Let's take our Bibles now, turn
to the book of Luke. Luke chapter 8. Luke chapter 8, verses 22 through
25. And my subject's in a form of
a question, which our Lord asked his disciples as they woke him
up. He was asleep in the ship. The ship was in peril. And they woke him up. And after
he took care of the problem, he said, where is your faith? In one of the other accounts,
he said, how is it that you have no faith? And then in the third
account, he said, oh ye of little faith. So let's read these verses together.
I hope I can, I'm having problems this morning. But Luke chapter
eight, beginning with 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 unto the other side of the lake. And
they launched forth. But as they sailed, he fell asleep. And there come down a storm of
wind on the lake, and they were filled with water and were in
jeopardy. And they came to him and awake
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. 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 obey
him. They were surprised at his power,
surprised at what he could do. And I have no reason to doubt
that this is a true and accurate account of exactly what took
place on that lake that day. It's not a dream, it's not a
vision, not a parable conceived to illustrate some gospel truth. This was a real event in the
lives of our Lord's disciples. And our Lord often uses events
like this in our lives to the same end as He used it in theirs. It was a trial, a trial. In 1 Peter 1 verse 3, the apostle
boldly declares that we who believe have been begotten again unto
a lively hope, that is a living hope. It ain't just a hope, a
hope, a hope. The one we hope in is alive,
he's real, he's seated. We don't hope in a dead martyr,
but in a resurrected savior and king. And this lively hope is to an
inheritance incorruptible and undefiled that fadeth not away,
reserved in heaven for you who are kept by the power of God
through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed at the last
time. Now watch this. Wherein you greatly
rejoice, though now for a season. If need be, you're in heaviness
through manifold temptations. Trials. Trials. That the trial of your faith,
being much more precious than a gold that perishes, though
tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glory
at the appearing of Jesus Christ. They had every reason in the
world. They knew who he was. He asked him that question, whom
do men say that I am? Well, some say thou art a prophet,
some say you're Isaiah, some say you're Ezekiel, some say
this, some say that. He said, whom say ye that I am?
Peter said, thou art the Christ, now listen, the Son of the living
God. They knew who he was. They knew
who he was, but this was a man. This was a man. And it's hard
for us as human beings to see deity in humanity. I mean, I
can see you and I can see when you go above and beyond, I can
see that. I can see the efforts that you
put forth and so on. I can discern that. But to look
at you and see God? He says of the preaching of the
gospel, listen to this, He that heareth you, heareth me. But
you don't see God up here. Isn't that something? They looked at
Him. They saw Him. They knew who He was. But they
didn't yet know. And we don't either. Faith just
sees in part. But they could not conceive of
deity, or maybe I should say that this
deity was so much more than they ever imagined it could be. Let's
put it that way. And that's the way faith is.
We see him, we know he's God. Don't we, Larry? He's God. There's
no denying it. The scriptures are full of it.
He's God. He proved that when he was here.
Who else could raise the dead? Who else could stand and command
those winds to cease? He's God. But when we call on
him for things, do we acknowledge that deity? Do we really think
and believe in our heart that this is God? that we're praying
to. We're surprised. We're surprised
by what he can do. And they were too. The crossing
of the lake was to be a trial of their faith. And trials are
not designed to destroy your faith, but to reveal it, to reveal
it. And the true object of their
faith is Jesus Christ. He's the object of our faith. We believe on Him. We believe on Him. They were
His disciples. They knew Him. And true faith,
the faith of God's elect, is a faith that zeroes in on the
person of Christ. It zeroes in on Him. They know
any inkling of deity, the only way they're gonna see it is in
him. That's where it's at. He's God come into the flesh.
