Mark chapter 6. Mark chapter 6. We'll be looking at verse 45
through 52 this morning. And the title of the message
is, A Message to the Toiling Saint. A message to the toiling
saint. To give you a bit of introduction
before we go into this, because I kind of want to take this verse
by verse. To give you a bit of an introduction
here, our Lord has just fed 5,000 men. 5,000 men beside women and children
with just five loaves and a few fishes. Five loaves and two fishes
fed 5,000. Why do you suppose the Lord did
this miracle? We know this, that the Lord does
not do miracles for arbitrary reasons as we would. We would
do it to show off. If we had any power at all, that's
what we would do, is try to bring glory to ourself. We would do
it for selfish motives, selfish reasons, but our Lord here, He
does not do that. No, by no means. Our Lord does
it for this one purpose, to prove His deity. Who could feed such a mass with
such little but God? God. He proves and testifies
of His deity by this miracle. Now, we read this, and if you
want to hold your place here, I do so. Hold your place here
and mark, but look over. This is also seen in John chapter
6. This is the same thing that happens
in John chapter 6. He feeds these 5,000. Look over
at John chapter 6. And we read the result of this
miracle upon these men. Look at verse 14, I believe it
is. Yeah, verse 14. It says, "...then
those men, when they had seen the miracle that Jesus did, they
said, This is of a truth, that prophet which should come into
the world. And when Jesus therefore perceived
that they would come and take him by force and make him a king,
he departed again into a mountain himself alone." These men They
believed that Jesus was the Christ. That's what that means, that
prophet. Speaking of the prophecy in Deuteronomy, when Moses said
that the Lord shall raise up a prophet like unto me, him shall
you hear. And they've said, this is the
one, this is that prophet. They believed him to be the Christ. Why then did the Lord leave? Wouldn't you suppose that would
have been a good start to his ministry? 5,000, 10,000 people that professed. They professed, this is that
prophet, this is the Christ. And yet the Lord turns around
and leaves them. Leaves them. This is because
the Lord looks not on the outward, but on the inward. He looks on
the heart. The Lord knew their hearts, and
knowing this, that they did not desire salvation. They desired
only bread. When the Lord meets up with these
men again, they ask Him this question. They said, Lord, why
did you go over there? Why did you leave us? And they
said, because you only sought the bread. You only desired me
to feed you physically. You had no spiritual interest
in my salvation. They had no desire. They desired only the outward
physical bread. And go back to your text now.
And look what the Lord commands His disciples to do as a result
of this. As a result of Him showing His
deity, they profess to be believers, but the Lord, knowing their heart,
He leaves them. And look what He tells His disciples.
And straightway He constrained them. to get into the ship and
go to the other side unto Bethsaida while he sent the people away. You listen, I tell you there
are still many like these people today. There are many who believe
on Christ not for salvation, but rather only for physical
and carnal things. Not for cleansing of their sin,
not for his perfect righteousness, but only for what they could
receive of earthly blessings and prosperity. This is what
is called the health, wealth, and prosperity movement. The
gospel of health, wealth, and prosperity. That people that
believe that Jesus came so that they can be happy, healthy, and
wealthy. That is exactly the people here that are described. And as our Lord constrained His
disciples to depart from these men, listen, even so we who believe
on Christ should leave such men lest we be found to compromise
the gospel. The Lord constrained His disciples
to leave them. Like these disciples. They looked
at the masses, at the multitude who professed that Jesus was
the Christ. And so do we look out at the
masses of religion today, and many. I do not know of any church
I could walk into this day and ask them, do you believe Jesus
is the Christ? And every one of them will say
yes. Every one of them will say yes.
But I'll have you know that A mere profession is not possession.
