Matthew chapter 8 and verse 23
through 27 tonight. Matthew chapter 8 and verse 23
through 27. The title of the message tonight,
A Disciple's Expectation. A Disciple's Expectation. Matthew chapter 8 and verse 23
says, And when he was entered into the ship, his disciples
followed him. And behold, there arose a great
tempest in the sea, insomuch that the ship was covered with
the waves. But he was asleep. And his disciples
came unto him and awoke him, saying, Lord, save us, we perish. And he saith unto them, Why are
ye fearful, O ye of little faith? Then He arose and rebuked the
winds and the sea, and there was a great calm. And the men
marveled, saying, What manner of man is this, that even the
winds and the sea obey Him?" A disciple's expectation. Last
week, we looked at what a disciple of Jesus Christ was. We saw in
those two men in the previous verses, the two men who would
be disciples, we saw that will does not make a disciple. That
man here in verse 19 was willing to be a disciple, but he was
not a disciple of Christ. You see, will does not generate
faith and spiritual life in Christ. Romans 9, 16 says, So then it
is not of him that willeth or him that runneth, but God that
showeth mercy. So discipleship is not of the
will, although his disciples are willing. Discipleship is
not of talent. God does not cause a man to be
a disciple because of his talent. We saw that God does not need
us. God does not need our talents.
He does not need our gifts. But yet God has chosen the weak
things of the world to confound the things that are mighty, the
base things of the world, the things which are despised, Paul
says in 1 Corinthians 1. Why? Why has God chosen the weak
vessels? Scripture says that no flesh
should glory in His sight. God doesn't need us because of
our talents. You see, if God used us because of our talents,
we would have somewhat to glory, wouldn't we? But God says, no,
I will not use your talents. Matter of fact, I said last week
that God would strip us of our talents if He would ever use
us. He would strip us of all that we could glory in before
He would use us. God chose the weak things so
that we would glory in Him. Let us hold to this salvation. And when I talk about discipleship,
I'm talking about salvation. Discipleship is believing in
Christ. It is following Christ. It is
to be saved by the grace of God alone. That's what it is to be
a disciple. If a man is willing to come to
Christ, we know this, that God has made us willing in the day
of His power. Our will was bent to sin until
God came and bent it the other way. God changed us. God changed our will so that
we would be willing by the regeneration of the Spirit and we were called
by the grace of God to be His disciples. And when we were called,
we came. We came to Christ. We followed
Christ. And we are still following Christ. I love that song we sang on Sunday
by Horatius Bonar that says, Not what my hands have done could
save my guilty soul. Not the toiling my flesh has
borne can make my spirit whole. Not what I feel or do can give
me peace with God. Not all my prayers and sighs
and tears can bear my awful load. Thy grace alone, O God, to me
can pardon speak. Thy power alone, O Son of God,
can this sore bondage break. No other work save Thine, no
other blood will do. No strength save that which is
divine can bear me safely through. Friends, salvation is all of
the grace of God and none of us. And none of us. I am a disciple of Christ tonight,
not because of me, but because of Him. He called me. He saved
me. He redeemed me. He gave me life. He gave me faith. He gave me
the will to be His disciple. And this resonates with every
believer. Saved by grace and grace alone. Thank God He didn't save me based
on anything I would have done or any talents that I had. Because
I know how many talents have we lost over the years that we
had. If He saved us by a talent, surely
we could lose our salvation. But praise God, it was all by
grace, and grace alone. He called us to be His children.
He called us, and not we ourselves. And therefore, we follow If you
are a believer in Christ, you follow Christ. And that's exactly
what His disciples did in our text. In verse 18, He commanded
them to depart, to go to the other side, and look what happens
in verse 23. And when He was entered into the ship, His disciples
followed Him. Are you following Christ tonight?
I hope so. If you're following Christ tonight,
you will follow Him wherever He goes. And tonight, I want
to show us where He's going to take us. Tonight, He plainly
reveals to every believer certain things every disciple ought to
expect when they follow Him. These things we ought to expect
in our walk following Christ. First of all, we should expect
a storm. We should expect a storm. Isn't
that what the disciples got when they followed Christ into that
boat to sail across the sea? Yes, they expect a storm. Now, in verse 18, He commanded
them, He said, follow Me, boys. We're going to get in the boat
and we're going to go over to the other side. And it wasn't
too long in this trip that the waves began to rise, and the
winds began to blow, and pretty soon that little boat was tossed
in the middle of the sea. And friends, these men were fishermen.
