It is good to be here. I'm very
thankful the Lord gave us a safe passage. It took a while, longer,
but I'm thankful to be here. Take your Bibles and turn with
me to Mark chapter 6. Mark chapter 6. We're looking
at verses 45 through verse 53 this evening. And I've entitled this message,
and I hope this is, I'm sure that this is applicable to you
as it is to me. A message for toiling saints. A message for toiling saints. The scripture says in Mark chapter
six in verse 45, and straightway, He constrained his disciples
to get into the ship and to go to the other side before, under
Bethsaida, while he sent away the people. And when he had sent
them away, he departed into a mountain to pray. And when even was come,
the ship was in the midst of the sea, and he alone on the
land. And here it is, he saw them toiling
in rowing, for the wind was contrary unto them. About the fourth watch
of the night he cometh unto them walking upon the sea, and would
have passed by them. But they saw him walking on the
sea, and they supposed it had been a spirit, and cried out.
And they all saw him, and they were troubled. And immediately
he talked with them, and saith unto them, Be of good cheer.
It is I, be not afraid. And he went up unto them into
the ship, and the wind ceased, And they were sore amazed in
themselves beyond measure and wondered, for they considered
not the miracle of the loaves, for their heart was hardened.
And when they passed over, they came under the land of Gennesaret
and drew to the shore." A message for toiling saints. Here, our
Lord, again in this chapter, testifies of his deity. He testifies of his deity when
he feeds these 5,000 men with these five loaves and two fishes. Can you imagine the greatness
of that miracle? The greatness. All they had was
five pieces of bread and two little fishes and 5,000 people. I really, other than the football
or something like that, I don't think I've seen 5,000 people
sit. front of you five thousand he said you go feed them and
they obeyed and they fed them and We read of these men after
they had eaten after their bellies were full you can go to John
chapter 6 and you can read of these men and what they desired
to do in John chapter 6 and verse 14 it tells us then those men
When they had seen the miracle that Jesus did, said, this is
of a truth, that prophet. They said, this is Christ. They
believe, hey, that's got to be the prophet that Moses spoke
of that should come into the world. Now listen, when Jesus
therefore perceived that they would take him by force and make
him a king, what did he do? He departed. Again into the mountain
and what did his disciples do he constrained them and that's
where we get to our text He is now constraining them get in
the ship and Go to the other side Knowing their hearts the
Lord knew that they did not desire to be saved from their sins These
men that he fed and manifested his deity to, they did not desire
to be saved from their sin. They did not long for righteousness. What did they want? They wanted
the physical break. They were only concerned with
filling their belly. That is the only reason they
wanted Christ to be made king. Therefore he constrains his disciples
in verse 45 and straightway immediately immediately He constrained his
disciples to get into the ship and go to the other side of Bethsaida
and he stood and while he sent the people away Can you imagine
the surprise of disciples 5,000 that sounds like a good start
wouldn't these men said he's the Christ Now why are we leaving? They did not understand. But
the Lord constrained them for a very specific reason. I tell
you, in our day, there are still many like these men. There are
many who profess Him to be Christ. There are many who profess to
believe on Him as the Christ. But they're not there for salvation. They're not there for the cleansing
of their sin or the perfect righteousness of God. They only desire to serve
Christ so as much as he can give them worldly things, worldly
possessions. They only worship him for the
bread. That's it. To these, Jesus did not commit
himself. And I'll tell you this, he will
not commit themselves to those who desire to seek him simply
for good things in this world, the good prosperity and health,
wealth, and prosperity of this world. He did not commit himself
to these men. He will not commit himself to
these men of our day. He will leave them just as he
did to these men to perish in their sins. And as our Lord constrained
the disciples to depart from these men, even so, we who believe
on Christ, we too are to leave such men for this purpose, that
we will not compromise the gospel of Jesus Christ. We are to leave
these men alone. We, like these disciples, look
at the masses and multitudes of men who seem to profess. Look around you. There are multiple
churches. Cheryl and I, we were driving
pretty slow. We got to see a lot of church buildings on the way.
You see all of these people professing to believe in Christ. They use the same language. They
say their God is Christ Jesus. They profess that salvation is
by grace. They profess to believe in the
redemption by the blood of Jesus Christ. But if you listen long enough,
you'll begin to understand that their gospel is not our gospel. Their Christ is not our Christ.
