[0:00] Mark chapter 4 from verse 37. And there arose a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into the ship, so that it was now full.
[0:11] And he was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow. And they awake him and say unto him, Master, carest thou not that we perish? And he arose and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace be still.
[0:27] And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. And he said unto them, Why are ye so fearful? How is it that ye have so little faith?
[0:38] And they feared exceedingly, and said one to another, What manner of man is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him? The stilling of the storm, verses 37 to 41.
[0:54] Now this incident gives the lie to any idea that following Christ makes one less open to trouble than other mortals on this earth.
[1:09] There's nothing so dangerous as the idea that Christianity guarantees this kind of immunity from trouble.
[1:19] It never does. It never has. It never will. Fear of death. Fear of death. And the desire to avoid death at all costs.
[1:32] Is as natural in the Christian believer as it is in the atheist. And these men in the ship were not the only men who were in fear of death by drowning.
[1:46] Anyone in those circumstances has a certain fear, which is biological and not spiritual. And it's in every one of us to do all that we can to avoid death.
[2:00] Because we fear it. It's therefore good to have this piece of history before us. It's for no other reason than to remind us that Christ promised none of his disciples immunity from the ills to which mortal flesh is heir.
[2:15] No one enters heaven, the heavenly harbour, but from the stormy seas of life to which every one of us is exposed.
[2:28] So it's not Christ and no cares, or Christ and no conflict. It is rather Christ and safety in the conflict and in the storm for those who follow.
[2:47] Because the storm is changed into a calm at his command and will, so that the waves which raged before now quiet are and still.
[2:59] Let's then look at this ruler of the waves, who does what the rule of Britannia over the waves could never do.
[3:14] Now there are three things that are brought before us here regarding the Lord Jesus. And that's what I want to concentrate on tonight. First of all, we notice here his manhood.
[3:27] We notice his manhood. Our blessed Lord, unlike ourselves, has two natures. One divine, one human. He is not two persons.
[3:39] Never has been, never is, never will be. He is not two persons. He is one person. One divine person with two distinct natures. A divine nature and a human nature.
[3:52] As God, Jesus is equal with the Father. He is the everlasting Father. The mighty God. The Prince of Peace. And he says himself, I and my Father are one.
[4:05] But in the great mystery of his divine person, he is also man. He has a human nature.
[4:18] He is not only very God, a very God. He is very man, a very man. Bone upon bone and flesh upon flesh. He took not on him the nature of angels.
[4:29] He didn't become an angel when he came to this world. He took upon him the seed of Abraham. He became man. He took on him the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of men.
[4:43] Now, before us here, in this piece of history, we have brought, we have brought to our notice, Christ's manhood. And we notice, first of all, that his humanity is real.
[4:57] His manhood, his humanity is real. When the storm broke, and the waves last the ship, and filled it almost to sinking point, two aspects of his manhood emerged and became clear.
[5:15] One, that he could sleep. And that he could sleep in such unusual circumstances. You see, not even the Son of God could do without sleep.
[5:32] And that's what he did. And in the storm there, the second thing is brought out. That he could be weary. That, after all, that is why he slept.
[5:44] Because he was tired, he was fatigued, he had to rest. And like ourselves, when we're tired, we have to get our head down. And there he was, asleep on the pillow.
[5:57] And as the waves lashed the ship, and brought it almost to sinking point, these two aspects of his humanity emerged. That he was, that he could sleep. And that he could sleep in such circumstances, because he was weary and tired.
[6:12] There are other indications in the Gospels, of the real humanity of our Lord. He could be hungry, he could be thirsty, he could be sorrowful, he could be angry.
[6:25] He was born, he grew up as a boy, he was obedient to his parents. He lived in the world, he died. But here we notice, that he was tired.
[6:39] After laboring all day among the people. And few things are more tiring. Few things are more exhausting, than speaking to people. Meeting people.
[6:52] Being listened to by people. Dealing with people at, with their human problems, and especially at the level of their souls. There's nothing more exhausting, because there is nothing more needy, in all the world, than those with whom we rub shoulders.
[7:11] Including ourselves. His humanity, therefore, was real humanity. But the other thing I want to point out about the manhood of Jesus is this.
[7:21] That his manhood was real, and also reassuring. The humanity of Jesus is reassuring. There's a mind of comfort here.
[7:35] It's good on the one hand to know that he is God. That he is sovereign and mighty. But it's also good for us to know that he is man. And that therefore he is not only almighty, but he is also compassionate and understanding.
[7:49] That he is not only able to rule, but he is also able to feel. Sympathy, says Bishop Ryle, is one of the sweetest things left to us, in this sinful world.
