I want to begin reading in verse 33. The Lord had just
finished preaching concerning these parables, and now He's
going to get in a ship and go to the other side of the Sea
of Galilee. And let's read the account of
this down through that chapter. Mark chapter 4 and verse 33.
And when many such parables spake he the word unto them, as they
were able to bear it, 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 evening
was come, he said unto them, Let us pass over unto the other
side, the other side of the Sea of Galilee. 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 unto the ship,
so that it was now full," or the margin says, filling. And
he was in the hinder part, the stern part, the back of the ship,
asleep on a pillow. They have little beds built in
some of those ships. 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?" I want to look at this with you
this morning from three different perspectives. I want us to look
at it, first of all, just as we found it. I want to look at
it just as it happened. I think as we look in the Scriptures,
in these incidents in the Gospels, that's one of the first things
we need to do, is look at it just as it happened. Because
here is one of the most marvelous, miraculous events that the apostles
ever seen in their lives. They'd never seen anything like
this. They'd never heard anything like this. And I want us to look
at it this morning, first of all, from the perspective that
this really took place. The Lord had been preaching to
multitudes. The disciples sent them away.
The Lord enters this ship. They had already been into it. Maybe He stepped out of it and
re-entered it and told them to go across to the other side.
And they pushed out from the shore and began to roll across
this Sea of Galilee. Now, this Sea of Galilee is not
Very big, it's not an ocean, we call it a sea, but it's just
8 miles wide or so, and they were going the width of it. It's
13 miles long, north to south, about 150 foot deep in the middle. Some say it's deeper than that.
But if you've seen photographs of it, and I've read eyewitnesses
of those who have seen it, Look at it, looking northward on the
east side of this lake of Galilee, there's a huge mountain range
that rises up almost 2,000 feet out of the east side of the Sea
of Galilee. They say it's a beautiful, beautiful
scenery. It's in a deep pocket just to
the east of the country of Galilee. If you look north, A few miles,
there's Mount Hermon that's often covered with snow. And because
it's in a pocket in some 800 feet or so below sea level, and
this northern wind comes off of those mountains and dives
down on Lake Galilee where the water's warm, it creates these
awful storms. Those who have given testimony
about watching some of these sudden storms that hit say the
whole lake is literally churning and huge waves will roar in one
of these storms. And the Lord enters this ship
here and He tells His disciples to let's go across this lake
to the other side. I don't know how far that they
row. Maybe in the mist, I like to
think sometime probably, they got right in the middle of this
lake. And suddenly, out of nowhere, one of these storms begins to
churn. This lake begins to heave and
waves are beginning to come over the ship. The wind is blowing
the mist and burning their eyes. Their chest is being rattled
from the thunder. And they become so fearful that
they're going to sink and drown. in these deep waters, they go
back and wake the Lord Jesus up. And isn't that amazing? He's
laying there asleep on this little bed or a pillow. And they wake
Him up. Isn't it amazing that the storm
didn't awake Him? You know, sometimes poor, poor
sinners that's in need can prevail on the Lord Jesus Christ when
a storm cannot. Look at the great powers that
be that tried to stop him when he was here. The great religious
leaders tried to stop him when he was here. But nobody was able
to stop him. He was always going, he was always
doing, until one day a poor blind beggar began to cry and say,
Jesus, have mercy on me. And the Bible says he stood still. And this storm could not awake
him, but these poor fearful disciples crying for his help did. And
they woke him up and said, Master, we're ready to drown. The ship
is almost full of water. The wind is ready to blow it
over. We're ready to go down into the depths of this sea.
