AM Mark 4:35-41

[0:00] Just please turn me to Mark chapter 4, page 1012 in the Pew Bibles, if you have one. We'll look at, we'll be reading from Mark chapter 4, verse 21 to the end in verse 41.

[0:21] Page 1012, Mark chapter 4. Hear the word of God. And he said, The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground.

[1:20] He sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows. He knows not how. The earth produces by itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear.

[1:35] But when the grain is ripe, at once he puts in the sickle because the harvest has come. And he said, With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable shall we use for it?

[1:51] It is like a grain of mustard seed, which when sown on the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth. Yet when it is sown, it grows up and becomes larger than all the garden plants, and puts out large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.

[2:13] With many such parables, he spoke the word to them as they were able to hear it. He did not speak to them without a parable, but privately to his own disciples, he explained everything.

[2:24] On that day when evening had come, he said to them, Let us go across the other side. And leaving the crowd, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was.

[2:38] And the 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.

[2:51] And they awoke him and said to him, Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing? And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, Peace, be still.

[3:04] 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?

[3:22] Amen. May the Lord add his blessing to the public reading of his holy and inspired word. Turn to me once again to Mark's Gospel, Chapter 4. And this morning we'll be looking at one of the miracles of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.

[3:40] Jesus calming the storm, as we read in verses 35 to the end. So, when we come to this part of the Bible, we see that Jesus has been facing quite challenging times.

[3:58] Even as, we don't need to turn to this, but in Chapter 3, Verse 21, we see that his family heard it and went out to seize him, for they were saying, He is out of his mind.

[4:17] Already at this time, some of his family members say that Jesus was out of his mind. And then in the next verse, in Chapter 3, we see that the scribes who came down from Jerusalem were saying, He, this Jesus, is possessed by Beelzebub and by the prince of demons.

[4:34] He cast out demons. You know, it's already quite a challenging time for Jesus at that time. Pharisees and scribes were accusing Jesus of possessing a devil.

[4:47] But undeterred, the Lord taught three parables in quick succession. In Chapter 4, you see the parable of the sower, and then the next, the parable of the seed growing, and then the parable of the mustard seed.

[5:02] In Chapter 4, Verse 1, Verse 26 and Verse 30. Now, note that these parables that Jesus taught had a slight negative reason behind it.

[5:15] We see in Chapter 4 and Verse 12, the parables were taught so that, Verse 12, they may indeed see, but not perceive, and may indeed hear, but not understand, lest they should turn and be forgiven.

[5:30] I wouldn't go into the details as to why the purpose of parables were kind of negative. They were actually designed to kind of weed out the false believers in Israel, and to encourage those who were truly, genuinely interested in Christ to seek after Him.

[5:48] Yeah? So, we see in Verse 33 in Chapter 4, with many such parables, He spoke the word to them as they were able to hear it. He did not speak to them without a parable, but privately, to His own disciples, He explained everything.

[6:02] So, those who were genuinely interested in Christ, they would be encouraged, and their minds would be furnished by the things of God, and the parables would be explained to them.

[6:15] So, but those who were not, those who were just in for various reasons, not because they wanted to have Christ in their lives, the parables were there with a slightly negative feel to it.

[6:31] Now, even, we know this could be the case because it was already prophesied by John the Baptist, as we read in Matthew's Gospel, that even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees.

[6:42] Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. So, we know that even as far back as John the Baptist, one of the purpose of Christ coming to the world is to weed out those who are false believers in Israel, and only those who were genuinely converted to Christ would be saved, which is why the Apostle Paul, later on in the book of Romans, would write, for they are not all Israel, which are of Israel.

[7:16] Okay? Now, after this series of parables, the Lord started teaching using a series of miracles. Miracles. So, we have here in chapter 4, verse 35, the calming of the storm, that is a miracle, which we'll think about in a few minutes' time.

[7:33] And then later on in chapter 5, Jesus is going to heal a man with a demon. Chapter 5, verse 1, and then chapter 5, verse 21, we see that Jesus is going to heal a woman with the issue of blood, and then Jairus' daughter.

[7:47] So, it's going to be three parables, three miracles, in kind of quick succession across two chapters.

