Alright, Mark chapter 6. We'll be looking at verse 48. It says, "...when He saw them
toiling and rowing, for the wind was contrary unto them, and about
the fourth watch of the night He cometh unto them, walking
upon the sea, and would have passed by them." Now in this
text, in Mark chapter 6, we have the Lord Jesus Christ feeding
the 5,000. And after He had fed the 5,000,
you remember, He sent the disciples away into that boat, and they
were going across the sea, and He Himself went up in the mountains
to pray. And as they were going across
the sea, this great wind came along and was contrary to them,
so that they were toiling and rowing, trying to get across
this sea, as the Lord had commanded them, And all of a sudden, here
in the midst of their toil, in the midst of their struggle,
the Lord Jesus Christ comes strolling upon the water. And it seems
as though He would have passed by, but we know that He did not.
And He stopped and came into the boat with them. Now, this
account of Jesus walking on the water is mentioned in three of
the four Gospels. We have it in Matthew, Mark,
and in John. And there are many different
spiritual applications and lessons that we can learn from this text.
There are many things that we can learn and we can see. We
can see the compassion of Christ in the feeding of the 5,000.
We can see the love of Christ, the mercy of Christ, the deity
of Christ, the power of Christ, the grace of Christ to his disciples.
There's many lessons that we can take from this passage of
scripture. And if you're a believer in Jesus Christ, I pray that
as we go through this text tonight, as we go through this message,
that you might be encouraged. That God might give you strength
to continue the work that He has called each and every one
of us to in this life. May the Spirit of God speak comfort
to your hearts. I'll tell you what, if you don't
need comfort now, like I say, just wait a minute. We're all
going to need this comfort. And if you don't need it now,
store it up in your hearts that you may use it in a time of need.
So the first thing I want us to see in this passage of Scripture
is the feeding of the 5,000. Go back to the very beginning
here in verse 36. The disciples seeing the multitude,
and it was in the afternoon, They wanted the Lord to send
these people away so that they can get some food. And He said,
send them away, in verse 36, that they may go into a country
round about, into the villages, and buy themselves bread, for
they have nothing to eat. And Jesus answered and said unto
them, Give ye them to eat. And they said unto Him, Shall
we go and buy two hundred penny worth of bread, and give them
to eat? And he saith unto them, How many loaves do you have?
Go and see. And they say, Five and two fishes. And he commanded them to sit
them down by companies on the grass. And they sat down in ranks
by hundreds and by fifties. And when He had taken the loaves,
five loaves and two fishes, He looked up into heaven and blessed
it and broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples and sat
before them. The two fishes divided He among
them all. And they did eat and were filled. And they took up twelve baskets
full of fragments and of the fishes. And they did eat of the
loaves were about five thousand men. Amazing. Amazing. The Lord said, you give
them to eat. What do you got? Five loaves
and two fishes. Okay, set them down. Set them down and we're
going to feed them. And He took of that small amount
and gave to 5,000 men. The other scripture said besides
the women and children. Jesus fed 5,000. Now the multitude
that followed Jesus was fed. Not because he had to. He could have easily done what
the disciples said and send them away so that they might get food
on their own. But because of the great compassion
of Christ for their physical needs, the Lord set them down and fed
all 5,000 men. But we know that this was only
the first part of this. The Lord Jesus Christ had the
intent, yes, to meet their physical needs, but He also desired to
impart to them spiritual food. He also desired to impart in
them spiritual teaching. And so He was moved with compassion. Friends, may we who believe in
Jesus Christ also be moved with compassion. May we be moved with
compassion to reach out to the physical needs of those around
us. But with the main intent being
to reach their spiritual needs. May that be our intent when we
go and we give to someone. Let's also impart a spiritual
teachings of the Scriptures. Let us use every instance to
witness of Christ at every opportunity. Paul says, be wise as serpents
and harmless as doves. Friends, we should try at every
opportunity to witness of Christ. And we do that by having compassion. By having compassion. James says
in James 2, he said, remember, faith without works is dead.
