Jesus Walking on the Water

Well we are still in our series in the Gospel of John. You know by now the title of the series, Christ the Son of God Believe and Live. We're really seeing Christ come to life in this series. We're seeing him minister to all types of people. We're seeing him really underline his deity, explain his deity, and really and truly it's really just now getting real good in my eyes. We've really gotten our feet on the ground in this Gospel and we've got quite a ways to go if you're keeping up with our study. Now if you would go ahead and turn your Bible, turn your Bible this morning to John 6, John chapter 6.

We started John chapter 6 last week and you should know that we're in this new setting in the ministry of Jesus. There was a transition from John 5 to John 6. Jesus had been in Jerusalem in John 5 and he moved north, if you know your biblical geography, he moved north to the eastern side of the Sea of Galilee. Remember that the eastern side, it was the barren side of the Sea of Galilee and on the opposite side there was that city of Tiberius and that's going to all come into play also in this message this morning. Now last week we studied that famous story or miracle of Jesus feeding the 5,000. Didn't we see that it was really 5,000 plus?

Now this week I did a little math in my mind, I was riding down the road and I finally out of curiosity put the pencil to the paper. Now think about it like this, if one half of the 5,000, remember it said that they were men, 5,000 men. If one half of the 5,000 were married that would be an additional 2,500 people. If of those 2,500 that were married, if they had an average of two children each that would be an additional 5,000 making the total 12,500.

Now if you take that same amount of people who possibly were married and they had an average of three children still working with half of those 5,000 being married with children that would be 5,000 plus 2,500 for those spouses and then 7,500 children coming to a total of 15,000 people. Now I know those are imaginary figures because the text does not give us those specifics. Now why do I bring something like that to the table? What we must see is this was a very large and a very public miracle, the feeding of the 5,000. And it is important for you to remember what I said earlier last week.

This is a very large and public miracle but I said last week we are going to focus on the people's reaction to Jesus. Last week we saw the crowds, they were nameless, they were faceless, we don't have any details about who they were but then we also looked at the disciples and we know who they are and we know who they were. Now remember last week we saw the fickle faith of some who were in the crowd, that was in verse 2. And I want you to remember I call these the "wow me crowd".

They follow Jesus just out of their emotions and I'm so afraid that so much of what we have in America is inundated with that type of quote unquote Christianity because we saw that they were unrepentant, unregenerate people. They wanted a "wow", they wanted to be stirred only in their emotions. Then there were those who followed with a physical faith, meaning they wanted Jesus to be something that he never would be. I don't know if you realize that they wanted Jesus to be an earthly king to root out the Romans and they wanted political and national freedom. Jesus would not be that physical king.

And I explained to us and we saw that this was a physical faith. They wanted Jesus to be something that he would not be. And I liken that to the problem we have in our day and our time and that is there are those who want Jesus to be Savior now and Lord later. That is asking Jesus to be somebody that he never will be. But we must not forget the disciples. Remember within that group they were the faithless. They could not see that Jesus could do something about this situation and we saw that they had a faith problem.

And I wanted you to remember that because what we're looking at this morning really is a carryover, although it's a new miracle from what we saw last week. Now as we continue into John 6, we will see that this miracle of this feeding of the 5,000 it develops into an extraordinarily public two-day event. Lots of activity, lots of people, more than one miracle and some very insightful and powerful teaching from Jesus. Now you know that on the surface one might think that this is a great revival, a great movement of God. Now let me explain what I mean. We know it was a move of God. This was Jesus, deity, the Son of God.

So it was a great move of God. But looking at this set of circumstances through the lens of our experiences and our culture, there are a lot that would think that this is a greater or a different work of God than is really there. We see there are great crowds of people following Jesus that seem to be maybe on the surface believers, but we will find out that they are not. Now as I was studying this week, I was reminded of something I was taught years ago. You all heard me mention and talk about my home church pastor. His name was Brother Dennis.

And when I was a young Christian, there were a group of us that would follow Brother Dennis and pray with Brother Dennis and pray for Brother Dennis. We would always meet between Sunday school and church and pray in his office. We had sacrificial times of prayer in the life of the church. And we would always glean from some of the things he would say. And sometimes he would say things to us that we really did not get till years later. But I'll never forget talking about lots of activity in the life of the church and big churches and things going on. He said something like this.

