"Jesus Demonstrates His Power"

Hi there, this is Lon Solomon and I'd like to welcome you to our program today. You know it's a tremendous honor that God has given us to be on stations all around the nation bringing the truth of God's word as it is uncompromising and straightforward. And I'm so glad you've tuned in to listen and be part of that.

Thanks again for your support and your generosity that keeps us on the radio. And now let's get to the word of God. How many of you have ever been to Israel, to the Holy Land?

Raise your hand. Oh, pretty good number. I'm surprised in each of the services how many people have been there, more than I expected. But I've always found that the people who go to Israel come back saying, you know, that one place was so special to me.

I'll never forget it as long as I live. Well, for me, one of those places, one of my favorite in all the Holy Land is up around the Sea of Galilee. I just love being up there. I don't know what it is exactly, but I just love being up there. The scenery is just breathtaking. The climate is mild.

The pace of living is really slow and easy up there. And the sea is just so calm and so serene. It's just like out of a picture book most of the time, most of the time. But sometimes the Sea of Galilee can become the site of some of the most violent storms imaginable. In fact, the Sea of Galilee is kind of schizophrenic in this way.

I mean, it's kind of like Dr. Jekyll, Mr. Hyde. It can be so nice and so calm. And then all of a sudden out of nowhere, just have the most incredible storm you ever saw. And it's this crazy weather pattern on the Sea of Galilee that kind of forms the setting for the passage that we have in front of us this morning. And I want you to come along as we follow this story of what happened to Jesus and the disciples one night out on that sea, because it's a great expose of who Jesus Christ is, helps us really understand who he is a lot better. And it's also a tremendous message in these verses that's here for us as Christians in terms of how God wants us to handle the storms that come into our lives. So come along with me.

Let's look and see what happened. Luke Chapter eight, verse twenty two. One day, Jesus said to his disciples, let's go over to the other side of the lake. So they got into a boat and they set out. Now, this same incident is recorded in Matthew's gospel and Mark's gospel.

And by putting all three of them together, we get a little fuller picture of what's really going on. Mark tells us that this day that Jesus said this was actually a Saturday. It was a Sabbath. And Jesus had had a very long and a very difficult day. He had not only done some healing and done some teaching, but he had been in conflict with the religious leaders of Israel, the Pharisees, the scribes and the rabbis all day long. Finally, he had even pronounced the unpardonable sin against them.

And he was exhausted when the day was over. And so when the day came to a close about evening, he said to his disciples, guys, let's get in the Sea of Galilee and let's head across to the other side. Now, how far were they going?

Well, the Sea of Galilee is 13 miles long, eight and a half miles wide at the widest point. And they were going catty corner from the north to the east. And so they were probably going about eight or 10 miles across the Sea of Galilee.

What kind of boat were they in? The Bible says they got in. Well, until recently, we didn't know. But in 1986, March, to be exact, there was a great drought in Israel. And since the Sea of Galilee is used for irrigation, they pumped it and pumped it and pumped it.

And it receded to levels that no one in modern memory can recall. And in the mud banks that became now up in the air, usually they're underwater, but now they were to the open in these mud banks on the western side of the sea. There was an ancient boat that was discovered. It's been excavated. It's on display, as a matter of fact, right up around the Sea of Galilee these days. And the archaeologists who've worked on this boat have concluded that it was a boat that came from the time of Jesus and was a boat very similar to the kind of boat that Jesus and the disciples probably got in that night. It's made out of wood.

It's twenty seven and a half feet long, seven and a half feet wide and four and a half feet deep. So could 13 guys fit in it? Yes. Would they all have a sleeping bunk? No, but they could get in it. But yet even though you could fit 13 guys in it, it's not very big. I mean, if you ran for a first and 10, you'd run longer than this boat.

It's only twenty seven and a half feet long. So it wasn't a big boat, but it was a boat that Jesus and his disciples crowded into and they set out onto the lake. Now, verse twenty three. And as they sailed, Jesus fell asleep.

