So verse 22, again, of chapter 14, and straightway Jesus constrained his disciples to get into a ship and to go before him unto the other side while he sent the multitudes away. These multitudes are the ones that he had just fed. by a powerful miracle of his grace, creating food from nothing. It says he created the world from nothing. And he sent those multitudes away, but he sent the disciples ahead.

Why did he do that? Well, we see the story unfold that was integral to him doing that, that was a result of him doing that, and that's exactly why he did it. If you want to know why God is doing something in the world now look at the result of it That's why he did it That's not all the reasons. I'm sure we probably couldn't think of one in a hundred of his purposes for doing things But I'll tell you what whatever he purposed Will result in whatever he purposed to accomplish And we can rule we can judge all things that way I So he could have had them wait while he sent the multitudes away, and he could have gotten in the ship with them on that side. But he didn't do that, because they needed to experience the storm. It wasn't for his purposes. It would have been fine for him to just go on the ship with them.

But it was for his purposes in teaching them, in exercising their faith, Religion tells you to exercise your faith. It's God that exercises faith. He's the one that gave it and he's the one that tries it and That's what he did here And I pray that we could all Hear these words often that he said To them when they were afraid They saw him and they thought that it was a spirit, they thought it was a ghost.

You know, sailors are notoriously superstitious in our experience, you know, of them. I don't know if that goes back this far or not. And that's just part of what it was. But I know this, a lot of people miss Christ and don't know Christ because of superstition, spiritual superstition. They think He's somebody that He's not. There'll be churches with His name on the church building, but they're not preaching the Christ of the Bible. They mistake Him for somebody that He's not.

It's the Christ of Scripture, the Sovereign of the seas and the Sovereign of the universe and the Sovereign of your heart and my heart, the Sovereign of salvation. that's to be worshipped and who is able to save a sinner. But what a beautiful thing that he said to them in their superstitious fear.

And this is a picture of salvation. It's me. It's me. He reveals himself. That's how he saves a sinner. It's me. Don't be afraid. Don't be afraid, it's me. He quells the fears of sinners, fear of judgment, rightful fear of judgment, justified fear of judgment, when He reveals to us the truth of what we are and who He is. But the Lord, when He creates that fear in the heart, It's not long before he'll say, it's me, and tell you to fear not, fear not.

Because that's the purpose of him putting the fear in the hearts of his people, fear of him, fear of judgment, fear of being what we are before God, our condition before God by nature, fear that in our depravity and evil, that God must punish our sin. But then he speaks peace to the heart and says, it is I. It is I who paid for sin. It is I who redeemed my people. It is I who chose from the foundation of the world of people. And when he reveals himself to your heart, it's me. But this is also something that believers, these are words we should hear throughout our lives.

Have you experienced a storm lately? And we don't hear an audible voice. We don't hear his voice like they did through the storm audibly. People talk about hearing, you know, God speak to them. It seems like more and more people are claiming that kind of thing. And they belong in the loony bin. That's where they, so if God is speaking to you audibly, It's not the God of this book. Because he speaks through his word, through his scriptures, through the gospel. And here's the thing, but we hear them just the same.

You know, when Simon betrayed the Lord Jesus Christ and the rooster crowed the third time, and as it did, he was betraying his Lord, what does it say happened in his mind at that point? He remembered words of the Lord. And it was just as if the Lord was saying them to his heart again, you're gonna betray me. Simon said, I will, I'll die with you. And the Lord said, you will not, but I will. I will go and I will prepare a place for you. And when Simon came to that place that the Lord told him he would, the Lord had ordained it and the Lord had revealed it. And sure enough, it came to pass, as it always does, the word of the Lord always comes to pass. And it says he remembered the word of the Lord. Can we remember this word when we're in the midst of a storm?

And maybe our hearts out of, we miss Christ in it. We get distracted and we think things aren't what they really are. They thought this was a catastrophe. They thought they were gonna die. They said to him in another account that, don't you care that we perish? We're dying, we're perishing. There's no hope here. They were experienced at this and they said, we're done for.

Has the Lord ever brought you there? But what was really happening was the Son of God was with them, and not a hair of their head could fall to the surface of that ocean without Him. So can we remember the Word of the Lord when we're in trouble, when our heart's breaking? And here's what He'll say. Here's what He said. And if we remember, it'll be as though He's saying it to our heart again.