How can we come to someone that has a physical need and say,
be warmed and filled, and turn away and leave them? We can't.
They will not be warmed and filled unless we give them what they
need. We should be giving people to the needs of others so that
we might be able, if the Lord gives us the grace, to witness
to them of Jesus Christ. We want to fill the physical
needs. The Lord did. Our Lord filled their physical
needs. And he did so because he had compassion. And friends,
these were not believers. These, for the most part, were
not believers. And we know that from John chapter
6. And we'll discuss that in just a few moments. But he had
compassion. And that should teach us to have
compassion. We should follow our Lord and have compassion
on them. Second of all, he constrained the disciples to go into the
boat. Now, after such a great miracle and manifestation of
the grace of God and the deity of Christ, do you not think that
the disciples thought that this would be a good start? Do you
not think that they said, wow, look how the church has grown
just this one instance, this one miracle. We have 5,000 brand
new converts. Look at them. I'm sure that they
thought that. This would have been a wonderful
opportunity, they might have thought, to preach the gospel
to these people. You see, the disciples, they
had an idea that the church was physical. They had an idea that
God would come and set up an earthly kingdom in this world. Remember when Christ offended
the Pharisees, and the disciples said, Lord, don't you know you
offended them? He said, yes, I know I offend
them. The blind lead the blind, let them both fall in the ditch.
The Lord, He told them, He said, I'm not here to set up an earthly
kingdom, but they thought that, and they said, hey, this is a
great start of that earthly kingdom. Five thousand men, plus women
and children. Do you not imagine that they
were kind of confused when the Lord said, get in the boat? He said He constrained them. In other words, He commanded
them, get in the boat and go to the other side. Go away from
these people. We can learn from this example
that no matter what things look like or what things appear to
be, God knows what's best. No matter what things look like.
No matter how they appear, God knows what's best. All things
work together for good to them that love God, to them who are
the called according to His purpose. God knows what's best for us.
And whatever is happening to us and around us is always best
for us. Heard this story. I don't have
time for this, but it's a good illustration. There was this
king, and he had a friend. They were really good friends,
and every time that something bad would happen, the king's
friend would always say, well, that's good. That's good. And
one day they were hunting, and the king, he was out, and he
got his thumb shot off. And his friend said, that's good.
And the king threw him in jail. He threw him in jail. And the
king was out hunting. A few years later, the guy was
still in jail, and the king was out hunting in some African continent,
and he got caught by a cannibalistic tribe. And as he was caught,
they were ready. They ate his friends and there
he was. He was the last one to be eaten. And they looked and
inspected him and he was missing a thumb. And they believed that
if you were to eat somebody, they had to be perfectly whole.
You couldn't eat somebody without a thumb. And so they let him
go. And now that he looks at his
hand without the thumb and he remembers what his friend said,
this is good. And so he goes immediately to
his friend and lets him out of the jail. And he tells his friend
the story. And his friend says, he said,
I'm sorry I threw you in jail. And he says, no, that's good.
And he said, why is that good? He said, well, if you hadn't
thrown me in jail, I would have been with you. I'd have been eaten. So it's
good. Everything God does is good,
and we can learn that from this. God constrained them to get in
the boat, and they didn't understand, but what? They got in the boat.
And they obeyed the Lord's command. Now I want to see two reasons
why He constrained them. Have you ever thought of why
He constrained them to get in the boat? Why He didn't start
there by preaching the Gospel to these people? Well, I have
two reasons. First of all, because these people
were not of His sheep. This multitude was not of the
elect of Christ. Jesus knew who would believe
Him, the Scripture says, and who would betray Him. In John
6, verse 64, He says, I know who has believed in Me. He says,
I know who believed and who has not believed. Jesus knew the
heart of these people. You see, they sought to make
Him an earthly king, but they would not bow down to Him as
the Lord Jesus Christ, as God manifest in the flesh. You see,
they didn't mind Him being an earthly king, but they didn't
want any part of Him being God manifest in the flesh. They didn't
mind so much the miracle of the loaves, but they didn't seek
any forgiveness of sin. Go to John chapter 6. Hold your
place here and go to John chapter 6. I want to show it to you.
