Open your Bibles, if you would,
to, first of all, Matthew, Chapter 8, and then put your finger in
Luke, Chapter 8, which is where we'll be for our message. The name of the message is, Who
is this man? Who is this man? Matthew, Chapter 8, verses 23
to 27. We'll look at these two accounts
of the same narrative, first in Matthew and then in Luke.
Matthew chapter 8, speaking of Christ and when he was entered
into a ship, his disciples followed him, verse 23. Matthew 8, 23. And behold, there arose a great
tempest in the sea, insomuch that the ship was covered with
the waves, but he was asleep. So here, Our Lord and Savior
is asleep in the boat, and these waves are crashing
all around them. This great tempest had come upon
them, so much so that the ship was
covered with waves. They were coming over the sides,
and the Lord's just sleeping. And the disciples came to him
and awoke him, saying, Lord, save us! We perish! Is that not
the cry of every sinner who's being drawn to Christ? Save me,
Lord, or I'll perish. Storms of life come by. Save
me, Lord, or I'm going to perish! Even for we who believe, sometimes
we see those storms of life coming and they overwhelm us, don't
they? We cry out, Lord, save me from this storm. And they awoke him, saying, Lord,
save us. We perish. And he saith unto them, why are
ye fearful? Our reaction would have been
the same as the disciples, because this huge storm. And he says, oh, ye of little
faith. You know, our faith is fickle, isn't it? I'm the first
to admit my faith is fickle. I'm a safe sinner. Sometimes
my faith feels like it's up here and sometimes it feels like it's
way down here. We say the same thing happened to the apostles,
didn't it? We say the same thing. He says, oh ye of little faith.
At least we have a little faith, don't we? How much faith do we need to
save us? Whatever God gives us. For by grace do you save through
faith and not of yourselves. It's a gift of God, not of works.
Listen, you men should boast. Little faith. Little faith. My. Then he arose and repuked
the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm. I remember
going out fishing with my dad when I was little. We got real
early in the morning. And the water was so calm that
when those Canadian geese, they were flying and their wingtips
were hitting the water, you just hear, tsk-tsk, tsk-tsk. That's
what I picture here. Just that glass. Not even a ripple. Not even a ripple. It was absolutely
calm. Remember what it was just a few
minutes ago. It was covering the ship with water. And the man marveled, saying,
What manner of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey
him? Now let's turn over to Luke, chapter 8, verses 22 to 25. Same
narrative, but written from Luke's perspective here. Again, same
author, though, right? God the Holy Spirit is the author
of the scriptures. But we see this from Luke's view
now. Luke 8, 22 to 25, now it came
to pass on a certain day, not just any day, but a certain day. When we were saved on a certain
day, on purpose, by God, isn't that wonderful? That he went into the ship. with
his disciples. This is speaking of our Lord
and Savior, Jesus Christ. And he said unto them, let us
go over unto the other side of the lake. And they launched forth.
But as they sailed, he fell asleep. You see, this shows us the humanity
of our king. This shows us the humanity, right?
He gets tired just like we get tired. Last night I was sitting
in my chair and I passed out. because my body was weary. Our Lord got tired just like
you and I do. He's fully human and yet he's
fully God. We're going to see that come
on display in the next few verses. But he fell asleep and there
came down a storm of wind on the lake and they were filled
with water and were in jeopardy. And they came to him and awoke
him saying, Master, Master, we perish. Now remember, John and Peter were veteran fishermen. They'd probably seen some rough
waters. You know, you talk to fishermen who go out and commercially
fish, which is, I believe, what Peter and them did. They went
out and fished in the mornings and brought it in and probably
sold it to the markets. And every veteran fisherman will
tell you about one day when they were out. So these are men who
knew the skies, what to look for. This storm must have came
on just like that. And veteran fishermen, they usually
don't get, you know, they can get worried, but usually, you
know, they're used to rough waters. They're not used to this kind
of storm, are they? Not at all. They're not used to this kind
of storm. Master, master, we perish, then he arose and rebuked
the wind. Here is his deity on display.
