Jesus Is Lord!
The Gospel of John
John 6:14-21; Matthew 14:22-33
Sermon by Rick Crandall
Grayson Baptist Church - October 5, 2016
(Revised August 9, 2019)
BACKGROUND:
*Please open your Bibles to John 6, as we focus on the lordship of Jesus Christ. Remember that at the beginning of this chapter, Jesus worked one of His most astounding miracles: The feeding of the five thousand.
*A great multitude had followed the Lord out to the countryside, because they knew Jesus had been miraculously healing people. Matthew 14:13 tells us that after Jesus heard about the death of John the Baptist, "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." John Phillips noted that the Lord probably set sail from Capernaum. (1).
*And Matthew 14:14-17 says:
14. . . when Jesus went out He saw a great multitude; and He was moved with compassion for them, and healed their sick.
15. When it was evening, His disciples came to Him, saying, "This is a deserted place, and the hour is already late. Send the multitudes away, that they may go into the villages and buy themselves food.''
16. But Jesus said to them, "They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat.''
17. And they said to Him, "We have here only five loaves and two fish.''
*Those people had been in such a hurry to catch up with Jesus they did not stop to take food. The only food they could find in that huge crowd was a little boy's lunch. Jesus then miraculously multiplied the five loaves and two small fish to feed the 5,000 men there, plus thousands more women and children! Everybody ate as much as they wanted, and here in John 6:13, they filled twelve baskets with the leftovers!
*Tonight's Scripture takes place immediately after that incredible miracle. Let's read vs. 14-21 to see what happened next. And as we read, please think about the lordship of Jesus Christ.
MESSAGE:
*There is nothing the world needs more right now than for people to recognize the lordship of Jesus Christ. And when we look into God's Word, nothing stands out more than His lordship. For example, we get a glimpse of the lordship of Christ in a prophecy from Isaiah, written 700 years before Jesus was born.
*Isaiah 9:6-7 says:
6. For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
7. Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end, upon the throne of David and over His kingdom, to order it and establish it with judgment and justice from that time forward, even forever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.
*Philippians 2:5-11 also strongly stresses the lordship of Jesus. There Paul was speaking to Christians and said:
5. Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus,
6. who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God,
7. but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a servant, and coming in the likeness of men.
8. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.
9. Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name,
10. that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth,
11. and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
*Jesus Christ is Lord of all! But is He your Lord tonight? And Christians: Are you living like Jesus is the Lord of your life? We need to realize more and more that Jesus is not just our Savior. He is our Lord!
1. SO NOTICE FIRST THAT JESUS IS THE LORD OF HIS CROWN.
*This is one of God's lessons for us in vs. 14-15, where John wrote:
14. Then those men, when they had seen the sign that Jesus did, said, "This is truly the Prophet who is to come into the world.''
15. Therefore when Jesus perceived that they were about to come and take Him by force to make Him king, He departed again to a mountain by Himself alone.
*After those men saw the miraculous feeding, they rightly concluded that Jesus was the Prophet that Moses had foretold 1,400 years earlier. Deuteronomy 18:15-19 records this prophecy that God gave to Moses:
15. "The LORD your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your midst, from your brethren. Him you shall hear,
16. according to all you desired of the LORD your God in Horeb in the day of the assembly, saying, 'Let me not hear again the voice of the LORD my God, nor let me see this great fire anymore, lest I die.'
17. And the LORD said to me: 'What they have spoken is good.
18. I will raise up for them a Prophet like you from among their brethren, and will put My words in His mouth, and He shall speak to them all that I command Him.
19. And it shall be that whoever will not hear My words, which He speaks in My name, I will require it of him.'"
*You see, the first time the LORD delivered the Ten Commandments to His people, He spoke the words from the top of Mount Sinai.
*Exodus 19:16-25 gives us the scene:
16. Then it came to pass on the third day, in the morning, that there were thunderings and lightnings, and a thick cloud on the mountain; and the sound of the trumpet was very loud, so that all the people who were in the camp trembled.
17. And Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet with God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain.
18. Now Mount Sinai was completely in smoke, because the LORD descended upon it in fire. Its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked greatly.
19. And when the blast of the trumpet sounded long and became louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God answered him by voice.
