Does God care about me? Does God care if I perish? Does
He care? I'm interested in that. I'm very
interested in that. If the Lord cares that I perish. Let me read to you, starting
in verse 35, Mark chapter 4. And the same day, when the even
was come, he saith unto them, Let us pass over unto the other
side. And when they had sent away the
multitude, they took him even as he was in the ship. And there
were also with him other little ships. Then there arose a great storm
of wind, And the waves beat into the ship so that it was now full. And he was in the hindered part
of the ship, asleep on a pillow. And they awake him and saying
to him, Master, carest thou not that we perish? Do you not care that we perish? And He arose. I can just picture
this one in my mind. The mighty God of heaven and
earth rising up. And He rebuked the wind. Now
brethren, this is not a fairy tale. I'm reading to you something
that actually happened. This happened. And He said unto the sea, Peace
be still. And the wind ceased. And there
was a great calm. And he said unto them, Why? Maybe
we can title it this. Why are you so fearful? Why are
you so afraid? How is it that you have no faith? And they feared exceedingly and
said one to another, What manner of man is this? that even the wind and the sea
obey Him." What manner of man is this? Here's
you another title. You can title it however you
want. Let's pray. Our Father, which art in heaven,
hallowed be Thy name. Once again, Father, we come into
Your presence. Help us to give unto You the
glory due unto Your name. Help me one more time to preach
the gospel. Reveal Christ to our hearts. Enable us to rejoice in God our
Savior. And Father, those that are sick
in this congregation, and those that are going through heavy
trials and heartaches, make them to know that Thy grace
is sufficient. Make them to know this. Enable
them to look to You, trust You, find rest in You, find peace
in You, in whatever the trial is. In Christ's name we pray,
and Amen. Too often, too often, I question
the Lord's care of me. Do you? I know you do, but you're
just like me. There's no difference. Too often
we question the Lord's care of us. We look too often to the
wind and to the waves, and we forget whose they are. They belong
to someone. They belong to the same person
you and I belong to. Same one. Do you know that all
are His servants? You know that? There is not one
thing that exists that does not serve our God. Even Satan serves the purpose
of God. He's not out here running around
willy-nilly doing his own thing. He's not doing that. He's doing exactly, fulfilling
exactly the purpose of God. That gives me comfort. Because
I know He's a real person. And I can't handle Him. But our
Lord can. And our Lord has. Our Lord has. Someone said He's nothing more
than a pit bull on a chain. He's under God's control. All
are His servants. It tells us that, and I believe
it's in the Psalms, I didn't write it down, but the moon and the
stars and everything that exists serve Him. They're His servants. Now I want to read some Scriptures
to you, but I've got them written down. I don't have enough time
to turn to these, but you can write them down. But here's where
we get our comfort, from the Word of God. The Word of God
is a foundation for our faith. We look to the Lord Jesus Christ,
but I tell you what, the written word and the living word are
never separated. And you'll never know Christ
the living word apart from this written word. And the very foundation
of faith, hope, and peace is the word of God. Now listen. Psalm 107, 25. For he commandeth
and raiseth the stormy wind. So the next time you see a windstorm,
guess who raised it up? I just read it to you. He raised up the stormy wind
which lifts up the waves thereof. Psalm 148a, fire and hail. snow and vapor, stormy wind,
fulfilling His Word. You know the Scripture says the
lightning, the lightning says to Him, here we are. Here we
are. Who do you want us to strike?
It says the lightning says to Him, here we are. In Nahum 1.3,
the Lord hath His way in the wind and in the storm, And the
clouds are the dust of his feet. The first time, I remember the
first time years ago, I took a plane ride. I knew a man that
had a business, he had a jet, and he said, you want to take
a ride going down to St. Louis on a business trip? I said,
yeah, I've never flown before. I was in my early 20s. And when
I was in that plane, the first thing I thought of when we were
flying, all those clouds, I was looking at them as we were flying
over. And the first thing I thought of, the dust to his feet. That's
all they are. I'm looking at the dust. How big must he be? How big is our God? Really? Really? Psalm 107, 29. He makes the storm
a calm so that the waves thereof are still. He just fulfilled
that Scripture right there. Oh, if they had known that, if
they had known the Scriptures and the power of God, that's
what our Lord said one time. If they had known it, they wouldn't
have been so fearful, would they? Psalm 104.3, "...who walketh
upon the wings of the wind." Our God walks. He walketh upon
the wings of the wind. And here is what He's going to
make His disciples find out. He's going to make us find this
out as life goes by. And Isaiah 32.2, "...a man shall
be as a hiding place from the wind." and a covert from the
tempest. He's going to make us find this
out in Christ by experience, not just by me standing here
telling it to you. You can find this out by experience. All things
serve Him. Now, in verse 35, let's go through
this. The disciples, it says here,
in the same day when evening was come, he said to them, let
us pass over to the other side. When they had sent away the multitude,
they had been with that multitude all day. And they had watched
him teach the people by the seashore. And he says to them, get into
the ship and go to the other side. And they did. They were obedient. They were
doing their Lord's command when this happened. They were obedient servants when
this came up. Obedient. I think most of our
afflictions come when we are in the way of duty. So many of
them come when we were in the way of duty. Doing the Lord's
will. Look at history. Look at Abraham.