Their grace is not the grace of God. The redemption of Christ
is not the redemption of the Christ in this book. You see, we believe this, that
all our salvation, all our salvation is by the grace of God alone. Our salvation is the work of
God alone. It was the Father who chose us.
in love, predestinated us to be holy, and without blame, predestinated
us to be children of God. It was the Son who accomplished
our redemption by His bearing our sins in His own body on the
tree. By His own obedience and righteousness, He procured for
us. And though we were born like
all other sons of Adam, it was God the Holy Spirit who came
to us through the preaching of the gospel and saved us. And I'll tell you why, you that
have believed for so long, why are you still here? These things
I'm telling you, you've heard them before. And they're still
wonderful, aren't they? They're still wonderful. Why
is that? Because God has kept you. Salvation
is completely of God. We believe it's by the grace
of God that Christ was the chosen anointed Messiah and he has accomplished
our redemption. If you want to know the difference
between the modern Christ and the Christ that we believe in
is this, success. Success. We actually believe
what the Word of God testifies, that Christ was victorious at
Calvary. He actually redeemed us from
all our sins. Scripture testifies Him being
our surety, our high priest. By His one offering, Paul says
in Hebrews chapter 10, by His one offering, He Perfected forever
Them that are sanctified That lose anybody Is that is that
too complicated? I was watching So this be scrolling
through, you know, you do that you scroll through you see a
video and they always get you with the title don't they just
For whom did Christ die? That was a title. Wow. I'm gonna
look at this. This looks great obviously The
guy said, I was asked a question, he was just a very educated fellow,
books all behind him and stuff, and he's standing, sitting there
at his desk, and he said, a man asked me a question, and I wanted
to respond, for whom did Christ die? If he died for all the sins
of all men, then why aren't all men saved? And he said, well,
I think. Right then, I knew where he was
going. I think that pardon is like this. I think this, and I thought this,
and I feel this. I listened to him for about five
minutes. You know what I did not hear? Thus saith the Lord. Not one verse or text of scripture
given. Why? Because his answer was only
what he thought and what he felt. I don't care what you think or
what you feel. And you should not think, you
should not care what I think or what I feel about God. What
does God say? It says this, He hath perfected
forever by His one offering. He hath perfected forever them
that are sanctified. Those who are set apart by God
the Father, those who are called by the Holy Spirit, those who
are made holy in the new nature, they have been perfected forever. That's why He said He sat down.
He sat down. What those high priests couldn't
do, Christ did. And this is what Jesus said himself,
Father, I have finished the work that you've given me to do. Lo,
I come in the volume of the book that is written to me to do thy
will, O God, by the which will we are, what? Sanctified. Sanctified, made holy by the
accomplishment of Jesus Christ. Therefore, Jesus Christ testified
to those wicked men. In John chapter six, he testified,
look at that, flip over there, John chapter six. Now, he just
fed them, they come back across, they wanna be fed, they want
this bread, they don't want him. He testifies something to them,
John six and verse 37. He said this, all that the Father
giveth me shall come to me. Any confusion again? Am I losing
anybody? All that the Father giveth me,
what will they do? They shall come to me. And when
they do, what is he going to do? Him that cometh to me, I
will in no wise cast out. Why? For, because I came down
from heaven not to do mine own will, but the will of him that
sent me, by the which will we are sanctified. That's the will
he came to save. He came to save his people. And this is the will. This is
the Father's will, which has sent me. That of all he hath
given me, I should lose, what? How many will Christ lose? He says nothing. What do men
say? I don't care what men say. I
will lose nothing, but I will raise him up again at the last
day, and this is the will of him that sent me, that everyone
which seeth the Son and believeth on him may have everlasting life,
and I will raise him up at the last day. Therefore, anyone who preaches
another gospel From them we must depart immediately. The Lord
got his disciples out of there for a reason, because we are
prone to compromise. That's our nature, isn't it?
The old nature still desires some wiggle room, compromise. We use earthly logic and earthly
reason to try to get men to hear the gospel. That's not what we're
here to do. lest we compromise the cross
of Christ and be made of none effect." That's what Paul said,
didn't he? He said, if we use earthly wisdom, we make the cross
of Christ of zero effect. Therefore, he constrains us to
depart. Now, we who are true believers
in Christ, I want you to understand this. We must not separate over these
non-essential things. I've seen that happen with believers,
true believers in gospel churches for so many years. Future events. Things that we have very little
understanding of. Somebody thinks they get a little
knowledge and then they try to step on somebody else. Such non-essential things, future
things, order or manner of worship. You know, we sing three hymns,
we only sing two. You must be holier. Manner of
worship, people split over things like that, silly things. But
we, if Christ is not God manifest in the flesh, yes, depart. If
their Christ is not God manifest, leave them alone. If their God
is not sovereign over all things, especially salvation, If the
salvation of man is dependent upon the work or the will of
man, leave. Leave. If their Christ is not successful,
then we must depart because He is not Christ. We are commanded
and constrained by Christ to depart. regardless of who they
are or what influence or riches they possess. I remember the
disciples when the Lord offended those Pharisees, and they said,
Lord, don't you know you offended them? Well, of course I know
I offended them. Let the blind lead the blind. They'll both fall in the ditch.
