Well, let us turn again to God's
Word in the chapter that we were reading, Mark, the Gospel according
to St. Mark, chapter 4. And I'll read again the closing
verses of the chapter from verse 39 through 41. We're told, Concerning
Christ, Andy 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 this of course he said in relation
to the miracle of the stilling of the storm And the words that
I really want to center your thought around is what we are
told here in the middle of the last verse, verse 41. And that
clause, what manner of man is this? That's the theme that we
take up then, what manner of man is this? in relation of course to the
Lord Jesus, the words of the disciples. You may have heard
of an incident back in the early years of the 17th century when
an English merchant was up in the north country in Scotland
and took the opportunity of hearing a number of the ministers up
in that favourite land and the speech of these different men
and the effect that the ministry had upon him he says the first
was a sweet majestic looking man and this man showed me all
the majesty of God the minister that he was hearing was Robert
Blair and then he goes on and we heard another man he says
he was well favoured an old man with a long beard and this man
showed me all my heart and the man the minister was David Dixon
and then the third man that he speaks of he says the other was
a little fair man and he showed me all the loveliness of Christ
and that minister was Samuel Rutherford. He showed him all
the loveliness of Christ. Rutherford would speak of that
young lovely man the Lord Jesus and isn't this the one that the
disciples are very much speaking of here in the words of our text.
What manner of man is this? Throughout the day we see that
the Lord Jesus Christ had been preaching. In verse 33 we read,
With many such parables spake he the word unto them, as they
were able to He was very much engaged in this work of preaching
and as we saw in the first part of the chapter its parables and
of course we have that familiar parable of the sower and his
seeds spoken of in verse 3, Behold there went out a sower to sow
says the Lord And later, as he's interpreting the parable, he
tells them in verse 14, the sower soweth the words. And this is what the Lord Jesus
himself was about. He was sowing the words, preaching
the word of God, and he says to them on more than one occasion,
He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. He's very much engaged
in that ministry of the preaching of the Word of God. Now, we know
how that the ministry of the Lord Jesus was continually being
confirmed by the miracles that he also performs. they were a confirmation really
of the authority with which he spoke the word of God when we
read in John chapter 2 of the first of all the miracles the
turning of the water into wine there in Cana of Galilee this
beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee have manifested
forth his glory and the disciples believed on him. And then in
the next chapter, of course, we read of Nicodemus, the ruler
of the Jews, going to the Lord by night and saying, we know
that thou art a teacher come from God, for no man can do these
miracles that thou doest except God be with him. But it was the
preaching that was primary. And as we have said many a time,
there in John's Gospel, the particular word that's used for the miracle
is the word that literally means a sign, a confirmation that this
man is speaking not his own words but he's speaking truly the words
of God. He has all the authority of that
one who is the Lord's servant. And so it was, of course, also
with regards to his own disciples, the apostles, when they continue
his ministry after his death and after his resurrection from
the dead. Remember the language that we
have in the second chapter of the epistle to the Hebrews. solemn
words there at verse 3, how shall we escape if we neglect so great
salvation which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord
and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him. God also
bearing them witness both with signs and wonders and with diverse
miracles and gifts of the Holy Ghost according to his own will. All this confirmation of the
ministry But it's that which at the first began to be spoken
by the Lord. He comes very much then as that
one who is the servant of God, the true prophet that was spoken
of by Moses back in Deuteronomy. that God would raise up a prophet
amongst his people like unto Moses and yet greater than Moses.
