Turn with me to Mark chapter
6. Mark chapter 6. Now this particular account of
what Jesus says to his troubled disciples is also recorded for
us in Matthew 14 and John 6. So three of the four Gospels
record this very setting. Then that leads me to wonder that we must be afraid often
and we must need encouragement frequently. And the great and
gracious I Am tells us Here in this passage, he gives us, he
speaks to us and lifts us up and he desires that we would
be at peace in times of trial. Now the situation is the disciples
are on the boat. They're crossing sea and Christ
is not with them. We're going to look at chapter
six and verse starting in verse 45.
And straightway Christ constrained his disciples to get into the
ship and to go to the other side before unto Bethsaida, while
he sent away the people. And when he had sent them away,
he departed into a mountain to pray. And when evening was come,
the ship was in the midst of the sea and he alone on land. And Christ Noted he saw them
toiling in rowing for the wind was contrary to them and about
the fourth watch of the night Christ came unto them walking
upon the sea and He would have passed by them. But when they
saw him Walking upon the sea they supposed it had been a spirit
and they cried out for they all saw him and were troubled and
immediately When he noticed that they were troubled fearful, afraid. Immediately he talked with them
and said unto them, be of good cheer. It is I. Be not afraid. And he went up
unto them into the ship and the wind ceased and they were sore
amazed in themselves beyond measure and wondered. Now this is also
the place recorded that Peter, when he noticed him walking and
when he heard his voice and realized who it was, he said, bid me,
let me come out. Can I come out with you? This text, you know, we'll see
where it goes from here, but this What I want to look at is
just verse 50. I just want to look at this phrase.
Be of good cheer, it is I. Be not afraid. It can also be rendered be of
good courage or be of good confidence. Our confidence is in Him. It
is I. I, the great I am. The one who
pre-existed before anything was. not afraid. Be not afraid. So I want to look at a few things and some passages to comfort
us that it is Christ. It is I. It is I who formed you in the
womb and brought you forth into your present existence. It was him. It is I. Jeremiah 31 verse 3 says that
he has loved us, his people, his elect, his chosen, the remnant from before eternity. I have
loved you with an everlasting love. I have, I, it is I, be
of good cheer, be not afraid, it is I who speak. I have loved
you with an everlasting love. And then in Galatians chapter
one, Paul says, when God who separated him from his mother's
womb and called him by his grace, There was never a time, and we
don't really realize this when we're in a lost state, we're
in a lost condition, until He makes us willing in the day of
His power, and then He begins to teach us and to train us up
as children that He's always loved us. I mean, we never thought
about such a thing. It is I. Be not afraid. Surely He will not forsake you.
because you are the darling of His heart. When you have need,
He says, be of good cheer, be of good courage, be of good confidence. And if your confidence is in
yourself, then you should be afraid. Whether you're young
or old or middle-aged, time is going to catch up with us. And
you're going to start losing your memory, you're going to
start losing your strength. And when you're younger, you
don't have the wisdom that older believers have. So you don't
quite understand sometimes how things, the battles, the warfares
that we have. It doesn't matter. He says, be
of good cheer. It is I. That's the key. Be not afraid. Secondly, it is
I. the Lord your God who has fed
you and clothed you from that hour up until the present moment. Turn to Matthew chapter 6. And as I said, this is recorded,
this passage is recorded in three out of the four Gospels, so the
Holy Spirit seems to indicate that it's important to us that
we see this, and it must be that we often are of discourage, we
are often afraid, but he says, be of good courage. It is I,
it is I. He's the one speaking, the eternal
I Am. Matthew chapter 6, and look at
verse 28. Why take ye thought of before
Raimond? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow.
