Let's open our Bibles to John
chapter 6. We're going back to John chapter
6. We ask that as our Savior broke
the bread and fed thousands of people to meet their physical
needs, May the Spirit of Christ Jesus
break the spiritual bread for us, as it were, this evening
and feed us with our Lord Jesus. Indeed, may we feed on Him and
be nourished, be refreshed. May God deal with us mercifully. and meet each of our needs. I would like to read to you again
John chapter 6 and verse 15. When Jesus therefore perceived
that they would come and take him by force, remember he had
fed these thousands of people with just five little barley
cakes and a couple of fish. And as these people witnessed
the greatness of this miracle, people began to say to one another,
this is the prophet. This is the great Messiah. He is the one who can deliver
us from Rome's oppression. And the scripture says they would
They wanted to take him by force. But our Lord knew their intentions. He knew they had no interest
in him as Savior. They had no desire to worship
him. They had no inclination to adore him as God's only begotten
son. They had no faith to believe
him as the only one who could reconcile them to God. They,
as if you'll remember our messages Sunday, they didn't know the
problem. And they had no awareness that
he's the solution. These people were filled with
their own self-righteousness. They had no interest in a spiritual
salvation, but they did have an interest in a physical deliverance,
as all men do, a physical deliverance from life's difficulties. If you go out into the world,
talk to people, and ask them if they'd like to have deliverance
from their aches and pains and deliverance from their diseases
and deliverance from various needs that they've got, everybody
will say, yes, I do. Yes, I do. But if you go out
and you begin to ask people, are you interested in deliverance
from the bondage of iniquity? Are you interested in being liberated
from Satan's entanglements? They'll say, I'm not entangled.
I'm not in bondage to sin. Oh, I've made a few mistakes,
but no, I don't need that kind of salvation, thank you. But
you might go down and visit the rougher section of the city.
I think maybe you could help some people down there. I tell
you, we're so absolutely blind to our natural condition, aren't
we? And God's got to do something for us. It's a good thing. Salvation's
of the Lord. And indeed, He originated salvation
and our Lord Jesus, He didn't come and purchase salvation.
He came and purchased people. He purchased His people by His
blood. He redeemed us. And thank God
the Spirit of the Lord comes to us through the presentation
of the gospel. Through one beggar standing in
front of other beggars, telling them where some bread can be
found. Good bread. Bread from heaven. The bread
of life. God blesses us. He's given us
an appetite. Thank God if you've got an appetite
for the gospel. Because you wouldn't have that
appetite were it not for the sovereign grace and mercy of
God to you. You'd be wrapped up in pagan
religion or heathenism or anything else, but you wouldn't be here
tonight loving the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. So we
want the Lord to feed us tonight. But these people, they were only
interested in the body being fed. only interested in the welfare
of the physical. Our Lord Jesus, He knew their
intentions, and He's not going to have any part of it. And so
it says in the latter part of verse 15, He then departed again
into a mountain Himself alone. He's not interested in any of
the kingdoms of this world becoming his own as far as a literal standpoint. He didn't come to be a king over
Israel, that is, Israel as a physical or literal nation. He said to
Pilate, he said, my kingdom's not of this world. It's not of
this world. Now we do know this, of all the
kingdoms of the world, He owns them all. There's no doubt about
that. His kingdom is from everlasting
to everlasting. And you go to any nation in the
world, any kingdom in the world, any country in the world, I know
that maybe where they elect their rulers or maybe they have a dictatorship,
Ultimately, God's the governor of the nations. God is sovereign
over all things. And He has to show men that.
He has to tell men that. He has to indicate that to men.
