As you can imagine I've spent
a bunch of time this last week and several weeks looking at
crossings of seas and things in the Scriptures and I'd like
us to spend just a few short minutes having a look at Mark
chapter 4. It's one of those glorious passages in Scripture
where there is once again the revelation of
the Lord Jesus Christ in glorious ways. So I'll just read the story,
it begins, there's only a few verses. It begins in Mark 4,
verse 35. And the same day, when 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,
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? It's a glorious passage of scripture,
isn't it? A scripture that reveals the
weakness of the flesh of the apostles. And I'm so thankful
that their flesh is weak. Ours is just the same. If you
were on that boat, you would have done exactly the same. These were
experienced fishermen. They spent their lives on that
sea of Galilee. They had seen many, many ships
and many, many men go down to the bottom of that sea. So they
had every reason to be fearful. But nevertheless, they are in
the company of one who is quite remarkable. And as I was reading
it again this week, I was really struck by a word, a phrase in
verse 36, if you have a look at it with me. And when they
had sent away the multitude, they took him even as he was
in the ship. I've got to ask, and I've been
asking myself and I trust I might have some sort of answer for
you this morning, but why would that phrase be there? They took
him even as he was. How else could they take him?
They took him even as he was. And of course it's a description
in the simplest way of how we must take the Lord Jesus Christ.
We must take him as he is. If he's in the ship of our life
and we're in the ship of his life, we'll take him as he is.
We'll take him as he is. Let's just have a look at this
lovely passage of scripture and we'll focus on that phrase in
a few minutes. When evil has come he said let
us pass over unto the other side. The Lord Jesus never does anything
without a purpose. All you have to do is turn over
the page and you'll see why he said let us pass over the other
side. He never does anything without purpose, our God. Everything
is purposeful. Because He had a child of his
because he had a member of his bride. You know the story in
Mark chapter five of that demon-possessed man. He couldn't be controlled
by anything. He couldn't be controlled by
men. He couldn't be controlled by men in religion. He was in
a place of extraordinary self-destruction. He was in amongst the tombs. He was in a place of death. He
was in a place of self-destruction. And the Lord loved him. The Lord
loved him from the foundation of the world. The Lord loved
him when he was harming himself. The Lord loved him when men were
putting chains on him to try and restrain him. The Lord loved
him. The time of love is a time that's
determined by our God. And a time of love had come from
the Gadarene demoniac, and we won't have much time to look
at him, but I love the description of how he was when they found
him. They found him, the people of
that village, they found him doing three things, sitting at
the Lord's feet in his right mind. And that's exactly what
salvation is, isn't it? You're sitting at the Lord's
feet. You take him as he is. You're clothed in the robe of
his righteousness and you're in your right mind. Everyone
in unbelief is mad. Everyone in unbelief is mad.
That madness is expressed in all sorts of different ways.
But all you have to do is probe a little bit and you see that
it's absolutely irrational and it can't be held together with
any logic and it can't actually speak in any way of the truth
of the lives and the world that they're in. Once lies start,
the only way to support lies is to tell more lies. Let us
go over the other side. Once the Lord had spoken those
words, that was the end of the matter, wasn't it? What was going
to happen that day? going over the other side. It's as simple
as that, isn't it? That's what he says to his people,
isn't he? He says, you're crossing the Jordan with me. You're coming
with me into the new creation. When the Lord speaks It's done. The Lord speaks and creation
comes into existence. When the Lord speaks, reality
comes into existence, brothers and sisters. All that you see
around here is sustained by the word of his power and created
by him indeed. So everything we see says the
Lord Jesus Christ reigns. That's what this creation says
all the time, doesn't it? Reality comes into existence.
When a promise is made, a promise is fulfilled. It's fulfilled
completely. His word is unbreakable. And it doesn't matter what the
circumstances are. His word is unchangeable. Our God changes not. As I read earlier too, I think,
forever thy word is settled in the heavens. Forever. It says
forever. Psalm 119 verse 89. His word and his character and
his name are all as one. He says let us go over to the
other side. Will they go over to the other side? Of course
they will. Will their faith take them to
the other side? Will their works take them to the other side?
Will their worth take? No. They go to the other side
on the basis of a word from God. If you're ever going to the other
side, brothers and sisters in Christ, it will be on the basis
of the word of God which reveals the power of God. They sent away
the multitude. The Lord Jesus Christ had had
an extraordinarily busy time. And they took him even as he
was in the ship, and there were also with him other little ships. So there were witnesses to this.
