In The Storm With Christ | Mark 4:35-41 | Pastor Daniel Batarseh (Gospel of Mark Series)

To know that God loves us is one thing. But if you read John 17, the high priestly prayer, you will learn that through the words of the son of God, the father loves us in the same way he loves the son. Consider that. I think we hear that and we read that, but if we really allow that to impact us, we would be undone. And so to be here today, I hope you are singing with the confidence that God almighty, who created you, who fashioned you, that we may be one among close to 8,000,000,000, are loved are loved so deeply.

He wants to walk with you. He wants to talk with you. He delights in your fellowship, so much so that he prayed to the father that you you might be with him for all of eternity that you might behold his glory. People wonder, what are we gonna do in heaven? I say, I don't think you're gonna be wanting to do anything else because all you're gonna do is stand in awe of his glory day after day, night after night.

And a thousand years will go by, and there will be yet another dimension of his glory that you didn't see a thousand years ago. Another paradigm of his beauty will come, and it will sustain you for another ten thousand years. And from there, another ten thousand years. And it will be an unending experience of God's love, holiness, justice, purity, stunning your soul, captivating you forever and ever. Meet me in Mark chapter four, please.

Mark chapter four. And if you will, would you meet me in verse 35? A very familiar passage, but we're gonna ask God to give us fresh eyes and fresh ears. In Mark four thirty five, God's word reads, on that day, when evening had come, he said to them, let us go across to the other side. And leaving the crowd, they took him with them in the boat just as he was.

And other boats were with him. And a great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat so that the boat was already filling. But he was in the stern asleep on the cushion. And they woke him and said to him, teacher, do you not care that we are perishing? And he awoke, and he rebuked the wind and said to the sea, peace, be still.

And the wind ceased and there was a great calm. He said to them, why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith? And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, who then is this that even the wind and the sea obey him? Oh, Lord, we do pray again.

Lord, it is our prayer that you would help us by the gift of the Holy Spirit to really understand what you're saying here. Protect the delivery of this word from men's fleshly interpretation or misjudgment. Protect our hearts from hearing the wrong thing. And Lord, may there be just a pure transaction of the truth, but, oh, God, we need your power. We need the power of the Holy Spirit.

Lord, we confess to you that man's eloquence will not suffice. It will not be the cleverness of this message, Lord. It must be your truth empowered by your Holy Spirit. And we ask, Lord, that this word this afternoon would make a difference in our lives. May it cause us to react the way the disciples did when they said, who then is this?

Lord, manifest the son of God to our hearts in a way that we have never learned before and that we've never perceived before. Make him come alive in us. We trust that you will do so in Jesus' name. Amen. The categories of the miracles of Jesus in the gospels are vast.

They include many things, including the restoration of the broken bodies of people, the rescue from evil and demonic domination, and even the effortless reviving of the dead among many other unique supernatural instances. The disciples were eyewitnesses of many of Christ's displays of great power and might. But here, as we just read, they're being prepared by the master himself to behold something that would shock them in the innermost parts of their being. Up to this point, they have already considered that there is an authority that this Jesus of Nazareth has that is unmatched. They have already calculated and concluded that devils submit to his word.

That disease must shrivel up and die by the touch of his hand. But now they are being introduced to another realm where Christ will exercise his authority in a way that they have never seen before. And the miracle that we are about to explore will show just that. You would think after all that they have seen, after all that they have registered, though it was early in the ministry of Jesus, that it would be difficult to match the authority of Christ. You would think that the shock value has been lost, But what you just read with me will prove otherwise.

Because what the Lord is about to do before these 12 men who have chosen to follow this hotly debated rabbi from Nazareth is show his ascendancy over unpredictable and unstoppable nature. What Christ is going to do is open the realization that he is not just lord over sickness. He is not just Lord over seducing spirits. He is the Lord over creation, over weather, winds and waves, rain and sun, clouds and clear skies, even such things bow when he speaks. This is what they are going to see and the event by which the Lord will showcase that supremacy will be in the event of them sailing at sea and being visited by an unforeseen storm.

And the text before us today by the wisdom of the spirit has been graciously and neatly divided for us to explore. What you and I have here in this episode are three scenes. The first scene deals with the stage before the storm. Then we transition secondly to the experience during the storm, and then we will conclude in the third part with the moments after the storm. And so come with me now as we examine the stage before the storm.

