It seems to me it does not matter how pure your thoughts are when it comes to offering God worship that's pleasing to Him. When we come to do that in the condition that we're in, still with Adamic sinfulness, it's far less than what it will be like when we're in glory with all the saints of all the ages. Jesus said, give, and what? It shall be given unto you.
Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over. When you come with a heart, with a desire to worship God, and you're giving Him the sacrifice of praise, blessing comes back to you. It's encouraging, isn't it? Well, this passage that we're considering this morning complements the study that Pastor Barkman has been engaged in in Hebrews chapter 11. Chapter 11 deals with the subject of faith.
You recall how that chapter is laid out. There is the definition of faith. Faith is what? The substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. So there's the definition, then there's precept.
What's that? Without faith, it is impossible to please God, for they who come to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. Definition, precept, and then example. Long list of Old Testament saints who manifested believing faith, and God is setting them before us as examples to emulate. I think every genuine Christian desires to have a strong God-honoring faith. The Bible tells us in 1 Peter that God has given unto us great and exceeding promises. But how are those promises made beneficial to us?
How are they received? They're received by faith. And if our faith is inadequate, it matters not what promises God has made. If we don't know what those promises are and our faith is weak, we're going to have difficulty reaching over and holding on and believing the promises that He's made.
It is weak faith that struggles to believe the promises of God. I thought of an illustration this week about parenting and how children have a memory that does not fail them when it comes to promises they remember mommy or daddy made to them. And time goes on and they say, but daddy you promised, or mama you promised. What are they doing? They're believing you for your word.
You said it. Now we want you to deliver. And I think at times God is very much like that with us. He wants us to come to Him and say, father you promised. In Romans chapter 8 verse 28, Lord you promised in Isaiah chapter 26 and verse 3, Lord you promised in Philippians chapter 4. And you think God's going to say, yeah I promised but I really didn't mean it.
No. God wants us to come with a faith like a child. Right? That's what pleases Him. So we're to be like children in our faith. Well, this is an interesting passage.
I've enjoyed studying it for this morning. Faith lessons in the storms of life. And what I like about what's before us, it's pretty easy to understand in these verses, what is at the heart of what Jesus is wanting to get across? And at the heart of this passage is faith. Faith. And that's why I've chosen faith lessons in the storms of life. So let me give you five aspects of faith that I want to consider with you this morning from this passage.
I'll give them to you quickly and then we'll walk through them together. I want you to see number one, the school of faith. Number two, the occasion of faith. Number three, the test of faith. Number four, the crisis of faith. Number five, the encouragement to faith. Number six, the examination of faith. And number seven, the expression of faith.
That's where we're going. So let's take a look, number one, at the school of faith. We're told there in verse 35, on the same day, when evening had come, He said to them, let us cross over to the other side. Jesus has been teaching the multitudes. And the multitudes are such number that they've crowded Him on the seashore. He's got into a boat, gone out into the sea of Galilee. Excuse me, I'm losing my throat, I'm losing my voice here.
Somebody will get me some water. And we don't want to miss the fact that in the midst of the multitude are these men that are enrolled in the school of Christ. And they're being mentored by the Lord Jesus Christ. And it is an intensive curriculum that they've engaged in. It's not just classroom study, there are didactic teaching that goes on, but more often than not, thank you, more often than not, it's lessons they learn in real life.
And that's what's going on here. And it's been my experience, it's in the ebb and flow of life and the challenges of life that really test whether we have made very much progress in our understanding of the word of God. So this is an intense, on-the-job mentoring program that these disciples have entered into, the school of faith. Jesus has been teaching all day, it says there in verse 35, On the same day when evening had come, he had taught the multitude, he'd retreated to a home, he had taught there, he had gathered his disciples, he explained the parables that he had given. On the same day when evening had come, he said to them, let us cross over to the other side. We move from the school of faith to the occasion of faith. The occasion of faith, and the occasion here is that the demands of people upon Christ necessitated them moving.
Moving from the western part of Capernaum all the way across the Sea of Galilee to a more remote area of the Gerasenes. And that's what is being referred to there, let us cross over to the other side. Verse 36 says, Now when they had left the multitude, they took him, that is Jesus, along in the boat as he was.
