Open your Bibles to the Gospel
of Saint Mark, Chapter 4. Now we're conscious that we have
one spiritual meal together weekly. One spiritual meal. Now if you're
only going to have one meal a week, you certainly would want a good
one, I suppose, wouldn't you? Certainly you would. And then
not only that, I thought about this, that if you only had one
a week, you'd certainly be looking forward to the next one about
Thursday or Friday. When you got to Thursday or Friday,
if you're going to have the one on Sunday morning between 11
and 12, you'd be looking forward to it. I mean, you'd be getting
hungry. Of course, thank God some of you are eating on your
own during the week. You're reading, you're meditating,
you're studying the Word of God and that gets you through the
week. But I do want this morning to
have something to say. I do hope the Lord will help
us and that we'll be able to give you a timely and good spiritual
meal, be able to set a table. I have asked of a friend that
he lend me three loaves because there are some people on their
pilgrimage that have come to me. And you say, well, the time's
11. I say it's midnight on God's
clock. And they've come to me at midnight,
and I have nothing to set before them. So I've asked of Him that
He lend me three loaves. I trust this morning that we
have those three loaves and that we can present them to you in
this service. So if you've turned in your Bibles
to the fourth chapter of the Gospel of Mark, I'd like to begin
with verse 33 and read down through verse 41. And with many such
parables spake he, that is Christ, the word unto them as they were
able to hear it. as they were able to hear it.
But without a parable spake he not unto them, and when they
were alone, he expounded all things to his disciples. And the same day, when the even
was come, he saith unto them, 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. We learn
in the first verse of this chapter that our Lord, there was a great
multitude that had come to him and so he got in the ship and
went out into the sea so that he could speak to the great multitude
that was assembled and also to speak to those who were in the
little ships that had gathered around who they had come across
to hear his message. And so it says here that He said,
Let us pass over to 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 ye so fearful? how is it that ye 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? Now as this chapter was read
to us and as it was unfolded to us, I seen some things that
I wanted to call to your attention this morning. If you would look
back with me to verse 11. We see when the Bible tells us
here that he said unto them, that is to the disciples, unto
you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God. Now the
Lord had chosen these twelve and he says unto you it is given
to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God. That is, that
God in his sovereign plan, God in his sovereign grace, God in
his elective grace, had purpose that these disciples, that they
would understand and know the mysteries of the kingdom of God. Now truly, great is the mystery
of godliness. And we know there are many mysteries
connected with the kingdom of God. But he says, unto them that
are without, unto others, those that are without, those that
are outside of the realm of God's redemptive purpose, those that
are strangers to the ways of God, and those that are in the
world. He says, but unto them that are
without, all these things are done in parables. They're all
done in parables that seeing they may see and at the same
time not understand what it is that's being spoken to them.
Seeing that they may see and they will be satisfied with seeing
with the natural eye or maybe hearing with the natural ear,
but they will at the same time not perceive spiritually that
which the message contains. They'll not be able to receive
it. And they may hear and not understand, lest at any time
they should be converted and their sins should be forgiven
them. Now that sounds very mysterious, does it not? It sounds very mysterious. because we would think that our
Lord being in the world as he's pictured by most of the Armenian
preachers of the world that he's out in the world just trying
his best to save everybody and that he's going to surely convert
everybody if he can and that if he fails that he'll be up
in heaven weeping his eyes out as he stands looking over the
banisters of heaven down on the earth because men will not believe
and repent But what this tells us is that God has a people and
that God always has a people regardless of how bad the world
is. There is a remnant according
to the election of grace and that God has a people. and that
he will save those people, and the rest he'll pass by. The scripture
says, the election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded.
God left them to themselves. Now, beloved, the thing that
I would fear the most, if I was here this morning and the Spirit
of God had never visited my soul, would be that God would pass
me by. that He would just simply pass
me by, that He would let me alone, that He would not visit me, that
He would not come to me. I know that salvation is of God. I know that only God can save
a sinner. I know that God must do a work
in our hearts. I know He must, and if He does
not, then, my friend, we will never be saved. We know that
our Lord Jesus Christ is the Great High Priest. And we know
that He can have compassion on the ignorant and those that are
out of the way. We know that He can. That is
His prerogative to do that. And thanks be to God, He has
had compassion upon several of us here, maybe many of us here,
and He's had compassion on us in our ignorance. Now you say,
well preacher, now really and truthfully, my religion don't,
I mean I don't believe that. My religion, they don't believe
that. They don't believe that, that God must come where you
are and that he must visit you and that he must do something
in the heart of the sinner before that sinner can be saved. That
God He just everybody has a first-class ticket to heaven and whenever
the trains ready to pull out All they got to do is just get
on that train and they'll end up in the glory land Well, my
friend, let me tell you something that there isn't anybody you
may say well, I got a first-class ticket I got one but let me tell
you that the train that leaves out of here to glory is Everybody
that gets on that train, they're going to, listen to me, they're
going to have a low opinion of themselves and a high opinion
of the Lord Jesus Christ. They're going to be ignorant
and out of the way, and they're going to feel themselves to be
so. I want to ask you quickly now, this morning, how much do
you know about sin? How much do you know about it?
