Well, the first thing we've got
to do is explain. Everybody asks, where is Shelby?
How's Shelby? And I'm glad. Shelby told me
to be sure to tell you hello and she's sorry she couldn't
be here. Many of you are aware I've had some physical difficulties
the last few years and Shelby's scared to death for me to go
anywhere on my own. So she travels with me all the time and does
everything for me. I read and study and write and
preach and everything else she does. But sometimes she just
has to stay home. So on short trips, I'll tell
you I went and got her a load of mulch last week. She's been
spreading mulch and planting flowers. So we take off tomorrow
afternoon and go down to Kingsport and then over to Buck Mountain,
Tennessee. So she sends her greetings to you. Brother Tom Harding,
Drove up to Kingsport, Tennessee. Drove down to Kingsport, Tennessee
for what? Four years? Five years? Six years.
Six years. Faithfully preaching to those
folks every Sunday night. Last year and a half of that
time, I relieved them once a month and I'd go preach to them. I
got very close to the congregation. And about two years ago, Brother
Anthony called me or I did him. We talked. at least several times
a week and the name of Gabe Stoniker came up and I said I've known
Gabe since he was six or seven years old you won't find a more
faithful man and I highly recommend him I did good when I got shoveled and buried
in Mississippi and recommended Gabe I did good twice anyway
it's good to be with you again This congregation is dear to
me, your pastor and his wife, very dear to me. And I have a
message for you. Turn with me to Mark chapter
4. I know to whom I'm speaking.
And I know that your dear pastor and his wife are going through
a hard time. And I know that this church family
is. And I've got a message for Donnie and Mary and for this
church family. rest of you can listen in if
you can Mark chapter 4 verse 35 the same day when the evening
was come the Lord Jesus saith unto them let us pass over unto
the other side and when they sent away the multitude they
took him even as he was in the ship and 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 and he
the Lord Jesus was in the hindered part of the ship asleep on a
pillow and they await him And saying to him, Master, carest
thou not that we perish? And he arose, and rebuked the
wind, and said unto the seed, Peace be still. And the wind
ceased, and there was a great calm. And he said unto them,
Why are ye so fearful? How is it that ye have no faith? And they feared exceeding men,
and said one to another, What manner of man is this, that even
the wind and the sea obey him? As our Lord and his disciples
were crossing the sea of Galilee, a terrible storm arose. the ship filled with water was
tossed in the terrible storm and the disciples in the panic
of their terror in the panic of their terror were filled with
unbelief when they cried out master carest thou not that we
perish the Lord Jesus arose and calmly rebuked their unbelief
and by the power of his word calm the sea and the storm now
few if any of our Lord's miracles were likely to leave the disciples
with such an impression as this one here is an unforgettable
conviction demonstration of divine omnipotence in a man so that
the wind and the waves obey his voice The wind and the waves
obeyed his voice. At least four of these men were
professional fishermen, skilled seamen. In all likelihood, Peter,
Andrew, James, and John, being familiar with the Sea of Galilee
from their youth, had seen many of these devastating, often fateful
storms arise. Never, even in the greatest of
our Lord's miracles, had they seen such a demonstration of
His power as we've just read about. By the mere word of His
mouth, our Savior stopped the storm. By the mere word of His mouth,
He stopped the storm. Now there are many important
lessons to be drawn from this story. Let me give you the lessons
and then I'm going to give you a parable. First, faith in Christ and obedience
to Christ do not exempt God's saints from all the storms that
other people face in this world. it rather intensifies them faith in Christ and obedience
to Christ do not exempt God's saints from all the storms everybody
else in this world faces rather it intensifies them Lauren Moody just last week confessed
faith in our Redeemer So thankful for God's good. It's been praying
for a long time. You're about to meet some storms. That's just
fact. That's just fact. All the heartaches,
all the pains, all the sicknesses, all the troubles that everybody
else faces, you will too. But now there's an added difficulty.