Anyone can say Jesus is the Christ. That's easy. Multitudes and myriads have made
so-called decisions for Christ and yet have no desire for Him,
no love for Him, no faith in Him. This religious world uses the
same language that we use. They use the word Christ. They
use the word God. They use the term grace, redemption,
sanctification, justification. And yet, we may be talking using
the same words, but our definitions are completely different. Our definitions are completely
different. I don't know if you've ever talked
to one of these fellows, but you can talk to them for a long
while and you've declared to them the gospel and they're shaking
their head the whole time. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But let him
speak and then you begin to see that there's a difference. There's
a difference in the message that we believe. They use the same
terms, but not the same meanings. I was speaking with a man this
week. And he said, what do you believe?
I said, I believe that salvation is by the free grace of God alone,
through faith in Christ alone. He said, yeah, so do I. And I
asked him, I said, well, do you believe that Christ died for
all men without exception? And he said, well, of course
I do. And he said, we don't believe the same thing. You see, I believe
that Jesus Christ died for God's people. That God the Father chose
a people in Christ before the foundation of the world. God
loved them with an everlasting love. God gave them to Christ. And Christ in love came and redeemed
them. He came and shed His blood for
them. He died for them. He rose again
for their justification. Our Lord Jesus Christ made a
perfect offering, a perfect sacrifice. The Scripture says, He hath perfected
forever them that are sanctified. I believe in a victorious Savior. I do not believe in a Savior
that made salvation possible. I believe in a Savior who actually
accomplished salvation. And this salvation is given not
by merit, not by worth, but by grace are you saved through faith. And even the faith is not of
ourselves. Faith is a gift of God, not of
works, lest any man should boast." You see, if faith was a product
of myself, then I would have somewhat to boast over you that
don't believe. You that don't believe, I could
say, well, I believed. Look at me. I had faith. I made
my decision. What am I doing? I am boasting
over you. I am boasting then that my faith,
being my own, has saved me. No, faith didn't save me. Christ
did. Christ saved me. And not only
did He save me by His blood, He gave me faith to believe on
Him. And all of this is a result of
the free, unmerited favor of God. That's it. I have nothing
to boast in, nothing in myself. I am a sinner and nothing at
all. And Jesus Christ is my all in
all. This is our gospel. This is the
gospel of Jesus Christ. I am the bread that came down
from heaven. Whoso eateth My flesh and drinketh My blood shall
have everlasting life. What is that to eat His flesh
and drink His blood? It is to believe on Him. It is not to
take a wafer or a cup of wine. That's carnal. That's physical.
That has nothing to do with salvation. That enters in and it goes out
in the draught. It doesn't do anything for the
soul. God comes in power and demonstration of His Spirit by
giving us new life and faith in Christ. This is the gospel.
This is salvation by grace through faith. We believe in a victorious Savior.
We believe in an accomplished salvation. I told you this earlier.
Our Lord Jesus Christ said in Revelation 21, it is done. The
difference between true religion and false religion is one word.
False religion believes in do. Do this and God will do this. If you do this, then God will
do this. You see, then salvation is dependent
upon you doing something. The problem with that is we're
all sinners. We all by nature are defiled and can do no good. There is none that doeth good,
no, not one. There is none that understandeth.