They were no strangers to storms. So this was not some little rain
shower. This was obviously a great storm. in the midst of this sea. And
they were so afraid, they were so afraid for their lives that
they ran down to the bottom of the ship and they said, Master,
don't you care that we perish? We're dying here. And there you
are asleep. Friends, if you are a disciple
of Christ and you have entered into the boat with Him by faith,
you should expect storms. You should expect the storms
of this life. Believer, if we are to walk after
our Lord, we must not expect any different treatment in this
world than He got. How was our Lord treated in this
world? then we should expect the same.
Whatever you read of Him and what the world did to Him, you
should expect to be treated the same as He was treated. Go to John chapter 15. Hold your
place here and go to John chapter 15. Our Lord fixing to leave
His disciples, giving them words of comfort and instruction here. In verse 18, He says, if the world hate you,
you know it hated Me before it hated you. If ye were of the world, the
world would love its own. But because you are not of the
world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the
world hateth you. Remember the word I said unto
you, the servant is not greater than his Lord. If they have persecuted
Me, they will also persecute you. If they have kept My sayings,
they will also keep yours." Friends, whatever our Master went through
in this life, you can expect to go through it. You are not
exempt from it. We are not exempt from what He
went through. Our Lord was rejected. Our Lord
was hated. He hungered. He felt thirst. He was tired. He was ridiculed. He was cast out from the religious
world. Do you expect to be treated any
differently? If you do, you're in a sad state. You're in a deceived state. because
we are not greater than our Lord Jesus Christ. He was a man of
sorrows and acquainted with grief, and so are we if we are His disciples. Philippians 1 verse 29 says,
for unto you, believer, it is given. What's given? Oh, I like
that. When you tell my son that he's
going to give him something, you got his attention. Okay?
Unto you it is given. What is given? In the behalf
of Christ, not only to believe. Our faith is given to believe. But that's not all we get. Here
it is. But also to suffer for His name's
sake. That's given. That's given along
with faith. To suffer. to suffer. Our faith in Christ was given
by the grace of God and so is our suffering for His glory,
His honor, as well as our good. I know this, not all of us experience
the same force of storms at the same time, do we? Some of us
are in great difficulty and some of us are in small difficulties.
Some of us have great peril and sometimes we don't have very
much trouble. It's like a roller coaster. It
goes up and it goes down. It goes up and it goes down.
Troubles come and troubles go. This is the way it is. Just like
in the sea. The sea waves bring us up and
the sea waves crash us down. It's the same way in our lives. Constantly. Trouble. Peace. Trouble. Peace. Trouble. Peace. You can mark it out. You
can chart it if you want to. We all experience these troubles
and crisis in our lives. We all know grief and pain. Some
small and some great. But all are given to us of Christ. All of them. All your troubles,
all my troubles, are given to us of God. How many times we
envy other people's troubles? You say, man, mine is so great,
I wish I had their problems. No, you don't. They're not yours. They're not yours. Your troubles
are yours. They're given to you. I'll tell you, storms may vary
in this life, but no matter how small our troubles may seem to
others, they're always great to us, aren't they? Our troubles are great to us.
We look at these disciples and we look from this vantage point
of a nice safe room and we say, well, man, they had Christ. They
had Jesus in the boat. Why are they scared? We weren't
on the boat. If we were on the boat, I'm sure
we would be screaming just like they were. When we're rejected by those
we love, When our bodies are in pain, to others it may seem
small, but to us the waves have come over into the boat. But disciple, listen to me, this
should not surprise you. These waves should not take you
by surprise. To follow Jesus Christ will cost
you everything in this life. It will cost you comfort. To follow Christ will cost you
pleasures. To follow Christ will cost you
riches. It will cost you money. It will
cost you time. It will cost you your family.