It is I. I'm the one that brought the storm. I'm the one that's with you, that's coming, that's there, that sees you, that knows everything, that knew. He brought the storm and he can lay it down. It is I. Don't be afraid. He didn't say, ah, you've been through storms before, don't be scared, you can handle this. That's what religion says. There's nothing today that me and the Lord together can't handle. No, he didn't. He didn't speak to them of their ability to handle the storm. The one thing that will comfort a believer is this. It's him. It's him. If it's him, it's going to be OK. And if you're his, it is him. It is him, whatever the problem. whatever difficulty you're going through, whatever trouble.

And they didn't understand. They didn't understand that. The Lord has to say that to us over and over, doesn't he? Because we get in this, they completely misunderstood the situation. Not only is there a terrible storm and we're goners, but there's a ghost that some kind of a spirit that probably brought this on. It's bad luck or something. We don't understand most of the time until the Lord says, it's me. It's me. Don't be afraid for one reason. There's one reason that you can be at peace. There's one reason that you can have comfort and rest in your soul. It's because of who he is, who he is. His love for you.

They were foolish. We're foolish. They misunderstood, we misunderstand. And it just, our misunderstandings just make us more afraid. I've had a few, a few sleepless nights over the years. I haven't been through a whole lot in my life, really. Of course, when my father died and my mother and we go through difficulties and heartbreak and trials and a lot of fear. You know, most of our fear is not because of a trial. It's because we think there's going to be a trial. You ever realize that? Most of your fears never come true. Most of them. but we're afraid a whole lot more than we're tried.

And that in itself is a trial from the Lord. Where are you gonna look when you're afraid? What is it that will give peace to your soul? Just the trial going away? Will that make everything okay? There's another one right behind it. There's another one right behind it. Whatever's troubling you, if that goes away, Will that be the answer to everything?

No, no. Our prayers in the midst of trial should not just be that it would go away. That can be part of it, that's fine. But success in trial is not the end of the trial. Success in trial is seeing the Savior in it, and having Him with you in it, and coming to know Him better for it. leaning on Him all the more heavily and all the more freely as a result of it. His glory ought to be more important to us. Lord, get glory in this. Teach me in this. Cause me next time to be more ready to praise Your name than to complain.

He doesn't speak audibly to us, but He has spoken in His eternal and immutable Word. And can we remember His words when it seems like the world is crashing down on our head? We know that all things work together for good to them that love the Savior, to those who are the called according to His purpose. Everything that happens to you, whether you call it a good thing or a bad thing, it is Him. It is Him. He has ordained every moment of your life and all of it will culminate in you being just like Him and with Him forever.

Be not afraid. Is there anything else? Is there any other basis on which I can say to you this morning, be not afraid? than that. Everything else would be empty. Everything else would be vain. I could say, don't be afraid. Things are going to get better. I don't know if they will or not. I could say, don't be afraid.

Time heals all wounds. Well, that's not true. The Savior has to heal our wounds. What makes my heart break less? from the sorrows that I have experienced is not that they happened a long time ago. It's that there's peace in the Lord Jesus Christ. It's that the Savior was on the throne.

He brought it to pass. He brought it to pass. And it was for my good. And it was for his glory. You're not going to say, be not afraid on any other basis than that and it not be empty in vain. He did it for our good. He tries the faith that he gives. It's necessary that trials come, that we might exalt him. We can't see everything that the Lord is accomplishing in every move that he makes in our lives.

Again, he sent these disciples ahead of himself to the other side of the sea because he intended purpose to bring a storm and then appeared to them. And even when he appeared to them, they didn't understand what was going on. But we can rest in all of our troubles, even though we don't see why would that happen to me? Why me?

Well, I know this, it's him. It's him. It's the Savior. How can a man, my friend, dying of cancer, cancer that had taken hold of just about every organ in his body and laying in bed that he would never get out of again, and I went there to try to be some comfort to him, But he was the one that comforted me. He said, don't cry, I'm gonna be okay. And I knew that it was true because he belonged to the Lord Jesus. He comforted me because the Lord had already spoken to his heart and said, it is I, be not afraid. He brought the cancer, he gave it. He brought the heartache, he brought the sorrows that All of us felt in saying goodbye. He brought the pain. But just the fact that it was him was enough.

That's enough. It's more that just earthly troubles that our Lord takes away with these words. You know, there's no trial that overtakes us, but such as is common to man, and the Lord makes a way of escape. You know how the Lord makes a way of escape from our troubles? It's me. He is the escape. He is the comfort in it. He is the cleft of the rock in the storm. He is the refuge.

