Seeking for the help of the Lord,
I direct your prayer for attention to the Gospel according to Mark. The Gospel according to Mark
chapter 4, and we read for our text verse 39. Mark chapter 4
and verse 39. And he arose, and rebuked the
wind, and said unto the sea, Peace be still. And the wind ceased, and there
was a great calm. Mark chapter 4, and reading from
our text, verse 39. The Gospel according to Mark. If I bring into context this
account of our Lord going over the sea and with the disciples,
we read from verse 35, And the same day, when the even was come,
he saith unto them, Let us pass over unto the other side. And when they had sent away the
multitude, they took him even as he was in the ship, and there
were also with him other little ships. And there arose a great
storm of wind, and the waves beat into the ship, so that it
was now full. And he was in the hinder part
of the ship, asleep on a pillow. And they awake him and say unto
him, Master, carest thou not that we perish?' And he arose,
and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there
was a great calm. And he said unto them, Why are
ye so fearful? How is it that ye have no faith? And they feared exceedingly,
and said one to another, What manner of man is this that even
the wind and the sea obey him? Thus is the context. And the
word before us is, when the Lord arose and dealt with those winds
and those waves and they obeyed him. This of course is a literal
account of the time of our Lord Jesus Christ upon this earth. And in that sense it can never
be replicated. There cannot be a time when God's
people, His disciples, are in a ship and the Lord literally
is with them and lying asleep and they awake Him as they do
in this way. We don't expect that the reason
why the Word of God is recorded in this way is that those shall
be in exactly the same situation. In fact this applies to many
of the accounts of our Lord here below. But then we do know that
the Lord has a message and Lord has a purpose of setting these
things before us. We could contrast this with the
account of the Apostle Paul when he was in a ship with the soldiers
and part of the prisoner consignment going to Rome, recorded in Acts
27, and in that we have a storm not just of a day or a few hours,
but going for many days, 14 days or so, and such fearfulness,
such darkness, and such fears as well, that they should be
destroyed. Now the Lord chose in that occasion
not to give the apostle power to still the waves or the winds. He did not do it himself, and
yet the apostle was used. And in the case when they came
to land, the miracle that he did not die with the bite of
the viper, evidenced he had power in that way. But it's so fair
for the Lord to, though he was not, and of course this was after
our Lord had ascended into heaven, so you might say comparable with
today, we have the Lord standing by Paul, meeting with him, and
he gives account of that. He says, I exhort you to be of
good cheer, For there shall be no loss of any man's life among
you but of the ship. For there stood by me this night
the angel of God, whose I am and whom I serve, saying, Fear
not, Paul, thou must be brought before Caesar, and lo, God hath
given thee all them that sail with thee. And so we have a passage
where one of the Lord's people, one of the apostles, And the
Lord stands by him and watches over and keeps him in a similar
situation as this. And we know from the passage
that we have read in the Psalms that the Holy Spirit uses this
type again in not only literal storms but in the spiritual application
and storms through our lives. We know from the effect of the
wind, the wind comes and that stirs up the waves and then the
waves do their part and both influence upon the ship and so
we have in life's journey as well with the people of God that
there are those things that come that God uses, for we must know
that God not only can still the ways, but he brings those ways
and he brings those trials. And when he brings them, then
they are under his control. And those things that are used,
whether the world or whether they are men, to stir up others
and many trials. And it is in these situations
that the people of God are to learn the Lord's overall power
and greatness in their own lives. Now I want to look at three lessons,
three points that the disciples here learned, and I hope that
in storms and in trials that we have, that we also will learn
the same things here below. The first thing is that they
saw what manner of man the Lord was. They asked, in verse 41,
what manner of man is this, that even the wind and the sea obey
Him? Our text says, He rose, rebuked
the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace be still. And this was
used. They saw what manner of man the
Lord was. So that is our first point. The second thing, they were confronted. They were confronted with many
things about themselves, about their own beliefs, their own
fears, things that they had to face up to in that trial. And thirdly, the Lord's power
over winds and waves. The Lord's power In the troubles,
tribulations and storms of life, they had to be brought to know
that and to see that. But firstly, concerning our Lord
and Saviour Jesus Christ, you might think it's strange with
the disciples being with the Lord, who had wrought many miracles,
who divided the loaves and fishes, who had done many things. And yet we find those times that
they stand amazed at him. And of course, here in the early
