Let's turn together to Mark chapter
4. Mark the fourth chapter. We'll begin our reading at verse
35. And the same day when the evening
was come, the Lord Jesus saith unto them, that let us pass over
unto the other side. And when they had sent away the
multitude, they took him even as he was in the ship, and there
were also with him other little ships. And there arose a great
storm of wind, and the waves beat into the ship, so that it
was now full. And he was in the hinder part
of the ship, asleep on a pillow. And they awake him and say unto
him, master, carest thou not that we perish? And he arose
and rebuked the wind and said unto the sea, peace, be still. And the wind ceased. And there
was a great calm. And he said unto them, why are
you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith? And they feared exceedingly and
said one to another, what manner of man is this that even the
wind and the sea obey him? very few, if any, of our Lord's
miracles were likely to leave such an impression, so unforgettable,
so convincing as a demonstration of his omnipotence as the miracle
we have just read about. At least four of these disciples
in the boat with our Savior were professional fishermen. They were skilled seamen. In
all likelihood, Andrew and Peter, James and John, had seen many
storms on the Sea of Galilee. They had been exposed to many
of the tempests, the devastating tempests that were common in
those days upon that sea. Never, not even in his greatest
other miracles, had they seen our Lord display such power as
he displayed here. By the mere word of his mouth,
our Savior stopped the raging storm. He spoke just a word,
peace, he said. That was a dead call. Now, there
are many important lessons taught in these verses. We would be
wise to ask God the Holy Spirit frequently to remind them of
us or to remind us of them. First, it's obvious here that
faith in Christ and obedience to him do not exempt God's saints
from the storms that other people face. I just mentioned to you
a few moments ago, our friends down on the coast of North Carolina,
God's people going through the same storms everybody else going
through. They're loved of God, redeemed by the blood of Christ,
called by his spirit, kept in his providence, but they're going
through the same storm, the same devastation, the same difficulties
other people do. The fact that our Lord was weary
shows us the second thing. The fact that he required sleep.
We read in the scripture how our Lord hungered and thirsted.
Here he was weary and went to sleep in the back part of the
ship. Demonstrates clearly that he was a man. A man just exactly
like us in all things except sin. It's difficult for me to
begin to grasp something of our Lord's humanity, but he was in
every aspect of his being, really and truly a man, just exactly
like you and me, sin alone accepted. And thirdly, the fact that the
wind and sea obeyed his word demonstrate clearly that our
Redeemer is also completely God in all his being. This man is
God Almighty, the Omnipotent One. The wind and the sea knew
the voice of their creator and obeyed it distinctly. Only one
who is both God and man could be our savior. Only one who is
both God and man could redeem us from our sins. You remember
what Bobby read just a few moments ago in Romans chapter 10? Those
who try to adhere to the law, they say, what shall we do? And
righteousness by the law demands obedience. But the righteousness
which is of faith never says who shall ascend into heaven,
that is to bring Christ down from above, or who shall descend
into the deep. Because the righteousness of
faith understands one has come down from heaven in human flesh
and descended to the belly of the earth in death as our substitute
and redeemer and satisfied the justice of God. The fourth lesson
is this, and we need to learn it and learn it we shall. The greatest saints in this world
are still sinners. The strongest believers are sometimes
filled with unbelief. I read the words of our Lord
here in this text so many times today. He said to his disciples,
how is it that you have, it looks like Paul, he would have said
such little faith. He said, no faith, no faith. And there are times when the
strongest of believers at least appear to have no faith. He said to Peter, James, and
John, those three stalwarts of the faith, how is it that you
have no faith? In the midst of the storm, in
the midst of the trial, in the midst of the heartache, their
faith seems to have given way altogether to unbelief. It didn't,
I understand that, but it appeared that it did. And then fifthly,
learn this as well. You unbelieving believers, you
saints with such great sin. And I say you with my fingers
pointed right here. Our Lord Jesus is a tender, compassionate,
forgiving Savior who is always touched with the feeling of our
infirmity. I want to be, he is. He always is. He says, why are
you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?