Look at the trials of Abraham. David. Moses. His disciples. Our Lord. Our Lord. No one was more obedient
than Christ and no one suffered more than Christ. The Scripture says, He that will
live godly in this world shall suffer what? Persecution. You're
not going to have an easy path. It's not going to be an easy
path. It's going to be difficult. And then notice this. He was
with them. He was with them in the boat.
They didn't go off on their own. It would have done them well
to have remembered the Scripture. In Isaiah 43, when you pass through
the waters, I'll be with you. That's a promise. I'm not going
to watch you go through it. I'm going to go through it with
you. I'm going to go through it with
you. And through the rivers, they shall not overflow you.
You think what's happening to you? You think the trials that
God sent you away is going to overflow you? We have His promise,
it ain't going to happen. You know, the Scripture says
that He will not put on us more than we can bear. Now listen,
He can make us bear whatever He puts on us. Oh, you think I couldn't handle
that? No, but He can. He can. He was in the boat with them. How would I act? I thought about
this. How would I act right now if
I knew for certain that the Lord was at my side? How would I act? then act like it, He is. He said,
I'll never leave you nor forsake you. That's a promise. God does not break promises.
He does not do that. Then in verse 37 we have the
storm. The wind, it says, in one of
the commentaries, several of them I've read, said it was a
hurricane force. No one could survive this storm. They were not gonna survive this
storm without divine help. It's more than I can bear. This storm was out of their control.
I've realized as the years gone by, everything's out of my control. And I don't control anything.
I can't even control a thought. You won't sit there very long
with a thought. You're sitting there and you're
wanting to listen. You're trying to listen. And
then the next thing you know, your mind is over here somewhere. You can't control a thought. It's out of their control. They
could not stop the fury of the wind and the wave. And here's
what the Lord is going to prove to them and He's showing us. that these things that are absolutely
impossible for anyone to control is under his control. It's under
the command of our king. They were totally helpless in
this storm. The storm swept away every hope
of surviving that they had, except one. Thank God for the trial
that takes away everything from you but your hope in Christ. Henry used to say things in the
pulpit that just, things like that would just scare me. I don't
want to have to deal with anything like that. But as time goes by, you wouldn't
take anything for it. I want to know when I die. I
want to know before I die. that I believe God. I don't want
to hope I believe God. I want to believe God now. I
want to follow Christ now. I can't express the importance
to you of knowing Christ now. And this is what they're going
to find out. They're going to lose every ounce of hope they've got except
one. They couldn't jump out and run
for refuge. Couldn't do it. God's going to
make them find this man, this man, the God-man. He's going
to make them find out He's their refuge. They've watched Him. They've
watched Him do miracles on others. They've listened to Him teach.
And now He's going to instruct them. Now He's going to turn
and instruct them. The sooner you and I find out that when all is said and done, the only thing I need is Jesus
Christ alone. That's it. That's it. I need Him and Him alone. Everyone whom God saves is going
to find their hope, their rest, their peace in Christ alone,
listen now, for time and eternity. I'm not just looking for Christ
to save me when this is over. I'm looking for Him to take care
of me today, to get me through this day, to help me through
this day. He's my Savior, not just for
eternity, but for time, right now. I need Him now. If you could see, if God would
really open our eyes and let us see what's against us in this
world, we'd realize how much we need Him right now. I mean
right now. It says that the waves beat into
the ship so that it was now full. Boy, every affliction, every
trial has its measure and God knows where the full mark is.
I don't. You know where my full mark is?
Right there. I mean it would be over with
as soon as it started. Henry said once in a message
and I've not forgotten it because it's meant something to me when
I've gone through some things. He said, don't pray for the trial
to end. Pray for the grace to go through it. He said, because
the trial will teach you patience and temperance and all these
spiritual lessons that we need. Don't pray for it to end. Pray
for the grace to go through it. That He be glorified and you'll
grow up. You'll grow up. Every affliction has its measure
and God knows where the full mark is. He knows where it is.
And He's promised He's promised they'll not overflow
us. He's given us that promise. Listen to this scripture. It's
good for a young man to bear the yoke that is the yoke of
discipline in his youth. Now I wrote this down out of
the Amplified. I want you to listen. I'm going
to read this to you twice because I want you to get it. This is the Amplified
version. Out of Job 36, 15. He delivers the afflicted by
their affliction and opens their ears to his voice by adversity. Now let me read it again. Job
36, 15. He delivers the afflicted by
their afflictions and opens their ears to his voice by adversity. Adversity. What's he telling
these disciples in this storm? Well, it's very simple. Trust
me. Trust me. The wind and the waves are mine.