We read in verse 35, on that day well, what day? What you and I have been studying from the midpoint of Mark chapter three up to now all occurred in one day. Consider that. Consider how jam packed that day was. You had Jesus delivering people from demons.

You had the slander of the Pharisees accusing him from coming with the power of Satan. You had his friends and family trying to bring him out of the ministry because they thought that he lost his mind. You have Jesus teaching parables to the masses and explaining it privately to his own disciples. All of that happened from morning until evening. And on that day, we read that Jesus wants to head into another chapter of ministry.

He has decided to now sail across the lake to arrive at a strategic point as you and I will discover in Mark chapter five. And he is also going to take advantage of that voyage as he rests his weary head on a pillow in the stern of this boat. Oh, the humanity of Jesus. The God of Israel who neither slumbers nor sleeps is taking a nap. He's taking a nap.

He is resting. But what's important to see here before the ship steers across the Sea Of Galilee is that Jesus was the one who initiated this trip. On that day when evening had come, he said to them, let us go across to the other side. The trip was organized by the savior, and it was expected of his disciples to fulfill his wishes. Let us go.

No protest. No objection. Just total sweet pure submission. Now why is that an important thing to highlight right from the beginning? It's important for us to hold to that because we are going to see that the 12 will soon encounter a life threatening situation.

They will now come to the point where these expert fishermen are going to lose control and actually realize and think to themselves, this is it. We're gonna become fish food. We've been fishing for fish, now the fish will have us. And you're saying, well yeah, that's what the story reads, but let me remind you that that experience was all due to obedience. The storm that they will encounter is the opposite reason for the storm that Jonah experienced.

When Jonah was fleeing from the will of God, God ordained a storm to come to awaken his conscience and bring him back into the path of obedience. There is a suffering believer that you and I can invite into our lives as a result of our sin. Peter talks about that in first Peter four. He tells us not to suffer for murder, not to suffer with murmuring, not to invite unnecessary suffering into our lives. But then after that he tells us that there is a suffering that comes for being a Christian.

And in that context, Peter is speaking about persecution. But we know that suffering expands beyond just hostility from unbelievers. That there are ordained trials and tests and turbulent moments. And that is precisely what we see here in this illustration. These disciples are obeying the Lord and they are going to experience through their love of Christ a great test of faith.

And the story is already showing us that you and I abiding by God's instructions does not promise us a turbulent free journey. Not at all. As some would propose, if you can confidently say this afternoon that your steps are ordained by the word of God, that you orchestrate your life around what the Bible says, That you love Jesus. That you love his word. That what he will tell you to do, you will do by the grace of God.

And here's what I want to tell you. If you do experience suffering, if you do encounter pain, if you are dragged in helplessly into some loss or danger, then you have no reason to fear or doubt. You have no reason to fear or doubt. You have no reason to be concerned because the one who sent you with his word is also with you as you obey it. Always.

Always. And oftentimes when I do experience something that I can't seem to explain, what I try to do by the grace of God is just look back and ask myself, how did I get here? How did I get here? Did I lose sight of the master? Did I let go of his hand?

No. No. No. To my best of my ability, though not perfectly, I know that I am I'm trying to abide by his word. Then surely what is before me is not a meaningless futile difficulty.

The master must have sent me here. The master must have brought me here. The master must have known when I would walk in his ways that this would come at this point, so I will take heart and not fear, not worry, not be concerned. The disciples loved Jesus. Let us go across to the other side.

And we see a precious phrase here in verse 36, and leaving the crowd, they took him with them in the boat. This is it. Just as he was. An interesting phrase for the Holy Spirit to inscribe and wholly writ, just as he was. Why would that be said?

I believe for two reasons. Number one, it reveals that the disciples were swift to obey Jesus' wishes. When he appeared to him, and the instant that he made his will known, they did not hesitate to protectively take the Lord from the crowds, and lead him into the ship and make way to his desired place. Just as he was, no delayed preparation, no sense of pausing to give some kind of forecast or prediction of what can happen that evening. No.