There is none that seeketh after God. They are all together become
unprofitable. There is none that doeth good,
no, not one. So what could you do? You and
I could only do evil. We could do no good. We believe that Jesus Christ
has done all. Our salvation is not a do, but
a done. You see, I believe in someone
who's already accomplished my salvation. I believe in Christ. My soul rests upon Him alone
and His work alone. And I know this, our gospel declares
this, that all that the Father gave Christ will come to Christ. Look at what Jesus says in John
6. Go back to John 6 where I had you turn. Look at verse 37. This
gospel we preach is a sure gospel. It says this, Jesus said this,
all that the Father giveth me Does it say might? Maybe come
to me? They might come to me? They hopefully
will come to me? Gee, I wish they will come to
me. No. He says, all that the Father
giveth me shall come to me. And what a word of grace this
is, and he that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. Why? For I came down from heaven not
to do mine own will, but the will of Him that sent me. What
is this will, Jesus? And this is the Father's will
which has sent me, that of all He hath given me, I should lose
how many? How many will Christ lose? How many? Nothing. I will lose nothing. but raise it up again at the
last day." Does that sound anything like the modern gospel? The modern
gospel says that Christ died for men in hell. The modern gospel
says He lost those that the Father gave Him. That's not our gospel. Our gospel says this, "...all
that the Father giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh
to me." Oh, what a gracious message. I will in no wise cast out Why? Because I came not to do mine
own will, but the will of Him that sent me. And this is the
Father's will. This is the will of God that cannot be thwarted
or discouraged. That I should lose nothing, but
raise it up again at the last day. And because we are so slow to
understand, He says it again in verse 40. And this is the
will of Him that sent me. that every one that seeth the
Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life, and I
will raise him up at the last day." Now then, go back to your text.
And so then, seeing that there is a distinction, the Lord seeing
the distinction between these men who professed to believe, and His true disciples who believed, Notice what He does. He constrains
them to leave, to depart from them. Straight way. After He perceived
and knew who these men were, He said to His disciples, boys,
get in the ship and leave. And so, therefore, the Word of
God says to us, If anyone preaches another gospel than that which
we have preached, let him be accursed. Paul says that in Galatians
chapter 1. If any man preach any other gospel
than that which we have preached, let him go to hell. That's exactly what the word
means in the original. Anathema Maranatha. Let him go
to hell. Let him be accursed. Now we, as believers in Christ,
we know that there are differences among true gospel churches. There
are differences, aren't there? There are differences. We have
differences in manner of worship. Some sing three hymns, some sing
five hymns, some have drums, some have piano. That's a manner
of worship. That's insignificant. It doesn't
really matter. Some may use more modern tunes
when they sing their songs, If they preach the gospel, we don't
separate from gospel preachers, we don't separate from men if
it's insignificant things, such as manner of worship. We don't
separate over future things. There are things in the future
that we don't quite understand. We don't separate over those
things. But you listen, if their Christ
is not God manifest in the flesh, we separate from them. We must
separate from them. If their God is not the sovereign
God who rules over all things in time, eternity, providence,
and especially salvation, we must separate. We must depart. Our Savior constrains us to depart. We must depart. We are commanded and constrained
by Christ to depart such men, regardless of who they are or
what influence they might have. It doesn't matter if they are
father or mother, sister or brother. It does not matter if they control
all of the money and resources of this world. We are constrained
by our Lord to depart from them. How can two walk together except
they be agreed? The Scriptures are clear, be
not unevenly yoked. And that people automatically
refer that to marriage, but that is a gospel principle as far
as a fellowship and association. Be not unevenly yoked together
with unbelievers. Go to Jeremiah. I want you to
see what God says about false prophets. Jeremiah chapter 23. Jeremiah chapter 23. And look at verse 30. Behold, I am against the prophets,
saith the Lord." Now remember, I don't want to give you my opinion.
I want to give you, thus saith the Lord, and they just said
it, thus saith the Lord, I am against the prophets. Who? Which
prophets, Lord? That steal my words. Everyone from his neighbor. Behold,
I am against the prophets, saith the Lord, that use their tongues,
and say, He saith." You see that? These are the ones that say,
God says. These are the ones that profess
to believe in Christ. These are the ones who profess,
and yet they don't believe that salvation is of the Lord. They
believe salvation is of the works or will of man. God says, I'm
against them. Behold, I am against them that
prophesy false dreams, saith the Lord, and do tell them, and
cause my people to err by their lies and by their likeness. Yet
I sent them not, nor commanded them, therefore they shall not
profit this people at all. So then what do false prophets,
what do they profit? What do they profit? The kingdom
of God. What do they do? They're large,
they're massive, they've got wealth. How do they profit the
kingdom of God? God says, not at all. They do nothing. I didn't send
them, I didn't tell them to go, and I didn't give them their
message. They just steal my words. They use my words, but they don't
mean the same thing. And therefore, in this text,
what I want us to see this, is as the Lord separated His disciples
from these men, also we must be separate. And it's not that
we should not pray for the lost, or when the opportunity comes
to witness to them of Christ, but we must not debate them. We must not give them any credibility
by attending their worship or their services in trying to trick
them into believing. Now I know that's what we do.
