Go to Matthew chapter 14 in your Bibles as we start the next chapter in the book of Matthew. We finally made it through Matthew 13 after several weeks in Matthew 13, which I think Matthew 13 is worth spending that much time in Matthew 13 because There is a shift in Matthew 13, like we said before, in Jesus' teaching in Matthew 13, where he's now teaching on the church and the characteristics of the church. You don't see that before Matthew 13. And then in Matthew 13, he gives us the seven parables that will characterize the church. And I think in Matthew 14, what we see is the There's something else that characterizes the church, and I think instead of the Lord just telling us, He shows us. In 1 Corinthians chapter 13, in that love chapter, at the end of that chapter, if you look there, it says, Now by the faith, hope and charity, these three, but the greatest of these is charity. So faith will one day fade away. And we'll no longer need faith because we'll be in the presence of God. Hope will fade away because we'll no longer need hope. Because our hopes will be fulfilled in Christ and being with God. But love abides forever. Charity abides forever. In heaven we will be in this increasing knowledge of God's love and experience of God's love. And I think we see that in this 14th chapter and I just want you to think about that as we read this 14th chapter and we see the compassion of Christ. You see the compassion of Christ shown in different ways in this chapter. Let's read it in verse 1. At that time Herod the Tetrarch heard of the fame of Jesus, and said unto his servants, This is John the Baptist. He is risen from the dead, and therefore mighty works do show forth themselves in him. For Herod had laid hold on John, and bound him, and put him in prison. For Herodias' sake, his brother Philip's wife, For John said unto him, It is not lawful for thee to have her. And when he would have put him to death, he feared the multitude, because they counted him as a prophet. But when Herod's birthday was kept, the daughter of Herodias advanced before them, and pleased Herod. Whereupon he promised with an oath to give her whatsoever she would ask. And she, being before instructed of her mother, said, give me here John Baptist's head and the charger. And the king was sorry, nevertheless for those sakes and them that sat with him at need, he commanded it to be given her. And he sent and beheaded John in the prison. And his head was brought in the charger and given to the damsel, and she brought it to her mother. And his disciples came and took up the body and buried it and went and told Jesus. When Jesus heard of it, he departed dense by ship into a desert place. And when the people had heard thereof, they followed him on foot out of the cities. And Jesus went forth and saw a great multitude, and was moved with compassion toward them, and he healed their sick. And when it was evening, his disciples came to him, saying, This is a desert place, and the time is now past. Send the multitude away, that they may go into the villages and buy themselves vittles. But Jesus said unto them, They need not depart, give ye them to eat. And they said unto him, We have here but five loaves and two fishes, He said, bring them hither to me. And he commanded the multitude to sit down on the grass and he took the five loaves and the two fishes and looking up to heaven, he blessed and break and gave the loaves to his disciples and the disciples to the multitude. And they did all eat and were filled. And they took up the fragments that remained 12 baskets full. They that were eaten were about 5,000 men besides the women and children. And straightway Jesus constrained his disciples to get into a ship, and to go before him unto the other side, when he sent the multitudes away. And when he sent the multitudes away, he went up into a mountain apart to pray. And when the evening was come, he was there alone. But the ship was now in the midst of the sea, cast with waves, for the wind was contrary. And in the fourth watch of the night, Jesus went unto them, walking on the sea. And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, It is a spirit. And they cried out for fear. But straightway Jesus spake unto them, saying, Be of good cheer. It is I. Be not afraid. And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou bid me to come unto thee on the water. And he came, he said, Come. And Peter was come down out of the ship. He walked on the water to go to Jesus. But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid. 