We're going to be in Mark, Mark
chapter 4. Now last week our message was titled
Mustard Seed Faith and we saw how little faith is necessary
for salvation and our Lord likened it to only being the size of
a grain of a mustard seed. And that's not for us to go out
and study the dimensions of a mustard seed to know how much is needed,
but rather he's just showing us that even the tiniest, smallest
fraction If it be created in us of the Lord, it's sufficient. It's sufficient to save us. So we understand that this saving
faith, this faith that leads us unto salvation, it's not a
product of the flesh, but it's a work of God who creates flesh
in the heart, in his people, by his operation under the umbrella
of the many spiritual blessings that we have in the Son, the
Lord Jesus Christ. It's all of God's grace. God is gracious and merciful
and kind. Now in today's passage, our Lord
brings upon the disciples a trial of faith. They go through a trial
of faith, and there's a few lessons that we see in this, and they've
just come fresh off the teachings from the day, where the Lord,
all those parables that we've been looking at the last few
weeks, they were all taught in one day. And they heard all these
parables, and to those without they heard parables but to those
who are the Lord's he then took them aside and explained to them
all things. He showed them what these things
mean and now he's exercising or proving the faith that he's
given to them. He's going to prove their faith
but We also see, secondly, how that even when we're faithless,
our Lord remains faithful. He asked, where's your faith?
But he still remained faithful, and he still delivered them and
saved them. Paul wrote to Timothy, if we
believe not, yet he abideth faithful, he cannot deny himself. Another
thing we see, a third thing that we see here is that neither Christ
nor his church is going to perish until they have done those works
which they have been called upon to do. Until he finishes that
work that he has for his people in the earth, they're not going
to perish. They're not going to be destroyed.
I like that verse that our brother just read there. 15, 16, he said,
ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you and ordained you that
ye should go and bring forth fruit. That's a good one to go
with Ephesians 2.10. He's ordained us to walk a certain
walk, to bear a certain fruit. He's ordained us. It's going
to be done. None of us is going to expire
until that fruit which he has purposed and ordained for us
to do has come to pass. And we saw that in the parable
of the sower with the seed in 4-8, when he said, Another seed
fell on good ground, and it yielded fruit that sprang up, and increased,
and brought forth some thirty, some sixty, and some a hundredfold. So he's got fruit for us to do,
and so we're going to walk and be alive and be preserved until
we've borne that fruit, and he'll give us then the grace to lay
down these lives and be taken home to Him. He'll do all that. A fourth thing that we see here
is His ability to command and control all things, even in nature. We've seen wonderful miracles
of His healing power. He's even commanding and controlling
the waves and the wind. I mean, this is Almighty God. The fact that He was asleep in
the boat tells us he's fully man, but the fact that he could
stand up and command the wind and the waves to cease shows
and declares this is omnipotent God standing before us. This
is him who is almighty and it should encourage us to know that
all these things that we read here in the scriptures, everything
he's taught us and told to us, he's able to bring it to pass.
All things concerning himself, all things concerning us, and
all things that assure us of this salvation, and that these
things shall and must come to pass." This is Almighty God who's
talking to us. In Proverbs 30, you wouldn't
think that this would be in Proverbs, but listen to this. Who hath
ascended up into heaven, or descended? Who hath gathered the wind in
his fists? And who hath bound the waters in a garment? Who
hath established all the ends of the earth? What is his name?
And what is his son's name, if thou canst tell? Every word of
God is pure. He is a shield unto them that
put their trust in him. And praise God, we know who the
name of his son is, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God,
and He gathers in His fist the winds. We can't stop the wind
or stop it, but He can and He commands it and does whatsoever
pleases Him. For in Him dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily in our Lord Jesus Christ. Our title
is Let Us Pass Over, and our divisions will be passing over
with Christ, we'll look at this voyage in our lives with Christ,
and then a call to faith. So we looked at a few of those
lessons, and there's other lessons that we can get in just looking
at the raw text, but I want to just take this a little bit different
this morning as we go through this, just a different way to
see, you know, how the Lord may apply it to our hearts and help
us to learn the truths that are contained here in this scripture.