And while there is a tinge of rebuke in those words, it almost
seems more to be a word of sympathy. It almost seems to be more a
word of tenderness and care. And then our Lord's reason for
everything he does is the salvation of his elect. We read that he
commanded his disciples, said, let's get into the ship and go
over to the other side. And he went over to the other
side of the sea for a specific reason. If you start in chapter
five and begin reading at the first verse, you'll find out
what the reason was. There was a wild, lost, lunatic Gadarene
on the other side of the sea for whom the time of love had
come and the master must come to him. Everything he does. Everything that in our eyes appears
to be prosperous and blessed. Everything in our eyes that appears
to be adverse and judgmental. Everything God Almighty does
in time, he does for the salvation of his elect. And one last lesson. All who are in the good ship,
grace with Christ Jesus, are perfectly safe. as they pass
through the storms of this world. All of it. Now those lessons
are a sermon in themselves. In fact, those lessons are a
sermon that I have preached to you in the past. And I probably
will repeat them a number of times in the future. But tonight
I want us to use our text another way. I want to use this event
on the Sea of Galilee like our Lord used so many things that
he observed. Our Lord's preaching. was anything
but what men would call scholarly. His preaching was anything but
what men would call intellectual. His preaching would never have
impressed critics. His preaching would never have
impressed those folks who look at a scripture and say, now let's
listen and see if this fellow's aware of all of the difficulties
with that verse. In fact, I was reading a text
the other day and reading the commentators on it, all the difficulties
that men arise, and I thought, well, maybe I ought to say something
about that. And then I thought, why? What's the point? Our Lord's preaching was utter
simplicity. He looked at sheep, and he's
limitating about sheep. He looked at fields, he's limitating
about corn. Limitating about tares and wheat. And that's how
he preached. He spoke to his disciples in
parables. Well, I want to speak to you
tonight on the parable of every believer's life. When the Son
of God enters the hearts of chosen sinners in sovereign saving power
and grace, He brings us with himself into his church and kingdom. He brings us with himself into
the ship of grace and salvation. As he does, he casts his eyes
and ours across the waters of time, and he says to his people,
let us pass over unto the other side, and we shall. We shall. If you will look at Psalm 107,
hold your hands here in our text, and look at Psalm 107, I'll show
you that I have a good biblical basis for using this text as
the parable of our lives. Psalm 107. If the Lord will give
me some liberty, I may prepare a message for you on this Psalm
next Sunday morning. But for now, let's look at verse
23. They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business
in great, great waters. These, these see the works of
the Lord and his wonders in the deep. For he commandeth and raiseth
the stormy wind. You read articles in the paper,
listen to religious folks in these as Who was Mr. Bush used to call them talking
heads on Sunday morning. They talked about the hurricanes.
Oh, God didn't have anything to do with that. He didn't have
anything to do with bad things. He commanded. He raises the stormy wind, which
lifteth up the waves thereof. They mount up to the heaven.
They go down again to the depths. Their soul is melted because
of trouble. You ever been there? They reel to and fro. They stagger
like a drunken man and are at their wit's end. How many times
have you made that statement? I've just been at my wit's end. I've been there a lot of times.
Then, when you're at your wit's end, and it's the only time you
will, 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 because they'd
be quiet. And the quietness, Lindsay, wouldn't
be anywhere near so gladsome if it wasn't for the storm. Then
are they glad because they'd be quiet. and he bringeth them
into their desired haven. Oh, that men would praise the
Lord for his goodness and for his wonderful works to the children
of men. The believer's life is comparable
to a voyage across a troubled sea. A voyage across the sea
of time, a voyage across the sea of our lives, across the
sea of this world, on to our desired haven on the other side. Now let me use this story in
Mark chapter 4 to describe the believer's life as it's portrayed
here parabolically. First, as a voyage. We embark
on this voyage, and as we do, the Son of God takes us into
the good ship Grace and says, let us pass over unto the other
side. You remember Psalm 23, the Psalmist
David speaks of death as us walking through the valley of the shadow
of death. In the book of Joshua, death is spoken of poetically
as passing over, crossing a sea or crossing a river. We often
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 passing over the sea
is not something we're going to do one of these days. It's something we do every day
that we live in this world, every day. We are right now passing
