Sermon Tone Analysis

If You Want More Faith in Jesus Christ. . .

The Gospel of Matthew

Matthew 14:22-33

Sermon by Rick Crandall

(Prepared July 13, 2022)

BACKGROUND:

*Would you like to have more faith in Jesus Christ?

-- Sure we would!

Any right-thinking Christian would say "yes" to that question.

And today's Scripture can help us trust in the Lord more than ever, so please open your Bibles to Matthew 14.

*In this chapter, the Holy Spirit led Matthew to report on the brutal murder of John the Baptist.

Verses 13-14 tell us that when Jesus heard about John the Baptist's death, "He departed from there by boat to a deserted place by Himself.

But when the multitudes heard it, they followed Him on foot from the cities.

And when Jesus went out He saw a great multitude; and He was moved with compassion for them, and healed their sick."

*That same evening in vs. 15-21, Jesus fed all of those people, maybe more than 15,000, counting women and children.

And He did that with just 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish!

*Now we will see what happened next.

It was another of the Lord's most famous miracles: The miracle Jesus worked when He walked on the water several miles out into the Sea of Galilee.

God can use this great miracle to help grow our faith today, especially for when we go through hard times in life.

*Let's get started by reading Matthew 14:22-33.

MESSAGE:

*We all want more faith, but sometimes we doubt God.

Why do we do that?

Why do we doubt God? Christians, I am not talking about doubting your salvation, though sometimes believers do doubt their salvation.

In those seasons, go back to the Bible, and start with 1 John 5:11-13.

*There God's Word says: "This is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.

He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.

These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God."

*The Scripture today is focused on something else.

It's focused on us doubting God when unexpected problems hit.

But again, Christians: Why do we doubt God? That's an important question, especially when the question comes from Jesus Himself.

And the Lord's question in vs. 31 can also apply to us: "O you of little faith, why did you doubt?''

Sometimes we don't trust in the Lord as much as we should.

But today's Scripture can help us trust God more than ever.

1. SO FIRST, IF YOU WANT MORE FAITH IN JESUS CHRIST, DON'T BE SURPRISED BY STORMS IN YOUR LIFE.

*In vs. 22, the Lord's disciples were probably not expecting trouble.

That's because "Jesus made His disciples get into the boat and go before Him to the other side."

*Jesus told them to go, and they went, probably expecting smooth sailing.

But as Jesus sent the multitudes away and went up on a mountain to pray, the disciples were running into serious trouble.

In vs. 24, "the boat was now in the middle of the sea, tossed by the waves, for the wind was contrary."

"Tossed by the waves."

That's not talking about some gentle rocking back and forth.

The idea behind the original word is "pain, toil, torment, even torture."

*The disciples were in real trouble out on the Sea of Galilee, and not because they did the wrong thing, but because they did the right thing.

They were in trouble because they had obeyed the Lord, and that can cause us to doubt God.

*Today, many Christians have been influenced by a false prosperity gospel.

There is a feel-good falsehood being taught that Christians should expect nothing but the best from this world, because we are children of the King.

And Christians, we are true children of God!

But in John 16:33 Jesus told His followers, "In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world."

*Job was surely one of the great heroes in the Old Testament.

Job 1:1 tells us that he "was blameless and upright, and one who feared God and shunned evil."

But for a while Job lost almost everything that mattered to him in this world.

*The Apostle Paul was a great hero in the New Testament.

If anybody should have received only good things in life, it would have been Paul.

But listen to his testimony from 2 Corinthians 11:24-28:

24.

From the Jews five times I received forty stripes minus one.

25.

Three times I was beaten with rods; once I was stoned; three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I have been in the deep;

26. in journeys often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of my own countrymen, in perils of the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren;

27. in weariness and toil, in sleeplessness often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness

28.

besides the other things, what comes upon me daily: my deep concern for all the churches.

*There are countless other examples of God's servants facing terrible difficulties in this world.

And though God has blessed us beyond measure, we can't always expect the good life from following the Lord.

We need to keep trusting Jesus, both in the good times and the bad.

We need to keep trusting in Jesus no matter how bad things may get in our lives.

2. AND IF YOU WANT MORE FAITH IN JESUS CHRIST, DON'T BE SURPRISED BY STORMS.

ALSO REMEMBER THAT THE LORD WORKS IN MYSTERIOUS WAYS.

*The Lord doesn't always act according to our expectations.

He is the infinite Almighty God, and He is going to do things that we don't expect or understand.

This is what happened when the disciples were hammered by that wind.

Then they were more terrified when Jesus came to them, walking on the water.

*Verses 25-26 say:

25.

Now in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went to them, walking on the sea.

(John Phillips tells us that the fourth watch of the night was from three o'clock at night until six o'clock in the morning.)

26.

And when the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, "It is a ghost!"

And they cried out for fear.

(1)

*The disciples didn't expect to be blasted by the wind.

And the last thing they expected was to see Jesus walking on the water.

No wonder they were terrified.

But God really does move in mysterious ways.

*The Children of Israel were backed up against the Red Sea, with the Egyptian army bearing down on them.

Bloody slaughter seemed inevitable.

But God did the unexpected.

In Exodus 14:13-22,

13. . .

Moses said to the (terrified) people, "Do not be afraid.

Stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD, which He will accomplish for you today.

For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall see again no more forever.

14.

The LORD will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace.''

15.

And the LORD said to Moses, "Why do you cry to Me? Tell the children of Israel to go forward.

16.

But lift up your rod, and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it.

And the children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea.

17.

And I indeed will harden the hearts of the Egyptians, and they shall follow them.

So I will gain honor over Pharaoh and over all his army, his chariots, and his horsemen.

18.

Then the Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD, when I have gained honor for Myself over Pharaoh, his chariots, and his horsemen.''

19.

And the Angel of God, who went before the camp of Israel, moved and went behind them; and the pillar of cloud went from before them and stood behind them.

20.

So it came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel.

Thus it was a cloud and darkness to the one, and it gave light by night to the other, so that the one did not come near the other all that night.

21.

Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the LORD caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea into dry land, and the waters were divided.

22.

So the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea on the dry ground, and the waters were a wall to them on their right hand and on their left.

*Church: The Lord parted the waters of the Red Sea with less effort than it takes for us to let the water out of our sinks.

*About 1,400 years later, Israel was under the thumb of the Roman Empire.