If you would open your Bible
to Mark chapter four. It's so good to see y'all again. I've looked forward to this for
some time. And I pray that our Lord would
be pleased to meet with us and he would allow us to worship
him. I pray he'd speak through his
gospel. and speak to your heart, and that he would comfort you.
And if you see him, like Marvin said, nothing else won't matter.
It just all fades into the distance. We're going to read verses 35
through verse 40. It says in Mark chapter 4 verse
35, And the same day when the even
was come, he saith unto them, he saith unto the disciples, let us pass over unto the other
side. And when they had sent away the
multitude that had been following our Lord, that he had been preaching
to all day, they took him even as he was in the ship. And there
was 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 awoke him, and they
said unto him, Master, and notice that statement, carest thou not
that we perish? And he arose and rebuked the
wind and the waves, 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
you so fearful? How is it that you 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? I want us to look at these verses
tonight as our Lord was on this voyage with his disciples and
they were in this storm. This account is listed in three
Gospels. In Matthew's account it says
in chapter 8 verse 24, and behold there arose a great tempest in
the sea. Then in Luke 8 23, but as they
sailed he fell asleep and there came down a storm of wind on
the lake, and the disciples actually thought they were going to perish. Now remember, four of these men
are very experienced fishermen. They've been on this lake probably
since they were children. James and Andrew, I mean Peter
and Andrew, and James and John. And this storm was not just any
storm. It was something they'd never seen before, something
they'd never went through before. And they actually think they're
going to perish. Then when they go to wake our
Lord up, because he's asleep, he's not disturbed, they ask
this question, do you not care that we perish? You're laying
here asleep, you're acting like that you don't care. Oh, he cares,
OK. And then he walks out in spite
of all their unbelief. And I can imagine standing there,
his hair just soaked with water. And here's the title of the message.
He said, peace, be still. And there was a great calm. I want you to look back at verse
1 of this chapter. The beginning of this chapter,
it finds our Lord on the sea. Now what was happening, there
were so many people that were coming to hear our Lord and wanted
to hear Him preach. The common people heard Him gladly.
There's no way He could preach with all these people around
Him. Just no way they could hear Him. So you know what He did?
One of the gospel accounts said there was a little boat sitting
there, a little ship. and he gets in the ship and goes
out from the shore just a little bit so everybody can see him
and they can hear him. And he made a pulpit out of that
ship and preached to them on the sea. And now we see him again,
he's on this sea and where he's going, he's going over to the
gathering country, you remember that story, how he delivered
that man that was possessed of a devil. What I first want us
to see is our Lord, our Savior, he is a real man. He is God. He never ceased to
be God. Someone said he's 100% God and
he's 100% man. He had been teaching, he preached
a sermon on the parable of the sower. That morning he began
as he preached from the sea and now it's evening. The work's
not done, we're going to the other side of the lake. You imagine
just how tired his body is. And John Forrest said he was
weary from his journey. Why is that important? He's able
to be felt with the feelings of your infirmities. They're
going to go into the storm, but he's there with them. He knows
what they feel. I don't know what you're going
through, but he does. He knows exactly how you feel.
You know why? He's felt it. He was tempted
in all points like as we are, yet without sin. And now that today has come to
an end, they're going to the other side of the sea. And our
Lord gets into the ship. And he, I can see, he don't probably
don't even have to tell those four fishermen, y'all take care
of this. They can sail this ship. And you know what he does? He
goes and lays down. And he's so tired. He goes to
sleep. Now, we know our great God never
slumbers nor sleeps, but here, Why did he go to sleep? Well,
why do you sleep? You're tired. He was tired. He
was exhausted. But even in the midst of the
storm, he never wakes up. It's found there in Psalms 121,
verse 4. Behold, he that keepeth these,
Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep. Our Lord uses means. He used
that little ship on the edge of the shore as a pulpit and
now he's going to use this ship and in this ship he's going to
teach these men and he's going to teach us some lessons. Lessons that they couldn't learn
on the shore, he's going to teach them on the sea and in the sea. He's going to use this ship to
take them. They didn't walk around the lake.
He used this means. That was the means they had.
And God gives us means today, and we use the means that we
have. Someone was talking about messages
on sermon audio. Years ago, we never had those.
We do now. And it is a means where we can
use to send the gospel all over the world. Something about this
sea, sometimes it's called the Sea of Gennesaret, the Sea of
Tiberias, here it is the Sea of Galilee. Let me just give
you, I thought this was interesting. It's really not that large a
lake, it's 8 miles wide, 12 miles long, but this is interesting.
It's 200 feet deep, that's pretty deep for a lake. And what would happen is, It's
so far, I think it's 700 feet below sea level. So what would
happen is when these winds would come over these mountains and
come down on this lake, that's why these storms would come up.