How much do you know about the sin you've already committed
this morning since you got up and got ready and came out here
to this building? How many sins have you committed
already this morning? You say, well, I don't know.
I don't have a clue. That's right. You're ignorant. We're all ignorant
before God. We've committed enough sin already
to send us to hell if it wasn't for the mercy of God. If it wasn't
for this compassionate high priest We'd all already be in the lake
of fire, in that bottomless pit. He restores my soul, brother.
The Lord restores the souls of His people, and He comforts His
people. But I want to tell you, there's
a lot of mysteries in the Bible. And here in verse 33, and it
says, And with many such parables spake He the word unto them,
as they were able to hear it. As they were able to hear it.
And I realize this morning as I'm here preaching to you that
there's some of you that's not going to be able to hear what
I'm saying. You're not going to be able to
hear it. You're not going to be able to understand it. Now
our Lord spoke in this psalm here about sowing the seed. of
the Word of God. And he said that in some various
situations the seed springs up and then it's choked out and
some of it's on rocky ground. Various ways in which he illustrates
how the seed of the Word of God is sown and how it takes effect. And then he tells us that the
Kingdom of God, in verse 26, is as if a man should cast the
seed into the ground, and then he sleeps, and it rises night
and day, and the seed springs up and grows up, and he doesn't
know how it happens. He doesn't know how it happens.
Well, that's the way it is when you preach the Word of God. You
look for some results, you don't see it today. You go to bed tonight,
You get up tomorrow, and you still don't see any results of
it. But after a while, here it springs up, and you see some
results. And I believe that's happening
in our group here. I believe the Lord's saving some
of the young people. I believe He's dealing with them.
I believe God is passing by. And he sovereignly is doing it.
Now, some people may say, well, I know, but we don't see any
evidence of it. There isn't anybody saying anything. There isn't anybody making any
professions of faith. There isn't anybody saying, I
want to join the church, and all of that. But I want you to
read in verse 21 here, and he said to them, is a candle brought
to be put under a bushel or under a bed and not to be set on a
candlestick? No, the candle is to be set on
the candlestick. And then in verse 22 he says,
for there's nothing hid which shall not be manifested. Meaning
that if God has done a work in a man's heart, he cannot hide
it. He won't be able to hide it.
It'll get out on him. Notice he says this, neither
was anything kept secret but that it should come abroad. It'll
be manifested. It'll be manifested in time.
I mean directly it'll grow up. The seed will grow up and it'll
be manifested. And so we're not hurrying anybody. And we're not saying that you've
got to come forth and make some kind of a profession of faith
in order to acknowledge that because it's going to get out
on you. The Lord is going to make this manifest and reveal
it. And so we need to understand
these mysteries. But you're here this morning
and you say, Preacher, I wished I could understand everything
that is preached here. I wished I could. Well, there's
a lot of things. You know that we'll just have to wait on the
Lord to reveal to us and to make known to our hearts. And you
know I like this verse in this song we sang, I know whom I have
believed. This verse that says, I know
not how the spirit moves, convincing men of sin, revealing Jesus through
the word, creating faith in him. I don't know how that happens.
I don't know why it is that there's some people here that will hear
me this morning and other people that won't. I don't know why
that is. All I know is that God has it under His control and
it's His sovereign prerogative to make the seed grow and to
bring forth thirty, fifty, sixty, or a hundredfold as He sees fit. And so I hope this morning that
the message is a timely message and that the Lord will bless
it to our hearts. I feel the need to pray again
before we begin. Father, in the name of Jesus,
receive our praise and our thanks for your goodness. And Lord,
bless the preaching now of the message. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Now, what I want to deal
with here this morning is this passage here that deals with
the storm coming up on the sea after our Lord had preached his
message unto the disciples and unto the multitude that had come
together. The winds were howling, the water
was filling the ship, And the disciples thought that they and
the ship would surely be engulfed in the raging sea. So they woke
up the master. You see, he was asleep on a pillow
in the hinder part of the ship. And they asked him this question,
Carest thou not that we perish? Carest thou not that we perish?
