While you're turning to the eighth
chapter of Luke, I want to read a hymn to you, a portion of it
anyway. When the storms of life are raging,
stand by me. When the world is tossing me like a ship upon
the sea, thou who rulest wind and water, stand by me. In the midst of tribulation,
stand by me. When the host of hell assail,
and my strength begins to fail, thou who never lost a battle,
stand by me. When I'm growing old and feeble,
stand by me. When my life becomes a burden
and I'm nearing chilly Jordan, O thou lily of the valley, stand
by me. Now let's read Luke chapter 8, beginning 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 unto the other side of the lake. And they launched forth, but
as they sailed, he fell asleep. And there came down a storm. If you haven't been there yet,
you will be. And the storm, when it comes down, comes down from
heaven by God's purpose. Let's learn something about it.
There came down a storm, a storm of wind on the lake, terrible
tempest, terrible tempest. Read Matthew and Mark's account
and you will see that this tempest is so great that the boat began
to fill with water and they were about to be drowned, the boat
was about to be overturned. And they were filled with water
and were in jeopardy 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 great 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 his voice. Now
there are many very important lessons to be taught from these
verses. And I will give you these things
again. I've given them to you before, but they will bear repetition. We would be wise to ask God the
Holy Spirit to frequently remind us of these lessons and lay them
to heart. Here they are. Number one, faith
in and obedience to Christ. Do not exempt God's saints from
the storms that other people face. Don't ever imagine it will. These
health, wealth, prosperity preachers are lying through their teeth
and they know it when they tell you that if you'll follow Jesus,
if you'll believe in Jesus, if you have faith in Jesus, if you
just believed enough, everything will be alright. Faith in Christ
does not exempt you from the troubles and trials and heartaches
that other people face. Obedience to Christ will not
exempt you from those things. In fact, as we'll see in a moment,
obedience to Christ usually leads you right into the midst of the
storm. Number two, the fact that our Lord Jesus Christ was weary
and required sleep, that he laid down in the hind part of the
ship, as Mark tells us, and was fast asleep in the midst of this
storm, tells us plainly that he was a real man. Jesus Christ
is no myth. He is the incarnate God-man.
And the third thing is this, the fact that our Lord Jesus
Christ stood on the bow of the ship, did Him, nothing recorded
about it anyway, did Him raise His hand. He just spoke the word,
said, be still. And the wind and the waves immediately
were perfectly calm. declares that this man is himself
God Almighty. He who made the wind controls
the wind. He who made the sea controls
the sea. This man who is our Savior is
himself God. And number four, somehow it does my heart good
to see that this is true. And I suppose there's something
wrong with my heart when I say that. But the greatest saints
in this world are still sinners. The strongest believers sometimes
have no faith. Our Lord asked the disciples
When they came to him, back here in Matthew's account, he said,
oh, ye of little faith. In Mark's account, he said, how
is it that you have no faith? Here in Luke's account, he said,
where's your faith? I can't tell you how often I
ask myself that. Where's your faith? Where's your
faith? Not faith in faith. Not faith
in having faith. Faith in God Almighty. Common
saying today in Hollywood and everywhere else, keep the faith.
Don't ever say that. I just soon hear you cuss. Don't
ever say it. Keep the faith. Believe God. There's a huge difference. There's
a huge difference. Faith. Faith. Oh God, give me
grace to believe you. Fifth lesson is this. Our Lord
Jesus Christ is a tender, compassionate, forgiving Savior. How tender
His words are. Here are these disciples. They
said, they said, Master, Master, we perish. They said, Lord, tear
us down not that we perish. They cried, Lord, Lord, we're
perishing. And the Lord Jesus looked at
them He must have shook his head. But he didn't raise his voice.
He didn't clench his fist. He didn't squint his eyes. He
didn't grit his teeth. He just said, where's your faith?