They simply said, if this is what the master said, then we will go. What an inspiring example before us. That these disciples here show that Christ Christ and his commands are worthy of joyful submission regardless of the interruption or the unfavorable time. We do a lot of things in life even though we don't feel like it. I can tell you, I'm not a prophet.

You're gonna wake up tomorrow morning, you're probably not gonna feel like it as you get ready to go to work. But we do it, and we do many things based out of conviction and responsibility. But if there is anyone who is worthy of this instant moment change, this turn of events at any time that you desire, it's Christ. It's Jesus. It's the Lord.

And consider it was not just Jesus here who worked all day. His disciples worked with him. They supervised. They helped. They organized.

They were there from morning till evening. And despite the fatigue of their own bones, oh, Jesus wants to go, then let us go. Jesus said we're going, then we're going. He is worthy of that quality of devotion, and if the disciples are willing to do this after a long day of serving, surely you can wake up for a 1PM service on Sunday afternoon. Just as he was.

Let's go. We're going. But it reveals something else. It reveals also the trust that they had in Jesus. Evening time is not favorable to travel by land or by sea.

It's dark. It's hard to perceive. It's hard to calculate. It's hard to it's hard to just register what's happening before you and around you. And yet, the Lord said it, we will do it.

The Lord said and we will do it. We'll take him at his word. Trust and obey. There's no other way. There's no impression here in these texts of second thoughts.

There's no advice given by these fishermen. You know, Rabbi, you're a carpenter. I don't think you understand how these waters work. You wanna go? We will go.

Now compare this attitude to a few verses later in verse 38 of the same chapter. But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion, and they woke him and said to him, teacher, do you not care that we are perishing? What a contrast. What happened to silent obedience? Swift submission.

What happened to the unquestionable confidence at the shore, and now the flimsy faith at sea? You're gonna know why in a few moments, but let me tell you this from here. It's very easy to trust Jesus at the beginning of a thing. It's very easy to express loyalty and fidelity when you're at the starting line. True faith true faith is revealed over time.

True faith in the person of Christ will be understood to you and to others and to the Lord himself when the waters get choppy. The perception and the person and the purposes of Christ can easily bend and even break. That's what this story shows. True faith will prove itself when following Christ gets uncomfortable and when you see that this was not something you foresaw when you first said yes to what he desired from you. We'll expand on that in a moment here.

But did you take into account how Mark ended verse 36? Did you notice this detail? Is there any detail by accident in holy script? No. Not at all.

Especially with this. It says here, and other boats were with him. Why would Mark include that? Like, everything centers around this boat where Jesus is in and where he is sleeping, but Mark, by the spirit, goes out of the way to let us know There are other boats though. There are other boats here in this scene.

So here's what happens. Some in the crowd understood that Jesus was leaving and that he was heading towards somewhere else. And they couldn't get enough of his power. They couldn't get enough of his words. They couldn't get enough of the the ability that he had to restore and renew and revive.

And though their motives were questionable, some, most, they wanted to be there wherever he was. And so some realized they had the luxury of having their own boats. He's headed the other way. Let's get on and follow him. So they get on the ships.

And as it makes way, they follow along. Have you ever perceived that in Sunday school? Have you ever seen that in the picture bible? Where you have this one boat with a storm all by itself. Well, the bible has a different picture.

There are other boats there. So consider this now. I'm meditating on this. I'm thinking, okay, that that can tell us that people were so desperate to be with Jesus, sure, but consider the context. Other boats were with him.

That means that if the boats were going in the same directions as the disciples were going, and if they were traveling on the same sea that they were traveling on, then they experienced the same storm that Jesus and the disciples encountered. They too know a great windstorm. They too perhaps had their boats filling with water. They too perhaps cried out in one way or another. Though that is silent to us here in the scripture, it is assumed that as these boats came with Jesus, they also encountered the severity of the storm.

And I couldn't help but think how if they experienced the storm, then they also witnessed that miraculous hush where the wind was reduced to a whistle, and the pounding of the whipping waves suddenly became tamed in a moment. I don't know if these people were believers. If there's anybody I would like to find in some span of eternity, is those who are on that boat or on those boats. They experienced the same storm. They also experienced the same miracle, but I'm under the persuasion that the difference between these boats and the boat that Jesus was on is that they were not direct witnesses of the source of the silencing.