part of our Lord's ministry, they were to learn about the
Lord. And that is something that is
so vital, so central for all of the people of God. It is something
that has divided the churches over the history of the church
of God. Our Lord questioned his own disciples
and he says, who do men say that I, the son of man, am? And they
had many answers, things that they were hearing Some said that
he was a prophet, some said that he was Elias. And the Lord says,
but whom say ye that I am? And Peter was able to answer
for them all and said that thou art the Christ, the Son of the
living God. Now the Lord said to him, blessed
art thou, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood hath not revealed
it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. And the Gospel
according to John, the main message that comes right through that
is that Jesus of Nazareth is the Son of God. There's nowhere
near as many mentions in any of the Gospels. In John, he's
mentioned some 85 times. In the other Gospels, not much
more than 15. And it's not that the others
didn't see it, but the Holy Spirit has seen fit to so emphasize
how vital it is that the people of God do know the Lord. They know Him exactly as to who
He is. There are errors today, many
errors, that ascribe and say that our Lord Jesus Christ is
no more than a created being. that he is just a man, and that
he is not truly God. And there are those that will
say that he is God, but he's not a real man, and that he never
really had a soul, that the place of his soul was taken by his
divinity. But in this account, the Lord
is pleased to bring them to see and to ask what manner of man
is this, and we have two things that are shown so clearly. Firstly, there is his humanity. They saw him as a man. The scribes and the Pharisees
and all that were with him, they testified many times, and they
said that this is Joseph, the carpenter's son, whose father
we know, whose brethren we know, and they didn't see him as any
different, than any one of their brethren. From the outside, they
could not see his Godhead. They couldn't see his divinity. They were often offended. And
we read in Isaiah 53 that he is and the Christ that should
come is a root out of dry ground. There is no form nor comeliness
that we should desire him. When we shall see him, And there
is nothing, nothing in him that we should see any different. And that is certainly how the
Jews, they saw the Lord and the disciples as well. They viewed
him and gave testimony that he was truly a man. We know that
the first promise was the promise that the seed of the woman should
bruise the serpent's head. The expectancy was that a man
would be born. A man shall be as a hiding place
from the wind and storm and tempest. We have it set forth in the prophecies
of Isaiah. We have the expectancy of Job
that he says that how can a clean thing come out of an unclean?
And he knew that when Messiah came, He would come as a man,
but if He was born of a woman, how could He be clean? How could
He be spotless? But we are told in the Scriptures
that the Holy Spirit should overshadow Mary, therefore that holy thing
which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. And great is the mystery of godliness. God manifests in the flesh. Our Lord says, if you have seen
me, you've seen my father also. My father and I are one. And then again, my father is
greater than I. Great is that mystery of God
manifest in the flesh. Solomon, he says that, will God
in very day dwell upon the earth, but the heaven of heavens cannot
contain thee, how much less this house that I have builded. But
when the temple was destroyed and the second temple was built,
then the Prophet came and said that the glory of this latter
house should be greater than the former. And the glory was
that the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, should walk in
that house. And so it was. But we see here
the real humanity of our Lord, born under the law, made of a
woman, and so that He could redeem them that were under the law. And here we find Him in the ship,
and He is asleep, asleep on a pillow. His humanity, we see Him in John
4, wearied with His journey on the well when the woman of Samaria
comes to him. We have these glimpses of his
humanity that he also partook of our flesh, that he was weary
as well, willingly taking on him the infirmities that we have
because we are sinners. No sin in him, but that weariness
and the need of food and drink, the need of thirst, of water,
those things that he knew, and he knew as a man. And in this account we have this
great contrast. I know many times I've highlighted
how often in the Holy Scriptures we are given contrast. There's
hardly a parable where the Lord doesn't give two sides. He tells
about the publican in the temple on one side, and he tells about
the Pharisee on the other side. He compares those two people
praying in the temple, one with another, a contrast. He goes
into the cornfields and he shows the corn growing up and then
he shows the tares growing up and he contrasts the two. He
has the parable of the five foolish virgins and five wise virgins. the ones that had oil in their
lamps, in their vessels with their lamps, and the one that
only had the oil in their lamps. And he contrasts those two that
are waiting for the Lord. And here we have the same. In
the same account, we have our Lord wearied, our Lord, as it
were, in weakness and needing rest and to be renewed in strength. And then we have the other side.
