[0:00] God's phrase from Psalm 46, Psalm 46. At the beginning of the psalm, God is our refuge and our strength in straits of present aid.
[0:19] Therefore, although the earth remove, we will not be afraid. Though hills amidst the seas be cast, though waters roaring make and troubled be, yea, though the hills by swelling cease to shake, a river is whose streams do glad the city of our God, the holy place wherein the Lord must tie a face abode.
[0:43] God in the midst of her doth dwell, nothing shall have removed. The Lord to her and help her will, and that right early prove. The heathen raged tumultuously, the kingdoms moved where.
[0:56] The Lord God uttered his voice, the earth did melt for fear. The Lord of hosts upon our side doth constantly remain.
[1:07] The God of Jacob's refuge, a safely to maintain. And so on. At the same of these verses, Psalm 46, from the beginning, God is our refuge and our strength.
[1:22] God is our refuge and our strength in straits of present aid.
[1:42] Psalm 46, from the beginning, Choo-Cinth The shaming heart of God, the holy place where in the heart will shine out His alone.
[3:06] Caught in the mistral heart as well, the things of heart renew the Lord who hath on heaven the earth of my every room.
[3:41] The heathen rich true love justly, that angels who live where the Lord of God chatted in His voice, the earth in hell for the earth.
[4:14] The Lord of hosts of others' sight, that all can be revealed, that all know the kingdom's a revolution of sin with humility.
[4:49] Let us join together in prayer. O Lord, we come in Your name, and we come to worship Your holy name.
[5:04] We bless You and thank You that You have afforded us this privilege once again, and we marvel at Your forbearance that You allow us to enter into the courts of Your house with praise upon our lips.
[5:24] We could confess, and it may be that it is a confession that belongs to every one of us, that we come with words upon our lips, and yet our hearts are removed from where we ought to be.
[5:48] Our coldness, our indifference to our relationship with our God, it being as it ought to be, is something that fills us with shame.
[6:08] And we pray for Your help to overcome the weakness that follows us as fallen creatures. We pray that You would reveal Yourself to us through Your Word, that You'd open the eyes of our understanding, that we would hear Your voice clearly and discernibly, and know that You are speaking to us, and that amongst all the voices that we are attuned to in this world, that we would be adept at discerning Your voice above all.
[6:51] If we put this to ourselves, we know how easily it is for us to pick out voices of loved ones over and above any other voice that we may hear, even amongst a whole gathering of people, each one of them engaged in speech one to the other, some loudly, some less so.
[7:25] And yet, such is the nature of our relationships one with the other, that we can identify the voices of those that we love. And we acknowledge that to be so.
[7:40] May it be true of us that such is our love for You, our God, that we would recognize Your voice above all the voices that we are open to hearing in this world.
[7:54] It is a world that is full of all manner of activity, some right and proper, some less so. We pray that You would keep us from involvement in the things that are detrimental to our spiritual well-being, that You would guide us in the path of righteousness, and that You would teach us what that is.
[8:23] We are taught, in the words of the psalmist, that man hath perfect blessedness, who walketh not astray in counsel of ungodly men.
[8:35] and they choose whose path or what path they follow, those who know Your name and who honour Your name.
[8:50] But we pray that You would teach us what it is to be with those who are Yours and to be one with them. We remember in Your presence with people today with all their bearing needs.
[9:07] Thankful for those who are able to come to the public means of grace, who are able to come to the church, this physical building, and to be with the church, this spiritual building, and to worship with them collectively, and to appreciate what it is to have the voice of God and speak to them through Your Word, through the voice of the psalmist, through the activity of Your people as they bow their heads, as they unite their hearts in worship.
[9:46] We pray for those who can't be with us because of various reasons, some because of duties, some because of their own weakness of body or mind.
[10:00] We remember those who are frail and elderly, those housebound, those hospitalized, those who are constantly depending on the care of others.