They toil not, neither do they spin. And yet I say unto you,
that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one
of these. Wherefore, if God so clothed
the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is cast
into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you?" It is I. It is I. And David himself said that he
has never, not ever seen the righteous baking bread. Our Lord
sustains us and shall ever preserve us indeed. Thirdly, it is I,
the Lord, your God, who has preserved you on every side. When you were
upon a sick bed, it was I. The Lord, your God, who visited
your soul, raised up your body, gave you that measure of health,
which you now enjoy. Hezekiah knew this right well
in 2 Kings chapter 20. He knew this right well. As he
lay dying on his deathbed, the Lord was merciful to him and
gave him yet more years to serve and to worship him. It was him. Be of good cheer. It is I. Be not afraid. Whether we, sickness,
health, love, hate, all these different things, the emotions
that we have, that just constantly flood our minds and flood our
hearts. Hard to keep down. Step back and look at that. Look at that passage in Mark
6 and verse 50. He spoke because they knew, they
knew His voice. That's one thing that I'll never
forget, as long as I've got, you know, mine, is when we were
at the hospital and Kara was born. And I don't, of course
I have no idea how they do it now, but the nurse was walking
down the aisle, she had at least 10 kids, and they're pushing
them all down and then they, Take one and put one in this
room, that one, you know, and Melinda. The babies were in the
hall. And I'll never forget her saying,
I can tell which one carries. I know that cry. I know that cry. And isn't our
Heavenly Father aware, infinitely more aware of our heart's cry? And He responds only because
the blood of the everlasting covenant. What a gracious God. Be of good cheer. It is I. Be not afraid. Fourthly, it is
I, the Lord your God, who placed you in the situation of life,
who placed you in the situation of life, which you do now occupy. Sometimes we struggle with Well,
should've, could've, would've. That's not the vocabulary of
the believer. Well, if I'd have done this, you know, this wouldn't
have happened. Or if I was, you know, and, you
know, we beat ourselves up. But that's, that's not the language
of the believer. It is I, the Lord your God, who
placed you in the situation of life which you do now occupy. And Melinda made a comment this
morning before I came here. She said, she said, something
about the three years that I spent at AAA. It was three miserable
years, but it was his years. It was fine. You know, I learned
a lot through that ordeal. He placed me there. And for me
to kick against the pricks and to complain and murmur, that
wouldn't have honored and glorified him. So I have to step back and
look once again, be of good confidence, It is I. Be not afraid. Romans 8.28, all things work
together for good. All things. All things. Do we really believe that? Every
single thing. Whether it's a sickness, A health
issue, whether it's finances, whether it's position, accidents,
troubles, it's all things work together for good. To know this, as Paul did, removes
from the heart and soul discontentment, murmuring, and dissatisfaction. What it does is it promotes praise
and joy and rest in the Lord God, who has all things under
his hands. And that's, when you're sitting
there, and you're looking at a loved one, be it a child, or
a parent, a nephew, cousin, when you're looking at somebody who's
about to leave this world, that's a difficult time, that's very
difficult. And yet, He says, be of good
cheer, in His eye, Don't be afraid. We are not exempt from any of
what we would call life's tragedies or catastrophes or any of those
type of things. But in them, we can have a measure
of peace. Fifthly, it is I the Lord your God, who
deals out to you every trial, who allots you every affliction,
who brings upon you every cross, who works in you everything according
to His own good pleasure." Philippians chapter 1 and verse 29. Not only is it given for you to believe, but also
to suffer. Isn't that what He says? It's
given. Well, let's turn there. Philippians
chapter... I believe it's Philippians chapter
1. I didn't even look this up. I probably should have done that. Yeah, Philippians 1.29. For unto
you it is given in the behalf of Christ. Now, if that word
wasn't in there, we'd be vulnerable. in the behalf of Christ, not
only to believe on Him, so it's a grace to believe, you can't
believe unless He gives you grace, but also to suffer for His sake. I, the Lord, it is I who deals
out every trial, allots every affliction, who brings upon you
every cross, who works in you everything according to His own
good pleasure. having predestinated us unto
the adoption of children by Jesus Christ Himself according to the
good pleasure of His will." Be confident. Be confident. It is the Lord our God. The dross
must be revealed so the vessel fit for the Master's use will
grow and blossom. That's the way He does, that
dross. It's got to be exposed. It's
got to be revealed. Even unto ourselves. London was looking
over a Bible class for the kids this morning, Cain and Abel.