Aren't you ashamed? Where's your faith? Oh, how tender,
how compassionate, how gracious, how forgiving. I pray for grace
to follow his steps. Sixthly, our Lord's reason. Now
learn this and learn it well. If you learn this, it will help
your faith, I promise you. Our Lord's reason for everything
he does. Our Lord's reason for everything
he does is the salvation of chosen sinners. You read that passage
in Luke. He's seeking his sheep. That's
what he's doing. Our Lord told his disciples,
said, let's get into the ship and go over to the other side
of the lake. How come? Because there's a wild Gadarene
there for whom the time of love has come and he's about to be
called. Our Lord was taking his disciples through the storm to
the other side of the sea on purpose to fetch out one of his
lost sheep whom he had come to save. And I'm telling you, that's
what he's doing in everything in this world. Every event of
providence, everything you read in the newspaper, every experience
of your life, every trouble, every blessing, every heartache,
every joy, everything He does is for the saving of His people.
Let me refer it to you one more time. We know that all things
work together for good. For good. Not just temporary good. There's
a sense in which temporary good, yes, but what's best for us forever
is not necessarily best for us now. Not temporary good. All things work together like
a huge piece of machinery perfectly designed for good, eternal good. Not to me personally alone, though
certainly to me. But this is far more important.
This is far more important. I wish I could say I always think
that. I know it, but I don't always
think this way. I usually think my happiness and my pleasure
is far more important than anything else. God forgive me. But for the eternal good, of
them that love God, every last one of them, of them who are
the called according to His purpose. Now, from the depths of my heart,
I cry, God, do what you will with me, through me, and in me
for the good of your people. Do what you will in this world
with me and mine for the good of your people. That's what He's
doing. That's what he's doing. And I'll
tell you a little something about prayer. Prayer is getting in
line with what God's going to do anyhow. Prayer's not getting
God in line with you, it's you getting in line with God. God
is building His kingdom. He is saving His people. He's
calling out His elect. And then lastly, all who are in the good ship
grace with Christ are perfectly safe. though we pass through
many a storm. And that's what I want to talk
to you about this evening. Turn over to Psalm 107. Hold your
hands here, Luke. Turn to Psalm 107. I refer you to this frequently. I refer myself to it real often,
real often. This psalm is an explanation
of God's providence and an explanation of God's grace. I wondered, what's
God doing? What's God doing? You see, men
and women seem to wreck their lives. I know, I've been there. I corrupted myself and everybody
came and contacted me, all my life long. And if it hadn't been
for just the fear of divine judgment and everlasting hell, I'd have
committed suicide when I was a young boy. Miserable. Miserable. My fault. But God's good providence brings
sinners down until they are forced by the sweet constraint of grace
to cry unto Him. Look here. They that go down
to the sea in ships that do business in great waters.
These see the works of the Lord and His wonders in the deep.
It happens when God saves a sinner and it continually happens throughout
the days of our pilgrimage in this world. For He commands and
raises. He commands and raises. There
came down a storm He commands and raises the stormy wind, which
lifts up the waves thereof. They mount up to the heaven,
they go down again to the depths. Their soul is melted because
of trouble. They reel to and fro, and stagger
like a drunken man, and are at their wits end. Now I'm going to tell you when you'll
call on God. I'll tell you right now. Tell you exactly when you'll
call on God, when you can't do anything else, when you're at
your wits end. That's true for you who are yet
without Christ. You'll never call on Him until
He makes you to understand you can't do anything for yourself. And Bobby, that's true of us
in every trial we experience. We will throw up our hands and
call on Him only when we are at our wit's end in utter desperation. God, help me. I've done all I can and all I
did to make it worse. When they're at their wit's end,
look at it. Then, then, then, then, then. He says it over and
over again in this psalm. Then they cry unto the Lord in
their trouble, and he bringeth them out of their distresses.
He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still.