Other fishermen were on that, other sailors were on that sea
that night. They took him as he was. They
took him as he was. He was weary with the journey.
What did he do? He was in the hinder part, verse
38. He was in the hinder part of
the ship. asleep on a pillow. They took him as he was. He was
weary with his journey. He spent his whole life on this
earth with care and concern for his bride and care and love for
his father. And it wearied him. He sat down
by that well in John chapter 4 and he was wearied with the
journey. But he must go there because once again he had a member
of his bride, someone that he loved from the foundation of
the world, someone the father had given him was there. And
he must go. They took him as he was. In the
previous verses in Mark's gospel, the Lord Jesus Christ had spoken
the parables of the kingdom, parables of universal and eternal
significance. And he says in verse 23 of this
chapter, if any man have ease to hear, let him hear. And then he says, take heed what
you hear. Take heed what you hear. He spoke
parables that reflected the way the Lord God's word goes out
into this world and there are various soils that it falls upon.
And the cares of this world and the cares of the flesh and the
chokings of other men cause that word to be unproductive and it
falls on ground. that he's made good by his grace
and it yields a remarkable fruit. In Matthew's gospel, prior to
this event, he'd been healing lepers with a touch and a word. I love the way he touched lepers.
See, to touch a leper, two things either must happen. Either you
become automatically defiled or the leper becomes immediately
cleansed. That's wonderful, isn't it? Leprosy
is a picture of sin, isn't it? The Lord Jesus Christ can touch
us and be undefiled. And he can touch God and not
be consumed by the holiness and glory of God. That's a mediator
I need, isn't it? I need someone who doesn't just
stand afar off. and issue instructions to me.
The Lord Jesus Christ comes and he touches. He comes and he comes
in intimacy of relationship with his people. The Lord Jesus Christ
in Matthew's account, we looked at it a couple of weeks ago,
he creates and then marvels at the centurion's faith. And he
warns the people. He warns them that the sovereign
purpose of God of gathering his people from the four corners
of this world and coming to that wedding feast with Abraham and
all the children of faith is the sovereign purpose of our
God and the multitude of the Jews will be cast out. In Luke's
prior account of this crossing of the sea, he describes a family
that he has. It's a family that is not by
natural birth, but it's a family of those who hear the Word of
God. They took him as he was. They took him as he was, as he
taught. He revealed the character of
God. He revealed himself to be God. The question is, can we
take him as he is? He changes not. The Lord Jesus
Christ in the parables and the Lord Jesus Christ we read in
the Gospels and the Lord Jesus Christ proclaimed in all the
accounts in Acts is the same yesterday, today and forever.
He changes not. The reason Malachi 3.6 says that
we are not consumed is because he can't change. He changes not. So many in these Gospel accounts,
in John 6, 8, 10 and many, many others, they couldn't take him
as he is. Today in man's religion people
can't take him as he is. They continually modify his character. They can't take him as he is. The accusation of God against
mankind in Psalm 50.21 is as relevant today as was penned
3,000 years ago. You think that I'm altogether
like you. Every idolatrous notion of God
is a notion that reduces him. See, he's not like us. He has
a humanity that's so much as ours, and he's touched with the
feeling of our infirmities, but our God is high above the heavens. And this is how He reveals himself
to these men. What's the Lord Jesus doing? on a pillow. That's the rest
of faith, isn't it? That's the rest of simply trusting
God to be at rest when the world's turned upside down, for the children
of God to be at rest. Brad would tell you the story
in great detail, but there was a famous general in the Confederate
Army called Stonewall Jackson, and Stonewall Jackson was famous
for going and picking blackberries and doing all sorts of silly
things when the bullets were flying all over the place. And someone
asked him why he was being so silly. He said, if you had the
faith in me, you'd do the same as me. Now I'm not advising you
to carry on like Samuel Jackson. And I'm always concerned about
people boasting about their activities. But the Lord Jesus Christ was
asleep on the pillow. Perfect humanity. He could be
perfectly at peace in the storm. The world seems to be at storms
all the time and in storms, doesn't it? And the Lord Jesus Christ
is doing what right now? He's seated on the throne of
glory. He's sitting down, it means his
work's finished. He's sitting down, he's not disturbed
by anything that happens in this world. And they awake him, they woke
him up and they said to him, what shocking words, Master,
Don't you care if we perish? Care is there not that we perish? Unbelief is very ugly, brothers
and sisters, isn't it? Unbelief is very ugly in its
description of God. Master, they call him. They just
say you're a teacher. Not Lord. Not Emmanuel, God with
us. Teacher was a common phrase and
they weren't being disrespectful of him. But look what they said.