You know that your Heavenly Father is the one who sends the trouble. Not by accident, on purpose. Not because of anger, but because
of love. It is our Father who breaks our
teeth with gravel stones. It is our Father who sings to
roar against us. And these things he does for
the benefit of our souls, for our everlasting good and his
everlasting praise. And in the midst of these trials,
rarely can we see that. Rarely, rarely. Get on the other side and look
back. And he said, boy, oh God, how good you've been. But going
through the storm is another story. Going through the storm
is another story. I recall years ago, a young believer
in our congregation in Danville, we all had a dear friend, Brother
James Rankin, one of our deacons, a long, long, long prospective
death with prostate cancer. The young man said, I don't know
what all the great sorrow is about. I said, you never lived
with a man 50 years and watched him die for two years, have you? The storms are real and painful
and difficult. Here's the second lesson. The
fact that our Lord Jesus was laying in the back of this ship
asleep. Can you imagine sleeping through
this? The fact that he's laying in the back of this ship sound
asleep in the midst of this terrible storm is a declaration that our
Savior is a real man. He was tired. He was tired. Dead, tall, tired. Tired. Understand this, children of
God. It behooved him, the Son of God, in all things to be made
like unto his brethren. It behooved him to do so because
it was necessary that he who is God, our surety, be man, our
surety, only the God-man could redeem and save our souls. But
the scripture says it behooved him to be made like unto his
brethren that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things
pertaining to God. And now, now, this man, this
merciful and faithful high priest is able to succor. We don't use
that word much anymore, do we? Modern translation gives it help. No, it ain't more than help.
It ain't more than help. Succor. That's to help with care. That's to help with tenderness.
That's to help with love. He's touched with the feeling
of our affirmative. So He's able to help you feeling
what you feel. That's help. Help with the omnipotence of
His grace. And help with the feeling of
an empathizing heart. He's walked in your path. He's
been where you are. He's gone through what you go
through. He will not send you where he has not been. I read
a passage in Psalm 59 10 the other day that struck me remarkably. David said, the God of my mercy
shall prevent me. The God of my mercy always goes
before me. The God of my mercy always precedes
me. I never move an inch where He
hasn't already gone. Real man. Number three. The fact that the wind and the
sea obeyed His word demonstrates our Savior's complete deity.
This man, this man who is our Redeemer, This man who is our
Savior, He is God. I'm not looking for words to
say. I want you to hear what I'm about to say. I want you
to listen. Jesus is God. He's God. He's God. Now I've read a few theology
books and I know I've been warned all my life as a young believer
you don't ever say God became a man he took on himself our
nature no the word was made flesh God became a man that man who
sits upon the throne of the universe ruling all things for us, that
man, touched with the feeling of our infirmities, is God. Now that God can help, that man
can help, he can help. Number four, understand this,
the greatest saints in this world are still sinners. We heard that twice last night.
The strongest believers are sometimes, no oftentimes, full of unbelief. The strongest believers are often
full of unbelief. I pastor a family that I dearly
love in Danville. And those sheep committed to
my care, I have some responsibility for them. And I hide, with Mark
and Virginia, I hide a lot of things from you about me. I hide
a lot of things. I tell you what I try to hide
more than anything else is any display of unbelief. With all
my soul. How often I'm full of the fun
belief. You too. That's the reason you pace the
floor at night and you bite your fingernails and you toss and
turn and you try to work things out and you just work things
out and you try to do something. I got to do something. I got
to do something. I got to do something. And at
last you find out there's nothing you can do. And when God makes
you understand there's nothing you can do. You begin to believe. That's just the way it is. That's just the way it is. We
will never bow to our Redeemer until we can't do anything else. It won't happen. We won't bow
to His will until we can't do anything else. It just won't
happen. It just won't happen. Just as
these disciples were full of unbelief, so we are. But our
Savior, the Lord Jesus, is a tender, compassionate, forgiving Savior. Don't you love the way He addressed
their unbelief? He didn't get up and scold them. He didn't berate them. He just
said, why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?
Why are you so fearful, God? How is it you have no faith?
After all you've seen? After all you've experienced?
