and verse 16, the gospel of John
chapter 6 and verse 16. And when even was now come, his
disciples went down under the sea and entered into a ship and
went over the sea toward Capernaum. And it was now dark and Jesus
was not come to them. And the sea arose by reason of
a great wind that blew. So when they had rode about 5
and 20 or 30 furlongs, they see Jesus walking on the sea and
drawing nigh unto the ship and they were afraid. But he saith
unto them, it is I, be not afraid. Then they willingly received
him into the ship and immediately the ship was at the land whither
they went. It's reading down through verse
The big picture here in this passage seems to be that of two
worlds colliding. On the one side, there is the
uncontrollable fierceness of a storm with all the anxiety
and fears that come with a storm. And on the other side, there's
the secret and silent rule of a sovereign God. And these two
sides of the picture, really that's what life is all about. That's what our lives are about.
All the turmoil in a believer's heart. The natural colliding
with the spiritual. the earthly colliding with the
heavenly, the human colliding with the divine. Backing up in
this chapter, we find that this is immediately after the Lord
has fed the 5,000. And that passage is very important
in its relation to this passage. In Mark's account, before the
Lord fed the 5,000, you remember the disciples had reminded him
how late in the day it was, and they suggested that he just send
the people away hungry. And the disciples were content
to do that, but the Lord was not. And he did send them away,
but not until he had satisfied their physical hunger and filled
their bellies. And they all left smiling and
said, oh, what a blessing. But was it really a blessing?
They got what they wanted and needed physically, but to be sent away by the Son
of God Himself with a full belly And an empty heart is not a blessing,
it's a cursing. After the bodily appetite was
satisfied, the people got so worked up and excited, they said
in verse 14, this is of a truth, that prophet that should come
into the world. Then in verse 15, they're ready
to make him a king. just because he miraculously
fed the crowd. A little fleshly excitement,
a little fleshly satisfaction, and people
will do anything. They'll get religious, they'll
vote for the devil for a dollar, and they'll get excited. So the
multitude went on home. Mark's account tells us clearly
that Jesus sent them away. He sent them away. And we don't read that the crowd
objected to leaving now that they got their bellies
filled. And we don't read that the multitude had any difficulty
getting home. Everything went smoothly. You get in the picture. Sometimes
a person can live healthy, wealthy and happy all through this life till they plunge into eternity
without God. So the multitude went home undisturbed. Can I say you don't want to live
in this world and go home undisturbed? Because if you do, home will
not be where you'd like for it to be. Unless these rebellious, sinful,
hard, and cold hearts of ours are disturbed, broken, crushed,
changed, then we must and will perish in our sins. So thank
God for the disturbance that he brings. I've had a hard time
in recent days thanking him for some of the disturbance he's
brought, but I must do it this morning. I thank God that he's
running things, not me. Well, the little band of disciples,
verses 16 and 17, they get into a ship to cross back over the
sea. toward Capernaum. Mark's account
said that Jesus constrained them to get into the ship. Well, you
know what that word constrained means. It means they voted against
it. It means a forceful, strong persuasion. They didn't want to do it. He
made them do it. He constrained them to get into
the ship. And so it is with those whom
Christ has chosen for His own. It's not the multitude that's
sent into the storm, into the darkness, and into the fear,
but it's God's little ones in Christ as they weep through the
years over personal sins, over failure, over rejection, over
unbelief, over cold heartedness, over not loving God like we should. Now, there's a health and wealth
hallelujah crowd that says, if you're really in with the Lord,
you won't have so much trouble. Well, the truth is, if you're
really in with the Lord, you'll face lots of trouble in this
world. That's what he said to his own.
In the world, you shall have tribulation. Well, the multitude
went on home after enjoying this fish dinner
the Lord provided. Went on home, got a good night's
rest, but not the disciples. not his
chosen ones, not his own. They're in a ship rowing across
the sea. And the latter part of verse
17 said, and it was now dark and Jesus
was not come to them. And that's our text and our main
thought for a few minutes this morning. It was now dark. Jesus
was not come to them. There are many types of storms
in the lives of the Lord's people. There are physical health related
storms. There are the troubles. The inconveniences. The limited. Consequences of old age. that
is stormy times. There are financial storms. There
are marriage storms. There are children's storms.
There are employment storms. There are relationship storms.
But greater than all these, there are spiritual storms. Even our young folk have storms
in their lives. And I don't ever want to forget
our children here in the church and especially older, young,
uh, teenagers here in the church have storms, have troubles in
their lives. You know what this means? You
teenagers, if you're not popular, it's a problem. If somebody makes fun of you,
it's a problem. If you're not as smart as others,
it's a problem. If you can't spell good or write
good or read good, it's a problem. If you're too small, it's a problem.