And let me stop and just explain what I think is being referred to there, as he was. The crowd was so impatient and so demanding of Christ that he was in the boat and they decided, we're not going back to the shore, we're staying in the boat, so just as he was, they were going to make it to the other side. Now were they going to escape the demands of the people? Mark tells us something here that Luke doesn't tell us and Matthew doesn't tell us in his account. When they had left the multitude, they took him along in the boat as he was, and other little boats were also with him. Wherever this teacher is going, wherever this miracle worker is going, we're going with him.
We can't get there on foot, we're getting in boats and we're following him wherever he's going, that's what's going on here. And it was, it provided an occasion for faith. Notice the test of faith, verse 36, Now when they had left the multitude, they took him along in the boat as he was, and other little boats were also with him, and, verse 37, a great windstorm arose. And the waves beat into the boat so that it was already filling. This is a test of faith, a test of faith. Some have speculated as to the explanation behind this storm that comes up.
A great windstorm arose and the waves beat into the boat so that it was already filling. Some have speculated that this is another manifestation of Satan himself trying to kill Jesus. We know that Satan has incited the religious leaders against him, they're out to kill Jesus. And although that's interesting to consider as a possibility, I don't think that there's anything in either Matthew, Mark, or Luke that would cause us to think along those lines. What's going on here is that this is not a rare occasion. The Sea of Galilee is in a basin, and the cold winds from Mount Hermon come through the mountain ranges, and when those cold winds meet the rising hot air from the sea or the lake, it's a recipe for storm. So these sailors were not, this didn't catch them by surprise in one sense. It causes me to think about the storms of life that come upon us. And I think just as we can explain the storms here as just part of life in that particular geographical area, just as life is in a sin-cursed world, a broken world, there are going to be storms that come upon us. There is no evading them, there is no escape from them, right? We'd like to think that there was a safe harbor, a place where we could throw the anchor out in life and escape the pressures and the storms that come, but there is no such place. So here is the test of faith. A great windstorm arose and the waves beat into the boat so that it was already filling.
We see this picture of the humanity of Christ. He was so physically drained and exhausted that a short time after getting into the boat, he was in the stern of the boat. It says, asleep on a pillow. Do not think, when you see a pillow, do not think of, who's that guy on TV, Mike the pillow man?
No, no, no. This was a leather, there was one in the boat and it was to rest your head, but it was not a soft pillow. He was in the stern asleep on a pillow. You say, well, how could he go to sleep that quick? Some of you know exactly how you go to sleep that quick.
Within 60 seconds or 90 seconds from your head hitting the pillow, you're asleep and your mate can testify to it, right? And you probably aren't as exhausted as the Lord Jesus was on this occasion. So here he is in the boat, at the stern of the boat, and he's asleep. And this creates a crisis, the crisis of faith. Notice what it says, verse 38, he was in the stern, asleep on a pillow, and they awoke him and said to him, Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing? Do you not care that we are perishing?
Do you not care? They had a false premise, didn't they? And the false premise worked this way. If Jesus loves us and Jesus is with us, then we shouldn't be in a storm.
But that's a false premise, right? Listen to me, your boat can be taking on water even if Jesus is in the boat with you, right? Having Jesus in the boat does not insulate you from the storms of life. This was a crisis of faith.
Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing? Now let's give them credit. They're skilled sailors. Jesus is a carpenter and a teacher. What's he know about navigating a storm, a life-threatening storm, but they woke him up. So they must have had, they'd been watching, they'd been seeing miracles that he was performing.
And they'd exhausted all of their resources apparently and thought, you know what, we better get Jesus on board here. We better wake him up and find out if there's anything he can do for us because we are perishing. Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing? Oh, that has an accusatory tone to it, doesn't it?
Do you not care? Listen to what John records about the Lord Jesus in the light of that accusation. This is John 13.1, Now before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come, that he should depart from this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.
He loved them to the end. The master who would die the cruelest death on Calvary's cross for them, and they say to him, do you not care that we are perishing? I won't ask you if you've ever uttered those kind of words, but have you ever thought those kind of thoughts? Ever entertained suspicions and had an accusatory thought in your mind toward the Lord Jesus? Well, Lord, I'm a Christian and you've saved me by your grace and why is this happening to me?
What are you doing at that particular time? You're questioning the very wisdom of God, aren't you? You're saying, in essence, if I were in your shoes, this wouldn't be happening to me. It's a crisis of faith. The one that they ought to have faith in, the one that they must have faith in, they're questioning whether he even cares for them.