So as humanity's on display, he gets tired and lays down,
has a sleep. Now here is his deity on display. Look at this. We rebuke the wind
and the raging water and they cease just like that. Just like that. What power! What power! No wonder when Lazarus was dead
and our great king said, Lazarus, come forth! And he came forth,
didn't he? This is the very man who commands the winds and the
waves. How? Because he's God in the
flesh. They're subject to him. He's been given all power. over
all things. And they ceased, and there was
a calm. And he said unto them, where
is your faith? We're all there, aren't we? Where
is your faith? And they, being afraid, wondered,
saying one to another, what manner of man is this? See, they didn't
fully even realize who he was. You imagine them, they're seeing
these miracles done. You think that would be enough
to convince them, right? Seeing these miracles be done and now
he just gets up and commands the sea to be calm and the winds
to cease. And they're like, what manner
of man is this? He's not like anyone we know.
And you know what? They're right. He's not like any other man.
Not at all. He's the God man. And He can save whom He wills,
when He wills, because He has all power to do it. And you know,
God can save you in your seat without you moving a muscle.
Because it's a heart work, right? He does the work in us. Born
again by the Holy Spirit of God. My, oh my. And here we see the
two-fold representation of God in the flesh and the Lord Jesus
Christ human. We see the humanity of Christ
and the deity of Christ in what he's done here. He's sleeping.
God incarnate in the flesh, he calms the wind and the waves. And let the unbeliever look at
this and ask himself, Who but the Creator could command the
mighty waters in this way? Who but the Lord could command
the raging sea to be still? No one but God. Try it sometime. You won't get nowhere. Right? But he wakes up and commands
the sea to be calm, and it's like glass. The winds totally
cease, just like that, too. Instantaneous. Now, is this the God that's wringing
his hands and saying, well, I hope you come to me, but I don't have
no power to bring you to me unless you make a decision and walk
down this aisle. No, that's not the God of the
Bible, is it? This is the God of the Bible. This is the true God. He has
all power, all authority, all might. That's my Savior. Is He yours? That's my Lord. Is He yours? I pray God will
make it so. If He's not, oh, I pray He would.
My. And what consolation this can
bring the believer. No matter what the storms of
life that come our way, no matter what comes our way, We are kept
by the power of God, kept by the one who commands the waves
to cease, raging, and they do. The winds that howl in the storms
of life, and they howl all around us, don't they? He can cause
them to stop. How many times can we look back
on our lives and seem like we're in this little boat tossed all
up and down the waves? And he's caused the waters to
be calm and the winds to cease in our lives. He has, hasn't
he? And in a little while, another
storm coming by. Oh my, but he's always there.
He said, I'll never leave you nor forsake you to his people,
never. So the storms of life may assail
the believer and the storms of temptation may, but they all
must subside at the command of Christ. They all must command
it or subside at his command. Again, look at verse 22, now
it came to pass on a certain day that he went into a ship
with his disciples and he said unto them, let us go over to
the other side of the lake. And they launched forth. Now
it came to pass, you know, the world says, oh, it's just chance
and lucky he was there. No, this came to pass according
to God's eternal purpose. See, whatever God does, he does
on purpose. Right? He saves us what? On purpose. According to His will and purpose.
And we say, praise be to God. What love. What mercy I've received
from Christ. Undeserved mercy. Unmerited mercy. All by the grace of God. Came to pass. Here we are reminded
that Christ came to do the Father's will. That's why he came to this
world, to do the Father's will. What was the Father's will? To
save his people from their sins. To save all those who were given
to Christ in eternity. That's why he came here. My, oh my. Again, someone might
say, well, you don't know how much of a sinner I was, Wayne,
and how much of a sinner I am. Well, I know how much I was and
how much I still am, but God saved me. And we say along with
John Newton, the one who penned Amazing Grace, he said, if the
Lord saved me, he can save anyone he wants. Don't worry if your sin is black
as midnight. All of our sins are black as
midnight. But praise be to God, The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses
us from all sin. All sin. Every one. Well, what about my future ones?
Well, again, I'm going to say it again. I say it all the time.