Carest thou not. Unbelief is ugly. And the other
thing is that unbelief has absolutely no evidence. There is not a single
thing in all of their years when they've been with the Lord Jesus
Christ which should have caused them for one moment to think
that that was the case. They might have thought they
were perishing, but how dare they think that he didn't care
for them? How dare they? It's amazing, isn't it? Their
unbelief. Don't dare look down your nose
at the apostles, brothers and sisters, and put you in that
there, and in a millisecond, in a millisecond you'd dethrone
God like these people did. In a heartbeat, you'd have him
denied. It's only the grace of God that
stops us being like Herod. That's a shocking word that Herod
said in Luke's account. They set him at nought. Remarkable, isn't it? You could
set the Son of God, the Lord of Glory, at nought. Unbelief. Unbelief is always an attack
upon the character of God. And it's an attack upon the very
word of God, isn't it? His word. He said a word. You're
coming over to the other side with me. We're all going over
to the other side. So unbelief is not taking God at His word.
It's not relying. It's not resting on Him and His
word. And I love the Lord's response. He doesn't say a word to them.
He just stands up and he spoke. He spoke to the wind and he spoke
to the sea. He said those remarkable words
which he speaks to the hearts of any of his children who are
troubled in this world. He says, peace, be still. What power in the words of the
Savior. What power. No more power in
those words than there were in the power of the words when he
says, let's cross over to the other side. This power is directed
at creation. He has far less trouble with
creation's obedience than he does with man's obedience. Isn't
it embarrassing? Isn't it embarrassing? The wind
and the waves are vain. He speaks. What majesty! What authority! Don't you read
the Gospel accounts and you just see the absolute authority of
the Word of God. See, everyone, all that everyone
had taught and all the prophets and they used to say, well this
is what God says, thus saith the Lord. The Word of God says
this. And he, over and over again,
he never used those phrases. He says, I say unto you. I say unto you. He speaks the
words of promise. He speaks the words of Christian.
For Christian's comfort, peace, be still. What a challenge he
is to our notions of God, which limit his power, that give us
some give people in religion this notion that somehow he's
trying to do something and he just needs your permission. He
wants to save everyone. If you will just let him. Here
he is, this sovereign master of the universe who can speak
creation to existence and everything is under his control according
to this religious world until he meets the mighty free will
of man. It's ridiculous, isn't it? The weakest thing about you is
your will. It is, isn't it? Every time in the scriptures
when someone says, I will, you know immediately that they won't.
It doesn't matter how much they boast. It doesn't matter how
worthy the boast is. Peter's boasting was wonderful
on that evening at the Last Supper. He says, I know these other guys.
I've seen that bloke leave. I know these other ten, how dodgy
they are. I'll be there. I'll be there.
We have to be so careful, don't we? We're so prone to boast in
our abilities in the Lord. will humble his people and cause
them to see that he'll be the one that will speak peace and
his words will be the ones that bring peace. See, if he speaks
to you, if he speaks to you through his word and by his spirit and
his gospel, Verse 40. And he said unto them,
Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?
There's no evidence of faith at all. See, as I said earlier,
there's no reason to doubt his power. There's no reason to doubt
the wisdom of his word. When he says, let's go over to
the other side, there's no reason to doubt his mercy. There's no
reason to doubt his love. There's no reason to doubt his
purposes in where he's going and what he's doing. See, fear
and unbelief go hand in hand all the time. Fear and unbelief
go hand in hand always. Lorne's going to be speaking
next week on Don't Let Your Hearts Be Troubled. I won't steal any
of his words from you. They're in John chapter 14. And
the remarkable thing is, in the context of it, they had absolutely
every reason to have their hearts troubled. And then the Lord says,
don't let your hearts be troubled. Luke says of them, where is your
faith? There's just no evidence of it
being in operation now. Verse 41, and they feared exceedingly. They feared exceedingly. All
three gospel accounts give this phrase. They feared exceedingly
and said one unto another, what manner of man is this that even
the wind and the sea obey him? See, there is a fear. An important
fear that's more necessary than the fear of the wind and the
waves and the fear of perishing. It is the fear of who God is. There is a treasure in the fear
of God and there is a reverencing of God when he is revealed as
God. There is a priority in fears,
and if you're fearful of this world and if you're fearful of
men, then according to the scriptures, you've forgotten God. You've
forgotten God as your maker. What manner of man is this? They took him as he was. took him even as he was. There's
one question isn't there? The great question of faith.