This is after the Lord sent them over to the other side and they
get to the other side. These people look around and said,
hey, where'd he go? Where'd he go? And they said, He must have
gone to the other side. So they got a boat and they paid
their fare and went across the sea to get Him. And they said,
Why did you go, Lord? Look at this in verse 15. They wanted to make Him a king.
He said, 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. And in verse 26,
when they get to the other side, Jesus tells them why He didn't
stay. He said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, you seek Me not
because you saw the miracles, but because you did eat the loaves
and were filled. You see, Jesus knows our hearts
tonight. The Lord Jesus Christ can see
in your heart. You see, I can't. I can't see
in your heart. The Lord knows who's His and
who's not. He knows who is a believer in
Christ and who is not. If you're a believer in Christ,
we know that we come as sinners in need of forgiveness. We don't
come seeking what Jesus can do for us in this physical body.
We come seeking what He can do for us in our souls. We need
salvation. We need life. We need forgiveness
and pardon before God. But the cry of these people is
not any different than the cry of modern religion. Modern religion
says, like these people, evermore give us this bread. Jesus said,
I'll give you a bread that you won't be hungry again. And you
see, what did they think of? They thought of a physical bread
that wouldn't make them physically hungry anymore. And the world
says, give me that bread. Give me that bread. The bread
of health, wealth and prosperity. I remember watching a television
evangelist, a false prophetess. She was on there and she was
screaming and yelling. I thought it was kind of a funny looking thing. So I stopped for a second and
she got done gibbering and she said, I just had a vision from
the Lord that everybody give 66 dollars and 12 cents. Now where she got the 12 cents,
I just don't know. I just kind of made me say, huh? But she said, if you would just
give this, that God would meet every physical, emotional and
financial need that you have. If you would just give this,
you would get this from God. These men and women, they do
not know Christ because they don't seek Christ for the forgiveness
of sins. They have no interest in forgiveness
of sins. They only have interest in the
things of this life. And Jesus did not seek to commit
Himself to them, and He does not seek to commit Himself to
any of this religious world who would seek for their own personal
gain in this life. You see, Jesus Christ came to
seek and to save that which was lost. You see, these people had no
idea about sin, righteousness, and judgment. Jesus said, I came not to call
the righteous, but sinners to repentance. Friends, our mission
as the church is not to bring the world in the church. That's
not our mission. We're not here for that. I, as
your pastor, do not want this world in here to scatter the
sheep, and that's all they'll do. They'll only cause hurt and
pain and turmoil in this place. And I do not want them here. I do not want this world in the
church. We want to preach the gospel
of Jesus Christ. We want people who are sinners
in need of salvation. Those are the people that God
has come to save. Friends, if you are a sinner
in need of salvation, you're in the right place. You're in
the right place. We preach the gospel. with no
regard to numbers or physical outward manifestation of success. Our mission is to preach the
truth in love and never change the truth and to bring in the
world." And Christ in this instance was not trying to bring in the
world, was He? I like to visualize this passage
of Scripture in John chapter 6 as Jesus walking in one direction
and having to stop and turn around and answer their question just
to walk away from them again. He's walking away from them.
He's not committing Himself to them. You see, God adds to the church,
doesn't He? If God will ever add to us, then
we would be grateful. I know that that's our heart,
that God would add His people to our church. Scripture says
in Acts 2, verse 47, the Lord added to the church daily such
as should be saved. But Jesus Christ, He constrained
His disciples to go in that boat because these people were not
His. And number two, the second reason is that He would teach
His children. You see, He was not only getting
away from the world, but He was teaching His children a lesson. In Mark chapter 6 and verse 52,
after this great miracle, let's look at the heart of the disciples. Let's see. I'm sorry, I'm in
John. Mark 6, verse 52. Look at the heart of the disciples.