Why? Because he was exhausted. I see some of you yawning. He felt exactly the same way.

Exactly the same way. He had a very hard day and he was tired. And so he went and fell asleep. Now, Mark's gospel tells us something very interesting. Mark's gospel says that Jesus was in the stern of the ship, asleep on a pillow. You say, oh, isn't that nice? He took a little down comforter or something with him.

No, not exactly. Actually, we've learned a lot about these verses from this boat that we dug up. It's incredible how once again, archaeology has confirmed even the minutest details of the Bible. Listen, I'm quoting to you from biblical archaeology review where there was a multipage article on the boat. Listen to what they said about this stern where Jesus was asleep. And I quote, they said, We found that a boat like this had a large stern platform, which is where the helmsman would either sit or stand and guide the boat. This explains why Jesus chose the stern in which to sleep there. Jesus would have had the most protection from the elements and would have been out of the way of the other people on board. Then it goes on to say the pillow that he used was actually a sand bag that was kept on board and used to trim the boat when it was under sail. And when it was not in use, it was routinely stored under the stern deck to be used as a pillow by crew members who rested there.

End of quote. Incredible. We dig a boat up and we find it confirms to unbelievable accuracy the details of the Bible. So Jesus was sleep under this stern platform, not with a down pillow, but with a sandbag.

But a sandbags better, nothing. And so that's what he had. Now, verse 23 goes on to say, and a squall came down on the lake so that the boat was being swamped with water and they were in great danger. The Greek word that's translated here squall literally means a gale or hurricane. And the Bible says it came down on the lake. And if you understand a little bit about the topography of the Sea of Galilee, you understand why the Bible says that the Sea of Galilee is six hundred and eighty nine feet below sea level. It is surrounded by mountains that rise as high as ninety two hundred feet above sea level.

That's quite a difference. And there are huge valleys that come down through these mountain ranges and actually kind of spill out onto the Sea of Galilee. So what happens is cold air comes rushing down these valleys, sometimes running onto the Sea of Galilee and meeting the warm and temperate air that's down on the Sea of Galilee. That begins to generate all kinds of wind.

The wind begins to swirl and the wind begins to whip around. It can't go anywhere because the Sea of Galilee is like a little bowl. You know, it's at the bottom and all these mountains are like the sides of a bowl. So it just goes around and around and around like a tornado. And of course, that's why the Bible says the storm came down onto the sea because it came down through these valleys and onto the sea. You can set out from one side of the Sea of Galilee and everything be as peaceful and as calm as you please. And before you get to the other side, you can be in the middle of a rip, snort and storm.

They come quick. This is what happened to Jesus. People read this and go, well, why would Jesus and his disciples have possibly set out in a storm like this? The point is, they didn't.

When they set out, everything was fine. But when the time they got out into the middle of the lake and it had turned dark, they found themselves in the middle of a hurricane, is what the Bible is telling us. And you know that there have been waves on the Sea of Galilee documented at 20 feet between the crest and the trough.

20 feet. You say, well, now that's a wave I think of in the Pacific Ocean. No, on the Sea of Galilee, 20 foot waves. In fact, Matthew's Gospel says that the boat was actually disappearing between the waves as it would go down into the swells.

The little boat would actually disappear. It was so bad, the Bible says they were in great danger. You say great danger or what? Well, great danger is sinking. Great danger of drowning. Great danger of dying. Great danger of going down to Davy Jones locker and never coming back. They were in trouble. I bet you some of these guys were down for the count.

What do you think? Oh, land-loving, tax-collecting Matthew. I'll bet you he was one sick dude out in the middle of the sea on his boat. Well, that's what they were in. Look at verse 24. And the disciples, who could still walk, went and woke Jesus and said, Master, Master, we are going to drown. Now, don't forget who's saying this. The people who are saying this are Peter and James and John and Andrew.

