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Welcome, as usual, to Apsley, where we continue tonight our study of the gospel by Matthew. By the generosity of the leaders of this church and by your endless suffering, uh, I am asked to, uh, take tonight and three following nights, God willing, uh, to expound as best I can some of the basic ideas that lie in the narrative sections of this gospel. Some months ago, I attempted to suggest that the narratives that begin in chapter eight concentrate on the authority of our Lord and his teaching, and therefore talk about discipleship. Because discipleship, the word disciple means a learner, and therefore if you have the Lord as teacher, and he's not talking into thin air, he ex- is expecting to make learners of his people. And so the two things come together in the narrative section that comes through chapter eight and nine. Then on a subsequent occasion, we looked at the narrative that begins in chapter eleven. There I suggested that Matthew deals with what is technically called the problem of evil. He expresses it through the question that John sent to our blessed Lord when John was in prison and soon to be beheaded. Asking if our Lord was the one that should come, or were they to look for another. Our Lord comforted John with the remark, blessed is the one who doesn't stumble in me. John at least was stumbled, understandably. He wasn't rejoicing at the prospect of feeling the steel of Herod's sword removing his head. And if Jesus was the Messiah, why then didn't Jesus put down evil, as the Old Testament, as the Messiah prophesied of in the Old Testament was promised to do? And our Lord answered John and then proceeded to point out, particularly in the parables that follow the narrative, that at his first coming, he was not coming to put down evil. That must await his second coming and the end of the age. At his first coming, he'd come to fulfill the prophecies of the Old Testament that talked of Messiah liberating the captive, giving sight to the blind, healing the lame, and so forth. That he had done in abundance and sent the John's messengers back to remind John that our blessed Lord himself was fulfilling the prophecies of the Old Testament, not all at once, but some at his first coming. He would fulfill the others at his second. And now we reach another narrative section that begins in chapter thirteen and verse, uh, three. Let's read the short paragraph. And it and it came to pass, when Jesus had finished these parables, he departed thence. And coming into his own country, he taught them in their synagogue, insomuch that they were astonished and said, whence has this man this wisdom and these mighty works? Is not this the carpenter's son? Is not his mother called Mary, and his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas? And his sisters, are they not all with us? Whence then has this man all these things? And they were offended in him. But Jesus said unto them, A prophet is not without honor, save in his own country and in his own house. And he did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief. And it seems to me that in citing the reaction of the people of his own country, John is setting, uh, Matthew is setting what is to be a major topic, not the only topic, but a dominant topic in the following chapters. Look at verse fifty five again. Is not this the carpenter's son? One of the dominant themes in this part of Matthew is going to be whose son is he? In other words, that our Lord was the son of God. It is a question of our Lord's deity. Now, uh, we are so used to it, of course, to the believing as Christians that Jesus is the Son of God. We don't always realize or, or take the pains to remember that this is one of the crucial things, not only with Christianity and Judaism, but Christianity and Islam. We stand for the deity of the Lord Jesus. Let's notice it then, how it is mentioned in the next few chapters of the narrative. Chapter fourteen, for instance, verses twenty eight following. And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee upon the waters. And he said, come. And Peter went down from the boat and walked upon the waters to come to Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink, he cried out, saying, Lord, save me. And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand and took hold of him and says to him, O thou of little faith, why did you dither? Why did you doubt? And when they were gone up into the boat, the wind ceased, and they that were in the boat worshipped him, saying, of a truth, thou art the Son of God. Only Matthew has that at this point. Only Matthew has that story of Peter walking on the water. Only Matthew, therefore, has the conclusion when those in the boat confessed him as the Son of God. Let's look at chapter sixteen, verse thirteen. Now, when Jesus came into the parts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Who do men say that the Son of Man is? And they said, Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets. He saith unto them, But who say you that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona, for flesh and blood has not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. And I say unto thee also that thou art Peter. Upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. Second mention of Christ's deity. Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. Let's look on to chapter seventeen, verse four. This is the account of the Transfiguration. And Peter answered and said unto Jesus, Lord, it is good for us to be here. If thou wilt, I will make here three tabernacles, one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah. While he was yet speaking, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and behold, a voice out of the cloud saying, this is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear you him. The third reference in these few chapters to the deity, the sonship of our Lord Jesus. Finally, for the moment, let us look further down that chapter to verse twenty four. And when they came to Capernaum, they that received the half shekel came to Peter and said, does not your master pay the half shekel? Now there is dispute about what tax this was, but I join those who humbly declare it was the temple tax, somewhat altered from the days of Moses, but was the temple tax, which accounts for what our Lord now says. Well, when they asked Peter, does not your master pay the half shekel? He says, yes. And when he came into the house, Jesus spoke first to him, saying, what do you think, Simon? The kings of the earth, from whom do they receive toll or tribute? From their sons or from strangers? And when he said, from strangers, that's Peter, Jesus said to him, therefore the sons are free. Of course, Peter had confessed that Jesus was the Son of God. But you know, we're not always consistent, are we? Our beliefs could be this, but sometimes our thinking is that. Yes? And Peter hadn't quite worked it out yet, had he? So when they came from the temple and said, doesn't your master pay tax to the temple? Peter said, yes, of course he pays tax. But our Lord, um, worked out the implications for him. The kings of the earth, from whom do they, uh, take tax? Their sons or strangers? And Peter said, well, from strangers, of course. Ah, said Christ, then the sons are free. Marvelous, isn't it? Fancy coming to the Son of God and ask him to pay taxes for his father's house. Odd, isn't it? Of course, our Lord then did a miracle and, uh, paid not only for himself and for Peter as well. But first the protest. Lest his paying of that tax should be misunderstood. He was the son of the God whose temple it was. So I'm going to suggest that in the narrative section, this narrative section of Gos- Matthew's gospel, we are being, uh, introduced, uh, to the deity of the Lord Jesus. It raises a practical point, doesn't it? Why should we bother about the deity of the Lord Jesus? What difference does it really make? Now I'm going to ask, uh, Matthew's permission just to inset here, uh, a a a word or two from the Apostle John. Uh, One John, if you care to turn to it, One John and chapter five. One John chapter five. One John chapter five. And beginning to read in verse five, And who is he that overcomes the world, save he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God. Why is it important, practically important, spiritually important, that I should believe with firm, unwavering faith in the deity of the Lord Jesus. Well, says John, if you would overcome the world, then the secret of overcoming the world is this. Who is he that overcomes the world, except the one who, who, who what? You say, well, except the one who believes his sins are forgiven, that's what, what it is. If you believe your sins are forgiven, you'll overcome the world. Well, yeah, well, perhaps you might. But you see, if Jesus isn't the Son of God, I have to tell you, your sins aren't forgiven anyway. Do you see? Are they? Why do you believe that Jesus is the Son of God? Oh, I wish I had the chance. I mustn't be so impertinent. I'd love to come round and give you all one chance to say one reason why you believe that Jesus is the Son of God. What would you say? Why do you believe, you sir and you ma'am, um, that Jesus is the Son of God? Why do you believe that? You say, well, my mum told me he was. That's a very good reason for believing it. Dear old mum. Mightn't in the end prove enough when the world starts putting the pressure on. Why do you believe he's the Son of God? When some years ago I first noticed it as a younger man, I decided to tuck up under my cap every little bit of evidence I could find that Jesus is the Son of God. You see, if he isn't the Son of God, you would be a fool to sacrifice anything for him. You would indeed. If he is the Son of God, you would be a fool not to suffer for him. And the word in the world looms large, in that biblical sense of the term, and puts its pressure on. Then we shall need to be able to grasp good reasons for believing that Jesus is the Son of God. John immediately gives us some of the evidence. This is he that came by water and by blood, even Jesus Christ, not with the water only, but with the water and with the blood. What evidence is that for his deity? Well, you say that's important. He came by water. Yes, uh, uh, yes, uh, John's own gospel tells us that there was an official authorized precursor come in advance to herald the coming of God's dear Son. That was, of course, John the Baptist. And John the Baptist baptized