The disciples saw Jesus wake up from that nap, stand so confidently while the waves were crashing on the boat and making even him soaking wet. Peace be still. But what what registered for those who are on those other boats as they're rocking back and forth and all for a sudden just in some strange way everything was was just paused. You know what came to mind when considering this? How the masses throughout the years how the masses throughout the years, generation after generation have been recipients of the goodness, of the kindness, of the supervision of almighty God, though they are unaware of the source.

So many people this afternoon are enjoying so much of God without giving him the credit. Do you remember the words of Paul when he preached to a pagan audience there with Barnabas in Acts chapter 14? You can turn there with me in verse 17. In Acts fourteen seventeen, he gave this mini sermonette, and he concluded with this universal truth. We can begin in verse 16.

In past generations, he allowed all the nations to walk in their own ways, yet he did not leave himself without witness. For he did good by giving you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, satisfying your hearts with food and gladness. What Paul is essentially conveying to this audience is that the common grace that these idolaters were enjoying and experienced day to day came from a specific source. It wasn't Zeus. It wasn't Hermes.

It wasn't evolution. God, the true and living God. And he is illuminating to their understanding that all the memories, all the favorable seasons, all the the joy you knew with your family, the friends that you've made over the years, the weather that you are blessed by, the homes that you live in. That all came from God testifying of his goodness to you. Declaring to you, I'm the one who is doing this and you're giving the credit in all the wrong places.

All the wrong places. And here's the most humbling part about it, though they failed, though they failed then and though generations past and generations future will fail to acknowledge God, God still does it. He still does it. He still exercises his good and his grace and his love hoping hoping that they would catch on. What we are experiencing is beyond us.

There's a transcendent provider here, and Paul calls it a witness. Yes. The burger that you're gonna eat at 04:00 today is a witness of the goodness of God. The car that brought you here and will take you back to your warm apartment is a witness of the goodness of God. A witness, every single thing comes back to him.

And just like Jesus on the boat, he didn't just rescue his own. He didn't just take the boat and teleport it to shore. When he calmed the sea and the winds, there were others who benefited from it though they didn't realize immediately where it came from. That's the goodness of God. That's the kindness of our Lord.

So we look at the stage before the storm, but come with me now as we look at the experience during the storm. In verse 37 of Mark chapter four, and a great windstorm arose and the waves were breaking into the boat so that the boat was already filling. You wanna talk about panic? Water was getting in, not just hitting the sides. So you had these guys, their sandals are all wet, their robes are getting drenched.

They're gonna sink if intervention doesn't come. And so let's sympathize with these men to an extent. Luke's version tells us that they were in danger. And so this isn't an exaggeration. This isn't just squeals of discomfort because their their hair is getting messy.

This is serious. They're in jeopardy. They they can lose their lives. And so we have to acknowledge that these threats were genuine. They were sincere, and they were severe.

And for the fact that these men, some of them were fishermen, to be so panicky testifies of the magnitude of the storm. They've never seen anything like it perhaps. They've had no expertise to help them navigate these kind of waters. This is beyond them. They're losing control here and they've concluded that they are going to perish.

I don't know if you've ever been in some kind of a car accident or you just saw an accident coming, your brakes stopped working, you're sliding on ice, and in those brief few moments you knew, okay, this could be it. That's exactly the kind of adrenaline that they are going through for an extended period of time. And when they realized that they can't do anything that their history on the waters of Galilee could not help them, they run to Jesus. And to their surprise, they find a slumbering slave savior. They find a sleeping teacher.

I don't know what was more startling, the storm or that. And as they approach their beloved teacher, they wake him up and they interpret his sleeping as something that perhaps you and I might not interpret on this side of the story. We look at the sleeping savior and we see Christ demonstrating the extent of his humanity. He was really human. He worked hard and his body needed rest.

Or perhaps you see this glorious immovable trust in the will of the father. Jesus moved every pace, every step according to divine appointment. And Could it be that he is just sleeping soundly because he knows he knows that he has a cross to die on and this isn't it? Do you know how they interpret it? They didn't see a proof text for the humanity of Jesus Christ.