Now there's an account that Matthew gives us in Matthew chapter 8,
and if you want to hold your finger here and turn back there
quickly with me, I would like for you to do that. Matthew chapter
8. We see that what our Lord did
according to Matthew in verse 25, His disciples came unto Him
and awoke Him, saying, Lord, save us, we perish, and He saith
unto them, Why are you fearful, O ye of little faith? Then he
arose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great
calm. So it seems that the story here,
as it's unfolded to us by Matthew and by Mark, that it's a little
different. In Mark it indicates that he
stilled the sea, and then he spoke to his disciples. But in
Matthew he spoke to his disciples first, and then he's still the
sea. And now this unbelief, our Lord
speaks to them about their unbelief and their fear. And let me say
that there's always more danger, there's always more peril to
a Christian in his own unbelief and in the most adverse circumstances
by which he may be surrounded. Beloved, our unbelief is the
dangerous thing, not the storm that we're in. It's our unbelief
and our fear. He dealt with the chief peril
first by rebuking their unbelief. To omnipotence all things are
possible. But to my mind, I think it to
be an easier task for the Lord Jesus to calm the winds and the
waves on the Galilean Sea than to still the fear and the unbelief
that's in the hearts of these terrified apostles. Now, the
mental seems to always excel the physical, and the ruling
of hearts is a greater thing, beloved, than the governing of
the winds and the waves. So our Lord would deal with his
disciples. Brother, sister, when we're in
trial and trouble, let us always begin with ourselves. Let us
always begin with ourselves, our own fears, our mistrust,
our suspicions, our selfishness, and our self-will. For the real
danger lies with us. It lies in our hearts. All the
trouble in the world cannot harm you as much as an ounce of unbelief. I tell you this, beloved, that
poverty cannot make you as poor as unbelief can. I tell you sickness
cannot make you as sick as unbelief can. The greatest evil to be
dreaded by a child of God in this world is that of a fearful
and unbelieving heart, that of a doubtful heart before God.
Now then, let's get to this subject that's at hand here. I do not
doubt that these disciples fought, that they had strong faith in
the Lord Jesus Christ. He had been tutoring them all
day long, and I'm sure that they didn't question for a minute
that each one of them felt they were firmly grounded in the faith
of the Lord Jesus Christ. that they felt they were firmly
grounded. They didn't think that there
was anything wrong with them. How could they have a doubt about
it? But my brother, sister, none of us have any idea how weak
and small our faith really is as God's people. None of us have
any understanding. Now listen, when trial comes,
and it will come, you remember that, we have no more faith at
any time than we have in the hour of trial. Now you think
whenever everything's going well and the sun's shining and there's
no storm beating around you, no storm raging around you, that
you have great faith. But the faith that you have is
the faith when you're in the midst of the storm. All our supposed
faith, which will not bear to be tested by the roaring of the
billows and the waves of the sea, is mere carnal confidence,
is all it is. Fairweather faith, I don't think,
is any faith at all. If all you got is a faith that
makes it quite well on pleasant days and in pleasant times when
all's going in your favor, then, my friend, I don't think you
really have any faith. That faith only is true faith
that can say with Job, though he slay me, yet will I trust
him. That faith which will endure
as seeing him that is invisible. That is the true faith, regardless
of how those foundations are shaken, that faith which will
stand and say, though he slay me, yet will I trust him and
endure seeing him that is invisible. Now I will admit that this was
a real trial to these disciples. It was a severe storm indeed.
Nobody's going to question that. They had been on this lake before
and they were experienced fishermen, but this was no usual storm. The trials of the people of God
are real trials, and I would never, never minimize the trials
of the Lord's people. They're like these disciples,
and they cannot shrug their shoulders and pass off their trials. No,
no, beloved. They get our attention. The trials
that the Lord sends, the storms that He sends into our lives,
He gets our attention with these storms. And this is one of the
characteristics of God-sent trials. You just cannot laugh them off. You cannot shrug your shoulders
and they be gone. They're real trials that must
be dealt with in patience and faith. And you must come to God
in believing prayer and deal with them before the Lord and
wait on the Lord until He delivers you and calms the storm. Note again, this storm was the
more trying, I think, to them, because it came upon them when
they were in a path of duty. Now, they were not on a vacation,
you know. They had been over listening to the Lord preach,
and the Master had bidden them to cross over the sea. He said,
let us go across the sea, let us pass over unto the other side. You know, I can't read that without
thinking about Stonewall Jackson. And, you know, Stonewall Jackson,
one of the generals, Confederate generals in the Civil War, he
was wounded severely by one of his own men, and they amputated
his arm. And they buried his arm, and
in a day or two, he took pneumonia, and he died. But right before
he died, he woke out of a kind of a coma, and he said, let us
pass over and rest under the shade of the trees. And I don't
know all that our Lord had in mind when he said, let us pass
over unto the other side, but I always liked that quote there
by Mr. Jackson. And the Lord surely
had in mind to go over and retire with his disciples for the night
and to maybe visit more with them and so on and so forth,
but they were not on a vacation really. They were not. They were
in the path of duty. Now they were doing right. They
were doing exactly what the Lord told them to do, and the storm
came while they were doing right. Now this is nothing new, beloved. This is nothing new. This is
often perplexed believing men and women in this world, that
storms come upon them while they're doing the right thing. I've heard
believers say that they prospered more when they were lost. That
they had more difficulties and trials and adverse situations
come in their lives since they got saved than they ever did
when they were lost. And things went smoother, some
say, before they knew the Lord. Well, how can these things possibly
be? Well, I'm trying to do the right
thing, somebody says. I try to obey the Word of the
Lord. I try with all of my heart to
be submissive to Christ. I want to be a servant of the
Lord, but now the severest trial of my life has just come upon
me while I was trying to do right. All seems to be against me, and
trial after trial comes upon me. Now any dead fish can float
downstream. The living child of God will
have to swim against the current. Paul told Timothy, he said, fight
the good fight of faith. He also said, I have kept the
faith. I've kept the faith. I fought
the good fight of faith. I've kept the faith. You're going
to have to struggle and fight in this world as a child of God.
