I will join the folks they're
singing In the anthem ever ringing To the King of love who ransomed
me Thank you. That's one you have
to really shout to sing. I like those guys. Shouting,
glory, glory, glory. John 6, and also I want you to
turn to the book of Mark, chapter 6. John 6 and Mark. The Gospel of Mark, chapter 6.
We're going to refer back to that. This story is recorded three
times. Matthew, Mark, and in the book
of John. And this is very familiar to
everyone, including children. The story of the Lord walking
on the sea. I want to apply this to two ways. Of course, I want to bring the
gospel out, but I want us to see something else first of all.
Now, remember what had just happened. Sunday morning, we looked at
how the Lord had miraculously fed upwards of 10,000 to 15,000
people, including women and children, with five loaves and two fishes. And the disciples, the apostles,
were first-hand witnesses of that. They were in on that. The Lord gave them the bread
and the fish to pass out. And they were doling out that
fish. He gave each one of them a basket,
that twelve basket. And he gave each one of them
a basket, and they went out passing out. I guess he broke the loaves
and the fish. 12 equal parts or something and
put it in their baskets and stand. They went around passing it out,
and they just kept reaching and digging and passing. Can you imagine what they were
going through? And then after all, everybody
was filled. It said anybody could have as much as they would. I'll
take another helping. Okay. They just kept digging. After everybody was filled and
couldn't hold another bite, they took up twelve baskets full of
leftover. And I'm sure that they went back up into the mountain where the
Lord was, talking among themselves about this thing. Don't you?
I can just hear them now. You know, we use words like unbelievable. I can't believe it. Can you believe
that? It's amazing. Amazing. He is Lord, isn't he? Yes, he
is. I can hear Philip. Philip's the
one that said, you know, he said, where are we going to get bread? Philip probably said, how could
I have been so ignorant of his power? How could I have been
so ignorant? Andrews wanted to say, what,
200 penny worth of bread won't feed all of us? Andrews said,
if I just keep my big mouth shut, he doesn't need our money. He's
Lord. All of them together probably
said, how could we ever doubt him? How could we ever doubt
his power, his person? Well, we won't from here on out.
From here on out, we'll never doubt him. Again, we'll never
worry about a thing, as long as the Lord's with us. He can
provide all our needs. We have no need to worry about
a thing, ever. It wasn't six hours later. It
wasn't a little while later. And all this, see, was done up
on the mountain. This happened up on the mountaintop,
out in the sunshine. a clear view of Christ in front
of them, this miraculous, this wonder that he'd worked. Well,
a few hours later, look at verse 15 in John 6. Just a few hours
later, it says that Christ departed again into a mountain himself
alone. Now, over in Mark 6, don't turn
there yet, but over there it says that he sent them away. that Christ sent his disciples
away. He told them, go down and get
in the ship and pass over to the other side, while he went
up into a mountain himself alone. I've already addressed the first
part of that, verse 15. At any rate, he sent them away
while he went up into a mountain alone. He sent them to go do
a job, go over to the sea, get in a boat, take a boat across.
Now, when evening was come, his disciples started to get dark,
and his disciples went down into the sea. In verse 17, they entered
into a ship and went over the sea, or began to go over the
sea, toward Capernaum. And it was now dark, and Jesus
was not come to them. He hadn't come. And now they were up on the mountain
in the sunshine with a clear vision or view of Christ's power
and wonders and signs and his presence with them. And now,
just a few hours later, they were down in the sea in a small
wooden boat. It was dark. The wind began to
pick up. The waves started to crash against
that boat. They were alone. The Lord wasn't
anywhere to be seen. They started getting scared.
Look at verse 18. And the sea arose by reason of
a great wind that blew. So you see the picture now. Things
change pretty fast, don't they? Well, how about you? I don't know how high you got
Sunday. It's probably pretty evident how high I got on that
message. Up on the mountaintop Sunday
morning, you know. Pretty day, too, with the sun
shining. The Lord did not our hearts burn
within us as He opened the Scriptures to us, revealed Himself in the
breaking of bread, just like those old disciples. How long
did it take you? to get down in the dark and quickly
get afraid, down in the valley, and forget all about what you
heard, son. I bet it wasn't an hour Monday
morning, maybe Sunday night, that you were worried about something. You were wondering and marveling
and in amazement at all the Lord's His doings, His person, His doings
that you clearly see. And you saw a miracle, no less,
more of a miracle than those disciples saw in the breaking
of the actual bread. You saw the miracle of His Word.