Cain, he never was sorry for what he did. Never. And not only
that, but he expected, he thought he was doing God a favor. And
that's how religious people are. They, because Cain was religious,
what he brought the best of what he had, Abel, said, I can't bring anything. I'm going
to bring somebody else, a substitute, to represent me. God accepted
that. And you know, God never, He never
accepted, nor looked at, nor thought about it, the other's
sacrifice. And that's the way with religious
people. And that's the way we were. We were going to church,
God, He's not even paying attention. He's not even paying attention
to what's being said. So, well, I don't... He is only interested
in His Gospel about concerning His Son for His people. That's
the way it is. But Cain, he just kept bringing
the best he could do. And that's how religious people
are. They feel that God will accept them. They feel that God
should be honored. Isn't that right? Isn't that
how you listen to people talk? That God should be honored. Because
I've done something. It's Good Samaritan week. Boy,
I'm going to shine this week. No. No. No. He never understood what it meant. First of all, he didn't understand
God. That He's holy and has no regard for the best that we can
do. He only has regard for Christ. And that's why this is even the
more precious. It is I. Be confident. I'll take care of you. I've taken
care of you from the time the doctor swatted your hymen. And
he started howling. We didn't know it. We didn't
know it. And in the fullness of time, he revealed his Son
to us. And now we know it's been Him. this whole time. Be not afraid. Now tomorrow, like everybody
here just about, got to go to work tomorrow. Now there's going
to be things to fear. There's going to be things to
be concerned with. And to some extent that's part
and parcel of your job. You should be concerned about
certain things. You shouldn't just be, you know, I don't care if the
kids get educated or whatever, you know. No, you should strive
to To honor and glorify Him in wherever. But, to take anxious
care. Because He says He cares for
us. It is I. It is I. He says He will not
leave us comfortless. The Holy Spirit, He said when
He leaved, the disciples were all upset. Where are you going?
He said, I'm not going to leave you comfortless. I'm going to send you the Holy
Spirit. And He's going to make these things known to you. and
He's going to comfort you. I will not leave you comfortless. And in Proverbs chapter 8, He
says, His delights are with the sons of men. They're with the
elect, the sons and daughters of His choosing. Even before
time was in that passage in Proverbs, He's talking about before time
was. He said, My delights are with
the sons of men. It is I. It is I. And I love this passage in John
chapter 13 and verse 1, that it is I who loved you and
He loved His own even unto the end. He ever loves His people,
even unto the end. So when we can thus believe that
the Lord our God is about our bed, He's about our path, and
He's spying out all our ways, then we can look up to Him and
feel that He is the Lord our God. There's no feeling more
sweet, more blessed, more heavenly. Be of good cheer, it is I. Be not afraid. Closing, let's turn to Isaiah
43. And if you want to look, if you
want to get some promises and store them up and use them when
you need them, like Spurgeon said, take them and then once
you have needs, spend them at leisure. Here's here's a bunch
of them, Isaiah 43 verses 1 through 7. You know, of course, these
things about promises, it's some people have different views of
it and whatnot, and it can be, I don't know, controversy. You
know, the Lord, He shows these things to us. But the first time,
and I didn't understand really what promises, the personal,
until, and we hadn't even met, we weren't dating, nothing of
that stuff. I remember where I was at in
the situation, but I was threatened. I was threatened. I was threatened
to get Get my clock cleaned. It's gonna get whipped get beat
up because of my stand for the gospel I remember very specifically
and I went back to my room. I stay with my aunt went back
to my room and Just was reading. I was trying to find some comfort
and the Lord revealed to me a promise Now you can say what you want
to you say you got all emotional. It doesn't matter. I The promise
was very specific to my need. And what He said He was going
to do is He was going to protect me. And nothing, as it were,
nothing was going to happen to me. Now, you can say, well, you
know, I don't care what, you know, it's, again, this was me.