him, did he not? And said, this is the sign. He who sent me to baptize said to me, upon whomsoever thou shalt see the Holy Spirit descending in form as a dove and, and staying on him, this is he that baptizeth with the Holy Spirit. Ahem. And I saw, says John, and I bear record. I saw the Spirit come, and it abode on him. This is he that baptizes with the Holy Spirit. And if the Holy Spirit is God, the Spirit of God, who then is Jesus, who on the day of Pentecost poured out the Holy Spirit. And then, of course, he came by blood. You say, well, that must mean he went by blood, surely. He died on the cross. Well, that is perfectly true. But he came by blood. You see, when John, uh, uh, baptized, he called the crowd's attention. Behold, says he, the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. He came publicly introduced at the beginning of his ministry by the official forerunner. He had come to die. On purpose to die. He taught a lot of things, but the purpose of his coming was to die for our sins. Muhammad didn't come to die for anybody's sins, did he? No, he did not. And the Buddha didn't come to die for anybody's sins. Find somebody in the whole history of mankind who will come alongside you and say, I love you with the creator's love, and I came to die for you. Therein is our Lord unique, of course. So then it is of great practical importance, as well as spiritual importance, that we bel- uh, leave in the deity of the Lord Jesus. Now I want you to notice another thing in these chapters, uh, beginning at chapter, uh, thirteen, and that is the many times that Matthew mentions Peter. Mm-hmm. So let us look back again at chapter fourteen, the story of our Lord walking on the water. And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee upon the water. Only Matthew has this story. But it was Peter, not any of the others, that sought permission of the Lord and his invitation to come and walk upon the water, as a result of which the rest of them in the boat perceived that Jesus was the Son of God. Turn over, if you will, to chapter fifteen And verse fifteen. And Peter answered and said unto him, Declare unto us this parable. Notice it was Peter that asked in the name of the others. Chapter sixteen, verse sixteen, and Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And then verse seventeen, and Jesus answered and said unto him, blessed art thou, Simon Barjona, for flesh and blood hath not revealed it to, uh, to you, but my Father which is in heaven. And I say unto thee that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church. Look over again at chapter seventeen and verse four. It was Peter who woke up from his sleep and said, uh, with the, uh, and made the suggestion, Lord, it is good for us to be here. If you will, we'll make three tabernacles, one for you, one for Moses, one for Elijah. And a suggestion put aside by the voice from the cloud. And then, as we've noticed in verse twenty four of chapter seventeen, and when they were come to Capernaum, they that received the half shekel came to Peter. Why all this emphasis on Peter? Well, you may probably have all sorts of answers to that as good Irish men and Irish women, Julie, but it is important because he was the one who, on behalf of the others, voiced the first one as we, uh, or as we are given to understand, voiced, thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. Now, this is a very interesting historical thing. Do you allow yourselves, I hope you do, before you go to bed at night or on some Friday afternoons or maybe Monday mornings early, I don't know when, to try and visualize the actual history and the historical narrative and see it going on in your mind. It's not a bad thing to do. Now, here's Peter, do you see? How did he come to believe that Jesus was the Son of God? This is a historical question, isn't it? Uh, Cleve is good. Pardon? The Father revealed it to him. Yes, the Father revealed it to him. Marvelous, that is the glorious fact. The Father revealed it to him. But let me just add a question to that. How did the Father reveal it to him? Was Peter in his bed one day, and he woke up in the first of the morning, and the Father graciously said to Peter, Peter, and he said here, my lord, and he said, you know, Peter, Jesus is my son. Um, and Peter, of course, said, well, if you say so, lord, I, I believe it at once. Jesus is, is your son, but do tell me, who is this Jesus that you're talking about? Wasn't like that, was it? It was perhaps after a year and a half of meeting the Savior and carrying him in his boat, and then preaching for him, out with the rest that were sent out on their evangelistic mission throughout Canaan. It was Peter that had the experience of the wonderful draft of fish in his boat, Luke chapter five. It was as Peter experienced the evidence that then the Father was able to show Peter, Peter, do you realize what this evidence implies. The Father revealed it to him. We're not the first ones that came to believe that, uh, uh, uh, that Jesus is the Son of God. We belong to a long, long tradition. It's a very interesting thing to ask, how did the first people, the first people that believed that Jesus was the Son of God, how did they come to it? What evidence did they have? That is what we're