You're going to have to find that While you're being tempted
and tried, there are others living around you that's never molested,
though in the wrong. You're the one that's being tested.
You're the one that's being tried. And that's the way it is in this
world. And when you're doing right, storms can come upon you,
and trials can come. So this tried their faith. The
storm came upon them. And this is another point I want
to make to you. While Jesus was in the ship, Now, had he been
absent, they could have understood it, surely. But he was with them,
don't you see? The Lord Jesus was in the ship. How can I have so much trouble
with Christ with me? I mean, with the Lord with me,
how can I have so many, many storms and so many troubles.
If I'm out of fellowship with the Lord, I can understand it,
but He is with me. The Lord is with me, right in
my vessel. So how is it that I could have
so many, many trials? Well, here's the test of faith.
Brother, sister, whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth, and he
scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. We think trials mean the Lord
is angry or the Lord is upset with us. It's not so. They may
be tokens and test of the love of God toward our hearts. The
Lord can be right in the ship and be trying your love toward
him. Again, the storm seemed to be
so untimely, there were many other little ships with them,
and they were caught in the same storm. Trials is never welcome,
but sometimes they are peculiarly disagreeable. We want things
to go well for everyone. We don't want anything to prejudice
men. against the gospel, do we? We
don't want anybody to think that Jesus is another Jonah. No, we don't. And when he gets
in the ship, all kinds of trouble comes. And, you know, they threw
Jonah overboard because they thought that would relieve the
storm and that they would be safe. We want fine weather, we
want prosperity and blessing for all who come along with us.
And so, of course, this was a very, very unpleasant time, and it
seems like the storm was untimely. And we would say, Gracious Lord,
let us have a calm that those who have come to you in their
boats may get home in comfort. They may get home in comfort.
Sometimes the strange occasion of the trial makes it harder
to bear, harder to bear indeed. Well, I want to use, if I can,
two questions here this morning for our spiritual prophet. The
first one is, why are you so fearful? And the second is, how
is it that you have no faith? So first of all, then, let us
look at this question as an explanation of pity. The Lord, I think, had
pity upon these disciples. And the second, I believe, was
a rebuke or a censor. of love toward these disciples.
And thirdly, I want to try to get to the bottom of her trouble
by just asking a few questions. And if you'll bear with me, I
think I'll have you out by our normal time. Our Lord woke up
from his sleep as calm as if it were a bright summer's morning,
though it was the dead of night and it was in the midst of this
awful storm. He looks upon them with wonder,
finding them so strangely different from himself. And he asked, in
all the calmness of his own brave spirit, why are ye so fearful? He pitied them, and he pitied
them, I believe, for several reasons. First of all, their
fears had made them so unlikely. They were his servants. They
should have been as their master. They were learners. They were
disciples. Why did they not put in practice the lessons of his
example? His quietness and calmness and
peace ought to have been contagious. It ought to have affected them. The Lord is calm. You be calm. Now that ought to be catching,
oughtn't it? Calmness ought to be catching
to us. Now these disciples acted as
if they had no faith, that all their past associations with
the Lord Jesus had profited them nothing. They'd got nothing out
of all of their association with the Lord Jesus Christ. What have
you got out of your walk with God, out of your experience in
the ways of God? What have you gotten out of it?
Well, they were not like him yet, although the design of his
teaching was to make them like himself. You know, the Bible
teaches that we're predestinated to this end to be like the Lord
Jesus Christ, to be conformed to His image. And we shall be
like Him when we shall see Him as He is. The Master must often
look upon us with much pity and grieve over us that after being
so long with Him, some of us are getting gray-headed, even
white-headed in the service of the Lord, and we fall so foreshort. of His glory. How is it that
we're so fearful when the Lord Jesus is so calm? Is this our
imitation of Jesus? Our doubts, fears, alarms, mistrust
of God? Are these such as a follower
of Jesus Christ ought to exhibit here in this world? Next, I believe
you pitied them because their fear and unbelief made them so
unlike themselves, even. So much unlike themselves. They
were men and they were fishermen. They were braver than this, surely.
But they were like frightened children, frightened children.