Then are they glad. Oh, then are they glad. Then
are they glad. No gladness I've ever known,
no gladness I've ever known, like facing immediate death. Just, just, you know, just one
more, one more move and you're being called and marvelously
being delivered. I recall When Shelby and I first
started dating, first year we were dating, I was driving up
to see her over Christmas holidays, I was 17 years old. I left home,
it was nearly 50 degrees, driving up to the mountains, got over
the Yadkin River, going over a bridge 400 feet high. And it
was frozen, solid as it could be. I hit that thing by 60 miles
an hour. Looked like I was playing bumper
cars. And when I got done, That little barracuda of mine was
crushed up and sitting right on top of the rail. And when
I got out, I want you to know I was glad. I looked over that
rail and nearly passed out with joy. Then are they glad! Glad. How come? Because they're
quiet. The storm's over. The storm's
over. So he bringeth them unto their
desired haven. Oh, that men would praise the
Lord for His goodness and for His wonderful works. What a strange
way to talk. For His wonderful works? The
storms? The raging sea? The tossing billows? The angry winds? Oh, that men
would praise the Lord for His wonderful works to the children
of man. Wes Roseboom, whatever brings
you, and Don Fortner on our knees before His throne is His wonderful
work. His wonderful work. Let us praise
Him for it. Alright, now let me show you
four or five things here. First, I want you to see that
every believer's life is a voyage. Oh, how quick we make it. As
we embark on this voyage, the Son of God takes us into his
ship of grace, his church, his kingdom. And he says, let us
go over to the other side. We often speak of death poetically
as passing over, crossing over a river or a sea. We sometimes
sing, He will keep me till the river rolls its waters at my
feet. Then He'll bear me safely over
where my Savior I shall meet. But this is not something we
shall do someday. It's something we're doing right
now. Folks say, well, the time is
going to come when we have to walk through the dark valley
of the shadow of death. James, we're walking through
it right now. The process of living what we
call life is the process of dying. We're walking through the valley
of the shadow of death. Death all around us. Death before
us. Walking through the valley of
the shadow of death. Confidently, but walking through
this valley. It's like passing over the sea
quickly. James says, what is your life?
What is your life? It's just a vapor. Just a puff
of smoke. Just a step out on a cold morning
and, boy I can see my breath. Not for long you can't. It's
gone. It's gone. So I'm young, I'm
healthy, I'm strong. Don't you back on that. Don't
you back on that. My days are swifter than a weaver's
shuttle and are spent without hope. Now my days are swifter than
a post. They flee away. They see no good. They are passed away as the swift
ships, as an eagle that hasteth to the prey. We're making a voyage across
this sea of time. to eternity. Now dare you honestly consider
this. How will it be for you when the
voyage is ended? Try to forget it if you can.
I would advise you. If I wasn't concerned about my soul. I pray
God won't let you forget it. How will it be for you when you
leave this world tied to meet God Almighty face to face in
eternity? As soon you shall. Secondly, this life is not only compared
to a voyage, but it's a voyage across the stormy sea. Now let
me speak specifically to you who are my brothers and sisters
in Christ. Look at verse 23. 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. We often must sail into the midst
of tempest of sorrow, affliction, Adversity and grief. But our Lord's presence assures
us of safety no matter what the storm. Now, let me call your
attention again to this fact. These disciples were not acting
in rebellion. They were acting in compliance
with the Master's command. He said, let's get in the ship
and go across the sea. They got in the ship and headed across
the sea. They were doing exactly what he told them to do. And
he sent them with purpose right through the eye of the storm.
How come? To try their faith. To prove
their faith. To cause them to know their need
of him. To show them his glory. To show
them his grace. To show them his goodness. To
show them their nothingness in his fullness. So he sent them
right through the storm. You can bank on it. You can bank
on it. Our storms, they're varied and
they're many. But basically they come from
two sources. There's two. Outward circumstances. I don't know much about it, but
I've seen some folks go through some tough times. And my heart bleeds for them. But there's a tougher storm. One with which we have to live
every day. All the time. Inward sin, corruption, and unbelief. Turn over to Psalm 73, let me
show you. Try to picture it if you can.
