1299. Does God Really Care About Me? Part 1

Welcome to The Daily Platform from Bob Jones University in Greenville, South Carolina. Today on The Daily Platform, we'll hear a sermon preached by Pastor Joe Fant of Community Baptist Church in South Bend, Indiana. Today's sermon will be part one from Mark 4, 35 through 41, titled, Does God Really Care About Me? We're going to go back to the Gospel of Mark Chapter 4.

If you want to take your Bible out, go to the scriptures on your device. Mark Chapter 4 is where we're going to be tonight. Our passage begins in verse number 35. We find Jesus after speaking around the Sea of Galilee.

Mark records, the same day when evening was come, he saith unto them, let us pass over unto the other side, is what Jesus says, the other side of the Sea of Galilee. When they had sent away the multitude, they took him even as he was, as tired as he was, in the ship, and there were also with him other little ships, and there arose a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into the ship so that it was now full. And he was in the hinder, the back part of the ship, asleep on a pillow, and they awoke him and said unto him, Master, carest thou not that we perish? And he arose and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, Peace, be still.

And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. And he said unto them, Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?

They feared exceedingly, and said one to another, What manner of man is this, that even the wind and the seas obey him? Have you ever asked yourself the question, Does God really care about me? Like I know that God cares about some people, right? But does God really care about me? With everything I've been through, the trials, as hard as they are, life, the pressures of life descending on my shoulders and descending on my life, and it seems like I'm all alone in this.

And in the darkness, I'm tempted to believe a lie to that answer. Does God really care about me? You know, it's a question that any honest Christian would admit that at some time in their life has come up. They wonder if God is maybe distracted by all the other people, or maybe he has too much to do, or perhaps his plan is being worked out somewhere else.

But in the throes of life, does God really care about me? The passage before us tonight answers that question in a very comforting way, as it reveals to us that there's nothing that exists outside of us. It reveals to us that there's nothing that exists outside of God's rule and reign. That God is totally and completely sovereign in every respect. As we approach this passage, Jesus has been walking and teaching all day on the shores of the Sea of Galilee.

His message has been very simple at the beginning of his ministry. It's the message that preachers still proclaim today if they're true to scripture, and it's this message. Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand. God is building his spiritual kingdom in the hearts of all of those who would come in repentance and faith to look to Jesus alone as their savior. And as the crowds begin to amass, Jesus teaches them in parables, and the crowds get bigger and bigger as he heals and does miracles and signs and wonders. And so he amasses probably close to 10,000 people in this huge cove called the Cove of the Sower.

You can still see it if you go to the Holy Land today. And he teaches this massive group of people in this natural amphitheater that God created for that purpose. Exhausted by a day of teaching, he tells his disciples and those that are traveling with him and his group, we need to go across the Sea of Galilee to the other side. You know, it's interesting in this passage that it brings out the humanity of Christ. And we often maybe neglect the reality of Jesus's humanity in defense of his deity, but we must remember that Jesus was truly God and truly man in every respect of being God, in every respect of being man. And his human nature here in chapter four is pictured so beautifully for us that as humans, we get tired, don't we?

God created you that way to remind you that you're human, that you need sleep. In his human nature, we see Jesus here getting tired and needing sleep. And in Mark chapter 11, we see that Jesus got hungry. In John chapter four, it tells us that Jesus got thirsty. After 40 days of being tempted in the wilderness by Satan, the scriptures tell us that Jesus in his human nature was physically weak and was ministered to by angels.

We see Jesus in his human nature being overcome in the throes of depression and anxiety in the Garden of Gethsemane. When he expresses his human will that he would not go through the throes of Calvary, Father, let this cup pass from me. Then aligning his human will under the divine will of the Father, not my will but yours be done.

And I'm not saying that Jesus was not divine in every respect. Just bringing out this passage shows us his humanity. You say, Pastor Joe, why is that important? Well, it's vitally important for us to understand that right now we have a man interceding for us in heaven. One who is fully human, truly man, truly God, having experienced every temptation just as you and I and interceding on the Father's behalf as we heard in chapel this morning, making intercession for us.