[10:12] We pray for those who engage in that care and ask that You will bless them in their labor. Remember the grieving amongst us, those who are sorrowful, those whose hearts are heavy, as you once again have made inroads into family circles.
[10:31] That is inevitable in our journey within this life. We see large families that we grew up with and their number was such that they did view strength from their collective appreciation of each other as they lived out their lives as families.
[10:56] And yet with the process of time and with the inevitable ravages this world makes upon lives in it, these families are denuded one by one until such time as you see food to remove them from this world.
[11:16] This is a promise that you fulfill that each one of us will enter by the door of life through birth and we will exit from it through the door of death and that is appointed unto each of us not just to die but to enter into the experience of the judgment seat of Christ to receive at your hand.
[11:46] we pray that you would remember then all whose love may be different to our own if we have reason for happiness for gladness for joy may we truly acknowledge your goodness to us in providing for us those things that we appreciate.
[12:07] We pray for those whose lot may be different may they learn what it is to be submissive to the bared arm of God even as you bring to them these bitter experiences that life brings this way.
[12:28] Remember all that we entrust to our care in this world of ours those who govern us we pray for our parliaments be it in Westminster or Hollywood we pray for our local government those who serve us within these corridors of power remember the Queen and we pray for her in her home and her family we pray especially for spiritual blessings to be imparted to them that they may have a vision of the Holy One the One who is the Lord and King of all whose crown is upon his head and that will not have that crown removed by man or by beast but the day will come when all who are in this world will throw their crowns at his feet and acknowledge this kingdom to be the kingdom that is without end remember the needy of his world we pray for those who are suffering because of disease we pray for those who have want who are deprived of many creature comforts that we enjoy plenty those who suffer from lack of water even clean water we pray for them and pray for their sufferings to be alleviated through the agency of man and may the heart of man be be consecrated in such a way that they would see the needs of others and that many would try hand in hand in doing their utmost to ensure that such suffering would be no more pray for those who are hungry those who are in suffering because of lack of shelter when we complain about cold and we know nothing of the endurance of such cold when so many are having to survive within man-made shelters that are barely suitable to the task and we pray for the young and the aged in such circumstances
[14:59] Lord we live in a world that is sick because of sin and sin is at the heart of many of these things that are so much in evidence in our world do not allow us to believe otherwise we may describe it in terms that we are content with and yet a description that we are content with if it is not a description that involves the fallenness of the race of Adam then we come short we pray for your help to enable us to see the destruction that sin introduced upon society and upon those who live in it at any time so hear our prayers and bless your word to us remembering all that we would entrust to your care and keeping cleansing from sin in Jesus name amen we're going to read from the scriptures of the new testament reading from the gospel of
[16:08] Matthew and chapter 8 we're going to read from chapter 8 and we can read down to verse 27 when Jesus was come down from the mountain great multitudes followed him and behold there came a leper and worshipped him saying Lord if thou wilt thou canst make me clean and Jesus put forth his hand and touched him saying I will be thou clean and immediately his leprosy was cleansed and Jesus saith unto him see thou tell no man but go thy way show thyself to the priest and offer the gift that Moses commanded for a testimony unto them and when Jesus was entered into Capernaum there came unto him a centurion beseeching him and saying Lord my servant lieth at home sick of the policy grievously tormented and Jesus saith unto my will come and heal him the centurion answered and said
[17:18] Lord I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof but speak the word only and my servant shall be healed for I am a man under authority having soldiers unto me and I say to this man go and he goeth and to another come and he cometh and to my servant do this and he doeth it and Jesus heard it he marvelled and saith to them that followed verily I say unto you I have not found so great faith no not in Israel and I say unto you that many shall come from the east and the west and shall sit down with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven but the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into after darkness there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth and Jesus said unto the centurion go thy way and as thou hast believed so be it done unto you and the servant was healed in the selfsame hour and when