We know that our Lord, he came into this flesh to give us an
understanding that we may know him that's true. Now, that's
the only place you're gonna learn who God is, is in the Lord Jesus
Christ. And I want that to sink in. True
faith is in a person, the Lord Jesus Christ. They did not as
yet understand exactly what the Christ was to do or the true
end of his coming into this world, but they believe he was the prophesied
Redeemer. And your faith is only as strong
as it rests in him and your understanding of him. Jesus Christ is all in the salvation
of God's elect. He's all. But you don't start
off seeing all that, do you? No, no. But it comes, faith cometh
by hearing, hearing by the word of God. And we grow in grace and knowledge
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Scripture said we preach till
we all come into the unity of the faith and of the knowledge
of the Son of God unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the
stature of the fullness of Christ. That's why we're preaching. That perfect man is Christ and
it requires a perfect man to save our soul and a perfect man
to intercede for us in glory and a perfect man to rule all
things and arrange all things for his good and our glory. I think one of the first things
to go out the window as a believer is the idea of chance. The word of God just obliterates
chance. And we've been taught that since
we was this big, you know. Chance and circumstance. And
all true preaching is set before men and women What I'm attempting
to do even with this lesson this morning is to verbally set Him
before you so you can see. So you can see Him as He's manifest
in the Scriptures. And this is God and man in one
glorious person. And faith is that which believes
and rests in Christ. writing to the Hebrews in Hebrews
chapter three and four about the children of Israel. He's
illustrating this gospel in the children of Israel. They typified
the true church. And they're over here in the
wilderness, and there are pictures in the wilderness of the church
in this world. There's nothing out here but
predators. There was nothing in the wilderness but predators.
Oh, they're surrounded by predators. Nothing out there good to eat.
Is there anything out here good to eat? I'm talking about spiritually. No, there ain't nothing out here.
Ain't nothing out here. And some of these men heard the
gospel preached and some didn't. Some heard his voice and others
hardened their heart. Hebrews 4, 2. He said, for unto
us was the gospel preached as well as unto them. Oh, you mean
they heard the gospel out there in that wilderness? You better
believe it. You better believe it. Unto us was the gospel preached
as well as unto them. Now listen, but the word preached
did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that
heard it. For we which have believed do
enter in to rest. Rest. Let's go back to our text. Most of these men in the ship
were experienced mariners. They grew up on the lake. They
grew up as fishermen. They knew how to handle storms.
This wasn't the first storm they was ever in. They knew what to
do. And they were confident. When they sailed out on that
lake, they were confident. They knew what to take with them.
I like to fish with the whiteheads. And we go out there on the river.
And they'd been fishing that river all their lives. They know
what to take if this happens, if that happens, if something
happens. They got all stuff in the boat. They're experienced.
These men were experienced. And when the Lord got in the
ship, they were sailors, buddy. They rigged that ship, sail went
up, off they went. Nobody even had a second thought
about it. Seasoned mariners. And I have
no doubt they were using all their knowledge. When this wind
came up, it was a sudden wind. It came down, it blew on the
lake. It was tossing that boat around. We ain't talking about
this. We're talking about a boat being
body slammed on the water. This was a bad storm. The ship
was nearly full of water. And these guys were doing everything
they knew to do. They didn't know what else to
do. But I'm gonna tell you something,
and it's good that we do that. We know what to do. We use natural
means. I'm not opposed to natural means.
I'm not gonna tell you you have a cancer, don't go see a doctor.
That's foolishness. We're gonna use means, and they
did. They did use means. But knowledge
and skill are not the same as faith. Not the same thing. Remember what I said. Faith rests
in Christ. It rests in Christ. What do I
mean by that? I mean it lives or it dies. Live or die, sink or swim, our
hope is all together in him. And our eternal welfare as well
as our earthly daily well-being rests on him. It rests on him. It's in his hands. And the trial
is to reveal true faith and expose the dross. And everything they
did to save themselves was good, but their faith was so little
that it says in Mark 4, verse 40, Mark's account of this same
thing, how is it that you have no faith? Do we really believe salvation's
in him? Well, here they are, and over
there in the corner is Christ. He's asleep. He's asleep. Does that change anything? Does
his sleeping change anything? Does his bodily position, his
prostrate on a bed, does that change anything? Not if you believe
who he is. Doesn't change anything. Our
hope is all together in him. Now if God destroys him, he destroys
me. But he's already raised him from
the dead. In Mark four, verse 38, they
actually questioned his love for them. They said, cares not
that we perish? Don't you care? I want you to see the foolishness
in this, because this is what Ross is. This is how we think. This is how we reason in this
world. He made the seas. At one time,
water covered the whole globe. But he commanded it to be separate. And he told Job, and Job, he
said he commanded the waters and he said, here is as far as
your waves is gonna go. Your proud waves gonna be stayed
right here. And he made an environment in
which we can live. And held those waters back. Well,
has that changed? No, no. He's asleep. He's asleep. He asked him this. He said, why are you so fearful? Now think about this. What if
they had perished out of this world? My soul, there's with
the Savior. What's gonna happen if you perish
out of this world? If you're a believer, you just
graduated. You just left what you mourn
about every day. What you complain about every
day, you just left behind. There's not even any heat, he
said, in heaven. You're not gonna sit up there
and say, oh boy, it's hot today. No, it's just nice, just pleasant. All your troubles are behind.