It will cost you your friends. It will cost you your sin. And
this world also, to follow Christ. It will cost you times of overwhelming
grief and pain. And to think otherwise is only
to deceive yourself and to cause yourself more pain than is necessary. This storm was sent to test the
disciples' faith. And so will all of our storms
be to test our faith. Not so God knows our faith, but
so we know. We need to know. God knows our
faith. He gave it to us. But friends,
His disciples wouldn't have known how small their faith was had
God not brought the storm. Flip over to 1 Peter 4. I got
you flipping the night a lot of places, but I need you to
see these things. 1 Peter 4, and I want you to mark this. This is a great comfort if you'll
mark it, if you'll hold on to it. 1 Peter 4, verse 12. Think it not strange concerning
the fiery trials which try you, as though some strange thing
happened to you." How many times do we think it strange when troubles
come? Oh God, why is this thing happening
to me? Why is this strange thing of
trouble coming on me? Do you not think that the fear
these disciples felt was because they thought this storm was strange? Of course they did. They feared
because it was strange. Jesus told us to get in the boat.
He told us to go to the other side. Surely it would have been
a calm trip. He commanded us to go. Surely
it'll be good for us. Surely everything will go well.
Now that I know Jesus, now that I'm a disciple of Christ, everything
should go well with me. Nothing bad should happen to
me. If you think that, you're in for disappointment. You're
in for heartache. A believer in Jesus Christ will
suffer in this world. Now, religion don't like to hear
that. Religious folks don't like to
hear that. That's just the truth. Are we better than Christ? No.
We're not to think these things strange. He says in verse 13,
I like this, but rejoice. Don't think trials are strange,
but rejoice in them. Is that not something? Rejoice
in trouble? Rejoice in pain? In so much as
you are partakers of Christ's suffering. That when His glory shall be
revealed, you shall be glad also with exceeding joy. I'll tell you what, after having
weeks of cloudy, dreary, cold winter days, there was nothing
that brought my heart more gladness this morning than to see the
sun. Is that right? When you saw the sun, did you
not just smile? I just smiled because it was
warm. How much more when we end this
life, and we enter into the next, when we drop off the dreary dregs
of this flesh and rise in the glory of Jesus Christ, will that
not be an exceeding great day? Will that not bring us joy? I'll tell you what, we would
never know what joy is if we hadn't had the heartaches, if
we hadn't had the pains. We wouldn't know what relief
was. And friends, isn't this our thoughts
that we should... I know it's our thoughts sometimes
that we should have everything easy. I know that's our natural
inclination to think that way. If Jesus cared for me, nothing
bad should happen to me. Everything should go well with
me. Sometimes we think Jesus is asleep. Don't we? We think He's just not aware
of what's going on with me. I'm sure that if He was aware,
everything would be better. No, He's aware. He knows. He knows. I'll tell you what,
Jesus was tired and He was asleep in the boat. There's no doubt
about that. But He was aware of the storm. He brought it. He brought it. It was His storm. He purposed the storm and He
purposed their path right into the storm. He knew about the
storm. He brought it. And so does He
bring every wave of our troubles. In Ephesians 1, it tells us that
He works all things after the counsel of His own will. Do you
believe that? If we believe that, then why
do we think these troubles to be strange? If our Master said they're good
for us, why would we question what He's
doing? Do we believe that our God is
in the heavens and hath done whatsoever He pleased? If so,
when these waves come over our little boat, and they do. And
it don't take much of a wave to come over the boat, does it?
Our boats are so small. Why are we so fearful and feel
like our Lord doesn't know? Believer, disciple in Christ,
expect the storms of life, for we are no better than our Master,
because He was in the boat as well, wasn't He? Was He not in
the storm as well? Did He not experience the storm
the same as His disciples? Yes. What was the difference between
Him and His disciples? He had great faith. They had little. He was not afraid. He was asleep. And they were running around
fearful. Number two, expect deliverance. Now, I'll tell you what, it's
not a comforting thought to expect storms, is it? It's not comforting,
it's not all joyous, although we should rejoice in these things.