Do you not care that we are perishing? But look at the encouragement of faith in verse 39. Then he arose and rebuked the wind and he said to the sea, peace be still. And the wind ceased and there was a great calm. The encouragement to faith.
There is no rebuke recorded by Mark, Luke, or Matthew, by Jesus, to these disciples for their questioning whether he cared for them. What a kind and gracious Savior we have. The encouragement of faith. He arose and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, peace be still. And the wind ceased and there was a great calm. He's Lord of his church and he's Lord over all creation, isn't he? Some of you are wondering why Jesus hasn't come to you and pronounced those words peace or calmness to settle in over you.
And yet he has, hasn't he? Isaiah chapter 26 and verse 3 says, he will keep him in perfect peace whose mind has stayed on thee because he trusteth in thee. We would much rather the circumstances in the storm abate than God quieting our hearts and quieting the storm within.
But God's more interested in what's going on on the inside than he is on what's going on on the outside, right? There's a challenge here that we not be fair weather Christians. What's a fair weather Christian? A person who professes faith in Christ as long as everything's going well.
Sun is shining, life is good, no trouble, no storms, no sorrows. That's not a God-honoring person. Faith is something that must be tested and God will test faith. He will test it to see whether the professed faith is genuine or not.
He will test that faith to see the quality of that faith, whether it's weak or strong, right? Absolutely. The crisis of faith. This was a crisis. They were in peril.
They were fearing for their own lives. And we have this encouragement from Jesus. He rose and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, peace, be still, and the wind ceased and there was a great calm. I remember 20 or so years ago on vacation there was some of us decided we wanted to go deep sea fishing.
And there had been a storm a day or two earlier. So we talked to the captain of the ship and he said, well, I've done this a lot. He says things are a little rough here, but he says once you get out into the current, he says I've seen where you cut the motor off and he says the water just looks like a mirror, like a glass table.
I thought, okay, he knows what he's doing. It was a rough ride getting out there, but I'm thinking, okay, once we get out there, well, he cut the engine off and that boat was just. And I said to him, where's the flat mirror?
Where's the table? I promised myself and everybody with me we'd get back to dry ground. I'm never doing this again. But you can't do that in this Christian journey, can't you? You can't say, hey, after this is behind me, I'm done.
I'm out here. No, if you belong to him, he is going to persevere with you. And there will be other tests. There will be other storms that will come. This wonderful encouragement from our Lord, there in Philippians chapter 4. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God, and the peace of God which passes all understanding will guard your heart and your mind through Christ Jesus. A garrison, God will set up a garrison.
He will guard your heart and your mind. Most of us have walked with the Lord and have experienced that. It's a peace that passes understanding.
The world can't understand it. How there can be circumstances in your life and there is a raging storm and at the same time the storm is going on, there is an inner peace. And the reason for that is Christ in us, the hope of glory, the God of peace dwelling within.
It's just not a hope so we're holding on to a promise, but the God of peace is with us. So this encouragement to faith. But we move to the examination of faith. But he said to them, why are you so fearful? Question number two, how is it that you have no faith?
How is it that you have no faith? Now there's some discrepancy between the three Gospel writers and what they record here. Mark is relying on first-hand testimony. And I think he's relying on Peter for his information as he's giving us this record.
A good bit of Mark's material comes from first-hand experience and eyewitness from Peter himself. But Luke records at this particular junction the words of Christ to them, where is your faith? Where is your faith?
Now think about that. What's implied with the question where is your faith? What's implied is you have it, you just don't know where it's at right now.
You're not utilizing it. You're not activating your faith. Where is your faith? That's different than why don't you have any faith?
You have no faith. Now where is your faith? Matthew 8 25, why are you fearful, O you of little faith? Is what Matthew says. Now Mark in the New King James renders this verse this way. He said to them, why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith? I think we're helped by a couple of other reliable translations here.
The ESV and the New American Standard render it this way. Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith? The NASB, why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?
That I think is consistent with the Greek language there. Have you still no faith? Their faith was weak, their faith was inadequate, but Jesus is implying, after you've seen what you've seen, do you still have no faith? And what we're to learn is as we go through life's experiences, they are to shore up and strengthen our faith.