He said, "Boys, even a dust storm from a distance looks like smoke." But he said, "When you get up close, you don't find the fire of God burning, but a bunch of people kicking up dust." Now what's the point? Sometimes you have to get up close to ministry situations because you do not realize what people are. Sometimes you have to get up close because people are not always what they appear. And that is exactly what is going on here. At a distance, this seems like a different type of work of God. But as we get into this, we will see that it's a little bit different than some might see.

Now the title of the message this morning is simply Jesus Walking on the Water. And I'll give you a hint. Like last week, we will add to that title at the end of the message. We're in John 6, Chapter 6, starting in verse 16 on down to verse 29. Now I have the main truths that we will explore there on the screen. We will look at the disciples were sent away, Jesus walks on the water, and the crowds were seeking Jesus, and Jesus reveals their faith. Just dividing these verses all around this miracle of Jesus walking on the water. As you're writing, I hope that you have the time to write down these truths. You write them down for your study.

Take that time, be disciplined for your own study in the week and in the weeks to come. So let's look at these verses. Let's read them together starting in verse 16. Now when evening came, his disciples went down to the sea, and after getting into the boat, they started to cross the sea to Capernaum. And it had already become dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them. And the sea began to be stirred up because a strong wind was blowing. When therefore they had rode about three or four miles, they beheld Jesus walking on the sea and drawing near to the boat, and they were frightened.

But he said to them, "It is I, do not be afraid." They were willing therefore to receive him into the boat, and immediately the boat was at the at the land to which they were going. The next day, the multitude, that's the crowd of people that stood on the other side of the sea, saw that there was no other small boat there except one, and that Jesus had not entered with his disciples into the boat. But that his disciples had gone away alone. Verse 23, "There came other small boats from Tiberius, near to the place where they ate the bread after the Lord had given thanks.

When the multitude therefore saw that Jesus was not there, nor his disciples, they themselves got into the small boats and came to Capernaum seeking Jesus. And when they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, 'Rabbi, our teacher, when did you get here?' Verse 26, 'Jesus answered them and he said, 'Truly, truly, I say to you, you seek me not because you saw signs, but because you ate the loaves and were filled.

Do not work for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man shall give you, for on him the Father, even God, has set his seal.' And they said therefore to him, 'What shall we do that we may work the works of God?' Jesus answered and said to them, 'This is the work of God that you believe in him whom he has sent.'" Now, you see the truths that we're going to look at this morning, and simply we're going to stay true to our habit in the Gospel of John, just dividing these verses and letting the text tell us what the Lord wants us to see this morning.

So number one, in your outline, notice the disciples, they were sent away. The disciples were sent away. Verse 16, "And when that evening came, his disciples went down to the sea, and after getting into the boat, they started across the sea to Capernaum, and it had already become dark. And Jesus had not yet come to them." And then verse 18 tells us about the storm. The sea began to be stirred up because there was a strong wind that was blowing. Now, here at the beginning of verse 16, we find the end of that first day of ministry. Jesus feeds the 5,000 on the first day.

This was a very full day, a very powerful day, but now it's evening and it's the end of that day. But notice at the end of the day, we see Jesus sends his disciples away. Now, there are three things out of these verses I want us to see. First, notice Jesus made his disciples start across. Jesus, he made those disciples start across. Look at verse 17, "And after getting into the boat, they started across the sea to Capernaum." Now, last week, I referenced Mark's gospel a lot. I've talked about the fact that the synoptic gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, do have this story. But this morning, I'm going to refer some to Matthew's account.

And in Matthew chapter 14, verse 22, we see that Jesus made them go. And immediately, he made the disciples get into the boat and go ahead of him to the other side. That's what the text says. Now, why would Jesus do this? Why would he make them go? Why would he literally push them or seemingly push them in the boat to seemingly get rid of them? Jesus did not want them to be affected by the crowd and their erroneous ideas and desires for Jesus. Notice Jesus withdrew from the crowd we learned last week, and he sent the disciples away. And it's very important for us to see two words here, separation and protection.

Jesus separated from them because he did not want to do what they wanted him to do. We learned that last week. He would not be an earthly king. He withdrew because he knew their intentions, the text says. But now he separates and he protects the disciples. He did not want them to be influenced by the crowd. So he made the disciples, he sent the disciples across. Second notice, the disciples had started out alone. Verse 17 says, they started to cross the sea over to Capernaum. And it goes on down to say that Jesus was not there with them in the boat. This simply, this just simply says that they were alone in the boat.

