Look at Luke chapter 8 this morning. I'm actually going to read three
accounts, or three places of the same account. And we'll kind
of focus on Luke chapter 8. But I want us to see each account
because in each account we'll be able to, by God's grace, see
a few things. In Luke chapter 8, verse 22. We read, now it came to pass
on a certain day that he went into a ship with his disciples.
And he said unto them, let us go over unto the other side of
the lake. And they launched forth. But
as they sailed, he fell asleep. And there came down a storm of
wind on the lake, and they were filled with water and were in
jeopardy. And they came to him, awoke him, saying, Master, Master,
we perish. Then he arose and rebuked the
wind and the raging of the water, and they ceased, and there was
a calm. And he said unto them, Where is your faith? And they,
being afraid, wondered, saying one to another, What manner of
man is this? For he commandeth even the winds
and water, and they obey him. And they arrived at the country
of the Gadarenes, which is over against Galilee. And look at
Matthew chapter 8. Matthew 8 verse 23. And when he was entered into
a ship, his disciples followed him. And behold, there arose
a great tempest in the sea. That's an earthquake. That's
what the tempest was. And so much that the ship was covered
with waves, but he was asleep. And his disciples came to him
and awoke him, saying, Lord, save us, we perish. And he saith
unto them, why are ye so fearful, O ye of little faith? Then he
arose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great
calm. But the men marveled, saying,
what manner of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey
him? And then lastly, look at Mark
chapter 4. Verse 35, like I said, it's the
same account, but we see little differences in this. Mark 4,
verse 35. In 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 awoke him, and saying
to him, Master, carest thou not that we perish? And he arose
and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still.
And there was a great calm. And he said unto them, Why are
ye 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? So here we have the Lord Jesus
Christ and his disciples in a ship on the Sea of Galilee. And as
they were sailing to the other side, there came down a storm
of wind and a great tempest, a great earthquake. and we read
that the ship was covered, was beaten by the wind and by the
waves, that it became full of water, and we read that they
were in jeopardy, they were in danger. This was a very serious
situation. They were about to sink. These
were experienced fishermen, they were experienced sailors. I'm
sure that they did everything they could to steer the boat,
to maneuver it. They did everything they could
to get the water out, to keep the water from coming in. They
were in jeopardy. They were about to sink. And
as we look at this passage today, I want us to consider the life
of a believer and the storms that we encounter. The life of
a believer will be met with many storms. The Word of God declares
that we must, we must, through much tribulation, enter into
the kingdom of heaven. The Lord Jesus Christ declared
unto the disciples that in the world they shall have tribulation.
He says that to us. We shall have tribulation. We will have to suffer and endure
many storms, but thank God he has given us his word filled
with instruction and sweet promises. After the Lord declared to his
disciples that they shall endure tribulation, he said, but be
of good cheer. He said, I've overcome the world.
Paul wrote, I reckon that the sufferings of this present time
are not worthy to be compared with the glory that should be
revealed in us. And our light affliction, which
is but just for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and
eternal weight of glory. We shall endure many storms.
And the storms will vary. There'll be various types of
storms that we'll endure. It could be affliction. sorrow,
adversity, temptation, tribulation. There'll be storms of sickness,
storms of health, storms of failure and poverty, but also storms
of success. Storms will be many, and they
will vary in ways of type. They'll vary in ways of length
and severity. It might be days. It might be
just for a moment. But it might be years. There are some things we know
for sure about these storms and some things we'll see in our
text. First of all, we know that these storms are from above.
In one of the accounts we saw where the storm came down, there
came down a great wind. These storms come from above.
David said, for thou, O God, has proved us. Thou hast tried
us as silver is tried. The Lord has done it. These storms
come from God. We read in Zechariah, it shall
come to pass that in all the land, saith the Lord, two parts
therein shall be cut off and die, but the third shall be left
therein. And that third is God's remnant.
That third is God's people. And he said, and I will bring
the third part through the fire and will refine them as silver
is refined and will try them as gold is tried. And they shall
call on my name, and I will hear them. And I will say, it is my
people. And they shall say, the Lord
is my God. So you see, these storms in our life, they come
from God. We know that he sits on the throne.