When you and I get fearful, how foolish we think, how foolish
we speak, and how foolish we act. We could have weathered
the storm had we not given way upon this one point of confidence
in God. But when we fail there, we become
weak as water and no telling what we might say or how we may
act. How are the mighty fallen? The
children of Ephraim, the Bible says, being armed and carrying
swords and bows, turn back in the day of battle. Those who
were once patterns of courage become cowards when faith fails. That's just the way it is. Surely
the Lord pities us when instead of being like himself, we're
not even like ourselves. We become unstable. We become unstable and we present
a picture to those around us that shows that we're fearful
and unbelieving. Then again, Jesus pitied them,
I think, because their fears made them so unhappy. They were
white as sheets and the boat was filling and sinking. What
was the matter? Were they afraid to die? We feel a thousand deaths,
do we not, in fearing one? To die is nothing comparing with
fear to die, all the agony of death lies in the foresight of
death. Death for the believer is the
end of all agony, though through death we enter into rest. These
men were made wretched by their fear, and so are we. Our unhappiness,
our sorrows are homemade, they're beat out on the anvil of unbelief
with the hammer of our forebodings. The Lord pardon us that we should
make ourselves so unhappy by our unbelief and miss the joy
of a restful faith in Him. Well, lastly under this first
point, the Master felt pity for them because their fears make
them so unkind. Does unbelief make us unkind?
I'm sure it does. To say to the Master, carest
thou not that we perish? Why, I was fretful and wicked,
was it not? The Lord Jesus, while they spoke
a hard thing of him, he had a tender loving heart himself, and our
unbelief has a tendency to make us unkind, even toward the Lord. We're not tender toward others
when we're disturbed about ourself, and that is clearly shown at
home. in church and in the world. Our
master did not find fault with the unkindness of his disciples. He just went to the root of the
evil. And what was that? Their unbelief
and their fear. That was the root of their problem,
you see. Why are you so fearful? How is
it that you have no faith? Is the question that he asked
them. And so the second thing is we want to talk about the
rebuke or the censor of love here that our Lord gives to these
disciples. These words, how is it that you
have no faith? I think were spoken to convey
a major rebuke to their mistrustful hearts. You see, I quoted the
verse in my prayer a while ago, Mark 16, 16, that he that believeth
and is baptized shall be saved, he that believeth not shall be
damned. John 3 and 18, it says, he that believeth is not condemned,
he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not
believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And John
3 and 36, he that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life.
He that believeth not the sun shall not see life, but the wrath
of God abideth on him. Revelation 21 and 8, where the
scripture says that the fearful and the unbelieving will have
their part in the lake which burneth with fire forever and
ever. And so believing, my friend, listen to me, believing is what
you must do in order to have a relationship with God, in order
for you to stand in Christ. And their unbelief was grievous
to the Lord. Grievous to the Lord. This is
serious. Unbelief is not a weakness to
be tolerated. It is a crime to be condemned. It is a crime to be condemned,
our unbelief. Now they ought to have believed
Him and trusted Him. He suffered death to serve us.
Oh, should we not be willing to deny ourselves to serve Him?
He suffered death. He went to the gory tree. He
died in their place. Why would not they be willing
to trust His love in this situation? His love, I say. The Lord has
proven His love over and over unto His people. Why would we
not trust His love? How could they think that He
would let them sink in this hour? He was in the ship with them?
Was He a pretender? Was He a fake? Would He let that
ship go down while He was on board? Oh, to think that we ever
doubted Him who gave up His life for our salvation. He must not
be doubted anymore. It is utter cruelty to doubt
Him whose life and death hath given us so many infallible proofs
of His unchanging love toward us. We must believe His love,
beloved. Whatever our situation be, however
bad the storm is, we must believe in His love. It is evident to
me that their unbelief and ours is unreasonable. The most unreasonable
thing in this world is for one who professes to be a believer
to doubt God. It's unreasonable. Faith, I think,
is pure reason. Nothing is so reasonable as to
believe the word of our God who cannot err and who cannot lie. The fears of these disciples
were unreasonable because they were contrary to their own beliefs. If you would have asked them,
they would have said, I believe in this man's deity. I believe
he's God. I believe he came out from God.
I believe he came down from heaven. They believed that he was the
son of the living God. And also, they believed in his
sovereignty. that he was God Almighty, and
that he could do whatever he will. They had witnessed his
miracles, they had seen him work miracles, and they knew that
he was indeed God. And his attributes, oh how they
were revealed over and over to these disciples, and his omnipotence,
His power many, many times was felt in His messages as well
as was felt as He laid hands upon the sick and the afflicted.
And so, beloved, their unbelief was contrary to their own beliefs. And I've often said we ought
to believe our beliefs and doubt our doubts, and that's what we
must do. Listen, they had to believe that
Jesus was sent of God on a glorious mission into this world. How
could that mission be accomplished if he would have drowned in that
ship? The Lord Jesus had not yet went to Calvary. The Lord
Jesus had not yet went and died the death that He came into this
world predestinated and ordained to die. How could He die? How
could they believe that He was the Messiah of God come into
this world on this mission? They must have known something
about that mission. If they sink in the sea, then
He must sink too. They were in the same boat. The
eternal purpose of God is at stake here, beloved. And you
must be aware of that. That in your life, God has laid
hold of you and called you out of the world. And he's singled
you out. And he's put his life in you.