Now you just be honest. If you go to a church that you
know does not preach the gospel, what are you trying to do? Well,
you're trying to win them. How? By tricking them. By giving some consent to their
gospel. No! Give no consent to it. If it is not the gospel of God's
free and sovereign grace in Christ, if it is the free will works
religion of this world, we are to depart from it, to leave it. When they ask, I don't mind telling
them. I don't mind telling them and
I'm not bashful about it. And neither should you be. Why
should you be bashful of the truth? No. Tell them. We don't worship the same God.
You should tell them the truth. You should be honest with them.
Not trying to sucker them into coming. No, you should tell them
the truth. In love. Hoping that God would be gracious
to them. And notice what happens next.
Okay, he tells them to depart. They get in the ship. Verse 46.
And when he had sent them away, he departed into a mountain to
pray. And when evening was come, the ship was in the midst of
the sea, and he alone on the land. And he saw them toiling
and rowing, for the wind was contrary to them. These disciples
were constrained to depart, but notice our Lord did not go with
them. He commanded them to go, but
He Himself did not personally attend them." It was not in their
ship. And as they set out, it was not
long after that they were caught in the midst of a great storm.
These experienced sailors. Now, mind you, these were no
amateurs. These were men who knew the sea.
These were masters of the sea. They fished for a living. This
is what they had done all their life. And now, they had been
caught in the midst of this storm, and they were rowing. These were
strong men rowing. And they were rowing with all
their might, and the wind was contrary to them. Scripture here tells us they
were toiling, agonizing, straining, and rowing. Believer, let us understand this
truth, that to follow our Lord and to be obedient to His Word
will no doubt cause you great trouble in this world. You will not win friends and
influence people by following Christ. You get that? You will
not be the most loved in your family. You will not be the most
loved in this world. If you're faithful to the gospel
of Christ, you will not be loved by this world. Matter of fact,
our Savior made no bones about it. He said, this world will
hate you. I know that's unpopular. In modern
religion, that's why we shun them. We don't have anything
to do with it. Because our Lord said, in this world you shall
have, what? Tribulation. He did not promise
smooth sailing. Now, I know that's what you thought.
I thought to myself, as soon as the Lord would come in, as
soon as He would save me, everything would open up. You know what? Everything closed up when the
Lord saved me. Everything started to fall in
and cave in around me when the Lord saved me. We will not compromise the gospel
of Christ when we will declare the truth of God's sovereign
grace in Christ. If salvation is without the merit
or will of man, the winds of this world will be contrary to
us. Men will hate us and seek our
ruin and try to discredit us before God. Look over in Matthew chapter
10. Matthew chapter 10. Now tell
me if these words don't startle you at first. Now I know you
believe in Christ. You know this to be true. Look
at verse 34. Jesus said this, think not I
am come to send peace on earth. I came not to send peace, but
a sword. For I came to set a man at variance
against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law
against her mother-in-law. And listen, a man's foes shall
be they of his own household. He that loveth father or mother
more than me is not worthy of me. 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. Does that sound like a smooth
sailing life to you? No. No, it's not. To believe on Christ
and to obey the gospel, everything in this world will seem contrary
to you. It will seem as though the world
is against you. Listen, it is. It seems that way because it
is. The waves of trouble, they come
and they smack us in the face, and we expect that would be enough.