We know that he's sovereign. We know that he controls all
things. He said, not even a bird falls
to the ground without my father knowing it. He brings these storms
to pass. He causes everything that happens
in our life. We know that He's in control. They are decreed according to
His infinite and perfect wisdom. They're brought to pass according
to His sovereign will and power. And we know that they are from
above, and we know this, we know that they're for a purpose. I
want us to look at 1 Peter real quick. Look at 1 Peter chapter
1. 1st Peter chapter 1 look at verse 3 Peter writes
blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ which
according to his abundant mercy has begotten us again into a
lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead
to an inheritance an inheritance that's incorruptible and undefiled
and that fadeth not away reserved in heaven for you who are kept,
how are we kept? By the power of God, through
faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time.
We're in. So consider everything that we've
just read, blessed of God into a lively hope, to an inheritance
incorruptible, kept, kept by God. We're in. Ye greatly rejoice,
though now for a season, if need be, you are in heaviness through
manifold temptations. We rejoice in the salvation of
God, his mercy unto us. And notice this, that it's for
a season. It's for a season. And it's needful. It's needful. Why? Verse seven,
that the trial of your faith And that's the purpose of it.
The purpose of it is the trial of our faith. The purpose of
it is God has given us faith in salvation. We're saved by
grace through faith. He's given us faith to look to,
trust Christ, and he's going to try that faith. And that faith
is much more precious than gold that perishes, though it be tried
with fire. Why? That it might be found unto
praise and honor, glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ. He's going to try our faith.
Why? For His glory. Look at Romans chapter 5. Romans chapter 5 and look at
verse 1. Therefore being justified by faith we have what? Peace
with God. Through our Lord Jesus Christ.
by whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein
we stand and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not
only so, we rejoice in these things, right? Not only so, but
we also glory in what? Tribulation. We glory in tribulation,
knowing that tribulation worketh patience. What is patience? Patience is just waiting upon
God. Waiting upon the will of God.
That's what patience is. We just, we wait. We learn patience. And patience, experience. Experience
is, is tried faith. Because when the faith has gone
through the fire, and the impurities have been removed, we know what
the genuineness of that faith is. Tried faith is a tried character. We really don't know anything
but by experience. The life of a believer must be
filled with experience in order to know the faithfulness of Christ,
in order to know his power, in order to learn patience. And
when that, when we learn patience, when we learn experience, what
do we have? We have hope. Because we know
that there is an expected end. We have hope. And hope maketh
not ashamed. Because the love of God is shed
abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us. God has a reason for every storm
he brings into our life. And if we, if I, would remember
that, We'd be able to get through those storms a little bit easier.
He has a reason for it. He has a reason for everything
that he does. They are needful. And because
of his love for us, we know that they're for our good. They are
designed to try our faith. When God saves a sinner, he gives
them faith, and that faith will be tried. The trial of faith
is a necessary blessing to the sinner, which is why we are told
to rejoice in tribulation. It's a necessary blessing for
us. When gold passes through the fire, it purges all the dross
and the tin, and it removes all the impurities. And when our
faith passes through the fire of the storm, it does the same. It removes all the impurities. It removes our pride. How prideful
are we? Constantly. We have to be humble,
don't we? How are we going to be humbled
through the storm? It's got to remove that pride.
It's got to remove our covetousness, our hypocrisy. And I could go
on and on because there are so many sins that we deal with,
so many impurities that have to be removed. And in the end, our faith is
proven to be genuine. And that faith will shine forth
into the glory of Christ. Disciples came to our Lord as
he slept in the boat and awoke him, saying, Lord, save us, we
perish. Master, master, we perish. Master, carest thou not that
we perish? And Christ said unto them, in
one account, he said, why are ye so fearful, O ye of little
faith? In another account, he said, where is your faith? And
another one, he said, why are you so fearful? How is it that
you have no faith? And the response and the reaction
of these men is so often ours when we are in the grips of a
storm. And the storm hits us. They were
filled with fear. And you can imagine why. Like
I said, the scripture says they were in jeopardy. They were filled
with fear. And we begin to look around and
see the dark clouds and the lightning. We hear the thunder and the roaring
of the waves. We see the boat filled with water
and about to sink, and we become filled with fear and unbelief.