Let's look at the first two verses. Verses 35 and 36. And the same
day, when the even was come, he saith unto them, let us pass
over unto the other side. And when they had sent away the
multitude, they took him, even as he was in the ship, and there
were also with him other little ships. Now, our Lord in this
chapter, as we saw, he's been speaking to the multitudes. They
heard parables. His disciples had things explained
more clearly to them, the teachings of those parables. And now he
says to the disciples, let us pass over unto the other side. And we see here how the Lord
is driving home all these truths which he's shown to his disciples,
everything that he's taught them throughout that long day. It
was a long day. A lot going on as we saw, you
look back in chapter four, you see it's a long day. I mean,
there's a lot going on, a lot of things happening. And so what
we see though is that our Lord teaches us these kingdom truths
that we hear here, that when we come together and we hear
the gospel, he teaches us these things and then he applies them.
He teaches us these things in the heart by experience as we
go out in the world and as we come together and serve one another
and spend time together. He's teaching us these truths.
He's working these things in us so that we know him. And so
we see in this passage, and the way I like to bring this one
out, is we see a life lesson in here. How our lives can be
likened to a voyage. A great sea voyage, if you will,
where we are passing over to the other side. And it's It's
a long voyage, but it's short. It's brief. It really is brief. And our lives do pass very quickly. In James 4.14, he says, whereas
ye know not what shall be on the morrow, for what is your
life? It is even a vapor that appeareth for a little time and
then vanisheth away. So it can come and go pretty
quickly. And we do well to remember that
none of us is guaranteed 80, 90, or 100 years. We don't know when our day is
coming. We who are His, we know we'll fulfill those things that
He has for us, but we don't necessarily know or have a sense that we've
fulfilled certain things or when that time is. So we continue
to look to Him, as the psalmist said, teach us, Lord, to number
our days. Teach us to number our days and
to know that we are mortal and frail and weak and need you every
hour. We need the grace of God. Now
the scriptures are also clear to us that we ourselves are sinners. We ourselves are not righteous.
And you think about our lives being like a sea voyage and how
many ships have run aground and hit jagged rocks and been broken
apart and come to a ruin long before they reached their desired
haven. And so, we too, we do well understand
that we are born, we come forth of corrupt seed. Our father,
Adam, sinned in the garden, and when he sinned, he brought sin
and death through that sin, came in and corrupted his seed in
him so that all we who spring forth from him come forth as
corrupt sinners. And it hasn't gotten better.
It hasn't dissipated as the seed went on. If anything, it's just
as wicked, if not seemingly more wicked to us, but it's wicked.
And that's what we are. We come forth in darkness, and
that's what it means. What he's showing us is that
we're spiritually dead, and we don't know the things of God.
We don't understand the things of God. And that's what he's
revealing to us and teaching us, so that we would be humble
in our approach to God. That we wouldn't be cocky and
thinking that we've got it together and that we know something when
really we know nothing. And the Lord teaches us that
in the heart. That's why he gave us the law. Not just to be hard
and to be tough on us, but to show us our sin, to show us that
we've offended holy God, that we might know and have our mouths
shut before him and not be boasting, but seeking him for mercy and
grace. Seeking him for patience and
kindness, and he brings that out. Not that he's not willing
to be patient, but he causes us to confess what we are, to
confess that we're undone, that we need his grace, that we need
his mercy. He works all that through this
experience, and that's why he teaches us the things that he
teaches us and shows us these things. It says, you know, speaking
of our unrighteousness, it words it in many different ways in
the scriptures that we might hear it and understand. And one
way is in Psalm 14, verses 2 and 3, it says, the Lord looked down
from heaven upon the children of men to see if there were any
that did understand and seek God. And then it says, this is
the conclusion, this is what the Lord saw, they are all gone
aside, they are all together become filthy, there is none
that doeth good, no not one. And again, it's to teach us,
it is to humble us, it is to bring us low in ourselves, because
we've got to hear, because by nature, We're in darkness. By
nature, we don't understand the depth of our sin. We don't understand
the exceeding sinfulness of sin and how conniving and crafty
and subtle and wicked it really is until the Lord makes it known
to us. Then we see, wow, I really am
a weasel. I really am a liar or a sinner
or do these things that I ought not to do. So he does that. He has a way of showing each
of us our way. I mean, even Jacob. It doesn't
mean that you're not the Lord's. It's just that he showed Jacob
that he was a deceiver, or a conniver. He grabbed the heel of his brother.
