As I said this morning, I was
surprised to see how well Brother Todd looked, and I expected much
worse. I was very pleasantly surprised
and thankful that he looked as good as he did. But then when
we got home this afternoon, he was evidently having problems,
and he didn't look so good. He looked very frail and weak,
and as Brother Clare said, he had to go back to the hospital.
But we hope and pray the Lord will raise him up. But he's still a long ways away. I confessed to Brother Todd today
that I went too long this morning. And I confess that to you, and
I'm sorry. I really am. Spurgeon used to
tell his preachers, Tom, you remember Our pastor used to tell
his preachers, no matter what you preach about, preach about
45 minutes. We blow it, don't we? And I'm
sorry, I regret that. I also confess to Brother Todd
that I jerked my microphone off and threw it on the floor. And
he gently rebuked me by saying, He said, you know, they say even
Brother Donny Bell was real subdued when he was here last night. So I'm sorry about that, too.
It was an accident. I'm sorry. But I hope to shorten
this up tonight. Let's go to Matthew chapter 8. Gospel of Matthew chapter 8. This is another familiar story
to most of you and will sound many of the things that we read
and think about and say will sound similar to what we looked
at this morning. But that's the way it is. Every book, every story in some
way points to the Lord Jesus Christ, Savior of doomed, dead,
hopeless, helpless sinners. And as Brother David read, to
write the same things or preach the same things to me is not
grievous. It's safe. And I assure you that
your pastor does not want a man standing up here with something
new. Not at all. Every story in God's
Word is a marvelous account of the Lord God's saving power which
is his glory, his saving power. Let's look at this. Matthew chapter
8, look at verse 18. It says, Now when Jesus saw great
multitudes about him, he gave commandment to depart unto the
other side. Up in verse 1, it says, When
he came down from the mountain, great multitudes followed him. where the Lord went, great multitudes
would follow him, mostly out of curiosity to see the miracles and so forth. And he rebuked them, didn't he?
One time he said, You follow me because you saw the miracles. They were just curiosity seekers,
wanting to see a sign, a wonder, a miracle. And another time he
rebuked the crowd for following him for what they could get out
of him. Remember that? He said, you follow me because
you've got your bellies filled. You follow me for what you can
get out of me. Does that sound familiar? The
same thing takes place today. A great many Jesus followers,
supposedly, for the miracles, for what they can get out signs
and wonders and so forth. But, well, this is not my story,
but one man came and worshipped a leper. A leper. Well, at any rate, the Lord,
in verse 18, commanded them. It says, when he saw the great
multitude about him, he gave commandment to his disciple to
depart unto the other side. He gave commandment, strict commandment. Let's get in the ship and leave
this place and go to the other side." This was the Sea of Galilee
he was speaking of. And the Lord gives this same
commandment to us. I'm not over-spiritualizing at
all here. The Lord tells us, come out from
among them, doesn't He? Be ye separate. He says, come
out from among them to follow Christ. One must go forth unto
him without the camp, outside of mainstream religion, outside
of the mass Jesus followers of today. Go forth unto him without
the camp doing what? Bearing his reproach, he said. And where are we going? The other
side. The other side. And we will not
follow him. We will not go with him unless
he gives commandment. I love that psalm. Thou hast
given commandment to save me. He says to his disciples, let's
get out of here. There's a couple of stories over
in Mark chapter 7 and chapter 8 where the Lord healed a deaf
and dumb man and a blind man. And each time it says he took
the man by his hand apart from the crowd. Depart from the multitude. As if to say, let's get out of
this confusion. And you need to hear from me.