Why are you so fearful? Did he have a purpose in being
in that ship? Absolutely. He was going to get
one of his elect over there, one of the Gadarenes. We'll talk
about that next week. He was on his way. Well, he ain't
going to perish, and that ship ain't going to perish, and his
disciples ain't going to perish. He's on his way to get one of his
elect. He hadn't accomplished his redemption yet. Ain't nothing
gonna happen to him. Now here's the thing. When we
see the storm, we start talking about absolute
foolishness, mother nature. Uncontrollable mother nature.
What? He sins the storm. He sends the
storm and he has a reason for it. There's a reason for it. And they were soon gonna learn
that. And to me, he's asking them this when he said, where
is your faith? He's asking them, do you not
know who I am? Do you not draw comfort for who
I am? Have you left all to follow me
and you don't know who I am? You not know that I spake creation
into existence? That I ruled in the providence
of God and alone have your souls in my hands? Who gonna pluck
you out of my hands? Do you not know that I'm God?
Omnipotent, eternal, immutable God? Have you not read that I
stretched out the heavens as a tent? to dwell in, that I sit
on the circle of the earth and I view all the inhabitants of
the earth and they're like grasshoppers. And out of all these grasshoppers,
I've chosen you. You're my grasshopper. You not know that the nations
are as a drop of the bucket to make? You kids don't know what
that is, but when I was growing up, you went out to the well,
big old well, dug well. You opened this little lid and
had a pulley there in the bucket, and you'd drop that bucket down
in the well, pull it back up, be full of water. Had another
bucket, you're going to take this water in the house, you
pour the water into that. Well, you didn't stand there
for three hours waiting on that last drop. It's just a drop in
the bucket. You just put it back down in
the well. You didn't pay no attention to that. He said, that's how
the nations are to me. That's what the nations are. You not know that all the nations
before me are counted as nothing and less than nothing, and all
the inhabitants of the world are grasshoppers? Where's your
faith? What is your faith? Your faith,
I hope, I hope, I hope. Uh-uh. Our faith's in Him. Our faith's in Him. He's God,
our Savior. God come down from heaven to
accomplish our redemption, to do for us what we could never
do for ourselves. He's got our righteousness, and
God seated on the throne. And I know that the trials of
this life are real and they're often, they're often and if not always,
beyond our control. And death can often stare you
right in the face. I was helping a neighbor cut
some firewood one time and he was one of these guys that just
couldn't sit still. He'd just fidgety and nervous. He got on
his dozer, and I hooked up the winch, and I said, now don't
tighten that winch till I go cut these little brush out around
that tree that I'm getting ready to pop. And he did anyway. Well, I'd already checked those
sprouts. There wasn't nothing on them.
But when he did this with this tree, it had vines on it. And
when he twitched that tree, it pulled them vines down. And some
of them sprouts was, I don't know, two, three inches in diameter.
And the first one I cut, pow, it hit me in the head. And it
actually hit the saw, and the saw come up, and I thought the
blade had hit me in the head, but it was my own hand. And it
knocked me about 20 feet. I rolled out there like a yo-yo. I couldn't feel anything. I couldn't move. I had whiplash.
I just lay in there, and I thought I was dying. I thought my head
was split wide open with a chainsaw. And I was just sitting there.
And I'll never forget how helpless I felt. And I didn't know the
Lord. I didn't know Him. We often stare at death right
in the face. Sometimes we look at death and don't even know
what we're looking at. Don't even know what we're looking
at. I wonder how many times The Lord has intervened to keep us
from wrecking our truck. I fell asleep one time down on
Route 10 driving to Jacksonville, Florida. I don't know how far
I went, but when I woke up, I was in the middle of a bunch of flashing
lights. It was road construction. By the time I got my bearings,
I got that car off the road. But I didn't go off the road.