The law was given by Moses. Grace and truth came by Jesus
Christ. And so here in the chapter we
see the Lord engaged in this work of ministry, of speaking
the word of God, of preaching the word of God. And then the
miracle that comes at the end of the chapter and the response
of these disciples, what manner of man is this? Well, what of this man? Well,
firstly, do we not here see the reality of the human nature of
the Lord Jesus? That's the amazing thing. Here they are in this little
ship, he sat there as we're told in the opening verse and the
multitude was there by the sea on the land and the little ship
is as it were his pulpit but then still in the ship later
in the day he goes over to the other side of the Sea of Galilee but there As the storm begins
to brew he's tired and he begins to sleep. Verse 37 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 pillar. Gill comments here and remarks
that it was a deep and a sound sleep. There's a great storm
But so tired is the Lord Jesus that the storm in no way disturbs
him. We're told in Ecclesiastes, the
sleep of a laboring man is sweet. How sweet this sleep must have
been to the Lord Jesus. The psalmist tells us, doesn't
he, O God, give us His beloved sleep? What a favour it is. And
we feel it when we enjoy a good night's rest and a deep sleep
and a refreshing sleep. And this is the experience of
the Lord Jesus. Here we see something of the
reality of His human nature. He needed to rest. He was clearly a real man. As Paul says to the Hebrews,
we have not a high priest which is not touched with the feeling
of our infirmity, but was tempted in all points like as we are
yet without sin. He feels for us, he is touched
with our sinless infirmities. his human nature was so real. We read in John chapter 4 how
he must need to go through Samaria and he's making a journey and
as he journeys he becomes tired and weary. He was wearied with
the journey we are told and he sat there on the well at Syka
and of course it's all part and parcel of the purpose of God
because he must meet with that Samaritan woman he must need
to go through Samaria for that very purpose but not just the
journey but the weariness that comes with the journey it's all
under the sovereign hand of God well when we think of what's
happening here in this fourth chapter of Mark what can we say
with regards to the Lord Jesus What was the cause of this deep
sleep that he enters into on board that little ship? Well,
he had been much occupied with the ministry of the Word of God.
We're told, aren't we, in verse 33, "...with many such parables
spake he the Word unto them." Now he was repeating his His
parables, one after the other. How it was so necessary. It must be so, line upon line,
line upon line, precept upon precept, precept upon precept,
here a little, there a little. These men, they were so slow
to learn and we cannot in any way point the finger at them.
Are we not so often dull scholars and we need to have the Lord
come and teach us the same lessons over and over And over again,
here he is, he is that one, you see, who is the sower. The sower
soweth the words. And what is the Lord doing? He's
sowing that good word of God. This was part of his ministry.
He has that threefold office. He comes as a priest. We see clearly he has a priestly
work that he engages in. He's going to make the great
atoning sacrifice for the sins of his people. he comes also
as that one who is king why? he's of the royal house of David he's of the kingly line but he
comes also as that one who is the true prophet of the Lord
and he preaches he comes as that one who will reveal the true
God he is the image of God and when he praise to his father
there in the 17th of John that remarkable prayer, that high
priestly prayer what does he say? I have glorified thee on
the earth I have finished the work that thou gavest me to do
he had finished the work, he had finished certainly his prophetic ministry I have manifested thy name, he
says, unto the men that now gave us myrrh. Oh, he had proclaimed
that message that was given to him by the Father in the eternal
covenant. He says in John 7 and verse 16,
My doctrine, my teaching is not mine, but his that sent myrrh. His teaching, his preaching then.
is that that he had received from the Father, he had made
it known. And how faithful he is in executing
his preaching ministry, what a discriminating ministry it
is! That was the great purpose of
the parables, wasn't it? As he says here in verse 11 of
this fourth chapter, unto you it is given to know the mystery
of the kingdom of God, But unto them that are without, all these
things are done in parables, that seeing they may see, and
not perceive, and hearing they may hear, and not understand,
lest at any time they should be converted, and their sin should
be forgiven them. Oh, what discrimination! In the
parables there's a concealing of the truth from some, and yet
there's a revealing of the truth to others. Time and again there
was a division amongst the people because of him. There was a division
because of his teaching. He is that one who is so faithful
in executing his work, his ministry. And that ministry of the gospel
is very much a labor. It's not a bitter and a grievous
labor, but it's tiring. And it was so for the Lord Jesus
Christ. It was now the end of the day. The evening had come on. As we see in verse 36. 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 then
there arises this great storm. But there he is now at the end
of a day, a tiring day, a wearisome day really. And it's interesting
what we read in the pastoral epistles concerning the work
of the ministry of the Word of God. When Paul writes to Timothy
there in 1st Timothy 5.17 he speaks of elders which labor
in word and doctrine. Now to labor in the Word of God. They are to labour in the doctrine
of the Word of God. They are to rightly divide the
Word of Truth. It's going to entail efforts,
endeavour, study, meditation. And interestingly, the word that
he uses there, which labour, as the idea of working with great
effort and toil. It's the same word that would
be used in reference to the day laborer who goes to work in the
fields and exerts himself through the day. It's hard work. And
this was so with the Lord Jesus Christ as he is executing his
own ministry. He's a very real man and The
endeavor that he's expended in this teaching ministry, in this
discriminating ministry, has made him weary and tired. And
so, he sleeps, and he's blessed with a deep sleep. So we see
that this man is so real a man, who knows tiredness. What manner of man is this? But there's something else with
regards to this man. because he's not only a real
man but he's true almighty God and does he not demonstrate that
blessed truth in the miracle that he's performing we're told
how he arose and rebuked the wind and said unto the sea peace
be still and the wind ceased and there was a great calm Oh, what manner of man is this?