Deal one-on-one with the Lord Jesus Christ. Be with us. So
he gave commandment to them to depart to the other side. And
look at it. Verse 23. Go on down to verse
23. It says, And when he was entered
into a ship, his disciples followed him. His disciples followed him. They were about to pass over
the Sea of Galilee. And little did they know, they
were about to go through troubled seas. Great troubles. Great troubles. Turn with me
to Psalm 107. Psalm 107. And you will be amazed
as you read this, if you haven't seen it before, how that this
is a prophecy of exactly what happened in our story in Matthew
8, a prophecy. You see, our Lord, it says, entered
into a ship with his disciples. Entered into a ship. And this
is not a mere play on words when I say that this thing of salvation
is a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. It's called the
fellowship. of the gospel, of the mystery
of the gospel, is it not? And that's precisely what this
is. A relationship with Christ. Discipleship. Like all fellows
in one ark or one vessel. One vessel. And they're going
on a journey. They're leaving somewhere to
go somewhere. And whether or not they make
it depends on one thing, doesn't it? And they're all in this ship. You know, Christ entered a body.
The scripture says, A body hast thou given me, prepared me. Christ
entered a body. He tabernacled among us. A man. He took upon him the likeness
of sinful flesh. A body he took to deliver us,
to become our substitute, to become our ark. Our salvation
is in him. He entered this world, this world
of flesh, as they did as a ship here. And I don't know if anyone in
here has ever made a journey by ship. Any Navy men in here?
Anybody? Anybody been in the Navy? There
you are. Okay. I've had an experience in a ship
years ago. So I know a little bit about
it. I'm not a complete land lover, Brian, but I know this about
a ship. A ship always has a captain,
doesn't it? You must have a captain. And
there's a crew on a ship. And they have one goal. When
you enter into a ship, when you get on board a ship, you're not
just going for a little joy ride. You have a destination, don't
you? You have a destination, a journey, someplace you're going.
And in doing that, as I said, to go to a particular place as
they were going to the other side, you've got to leave somewhere
else, don't you? This is precisely what salvation
is. When we come to Christ, enter
into Christ, we're leaving this world of sin, going to the other
shore, the other side. Canaan's fair and happy lands,
Psalms 8. And we abandon all else when
we come to Christ. Commit to the sea, too, don't
you? You commit to the sea. It's a mysterious place, but
you commit yourself to it. A journey and a ship. In the
course of that journey, that ship is your life. That ship
is your life. Everything you do and think of
is around that ship. As I said, I was on board a ship.
I took a journey with six other men on a 41-foot vessel. We left Cape Cod, Massachusetts,
and went 150 miles out to sea on this sailboat and sailed 850
miles down the water. So that's a pretty good journey. Get your feet wet that way. But
I did learn, though, Brian, I did learn, I am a land lover, because
when I got off that boat, I was kissing the ground. But the point I'm trying to make
is, when we left one place and committed to, to me it was totally
mysterious. I had no idea what was out there. And I was so thankful for a captain,
an experienced captain. We had a man who knew where he
was going and how to get there. And we started out in that vessel
and headed out of harbor, motoring out of harbor, and the waters
were fairly calm. And I thought, this is nice, a nice day for
a little sailing. And I looked out there and the
skies were as black as my coat. And I think I said to the captain,
we're not going out there, are we? And then they put up that first
sail, put up the mainsail, turned off the motor, and that boat
heeled over at a 45-degree angle. And it stayed there for about
three days. And I was scared to death. My
friend, who was another landlubber, he had his head in the toilet
for all three days. But a mysterious, dark, deep,
mysterious place. We committed. I was totally committed.
I couldn't swim back. And my confidence was in that
captain. I don't know where I'm going.
I don't know how to sail this vessel. I wouldn't even have
gone if I hadn't been compelled to get on that boat. But I didn't
know what I was getting into. And I'm here. We make it. Now
look at this in Psalm 107. It says here in verse 23, They
that go down to the sea in ships that do business in great waters. That means deep waters. Deep
waters. Deep waters are often dark waters,
aren't they? Troubled waters. Deep, overwhelming.