And he has a purpose for your life. And your life is involved
in his eternal purpose. And you're immortal until God
is finished with you. I got a call from a fellow the
other day, he thought I'd got killed in a car accident. And
I think he kind of hoped that I would have been. But I want
to tell you this, we're immortal until God is done with us. We need to believe that. We're
in the boat with the Lord Jesus Christ. And there's a purpose
involved in this. And brother, sister, don't be
inconsistent with what you believe. Don't do it. Their unbelief was
contrary to their own past experience. Had they seen the Lord work?
Absolutely, they'd seen him work. They'd seen him accomplish miracles.
Now you say, now preacher, this message I don't think I really
need it today. You hang around a little bit the year 2000 until
the year 2000 comes around or right before it comes around.
You may need to understand a little bit about how the people of God
need to trust the Lord and to rest in the Lord. We're coming
down to some difficult days and difficult times in this country. The economic, the structure and
the moral structure of this nation, I'm telling you, it's weakening
day by day and we need to be aware of that. We need to learn
how to stand believing what we believe and to trust God because
we'll have no other support than faith in the hour of trouble
and trial in this world. And so their unbelief was contrary
to their past experience. And we must draw from our past
experience in the day of hard trouble and trial. They had proofs
of His power in Godhead and of His care on their behalf. Is
not this true of us also? Has the Lord ever failed us?
Has He not helped us unto this day? Are we going to fly in the
teeth of all our past experience when trouble really breaks out?
And whenever we are destitute and whenever we must pray for
our daily bread, we've gotten a long ways from that. Most of
us has got enough bread to last us for a month or maybe more. But when we have to pray every
day, are we going to be able to draw, listen, are we going
to fly in the teeth of all of our past experience? Whoa! Whoa, my friend, whoa! Let's
be careful. Is all that you have ever believed
of God, is it a lie? If you get up and you're in trouble,
and you get up and the storm is raging, everything you ever
believed, are you going to say, oh, it's all been a delusion,
it's all been a lie? Be careful. Have we been under
a delusion up to this day? Oh, what are you going to do,
my friend? Are you going to stand and be
established? To mistrust is irrational, because it is contrary to all
our experiences and the observation of our very eyes. We have known
and believed the love that God hath to us. We've known it, and
we believed it. We've known it, we've looked
around, and we see evidence of God's love toward us. And then
there have been times when we had to believe it. We couldn't
see it, but we just believed it. And we still believe it,
thank God. And another thing I see here
is that their unbelief deserves censure because it grew out of
low views of the Lord Jesus Christ. When afterwards, when the winds
and the sea obeyed Him, they said to one another, what manner
of man is this? What manner of man is this? Should
they not have known that beforehand? Shouldn't they? Well, I think
they ought to know that beforehand. Why are we so? Listen, the Lord
Jesus Christ can still the stormy sea. O thou that rulest wind
and water, stand by me. I believe he can stand by me.
I believe he can. And the songwriter said, and
we sing it this morning, as a mother steals her child, thou canst
hush the ocean while, boisterous waves obey thy will. When thou
sayest to them, be still, the Lord can indeed still the storm. The Lord can indeed. And we need
to have high views. of the Lord Jesus Christ know
who this is. Oh that we thought more of the
Lord Jesus Christ. I said earlier that those that
go to heaven on the train leaving here are going to get in and
that train is reserved for people that have a low opinion of themselves
and a high opinion of the Lord Jesus Christ. We believe that
he's the Savior and we believe that he did all that was necessary
in order to reconcile us unto God. Christ is indeed salvation,
and we believe that. Oh, that we thought more of Jesus.
We cannot think too much of Him. We've been accused of preaching
too much Jesus. How do you do that? You can't
do it. I'll tell you, you can love Him,
you can preach Him, and you can abide in Him. and you can never
be an idolater by doing so. You stay on Christ and think
high thoughts of Him. If we took Him to be what He
really is, I mean, if we regarded Him as most truly God, we could
rest in Him and say farewell to our fear and our unbelief. If Jesus were gathered, listen,
if He were greater in our esteem, our lives, surely would be lived
more glorifying to God, don't you think? If he were greater
in our esteem. We just somehow or other, we
just missed it when it comes to the Lord Jesus Christ. We
don't know who he is. They marvel. What manner of man
is this? They were exceedingly fearful. What manner of man is this that
we got in this boat here? He just spoke to the sea and
there was a great calm. What manner of man is this? Have
you ever faced up to who it is that you're dealing with in the
Lord Jesus Christ? Have you ever faced up with it?