[18:23] Jesus was come into Peter's house he saw his wife's mother laid and sick of a fever and he touched her hand and the fever left her and she arose and ministered unto them when the even was come they brought unto him many that were possessed with devils and they cast out the spirits with his word and healed all that were sick that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet saying himself took our infirmities and bare our sicknesses now when Jesus saw great multitudes about him he gave commandment to depart unto the other side and a certain scribe came and said unto him master I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest and Jesus saith unto him the foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests but the son of man hath not where to lay his head and another of his disciples said unto him
[19:28] Lord suffer me first to go and bury my father but Jesus said unto him follow me and let the dead bury their dead and when he was entered into a ship his disciples followed him and behold there arose a great tempest in the sea insomuch that the ship was covered with the waves but he was asleep and as the disciples came to him and awoke him saying Lord save us we perish and he saith unto them why are ye fearful O ye of little faith then he arose and rebuked the winds and the sea and there was a great calm but the men marvelled saying what manner of man is this that even the winds and the sea obey him amen may the Lord that his blessing to a reading of his word and to his name be the praise boys and girls
[20:36] I'm sure you're looking forward to Sunday school once again you've had a long holiday away from Sunday school but you're looking forward to coming back again to be together I wonder if you enjoy hearing sermons because you go to Sunday school you don't get to hear many sermons but you tell your mums and dads that you would like to come and hear a sermon so that you're not just coming to Sunday school but bring them to church with you so that they can hear a sermon that would be a good idea you try it out and see if they'll come with you but the reason I'm saying that is because the Bible tells us how important listening to sermon series and sometimes we don't really appreciate it that sermons are important I'm not saying that because
[21:37] I'm a minister and that's my job to preach sermons but today you will be hearing about a man called Noah I think I'm hoping I'm right but Noah was somebody we all know something about because the Bible tells us that Noah was somebody that God spoke to and spoke through and we remember the story of Noah because it's a very famous story about the flood when Noah built an ark because God was going to bring a flood now the thing about Noah is this that we know that he spent a lot of time building the ark before the flood came I'm not sure if Noah knew when the flood was coming
[22:38] I don't think he did know Jesus tells us that and he's talking about something that hasn't happened yet he's talking about when he is going to come again to the world and Jesus has promised that he's going to come again and when he promised this he said it will be like it was when Noah was building the ark he said people will be eating and drinking and they will be marrying and giving in marriage just as they were when Noah was in the world when he was building the ark and when he was waiting for the flood things will be the way they were so we know that there was an element of uncertainty it was not clear it was not shown when the flood would come
[23:45] God promised the flood God told Noah build the ark because the flood is coming and you would think that that was all that Noah did but if we read in the Bible it mentions in the New Testament what Noah was doing not only is it telling us that he was preparing for the flood by building the ark but it describes Peter the apostle describes Noah as a preacher of righteousness now he couldn't be a preacher without preaching sermons and Noah while he was building the ark was preaching sermons telling people that they needed to listen to what God had said God had said he was going to send a flood when he preached he warned them about that and all the people had to do was listen to the sermons listen to what
[24:53] Noah had to do and they would be safe now I think that tells me something I hope it tells you something how important it is to listen to what God is saying to us when he sends his servants to preach sermons whoever they may be not just me but any preacher if the preacher is a preacher that God has sent to preach his word we must listen and listen well and do whatever God is asking us to do through these messages well may God encourage each one of us to do that we're going to sing now from psalm 65 psalm 65 at verse 5 O God of our salvation thou in thy righteousness by fearful works unto our prayer thine answer does express that for the ends of all the earth and those afar that be upon the sea their confidence
[26:05] O Lord will place in thee who being girt with power sets fast by his great strength the hills who noise of seas noise of their waves and people's tumour stills those those in the out those in the utmost parts that dwell are in the are at thy signs afraid the outgoings of the morn and even by thee are joyful made the earth thou visited watering it thou makes it rich to grow with God's full flood thou corn prepares when thou provist it so her rigs thou waterest plenteously her furrows settlest with jowesh thou dost her mollify her spring by thee is blessed and so on these verses O God of our salvation thou in thy righteousness O God of our salvation love love and thy righteousness my fearful heart unto appear thy answer us have there that for thee and shall all the earth and those of our life be upon them see their confidence for all who prays in thee to thee in care with flowers washed by his ways men the hills who might all see skies of their waysнем de them from to them and them with hands of them will come
[29:01] O Israel, the Lord, not be, by thee our joyful name.