He was a usurper, if you will. So we all have these different
things, and the Lord brings us to see this. But then, when the
Lord enters our hearts, Because it's not our work saving us,
but when the Lord enters in and shows us, when he shines his
gospel light upon us and he warms us with the truth of his gospel
word and what he's accomplished for us in his Son, Then he enters
this vessel, this seagoing vessel, if you will. He takes up his
abode with us. He enters in and he goes with
us on this journey, if you will. He says in John 14, 23, Jesus
answered and said unto them, if a man love me, he will keep
my words and my father will love him and we will come unto him
and make our abode with him. So the Lord God dwells with us.
He goes with us in this vessel. So that if now you're looking
out across this sea of life, if you will, and he says to us,
he enters in and he says to us, let us pass over unto the other
side. And because he's with us, we
now pass over in the safety and the protection of our Lord. He's Christ our captain. He's
the one sailing this vessel now, and he'll bring us into that
desired haven of rest. And let me show you what I mean
by that. Turn over to Psalm 107. Psalm 107. Psalm 107 is a long psalm, but
we're going to pick up in verse 23 and just read down to verse
31. And as we read these words, consider
your lives, you who believe and hope in the Lord, and you whose
confidence is fixed in the Lord, can look at these words in the
light of grace, in the light of our lives with the Lord here. It says, they that go down, verse
23, they that go down to the sea and ships that do business
in great waters, these see the works of the Lord and his wonders
in the deep. For he commandeth and raiseth
the stormy wind which lifteth up the waves thereof. They mount
up to the heaven, they go down again to the depths, their soul
is melted because of trouble. They reel to and fro, and stagger
like a drunken man, and are at their wit's end. Then they cry
unto the Lord in their trouble, and he bringeth them out of their
distresses. He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof
are still. Then are they glad, because they
be quiet, so he bringeth them unto their desired haven. Oh,
that men would praise the Lord for his goodness, and for his
wonderful works to the children of men. Well, you who don't know
the Lord yet, listen up because this life, it's short and soon
these ships are going to run aground and we're going to...
be cast out of these vessels, and we're going to be thrust
out of them, and we're going to leave these behind. We understand
that these bodies, when they die, they go into the grave,
and they return to the dust, just as the Lord said, from dust
to dust, and these things, these bodies will perish. So, they
who deny Christ They're trusting in their righteousness, even
if they're just saying, I just don't know if God exists. You're
still trusting in your own righteousness and you believe that your works,
like you maybe say you don't know or understand that there's
a God when we come to this end, but really what you're saying
is, I'm trusting in my works so that if something does pop
up, I trust that these works of mine are going to stand up
for me and give me a good testimony. They're going to speak well for
me. So you're trusting in your works, and what we're declaring
here is that there is a God indeed, and we are all going to come
into judgment. The fact that he's provided his
son declares to us that we can't, of our own works, satisfy God. We ourselves aren't pleasing
to God by our works and we can't work our own righteousness. He's
provided the Son to be the salvation of His people so that all who
come to Christ and all who rest and trust in Him, believing that
He is a sufficient and able, willing Savior, they shall never
be ashamed. They shall come into that day
into a glorious entrance received of the Lord. you're trusting
in your works. And he says, they who trust in
their works, they shall be ashamed, but they who trust in the Lord
shall never be ashamed. You shall not be ashamed in that
day. It says in Romans 10, verses eight through 10, but what sayeth
it? Paul said, the word is nigh thee,
even in thy mouth and in thy heart. That is the word of faith,
which we preach, right? We speak of Faith, we're saved
by faith, not our works, but by faith and trust in Christ
and what he has done, his work. that if thou, verse 9, shalt
confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine
heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be
saved. For with the heart man believeth
unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made
unto salvation. For the Scripture saith, Whosoever
believeth on him shall not be ashamed. So we'll never be ashamed,
and that's because we're the purchased possession of the Lord
Jesus Christ. He purchased us with his own
blood. He shed his blood for his beloved
bride, the church. That is, he paid the price so
that by his death we are reconciled to God. By nature, we're enemies
with God. The God of our imagination we're
not enemies with, but the true living God we are enemies with
by nature and Christ made reconciliation. By his death he brought in peace
and reconciliation so that now we have fellowship with God and
God will take up his abode with us and he goes with us over to
the other side. that redemption we see in the
scripture of Ephesians 1, 7, in whom we have redemption through
his blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches
of his grace. All right now, let's move on
and look at this voyage more in depth here. When Christ gave
his life, when he gives us life in him, He gives us life from
the dead. It's a full and a complete regeneration. It's his work of regeneration.
