Venture All on Christ — E.A. Johnston

Leaving the Safety of the Boat to Venture All on Christ

I believe that Christ will soon return, return for his bride sooner than we realize. And I also believe, friends, that when he appears, many of us are going to wish we had risked more for him instead of playing it safe.

We lived our life in the safety of the boats, so to speak, holding on to the two wars of self-preservation and self-satisfaction. The title of my message today, friends, is Leaving the Safety of the Boat to Venture All on Christ, and my text can be found in Matthew's Gospel.

You may turn in your Bibles there now, friends. We will be in chapter 14 and in verses 24 through 29. My message today is about risking all for Christ and his Gospel because the pearl of great price is worth selling all for and losing all for to gain him.

Jesus Meets the Disciples in the Storm

We see in our familiar passage a boat of struggling disciples while Jesus sits on a mountain in solitude and prayer. I wonder if he was praying for his men down in that troubled sea. We know his eyes were on them while they fought that fierce storm in the Sea of Galilee.

The Sea of Galilee lies 680 feet below sea level, and it's bounded by hills that reach 2 ,000 feet high, particularly on the eastern side, and these heights are a source of cool dry air, and when that cool dry air meets the warmer tropical air, temperatures change and can result in strong winds, and these winds may suddenly arrive on the center of the lake with violent results, creating great danger.

And this is where we find the disciples of Jesus as we begin our text in verse 24. Here now is the word of God, and may the Spirit of the Lord be pleased to attend the reading of his holy word. But the ship was now in the midst of the sea, tossed with waves, for the wind was contrary.

And in the fourth watch of the night, Jesus went unto them, walking on the sea. Let me pause here, friends. Our Lord Jesus waits while his men wear themselves out in the midst of a storm-tossed boat.

Their arms are tired from rowing, and they're getting nowhere. Their bodies are exhausted from a lack of sleep. They literally are weary, worn out, and worried about their very survival, as things seem to be getting worse and worse instead of better.

It is then, when all self-effort is spent, that Christ arrives in the midst of their dilemma. And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, It is a spirit, and they cried out for fear.

Look at those men, worn out and weary, and their lives in danger. And on top of all this, now spook is after them, they believe. They wail at the top of their voices, What next? But straightway, Jesus spake unto them, saying, Be of good cheer, it is I, be not afraid.

Peter Ventures Out in Faith

Now something very remarkable happens here in the midst of this divine rescue, friends, and the storyline shifts to the central character, the disciple Peter. Peter sees Jesus walking on the waves to come to their rescue, and it does something inside of him.

It does something remarkable to him. It challenges him. It stretches him. He decides right then and there to venture his all on Christ. He is willing, gladly willing, to leave the safety of the ship and leap into the jaws of death for Christ.

And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water. And he said, Come. I bet Jesus smiled when he said it, too. You know what, friends, God gets a kick out of us when we venture out in faith for him.

He wants us to trust him and cast all our reliance upon his supernatural ability. Jesus tells the daring disciple Peter, Come, come on. Now notice the rest of the verse. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water to go to Jesus.

I will stop there. Every sermon I've ever heard in my entire life by preachers on this passage, they place the emphasis of their message on Peter's sinking because he took his eyes off of Christ. The emphasis is on the negative.

I believe this is wrong. The emphasis should be on the positive. Here is a man, just a man, who has faith large enough to venture his all for his master. And in the process, he gets out of the boat while his companions remain in the safety of the boat.

But Peter ventures all and gambles his all on Christ. And by doing this, he experiences the supernatural. A man walks on water. I can accept quickly Jesus walking on the water because he is God. But a fisherman, a common, uneducated man, walks on water and defies gravity and nature.

This is truly remarkable, friends. It speaks volumes to us today. Listen, friends, man's extremity is God's opportunity. And God's opportunity is man's opportunity to step out in faith and join him in his work and experience God in a deep, supernatural way and walk on the water with him.

But I believe there are certain things which hold us back, which keep us from venturing our all for Christ. I want to list these now, friends, and you see if you fall into one of these categories. We stay in the safety of the boat because, number one, we don't want to leave our businesses.

Our livelihood has a hold on us. We don't want to give it up or risk it. But in Matthew 16, 24, it declares, then said Jesus unto his disciples, if any man will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.

Leaving Family for the Work of Saving Souls

For whosoever will save his life shall lose it. And whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. Secondly, we stay in the safety of the boat because we don't want to be apart from our family.

Daniel Nash, the great prayer force behind the revivals under Charles Fanny in the second great awakening, gave himself entirely to the work of saving souls. His son Seymour wrote of him. He felt that God called him to leave his family and farm and give himself wholly to the work of saving souls.

His family was well provided for as to their temporal wants. He made occasional visits to his family to look after their wants, frequently bringing them sums of money for this purpose, which he'd received by way of contributions and places where he had labored, but he never made it his permanent home with them again.

Risking Financial Security to Serve God

He felt that his home was in God and in the work he had given him to do. Daniel Nash is legendary as a man of prayer. We never would have heard of him had he stayed on his farm with his family. Thirdly, we don't leave the safety of the boat because we don't want to risk losing our nest egg that stands in the way of our servant God and the way he has called us.

I remember a man I met in business years ago who told me God had called him to be a pastor, but he didn't want to be a pastor because he said he didn't want to be poor, so he became a businessman instead.

This man was not willing to venture his all on God and trust him. He only wanted to trust his bank account. Jesus told the rich young ruler, Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven, and come and follow me.

C .T. Studd, who was a pioneer missionary, read that passage and did what the rich young ruler would not. He gave away his inherited fortune to God and the spread of the gospel. C .T. Studd wrote, Only one life will soon be passed.

Risking Reputation for the Gospel

Only what's done for Christ will last. C .T. Studd gambled his life away for Christ and the gospel. Lastly, we don't want to risk our good reputation, so we stay in the safety of the boat. Your friends and family may call you a fanatic.

You may be viewed as an oddity within your community because you're willing to gamble your life away for Christ and the sake of the gospel. And look, I look at the life of Borden of Yale, who was the son of the wealthy dairy company in Chicago, who was to take the reins of his father's large enterprise and earn a huge salary.

But against his friend's advice, he instead chose the mission field to pour out his life for the spread of the gospel. He felt led to bring the gospel to the Muslims in Egypt. He was studying Islam in Cairo when he contracted cerebral meningitis and died at the age of 25.

William Borden was willing to risk his good reputation for the sake of the gospel. Are we willing to leave the safety of the boat to venture our all for Christ? To venture our all for the Christ who gave his all for us?

Experiencing the Supernatural Life of Faith

Remember, friends, man's extremity is God's opportunity. And God's opportunity is man's opportunity to step out in faith and join him in his work and experience God in a deep, supernatural way and walk on the water with him.

Once you experience the life of the supernatural, you don't want to get back into the boat of the normal. Let us pray.