They weren't warmed in the heart when they realized that the son of God trusted in the father. They interpreted the sleeping Jesus as indifference. And they cried out, do you not care that we are perishing? Here's where the disciples were right. They ran to the right person in their distress.

To interpret them crying out to Jesus as an expression of weak faith is not a right understanding of faith. The fact that they did seek out Christ is actually the mark of great faith. Great faith. Regardless of the turmoil in their hearts, regardless of the fear that's consuming them. In fact, you get that impression when you read Mark and compare it to Luke and compare it to Matthew.

Matthew, Luke, and Mark give us different titles that the disciples expressed to Jesus. Master, Lord, teacher. Why? Because you can just tell this is how much they were panicking. Master, Lord, teacher.

They just so everything in the book. Wake up. And so we can honor the fact that they came to the Lord, but this is where they crossed the line. Instead of their coming before the Lord being pure supplication, it became condemnation. Instead of asking, they were accusing.

Instead of seeking, they were assaulting. Assaulting the very character and the nature of their master and their Lord and our savior. And that is where they went wrong Because the conclusion of their circumstance in this moment was not, let us go to the one who can save us because he loves us. That would be praiseworthy. That would be right.

That would be a positive example. But they didn't say, let us go to the one who can save us because he loves us. They said, he doesn't love us because he hasn't saved us. Big difference. And Christ here wasn't approached because they believed in his character.

He was approached because they assaulted his character. Now that's a lesson that you will get if you read Mark's version, but when you go to Luke's version, you might not come easily to that conclusion. Can I show it to you? Go to Luke eight twenty four quickly. In the same account written by the physician, And notice how Luke depicts the situation.

Luke eight twenty four reads, and they went and woke him saying, master, master, we are perishing. After he woke and rebuked the wind and the raging waves and they ceased and there was a calm, he said to them, where is your faith? Where is your faith? Now hold on. When you read Luke's version, there is no criticism on the part of the disciples.

There is simply a request. There's simply making something known to him more precisely. Master master, we are perishing. That sounds like childlike dependence. That sounds like a plea for God to intervene because you feel the danger around you.

That's something that if you go from cover to cover, the scriptures encourage, yes, cry out to him, make known to him your troubles, bring before him your worries and cast all your anxieties on him. So why is it that even if you look at Luke's vantage point, Jesus still looks back at them and scolds them for their lack of faith. Is not what they are doing the expression of faith? Do we not see the Lord honoring different people throughout his ministry who have come desperately like this for some kind of touch from above, and the Lord honoring it by providing it and even sometimes praising their faith for it? So what do we have here?

We don't have Jesus here criticizing the fact that they cried out to him. Perhaps the lesson here is deeper than the right or wrong way to pray. Perhaps it's not even about prayer at all. For the Lord to say where is your faith should cause us to understand that there was an expectation that he had for them and on them before they even sailed. There was something that the Lord trusted that they would trust in, and they failed to trust in it.

Saying, what are you talking about? Do you remember what Jesus said before they got on the ship? Go to verse 22 of Luke eight. It's the same in Mark. One day, he got into the boat with his disciples and he said to them, let us go across to the other side of the lake.

So they set out. Do you know what it means when Jesus says, let us go to the other side of the lake? Means you're going on the other side of the lake. Now it makes sense. Where's your faith?

I told you we're going to the other side. I told you we're going to the other side. Jesus didn't say, let us go perish in the middle of the sea. Let us go to the other side of the lake. Oh, that makes sense why he took a nap now.

Yes. He was weary, but he knew that he was going to the other side. And he trusted what the disciples failed to perceive and listen to carefully. Isn't that the reason for most of our troubles and fears in life? We hear it, we read it, but do we really believe it?

That's the difference. And it will be tested, not in bible trivia. Not when you have a chance to share something and you can quote it by heart, but when the storms come. Where is your faith? Where is it?

Where is it? You heard me say it. We're going to the other side. So regardless of the water that's at your feet, regardless of the weight of the ship, I told you we're going to the other side. Could not help but think about another man of God who had his own storms, not figuratively speaking, but literally speaking and figuratively speaking.

The apostle Paul. I mean, the Holy Spirit reserves for us in the last two chapters of the book of Acts, the storm that he faced. But what a contrast with his attitude in comparison to the original 12. I mean, not only that, this was this was all in one evening. That man according to acts 27 endured a storm that lasted two weeks at sea.

