Let's go to the book of Mark
with me now, the Gospel of Mark. I was reading, just reading God's
Word, hoping that He would speak to me through the Word and give
me a message for you. And one line of one verse here
really struck me, spoke to me. Let's read beginning with verse
35, Mark chapter 4, verse 35. At the same day, when the evening
was come, Christ said unto his disciples, 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. He was
already in the ship. There were also with him other
little ships. And there arose a great storm
of wind, and the waves beat into the ship so that it was now full
of water. And he was in the hindered part
of the ship, asleep on a pillow. And they awake him, saying unto
him, Master, carest thou not that we perish? And he arose. and rebuked the
wind, and said unto the sea, Peace,
be still. And the wind ceased, and there
was a great calm. And he said unto them, Why are
you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith? And they feared exceedingly. and said one to another, what
manner of man is this? Even the wind and the sea obey
him. What manner of man is this? That's what struck me. Well, if they did not know up
to this point They did not fully believe who He is. They do now. They do now. And hopefully it
will be the same with us. You just begin reading in the
Gospel of Mark. Go back to chapter 1 of the Gospel
of Mark. You just begin reading and it
immediately declares what manner of man God does. See, this whole book from cover
to cover Our Lord said this, He said, They are they which
testify of Me. God wrote this book about His
Son. His Son who is all, who is salvation,
who is the Lord and Master and Savior of sinners. God wrote
this book about His Son, who He is, why He came, what He did,
where He is now. This whole book, cover to cover,
is about His Son. God, in the beginning of this
gospel, it says, verse 1, the beginning of the gospel of Jesus
Christ, the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. What matter of man is it? The
Son of God. Son of God. The Son. Not a son. The Son. Look at verse 3. John was preaching, the voice
of one crying in the wilderness, prepare you the way of The Lord. This is the Lord who shall suddenly
come to his temple. The Lord who made heaven and
earth. Son of God. The Lord. That's what matter
of man this is. Look at verse 7. John keeps preaching
and says, There cometh one mightier than I after me, the latching
of whose shoes I am not worthy to scoop down and unloose. He
said he's going to baptize you with the Holy Ghost. And down
in verse 11, when he came, it says, God Almighty from heaven,
there came a voice from heaven saying, Thou art my beloved Son
in whom I am well pleased. What manner of man is it? The
Son of God. The only begotten Son of God. This is the God-man. What manner
of man is it? The world has never seen one
like this. There never has been one like this. This is God manifest
in flesh. This is the God man. This is
God come to earth. This is God. You see, this is
the life eternal that they might know thee, the only true God,
and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent. This is the true God and
eternal life. God came down here. That's who
this is. What manner of man is this? The
world today and the world back then were confused because all
they saw was a man. And the disciples, as we said,
if they did not know before now, they do now. This is no mere
man at all. He's a man. They're looking at
him. He's a man. He's flesh and blood. He looks
like a man. Common, ordinary looking man,
but this is no mere ordinary man. Thomas said it, didn't he? Thomas bowed his knees to a man. He hit the ground and bowed to
a man, which God says that's idolatry. You don't do that.
You bow the knee to God only. Well, he did. He bowed the knee
to that man named Jesus, who of Nazareth, seemingly born of
a man and a woman, Joseph and Mary, brothers and sisters. But
Thomas hit his knees and said, You're my Lord and you're my
God. What manner of man? This is God
manifest in the flesh. God, man. His enemies had it
all wrong, and people today have it all wrong. They think of him just as a man,
don't they? His enemies said, you're just a man. You make yourself
to be God. No, it's opposite. The opposite
is true. He was God. He who was in the
beginning. In the beginning, God made himself
a man. That's what's in the volume of
the book. It's written of me, he says. A body has to have prepared
me. That means he was before he came.
This is what John said, he that confesses that Jesus Christ is
come into play. That means he was before he came. Was what? I am that I am. They said, if you be the Christ,
tell us plainly. He said, I told you. He said, I'm the same even as
it was in the beginning, as I told you in the beginning. Who? Moses
on that mountain. That was me. I am. I am. When Paul wrote his letter to
the Romans, he described it as the gospel concerning God's Son
who's declared, from cover to cover declared, And when he came,
declared everything he was and did and said, declares him to
be the Son of God, the bodily offspring of God, the only one,
the only begotten, the fullness of the Godhead bodily, God who
said, let us make man in our image. He's the express image
of God. God Almighty did come. in the
flesh, and his name was Jesus Christ. Do you believe that? This is salvation. To know him. To trust him. To trust him. Because if he's not God, he's
just a man and he can't save anybody. Can't save anybody. But if he's
God, and all our salvation, all our trust is in Him, then He's got our Savior in Him. All power, He said, is given
unto me in heaven and earth. Throughout the first four chapters
of Mark, look at this. Oh, I love the
chapter three. Throughout the first four chapters,
There is one glorious display after another of the Son of God.
