Sermon Notes - John 6:16-21 - Jesus walked on water - Littleby Baptist Church - February 19, 2023

1.     Turning water into wine.

a.      Healing a man’s son from more than 20 miles away.

b.     Healing a man who had been paralyzed for 38 years.

c.      Feeding 5,000 men plus women and children.

2.     John continues to point out the sign’s that show that the Jesus who walked this earth is more than a man.

3.     For the most part, people could not connect the dots between this man performing miracles and what was to come with His death and resurrection.

a.      The extent of Jesus mission on earth was unknown, but I suspect that it got some people thinking.

4.     When He changed water into wine, Jesus changed the molecular composition of the liquid in the jars.

a.      Not something a man could have done.

5.     When Jesus healed the son from the next town over, He showed that He was not limited by how far His arms could reach.

a.      Jesus is everywhere.

6.     The healing of the paralyzed man demonstrated that Jesus could bring restoration.

a.      The man made a choice to believe, and his muscles that hadn’t been used in 38 years were restored.

b.     In a way, that sign reminds that Jesus came to bring restoration to all who would believe.   

c.      If we believe, if we follow Jesus, we are restored to our rightful place as God’s children.

7.     Then there was all of that bread and fish.

a.      Somehow Jesus took five barley loves and two fish and feed some number more than 10,000 people.

b.     He provided MORE than enough.

c.      Jesus provides more than we need.

d.     The grace He bestows on us is more than enough to be saved.

e.      We won’t arrive in eternity with an angel telling us we were lucky we squeaked in.

f.      Our robe won’t be some shade between white and brown, because we were carrying sin with us.

g.     No when a believer arrives in Paradise, we are greeted as a child of God and our robes will be pure white thanks to the blood of Jesus.

8.     Jesus is fully man who walked this earth, felt pain, loss, and temptation.

9.     But He is also fully God, who is not bound by earthly limits.

a.      He is the Creator.

b.     He is Life.

c.      He is Light.

10.  Then He goes and deifies physics and walks on water!

11.  John 6:16-17

a.      Mark adds a little more detail.

b.     Mark 6:45-47

c.      Jesus told the guys to go, while He sent the crowd home.

d.     He then took some alone time to pray, great example for us!

                                                    i.     Take time to recharge by spending time with God.

e.      He prayed well into the night before He set out to join them in Bethsaida.

12.  John 6:18

a.      The disciples were out in the boat and the west wind kicked up.

b.     They were caught in the middle of the water.

c.      They were headed directly into the wind.

d.     They were making very little progress even though they were straining at the oars.

e.      Rowing a boat is great exercise, but going into the wind kicks it up a notch or two.

f.      The sea beginning to churn did not make it any easier for them.

g.     They were struggling.

13.  John 6:19

a.      They were in the middle of the lake.

b.     Matthew tells us it was early in the morning, estimates are that it was sometime between 3 and 6 am.

c.      They had been at this for most of the night.

d.     Not a lot of progress.

e.      They were tired.

f.      And they see this man walking towards them.

g.     Mark adds that they thought it might be a ghost.

h.     They were afraid.

i.       They did not understand what was going on.

14.  Jesus was walking on water.

a.      I have surfed a time or two in my life.

b.     I can tell you it is not easy to stand up on a board, with stabilizing fins built into it.

c.      How about those lumberjack log rolling competitions?

d.     Not something everyone can do.

e.      Yet, here we have Jesus walking on water.

f.      The physics simply do not work.

g.     There is not enough water displacement happening for a person to float like that.

h.     Jesus showed that physics really did not apply to Him.

i.       He was not limited like we are.

j.       He is God.

15.  John 6:20

a.      He knew they were afraid.

b.     Proverbs 21:2

c.      God’s weighs our hearts, He knows what is in them.

d.     He knows what is driving us.

e.      Jesus knew what was in their hearts.

f.      He knew that fear had a hold of them.

g.     So, He called out to them.

h.     They heard His voice.

i.       They were encouraged too not be afraid.

16.  John 6:21

a.      In 6 short verses, in John’s telling of this night, we have two miracles.

b.     They had been straining at the oars for hours.

c.      They were in the middle of the sea.

d.     Jesus steps into the boat and at once it was at their destination.

e.      Once again, Jesus shows His power is not limited.

f.      The boat did not take off and speed to its destination.

g.     There was no transporter to move from one place to another.

h.     With the act of them accepting Jesus and Him stepping into the boat they reached their destination.

i.       What would have likely taken several more hours of rowing into the wind, happened in an instant.

17.  Jesus’ walking on water and the boat instantly being at its destination… two Signs showing that Jesus is God.

18.  This Sign is recorded in Matthew, Mark, and John.

a.      Mark and John are pretty much the same with different details in each one.

b.     Matthew includes some additional flavor that is not in the other two.

19.  Matthew 14:27-31 – Going to finish there, so please turn with me.

a.      Peter’s faith in Jesus helped Him to have the courage to ask the impossible.

b.     At Jesus’ blessing, Peter stepped out in faith.

c.      Peter is one of two people to ever walk on water, with Jesus being the other.

d.     But something happened.

e.      Peter saw the storm around him.

f.      His fear got the better of him.

20.  When we look at these verses… we see a couple of things.

a.      We have people who are listening to Jesus, they are following His guidance.

b.     We see them head out to do what they were told to do.

c.      At some point the storm got the better of them.

d.     Instead of staying focused on Jesus, they focus shifted to the wind.

e.      In the boat they strained at the oars.

f.      They were overwhelmed by what they were facing.

g.     They struggled to deal with it on their own.

h.     The fear had crept in.

i.       But then, Jesus showed up!

j.       With Peter it is a similar story.

k.     He started walking on the water and moved toward Jesus.

l.       He was doing it, until the storm made him doubt.

m.   His lack of faith, his fear, caused him to compare himself to the storm.

n.     As a man, he could not walk on that water.

o.     So, he began to sink.

p.     Until Jesus caught ahold of him!

21.  When we are on our own, the storms of life will overtake us.

22.  When we are with Jesus, when He gets a hold of us, things are different.

a.      The storm may still be there, but Jesus gives us the strength we need.

b.     It is His peace that is with us.

c.      He will help us to stand when everything else is trying to knock us down.

23.  Matthew 14:32-33

a.      Jesus disciples had heard His teaching, they had seen miracles, but the walking on water, the lifting of Peter out of the water, the calming of the storm, and the boat arriving at its destination took things to the next level.

b.     Their understanding of who Jesus is grew that day.

c.      In Matthew 8 when Jesus calmed the winds and sea they questioned “What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the sea obey him!”

d.     They did not understand.

e.      This time the response is different.

f.      Matthew 14:33

g.     As our Lord works in our lives, let’s worship Him.

h.     Not because of what He has done, but because of Who He Is!

i.       Because He is the Son of God!

24.  Jesus is worthy of all of our Worship!

25.  He is worthy of all we have to offer!

26.  If you are unsure if Jesus has helped you out of the sin of your life, I would love to talk with you.

27.  If He is your Savior, I implore you to worship Him with all that you are.