All my sins were future at Calvary's cross. I wasn't even born. Christ
paid them all. Paid them all. That's good news
for sinners. The good news for this old sinner
Oh my. So this event here occurred according
to God's will and purpose. And think of this, God's the
same yesterday, today, and forever, right? He doesn't change. He
doesn't change. Now we get older and we change,
but God doesn't change. He's the same yesterday, today,
and forever. And see, we trust our eternal souls to He who does
not change. And that's who we do trust our
souls to, we who are believers, right? To Christ and Him alone. What a rest we have in Christ. See, in religion it's all, you
gotta do this, you gotta do that, and you're chained, as we saw
on Sunday school, with the religious yoke of bondage. But if the Son sets you free,
you're free indeed. So stand fast in that liberty
wherewith Christ hath made you free, and be not again entangled
in the yoke of bondage. Galatians 5.1. Oh, don't let someone yoke your
back under bondage. Certain day. Now, every day that
comes is a certain day for the Lord, because it's the day the
Lord made, right? It's the day the Lord made. You know, God
purposed this storm to rise up? Because it glorified God, didn't
it? It glorified and magnified God. Well, who's the Lord Jesus
Christ? God in the flesh. Now here we are reading this
going, oh my goodness, that's my king. That's my savior. Praise
his mighty name. If he's done that, it's easy
for him to keep me. I was watching a video this morning,
and it showed a person on their lawn chair in their backyard,
and it kept zooming out, 50 billion light years out. Well, within
just a few seconds, we were just a speck, as Brother Travis mentioned
in his message. We're just a speck. And then it went out and out
to our galaxy. Then it went out further and
further and further to all these other galaxies, beloved. And
further and further and further and further till it couldn't
go anymore. And it's he who spoke all that
into existence. The one here who's commanding
the wind and the waves is the very one who spoke all that into
existence. And it all consists because of him right now. Right
now. There's not a maverick molecule,
is there? There's not a molecule in this world out of place. No,
there's not. Even the dust that you see in the window is all
ordained by God. This is His world. And we see
here that everything is at His command. So rejoice if He saved you. Can
He keep you? Oh yeah, He can, can't He? There's
no doubt when we read this, Oh, he can keep us. He who rules
the waves and calms the wind is the one who keeps us. And
these disciples, right, they went in that ship. Could you
imagine, you know, Peter might be saying to John, we've never
experienced anything like this. Never, never seen a storm. And
John's like, I know. We have to get the master. We're
going to perish. And they're all talking amongst
themselves. You know what happens when they all talk amongst themselves?
Same thing that happens to us when we all get together and
talk about something. It's all just getting worked up. They got themselves into a frenzy,
didn't they? Lord, save us or we're going to perish. And our
Lord, he's, what? Why do you have so little faith?
Well, Lord, my faith is little, but it's in you. Right? It's in Christ and Him alone.
He's the only one I trust for my eternal soul, and same with
our dear brothers here. Lest we be too hard on our brethren
here, we're all the same. And the disciples were in the
best company that they could be in. They were in the best
company. They were in the company of the
God-man. They were in the company of He who rules the waves and
the wind. And they didn't know that, though.
Their flesh was getting the better of them, wasn't it? Just like
ours does. Just like ours does. This little
ship, can you imagine the guy who was building that ship? He
had no idea that that ship was going to be used for a divine
mission. That that ship was going to be having the Lord Jesus Christ,
the Prince of Life, in it when he built that ship. And
whoever captained the ship, they were just picking up another
passenger, weren't they? We're going to take him to the
other side of the lake. That's where he wants to go. So everybody in. Little did he know, and the people
who were on that ship who worked as shipmates, little did they
know that they were going to see the power of God on display.
And no wonder they said, what manner of madness is this? Who
is this man? Oh, he's on his way to the country
of the Gadarenes. One of his sheep is over there,
lost sheep, and he's all chained up. He's running around naked. He doesn't know he's going to
have a divine encounter with God, does he? But our Lord, you
know who goes to who? Our Lord goes to him, doesn't
he? Because the scripture says, there's
none that seeketh after God. There's none that understandeth.
Our Lord goes to him. And we know what happens. He casts them demons out of them,
doesn't he? My, oh my. The Lord crossed that
whole lake just to get to one sheep. Isn't that amazing? The Lord
came to me. I remember reading Spurgeon,
he said, even if there was only one sheep to be saved, Christ still would have went
to the cross. But when he went to the cross, he saved a multitude
that no man can number. by the shedding of his precious,
precious blood to redeem our eternal souls. So he's on his
way to call one of his lost sheep out of darkness. Is anything going to stop him? No big storm's going to stop
him, eh? Someone might think, well, that's an awful big storm.