Men like Nebuchadnezzar, who in his arrogance, he thought
he's a self-made man, and he said, this is the kingdom of
Babylon that I've made. And then the Lord sent word to
Daniel, Daniel interpreted the dream that God gave to Nebuchadnezzar,
and eventually that dream did come to pass. He was driven from
the sons of men. Scripture says, God made his
heart to be like the heart of a beast. His dwelling was with
the wild asses. They fed him with grass like
oxen. His body was wet with the dew
of heaven, till he knew that the Most High God ruled in the
kingdom of men, and He gives it to whoever He will. That's
what Nebuchadnezzar discovered. All of these kingdoms are God's
kingdoms. And He gives these kingdoms to
whoever He wants to. Not that they own the kingdoms.
They're His kingdoms. And He raises up men to rule
in them and He brings them down at His will and at His pleasure.
Every kingdom belongs to God. But there's another kingdom This
is a kingdom in which men have no interest. But this is the
kingdom of our God. It's a kingdom of salvation.
Our Lord spoke so often about that kingdom. He preached the
gospel of the kingdom. It wasn't an earthly kingdom.
It wasn't a temporal kingdom. and it wasn't a physical kingdom,
it's a spiritual kingdom where it dwelleth righteousness. That's
why he did say to Pilate, my kingdom is not of this world.
In Romans chapter 14 and verse 17, the apostle says, for the
kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but righteousness and
peace and joy and the Holy Ghost. There is a kingdom, A real kingdom. Oh, it's a kingdom alright, but
it's established in here. It's a spiritual kingdom. Where
our Lord, He comes in and He dethrones Satan. He drives him
out and He establishes His own throne in the heart. And this
kingdom is attained not by the righteousness of men, but by
the righteous obedience of our Lord Jesus Christ, which righteousness
is imputed to us and we receive it by God-given faith. That's
why His gospel is indeed called the gospel of the kingdom. It's
the kingdom of salvation, the kingdom of grace, it's the kingdom
of God operative within. Within. And I'll tell you, you
have to be born again to see that kingdom. You have to be
born again to see the glory of the kingdom. You have to be born
again to see the King of the Kingdom. You have to be born
again to see the wisdom in the way God established this Kingdom. It's by the satisfaction of His
own justice through the death, the bloody death and sacrifice
of His own Son. And this kingdom has to be revealed
to us. It takes a gracious, omnipotent
act of God to reveal that kingdom to us and to put us in the kingdom. And so we read in the book of
Colossians chapter 1, "...who have delivered us from the power
of darkness and have translated us into the kingdom of His dear
Son, in whom we have redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness
of sins." This kingdom was established by our Lord's substitutionary
death. But in John chapter 6, the Jews
wanted to anoint Jesus of Nazareth as King of an earthly kingdom. And then they wanted to follow
Him as one country after another fell before Him. And they would
just be rejoicing and be so happy Israel would return to her glory
days. But our Lord would have nothing
of this. He would have nothing of this.
He's not interested in their adulations. He's not interested
in them crowning Him to be their literal King. He has no interest
in these things whatsoever. So it says in verse number 16,
verse 16, The Savior departed into a mountain,
verse 16, and when even was now come, His disciples went down
to the sea. I want you to go back to that
passage in Matthew chapter 14 that Joe read to us earlier.
In Matthew chapter 14. And if you want to get the whole
story, you have to read Matthew and Mark and John. to get the
whole story of what happens after the feeding of the 5,000. Now
we know Matthew, Mark, Luke and John all record the feeding of
5,000 men, but only Matthew and Mark and then John go into some
details of what happened afterwards. Look in Matthew chapter 14 verse
21. And I want to read this to show
you the connection, make sure you understand what the context
is. And they that had eaten were
about 5,000 men beside women and children. And straightway
Jesus constrained His disciples to get into a ship and to go
before Him to the other side while He sent the multitudes
away. Now, as we read Matthew's account,
I tell you what will help us to understand this, is if as
we read this, we need to keep in mind that verse number 15
of John 6 kind of fits in between verses 21 and 22 of Matthew chapter
14. So let me read, as you read there
in Matthew chapter 14, let me read this to you in sequence. The way the events unfolded. Okay, so we're in Matthew chapter
14. Now look again at verse number 21. And they that had eaten were
about 5,000 men, besides women and children. That's when John
says this. So this is in sequence. When
Jesus therefore perceived that they would come and take him
by force to make him a king, and that's the end, that's the
next thing that happened. Then straight away, the next
thing that happened, Jesus constrained his disciples to get into a ship
and to go before him onto the other side while he sent the
multitudes away And then we go back to John chapter 6 where
it says, He departed again into a mountain Himself alone. Now that's the sequence of events. So that's why I want you to understand
it that way. So our Lord, first of all, He
fed the multitudes. They got 12 baskets full of food.