It's a more marvelous thing than the sight of the eyes, the revelation
of this Word. You saw that, and you probably
said to yourself, I am convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt, This is his word. And he's on
the throne. He's ordered all things. And
sure, concerning me, what do I have to fear and worry about?
But it wasn't any time at all. Any time at all. You were back
in darkness and fear and worry. I'm sure some of you came down
and went into something like a ship. Maybe you'd gotten a
truck. Huh, Joe? Got to pass over, not Capernaum,
but where you go, Joe. Bedford or wherever you go. And
you went down into a factory. Had to get on a forklift. No
different, is it? No different. Went down into
the office. Down in the office. And the winds and the waves,
the trouble and turmoil and responsibility and And wave after wave of blasphemous
talk and things start hitting you and it's just going over
your head and you just, you begin to toil back at the grind. You begin to toil and row. And
that's what it said over in Mark 6, they begin to toil and row.
And the Lord wasn't with you. You felt all alone. The Lord
wasn't with you. That's not so. That's not so. Just because you've
lost sight of him doesn't mean he has lost sight of you. Isn't
that right? The disciples couldn't see Christ.
They couldn't see him. Could he see them? When he's sitting up on that
mountaintop? Thou, Lord, seest me, the scripture says. He's
the one that sent them. He put them in the boat, and
He directed their path, their way. And He's watching them.
He knows what He's going to do. He did all this just like the
Philip. He did this to prove them again.
To prove their weakness, to prove their frailty, to prove His power,
to prove His Lordship. Everything is meant to prove
Him to us and us to us. Everything. Show us our utter
helplessness and his all power and care and concern for his
people. The Lord was sitting up in that
mountain, and he was watching his disciples row off, and the
winds were blowing. And you know what those winds
were? The winds began to blow over in Mark. It says they blew
contrary to them, they thought. Those winds were nothing but
the blast of his nostrils. He was up on the mountain going,
whoom, whoom. That's exactly right. The waves
that began to pick up, you know what those were? That's him stirring
his finger in the water. You ever do that in a bathtub?
That's what it was like, an ocean in the mighty hand of our Lord.
And boy, they were just, he was doing it. Now what comes now you? What
comes now you? That he doesn't sin. And just
because we don't see Christ, just because we don't feel him,
doesn't mean he's not with us. He said, I'll never leave thee,
nor forsake thee. Didn't he? He said, Lo, I am with you always,
even to the end of the earth. So when they had rowed and rowed
and rowed and rowed, rowed, rowed their little boat, it wasn't
gently down the stream. It was rough. These fellows had
been in a raging storm before, and like the time when the Lord
was asleep in the ship, it was something they'd never seen before.
They thought they were lost. And it says they rowed about
twenty-five or thirty furlong. That's three or four miles. That's
a lot of rowing in it. You get tired. You're talking
about laboring and heavy laden in rowing. Have you ever rowed
a boat? It's hard work. It's the hardest
thing you'll ever do, rowing a boat. I'm not talking about
paddling a canoe. That's hard enough. But rowing
a boat. for any length of time. Have
you ever rowed against the wind? I have. I've been on a lake up
there, a mountain lake, rowing one of these boats, and the wind
picked up, and me going into the wind, I feel like I'm not
getting anywhere. I'm sitting still and get tired,
labor, toil. They did this three or four miles. Well, look back at Mark 6 now.
Mark 6. And this gives a little more
in-depth description of what went on.
Mark 6. Look at verse 48. It says, He
saw them toiling in the road. He saw them. Well, the wind was contrary unto
them, they thought. It was doing exactly what he
sent it to do. There's nothing contrary to us. Right? All things work together. Not contrary. The wind was contrary
unto them. And about the fourth watch of
the night, he cometh unto them, walking upon the sea. He cometh
to them. And you know, sometimes we, like
I said, at the time I was rowing on that lake and the wind was
against me, I thought, I'm not getting anywhere. And even sometimes
we seem to be rowing the wrong way even, going the other way,
away from Him. And we do. The Scripture says
every man has turned his own way. But know this for sure. If you're
one of His, if He's got His eye set on you, His eye of affection,
His eye of care, His eye of salvation and mercy upon you. Even if you
do turn the other way, it won't be long till He'll come get you.
