Matthew 14:28-33
Holding the Hand of Jesus
This story is a smaller part of the larger story. The larger story deals with
Jesus and all 12 disciples. It is a story of their dependency and their faith.
They were in the school of instruction, learning in the classroom of life.
The smaller story is about one man learning the same lessons of dependency and
faith. This is Peter receiving one-on-one instruction. How did Peter do? He had
some problems, but I still believe that Peter did better than the other eleven
disciples.
I. Peter’s first faith.
A. You can not deny that Peter messed up.
1. He took his eyes off of Jesus and started looking at the water.
2. As he did, his faith sank and with his sinking faith, he sank.
B. However, even messing up, Peter did some things that no one else did.
1. Peter gets a lot of grief preaching for his short comings, but
let’s give him credit for what he did right!
2. Peter had a substantial amount of faith to start with.
a. Peter had faith to ASK to come to Jesus.
b. Peter had faith to GET OUT of the boat.
c. Peter had faith to WALK a distance on the water.
d. Peter had faith to CRY OUT TO JESUS for help.
3. At this point, Peter is way ahead of his class!
a. There are eleven other souls just sitting over there watching.
(1)\\#26\\ says that at one time, they all cried out for fear!
(2) At least one man got over his fear and started thinking.
(3) Peter reasoned that if the Lord could walk on water, he
could empower HIM to walk on water too.
(4) Peter’s faith may indeed fail him, but at least it got him
on the water!
b. There is no doubt that a failing faith is nothing to get overly
excited about; but don’t you think a failing faith is better
than no faith at all!
(1) Peter wasn’t trying to fail.
(2) He was trying to do right.
(3) His faith just buckled under the load.
(4) You can see that he was trying to right by how he responded
when he failed.
(a) He still knew to call Jesus for help.
(b) He still had faith to call upon Jesus for help.
(c) He must have even had the faith to hold his hand up to
Jesus so that He could catch him.
c. I think I would rather fail attempting to do right than to
succeed attempting to do nothing!
C. All-in-all, Peter had a story to tell his grandkids that no other
grandpa will ever get to tell!
1. It is not Peter’s faith or failing that I want to look at tonight.
2. It is Jesus’ hand.
II. Peter got to hold the hand of God!
A. I say again, a failing faith is nothing to get overly excited about; but
I do notice a bright spot.
1. Peter got to hold the hand of God!
a. There is the hand that crafted the cosmos out of nothing.
b. There is the hand that fashioned man out of clay.
c. There is the hand that guided Moses’ ark through the bulrushes
to an Egyptian princess.
d. There is the hand that held back the Red Sea while Israel walked
through on dry ground.
e. There is the hand that defeated the enemies of Israel while they
took the land of Israel.
f. There is the hand that gripped mother Mary’s tickling finger.
g. There is the hand that held onto father Joseph’s as he walked
our toddling Lord through the streets of the big city.
h. There is the hand that was pierced with the spike on the cross.
i. There is the hand that Thomas put his doubting finger into.
j. There is the hand that the resurrected Lord raised when the
women wanted to embrace Him before He had ascended to the
Father.
k. There is the hand that I will one day see the scar in for
myself.
B. There is no record of anyone else in the Bible getting to hold the
hand of God like Peter did!
C. All-in-all, I would have to say that putting your hand in that hand
is not a bad thing!
III. What did Peter receive at Jesus’ hand?
A. Peter received help at the hand of Jesus.
1. I notice that Peter did not receive a sermon or a cold shoulder.
a. He received help.
b. Could I ask, what would you expect him to receive from Jesus?
c. Sure, he failed, but he was trying.
d. If God expects perfection from us before He will help us, He is
going to have a whole lot of drowned disciples!
2. I would like to say that Peter’s failing faith is unique.
a. That it only ever happened to him.
b. But I can’t for my faith has failed too.
(1) You know that you count the things you have done right a
lot easier than you count the things you have done wrong?
(2) Why? Because there are not nearly as many of them.
3. What happens when our faith fails?
a. I believe we, like Peter, get to hold the hand of God!
b. I am not going to encourage anyone to fail because failing is
always the wrong thing to do.
c. However, I am going to say that even when we fail trying to do
right with God, there are some things that will come out of
it!
B. Peter received compassion at the hand of Jesus.
1. May I say that Jesus does understand.
a. Jesus understands when we get tired. He was human once.
b. Jesus understands when we get discouraged. He was human once.
c. Jesus understands when we are afraid. He was human once.
d. Jesus understands when we would just rather not. He was human
once.
2. That understanding will never make doing wrong all right, but it
does make it easier when we fail to know He understands!
C. Peter received mercy at the hand of Jesus.
1. Mercy is getting favor when you don’t deserve it.
2. Did Peter deserve a helping hand?
3. No, but he got it.
4. When you attempt for Jesus, you will get it too.
D. Peter received love at the hand of Jesus.
1. Love is more than any of the things I have mentioned added together.
2. Love is that Jesus cared for Peter just as much after he failed as
He did before he failed.
3. Failures don’t reduce the love of our Savior and successes don’t
increase it.
a. Our failures don’t reduce it because it is unconditional.
b. Our successes don’t increase it because it is already at maximum.
E. Peter received forgiveness at the hand of Jesus.
1. Is failure sin?
a. Well, yes.
b. Peter was walking on the water and took his eyes off of Jesus.
(1) That was not right.
(2) Peter missed the mark.
(3) He did not hit the bull’s eye.
2. But in that grip of Jesus, Peter found ready forgiveness.
3. His sin was erased.
F. Peter received restoration at the hand of Jesus.
1. I don’t see Jesus making Peter sit in the back of the boat.
2. In fact, I don’t see Him making anybody move to the back.
3. This hand does not give condemnation, only the good things.
Looking over the story, I would rather be Peter failing on the water with Jesus
than to be one of the twelve disciples sitting safely in the boat!
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