Don't you care? And then one of the most amazing
things they ever saw or ever heard of And you can almost get a picture
of it in your mind. He's laying there and he rouses
himself up. And he stands. I don't know if
he stands up on his little cot. I don't know if he steps up to
the brow of the ship and stands on it. But he stood and he looked
out over those raging waves. And the wind was all out of control. And he spake, Peace! Be still. And something happened
that those apostles never saw before in their life. There was
a calm. There was a quietness. Now this
really happened. Ain't that amazing? That's absolutely
amazing. He rules the regions of the sea. He speaks to the wind and it
hushes, it steals. And they said, what manner of
man is this? What manner of man is this? My goodness, what manner of man
is it? You go out sometime and you talk
to the wind. I've done it. I've done all these
foolish things that I asked you to do sometime. Just go out sometime
when the wind is really whistling, man, and you say, peace, be still,
and see what happens. It won't be any surprise to you
because nothing will happen. But Jesus Christ, the Son of
God, when He spoke to the wind, it hushed, and to the waves they
settled down. Here's what Nahum 1 and 3 said,
The Lord hath His way in the whirlwind and in the storm."
We sung that song. I marked a little line there
that says, Be still, my soul, the waves and winds still know
His voice who ruled them while here below. He has His way in
the storms and in the whirlwind. Listen to this, The clouds are
the dust of His feet, and the frost is the breath of His I mean, He rules the storm. He
says to the sun, rise. He says to the rain, be thou
on the earth. The Bible says He brings the
snow out of His treasure. Boy, we've seen Him work a lot
this winter, haven't we? You want to know where the snow
comes from? He brings it out of His treasure. He plants His footsteps in the
sea, and He rides upon the storm. We have what we call nature.
Some have tried to deny it, but we have nature, don't we? The
Lord created nature, but he's nature's God. This is nature's
God. You and I respect nature. I tell
you, it can take you out of this world, what it can do. Nature's
strong. Nature's powerful. There ain't
but one more powerful than nature. That's nature's God. And He can
work with nature. He can let nature take its course.
When He does that, we can somewhat predict it. We can somewhat predict
the weather. But He can work contrary to nature because He's above nature. He's
nature's God. He speaks to nature and says,
Peace be still. Peace be still. What manner of
man is this that even the wind and the waves obey him? Now, I'm just telling you, this
is something you and I should think about. What kind of man is this? You and I should think about
that, that he could speak to this raging sea, and suddenly... Have you ever been out on a lake?
I know Shane has, and some of you. And it's so still, it's
just like glass. What's so amazing about this,
this thing was churning. It was churning. If suddenly
the wind and the storm ceased, man, that thing would have still
been churning. It would have took forever so long to get those
waters to settle down. But as soon as he spake, it was
like glass on that lake. There was not even so much as
a breeze to blow your hair. They obeyed him. They obey Him. I ain't scared of nature anymore.
I really ain't. I reverence it. I reverence nature. I respect it. But you know something? When you know nature's God, and
you fear nature's God, you don't have to live in torment of nature. Nature obeys its God. And its God is Jesus Christ.
Charles Sturgeon told an amusing story about Napoleon Bonaparte. He was one of the famous rulers
over France. Tried to conquer the world with
France, the song says. He got so lifted up in pride,
he took his chair one day and said he was going to defy the
tide. And he took his chair and sat down on the beach. And he
said, I defy the tide to come in. And Spurgeon said, those
that were there to witness this scene, said if Mr. Bonaparte had not moved himself
away, the tide would have washed him in a shear way. Because the
tide came in. The tide obeys nobody but its
Creator. What manner of man is this? That really happened. That's
the first way I want to consider this, just as it really happened.
All of these miracles really happen. They really happen. Secondly, I think it would profit
us just a minute to look at this and what our old Puritan forefathers
used to do in spiritualizing it. They used to spiritualize
everything. And we could profit from spiritualizing
this. Here in verses 35 through verse
36, we can spiritualize it and say, boy, here is something that
shows us our calling. We look at those people the Lord
healed sometime and we spiritualize that, the leper, and we say,
boy, there's a type of sin. He raised Lazarus from the dead,
and they said, boy, there's where we were. We were dead in such
place and sin. He'd give us life. Here we see
our calling. Look here in verse 35 and verse
36. The same day when evening was
come, He said unto them, Let us pass over unto the other side. There's our calling, is it not?
What were they doing on this voyage anyway? He called them. He called him. He said, let us
go over unto the other side. What has to happen before we
have fellowship with the Father and with His Son? What has to
happen before we get on this Christian voyage of life? What
has to happen? You have to be called. These
men just didn't get together and say, hey, this is a good
idea. Let us go over to the other side.