He's giving us life from the dead because naturally we come
forth natural bodies, but spiritually dead. There's no spiritual understanding
to understand the things of Christ. If you think of John chapter
three, when the Lord was talking to Nicodemus, here's a spiritual
leader Well, but he has no spirit, but I mean, here's a leader in
the so-called church, if you will, and he's instructing people
in religious matters, and yet he doesn't understand anything.
of heavenly language. So when Christ said, you must
be born again, he's like, he's thinking, what do you mean? Do
I have to crawl up into my mother's womb again and be born again?
No, it's not a physical thing like that. That which is of the
flesh is flesh. It's a spiritual work. That which
is of the spirit is spirit. So that by his spirit, he gives
us life so that we understand and see the light of Christ and
we understand his glory and his power, how that he works salvation
in the hearts of his people. And it's not by these works of
the flesh that we're saved, but by the sacrifice of the Lord
Jesus Christ who wipes away, who washes away our sin in his
own blood. He cleanses us and cleanses us
in the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. So we're not adding or
aiding to this work, we are just the happy passive recipients
of the work that he does and he creates us in Christ. Now,
some think that when the Lord saves us, that based on certain
teachings in so-called churches, that it's all going to be peaceful
now and everything's going to be good and everything's going
to go well because they think that, they see God as this doting
grandfather that if we just climb up in his lap and sit and tell
him what our needs are, he's going to work out things for
our good and do what we would like him to do. But that's not
at all how the scriptures describe the Lord. He's God and he's sovereign
and he knows what is good for us. and what we need to hear. So when we come to Christ, there
will be stormy days. That sea will get stormy. This
sea voyage will be a stormy voyage, if you will. And it says in Mark
4.37, there arose a great storm of wind and the waves beat into
the ship so that it was now full. So the Lord is going to lead
his disciples, and he will lead them into stormy waters, and
we'll find that things aren't always peaceful in this world.
The peace that's spoken of is the peace that we have with God,
who's no longer angry with us because we're sinners. He now
forgives us and is merciful and forgives us of our sin because
of the Lord Jesus Christ. But in this life, we still go
into stormy waters. We still have days of trouble
and days that are trying and troublesome and hard and difficult
for us to go through so that we're pressed out of measure.
And so one way that these trials come is through providence and
they come externally. They come from without and they
press us and try us and bring us into hard and difficult days. It happens. There's no promise
that we're not going to have hard days. That's a lie. We are
going to have hard and troublesome days. And Paul wrote to the Corinthians,
he was talking about one example in 2 Corinthians 1 verses 8 through
10. He said, for we would not rather
have you ignorant of our trouble which came to us in Asia, that
we were pressed out of measure, above strength, insomuch that
we despaired even of life. This is the Apostle Paul writing
this thing, saying, I despaired of life. That's how difficult
this trial was that I was put in. But we have the sentence
of death in ourselves that we should not trust in ourselves
but in God which raises the dead. It was to press us out so that
we're not trusting in what we do and our strength and our wisdom
and our craftiness but rather we're trusting in God. That even
if it pleases God to bring me to lay down this body of death
and this body of dust I trust the Lord is going to
raise me up and bring me home to be with him. And he says,
who delivered us from so great a death and doth deliver and
whom we trust that he will yet deliver us. So the Lord is going
to bring us, he's going to prove the faith which he's worked in
us. He's going to bring us into difficult and trying times. But it's not just all without.
We also know there's plenty of trials that arise from within,
from within this heart of ourselves. And so these afflictions and
these sufferings come upon us, and they serve to keep us humble
and constantly seeking the Lord, and they keep us from being puffed
up and thinking that we have it together. It's painful. We
don't want to sin. We don't want to fall and fail
and disappoint and whatever it is that really bothers you about
yourself. We don't want to go through those things, but the
Lord uses them. Nonetheless, He works these things And it
always works out for our good. He always brings us to himself
and teaches us through it. As Paul wrote in Romans 7 verses
14 and 15, as he's grown us, he's reminding us and showing
us that Christ is our righteousness, that he is our righteousness,
and we shall not go off for the rest of our lives in some manner
the way the Pharisees were. He's going to keep bringing us
back from thinking that we're something when we're nothing.