This is something that we must strive for. I understand it's
not easy and it's not really possible for us. But God in grace
can give us these things to rejoice in the storms. But you know what
I rejoice in more? Deliverance. I rejoice more in
deliverance than I do in the storm. And believer, disciple
in Jesus Christ, you should expect deliverance from our God. Go
to Psalms chapter 91. Psalm chapter 91 and verse 2. David here in the midst of a
storm, he says in verse 2, I will say
of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress, my God in Him
will I trust. Surely He shall deliver thee
from the snare of the fowler and from the noisome pestilence. He shall cover thee with His
feathers. and under his wings shalt thou
trust. His truth shall be thy shield
and buckler. Thou shalt not be afraid for
the terror by night, nor for the arrow that flyeth by day." Friends, Our Lord who has set
the storm is also our refuge against the storm. He will be our shelter in the
midst of our storms. And His Word We'll take comfort in His Word.
You want comfort in the midst of your storms? Go to His Word. His Word has plenty to say about
expectation of deliverance. The first thing I notice about
it being that we should expect is to be delivered from our sins.
Is not our sins the cause of most of our storms? Is not the
sin the root and the cause of the waves crashing our souls? Of course it is. And in time past, we walked according
to the course of this world. We walked after the transgression
and lust of our flesh. We were by nature the children
of wrath, even as others. And yet God, in mercy, came to
us by sending His Son, the God-Man. The God-Man. And as a man, he
came into this world and took upon himself a human nature. Why? So that he might weather
the storm of God's wrath that was against us. You see, there
was a greater storm than any storm we could possibly imagine
that was against our souls. It was the wrath of God. God's
wrath was set against us. And yet God in mercy sent His
Son, and His Son weathered the storm of God's wrath and came out clean on the other
side. He came and honored God's law
in absolute perfection in our stead. And in our stead as a
man, He hung on the cross, and as His blood was shed on the
cross, God poured out His wrath on His Son, and He endured it
all. He endured all that our sins
deserve. And all this so that He might
work out a righteousness for us. that He might honor the law that
we fail to honor, and that He might be a faithful high priest
to offer an acceptable sacrifice for our sins. And disciple Jesus Christ has
already done this for us. He has already delivered us from all our sins. He who knew
no sin was made sin for us so that we might be made the righteousness
of God in Him. Many of our storms may be the
result of sin. Many times our waves of conscience
overflow our souls and we may feel the guilt and weight of
our sin and think Christ is asleep to forgive us. But yet no sin, my friend, is
too great for His mercy. No sin is too great for His grace. Let this be our hope, disciple,
in the midst of storms of our conscience. Hebrews 10, 14, for
by one offering, Just one. Just one. By one offering
He hath perfected. How long? Forever. Forever. Them that are sanctified. Colossians 2.10, And ye are complete,
lacking nothing in Him. In Him. If our Lord has already
suffered once the just for the unjust, who then can condemn
us? If God has by Christ justified
us, who then can lay anything to our charge? Disciple in Christ, let us not
be fearful, but believing. Let us see the storms of life
can never separate us from the love of God which is in Christ
Jesus. That these storms are not meant
for our destruction, but rather to test our faith and to move
us to seek forgiveness. John says, if we confess our
sins, he is faithful. and just to forgive
us, to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Why? Because He's already delivered
you. He's already delivered you from
that storm. Why fear it? Why fear it? Run to Him. Hang on to Him. Cling to Him
by faith and the storm will pass. Is that not His voice? Is it
not the voice of His forgiveness? Is it not the voice of His pardon
that removes the doubt and fear and says to our souls, peace,
be still? I know every time that happens
to me, when sin overwhelms my soul, you go to the Word of God,
I go to the Word of God, and I find these Scriptures that
speak of His mercy, His grace, His blood, His redemption, and
all His voice says to me, says to my soul, to my conscience,
Peace! Be still. Who can lay anything
to your charge? I've taken it all. I've taken
it all. And second of all, He will not
only deliver us, He has delivered us from sin. He shall presently
deliver us from all the troubles in this life. None of us know
what tomorrow brings. None of us. We don't know the
secret will of God or what God has planned. And therefore, we
should expect the storms of life will expect to be tried, but
we should also expect to be delivered. Go to Daniel chapter 3. Daniel
chapter 3. Daniel chapter 3 and verse 16. I love this story. This is beautiful. These young men, Shadrach, Meshach,
and Abednego, they were brought before the king because they
wouldn't bow down to his idols, and he said, I'm going to give
you one more chance. Here it is. Maybe you didn't
hear it right. Maybe you didn't understand my words. I'm going
to give you a chance now, and I'm going to blow the trumpets,
and you bow down. And look at this in verse 16.
