Jesus Walks on Water: Step Out in Faith in Your Storm

Jesus Walks on Water: Step Out in Faith in Your Storm

There are nights when you're rowing in the dark with no shore in sight. You've already given everything, the wind is howling, you no longer know where you're headed, and you wonder where the Lord is in all of it. That's exactly the scene John describes in John 6:16-21, when Jesus comes walking on the water in the middle of the storm, not to impress his disciples, but to reveal himself to them. Samuel Schott preached this passage to your church, and his message comes down to one sentence: Jesus, the way through our storms, calls us to a step of faith.

So look at how he approaches your boat this morning.

The Outline of This Message

1. A sober miracle, focused on the person of Jesus
2. When you're blinded, God sends you signs
3. "It is I; don't be afraid": Jesus reveals himself as the "I Am"
4. The step of faith: lift your eyes and invite him into your boat

1. A Sober Miracle, Focused on Jesus

The scene is simple. Evening falls. The disciples go down to the sea, get into a boat, and head across toward Capernaum. It's dark, and Jesus hasn't joined them yet. The wind picks up, the sea grows rough. They row and row, about twenty-five or thirty stadia, roughly three or four miles. And then, in the middle of the lake, they see Jesus walking on the water and coming near the boat. They're afraid. They want to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat reaches the shore where they were heading.

Samuel pointed out something important. This miracle also appears in Matthew and Mark, but John tells it with far more restraint. He doesn't say Jesus ordered the disciples to cross (unlike Matthew and Mark). He doesn't mention Peter walking on the water and then sinking either. Why?

Because John wants to focus you on one thing alone: the person of Jesus. He says as much himself in John 20:31: "These have been written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God." Here, John strips away the scenery and puts you face-to-face with Jesus himself, who he is, what he reveals, what he's asking you to believe.

2. When You're Blinded, God Sends You Signs

The disciples had just witnessed the feeding of the multitude. They'd seen with their own eyes Jesus feed five thousand people. And yet, just hours later, in the middle of a storm, they're still blind. Mark puts it even more plainly: they hadn't understood what the miracle of the loaves was telling them.

So the Lord places them in a situation. A crossing at night. A headwind. No way forward. No way to see the other shore. Physically blinded by the darkness, spiritually blinded in their understanding of who Jesus is. And when he appears, they're afraid. They think they're seeing a ghost, Matthew and Mark tell us.

Samuel offered a simple picture. It's like driving down the highway, seeing the road signs, but not grasping the direction they're pointing to. The signs are there. They're speaking to you. But you can't make sense of what they mean.

You may find yourself in that same place. A decision to make, and you can't see past it. A situation at work, in your family, in your personal life, weighing on you and creeping into your relationship with Christ. There's fog, there are waves, and you can no longer see Jesus in the middle of it all.

In those moments, God doesn't leave you. He comes to your rescue through signs, through tangible things suited to what your heart and your situation need. It won't always be a spectacular miracle. It might be a word you receive, a circumstance, a brother sent your way, a verse that suddenly takes on new depth. The Lord is a teacher. He speaks to you through what you're going through, so that you'll lift your eyes and recognize him.

3. "It Is I; Don't Be Afraid": Jesus Reveals Himself as the "I Am"

The heart of this passage sits in a short phrase Jesus speaks in verse 20: "It is I. Don't be afraid." In the Greek, the phrase is egō eimi, literally "I am." The very same words God uses in Exodus 3, when he reveals himself to Moses at the burning bush: "I AM WHO I AM."

That's no small detail. Throughout his Gospel, John builds seven "I am" sayings of Jesus, I am the bread of life, the light of the world, the door, the good shepherd, the resurrection and the life, the way, the truth, and the life, the true vine. Here, in the middle of the storm, Jesus isn't just saying "don't worry, it's your friend Jesus." He's telling his disciples: I am. I'm not merely a man who performs miracles. I am God become man, drawing near to you. Believe in me. Don't be afraid of me anymore.

And the scene proves it. A man weighing roughly 175 pounds who sets his feet on water should sink instantly, buoyancy, surface tension, gravity, everything works against him. But Jesus walks. He defies the laws of physics because he's the Creator of those laws. His power and his divinity shine out in plain sight.

Samuel called to mind the scene of Moses before the burning bush. Moses was undone. He was afraid to go before Pharaoh, afraid of being rejected by his own people. And God comes to him, reveals himself as "I Am," and says, "Do not be afraid." It's the same voice, the same God, speaking to the disciples tossed about in the boat. It's the same voice speaking to you today in your storm.