He understands what you're going through. His human nature having been brought through the waters of trial just like you and just like me. So when sometimes you go to pray and you're in the throes of grief or suffering and you can't even speak the words, yet the Spirit of God carries those prayers to Jesus Christ who intercedes for you at the right hand of the Father.

Jesus exhibiting his full humanity gets exhausted from teaching all day. Knowing that more ministry lays ahead of him, he tells his disciples we have to cross the lake. They get in the boat and they begin to sail across the Sea of Galilee about seven miles in length. It was Jesus's idea to travel to the other side and so, excuse me, 13 miles in length, seven, eight miles wide.

The trip from Capernaum on one side of the lake all the way to the other side of the lake where they were going to Gedera and the Gerizines was the full length of the lake. In the middle of this trip, a storm arises. Storms were common on the Sea of Galilee. On one end you have these tall mountains, the golden heights, where the cool weather descends down below sea level at Capernaum and when that air meets together you just get a raging storm and so it's not uncommon for these storms to just spring up out of nowhere on the Sea of Galilee. If you were to take a tour today on the Holy Land, they would even tell you this, that it may get a little bit rough out of nowhere as the warm air and the cool air collide and so they sail out on the Sea of Galilee and a hurricane force wind, a storm comes out of nowhere and starts striking the boat. The disciples are terrified. I mean you got to remember these are professional fishermen here. They're expert sailors and as the wind starts to come up and the rain starts to beat down on the ship and the waves are crashing, scripture tells us that the boat fills up with water in verse 37.

It was full and you can imagine the 12 disciples bailing water as fast as they can. Waves break over, they bail water, they take down the sail. They're just trying to survive.

You ever felt that way? All right, I fought it, I can't fight it anymore. The storms are coming in life and I'm just going to buckle down and I'm just going to try to survive this one the best way I can. They start bailing water. They didn't know that this storm, even though they had been on now lake hundreds if not thousands of times, this storm would be different than anyone they could ever imagine. Matthew emphasizes the nature of the storm in his parallel passage by using the word seismos, like an earthquake.

It's saying everything was shaking. I don't know if you have been outside in the middle of the storm. I don't mind lightning and thunderstorms as long as I'm inside. When we lived in North Carolina in the mountains we would often have these massive thunderstorms come through with driving rain and huge lightning and it's actually kind of cool to be on the front porch or be in the inside and see it all around you but it's very different to experience that if you're camping.

On a backpacking trip one time we were two days into a five-day backpacking trip and a storm blew in and I'm in this little tent in this clearing and it's just going crazy around me. I thought I was gonna die. There's nothing. I mean there's metal temples which make it even worse, right? And to be exposed to that much less being in the middle of a body of water that's tumultuous. They thought they were going to die. It didn't slowly start and nobody saw it coming. If they could have seen it coming they would have never sailed.

They were seasoned fishermen but the the boat they were in was probably about 25 feet long held 12 to 15 people and they realized quickly that nature was too strong because nature bends to the will of no man. You can do what you want but you can't control nature and in the rush and chaos of the moment all of a sudden they realized wait a minute where's Jesus in all of this? They look around and they're frantically trying to look and and looking around and sure enough Jesus is nowhere to be found. Did he get washed overboard?

What happened? And they looked to the back of the ship and there is Jesus sleeping like a baby. Like your grandfather who when he takes a nap nothing is waking him up, right? He's in his lazy boy sawing logs and he's got his you know his hearing aids out and and you could have a bottle and you could have a bomb go off nearby and he's gonna sleep right through it and there's Jesus his head on a pillow in the back of the ship fast asleep. One of the disciples approaches him and then another and they're shouting at him above the wind and above the rain and they're they're shaking him.

Master Rabbi Lord wake up! I mean how could he sleep in the midst of all this? Was he was he indifferent?

Did he know what was happening? As Jesus wakes up he's not panicked. Maybe they misunderstand his calm demeanor as indifference and so they look at Jesus and Mark records their words from the memory of Peter who was on the boat and I want you to look at verse 38 with me.