Mysterious waters. Fearful waters. Perilous waters,
many dangers in deep water, isn't it? Look here, read on. These that go down to the ship
in deep water, these see the works of the Lord and His wonders
in the deep. And only those who go through
trials. Our Lord said you must through
much tribulation enter the kingdom of heaven, didn't He? Come to
Christ, you commit to him. He is even called, Brother Tom,
he's called the captain of our salvation, is he not? We come to him and we commit
to him totally, and all our hope, our confidence, our salvation
is in him, the captain of our salvation. If we make it, it's
going to be because of him. He's that ark, like Noah's ark. We commit to him. The journey
to sojourn through this world is in deep water. If you're a
believer, you will go through deep trouble. Count on it. Count on it. The Lord caused
that. Why? It's a trial of our faith. He called it a fiery trial in
another place. A trial. You see, the test of
a ship. or the captain, there's no test
in calm waters. There's no test in shallow waters.
Right? There's no total commitment in
shallow waters. But if you go out in the deep
waters, your only hope, your only help is if you're in a good
ship with a good captain. You remember the story of the
Apostle Paul when sailing when he was a prisoner? He was a prisoner. We found out, didn't we, who
the prisoner was. But anyway, he was a large prisoner
on that ship, and it was all according to God's all-wise purpose. He was on this ship, and a great
storm came up, back in our story. And the ship was broken up. And you remember what the Apostle
Paul said? Do you remember that? He said, except you abide in
the ship, you can't be saved. Don't get out and try to swim.
You can't make it. It's too deep. Too perilous. Except you abide in the ship.
Christ is our salvation. Except you abide in Him and He
in you, you can't be saved. And he said, I'm convinced. The
Lord has promised me that everyone that stays in the ship will be
saved. Didn't they? Weren't they? Yes,
sir. Every one of them. Not one soul,
Lord, that was in that ship. Read on with me here in Psalm
107. It says, verse 25, For he, they
see the works of the Lord, his wonders in the deep. For he commended
and raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves thereof.
He's the one that raises the wind. He's the one that makes
the stormy seas rise. And it says they're tossed to
and fro and reeled to and fro, and then they cry unto the Lord
in their trouble, and He brings them out of their distress. And He makes the storm a calm,
and the waves are still, and they're so glad because they're
quiet. And He brings them unto their
desired haven. Who brings them? How do they
get there? How do they end up there? He brings them. The Lord
who raised the tempest. Now go back to our story. Keep
your place there, because we're going to read that in conclusion.
It's going to mean something to you here in about ten minutes.
Give me ten minutes? Can I do it? But that's going
to really mean something to you in a minute, hopefully, Lord
willing. And all of this happened. This
is exactly what happened to the disciples here in our story.
They entered into this ship with Christ, to follow Christ, and
it says, a great tempest arose, a great storm, winds and waves. And they were scared. Well, where
did this tempest come from? Where did it come from? We asked
the question this morning. Why was Lazarus sick? Who made
him sick? Why did he die? Who killed him?
What killed him? The same answer here. Where did
this storm come from? Where did this tempest come from?
Where did these trials come from? Listen to this. I'll tell you
what the world said. Here's the world's wisdom. And
this is very relevant right now in light of hurricanes and so
forth. Meteorologists say this about hurricanes. I guess a meteorologist
is someone who studies meteors, isn't it? Anyway, and we pay
them big bucks. Well, it says this. Here's what
they say. Most hurricanes eventually make
it to the southern United States. They get their start as tropical
waves off the west coast of Africa. The warm waters give rise to
clusters of thunderstorms that move over miles of warm ocean
current. And as the winds in these storms
move in colliding directions, they form a circulation over
an area of low pressure. And then the condensation of
water vapor feeds these storms, which continue to grow and shrink
as long as it's over warm water or warm, moist air. And thus
we have hurricanes. What do you think about that? What does God's Word say? You
read it with me, didn't you? He raised up the winds. Very
simply, He blew, and the wind blew. There's another place that
says, The blast of His nostrils. You believe that? Hath not God
made foolish the wisdom of this world? Huh? You know, men and
women fear these natural occurrences more than they fear God. Even call it the wrath of Katrina. And that's precisely what Romans
1 says about the natural man. The wrath of God is clearly revealed
from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of them that
hold the truth in unrighteousness. It's clearly seen, isn't it?