Why are you so fearful? Why is it you have no faith? Oh, thank you, Savior, for your
tender, compassionate, constant forgiveness. Number six. Now understand this. Understand
this. Our Savior's reason for everything
He does is the salvation of His elect. Well, how is this going to work
out and save anybody? What you went through with your
baby all those years? How is this going to work out
and save anybody? I don't know. I don't know. I don't have any
idea. Except that God works all things together through good
and through evil. To them is not God. To them who are called
according to his purpose. And his purpose is salvation,
is a land. Do you know what our Lord was
doing in this ship? Remember what he's doing? Get
to chapter 5, he's on his way across the sea to meet up with
a mad insane Gadarene for whom the time of love had come. That's what he's doing in everything. He's saving his people. There
is a people in this world loved of God redeemed with Christ's
precious blood who must be saved at precisely the moment described
in this book as the time of love. There's a day appointed when
you, if you're gods, are going to meet the master and all hell
can prevent it. In fact, hell shall only contribute
to it. That's exactly right. That's
exactly right. He works all things to this end. Number seven. All who are in the good grace
with Christ Jesus are perfectly safe as they pass through the stormy
seas of this life. As safe as he is. As safe as he is. Now those lessons
are themselves a sermon I often preach one way or the other,
as you other preachers do. But I want to use this event on the
Sea of Galilee as a parable of every believer's life. That's
the title of my message, a parable of every believer's life. When
the Son of God enters the hearts of chosen sinners, in His sovereign
power and saving grace, He brings us with Himself into His Church
and the Kingdom of God. He brings us with Himself into
the ship of grace and salvation. And as He does, He casts His
eye across the sea of time to the other side. and turns our
eyes across the sea of time to the other side and he says let
us pass over to the other side. Brother Don, is that what this
is intended to teach? Let's see. Hold your hands here
in the bar and turn back to Psalm 107. Psalm 107. Brother Stoudaker just brought us that
outstanding message Story of a Bride for Isaac. Why do you
reckon that was written in scripture? Why do you reckon to inform us
of the history of Abraham's family? No. No. Now it's a true history. It's a true history. But it was
written to be an allegory to teach us exactly what you just
taught us. That's what you do with it. And every event in this
book, every historic event recorded in this book was designed and
brought to pass by our Heavenly Father in His good providence
to be an allegory to teach us something about His grace, His
salvation, and His mercy. Even this storm through which
the disciples were passing. Look here in Psalm 107 verse
23. They that go down to the sea in ships that do business in great waters
these see the works of the Lord and his wonders in the deep can't
see them anywhere else for he commandeth and raiseth the stormy
wind which lifteth up the waves thereof they mount up to the
heaven they go down again to the depths their soul is melted
because of trouble that's trouble Their soul is melted because
of trouble. They reel to and fro and stagger
like a drunken man and are at their wits end. They're at their
wits end. Oh honey, what are we going to
do? What are we going to do? What are we going to do? What are we going
to do? They're at their wit's end. Then. I believe I'd mark that with
bold underlining right there. Then. When God brings us to our
wit's end, then they cry unto the Lord in their trouble and
he bringeth them out of their distresses. Now watch this. He maketh the storm a calm it doesn't mean how you wrote
that Donnie he didn't say he takes away the storm he maketh the storm a calm so
that the storm ceases to be a storm to you he maketh the storm a calm so
that the waves thereof are still. Then are they glad, because they
be quiet. Oh. Oh. Oh, thank you. Thank you for
the story. Making it a card. and making
me quiet so that is this is the means
by which he bringeth them unto their desired haven oh that men would praise the
Lord what's this? for his goodness oh that men
would praise the Lord for his goodness and for his wonderful
works to the children of man you see all that God does in
time all that God does in our lives is the display of his goodness
and all his works are wonderful works for our souls The believer's
life is a voyage across the troubled sea to our desired haven on the
other side. Let me describe this for you
in five brief statements. First, understand that every
believer's life is a voyage. The Son of God takes us into
the good ship of grace and says let us pass over to the other
side. He will keep me till the river
rolls its waters at my feet. Then he'll bear me safely over
where my Savior I shall meet. But this passing over at the
other side is not something we're going to do someday. It's something
we're doing every day. Walking now through the valley
of the shadow of death. walking now every day through
the valley of the shadow of death. The sea is a fit emblem for our
lives and all the various circumstances of our lives in this world and
how quickly we pass over this sea. I've watched a lot of men die.
Brother Donnie said yesterday I'm not an old timer Well, he
and I are about the same age, but I was born an old timer.
I've been old all my life, seems like, but I've been around a
little bit. I've been pastoring since I was
21 years old. One of my first experiences as
a 21-year-old pastor, Brother Harold Martin, one of the deacons
in the Church Lookout West Virginia, his brother was in the hospital
down in Montgomery dying. and asked if I'd go see him and
I said if you don't mind me telling you want me to go see him I'll
be happy to he said no you can tell us and I walked into his
room 21 year old posture man I had the world by the tail on
a downhill pull everything going fine there wasn't much I didn't
know and I'd be quick to tell you I went in to see him and
I met up with the shock of my life at that time I walked in
he said who are you? And I said, I'm Don Fortner.
I'm your brother Harold's pastor. And that man glared at me. He said, I don't need you. I've
lived like hell, and I'll die like hell. Leave me alone. I was speechless. I was speechless. I said, yes, sir, and walked
out the room. And he died like hell. A little while later, Brother
Harold was dying. I spent the whole day with him,
the last day he was conscious. And this is how he died. His
last words, his very last words were, Preacher, it's good to
come here and know everything's under the flood. Your voyage across the sea is
going to end. And you're going to meet God.
