A Great Christ For My Great Need

“Your way was through the sea, your path through the great waters; yet your footprints were unseen” (Psalm 77:19).

“When evening came, He was there alone, but the boat by this time was a long way from the land, beaten by the waves, for the wind was against them. And in the fourth watch of the night He came to them, walking on the sea. But when the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were terrified, and said, ‘It is a ghost!’ and they cried out in fear. But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, ‘Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid.’

And Peter answered Him, ‘Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.’ He said, ‘Come.’ So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, ‘Lord, save me.’ Jesus immediately reached out His hand and took hold of him, saying to him, ‘O you of little faith, why did you doubt?’ And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased. And those in the boat worshipped Him, saying, ‘Truly you are the Son of God.’”

—Matthew 14:23-33

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It is a humbling experience to share the Gospel with little children. They ask a lot of piercing questions; good, simple questions that insist upon straightforward answers. There is a sense in which little else better prepares you for sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ with others than by first trying to explain the Gospel clearly to a group of thirty kindergarteners sitting on the floor in front of you.

Sharing these mighty truths with those who are so small requires humility. We must first ponder anew the simple truths of the Bible for ourselves, such that these realities can then be plainly communicated to little minds. This entails that we drop the ‘Christianese’ and preach the word as Jesus and the Apostles did:

God is good and we are not (Romans 3:10), and because we are not good we rightly deserve death from the hands of a perfect and holy God (Romans 6:23a); but God, being rich in mercy and steadfast love (Ephesians 2:4), sent His one and only Son to die for sinners (John 3:16), such that all who despair of themselves and their empty deeds, turn from their sin, and believe that Christ died for them will not perish in judgement, but have eternal life and unending joy in the presence of God Himself (Romans 6:23b).

Sharing the Good News with children ought to remind us that we, as adults, never outgrow the Gospel. Indeed, we shall never outgrow the Gospel: “so that in the coming ages He might show the immeasurable riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:7).

The longer we walk here below with the Lord, we will become more sanctified and less sinful, yet we should grieve the lingering sin in ourselves all the more—even though there should less sin in our lives than a year ago, a decade ago, or many decades ago. As a dear mentor of mine used to encourage me when I first became a Christian, “The more like Christ we become, the more sin we will see in ourselves, even though there will be less of it.”

That is, the more holy we become, the more we will see sin for what it truly is and hate it as God hates it. In this way, we will sin less and less as we mature in Christ, yet hate more and more the sin that so easily entangles us, even after a lifetime. In sanctification, as John MacArthur once said, it is the direction of your life, not the perfection of it, that counts. We are never to settle for less than perfection, less than the very righteousness of Christ Himself, but we must always remember that our salvation depends upon His perfection alone and not our own—“For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law” (Romans 3:28).

As Charles Spurgeon once observed upon this very point,

“It is not merely true that we were once Christ’s enemies and that we were also utterly insignificant and unworthy of His notice, but it is amazing that He should lay down His life for such unworthy friends, even as friends, as we are. There are some professing Christians who can speak of themselves in terms of admiration, but, from my inmost heart I loathe such speeches more and more every day that I live. Those who talk in such boastful fashion must be constituted very differently from me. While they are congratulating themselves upon all the good things that they find within themselves, I have to lie humbly at the foot of Christ’s Cross and marvel that I am saved at all, for I know that I am saved.”

In the account of Jesus walking on the water towards His wind and wave-beaten disciples, we see an image of the Gospel so clear that any child could easily understand it. The roaring crescendo of rain, wind, and waves is howling all about the disciples, and they are gripped by an otherworldly fear—little do they know that the One with them, the One going about the storm unseen and unphased, is to be feared above all. Out from the doom and darkness of the raging deluge came the Lord, “who alone stretched out the heavens and trampled the waves of the sea” (Job 9:8). The disciples, adrift in their fear and unbelief, could not see Him whose “footprints were unseen” through the great waters (Psalm 77:19). In the midst of near destruction, it took only the soft cry of Peter—“Lord, save me”—to stir the Lord to action. There was no delay or deliberation on the part of the Lord; within an instant, as the words were upon Peter’s very lips, “Jesus immediately reached out His hand and took hold of him, saying to him, ‘O you of little faith, why did you doubt?’” (Matthew 14:31).

My dear friend, let not the years and troubles of this life so cloud your sight so as to forget this simple truth: the Lord loves you. His hand and His heart are ever extended out towards those who are His, ready to draw them in and guide them towards home where all winds and waves will have finally ceased. Just as the storm by His gracious design thrust us into His embrace all those years ago when we first believed, so now does He permit the storm to rage on for a little while longer for purposes far beyond our understanding. We need only trust Him and cling to Him, though it be His grip on us that holds our souls fast.

We serve a most tender and immediate Savior. Just as He marked the boundaries of the sea long ago when He laid out it’s foundations, so too does the Lord establish the beginning and end of the storms we face—“Thus far shall you come, and no farther, and here shall your proud waves be stayed” (Job 38:11). Great is our need, and greater still the great Christ to serve our need!

And if you know Him not, you need only to recognize your great need for salvation from your sin and His great ability and desire to save. It took only the soft cry of Peter, “Lord, save me”, to stir the Lord to action. “All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and whoever comes to Me I will never cast out” (John 6:37).

Here below, the storms will yet rage, but never lose sight of the Master of the storm. Oft His footprints go unseen in the midst of the storm; but rest assured, He is at work. Once we’re home, once the winds and waves have settled, all will be made well and clear.

As the endless ages roll in that world to come, the Lord will continually unfold to us some new and wonderful revelation of His grace towards us. Some new jewel in the cross of Christ that we never before considered will be revealed, some new angle that previously went unnoticed and unappreciated, but so beautiful will it be that, upon once seeing it, it cannot be unseen—indeed, we will then wonder how we ever missed it, or considered the cross whole without it.

“My little ship of faith did He / Securely, soundly make / He ruleth wind and sea and me / He never will forsake!” (Zion’s Harp, number 313).