Let's open our Bibles to the
sixth chapter of the gospel of John, John chapter six. Verse 20. But he saith unto them, it is
I, be not afraid. The Lord has miraculously fed
5,000 men, not counting the women and children. They foolishly
wanted to make him king by force. and he departed from them and
went into a mountain. Matthew and Mark record for us
also what's happening here on the Sea of Galilee. And Matthew
tells us that the Lord Jesus constrained his disciples to
get into a boat and cross over the sea and he would meet them
later. He goes into a mountain to pray
for them. So where these disciples find themselves is exactly where
the Lord put them. If you'll look back with verse
16. Verse 15, and when Jesus therefore
perceived that they would come and take him by force to make
him a king, he departed again into a mountain himself alone. The Lord Jesus went to the cross and by himself, he accomplished
the work of redemption. without anyone making him anything. He laid his life down willingly
for his sheep. And we have a picture here of
the Lord Jesus going to Mount Calvary and interceding on our
behalf. And in verse 16, and when even
was now come, And I want you to notice how
oftentimes darkness is mentioned in this passage. And when even
was now come, his disciples went down into the sea and entered
into a ship and went over the sea toward Capernaum. And it
was now dark and Jesus was not come to them. and the sea arose
by reason of a great wind that blew. So when they had rowed
about five and 20 or 30 furlongs, they see Jesus walking on the
sea and drawing nigh unto the ship, and they were terrified. Mark tells us that they thought
that he was a spirit. They didn't know. that it was
Christ. And he spoke unto them and he
said, it is I, be not afraid. Then they willingly received
him into the ship and immediately the ship was at the land with
they went. What do we do when we find ourselves trying to do what the Lord commanded
us to do as these disciples were, yet feeling like that he has
left us rowing our boats by ourselves on a dark, tumultuous sea? The light of his countenance
seems to be at best very dim and at worst extinguished altogether. What do we do? Before I answer that question,
let us be reminded that this experience is the life and lot
of all the children of God. This is our life. We live in a dark world where
there is no light. We have a body of flesh that
we live in that can be led into darkness so easily. The Lord Jesus Christ, the only
hope that we have. The Lord has put us in a world
that's contrary to everything that we love and everything that
we believe. And yet we find ourselves often strangely drawn to the
very things that cause us so much trouble. What do we do? Actually, this experience that
every child of God has began at their conversion. There was
a time before we knew Christ where we fit in very well. to the system of this world,
the values of this world, the hopes of this world. There was no conflict. All we
were was men of flesh and all we had interest in was fleshly
things. And then the spirit of God opens
the eyes of our understanding and gives us a glimpse of the
glory of Christ. And for the first time in our
lives, there now is a spiritual conflict. There now is a fear
of God. There now is some understanding
of our need to be reconciled to God, some understanding of
our sinfulness before God. before that experience, whatever
problems we thought that we might have with God, and whatever thoughts
we might have had of eternal matters, we came to the conclusion
that we could fix it. We could remedy the problem.
We could, by decision and by dedication, amend our ways and
make things right with God. Now the Lord reveals to us that
we have a problem that we can't fix. We're sinners in need of a savior. We for the first time in our
lives have to look outside of ourselves to try to find hope
for our salvation and for our life. What a mercy. What a blessing,
what a miracle of grace it is when God makes one to be a sinner. One who can't fix their own problem. One who is not just having a
problem with a bad habit here or there, or some shameful behavior
here or there, but one who has by God's grace been brought to
that conclusion that everything about me is sinful. And if God were to judge me based
on the best thing that I've ever done, I'm going to hell for it. That's when this experience that
these disciples are having began for every child of God. It began
at their conversion. Job went about justifying himself
and accusing God of wrongdoing until the Lord was pleased to
reveal himself. And then the first thing out
of Job's mouth was, behold, behold, I am vile. I spoke without knowledge. It's
what Job said. I repent in dust and ashes. Lord,
I'm completely dependent upon you. The Lord's putting these
disciples as he does every one of his children in a place where
they have to depend upon him. They've been sent by God down
to the sea. They've been put in a boat. It's
in the night. John tells us how far they rode.