But I say this with a touch of humor. Never fear, there's Peter, James, and John. Were they not fishermen? Maybe if you look at and you study the disciples, it could have been seven of them weren't that were fishermen. They would have been experienced sailors, would they not? Even if they were just three that were experienced fishermen and sailors, they should have been in good hands. But we will find out that they were not and they were all alone. Then third notice, a storm sets in. We see that in verse 18. Now that verse, verse 18 might seem pretty simplistic and the sea began to be start up because a strong wind was blowing.

Now, if you do a little study about this sea of Galilee and the geography there and the weather patterns there, you will notice that it's a little deeper than this verse. Now this body of water, the sea of Galilee is about 700 feet below sea level. That's pretty low. But the surrounding hillsides, the surrounding terrain, they rise up to about 2,000 feet above sea level. And when cool air comes rushing down the slopes, down those hills, and it hits the lake, it causes sudden storms and very bad waves.

One of the commentators that I use says that even today there are notices on the lake for power boats, motorized boats, that when there are storms, they are warned not to venture out on this small body of water. I've referred at different times to the Jewish historian Josephus. He even mentions the storms that will come up on this small sea, this sea of Galilee. So I want you to see it wasn't just a breeze that was blowing. There was a storm that had set in. Now what do we have here? We have another situation. Remember last week with the feeding of the 5,000, there was an impossible situation that came up in the face of the disciples.

But now we see a different situation, but it was a situation that was greater than they were. The disciples were heading into a very fierce storm. They were heading into a very dire set of circumstances, completely different than the feeding of the 5,000, but they were headed into the teeth of a bad, bad storm. Now an application for us, you and me, we must realize that in the lives of his people, the Lord Jesus ordains trying circumstances. Let me repeat that because some of you really need to hear that today. We must realize that in the lives of God's people, the Lord Jesus Himself ordains trying circumstances.

Remember in our verse by verse study through the book of James, James says, "Consider it pure joy when various trials come our way." Positive trials, negative trials, and James indicates that they're going to be trial after trial that come our way. That is, that's just par for the course for a Bible Christian. You see? And we must realize that God ordains difficult circumstances to come our way. But let me add to that. We must realize that sometimes Jesus even sends us right into a fierce storm. Some people might have difficulty with that.

Some people might say, "Oh no, God loves us too much to do that." No, God loves us so much that He will do that. You hear me? God loves us so much, He knows that we need difficult times, even tragic storms for Him to do a work in us and reveal Himself to us. God is a loving God, and He knows what we need. And I want you to really write this down. I want you to hold on to this in your heart and your mind. There are times when God will lead us head first into a storm. Some of you here might say, "Well, Brother Chris, I already know that because I'm in the midst of one." Jesus sent the disciples away. Let's move on to truth number two.

Jesus, He walks on the water, look at verse 19. "When therefore they had rode about three or four miles, they beheld Jesus." They saw Jesus on the sea, drawing near to the boat, and they were frightened. "But He said to them, 'It is I, do not be afraid.' And they," that's the disciples, "they were willing therefore to receive Him into the boat, and immediately the storm was," immediately the boat, excuse me, "was at the land to which they were going." Now, here in these verses, we see that Jesus performs not just one miracle, but two. I don't know if you saw it.

He walks on the water, and then all of a sudden the boat immediately is at the shore. Now, notice that this miracle was not really a public miracle, even though the crowds would eventually know that there was something miraculous about this situation. But notice the feeding of the 5,000, very public, but now this is almost a semi-private miracle of Jesus walking on the water. Five things I want us to see out of these verses. First, notice the time. Notice the time. Verse 19, "When they had rode about three or four miles, beheld Jesus was walking on the sea." You'll notice that this verse does not mention the time.

But to notice the time, we must go to Matthew, we must go to Mark. And look, we must refer to the synoptics during these times, because like I said last week, layer upon layer, give us the whole story. But what we see in Matthew 14.25 and Mark 6.48 is that this was what was called the fourth watch of the night. And the fourth watch of the night would have been between the hours of 3 a.m. and 6 a.m. You see? So notice the time. Also notice the distance. Notice the distance. The New American Standard that I'm reading from says about three miles. Now it footnotes a term called a stadia, and that is a Greek measurement.