The Egyptians. Doesn't it amaze you that the
Egyptians didn't have a clue where those plagues were coming
from? You would think, wouldn't you, Paul, that after a while
they'd say, hey, we're being judged here or something. This
is no natural occurrence. It's too pointless. It's too
devastating. Huh? God is not in all their
thoughts. The Romans continue to say. No
fear of God before they're out. No fear. God's people are They call
them peculiar people. Why? Because they fear God. They
know that he is the cause of all these things. And they see
the wrath of God clearly revealed from heaven against all ungodliness
and righteousness. Now, I'm not saying that New
Orleans is any worse than any other place, but folks. And if it happened in Lexington,
Kentucky or Roanoke, Virginia, we'd get exactly what we deserve.
As a matter of fact, it's much less. He hath not dealt with
us according to our nature. But he raises the winds and the
stormy seas. He does it. A great tempest arose
sent by the Lord. Now, notice this with me. They're going through this great
tempest. Look at it. It says, Behold, there arose,
verse 24, a great tempest in the sea, insomuch that the ship
was covered with a wave. This was sent by the Lord Himself
for these men to see His glory. The Lord sent this for one reason,
Clare, to show them His glory, to show them their utter helplessness. This is what this is all about,
to show them their utter, complete helplessness. and to show them
that all of their salvation is in Him, every bit of it. After
this is over, Brother Paul, they know why they were saved. They know who saved them. I mean,
there's not one doubt in their mind, is there? A great tempest. You see, great
sinners need a great Savior. Little sinners don't need one.
Great sinners do, though. And when I talk about great sinners,
I'm talking about Psalm 38 sinners. David said, My loins are filled
with a loathsome disease. There's Psalm 25 that says, Pardon
mine iniquity, O Lord, for he is great. The thief on the cross knew who it
was that saved him, didn't he? A great Savior, a great Lord. Mary Magdalene, on and on it
goes. And so does every one of God's people. They know. They know who saved them and
why. To show them His glory. And how? By His power. By His
Word. By His Word. And these trials
that every believer goes through, deep trials, troubles, difficulties,
are to show us His glory. His power. Sent by the Lord. And I want
you to notice it. Everything they went through,
He went through. Right? He was in the ship. And the great
tempest was tossing Him in the ship, too. He was in the ship. Sent by Him. But what's He doing? Asleep. Asleep. Now, our Lord came into
this world, as I said, took a body as a man. The primary purpose
was to be our substitute. That's why He came. He took a
body to glorify God, fulfill God's law. become sin for us,
put away sin by the sacrifice of himself and go back to heaven
and sit down and reign and rule and ensure that the covenant
that his people are saved sends the Holy Spirit. That's why he
came. Primary purpose. Our Lord also came as an example.
Our Lord lived by faith as a man completely. He says when he was reviled,
he reviled not again. He committed himself to the judge.
He committed himself to God. He never performed a miracle
on his own behalf, did he? No. Never. He lived by faith. The Lord had
to depend on his God to feed him, clothe him, house him, bring
him through. He was asleep. He was asleep. Perfect picture. What? Believe God. He believed God. Now, there's
something I want you to know. Go back and look. It's recorded
in three Gospels. Never does it say, in any of
the Gospels, does it say the ship was sinking. It doesn't
say that. It says the boat was full of
water. He says the waves were coming over the ship, but it
does not say it was going down. No, sir. It can't. If Christ
is in the ship, it can't go down. Christ in you is your hope of
glory. You can't go down. You can't sink. It's impossible. It may seem like you are. And
every child of God that knows something about himself thinks,
I'm going, I'm going down. I'm not. Peter tried to walk
on the water, remember? And started sinking. Would he?