Then we have him arising. And he rebukes the wind and the
waves. He arose and rebuked the wind
and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased
and there was a great calm. What a contrast from weakness
to strength, from being asleep to rising with such power and
such authority. The Godhead, says the hymn writer,
shines gracious through the man. It was at such times as this
and the miracles that our Lord did that the disciples saw the
two sides. Here was truly God and truly
man in one person. We have in Genesis the account
of Jacob wrestling with the angel. And it was when Esau was coming,
what a storm and what a trial that that was to dear Jacob. He feared, he says in prayer,
that he feared for the life of the children, his wives and all
that he had. And he put them over the brook
and he went and he wrestled. and he wrestled with the Lord,
I will not let thee go except thou bless me. And the Lord gave
him at that time a new name, the name of Israel, the name
that still belongs to that nation, the name that carried on through
his sons. And why did he give it? Because
thou hast wrestled with God and with man. and has prevailed. That is the reason. And one of
those pre-incarnation times of our Lord, that was a time, the
time when he appeared to Menorah and his wife was another time,
a time when he appeared to Gideon was another time, a time when
he appeared to Abraham when Lot was delivered from Sodom was
another time. And we have in our Lord those
two natures, truly God and truly man. If he is not truly God,
his sacrifice would not be effective. If he was not man, then it would
not be in our place and in our stead at all. He needed truly
to be man. And how vital that is. I always remember going into
one of the local schools and giving them the Bibles and teaching
them from the Bible. And one of the children, they
asked me, and they said, did it matter what form the Son of
God came into this world? What if He came as an octopus?
And the other children, they thought it was quite funny the
way it was. But I said a very important question. and enabled me to compare the
difference between a fish, an animal, those that do not have
a soul, and we that do have a soul, and how the Lord had to be made
in all points, like unto his brethren, except sin, to redeem
them that are under the law. We have in Hebrews how our Lord
did not take upon him the seed, the blood of bulls and of goats,
that that is just flesh. And he did not take on him the
nature of angels, because that is just spirit. But he took on
him the seed of Abraham, because Abraham is soul and body. It is a real man. And the Lord had to be a real
man. and yet truly God as well. One person, two distinct natures,
God and man. And this is what, in this trial,
in this great storm, this is what the disciples were brought
to see. And it would be a great blessing
if through our trials, like Jacob's trial, where they saw coming
that we were brought to see the Lord truly who he was. This was
the profession of the eunuch. When he desired to be baptised
after Philip had preached unto him Jesus, the testimony that
he gave was, I believe that Jesus is the Son of God. And it was
on that profession, that is, what the teaching of the Holy
Ghost will do. It will point to the Lord Jesus
Christ. He shall receive of mine and
show it unto you. He shall glorify me. And that
glorifying of the Lord is to exalt him the same as his Father
did from heaven. This is my beloved Son in whom
I am well pleased. And we should countenance a great
blessing when that is revealed to us. I think of the time in
the wilderness of the Ark, the Ark of the Covenant. The Ark
of the Covenant was kept in the holy place and the veil was over
it and only the high priest ever saw that Ark and that only once
a year. The Israelites never saw it. You can see children's picture
books with this golden ark being carried on the shoulders of the
Levites, that never was so. It was carried upon their shoulders,
but when the tabernacle was taken down, they draped the veil over
top of the ark, so the gold was not seen. All was seen was the
badger skins, and over the top of that was a cloth of blue,
Blue sets forth the grace of God. You know, there are those
in Christ's day, and they couldn't help seeing His grace. Grace
was poured upon His lips. They marveled at the wonderful
words that proceeded out of His mouth, but they still replied
against Him. They hated Him. He threatened
the religious rulers of their day, but they couldn't deny the
grace that was poured upon his lips. But then, as it were, they
saw the equivalent of the veil. They saw the badger skins. They
saw his humanity. They saw that which was covering
his Godhead, his divinity. But, you know, in the time, if
you were to go to the Ark of the Covenant and you could lift
up the veil and look underneath, There you see the goal, there
you see what is really there, what is hidden. Veiled in flesh
the Godhead see, says the hymn writer. And so here in this account,
may we be encouraged in this, that the trials of life, the
storms of life, the troubles that we go through, the times
of Jacob's trouble, are times that the Lord gives the clearest
views of himself and of his humanity. You could also say, and quite
often it is, times when we move, move house, move country, as
what we have done more than once, and it's those times, they're
anxious times, they're difficult times, times of trial, but it's
those times you see more clearly the Lord than at other times.