over the sea of time unto the other side. We are right now
walking, as David said, through the valley of the shadow of death. He said, yea, though I walk through
the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou
art with me. The believer is one who walks
with deliberate purpose through the valley, the dark, dark valley
of the shadow of death. But he knows he's walking just
in the shadow of death, and a shadow never hurt anybody. Causes a
lot of fear, but it never causes any pain. Causes a lot of terror,
but never causes any pain. The believer is sometimes shaken
by the shadow, but still he walks on through this valley. He sails
on across this sea because he's determined to go to the other
side unto everlasting glory. The sea then is a fit emblem
for our lives and all the varied circumstances of our lives in
this world. Oh how quickly we pass across
this sea. Turn to Job chapter 9. Hold your
hands here and mark and turn to Job 9. While you're turning
listen to this. What is your life? What is it? Oh we start making plans. Before Audrey Grace was born,
Doug started setting aside money for college. We start making
plans early. Start making plans early. Man's wise to make plans. But you will be wise, wise, wise,
indescribably more wise to make plans like James said, if the
Lord will. Because we're going to pass through
this thing in a hurry. What is your life? It's a vapor. Just a vapor. that appears for
a little time, then vanishes away. Like a puff of smoke. Set a steam kettle on the kitchen
stove and starts to boil and as it boils the vapor rises and
you try to follow that vapor for five minutes. It just appears,
it's gone. Just like that. Job said, my
days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle that are spent without
hope. Look in verse 25 of chapter 9. Now are my days 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. So I look into your
faces. I think to myself, there go the
ships. Not painted ships on a painted
sea, but immortal souls, rising and falling upon the billows
of time, disappearing quickly over the horizon of time into
eternity. You will be wise to hear the
prophet's words. Prepare to meet your God. Don't build any of your nest
in the trees of this dark forest. They're all marked to be burned. Don't hold anything here too
tightly with great value. It's soon that which will either
be taken from you or you permit. Secondly, let me show you that
this life is not only comparable to a voyage, but comparable to
a voyage across a stormy sea. Verse 37 in Mark 4, there arose
a great storm of wind and the waves beat into the ship so that
it was now full. We must often sail into the tempest
of sorrow affliction, adversity and grief. But Christ assures
us of safety, no matter what the storm may be. Now notice
in our text, these disciples were not acting in disobedience.
The Lord said, let's cross over to the other side. And they followed
the master into the ship at his command. Contrary to popular
opinion in these days of health, wealth, prosperity nonsense,
loyalty and obedience to Christ is not that which secures us
from trouble, but is often the surest course of trouble. The
path of faithfulness is always, listen to me now, the path of
faithfulness is always right smack dab through the eye of
the storm. I don't understand that. I don't pretend to either. I
just know it so. I just know it so. I know it
from this book and I know it from experience. Faithfulness
always brings difficulty. It always brings trial. It always
brings trouble. Though our storms are many and
varied, basically, all the trials and troubles we experience in
this world arise from two sources. First, the contrary winds of
our circumstances around us. We can't do a thing about them. We try to grab hold of things
and take control of things. Folks ask me all the time, what
are you going to do? I respond, I'm trying to learn
to do nothing. Just do nothing. Just sit and wait. I don't mean
sit idly and wait. I mean sit believingly and wait. Just wait and see what God does.
Wait and see what God does. But then there are other storms,
not just sickness and adversity and trials. I talked with a friend
of mine today, got to go have surgery. Well, you know him,
Brother James Watson out in El Dorado, Arkansas. Doctor's got
to take out a good portion of one of his lungs. He has lung
cancer, it looks like. His granddaughter, about the
age of our daughter, had a seizure the other day,
and they have no idea what's causing it. No idea what's causing
her tremors, no idea what's causing her to just gnaw at her tongue
and shake and tremble. But then there are other difficulties. And they're just difficult to
deal with. It's the ways of seeing and unbelief within. These storms
beat until the ship was filled with water. And our souls, our
hearts, our lives, our minds, our being is full of sin. So
a preacher, are you talking to believers or unbelievers? Both.
Both. Turn to Psalm 73. Psalm 73. Let me read you just a portion
of this tremendous penitential Psalm of David. Psalm 73. This man after God's own heart.
Anytime you read something about David, you're reading something
about a remarkable man. This fellow wasn't quite like you
and me. He stood head and shoulders above us. He was a stalwart.