That never entered their minds. Why did they get in the ship
and take off on this voyage? They were called. They were called. We hear a lot today about accepting
Jesus as your personal Savior, don't we? We hear a lot about
making your decision for Christ or about coming forward in a
worship service. or something like that. This
is Bible language here. It's called calling. You must
be called. No man can come to me except
my Father. Draw him. We can't come to God
unless the Holy Spirit calls us to Him. Unless He teaches
us of His needs. We'll never follow the Lord Jesus
Christ until we hear His voice. Follow me. My sheep hear my voice
and they follow me. They follow me. And how do we
hear His voice? It's not something that comes
out of the air. He doesn't speak in our audible
ear. He calls us by His Word. How are you sitting? Some of
you are sitting here this morning and you're lost. And it's my
prayer the Lord calls you. And this is probably the way
He'll do it. So secretly, He'll begin to make
you concerned about your condition. Oh, here I am. Here I am. Poor soul that I am. And I'm
lost. For the first time in my life,
I'm lost. I'm without any hope. I'm a guilty
sinner before God. I'm facing eternity. Oh, eternity,
eternity, eternity. I'm lost and undone. You know
you can't know that unless He shows you. And He brings you gently along
until you bow at His feet saying, Lord, save me. And you follow
Him. You follow Him. You get on this
Christian voyage and you follow Him to the other side, to heaven
itself. And why? Because He spoke to
you. He said to you, follow Me. Let us go over to the other side. What's involved in calling? Notice
verse 36. Here's something that's involved
in calling. And they sent away the multitude. They sent away
the multitude. Boy, what's that got to do with
calling? When the Lord Jesus Christ calls
us, what do we do? We get away from people, don't
we? When you get on this Christian voyage, you send everybody else
away. There are some people, bless
their hearts, you'll never catch them in a little congregation
like this. Their priority is not Jesus Christ and Him crucified. That's just not their priority.
Their priority is something like this. Well, do you have Youth
group. Do you have a youth church? Do
you have single classes? What kind of social events do
you have? How big is your congregation? Oh, 30 or 40. It's too far. Their priority is not seeking
to worship God. Their priority is not seeking
life through Jesus Christ. But boy, when the Lord speaks
to you, and when He said, you come and go with Me to the other
side, you know what your priority will be? Jesus Christ, and following
Him, and worshiping Him. And you won't be concerned if
the crowd is large or if it's small. It will be the truth.
I want the truth of the Gospel. That's what I want. And you'll
send the crowds away. I don't care about the crowds.
We've got a church over here that's got 500 members. I don't
care. Do you have the truth? Is Christ
being worshipped there? Let's say it isn't. When the
Lord calls us, I'll tell you what we'll do. If we have a dear,
close friend, and he hinders us from coming and following
the Lord, you know what we'll do? We'll send him away. Some of you young people here,
you may You're going to school, and you may have thought before,
well, I'd seek the Lord myself. I'd love for Him to save me.