We just read it, five and 20 or 30 furlongs. Now that's three
miles. They're on the Sea of Galilee.
The Sea of Galilee is six miles wide. They are smack dab in the middle
of the Sea of Galilee. And Mark, I think is it tells
us that it is the fourth watch. The fourth watch of the night. The first watch would have been
6 p.m. to 9 p.m. then 9 to 12 then 12
to 3 and the fourth watch was 3 o'clock to 6 o'clock. All night they've been rowing
and all they made it in the middle of this storm was three miles. And they've got just as far to
go in any direction that they look. They're in the middle of
the sea and the Lord put them there. The Lord put them there. Not only does this experience
begin at our conversion? And this is so important because
the false prophets would present God as one who's going to give
you a life of peace and prosperity, a life that's going to deliver
you from these sort of troubles. A life that's going to bring
you nothing but joy and happiness and the Lord Jesus said, I did
not come to bring peace, I came to bring a sword. A sword. You see, peace with God means
that we're going to be in conflict with those who are not with God.
Who do not have peace with God. We're gonna be in conflict with
a world that is not at peace with God. No, the world, the false prophets
of religion present a false god when they promise men such a
bed of roses. No, the Lord Jesus looked at
that group of men that he had just fed and he said to them,
you're only interested in following me so that you can have your
bellies full. The belly in the Bible is a picture of the flesh.
And they that are after the flesh, they do mind the things of the
flesh. But we look not on those things
which are seen, for the things which are seen are temporal.
We look on the things which are not seen, for the things which
are not seen are spiritual. And we walk by faith not by sight. This is the lot of the believer's
life. It begins at their conversion.
And the scripture says, as you received Christ Jesus, the Lord,
so walk ye in him. So our entire life, our life
and a lot of our life is to walk by faith. And the Lord is gonna send us
down to the sea. The Lord tells us that the way
of the Lord is through the seas. The turbulence of trials and
troubles and tribulations in this world as a child of God. The Lord told those people, you
want your bellies full, but if you wanna be my disciple, you've
got to be willing to take up your cross. deny yourself and
follow me." And they all went home. That's not what we're looking
for. That's not what we're looking for. Oh, how many times we've
seen people come and show an interest and yet when they finally
count the cost, when they finally realize what God is demanding
and what God is doing, that's not for me. That's not for me. It is a miracle of grace that
God would make the sons and daughters of Adam who are by nature concerned
with their life in this world. It is a work of grace that God
would bring them to die to themselves and make them alive unto God. That's not natural. You're not
going to make that decision. We're like water. We're looking
for the path of least resistance. We see enough of that in our
daily experience to know that that's our nature, isn't it?
That's our nature. And the road to destruction is
broad, and many are they that find it. And the road to heaven
is narrow, and few are they. Few. Oh, what a blessing. Lord, make me of those few. Make
me of those few. It's the only thing that matters. to be made a sinner so that you have no righteousness
whatsoever in need of a savior. All the way. This experience
that begins at the new birth and lasts throughout the life
of faith that we walk ends with our dying breath. depending upon him, depending
upon him. Lord, if you don't, if you don't
present yourself as my righteousness, if you don't, if you don't save
me, here's our hope. We can go to our grave. We can go to our
grave with the hope of knowing that he has gone before us. and
he has made a way for us. When the last enemy is finally
conquered and when we are finally delivered from this dark world
and this unbelieving flesh, the Lord Jesus said this, he
said, in this world, you shall have tribulation. but be of good cheer. I have overcome the world. I've conquered this world. What a conqueror we have in Christ.