20. Then the LORD came down upon Mount Sinai, on the top of the mountain. And the LORD called Moses to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up.
21. And the LORD said to Moses, "Go down and warn the people, lest they break through to gaze at the LORD, and many of them perish.
22. Also let the priests who come near the LORD consecrate themselves, lest the LORD break out against them.''
23. And Moses said to the LORD, "The people cannot come up to Mount Sinai; for You warned us, saying, 'Set bounds around the mountain and consecrate it.'''
24. Then the LORD said to him, "Away! Get down and then come up, you and Aaron with you. But do not let the priests and the people break through to come up to the LORD, lest He break out against them.''
25. So Moses went down to the people and spoke to them.
*Then in Exodus 20:1-17, God literally spoke the Ten Commandments from the top of the mountain.
*But the people were so terrified that Exodus 20:18-23 says:
18. Now all the people witnessed the thunderings, the lightning flashes, the sound of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking; and when the people saw it, they trembled and stood afar off.
19. Then they said to Moses, "You speak with us, and we will hear; but let not God speak with us, lest we die.''
20. And Moses said to the people, "Do not fear; for God has come to test you, and that His fear may be before you, so that you may not sin.''
21. So the people stood afar off, but Moses drew near the thick darkness where God was.
22. Then the Lord said to Moses, "Thus you shall say to the children of Israel: 'You have seen that I have talked with you from heaven.
23. You shall not make anything to be with Me gods of silver or gods of gold you shall not make for yourselves.'"
*That's why in Deuteronomy 18:15-19, again Moses said:
15. "The LORD your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your midst, from your brethren. Him you shall hear,
16. according to all you desired of the LORD your God in Horeb in the day of the assembly, saying, 'Let me not hear again the voice of the LORD my God, nor let me see this great fire anymore, lest I die.'
17. And the LORD said to me: 'What they have spoken is good.
18. I will raise up for them a Prophet like you from among their brethren, and will put My words in His mouth, and He shall speak to them all that I command Him.
19. And it shall be that whoever will not hear My words, which He speaks in My name, I will require it of him.'"
*In other words, God told His people, "Alright, you don't want me to speak directly to you. I won't, at least for a while. For the time being I will speak to you through earthly prophets. And I will not speak directly to you again until I send the heavenly Prophet. God was talking about the Christ, the Messiah, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!
*So, after the men in vs. 14 saw the miraculous feeding, they rightly concluded that Jesus was the Prophet that Moses had foretold. And in vs. 15, those men thought they had a great idea: "Hey! Jesus is the greatest miracle worker who has ever come into the world! He is the Prophet promised to us by Moses! Let's grab Him and make Him King!"
*It sounded like a great idea, and a lot of mere men would have jumped right on board, but Jesus would have no part of it. That's why in vs. 15, "He departed again to a mountain by Himself alone."
[1] WHY DID JESUS DO THAT? ONE REASON WHY IS BECAUSE HE KNEW OUR SINFULNESS.
*The Apostle John already gave us this truth. John 2:23-25 says this about Jesus:
23. Now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name when they saw the signs which He did.
24. But Jesus did not commit Himself to them, because He knew all men,
25. and had no need that anyone should testify of man, for He knew what was in man.
[2] WHY WOULDN'T JESUS LET THEM MAKE HIM KING? HE KNEW ABOUT OUR SINFULNESS. HE ALSO KNEW ABOUT OUR SELFISHNESS.
*Jesus proved this the next day on the other side of the lake. In vs. 25-26, God's Word says:
25. And when they found Him on the other side of the sea, they said to Him, "Rabbi, when did You come here?''
26. Jesus answered them and said, "Most assuredly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw the signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled."
*Those men didn't care about Christ's lordship. They cared about their lunch!
[3] JESUS KNEW ABOUT OUR SELFISHNESS. HE ALSO KNEW ABOUT HIS SACRIFICE.
*The Lord always knew about the sacrifice He would make for us on the cross. We see this truth down in vs. 37-40, where Jesus said:
37. "All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out.
38. For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.
39. This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day.
40. And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day.''
*Jesus said, "I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me." That reminds us of the Garden of Gethsemane, where Jesus prayed: "O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will.'' (Matthew 26:39) And it was the Father's will for His Son to die on the cross for us.