They were so disoriented because of the blackness of the sky. There was no sunlight, there was no help from above, naturally speaking. The people on that ship were so filled with anxiety they couldn't eat for those two weeks. Oh, and we think the Apostle Paul, right, going through a storm and and how people apply this is, well, Jesus can with one word calm everything. That's true.

That didn't happen for Paul though. They hit some rocks, the the ship just becomes nothing, and and now he's abandoned on the island called Malta for a few months. That's a that's a different storyline than what we see here. But the resolve of that man, the unshakable faith. I mean he went into the ship as a prisoner and he ended up becoming the captain.

Giving instructions to the rest of the people there. Hey, I told you not to go this way. All these guys are just sheepishly listening. They don't be afraid and he gives thanks. We're told there in acts 27, he gives thanks, he breaks bread.

Gives thanks. Thanks. Can you imagine that? Do you wanna know the secret? I'll tell you why I believe, and I give you a verse for it, how Paul could be so unshakable in his own storm, whereas you see these disciples falling apart with something that does not even come close to the magnitude of what he endured, speaking of Paul.

Here's the answer. Acts 23. Something happened many many months before Paul even got into that ship and headed towards Rome. Something happened. And I believe when he received it, he locked it with chains of faith around his heart.

There he is in the prison in Jerusalem awaiting trial and many other trials. And in acts 23 Are you there? Look at verse 11. What happens here? Acts twenty three eleven.

The following night, the Lord stood by him and said, take courage for as you have testified to the facts about me in Jerusalem, so you must testify also in Rome. In other words, Paul, you're gonna go to Rome. The same way you testified about me here in Jerusalem, you're going to stand in Rome and preach my gospel. We're going to the other side. He took that word.

He was reminded that word in the ship, and that's how he could endure the storm. He believed the word. What Christ said he took to heart and his faith was on him despite what was around him. He said it that it must happen even when the very vehicle that was taking him to Rome came apart. I mean, I get it.

Okay. You're going through the storm. He said he's gonna pull me through, but what happens when the boat is not even there? And now you're in Malta. And you have a scar from a snake bite that was dangling on your hand.

And you just threw it into the fire and just kept on going. I want that faith. I want that kind of faith. And it's only gonna come one way when I really believe this. I had a conversation with somebody not too long ago.

Well, it was kinda long ago. And they expressed some distress about a situation. You know, fear can be contagious. There are evangelists for fear. And I was on that phone call and this person was fearful and I can I can tell that they want me to join on that fear campaign?

And then when I just stop, I says, do you believe the Bible? Now, that's not how I usually do counseling. But in I can't tell you the context for why it was so hard in that moment. Do you believe the God of this bible or are we just preaching stories to people here? I believe the God of this bible.

I believe he's real. I believe that he will hold me accountable for what I say. I believe that these promises are true. I believe they're not just to be studied for some historical benefit. I believe that it applies now.

Makes all the difference to believe the word instead of knowing it. Paul was told he was gonna testify in Rome, so he believed it. Jesus said to his own, where is your faith? Where is your faith? It was the word of Christ that anchored him.

He didn't have a peace be still, he just had a word and he knew the direction that he was headed towards regardless of what was before him. There's a wonderful scripture in Psalm one twelve verse seven that speaks about the benefits of those who fear the Lord. And here's one of my favorite benefits of fearing God. Psalm one twelve verse seven. He is not afraid of bad news.

He is not afraid of bad news. His heart is firm trusting in the Lord. That's the faith that we can arrive to that when that phone call comes and it's bad news. It's not good. It's not in your favor.

It's a challenge. And it seeks there to devour your faith. The fear of God can shield that and keep you untouchable concerning fear. This isn't pretend here. This is real.

This is real, Which transitions us perfectly to the next and final point. We looked at the stage before the storm. We looked at the experience during the storm, but now let's examine the moments after the storm. We read here in Mark four forty. Jesus, he said to them, why are you so afraid?

Have you still no faith? Here's the part that moved me in verse 41, and they were filled with great fear. They were filled with great well, Lord, you just told them why are you afraid. You try to deliver them from that fear and the result of you tell them why are you afraid, where is your faith is that they have now a greater fear. And they were filled with great fear.