David is sitting in his palace overlooking the fields. He's
now been reigning a while in Jerusalem. Amnon has raped his sister. Absalom has sought to kill his
father, drove him from his throne, took his concubines publicly,
and raped them every one before all of Israel. And now Absalom
is dead. Michael, his wife, laughed at
him, mocked him, and despised him. And here's this man after
God's own heart. And he looks over the way and
he sees his neighbor. Maybe not physically, maybe just
in his mind's eye. Kind of like we imagine things.
And there sits his neighbor around his table, his wife, his concubines,
his sons, his daughters, his grandchildren, everybody sitting
around his table, happy, just delighted, eating, drinking,
merry, no trouble, no difficulty, no storms, no heartache, no sickness,
no rebellion. Every child in the house is just,
oh, that's just what I want Sunday to be. Everyone of them. Everyone
of them. And this is what David said. Psalm 73. Truly God is good to Israel,
even to such as are of a clean heart. But as for me, as for
me, my feet were almost gone. My steps had well nigh slipped,
for I was envious at the foolish when I saw his prosperity, when
I saw the prosperity of the wicked. You read on through the psalm,
and I encourage you to do it. David said, this is what I said. I said, verily I have washed
my hands in innocence. He said, why am I serving God?
What am I getting for it? What's it doing for me? What's
it doing for me? You immediately think, well,
David, you're forgiven. Adopted, accepted, justified, sanctified,
set for heaven, eternity is yours, Christ is yours, glory is yours.
And don't forget, I dare say everybody here has at one time
or another talked the same way. David said, I wouldn't say it
with my lips. He said, I would have, but if I did that, then
I would offend against the generation of God's children. But he said,
that's what I was thinking. That's what I was thinking. That's what
was going on in here. Now then, look down to verse 21. Thus my heart was grieved, and
I was pricked in my reins. So foolish was I and ignorant. I was as a beast before you.
A beast, a beast lives for its own lust, that's all. That's
all a beast lives for. A beast doesn't care for its
young. Oh, they got such tender feelings. Watch them after little
pups are about six months old. Watch them after they're young
or just a year old. See how much they care for them.
Watch them try to eat. Just a beast. All I was interested
in was me! Nothing more horrible in this
world than living for self. So foolish was I and ignorant,
I was as a beast before thee. This next word makes me leap
and dance in my soul. Nevertheless. Oh God, thank you for grace that
doesn't depend on me. Nevertheless. I am continually with thee. Thou hast holden me by my right
hand. Thou shalt guide me with thy
counsel, and afterward receive me up to glory. Whom have I in heaven but thee?
And there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee. My heart and my flesh fail. But God is the strength of my
heart and my portion forever. For lo, they that are far from
thee shall perish. Thou hast destroyed all them
that go a whoring from thee. But it is good for me to draw
near to God. I have put my trust in the Lord
God that I may declare all thy works. Here's the third thing. for you who are His. Our life in this world is a voyage
with Christ. A voyage, yes. A voyage through
stormy seas, yes. But blessing be God, it's a voyage
in the company and constant presence, protection, and care of the Son
of God. The Lord Jesus does not say to
his disciples, you go across the sea and I'll meet you there.