Yeah, it would be to you and I, wouldn't it? But not to God
in the flesh. And the main reason for him getting
on this ship with his disciples is because the time of love was
appointed for one of his lost sheep, the Gadarene demoniac. It was his time of love. God
had appointed the exact time when he would come face to face
with Christ. Isn't that wonderful? See what I mean when I say God
saves us on purpose? When he came to us and we heard
a preaching of the gospel, and he came to us and he saved us,
that was at the exact time that we were to hear the gospel. And
we were brought to that exact place to hear the gospel from
that preacher. And God had ordained all that. Now that's incredible,
isn't it? See, it's the goodness of God
that leads men to repentance. So when we consider how good
he is to us, It leads us to repentance, doesn't
it? We're given faith to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and
repentance before God. It's a gift of God, not of works,
lest any man should boast. Scripture says this, who has
saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our
works. Salvation is not according to anything we do, no matter
how sincere we are. You cannot save yourself. I cannot
save myself. Nobody can save ourselves. But
according to His own purpose and grace, which was given us
in Christ Jesus before the world began. So before the world began, God
chose a people? Yes. And He did it on purpose? Yes. How do I know if I'm part of
that number? Do you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ? What did
Paul say? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,
the Philippian jailer, and thou shalt be saved. Do you believe
on Christ? He that hath a son hath eternal life. There's no
question. My, it's wonderful. It's absolutely
wonderful. So this ship, was purposed by
God to be used at this time. So what may we marvel as we read
this text, we are seeing God's eternal purpose at work. Remember
that when you're reading the scriptures, when you see Christ
healing a leper, giving life to Lazarus, all this is happening
according to God's eternal plan. And remember, when the Lord saved
us, it was all according to God's eternal plan. I know we can't
fully wrap our minds around that, but let us rejoice. My, see it's not dependent upon
our will, is it? Because our will is bound to
our nature and all we do is choose sin. But it's according to His
will and His purpose that He saves us by His grace and by
His mercy. Now look at this. The Lord says in verse 22, let
us go over into the other side of the lake, and they launched
forth. He commanded it, and they did it. He commanded it, and
they did it. Then look at verse 23. But as
they sailed, he fell asleep, and there came down a storm of
wind on the lake, and they were filled with water and were in
jeopardy. Christ the God-man fell asleep, but God never sleeps. But this is the humanity of Christ. He's tired just like we are.
He's bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh. His deity will be shown to us
in the next few verses, won't they? Here we see that Christ
is fully man and fully God. He's fully man and yet he never
ceased to be God. He's the Word of God incarnate.
As a man, Jesus grows weary. But he was always about his father's
business, wasn't he? He hungered, he thirsted, just
as any other man. He grew tired, weary. Yet without sin, he never grumbled.
Never sinned, he's sinless. He's perfect. So here we see again the humanity
of our Lord on display. We will soon see his deity on
display before us. And what a wonderful record God
the Holy Spirit's kept for us here, eh? It's wonderful that
we see the humanity of our King and we see that our Savior is
God too. It's incredible. Behold, he that
keepeth Israel shall never slumber nor sleep. The Lord is thy keeper,
the Lord is thy shade upon thy right hand. Psalm 121 verses
4 and 5. One grace preacher brought this
out. If God never sleeps, then there's no reason for both of
us to stay awake, is there? We often stay awake at night.
Some things keep us awake, don't they? Well, if God doesn't sleep,
then there's no need for us to stay awake. I got to remind myself
of that. Especially when I get insomnia.
I don't like insomnia. But it happens to us. As we get
older, we get it, don't we? It's just that it happens. God
takes care of our burdens. We're to cast them upon him because
he cares for us. He cared for us. Now think of
that. God cares for his people? Yes. And let us consider here, this
storm comes suddenly. As I said, these men are, Peter
and James and John, again, they were veteran fishermen. And I
imagine that the captain of the boat and probably his helpers
were veteran sailors. They know what to look for when
there's a storm. Vicki's brother is a sailor,
or a commercial fisherman, and so was her dad. And they can
look and see just from the sky the night before. It's incredible. But look at this in verse 23.
But as they sailed, he fell asleep. And there came down a storm of
wind on the lake, and they were filled with water and were in
jeopardy. Over in Matthew 8.24 it says this, And behold, there
arose a great tempest in the sea, insomuch that the ship was
covered with waves, but he was asleep. The tempest there in the Greek
means a great concussion or shaking. That was rough. They probably thought the whole
boat's going to come apart. It means the stormy wind moved
the sea in the waves, and both the wind and the sea shook the
ship. That's what it means in the Greek. And I'll tell you what, they
were frightened. And these were veteran fishermen.