And as fear and unbelief sinks in, what do we do? We begin to
question God. Isn't that what they did? When
fear and unbelief sink in, We forget his presence with us.
He was there in the ship with them. We forget his word. We forget
his precious promises. These men questioned God. They
said, carest thou not that we perish? Do you not care? The
foolishness of man to question God. How could we question his love
for us? Consider him who endured the
cross. Consider him the holy, perfect
son of God who was made sin that we might be made the righteousness
of God. He said, I've loved you with
an everlasting love, loved us until the end. How could we question
his love for us? How could we question his will?
How can we question his power? How can we question his wisdom? How can we question his sovereignty?
They question God. And so often do we, to our shame. In all honesty, when something
bad happens, what's the first thing we do? Why is this happening
to me? Why me? Like David, I must say, foolish
was I and ignorant. I was as a beast before thee. I marvel at the foolishness of
men. I read this account. I marvel at my foolishness. Constant,
continual foolishness. As I see this, I marvel at something
else, too. I marvel at the compassion, the
long-suffering, and the forbearance of our Savior. You know, how
He deals with us is so contrary to our nature, isn't
it? He knows our frame, and He remembers
that we're dust. And he doesn't even address the
foolishness of their question, does he? He just says, peace,
be still. Isaiah said, sing, O heavens,
and be joyful, O earth, and break forth into singing, O mountains.
Why? For the Lord has comforted his
people, and he will have mercy upon his afflicted. But Zion
said, the Lord hath forsaken me, and the Lord has forgotten
me. Can a woman forget her sucking
child? That she should not have compassion
on the son of her womb? Yeah, they may. Yeah, they would. Have we seen how some parents
treat their children in this world? He says, yet will I not forget
thee. He will not forget us. Behold,
I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands. We forget his presence with us.
There on the ship, as it was tossed about and beaten by the
storm, was the Son of God asleep on a pillow. What do those men really have
to worry about? that I understand the situation,
I understand what they were faced with, but what did they really
have to worry about? What do we really have to worry
about? David said, yea, though I walk
through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.
Why? For you're with me. And he is
with us. The Lord declared in his word,
lo, I am with you always, even until the end. Even until the
end of the world. And we know he's faithful to
his promises, right? If he's declared he's with us
until the end, is he not with us until the end? He told the
disciples, let us go over to the other side. They're going
to get to the other side. They just got to get through
the storm. But he's with him the whole time. He tells us to be strong and
of good courage, to fear not, nor be afraid. For the Lord,
our God, goes with us. And he will not fail. And he
will not forsake us. We forget his precious promises. Isaiah says, but now, thus saith
the Lord that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel,
fear not. Why? Because I have redeemed
thee. I have called thee by thy name. Thou art mine. And when
you pass through the waters, when the storms come, I'll be
with thee. And through the rivers, they
shall not overflow thee. When thou walkest through the
fire, Thou shalt not be burnt, neither shall the flame kindle
upon thee. For I am the Lord thy God, the
Holy One of Israel, thy Savior. What do we have to fear in this
world? The disciples were filled with
fear and they questioned Christ. But let's not miss a very important
truth here. is that they came to him. They
came to him crying out for help. And I pray that when the storm
comes, they will. And I pray that when they do,
we do not lean upon our own strength to get through the storm. Do
not lean upon our own wisdom, our riches, our power, Do not
lean on our own understanding or trust in the arm of the flesh. I pray that we come to Christ and cry out unto him for help. Help, save us. He said, come unto me all you
that labor and are heavy laden, and I'll give you rest. He promised,
all that the Father giveth me shall come to me, and him that
cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. So full of fear, full of unbelief,
full of doubt, full of sin, come to him and cry out unto him. The disciples came to Christ
fearful and in great need, and he demonstrated unto them his
mercy. He demonstrated unto them his
compassion and demonstrated unto them his great power. He rebuked
the wind and the raging of the water, saying, peace, be still.