And he said in 714, for we know that the law is spiritual, but
I'm carnal, sold under sin. For that which I do, I allow
not. For what I would, that do I not, but what I hate, that
I do. So we see this constant war,
this struggle and this battle going on, but the Lord's exercising
us through these things so that Under his wise counsel, under
his teaching and direction, we're led to cry out to him, to confess
to him what we are, and to confess continually our need for his
grace and his mercy, and that he's wise. And so, like Paul,
we cry out, O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from
the body of this death? And then he shows us Christ.
I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then he confesses,
with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the
flesh the law of sin. So we're still subject to those
passions and those desires, which is why Peter said, brethren,
I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims in this world, abstain
from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul. Because they
rise up, we have thoughts and desires and passions and lusts,
and they rise up, And he says, yeah, they're going to come.
Abstain from them. Be driven to Christ and confess
to him and seek him for deliverance from it because once you do it,
it's a war on the soul. It doesn't do anything profitable
for you. But he teaches us that and he grows us in that and sometimes
we're delivered and sometimes we fall and have to learn it
the hard way and the painful Way, but it's all through this
the Lord still teaching us and he's with us and he's and he's
guiding us in this so Now even though we go through many stormy
seas in Christ. We find that his his presence
is always abiding with us He's always he's always with us, right? He didn't he didn't say Go on
over to the other side and I'll meet you when you get there.
I I'll catch up with you when you get there. But he says, let
us pass over onto the other side. So he's with his people. And
he's with us as we go through the stormy seas. In Mark 4, 38,
it says, he was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a
pillow. And they awake him and say unto
him, master, carest not that we perish? Don't you see what's
going on? Do you care that we're perishing?
Now Christ may providentially appear to be asleep or appear
to be away and busy doing other things or appear to be indifferent
to our circumstances, but he's not. He is present with us. He's
a wise teacher and he's faithfully teaching us as the need is for
us to learn in his time in the way that he determines is best. In Hebrews 13, 5, it says that
we're to be content with such things as we have, for he hath
said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. So even in
poverty or even in when we're lacking things, the Lord's in
it. Yes, He could abundantly bless you to overwhelming, but
He's in it, and He's doing it for a purpose, and He's doing
it to teach us something that we have need of that's probably
going to help us in the ordained fruit that we're to bear down
the road. But He does all these things. He 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. Yea, I will uphold thee with
the right hand of my righteousness. He's our God and He's going to
do all these things and so we have much to be thankful for
in the Lord because He continues to abide with us. And He says
in Isaiah 43 verses 2 and the beginning of verse 3, When thou
passest through the waters, I will be with thee. And through the
rivers, they shall not overflow thee. When thou walkest through
the fire, Thou shalt not be burned, neither shall the flame kindle
upon thee. For I am the Lord thy God, the
Holy One of Israel, thy Savior." So may the Lord be pleased to
teach us these truths in the heart. When Paul talks about
him in Corinthians and he says, the Lord will always provide
a way of escape. when needed before we're crushing. And that's not that he gives
us a choice to make, to do what's right or wrong, but we'll see
the Lord arise and deliver his people. He delivers, he knows. You may go through things that
you think, I shouldn't have been that far into it, or why did
it go that far? But the Lord knows, and he knows
exactly what he's doing. and it's for a purpose, even
if we don't see it right away at the beginning, so the Lord
does it. But anyway, we see also that... you know, the disciples in this,
they witnessed one of the most astounding miracles that the
Lord did. I don't know that it's really the greatest, but it was
certainly, it had an impact on them because three of them wrote
about it. The Synoptic Gospels all wrote about it. In verse
39 it says, Mark 4, 39, And he arose and rebuked the wind and
said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased and
there was a great calm. And so they see these miracles
and sometimes we think, why don't we see miracles? Why don't we
see things like this going on? But they really are going on.
all the time, all around you, and we don't necessarily see
them or attribute them. I mean, think about it. There
was people who saw what Christ did, and they still didn't even
believe Him, and still denounced the miracles, and they saw things,
too. So it's certainly understandable
how we could be experiencing and going through miracles that
we don't even necessarily attribute or give God thanks for and praise
His name for what He's doing. We see the miracle of salvation,
it says in 2 Corinthians 4, 6-7, for God who commanded the light
to shine out of darkness, and that speaks of his creative power,
that speaks of his ability to create something out of nothing.