You say, well, so what's so important about that? Well, these guys were fishermen. They were raised around the Sea of Galilee. They made their living fishing the Sea of Galilee. They went out on the Sea of Galilee every single day in little boats just like this. They had seen everything the Sea of Galilee had to throw at them for year after year after year. And these are the guys who, in absolute panic, come to Jesus and say, we are going to drown. We have seen all kinds of things out here on this sea, but we have never seen a storm like this.

And we are terrified. How do you know they were in trouble? Folks, when sailors ask a carpenter what to do in a storm, you are in trouble.

You are in big trouble. So when Jesus awoke at the picture now, he was facing one of the most violent, one of the most furious, one of the most savage storms that these men of the sea had ever seen. Half of them were sure they were going to die.

The other half of them were so sick they wanted to die. And Jesus gets up and has this unbelievable opportunity to demonstrate his power. Verse 24, and he got up, pulled himself up and stood majestically on this tiny little speck of wood in the middle of the sea, in the middle of this hurricane.

He pulled himself up in the middle of the sea, the Bible says, and he rebuked the wind and the raging waters. Mark's Gospel says he stood up and looked towards the sky and he never raised his voice. He never screamed. He never yelled to be heard over the wind and the waves. Mark's Gospel said he simply looked up at the sky and said, hush up. That's all he said.

Hush up. And the Bible says that the storm subsided and all was calm. You know, even if the wind had stopped just like that, even if all of the raining and the commotion had stopped just like that, the laws of physics say the waves would have gone on for hours before they died down.

But not here. Not when Jesus stopped it. He stopped the wind, the waves, everything just like that.

And it was as calm as glass. Friends, in doing this, Jesus demonstrated a power over nature that is utterly staggering. Think about it.

A storm like this generates millions and millions of horsepower, of energy. And Jesus stopped it by simply saying what? Hush up.

That's all he said. Think of us puny little men. If we want to run a 450 horsepower bulldozer for a day, we've got to use hundreds of gallons of diesel fuel just to put that little thing around and move dirt. Can you imagine the kind of power that could turn a storm like this with millions and millions of horsepower off? Can you imagine the kind of power it must take to move the universe around the way Jesus Christ says he does?

Our telescopes, for example, show us a universe that stretches hundreds of millions of light years in every direction. Everything spinning in absolute order. Can you imagine where the power is that must keep that thing all going? And here, our Earth, eight thousand miles in diameter, twenty five thousand miles in circumference, weighing millions upon millions of tons. Who's holding it up?

Spinning at a rate that's so constant that you can set your watch by it, going around the sun in a rate so constant that you can set your calendar by it? Who's running all of this and making it happen the way it does with such perfect order? Where is that power coming from? And the sun putting out six trillion horsepower every single year. And there are millions of these suns in the universe. Who's running this?

Where does that power come from? And did you know that a codfish lays nine million eggs every time it lays eggs? You say, but what's that got to do with anything? But I mean, God is the God of the little, just like he is the big. I mean, nine thousand eggs, ladies.

I mean, hey, it takes a pretty big god to do that, I figure. And, you know, in a teaspoon of water, there are billions and billions of atoms in one teaspoon of water. I was a chemistry major in college and we studied the atom. And even though scientists today can tell you what the atoms made of and can describe the parts, there is not a scientist alive today who can tell you why the atom sticks together, because it defies everything we know about quantum physics. The atoms should not stick together.

It should not do it. What makes it hold together? The millions and billions and trillions. And who knows how many atoms there are in the universe? Well, the Bible says Jesus Christ holds them all together by his power. If he were to relax his power, you and I and everything in this world would fly apart in an instant.

The kind of power that it takes to run the universe, it's beyond our comprehension. And Jesus demonstrated that kind of power over the forces of the universe time after time after time. You know, in John chapter two, he turned water into wine.