4. The Step of Faith: Lift Your Eyes, Invite Him Into Your Boat

The miracle calls for a response from you: a step of faith.

John writes something remarkable in verse 21. The disciples were willing therefore to receive him into the boat, and immediately the boat was at the land where they were going. Think about the timing. They're three or four miles out, in the middle of the lake. Jesus arrives. They receive him. And immediately, they're at their destination. It wasn't their effort that got them to the other shore. It wasn't the boat, it wasn't the oars. It was Jesus, received into the boat, who carried them where they needed to go.

That's where your faith is called into action. The Lord asks something concrete of you: lift your eyes, and invite him into your boat.

Lifting your eyes means turning them away from the situation that seems hopeless and fixing them on Christ. Like Peter, in Matthew's account, who walks on the water as long as his eyes are on Jesus, and starts to sink the moment he looks at the waves. You can get through deeply hard things as long as you're looking at the Lord. The moment you look away, gravity reclaims its rights.

Inviting Jesus into your boat simply means telling him: Lord, I believe in you. I believe you are the way, the truth, and the life. I believe you're able to bring me out of this situation, to clear the fog in front of my eyes. Come into my life, come into my boat, because without you I am nothing.

And Samuel closed with something essential. This way that Jesus opens for you didn't come free. It came through the cross. God become man came to meet you in your humanity and in your sin, and it cost him his life. It's through his death and resurrection that he opened a new way to the Father. The way through your storms is a way that was bought at a price.

And to you, this morning, who may never have taken that step (believing, simply speaking to God, inviting him into your boat), this Jesus is drawing near. As Charles Spurgeon put it, quoted by Samuel: "There is no night so dark, and no sea so rough, that Jesus cannot walk on it to come to us."

Key Takeaways

• John tells this miracle with restraint to focus you on one person alone: Jesus himself.
• When you're blinded (by the night, by exhaustion, by doubt), the Lord speaks to you through signs suited to your situation.
• "It is I; don't be afraid" (John 6:20) directly echoes God's "I Am" to Moses in Exodus 3. Jesus is revealing his divinity.
• It isn't your effort, your oars, your boat, that brings you to shore. It's Jesus, received into the boat.
• The way he opens for you runs through the cross. It cost him his life.

Personal Application

1. What's the "storm" in your life right now, where you're rowing without seeing the shore? How do you recognize when you're blinded and the Lord is trying to speak to you?
2. What recent signs (a word, a verse, a circumstance, a brother sent your way) might you have missed because you were watching the waves instead of Jesus?
3. What does it change for you that Jesus presents himself as "I Am", the God of Exodus 3, the Creator who defies physics?
4. What are you actually leaning on to get through: your boat (your efforts, your solutions) or the presence of Jesus received into the boat?
5. This week, what specific step of faith will you take to invite Jesus into an area of your life you haven't yet let him into?

Verses Referenced in This Message

• John 6:16-21 · Jesus walks on the sea
• John 6:15 · Jesus withdraws alone to the mountain
• John 14:6 · I am the way, the truth, and the life
• John 20:30-31 · These have been written that you may believe
• Matthew 14:22-33 · Peter walks on the water
• Mark 6:45-52 · The disciples' hearts were hardened
• Exodus 3:13-14 · I AM WHO I AM

Frequently Asked Questions

Why does John tell this miracle so briefly, leaving out Peter and Jesus' order to cross?
Because John writes so that you may believe (John 20:31). He deliberately strips away the scenery (Peter's reaction, the logistics of the crossing), to focus your attention on the person of Jesus. The point isn't the disciples' performance; it's the identity of the one who walks on water and says, "I am; don't be afraid."

What exactly does "It is I; don't be afraid" mean in John 6:20?
In the Greek, the phrase is egō eimi, "I am." It's the same expression God uses in Exodus 3:14 when he reveals himself to Moses at the burning bush. Jesus isn't just saying "don't worry, it's your friend Jesus"; he's revealing his divinity. He is the God of the Old Testament, come to walk among his disciples.

If God loves me, why does he let storms come into my life?
Matthew and Mark tell us it was Jesus himself who told the disciples to get into the boat. He knew the crossing would be difficult. He wanted to test them, to show them something, to reveal who he is. God remains sovereign over the circumstances you face just as he is over the forces of nature. The storms he allows in your life are never accidents; they're places where he comes to meet you, to reveal himself to you, and to call you into a deeper step of faith.