But what are these kids at school going to think? I know they're
going to tease me, and I'm going to have trouble at school. Well,
think of this. When the Lord really saves you
and gives you a new heart and a new spirit, I'll tell you what
you'll do. you'll realize that those people
just weren't that good of friends to start with. And when you find
this one true friend that sticks closer than a brother, you'll
say, you'll just have to go your way. Because I'm following the
Lord Jesus Christ. They sent the multitude away. I wonder if Peter and John and
some of these apostles had some dear friends and relatives in
this multitude. They may have. And they may have
said, fellas, why don't you stay with us? We're going to have
a big dinner this afternoon, and instead of going over there
to the other side with Jesus, why don't you just stay here
with us? They can't. Why? Because the Master said,
let's go. Let's go. And when the Master
calls, you follow Him, don't you? And this is something very interesting,
and we can spiritualize this by this in verse 36. And look
at this. They took him. They took him. The word means to receive near,
to associate oneself with in a familiar or in an intimate
action or relation. They took him to their hearts. They took him. They sent the
multitude away, they let them go, and they took the Lord Jesus
Christ. Took Him. I don't know what they had to
offer, but they let them go and they took Christ as their all
in all. You know this is a Bible term
that's often associated with being saved. Took. Listen to
this. The kingdom of heaven is preached
and the violent Take it. They take it. If you want into
the Kingdom of God, you know how you're going to get into
the Kingdom. You've got to take it. You've got to take it. You want Christ? You want Him
to be your salvation, your all? You want Him to save you? You're
going to have to take Him. You've got to take Him. You've
got to get a hold of Him and embrace Him in your heart. You've
got to take Him. Take Him. Don't start this deciding
for Jesus. Take Him. Take Him. If the devil tries to stop you,
take Him. If the world tries to stop you,
take Him. If the flesh tries to stop you,
take Him. Right where you sat this morning,
do what these men did. Take Jesus Christ. Latch hold of Him. Grab a hold
of Him. Bring Him to your heart. Embrace
Him in an intimate relationship. Take Him. And I like this. Look what else
they said in verse 36. They touched Him even as He was. Just like they found Him. That's
the way you've got to take it. You've got to take Jesus Christ
just as He's revealed in the Word. You can't make Him what
you want Him to be and then say, I'm going to receive Him. You've
got to take Him just as He is. He's the Lord of glory. And what
does that mean? That means we simply bow to Him. You take Him as He is. He has
a righteousness to give to us. And that means we tell our own
as filthy rags, and we take His just like we find Him. Take Him
just as He is. He's given us His Word to rule
over us. His Word is our only ground of
faith and practice. What are you going to do with
it? I'm going to take Him just like He is. I'm going to take
Him. He gets all of you, and you get all of Him just like
He is. Just like He is. And fifthly, and this comes from
the parallel passage, Matthew chapter 8, verse 23, this is
something else that we can spiritualize. The parallel passage of Matthew
says this, Then He entered unto the ship, and His disciples followed
Him. That's something else about our
calling. We're out on this voyage because He calls us. We take
Him as He is. We send away the multitude and
we follow Him. They followed Him. What were
they doing on this voyage? They were called to it. They
followed Him. And if you're here this morning
and He's called you, you know what you're doing. You're following
Him. You may do it through much infirmities.
You may say, Bruce, you wouldn't believe the trouble I'm having
following Him. I can believe it because it's not always easy
as this incident right here shows us. But if He's called you, then
you're following Him. That's the way you know that
you're His and that He's called you. You're following Him. My sheep, you're my boys. I know
them and they follow me. They follow me. And then we go
on in this passage here and spiritualize this. This seed, this troubled
seed, what could that represent to us in the spiritual aspect?
Well, I tell you, it could represent the deep troubles of our soul,
couldn't it? Do you ever get in heart trouble?
Does your soul ever get into trouble? I mean deep trouble. So deep that nobody can comfort
you. And your soul is just churning within you. And you're depressed
and you're oppressed. And sometimes you're so heavy
and disturbed, it just feels like you can't go on. Just like
this troubled sea. You're just stopped in the midst
of your troubles. David said, out of the depths,
out of the depths, I cried unto the Lord. Just like this sea. The boy, just like this sea,
the master can speak. And when he speaks, he creates
a calm. You take your troubled soul to
Him and say what these disciples said to Him. Lord, don't you
care? It seems like I'm ready to perish. Don't you care? And
I'm telling you, He can speak to you and there will be a calm
in your soul. A miracle. A miracle. Oh, speak,
Lord. For Thy servants long, they love
to hear Your voice. We could spiritualize this, couldn't
we? But let's look at it right quickly in this sense. Let's
just consider it like this. Just as it happened, and see
what spiritual lessons we can learn from it. Just as it happened,
and see what spiritual lessons you and I can learn from this.
I think the key lesson to be learned is found here in these
two questions, in verse 40. Let's look at these right quickly.
In verse 40, I think right here is two things. that our Master
intended to teach His disciples. Look at it in verse 40 again.