And they were frightened. Both Mark and Luke use the, in
their accounts, use the same Greek word for storm, which is
The elapse is defined as a whirlwind, a tempest wind, a violent attack
of wind, a squall. So suddenly it comes upon them. Never a single gust nor a steady
blowing wind, however violent, but a storm breaking forth from
black thunderclouds in furious gusts with floods of rain. There's the Greek word for that. This was no ordinary storm. And it was sudden and unexpected.
And the disciples, they entered the ship. It must have been calm
when they entered the ship. It must have been calm and still. They set sail. Again, they were
seasoned fishermen. They wouldn't have set sail if
that storm was incoming. They wouldn't have. They would
have said, Lord, we can't go across there. So let's picture this in our
mind. It's a very severe storm that came out of nowhere. And
let's picture us there, too. And the boat's shaking. It's
concussing. Feels like the whole boat's going to fall apart. It's severe. It's a tempest. And in those circumstances, and
we feel this, don't we? In the storms of our lives, we
feel out of control. We don't like to feel out of
control, do we? But you know, that's the times
when we just surrender to Christ, right? Sometimes we go through
those storms so that we finally do that. Just surrender to Christ. Say, I can't take this, Lord.
I can't do this. It's in your hands. You have
to guide me through this storm, this calamity that's occurring.
And think of in this world there's famines and earthquakes and hurricanes
and tornadoes and war. We have evil men waxing worse.
The list goes on and on and on. But let us remember that those
things are not outside of God's control. He is a sovereign king. Why are
there wars? Because man's a sinner. Right? My oh my. Man desires power. Everything is under the control
of our sovereign God. And it's the Lord Jesus Christ
who is right now seated at the right hand of the Father. And
we see here, he's got all power. Again, let's look at verse 24. And they came to him and awoke
him, saying, Master, Master, we perish. Then he arose and
rebuked the wind and the raging of the water. And they ceased
and there was calm. They were filled with fear. They
were terrified. They were afraid. And that's
just like we finite humans, isn't it? That's just like me. These men were called to be the
Lord's apostles. And in their ministry which lay
ahead of them, unknown to them, they would face much danger, much persecution. God was preparing
them for that. Brother Norm says that we preachers
are just preparing those we preach to to go home to glory. I like
that. to get through the storms of
life, and to just keep resting and trusting in Christ and Him
alone. He's our only hope. We have no hope outside of Christ. Oh, these apostles will need
to know in the future that nothing can happen to them outside of
the permissive will of God. Because they're going to go through
some things, aren't they? The storms of life rage round
about them, and the wicked men thunder against them. But all
that was ordained by God, just as the storm that came upon them,
to manifest the power of God. What's the one thing that we
learn after we come through a storm of life? That God's on the throne. That he's sovereign. That he's absolutely sovereign. Turn, if you would, to John chapter
14. John chapter 14. Look at these words that our
Lord spoke to the disciples just before he went to the cross.
And remember who's speaking these words? It's God incarnate in
the flesh. It's the very one who we've seen calm the waves and still the
wind. And he writes to his, he tells
his apostles in John 14 verses one to four, let not your heart be
troubled. Why did he tell him that? Because
our hearts are often troubled. See, this is for us too, isn't
it? You believe in God? There's the question, isn't it,
of the ages. What think ye of Christ? What think ye of Christ? Oh, he's my Lord and Savior,
my King, my God, my Redeemer. There was a time when I didn't
think that about him, but he's my all in all now. Is he yours? You believe in God, believe also
in me. In my father's house are many mansions. If it were not
so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. You know that our treasure's
in heaven? You know who's our reward? I
was talking to somebody this trip about rewards, and they told me Oh, you don't
believe in all them rewards and stuff." And I said, nope, I don't. I said, the Lord said to Abraham,
I'm your exceeding reward. I said, Christ is my reward.
He said, so you don't believe we're going to get crowns and
cast them at the feet of Christ? And I said, nope. And he said, why do you serve
him then? Why serve him? Because I love him, I replied.