God Almighty begins to tell His Son coming and He just had His
way with everybody and everything. The gospel of the Son of God.
And He came and He met Satan head on. Satan! Put him down. A man. Cast out devils. They said, we know who you are.
Son of God. All power over sickness. It doesn't
matter what people had, what affliction, what sickness, whatever.
He healed them all. All power over men, devils, flesh,
diseases, sickness, elements. You're going to see that. We
just read that. Over heaven and earth. What manner
of man is it? It's just a God man. God man. Doing all things at His will,
according to His Word, giving the command, and it's done. This
is God who spoke in the beginning. He said, Let there be light.
And boom, there was light. Doing as He will. Look at verse
13 of chapter 3. Oh, I loved it. It says, He goeth
up into a high mountain and calleth unto Him whom He would. Not who
would let Him. Whom He would. See how men Paul said men will come preaching
another Jesus, the one who can't do anything unless you let him.
That's not the Jesus Christ of Scripture. The one who's standing
out and knocking on everybody's heart's door and can't come in
because there's no handle on the door. That's not the Christ
of Scripture. This Christ is the door. This Christ speaks and it's done.
What manner of man is it? No mere man at all. God's man,
doing as He will. This is Him who worketh all things
after the counsel of His will, and none can stay His hand. Demons,
devils, angels, men, animals, the sun, the moon, the stars,
the wind, the sea obeys His voice. This is a God man, no mere man
at all. It says, He calleth unto Him
whom He would, and they came to Him. I like that. Don't you? Oh, how I love that. I said, all that the Father giveth
me shall come to me. They're my sheep and I'll call
them all and they'll all come. And I came to save them all and
went on Calvary's tree and said, it's finished. None lost. I saved
them all. That's who this is. In a nutshell, this is God come
to earth to do God's will, to save God's people. And He saved
them, and went back and sat down and reigns and rules right now
as He did when He was here. Reigns and rules, and He's coming
again for His own, to receive and honor His own. There it is. Now, in our story here in chapter
4, we've looked at the story by itself. And we'll take a glance
at it. But it didn't begin there. Look
at verse 9 of chapter 3. Verse 9. This is the God who
pre-arranges and pre-orders everything before it happens. Known unto
God are all His works from the beginning of the world. Okay?
Verse 9. He spake to His disciples that a small ship should wait
on Him. Get me a boat. I'm going to pass over." He arranged
his ship. He got in it, and that's when
he taught them all through chapter 4. He entered that ship and he
taught for hours, I guess. Hours. Only God can hold people's
attention for hours. Hours. Well, here in our story
in chapter 4, he entered into the ship. He entered into the
ship, and verse 35, it says, the same day, it said, Let us
pass over unto the other side. They never knew where he was
going or what he was doing. He didn't tell them. If you're
Lord, you don't have to. Like a father doesn't have to
tell his children. They didn't know where he was going. They
didn't have to know. He knew. He's the shepherd. Sheep don't
need to know where the shepherd's going. They just need to follow. Children just need to trust their
father, as they did. They didn't know. He knew. And
oh, how I marvel, and this proves who he is, that
every step he took, was ordered before the world began, every
gesture he made, every word he spoke to fulfill every jot and
every tittle of God's Word in the fulfillment of God's law,
in the fulfillment of God's purpose, in the saving of every single
person that God gave him. There were no idle words that
came out of his mouth, no missteps, no, what am I going to do today?
Oh, no. Known unto him are all his works
from the beginning. He knew where he was going every
hour, every minute was purposed by God. While there was twelve
hours in the day, he was busy doing the Father's business,
saving his people. What a marvel. This is no mere
man. What matter of man is it? This is the God-man. God-man. God-man. So he said, we're passing
over on the other side. And what he did, he's going all
the way over there and he's going to meet a fellow in the next
chapter whose demon possessed. He's going to save him. He's
going to say, get back in the boat. We're going back. Go back.
As a fellow, what lengths will the Lord go to to save a worthless
demon? Great lengths. Great lengths. That's another
story. So he said, get in the ship.
We're going across. We're going over to the other.