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? And when they were come into the ship, the wind ceased. Then they that were in the ship came and worshipped him, saying, Of a truth, thou art the Son of God. And when they were gone over, they came into the place of Genesaret, and when the men of that place had known of him, they sent out into all the country round about, and brought unto him all that were diseased. And beside him, that they might only touch the hem of his garment, and as many as touched were made perfectly whole. So let's pray. Dear Father, I pray, please bless these words to our heart. Give us wisdom in your word. I pray in Jesus' name, Amen. We see something unique in this chapter that in the Gospel of Matthew what you'll see is predominant is the teachings of Jesus. We've been through several of the teachings of Jesus since Matthew 5, since Jesus started teaching. And from Matthew 5 to Matthew 13, it's been really nothing but the teaching of Jesus. for all those chapters and it's such a blessing to listen to Jesus' teachings and to sit at his feet and listen to what he has to say. His teachings have transformed the world like no other man's teachings. No one even comes close to the teachings of Jesus and how they have influenced how we think. There were words that didn't even exist before Jesus started teaching. because of the principles that he taught were so unique that they were never heard before. And like they said of Jesus, never have we heard a man speak like this. But we see something also unique about Jesus, and it's the compassion of Christ. The compassion of Christ. And we see that in this chapter, we see more of the actions of Jesus than we do of the teaching of Jesus. You see more of what he does or how he acts. How he interacts with people. And you see that in pretty great detail in this chapter. How he's affected by John the Baptist's death. How does he react when the multitudes basically chase him down and then they're hungry. How did Jesus react in that situation? It's very important for us to see how, who Jesus is, or his compassion, or his love, and that our lives would be like his, and only because of his spirit dwelling in us, but that that love of Christ would flow out of us. In John chapter 13, 34, and 35, what did Jesus say? You'll know my disciples by their love one for another. You know Christ's disciples by their love. Now I believe what Jesus meant there, and then we'll get into this chapter, is two-fold. And this is how it applies to this chapter. What Jesus meant there, by you'll know my disciples by their love one another, one, is a self-sacrificing love. It's a different type of love. It's a different type of love because it's self-sacrificing. But I would also say that it's a different type of love in terms of how it expresses itself. How it expresses itself. And we're going to see that in the life of Christ here in this chapter. Today we're only going to go through the whole chapter quickly and then in the future weeks by God's grace we'll break it up into parts. So in this first part of the chapter we see in these first 11 verses we see how Jesus has compassion towards John the Baptist or you'll see how he reacts to John the Baptist so when Jesus heard of it in verse 13 he departed thus into a ship into a desert place so When Jesus heard of John, it affected him. And he wanted to be alone. And he went into the desert place to actually, I would believe, to get away from the people. Right? Because he's surrounded by people. And he's moved by the death of John. He greatly loved John. And we'll get into John's death more in the coming weeks. But we see in the general principle here that Jesus was moved by John's death. He had compassion on John and he went into a desert place to be alone. But what happened in verse 13? But when the people had heard thereof, they followed him on foot out of the cities. And you would think Look in verse 14, and Jesus went forth and saw a great multitude, and was moved with compassion toward them. He was moved with compassion toward them. It would almost be like if you had a bunch of children following you, right? And you're trying to get away from them, and you go into a solitary place. And they find you, and then they all come to you. It's like, in one sense, it could be the same type of situation where all these people are following Jesus from place to place, thousands of people, and then Jesus goes into this desert place because he's mourning John's death. And what happens? The multitudes find them. And how does Jesus react to that? Does He send them away? No, He has compassion on them. He has love towards them. And He heals them. He heals them. His mind, in verse 14, it said, and He healed their sick. He had compassion toward them. And even when the evening was come, so here they are, they've been there all day long. And the disciples are like, Jesus, just send them away. Just send them away. But what does Jesus do? He turns the bread, the fish into bread. I mean, he takes the fish and the bread and he multiplies it. Sorry about that. He takes the fish and the bread and he multiplies it and he feeds The multitude, he's moved with compassion. He's moved to take action. He's moved to take