Living Hope Fellowship Church

. Living Hope Fellowship Church....Sermons by the Pastor

BACK WITH THE RATS

by Danny Beggs, 11/03/93

Matthew 14:22-25 tells us that Jesus had gone up to a mountain to pray, but the disciples were in a ship and in trouble. Jesus knew it, and went to them walking on the sea. At first they were all afraid, but Peter said in Matthew 14:28, “. . . Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water.” When Jesus said, “Come,” Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water to go to Jesus!

Matthew 14:30-31 says, “But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me. And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?”

People belittle Peter because he lost his faith and sank, but he had enough faith to step out on the water, while the other eleven stayed in the ship! When we get our eyes on tribulations we get them off of Jesus! When he cried out to Jesus, He stretched forth His hand and saved him. Just because you are struggling doesn’t mean you have lost! (See Proverbs 24:16 and Philippians 4:13.)

Some of us haven’t made it out of the boat, or out of the pew to get to the altar! There comes a time when nobody can help you but Jesus Christ. You have to turn it over to Jesus and trust Him to handle it.

The eleven didn’t have enough faith to step out of the sinking boat, while Peter was out there with Jesus on the rock of faith! The others looked like eleven drowning rats! If there’s too much water, rats scurry everywhere, with no idea where they are going. Get your eyes off of your tribulation and on JESUS, or you aren’t going anywhere!

We have to get past the problem to the victory. How hard do you think it was for Jesus, hanging on the cross with blood in his eyes, to see the victory? He was beaten, and scourged, and mocked, and spit on, but he still climbed up Calvary’s hill. All the pain and humiliation was for your sins and mine. Get rid of your pride, and accept the blood of Jesus. Psalm 103:12 says, “As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.” Don’t keep whining and crying on the altar when He has already forgiven you. Either you believe God or you don’t. If you got off the rock, pray through and get back up. If you haven’t got out of the boat, trust God enough to take that first step.

Peter backslid and denied Christ three times, BUT he prayed through! Then his shadow healed people, he raised the dead, and he had the boldness of a lion!

Once you are washed in the blood of Jesus, the old man is dead. You can’t hang on to that ship but so long, or when it goes down, it will take you with it. Jesus has provided a way off of that ship. Why won’t we give up our pride? Judas stayed in the sinking ship. He got his eyes off of Jesus and never prayed through! No devil in hell can keep you from getting the victory. (See Luke 10:19.)

Get your nose out of the air, and get it in the altar. A pig is a pig whatever brand it is! Manure stinks, and we all stink before God in our sins. Isaiah 64:6 says, “But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags. . . .” Don’t think that you are any better than anybody else just because you are a Christian. Ephesians 2:8 says, “For by grace are ye saved through faith. . . .”

I have something to tell those who have trouble accepting victory. Malachi 2:13 says, “And this have ye done again, covering the altar of the LORD with tears, with weeping, and with crying out, insomuch that he regardeth not the offering any more, or receiveth it with good will at your hand.”

If you have repented, God has given you the victory. Get up and quit crying and moaning and feeling sorry for yourself. Praise God for the deliverance! If you will just take it, He put it in your hand. No matter how much pain or humiliation you have to go through, it is worth it when you get a hold of Jesus! After a baby is born, all the travail and pain a woman goes through is forgotten.

Jesus will sometimes wait till you get down so low there is no other place to go. If you are a Christian and you play with the devil, you will pay dearly. I went back and forth like being on a teeter totter. I was backslid, but the minute I trusted Jesus I said, “God, I don’t care how bad it hurts, You finish the work you started in me.” From that point on, everything started turning around, and God restored everything the devil took from me. Don’t think you are too far backslid to get right with God or that you are too big a sinner to get saved.

If you feel God tugging at your heart, repent and turn away from your sins. Ask Jesus to wash you in His blood, and believe He has done it! No man and no devil can condemn you when Jesus sets you free. Jesus is waiting for you.

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livinghope@hughes.net