Leave them alone. Leave them alone. Listen to what
God says about false prophets. Now I'm gonna give you this and
I'm gonna move on, but Jeremiah chapter 20 and verse 30, listen
to what God says. He says to all false prophets,
therefore behold, I am against the prophets. What prophets are
you against? Them that steal my words. They take this book, they steal
his words, they twist them to their own destruction. They steal
his word. They say grace, but they don't
mean grace. They say Christ, they don't know
Christ. They say, yes, God's sovereign
over everything. What about salvation? Well, I
don't... They take his words, every one from his neighbor.
Behold, I am against the prophets, saith the Lord, that use their
tongues and say he saith. That's what they do, they say
he saith. Well, God wants you to be happy, healthy, and prosperous. You see, they say, he saith,
I didn't say that, God said. There's nowhere found in here. Behold, I am against the false
prophecies in false dreams, saith the Lord. Those that dream and
do tell them and cause my people to err by their lies and their
lightness. Yet I have not sent them, nor
have I commanded them. Therefore, this is important.
How much effect does the false church have on the world? On the church of God. How much
influence do they have? Listen to what God says. Therefore, they shall not profit
this people at all. They have zero influence on the
church of the living God. None. They have no right to this
altar whereof we partake. They have no right to it. Therefore,
Christ, as he constrained his disciples to leave these wicked
men who only wanted the physical bread, even so does Christ constrain
us. Leave them. Do not compromise
with them. Now then, the second thing here
is the trial of the storm. Now these disciples, they were
constrained to depart, but notice, our Lord did not go with them. Look what it says. Go back in
your, go back over here to Mark chapter six. Mark chapter six,
it says, straightway he constrained his disciples to get into his
ship and go to the other side before into Bethsaida, while
he sent away the people. While he sent them away, he departed
into a mountain to pray. They were in the ship and the
Lord stayed on the shore. And so these disciples set out
in obedience. But it was not long after they
set out that they were caught in the midst of a great storm,
a great wind. Scripture says in Verse 47, and when even was come,
the ship was in the midst of the sea, and he was alone on
the land, and he saw them toiling and rowing, for the wind was
contrary to them. These experienced sailors, and
that's what they were. That's what they had done as
a job for their living. is on the sea. These experienced
sailors were rowing with all their might against the wind,
and where were they going? Nowhere. They were stuck in the
midst. Now, you must commend them that
they did not stop rowing. Isn't it right? The Lord said,
go over there, and they didn't stop because of the wind. They
kept rowing. But the scripture says they were
toiling. in rowing. Believer, let us understand
this truth that all who follow the Lord Jesus Christ, all who
are obedient to Christ, to his word, will no doubt face trouble
in this world. If you're a believer in Christ,
now this is my sales pitch for believing in Christ. When you
believe in Christ, Trouble comes. Trouble. We refuse to compromise this
gospel of Christ. When we declare the truth of
God's sovereign grace, that salvation is by the grace of God through
faith in Christ alone, without the merits and without the will
of men. You tell men this. You proclaim
this to men. And they, like this wind, will
be contrary to you. They will be. They will not accept
you, nor will they accept your gospel. They will rather despise
you. when they cannot refute you.
Look, that's just what God says. It is then they will always be
contrary to you. The winds of this world will
be contrary to us. These men will hate you. They
will seek your ruin and seek to discredit the gospel that
you preach. Now is this somehow take God
by surprise. When you preach the gospel and
you will not compromise and you're obedient unto Christ, as he said,
go you into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized
shall be saved. He that believeth not shall be
dead. Very simple. Preach that gospel
and They will hate you, but this does not take God by surprise.