That was my problem in high school. If you're too big, it's a problem.
All these things can be so hurtful when you're looking for acceptance
from others. And these are real storms in
life. And life is full of them. But it's a spiritual storm we
want to talk about. And we notice here that we did
not read that the disciples ever prayed during this storm. Do you ever pray during any of
your storms? The reason they didn't pray is
they are totally consumed with trying to solve the problem themselves. Verse 19 says, when they had
rode about 5 and 20 or 30 furlongs, about a third of a mile, and they're desperate, they're
laboring hard, but because of the storm, They're making no
progress. Any of you know anything about
that? Working hard, making no progress. They can't make it on their own.
The storm is just too rough. It was now dark. Jesus was not
come to them. Tried so hard to fix things.
done everything you know to do, it is now dark, very dark, and
Jesus has not yet come to you. But we learn from all this that
His coming is in His time. His coming is not controlled
by our desperation. His coming to calm the troubled
seas in your life is in His time, in His way. It's already been
determined. This is part of the process.
determined in the divine wisdom and counsels of eternity. His
timing. His timing. Many of you have
been told if you will pray hard enough and long enough, God will
change His mind about such and such. But it won't happen. God is immutable. He doesn't
change. You have been told that if you
had lived good enough, You wouldn't have storms. Some of you have been told that
if you'd give every dime you can today, you'll be wealthy
by this time next year. Been told all these things. Bargaining
with God. You don't have to bargain. He
does not bargain with anyone over anything. He does as He
wills, the scripture said, in the armies of heaven and among
the inhabitants of the earth. And what is it He's doing in
all this? He is conforming His people to the image of His Son. Remember, the multitude didn't
have to go into the storm. They got to go home and go to
bed. But He constrained the disciples.
against their will to get in the boat that night and head
back across. In his people, he sends the storm. You see, in Christ, we're already
given the position of sons to be with him forever. But his purpose for us in this
life is to bring us to the end of ourselves. To be made like
Christ in heart and in spirit and to be able to pray as he
did with no hidden agenda. Not my will, but thine be done. It's not just something you decide
to do. Oh, you can say it in words, not my will, but thine
be done. Oh, but to feel that. To desire
that, to be content with that, is something much more. It was
now dark and Jesus was not come to them. This is the pattern
of divine intervention throughout history. The Old Testament prophets
who preached Christ is coming, they lived and they suffered
and many were persecuted and died preaching it. He's coming. They saw many dark hours and
Jesus was not yet come to them. Especially the last 400 years
of Old Testament history between Malachi and John the Baptist. 400 years without a prophet from
God. It was very dark, and Jesus had
not come. But in God's time, he came. I said, in God's time, he came.
And old Isaac Watts wrote the great hymn, Joy to the World. The Lord is come. Oh, he wasn't just writing about
some sissified Jesus that we'll be hearing a lot about in the
next few weeks. the Christmas season. No, no. The Redeemer,
the Savior, the Lord has come. Such meaning to that. Well, early in the New Testament,
though he's been born, though Christ has been born, it's very
dark in Israel. And 30 years passed. Jesus was
not come to them But one day in God's time John the Baptist
was baptizing in the River Jordan And he said behold The Lamb of God he's come he's
finally come I Think of the little family
at Bethany Lazarus and Mary and Martha. Lazarus was very sick
and getting sicker. And they sent word to Jesus, but he was not come to them.
It's getting darker and darker and death is closing in. And
I can imagine Mary and Martha take turns. opening the door
and looking down the road to see if he's coming. It was now
dark. Jesus was not come to them. Of
course, we know in Lazarus' case, the divine purpose was not to
prevent death, but to conquer it. And that's always the pattern
of divine intervention. Not just to cancel our pain,
that's what we want. It's God's purpose to make us
conquerors in our pain. Seems awful late, he's not come. It's too late, we say, and he's
not come. It's so dark now, there's not
much hope. It's looking bad. We say all these things looking
around. We don't say these things looking up, because when we look
up, we know, we know, we know that he knows best. So the disciples
are out here at sea and it's dark, the storm is fierce, and
the Lord is up in the mountain alone. Verse 15 said, but yet
he sees them. This would be good for us to
get a hold of. They don't see him, but he sees them. He knows every fear they have. He is well aware of all that's
going on. He sees every pull of the oars. He hears every groan and every
gasp for breath, every tingle of every nerve, every fear. He
sees and knows all these men are going through out there in
the middle of the sea. And so it is with you and I this
morning. We're consumed in this world
of darkness. We're consumed with the problem
of our not seeing Him. And we tend to forget that He
does see us. And He does know it all about
the situation. He controls the wind. He controls
the waves. Not just on the sea, but He controls
the wind and the waves in your little world, in your life. And what's going on is not by
accident. The Lord is doing it on purpose. It can't get out of his control. He said in Isaiah 27, 3, I will
keep my vine, lest any hurt it. I will keep it night and day. Oh, he's got a hold of things. I get tore all to pieces because
I don't have a hold of things. But he has a hold of things. It's easy. It's very easy to
get the idea that you're in such a dark place You're having it
so much worse than everybody else is having it. The Lord surely
must have forgot about you. No, that's not the case. Not the case. And we think sometimes in our
unbelief, why should he fool with me and my mess? When there's
so many good people around without all the problems that I have. He don't have to fool with me.