Well, we just quit running around here acting like, you know, we're
just simply so beat down and so, so, so unrestful. Listen, we're dealing with God
Almighty manifest in the flesh. We're dealing with with the Lord
Jesus Christ. Let us see then if we can get
to the root, and we'll hurry up and close here, and the fear
of our unbelief. If there's going to be any hope
of our getting the victory, we must get to the bottom of the
cause and put it away. Let us ask ourselves some questions. Let me ask you some questions.
How is it that you have no faith? How is it that you have no faith?
Is it for the want of knowledge? Is it for the want of knowledge?
Now I have to believe that if the disciples had known Jesus
better, they would have had less fear and more faith. We said
some things about that. Is it so with any of us? Is it
due to our ignorance of Him? Are we badly taught in the gospel?
I mean, is it that we don't understand God's purpose of grace? Is it
that somehow or other the best of the covenant? Do we have a
cloudy view? of the best of the everlasting
covenant and the provisions that God has made for every one of
his children in that covenant. That covenant of grace and that
great salvation which is wrapped up in that covenant. If it be so, the quickest way
to faith is to read the Bible more. Doesn't the scripture say,
faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God? Doesn't the
Bible say that in Romans 10 and 17? Study the Bible. Pay more attention to what you
hear when it's preached. Spend more time, maybe two, three,
four, five times more than you have ever before in devotion. I think if there ever was a time
when we need to draw near to God, I think if there ever was
a time when that scripture, if you draw near to God, He draw
near to you, ought to mean something in the ears of the people of
the New Covenant Baptist Church, it's now. Draw near to God. Study and spend some time in
devotion to the Lord. You say everything will just
continue as it has in the past. Well, my friend, those are skeptics
and agnostics that believe that Christ is never coming back.
Sculptors in the last day will say everything just continue
as it has from the beginning. No, no my friend. It's changing. Believe me. It's changing and
it's time to draw near the Lord. The Holy Spirit can lead us into
all truth. It'll kill your fears. And it'll strengthen your faith
to read the word. Remember this word. Acquaint
now thyself with God and be at peace, for thereby good shall
come unto thee. That song more about Jesus, more
about Jesus let me learn, more of his holy will discern, Spirit
of God, my teacher, be showing the things of Christ to me, more
about Jesus and His Word, holding communion with my Lord, hearing
His voice in every line, making each faithful saying mine. Is that not what we need? Just
need more knowledge of our blessed Lord, that we know Him, so that
we would know how to deal with all the complex situations that
surely coming. Secondly, how is it that we have
no faith? I said we're going to ask the
question. Try to get to the root of the problem. Is it that we're
ignorant of the Word of God? Is it that our trials have taken
us by surprise? Now listen to me. Maybe the disciples
were caught off guard here. They just had a real nice day
and a wonderful time listening to our Lord preach. Wouldn't
you have liked to have been there? I'd like to have been there.
I'd like to have heard what He had to say and be encouraged
and be lifted up. But listen to me friend, I've
had a little experience of my own and I know what it is to
be on the mountaintop. And I know what it is for in
just that quick for the sky to cloud up and the storms come. And I want to tell you this,
sometimes we're caught off guard. You're caught off guard. Now,
they had the attitude, you know, I've just been in fellowship
with the Lord and Christ's on board the ship, everything bound
to be all right. Don't believe it for a minute, my friend. Don't
believe it. Don't believe it. Never let your guard down. Brother,
sister, never let it down. Never let any affliction surprise
you. The Lord said, in the world ye shall have tribulation. And ye shall have tribulation
in the world, in your day, in your time. Through much tribulation
we will enter the kingdom of God. There is no escaping of
it. This world is not our rest and
we're not here to rest. We're here to be tried and tested
and used of the Lord. And I want to tell you, don't
be taken off guard. Now, if your children die, don't
be surprised. Shall mortal parents bring forth
immortal offsprings? Somebody said, what, you mean
to tell me that could happen? It could happen. It could happen.
It definitely could happen. We read about it all the time.
I just read the other day in the paper where there was a couple
of young people down in Bozeman, and there was a fire truck going
to a fire, and they topped a hill. I think they were 19 years old.
And they hit the fire truck and killed them both just like that.
You say, well, can something happen like that to my children?
Absolutely something can happen, and it can happen very quickly
if your earthly goods, riches, disappear. Don't be surprised. They always had wings. What wonder
if they fly? What wonder if they're gone?
You say, well, I've worked hard for what I have, Preacher. Well,
I'm not denying that. I'm not denying that. But I'm
going to tell you this, that one of these days there's going
to be a lot of people wiped out. I believe it's coming. You may
not believe it, but I believe it's coming. I just believe that
there's difficult times coming. And I think we need to be aware
that these things can happen overnight. Maybe before you get
to the bank tomorrow morning. Maybe before you get a chance
to withdraw your savings, they could be gone. The bank could
be closed. It could happen. Did it ever
happen before? Well, some of you know it has
happened before. And it can happen again. I'm
just telling you, don't be caught off guard. In your heart, don't
be surprised if affliction and trouble and trial comes. Don't
be surprised. and don't be surprised if it
happens after you just been, oh you just had such wonderful
time of fellowship with the Lord and his people. Don't be surprised. If other adversity happens to
you don't be surprised for sparks fly upward, man's born into trouble.