Go to Matthew chapter 10. Look at what our Lord says. Matthew
chapter 10, and look at verse 34. Now, you suppose this storm took
our Lord Jesus by surprise? Now, I know the disciples were
surprised, I know they were wondering, Lord, you sent us across this
sea, why the storm? Christ is not surprised. Neither
is when men hate you. Look at this in verse 34. Jesus
himself said, think not, I am come to send peace on the earth. And that's kind of strange, isn't
it? What the angel prophesied when
he came into this world. He said, peace on earth, goodwill
toward men. Well, he's saying Christ is the
Prince of Peace. The Prince of Peace is gonna
be on the earth. That's what he said. Not that
he's gonna bring peace on the earth, but peace itself was standing
right there. And peace himself said this,
I came not to bring peace on this earth. I came not to send
peace, but what? A sword. What does a sword do? It divides, doesn't it? It cuts.
That's what he came to do, is make a division. To make a division. This gospel is very divisive,
isn't it? When you say it plainly, you
say it clearly, it's divisive. And Christ says, I intended it
to be that way. I intended to be divisive. For salvation is
either grace or works. There's a division, isn't it? Which is it? It can't be of both. Paul said that, said you can't.
It's either of grace or it's of works. It cannot be of grace
and works. Otherwise, grace, no more grace,
and works, no more work. You can't do it that way. And what is the result of this
division? He said, for I am come to set man at variance against
his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law
against her mother-in-law. And a man's foes shall be they
of his own household. What does that mean? When a man
is saved and his father is not, there's gonna be division. When
a daughter is saved and her mother is not, there's going to be division. And listen to what he said. He
that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of
me. There's a division in it. Do you love him more than your
earthly family? If you know him, you do. You
know him, you do. He that loveth son or daughter
more than me is not worthy of me. And he that taketh not his
cross and followeth after me is not worthy of me. He that
findeth his life shall lose it. And he that loseth his life for
my sake shall find it. There's a division in it. All
who believe on him will gladly lose their life. Why? Because
what is this life? It's not real life. He's life. I've got to have him. You've
got to have him. So when we preach this gospel,
there will be those contrary to us. Now I know that the believer
who is obedient to Christ, who has by faith rowing in obedience,
Oftentimes we believe that the waves should be calm to us. You remember when Rebecca, who
had Isaac and Jacob, the son of promise was in her womb. She
knew that. She knew that in Isaac shall
thy seed be called. She knew she had life within
herself. And yet the twins were struggling
inside of her. And she asked the Lord, why am
I thus? Have you asked that? Why is it
that it seems everything around me is contrary to what I know
and believe is true? And yet it is. We think it should
be calm. I know when I first believed,
I thought everything was going to be well. I thought it was
going to be smooth sailing from here out. I was in Christ. If Christ, if God be for you,
who can be against you? I'll tell you this, everybody's
against you. The good thing is they can't
stand against you because God is for you, but they are against
you. But this is rarely the case where
we have smooth waters in this life. Remember, our Lord said
this, in this world you shall have, what? Tribulation. That's a promise, isn't it? We
like the promises of Christ, don't we? That's a promise. That's
a promise. You shall have tribulation. But our hope is this, be of good
cheer, for I have overcome the world. He told us in this world that
we will be hated because they hate Him. And so often we find
ourselves in this Christian life rowing against the course of
this world, against the sin of our own flesh, against the accusations
of Satan, against human reasoning, against false religion, against
the circumstances and divine providence. Isn't what this storm
was a divine providence? Why is it so hard? Why are we
rowing so hard? We are rowing in the face of
sickness. We are rowing sorrowing and crying. Death is all around us. And yet no matter how strong
our faith is, we may ever row so long and so
hard. But sooner or later, we're going
to be toiling. toiling in rowing. Unless Jesus
come to us, I'll tell you this, we would surely faint. We would
surely faint. How often do men and circumstances
seem contrary to us and contrary to the promises of God so that
we become weary? Why do you think the exhortation
is there? Be not weary in well-doing. Why? Why is it there? we become weary. My heart has been with you in
thinking of you as a church and a congregation, and I know you're
weary. I can't imagine the difficulties
you face without a pastor. And I know your faith is strong,
but you get weary. You're weary in well-doing. Weary saint, are you toiling
and rowing? Are you in faith trusting Christ,
forsaken by men, hated by the world, troubled by present circumstances? Are you weary in sickness and
grief? Do your tears flow for those
who are lost around you? those who have no hope. Are you
weary in prayers for them? We can be. And let us look at