Here the disciples got all these to-go boxes. 12 to-go boxes. And our Lord says, you men leave. And then He sends the multitudes
away. And then He goes up to the mountain
in order to pray. Now remember, these disciples,
they had witnessed this great miracle, and they were there
when all of the multitudes were all abuzz about making Jesus
to be the King. They believed that He would establish
the Jewish Kingdom again. And there were the disciples.
There were the disciples. They heard the people say, this
is the prophet. This is the prophet. This is
the Messiah. You know what we need to do?
We need to make Him king. We need to go ahead. There needs
to be a coronation right now. Somebody needs to move here on
this. And let's make Him a king. Somebody
go get a crown. Let's get a king. And the disciples
are listening to all this, as was our Lord. As was our Lord. And I'll tell you, I suspect
that these disciples, they were very happy with the response
of the multitudes. This was good news to them. Because
you know what? They're all mixed up on the kingdom
as well. They're confused about it. And
even after our Lord's resurrection, there's still some confusion
in their minds. Go over to Acts chapter 1. I'll
show you this. This is after our Lord's resurrection. Look at Acts chapter 1. After His resurrection, just
before His ascension, Look at Acts 1. Let me just begin
at verse 1. Luke is the writer. He says,
The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus
began both to do and teach. Unto the day in which He was
taken up, after that He, through the Holy Ghost, had given commandments
unto the apostles whom He had chosen. to whom also He showed
Himself alive after His passion by many infallible proofs, being
seen of Him for forty days." And this is what he's been talking
about now. Speaking of the things pertaining
to the Kingdom of God. This is what he's been preaching.
For forty days he's been preaching about the Kingdom of God. The
kingdom of God that He has established. The kingdom of God that's active
in the hearts of men and women and young people by effectual,
irresistible grace. God's kingdom. When the Lord
moves in and moves Satan out, He's preaching the kingdom of
God. He's preaching an everlasting
kingdom. This is a kingdom of grace. This
is a kingdom established by His righteousness. This is a kingdom
brought in by His blood. He spends 40 days preaching the
kingdom. It's not an earthly kingdom.
It's not about driving the Romans, the Gentiles out of Jerusalem
and out of all the land of Israel. It's not about that at all. It's
the kingdom of God. Well, we keep reading, being
assembled together with Him, with His disciples. He commanded
them, don't you depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the
Father, which saith, He ye have heard of me. For John truly baptized
with water, or in water, but ye shall be baptized with the
Holy Ghost not many days hence. And they were therefore come
together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this
time restore again the kingdom to Israel? After all this preaching about
the kingdom of God. And they still got issues with
this. They've still got issues. They
didn't understand. They didn't understand this kingdom
of God's spiritual kingdom. Well, looking back to John chapter
6, and I want you also to kind of hang on to Matthew chapter
14. Let me show you three things
real quick. Number one, our Savior's divine
authority. Let me show you that in this
situation, Our Lord Jesus demonstrates His absolute authority. And we
know something of God's eternal purpose. We know that of Him
and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory
both now and forever. Amen. We know that Ephesians
1 says, in whom we have obtained an inheritance being predestinated
according to the purpose of Him who worketh all things after
the counsel of His own will. Our Savior is always working
things after the counsel of His own will. Everything fulfills
His purpose. Our Lord, first of all, He rejects
the coronation of the people. He won't be the earthly king.