*It's interesting to notice what happened in vs. 15: When the crowd came to take Jesus by force, He went to the mountain alone. Jesus went to the mountain alone, and He went to the cross alone. Jesus Christ went to the cross alone, because He was the only one who could die on that cross for our sins, and because that was the only way we could be saved.
*There was absolutely no other way for us to have a place in God's Kingdom. And that's why for Jesus, the only way to the crown was by the way of the cross.
*But have you made Jesus your King? Everyone needs to open their heart to receive Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.
2. HE IS LORD OF HIS CROWN. HE ALSO WANTS TO BE OUR LORD THROUGH EVERY CRISIS IN LIFE.
*In vs. 16-18, a terrible crisis overwhelmed the Lord's disciples. Jesus was on the mountain alone:
16. And when evening came, His disciples went down to the sea,
17. got into the boat, and went over the sea toward Capernaum. And it was now dark, and Jesus had not come to them.
18. Then the sea arose because a great wind was blowing.
*The disciples went down to the sea, and wound up in a terrible storm. Matthew 14:21-24 tells us more:
21. Now those who had eaten were about five thousand men, besides women and children.
22. Immediately Jesus made His disciples get into the boat and go before Him to the other side, while He sent the multitudes away.
23. And when He had sent the multitudes away, He went up on a mountain by Himself to pray. And when evening had come, He was alone there.
24. But the boat was now in the middle of the sea, tossed by the waves, for the wind was contrary.
*After Jesus went up on a mountain to pray, the disciples ran into trouble. In vs. 24, "the boat was now in the middle of the sea, tossed by the waves, for the wind was contrary."
*They were "tossed by the waves." That's not talking about some gentle rocking back and forth. The idea behind the original word for "tossed" is "pain, toil, torment, even torture."
*It's the same word translated as "toiling" or "straining" in Mark 6:48. "Then He (Jesus) saw them STRAINING at rowing, for the wind was against them. And about the fourth watch of the night He came to them, walking on the sea, and would have passed them by.
*This original word is found 12 times in the New Testament, and 8 of those times it is translated as "torment." For example, in Matthew 8: 6, a Roman centurion said this to Jesus: "Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, dreadfully TORMENTED.'' In Matthew 8:29, a whole legion of demons cried out to Jesus and said, "What have we to do with You, Jesus, You Son of God? Have You come here to TORMENT us before the time?''
*The disciples were in real trouble out on the Sea of Galilee. Suddenly, after all of the wonderful miracles, they were in a terrible crisis. And just like us, they must have been wondering why. This truth reminds is that sometimes the Lord leads us in mysterious ways.
[1] THIS CAN BE TRUE WHEN WE HAVE OBEYED THE LORD.
*Here they were in the crisis, not because they disobeyed the Lord, but because they were doing what Jesus told them to do. Matthew 14:22 tells us that "Jesus made His disciples get into the boat and go before Him to the other side." Maybe that was because the Lord didn't want the mob to grab the disciples when Jesus made His way up the mountain alone. But they probably didn't know that.
*Jesus told them to go, and they went, probably expecting smooth sailing. And when we obey Jesus, we want everything to work out smoothly. But here the only reason why they were in the storm was because they obeyed Jesus!
*Sometimes Jesus leads us in mysterious ways. A preacher named Samuel Brengle found this out years ago. One time a man tried to kill Bro. Brengle by throwing a brick at his head! Brengle survived the attack, but it took a long time to get over his injuries. And during that time, he wrote many inspiring articles which were put into a book called "Helps to Holiness."
*The book was a huge success, and Bro. Brengle's wife later said, "Had there been no brick, there would have been no book!"
*She actually kept the brick and had some words from the Old Testament painted on it, the same words that Joseph told his brothers many years after they had sold him into slavery.
*By then, God had appointed Joseph to rule over Egypt, so he could help save his people from the coming famine. And in Genesis 50:20, Joseph told his brothers, "As for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive."
*That's what Mrs. Brengle had painted on the brick! And sometimes Jesus leads us in mysterious ways. (2)
[2] THIS IS TRUE WHEN WE HAVE OBEYED. IT'S ALSO TRUE WHEN THE LORD SEEMS DELAYED.