The King James that some of you are reading, it reads 20 or 30 furloughings. Now that is an old English agricultural measurement. But what we must see is, if you break those measurements down, it was about three or four miles. But I want us to notice the time that I just mentioned and the measurement. The evening is mentioned in chapter 6 verse 16. That would have been between the hours of 6 and 9 p.m. So if you do the math, they have rode only three or four miles during this time frame, and that was between 6 and 12 hour period. Simply put, they were in a very serious struggle. You see what I mean?

They were only able to go between three or four miles between a 6 or a 12 hour period. That indicates the severity of the storm and their struggle. Then third, notice Jesus walked out on the water. We see that. They had rode verse 19 about three or four miles, and they beheld Jesus walking on the water. If we look into Mark's account, in Mark chapter 6 verse 48, we see that Jesus was walking so effortlessly that it seems like he was going to walk past them. Let me read the verse. He came to them walking on the sea, and he intended to pass them by. So Jesus is walking out on the water. But what was their logical reaction? It was fear.

This was a fierce storm, and in the wind and in the waves and the tossing of the boat, they simply did not recognize Jesus. Fourth, notice he revealed himself to them. Look at verse 20. Verse 20. "When therefore they had rode about three or four miles," verse 19, "they beheld Jesus walking on the sea and drawing near to the boat, and they were frightened." But notice verse 20. "But he said to them, 'It is I. It is I. Do not be afraid.'" Now, what do I want you to see? It is very important to see that he does not try to soothe them in their fears, but he simply reveals himself to them.

In the midst of the storm, all they needed was to have him, not have him soothe their fears, but have him present. Fifth, notice they took him in. That comes out of verse 21. We've already read the text. In the original, it reads, "began to be willing," meaning that at first they were not willing to accept what they were seeing. Remember, they were fearful. They didn't understand. It was only after that they understood that it was Jesus that they were willing to take him into the boat. Now, it is important for us to see that in their toughest storm, in the darkest part of the night, he came to them. Let me repeat that.

It's important for us to see that in this tough storm, they could barely get the boat to move. And in the darkest part of the night, Jesus came to them. He did not leave them in the storm, but he joined them in the storm. And he was there all along. Listen, even when he was on the shore, because it was him, Jesus, who sent them into the storm. Now, I want to ask you a question in speculation. What would they have rather had? Would they have rather had their fears calmed, or would they have rather had Jesus? They were human. Jesus knew that their fears did not need to be dealt with. Jesus knew that they needed him on the scene.

And see, for you, for me, we must understand, because in our flesh, when we are in that most difficult storm, we want Jesus to come and deal with our feelings, deal with our emotions, deal with our questions, deal with our fears, deal with our anger, that whole long list of emotions that we can go through. But actually, we need to be like the disciples and get our mind and our hearts off of our emotions, off of our fears, even our questions, and get our hearts on Jesus. Because if we belong to him, it is Jesus who sent us in the storm to begin with. And although he might seem like he's on the bank, he is there.

Some of you really need to hear this this morning. Because see, what happens is we become so nearsighted, we become so selfish, we become so introspective, we want Jesus to come and deal with all of our questions and all of our belly aches and all of our feelings, when actually we need to divorce ourselves from the way we feel and the questions we have and find him. Let's move on. I want us to notice truth number three. I want us to notice the crowds they were seeking Jesus.

Verse 22, "The next day, the multitude that stood on the other side of the sea saw that there was no other small boat there except one and that Jesus had not entered with his disciples into that boat, but that his disciples had gone away alone. There came other small boats from Tiberias, near to the place where they ate the bread after the Lord had given thanks. And when the multitude therefore saw that Jesus was not there nor his disciples, they themselves got into the small boats and they came to Capernaum seeking Jesus.

And when they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, 'Rabbi, teacher, when did you get here?'" Now here we are seeing the beginning of the second day of this two-day event. And this was back on the eastern side of the Sea of Galilee. Now three things I want us to notice. Notice that some, they stood there waiting. Look at verse 22, "The next day, the multitude that stood on the other side of the sea, they saw that there was no other boat." So what do we see? This group of people had spent the night there on the same side of the sea where Jesus had fed them.

They knew that the disciples had been sent away by Jesus and that Jesus had not gotten into that boat with them. Simply, Jesus sent the disciples away. He withdrew from the crowd to pray, Matthew chapter 14 verse 23 says, "And they waited for Jesus." They stood there. And then second notice, notice that some came looking. You'll see that in verse 23 through 24. "There came other small boats where from the other side from Tiberius." Now notice something. Notice some came from Tiberius. This is a crowd who came and they joined the ones who were waiting, who had spent the night waiting for Jesus.