Why, this is God, this is that one who spoke all of creation
into being, by the word of the Lord, were the heavens made,
and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth. And remember
the familiar words with which John opens his account of the
Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was
in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him,
and without Him was not anything made that was made. He is that Word by which everything
was brought into being. there as we have it recorded
in the opening chapter of the book of Genesis and here it is
the same voice it's the voice of God in the man Christ Jesus
and he speaks to the sea and says peace be still and the wind
ceased and there was a great calm We'll see how the Psalmist
also can speak of these things. There in the 29th Psalm, verse
3, the voice of the Lord is upon the waters. The God of glory
thundereth. The Lord is upon many waters.
The voice of the Lord is powerful. The voice of the Lord is full
of majesty. And see how in these two verses,
three times, three times, we have that expression, the voice
of the Lord. The voice of the Lord. The voice
of the Lord. In a sense it reminds us, doesn't
it, that in the one true living God there are three persons.
There's the Father, there's the Son, there's the Holy Ghost.
And there's that sense in which we see all of them in the work
of creation. it's the work of Father, Son
and Holy Ghost but of course we know that it is by and through
the Lord Jesus Christ that God in fact reveals himself and speaks
to us and so we must be those who would carefully attend to
his word we must attend to the things
that the Lord Jesus Christ is saying God says here on at least two
occasions in the chapter as he is expounding the Word of God
and preaching the parables, He that hath ears to hear, let him
hear. All faith cometh by hearing,
and hearing by the Word of God. and so on another occasion the
Lord says take heed therefore how you hear or do we take care
how we hear and do we're hearing as I said the triune God is pleased
to speak to us through the Lord Jesus Christ although the Father
and the Holy Ghost are also God, yet it is through the second
person in the Godhead, the Son, God manifest in the flesh, that
we have the full and the final revelation of God. What does
the Father say? Remember his words there in the
Mount of Transfiguration, when those favoured three disciples,
Peter and James and John, saw beyond the veil of the humiliation
of the Son of God, they saw something of the true glories of his deity. And the Father speaks from heaven
and says, this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.
Hear ye him? Or the Father says, Hear ye Him? And what of the ministry of the
Holy Spirit? Well, the Lord tells us, When
he comes, he shall not speak of himself. He shall glorify
me, says Christ. He shall take of mine and shall
show it unto you. Both the Father and the Holy
Spirit direct us then to the Lord Jesus Christ. and all the
Word of the Lord Jesus, by His Word. By His Word we see the
Lord Jesus here raining over the winds and over the seas. He said, He speaks unto the sea, and what
does He say? Peace be still. Peace be still. and the wind ceased, and there
was a great calm. O what manner of man, what manner
of man is this? Again in another psalm we read,
Thou rulest the raging of the sea, when the waves thereof arise,
Thou stillest them. this is what the Lord Jesus Christ
is able to do and the same voice, the same voice is to be heard
even now in the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ no wonder we're
told concerning these men they feared exceedingly and said one
to another what manner of man is this that even the wind and
the sea obey him Or they are afraid, you see, at the voice
of this man. Are we those who fear and tremble
at the voice of the Lord Jesus? To this man will I look, says
the Lord God, to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit,
and trembleth at my word. Do we sometimes tremble at the
word of God? Because it finds us out, shows
us what we are, brings to us the realization of our many sins,
Now the Spirit comes in the world, you see, as a conviction of sin.