*That's what happened in vs. 17-18, where the disciples:
17. got into the boat, and went over the sea toward Capernaum. And it was now dark, and Jesus had not come to them.
18. Then the sea arose because a great wind was blowing.
*It was dark. It was stormy. And Jesus had not come to them. The same thing could well happen to us. But don't give up, because Jesus will show up! He always does the right thing at the right time!
3. JESUS WANTS TO BE LORD THROUGH EVERY CRISIS IN LIFE. AND WE SHOULD TRUST HIM, BECAUSE HE IS LORD OF CREATION.
*Jesus is the Lord of all creation! And in vs. 19-21, the Lord proves this truth to us again
19. So when they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and drawing near the boat; and they were afraid.
20. But He said to them, "It is I; do not be afraid.''
21. Then they willingly received Him into the boat, and immediately the boat was at the land where they were going.
*This double miracle is the fifth sign in John's Gospel. And it surely reinforces the truth that Jesus is Lord over creation. Colossians 1:16 says this about Jesus: "By Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him."
*Since Jesus had the power to create water, He surely has the power to walk on water any time He wants to!
[1] AND ONE THING TO LEARN HERE IS THAT JESUS CAN HOLD US UP TOO.
*The Savior who can walk on water can hold us up too! That's what the Lord did for Peter in Matthew 14:28-32:
28. And Peter answered Him and said, "Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.''
29. So He said, "Come.'' And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus.
30. But when he saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink he cried out, saying, "Lord, save me!''
31. And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him, and said to him, "O you of little faith, why did you doubt?''
32. And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased.
*The Savior who can walk on water can hold us up too! And that is what the Lord has promised to do! Thus saith the LORD in Isaiah 41:10, "Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand." And Isaiah 40:11 says: "He will feed His flock like a shepherd; He will gather the lambs with His arm, and carry them in His bosom, and gently lead those who are with young."
[2] JESUS CAN HOLD US UP! AND HE CAN MOVE US AHEAD!
*That's what the Lord did in a miraculous way vs. 21: "Then they willingly received Him into the boat, and immediately the boat was at the land where they were going."
*Now that's traveling! Jesus is Lord even over time and space. And when it comes to moving ahead in life, no one can take us farther that Jesus! Jesus Christ will take us through every crisis. And He will even take us up to Heaven, if we will put our trust in Him.
*If we will trust in the Lord who loved us enough to die on the cross for our sins, if we will trust in the Lord who had the power to rise again from the dead, if we will receive Jesus Christ as our personal Lord and Savior, then He will take us all the way home to Heaven.
CONCLUSION:
*Jesus Christ is Lord of all! But is He your Lord tonight? Call on the Lord to save you now. And Christians: Remember that Jesus is not just our Savior. He is our Lord! He is our Master.
*But how can we tell if Jesus is our Lord? It will begin to show up in the way we think, talk and act. Malcolm Gladwell gave the example of how dogs tend to reflect the character of their masters. And Malcolm said, "The dogs that bite people are, in many cases, socially isolated because their owners are socially isolated. And they are vicious because they have owners who want a vicious dog.
*The junkyard German shepherd which looks as if it would rip your throat out, and the German shepherd guide dog for the blind are the same breed. But they are not the same dog, because they have different masters with different intentions." (3)
*Christians: We have a new owner! We have a new Master, and He wants us to be just like Him. So more and more, let Jesus be your Lord of your life. Make the commitment as we go to God in prayer.
(1) EXPLORING THE GOSPELS: MATTHEW by John Phillips, Kregal Publications, Grand Rapids - "Compassion for the Hosts of Mankind" - Matthew 14:13-14
(2) David Holwick illustration #2277 - TOPICS: Tragedy; Triumph; Overcome; Adversity; Brick - SOURCE: Dynamic Preaching Disk, Spring 1992 "A" - TITLE: Isn't It Time to Get It Right? - 04/01/1992
(3) Illustration by Jim L. Wilson - Topic: Lordship - 1 Corinthians 6:20 - Source: "What the Dog Saw: And Other Adventures" by Malcolm Gladwell - Kindle Loc. 5182-85