You see, there's one crowd waiting on the eastern side and then here comes a crowd from Tiberius and they meet them. But then also notice some, some went from those who were waiting. Look at verse 24, "And when the multitude therefore saw that Jesus was not there, nor his disciples, they themselves got into the boats, the small boats, and they went to Capernaum. Now we see that some, now we do not know how many of this crowd, they got in the boats and they went to Capernaum. Now I would assume that it was part of the crowd and not all because previously there was not another boat on that side of the sea.

But we see a great number who were searching for Jesus." You see, verse 22, there's some waiting. 23 and 24, "More come looking." And then when they get to that side and they don't find Jesus, then they disperse and they go to Capernaum looking. But the third thing, notice when they got to Capernaum, notice they question Jesus. Look at verse 25, "When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, 'Rabbi, when did you get here?'" Notice that when they found him, they called him "Rabbi." Now we know by now that this term means "teacher." But notice they question how he got there.

See, this was a private miracle, but yet it became public. There was a mystery to them as to how Jesus could have gotten from the eastern side of the sea to Capernaum, which was on the western side. Now, here in these verses, we see that this great crowd was following Jesus. One of the commentaries that I use called the New American Commentary points out that this seeking and this finding, it was very common, a common theme in the Gospel of John. And I've seen this, we've seen this in our study. We see this seeking and finding in chapter 1, verse 41, chapter 1, verse 45, chapter 5, verse 14.

Here in chapter 6, chapter 7, verse 34, chapter 9, verse 35. What am I showing you? This is a common thing of John showing that there are people who are seeking and finding Jesus. But we must see that from a distance... Now listen, this looks great. You see, from our perspective, and with what we've seen in our culture, we see that this looks great. Jesus is performing miracles, both for the crowds, feeding the 5,000 and his disciples, and he has this great following of people. But we will see that Jesus gets past the surface as to why they are following him.

And listen, in application, we must see that crowds are not necessarily a mark of success. Let me repeat that. We must see that in the life of the church and in kingdom work, crowds are not necessarily a mark of success. Many times crowds can be a mark of superficial faith. Many times crowds can be a mark of superficial faith. I was thinking about an old friend of mine that I'm really not in contact anymore. Some circumstances have put me in his path the past few years, and I've heard him make comments about his church. He began to make the comment of a revolving door ministry. People come, people go.

He basically began to describe one month you'll have one crowd, and seemingly the next month you'll have another crowd, just this revolving door. He began to describe how there was no commitment. He began to describe how it was a group of people who were coming and looking for physical things, and he began to express a frustration for this. And I cannot help but think, but notice a relation between what we see here and what he was experiencing. That is a group of people who have a superficial faith. I'm afraid in many of these mega churches. Now I'm not against the big church, and I'm not against a small church.

I've been a part of both, but I'm afraid in many of these big churches that look very successful, a lot of times if you get up close what you'll find is a lot of, listen, superficial faith, a lot of people seemingly following Jesus. And I want you to listen close. We must get to the real reason why people are following Christ, or why they are seemingly following Christ, because there is a difference. We must, in the life of the church and in gospel work, get to the reason why people are following Christ, or why they are seemingly following Christ, because we've learned that these people aren't really following Christ.

They're following other things. Let's move on. Let's notice truth number four. Jesus reveals their faith. Verse 26, he answered them and he said, "Truly, truly, I say to you, you seek me not because you saw the signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled. Do not work for the food which perishes, but for food which endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man shall give you. For on him the Father, even God has set his seal. And he said therefore to him, what shall we do that we may work the works of God?

And Jesus answered and he said to them, this is the work of God that you believe in him, whom he has sent." Now immediately what we should notice is that Jesus did not answer their question. You notice that? Now why? I like MacArthur, John MacArthur's explanation as to why he didn't answer their question. He really explains it well. He says, "The Lord did not commit himself to thrill-seeking false disciples. He ignored their irrelevant and superficial question and he addressed the deeper issue of their sinful motives." So when we divide these verses, we will see their sinful motives. Three things. Notice he reveals their use or faith.