I stayed right on the road. Well, I didn't do it. I was asleep.
Huh? How many times has the Lord preserved
our life and we don't know anything about it? But every now and then
He'll let you take a look. He'll let you take a look. Not
because He needs to know if you have faith. He's the one who
gave it to you. It's to remind you of what that faith is and
who it's in. Oh, my soul. Nothing beyond his
ability. Nothing beyond his control. He
made the iron float. Lost that axe head off in the
river. He just made it float. It come right up to the top.
He made the sun stand still. He reversed the flow of the Jordan
River. Huh? He flooded the earth. He
turned The springs of the earth loose, and the oceans loose. The lesson on the sea is the
object of our faith, and it was not their... That wasn't their first move
on the ship. Your first move ought to have
been to look to Him and think about Him. That wasn't their
first move, it was their last. Isn't that the way it is with
us? We do everything in the world, and then we say, wait a minute,
wait a minute. Maybe I ought to go talk to him. When all hope was gone, they
went to the Savior. And that's when sinners, that's
when chosen sinners will come to Him. Saved or lost. When all their strength, Paul
said, when I'm weak, Then am I strong. And then learning these things,
Paul said in 2 Corinthians 12, 10, therefore I take pleasure
in infirmities, in reproaches, necessities, in persecutions
and distresses for Christ's sake. You remember Paul prayed, whatever
was wrong with his face or his eyes, he prayed and prayed and
prayed that the Lord would take that away. It was such a hindrance
to him. And the Lord said this to Paul, he said, my grace is
sufficient. I'm giving you this for a reason.
Well, the reason is Paul wrote half the New Testament. He'd
have been so swollen up with pride, you couldn't deal with
him. God gave him these things. But here's what I want you to
see. Faith is not about your sufficiency, it's about His.
See, it'll take us a lifetime and then some to learn this.
We're not sufficient of ourselves to do anything. It's all His
sufficiency. He's sufficient. Christ is all. You're complete in Him. He's
the head of all principality and power. It's not about your
sufficiency, it's about his, it's not about your ability.
It's about his, and it's not about your competence in you,
but your competence in him. Paul said to the Philippians,
he's saying, being competent of this very thing, that he which
hath begun a good work in you will finish that work. He'll
finish that work. He'll perform it until the day
of Jesus Christ. Brethren, they had faith, they
did go to Christ. But they didn't go to him like
they should have. Because they didn't see him like they would
in a time yet to come. Scripture says we walk by faith,
not by sight. And I've never seen the throne
of God nor the son of God who sits on the throne. I'd never
seen an angel to my knowledge. I may have seen one and didn't
know it was an angel, but I'd never seen an angel, let alone
God. But I have faith in the Son of
God, and I believe God's testimony concerning His Son. But most
of the time, like His disciples, I go where I should have went
first, last. Last. And then think about this. Everything that they did, Changed
nothing. All the bailing and dragging
down the sails and everything they did, it didn't accomplish
anything. That ship was going to be destroyed as sure as they
were standing there, they thought. Will we ever learn to look to
Him continually and to Him alone and rest in Him and rejoice in
Him? And then let me take joy in this. When he finally called on them, what'd he do about it? He stood
up and he commanded the winds and the waves to be still. And then when Mother Nature decided,
no, immediately the winds ceased and the waves stopped. And they turned and looked at
each other, and they said, what manner of man is he? Who is this that we have faith
in? That doctor told me, he said, Kathy, as a year, and with treatment,
at the most, 18 months. So get all your affairs in order. That's what she's got. Well,
18 months, she was no worse than she was right after the operation. And after two years, he come
in the room one day and he said, the cancer's gone. He said, it's
completely gone. See no sign of it. And he didn't
see any sign of it for six years. For six years. That's unheard
of, isn't it? Unheard of. He does what he wants. And we
judge things by our limited abilities and limited knowledge. That's
not how he does things. He has eternal eyes, eternal
purpose, and godly abilities. That's what we need to learn.
That's the Christ we need to look to.