the next verse, in verse 48. Go back to your text and look
at this. In verse 48, notice this. They were toiling, but that's
not the comforting part, is it? Here's the comforting part. And
he saw them toiling in rowing, that the wind was contrary unto
them. And about the fourth watch of
the night, he cometh to them walking upon the sea and would
have passed by them. Behold, the Lord's presence was
not bodily with them. They did not see him or feel
him. All they felt was the weight
of the oars. That's it. All they felt was
the wind blowing against them. They did not feel it. Friends,
when you are toiling, it is hard to be spiritual. When you are in pain or sickness,
it is hard to be spiritual. You only feel the pain. You only
feel the grief. You only feel the sorrow. You
only feel the loneliness. And sometimes you do not feel
His presence. They didn't feel anything but
the weight of the oars, the strength of their own being weary. Yet, listen to this, He was no
less present with them. Get that it doesn't matter how
you or I feel about his presence. Isn't this wonderful? You don't
have to feel his presence for him to be present. As he was on the mountain praying,
he saw them toiling. Are you toiling? Do you think
he has lost sight of you? He hasn't. He sees you. He sees you. The scripture says, for the eyes
of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth to show himself
strong on the behalf of those whose heart is perfect. You who
believe in Christ, your heart is made perfect, isn't it? What is the Lord doing? His eyes
of grace are to and fro in the earth to show himself strong. David said in Psalm 34, it says,
the eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and his ears are
open to their cry. Therefore, believer, we like
David, though we be hunted, though we be cornered in a cave and
alone with no help of man, cry unto God. His ears open. If you were, I remember going
to this cave. We went to this cave one time
and they shut out the lights. This cave. Literally you could
not see your hand in front of your face. You know who could
see me? God could see me. It doesn't
matter how dark it is. God sees his children. His eyes of grace are constantly
upon you. As Noah found grace in the eyes
of the Lord, even so does his eyes look upon us with grace. These eyes of grace, they saw
us in eternity when he chose us, didn't they? His eyes of
grace looked upon you in love, having predestinated you under
the adoption of children. He saw us in the election of
grace, and he saw us when Christ died for our sins. He saw us in love when he raised
Christ from the dead, and at the appointed time of grace,
he sent that gospel message and quickened us by the power of
the Spirit to faith in Christ. He saw us. When we could not
see him, we were dead. But he saw us. Therefore, seeing
His eyes of grace and love are upon us, even while we were dead
in sins, how then could we conclude that
He would ever lose sight of us? Again, it doesn't matter how
we feel about that. He sees you. I've often thought about the
love of God and how infinite it is. Do you realize that God's
love cannot get any higher and it never goes any lower? How high is the love of God?
How infinite? And when you get to the end of
how infinite you think it is, it is infinitely more infinite.
That's how much he loves his children. You love your children? I love my children. But I don't
love my children near as much as God loves his children. And he saw them toiling and rowing
He saw them. But he not only sees them, he
says, not only does our Lord see them toiling, but in his
heart he loved them. And about the fourth watch of
the night, I want you to know this is 3 a.m. now. These guys
have been rowing for nine hours. Nine hours they've been rowing.
And the Lord sees them. about the fourth watch of the
night and he comes unto them. Jesus comes not at the beginning
of their strength. He comes at the end of it. If
you're toiling and rowing, you know when he sees you. He knows
what's going on. You know when he's going to come?
When you're at the end of yourself. That's when he'll come. When
you've got nothing else. Have you been there? That's when he comes to his people,
not in their strength, but in the lack of their strength. So
too it is with us, our Lord Jesus Christ may for a time allow us
to be tried, and our flesh must be tried. The trials of our faith
are precious, aren't they? Peter said they're much more
precious than gold that perishes. He tries our faith. to prove
our faith, not to Him, but to us. Is there anything more important
than knowing you have genuine faith, real God-given faith? There's nothing more important,
is it? How does He do that? He puts you in the midst of the
storm. He causes you to come to the
end of yourself. And then he comes to you. These
trials are precious. And so he does not come to us
in our trials until we are exhausted, until we're exhausted. And when
all our strength is gone, and we must confess this, in my flesh
dwelleth no good thing. If I'm going to continue in the
faith, I cannot do it in my strength. Have you come to the end of that?
That's what these trials are for. And Jesus comes in the power
of His might, in the glory of His grace. And notice how He
comes. He comes walking on the sea.
The thing that's troubling them the most, He walks on. Amazing. What troubles you the
most? What causes you to sink in the
depths? You see the power of Christ?