[8:05] And this is true also of compassion, and fellow feelings. These are some of the best things that we have in this world. The ability to sympathize, or to be sympathized with.
[8:19] For someone to have fellow feeling with us, to have pity upon us, to have mercy upon us, to be compassionate. To feel for us, and for us to feel for them. These are precious things.
[8:30] They're tremendous things. And the Lord had this. He could weep with those who wept. And he could rejoice with those who rejoiced. And you see, my dear friends, this ability to feel is far more valuable than money, or to give money.
[8:50] Many people can give money to someone in need who do not know what it is to feel for that person in need.
[9:01] Someone may be able to give very good advice to a person in need who cannot enter compassionately into the need that prompted the advice. But Christ is touched with the feeling of our infirmity.
[9:20] He's a man of sorrow and acquainted with grief. And he, like many people, in every age, was misrepresented and misunderstood and miscalled.
[9:36] How comforting, therefore, to know that he knows what these things are. Thanks for, thanks be for the, the man, Christ Jesus.
[9:54] His humanity is real. And because of that, his humanity is comforting. It's a mine of comfort and reassurance and encouragement for us.
[10:07] For there is no sorrow or trouble or grief that we have to bear here in this world that he cannot enter into and he cannot feel for. And that's the kind of Lord we have.
[10:20] And oh, what we miss when we do not follow. That's the first thing then that this incident of the stilling of the storm reveals his real manhood, his manhood.
[10:35] The second thing is here, his patience, we notice now. His patience and his graciousness. Now this is brought out by noticing first the behavior of the disciples in the storm.
[10:50] We see the patience of Jesus by first of all noticing the behavior of the disciples. They said to him, after awaking him, they said, Master, carest thou not that we perish.
[11:04] You see, for one thing, they're impatient. They're impatient. They awoke him. They were impatient with the God-man.
[11:16] They were impatient with the man-Christ Jesus, with the eternal Son of God, for he was that too. They were impatient with him. And it was their time that they wanted, not his time.
[11:29] And then there was their unbelief. They said to him, we're perishing. Can't you see? We're drowning. Oh, you see the unbelief there.
[11:42] Even although it was a critical moment for them, nevertheless, it wasn't their faith that shone out in the hour of crisis. It was their unbelief. How could they perish in the stormy sea unless he perished with them?
[12:01] And how could he perish, the eternal Son of God? How could he die before his time? And how could he die from drowning when he was appointed from all eternity that he should die by hanging, by crucifixion, by hanging from a tree?
[12:17] And the disciples had seen enough of Jesus to know that he would not leave them to perish. And although this was a moment of crisis and we make all allowances for the disciples, it wasn't their faith that shone out in the time of their need.
[12:33] It was their unbelief. And then we notice too their injustice, their unfairness to Jesus. They said to him, Carest thou not that we perish?
[12:49] Don't you mind? Is it nothing to you that we're drowning here? You see, they were charging the Lord with indifference. And to charge the Lord with indifference is as heinous a sin as to charge the Lord with folly.
[13:07] But that's what they were doing. Impatient, unbelieving, unfair, unjust to the Lord of glory in the hour of Christ.
[13:19] My dear friends, there are many people for whom religion is alright. so long as the boat is not rocked. So long as the weather is fine.
[13:31] We're all good sailors there. But fair weather Christianity and fair weather Christianity makes us feel like following Christ.
[13:44] And when everything goes well with us we flatter ourselves that we have cast all our care upon the Lord and we've committed everything into his care. into his hand. But when once the boat is rocked, when once the storm breaks, then the first thing to go overboard is this feeling of following him.
[14:06] we come to discover the hollowness of our profession at the hour of crisis. It's not our faith that shines, it's our unbelief that shines out.
[14:18] And what happens to us this, that when the boat is rocked and when troubles and trials come to us, what happens? We become impatient. Impatient with trouble. trouble. Why should it come to me?
[14:31] What have I done to deserve it? And we become impatient with trouble. We are unbelieving towards God. These things come to the surface and it shows us when the boat is rocking, the hollowness of our profession.
[14:45] My dear friends, these disciples show us something of ourselves. I wonder that I'm speaking to somebody tonight and that's precisely where you are. You're a fair weather Christian.
[14:55] When everything goes well, well you don't mind being classed as following Christ. You're quite happy to do that. But when once the waves rise and the boat is large, then it's not the faith that comes to the surface.
[15:13] It's the impatience with trouble. It's the unbelief. It's the injustice with which we, it's the injustice that's ours and we charge God with indifference.