going to try and think about tonight, and God willing, in the nights that are to follow. Do see, we shall be talking about the deity of Christ and how people came to discover it. But first of all, we start with the questions of his contemporaries, uh, in Nazareth, you see. He came to his own country, and they were astonished, and they said, and two things they ma- remarked, whence has this man this wisdom? And these mighty works. Two pieces of evidence had begun to strike them. Whence has this man this wisdom that is in his teaching? Is Christ's teaching part of the evidence for his deity? Or do you have to first believe his deity before you take any notice of his teaching? John chapter seven tells us that when he went up to the Feast of Tabernacles, he didn't go up with the crowd because he told his brothers that the Jews down in Jerusalem hated him and were keen to kill him. So he didn't go with the rest of the pilgrims. When the pilgrims had gone up to Jerusalem, then he went up, but not openly and publicly, he went up in secret. And of course, there were thousands and thousands of people in Jerusalem at the time of the Feast of Tabernacles, come from all around the Roman Empire, as well as the locals. So he wouldn't be noticed much among the others, do you see? And a lot of them had never met him before, wouldn't know who he was. And when it was halfway through the feast, he went up into the temple and he taught them. And they were astonished at his teaching, and they said, how does this man know letters, never having learned, never having been to a rabbinical school, because he didn't talk like the rabbis. You can tell people have been to Bible schools, sometimes you can, by the language they used, you see. Uh, uh, but uh, uh, this, the Lord Jesus hadn't been to the rabbinical schools, and so they realized he'd never been on a course. Where did he get his wisdom from? That is a thing to be talked of, you know. Some great wise man said, you know, if, if Jesus isn't the Son of God and there's nothing in the story, then we ought to bow down and worship the men that wrote the Gospels. It was Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John that invented the stories that our Lord told. Marvelous stories, weren't they? The prodigal son story, for instance. And uh, many of the other stories. If it was Matthew, Mark, and Luke, and John that invented the stories, then perhaps we ought to bow down and worship them. The teaching of Christ, and then his moral teachings, the Sermon on the Mount, do you see, and so forth. Oh, let us be impressed by the uniqueness of our Lord's teaching. His compatriots, his, his, his family and the people of Nazareth have couldn't work it out, of course, because they said this, well, he's the carpenter's son, isn't he? Well, he was in one sense, he was. In the legal sense, he was the carpenter's son. Though the carpenter wasn't his father, was he? But he was the son of Mary, and therefore the sisters and the half-brothers and the half-sisters were there. But if that's all he was, you have a problem. How to account for his teaching, and uh, how to account for his miracles, his signs. And they weren't just works of power, were they? Every sign he did was a message in itself. But if you're going to, uh, say he's just the carpenter's son, there remains these two great bits of evidence. And of course, the chiefest bit of the evidence will be this: he said he was the Son of God. C. S. Lewis used to stress it, didn't he? And rightly so. By common consent, even of atheists, Jesus' teaching of the Sermon on the Mount ranks him as among the moral leaders of the world that ever have been or shall be. If he claimed to be the son of God, and of this you may be sure, he was not telling any lie. If he was telling a lie, then his moral teaching of the Sermon on the Mount is a lot of hypocrisy. Throw it out of the window. You face a problem. He claimed to be the Son of God. And as C. S. Lewis would have said, he was either a raving lunatic, like the man who in the mental asylum thinks he's Napoleon the Great or something, or he was a deliberate deceiver. The evidence then, we're beginning to think of the evidence that Jesus is the Son of God. And then there's the first big story in chapter fourteen of a party that took place in the palace of Herod the Tetrarch. Now, Herod the Tetrarch had executed John the Baptist at some time before the events of chapter fourteen. But at that season, which we're now talking chapter fourteen, Herod the Tetrarch heard the report concerning Jesus. And that set him thinking. He said to his servants, this is John Baptist. He's risen from the dead. Therefore, these powers work in him. Ungodly man was Herod the Tetrarch. But when he heard of Jesus, he got the impression that this must be a voice from beyond. This is John the Baptist, said he, whom he had executed. Come back from the dead. That's an interesting thing, you know, about Christ. He makes people think of what lies beyond life. Witness even Master Dawkins. He gets far too much publicity, but la- allow me one more. With his advertisement on the London buses. Probably there's no God, so don't worry, enjoy yourself. He let the cat out of the bag there, didn't he? Enjoy yourself? Why would you think