The elements are mine. All are mine. Now notice in verse 38, the calmness
and control of our Lord. He is in the back of the boat, asleep. Does he not know what's going
on? I mean, the boat is filling up with water. It says it's full. You seen a boat sinking full
of water? That's how they are. They're bailing it out as fast
as they can bail it out. But it's coming in even faster. And
he's asleep. One of the first things that
I see here, how I ought to handle trials, the calmness that we
ought to handle them with. The calmness. Now we know as God He never slumbers
nor sleeps, who keeps Israel. We know that. Right? He's asleep
and He's not asleep. He's asleep and yet He's riding
upon the wings of the wind. The storm is under His control.
He's got the reins on it. He used to ride a horse, horses.
Put those bits in his mouth and you turn that horse wherever
you want it to go. You control that horse. He's
got the bits. He's got the reins in the mouth
of that wind. And it's only going to blow as
hard as he wants it to blow. And it's going to do what he
wants it to accomplish. But it says here he's asleep. What do we see here? What do
we see? We see the man Christ Jesus asleep. Why is he asleep? Because he's
tired. He's a real man. Brethren, Jesus
Christ, in every way except for sin, is a real man. The child, it says, is born. The son is given. The son's eternal. But that child was created by
the Holy Spirit in the womb of a virgin. The human nature of
Jesus Christ was created of God. He's the Son of Man and He's
the Son of God in one person. He's asleep because He's tired.
He's asleep because He believes God. He knows how He's going
to die. He knows what's coming. That
storm's not going to hurt Him or them. It's under His control. He's going to teach them a lesson
and teach us a lesson this morning. You're going to take us to school
this morning. All thy children shall be taught of God." That's
what he said. And that's what's happening this morning. I want to be a good student.
I never was one, but I'd like to be one now. He's tired, he's tired. He's
a real man who gets tired like we do. And he's in no danger. Can I
ask you a question and you answer this honestly? You who believe
God, are we ever really in danger? Brethren, I could stand on the
hottest battlefield on earth and be as safe as if I was in
heaven. You cannot die until that time
that God has marked for you to die. It can't happen. It can't happen. And then He's given us here an
example by Him sleeping here of how we ought to rest in Him
at all times and in all things. How we ought to do it. I know
how much sin's in us. Just as much as ever. If I cannot find my rest in Christ
now, concerning these earthly things? How can I find rest in
Him concerning the weightier matters, such as judgment and
standing before God?" Think about that. If I have a difficult time
trusting Christ to take care of these things, how in the world
am I going to trust Him to take care of standing before God and
judgment? We need to be consistent, don't
we? Does He not give His angels charge
over us to keep us? Are they not ministering spirits
sent forth to minister, take care of them who are heirs of
salvation? Does He? Do you know how many
angels there are? None. It's innumerable. And all of them are to take care
of us. Do His bidding. Spurgeon said, if they had sunk
and gone to the bottom, they couldn't have had better company.
They couldn't have had better company. But no one has ever perished
who trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ. It can't happen. It can't
happen. And here's the question in verse
39. They awoke him and said, Carest
thou not that we perish? Boy, that's a, to doubt His love,
His power, His concern. What a slam, what a slam in His
face. Carest thou not that we perish? Oh, He cares. He cares. And He's gonna make us to realize
it. But we're gonna have to go through some things to realize
it. When you have bailed out all the water, you can bail out.
And it just keeps getting worse. You pray about a matter and it
gets worse. It doesn't get better. To the
point you just, you feel like it's useless to pray. You ever
feel that? You ever feel like it's useless
to pray? It just keeps getting worse. I might as well pray for
it to be worse. Maybe it'll get better. When
you get that kind of attitude going. That's when God shows up. That's when He delivers. When
you and I have bailed out all the water, we can bail out. And
we finally just quit. Lord, it's in your hands. It's
in your hands. And then it says in verse 39,
He arose. Oh my soul, He arose. When He
rises, all else must subside. He rose and He rebuked the wind
and the sea, and they hushed." They hushed, quiet. You know why they hushed? Because where the word of a king
is, there's power. And the king said, stop it right
now. Stop it. And that wind and that
rain that was so terrible stopped that fast. You know, He can command
that kind of peace in my heart. With all the raging that goes
on and all the turmoil, He can command peace. Be still. Rest. Just rest in me. Rest. At His command, all that was
against them is now for them. The same voice that commanded
their beginning commanded their end. It's accomplished its purpose.