[15:25] there's the first thing in the behavior of the disciples. Oh, can't we see our own behavior there from time to time. But now we notice now, we notice now the reaction of Jesus to this behavior.
[15:40] The reaction of Jesus. He says to them, He arose and rebuked the wind and said unto the sea, peace be still and the wind ceased. There was a great calm and he said to them, verse 40, why are you so fearful?
[15:55] In other words, why are you afraid? How is it that ye have no faith? Or, where is your faith? You're my disciple. You profess to follow me.
[16:07] Where is your faith? Now you see, he did rebuke them, but oh, so lovingly and so gently. Just as he dealt, we were thinking last week, as he dealt with Martha.
[16:21] He said to Martha, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things, but one thing is needful. And here he comes to the disciples, those erring disciples, so impatient with trouble and with the Lord himself.
[16:37] He comes patiently to them and he says, why are you afraid? Where is your faith? Now, Christ's patience with his disciples is quite a study.
[16:51] when you look at it and when you consider the different occasions where his patience comes to the surface and comes to light. The Lord didn't have the brightest of pupils when he had his disciples to train.
[17:08] He didn't have the best of material to deal with. He says of the disciples on one occasion that they were slow of heart to believe all that the prophets had written and spoken.
[17:21] And in those early days, so many things were beyond their grasp that they should have known. There was an immaturity about the disciples in those early days.
[17:32] For example, two of them disputed who should be the greatest in the kingdom of God. What a childish thing. And other disciples said, Master, shall we call fire down from heaven and consume this village that would not admit us or welcome us?
[17:48] Another foolish thing. three of them slept in Gethsemane while Jesus prayed. All of them for succumb and fled at Golgotha.
[18:03] And yet how graciously he dealt with them on those occasions. And how graciously he does so here. And how graciously he does to this present hour.
[18:15] The bruised reed, he will not break the smoking flax, he will not quench. The rhetorical question is asked by the Apostle Paul, will God cast away his people whom he foreknew?
[18:33] God forbid, is his answer. Such pity as a father hath unto his children dear, like pity, shows the Lord to such as worship him in fear.
[18:49] There you have then the patience of our Lord Jesus Christ in dealing with his impatient, ungracious disciples. Oh my dear friends, let's make certain that whatever we may think we are in relation to Christ, whatever relationship we may think exists between ourselves and Christ, let's watch lest in the hour of crisis, it's not our faith that shines but our unbelief, our irritability, our impatience with trouble over against such a patient and gracious Lord.
[19:29] Now we come to the last thing here and the very important thing, we notice now his power, his manhood, his patience and his power or his saviourhood. Verse 39, he arose, that's very symbolic, it speaks to us of the master, the one who's in charge, he's got everything in control, he arose and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, peace be still, and the wind ceased and there was a great car, his power.
[20:08] May I say first of all that this is only one example of Christ's power and there are many other examples of Christ's power, this is only one, but Christ's power is not confined just to some isolated occasion.
[20:27] For example, the power of the Lord Jesus can be seen in creation, all things the Bible says were made by him and there was not anything made that was made without his power.
[20:40] The heavens declare his glory and the earth preaches and proclaims his handwork. He made all things of nothing, says our catechism, he made all things out of nothing by the word of his power in the space of six days and all very good.
[20:59] He is the almighty, the king of creation, his power is seen in creation, his power is seen too in providence. And what is providence?
[21:11] But the orderly continuation of all created things. By him all things exist, but not only that, by him all things consist, says the Bible.
[21:24] They adhere together, they are held together by the one who created them. We have the times and the seasons, the summer and the autumn and the winter and the spring, these come without fail.
[21:35] There's the seed time and harvest and so on. All these things are part of his providential care. And so his most holy, wise and powerful, preserving and governing all his creatures and all their actions shows him to be the Lord of all power and might.
[21:54] And the stilling of the storm here is only one instance of that power and might that is seen in all his works. His works of creation, his works of providence, and his work of redemption.
[22:09] But the other thing is this, that although this is only one example of Christ's power among many, this is an important example of Christ's power.
[22:22] The stilling of the storm is an important example of Christ's power. Notice this, Christ's power is an important example of Christ's power.
[22:35] He calmed the sea with three words, peace be still. He stopped the raging waves with his voice.
[22:49] He checked the howling wind by speaking to him. If we want to describe an impossibility, we may very well say, you may as well speak to the wind as to speak to so-and-so.
[23:09] For all the response you'll get, you may as well speak to the wind. He did. And he got an immediate response. There was a great calm. That's power.
[23:20] Those who can go back to their school days and to the history classroom may remember the story of Canute, the Danish king who became king of England in the 11th century.