that God is able to do. He that commanded the light to
shine out of darkness, hearkening back to Genesis, it says that
he has shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge
of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. So that's a
miracle, the fact that we know Christ and know the gospel of
Christ and what he's accomplished for us, that is a miracle. That's not the flesh. If you
just believe in the flesh, that is no miracle. You're right,
that's just a fleshly carnal belief in religion. But when
you know the Gospel and He transforms your heart and delivers you from
the power of sin and the love of this death that's in this
world and brings you to Himself so that you're looking to Him
and seeking Him and desiring to know Him, that's not of your
flesh. That's a work, that's a miraculous
work of the Spirit of God. As it says in John 1, 4, and
5, in Him was life and the life was the light of men. And the
light shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehended it
not. That's the flesh. That's what the flesh does. It
looks at this, what we're talking about here, and is like, I don't
see what the excitement is. I don't understand why we're
wasting our time here. Because the flesh It doesn't
comprehend these things. It doesn't believe these things.
It doesn't hope in these things. So the fact that you do hope
in Christ, the fact that you have an interest in Christ and
desire to know him and be here, that's a miracle. That's a miracle.
That's his power and his grace. So we see that. And then he says,
you know, on top of it, Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 4, 7,
but we have this treasure in earthen vessels. that the excellency
of the power may be of God and not of us, so that all these
graces, the virtue, the faith, the virtue, the knowledge, the
temperance, the patience, the kindness and the love that we
have for one another and the godliness, all that is the work
of the Spirit. That's those spiritual fruits
being born in us by the Spirit of God It's all his work, but
he puts it here in these weak, leaky, cracked earthen vessels
of dust so that we know, oh, it's not of my flesh. That's
of the Lord. Praise God. Praise him for this
miracle of grace. You know, we'll see the miracle
when he raises us from the grave, as it says, knowing that he which
raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus. And then there's numerous other
miracles that if only we would just look and consider, the Lord
does many, many miracles around us. When you think, I don't necessarily
want to give all these examples, but he does do miracles in your
life. And I forget sometimes. I was
listening to one of the pastors, and I was like, wow, that's amazing
that the Lord gave such a confirmation that he had called you to that
place there. Because he had a really powerful,
just an interesting anecdote that said, wow, the Lord did
that. And I thought for a moment, man, I wish the Lord had done
that for me. And then I realize, wow, you
know, the Lord actually did do things. I can look back on certain
things and say, that was a miracle. The Lord did do that. And you
know, I thought that there weren't things, but you can see how the
Lord worked things, just the ease of finding the house, selling
the house up there in Pennsylvania. Because we tried to sell that
house before. Only a couple of years before, had it at a super
great price, and all just fell through, like flat, and didn't
go anywhere. But then when it came time to
come down here, that thing sold immediately. Even before the
day, the official day to put it up, it was already sold and
it was done. And so I just took it because
I just knew I'm not going to play games and get into a bidding
war for an extra thousand bucks and have it fall through. Let's
just go with what the Lord's provided. And he did. And then
finding the house here and Michelle getting a job and There's just
a lot of confirmation that the Lord has done. And so when you're
not looking at it, you think, oh, well, it's just life working
out the way it works out. No, that's a miracle of God working
those things out so that you could see and look back and give
Him the glory and the praise for what He's done, as it says
in 2 Corinthians 4.15, for all things are for your sakes, that
the abundant grace might, through the thanksgiving of many, redound,
just reverberate and rebound to the glory of God. So just
pause for a moment and you'll see that God is working miracle
after miracle after miracle. He's providing for you, He's
not letting any of you go hungry, but He's working all these things.
It might be tight, it might be hard, but He works all these
things out perfectly and keeps us staying upon Him and just
trusting Him. It's good Just as Paul wrote
in Romans 8.28, we know that all things work together for
good to them that love God, to them who are the called according
to purpose, his purpose, because that's what God does. Everything
is by purpose. All right, now, after our Lord
rebuked the wind and he calmed the sea, it says there in Mark
4.40 and 41, He said unto them, Why are ye
so fearful? and 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? And our Lord
calls all his disciples to look to him and believe him and trust
him by faith. By faith, right? The just shall
live by faith. It comes from Habakkuk and Paul
quoted it a number of times. The just shall live by faith.