You're not going to get far. He'll come get you. He'll come
to you. The Lord comes to us, and He'll steer us right. Look
at verse 48. It says, He came to them walking
upon the sea. Walking upon the sea. Don't you ever be guilty of saying,
using this, you know, our generation is so blasphemous. You hear this
all the time, you know, he just thinks he can walk on water,
stuff like that. That's blasphemy. We don't ever
make any flippant, careless reference to those things that are only
attributed to the Lord Himself. Don't ever. Don't ever be guilty
of that. I know who was it, what's his
name, country singer who sang a song, a real popular song,
Randy Travis, used to like that guy. I tell you, these things,
blasphemies, you don't catch yourself caught up in it. But
this is power and glory that only belongs to the Lord of Glory.
And He's above all things, see? There's nothing, everything's
beneath His feet. There's nothing will overcome
him. He must walk on the water. He must. He's above all that. He said, I'm from above. You're
from beneath. Those things that will go over your head, he said,
I walk over. They're under my feet. We love Psalm 38, don't
we, John? David said, my sins have gone
over me. Christ is above sin. Sin has no dominion over him.
The waves, you know. Peter tried to walk, and that's
recorded, this is the same story where Peter tried to walk on
the water, and we've already dealt with that before, but that's
over in Matthew. But Peter tried and failed miserably,
didn't he? The Lord's the only one who's
above sin, the only one. Everything's beneath his feet.
And it says here, look at verse 48, it says, he cometh unto them walking upon
the sea, and would have passed by them." Would have passed by them. Now
this is written to prove us. Like he said back there in John
6 to Philip, this he said to prove Philip, because he knew
what he was going to do. This is written to prove us. He knew what he was going to
do. Now, would he have passed by them? Huh? He says he would have passed
by them. Would he have? Could he have? Let me ask you
that. Could he have? Certainly. Yes, yes, he could
pass by them. He didn't have to stop. He didn't have to come
to this earth, did he? He didn't have to come to...
He didn't have to save anybody, did he? But once He came, would
He pass by one sinner? Huh? Would Christ have left these
fellows to fend for themselves? These fellows that He had chosen? That's good news right here.
Would He? No. It's not in Him. It's not possible. It's not possible. Nothing will be lost. He'll take
up, he's got 12 fragments here. Basket cases now, Sam, they were
basket cases. Nothing's going to be lost. Uh-uh.
Would, it made as though he would have, but he won't. And will
he pass you by, sinner? We sing that song, Savior, Savior,
hear my humble cry. While on others thou art calling,
do not pass me by. Well, Romans 10 says, The Lord
over all is rich unto all them that call upon him. Whosoever
shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. It's not possible for Christ
to pass by one sinner that calls on Him. Ask Bartimaeus. Ask Bartimaeus. Ask him. But he's trying then
up here. Look at verse 49 here in Mark
6. He's trying then. When they saw
him walking upon the sea, they supposed it had been a spirit and cried out. They all saw him
and were troubled. Every one of them saw him and
they were troubled and they thought it's a ghost. Now sailors were, they'd heard
all, you know, sailors I used to read, that was one of my favorite
type of books to read back when I was a young boy, a young man
about Andrew's age. I loved to read sailing books,
pirates and just sailors and all that. And they had a lot
of old superstitions, you know, women, spirits out on the waves
and That's all they were thinking about for a month with ghosts
and apparitions that they'd see out to sea. And they'd heard
every sailing story of a ghost of such and such and such and
such. And, you know, here, superstition and ignorance and. And they see
in this and Christ is coming and they think they see a ghost. Now. I don't suppose anybody in here
is afraid of the dark or anything, are you? Surely not. A boogie man. Huh? Well, what about, you know, we read and see a lot
of violence on TV. It could come to us, couldn't
it? Why, somebody... I don't suppose
you've heard a noise at night, have you, Joe? Nancy said, Joe,
what was that? Get up, check it out. And you
grab three double barrel shotguns and 44. I don't suppose you've
done that. Scared, scared. You're more scared
than she was. Is that right? Just imagine all
sorts of things. All sorts of things. Well, I tell you, there's nothing,
the Scripture says, nothing will come nigh us except God sends
it. He said, a thousand shall fall at thy side, ten thousand
at thy right hand, it shall not come nigh thee. I don't know
why we're so little faith and so fearful. Why are you so fearful? You know, our Lord upbraided
them with this constant. This was one of the only things
he upbraided them for constantly was, why are you so fearful? Why is it that you have no faith?