Could he? Would he? Could he? No way! Why? The Lord is the One that
bid him come to Him. The Lord's not going to let him
down. He's going to let him go under to kind of teach him his
very little faith. Same with them. They're going
through this to show them their little faith and to show them
His great power. His great power. And we do, we
need rebuking for our little faith. But everything they went
through, he did too. But he had perfect peace. Perfect
rest in his God. He's asleep. Luke's Gospel says
in the hindered part of the ship. Where's the captain's helm? Right, it's in the back of the
ship. Where's the rudder? In the back of the ship. He's
asleep. But he that keepeth Israel can't
sleep. That's what Psalm 121 says. He's
asleep. This is a mystery in it. What
a mystery. God's asleep. He can't sleep,
though. Well, he did. But he's not. Like that child. What a mystery. God was manifest in the flesh.
That child in the arms of that mother was really her father.
Explain that. He's asleep, but he that keepeth
Israel cannot sleep. Well, the disciples, picture
this now, and I can interrupt this. The disciples are doing
everything that they can to keep that ship afloat. These fellows
have been on the waters before. They've been through storms before,
and they're doing everything they can to keep this ship afloat.
Bailing water, striking sails, flashing down the stuff, and
so forth and so on. And I bet you when the first
bit of wind came up, I'll bet you that they weren't
too scared. You reckon? Simon and Andrew and James and
John were experienced sailors. They'd been on the water since
they were boys. And the first little bit of wind came along.
The old Bartholomew or somebody, Nathaniel Thomas, was scared
to death. He said, boys, this is bad, isn't
it? And I can just hear Simon and
that Peter. Oh, no. Oh, Nathaniel, you don't want
to die. You know, just trust us. Just
take it with us, son. We'll get you there. Don't you reckon? Trusting themselves,
just a little way to come along. And then it got a little stronger,
the waves a little higher. Our father in heaven says, you
boys sure you know what you're doing? James and John said, yeah,
we'll be all right. You just stay with us, and Lord,
just leave. They're not calling on Him yet. What did it take? What did it
take before they lost all hope in themselves? Before they were
in despair? A great temptation. Do you see
why the Lord said that? Lean not on the arm of the flesh.
Trust not in yourself. Don't look to anything, the wisdom
of this world or anybody or anything. especially yourselves, in little
trials, in little tempests, in great tempests. It takes the
same grace to go through seemingly minor trials as a great trial.
The same one gets you through. The same God, the God of all
great. They weren't calling on him until
things got really bad. And as I say, Power is only needed
in great tempests. Great glory is only seen in great
troubled seas. And only a great Savior for great
sinners. Well, look at this, and I'll
close. It says, His disciples came to Him
and awoke Him, saying, Lord, save us or we perish. You know, that's what we're going
to say all our lives. They'd already been with Him
a while. And that's their constant crying
all the time. You read that Psalm 107, the
whole thing for yourself sometime, if you haven't already. Psalm
104, read it for yourself, huh? It keeps talking about the children
of Israel getting in trouble. And they're okay for a while,
but they get in trouble. Then they cry unto the Lord. What does
he do? He saves them. Over and over again, they keep
crying. Lord, save us or we're buried. And that's salvation.
If the Lord does not save us, we will perish. If the Lord Jesus
Christ does not keep us, we will perish, every last one of us. But he hath said to all that the
Father giveth him, he hath said, I give unto them eternal And
what? They shall never perish. They
shall never perish. No matter what. Come hell or
high water. You can't do it. He promised.
He promised. Well, as great as that tempest
was, look at that. Verse 26, He saith unto them,
Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith? Why are you fearful? Oh, you little thing. And that's
what fear is. Fear of anything other than our
Lord is ugly. Isn't it? Isn't it? Isn't it? David said, Whom shall
I fear? What shall I be afraid of? That's
what we talked about all morning this morning. Who did this? I,
see now, I, even I, am He. In Isaiah 45, verse 7, he says,
I am the Lord. I create peace. I create evil. I, the Lord, do all these things.