Isn't that interesting? Can I tell you something? This isn't them trying to cope with a traumatic event. This isn't PTSD. This isn't them trying to sit down and process all that just happened.

There was an unholy fear that is now replaced with a fear that God wanted them to have. Can I tell you how you can be saved from oppressive, mind numbing, stress inducing fear? Fear. Fear. What are you talking about?

Fear God. Fear God. In that moment when those words came out of the son of God, they realized that there is something bigger going on here than this storm. There is something in their boat that was more powerful, more fierce than the very waters that try to swallow them alive. Who then is this man?

And now that adrenaline has been replaced with a reverent worship filled all of the Messiah. They understood that demons and disease was subject to his authority. Now they realize even the winds and the waves bow down. And you see here, the problem with the disciples is not merely that they did not believe the words of Jesus at the shore. It goes beyond that.

It was that they failed to understand that before us is someone more powerful than the very thing that's trying to overpower us. Here's the essence of their issue. They had a small view of a big god. The bigness of their view of god was not large enough, And that is essentially what it means to fear God, comprehend just how awesome he is, and that alone will help you realize there is nothing else to fear in this life because this God is with me and he's on my side. Small view of God, I assure you something.

Again, I'm not a prophet. Small view of God, you have a great future filled with fear ahead of you. Big view of God, fear will have much trouble even visiting your heart. They had a limited view of the person who was taking a nap in the stern. Here's the thing I wanna tell you, the greatest investment that you can make for the uncertainties of tomorrow is to grow and be certain of who your God is today.

I don't know what's ahead for you or for me. All I know is that the greatest investment that I can make to prepare myself for what's ahead is to know my God as much as I can now. Much of our approach to God is reactionary. When the thing comes, then we try to seek to understand things. But here's the problem, you become so overwhelmed with what's happening that you don't even have the capacity to really understand who God is in many cases.

Be preemptive and prepare your heart now. Build your faith now. Strengthen yourself now. Help yourself by viewing God for the totality of who he is in the word of God, and you will be prepared for the uncertainties of tomorrow. I wonder what went through their mind when they saw this man who was sleeping all for a sudden now commanding nature to submit.

These guys had some knowledge of the Torah. They had some knowledge of the of the Old Testament, what we would refer to. I wonder what came crashing to their mind that caused them to look at one another and say, who then is this man? Turn with me to Psalm one zero seven, and you will wonder how this fear is much more than the obvious that the the nature around them became silent. No.

There was implications regarding the identity of Jesus Christ that makes their fear totally relatable. Psalm one zero seven verse 28 and verse 29. Then they cry to the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress. He made the storm be still, and the waves of the sea were hushed. Who is the one who heard the cries of the distress of his people?

Who is the one who delivered them from their trouble? Who is the one who caused the storm to be still? Who is the one who hushed the sea? According to the psalmist, it's Yahweh. God Almighty.

The covenant name of God revealed to the nation of Israel is the one who receives the credit for the deliverance of the distress of his people in the context of being out at sea. And isn't it interesting that when we come to Mark, we see Jesus Christ with some sailors who perfectly parallel this very description of the goodness of God, that when they cry out in distress, he hears them, and he doesn't shoo them away. He doesn't say, I'm sleeping. Wake me up later. He gets up with total strength and with his own word, he brings everything into subjection to his authority.

The sea was calm. The winds were still. Who then is this man? Who then is this man? Meet me in Proverbs 30.

Here's Agur with his sayings. And in the beginning of this proverb, he expresses his frustration for his limited knowledge of God. The depth of his knowledge of God, the intimacy that he has with God. And he goes on to explain his plight by giving us rhetorical questions of the greatness of God. And he says here in verse three, I have not learned wisdom nor have I knowledge of the holy one.

You wanna make an interesting study, go to the Hebrew of that word. I don't have time to get into it. Of the holy one, and then here are the questions that he expects us to know. Who has ascended to heaven and come down? Who has gathered the wind in his fist?

Who has wrapped up the waters in a garment? Who has established all the ends of the earth? What is his name? What is his name? And the Jewish audience who would have read this freshly and even centuries later would say, I know his name.