Let's pass over on the other side. In verse 36, when he sent
the moat to the way, they did. They took him as he was in the
ship. They took him. Oh, Dr. Phillip. I love you. Phillip said, we found him. Oh, Phillip. He never was lost. That's what some fellow said
to one of these pitiful soul winners. Have you found Jesus?
He said, I didn't know He was lost. He's not the one lost. They took Him. He took them. They're in His
hand. But He was in the ship. Verse 36, they were also with
Him of the little ship. This really caught my eye. It
wasn't just one ship on that ocean at that time during that
storm. The Lord's not concerned with just twelve men. He's Lord over all. There's other
little ships with a bunch of insignificant people in them.
Well, not if they're His own. Huh? Other little ships. They're
all at His disposal. in his divine care. And there
rose a great storm of wind, it said, and waves beat into the
ship so that it was now full. And he was in the hinder part,
the back part of the ship, asleep on a pillow. Now this, what manner of man
is this? This is Scott, man. Very God of very God, who had
no beginning of day, no father or mother, but who had a beginning. Man, born of a woman, in the
fullness of time, made under the law. Had a woman that seemed
that she was his mother, who gave birth to him. Okay? God, man. This is God. Now, great is the mystery of
God's limit. God was manifest in the flesh. God became a man. Alright? He
sings this all the time. Psalm 121. Behold, he that keepeth
Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep. He's sleeping. Or is he? That's a mystery, isn't it? It says there arose a great storm
of wind. How did it arise? Well, the scientists
would say that these clouds and a front was coming through and
a jet stream was coming up this way. Meteorologists will tell
you all this. They can describe it better than
I can. fools though they be. You know, this jet stream was
coming up and this met this and this cloud came and just appeared
out of nowhere and this cloud and then they struck and all
everything was just right and this great storm of wind and
you had this tornado, this hurricane, all that. Mother Nature, wasn't
it? Mother Nature. Oh, no. No, no, no, no. That
one sleeping in this ship brought this wind up. He's the one that
said, when? That's right. Listen to it. Psalm
107 says, He commanded and raiseth the stormy wind which lifteth
up the waves thereof. Who does? This one sleeping in
the ship. He said, I'm going to sleep and
I'm going to raise a storm such as they've never seen before. I'm going to fill this boat so
full of water that They'll despair of their very lives. And I'm
going to sleep and show them that I live by faith. And while I'm with them, they
cannot. I'm going to test their faith
that has never been tested. They don't know who I am. They're
going to know me. Oh my, wonderful. It says there
in that psalm, he commands it, they cry unto the Lord. The Lord
commanded this stormy wind to show forth His power and His
glory. The Lord commanded this to test their faith and reveal
Himself to us just as He does everything in this world today. It's the Lord. Whatever it is,
it is the Lord Jesus Christ. God hath made him Lord over the
universe, over heaven and earth. All power, he says, is given
unto me. Whatever happens, whatever happens to anyone, it's the Lord
Jesus Christ that did it. Say, I don't believe that. It
doesn't matter. It's so. It does matter as far as your
salvation is concerned. To be saved, you must believe
that, who He is. But whether men believe it or
not, it's so. So they cried unto the Lord there.
Verse 38, Master! Oh, I love this. Master! They
woke Him up. Oh, that's perfect peace, isn't
it? He's sleeping perfectly. Master, they said, carest thou
not that we perish? See why I rebuked them? They
don't yet know Him, do they? Carest thou not? Don't you care? Care. Care. You don't know care. Huh? They don't know care, do
they? That's why he came to this place. Because he cared, didn't
he? That's why he came here. Oh,
my. Neither what they said is impossible
for him not to care and for them to perish. Because of His infinite love
and mercy and grace and His care, casting our care upon Him, for
He careth for thee. Because of His care for these
men, He came. And because He came for them,
because all that the Father gave Him, He came for them, and they
came to Him when He called them, and they'll never perish. It can't happen. It can't happen. That's who this is. Did you read
the article in the bulletin? That God's people are immortal. Since Christ came, His people
are immortal. They don't die. Bonnie, they
don't die. He puts them to sleep. Believe it in me, Christ said
she'll never die. Do you believe this? Why do you
believe that? Because Christ died, but rose
again and never lived. And he said, because I live,
you shall live also. And because he careth for you,
and because he died to kill death, to put away sin by that sacrifice,
you'll never die. You'll never perish. You'll never
perish. That's what Christ said. Do you
believe that? Carest thou not that we perish?