How often, how long have I been with you? How many years now
have I taken care of you? What has happened? And we all go through extreme
times of worry and fear and something has caused you to be exceedingly
afraid, maybe fear of, and some legitimate fears, fear of losing
a loved one. Someone gets sick or ill or you
fear losing them. Fear of losing a job. Those are
legitimate fears. We go through the fear of the
future. You fear for the future of your child. And we do. We see and read and
witness on television and all, a lot of violence and chaos and
turmoil that goes on. And we get in doubt and fear
and worry ourselves. We worry ourselves, no, particularly
at nighttime. At nighttime. And the Lord sometimes,
sometimes you go through these real doubts and fears. And worry,
so like I said, losing someone over your job or whatever. And the Lord makes you wait a
while. He made these disciples wait a while. He made them toil
a while. And make them wonder. He made
them wonder, is he coming or not? Are we going down? But look at it here, Mark. Look
over at verse 52. It said, They considered not
the miracle of the loaves, their heart was hardened. Their heart
was hardened. That's what happens to us, doesn't
it? Well, listen. Look at verse 50.
It says that they saw him. All of them were troubled. They
were all troubled, and immediately he talked with them. And say
it. I love this. Be of good cheer. Cheer up. It is I. Be not afraid. It is I. Cheer up. It's the Lord. It's
the I am. It's the I am. Who? I am that
I am. Cheer up. Don't be afraid. It's
the Lord. He did all this. He brought all
this to pass. This is what some of the old
saints said. Job, when they came into Job
with all that news, what could possibly befall us that would
amount to a fraction of what Job went through? Huh? That they
came into Job with the news of all these things that happened,
and he said, Lord gave. The Lord take it away.
He came in to Eli about his sons, and that was a horrible trial,
wasn't it? Eli, your son, your son, your son. He said, It's
the Lord. The Lord did this. That's the only place to turn
for comfort. And I'm telling you, there's
real comfort there. There's no other comfort than in that knowledge
that he brought them. And whatever or whoever you fear,
be of good cheer. It's the Lord. It's all His doings. Don't be afraid. Look back in
John 6 now. Turn back over there. I'll try
to wind this up. John chapter 6. Look back over
there. And He immediately spoke to them. He said, Be of good cheer. How
does the Lord speak to us? Right here, through the Word.
And you get in doubt and fear. You need to be spoken to. He's
not going to speak out loud like he did here. He's not going to
do it. He's going to speak through this
book, and he will speak to you immediately. Brother Ed, he'll
speak to you immediately. If you'll immediately grab the
scriptures when you get in that sorry state of fear, that's the
best place to go. You know, if you're in the dark,
turn the light on. Go to the lamp. I don't mean
the one beside your bed. I mean the one that's a little
lamp under your feet. Turn the light on if you're in
the dark. Fear and worry. Open the scriptures where it
says, Fear not. Be not afraid. It is I. It is
I. I did this. I did that. Look at verse 21 in John 6. He
saith unto them, It is I. Be not afraid." And then verse
21, "...then they willingly received him into the ship." They willingly received him into
the ship. If we could only believe it is
the Lord. It is the Lord. Everything that
comes by us, that comes about in our life, it's the Lord. And
willingly receive all that he sends our way. Believing. He did it. Believing. He is with
us. Believe Him. He'll get us through
it. The going will be a lot smoother from there on. And what this
means here, because the other versions don't say that. The
other versions say that they, in a little bit, they came to
shore. OK? What happened here was not
that as soon as he stepped in the boat, they were at land.
That's not what That's saying there, because the other two
don't say that. What it's saying is, since he was in the ship,
the journey was a lot easier, and it passed a lot quicker than
they thought it would, and therefore they knew it. They were sure. Now, there's a lesson in it.
Huh? If we could only believe it's
the Lord, willing to receive all His sin, it's going to be
a lot smoother. And immediately the ship was
at the land. There'd be no time at all. Do
we reach our safe haven, our destination? We think, you know,
these trials we go through, we think they're never going to
end, but this too shall pass. This too shall pass. And the
song says, we're on a happy golden shore with a faithful part no
more where the storms of life are over. Meet me there. And we'll be like these disciples.