And He said unto them, Why are you afraid? Why are you so fearful? Well, this is a question all
of us ought to ask ourselves any time we're overwhelmed with
fear. Do you ever get fearful? This
is a question you ought to ask yourself. Why am I involved in
this tormented fear? Why are you fearful? And the
answer to this question goes deeper than just this storm. If it was that obvious, why are
you fearful? Because of this storm. Well,
that's obvious. The Lord wouldn't ask a little
question like that, would he? If Peter said, well, Lord, I
know the answer to that. If you'll permit me to speak,
I know the answer to that. Look around you. Look at this
storm. It's raging. Our ship is filling
up with water. The wind was ready to blow us
over. Look at the depths. 150 foot of water. We'd have
never survived this. We were ready to drown. That's
why we were fearful. But you know, really it wasn't.
That seemed like the logical answer to our Lord's question,
why are you fearful? But that wasn't the answer. That
wasn't why they were fearful. Their fearfulness was based upon
a false assumption that they were ready to perish. Now, there's a distinction to
be made here, and it's a real distinction. There's a difference.
They assumed this storm would be the means of their demise,
the cause of their perishing, drowning. Their fear was not
of the storm. Now, get this. Stay with me for
just a minute. Their fear was not of this storm.
When Peter said, Lord, we're fearful of the storm, that's
not so. They were not fearful of the
storm. They were fearful of the false
assumption that the storm would do them in. Why are you fearful? Because
we think we're ready to perish. It wasn't a storm. It was the
perishing by the storm, and that's the difference. Is it not? If
they had been persuaded that the storm was only temporary,
and it would not be permanent, neither would it do them any
permanent harm, that it was only a passing trial in their way
to the other side, these fears would have been dispelled. But
they didn't think that. They said, not only has this
storm stopped us, it's going to be the means of our perishing. It wasn't a storm, it was their
perishing. Our Lord has a lesson here for
them, and the first lesson is this, that they should learn
to listen. They should learn to listen. If you want to be saved from
false assumption, I tell you, the best way to be safe from
it is listen closely to what the Lord says in His Word. It's
obvious they heard the Lord when He said, let us go over unto
the other side. But it's also obvious that they
didn't hear Him very well. All they got was, roll out and
let's go over the lake. And that's what they started
to do. But they didn't hear this. They didn't get this down in
their ears, in their hearts. Let us go over to the other side. They didn't get that, did they?
Now, they had all the confidence in the world in Him. They knew
He was truthful. They just didn't hear the truth
when He spoke it. And that's why they had this
assumption that was false. He doesn't ramble in small talk. He doesn't talk to fill up time
and space. Every word He says means something. And you and I need to learn to
read words and not chapters and not sentences. Every word of
God is pure. Every word. Every word. He's a shield to those that put
their trust in Him. What did they miss in the words
of Christ that not only would have dispelled their fears, but
would perhaps kept them from being fearful to begin with?
What did they miss? This one little statement, let
us go over to the other side. Why are you fearful? I'll tell
you why you're fearful, because you did not hear what I told
you. You missed my instruction. altogether. You've got this false assumption
that we're just going for a roll. We were going on a goat ride.
That was your assumption. And then when the winds came
and the storms came and was ready to fill your ship, you said,
this is it for us. Down we go. We're grounded. And your assumption was false.
And that's what makes you afraid. You're afraid of something that
ain't going to ever happen. There was something in this statement
that would have dispelled their fears if they had listened to
it closely. Why are you fearful? Christ's
Word would have kept them from this false assumption that they
were going to perish. When Christ said, let us pass
over to the other side, He laid no conditions upon that statement,
did He? He didn't say unless we hit a
storm, unless something stops us or
hinders us from going and we have to turn back or perhaps
go down. There was no condition attached
to this statement. There was not even one implied. The word is this, let us pass
over to the other side. Don't mean much to us. It will
when we get in trouble. It will when we get in trouble.
It'll save us from trouble if we'll listen more closely. And
I can't believe, but the Holy Spirit put this here on purpose
to teach us. Was there any chance that they
would not make it to the other side? No. And I think the Holy Spirit
gives us chapter 5 and verse 1 to teach us that very thing.