After this great miracle, the Scripture says, "...for they
considered not the miracle of the loaves, for their heart was
hardened." You see, He had another motive for getting them away
from the world. He wanted to teach them a lesson.
He wanted to teach them a lesson. Jesus feeding the 5,000 displayed
His deity openly, but because of the hardness of the disciples'
hearts, they didn't see it. There are many times in our lives
which we as believers in Jesus Christ see wonderful things,
don't we? We see wonderful things that God has done all the time.
But how many times have we found ourselves in the same situation
as the apostles? Our hearts were so hard that
we didn't pay it any attention. We didn't perceive what the Lord
had done. We didn't see how great it was. I mean, 5,000. I don't know if
I've seen really 5,000 in one place. I don't know. That's a
lot of people to feed at one time. And you imagine the labor
they had to pick up those baskets. Surely they would have seen such
a great miracle. No. They missed it. They missed
it. And many times we miss it. We
miss it. We see acts of great kindness
and mercy to us and the lost, those dead and the dying race
of Adam, and yet we fail to praise God for His great acts of kindness.
Psalm 107, verse 8, verse 15, verse 21, and verse 31. Four
times in that psalm. David said, Oh, that men would
praise the Lord for His goodness, for His wonderful works to the
children of men. I pray that God would open our
eyes so that we might see more of His wonderful works. I long to see more of His grace,
don't you? I long to see more of His love
for me. I long to see more of His goodness
toward men. But it's not Him that's at fault,
it's me. He's always doing good things.
And I just fail to see it because of the hardness of our own heart.
May God teach us, constrain us sometimes to get into the ship
so that we might have soft hearts. to receive His Word. Number three,
I want us to notice the obedience of the disciples to Christ. They
got in the ship. He constrained them to get in
the ship, and what did they do? They got in the ship. They got
in the ship. They were obedient to Christ. Now the ship of this,
this ship that we are talking about tonight, go back to your
text, He constrained them to get in the ship. And straightway
He constrained the disciples, verse 45, to get in the ship
and go to the other side to Bethsaida. And He sent away the people.
And when He had sent them away, He departed into a mountain to
pray. And when the evening was come,
the ship was in the midst of the sea, and He alone on the
land." There it was. The Lord sent them across. They
were in the ship. They started rowing, going to
the other side. Jesus sent the people away and
went up into a mountain. They were separated. And His
disciples started rowing in this ship. Now, I believe that this
ship does represent the church of Jesus Christ. This is the
church of Jesus Christ, and the sea is nothing more than the
world, sin, and lost humanity. And so we are sent by Jesus Christ
into this world to preach the gospel to every creature. Go you and to all the world and
preach the gospel. This is the commission that we
have been sent on. Get in the boat and go across. And every one of us who are believers
in Christ are in the boat. And our mission is to row or
to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ in this world. This is my commission as your
pastor. I have been given the office
of a pastor by the Lord Jesus Christ. But my friends, just
because I preach in a public sense, you, as believers in Christ,
should be witnessing in a private sense. You should be about the
business of your Father, which is the witness of the Gospel
of Christ. Jesus said, you are Not you shall be. I heard someone
quote that the other day. You shall be the light. No, you
are the light of the world. You are. Shine, believer, wherever
God has placed you. Shine wherever God has placed
you and preach the words of life to everyone because all power
is given unto Jesus Christ. Why would we be ashamed to preach
the Gospel if our Lord has all power? If Jesus commanded us
to preach, If Jesus commanded us to witness, should we not
go forth in confidence? Because He says, all power is
given unto me. All power is given unto me. I
remember a young man named Derek. He worked for my father for a
few years and I worked with him. And many times I felt constrained
to ask Him to come and worship with me. And I imagine I may have said
it a couple of times, and at His denial I just left it alone. This young man ended up killing
himself at 24 years of age. Sometimes I feel the regret of
that, that I may have called Him more. We should witness of
Christ at every opportunity. We may not get another opportunity
to witness to someone. If you are obedient to Jesus
Christ in this matter, then know this, when you open your mouth
to witness, it is then that the wind and the waves will be contrary
to you. You see, as long as you're rowing
quietly, as long as you don't make a ruckus about Jesus Christ,
everything will go smooth in this life. You won't have any
problems. Everybody will like you. You're
pretty nice people. Everybody's going to like you.