[7:58] So, what are miracles? What are miracles? You can say the kind of textbook definition is something that's supernatural, or beyond nature, or outside the laws of nature.

[8:14] Miracles are something that's supernatural, that is beyond nature, or outside the laws of nature. But more importantly, why did Jesus use miracles? Why did He use miracles?

[8:27] Well, first of all, we can say that He used miracles to prove that He is God. To prove that Jesus is God. He's not just a man, but He is God.

[8:38] God in the flesh. Yeah, so He turned the water to wine, which is not as simple as one might think. You know, wine is not just alcohol.

[8:51] You know, it's to get wine, there's also the acids involved, there's also the sugars involved, there's the tannins, there's all the various compounds, chemical compounds in it, to make good wine.

[9:02] And He did that, from water, which is a miracle, that proves that He's God. But beyond that, there's more and more to it than that. He used miracles to demonstrate His compassion.

[9:18] And we see this when we read in Matthew's Gospel and elsewhere about the feeding of the 5,000. Jesus called His disciples and He said, I have compassion on the multitude because they continue with me now for three days and have nothing to eat and I will not send them away fasting lest they faint in the way.

[9:38] So, He performed that miracle, feeding of the 5,000, to show His compassion to them. And then, on top of that, the third reason why He used miracles is to invite us to believe in Him.

[9:53] And this is the key to our miracle this morning. He invites us to believe on Him. We read in John's Gospel, at the end of John's Gospel, that many other signs or miracles truly did Jesus perform in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book, in the Bible.

[10:18] But these are written, why? That you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you might have life through His name.

[10:30] So, the miracles are there to invite us to believe on Jesus as our Lord and our Savior. And so, when you think about that, you realize that miracles are there as a teaching aid, just like parables.

[10:45] They are teaching aid for the Gospel. And we know that's the case because in one of the incidents, one of the miracles that He performed when He raised Lazarus from the dead.

[10:55] Now, that is truly a miracle. When He raised Lazarus from the dead, He told the disciples, He told the onlookers, I am the resurrection and the life.

[11:11] He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. You see? He raised Lazarus from the dead and He used that as an illustration or a teaching aid to show that He is the resurrection and the life.

[11:31] So, the miracles are there to point us to Christ. Which is why in some modern day church circles where miracles are performed for no apparent reason, that is not right.

[11:50] The miracles in the Bible are there for a reason. They are there to point us to Christ, to point us that He is God. He is God in the flesh and to show us whom we should trust.

[12:05] So, now we come to this particular miracle, Jesus calming the storm. The miracle starts with Jesus and His disciples crossing the Sea of Galilee. Now, I know you say Sea of Galilee is actually a freshwater lake.

[12:17] Sometimes it's called the Lake of Tiberias. It's a freshwater lake.

[12:28] If you want, you can read the corresponding account in Matthew chapter 8 and Luke chapter 8. So, this particular account is recorded by three gospel writers, Matthew, Mark and Luke.

[12:42] But we're looking at Mark's gospel this morning. They were crossing this Sea of Galilee and Jesus was asleep. A storm occurred.

[12:52] He was awakened by His disciples and He stood up, rebuked the winds and the waves and He calmed the storm immediately, instantly. Already that kind of shows us that this is truly a miracle, proves that He is God and also proves that He is compassionate on His disciples.

[13:12] He wasn't going to let them die in the storm. Now, note that these disciples were fishermen.

[13:25] Okay? Peter, Andrew, James and John were fishermen. They knew what the Sea of Galilee was like. They knew about their storms. Chances are they would have witnessed it themselves.

[13:38] But, they were truly afraid by this particular storm. But, what else can we say about this miracle? Remember, I mentioned that the miracle is there to point us to Christ.

[13:53] Well, evidently, the miracle, the, the, this particular event shows us one thing about our journey of life. And, that's my first point.

[14:05] Our journey of life. You know, the disciples were going on the journey. Notice that this is not fluke. This is not luck.

[14:16] This is not some coincidence. When Jesus said, let us go to the other side and leaving the crowd, they took him and with them, they took him with them in the boat just as he was.

[14:28] This was designed. It was something that, it was Christ who, who knew what was going to happen. And, the disciples were going on this particular journey.