that believing there's a God would stop you enjoying yourself? Well, because for multitudes of people, if there's a God and there is a beyond, they have a bad conscience. If we're going to say that morality means that much, so that even when you're dead, it doesn't- isn't done for, and you will be raised again to face your life and your misdeeds. Well, for many people, that is a horrible thought. They wouldn't, couldn't enjoy themselves if there's a God like that. So probably there isn't a God, says Dawkins. So don't worry, go and enjoy yourself. But, well, Herod made great attempts, as we shall see, to enjoy himself. But hearing of Jesus made him think that this must be John the Baptist, risen again from the dead. A voice from beyond. Christ has that effect on people, you know. And why particularly upon Herod? Because Herod had a very bad conscience. The woman he was living with was his brother's wife. And, uh, now she was living with Herod. And this was public knowledge. And John the Baptist had rebuked Herod for it. And this woman, she's called Herodias, didn't like it. Ha. She didn't like John the Baptist, she certainly didn't, you see, and egged on Herod to get rid of him. And that put Herod in a difficult position because actually all the people held that John was a prophet. Mm-hmm. And Herod couldn't afford to execute him. He'd have a riot on his hand by the people who felt he, John the Baptist was a prophet and really believed it. And then anyway, Herod liked listening to John. And, uh, so Mark tells us he used to seek him out even when John was in prison, you see, and let John talk to him. Some people do enjoy having their consciences raked over, you know. They're not intending to get converted, but... So Herod used to go and visit John, and even when he was in prison, and listen to him gladly. So he thought to solve his problem, you see. He would put John in prison, that would satisfy his wife. You see. He wouldn't execute him, that would please the people. So he'd solved the problem by this compromise, do you see? Shouting up John in prison. He reckoned without Herodias. There came Herod's birthday. Oh, it was going to be some birthday feast, this was. If you were going to be present, pray bring the best gold you could for a present to the lad, do you see? Oh, there were all these ministers of state and all the rest of it there, do you see? And uh, uh, it was some do this birthday feast. And Herodias sent in her daughter Salome to dance. I leave you to imagine what kind of a dance it was. And Herod, by this time, I dare say, was a little bit tipsy. His guests probably likewise. And carried away by the dance, he swore an oath that he would give her up to the half of his kingdom. He must have been tipsy. What an absurdity. Half of his kingdom for a lap dancer? And she, not knowing what to ask, went and consulted her ma, and she said, ask for the head of John the Baptist on a big plate. And when Herod heard that, he was distressed, of course, but now highly embarrassed. He didn't like to go back on his oath in front of all his guests. So he gave a commandment to one of the guards, and they cut off his head and brought it in to the palace on a big plate. What a dish to set before a king. You know, the solemn thing about rulers is that they have the power of life and death, you know. There was an earlier Herod in this gospel. And when the wise men came, saying, where is he that is born king of the Jews? Herod called the, uh, experts in the Bible, the Pharisees, and asked, and they said, in Bethlehem of Judea. Do you see? And Herod said to the wise men, well, go and find out exactly where he is, and come and tell me that I may worship him. He wasn't considering worshiping him, as we know from what followed. The wise men didn't come back, warned of an angel, they went back home straight. So Herod used his power of life and death to slaughter about twenty innocent babes, anyone under two years old, in Bethlehem. He would rule for the benefit of his subjects, if he could, but if not, he'd rule anyway. And he, living under a Herod, deliberately massacre infants to keep his power and to stop the Messiah coming. This other Herod, he had the power of life and death. Would you like it if your power of life and death over you were in the hands of Her- Herod, who didn't want to put John to death, but then he got a bit tipsy, and then he was inflamed by this dance, and then he was afraid to go back on his oath before the guests. And felt forced to shed the blood of the greatest of all the prophets. What a thing is sin and its compromise with conscience. And now some, some time later, he hears of Jesus, and brings the whole thing up again, and makes him aware of eternity and the possibility of resurrection, that there will come a judgment day. Day. They were beginning to discover who Jesus was. The next story in chapter fourteen is the story, as you have noticed, of another banquet. Is it not? A wonderfully royal banquet it was, as the crowds came, and they were in a desert place. That doesn't mean it was a, a sandy desert. It means a desolate spot. The grass and whatnot was there, but no people, no houses, no village. It was a, a, a empty countryside. And there he taught the people and then had compassion on