Charles Spurgeon

“Lord, if it is You,” Peter replied, “command me to come to You on the water.” “Come,” said Jesus.

“A FEW reflections will be sure to cross the mind of any thoughtful reader of this narrative. I. THE MIXED CHARACTER OF THE BELIEVER'S EXPERIENCE is here very palpably suggested to us. Peter was undoubtedly a bold believer in Jesus Christ.”

But when he saw the strength of the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!”

“I am going to talk about the characteristics of this prayer in the hope that there may be many who have never yet prayed aright, who may make this their own prayer, tonight, so that from many a person here present this cry may silently…”

Immediately Jesus reached out His hand and took hold of Peter. “You of little faith,” He said, “why did you doubt?”

“OUR Lord did not begin His dealings with Peter in this emergency by asking him that question. He first stretched out His hand and saved him from his peril and then He said to him, "O you of little faith, why did you doubt?"”

Immediately Jesus reached out His hand and took hold of Peter. “You of little faith,” He said, “why did you doubt?”

“OUR Savior did not ask Peter that question for His own information. He could have told Peter much more about his unbelieving heart than Peter knew! The Savior was well acquainted with those springs from which the unbelief of Peter arose.”

Immediately Jesus reached out His hand and took hold of Peter. “You of little faith,” He said, “why did you doubt?”

“BETWEEN the very lowest degree of faith and a state of unbelief there is a great gulf. An immeasurable abyss yawns between the man who has even the smallest faith in Christ and the man who has none.”

Immediately Jesus reached out His hand and took hold of Peter. “You of little faith,” He said, “why did you doubt?”

“THERE is only one word in the original for the phrase, "O you of little faith." The Lord Jesus virtually addresses Peter by the name of "Little-Faith" in one word.”

Leaving that place, Jesus withdrew to the district of Tyre and Sidon.

“WE learn from this chapter, dear Friends, that our Master was tired of battling with hypocrites and formalists and, therefore, withdrew Himself from them.”

But Jesus replied, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.”

“I TAKE the two records of Matthew and Mark that we may have the whole matter before us. May the Holy Spirit bless our meditations. The brightest jewels are often found in the darkest places.”

“Yes, Lord,” she said, “even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table.”

“DID YOU notice, in the reading of this narrative of the Syro-Phoenician woman, the two facts mentioned in the 21st and 22nd verses? "Then Jesus went from there and departed into the coasts of Tyre and Sidon.”

“O woman,” Jesus answered, “your faith is great! Let it be done for you as you desire.” And her daughter was healed from that very hour.

“I mean to dwell Especially upon those words at the end of the verse, "Be it unto you even as you will," but before we consider them, I should like to remind you again, as I did in the reading, that our Lord admired this…”

When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, He questioned His disciples: “Who do people say the Son of Man is?”

“THIS is one of the earliest places in the New Testament in which we find any mention of the Church. Jesus says, in verse eighteen, "I will build My Church."”

Truly I tell you, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom.”

“I must confess that I have frequently read this verse with but a vague sense of its profound impressiveness and I have passed it over rapidly because I did not understand it clearly.”

There He was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white as the light.

“WHILE our Lord Jesus Christ was upon this earth, He was as much Divine as before He left His Father's court in Heaven. He never ceased to be God, nor was the Godhead for a single moment separated from His Humanity.”

While Peter was still speaking, a bright cloud enveloped them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.

“WHEN our Lord Jesus Christ was transfigured, there came a Voice from the bright, overshadowing cloud, which said, "This is My Beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear you Him."”

And when they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus.

“The last words will suffice us for a text, “Jesus only.” When Peter saw our Lord with Moses and Elias, he exclaimed, “Master, it is good to be here,” as if he implied that it was better to be with Jesus, and Moses, and Elias…”

“O unbelieving and perverse generation!” Jesus replied. “How long must I remain with you? How long must I put up with you? Bring the boy here to Me.”

“OUR real text will be the entire narrative, but as it seems necessary to select some one sentence, we have chosen that before us as the true hinge of the story.”

Afterward the disciples came to Jesus privately and asked, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?” “Because you have so little faith,” He answered.

“I put these two texts together for this reason. Those of you who are acquainted with the Revised Version know that the 21st verse in the 17th chapter of Matthew is left out.”

For where two or three gather together in My name, there am I with them.”

“WE have, in the verses preceding, the text a mention of the first Church Meeting of which I remember to have found mention in the New Testament.”

About the third hour he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing.

“No parable teaches all sides of the Truth of God. It is wrong to attempt to make a parable run on all fours—it is intended to convey some one lesson—and if it teaches that, we must not attempt to draw everything else out of it.”

About the eleventh hour he went out and found still others standing around. ‘Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?’ he asked.

“WE have come to the end of another year. Better is the end of a year than the beginning thereof. A year is begun with fear and trembling—it closes with joy and thankfulness.”

As Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, He took the twelve disciples aside and said, “Look, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered…

“You have this same story in Matthew, Mark and Luke, a little differently told, as would naturally be the case when the information came from three different observers.”

But what do you think? There was a man who had two sons. He went to the first one and said, ‘Son, go and work today in the vineyard.’

“THE father had a right to the services of both his sons, for they were, according to the strict rendering of the word, children, or young men under age. They depended upon him for everything, so they were bound to obey his commands.”

O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those sent to her, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under…

“THIS is not and could not be the language of a mere man. It would be utterly absurd for any man to say that he would have gathered the inhabitants of a city together, "even as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings."”

The servant who had received the two talents also came and said, ‘Master, you entrusted me with two talents. See, I have gained two more.’

“EVERY good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights.” All that men have they must trace to the Great Fountain, the giver of all good. Hast thou talents?”

And throw that worthless servant into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

“THERE is a narrow path between indifference and morbid sensibility. Some men seem to feel no holy anxiety—they place their Master's talent in the earth, leave it there and take their pleasure and their ease without a moment's compunction.”