He walks above it. He walks on it because he commands
it, he controls it. The very thing that caused his
disciples to toil and struggle, Christ had no struggle. And see then, believer, the trouble,
the sorrow, the pain that comes to us, the tears, the anxiety,
the Lord Jesus Christ treads under his feet. The scripture
says, rejoice, O daughter of Zion, shout, O daughter of Jerusalem,
behold, thy King cometh. He is just and having salvation. Lowly and riding upon an ass,
the coat, the fold of an ass, and I will cut off the chariot
from Ephraim and the horse from Jerusalem, and the battle and
the boat shall be cut off. Is that not what Christ did when
he came into this world? He came meek and lowly, behold,
our King cometh. came meek and lowly, but he came
in such a, in might and power as to destroy our enemies. All those things that would separate
us from God, he put them away by his one offering. so that nothing can separate
us from his eternal love and grace, because all power is given
unto him in heaven and earth, and all things that are taking
place in time and eternity are according to his purpose. What then is his purpose? To save you. What was his purpose
for coming out on that scene? It was for his children. When you come to the end of yourself,
know this, Christ will come. He will come in power and He
will come in might and He will show this, that He is our victorious
Savior. He is our King. And notice what
happens when He comes. He gets into the boat and all
is calm. He comes about the fourth watch
of the night walking upon the sea. And when they saw him walking
by the sea, they supposed it had been a spirit and cried out.
For they all saw him and were troubled. I'll tell you this,
when we're in the midst of our turmoil, in the midst of our
trouble, what do you see about yourself? I see my sinfulness. I see in my fear one thing, unbelief. And oftentimes when we are in
the midst of a trial, sometimes we are fearful and troubled because
of our sin and suppose when Christ would come, he would pass us
by. Now what the scripture here said, it said, they saw him were
troubled and immediately he talked with him. But wait, before that,
you see that in verse 48 at the end, walking upon the sea and
would have passed by them. How many times do you think in
the midst of your trouble, because of your sin, Christ should pass
you by? Does that trouble you? Your flesh? Mine does. It troubles me. And I see it most in the midst
of these toiling trials. These disciples, they didn't
know it, but their heart was hardened. The reason that this
came upon them was because of that miracle. Their hearts were
hard. It tells us that in verse 54,
it says, they're considered not the mirthless, their heart was
hardened. What did they need? They needed to be humbled. So
many times we don't know we need to be humble. And God brings
these trials and difficulties to humble us. He humbles us. And when he humbles us, he brings
us to nothing, saying we're weak and fearful and unbelieving,
and surely he should pass us by. But listen what he says.
In the midst of your storm, he says this, be of good cheer. It is I. Have you ever heard Him whisper
that to you? The moment He whispers that to
me, the storm ceases. Because all I need is Him. All I want is Him. And when he says, be of good
cheer, it is I. Don't be afraid. You know, sheep are the most
fearful animals there are. They won't even drink from running
water. They're just so fearful. I'm just, I'm just so fearful. And the only thing that calms
my soul is to hear His voice. It's me. Don't be afraid. You know He says that, somebody
once said it's over 365 times that's used in Scripture. One
for every day. Don't be afraid. Fear not. Fear
not. It is I. Are you troubled? Are you fearful? I pray that
Christ would speak to you in the midst of your trouble and
say this, it is I. Be not afraid. See, the heart
of your Lord is not to leave you in the midst of the storm. It is to come to you. Be of good
cheer. It is I, the first cause of all
things, the one who loved you from eternity, the one who died
for your sins, the one who rose again for your justification,
the one who has called you, the one who has sanctified you, the
one who has made you acceptable. It is I. Don't be afraid. It's
I. In Deuteronomy it says this,
the eternal God is thy refuge. and underneath are the everlasting
arms. Let me ask you this. Who's carrying
who? Who's carrying who? Are you carrying
your God? Or is your God carrying you? Who is carrying these saints
in the midst of that sea? who is keeping the ship from
sinking, their lives from perishing. It was him who saw them. It was
this one who loved them, who died for them. He came to them
with words of peace. It is I, be not afraid. Now I
want you to know this. The end of the story is a happy
one. They made it. The Lord said, go to the other
side. By all appearances, it looked
like they weren't gonna make it. How many times it looked
like you ain't gonna make it? Listen to me, if the Lord called
you, you'll make it. If you are one with Christ, you'll
make it. Not in your strength, but in
His. You'll make it because His glory
demands it. And His power will perform it. I pray to you toiling saints
that God give you peace. Come to you and calm your storms
and give you hope. I pray you will.