[14:41] It's going to be an adventure, mind you, it's going to be quite an adventure, quite a thrilling adventure for that matter. But, notice it was Jesus who initiated this journey. He was already in the boat.

[14:54] In fact, when you read it, it's almost as if he was already in the boat or he was already on his way into the boat in the Sea of Galilee. he was going into the boat as he was without any further preparation.

[15:10] He was going as he was. Now, the disciples followed him pretty promptly. And, that really tells us one thing. You know, if the Lord, if the Lord initiates a change in the course of our lives or the lives of our family, or the lives of this congregation, would we promptly respond to that?

[15:39] The disciples did. He went on the boat and they all just went with him. They were very prompt in responding to Christ. But, you know, I know it's a slight digression, but it's much needed.

[15:52] Our life is like a journey. Don't think I need to explain beyond that. Our life is like a journey. You know, the Lord himself, God himself initiated that the day we were born.

[16:05] We read in Psalm 16, you make known to me the path of life. You make known to me the path of life. The day we were born, we are on this journey.

[16:17] Whether we acknowledge that or not, it doesn't really matter. The Lord brought us into this world for a reason. When we are born, we are young, there's quite a few young people here.

[16:30] you know what youth is like, carefree, perhaps on a journey without a map, going to destination unknown, there's that certain level of freedom.

[16:44] Wonderful. It's nice when we are young. Perhaps those of us who are adults, older, working people, perhaps we may be a little bit more focused in what we are doing, a bit more determined in where we are going.

[17:01] Perhaps we want our lives to look in a certain way. We want our lives, our own lives, the life of our families, we want it to look like a certain way. Sometimes we want our lives to look very different from our parents' lives.

[17:15] But that's what we are. As grown-ups, we are on a journey and we know that we are on a journey. It's beginning to dawn more and more on us that we are on a journey. And then perhaps when you are older, retired, OEPs and beyond, perhaps we start to appreciate visits from the loved ones.

[17:37] Perhaps we become more reflective, more contemplative about what our lives have been like before.

[17:49] We can look back more in the journey of our own lives. things. Can we say like David in Psalm 16, in your presence, there is fullness of joy.

[18:04] At your right hand are pleasures forevermore. Can we say that about our lives? Can we say that about our own journey of life? In your presence, there is fullness of joy. We started off in Psalm 16, that same verse, you make known to me the path of life, in your presence as fullness of joy.

[18:24] Can we say that about our own journey in life? That's what this miracle is teaching us. And you know, if we are Christians this day, our journey is a good journey.

[18:40] God is with us. If we truly love the Lord, God is with us on this journey. good or bad, God is with us.

[18:52] When we pray, we know that God hears our prayer. When we read His Word, we know that the Spirit of God will use the Word of God to change us and to show us the way, to show us the way, the path, the walk.

[19:09] So for the Christian, God is with us. And that's a good journey to be on. But if you're here this morning and you're not a Christian, you're not converted, you're not a believer in Christ, you know what?

[19:24] You are also on a journey. Your journey will be different. You're still on a journey. Your journey will be one without God. For the unbeliever, the journey is without God.

[19:38] The journey is a journey that the person that doesn't enjoy the favor of God. The person is never contented in life. I know some Christians are not contented in life, but for the unbeliever, the unbeliever is never contented with anything that God puts in his or her path.

[20:00] The unconverted person, the unbeliever, is never satisfied. Always looking for something better. We know that's the case. Look around us. Look at society today.

[20:12] People are always looking for the next best thing, the next big thing. happiness. And if that thing doesn't bring them happiness, they go for the next one, the next one, the next one. Which is why in this country, and certainly in Scotland, there's an issue of drink and drugs.

[20:32] You may have all the statistics and all the sociologists telling us all the various reasons why people tend to drink and drug, but the bottom line is people are looking for something better.

[20:43] They're looking for some form of happiness, some form of something greater in life. And so there's a constant state of unrest for the unbeliever in their own journey of life.

[20:56] And again, that has been echoed in the Old Testament already. We read in Isaiah 57, but the wicked are like the troubled sea when they cannot rest, whose waters cast up marion dirt.