And then He sends His disciples toward, across the sea. They began to head out across
the Sea of Galilee. And after he sees them begin
to set sail, then he sends the multitudes away. Now, go back
to Matthew chapter 14. There are several things we need
to remember here, and one of them is this. Our Lord is always
in control of every situation. He sent His disciples away. He
sent the multitudes away. Then He went up another mountain
in order to pray. Notice here in Matthew chapter
14 verse 22. In a straight way, Jesus constrained
His disciples to get into a ship. Matthew 14 verse 22. I draw your
attention to the word constrained. It means to drive, to force. He didn't say to His disciples,
now you men, it would be good for you if you just take a ship
and go across the lake. No, that's not what happened.
Here is absolute sovereign authority. The word constrained means He
drove them. He forced them. He exercised His sovereign will. Maybe these men were reluctant
to go. I don't know. Maybe they didn't
want to go. Maybe they said, Master, we need
to listen to the folks here because you've got such a big following
here. This is the largest following
you've ever had. And that was a fact. Lord, your
public ministry has been going on two years now. You've never
had crowds this big. You've never had thousands of
people following you. Now is the time to act. I don't
know. Maybe they said that. But I do
know what the Lord said. You men are leaving here. You
are leaving here. He is forcing them away. He is
driving them away. By His own omnipotence, by His
own authority, He is driving them away. He made them get into
the ship. This is absolute authority. And then He made the multitudes
leave. And then He went up into a mountain
to pray. For whom does He pray? He prays
for His people. He said, I pray not for the world.
I pray for those that Thou hast given Me. For Thine are Mine
and Mine are Thine. And while He is up on the mountain
praying, a storm arose on the sea. John says they had rode
25 to 30 furlongs, that's 3 or 4 miles. And the wind just became
awful. Notice what Matthew says, down
in verse 24. The ship was now in the midst
of the sea, tossed with waves, for the wind was absolutely contrary. Oh, it's an angry wind. It's contrary. What does that
mean? They want to go this way, and
the wind is driving them back this way. It's a mean wind that
they're going into. If you read Mark's account of
this, in Mark chapter 6, Mark says, the Lord saw them, He saw
them toiling, which means they were tormented in the sea. This was just tormenting them. It's a futile attempt to row
the ship. Row harder! Row harder! I'm rowing
as hard as I can row, but the wind is blowing us back! Well,
don't you realize we're out here three or four miles? Come on
men, put your backs into it! We can't! Oh, what rough winds can blow
for the people of God sometimes. But who controls the wind? Who controls the wind? Look at Acts chapter 27. Acts
chapter 27. Oh, the contrary winds of life. They can indeed blow up a violent
storm, can't they? And you know, as the people of
God, we all are familiar with some of the storms of life. And,
you know, you don't get the same kind of storm I get. Boy, we
had a storm The other evening, and some of you saw on Facebook,
a huge tree in the backyard fell, came crashing down. But not only the literal winds
can blow hard, but I mean the winds trouble for your life. And don't you think it's true
that we're either coming out of a storm or we're in a storm
right now? Or we're about to go into another
storm. That's just the way it is. The
winds blow. The winds blow. You've read this
story here in Acts chapter 27. You know, the apostle Paul, the
Lord said he's going to stand before Caesar. He's on a ship,
they've arrested him, they've taken him to Rome and they're
making plans to leave next day. And the Apostle Paul says, I
wouldn't leave if I were you. He told the captain of the vessel,
he said, I don't think so. And he didn't have a weather
forecaster, you know, to tell him. He couldn't look at the
news or anything like that. He couldn't look on the internet
and see what the weather forecast was going to be. The Lord just
told him, he said, there's going to be some bad weather. It's
going to run into some bad weather. And Paul said, it'd be best thing
not to leave. And the next morning, everybody
got up, and the captain of the ship, and the man who owned the
ship, and who owned all the stuff that's going to be that which
the ship would be laden, they looked and said, man, the seas
are calm. This guy, he may be a preacher, but he don't know
anything about sailing. So let's go. So they all set
sail. And while they had smooth seas.