The wind and the waves ceased, and there was a great calm. And
upon seeing this, the disciples declared, what manner of man
is this? Well, what manner of man is this?
Who is this man that, in the midst of a storm, is just calmly asleep on a pillow? Who is this man who, with a word, can calm the
wind in a storm? John, when he beheld Jesus coming
unto him, said, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the
sin of the world. Behold him. Peter declared concerning this
man, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. Thomas, beholding the risen Savior
after he beheld his wounds, declared, My Lord and my God. The Father, from his throne in
heaven, declared, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well
pleased. Look at Colossians chapter 1. Look at verse 15. What manner
of man is this? Verse 15 says he is the image
of the invisible God. Did you not say, if you've seen
me, you've seen the Father? He's the image of the invisible
God, the firstborn of every creature. For by Him were all things created. He created all things that are
in heaven, that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether
they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers,
all things all things were created by him and for him. And he is before all things,
and by him all things consist. He is the head of the body, the
church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead,
that in all things he might have the preeminence. For it pleased
the Father that in him should all fullness dwell. and having made peace through
the blood of his cross by him to reconcile all things unto
himself by him I say whether they be things in earth or things
in heaven and you that were sometime alienated and enemies in your
mind by wicked works yet now has he reconciled and the body
of his flesh through death to present you holy and unblameable
and unreprovable in his sight. What manner of man is this? Paul
said in Philippians, he said, Who, being in the form of God,
thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself
of no reputation and took upon him the form of a servant. It
was made in the likeness of men, bone of our bone and flesh of
our flesh. God in the flesh, and being found
in fashion as a man, he humbled himself again and became obedient
unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore, God also
has highly exalted him and given him a name which is above every
name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things
in heaven and things in earth and things under the earth, and
that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to
the glory of the Father. What manner of man is this? And what do we have to fear? If God before us, who can be
against us? We read in Romans chapter 8,
who's going to separate us from the love of God? Who? What's
going to separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation? Is tribulation going to separate
us? Distress or persecution, famine or nakedness, peril or
sword? 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're more than conquerors.
More than conquerors through him that loved us. And Paul said,
I'm persuaded. I'm persuaded. than either death,
nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present,
or things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature.
Nothing. Absolutely nothing. No matter
how severe the storm is, no matter how bad it is, no matter what
we go through, no matter what we encounter, nothing, nothing,
nothing shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which
is in Christ Jesus. Nothing. Reading Deuteronomy
chapter 32, when the Most High divided to the nations their
inheritance, when he separated the sons of Adam, he set the
bounds of the people according to the number of the children
of Israel. Everything that God does is for his people. From
the beginning of time Everything he does, everything is purposed
for his people. For the Lord's portion is his
people. Jacob is a lot of his inheritance. He found him in
a desert land. God found him. We don't find
God. God finds us. He searches and
seeks and finds his sheep. He found him. Where did he find
him? In a desert land. And that's where we are. We're
in a desert land. We're in a wilderness. a waste
howling wilderness. And it says, and he led him about.
We're not just walking aimlessly through this world. God's leading
us. Not a hand. He led him about. And he instructed him. And Moses
said he kept him as the apple of his eye. That's how God looks at his children. They're the apple of his eye. That's how I look at my children. They're the most beautiful, precious
beings I've ever seen. I would do anything and everything
for them. And when God the Father, He who sits on the throne, ruling
and reigning and controlling all things, when He looks at this fearful,
doubting, despicable sinner, he sees me as the apple of his
eye. And we know, we know, the only
reason why we can say that is because we're in his son. That's the only reason that can
be said, as we are in Christ. Because in Christ, we're perfect.
In Christ, we're righteous. So what do we do in the storms
of life? What do we do? Paul and Silas
chained and locked in the innermost part of the prison. It says that
they sang praises to God and prayed. Peter was in prison bound with
chains between two soldiers awaiting his death and he slept. When Job lost all, he arose and
rent his mantle and shaved his head and fell down upon the ground
and worshipped. I pray that God would give me
the grace to do that. The grace and the strength to
pray, to praise him, to worship him, and to rest in him during
the storm. But, but, when fear and doubt
and unbelief sink in, I pray he causes me to come to
him. And to cry out unto him, Master, I perish. Save me. David said, in my distress, I
called upon the Lord and cried unto my God, and he heard me.