Verse 35 says, Let us pass over to the other side. Chapter 5
and verse 1 says, And they came over unto the other side. There was a space in there. There
were some things that they were going to have to contend with.
But it was obvious none of these things would be their demise. And that's obvious from what
the Holy Spirit put in chapter 5, verse 1. And they came over. This is the second question in
verse 40. Look at this. How is it that you have no faith. Well, they had saving faith.
There was no doubt about that. Peter had already said, Thou
art the Christ, the Son of the living God. I believe and I'm
sure that you're the Christ. Then why does he say here you
have no faith? They had no faith in exercise. They had not and were not exercising
faith in what He had told them. You know, faith comes by hearing.
and hearing by the Word of God. But they hadn't heard, had they?
They couldn't exercise faith because they had not really heard
what He said. If they had heard what He said,
let's go over to the other side, they would have said, wait a
minute, wait a minute, I believe what He says. I don't have to
be afraid. I believed my Lord when He said,
let us go over to the other side. We are going over to the other
side because He said it. And you know what happens when
you believe Him? It produces this hope. Faith
produces hope. I don't know how that happens,
but it does. And because you believe Him in the midst of your
storms, you hope. You hope. Lord, remember the
word to your servant upon which you have caused me to hope. This is my comfort in my affliction. Your word hath quickened me." Where is your faith? Well, they
didn't have any at this time in exercise anyway because they
never heard the word. They never heard the word. Let's
look a little closer at verse 35. Look here at what else he
said. Look at verse 35. Let us, pass over. Let us, let us, pass over. Here the Son of God was in the
ship with them. Did they think He was going to perish? I doubt
if they thought that. He ain't going to perish. He's
the Son of God. We believe and are sure that you're the Son
of God. You're not going to perish. It's us that's going to perish.
How is that possible? When He said, Let us, He included
not only Himself, but them. Let us. Let us. If the ship goes down, He goes
down with them. And the ship ain't going down
as long as He's in it. Let us go. Dear child of God,
Don't believe this false doctrine that's being taught in so many
realms today. That you can be a child of God
today and a child of the devil tomorrow. That you can be saved
today and lost tomorrow. You can be loved of Jesus Christ
today and rejected tomorrow and hated tomorrow. You can be justified
today and stand before Him tomorrow condemned and ready to perish.
Don't believe that. Jesus Christ is in your heart.
And Jesus Christ is in heaven. He's taken over that place, not
just for Himself, but for us. We have a hope that's sure and
steadfast, which enters into that within the veil where our
forerunner is for us entered. And he'll not be there in heaven
and have us to perish in this earth. He's with us. He's with us. He's with us. No, they're not
going to perish. They're not going to perish.
If they did, his word is broken. Let us secure every one of them. Can you imagine the master? He
wouldn't have any trouble if the ship went down. You say,
well Bruce, how could he have saved himself? How could he have
saved himself? He just got out of the ship and walked ashore.
He had no problem walking on water. Can you imagine what happened
though? What would have happened if that
would have happened? Can you see the Lord Jesus standing on
the coast? And there He's standing and suddenly
here comes the pieces of the ship washing up on the beach.
A ship broken up with the waves. And oh my soul, there comes His
disciple that has leaned upon His breast. Look at His lifeless
body. Oh my soul. And there's Peter,
poor Peter. He's dead as he can be. The one
that said to me, I believe and I'm sure that you're the Son
of God. And there's Nathanael. Bless his heart, I remember when
he says, Come, we found Him. We found Him. How do you think
the Lord Jesus is feeling right about that? Not just for them,
but for Himself. I'm the one that got Him in this.
I'm the one that told Him, Let us go across to the other side.
Look how I've failed. Ah, brothers and sisters, don't
give us that stuff. Don't give us that. You talk
about making my heart sick. That makes my poor soul sick.
I'd be scared to death every time I got in a trial if I thought
that. You say, but look how they shamed
him. Look how they reproached him. They didn't believe him.