And then, oh my. Oh, it was bad. Look at verse
14. Well, verse 13 says, the south
wind blew softly, and supposing that they had obtained their
purpose, loosing fence they sailed close by Crete. But not long
after, there rose against it a tempestuous wind, it's called
Euroclodon. Euroclodon. This is a fierce
east wind. Oh, this is a wind that just,
it's going to toss this ship to and fro. And they tried to
steer it. Got somebody on the rudder and
guys that are rowing. They got caught up in the wind.
A Heraclodon. And look at verse 15. And when
we could not bear up into the wind, we just let her drive.
You know what that means? There ain't no use to row anymore,
guys, and you might as well forget holding on to that brother. Just
hold on for dear life. Let her ride. You're in a storm,
just let her ride. Hold on for dear life. Sometimes
that's a storm in a believer's life, isn't it? You've done everything
you know to do, and then you just hold on for dear life. Let
her ride. Because who's sending the wind? The Lord's sending the wind.
You know what the Apostle Paul told these people? He said, now
listen. Tell you the Lord who's I am. He told me there's going
to be no loss of life. Not going to be any loss of life.
We're going to lose our stuff. But we're all going to be safe
as long as you stay in the ship. As long as you stay in the ship.
That's what he told them. And I'm telling you, those in
the ship of grace, we're safe. That don't mean that your roclodon
won't blow. That doesn't mean that you may
lose all your stuff, but that's all it is, is stuff. But you
are safe, because you are in Christ Jesus. And He's the one
who sends the storm. They all stayed on board. And
they all made it. The ship didn't fare so well.
But they made it. Look at Amos chapter 4. Amos
chapter 4. Back in the Old Testament. Amos
chapter 4. Look at verse 13. For lo, He that formeth the mountains
Createth the wind. Amos 4.13, For lo, He that formeth
the mountains, and createth the wind, and declareth unto man
what is in his thought, that maketh the morning darkness,
and treadeth upon the high places of the earth. The Lord, the God
of hosts, is His name. It's His wind. The Lord sends winds according
to His will. Nahum 1 in verse 3 says, The
Lord is slow to anger and great in power and will not at all
acquit the wicked. The Lord hath His way in the
whirlwind and in the storm, the clouds are the dust of His feet. Have you ever felt as a child
of God that the winds are so contrary to you? that there's
just no let up. There's just no let up. Sometimes
God's people feel like that. I think I'm in a urocladon. Have you ever felt like you're
in a urocladon? You start off and the soft southern
breezes are blowing. Isn't it wonderful to be a Christian?
all such smooth sailing. And then the winds change, and
they start blowing. Then you say, You say to your
wife, you say to your husband, you say to your family, hold
on. Just let her drive. Just let
her drive. I don't know what God's doing.
I don't know why God's sending this storm. I don't know why
He's sending us into the very teeth of the wind. Just hold
on to the Lord Jesus Christ and oh Lord, don't let go of me!
I'm in the ship of grace. And I know I may lose some unnecessary
stuff along the way in this storm, but Lord, I know I'm safe in
you. That's what we have to remember. And I want you to keep this in
mind. These men on the sea in the storm, they're not there
because they were disobedient. That's where the Lord forced
them to be. We already established that. He forced them to be there.
He drove them out there. He said, you going out there
in the sea? Well, okay Lord. And they get
out there. Wow! Learn this, the storms of life
do not arise on their own. They don't arise on their own. Job. Job. A servant came back and told
him, said, the wind's kicked up. Oh, Job. And all of your family, all of
your kids, they were having a big feast. And then the wind started
blowing. Job, it was uncontrollable. Oh,
Job, it was so awful, it blew it all down and all your kids
are dead. Who controls the wind, Job? Job said the Lord gave and the
Lord taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.