If you just keep your mouth closed, I know this, if the world doesn't
hate you, it is because you're not saying anything or you're
saying the wrong thing. If the world loves you, something's
wrong with the message you're preaching. Because Jesus Christ said, in
this world you shall have tribulation. This world hated me, it will
also hate you. It will. This world will go contrary,
like the winds were contrary to this ship, so is the world
contrary to this Gospel. The disciples, they were obedient
to the Lord's command and found themselves in the middle of the
Sea of Galilee, rowing and going nowhere. Can you imagine that? There they are. They're just
rowing and rowing and rowing and rowing, and the land is just
as far as it was ten minutes ago. Going nowhere. Toiling in
rowing. Toiling and rowing. I remember one message that my
pastor preached Sunday evening. All those that do the will of
the Lord will at times be discouraged. Now, am I the only one Because
many times I feel like these disciples. I feel like I'm toiling
and going nowhere. Like I'm rowing against the wind
and the current and nowhere. I seem like I'm not moving one
inch in the work of Christ. I feel like one of those little
hamsters in a wheel. You know, he runs, he runs his little heart
out, he don't go nowhere. Many times we feel like that. Do you feel? In doing the Lord's
will that many times you grow faint and weary. These disciples,
do you realize that they were rowing for nine hours? It said
the fourth watch of the night. From evening until the fourth
watch of the night, from nine to three, they were rowing. Rowing. I'm sorry, six to three. Six
p.m. to three a.m. They were rowing. And they didn't stop. They were doing the will of Christ. And friends, doing the will of
Christ is not always easy. Matter of fact, the most part,
it's always hard. It's always hard. It will always
cost us something. David said, I will not serve
the Lord with that which cost me nothing. Service to Christ
will always cost us something in this world. Friends? Families? Jobs? Believer, are you weary? O soul, are you weary and troubled? No light in the darkness you
see. There's light for a look at the Savior. and life more
abundant and free, turn your eyes upon Jesus. Look full in
His wonderful face, and the things of earth will go strangely dim
in the light of His glory and grace. Friend, while you're toiling
and rowing, we must continue no matter what we see with our
physical eyes. We must continue to row. And I'll give us reasons for
this, because God said so. Is that a good enough reason?
We should win this because God said so. God said so. Let us not be weary in well-doing,
because all is well, no matter what things appear to be. God says this, say you to the
righteous, It shall be well with him. Isn't that comforting? Isn't that comforting? God says
it will be well with you. That's what God says. No matter
what you see. No matter how you feel. All will
be well with you. And we as believers, we should do what we do not for
results that we can see. But we should roll by faith. We should continue to strive
against this world by faith in Christ. Remember, faith is the
substance of things hoped for, evidence of things not seen.
And it is by faith that we must live. The just shall live by
faith. Romans 14, verse 23, it says,
Anything that's not done by faith is sin. Christ said, get in the
boat and go row. And they did. They followed their
Lord's commands even though they got no results. And so should
we. Number two, we should do it because
we know that Jesus has His eye on us. Look at this in verse
48 of our text. It says, and when He saw them
toiling and rowing. Friends, He was in the mountains.
Isn't that something? He departed into the mountains,
and they were there in the sea, and He saw them. Friends, our
Lord Jesus Christ is in heaven tonight, but He sees you. He
sees you. He sees everything about you.