Look how they grieved him. Where's your faith? Don't you
believe me? I'm finished with you guys. I'm out of here. Fan
for yourself. He didn't say that, did he? You know something, when the
storm came, he was still in the ship. When it got on the other
side, he was still in the ship. He'll never abandon the ship.
He cannot deny himself. Though we believe not, yet he
abideth faithfully. How many times have you fallen
into unbelief in the midst of your storm? Did he leave you? No, he didn't. He can't deny
Himself, can He? He was in the ship. But when
He comes into the heart, He comes there to stay. He comes there
to save you to the uttermost. And He's going to stay in your
heart until He has you in heaven with Him. He won't abandon the
ship. Let me say this and close it.
I've wondered at this so often, how this voyage might have went
if these apostles had really got His Word down in their ears.
They had really listened and said, we're going to the other
side, fellows. You guys know this sea. You know
how quick these storms can come up, but don't be fearful. Because
the Master said, let us go to the other side. So I want you
fellows to settle this now, Peter said. I'm telling you, settle
this in your heart. We're going to the other side
according to the Word of the Master. So whatever happens between here
and there, don't be too fearful about it. Boy, if they had done
that, and when the storm come, they said, well, don't be fearful
about it. Don't be afraid. We're going to the other side.
I wonder what may have happened
if they did that. I mean, they saw a great miracle. I mean,
they saw the Lord's glory. I just wonder what would have
happened, though, if they had did that. I'd love to have that
to happen and read that story. Can't you see them? Can't you
just see them? Can't you see all of them jumping
out of the ship and skipping on the water? Jumping waves. You say, Bruce, you got plum
off track. Poor thing, you've been preaching too long. You think I'm off track? This somewhat happened before,
did it not? These same apostles were in another
storm, something like this. And in the wee hours of the morning,
the Lord Jesus came walking on the water. And they were so fearful again.
It's a ghost, they said. It's a ghost. And the Lord spoke
to them and said, It's I. Don't be afraid. And Peter said,
Lord, if it's me, bid me come to you. And the Lord said, Peter,
come on to me. And what did he do? He jumped
out of the ship. And lo and behold, he defied
nature. He walked on the water. And if
he walked on the water, why not skip on the water? Why not jump
over the waves? Why not whistle in the wind?
Why not sing and shout? Could that not have happened? And then what happened? Peter ceased to hear the voice
of Christ. Did he not? And he took his eyes
off of that glorious face. And he started looking around.
And he began to think, man, the trouble I'm in now. I have fished
this lake all my life. I've never seen a wave like that
coming at me. Then he heard the churning of
the water. And he got his mind on his trouble and the assumption
that he was in all of this danger. He took his eyes off of the Lord
Jesus. And he ceased to hear His voice.
And down he begins to go. I'm telling you, brothers and
sisters, our troubles that we get our minds on, the things
that we look at that is disturbing our peace and calling us so much
anxiety, I tell you the best remedy for those is hear His
voice and keep your eye upon Him. Hear what He says in His
Word and keep your eye upon Him. And I tell you, there will be
some of these storms that you can walk on and you can shout
the victory. while they are raging. The peace
of God which passes all understanding shall keep your hearts and your
minds through Christ Jesus. I have learned that whatever
state I am in, and Buddy, he was in some rough states, was
he not? To be content. To be content. How do we face
our problem on this voyage? Listen more closely. Read more
prayerfully and more slowly. Get these words down in your
heart. Let the words of Christ dwell
in you richly in all wisdom. And then live upon it. Live upon
it. Live by faith upon it. And then I'm telling you, these
assumptions, these false assumptions, which most of our assumptions
are false, are they not? I don't know how they came up
with this stat, but they came up with some kind of stat like
90% of what we're worried about never happens. We just assume it's going to. When the Lord Jesus spoke, there
was a great calm. And then they finished their
Christian voyage. A voyage that was already determined. Your voyage is already determined,
dear child of God. Did I say that rightly? I did.
Your voyage is already determined. And whatever you face between
here and that determination will do you no eternal harm. Rest in Him. Let's pray.