Job worshipped. He worshipped. Our Lord sends these winds according
to His will. This is divine authority. I'll
show you something else about this. Here's divine awareness. Divine awareness. Go to Mark with me. Look at Mark
chapter 6. Mark chapter 6. Let me show you
John Mark's inspired account of this. Yes, the disciples are caught
in a storm, and yes, it's a fierce wind that blows against them.
And our Lord isn't up there with them. Now, you know, they were
earlier, they were on a ship, on a stormy sea, but He was with
them then. Right? He was with them then,
though He was in the back of the ship fast asleep. But this
time, they're up there, and the Master isn't with them. Well,
where is He? He's up on a mountain somewhere
praying. And Scripture says, by Himself. Look at Mark chapter 6 verse
45. Verse 44, let's make sure we
understand the context. And they that did eat of the
loaves were about 5,000 men, and straightway He constrained
His disciples to get into the ship. Notice Mark used the exact
same word Matthew did. To go to the other side before
unto Bethsaida, while He sent away the multitude. And when
He had sent them away, then He departed into a mountain to pray.
And when evening was come, the ship was in the midst of the
sea, and He was alone on the land. But look at verse 48. And He saw them, He saw them
toiling in rowing. He saw them. You know, the word
toiling means laboring with all their might. But He saw them. What's that
song? His eye is on the sparrow. I
know He watches me. He saw them. Oh, His immediate
presence wasn't with them, but listen, His eye never strays
from watching over His people. He saw them. For the wind was contrary, verse
48 says, and about the fourth watch of the night he came to.
Fourth watch, they had four watches, you know. Six to nine, nine to
twelve, twelve to three, three to six. Four watches. So it's late, somewhere between
three and six a.m. And they're out there. They don't realize that he's
watching all along. He's fully aware of what's happening. Listen. Let me say this to the
people of God. And I don't know who this message
is for. Maybe for one or two here tonight. Maybe for somebody watching on
the internet. I don't know. Maybe we can file
it away in our memory banks for the next storm that we have to
go through. But know this. Our way is never hidden from
the Lord. He's fully aware of what's going
on. And though sometimes on a stormy sea, the black clouds are so
bad and the wind's blowing so hard, maybe the eye of fate can't
even detect him anymore, he's always watching us. We are never out of his sight
and we're never out of his mind. We're always on his heart. Job
said, Job 23.10, but he knoweth the way that I take. When he's
tried me, I shall come forth as gold. The same eye that watched His
disciples on this tempest-tossed sea watches us. And when we can't see Him, just
rest assured, He sure sees you. He sees you. Let me get to this
last thing, the divine manifestation of his presence. Look at how
Mark expresses this. Verse 48, when he saw them toiling
and rowing, he saw them toiling and rowing, for the wind was
contrary unto them. About the fourth watch of the
night he cometh unto them, walking upon the sea, and would have
passed by them. He's just out for a stroll early
in the morning. And here's the sea boiling with
foam. I mean, it's an angry sea. It's
an angry lake. And the winds are blowing and
our Lord goes for a walk. But He's not walking alongside
the seashore. He's walking on the sea. And
he acted as if he was just going to walk right by them. Just walk right by them. But when they saw him, verse
49, they thought it was a spirit. They thought they had seen a
ghost. And all of them saw him. All of them saw him. And then they were really afraid.
Because they didn't recognize him. While He appeared, He appeared
somewhere that they didn't expect to see Him. He was right out there beside
them. Just like that. Before they knew it. And when
He was out there, there they had His presence. They weren't
even aware that they had His presence. And I'll tell you,
there are times in our lives when the Lord is with us. But you know there are some times
we can't see Him, we don't even recognize Him. But He's with
us. He said, Lo, I'm with you always,
even to the end of the world. He said, I'll never leave you.