He says, let us go across the sea. Let us go together to the
other side of the sea. And though there arose a great
storm, and the waves beat into the ship so that it was full,
though there came down a storm of wind on the lake, and they
were filled with water and were in jeopardy, we read that the
Lord Jesus was in the ship with them. He was asleep, but he was there. He was silent, but he was present. And so he is with us. He may appear to sleep. He often
does. It may appear, in fact, to our feeble, sinful, unbelieving
minds that He doesn't care what happens to us. Master, Master, carest thou not
that we perish? Oh yes, he cares. He said, I'm
with you always. He said, I will never leave you
nor forsake you. He said, when you pass through
the waters, they'll not overflow you. When you pass through the
rivers, they'll not drown you. He said, when you pass through
the fire, I'll be with you. I'll strengthen you. I'll uphold
you. I'll keep you with the right hand of my righteousness. Therefore,
the Apostle Paul, while he was in prison awaiting execution,
writes these words, Rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I say
rejoice. Let your moderation, your ease,
your gentleness, let your moderation be known to all men. The Lord's
at hand. He's got at your elbow. He's
with you and he'll never forsake you. He upholds you with the
right hand of his righteousness. In everything, he said, be careful
for nothing. But in everything, by prayer
and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known
to God. Go ahead and pour out your heart. Come boldly to the
throne of grace and obtain the mercy and grace you need in time
of need. And the peace of God, which passes
all understanding, will keep your hearts and minds by Christ
Jesus. Not only is this a voyage, a
voyage through a storm, a voyage with Christ, it's a voyage that
is marked constantly by miraculous goodness and grace. 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 a great calm. Now sometimes I run across folks
who know that this modern tongues movement is satanic, and it is.
They know that it's hellish, and it is. They know that there's
nothing akin to spirituality, nothing akin to Bible truth,
nothing akin to the gospel involved in it. That's all so. But they
seem a little envious. They experience such things.
They talk about miracles. Well, they talk about miracles.
And they put on a show of tomfoolery. And it is a show of tomfoolery.
I think hell itself might be ashamed to be involved with it.
But we don't talk so much about the miracles. Our lives are lives
of constant miraculous grace. The Son of God redeemed me. And you mentioned in your prayer
back in the office of Moral, God's prevenient grace. That grace that goes before grace
and prepares the way for grace and brings people into grace.
That's His prevenient grace. Prevenient grace? You try to
figure that out. God ruling and working all things
together for the saving of His people. He called me by His grace. I've been raised from the dead.
How about you? I've been raised from death. I've been cleansed
from corruption. I've been pardoned of sin. I
have a conscience free of guilt. That's called grace. Oh, wondrous,
miraculous grace. And one of these days, my God,
shall raise me up in his likeness. That's the miracle of grace. Never get over the wonder of
it. Now then, one more thing. And I hope you understand me.
I'm not scolding you. I'm scolding me. And I hope to encourage you.
Bobby, it ought to be a voyage without any fear. No reason for fear. Not for God's
people. No reason for fear. Our Lord
said to his disciples, why are you so fearful? Oh, ye of little
faith. He said, how is it that you have
no faith? He said here in our text in verse
25, Where's your faith? Where's your faith? The disciples' fear arose from
their unbelief. You see, fear is the rank weed
that grows wild in the soil of unbelief in our hearts. These
poor disciples were so much like us. They should have been perfectly
calm. They were on the master's business. They were doing what
he told them to do. They were in his presence. They
had repeatedly, repeatedly seen his supernatural power as God
in human flesh. They knew him to be God the Son. They should have reasonably,
just reasonably, While the master was sleeping. While he's laying
there sound asleep. They should have reasonably concluded
he's in control. That should have been their conclusion.
He'll take care of things. He'll take care of it. That would
be the reasonable conclusion of all he had taught them and
all they experienced. That would be the reasonable
conclusion in every experience in my life of all He's taught
me and all I've experienced. But instead of looking to Him, they looked at the terrible storm.
Kind of like we do. Man, when the lightning flashes,
all you can see is lightning. When the thunder rolls, all you
hear is thunder. When the earth quakes, all you can feel is the
shaking of the earth beneath your feet. Our master holds the lightning
in his hand. The thunder is his voice. The
earth is him shaking it. Instead of looking to him, they
looked at their own weakness. I have no question. In that storm,
Peter, James, John, and Andrew, those fellas were experienced
fishermen. I know what they were doing. Man, they were rowing
and pulling and tucking, trying to guide that boat, trying to
take care of things, bailing out water, telling the other
fellas what to do. And suddenly, the oars do no good. The helm
does nothing. And they're at their wit's end.