What hope. Look with me again, if you will,
at verse 20. But he saith unto them, it is
I, be not afraid. Let us not only know that this
is the believer's life, to be sent of God out into a tumultuous
sea of trials and troubles and to have the light of his countenance
taken from us in order to put us in a place where we have to
cry out to him and depend upon him. For him to see us before
we see him. I love when Mark tells us this
story. Mark says that while the Lord
was praying on the mountain, he saw the disciples rowing out
in the middle of the Sea of Galilee. He saw them long before they
saw him. He knew exactly where they were
and his purpose was to go to them. Now here's what I want
you to see in verse 20. It is I, it is I, The original language says, I
am. I am. This is God's covenant
name. This is the name that he gave
to Moses at the burning bush when Moses asked the Lord, Lord,
what's your name? And the Lord initially didn't
give Moses his name. He said, I am that I am. And
then the Lord said, tell them I am hath sent you. I am. It's his covenant name. It's a declaration of who he
is in his nature as the self-existent, uncreated, eternal sustainer
and creator of all of life. It's the name that John focuses
in on over and over again when he says, I am the bread of life. Moses didn't give you that bread.
My father gave that bread to you and I am that bread that
came down from heaven. I am the good shepherd. I am
the door into the sheep. I am the bread of life. I am. This is who I am by my very nature. I am the sovereign, omnipotent,
holy, almighty God. I'm nothing like you. I'm everything
that you need. And part from the grace of God,
we would have no interest. Not this God. Oh, we'll be quick
to manufacture an imaginary God, a God that we can control, a
God that we can reign over, a God that we can tell what to do and
when to do it. Oh, we'll make Him king by force. We'll make Jesus come into our
hearts. We'll force Him to accept us
by accepting Him. That's what men do. We'll come
up with that sort of imaginary God, but a God who is all powerful
and sovereign, a God who reigns over us? No. No, we'll raise our fist
to heaven over that God and we'll say, I'll not have that man reign
over me until, until, The Lord's pleased to reveal
his glory, his power, and his grace for this God who describes
himself as I am. This God is a God of grace, a
God of love, a God of mercy, He is the God who laid down his
life. What did Martha say? Lord, I
know that my brother will rise in the resurrection. Martha,
Martha, I am the resurrection and the life. He that believeth
in me, though he be dead, yet shall he live. And he that liveth
and believeth in me shall never die. Martha, do you believe this?
Do you believe this? You see, it's not the fear of
his power and judgment that brings us to Christ, it's the goodness
of God that brings us. It's his work of grace and redeeming
us and delivering us that causes us to want to bow before him. I am, be not afraid. Oh, there's no reason to be afraid
if God be on my side. What can man do against me? If
God be for me, who can be against me? Turn with me to Romans chapter
8. Look with me at verse 31 in Romans
chapter 8. What shall we say to these things?
If God be for us, who can be against us? That's what the Lord's
saying to these disciples. I am, don't be afraid, I'm on
your side. He that spared not His own Son. And here's how we know that He's
for us. He spared not His own Son. He so loved the world that He
gave His only begotten Son. He gave, hearing his love, not
that we loved God, but that he loved us and gave his son as
a propitiation for our sins. The glorious, self-existent,
almighty I Am is now laying down his life and he's saying, here's
the proof that I'm for you. Here's the proof that I'm on
your side. He spared not his own son, but delivered him up
for us all. How shall he not with him also
freely give us all things? Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. Who
can lay any charge against me? Who is he that condemneth that
is Christ that died? Yea, rather that is risen again,
who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession
for us. Here's my hope. Here's what the
Lord saying, I am, don't be afraid. Yes, yes, I put you there in
that, in that turbulent sea. at the fourth watch of the night.
Yes, I've waited until you've gotten to that place where you're
at your wit's end, but I did it out of mercy. Who shall separate us from the
love of Christ? Shall tribulation or distress
or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword, for as it
is written, for thy sake we are killed all the day long. We are
counted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are
more than conquerors through him that loved us. David said this in Psalm 118
verse six, the Lord is on my side and I will not be afraid. What can man do unto me? It is I, I am, don't be afraid,
don't be afraid. The other thing I see that encourages
me so much in the troubles that I experience in this world is
that the Lord never gets in a hurry. You know, we get in a hurry about
a lot of things because we're afraid that if we don't act immediately
the circumstances are going to get outside. You know, we've
got to do something while we can. The Lord's never dependent
upon circumstances. His timing is always perfect. He waited till the fourth watch
of the night. He knew exactly where they were.