No, he don't have to. But if you're one of his, he'll
never leave you. He'll never forsake you. He'll not desert
you. No matter what you've done, no
matter where you've been, no matter how messed up your life
is, no matter how messed up your thinking is, The Lord hadn't gone anywhere.
You may have turned away from him, but he hadn't turned away
from you. And he won't. Verse 19, this
25 or 30 furlongs, about a third of a mile. I looked it up best
I could figure. And Mark's account says they
were in the midst of the sea. about halfway across, couldn't go any further. They're too far out to turn back, but yet they're not able to go
on. Of all times, why couldn't this storm hit when
we just shoved off from the bank? We could just turn around and
go back. Why couldn't it have waited till we were almost there? We could have made it. But of all times, it's the worst
possible time for a storm. They're right in the middle.
Oh, how easily it is to charge God with his awful timing. Would you ever do that? No show
of hands, please. These old fishermen, I can imagine,
especially Peter. Yeah. Why couldn't this have happened
before we got plum out here right smack dab in the middle? Well, I could answer it for him.
I just don't like answering it for myself. It was by design. By design. I've had to say many
times, oh no, not today. Not this. I don't need this today. And then to have to say, my God
did it deliberately. that specific time in that specific
way. And you run into folk that give
you the impression, oh, I never get down. I just go around whistling
Amazing Grace all the time, and I just smile all the time. You
better stay away from me. I'll mess you up bad. The latter part of verse 19 said
then they see Jesus walking on the sea and drawing nigh unto
the ship and they were afraid. He did come and he came to deliver and he's
right on time. His time. He got there way later. that they thought he should have. It was way too dark. The storm
was way too serious. And they were way too afraid
for him not to be there yet. But he did come in his time. In his time. I'd give us this
principle concerning prayer Before we close, we forget that prayer
is not to change God's mind. That's out of the question. It's
to change ours. It's to condition our hearts
to be content with the divine will. Most prayers today, to put it
bluntly, Go like this. Father, my will be done. This is my wish list. I'm not going to take no for
an answer. I've heard preachers say that. Just don't take no
for an answer. Well, if God's answer is no,
you'll take it. You won't like it, but you'll
take it. Real prayer conditions the heart to be content whether
God says yes or no. You say, well, what about when
He answers our prayers? Yes. Well, what change was our
expected end in the situation? We feared the worst. We poured
our heart out to the Lord. And the worst didn't happen.
That's our side. But God's side is this. Whatever he does, he
was always going to do it. He never changed his mind. He does not change. Our praying is not to pressure
God to do what he's not going to do. It's to plead with him
to do what he will do. There was a certain leper came
to the Lord, and this is recorded by divine inspiration. Three
times, Matthew, Mark, and Luke all tell about this. So we're
not to miss it. And I love what that leper said.
He said, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. It was never a question in his
mind and heart what the Lord could do. And it's not a question with
me. I have no problem believing that the Lord can do anything
he wants to any time. But he questioned whether God
would. If thou wilt, thou canst. Make me clean. And that's what
we do. The question is based on God's
will, if thou wilt. So dear believers this morning, whatever you're facing in life,
and I know some are facing some difficult hours just now. Others
that I don't know about, I'm sure are facing things that you
don't know the outcome of, you don't know the future of. Whatever you're facing, however
great the burden is, however dark it gets, before
He comes, He will come. He will come. Just keep on trusting.
Keep on believing. Keep on worshiping. Keep on waiting. He'll come. He'll come. Somebody said, oh, why did the
Lord do this? Why did He do that? Why did He
take my loved one? Why did He let this happen? Why
did He let that happen? He's God. He's God. And if He never done anything
else good for you, you'd have to say this morning, if you'd
be honest, He's been good to you. He's been gracious to you. And he promised not to leave
us or forsake us. And I had this on my heart, the
dilemma these disciples were in. It was now dark and Jesus was
not come to them. You ever feel like that? You
ever feel like that? That don't mean he's not coming.
That just means it's not time. He comes in his time. Let's stand
together.