them. They'd been there hours without food, and he told the disciples to feed them, and they said, we can't anyway, and we haven't got enough money, and so forth. So our Lord took the bread and the fish, and Matthew tells us vividly, looking up into heaven, he blessed them and brake them and fed the multitude. Lovely picture, isn't it? It literally happened. It was a miracle that Christ on earth, lifting his eyes to heaven, did the miracle of God's provision, miraculously given for this multitude. Mm-hmm. You think that is a, an old yarn? Of course, we don't believe in miracles anymore. You don't? Well, if you don't believe in miracles, stop eating your hovis at, at breakfast time, or whatever it is, your toast. Because actually, there isn't a scientist in the world that can make a kernel of wheat, is there? It remains a miracle still. And Christ performed it. All those hands that brought down the Creator's power from the other world to feed the people in his compassion in the wilderness and becomes what the theologians talk of as a messianic banquet. Read Isaiah and discover how he talks of the times of the Messiah when God will feed his people magnificently. And we say, yes, of course, but we already have experienced it. Bread of heaven. Come down. As John's gospel has it, the bread of come- of God come down from heaven to feed us. Wonderful, isn't it? And not only to feed us, but to be in us. With a guarantee, therefore, that if the very bread, uh, the living bread of heaven is within us, that Christ is within us, we shall never perish. He will raise us up at the last day. The second banquet. How you discover that Jesus is the Christ. The way he has of satisfying not only our ordinary human needs, but satisfying us with the very bread of heaven. And finally, the story, how that after he sent the people away, he went up in a boat, eh, eh, sorry, he went up in a mountain to pray and sent the apostles away. So can you visualize it? They were put in a boat and they were going across the sea, and our Lord was up a mountain and was praying for them. Hmm. Well, that's true still, yes. We're down here anyway, and from time to time tossed with the waves and the wind as contrary. But our Lord has gone above, has he not? At the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us. So here were the disciples struggling, uh, do you see, uh, with the wind and the wave and the tempest that kind of rise on the Lake of Galilee. When they see Jesus coming to them. Walking. On the water. And at first they cried out, thinking it was a ghost or something, a phantasma, a ghost. You know, I d- I don't know th- anything about ghosts. I don't know if you've ever seen one. I have never seen a ghost, but I think they're pretty insubstantial somehow or other. And you can imagine a ghost walking on water, can't you? I mean, no weight in them, I think. You can almost see through them, but they thought it was a ghost. But no, uh, uh, the voice said, uh, don't be afraid, it is I, don't be afraid. And Peter, and Matthew is the only one that tells us this bit, Peter said, well, Lord, if it's you, bid me come to you on the water. Now, I don't know what kind of a logic Peter was using, do you? I try to think it through sometimes. I don't get anywhere. Lord, if it is you, you the Son of God walking on the water, bid me to do like you're doing. Well, odd, isn't it? Well, Peter perhaps hadn't walked, uh, woken up to the fact he was the Son of God at the moment. But if it's really you and Peter knew him to be a solid man and rode with him in the boat. He was solid enough, real. And yet he was walking on the water. So he said, well, if it's really you, Lord, bid me to come to you on the water. And the Lord said, come, Peter, come. So when Peter stepped out of the boat, it wasn't sheer foolhardiness, nonsense. He had the Lord's invitation to come, and indeed command to come. I would have hold onto that boat a long while, don't you? I would have put one foot down and said, well, how solid is this after all? It would have been a long time leaving go of that boat. But Peter obviously left go of it and began to go, do you see? But then he saw the wind, and I don't know how he managed to see that anyway. But must have... he he perhaps saw the effect of the wind and the waves roaring, got his eyes off the Lord, as preachers have said, and began to sink. It's very interesting what the Lord did next. Do you see? He didn't say next, oh, thou of little faith, why did you dither? No, no. When Peter began to sink, he cried out at once, Lord, save me. And the Lord immediately put out his hand, uh, grasped Peter and stood him up on the water, do you see? Then he preached him his little sermon. It's a good example to follow when people are in distress. Not first the sermon, but the hand to uphold them. Yes. O thou of little faith, why did you... It means to fear in the sense of hesitate, to dither. Do you see? Why? Well, I thought it was obvious. Wind and wave. Now, you know, very often the preachers use this story as a parable, and it's good to use it as a parable, that sometimes, as we go through life, we, we experience the storms of life. Persecution maybe, or bereavement, or opposition and difficulties, do you see? And our Lord, we're told, can