He saw them from the mountain out in the middle of the sea
rowing. He knew how desperate they were hours before he showed
up. And yet he waited until almost
dawn before he came. Turn with me to Isaiah chapter
30. Isaiah chapter 30. Look at verse 18. And therefore will
the Lord wait that he may be gracious unto you and therefore
Will he be exalted that he may have mercy upon you? For the
Lord is a God of judgment. Blessed are all they that wait
on him. In Isaiah chapter 40, Isaiah
put it like this. They that wait upon the Lord
shall exchange their strength for his strength. That's what
happens in waiting. His strength is made perfect
in our weakness. They shall exchange their strength
for his strength. They that wait upon the Lord
shall renew. That's what the word renew means.
Shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings
as eagles. They shall walk and not be weary. They shall run and not be weary. They shall walk and not faint.
They're not gonna faint. Why? because we know the Lord
is faithful, that's what he's saying, I am. This is my covenant
name, this is my promise to you. I'll never leave you nor forsake
you. I may wait till the last minute,
but the reason I'm doing that is, what did Isaiah say? That
I may be exalted. You know, we give a child everything
they ask for the first time they ask for it, what are we going
to end up with? What we gonna end up with? Self-indulgent,
spoiled children who have a mentality of you owe me. No, no wise parent knows how
to measure gifts to their children and when to hold back and when
to give and how much wiser our Lord is The Lord never gets in a hurry. He knew what these disciples
were going through. He didn't anxiously run to them
and deliver them right away. He let them suffer in a sea of
uncertainty. And then he came to them at the
last minute. And Mark tells us that the reason
why they were afraid was not because of the sea or even of
the darkness, but the reason that they were afraid is because
they forgot the miracle of the loaves and the fishes. That had happened hours before
this experience. You see, it's not our circumstances
that cause fear in our hearts. It's really not. It's our unbelief. That's why the Lord's saying
to you and me, I am, be not afraid. It's our unbelief. Martha, in John chapter 11, she
said, she said, Lord, had you been here, my brother would not
have died. But I know that even now, whatever
you ask of God, he'll give it to you. And then she made that
confession when she said, I know that thou art the Christ, the
son of God, the one that should come, the anointed one. And then
when the Lord went to open the tomb and he said, roll away the
stone, she objected. Within minutes after those confessions,
she had already, when she got to the graveyard, she forgot.
And she said, Lord, he stinketh, he's been dead four days. She'd
already asked him to raise him from the dead. She had already
confessed that he was the resurrection and the life. And then within
minutes, She reverts back to looking at her circumstances
and sees the shame of her decaying brother's body being exposed
and she objects and tries to keep the Lord from, no, no, don't
move the stone. Don't we like that? The disciples were not afraid
because of the darkness in the sea. They were afraid because
they had forgotten the miracle of the loaves and the fishes. You and I get afraid when we
forget who our God is and what he has done. And we're so prone
to forget. It's so easy for us to lose sight
of that. It's so easy for us to look at
our circumstances and think, well, that's the cause of my
fear. That's not the cause of our fear. It never is. I don't care what our circumstances
are, not the spiritual fear, not the doubts. Now we may have
natural fear as a result of our circumstances. I was trimming
some vines at our house just the day before yesterday. And
I went to reach for a vine and there's a snake laying there
in the vines. And I jumped back. That's just natural fear, we're
not talking about that. We're talking about this unbelief,
these doubts, these fears toward God, these things that cause
us to lose sight of our hope and our comfort and our peace
and things that cause us to lose sight of Christ. It's our sin,
it's our unbelief. It's not our circumstances. God
put us in those circumstances in order to prove our faith.