action. So, in this chapter you see Jesus has compassion towards individuals. You're going to see that with John the Baptist. You're going to see that with Peter later in the chapter. Jesus has compassion on the multitudes. We see that here as he multiplies the fish and the bread to feed them. And Jesus has compassion on his apostles. It's unique how he has compassion on his apostles. We'll get into that. But he also has a great love for his father. He has a great love for his father. Look in verse 23, when He had sent the multitudes away, He went up into a mountain apart to pray. And when the evening was come, He was there alone. He was there alone. You'll see this often in Jesus' ministry, that He went to His Father in prayer. And it shows the love that Christ has for his Father. Here's God in the flesh, Jesus Christ, humbling himself in prayer. Humbling himself in prayer. And it just made me think, if the Lord Jesus had to humble himself in prayer, how often ought I to humble myself in prayer? But it shows Jesus' love for his father. If we love God, we will seek his face and we will pray often. But we also see that Jesus had a love for his apostles. A love for his apostles. Look in verse 23, but when he sent the multitudes away, he went up into a mountain apart to pray. When the evening was come, he was there alone. But the ship was now in the midst of the sea, tossed with waves, for the wind was contrary. But look in verse 22, and straightway Jesus constrained his disciples to get into a ship and to go before him and to the other side, while he sent the multitudes away. So Jesus does what? He sends the apostles away. I think again because he wanted to be alone with his father and pray. But I think also for their benefit. For their benefit. Because when they got into the ship, what happened? When they got into the ship, they were tossed with the waves and the wind was contrary. And they were in this turmoil. They were in the ship and they were in this turmoil. Right? But in the fourth watch of the night, Jesus went unto them walking on the sea. And when the disciples saw him walking, they were troubled, saying, It is a spirit. And they cried out with fear. But straightway Jesus spoke unto them, saying, Be of good cheer. It is I. It is I. But jump down into verse 33. Look at this. Then they that were in the ship came and worshipped him, saying, Of a truth thou art the Son of God. Of a truth thou art the Son of God. This is the conclusion that they came to. The conclusion that they came to was that Jesus Christ is the Messiah, that Jesus Christ is God. But they would have never came to that conclusion in this chapter if they hadn't first been in the ship. So Jesus sends them in the ship purposely knowing but I believe he personally, obviously he knows all things that there would be this storm and that they would be tossed to and fro but then that Christ would come walking on the water that he would come walking on the water and that he would deliver them and that they would worship him that they would worship him and then in the concluding verses of this chapter We see also that when Jesus goes into the city, again, what is he doing? He's healing the multitudes. He's healing them. And many, he healed many as he went. So, in this chapter, you see that Jesus fulfilled the whole law. because of his love toward his fellow man. And we often, sometimes can, I don't know about often, but I think we need a proper perspective on Jesus' humanity, as well on Jesus' deity. But to think that Jesus loved his fellow man. No one did more good towards his fellow man than Jesus did. He preached, He taught, He fed them, He prayed for them, He healed them, He forgave their sins, and ultimately He died for His fellow man. Many believe Jesus would teach anywhere from four to seven hours a day. He would teach the people every day for hours and hours. and he would heal them as we see that this is just as John tells us at the end of his gospel what we have here is just a small part of what Jesus did as a whole we just have like a sample of what Jesus did in the gospels It's not all written, for John said if everything was written that Jesus did, the whole world would not be able to contain the books of everything that Jesus did. So when we hear about the 5,000 being fed, and then it talks also about the 4,000 being fed in another account, how many times did he do that? He may have done it many times. And we read at the end of this chapter how He goes into this city and just heals many people. And we read about another place where He goes into another city and He heals the whole entire city, it says. Everybody that was sick in the city. How many times did He do that? And we think that Jesus always did good towards others. He always did good towards others. Even when the apostles were frustrated. You'll see it on a couple different accounts. And you see it