He sees all your troubles and all your trials. He sees you
toiling, and He knows your woes in this
life. Remember what he said to the
church of Ephesus? I know thy works. He said, I've seen them.
I've seen them. Dear friends, we have this promise
that our Lord, our Savior, though He seems to be far at times,
He is always very near. He is always near you. Let us lay hold of this by faith. He said, I will never, no never,
No, never leave you nor forsake you. When you and I are tossed about
in the sea of life, this world comes in against us, and it appears
that we're about to be overturned. Know this, that Jesus sees our
problems and always has His eye on us. Do you not think that the Lord
knows your frame? Many times we feel like He doesn't
know our troubles, or know what we feel, or know how we hurt. Psalm 103 says He knows our frame
that we are but dust. He knows who we are. His mercy
endures forever for us. And the Lord rules over all things. Our Lord knows our troubles,
and He knows your pain, and He understands your need of strength.
Remember, servant of God, our Savior has His eye on you and
will not put more on you than you can bear. Has anybody collapsed
yet? Any of the pains that God has
brought to you, has it devastated you to death? No. We've not resisted under blood,
have we? God has been gracious to us. So let us know that God
said to go, and also know that God keeps His eye on us. And
number three, we're to continue rowing and toiling and rowing,
because Jesus has promised that He would come unto us. Look at
our text. He saw them toiling and rowing,
for the wind was contrary to them, and about the fourth watch
of the night He cometh unto them. Jesus here again reveals to us
His deity, doesn't He? walking on the water." Remember
what Job said in Job 9, verse 8? He said that, "...he which
stretcheth out the heavens, and treadeth on the waves of the
sea." He's talking about God. God does this. Jesus was walking
on the water. He was walking to them. He saw
them toiling and He walked on the sea. Can we not see the grace
of God in the person of Jesus Christ coming down to the sea
of humanity? Did He not come down where we
were? We were on the earth and we were
toiling in our sin and there He came down and saved us. He
treaded on the very thing that gave us fear. He walked on our
sins. He treaded them down in the winepress
of the wrath of God alone. And even now we see Jesus' compassion
and mercy to come to His disciples in the nick of time. You remember
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, those three men, three young
men, stood before King Nebuchadnezzar. And he said, if you don't bow
down to this image, I'll throw you in the fire. And he said,
will your God deliver you? And they said this, we don't
know if God is going to deliver us from that fire or not, but
we know this, whichever way, He's going to deliver us from
you. And sure enough, you notice the
Son of God did not come for them before the fire was lit, did
He? He didn't come after they were
burnt up. When did He come? Right on time. They were thrown
into the fire and there was the Son of Man waiting for them.
Friends, Jesus is never early and He's never late. When He
comes to you, He'll come to you right on time. That may not be
always on our time. But I guarantee you this, it
will always be the right time. It will always be the right time.
And He will come. He will come in the right time
to deliver us from our troubles. You see, I serve a risen Savior. He's in the world today. And I know that He is living,
whatever men may say. I see His hand of mercy. I hear
His voice of cheer. And just the time I need Him,
He's always near. Right on time. He always comes
to us on time. Is this not our experience time
and time again? How many times have you thought
that He should have come and He waited and He tarried? And
then when He did come, you said, oh, that's the best time. That's
the best time. If He would have come before,
we wouldn't have seen how great it was. We wouldn't have seen
how great a deliverance. God knows what time He should
deliver His people and come to us. And friends, when everything
seems to be the darkest, that's usually when He comes, isn't
it? When everything's the darkest. He's promised to come and keep
us. So therefore, because He has
promised to do these things, we should keep on keeping on
in the work of Christ and not be weary in the things of Christ. We know that our Savior, that
He has overcome the world. Hasn't He? And if He has overcome
the world, what then should we fear? If there is no sin, if
Christ has taken away our sin, what's left to fear? What can
the world do to us but kill this body? And if it kills this body,
what does that do but usher us into the glorious presence of
Christ? You see, there's nothing here
that we should fear. He, through this life, has overcome
our unrighteousness by producing the righteousness of God. He,
through His death, has come to us and atoned for our sins and
redeemed us unto Himself. Many times in this life, we have
great fear and worry, but be of good cheer, Christ said, I
have overcome the world. Be of good cheer. It is I. Be
not afraid. You know, I don't know if this
is so, but I believe it is. If not, there are more. Someone
said there are 365 references for be not afraid or fear not. One for every day of the year.