Because he saved my soul. He redeemed me with his precious,
precious blood. And he's everything to me. Oh, my beloved. See, their hearts
were troubled, just like our hearts get troubled. He says,
now go prepare a place for you. I will come again. and receive
you unto myself. I'm going to come back and get
you. He's not left us comfortless, has he? He's given us the Holy
Spirit. But we'll wait for his return, right? Whether it's at
our death or whether it's at his second coming. Why? He says, I will come again
and receive you unto myself, that where I am, there you may
be also. Oh, sweet words. Sweet words
from our Savior. And whither I go you know, and
the way you know. My, oh my. Now their hearts were
troubled during that storm too, wasn't it? Because they went
and said, Lord save us or we're going to perish. They were gripped
with fear, but they were taught a lesson. And a lesson for us
too. Now this would be a lesson they'd
remember for the rest of their life, wouldn't it? The Lord Jesus can speak peace
in any situation, let us remember that. He can speak peace in any
situation in our lives. And how does he do it? Just by
speaking a word. What power. What power is on display here.
He rose and rebuked the wind and the raging of the water and
they ceased and there was calm. What a friend we have in Jesus.
All our sins and griefs to bear. What a privilege to carry everything
to God in prayer. Oh, what peace we often forfeit. Oh, what needless pain we bear. All because we do not carry everything
to God in prayer. There is absolutely nothing too
small for us to take to our King. Remember that. Nothing, nothing
is too small in our lives to bring forth to the King. Now let's look at the marvelous
display of God's sovereign power. Verse 24. And they came to him
and awoke him, saying, Master, Master, we perish. Then he arose
and rebuked the wind and the raging of the water, and they
ceased, and there was a calm. Look at this. All he did was
speak. Speak. He rebuked the wind and the raging
of the water. Be still. I was thinking about
this. Be still, right? Peace, be still.
You know what God tells you and I
to do? I was thinking about this yesterday.
I was just chewing this around. God tells us to be still and
know that I am God. Let us not be troubled and moved
around like a storm. But let us sit at the feet of
Christ and be still, and learn from the Master." All he did here was speak a word. And the waves obeyed his command,
obeyed his voice. And the wind ceased and there
was calm. It was just a raging sea. So raging, we're told in the
text, that the waves are overflowing the boat. And you know what happens
when that happens? People get washed right off the
boat. The sailors have to tie themselves to the boat so they
don't go flying overboard and are lost. And it's just raging. And then we're told the water
becomes like glass and the winds totally cease. Oh, what power. That's our sovereign king. He's
God incarnate in the flesh. Think of the power that's on
display here. What an awesome display of power. We see right here before us that
our king has all power over all things. Is it hard for him to save a
sinner? No, he's already redeemed them
with his precious blood, isn't he? And the Holy Spirit comes
and fetches us and draws us to Christ, right? Giving us faith
to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.
And what do we do? Oh, Lord, my Savior, my King. We cry out to him, don't we?
Because it's a hard work, again. It's a hard work, beloved. God
is the one who does all the work. Through faith, we understand
that the worlds were framed by the word of God, that being Christ.
Remember, he's the word before he came to this earth. In the
beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word
was God. The word became flesh and dwelt among us. So through
faith, we understand that the worlds were framed by the word
of God, so that things which were seen were not made of things
which do appear, Hebrews 11.3. He created this world out of
nothing. See, we need things to create things, don't we? God
doesn't. He just speaks in itself. Spoke
this universe into existence by his almighty power, beloved. And always remember that it's God who called us It's
God who saved us by the shedding of his blood, and it's God who
keeps us through the storms of this life. This is the same power, beloved,
in the gospel. Same power to save us is the
same power that was exercised that raised Christ from the grave. And we're not ashamed of the
gospel, are we? No, Romans says this, for I'm not ashamed of
the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation
to everyone that believe it, to the Jew first and also to
the Greek. For therein is the righteousness of God revealed.
Who's the righteousness of God? Christ. You know, if we're not perfectly
righteous, we can never stand in the presence of God. And we can't ever make ourselves
righteous, right? Scripture says there's none righteous.