You're going to meet God. Soon you'll pass over the horizon. And how will it be for you in
that day? How will it be for you in the
swelling of the Jordan? Trust Christ and He'll make the
storm a calm. Trust Christ and you'll leave
this world with peace. Alright, here's the second thing. Not only is our life compared
to a voyage, it's a voyage across a stormy sea. Verse 37 here in
Mark 4. There arose a great storm of
wind and the waves beat into the ship so that it was now full. We must often sail into the tempest
of sorrow, affliction, adversity, and grief. But Christ's presence assures
us of safety no matter how hard the storm may be. These disciples,
you will notice in the text, were not acting in disobedience.
They were not acting on their own. You know what they were
doing? They were obeying the master. He said let's get in the ship
and go over to the other side. And he got in and they followed
him into the ship. You see the fact is the path
of faithfulness is always right through the eye of the storm. Always. No exceptions. Always. Loyalty and obedience
to Christ is the surest course of trouble in this world. Now
our storms are many and varied. But basically all of our trials
and troubles in the midst of the storm arise from two sources. The contrary winds of our circumstances
without. and the ways of sin and unbelief
within. I'm speaking as much from my
experience today as I am from the word of God and I know what
I'm talking about. I've had some difficulties, not
in the name of mention, but a few. I've had some trials, I've had
some heartaches. but any of them would have been
bearable if I could just believe God you see God's people are like
the Shulamites described in the Song of Solomon all of them she
represents the church she says I am as it were two armies the
company of two armies flesh and spirit. The two constantly lusting
against the other. Our great difficulties arise
from our unbelief. Would you mind turning back to
that passage that Brother Bruce read to us or quoted last night
in Psalm 73. Psalm 73. Psalm of Asaph. Probably was written by David
for Asaph. let's just presume that's the
case truly God is good to Israel to such as are of a clean heart
and all God's Israel be born of his spirit of a clean heart
but as for me as for me one of these Israelites with a clean
heart one of these born of God given a new nature a clean heart
With no God, my feet were almost gone. My steps had well nigh
slipped. For I was envious at the foolish. When I saw the prosperity of
the wicked. Because I looked over my neighbor. He didn't have
any trouble. And it seems like when he has
things that would cause me trouble, he says right through it, no
bother. Everything goes fine with him. And I said, I've washed
my hands in innocency. What good does it do me to serve
God? And then I thought to myself,
oh, don't let anybody hear me. That's what I'm talking about
hiding from you, Mark. Oh no, don't let God's people hear me
say that. Oh, oh no! Lest I should have fared against
a generation of your children. then I went to the house of God
and understood their end verse 21 thus my heart was grieved
and I was pricked in my rage so foolish was I and ignorant
I was as a beast before they nevertheless Oh, how faithful our God is.
How faithful. Nevertheless, in spite of my
behavior, in spite of my thoughts, in spite of my unbelief, in spite
of my flesh, in spite of me, I am continually with thee. Thou
hast holden me by my right hand. Thou shalt guide me with thy
counsel. And afterward, when you get done, receive me up in
glory. Whom have I in heaven but thee?
And there is none upon earth that I desire besides thee. Now third, let me hurriedly tell
you this. Our life in this world is a voyage
with Christ. Our Savior didn't say to these
disciples, you go over to the other side and I'll meet you
there. He said, let us pass over unto the other side. What a difference. And though there arose a great
storm and the waves beat into the ship so that it was full,
the Lord Jesus was in behind the part of the ship. He's silent,
but he was there. So it is with us. Often, in the midst of the darkness
and storms, God doesn't speak. He doesn't speak. Often. Often. In fact, He appears to
be deaf to our cries. And we're made to cry in our
souls, Master, don't you care? Don't you care? Oh, I'd never
say that. Who hasn't? Which of you hasn't? I'll sit
down and let you preach. Is your mercy clean gone forever?
Yeah. But he's always with us. He said, Lo, I'm with you always. He said, I'll never, no never,
no never, no never leave thee, nor forsake thee. Wouldn't a
God I could have believed in? Fear not, for I am with thee. Be not dismayed, for I am thy
God. I will strengthen thee. Yea,
I will help thee. Yea, I will uphold thee with
the right hand of my righteousness. So rejoice in the Lord always. Again I say rejoice. When your
tears burn your cheeks and your heart's heavy, rejoice in the
Lord. Oh, again I say rejoice! Let your moderation, your gentleness,
your peace of heart and soul, your calm in the storm be known
to all men. The Lord's at hand. The Lord's
at hand. He's with me, yes. He's in me,
yes. I'm in Him, yes. The blessing
be God. The Lord is at hand. He's right
here. Lay hold of Him. He's right here. Lean heavily upon Him. The Lord's
at hand. Fourth. Ours is a voyage marked
by miracles. Verse 39. The Lord Jesus arose
and rebuked the wind, said to the sea, Peace be still. And
the Wednesdays there was a great cop. I know we live in this age
of charismatic tomfoolery. And the cops will just pretend
everything is so wonderful. They pretend to have great miracles
in their lives. They'll slap somebody on the
head and he'll drop his crutches and say hallelujah, praise God.