Now it's time for it to come to an end. Every trial has its
end. It has its purpose. It has its end. He makes everything
serve our good in His glory. Do you believe that? Do you honestly
believe that? Someone said this, I don't know
where I got it. It didn't come up, I didn't get
this, that's too good for me to come up with. Listen, if we
could see how all our heartaches and tears are working for us
a far more exceeding weight of glory, we would count the furnace
as great a blessing as the gold that comes out of it. Isn't that
good? Isn't that good? He spoke. He rose up and he rebuked
the wind. He spoke and they obeyed him.
I wish I'd do that. We shouldn't let the elements
outdo us. He died for us. My soul. And then he asked a question.
They said to him, careth thou not that we perish? They're back
there waking him up, doubting him and upset and scared to death. And then he asked them a question.
Why are you so fearful? Why are you afraid? Why are you so fearful? Why are
you afraid? How is it, listen, how is it you have no faith?
Has Christ ever failed us? Has Christ ever failed us? And we'll really see that in
a little while when He takes us out of here. Why is our faith so weak? Why do we have to be afraid of?
If God be for us, who can be against us? Now if God's for
me, It's not if the president's for me. It's not if the U.S. military's for me. If God be
for me, who can be against me? If Emmanuel, if Emmanuel is in
the boat, what do I have to be afraid of? Why is our faith so weak? Why
is it so weak? I can tell you why. The same
reason your body gets weak. Lack of exercise. Am I right? You want to get stronger
physically? Well, exercise. Stress that muscle. Stress the body. It'll get stronger. The disciples said to the Lord,
I want you to get this. They said to the Lord one time,
Increase our faith. Have you ever said that? I have. Give me more faith. And you know what he said to
them? If you had the faith as a grain of mustard seed, you
could move that mountain. You know what he's saying? And
it took me a long time to realize this. You don't need more faith,
you just need to exercise what you got. You just need to exercise the
faith you've been given. That's how faith grows. You know, faith doesn't grow
by God just pouring it in like water in a cup. It grows by exercise. Believe me, trust me. You walk
through the storm, trust me. Trust me. I tell you why, why
are you so fearful? We are too concerned with the
storm. Remember when Peter said, Lord,
if it's you, if it's you, bid me to come to thee. He said,
come on. And you know what? For a few steps, Peter walked
on water. But you know what happened? He
saw the storm, the wind, and the water, and he began to sink. He took his eyes off the one
that he believed and began to look at the elements, and he
began to sink. We don't want to lose. Here's
another reason why we're so fearful. We don't want to lose anything,
do we? Why work so hard for all this? Well, God's going to burn
it up anyway. He's going to burn it up. I promise you, God's going
to burn it up. Enjoy. Now listen. Enjoy what
God's given you. He's given us the Scripture that
says all things to enjoy in their proper place. But there'll be a time when it's
time to let it go. Let it go. We don't want to lose
anything. Too afraid of dying. You know, if we go ahead and lose
our life, as Christ said, if you lose your life, you'll find
it. If we go ahead and lose our life, dying won't be so bad.
It won't be so hard. We just go ahead and do it. Paul said this in one place in
Acts, in the book of Acts. It's the pinnacle of discipleship. Paul said, I count not my life
dear unto me, that I might finish my course. Whether I live or die, it doesn't
matter. They were so afraid of dying, Boy, if we could just get a hold
of Him, lay hold of eternal life. And we'd let these other things
go. This is the only business, knowing
Christ, having Christ, is the only business where loss is gain.
It's gain. And then it says, they were filled
with fear. And I'm going to wrap this up. They were filled with fear. Finally, finally, they were filled
with the right fear. It was an awe, standing in awe. Who is this man? They'd been
with him. They'd been walking around with
him, listened to him teach. They've witnessed miracles. And
then when he stood up and rebuked that storm and it stopped, they
said, who is this man? Who is this man? You can never
exhaust the knowledge of Jesus Christ. Promise you. Think you
know Him? There's a lot more to know. He's the wisdom of God. You gonna
exhaust God's wisdom? That's not possible. Who is this
man that even the wind and sea obey Him? I tell you who He is, He's God.
He is God manifested in the flesh. That's who this man is. Now,
to answer the question, does the Lord care if I perish?
Does He care if I perish? Well, let's see. Before He created
the heavens and the earth, He made a covenant with His Son
concerning me. Concerning me. And in time, He
came into this world and took upon Him flesh and became identified
with me. And in time He was made to be
sin for me. Went to the cross and took the
hell of God's wrath for me. Rose again, ascended on high,
took possession of heaven for me. Does He care that I perish? Perish
the thought. Absolutely. Everything that exists,
that rhymes, wiggles, is for my good and your good. Let us never ask that question.
Let us never doubt God's care of us. Let us never doubt that. What more can He do than what
He's done? What more can He do? All right,
let's close it.