And they look to their weakness. And because they couldn't do
anything, they figured nothing could be done. They looked at the ship. Well,
I knew this ain't going to sink soon. I didn't know it'd be this
soon. Oh, let us take our Lord's gentle
rebuke personally. I try to apply it to myself as
I prepared this message. I hope God will enable you to
do the same. Our greatest difficulties Our
greatest trials, our greatest troubles, let me repeat it, our
greatest difficulties, our greatest trials, our greatest troubles
as believers arise from our own unbelief. That's exactly right. That's
exactly right. The storm wasn't the cause of
their trouble. The raging wind wasn't the cause of their trouble.
The billows weren't the cause of their trouble. The weakness
of the boat wasn't the cause of their trouble. Their own inability
wasn't the cause of their trouble. The cause of their trouble was
they failed to believe God. Failed to believe His word. Failed
to believe His promise. Failed to believe His providence.
Failed to believe His goodness. Failed to believe His grace. No wonder the Master said, where's
your faith? You see, our Savior is the sovereign
God of Providence. Omnipotent, wise, and good. He's too wise to err, too good to be unkind, too strong
to fail. The Lord Jesus Christ is in this
boat with us. He's not only in the boat with
us, He's at the helm. He's in control. We don't trust
providence. We don't worship providence.
We're not deist. But we trust the Lord God Almighty
who is Himself the God of all providence. He who is our Savior
has everything in His hands under absolute control. God the Father
has given to His Son as our mediator all power over all flesh. And He bids us cast our care
on Him, for He cares for us. He says to you and I, be not afraid, only believe. You see there are reasons for
the storms. There are reasons for them. We can't know anything at all. about our God's power over the
lions until we've been in the lion's den. All you can do is
read books about it and talk about it. But when you've been
in the midst of the lions and He stopped their mouths and enabled
you to fluff one up for a pillow, then you know His power over
the lions. There are things we learn only sailing through the
storm. There are things we see of His
goodness and glory only sailing through the storm. I talked to
you about Brother Jim Wilson. I told him the other day, I said,
I know a little about what you're going through. I said, I know
you're anxious to meet the master and be with him. And I know you're
fearful for your wife and your family, children, grandchildren. He said, that's right. I recall
when the doctors were expecting me to die right soon, and I was
too. Faith was just not much older
than Audrey Gray. She was about four or five years
old, I think. And I only had one apprehension. I only had
one fear. Honestly, one fear. I wasn't
terribly concerned about Shelby. She doesn't like to hear it,
but she'd take care of herself. She does all right. But I had
a daughter to raise. And I was so concerned. And I
learned something in the storm. I believe I've learned it. I
may have learned it again, but I believe I've learned it. The
Lord God spoke peace to my soul and gave me perfect quietness
and preparedness to leave my daughter in this world with no
father that anybody could see. And this is what I learned. As
if he spoke plainly With an audible voice, though that's not the
case, he spoke to my heart and called me to understand she's
not yours. She's mine. And I'm a heapsight
better father than you ever thought about being. And I wouldn't have learned it
anywhere else. I'm telling you, if God sends you through the
storm, he has a reason. Look to him and learn from him. Now let's turn back one more
time to Psalm 107. I'll just read you the conclusion of the
psalm. Verse 42. The righteous shall see it, and
rejoice, and all iniquity shall stop her mouth. Whoso is wise
will observe these things, even they shall understand. Look at
this. Look at it now. The loving kindness
of the Lord. The loving kindness of the Lord
that sends down the storm from heaven. Puts us in the storm. Keeps us in the midst of the
storm. And brings us through the storm. By almighty grace. Alright Lindsey, you can listen
to him please.