JOwen
Puritan Board Junior
Come
"And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water. And he said, Come." Mat 14:28, 29
JERROLD LEWIS
APR 11, 2023
Someone might ask, "But how do I know Christ is walking upon my sea? I go to church, read my Bible, and pray as I can. Is He walking to me?" Not yet. If you love sin and this world and have not surrendered your heart to Christ, then a mere profession of religion will be useless to you. You are in terrible and inconceivable danger, milling about the Wicket Gate as the arrows fly around you. You are sailing through the ocean of life without a compass, captain, or map. You have no rudder to guide you or anchor to hold you in the storm. And there is at least one storm coming that will shipwreck you, death, and you will sink like a stone in those mighty hellish waters, where hope will ever be a forgotten word, in a night that never ends. Fear should grip you, if you trust in religion and not Jesus Christ!
Perhaps you are a religious observer reading this and do not know Christ personally, but you still need consolation. There is no consolation for you. Don't confuse sorrow for sin's consequences with Jesus' walking to you. Don't assume that Jesus must be there to comfort and deliver you just because you are in a storm. The truth of this text is unspoken but easy to see, Jesus is only with His disciples in the storm. He has long invited you to join them, but you have not desired Him. Except when you are in trouble! You see, you have chosen to sail in your own vessel, and now you must struggle through the waves as best you can alone. Don't believe that the next life offers you any hope, either. Don't be deluded into thinking that death is somehow a release from your trouble. Oh, it's just beginning. A storm far more terrible awaits you in the next world than any that ever assailed you in this. There will be no pleasant harbor for you to enter in hell, no respite from the torrent of eternal justice. Your soul will eternally suffer shipwreck, pressed upon by the waves of vengeance, beating upon your rocks of sin forever!
Is there no comfort for you? Not while you remain "an enemy to God." Not while you trust in religious duties. Dear one, you are mistaken. You don't need Jesus’ comfort for your trouble; you need His covering for your sin. Those are two very different things. Your condition and heart must be changed. You must be united to Christ by a living faith before you can be comforted by Christ. Until then, no promise of children's bread applies to you. The burden of your sin and guilt must be removed before the burden of your cares can be lightened.
Perhaps, on the other hand, you are anxious to have Christ, feeling that all other troubles are light compared to your soul's trouble. You wish to break the bond with sin and flee from the wrath to come. Conscience loudly accuses you, and the law of God thunders out its curses. The sky seems black above, and destruction looms below. You may think there is no hope for you, and God is preparing bolts of His justice to strike you down. God is indeed in that kind of storm, dear one, in the person of His Son!
When sin causes us to cry, "Oh, wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me?" Jesus is in that storm. Praise God! This concern is the Spirit's work, and Jesus is walking on the waters of your fear, guilt, and woe. He says to you, "It is I, be not afraid." He welcomes all comers, dear one, and rejects none. And He, too, will calm the storm of your heart for good by the blood of the everlasting covenant. Cry out to Him right now, "Save me Lord, else I perish."
He will save you in every conceivable way.