Now, we chemists would say Jesus brought about a chemical change in the molecular structure of water with a simple command. But may I say to you that that can't be done? We can tell you what he did, but it cannot be done. That is impossible. It cannot be done, but he did it. In John chapter 11, Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead. That cannot be done, but he did it. In Matthew chapter 14, Jesus walked on the top of water. That cannot be done, but he did it. In Matthew chapter 21, he was standing next to a fig tree and he cursed that fig tree and he said, wither and die, and it withered and died.

That can't be done, but he did it. If you don't think that's hard to do, you go out and try to experiment the next spring in your yard. Go out there and instead of spraying those dandelions or putting something on top of them, go out there and just look at them and point to them and go die, die, wither, wither and see if anything happens. Now, if anything happens, you call me because I want to come right over.

I want to see what it looks like, but I guarantee you the only thing that will happen is those dandelions will get bigger and they'll fill your whole yard up if you try that because you don't have that kind of power and neither do I. But Jesus Christ did and he does. And you know, the disciples may not have been rocket scientists, but they were smart enough to figure out that they were dealing with somebody who was way out of their league, way out of their league. Look at verse 25. It says in fear and in amazement, they ask one another, who is this?

Who is this? That even the winds and the water that a hurricane, he can command it and make it stop. I mean, they had seen the guy do some healings and they had seen Jesus raise a little girl up from supposedly being dead. At least they said, well, we thought she was dead and they'd seen Jesus do a lot of other things. But friends, when you stand up in the middle of Hurricane Andrew and say, hush up and it stops. Man, that's a kind of power these guys had never even dreamed of and had no explanation for.

So who is this? They said. And that's really the sixty four thousand dollar question, isn't it, folks? That's the big question. And, you know, it's real important we have the right answer to that question and that we make sure that we're rightly placed with this person.

Anybody who has this power is way out of your league to way out of my league. And it's our job to make sure that we are in right standing with a person like this who can command the winds and the waves of a hurricane like that and make them obey. Now, that's our passage, but it still leaves us with the most important question. And that is. So what? Right.

And I want to answer that question in a little bit of time I have left. Let me first say that if you're here and you've never embraced Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and savior, maybe a friend brought you this morning or a mom or a dad or a husband or a wife brought you or who knows why you're here. But you've never really made a personal surrender of your life to Jesus Christ as your personal savior.

Then there's a big so what here? You know, Jesus promises in the Bible that he's coming back to Earth one day. And he promises in the Bible that he's going to defeat every foe that opposes him. He promises in the Bible he's going to resurrect every person who's ever lived and that he's going to judge them for sin. He promises in the Bible that the only refuge that will protect you and me from that judgment is the blood of Christ that was shed on the cross. And Jesus promises in the Bible that any of us who will embrace the blood of Christ will be shielded from that judgment. And any of us who refuse to embrace the blood of Jesus Christ is our only payment for sin, that we will be judged and we'll be separated from God for all eternity in a place the Bible calls hell.

And Jesus promises in the Bible that he is the way and the truth and the life. Nobody will ever come to the father. Nobody will ever get into heaven apart from him.

That's what he said. We say you mean you can't go through Buddha. Jesus said nobody comes to the father except by me. Well, you mean you can't go through Mohammed. Jesus said nobody comes to the father but by me. Oh, you mean you can't go through your church membership and your good works. Jesus said nobody comes to the father except by me. Now, my question for you is, should you be concerned about all these promises?

I mean, should they worry you? Does Jesus Christ really have the power to do everything he's promised? If he doesn't, you don't have to worry about him. Well, in light of what we just saw him do on the Sea of Galilee, what do you think? Do you think he has the power to keep his promises?

I do. Friends, God uses storms in our life. But, you know, there's one thing that Jesus Christ never allows a storm to do in a Christian's life, and that's sink you. He never allows one to sink you. When Jesus knows the time is right to calm your storm, he'll do so. When he knows it's right to stop your storm, he'll do so. He's got the power to handle it.

The one thing you can be sure of, he'll never let you sink. That's why he said to the guys in the boat what he said. You say, yeah, Lon, I noticed you skipped a little bit of this. You're right.