Will be like these disciples, it said back in Mark 6, it said
they were sore amazed in themselves. They were sore amazed in themselves. Sounds like they were sore at
themselves. Amazed at their own unbelief. Amazed at their own belief. It
says they wondered beyond measure, beyond measure, for not considering
those levels. being so hard. How could we forget
so soon? Huh? But where's the gospel in all
this? Huh? Where's the gospel in all this? to hopeless sinners, toiling
in sin. But here it is, here it is, very
quickly, I believe. Here's the gospel in this story.
Christ was up on that mountain, and those disciples were down
in that boat, toiling, rowing. And the Lord of glory, ere time
began, the Lord of glory was seated in the heavens, and with
an omniscient eye of mercy, love, and grace, predestined, purposed
all things from the foundation of the world. And in time, He
comes down to sinners, where we are, and finds us. Where does he find us? Like he
found them in the midst of troubled seas, in darkness and fear, tossed
to and from. Some of us were in religion,
perhaps, but we were laboring in heavy labor. Toiling. Trying to get to God. Trying
to get to God. Making no headway at all. You can't. It's impossible. They'd
have toiled all night and wouldn't have found a way. Wouldn't have.
They wouldn't have made it. Unless Christ had come to them.
Would it? They were laboring, heavy laden.
And no matter how hard we toil, we'll never reach the safe haven.
Only Christ must save us. Christ comes to us. Where we
are. So Christ comes to us and He
reveals Himself to us like them. And they were fearful at first. When they first saw something,
they weren't sure what to solve. And it created fear in them.
And that's the first thing the Lord creates in everybody He's
going to reveal Himself to. Fear. Fear. Fear of their condition. Fear of the Lord. And Christ
reveals Himself to us. As he who is above, well, it's
I. I'm walking on the water. Oh,
you're tossed to and fro, and you're down under the weight.
I'm walking on it. He's above sin. He reveals himself as over
and above sin, and he reveals himself as a sin-bearer. He's
a substitute. Blood, Joe. Blood. He reveals himself as the Lamb
of God to take away our sins. by the shedding of His blood.
But more than that, now listen, it says that He got in the ship
with them. It's not just Christ being revealed
to you. They saw it. What, John? Christ
what? What's your hope of glory, John?
Christ's in us. He enters into fellowship with
every sinner, into communion, into union. within Christ in
you is the hope of glory. So, what do you have to be afraid
of? Huh? Get back in that truck tomorrow,
Joe. And just drive. Christ said,
I'll be with you. Nothing to worry about. He's
as near as a call. He's got His eye on you. Whatever
happens, He sends it. He sent it. If you get in trouble, tossed to and fro, start worrying,
full of doubts and fears, He'll speak to you immediately.
And this is your comfort. It is I. It is I. Be of good cheer. Be of good
cheer. Believers have every reason,
this is the reason Paul keeps reminding us to rejoice in the
Lord. You know what it means to rejoice
in the Lord? Did you rejoice in anything that
was said tonight? We rejoice in who He is and what
He's done. That's what it means. Rejoice
in His Word, how we see Him clearly. We shouldn't doubt at all. Shouldn't
doubt Him at all. It is I. Be not afraid. All right, let's stand and be
dismissed in prayer. Our Heavenly Father, we thank
you for all your care and your provisions for us. We thank you
that you keep watch over us, that your eyes on us, that thou,
Lord, seest us, and we're never out from under your watch care
over us. And Lord, we need to see that.
We need to know and understand and believe from the heart that
you'll never leave us, nor forsake us. You're rich unto all that
are called upon you and not pass by. But you've entered into a covenant
concerning us, into fellowship with us through your suffering. through your blood, and we are
yours. I am thine, O Lord. Let us remember that. Take great
comfort. Be of good cheer in all things. Sure, there will be things that
come about that will cause us fear and worry, but speak to
us immediately. Speak to us. Speak to our heart. Cause us to desire the sincere
milk of the Cause us to look to you to cup our hands,
our spiritual hands over our ears to hear from you and to
still our heart. And be content like the apostle
of old in whatever state we're in, knowing that it's the Lord. Let him do what seems good to
him. And it'll seem good to us if
you give us that faith. If you give us that firm belief,
it'll seem good to us, too. And we'll be able to say with
Eli, it's the Lord. Let Him do what seems good. Now,
I pray that for these people. I pray that for myself. Let us
not be hardened. Let us not go away from here
forgetting so soon the miracle of the loaves and the miracle
of our Lord walking on the sea and coming to His people. We
pray, we ask these things in Christ's name. Be with your people. We pray. Amen. You're dismissed.