Look take your eyes and look down at verse 38. They woke him up and their question is this, Jesus don't you even care that we are all about to die? Carest thou not that we perish?

In this emotional moment the question that comes to mind is a question that we've all struggled with. Jesus don't you even care? I mean obviously he knows everything he knows what I'm going through. Don't you even care that I'm about to die? When faced with the storms of life perhaps you've asked this question God don't you even care about me?

Maybe you've come into the the service this evening and because of the things that have happened over Christmas break this morning prayer requests were asked for I believe it was three of your classmates who have lost family members in the last several weeks and maybe in your life you've come and maybe nobody else even knows. You're bearing burdens and you're asking don't you even care about me? I'd like to encourage you this evening that Matthew chapter 6 records that God cares for you because of your value. Don't be anxious about your life. Don't worry about what you're going to eat, what you're going to drink, don't worry about what you're going to put on. Isn't the body more than food and clothing? I mean look at the birds.

Look how God provides for them and then verse 26 of Matthew 6, Jesus asked aren't you of more value than they are? We have cold winters in Indiana. When we moved into our house I was unpacking the truck and the weather it was negative 10 outside and the wind chill made it negative 35. That's almost a sin for it to be that cold. So much so that there were there were alerts on the radio and on the tv that said don't spend more than 10 minutes outside for fear of frostbite. And somehow every spring animals survive.

How is that even possible? Because God protects them. Because God's woven it in to their their very nature to have a way of provision during the winter months. Don't you think that if God does that for birds that he cares for you as well? Aren't you have so much more value? Matthew chapter 10 a few verses later, even the hairs of your head are numbered. Arguing that if God from the lesser to the greater if God cares about your hair doesn't make sense that he would care about all of you and what you're going through because you carry so much more value. Why are you valuable to God? You're valuable to God because you're made in his image.

If you're a Christian you're one of his children. The hymn writer says it this way, does Jesus care when my heart is pained too deeply for mirth or song as the burdens press and the cares distress and my way grows weary and long. Oh yes he cares. I know he cares.

His heart is touched with my grief. When the days are weary and the long nights dreary I know my savior cares. Romans 8 gives us the promise that nothing can separate you from the love of God. There's nothing that can come across your life that will separate you from God's love.

Tribulation, famine, peril, nakedness, army, swords, supernatural, natural, whatever it would be. Nothing can separate you from the love of God. You may be crying out, Jesus where are you? Will you please wake up? Do you even hear me?