And then another wave smacks us in the face, and then another
one smacks us in the face. A preacher friend of mine said
this, he said, life begins with a slap on the butt and ends with
dirt in the face. And all in between are nothing
but bumps and bruises. Doesn't sound too jolly, does
it? I don't suppose that's going to be very popular in modern
religion. That is just the way it is for believers. We are often
toiling in rowing. When we are obedient to our Savior
is when we get the most opposition. Now we expect it to be the other
way. It's not. We expect we're obedient to Christ.
We expect that the waves would part. The waters roll back, and the
waves part, and oh, there's only singing in my heart, and everything
is joy, and everything is good. No! That's not how it is. That's
not the experience of the saints. The experience of the saint is
this. We are toiling and rowing, and the wind is contrary to us.
That is most often our case. Remember, our Lord said, in this
world you shall have tribulation. And so often we are found rowing
against the course of this world, against the flesh, against the
enemy of our souls, the accusations of Satan. We are rowing in the
face of sickness and sorrow, in crying, in death, in pain. And yet, no matter how strong
our faith is, there's always a breaking point. These men were strong rowers.
But there was a point in which they could row no more. There's
always that point in which we are found to faint. Weary, toiling
saint. Are you in faith, resting and
trusting in Christ, Forsaken by men and the world, hated,
despised, sick, and in pain. Are you weary of your sickness
and trouble? Does that not weary your soul? Are you grieving with tears for
the loss of the flesh Are you like Jeremiah
who said, mine eyes fail with tears, my bowels are troubled,
my liver is poured out upon the earth for the destruction of
the daughter of my people? Then look at the next verse. Go back to your text. And get back to mine. look at verse forty-eight diverse
forty-eight and notice this he saw there in rowing he saw them
to early in rowing and was about the fourth watch
of the night he cometh under them walking upon the sea behold
the lord's presence was not with them bodily. How often is this that we don't
feel the Lord's presence? We're toiling, we're believing,
we're trusting, we're in obedience to God, we're preaching the Gospel,
we're declaring His Word, the world is against us, the waves
are against us, this body is against us, our flesh is against
us, and we are working, doing the will of God, and yet we don't
feel His presence. We don't feel His presence. All they felt was the weight
of the oars, The strength of the wind and
their own helpless and hopeless condition. How many times have
you felt that? Here's a word to you that do
not feel the presence of the Lord. 2nd Chronicles 16, 9, that
the eyes of the Lord run to and fro through the whole earth to
show himself strong, listen, in the behalf of them whose heart
is perfect toward him. David said this in the Psalm
34, the eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous and his ears
are open to their cry. Though believer like David we
are hunted by men, Though we are alone and in solitude
in the cave of a dulem, yet when we cry unto the Lord,
you can be sure of this, His eyes are on you. Jesus was in
the mountain, but I guarantee you His eyes were on them. And though you may not see His
presence, where is His eyes? His eye is on you. Always. Always. The eyes of His grace. Noah found
grace in the eyes of the Lord. And listen, where was God's eye
when Noah was in the ark? It was on Noah. Was Noah in any
danger at all in the ark? Was he in any danger? Were these disciples in any real
danger? No. Why? The eye of the Lord
was upon them. He sent them, and you listen,
He sent the waves that was contrary to them. He's the master of both. He's the master of both. His
eyes were on them, and listen, you toiling saint, His eyes on
you. He saw you in love when He chose you in grace from before
the foundation of the world. His eye was on you when you were
in Christ, when Christ died for your sin. His eye was on you
when you were walking after the course of this world, dead in
your sin. His eye was on you when He sent
His Holy Spirit to redeem you. And listen, His eye is on you
now, still watching you, no matter what you feel or think. His eye
is on you. only to care for you and listen
at the appointed time what did he do he came to them now I want you to understand
this why is this mentioned in the fourth watch of the night
is mentioned it to show us the length of their toilet they started
rowing at 6 p.m. It is now 3 a.m. Anybody want to row that long?