You have such violent storms because you have two opposite
forces. You have cold air and you have
warm air. You know why we have so many
storms? It's because there's two opposites.
It's called good and evil. It's called the children of Christ
in the seat of Satan at opposition. It's like, you know, all of a
sudden you see an evening that's maybe been a hot day, real hot,
and all of a sudden a cold front comes through. Now look at the
clouds begin to gather. The wind begins to blow. The
lightning and the thunder, why, they're clashing. That's what's
going on here, these stones. As we live in this world, it's like a voyage across the
sea. When they got into the ship,
I can see the wind was calm, the sea was still, but as soon
as they set sail, Here come the storm. It came up all of the sudden
and it came up unexpected. It's like when you least expect
it. Marvin, where in the world did
this come from? Someone said it could have been
so violent like a hurricane with rain and winds. And the waves
were probably massive. These are expert men. They had
been in storms before, but nothing like this before. You know, many
times we think we can handle things, don't we? You let him
send a big storm. I remember I've said this I don't
know how many times when I used to pass through a group back
in North Carolina. I said, you know, most of us
could recite Romans 8.28. I said, you wait till you get
in the midst of a storm. Then we find out then whether
we really believe in God or not. Our Lord sent them into this
storm. This is no accident. It came on providence. It didn't come by chance. It
didn't come by the power of Satan. It came on purpose. It came as
a trial of their faith. Now let me say this. If you have
faith, God gave it to you. If you keep faith, God maintains
it. But you have to believe. He won't believe for you. And
your faith is going to be tried, and what are you going to do?
You're going to either believe him or not. There's no middle
ground. It's either faith or unbelief. I can tell you this. Our lives are filled with storms. You know why they were in this
storm? Because they were obeying our Lord. It's not because they
was in disobedience. It was because he said get into
the ship. And they went directly into the
storms. Something else. Believers are not exempt from
storms. Some people think they are. I
remember when my first wife, when she got sick, you know,
religious people come and they, you know how they talk, they'd
say, I can't understand why bad things happen to good people.
Well, explain to me why good things happen to bad people.
We live in this world of storms. And it happens on purpose. And
God enables us. Listen to me. He enables us to
deal with it. He enables us to bear. Not one
of the disciples perished in this storm. That can't be. And we go through them. Your life and my life both is
just filled with doubts and fears. I wished it wasn't so. Lord,
help thou mine unbelief." Like I said, we may say we believe
God. Peter, I believe he meant every word of it when he said,
Lord, everybody else may depart from you, but I won't. I believe
he meant it. But it didn't take him long to
deny him, did it? This world is like a troubled
sea. It is never, it is never at rest. You remember that, it is never
at rest. Like I said, these men, they
had experienced storms. I can see the other disciples
looking at the four men who knew how to manage a boat, knew how
to sail, how to move it through the storm. I can see the other
guys saying, do you all not know what to do? Come on, get us out
of this. And I'd say the harder they tried
to resist, the worse it got. Turn with me to Psalms 107. I
want to show you this. Psalms 107 verse 23. They that go down to the sea
in ships that do business in great waters, in those great
waters they see the works of the Lord. And what else do they see? his
wonders in the deep. For he commandeth and raiseth
the stormy winds, it obeys his command, which lifts up the waves
thereof. The waves mount up to the heavens,
they go down again to the depths. Their soul is smelted because
of trouble. You see the picture here. It's
a picture of a man's soul that's in trouble. God commands the
stormy winds to arise. And these things come against
it. And their soul is melted. Their human strength is melted.
Their reasoning is melted. Because of trouble, they reel to and fro and stagger
like a drunk man. And I want you to see this. And
here's where these men were at. And they are at their wits end. Almost to the point of going
insane. At my wits. What am I to do? What are we going to do? Well, what do they do? Look at verse
28, then, and not till then. You know when
you gonna cry out to the Lord? I mean, you know, we know how
to say prayers. We know how to repeat things.
We can say things when our lips, but I think, you know, when we
really pray, when weren't our wits end? It's like Peter, he
didn't say a long prayer when he was walking on the water and
began to sink. He just said, Lord, save me. The thief on the cross said,
Lord, remember me. Then they cry unto the Lord. They're not crying out to some
false god. They know who sent the storm.
They know. They know he's the only one that
can help them. Then they cry unto the Lord.