If not, there's more, I promise you. There's more. We, by our
unbelieving nature, are a fearful and anxious people. But friends, Christ has promised
to come to you in your time of need. What else do we have to
fear in this life? Let us not be faithless then,
but believing, and let us stand fast in Jesus Christ. If you
are fulfilling the mission of the church and witnessing to
others, don't be afraid, don't look for results. That's up to
God. but let us continue toiling and
rowing, and He will come to us in His own time." God has promised
that His Word would go forth and accomplish what He had said
and sent it forth to do. Now we may say, who hath believed
our report? But we know this, God will call
His children to Himself by the preaching of the Gospel. Why
would we fear? concerning this matter of preaching
Christ to others. This is the means God has chosen.
And if men reject the gospel, what is that to us? We can't
make men believe it. We can't twist their arms to
believe it. Even if we did, we would only
make them twofold more a child of hell. And lastly, I want us to notice
what happened as soon as Christ came into the boat. Look at this. And he went up, verse 51, he
went up into the ship, and the wind ceased, and they were so
amazed in themselves, beyond measure, and wondered. The wind ceased only when he
came into the ship. Only when he came into the ship.
When Jesus comes to us, and whispers words of peace in our hearts,
what happens to the trouble? Peace. Be still. I like that
song. Sometimes he calms the storm,
and other times he calms his child. It says sometimes He comes
in the midst of trouble and calms the weariness of our heart, the
restlessness of our souls, and sometimes He calms the world
around us. But whichever way, when He comes
into the ship, that whirlwind, that storm always ceases. When He speaks peace to our hearts.
Another way this can be pictured is when Christ comes back for
us. Friends, we are in a world of chaos and trouble and turmoil,
but I know this, that Jesus has promised to come back for us.
He says, I will not leave you, I will come and receive you unto
Myself, that where I am, there you may be also. One day, this
whirlwind, this storm is going to cease. One day this life of
turmoil is going to end, and we are going to be ushered into
the glorious presence of Christ, and this will always be peace. I like the way John mentions
the water in Revelation. He says it's calm. He says it's like crystal. It's
peaceful. There's no waves, no wind, no
trouble. When Christ comes back for us,
it will be calm. So therefore, we must continue
to row. When He comes, He will receive
us to Himself and we will be done with all sin. Isn't that
what causes the problem? Sin? When He comes, it will all
be gone. And we have this to look forward
to. If you're a believer in Christ, these things should give us comfort.
These things should give us peace in the midst of our toiling in
this life. Jesus Christ has promised that
He will see us. He sees us. He knows our troubles. And friends, He'll come to us
when we ask Him to come. And when He comes, what does
He do but bring peace every time He comes? Every time He speaks
to us in His Word, He brings peace. And one day He'll come
and there'll be lasting peace. But now, we toil in rowing till He comes. I pray that God would bless this
to our hearts. Let's go to the Lord in prayer
and we'll be dismissed. Gracious Father, we thank you for this
day and this time. Father, I pray that you'd bless the message
according to your mercies and grace in Christ. That you would
depart us with your Spirit. May we go out into this lost
and dying world preaching Christ Jesus and Him crucified. That
you may call forth your people that you have chosen and redeemed
in Christ. Forgive us of our sins, and where
we do fail You, Father, give us strength and wisdom and peace
in our hearts. We pray these things in Jesus'
name. Amen.