Anybody got any strength? That's some strength, Bubba. That is some strong men rowing
like that. For six hours, there they are,
rowing. I'm sorry, nine hours, they've been rowing. So too it is with us, our Lord.
And He knew how long their strength would last. Listen, your Lord
knows how long your strength will last. Keep rowing until
you can't row no more. Keep trusting, believing, until
you break. Because at that point, He knows
and He will come to you. He will come to you. Not before,
but only at the right time. These trials are purposed of
God to testify of our weakness and to show us the great strength
of our Savior. And so He does here. Look what
He does. How does He come to them? Verse 48, He comes to them
walking upon the sea. What was their trouble? Their
trouble was the sea. And notice our Savior is walking
on their troubles. Consider all your troubles, how
great they are, how weak you are, and consider how strong
He is. He walks on the thing that causes
you the most trouble. He is above everything that causes
you difficulty. Everything. What is then too
hard for Him to take care of? What? Do you not see that if
we have sickness, it is because He gave it? And if He gave it,
does He not control it? If He controls it, is it not
for our good? All things work together for
the good of them that love God to them who are the called according
to His purpose. Are you the called according to His purpose? Then
you listen to Him walking on your trouble. See Him coming. See Him walking on it. No trouble
for Him. No trouble. And notice this,
He made as He would pass by them. I thought that interesting, didn't
you? He didn't run right to them. He just appeared. And you notice the response was
they were afraid. You who believe in Christ, you
know He can. You know He can do anything. What is your fear? That He won't. Isn't that what it is? You know
the reason these disciples were in this? The Lord tells us why
at the very end of this. He says this, let me look at
this. In verse 52, He's telling them
this. He's doing this to them because of their sin. He looked
at that in verse 52. They considered not the miracle of the loaves,
for their heart was hardened. The Lord knew what He was doing.
He was going to break their hearts. He was going to soften their
hearts. This trouble had a purpose. Your trouble has a purpose. It
is to break your heart concerning your sin and unbelief. to show
you the weakness of your own self. And when you hear of Christ's
strength, what do you think? Oh, surely He'll pass me by.
Surely He won't come to me. But notice this, in their fear,
they could do nothing else but cry out. And in your trouble,
what else can you do? What else can you do, believer?
You cry. You see, it's just natural for
a believer to cry out in trouble to his God. I cried unto the
Lord with my voice, did I make my supplications? They cried unto Him. They were
troubled. And listen, and immediately He
talked with them and said, Be of good cheer, it is I. Be not
afraid. This is always the Word of Christ
to you. Do you desire to hear His voice? Then listen. He said, it is I,
your friend. It is I who loved you. It is
I who died for you. It is I who was rose again for
your justification. It is I. Don't be afraid. Be of good cheer. Be of good cheer. Why? Thy sins
are forgiven. Be of good cheer. I have pardoned thee. Be of good
cheer. You are accepted with the Father. Be of good cheer.
You have my righteousness. Be of good cheer. And notice this. He entered into
the boat with them. And then what? There was a great There is only calm when He manifests
His presence in us. The world could be tumbling down
around us, but if we have Him, we have everything. I don't like one thing when I
have Him. Take the world. Give me Christ. And all is calm. Maybe not on the outside, but
on the inside. May the Lord teach us. Teach us His gospel. that we
might be separated from the fake gospel of this world. And in
doing so, we should expect trouble. And when trouble comes, we obey
in faith against the waves and course of this world, knowing
this, that at the moment of our weakness, Christ will manifest
his strength. He will come walking on the very
troubles It caused us so much pain. And
He will speak to our hearts saying, it is I. Be not afraid. You know that's in Scripture.
Someone once said that that's in Scripture 365 times. One for every day of the year. Why? Because you're afraid. I'm afraid. Most of my life I
spend in fear. And He keeps telling me, don't
be afraid. It's me, your friend, your husband, your God. May God bless this to you. Stand
and be dismissed in prayer.