All that nonsense. And it's all fake. It's fake
as a three dollar bill. How can you say that? I've read this book, that's how
I say that. But for us, Johnny, our lives
are marked all the time by miracles. Oh, the miracle of redemption.
What a miracle, God became a man. That man obeyed his law And we
obeyed his law in him. Such is the magnitude of that
man that in him are all for whom the Lord God is merciful and
gracious. And that man was made sin, who
is God and knew no sin. And that man being made sin justly
suffered all the fury of God's holy wrath due unto sin. And we suffered all the fury
of God's holy wrath due to our sin in Him. And He died and was
buried and He rose again and we rose in Him. Explain that. When you can explain a miracle
I can explain that. It's called a miracle of redemption. Regeneration. Oh, what a miracle. What a miracle. It took a miracle
to put the world in place. It took a miracle to hang the
stars in space. But when he saved my soul, cleansing
made me whole. Oh, a miracle of love and grace. And there's another one coming. Soon this body that must go to
the dust. Soon this body that must be buried
in the dark tomb. Soon this body will rise a glorious
body. Imagine that. Imagine that. Sow
a natural body. Raise a spiritual body. A spiritual body is a contradiction
in terms. It is unless you believe God. Stoned in corruption, raised
in incorruption. Stoned in mortality, raised in
immortality. Now, one last thing. I want you to see that our voyage
is a voyage with Christ across the stormy sea of life. So it
ought to be a voyage free of fear. We're perfectly safe through
the voyage. He said to them, why are you
so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?
The disciples' fear arose in their unbelief. Fear is the rake
weed of nature that grows in the soil of unbelief. These poor
disciples were so much like me. They should have been perfectly
calm. Why wasn't there that? Why didn't
they show it? They were on the master's business.
They were on the master's business. I went over and asked Father
Joyce to be sure to verify my memory. It's not what it used
to be. 30 years ago, Brother Henry Mahan, Milton Howard, Dwight
Claudia, Henry Dwight Doris, Carter and Joyce went with Milton
up to the ranch in Chiapas, Mexico and then went way up above the
ranch. Narrow, I can't describe the
roads. I just can't describe them. Just
can't describe them. Went way up here to have a meal
just one night. And on the way back it was dark,
pitch black, dark and horrible storm on a narrow winding muddy
road in the middle of those Chiapas houses. And the ladies began
to get a little fearful. And being two at the tail was
told right I said. And finally Henry said to Milton,
he said Milton stop for a minute. And he said to the folks in the
car, we're here on the master's business. Everything's alright. We're here on the Master's business.
Everything's alright. Christ is with us in the storm. They should have been, most reasonably,
looking at this thing, trusting Christ, but they didn't. Instead of looking to the Lord,
instead of looking to their omnipotent Saviour, they looked at the storm. And man when you look at the
storm you get in trouble. They looked at their sails and their
own weakness. Peter on one occasion walking
across the water to the Lord Jesus. Walking across the water. He's doing fine walking across
the water. He's doing it. More solid than it is right here.
Doing fine walking across the water. It was far more substantial
to his feet than this platform is to me. He walked across the
water. And he started to look at Peter.
As soon as he did, Daddy went. Look to Christ and walk with
confidence. Believe God and walk in peace. Lord give me grace to take the
Master's gentle rebuke personally and you too. Our greatest difficulties,
our greatest temptations, our greatest falls are always the
result of unbelief. Our Savior is the sovereign God
of providence, omnipotent, wise, and good. And He's with us in
the moment. That's not all. He's at the hail. And we want it so. Let's stand together
and pray. Blessed Son of God. Blessed, blessed Son of God.
Thank you for your mercy. The God of our mercy who prevents
us. Thank you for the goodness and mercy that pursues us all
the days of our lives. Give us grace that we may walk
in the assurance of that goodness and mercy until at last you've
landed us in our desired haven with you. Amen. PRABHUPADA - It's wonderful, absolutely wonderful.