In order to bring us to the end of ourselves because faith only
begins when we can't see any other way out. That's the only
time faith begins. If you can see it, it's not faith.
It's not faith. Psalm 103 verse 10 says, the
Lord hath not dealt with us according to our sin. Aren't you glad? All the unbelief, all the fears,
all the doubts, and yet our Lord is merciful. He sees us out there rowing. He sees us fighting the waves
and the wind. and he sees the fact that we've
already forgotten the loaves and the fishes and the things
that he's done and he comes to us anyway and he does not reward
us according to our sin but according to his mercy and his grace he
never leaves the side of his children, never. We look around us and our hearts
can become gripped with fear. We look within and we find ourselves
heavy with discouragement over our own belief. But what happens
when the Lord speaks and he says to us, I am, I am, I am, You're God, don't be afraid. And we're able, John doesn't
tell us this, but Matthew does. This is the story where Peter
asked the Lord if he can get out of the boat and walk toward
the Lord. And Peter says, Lord bid me to come unto thee. And
Peter gets out of the boat and walks on the water. And then
Peter, right there in the presence of the Lord Jesus, takes his
eyes off of Christ and looks at his circumstances and begins
to sink. That's what we do, isn't it?
That's why I said, this is our life. This is our lot. This is our daily experience.
The Lord's going to be sure that we walk by faith, not by sight.
And if we can see it, It ain't faith. Turn with me to Isaiah 45, show
you another blessed promise, Isaiah 45. Look at verse 13. I have raised him up in righteousness. I will direct all his ways, and
he shall build my city, and he shall go, and he shall let go
my captives, not for the price, no reward, saith the Lord of
hosts. Verse three, I'm so sorry. I
knew that wasn't the right verse as I was reading it. Look at
verse three. I will give thee the treasures of darkness and
hidden riches of secret places that thou mayest know that I,
the Lord which called thee by thy name, am the God of Israel. I'm gonna give you the treasures
of darkness. You see, it's in the trials and
troubles that the Lord puts us in. He constrained them to go
down to the sea. He sent them out ahead of time.
He let them row all night long in a storm, got them in the middle
of the sea, saw them from where he was, that they might discover
the treasures of darkness. What is the treasure of darkness? I am, be not afraid. He's the treasure of darkness.
But it's not until we get in a dark place that we can hear
that voice. Grace begins always at our wit's
end when we've got no place else to go. People say, well, you know, there's
nothing left to do now but pray. The only time we ever really
pray is when there's nothing left to do. That's when we pray. I'm going to reveal to them the treasures
of darkness. Child of God, We're earthen vessels, but we
have a treasure, Christ in you, the hope of glory. And he's not
going to be revealed as the treasure until you find darkness everywhere
else, everywhere else. You can find light and peace
and hope in your works or in your efforts or in your circumstances,
then you won't need him. The Lord's going to make it so
that we have to walk by faith. And the only time that we need
faith is when we can see no other way out. And it is our God's mercy. that he would put us in a place
beyond our ability. That begins with conversion.