[23:38] As far as we can judge, he was a real Christian, was Canute, and his nobles used to flatter him by saying that he was master of both land and sea.
[23:51] And Canute did not like this. And so on one occasion he said, bring me a chair and place it beside the edge of the sea as the tide comes in. So they got the chair and he sat on the chair with his nobles round about him.
[24:06] And he spoke to the tide and he forbade the tide to come any nearer. When the nobles saw how ridiculous it was to try and stop the tide coming, Canute then said, there is but one Lord of land and sea and it is God who rules everywhere.
[24:33] Yes, Canute couldn't stop the rising tide and he knew it when he asked for that chair. But our blessed Lord stopped the howling gale and he knew it.
[24:47] he knew he couldn't. When he said, peace be still for there was a great calm. That's power.
[24:58] But it's not only the sea that can be restless. Isaiah tells us in chapter 57 that the heart of man and especially the heart of evil men, the heart of man is like the troubled sea which cannot rest.
[25:20] rest. It casts up mire and dirt as Isaiah puts it. There is no rest, saith my God to the wicked.
[25:34] And that closes chapter 57 of Isaiah. There is no rest, saith my God to the wicked. The heart of man is as restless as the troubled sea. And oh my dear friends, those hearts of ours can be a seething cauldron of doubts and fears and evil thoughts and frustrations and even despair.
[26:00] But if we come to the Lord in all our despair and evil thoughts and frustrations, he will say to you and to me, peace, be still, and there will be a car.
[26:16] Or those hearts of ours may be raging with a sense of guilt before God that we are hell-deserving sinners, with a sense of the spirit of bondage due to our corruption by nature.
[26:32] We may have a fear of being lost and lost forever. And there may be raging within us the fact that there is no hope for us beyond the grave. And we take our sin and our conviction and our need to the ruler of the waves.
[26:51] And he says, peace, be still. And as a great car, the storm is changed into a car at his command and will, so that the waves which raged before, now quiet are and still.
[27:14] and to all who believe on him and have laid hold upon him with not a hollow faith that sinks in the crisis, but a faith that emerges in the crisis, to all who believe in him, he says, peace, I leave with you my peace I give unto you, not as the world giveth, give I unto you, let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.
[27:50] The apostle Paul has a very beautiful prayer, which we ourselves could pray for ourselves. Paul said, let the peace of God rule in your heart.
[28:03] And you see, when the peace of God rules, that means the storm does not rage. we were singing there in Psalm 46, be still and know that I am God.
[28:25] And the Lord himself says to us, come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
[28:38] That's the man of power speaking. No one else can come to us and approach us and say these words to us. If he did, we would call him impudent.
[28:53] No one can come with such authority and say, come unto me and I will give you rest. Learn of me, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light.
[29:03] No one dare say that to us without being looked upon as someone forward and impudent and not realizing his own limitations. That here is the man of power, the ruler of the mighty waves, of the mighty ocean.
[29:20] And he says to us, peace, be still. My dear friends, may we be able to apply this piece of history, this miracle that took place in the life of Jesus and his disciples, may we apply to our own restlessness, to those hearts of ours that have no solid foundation, and may we find truly our rest is in him.
[29:45] May we take all our restlessness to him, and commit it to him, and may we hear him say, and let us not wait until the hour of death to hear him say, but let us hear him say to us, in every stormy game, peace be unto you, and let us know then, that calm, and that peace, that is beyond all our understanding.
[30:17] Let us pray. Our gracious God, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of heaven and earth, the God of the hills and the valleys, the God of creation, the Lord and Master of the seas, we draw near to thee.
[30:39] O Lord, our God, thou who did still the waves, thou hast not lost thine ancient power, and no word from thee can fruitless fall.
[30:54] We pray that thou wilt draw near to us in all our restlessness, and may we hear thee peace be still, rebuke, O Lord, rebuke the raging sea within us, rebuke the restlessness in our hearts and lives, put within us a great calm, peace, perfect peace in this dark world of sin, yes, the blood of Jesus speaks peace within.
[31:38] Grant this to us, we pray, O God, this night, and when the waves rage, and when the sea lashes into our little ship, may we take ourselves to the rules and commit our lives up fresh to him.
[32:02] Remember those who have to do business in great waters, in the literal sense, preserve them in their going out and coming in, in the raging sea, and always bring them in safety to their desired haven.
[32:20] grant us each one thy blessing here, and at the end of our day here, when our day is over, and the voyage on life's sea is done, may we enter into that heavenly rest, into that heavenly harbor, and leave behind us forever the storms and gales of life.
[32:47] And this we ask for Christ's sake, Amen.