It's not a useless exercise. God has a purpose in bringing us through these things, and He had a purpose for them. Have you still no faith?
After all you've seen? And I don't think that just means what they had just seen while they were in the boat in this crisis, but what they had seen, demons being cast out, people being healed, miraculous things. Have you still no faith? So the examination of faith, and it's good for us to constantly have an eye toward this critical dimension of our life because God puts such a premium on it. Without faith, it's impossible to please God. We got that from Hebrews. If you go to the gospels, you have these narrative stories that have at their core faith lessons. This isn't the only time in Mark's gospel that this issue is going to come up. Do you still have no faith? He feeds the 5,000.
He feeds the 4,000. And it is for us. If we want to please God and honor God and avail ourselves of the promises of God, we need a robust faith. We need a strong faith, not a weak faith, not a doubting faith. And it's wonderful that God has made promises to us like this. Work out your salvation with fear and trembling for God is at work in you both to what? To will and to do according to His good pleasure. God's at work in us so that we will have a faith that pleases Him. That's an encouragement, isn't it?
This isn't something we have to work up within ourselves. We're aided by the Spirit of God. Divine aid comes to us. So the examination of faith there in verse 40. Why are you so fearful and how is it that you have no faith? Their fear is mentioned twice in this passage. Their fear because of the storm and their fear which is a reverent fear of the Lord Jesus as they become aware that they're in the presence of not just a man but the God-man. They're fearful over the storm and now they're fearful over Him who calmed the storm.
That's a good fear, that second fear. And then the expression of faith in verse 41. And they feared exceedingly and said to one another, who can this be that even the wind and the sea obey Him?
Yeah, who can this be? Other than God the Son, the second person of the Godhead in the boat with them. So faith lessons in the storms of life. What is it that reveals the presence of or lack of faith in our lives? It's the storms of life, the trials of life, the tests of life. What is it that causes our faith, whether it is little or weak or feeble or whether we have a strong faith? What causes it to grow regardless of what kind of faith we've got? The storms of life, the trials of life, the tests of life. What does God use to refine our faith, to improve our faith, to make us more steadfast and consistent in our faith? I hate to be repetitive but it is the storms of life, the trials of life, the tests of life.
That's what God uses. Here's a lesson. Do not doubt in the calm. Do not doubt in the storm what God has taught you in the calm. When the storms are raging, sometimes our mind goes south.
We can't remember. Our faith takes a hit. We're knocked off stride.
We lose our balance. Do not doubt in the storm what God has taught you in the calm. And it's easy to quote Isaiah 26 3 when there's no storm raging in your life. But it's another thing to lay hold of that promise when you are facing serious threatening issues, right?
Yes. We sang a song this morning, Whatever our God ordains is right. Listen to a quotation from Elizabeth Elliot from her book, Through the Gates of Splendor. She says, God is God, and if He is God, He is worthy of my worship and my service. I will find rest nowhere but in His will, and that will is infinitely, immeasurably, unspeakably beyond my largest notion of what He is up to. God is the God of human history. He is at work continuously, mysteriously accomplishing His eternal purposes in us, through us, for us, and in spite of us.
Then she goes on. For us widows, the question as to why the men who had trusted God should be allowed to be speared to death was not one that could be smoothly or finally answered in 1956, nor yet silenced in 1996. God did not answer Job's questions either. Job was living in a mystery, the mystery of the sovereign purpose of God. And the questions that rose out of the depths of that mystery were answered only by a deeper mystery, that of God Himself.
Yes. This seems so elementary, I'm convinced when you hear me say this, but we need to be reminded of this, because when storms of life come, it's hard for us to think straight and to think biblically. God's word does not promise that you will never head into a storm again, but He promises that you'll never be alone in the storm. He often leads us into the storm, the storms of life.
They are under His sovereign control, and He uses them to accomplish His purposes in us, making us more like Him. The next time you're prone to ask, Lord, why me? Why this? We're prone to ask those questions, aren't we? Why is this happening to me? What have I done to deserve this? Rather than ask those questions, ask these questions. Oh God, what do you want me to see about you, and see about me in the midst of this storm?
What do you want me to learn, and how do you want me to grow? Those are questions that are more God-honoring. I keep coming back to that question. Master, don't you care that we are perishing?