[29:16] The earth, the mist is all there, the mist is rich to grow.
[29:32] With all the love that the Lord be there, with the unprovided soul, our rich, the wondrous, precious need, our power, O centrist, with shadows and doubts, her fallen by her strength, thy need is rest.
[30:27] I'd like us now for a short while to turn to the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 8, and we're looking at these verses, 23 down to 27.
[30:48] Matthew, chapter 8, at verse 23. And when he was entered into a ship, his disciples followed him. And behold, there arose a great tempest in the sea, insomuch that the ship was covered with the waves, but he was asleep.
[31:10] And his disciples came to him and awoke him, saying, Lord, save us, we perish. And he said unto them, Why are ye fearful? O ye of little faith!
[31:23] Then he arose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm. But the men marveled, saying, What manner of man is this that even the winds and the sea obey him?
[31:43] I'm sure you think that the study of theology is entirely the province of theologians.
[31:57] That's what you would imagine. But without theology, any one of us would not be able to make much sense of what the Bible teaches us.
[32:15] Theology simply means the study of God and the study of who he is and what it is to believe in him.
[32:26] And there are many parts to that study. One particular area of study is Christology.
[32:41] And there's a clue in the word Christology, the study of Christ, the person of Christ, who he is and what he is and what he is in the world to do.
[32:59] And part of that study of theology that is Christology, it looks at the passion of the Lord Jesus Christ.
[33:10] It looks at who he is as God, who he is as man, who he is as redeemer and saviour of the world.
[33:24] And there are parts to that study. Now, obviously, all such study is based on the Bible, which is what we believe to be God's word to us.
[33:42] And when we focus on the passion of the Lord Jesus and the study of theology as it concerns the Lord Jesus, there are aspects aspects to it that are important for us if we want to have a strong faith in Christ.
[34:06] For example, we are taught about Christ that he is God. And we discover his divinity from the various titles that are given to him within the Bible.
[34:24] He is called the Son of God. He is called the Messiah. He is called the Son of Man, even, which is not really a description of his humanity, but it is more a description of the part that he will play in the salvation of sinners as the Son of God become man.
[34:51] It's a title that belongs in the Old Testament that we find Christ applying to himself more than any other. He is also identified frequently as to his divinity by the things that he does.
[35:13] Things that only God can do. We know that he is God by looking at the Bible and seeing and seeing what Jesus says that he does, that we identify as God's doing.
[35:31] An example of this is the creation of the world. God. And the Bible explains to us or teaches us that each person of the Trinity, the Godhead, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit had part to play in that creation.
[35:56] It describes to us the activity that was his before he was born, which could not be possible, was Jesus simply another man, another person.
[36:12] It speaks of things that he identifies as being his role in the company of his Heavenly Father and the Holy Spirit before he even created the world.
[36:30] before Abraham was, he says, I am. And yet again, we are told that Jesus unashamedly and quite without reservation permitted people to worship him.
[36:52] You remember occasionally angels made themselves known to men. And such was the effect the holy angels had upon them that they adopted an attitude of worship to the angels.
[37:09] On occasion, when that happened, the angels forbid them doing that. They didn't allow it because they insisted that the worship that they attempted to give belonged only to God.
[37:23] Christ is one person who was willing to be worshipped by those who knew him as God. Speaking of all of these things, because we're looking at a passage here that identifies something that Jesus did frequently, perhaps more than occasionally, but quite frequently he performed miracles.