All these things. To fear anything other than Him. And he rebukes them. But he knows
our praise. He knows our praise. He gently rebuked them. Aren't
you glad the Lord... The Scriptures call them His
tender mercies. is gentleness. And the Lord is
tender and kind and compassionate to all. He treats us like, why
are the children of Israel? They journeyed for forty years
through the wilderness and He still calls them children. The
whole way they're called children. Because children need a father
to lead them. Children are children and they're
going to act like children all their days, aren't they? They're
going to be taught the same thing over and over again. They're
going to need compassion. They're going to need tenderness.
They're going to need patience. And bless God, that's how He
treats His children. Aren't you glad? Oh, like as
a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that
fear Him. Don't fear anyone or anything,
but Him. But Him. Oh, ye of little faith. That's
me. That's me. Anybody with me? That's me. That's
me. Oh my, and he arose, verse twenty-six,
then he arose. Oh, there's a whole other message
right here. Then he arose. One of you men
take this and run with it another time. Then he arose, when God
arose, and rebuked the winds and the sea, and as other Gospels
say, he went out and he said, And that raging ocean laid down
at his feet like a farm pond. And the wind ceased completely. No wind. And look at it. It says,
And there was great calm. It doesn't say it's just calm. It says great calm. If you don't get anything, get
this, okay? Would you get this for your comfort? As gray as a tempest is, greater will be the calm. It doesn't say it was just calm.
It says great calm. When eye hasn't seen, ear hasn't
heard, neither have internet in the heart of man, the things
that God hath prepared for them to love him. We hadn't seen yet. Scared, frightened, this and
that and the other, but wait, just wait. As great as the tempest
is, and I can't preach it. No man has ever preached that.
The Apostle Paul went there. He's the closest he could, but
still we can't. As great as the tempest is, greater
will be the calm. Greater will be the peace. Greater
will be the consolation. Greater will be their joy. as
sorrowful as we get, greater will be the joy. The Scriptures
talk about exceeding joy. If we're not doing it now, we're
going to do it then. Exceeding joy. Rejoice forevermore,
the Scriptures say. If you go through great tempers,
oh me, oh my, and then when we get through this, The disciples, it says, they
were astounded. They looked to Him. It says,
all they could do was marvel at Him. They were going through
all this. They thought they were dead. And the Lord of glory, He's the
Master of the sea. Billows His will obey. God moves
in a mysterious way. His wonders too profound. He
taps His footsteps in the sea and runs upon the storm. He went
out on that bow of that ship and said, Shut up! Be still! And bless God, it was great calm. It was the most peaceful day
there. Not a cloud in the sky, the sun and high moon, perfect,
beautiful. And they said, This is wonderful. This is glorious. We just want
to stay here now. And they marveled, what manner
of man is this? Even the winds and the waves
obeyed. What manner of man? I'll tell
you what manner of man. The God-man. More than a man. No man can do that. The God-man
did. Great. Scripture says there...
Go back to Psalm 107 now. Let's read the end of this. Psalm
107, in closing. The Scripture says there's going
to be silence in heaven for the space of thirty minutes. Have
you ever read that? Have you ever read that? That's
what it said. I believe that's when it's all over. When it's
all over. When all His people are there.
When that vast number which no man can number is there on that
peaceful golden shore. I believe that we're going to
be so amazed, so marveled at Him that we're always going to
stand there just gazing at Him for thirty minutes with nothing
to say. Just astounded at His glory,
the wonder that is Him. Him. The calm, as I said, as He said. The calm was greater than the
tempest. And it says here in Psalm 107,
in closing, they cry unto the Lord in their trouble. He brings
them out of their distresses, verse 28. He maketh the storm
a calm, so that the waves thereof are still. Then are they glad,
because they be quiet. Hmm. Lord, just quiet me. Just quiet me, wouldn't you?
Give me rest. So he bringeth them unto their
desired haven, where they wanted to go, were hoping to arrive. He brought them. He did. Who did it? He did. He did. The captain of their salvation.
Let me ask you this question. Who made it through the temples? Every one of them. There were
some who may have had greater faith than others. Young, younger,
some older. Who made it? They all made it.
Why? Because of Him. One hundred percent because of
Him. Nobody would have made it except for Him. And that's our
salvation. Christ is all our salvation.