He reproves the world of sin, of righteousness and of judgment,
says the Lord Jesus. Well, it's the same voice, you
see, when we come together and we open the Word of God and we
read the Word of God and we hear the preaching of the Word of
God. It's not just the preacher in the pulpits. No, we want more
than that. We want to see beyond the man,
to know that it is the Lord Himself who comes by His Spirit and comes
in His Word and addresses us and you know
the wonderful thing of course is this that He can calm our
poor minds how often we're all at sin how often we're full of
confusion we feel maybe something of that sin that's there in our
old nature how it rages No, we have to wrestle with ourselves.
No, we have to confess the good that we would, we do not, the
evil that we would, not that we do. The All-Nature seems to
prevail and lust to rise within our bosoms. And only this One
can come and speak, and speak that Word that will bring peace
and calm into the souls of all His children. Oh, how He speaks! How He speaks salvation! Remember
the words that he speaks at the tomb of a dead man. Of the account,
don't we, in John 11 of the Lord's raising to life Lazarus, his
friends. He'd been dead four days. His
sister said he stinketh. But what does the Lord do? Oh,
the Lord raises him to life again. He speaks to Martha, said I not
unto thee that if thou wouldest believe thou shouldest see the
glory of God. Then they took away the stone
from the place where the dead was laid. And Jesus lifted up
his eyes and said, Father I thank thee that thou hast heard me.
And I knew that thou hearest me always, but because of the
people which stand by I said it, that they may believe that
thou hast sent me. And when he had Thus had spoken,
he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. And he that was dead
came forth, bound hand and foot with grave clothes, and his face
was bound about with a napkin. Jesus said unto them, Loose him,
and let him go. Oh, how he speaks, you see. He
spoke with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. And then he says,
Loose him. and let him go. It's the same
voice. That's the voice of the Lord
Jesus in the Gospel. He calls those who are dead in
trespasses and in sins and He calls them to Himself. Where
the voice of a King is, there is authority. That's the voice
of the Lord Jesus in the Gospel. But what does He say on another
occasion? Verily, verily, the hour is coming and now is when
the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that
hear shall live. And when the Lord spoke, we were
made aware in some measure of where we were, what we were.
It's all the work of God. It's all the grace of God. Here
then we see the Lord in the miracle, revealing to us something of
His deity. What manner of man is this? He is a man. He knew what he
was. to be weary he knew something
of the sweetness of rest and sleep but he's also true almighty
God but then also as we come to a conclusion this morning
see how we find the Lord in a sense testing his disciples and testing
their faith look at the words that he addresses to them in
verse 40 why are ye so fearful How is it that ye have no faith? Why not these words apply to
us, to you? Why are ye so fearful? How is
it that ye have no faith, says the Lord? We're not to judge God's love
by our sense and our feelings. That's what we do so often. We
judge God by our feelings. No, we're not to judge God in
that way. We judge God by His words and by His truth. That's how we judge Him. The
stability of the promises of God. The security of the oath
of God. How He has magnified His word
above all His name. That's where we rest. You see,
we're fearful because we lose sight of God and the Word of
God and where is our faith you see? we're not to rest in anything
of ourselves our own frames our own feelings I dare not trust
the sweetest frame but wholly lean on Jesus name says the hymn
writer how true it is that's where we have to rest we have
to rest of him we have to learn of him We have to learn of Him. Learn
of Him in His human nature. Here in the midst of the storm,
where is the Lord? He was in the inner part of the
ship, asleep on a pillar. Oh, in the midst of the storm,
He was there, safe and secure. And if we're in Him,
whatever the storms of life may be, we are in that place of peace
and safety. Does he not keep his children
in the midst of all the storms and all the trials of their lives?
That's the way of the Lord with his people. He keeps them. Or look at the language that
we have in the book of the prophet Isaiah. What a book is the prophecy
of Isaiah. It is gospel, isn't it? So much
gospel in this book. He says there in Isaiah 54, 11,
O thou afflicted, tossed with tempest, and not comforted, behold,
I will lay thy stones with fair colors, and lay thy foundations
with sapphires, and I will make my windows of agates, and thy
gates of carbuncles, and all thy borders of pleasant stones.
