to tell later that he would deny Jesus. I don't necessarily think it was fear.

I'll tell you this, if I walked on water, every one of y 'all would know. Just to be clear, I'd make sure.

But Peter doesn't give it to us in his narrative. But Matthew does. And for the sake of time,

I just want to read it and make a couple of brief things and we'll move right past it. But in Matthew 14 it says,

And Peter answered, Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.

And he said, come. So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus.

But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and beginning to sink. He said, Lord, save me. By the way, shortest, best prayer.

If you don't know how to pray, pray like Peter. Lord, save me.

Jesus immediately reached out his hand, took hold of him, saying, O ye, O you of little faith, why did you doubt?

Peter definitely demonstrates a willingness to go to Christ, which is an amazing feat.

But he also reminds us of our need to keep our eyes on Jesus no matter what. Because it was looking at the sea and the waves and the wind that caused him to begin to sink.

Let us keep our eyes on Christ. Now back to John.

John's narrative. Verse 21. Then they were glad to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat was at the land which they were going.

Matthew's gospel tells us when they got him into the boat, the wind ceased. John doesn't record that.

John says they immediately arrived where they were. Well, Matthew's gospel says the wind ceased.

And they worshipped him, and they said, truly, you are the Son of God. And Mark's gospel says, and when he got into the boat with them and the wind ceased, they were utterly astounded, and they did not understand the loaves, but their hearts were hardened.

Mark adds that little reminder. They still didn't understand. The hardened heart here isn't a hardened heart that's hate -filled or a hardened heart that's opposed to Christ.

It just didn't yet understand. They were still perplexed. They had the loaves, they had

Jesus, and they still didn't get it. Oh, how easy it is to be faced with the truths of God's word and still not get it.

By the way, John MacArthur points out there were actually four miracles that took place. It wasn't just the miracle of walking on the water.

He said if you read all of the narratives together, you'll come up with four different miracles. I actually put them on the screen. Jesus walks on the water, that's miracle number one.

Peter walks on the water, that's miracle number two. As soon as Jesus gets in the boat with them, the wind ceased, that's miracle number three, just like it happened before.

And then, of course, they immediately traverse to their destination. This story begins in the middle of the sea, and it ends immediately where they were going.

So they traversed time and space in an instant when Christ got into the boat.

So four miracles have occurred in this one night that only the disciples would ever see.

Now, John's gospel goes on, and I read this earlier, and I do want to make a quick comment about it, and then begin to draw to some application.

But at the end of John's narrative of the walking on water, we get to verse 22. It says, on the next day, the crowd that remained on the other side of the sea saw that there had only been one boat there, and that Jesus had not entered the boat with his disciples, but that his disciples had gone away alone.

Other boats from Tiberias came near the place where they had eaten the bread, and the Lord had given thanks.

So when the crowd saw that Jesus was not there, nor his disciples, they themselves got into the boats and went to Capernaum seeking

Jesus. And when they found him on the other side, they said to him, Rabbi, when did you come here? Now, as I said earlier, the miracle of the feeding of the 5 ,000 was absolutely seen by as many people as possible.

But the miracle of walking on water was seen only by a small crowd, his disciples.

So these other men, they see the disciples, they know that Jesus didn't get in the boat with them. And there is no other boat that Jesus could have taken on his own.

So they see here, and they are perplexed.

What has happened? How did you get here? Jesus never answers them.

We are going to see next week as we go right on into verse 26. Jesus just begins to talk to them about their issues.

He doesn't even address the question. But wouldn't it have been great if Jesus would have turned and said, Yeah, I walked right across there.

I made my way right across there. Is there a sandbar? No, not a sandbar.

Was the tide low? No, no low tides. I just walked right across the water.

Jesus never addresses their question, never gives them an answer to the question, but the disciples knew. And the disciples understood that what they had seen was miraculous and completely out of the ordinary.

And so, the story ends with two groups. And this is leading us to the end of chapter 6.

As I said, we're now going to move toward the Bread of Life discourse and then into chapter 6 as it draws to its conclusion.

And throughout the rest of this chapter, you're going to have two groups. And this is where I wanted you to think with me for a moment.