And the children of Israel, instead of just seeing the straight veil
in front of the ark, they would have seen it draped over. And
I know I've used the illustration before, but if the veil was hanging
in front of this pulpit, you wouldn't see the shape at all
of the Bible or the microphone or anything. But if we were to
get a cloth and we draped it over, Then you would see the
shape, the shape of the microphone, shape of the books underneath
it. And that's what the children
of Israel saw. Every time they moved, they saw
more clearly there was an ark there. It was real and it had
a shape. It had the cherubims each side
of it. It had the mercy seat. And so it is with us. times that
are so anxious times, when we move from one residence to another
place, and we need the Lord to appear for us and to show us
the way, when the cloudy, fiery pillar goes before us, then it
is to be hoped, expected, that in this we will see the Lord,
in this the Lord will show us what we have not seen before. So this was the first thing,
in this storm, they saw what manner of man the Lord was, His
humanity, His divinity. And may we hold fast to this
truth, that Jesus Christ is truly God and truly man. He is the eternal God. He ever
was with the Father, was with Him when the world was made by
Him, the things that are made were made. Let us make man in
our own image and in the image of God, mighty man. And here
we see our Lord Jesus Christ, the real man, the God-man. But secondly, the disciples were
confronted, they were confronted with things about themselves. Sometimes, dear friends, in trials
and in the things that we go through in our lives, we're confronted
with things that are hard to hear, hard to realize. Until those things come, we didn't
realize they were there. Years ago, I did my apprenticeship
as an engineer in a hospital. in Australia. And part of the
work was to weld up and repair the stainless steel trolleys
that brought the food to the patients. And they were kept
sparkling stainless steel. But you know, as soon as I put
the blowtorch on, as soon as I started to weld up that steel,
The first thing we had to do was just to heat it up, because
out of the steel came this black goo. The oil from the kitchens
had gone right into this steel, into stainless steel. And with
the heat put on it, it came out in full view. And we had to get
rid of that before we could start welding. And it is like our hearts,
hidden from view, is all manner of things. And it's not until
we get trials come, a person might think, I'm a nice, calm
person. I don't get angry at all. And
the Lord brings something into their lives that stirs them up,
and they get angry, and they're having to face this, that actually,
given the right circumstances, they are an angry person. All
trials come on. and they end up just like the
children of Israel, murmuring, complaining. Or what we find
here, in this storm we have, the Lord confronting them, firstly
with their fears that they had. Why are ye so fearful? The Lord was there with them,
in the ship, and yet they were so fearful and so afraid. How many fears that we might
have? Blessed be God, in the word of
God, there is so many fear nots, the Lord knows our need of them. But he confronted them with their
lack of faith. How is it that you have no faith? If they really believed and understood
who it was with them in the ship, could not they trust him? Could
not they rest in Him, if they were trusting Him for eternity,
to save them from their sins, to save them from death? Could
not they trust Him in the ship? If ye have run with the footmen,
and they have wearied thee, how wilt thou do in the swelling
of Jordan? If trials in this life have proved
too much, what it shall be when we come down to die? And they
were confronted with that. They had to face up to that.