Let's go back. Verse 25. Jesus, after he calmed the storm, look what he said. He said to the disciples, verse 25, where is your what? Where's your faith?

Now, for years, I would read this passage and I'd go, now, that makes no sense. I mean, for faith to exist, there has to be a promise from God. Faith means that I have responded correctly to a promise of God. God promises me if I trust the blood of Jesus Christ, he'll take me to heaven. Faith says I may not know where heaven is or how to get there myself, but I believe in you, God.

I may not be able to empirically prove it, but I'm going to hold on to that promise and believe it anyway. Faith is always responding to a promise of God. So where's the promise of God here? I looked and I looked and I looked for years and I said, I don't understand why Jesus is rebuking these guys, because he never made him a promise.

But he did. He said, where? Right up in verse 22. He said, let's get in the boat and what? Go to the other side. Did Jesus say, hey, guys, let's get in the boat, go out in the middle of the lake and let's all drown? No, he didn't say that, did he? He said, guys, let's get in the boat and let's do what? Go to the other side. And friend, when Jesus says we're going to get in the boat and go the other side, we're going to get in the boat and go to the other side.

That's what he said, wasn't it? And so he said to them, where is your faith? What's wrong with you guys? I didn't say we were going out here and drown. I said we were going the other side.

What's wrong with you? Where was your faith? And my dear Christian friend, Jesus Christ has never said to you, hey, why don't you get into my boat and let's go drown? Now, when Jesus Christ invited you into his boat, he invited you into his boat to go to the other side.

You say to go the other side of what, Lon? Well, in this life, to go to the other side of conformity to Jesus Christ, to be made more like him. And the storms that God sends our way, friends, is because God's using those storms to mold our character.

So we become more like Jesus Christ. God's going to get us to the other side of that process. And you're not going to drown in the middle and in the life to come, we're going to get to the other side of death to a place the Bible calls heaven.

You don't know where it is and neither do I. But Jesus said, you get into my boat and I'll make sure you get there. And when Jesus Christ says, get in my boat and we're going to the other side, then you can believe him. If you get in his boat, you are going to the other side.

You're not going to drown. And so he asks us as Christians the same question. Where is your faith? You can trust the one that's doing the leading.

It's not out of control. God knows exactly what's going on and he's doing it for your good, whether you can see that or understand it or not. And believe me, when God takes you through the storm and lands you, you're going to like every destination he takes you to.

If you'll just trust him. May God help you do that. May God change the way you see your life because of what we've seen here this morning. Dear Heavenly Father, I want to thank you for the word of God and how it touches and how it ministers to our lives. Father, I want to pray for people who are here this morning that are going through real hurricanes in their life.

And I know there are many. Some of us here who've been through real hurricanes and we're still kind of licking our wounds. I pray, Father, that you would give us a different perspective than the world would like to give us on our troubles. I pray you would help us to see them as all being in the hand of a loving, merciful Heavenly Father who's promised us that if we get in his boat, we're going to the other side.

Lord, teach us that the storms along the way are only meant for our benefit. And I pray, Father, that you would help us, even though we may not know where we're being led, to have deep abiding trust in the one who's doing the leading. Give us the strength we need and the faith we need to have that, Father. And I pray, especially for those here this morning who are right in the middle of one of these hurricanes, that they would be able to walk out of here this morning and say, I may not know where I'm being led, but with your help, God, I'm going to trust you. Give me peace.

Just help me jump in that pool, believing you're going to catch me. Help it be well with our souls, Lord, even if there's a storm all around us because of our faith and our reliance upon you. We pray these things in Jesus' name.

Amen. You've been listening to So What with Dr. Lon Solomon. So What is an outreach of Lon Solomon Ministries. To listen to today's message or for more information, visit our website, lonsolomonministries.org. Thank you for your support. If you would like to contact us, please visit our website or call us at 866-788-7770. We hope you will join us next time when Lon seeks to answer one of life's most important questions, So What.