No, not one. But you know, God can make us righteous. He can
declare us righteous. That's what he does. We're clothed
in the righteousness of Christ. For therein is the righteousness
of God revealed from faith to faith. As it is written, the
just shall live by faith. So we've been called with a holy
calling, an irresistible call. By the power of God, we've been
called to the great shepherd, the great savior of sinners,
the Lord Jesus Christ. We've been delivered from the
power of darkness, haven't we? We were once dead in trespasses
and had no idea who God was. Thought we did, but it was the
God of our imagination we cooked up. Oh, this is the God of the
Bible. And you know why? This is the
God that unbelievers will face in judgment. The Lord Jesus Christ, He has
all power. He has all might. But we've been
delivered. We who are the redeemed, we're
just saved sinners. Again, we've been delivered from
the power of darkness, from the power of Satan, from the power
of sin. And from the power of self, right? I thank the Lord he's delivered
me from myself. Now I'm not completely delivered from myself because
my greatest enemy is my flesh. But I'm sure thankful he saved
my soul. Are you? My. His voice called us with power. Same power that was exercised
to calm the storm is the same power that called us. Can we
resist that? No, that's why it's called irresistible
grace. You can't resist that power. No. My, oh, my. Let's look at verse
25. And he said unto them, where
is your faith? And they, being afraid, wondered,
saying one to another, what manner of man is this? For he commandeth
even the winds and the water. And they obeyed him. They obeyed
him. They saw the storm raging. And
then he commanded it to be still. Gone. You ever see anybody do that
before? I never have. But I believe it. By faith, I believe this. That's
my king. Is he yours? That's my redeemer.
Is he yours? Oh my, I pray that if he's not,
the Lord would make it so. And our Lord asks him, where's
your faith? Here's a storm raging that was purposed by God, raging
to try their faith and to manifest the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now our Lord has a right to try
our faith, doesn't he? He has a right to do that anytime
he desires. And he does so through trials
and tribulations and temptations, clearly bought out in 1 Peter,
turn if you would to 1 Peter 1. Do you know we're kept by
the power of God? You know, we can't keep ourselves. You know, if it was up to us,
salvation was up to us, we'd be doomed. I thank God that not
only has he saved me, but he keeps me. He keeps me. You know, we wander off as sheep,
don't we? We're like sheep, we wander off, we get caught in
a thicket or we get caught in a fence. Who comes and gets us,
beloved? The shepherd comes and gets us,
right? And you ever hear that religious story where he breaks
their legs and all that? Don't believe that. That would
make that sheep lame. Our Lord gently picks up that
sheep and puts it on his shoulders. You know why? So we can gaze
in the face of the Master, beloved, and be in awe of our King. Oh,
that's our shepherd. That's the shepherd of our souls.
Look at this in 1 Peter 1, verses 6 to 9. Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though
now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold
temptations, and that being trials and temptations, look, that the
trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that
perishes, though it be tried with fire, might be found in
the praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ,
whom, having not seen, ye love. I've never seen Christ, but I
love him. I see him by faith. But I've never seen him in the
flesh, have you? But by God-given faith, we believe. We believe. Look at that. Have not seen ye
love in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believe, and ye
rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory. I cannot tell
you the joy I have in my heart. Now I'm like this, mountain,
valley, mountain, valley. I'm like that, are you? But all
that joy, that peace, he's like this. He's constant. And that's where our joy comes
from. That's where our peace comes from. It's from our King,
our Lord, our Savior, Jesus Christ. Receiving the end of your faith,
even the salvation of your souls. He's the only Savior of sinners.
There's no other way to be saved except Christ and Him alone.
Let's go back to our verse there in Luke 8, verse 25. We'll finish
up with this. And he said unto them, where
is your faith? And they, being afraid, wandered, saying one
to another, what manner of man is this? For he commandeth even
the winds and the water, and they obey him. So the disciples
here are in awe with reverent fear. Not slavish fear, but reverent
fear of who he really is. He's God. They are filled with
awe at the manifestation of the deity of Christ. They're filled
with awe at the demonstration of the power that he has. They
marvel that this is the same majestic power that saves us. Let us marvel about that, because
this is the same power that saves you and I as believers. Because
we were dead. We were dead. And God called
us, didn't he? And we are made alive by the
power of God, the Holy Spirit, and given faith and repentance
before God. And that's why Paul said, Paul
didn't tell that flipping jailer to do anything, right? He says,
what must I do to be saved? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved. Just look to Christ. Just look
to Christ, brethren, and you'll be saved. Just look to him. And this almighty power was exercised
and given us life when we were dead. We were graveyard dead.
Ephesians chapter two says that we were dead in trespasses and
sins. That's our natural state. That's
how we're born into this world. But now we're alive. Alive by
the power of God, the Holy Spirit. And what mercy Christ has shown
us. What grace Christ has shown us. By the shedding of his precious
blood, we're redeemed. We're redeemed, beloved. We have
eternal life now. We're going to die, but we possess
eternal life. Remember the passage we looked
at a couple Wednesday nights ago? It said, he that hath the
Son hath eternal life. It's wonderful, isn't it? Do
you have the Son? Rejoice.