It's not possible. I came because I care, and you
can't perish." He proved that time and time again. And when
he left, the last words he said to them were this, "'Lo, I am
with you always.'" As long as the Lord was with those disciples,
nobody could touch Him, right? Nobody could touch Him. In the
garden, they came to get Him, and He stepped out in front and
said, "'If you seek Me, let them go.' They had to. Peter took
out his sword and swung it at the fellow's head and cut his
ear off. The fellow with the ear didn't
even try. The fellow, the captain, do you
think he's mad at Peter? Cut his ear off. I'll get you, buddy. No, you
won't. Our Lord said, you can't touch
him. What manner of man is this? He's
not a mere man at all. Not a mere man at all. And look
at this. Verse 39, He arose and rebuked
the wind. Now, you read with Brother Stan,
in Nahum chapter 1, verse 3. Did you read that with me? Was
that a powerful, powerful portion of Scripture? That's the same
God today as did. God hasn't changed. God of the
Old Testament hasn't changed. Christ of Scripture is the same
yesterday. That's talking about Christ. The Lord is angry. Verse
3 said, He has His way in the whirlwind and the storm. We've
been seeing tornadoes and so forth ever. Why? Well, this wind, this got
together. Romans 1 said, The wrath of God
is revealed from heaven. We've been seeing that plainly,
haven't we? Who determined the path of those John, you were talking about
the whirlwind tornado coming through one place, lifting the
roof off of one house and not touching the one right beside
it. Who did that? This is the Lord Jesus Christ. That's right. It's not a man.
It's not a mere man at all. Whom do men say that I am? You're
John the Baptist. Well, you're one of the prophets. Who do you say? Who do you say?
We don't believe that he's God. We don't know him as God. We
don't have this saving faith. He arose. Here's a man standing
out on the bow of a ship in the midst of a raging hurricane. And he rebukes the wind. And it stopped. Like a barking dog. I can make
a dog stop barking. I can. Like the dog whisperer. He ain't got nothing on me. I
can do that. I've done it before. To the amazement of others. They
say, well, big deal. When? Stop. What manner of man is that? And
in the sea, the raging sea, it says, he said to it, Peace, be
still. And it lay down at his feet,
and that boat, it says there was a great calm. All of a sudden
now they're sitting like you would on a farm pond, not even
a ripple. You try to imagine this. Just
try to imagine this. We can't. I've been through,
I've been on the sea. Dad's been, any Navy men, I've
been on the sea during a strong storm. One of those, Gabe told
me, one of these fishermen on these shows, you know, did this
catch. One of those captains said, if
you don't believe in God, come out here. You're never more helpless,
never more feeling seemingly helpless than when you're out
there on the waves. You're at God's mercy. They know
this. They've been there all their
life. And this man walks out on the bow of the ship and says,
be still. And folks today still refer to
Him as Jesus. Do you see? Do you see? Huh? We labor this point. We keep
saying this. We're going to keep saying it
until all God's people realize by His Mercy and grace. Who this is that came? This is
life to know Him. Jesus. My God, my Lord, my God. They said, what manner of man
is this? It says, they feared exceedingly. Who did they fear? This man. Do you see that? Jesus. Yes, they feared this
man named Jesus exceedingly. Why did he become a man? What
matter of man? He is a man. He became a man.
He was a man. There is a man in glory right
now. Glorified man. Doesn't look like
he did when he was here. Glorified body. But why a man?
Why did he become a man? Why did God become a man? Why
did God just say, I forgive you? It can't be done that way. Man dishonored God. A man must honor God. Man can't. God can. God became a man. Man must die. The soul that sinneth
must surely die. God can't die. Man can. God became a man. God died. Boy, that's a miracle. Explain that. You can't. You
can just declare it. The church of God that he purchased
with his own blood. Blood. Man broke God's law. Man must keep it. to be saved. Man can't keep it. God can. God
became a man, kept it. Why did he do it? Not to show
us how. Because of the deeds of the law,
no flesh will be justified. But by the deeds of Jesus Christ,
they'll all be justified. And with one word, he said, He worked out all the law of
God, fulfilled every jot and tittle of God's law perfectly,
the holy law of God. God said, I am well pleased for
his righteousness sake. And with one word, like he said,
let there be light, he said, imputed, charged, reckoned to
all of my people, holy, unblameable, unreprovable. You can't do that.