I'll never forsake you. He started talking with them.
He said, be of good cheer. It's me. He said, be not afraid. And then Matthew, go back over
to Matthew 14 real quick. Matthew 14, 28. And Peter answered
and said, Lord, if it's really you, bid me come to thee on the
water. And the Lord said, well, come
on. Matthew 14, 29. And when Peter
was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water to go
to Jesus. But when he saw the wind boisterous,
you see, they were still in a storm. He said, well, wherever the Lord
comes, the storm will surely end. Well, it didn't hear. Now, they did have His presence
with them in the midst of the storm. He never said you're not
going to have a storm. He never said, you'll never encounter
a Heraclodon. What He has said is this, I'll
be with you. That's what He said, I'll be
with you. Wind still blowing, water crashing
over the bow of the boat. Peter said, Lord, if it's really
You, let me walk on water. And Peter steps out on that Water just, terrible churning. But he saw the wind, he got to
looking at the storm. Don't you reckon that we focus
too much on the storm and not the Master? Don't you find that
to be true? That's what I find to be true.
I get to looking at the storm, forget about the Master. That's
what gets us in trouble. No question about it. This is
so elementary. Simon Peter, as long as he's
got his eyes on the Master, he's okay. But then he gets to looking
at the boisterous waves. Oh, this is a terrible situation. And boy, I'll tell you, he starts
going under. But he doesn't go all the way under. The Lord's
not going to let you sing plumb out of sight. That's just not
going to happen. beginning to sink, just beginning
to sink, he cried, Lord, save me. That's a cry of a sinner
in need too, isn't it? Lord, save me. I see the winds of your wrath,
the storm of your judgment. Lord, save me or I perish. And the children of God say the
same thing. And immediately Jesus stretched
forth His hand. He didn't say, now Simon Peter,
grab a hold. He put His hand forth and
He caught him. He snatched him. He grabbed hold
of him. Boy, that's irresistible grace.
That's effectual grace right there. That's the kind of grace
I need. I need somebody who will come
after me and take hold of me and pull me up by His almighty
hand. I tell you, here's what I see
here. He caught him and then He taught him. That's what it
is. He caught him and then He taught
him. He taught him this, O thou of little faith, why do you doubt? Why do you doubt? Mark's account says something
like this, they forgot about. It's what Mark says, let me read
it to you. Mark says, they considered not
the miracle of the loaves, for their heart was hardened. How quickly we forget the blessings
of the past. The people had just been fed.
They just watched the Master multiply, create bread and fish,
bread and fish, bread and fish, over 5,000 men plus women and
children and all the leftovers. And the very next trial, the
very next trial, they forgot about the deliverance
that they just experienced a few hours ago. That's us, isn't it? Boy, that is us. Boy, it would
just say, Lord, guilty. That's me, Lord. That's me. He says, O thou of little faith, what's the purpose of all this? And I'll give this to you and
I'll quit. Look at verse 32, Matthew 14. That's when the storm ended.
It wasn't until the Lord stepped in the ship, then the storm ended. Through all of this, Peter walking
and sinking, that's in the middle of the storm. Now verse 33, Then
they that were in the ship came and worshipped him. That's what
the whole thing is about. They said, of the truth, thou
art the Son of God. Preacher, why does the Lord send
us the winds, why the severe storms? To bring us to Himself,
to worship Him. You see, I tell you why storms
are good, and I know they're painful, and if you've been under
a urocladon, it's tough, you're just hanging on. What's the purpose
of it though? These winds drive us to the Lord. And that's good. That's why they're
good. I didn't say they're not painful,
but they're good for us. Because these men, they worshipped
Him. You're the Son of God. So, in your Euroclodon, Worship Him and be thankful He
is hanging on to you. Our salvation is not dependent
upon us hanging on to Him. Although we do continue to believe,
our safety is dependent upon Him hanging on to us. The Lord's
eye rocked in Him we hide, a shelter in the time of storm.