And he always does hear the cries of his people, does he not? He
always hears the cries of his children. And he hears them out
of his temple. He hears them as he sits on the
throne. And so my cry came before him, even unto his ears. Where did we find mercy? Where
did we find grace? Where did we find forgiveness?
Where did we find salvation? Was it not at the feet of the
Savior? Do we dare leave? Do we not just stay right there? Where are we going to find strength
in the storm? Peter said, humble yourself therefore
under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due
time, casting all your care upon him. What's your care? What's
your trouble? Cast it all upon him. Why? He
cares for you. We read in Hebrews, seeing then
that ye have a great high priest, and what a high priest we have,
that is passed into the heavens. Jesus, the Son of God, let us
hold fast our profession. For we have not a high priest
which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities,
but was in all points tempted, like as we are, yet without sin. Let us, therefore, come boldly,
boldly, not in ourselves, not in pride. Let us come boldly
because of who our High Priest is, because of who our Savior
is. Come boldly unto the throne of
grace. To us, to the children of God,
is the throne of grace, isn't it? Why? That we may obtain mercy
and find grace to help in time of need. Our Lord told the disciples,
let us go over to the other side and The disciples followed him. They did exactly what he told
them to do. They followed him. And they encountered this storm.
And Christ calmed the ocean and the sea. And they reached the other side. Look at Revelation chapter 7,
and we'll be done. Revelation 7, verse 9, And this I beheld, and lo, a
great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations
and kindreds and people and tongues stood before the throne and before
the lamb clothed with white robes and palms in their hands and
cried with a loud voice saying salvation to our God which sitteth
upon the throne and unto the lamb and all the angels stood
round about the throne and about the elders and the four beasts
and fell before the throne on their faces and worshiped God
saying amen Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving,
and honor, and power, and might be unto our God forever and ever.
Amen. And one of the elders answered,
saying unto me, what are these which are arrayed in white robes?
And whence came they? And I said unto him, sir, thou
knowest. And he said unto me, these are
they which came out of great tribulation. They reached the
other side. and have washed their robes and
made them white in the blood of the Lamb. So think about this as we go
through the storm. Therefore are they before the
throne of God and serve him day and night in his temple. And
he that sitteth upon the throne shall dwell with them. They shall
hunger no more, neither thirst any more, neither shall the sun
light on them, nor any heat. For the lamb which is in the
midst of the throne shall feed them and lead them unto living
fountains of waters. And God shall walk away all tears
from their eyes. As I prepared this message this
week, I did a lot of heart and soul
searching. I was forced to look in a mirror
and examine myself. I had to. And what I found when I looked
within, I found a lot more fear a lot more fear than I did faith. And that troubled me greatly. Because how do I how do I preach a message on
having faith in the storms of life when I find that I have more
fear than faith. And I think if we're all honest
with ourselves, I think we'll find that when
we look within, we find the same thing. We're gonna find a lot
more fear, a lot more unbelief, than we do faith. And this can be discouraging. I don't want to have more fear
than faith. Paul wrote, the good that I would,
I do not, but that which I would not, that's what I do. The things
I don't want to do are exactly what I do, and the things I do
want to do, I don't do them. And truthfully, There's only
one time where I know that the Lord described a man as having
great faith. We read that Jesus marveled at
him, marveled at him. And said unto the people that
followed him, I say unto you, I have not found so great faith,
no, not in Israel. So how can I stand here before you this morning and declare this message? The answer, surprisingly, maybe not surprisingly, the answer is simple. I don't look to my fear. I am filled with fear and doubt
and unbelief. But I don't look to that fear. But here's the other thing. The other thing is I don't look to
my faith. I don't look to my fear, and
I don't look to my faith. By the grace, and mercy, and
power of God, I just look to Him. And I just
come to Him, and I just bow before Him, and I just cry. Let's pray.