This use or faith. Jesus answered and said, "Truly, truly, I say to you, you seek me not because you saw the signs, but because you ate the loaves and you were filled." See here is a very similar phrase. Truly, truly. Now this is similar to our Amen. You know in our culture when somebody says Amen in the life of the church, they are affirming a truth that is said. And see, Jesus is affirming what he is about to say. Basically in our language, Jesus is saying this, "What I'm about to say to you is really true. You are users and you have a use or faith." They were selfish, they were fleshly, they were materialistic.

And in saying truly, truly, Jesus is underscoring that. He is putting that in a bold font if I can use that language. They were not following for who Jesus was, but for what they could get. They had a use or faith. Second notice, he speaks to them about eternal life. "Do not work for food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life, which the Son of God shall give you, for on him the Father, even God has sent his seal." Of course, they ask a question, "What are these works?" And he goes on to say in verse 29 that they must believe. Now notice he speaks to them about eternal life.

He says here, "Do not work for the physical, but for the spiritual." It is important to note here that he is not teaching that one can earn eternal life, but that they were to work hard for the spiritual, that which would not perish. He is meeting them where they were. They were wanting to see another miracle of food. And he is saying, "You should work hard just as hard for spiritual food and not physical food." Of course, we see that he affirms his deity in verse 27.

And then we see in verse 28 that the verse literally reads, "What shall we do?" So he reveals their user faith and he tells them that they need to work just as hard for spiritual things as they have been for physical things. And then third, notice he speaks to them about true belief. We see that in verse 29. Here Jesus tells the Jewish crowd that what they needed was true belief. The Jews would have been working hard in their system of rules and regulations. And what they needed was to truly believe that Jesus was the promised Messiah. Now we see in these verses that Jesus exposes their selfish, fleshly user faith is what I call it.

And this is important to see. These Jews could have never come to believe in Christ unless their user faith was exposed. It had to be identified. It had to be exposed. It had to be revealed as a false non-saving faith. Otherwise, this crowd could have never seen their need for true saving faith. And see an application for you from me. For us, we must see that there are people out there who seemingly follow Jesus, but it is for physical reasons. They have a user faith and we must not placate them in that falsehood. We must expose them in that falsehood. You see? Now that's a very uncomfortable thing.

A lot of people don't like this, but when people come wanting to use Christ for what they can get to meet a physical need, it is the church's job, the pulpit's job, to expose that. And when that is exposed, then they can see their need for belief. Now as we conclude, we see Jesus walking on the water. But do we not see people's reactions again? Do we not? Do we not see the crowd's reaction? This miracle is not really before their eyes, but they begin to realize something was going on miraculous. But does he not reveal through the miracle their reaction and who they really were? And see if we really look at these crowds. What do we see?

First, there was the wow me crowd. They wanted their emotions stirred. They just wanted the hair on the back of their neck to stand up. And second, we have those who wanted a physical king, a physical messiah. They were trying to force Jesus to be something that he never was or would be. And then third, we have the user faith. Those who come for what they can get. And Jesus never, ever, ever committed himself to them. He only exposed them. And listen church, listen people. We must see that it is our job to never cater to mankind. My job is not to alter the message. My job is to preach the message straight and true.

And you either alter your life to the message or you'll be like many of the crowd. You'll say, "Woe is me." See? But also what about the disciples? Remember last week we saw that they were seemingly faithless. See for the disciples, their reaction was important too. Because they were sailing right into the teeth of a difficult storm. And you know their reaction was simple. All they needed to do was take hold of the hand of Jesus and say, "Lord come in the boat with us." It's really a two-fold message this morning. Do we not see that? It's really a two-fold message with both of these messages which really go together.

We see the reaction of the crowd. Then we see the reactions and the workings of Jesus in the lives of the disciples. So as we close these two messages that really go together, I want to ask you a question, a rhetorical question, not asking for an answer this morning. Where do you fit into these two messages? Are you like those in the crowds? Are you following for all of the wrong reasons? Do you have all of the right words? Maybe the right expressions? Maybe the right songs and maybe the right terms and maybe the right professions and maybe the right creeds. But yet your heart being revealed shows that you follow for the wrong reasons.

Or are you like the disciples? Really and truly what would be best for you is to find Jesus in all of the circumstances that you find yourself in. See for some of you that could be the comfort, the correction, the teaching that you need for today. Lord Jesus, thank you for this message. Thank you for what we are learning and have learned right here in this wonderful gospel story. Lord, thank you that we can learn so much about people, ministry. Thank you that we can learn so much about ourselves.