When? In their trouble. Did you hear them? Yes, he bringeth
them out. of their distress, he maketh the storm calm, so
that the waves thereof are still, then they are glad, because they
be quiet. So he bringeth them into their
desired haven, O that men would praise the Lord for his goodness
and his wonders to the children of men. Robert Hawker said, our lives
are in jeopardy every hour because of sin and the storms and the
tempest of our unruly passions and the malice of the world and
the fury of the enemy. Some of you, I don't know if
you noticed it, but this was probably not the only ship on
the sea that night. It says they were other little
ships with them. So if the storm came against
this ship, it come against the others also. But it come for
the benefit of these. I wonder how many, I just wonder
how many may have perished that night in this storm. Their boats
were affected by the very same storm. But these were preserved. Why? Christ was in this ship. This storm was sent. It was sent for them. I don't
know what you're facing, but I know it was sent just for you. Just for you. Someone said, our storms usually
come from two different sources. When the wind of circumstances
from without are contrary to our thinking. Why is this going
on? Why are these winds, why does
it seem like it's blowing against me? You ever felt that way? Jacob did. When the boys come
back from Egypt and he thinks Joseph's dead and they left Simeon
in Egypt and they come back and they said, the man in Egypt said,
unless we bring Benjamin, we're not getting any corn. And Jacob
said, all this is against me. You know what that was? It was
a storm. What am I going to do? Well,
until we turn loose to Benjamin, we're not getting anything to
eat. God sent this storm for them. Why? To bring them to Egypt. To bring them to Joseph. You
know why he sends the storm? To bring you to his son, that's
why. To bring you to the place where you do cry out for mercy. And until he puts you in that
place, you won't cry out. I'm telling you, you just won't.
We may cry out some little cry, some false repentance, Godly
sorrow works repentance not to be repented of. I can imagine
them, disciples. You know, I want faith. Why do
I feel this way in the midst of this storm? I can't handle
it. But here's the amazing thing.
Christ is in the ship with them. But you know, they must have
forgot it. How many times do we forget? We know these things
and we forget. Well, where's he at? Where is our Lord? They hadn't looked for him before.
Now they go looking for him. Where's he at? Well where's the
captain of the ship at? He's in the under part of the
ship. He guides the ship, and that's where he is, he's just
asleep. It says in Luke 8, 24, and they came to him and awoke
him. Said, Master, Master, Master, we're perishing, I can see the
boat maybe almost plumb full of water, what are we going to
do? And they ask him that question. Can you imagine asking our Lord
that question? Can you imagine the ones that
are asking this question? Do you not care? Do you not care that we perish? I can say this. He cares. He cares if you make it to glory. He cares. He gave his life for
you. He put away your sin debt. Do you really think, now listen
to me, do you really think he will allow you or these disciples
or me to perish? If he allows you to perish, he's
a failure. If he loses one, he's a fake. He's a phony. Do you not care
that we perish? Oh, yeah, he cares. He's going to show them if they
are ever delivered, he must do it. That's how he saves you. That's how he teaches you that
you will not perish. Our hearts are filled with fear
and unbelief. Someone said, fear which drives
us to Jesus is not all wrong. They cried to him even though
it is the cry of unnecessary terror. But it brings them to
his feet for help. As I thought about this, you
know where it said they asked, they said, do you not care that
we perish? I thought of someone else as an illustration. who
asked him basically similar to this question. Turn with me to
Luke chapter 10, a woman named Martha. Paul read that passage
in John 11 about Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. He loved them. He
spent a lot of time at their house. And this is going to be a storm
for Martha. You mean the Lord's in the house?
Yes. And she can be in the midst of a storm? Yes. Doing something
well and commendable? Yes. Now it came to pass, Luke
10, 38, now it came to pass as they went, he entered into a
certain village and a certain woman named Martha received him
under her house. And she had a sister called Mary,
which also sat at Jesus' feet and heard his word. I want you
to get the picture. I don't know how many they were,
if it was our Lord and all his disciples, and there was probably
a few more. You can imagine, ladies, if somebody
shows up to your house, you know the first thing you're going
to do, well what am I going to fix them? What am I going to prepare for
the meal? And Mary, you know what Mary does? Mary goes in
there and sits down in the living room at our Lord's feet, just
sitting there listening, just listening. And the more Martha
works, the madder she gets. Look at that. Here I am in here
working, fixing all this food for all these people, taking
them drinks and everything, and Murray's just sitting down there
doing nothing. because it said, but Martha was
cumbered about much serving and she walks right in there, I can
picture her walking in there to the living room and she said,
do you not care that I'm doing this by myself? Do you not care that my sisters
left me to serve alone? Do you not care? Can you imagine
saying that to our Lord in front of all these people? Did this
woman love the Lord? Yes. Did he love her? Yes. You see what I'm saying? When