His name is Yahweh. And I wonder what they would say after where we're told what is his name and what is his son's name. What is his son's name? Son's name? Surely you know.

Surely you know. But here's the thing that's so interesting, out of all the things that the Holy Spirit could have described concerning the greatness of God, out of just the endless possibilities of his power, he selects things that we see in the master. Who has ascended to heaven and come down. Now look at this, who has gathered the wind in his fist, who has wrapped up the waters in a garment. What is that implying?

Control, sovereignty, transcendent ability. He's able to take the wind in his fist and tell it what to do. He's able to bring it down to that. He's able to gather the waters in in his garment. And out of all the things that the Holy Spirit could have put here in in Agar's turmoil about trying to understand who this God is, we have the son of God who does just that.

He tells the wind what to do. He tells the sea what to do with the garment of his word so to speak, with the word of his power. Who then is this man? No wonder they feared greatly because they realize Yahweh is in our boat. God is in our boat.

Not just one who has an extremely beautiful connection to God, but God himself condescended. God himself who stills the seas was just taking a nap in the stern. They feared greatly. Do you know how this glorious revelation came to these disciples? I'll tell you how.

Through a storm. If it had not been for the storm, I wonder if they would have arrived to such a conclusion at least this early on. You see, what opened their perception to the depths of the person of Jesus Christ was the very thing necessary to try to display and prove the very power that references him to that very identity. Let me make it very plain and simple. There are some things that God will reveal to you about himself that can only come through the storm.

So don't shun it. Don't shrink from it. Don't squeal. If he has sent you with his word, if you're walking in his word, and here you are now looking around saying, how did I get in here? Hold tight.

Because the Lord desires to reveal something about himself to you. Paul says that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and we stop there and say, yes, Lord. I wanna know the power of your resurrection. Bring it on. I want the miracles.

I want the healings. I want the quick answers to prayer. I wanna know the power of your resurrection. Paul didn't end there. And the fellowship of his sufferings.

There is a fellowship with Christ that comes particularly and reserved merely and uniquely in sufferings. Is that not what Job concluded at the end of that amazing book? When the Lord comes in that tornado like manifestation and addresses him by revealing to him his omniscience and omnipresence and omnipotence through all his suffering. And this is what Job says, I've heard you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eyes have seen you. I now understand that you are bigger than all of this, and you have been with me all along.

Job had a deeper sense of who God was in Job chapter 42, but he had to go through chapter two and three all the way up to that point to see it. To see it. And so I encourage you, your suffering is not in vain. If you want to know him and grow in your knowledge of him, then be prepared to be brought through some circumstances that require a facet of God that you have not known yet to be made known through that circumstance. May God help us to place our faith in him and to trust him at all times, And may he fill us with a great fear concerning who he is so that we may be rescued from all other trivial fears.

He will do so. Let's pray. We're breaking bread today, as you are aware. And we heard briefly how God became a man. He slept.

And that body was prepared to be a sacrifice so that you and I would know an inward rest that nothing in this world could ever purchase for us. We are here to remember that your sins are forgiven, That every record of wrong, even the accusations that you've made against a good and perfect God have been canceled. And we have this promise, the same way the disciples had a word, we have a promise that we can take to the grave. He who began a good work in you, He will bring it to completion. And that by one sacrifice, He has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.

We've come to remember the promises of God concerning our salvation and we can trust in the words of our savior. And so just reflect on those promises and be prepared to come before this table. For those who are not Christians, please reserve yourself from participating. This is solely for those who have confessed that Christ is Lord and have been born again of the spirit. You are welcome to come to this table after you have given your life to Christ.

This is a promise reserved for those who have pledged their allegiance to Jesus. This is not a promise for those who have not believed on him. And therefore, this participation would be futile for you. But for those who are in Christ, we've come to rehearse the promise of God concerning our souls and the destination of our eternity. And so we come, yes, with sobriety, but we come with excitement that his body and his blood has been made perfect and sufficient for our salvation.

Lord, we thank you for this time. Help us examine ourselves. Help us worship you in this moment, and may you receive glory for our recognition and remembering what you've done two thousand years ago. We give you all the praise and honor in this place. In Jesus' name, amen.

Let's stand and sing, and we'll invite you to the table to partake.