What an ugly accusation. They had concluded that if you cared about us, Jesus, this would not be happening to us right now. And I don't think those disciples are unique in entertaining those thoughts. We, regardless of how long you've walked with the Lord, those thoughts come to us. And we must banish them from our thoughts, because they are not correct. They're not biblical. They're not scriptural.
They're part of our Adamic nature. Listen to Hebrews chapter 13, verses 5 and 6. Be content with what you have, because God has said, Never will I leave you. Never will I forsake you. So, we say with confidence, the Lord is my helper. I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?
Or another passage that's very familiar to us, Isaiah 43, 1 to 3. Fear not, for I have redeemed you. I have called you by name.
You are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you. And through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you. When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned. And the flame shall not consume you.
For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. This is going to seem rather obvious to you, but what makes for a skilled sailor? Smooth waters all the time?
No. A calm sea does not make a skilled sailor. A skilled sailor is produced in the storms of life. He's learned how to navigate. He's learned how to survive in the storm. When the storms of life come, and some of you know exactly what I'm talking about, we're not talking about something future.
It's a present reality to you. In the storm of life that you're facing right now, see it as an opportunity, an opportunity to glorify God and honor Him, an opportunity for your faith to grow. Avoid the tendency to doubt the goodness of God and the care of God.
Don't be like those disciples. I think we would be wise to recall and remember, don't let the storm that you're in today keep you from seeing the storm that Jesus endured for you. All of our struggles and storms take place from a much better vantage point than the one Jesus and His disciples had because all of our struggles and storms take place on this side of the cross, right? We're on the other side of the cross. The storms of this life pale in comparison to the storm of God's wrath that was coming for every one of us because of our sin against God that would have landed us in an eternal hell. And Jesus absorbed that storm, the wrath of God, He took upon Himself and satisfied the wrath of God that we deserved in order that you and I would never face it.
What a Savior we have. I don't know about you, but when I read passages like this, I have questions that the Bible never answers. One of the questions I have is, well, what happened to all those other boats that we were told about?
What happened to them? It seems that they were smaller boats than the one Jesus was in. We don't know whether they capsize, we don't know, we're never told. And I also must confess that when I read passages like this, a part of me says, man, I would have loved to have been in that boat with Jesus. And then I think, do I really wish I was in that boat? I wouldn't have acted any different than those disciples. My faith would have been weak and feeble.
I'd have been accusatory. Lord, don't you care? But to witness, to witness Christ exercising his sovereign power and control over nature, you know, meteorology and meteorologists have come a long way.
They do a pretty good job. They can predict the weather, but they can't control it. Only Jesus can control the weather. And all he had to do was say, peace be still.
And two things happened, right? He arose, rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, peace be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.
That usually doesn't happen. Just because the wind ceased, the turbulent water isn't going to lay still immediately. But it did in this occasion, because Jesus spoke specifically to the wind and to the sea. Is your obedience that accurate?
Is your obedience that quick when he speaks to you? This is a very instructive passage, Faith Lessons in the Storms of Life. May God help us. Let us pray. Father, we thank you today for our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. We thank you for what we've seen here.
On the one hand, we see his humanity, his physical exhaustion. And then on the other hand, we see his divine prerogative being exercised in calming the wind and the sea. And all of this for the benefit of these men in the development of their faith. And I pray, our Father, that you would come to us and that you would remind us that the overall umbrella that is your superintending over our life is the development of our faith. That you desire a robust, a strong, a mature faith. And that faith will only happen as our faith is exercised in the storms of life. So thank you that we're not left alone in those storms, that you will be with us, you will aid us, you will help us.
You are working in us, both to will and to do according to your good pleasure. So cause your people to rejoice today. That we know something this world knows nothing of. We know a peace, even in the midst of the storm and how we wish that you at times would change the circumstances of our life and cause the sun to rise and the clouds to leave.
And yet a far more wonderful thing takes place that the clouds are still there and the threat is still there and yet they're at the same time as an inner peace that the world knows nothing of. Thank you for the way you minister to us, the way you care for us, the way you aid us in our journey in this life. Cause your word to find lodgement in our hearts today. May we be encouraged by what we've considered. Cause your word not to be taken from us, not to be stolen away, but may it find fertile soil that it might grow for our good and your glory. I pray in Christ's name, Amen.