[37:57] And some people would list the performance of miracles by Jesus Christ as one of these things that we would list along these other things that teach us of the divinity of Christ.
[38:17] That because Jesus performed miracles that we are to believe that he was God. Now that's not strictly true. It doesn't disprove that he is God, but nor does it prove that he is God, because we know that there are other people who perform miracles in the world who are not God.
[38:45] we know, for example, that many of the prophets at times performed nothing less than a miracle. We know Moses performed miracles.
[38:59] If you remember when he was in the wilderness with his people, there were times when God enabled him to perform miracles that the people knew could not have happened in a natural way.
[39:15] similarly, Elijah of Elisha, and sometimes even, if you remember, the apostle Paul, he also performed miracles.
[39:30] There are a number of the disciples who were also in their later lives able to do that, but that didn't make them God. They were believers in God, and it was because of their faith in God and the ability that God gave to them that they were able to perform miracles.
[39:52] Now, here in this passage we are given evidence of one of the miracles that Christ performed. the miracles of the miracles of Christ.
[40:08] There are several books in the study that focus on the many miracles that Christ performed. They list them and try and explain them. But one theologian called Charles Price, he breaks it up into this.
[40:26] He says, and you know, these figures often sometimes they're not exactly right, because some people may identify a miracle in one way, and another person may look at that and say, well, that's not really a miracle.
[40:45] So there's a wee bit of discrepancy in the number of miracles that are identified. But this person says, Jesus performed 35 miracles in his lifetime.
[41:00] 35 miracles. 25 of these miracles are recorded for us in the Gospel of Matthew. And 10 of these miracles are recorded for us in chapter 8 and chapter 9 of the Gospel.
[41:17] And they're important miracles, because Jesus is at the heart of them. Now, they're not exclusively the product of the information that Matthew has, because we know that Matthew records this miracle that we're looking at today, along with Luke and along with Mark.
[41:43] I think in the account that we have in Mark, many believe that it is a report of the eyewitness of Peter.
[41:54] So Mark records it, but it's Peter's eyewitness account that we have. Now, the point that has to be stressed, and it is stressed, and that is that when we read of this miracle, there's no question that what happened is anything other than a supernatural occurrence.
[42:19] But it is not simply because it is Christ that is responsible for it, and the divinity of Christ is at its heart that we have here.
[42:33] Because along with this miracle being performed by Christ, that we could say is partly responsible, but it's partly the cause is that Jesus is God, that we, when we emphasize that, I think very often, even many who are Christians have this great difficulty in the passion of the Lord Jesus, and what he is doing, and how he is doing it, and insisting that he is only able to do it because he is God, and the emphasis falls so heavily on this fact that he is God, and we have to remember that there is no point in the experience of the Lord Jesus when he ceases to be
[43:34] God. He is always God, he has been God from all eternity, he is the second person of the trinity, he is God, the second person, he is equal in power and glory, the catechism teaches us, to the Father and the Spirit.
[44:00] So there is never a point at which he is not God, but there came a point in his life when he became something that he was not, and the Bible tells us that he became man, and the importance of his becoming man is sometimes overlooked when there is an overemphasis upon the divinity of Christ, upon his Godhood, to the exclusion of the emphasis that needs to fall upon his humanity.
[44:40] Because when we are taught about Christ, when we are taught theology about Christ, when we are taught Christology about Christ, the reason for Christ being in the world is for the salvation of sinners.
[44:59] And he could not be the saviour of sinners without becoming man. And his humanity is so much part of his work as the redeemer of sinners, that we must always guard against anything being said or done that undermines it.
[45:25] Now in this account of the miracle, if our focus is on Jesus performing a miracle because he was God, when we emphasise that, we forget that at the same time, without ever being anything other than what he became, God and man, two distinct natures, one person forever, that his humanity is also brought to our attention in the performance of this miracle.
[45:59] Jesus says of himself, the son of man can do nothing of himself, he seeth, he cannot do anything but what he sees the father do, but what he sees the father do, these also do the son likewise.