And I believe that promise because all the promises are in Him are
yea and amen. Whether you got, you know, promises about kids
or whatever the situation may be, they're in here for the believer's
use and edification. And I hesitate to stop right
there. Uh, Ralph Barnard, if you ever,
he's the one that the Lord used to bring Henry to the gospel.
There's a, uh, ebook, Gracie books. Just read the first, the
preface of that. Just read the first part of that
and see what his mom did concerning Ralph. If you look, I'm looking and
I'm like, what? That's kind of, it's kind of
borderline, it's not works, but it's kind of, this is way out
there. No, she believed the promise. Before he even met the Lord,
and she was telling these different churches where, you know, and
Ralph comes up and goes, you know, and he made a profession
years ago. He didn't understand the gospel
at all. Made a profession. Got baptized. It was all nonsense.
And his mom, He'd been praying for him all the time, all the
time, all the time. And then he was a very good speaker. So, you know, Southern Baptists,
if you're a good speaker, they're going to put you to work. Well,
to make a long story short, something happened. The pastor resigned.
And he's like, you know, he goes, I don't know the gospel. I'm
found out. I'm found out. And he was struggling, and they
called and said, you know, you're doing a good job in Bible class,
just take this pulpit. And then the Lord did something
for him. And then when he went back to
tell the board or whatever, he said, good, this lady who's been
writing us for years can finally stop writing us. It was his mom.
She said, press him. She said, press him. He doesn't
know it, but the Lord's going to use him. I don't know. Promises? Well, that's promises. Look at
here. But thus saith the Lord that
created thee, O Jacob. He that formed thee, O Israel,
fear not, for I have redeemed thee. I have called thee by thy
name. You're mine. You're mine. When
thou passest through the waters, I'll be with you. And through
the rivers, they shall not overflow you. When thou walkest through
the fire, thou shall not be burned, neither shall the flame kindle
upon thee. And going back to my little corner
of the world, huddled in that room, scared to death, the Lord
gave me a promise. I don't know how you're going
to do it, because this guy's already promised he's going to
wear me down. And he could. He could have done
it very easily. About 30 minutes later, I got
a phone call from that same guy apologizing. He said, I'm not
going to do anything to you. Is it because I believed? No.
It's because he gave me a promise. For I am the Lord thy God, the
Holy One of Israel, thy Savior. I gave Egypt for thy ransom,
Ethiopia, and Seba for thee, since thou was precious in my
sight. Thou hast been honorable, and
I have loved thee. Therefore will I give men for
thee, and people for thy life. Fear not, for I am with thee.
I will bring thy seed from the east, and gather thee from the
west. I will say to the north, give up, and to the south, keep
not back. Bring my sons from afar, and
my daughters from the ends of the earth. Even every one that
is called by my name, for I have created him. for my glory. I have formed Him. Yea, I have
made Him." Our problem is, like I said before,
I don't know where that I read, I read that, here's our problem. We judge
everything by sight and sense. That's what we do. Here's the
fundamental difference, I'll read it again, between the man
of faith and the man of unbelief. The unbeliever is of the world. He judges everything by worldly
standards, views life from the standpoint of time and sense,
and weighs everything in the balances of his own carnal reasoning. But the man of faith brings in
God. I am he. It is I. The I am. He brings in the sovereign
God. He looks at everything from God's
standpoint, estimates values by spiritual standards and views
life in the light of eternity. Doing this, his heart is calm
in the midst of storm. Doing this, he rejoices in the
hope and glory of God. Why? Because God said it. And he has given us grace to
believe it, so let's believe it. And let's give him all the
praise and glory. Bruce, would you close us please? Thank you, and we know you'll
be the sovereign God who is wise and holy and righteous.