you least expect it. You said I would never act like
that. Now come on now. We all would. And she's in a
storm. And she's in a storm. And she
loses her temper. But our Lord in his grace answered
and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled
about many things, but one thing is needful. A lot of our trouble comes because
we're so cumbered about many things, and there's only one thing that's
needful. And Mary had chosen that good
part. And she had chosen that good
part which shall not be taken from her. Martha couldn't enjoy her being
in her house and being able to fix some supper because her sister
wouldn't help her. You know it doesn't say this,
but I could see some of those disciples say, why don't you
get up and come over here and help me do this? Why don't you
shovel some of that water out of this boat? Let me tell you a secret. Now
everybody listening to me, we're all in the same ship. He's the captain of the whole
ship. If we make it to glory, it's because of his grace. His
grace. Our Lord said, I'll never leave
you nor forsake you. Turn with me to Isaiah 41 10. When we think the Lord doesn't
care, he does. It says in Isaiah 41.10,
fear thou not, for I am with thee. Be not dismayed, for I
am thy God. I will strengthen thee, yea,
I will help thee. I will uphold thee with the right
hand of my righteousness. Then over chapter 43, verse 2, when thou passest through the
waters, I will be with thee. and through the rivers they shall
not overthrow thee. When thou walkest through the
fire, thou shalt not be burned, neither shall the flame kindle
upon thee. You remember the song we sung
just a little bit ago? How firm a foundation, when through
the deep waters I call thee to go. The rivers of sorrow shall
not overflow, for I will be with thee, thy troubles to bless,
and I'll sanctify to thee thy deepest, thy deepest distress. Now I want you to see this. The
soul that on Jesus hath leaned for repose, I will not, I will
not desert to his foes. That soul, that soul, though
all hell should endeavor to shake, I'll never, no never, no never
forsake." Why do they keep repeating it? Because we keep forgetting
it. We said, I won't leave you. And in the midst of the storm,
these men are just terrified. And they wake him up and say,
Lord, do you not care? He's going to show them his grace. And he's going to show them that
he cares. And it said, and he arose. Thank goodness he did. You imagine
what they thought just applying this when our Lord rose from
the dead. Well, where's he at? You know, they never just quite
get it that our Lord is going to die. That he must suffer and
die, be buried, and rise again. Even when they said he's risen,
they said the women came and said he's rose. We don't believe
it. He arose. And you know what he did? He rebuked the wind and said
to the sea, Peace. Be still. When your conscience is just
in a mess, and you're at your wits end, and you don't know
which way to turn, and you cry out to Him in mercy and grace,
and He speaks to your conscience, to that storm in your mind, and
He says, Could have heard a pin drop. Someone said, how often we are
taught the folly of our fears by experiencing some swift, gracious
deliverance. In the midst of all their unbelief, I know we must believe the Lord,
but let me tell you, if it depended upon our faith, we would never
be delivered. It's because of his faithfulness.
His faithfulness. Why are you so fearful? This fear arose from their unbelief. These disciples are so much like
us, and any one of us would have been terrified. Any one of us
would have been afraid. Someone that comes to my mind
is a man named Elijah. Elijah is a man that was called
and raised up of God, and he stood on top of Mount Carmel
against 850 false prophets, mocked them. And that evening, one old
Jezebel, she said, I'm going to kill you by tomorrow. And this same man, the next thing
you read, he's sitting under a juniper tree, afraid and scared
to death. This was a storm. He said, there's
nobody left but me. And the Lord says, now wait a
minute, Elijah. I've got 7,000 that have not bowed to the image
of Baal. And he made him a meal and he
said, you rise and eat and go in the strength of this forty
days. And he did. In the midst of the storm, instead
of looking at the storm, instead of looking at our own weakness
and our frailties and the frailty of the ship, Consider the Lord. Consider Him that endures such
contradiction of sinners against Himself. Then it said there that they
feared exceedingly. This is a reverential
fear. Peter, did you just see what
he did? John, James, did you just see
what he did? Did he really do that? Did he
really calm that storm? Yes, he did. The lessons we learn
from this passage, faith and obedience to Christ do not exempt
God's people from the storms in this world. Our Lord is a
real man, thank goodness. And the Creator controls his
universe. And the greatest of believers
can become afraid. I think it's Psalms 1-6, I could
be wrong, where David said, what time I am afraid, I will trust
the Lord. Our Lord is kind and gracious.
This sea is like an emblem, a picture of our lives as they quickly
pass by. Our life is just like a vapor. And you picture on this ship,
I mean, you see one ship as it sails and it goes out of sight.
It goes over the horizon never to be seen again. And here comes
another one. And you know one day what's going
to happen to our ship? It's going to go over the horizon. And we're
going home. And then we'll be glad. You know
what? No more storms. If you're so troubled and you don't know what to do, cry out to the Lord in your trouble. And he can speak to your soul. and say, peace, be still. And then you'll be glad. And he will bring you to your
desired heaven. Amen.