What do you think of the Lord Jesus Christ? Who do you say
that I am? You'll hear what men say. Who
do you say that I am? And the scriptures reveal the
most glorious answer, isn't it? before Abraham was, I am. He is the eternal self-existent
God. He says, I am. Therefore everything
else that exists in creation, everything else that happens
in creation, is because of the amness of God. I am that I am. And he says to those Pharisees,
if you don't believe that I am, if you do not believe that I
am God, you'll die in your sins. The Lord Jesus Christ just says
that word. And when they come to arrest
him in the Garden of Gethsemane, that crowd of maybe 700 soldiers
with all their lanterns and all their spears and Judas there
smiling and kissing him on the cheek, and the Lord just said,
I am. And the crowd fell backwards
to the ground. You know what the great miracle
of that evening was? That they actually got up again.
The only reason that crowd of people who were taking the Lord
Jesus to his crucifixion stood up again off that dirt was because
the Lord allowed it. He's not to be trifled with.
From his birth until after his death and even to this very day
now he's the same and he's fulfilling his promises just as he did to
those men on the Sea of Galilee. He's the Emmanuel. God with us. Right now, God with us. He is God, sitting on the throne
of this universe. He is God, the resurrected Messiah. The resurrected Messiah, and
he can say to Thomas, you put your hand in here. You put your
hand in, you put your fingers in here with us. Resurrected
with a reality. A reality. that declares the justification
of all of his people. See, he can say peace. He can
say peace. And you can say, where's the
proof? And he says, in my blood, in
my side, in my resurrected body. He says, after the angels sing
his entrance into this world, As a young man, he says, I must
be about my father's business. And then he goes back to Nazareth
and he willingly, voluntarily submits to his family. He dealt with Satan and he resisted
temptation. The temptations that we fell
in, in the garden, in Adam, he resisted them all and he never
ever used his powers for personal gain ever. He only ever used
his powers to show himself to his own. What a remarkable man. Can you take him as God? Can you take him as the substitute? Can you take him as the saviour? Can you take him as a man who
never sinned? What a remarkable person the
Lord Jesus Christ is. We ought to admire the beauty
of his being. It is worthy of admiring, isn't
it? He never sinned, not in thought,
not in word, not in deed. And if you think his temptations
were any less than yours, you completely misunderstand what
it was for him to live in this world. What manner of man is this? Can
you take him as he is, as the Creator? Can you take him as
he is, the one who speaks? And the demons have to ask permission
in the next chapter where they go. And the very sea which has
been calmed is a sea into which those demons, the pigs and the
demons with them all went. There's lots of gospel delight
in that. Can you take him as is as a man
who says, son, your sins are forgiven. You take him as one who makes
a promise to the sinner who goes to the temple and beats upon
his breast and says, Lord, be merciful to me, the sinner. And
he went home according to the word of God, the living word
of God. He went home to his home that night justified. He went
home as a man who had never ever sinned against God. That's what
he's saying. Can you take him as he was when he says, I'm the
way. He says, I don't show you the
way. He said, I am the way. I am the truth. Truth is a person. I am the life.
Life is a person. He says, to see me is to see
the father. He can see you. He saw Nathanael long before
Nathanael knew him. He says he knew exactly about
Nathanael. This is an Israelite in whom
there is no God. He sees you now. Can you take
him as he is? He sees you in every essence
of your being, your thoughts, your motives. He sees your heart. Can you take him as he is? There's
no point hiding from this God. I love what he said to the lady.
He says, if you knew the gift of God and who it is that's speaking
to you, you would ask him and he'd give. Can you take him as
one who is a giver? Not a legalistic demander. Can
you take him as one that, like the dying thief, you can just
cry out, say, Lord, remember me. Lord, remember me. I'm deserving this. I'm deserving
of what I'm getting in this world. I'm deserving of what I'm getting
on this cross. Lord, remember me. You'll come back from the
dead as a reigning, ruling king, said that thief on the cross.
You'll remember me when you come into your kingdom. Can we take
him as he is, the God-man, the eternal God, the eternal God
who is fully man, Can you take him as he is, this one who controls
the wind and the waves? The God's children take him as
he is because as he is, is delightful. What a remarkable God that allows
for us in grace and mercy and in union and fellowship with
us to come and allow us to take hold of him. Like the Shulamites
in the Song of Solomon said, my beloved is mine. My beloved
is mine. He takes me into his banqueting
house and his banner over me is love. He's mine. Take him as he is. Why would
you want to change anything about him? Okay, may the Lord bless
his words to us. Let's have a break for 10 minutes.