They had to face up to, when they awoke the Lord, they didn't
just awake Him and say, Lord, will not Thou arise and rebuke
these winds and waves? In one sense, that would have
been honouring and glorifying, to give Him the honour He was
able to do it, and that they just wanted Him to do it, but
no, They added to their prayers, carest thou not that we perish? They had to be confronted with
this, that they cast these aspersions on the Lord as if he didn't care,
as if he didn't care less. In John 10, we have our Lord
saying, I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd careth for
the sheep. Others, they were, they didn't
care, but he did. And yet to be charged even by
his disciples here, you don't care. Is that what we've had
to be confronted with in our trials, in our troubles, in the
things that we're going through? Maybe at this time, and Satan
says, the Lord doesn't care about you. That's why he doesn't answer
your prayers. That's why he seems to be asleep.
That's why as if he's not even with you. But he was with the
disciples here. They still thought he didn't
care or said that. Maybe we've had to be confronted
with that as well. They're not a nice picture when
we thought perhaps we did believe and did trust and were waiting
upon the Lord and were praying believingly and did have faith. They're confronted also. an imperfect
view of the Lord. Did they really know Him? What
manner of man is this? In this trial they had to have
rash views of what He was. What is it in your trial and
mine that we've had to come face to face with and realise that
We are not what we thought we were. You know, dear Peter, when
the Lord started to tell of his coming sufferings, Peter said,
though all men forsake thee, yet will not I. That's what he
thought. But the Lord said, I tell thee,
Peter, that before this night, before the cock crow, twice thou
shalt deny me thrice. But Peter had to be confronted
with that, what he thought, I will not forsake thee. He did. And confronted that what the
Lord had said did come to pass. But the Lord did restore him
and did use him and did bless him. But the Lord knows how to
bring things before us so that we can't escape them. our sins,
the iniquity of our hearts, our faithlessness, our worldliness,
our carnality, our hatred, all the devices of a man's heart. Turn again, thou son of man,
thou shalt see greater abominations than these." In Deuteronomy 8
we read concerning the 40 years in the wilderness the children
of Israel had. that thou shalt remember all
the way the Lord thy God hath led thee these forty years in
the wilderness, to try thee, to prove thee, to know what was
in thine heart, whether thou wouldst serve the Lord or no. The Lord showing to his people,
and what did they see? They saw idolaters, they saw
murmurers, they saw limiters, of the Lord God of Israel. They
saw those that would reply against the authority of Moses and reply
against the Lord's order and offer strange fire. All of these
things came out in their journey. What are we being confronted
with? Our disobedience, our own thoughts,
our own ways, Naaman, when he wanted to be healed, directed
to Elisha. He had his own ideas of how Elisha
should come out and strike his hand over the leper and make
him whole. But he had to be confronted with
his anger, his own servants reproving him, and that his own thoughts
were not right thoughts. They were not God's thoughts.
They were not the way that God was going to heal him at all. Maybe with us, we've had to come
face to face with that. Not your way, my way. Not your
designs, my designs. What is it the Lord has taught
us through trials and troubles and afflictions and things that
are brought against us. So that is our second point.
Those things that we have to be confronted with, have to see
in ourselves, about ourselves. Then I want to look thirdly,
the Lord's power over winds and waves. The authority and power
of the Lord was seen here in nature. We might believe and
say we believe that the Lord made heaven and earth, that he
put the sun in its place and formed all things, and he did,
by the word of his power, he formed all things. And yet somehow
we think that the God that made all things is powerless to control
all things. And he can't control the waves,
and he can't control the wind. But he does, he says thus far
and no further shall thy proud ways be stayed. He does it in a literal way in
creation, it is all in his hands. He brings, he brings the earthquakes,
he brings the winds, he brings the fires, he brings the things
that men ascribe just as to nature. God is in control, not chance,
not his creation out of control. God is in control. May remember
that. But then also men's hearts are
in his hand as well. Now when Solomon went against
the Lord and married many strange wives, then the Lord raised up
adversaries for Solomon. They were men. There were those
that caused him trouble, thorns in his sides. Afterwards, Jeroboam
was used to pluck the ten tribes away from the house of David. But they were in the Lord's hand.