Because when the Lord first calls us out of darkness into his marvelous
light, he reveals to us that we've got a problem we can't
fix. And he says to us, come unto
me, all ye that labor and are heavy burdened. And I will give
you rest. Take my yoke upon you for my
yoke is light and my burden, my yoke is easy, my burden is
light. I've carried the weight of your sin. I've carried the
weight of God's wrath and judgment. Come to me, learn of me. This experience these disciples
are having on the Sea of Galilee is our everyday walk of life,
walk of faith in this life. Mark, I want to show you one
verse in Mark and we'll conclude. Turn with me to Mark chapter
six. Verse 48, and he saw them toiling in rowing. That word toiling is the word
fatigued. They couldn't go any further. They were at the end of their
strength. And he saw them rowing and toiling. And the wind was
contrary unto them. And about the fourth watch of
the night, he cometh unto them walking upon the sea and acted
as if he would have passed by. The turbulent sea that you and
I have to row our boats through in this life are never a trouble
for him. He walks on them. He walks on
them. But he would walk as if he would
pass by. What did we read in John? We
read in John, they willingly received him into the boat. They pleaded for him to come
and get in the boat with them. Now, we're not talking about
a freewill gospel here. We're not saying that it is something,
oh, if you just will and pray it, God will be obligated to
save you. No, no. Asking the Lord to save you is not obligating God. It is
the evidence that God has made you willing and the Lord has
never saved anyone that didn't ask him to save them. He'd act as if he'd go by. He's
going to put us in a place to where we have to cry out and
we have to ask him. The last point that I want to
make, what do I do, and this is my original question, what
do I do when I find myself sent of God out into the middle of
a tumultuous sea, wind contrary to me, fourth hour of the night,
the light of His countenance is dim or altogether forgotten,
I'm in my unbelief, I've forgotten already the miracle of the loaves
and the fishes. What do I do? Keep rowing. Keep rowing. I'm not using rowing
as an analogy of working. I'm using rowing as an analogy
of believing. Believing. In Mark chapter five, ruler of
the synagogue by the name of Jairus came to the Lord Jesus
and pleaded with him to come to his home and heal his daughter
who was on her deathbed. And the Lord said, I will come.
And on the way to Jairus's house is the story of the woman with
the issue of blood. There was a large crowd pressing
on the Lord. This woman with an issue of blood
crawls through and touches the Lord's hymn, the hymn of the
Lord's garment, and she's healed. And there's a whole interruption
in Jairus's desire to get the Lord to his home, to heal his
dying daughter. So that by the time all this
commotion is over, I can just see Jairus trying to persuade
the Lord to forget all those people, come with me. Finally, a servant comes from
Jairus' house and says to Jairus, trouble the master no longer,
thy daughter is dead. And you can just see the, the weight of despair that must
have gripped Jairus's heart at this news. And yet the Lord Jesus
looks at Jairus. He's in the middle of the sea.
He's contrary to the wind. He believes the Lord Jesus is
the one who can heal his daughter. But now he's at the end of himself. There's no place else. I mean,
all hope is lost. He's fatigued. Nothing left to
do. And what does the Lord Jesus
say to Jairus? Jairus. He looks him in the eye
with such compassion. And he says to him, don't be
afraid. Only believe. Only belief. When Martha in John chapter 11 wants to forbid the Lord of opening
the grave of her brother, the Lord looks at Martha who has
so quickly forgotten everything that had just transpired in the
last few minutes. And he says to Martha, Martha,
Did I not say to you that if you would believe that you would
see the glory of God? Martha, believe. Just believe. Believe God. Wherever you are and whatever
The Lord sees us. He knows where we are. He knows
our circumstances. He knows what's going on. He
put us there. Isaiah chapter 45 says, God creates
darkness. He's the one that put us in that
dark place. Why? So that we might discover
the treasures of darkness. Though the treasures of darkness
will not be discovered apart from faith." Wherever you are,
whatever's going on, I am. Be not afraid. Only believe. Only believe. And in God's time, in God's time,
which is always perfect. Oh, our heavenly father, thank you. Thank you for your love and your
faithfulness to deliver us from our sin. and to cause the riches of your
grace and glory, the riches of your salvation, the riches of
your presence and power in our lives to be greater than the
riches of Egypt, and to cause us, Lord, to come unto thee. Lord, we pray you forgive us
for how Prone we are to not trust you. Enable us, enable us, Lord,
help our unbelief. We ask it in Christ's name, amen. I've asked Tom to lead us in
number 35 in your spiral hymnal. I think we sang this hymn last
week. But I want you to, I want to ask you, encourage you to
pay special attention to the words of this hymn and ask the
Lord to enable you to sing this hymn to Him. All right, Tom,
you come please. Number 35 in the Sprout Hymnal.