Don't you even care that I feel like I'm about to die. You have value not only that but Jesus is with you the entire time. You know Jesus was always there. When the storm immediately hit the way this is worded it seems as though they battled the storm for a long period of time before turning and asking Jesus for help and isn't it so that way with us that life gets hard and you're suffering and you're going through trials and then you're like wait a minute maybe I need to pray about this. And he's with you the entire time. It's his presence that will never leave you nor forsake you. One of the most comforting passages of scripture that I have found during times of trial in regards to God's presence is John chapter 14 and we normally turn to that passage to say to quote rightfully John 14 6 I am the way the truth and the life no man comes the father but through me but we forget the context of that passage and the disciples are freaking out because Jesus said I'm leaving you and they're like well why where are you going where how can I get there why are you going what are you gonna what are we gonna do when you're gone and Jesus is like whoa whoa whoa you know where I'm going and Thomas says I don't know where you're going I don't even know the way to get to where you're going if I want to follow you and Jesus says I am the way the truth and the life and then he goes on to tell the disciples a little bit later on in that passage he says I'm leaving you but it's actually to your benefit because I will not leave you as orphans I'm sending my spirit and he will never leave you and it's that presence of God that's always with us that is such a comfort in the midst of these trials as we look at this passage I want you to see four greats if you're taking notes you can write these down if not they're very easy to find the first great is the great storm that arises they're out on the boat this great storm arises and then after this great storm we see a great peace Jesus looks at the fear in their eyes and he loves them he's been with them the entire time they've been with him their eyes were on the storm they were scared to death but they had no logical reason to be afraid I mean they had just seen Jesus heal people they had seen Jesus do incredible miracles they had seen Jesus do wonders and signs and the entire city of Capernaum coming out and he heals person after person after person I mean this this Jesus whoever he is at this point in their eyes is evidencing that his spirit of God is all over him little did they know what was to come in seeing Jesus as God himself they had no logical reason to be afraid other than the fact that even though they had seen a blind person given sight and even though they had seen a man lowered down by a cot into a room and pick up that cot and walk out the door this was different because this was their trial it wasn't watching someone else go through difficult things it was actually experiencing it themselves you know it's one thing to pray for someone else who's suffering until that suffering comes to your front door and you should pray and intercede for those who are going through difficult times but friends listen this was their turn to suffer and the storm enters into their life and Jesus stands up and he says peace peace be still their eyes were not fixed on Jesus in faith because they were distracted by fear they were distracted by fear and yet Jesus in his love commands the storm to stop he gives two commands here peace and be still or be silent the first command literally means to be still to be quiet the second command is really interesting it means to be muzzled muzzled like like I don't want to be crude but like shut up okay that's a lot more harsh than would you please stop talking okay it's it's that be muzzled stop it cease what's happening it's the same word that's used earlier in chapter one take your Bible and turn back to to mark chapter one just a few pages back mark chapter one and begin reading verse 23 and there is in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit that's a demon and this demon cried out saying let us alone what have we to do with thee Jesus of Nazareth art thou come to destroy us I know thee who thou art the holy one of God this is a demon who's professing the truth and Jesus in verse 25 says this Jesus rebuked him saying hold thy peace same word be muzzled stop and with this one command to the demon he shows his unconditional authority over all the supernatural forces of evil and back in mark chapter four he gives the same command to the storm he says be silent and immediately the storm ceased it's not like it slowly slacked off or it started to rain less or the lightning moved off in the distance the way that this is worded it means that immediately the wind ceased in verse 39 and there was a great call it's a great call a great peace imagine being the disciples at this point in the boat and everything's going nuts around you just going chaos boats getting rocked back and forth and then all of a sudden it's like glass boom everything stops silent and Jesus looks at them and he asks two questions look with me down at your scriptures verse 40 he said to them why are you so fearful why are you afraid and if i'm a disciple my answer would be because there was a storm i don't know if you remember that or not but we almost died and he says why why are you so afraid i was here the entire time the waves were big the winds were strong jesus you weren't doing anything and so i was fearful you know fear is an interesting emotion psychologists will tell you that fear is the greatest emotion that can drive you to do things that you never thought possible if an animal is chasing you and trying to eat you will probably run faster than you've ever run in your life and if you don't run faster than you've ever run in your life then you're not going to die how many of you are afraid of spiders can i see your hands like you hate spiders okay so let's say that you are in your in your dorm and a spider comes across the floor right you freak out and let's let's put this scenario that you have a a lady who is in her living room and she's scared to death of spiders and the spider comes in and the best she can do is is put a cup over it or something till her husband gets home and then he'll come and beat it to death and kill it because she's scared to death of spiders and she's freaking out climbing up on the i mean some of you know what that's like because you see a spider and you just can't handle it or maybe snakes right i think snakes are cool a lot of people hate snakes but if you put that same person in a room with a spider crawling across the floor and that spider is walking towards that lady's newborn baby that woman turns into a super ninja immediately i mean she will smash that thing so hard and not even think twice about it why because the only thing that conquers fear is a greater fear i'm gonna say that again because i want you to understand this the only thing that conquers fear is a greater fear and that fear of her child being bit by that spider overwhelms the fear of the spider and it motivates her to take action and here the disciples were paralyzed by the storm because they feared the storm more than they feared jesus first question why are you so afraid second question have you still no faith unfortunately that's all the time we have for today's sermon titled does god really care about me be sure to listen tomorrow as we'll hear the conclusion of this sermon from pastor joe fan preached from the bob jones university chapel platform