Count on tribulation, count on it. Then you'll not be overtaken
by surprise nor afraid as though some strange thing had happened
to you. Well, number three, and we're
hurrying up here, I'm still on time. How is it that you have
no faith? Was it because you do not trust
God fully, but trust in your own strength in a measure? We too often mingle reliance
upon self or upon some other arm of flesh with our reliance
upon our Lord. And some of you young people
never know whether you trust God or not until the arm of flesh
is no longer able to help you. Until that arm of flesh is cut
off and you're cast on the Lord. Cast wholly on the Lord. Then you'll never know till then
whether you got real faith in our God or not. Okay, now listen
to me. We can manage. Somebody said
we can manage. We can manage. Well, I'll manage. Sure I will. Sure we can. We have had trouble before. Brethren, we're never so weak
as when we feel the strongest. Now you mark it down. When a
man is strong in the flesh, that's a weakness as far as God is concerned. And let me say this, never so
foolish as when we think we're wise. We got it figured out. I got it figured out. I know,
I know, I know. Well, when our confidence is
partly in God and partly in ourself and partly in this individual
and that individual, then the overthrow is not far off. I'm going to tell you something,
and I've tried to tell you this for years. God means to wean
every one of you away from anything else but Himself. Now that's
what He means to do. You say, I just don't understand
why God's dealing with me like He is. That's exactly what He's
doing. He's going to wean you from everything
except Himself. And then when you get to that
place where you can trust Him, rely upon Him, and depend upon
Him, then you may have a measure of relief in your heart and your
soul because you'll be looking to the Lord. And that's what
He wants you to do. That's what He's going to have you do if
you're a believer in Him. If you're trusting yourself in
the least degree, that one link of the chain is too weak to hold
you up. And it's to no avail that other
links in the chain are strong. Say, I'm strong, I'm strong.
Well, but you got a weak link. You're trusting yourself. You're
trusting your own wisdom. You're leaning on yourself. That's
what you're doing. Well, trust God alone. Away with
self-confidence. Number four, and this is the
last thing, are we too absorbed in our trials? Too absorbed in
them. Now this, I believe, can lead
to excessive fearfulness. the excuses that we offer for
our fear and our unbelief we need to look at them we are too
absorbed you see you say well those disciples lives were at
stake after all they could have died out there they could have
drowned out there in that sea I mean that was a serious business
and I have a wife and children to think about well a man who
has a wife and family depending on him can't afford to drown
at sea can't afford to perish. I mean, he's got a family, and
he's absorbed in this situation. He needs to be fearful. He needs
to be unbelieving. Oh no, brother, sister. If we
fix our thoughts solely and alone on the winds and the waves and
the wives and all that the job means to us and our future means
to us and our plans mean to us, you're this and you're that,
then you'll never get rid of your fears, brother, sister.
You will never get rid of them. No, we must put this thought
first and it covers it all. Jesus is with us. He's with us. The winds are blowing, but Jesus
is on board. The waves rage, but Jesus is
on board. These poor sailors will not perish,
Jesus is on board. Our brooding upon what we might
lose by walking by faith is too much for our faith and we become
childishly fearful. Somebody said, can't wait on
the Lord no more. Oh, you can't? Why honey? How come you can't
wait on the Lord anymore? Well, because I feel like that
life is passing me up and the chances are going to be gone. What am I going to do? My friend,
now you listen to what I'm getting ready to say. You nor any other
child of God will ever be the loser. You will never ever be
the loser for trusting God fully. Now you could write that down
and we need to think on that when the end comes for each and
every one of us and it will come. You will not be the loser for
having trusted God fully in your life and obeyed Him. This goes
back to trusting His love, trusting His wisdom. It goes back to our
confidence wholly in the Lord. Trusting in the Lord and His
wisdom. You will not be the loser. I guarantee that if you trust
God fully, you will never be the loser for it. You cannot
be. But once you strike out on your
own, forget it. Forget it. You're going to come
to a bad end. Just like old Jonah did on that
ship. Well, we must glorify our Lord by believing confidence
in Him, such as neither storm, sorrow, nor tempest, nor temptation
can shake. Amen? That's exactly what we
got to do. Now, you see, I've got my convictions
and you've got yours. But my convictions tell me, and
my experiences tell me this, that before the week is out,
some of us will be sore tried. Some of us is going to be in
a storm before the week is out. There's very few weeks pass that
this fella is not in a storm of some kind. But if we'll trust
God, we will sail through safely, miss every sandbar, miss the
quicksand, and end up.