And all thy children shall be taught of the Lord, and great
shall be the peace of thy children." This is God's promise to Jerusalem,
to Zion. Here is Zion to say, O thou afflicted,
tossed with tempest, and not comforted. But what will God
do? He will appear for his people
in the midst of all their trials, in the midst of all their troubles. With great mercies, he says,
there in verse 7, with great mercies will I gather thee. He gathers his people and he
gathers them unto himself, unto Shiloh. Oh, that man of peace
shall the gathering of the people be. That's the Lord Jesus. What do we read here of the Lord? Here he is there's a great storm
the winds beating into the ship so it's full it's going to sink
and he was in the hindered parts of the ship asleep on a pillow
and they awake him and say unto him master care us though not
that we perish it's interesting isn't it the
storm in no sense disturbs him. The storm doesn't awaken him
at all. His sleep is so deep and so sweet. But what does awake him? The
disciples awaken him. That's what it says. They awake
him. And how do they awake him? By
praying to him and pleading with him. Master, carest thou not
that we perished, I say? In Matthew's account, and we
do well, of course, in the Gospels to compare the different accounts,
because then we get the fullness of the picture, they all have
their own peculiar testimony to the ministry of the Lord Jesus
to these men, they don't all record things exactly the same
but if we make the comparison we see the fullness of that ministry
in Matthew's account Matthew 8 and verse 25 they say, Lord
save us we perish Master carer say not that we perish, Lord
save us we perish they call upon him and that's what awakens him
the call of his people the Lord always answers that call we see
it time and time again we have it with Peter of course when
Peter is there walking upon the waters as the Lord is coming
himself walking upon the water and bold Peter so impulsive he's
out of the ship he's walking on the waters and then suddenly
he becomes so aware of all that's going on and he begins to sink
and what does Peter say? Lord save me and the Lord saves
him and he's in the boat and he's secure with the Lord and
the rest of the disciples and last week we were thinking of
that poor Canaanitish woman There in Matthew 15, what did she do? She worshipped Him. Oh, what
worship was that? She worshipped Him, saying, Lord,
help me. Why are these things written?
They're written for our learning, that we, through patience and
comfort of the Scriptures, might have hope. It's all written for
us. But how the Lord, you see, challenges
them. Here in verse 40, How is it that
ye have no faith? Again, in Luke's account this
time. Luke 8.25, Where is your faith? He asks them. Or can not the
Lord put that question to us this morning? Where is your faith?
Where is my faith? Oh, that sin which so easily
besets us, that awful unbelief. What a sin it is, it's the denial
of God. It's atheism. It's atheism. Black atheism. And our fallen
nature is so full of it. But what a mercy if we can come
with that other man who comes to the Lord in the Gospel and
says, Lord, I believe. help thou mine unbelief can we
say that today we have faith oh Lord I believe but I'm so
beset by unbelief Lord help me help thou mine unbelief what
do we do to be those who would be looking then looking on to
Jesus the author and finisher of our faith oh what manner of
man is this What manner of man is he? He's the God-man. Yes,
he's touched with the feeling of all our infirmities. All our
humanity understands he's the sinless one. Yes, he has no sinful
infirmities. But he knew what it was to be
weary. He knew what it was to rest. He knew what it was to
enjoy sweet sleep. He's such a real man and yet
he's nothing less than true almighty God and he's that one who can
forgive sins. We have another miracle recorded,
don't we, earlier in chapter 2 where those friends bring their
paralyzed friends to the Lord and they can't get to him because
there's a great crush, a great press of people and they climb
onto the top of that house with the flat roof and they let the
man down before the Lord and the Lord seeing this says to
the man sick of the palsy son thy sins be forgiven thee in
chapter 2 the scribes you see they reason in their hearts why
does this man speak blasphemies who can forgive sins but God
only they say but what does the Lord say he says but that ye
may know that the Son of Man hath power on earth to forgive
sins. He saith to the sick of the palsy,
I say unto thee, Arise, take up thy bed, and go thy way into
thy house. And immediately arose, took up
the bed, went forth before them all, insomuch that they were
all amazed, and glorified God, saying, We never saw it on this
fashion. Oh, this man, you see, this man
forgives sins. We can come to the Lord Jesus
Christ, and is he not the friend of the sinner? He receives sinners,
he eats with sinners, he dies for sinners. Oh, what manner of man is this,
he receives the sinner, he loves the sinner. He saves the sinner. Well, what is it that prevents
us from coming to such a man as this? Oh God, grant us grace
that we might be those who come to Him. You are a lovely man. Even the Lord Jesus Christ. May
the Lord be pleased to bless the word to us today. What manner
of man is this that even the wind and the sea obey Him? Amen.