deal with them, and certainly he can, and maintain us through them. But perhaps we ought to start with the literal thing. This was literal sea. And it was sizably deep. And it was a literal wind. And we're not made for walking on water, are we? Not in our present situation. But Peter was beginning to learn who Christ was. Perhaps as yet the Father hadn't revealed everything to him, but look at this. Jesus was Lord of the physical powers of the universe. Now, if you're ever going to be a missionary, you should get hold of this. Whatever other storms may come. If you find yourself in countries where nature itself is hostile, you'll need to put faith in a God who can control the physical powers of the universe. Look at Paul, in his trip across the, uh, uh, uh, the Mediterranean, on his way to Rome to stand before Nero, and they had encountered a storm at sea, so that for two weeks they didn't know where they were. They had no compass, of course, in those days. They went by the stars, and then they went as far as they could, uh, close to the land so they could see the land, but the storm had obliterated it all. They hadn't a ghost of a notion where they were, and most of them were fasting, and in any moment it seemed they were going to be going down to the bottom. They'd need to have our faith, wouldn't they, in a God who controls the physical powers of the universe. And that is true of our Lord. I want to read you a passage written by, uh, uh, this same Paul, you know, and it's the famous verses in the end of Romans chapter eight. For verse thirty eight, for I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, now listen, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Notice Paul's description of the universe. Neither height nor depth nor any other created thing. Marvelous, isn't it? Because I don't know whether it often occurs to you that you're on a very big journey. You're on a kind of a boat. They call it planet Earth. Do you know what? You're never in the same place twice, are you? Because once in twenty four hours, our world revolves, yes? That's a long way. You fancy you haven't traveled those thousands of miles since yesterday. Through space. You say, what do we, what do you mean by space? That's rather insubstantial, isn't it? Yeah, that's very insubstantial. See? Mm-hmm. But that's how where we are on this earth going around. How about we're not just going around, revolving around once in twenty four hours. In a year, we are going around, but we're going around the sun, aren't we? That's an enormous way to travel. The trouble is the sun isn't itself still. The sun is on the move. Isn't it now? So here we are on our little planet Earth, and we're corkscrewing throughout space, following the sun. And the sun's on the move. You say, where on earth is the sun going to? Well, it looks to be going towards what they call the Great Attractor at the center of our galaxy. Oh, I see. Well, if it ever got there, you say we'd be, we'd be still at last. No, you wouldn't, because the galaxy is on the move. And if you like to see these things, the next time you get a nice clear night and it's the right time of the year, look up in the great square of Pegasus, and you'll see some people that have got good natural sight can see what looks like a bit of fluffy cotton wool. It is a gigantic galaxy. It's our nearest big galaxy. It's called Andromeda. Billions and billions of stars in it. It's on the move, and it's coming in our direction. Well, Don't often often necessarily think how great God is, do we? And what a tremendous adventure life is on this little planet. I've known believers that have said, don't say anything more about that, you frighten me stiff talking about things like that. Uh, I see, I'm sorry about that if I frightened you stiff, Josie. You're safe enough. Our blessed Lord, the very one who died for you, is in control of it. Which enables his servant Paul to say, neither powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing can separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus, our Lord. And when they got back in the boat, the rest of the disciples in the boat bowed down and confessed that Jesus is the Son of God. Wonderful, isn't it? God grant us too to know it not merely as a theological doctrine, but as life goes on, to experience it through faith in him, come wind or foul weather or sunny days, a great adventure of life on earth, in this great heavens, in this great universe, that we might come to know who Jesus Christ really is. Shall we pray? Now, Lord, having read thy word, we hasten to bow down at thy feet and confess with Peter and with all the believers of many centuries long, thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. Show us, Lord, ever more increasingly thy glory and thy majesty and the wonder of thy purpose. That the more thus we understand thee, the more we shall be, uh, impressed that it was the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. At the mention of thy name, therefore, blessed Lord Jesus, our knees not only bow, but our tongues confess thee that Jesus is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Just send thy word to us, we pray, as we thank thee for the refreshments that now we shall enjoy for thy name's sake. Amen.