If all of the ghosts of our sin appear to us and torture us, our ghosts of ingratitude and self-righteousness and pride and just flat-out depraved evil appear in our hearts and rise up to haunt us, if we ever feel the weight of our sin, He felt that weight like we never can. He said, my soul is exceeding sorrowful, even under death.

And I'll never feel my sin like that. But when I do feel it, you know what the apostle Paul said about any who would condemn me, even my own conscience, no matter who condemns me, Paul said this, here's why I cannot be condemned. I cannot be guilty. I cannot be condemned. Why? It is Christ. I can't be accused by anybody because it is Christ that died. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died. It's Christ that brings our sins before our eyes at times to cause us to run to him again over again.

In the Psalms, he says he afflicted the people of Israel. He left them. In all kinds of horrible trials. And then they cried out to him. in their predicament, and he said, I heard them, and I had mercy on them. And then he sent another one, another looked like a dead end, and they cried unto him for mercy, and he was merciful too. Don't be afraid. Don't be afraid of the thunderings of Mount Sinai, the law. The people of Israel were afraid at Sinai, weren't they? And rightly so. Don't be afraid of the roaring of Satan.

He walketh about roaring, roaring against us. He is the great accuser of the brethren, is he not identified as such in scripture? Who is he that condemneth? It's him. It's him. The unshakable confidence of our soul is the knowledge. Of who it is that died for me. The death of our Savior is what it is because of who he is. It's the sovereign Almighty Lord Jesus Christ. that died for me. So even from the cross, we hear these words. People talk about a Jesus that died on the cross and they say they love to be all sentimental about it. He stretched out his arms and said, this is how much I love you. How much do you love me this much? And then he got sentimental. No, no, no. We hear these words from the cross. It is.

It is the one that loved you with an everlasting love. It is the one who is the lamb slain from the foundation of the world. It is I whose precious blood accomplished redemption for everyone he shed it for. It's I. It's not the sentimental Jesus of religion that did his best and now it's up to you. It's not him. It's I. It's Christ. It's the Christ of the Bible. It's the Lord Jesus Christ. Eternal redemption is obtained for me by him. And it's who he is that comforts my soul in that. The Lord is my shepherd.

I shall not want the Lord is. Not baby Jesus, not. You know the. Blasphemous things that they call him. In. the religion of our generation, and I guess every generation, the Lord is my shepherd. Religion loves to just leave that out completely, doesn't it, that He's Lord? I trusted Jesus as my personal Savior. Who's on the throne, though? Who's calling the shots? Whose purpose was it? Whose decision was it? Whose will was it?

If it was His decision and His will and His purpose and Him in His almighty sacrifice, His precious blood that redeemed you and obtained eternal redemption for you on Calvary, then we better include that word Lord, don't you reckon? Salvation is bowing to Him.

That's what Paul was saying of the Jews in Romans chapter 10. They haven't submitted, they haven't bowed to Christ as their righteousness. They just want Him to save them. They don't want Him to sit on the throne. It was when He said, Hereafter you shall see the Son of Man sitting on the right hand of the Majesty on high. It says, Then did they spit on Him. That's the Christ that religion despises. Oh, they love sweet Jesus that's just doing good things for everybody and just wants everybody to be saved.

He's prepared a mansion for us in glory and all that. No, He's the King of righteousness. He's the King of glory. He's the King of salvation. It's said it above His head on the cross. This is the King. God saw to it that it was written in three languages above His head as He hung on that cross. This is the King. This is not a martyr. This is not a defeated carpenter's son. This is the King of His people. That's who we see here in our text, the Lord.

He didn't say, let not your hearts be troubled because I've done everything I can do. And now I'm leaving it up to you. He said, let not your heart be troubled. 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. What a blessed thing. What a blessed thing that the Lord Jesus tells us the truth.

I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself that where I am, there you may be also. I'm going to see to this. That's our comfort. I'm going to see to this. I'm not looking for a mansion. I'm looking for the savior. I'm looking for him.

I'm going to make sure that you never are held responsible for a single sin that you've ever committed because of what I'm going to do. Don't let your heart be troubled. Do you see that in that? Don't let your heart be troubled. Here's what I'm going to do for you. Boy, religion's trying to get everybody to do something for Him. Oh my, may God, in the person of His Son, do everything for us. He can't leave a single thing up to us or we're goners. I'm thankful for those three beautiful words from Calvary. It's finished, it's finished.