[46:24] yes, Jesus is divine, but he does not rely on his divinity to live his life in this world, he has to at times look to his heavenly father to help him and to support him and to minister to him when he is in need of that ministry.
[46:51] Because he ought to do so, worry not to show that dependence upon God, then his humanity, his being a man, would not really be of relevance to yourself or myself.
[47:09] Now, when we look at this, and the reason I'm perhaps spending so much time on this, is because of this extraordinary event, we see that his humanity has brought our attention in it.
[47:29] We can also see the vulnerability of that humanity. Just as surely we can see the vulnerability of our humanity that makes his vulnerability so important when he ministers, when he helps, and when he encourages.
[47:54] And we can notice the awesome power that he has at his disposal, that he places at the disposal of those who believe in him in various ways.
[48:08] things. Now as I said, we can never look at the teachings of the Bible concerning Jesus without remembering that he was both God and man.
[48:21] And always if you want to understand the importance of this, just go back in the history books of the church, and you'll find that the first error in the New Testament church had their focus upon a misrepresentation of who Jesus was, whether he was God or whether he was man, always a skewed opinion.
[48:54] But if we look at what we have here, we see the example given to us of somebody who physically and mentally is exhausted.
[49:14] We are given a picture of Jesus entering into a ship and falling asleep in the boat.
[49:25] Now, nobody else falls asleep, we are told. We're not told anyway, if they are. all we are told is that Jesus entered this boat along with his disciples, a storm came up and even though there was a furious storm, Jesus slept.
[49:53] And it wasn't that he just decided to sleep to prove a point, it wasn't that he decided to sleep in order to intensify or to make the miracle appear greater than it actually is.
[50:11] He needed to sleep. And he needed to sleep because his physical frame was in need of rest.
[50:24] And if you want to try and understand it, and we're not given an explanation of all that was true about the characteristics of Jesus' physical exhaustion, you can just think of what it's like if you look at chapter 8, just the chapter that we've read there.
[50:48] At the beginning of the chapter we find a leper coming to Jesus and asking for his attention.
[51:00] And Jesus ministers to this leper and his leprosy is taken away. Then he goes to Capernaum and a centurion comes to visit him.
[51:16] And a centurion wants him to help a servant who is sick of the policy. And again demands are made on Christ so that Christ would heal that person.
[51:33] Then we read of him going to Peter's house where you would imagine he would be able to have time to himself but he is confronted by Peter's mother-in-law being unwell and he has to heal her.
[51:53] Now these are just examples if you like of the constant demands that were made upon his passion.
[52:05] He was constantly thronged about with many people making all kinds of demands upon his affection his attention his power to save and to heal and it was constant.
[52:23] It was when you read his story as the story that tells us about his life you'll find that from time to time he makes it apparent that he needs time to himself.
[52:40] He needs to go apart. He needs to go away from the crowds. He needs to be alone with God in prayer. And is it any wonder that you would expect somebody to be like that?
[52:54] Well I don't think it's right of us to expect that Jesus if we believe his humanness to be anything other than humanness that is like our own.
[53:08] I think some people have a view of Christ as if he's some kind of super man. a person who never tires, never needs to sleep, is always on the go and yet never needs to reach such his batteries.
[53:27] But if that is the kind of man that he is, what kind of sympathy would you expect him to give to a person who is tired and who is sad and who is downtrodden by this treadmill of a world that we live in that sometimes gets the better of the best of us, if we were encouraged to go to Christ and explain that to him, how would he, what kind of encouragement would he give to us?
[54:07] Could he understand it at a personal level? Would he, oh you're saying he's God, he knows everything. the Bible doesn't present to us the God man with a perfect knowledge of all things on the basis of his power as God that is totally omniscient without it being at the same time the experiential element to his life in the world that encourages all to come to him.
[54:49] Christ in his life shows to us that he had the capacity to endure much suffering and tiredness and so on, but it didn't mean that he was invulnerable.