You've got this curious crowd who wondered how Jesus made it across the sea. And you've got the astounded disciples who knew that Jesus had come to them on the water.

You've got two groups here. And over the next several verses, the division between these groups is going to grow and grow and grow to the point where one group will depart and one group will stay.

And that will lead us to verse 66 as we get there, where they walk away from Jesus.

So we have here the beginning of the end of many of these people's following of Christ.

They come, how'd you get here? Jesus doesn't answer. He immediately goes into their problem. And then at the end, they are not interested anymore in how he got there.

They don't care anymore. They've heard enough. And enough's enough and they're done. They don't want to hear him anymore.

And that's where we're headed with this crowd that asks these questions. Now, as we close,

I just want to give a few thoughts about application. I want to say sometimes this is the hard part of preaching.

Because it really is the Holy Spirit who applies the text, but it is the role of the preacher, the minister to read the text, explain the text, and give an application.

But the application, number one, is to stand in awe of Christ. When we read about things like feeding 5 ,000 people or seeing him walk upon the water, this is not something that's repeatable.

This is not something that we're all going to experience. As I said, not even all the people in Jesus' time experienced it. It was experienced only by a small crowd.

But here's one thing you can know for certain. It happened. As I read and prepare for things, for sermons,

I often read people I disagree with. And sometimes I'll read progressive scholars, liberal scholars, just to see what kind of nonsense that they can come up with.

And it's legendary. Remember last week when I said the feeding of the 5 ,000? They say Jesus got the people to share with the people who didn't, and that was the miracle.

And some people believe the walking on the water was that Jesus simply walked out about waist deep because they weren't as far away from the shore as they thought.

And so that's all this was. This was Jesus coming out and pulling the boat to shore.

Beloved, this miracle may be understated in Scripture, but it ought not be understated in our mind.

This is a miracle of the Son of God, the God -Man, having control over the elements, and He has never lost control.

He continues, according to the writings of the Apostle Paul, He continues to uphold all things by the word of His power.

Jesus Christ is creator and sustainer of all. He demonstrated it in His life, and He continues now as He is at the right hand of the

Father. But there's also something precious about this text, about the reality of our times of need.

And life has a way of coming up with many storms that we don't see coming, but we know they can come at any time.

Just like those mariners who were on the Sea of Galilee understood that because of the geological position of the

Sea of Galilee, it could at any moment erupt into a storm, we know that at any moment our lives can erupt into a storm.

You know that on your way home today, your life could change in an instant. One trip in a car, one trip to the

ER, one visit to the doctor's office can change your life forever.

And it is in the midst of those terrible seas that we need to be reminded of Christ's presence with us the most.

Beloved, this is the precious nature of the church. Because when we gather together as the body of Christ on the

Lord's Day, we are not just gathering to say hello to one another, encourage one another, pat each other on the back, and send each other out for the week.

But we are being reminded that we are in fact the people of God. That we belong to Him, and He belongs to us.

People ask sometimes, why do you do the Lord's Supper every week? Because we need to be reminded of what

Christ has done every week. Because how easy do we forget it.

How easy do we forget the gospel. And so we come around the table, and just like those men had that bread with them in the boat, we have the bread right here which points to the body of Christ.

We have the cup that points to the blood of Christ. And it reminds us that even in the storms of life,

Christ has not abandoned us. He can see you where you are.

He can come to you when you least expect. And He can be there in ways you can't imagine.

That's what we learn when Christ walks to His apostles on the sea.

If we are His, we are never alone. Let's pray.

Father I thank you for your word. And I thank you for the opportunity to again preach your word.

And I pray Lord that your word has been proclaimed to right. That your people have been edified and encouraged.

And reminded Lord that we are never alone if we are in Christ. And Lord I pray now that as we turn our attention to the participation in the table, as we get to eat of the bread and drink of the cup, and so be reminded of the body and blood of Christ, that we would in this moment

Lord be reminded that we who are Christ will never be forsaken.

For He is ours and we are His. And Lord for those who do not know Christ, Lord may today be the day that they would turn from their sin and trust the

Savior. That they too can know the presence of the Lord. And know that He can do exceedingly and abundantly beyond what we ask or think.