here. They're kind of getting frustrated, but the Amalfites do. They keep coming, and they keep coming. And what did Jesus say? He says, no, let them come to me. Let them come to me. And in this chapter, what you'll see, and what we'll see as we go through this in the coming weeks, is you'll see the great compassion of Christ. the great compassion of Christ, His great compassion to feed the multitudes, His great compassion as He laments over John's death, and His great compassion even as He sends His disciples into the boisterous sea, knowing that they will come to the conclusion that He is God, that He is the Son of God. And oftentimes I think That's what God is doing in our lives. We're in the sea of troubles in life. But I would tell you today, don't look, don't look for your answers to your problems as your reason to glorify God. Although we do that. I thank God for the thing He's provided for me, right? But my friends, there may come a day in your life where you lack much physically. And it will come to your life, it will come to that day. But what does Jesus say? In verse 29, Jesus said, Come. And Peter came down out of the ship and walked on the water and went to Jesus. Jesus says, Come to me. Come to Jesus. Come to Jesus. See what Christ has done. who He is, that He is God, the knowledge of knowing that Christ is God is the greatest thing on earth. My friends, rejoicing, rejoicing in things that are outside of Christ and who He is and what He has done for us can be just as wrong as sorrowing over things that are outside of Christ. Jesus said, don't rejoice over these things, but rejoice in this, that your name is written in heaven. So, I'll close tonight by saying this. As we read this chapter, we'll see the gracious words of our Lord, and we'll see the loving motives of our Lord in this chapter. And I pray that our lives would be directed in the same way. and that we would look to Christ and rejoice in Him and be thankful for what He has done for us and what He has provided for us. And as Jesus rebukes Peter in verse 31, He says, O thou of little faith, why did you doubt? Why did you doubt? Do not doubt. Look to Christ and trust Him. And know that He is the one that will save us. He is the one that will, as He does to Peter here, grab him by the hand and pull him up out of the sea. Christ will save us, ultimately. And that's what we look forward to, and that's what we look to, is Christ and His salvation. So, because I'm telling you, tonight, if you rejoice in things of this world, you will be let down. If you sorrow over the things of this world, which we're all going to sorrow from time to time, it's not wrong to sorrow. It's not wrong necessarily to rejoice in good things that happen to us, but be careful, be careful Be careful, you of little faith, that your rejoicing is not based in Christ and what He has done for us and what He has provided for us in salvation. And if your rejoicing is in Christ and you're looking to Him, you will not doubt. If situations are bad, we'll say, praise the Lord Jesus, I have eternal life in Him. If situations are good, we'll say, praise the Lord Jesus, we have eternal life in Him. And the boisterous sea will not move us, because we'll see that you are the Son of God, in verse 33, like the apostles came to that conclusion. You are the Son of God. and praise His name that we can have that steady faith because of who Christ is. That's where our faith will not be wavering. Our faith will waver. If we look at the sea, our faith will waver if we look at our situations. But if we look to Christ and who He is, our faith will not waver. Our faith will be steady. We will say, I have trusted the Lord. He is God and I'm looking to Him. And the circumstances may change, so be it. They will change. Guaranteed. But our faith will be steady if it's in Christ and Him as the living God. So let's pray. Dear Father, I thank you for Your word, God, I pray that you please help us in our study of your word. Please help us in this time, God, as we sit and talk about this chapter. And oh, Father, I pray that we would see the love of Christ. How, Lord Jesus, you came and you did more good than any other man has ever done. And ultimately, you did the greatest good by laying down your life for us. I pray, God, that Our joy or our sorrow would not be in anything, Lord Jesus, except for you, but that our joy would be in you, that we would look to you, Lord Jesus, and have great joy. And even in our sorrow, that we would sorrow over our sin because of what Christ has done for us and how at times we fail and come short and we sorrow because Christ died for us and to deliver us from sin, yet we still fall short. Yet we rejoice because we have salvation in Him. So we rejoice in Christ and we even sorrow in Christ. And I pray God that that's where our heart would be. That our faith would not fail. I pray in Jesus' name. Amen.