He's going to call us to follow him and believe him in faith. Everything's not all going to
be snap, snap, snap, fall into place and work out, we're going
to have to believe Him. He's going to put us in there
and He's going to bring forth that faith. He's going to do
it so that we stay upon Him. He's going to prove that which
He's put in there. He's going to prove to us that,
you know, like that trial of faith, when thy faith is, you
know, that it may be found, that it may be found. We're going
to see and know God's given us faith. He's put this there. He's
done it. You know, we try to not believe every day, but the
Lord keeps teaching us and showing us, no, I am God and you shall
believe and you shall continue to walk in me. So the just shall
live by faith. Now, to you who, you know, that
maybe You don't know, but you're being tried, and you're going
through difficult times. You haven't confessed the Lord,
but He's putting you through difficult times. He's teaching
you. He's proving that work that He's
done in you. Remember, it says in Psalm 107,
He commandeth and raiseth the stormy wind which lifteth up
the waves thereof, they mount up to the heaven, they go down
again to the depths, their soul is melted because of trouble. So he's doing this, you know,
well first to his people he does this that we might cry out to
him and as it says in 1 Peter 5, 7 Cast all your care upon
him, for he careth for you." He's proving that, he's bringing
us to see our need of him, and he's causing us to confess it
to him. But you who don't yet believe
on the Lord, as he brought you out into deep waters, as he brought
you out into those stormy waters, and just brought turmoil and
rough seas into your life, That's not a bad thing. That's not a
terrible thing. These circumstances of our life
are to make us to reel to and fro and stagger like a drunken
man and to bring us to our wits end, to bring us to the end of
ourselves. It's a good thing. He does that
to show you You need the Lord Jesus Christ. He brings you,
to show you and give you that interest in Him. To say, Lord,
I can't do this thing, but you can. You can do it, Lord. Save
me. Have mercy upon me. It says,
cry out to the Lord in trouble. In the Psalm 107 it says, they
cry out to Him in their trouble. And He says to you who are troubled,
cry out to Him. Cry out to him. Confess to him.
Confess, Lord, I need you. Have mercy. As they said in Mark
4.38, Master, carest thou not that we perish? I'm dying here,
Lord. It's hard. It's difficult. I
can't do this for myself. Have mercy upon me, Lord. He's
bringing you to that. He's bringing you to see your
need and your interest in him. So he'll show you that he does
very much care. He does care very much. He'll
show you the riches and the riches of his grace and mercy in the
Lord Jesus Christ. As it says in Romans 10, 12,
and 13, for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call
upon him. For whosoever shall call upon
the name of the Lord shall be saved. That's his promise. That's
his word. Anyone who calls upon him, they
shall be saved. He bringeth them out of their
distresses by His grace. He maketh the storm a calm, so
that the waves thereof are still. Then are they glad, because they
be quiet. So He bringeth them unto their
desired haven. So our God is a merciful and
gracious and compassionate God. He provided His Son. He provided
the Lord Jesus Christ. He sent him into the world to
do for us what we cannot do for ourselves, and he's going to
make us to know that. He's going to bring us out of
darkness. He's going to bring us to our wit's end so that we
see, Lord, it's not my religion. It's not my works. It's not this
or that. It's you. You are salvation.
I need you, Lord. Have mercy upon me. Save my soul. Have mercy. He will. He is a
merciful and gracious and compassionate God. As it says in Psalm 107
verse 31, O that men would praise the Lord for his goodness and
for his wonderful works to the children of men. I pray the Lord
would indeed bring us to our wits end and bring us into those
stormy waters that we would see our need of him and that you
would call upon him. Calls you to cry out to him because
He's a rich and merciful and gracious Savior. Look to the
Lord Jesus Christ. Trust Him. He is able and willing
to save all that cry out to Him and seek Him for mercy. Let's
pray. Our gracious Lord, we thank You, Father, for Your compassion
and Your grace and Your mercy, Lord. It's just that we are naturally
so locked up in darkness and we don't understand the things
of God and we're so Lord, we're just, have mercy, deliver us,
call us out of this death, call us out of this darkness. And
Lord, if there's any here that are troubled and at their wits
end and are brought into those deep waters, cause them, Lord,
to cry out to you, to cry out to you, to seek you for deliverance
and mercy and show them, Lord, that you indeed are God. Cause
them to know that you have provided the Savior and the light and
the salvation in your Son, Jesus Christ. We pray this in the name
of the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, amen. Okay, Carl.