[55:13] it didn't mean that he was not at times taxed to the very limit of his humanity because that is where we derive our solace that when we come to such a passion he understands why our heart is broken because his heart was broken.
[55:36] He understands just think about it for a moment. Think about the kind of Christ that some people have in their minds who was ridiculed, who was forsaken, who was betrayed.
[55:56] He was beaten physically, verbally, spiritually challenged by the enemy of our soul.
[56:08] If these things were unreal, except in the terms where he was in a lofty position of deity looking down upon these things as if they were things, yes, I understand them, but not experientially.
[56:25] Yes, I am omniscient, I see what's happening, but I don't feel, I don't understand, comprehend.
[56:38] That Christ would not be a Christ that you could look to as saviour. When we look at the disciples, we look at a people there and there again, we have a weird and a wonderful understanding of what it is to be people of faith.
[57:03] And there is a sense in which Jesus is teaching us by this miracle that even those who have faith are vulnerable.
[57:19] Even those who know him and have his conscious presence within, there are chinks in their lives as people of faith.
[57:39] When you think about the disciples, let's say you're one of them, and there you are, you're going to a boat and Jesus is with you in the boat.
[57:53] you would say to yourself, you know, I've got this confidence, I'm ready to face anything, I'm ready to face anyone.
[58:08] Doesn't matter what it is, anything at all, I'm ready to face it, the Lord is there, he's with me in this, anything that is until the storm came.
[58:20] And that's the way it is, you see. Here, the storm came, the disciples were happy in the company of Christ, they were happy to have Christ in their company, but they needed more than just the company of Christ in the storm.
[58:47] Whatever it was they wanted, they wanted more than a Christ who was asleep. Now, remember, they are disciples, and their faith is a real faith, but the storm made them fearful.
[59:09] Now, many of the theologians, many of the commentators explain to us the nature of the storm, because we don't understand how such storm could develop so quickly, but they tell us how it happened.
[59:28] Now, supposing I went to the disciples and I explained to them, now, Peter, this is the nature of the storm. There is this meteorological effect.
[59:39] storm, there are hot currents, and cold currents, and they come down, and they come across the face of the water, and the water stores up, and it creates counter currents, and that's the explanation of the storm.
[59:55] storm. Well, if you've been in a storm, that's not going to be very much comfort to you. Understanding the nature of the storm is not going to alleviate your concern, it's not going to take away your fear, it's not going to comfort you.
[60:14] What these disciples needed was salvation, they needed to be helped. Lord, save us, we perish, and here it was Christ, he was asleep.
[60:27] What use was he to them when he was asleep? And that is the way it is when we're in a storm, whatever the storm is.
[60:43] Even when we have faith, you would think that our faith would allow us to be cool, to be relaxed, to be at ease, to be fearless.
[60:58] But our faith, when it is tested, is sometimes looking for something very real and very present and very helpful and when we don't find that, our concerns become greater than the event themselves.
[61:19] people now it's interesting the way Christ deals with them. He rebukes them and then he rebukes the storm.
[61:33] He rebukes them for their lack of faith, for their small faith. The different accounts that we have in Mark's Gospel and Luke's Gospel, there's a slight discrepancy in the way the account is recorded, but it doesn't major on a difference of any significance other than the wording.
[61:55] But Christ pinpoints the fact that their faith is lacking at this particular moment. If you go back to the beginning of the chapter and when Jesus there is confronted by a Roman centurion, he commends that man's faith.
[62:14] Well you would at least expect to find it, you find the faith of someone who is not of the faith, but someone who is prepared to believe and take Christ at this word.
[62:31] You would think that Jesus was surprised at their panic. Do they not have faith? But here the disciples need action otherwise.
[62:44] they will be lost. And I'm sure they have in their minds the kind of action that they need to see. But remember when Jesus deals with them, he exceeds their expectations, I would imagine.
[63:03] Because when Jesus intercedes, when Jesus intervenes, the storm is calmed, it's a calm like no other.