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said, O king Nebuchadnezzar,
we have no need to return a word to you about this matter." In
other words, you don't need to say that again. We understood
you. We got it. If it is so that our God whom
we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace,
then He will deliver us out of your hands, O King. But if not,
let it be known to you, O King, we will not serve your gods nor
worship your golden image which you have set up. They said this,
we know God is able to deliver us from this fire. We know that. Now whether He does it or not,
we don't know. We don't know if He's going to deliver us from
this fire or not, but we know this, today we will be delivered
from your hands either way. Either way. If God takes us in
death, what can you do to us? But if God delivers us, what
can you do to us? Either way. Either way. These disciples knew God was
able to deliver them. They believed God was able to
save their physical lives, but they didn't have any word to
whether He'd do it or not. If He saved their lives or not,
they would not bow down. Believer, this should be our
attitude in every storm and every trial. Believe and know that
God has the power to deliver us from every sickness, every
disease, every hurt, every pain, every grief. God is able to deliver
us. He's able. The problem with that faith-healing
religion is they have no word from God. about healing. Now, I believe God can heal any
man, but I don't believe you should have such confidence in
it without a word from God. If you have a word from God saying,
God said He would heal me, then you can be confident He'll do
it. But if you don't have such a word, all you can do is ask. And maybe God will, or maybe
God won't. God is able. But regardless if
He does or not, we will ultimately be delivered from every storm. He may heal us and we may be
delivered or He may kill us and we may be delivered. Either way,
we're delivered. Either way. So why should these
things trouble us? Why should these storms cause
us grief? He's promised to deliver us. He's promised. I like this song. It says, sometimes He calms the
storm. With a whisper, peace be still.
He can settle any sea, but it doesn't mean He will. Sometimes
He holds us close and let the winds and waves roll wild. Sometimes
He calms the storm. And other times, He calms His
child. Either way, friend, He will deliver
us. And next, He told His disciples,
remember that Jesus was in the boat with Him. Friends, do you
realize that you are the temple of God? You, believer, disciple, you
have the Holy Spirit living in you. Do not think for one minute that
God does not know what you're going through. He's in the boat
with you. He's there. And His word to us
in Isaiah 43 says, don't be afraid. I've redeemed you. I've called
you by my name. You're mine. When you pass through,
not if, but when you pass through the waters, I'll be with you.
And through the rivers, they shall not overflow you. When
you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, nor the
flame kindle on you." That's some promise, isn't it?
But look who promised it. Look who promised it. This is
not a promise of physical deliverance, but it is a promise of God's
deliverance of our souls. No matter how bad the storms
may be, praise God that His wrath will not overflow me. Praise God, my soul is secure
in Christ, and this should cause us to be able to weather any
storm. He will deliver you. And number
three, expect the care of your Master. Expect Him to care. Now, He could have rolled over
easily and said, boys, I'm tired. I don't want to get up." And
he was tired, friends. He felt tired. He was up all
the night before healing all of those people and teaching
them. He was tired and yet he cared
enough about them to stop the storm. Would they have made it if the
storm continued? You bet they would have. He calmed
it for them. David said this, when I am afraid,
I will trust you. You know what? Faith and fear
cannot go together. You can't be afraid and be full
of faith at the same time. If you are fearful, it's because
you're unbelieving. But God recognizes we do fear, and our faith sometimes is small. Is not your face sometimes small
in these things that I've told you to expect? Mine is. But praise God, He cares enough
to give us such words of comfort, such words of mercy to us who
have little faith. Is your faith small? Are you
afraid? Do you fear? Trust Him. Cast off your fear for faith
and trust Him. Believer, our master is the author
and finisher of our faith. He is the redeemer of our souls.
He that hath begun a good work in you, shall he not perform
it until his coming." Jesus said, let not your heart
be troubled. You believe in God, believe also
in me. In my Father's house are many mansions. If it were not
so, I would have told you. I go and prepare a place for
you, and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come
again and receive you to Myself that where I am, there you may
be also." Friends, our Master cares for you. Trust Him, and He will safely land us on
Canaan's happy shore. I pray that God blesses your
hearts tonight. Let's stand. We'll be dismissed
in prayer.