Just did. Just did. Justified from all
things. But they didn't do anything,
right? But I did. And God swapped places. God laid
on him all the sin of all of God's people. The soul that sinneth
must surely die. This God-man came and was made
sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in him. God made him to be sin, and all
the sin of all of God's people They deserved death. Their soul
deserved to go to hell, and Jesus Christ went to hell for them. He made sin. That's what he did. That's why
he became a man. God to satisfy, man to suffer. God to keep the law, man to honor. Man to die for. Why a man? Listen to this. A couple more
things, okay? Why a man? Because we're flesh
and blood, and we need a man to see, to hear, to touch, to
handle. He knows that. When he created
Adam and Eve in the garden, he came down and went with them. They need a God they can handle
and see. So do we. Are you with me? Flesh and blood has to have flesh
and blood. To hug up to. To handle. Listen to what John
said. That which was from the beginning,
we've heard, we've seen with our eyes, we've looked upon it.
Our hands have handled it. Life! God, whose Spirit became
flesh, we touched Him. We touched Him. What manner of man is this? Tempted
in all points like as we are, yet without sin. A holy man.
A perfect man. Why a man? We need a man, not
a myth. Greeks have their myths that
they trust in. We've got a real person. He still
lives. Still reigns and rules right
now. Still reviving himself. What manner of man is this? Oh,
I could go on and on. This is the second Adam. This is the covenant head. This
is the captain of our salvation. This is the Lord of hosts. This
is the surety. I was going to go back and read
Judah. What Judah said. I'll say it
anyway. Judah said, I'll be surety for my brother. You charge me
if I don't bring him back to you. That's who this is. The surety of the everlasting
covenant. What manner of man is this? This
is the prophet. That prophet to end all prophecy.
The prophet. First and last word on everything.
Everything he said comes to pass. We don't need prophets today.
Tell them Git, like the sons of Saba. Tell them Git. We don't
need you. Christ came. He told us all things. Priests. What manner of man is
this? We have a priest. We have a man
in glory that we confess to. Don't confess your sins to a
man. Anybody, for any reason. If they can't forgive them, they
can't ever forget them. Don't do that. But you must and
you can confess your sins to this man in glory who forgives
them and forgets them and makes you forget them. The only one
that can. The only one that can absolve
you from all things. Priest. King. What manner of
man is there? We have a king. Now more than
ever, I wish we had a just and honorable leader, you know, world leader.
I can't find one anywhere. Do you? I forget. There is one whose government
has never ceased, who's always had the reign in the room. That
when he came on this earth, he said, I've come preaching the
gospel of the kingdom. What does that mean? Well, to
those in bondage, those in prison, to those in vent, and those in
distress, and those under tyrannical rule and all that, he said, the
king is here. Good news, I'm here. No more dominion. The king is here. What manner
of man is it? King. What manner of man is it?
I was going to have you turn to Isaiah, where it says, A man
shall be a hiding place, a covert from the storm, a shelter
in the time of storm, a rock in a weary land. That's Isaiah
32. A man. A man. Oh, there were
some people that knew that. That woman. That guilty woman
cast to His feet. Nothing to hide her sin? Oh,
hold on. Hold on. They cast her at the
feet. They actually put her in the
cleft of the rock. When they brought her to Christ,
they put her as the only one that could hide her, that could
cover her. And He exposed everybody there
and forgave her. Oh, she found a refuge, a fortress,
a hiding place. Me too. A man shall be a hiding
place. What manner of man is this? A
holy man. Next time you hear somebody talk
about a holy man, laugh at them. This is the holy man. And holiness
is not like men think it is. Not wearing your hair a certain
way, or your clothes a certain way, or holier than thou, you
know, separating yourself. No, sir. People were drawn to
this man. Self-righteous people repulse
me. I feel uncomfortable around them,
don't you? Sinners were drawn to Him. Holiness. Holiness means mercy, infinite
mercy, compassion. What manner of man is this? Infinitely
compassionate and merciful and gracious and kind and long-suffering
and patient and gentle and peaceable and easy to be entreated. What
manner of man is this? That ain't me. That's the manner of man I want
to be. What manner of man is this? I'll tell you what manner, just
the man we need. Just the man. I love Isaiah 54,
where it says, He looked down from heaven to see if there were
any man. He saw there was no man. So he
says, The Lord put on righteousness as a breastplate and a helmet
of salvation and girded himself and came down. God came down
and became a man and said, I'm going to get this job done. I'm
going to glorify my God. I'm going to bring in an everlasting
righteousness. I'm going to set up the kingdom
of God. I'm going to save every one of my people." And he did
it. And he went back to Florida, sat down, expecting his enemies
to be made his footstool. Then when the end is all, when
he says, he's going to fold it up like a vesture, come down
and get his people, take them out first, fold it up like a
vesture, And we're going to see a man. Talk to him. Walk with him. Speak to us. Touch
him. Handle him. What matter of man? The God-man. This was a mighty poor sermon.
Because he deserves much greater. A matter of man
that no man can declare.