[63:18] He stills the storm, it immediately comes under his control. And the disciples perhaps didn't want that, they didn't expect that, they wanted, well, probably expect that Jesus will take the tiller, he'll take us to port, he'll guide us through the storm, he'll take us to peace, but not the way that he did.
[63:46] a great calm followed. One of the writers suggests to us that the disciples were more afraid of the miracles than they were of the storm.
[64:02] Such was the nature of it. Now what has that got to say to us? We know that Christ is critical of them because even with faith they did not anticipate the storm.
[64:20] They did not appreciate that it was the storm that made their faith stronger if they applied their faith. And sometimes the Lord's people are like that.
[64:36] And if you don't appreciate the way the Lord's people are when their faith is tested, then you don't understand their faith. Our faith is a faith that rests upon the passion of the Lord Jesus Christ.
[64:57] And you know if we think that the Lord Jesus Christ for example is someone who is able with God's help to discern the future and he was able to do that.
[65:17] He was able throughout his life to speak the truth concerning many things that were hidden from the eyes of others. He knew the future, he knew the future concerning himself, the minutiae of how that was achieved.
[65:36] Remember he was always God, but as God he did not in any way alleviate his own predicaments or sufferings by drawing at liberty or at will on his divine power.
[65:54] But he could have with God's help have known that there was a storm coming. He could have prevented the disciples going through the storm. He could have said when there is a storm coming stay here for a while and then when it passes we'll cross over to the other side.
[66:13] But he didn't. They went into the ship and they entered into the experience of the storm. They needed to learn a lesson. They needed to be taught.
[66:24] Sometimes our storms are exactly that. What we discover in the storms we would not have discovered when the flat can was rolling.
[66:40] John Newton has written many poems and hymns and he says these words by prayer let me wrestle and he will perform with Christ in the vessel he says I will smile at the storm and only when you are consciously aware not just of his presence but with your faith resting upon that presence and knowing that whatever it may be that you are going through that his presence makes all the difference his promises make all the difference what kind of faith would you like to have have you already got faith in Jesus Christ would you think that the Christ that you would have faith in would be a
[67:43] Christ who will always ensure that everything is plain sailing for everything he will be with you and he will keep all of the the wearies and woes of this world from your door at no point does he say that to his disciples what he does promise is that he is with them and when they don't understand the implications of him being with them that's when their faith is lacking that's when there is something that they need to revisit and every one of us from time to time lose out of that truth may God give us that and let us pray Lord God help us to understand that there is faith in the heart of every believer in Christ Jesus there is strong faith and there is weak faith there is faith that will be tested wherever it is but
[68:51] Christ is the focus of our faith and to him we look even to the blessing of these words of our service today we trust that you will bless these words to our hearts have mercy upon us in Jesus precious name Amen concluding psalm 107 a psalm that teaches us and reminds us of what awaits the believer even as they have passed through a storm psalm 107 verse 23 to go to sea and ships and in great waters trading be within the deep these men God's works and his great wonder sea for he commands and forth in his the stormy tempest flies which makes the sea with rolling waves aloft to swell and rise they mount to heaven and to the depths they do go down again their soul doth faint and melt away with trouble and with pain they reel and stagger like one drunk at their words end they be then they to
[70:07] God in troubled cry who them from streets are free the storm is changed into a calm at his command and will so that the waves which raged before now quiet are and still then are they glad because at rest and quiet now they be so to the haven he then brings which they desired to sea we can sing these verses psalm 107 from verse 23 who'd go to sea in ships and in great waters trading be who'd go to sea in ships and in great waters trading be spree untuk of spree
[71:12] N h Thank you.
[71:55] Thank you.
[72:25] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
[73:01] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
[73:13] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
[73:25] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
[73:41] Thank you. Amen. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
[73:53] Amen. now may God bless you and peace in God the Father and the Son of the Holy Spirit rest and abide with you all never and always Amen