He was steady. He was a man who walked all the
days of his life in such a way that this man is described in
Scripture as a man after God's own heart. He flat believed God. But look at what he says about
himself in Psalm 73. Truly God is good to Israel. And he's not
talking, Skip, about those folks over across the water. He's talking
about folks right here. God's elect is Israel. Even to such
as are of a clean heart. Not clean because they made themselves
clean. Clean because he gave them a
clean heart. Clean because he purified their
hearts by the blood of Christ. But as for me, as for me, My
feet were almost gone. Ever been walking on a slippery
place and your feet just almost go out under you? This is exactly
what he's saying, only he's talking about spiritual things. My steps
had well nigh slipped because I was envious at the prosperity
of the foolish when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. I've been there a few times too. And then David said in verse
21, thus was my heart grieved. I was pricked in my reign, so
foolish was I and ignorant. I was as a beast before you.
But I love this next word, nevertheless. Nevertheless, I am continually
with thee. Thou hast holden me by my right
hand. Not I've held you, you've held
me. 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 on earth I desire beside thee. My flesh and my
heart faileth, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion
forever. For lo, They that are far from
thee, those who my envy. I looked out and saw, he said,
I looked at my neighbor and man, all of his sons were sitting
around his table. My son tried to kill me. All
his sons and daughters were sticking out with fatness and my son,
my family was just torn all to pieces. The wicked had no trouble. But he says, all those that are
far from thee shall perish. Thou hast destroyed them that
go a-whoring from thee. Not shall, thou hast. He describes them in Psalm 92
as being cattle, calves in a stall being fattened for the slaughter.
Thou hast destroyed all them that go a-whoring from thee.
But it is good for me to draw near to God. I put my trust in
the Lord that I may declare all thy works. I'll write thirdly. Our life in this world is a voyage,
yes. A voyage through stormy seas,
yes. But blessed be God, it is a voyage with Christ in the company
and constant presence, protection, and care of God the Son, our
Savior. Our Lord does not say, go over
to the other side and I'll meet you there. He said, let us pass
over unto the other side. And though there arose a great
storm and waves beat into the ship so that it was full, we
read that the Lord Jesus was still in the ship. He was right
there in the midst of the storm. He was silent, but he was there. He seemed not to care, but he
was there. So often it is with us. Our Lord
may appear to be asleep. He is often silent. He often
hides his face in the midst of trouble for a while. It even
appears at times to our minds, our feeble sinful hearts, that
he just doesn't care whether we perish or whether we don't.
But that's not the case. He always cares. I've not had a tithe of the difficulties
most people have in life. And sometimes I just, I throw
up my hands. I don't talk to you like this,
doesn't do much good, but I want you to understand I go through
what you go through. Sometimes I just throw my hands in the air and
I say, what's the use? I don't care. He never throws his hands in
there because he's never frustrated. He's never out of control. He
always cares. Oh, how I pray that God will
teach me and teach you to believe him. Our Savior said, Lo, I am
with you always, even to the end of the world. Did he not
promise, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee? Listen to this. He said, when thou passest through
the waters, you got some waters and you're
gonna go through them. He didn't say if you pass through,
he said when you pass through. And through the rivers, raging,
roaring rivers, they shall not overflow there. When thou walkest
through the fire. You who are fairly young believers,
listen to this word from God. He said, lay I chosen you in
the furnace of affliction. That's where you find God's people
much of the time, if not most of the time. In the furnace of
affliction. How come? So he can try you as
silver is tried. But what do you do with silver?
You put it in the furnace and melt off and burn up and consume
the dross so that when it comes out of the furnace, it's just
pure silver. And when God gets us out of this
furnace, we will just be pure saints before him with none of
the dross left. When thou walkest through the
fire, thou shalt not be burned, neither shall the flame kindle
upon thee. All right, fourth thing. This
is a voyage marked by miracles. Our Lord Jesus stepped out and
said, peace, be still. Charismatics talk about miracles.
They put on a show of tomfoolery pretending to have them. But
God's saints, men and women who believe God are people whose
biographies are biographies, histories of God's wondrous works. I could sit down and talk to
you about marvelous things God's done, things I've seen, not even
talk about what I haven't seen, marvelous things. It is upon the dark, dark background
of our great troubles that our Lord most clearly displays his
wondrous power and his great grace. It's in the fiery furnace
of adversity that we shall know the preserving power of his presence. It's only in the lion's den that
we see our Lord's dominion over the lions. And the Lord who is
with us and for us. Is God able to save us? He is God alone. He is God indeed. And he's going to bring us to
the other side, safe into our desired haven. God teach us to
trust him. Amen. All right, but you can
listen to him.