They were like the wind that was raised up then to stir up
trouble. Saul was like that. or the trouble
that Saul caused to David, stirring up others, Absalom stole the
hearts of the men of Israel. But the Lord had said the sword
should not depart from his house. But in spite of these storms
that David went through through life, and like his adultery and
murder of his own making, his own sin, Yet through those things
the Lord worked, and the Lord had power over them, and that
they did not destroy him. The Lord sent Nathan regarding
his adultery and murder. We have the beautiful Psalm 51
of David's repentance and godly sorrow. All things shall work,
says the Apostle Paul, for good to them that love God, to them
that are the cold, according to His purpose. And for all things
to work together for good, the Lord must have power and dominion
over those things. Is there anything too hard for
the Lord? No, there is not. And it was
here with the word of the Lord, the same word that created the
heavens and the earth, that He arises, He rebukes the wind and
set under the sea, Peace be still, as if he would say, I raise thee
up for a purpose. You've done your part. You've
done what I bid you to do. Go no more. Stop now. And that's enough. And you know
the trials of God's people. He won't permit them to have
them overwhelm and do more than what he intends them to do. The
Lord's power. Do you know it? Do I know it?
In our present trial, do we ever think that maybe it is, that
in this the Lord's power will be known and will be seen? You might say, well, was it not
through their awaking Him, through their prayer, that He was brought
forth? Yes. And the Lord has ordained
that through prayer He will hear His people, He will answer them.
But how different a prayer like this that awakes him with such
aspersions, with such rebukes as if he didn't care. Often the
children of Israel in the wilderness, their charge was, they has brought
us into the wilderness to slay us and to kill us and not to
bring us into the promised land. Maybe if he'd be kept in a way
of prayer, that in our prayers that they be prayers that give
honour and glory to God. Know our testimonies as well,
with the three Hebrew children that were confronted with Nebuchadnezzar
and the burning fiery furnace. And no doubt, and we don't read
of their prayers to God, but no doubt there was many prayers
put up to God But we do read of their testimony to Nebuchadnezzar
that God was able to deliver them. He was able. They were
in no doubt about that. But if not, if the Lord was not
pleased to do it, then be it known to him that they would
not bow down to that image. They would walk in fear of the
Lord and they would serve him and serve him alone. Daniel knew
God was able to deliver him from the lion's den. Darius knew it
as well. He testified that as well. But
whether he did or not was in the sovereign hand of God. In
our prayers, we don't dictate to the Lord. We ask him. But we ask him believing and
ask him giving him the honour and glory that he is able to
do these things. who is delivered from in such
a way as to suggesting or saying straight out, Lord thou dost
not care, or thou art not able, thou hast not power, thou art
not willing to keep us and to preserve us, but to leave it
with the Lord and to bring it before the Lord, acknowledging
his power and might. Sometimes when the The Lord was
to heal one who said, Believest thou that I am able to do this? And may we truly believe that
the Lord is able to do, exceeding far above all that we can ask
or think. Now the Lord prayed in the garden,
If it be possible, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not
my will, but thy will be done. And may our prayer be the same.
The Lord, when they brought forth the sword in the garden, the
Lord said, put up the sword within this sheath. Thinkest thou not
that my father could not presently send twelve legion of angels? But how then should the scriptures
be fulfilled? He was able to be delivered. The power of God could have been
put forth, but it must not. because the will of God was that
Christ should suffer and bleed and die and rise again. And if
the Lord does not put forth his power to us, we know it is for
a reason, a good reason, a reason for his honour and glory, and
not because he has not got power, or not because his father could
not send the angels and the help from heaven. And we are to keep
these things in mind, and in mind in the storms and the troubles
and those things that arise and cause us to have such distress. Yes, we may, like the disciples,
have to humble ourselves and confess before the Lord of how
little faith we have and our poor prayers and our imperfect
knowledge of the Lord and of His ways. But when we look at
this account, how kind the Lord was to them and how He did still
rebuke the winds, even in face of all their poor prayers and
all that they'd said. He knoweth our frame and these
trials they're meant to humble us and to teach us and to glorify
his blessed name. Will the Lord add his blessing
to the word before us this morning. Amen.