[21:11] The unbeliever who is on the journey is always like the troubled sea. He cannot find any rest. There is no rest. And that person, sadly, that person is on a journey where there is a lot of dangers everywhere.

[21:28] Never safe at any time or in any place. And as one writer puts it this way, the unbeliever is on a journey where each step is between them and death.

[21:40] And each step is between them and hell. That is what the unbeliever is like. If we are unbelievers, we are cut off from God, we do not know God, we do not love Him, we do not serve Him, we are in opposition to God.

[22:00] The God, as we read in the scriptures. And you know what? My next point is this. This miracle also tells us one more thing.

[22:11] The dangers we face. The disciples were on a journey. They met with a storm. Read it, we read in verse 37. And a great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat, and so that the boat was already filling.

[22:28] How bad was this storm? The waves were beating into the ship. Literally, it says that the waves threw upon or attacked the ship. Sounds a bit odd.

[22:41] But basically, the waves were so big and so violent that it hit against the boat, hit against the ship, and basically water was going into the ship. And the ship started taking in water.

[22:54] And it's not only just taking in water, but it's becoming full, and it's ready to sink. And we read in Luke's Gospel, in Luke's Gospel account, we read that the windstorm came down on the lake, and they were filling with water, and they were in danger.

[23:13] They were in danger. These fishermen, these hardened, tough fishermen, who knew the waters of the Sea of Galilee, they were fearful.

[23:25] They were fearful. We know that's the case because in verse 40, we read here, why are you so afraid? Imagine that, the very job that they were competent in, the very thing that they were competent and confident in, now they are completely and utterly scared, fearful for their own lives.

[23:47] You know, there are some people, amazingly, when I started reading about the miracles and this particular miracle and I did the unthinkable, I went on the internet and I read that there are some people who actually believe that there are no storms can exist in the Sea of Galilee because it's just a lake.

[24:09] Mind you, the Sea of Galilee is about twice the size of Loch Lomond. So if you know, if you've been to Loch Lomond, which is I think the largest loch in Scotland, the Sea of Galilee is twice that size.

[24:22] And we know very well, and I've certainly experienced this, I don't live near Loch Lomond, I live near a different loch, when it hits you, it hits you, you know, you know when there's a storm.

[24:37] And these people say that the Sea of Galilee doesn't have any storms, it didn't happen because it's a lake. Incidentally, just look at the news, back in 2022, the Sea of Galilee experienced a terrible storm and a lot of the houses there were torn apart because of the storm.

[25:01] It's very likely that the people who say that storms do not exist in Sea of Galilee probably live in the basement of their parents' homes and in the built-up urban area. Let's stick with what the Bible has to say and the eyewitness accounts of this particular account.

[25:20] These were eyewitnesses, fishermen who ought to know better, who ought to have experienced storms and yet they were fearful. And there we have Jesus there with the disciples just as he was.

[25:38] After teaching three parables, Jesus was probably weary and worn. He was asleep on a pillow. And there we have the storms hitting and the disciples, the fishermen were afraid.

[26:01] And you know, this is something that the Lord himself has said to us. He said in John's Gospel, in the world you have tribulation but take heart, I've overcome the world. this storm represents the dangers that we face.

[26:16] This storm represents the dangers that we face. You know, for the Christian, the struggle is real. The dangers we face is real. One writer puts it this way, free pardon and full forgiveness, grace along the way and glory at the end.

[26:33] All this, our Savior has promised to give, but he has never promised that we shall have no affliction. for the Christian, we do face dangers.

[26:48] Now, the dangers that we face can be, comes in many forms and not just the Christian but even for the unbeliever as well. We all face dangers in our lives.

[27:01] We are on a journey and our journey will involve dangers, troubles. Some of these storms in our lives can be something that is internal or can be external to us.

[27:15] For example, external storms can be things like unemployment, we lose our jobs, that creates troubles, natural disasters, perhaps family troubles, illness in the family, squabbles within the family.

[27:33] That can be external troubles or external storms that we face. but also internal storms that we do face.

[27:44] There are internal storms that we do face. Depression, for example, illness, perhaps a close share with death itself, or sin and temptations that we face.

[27:59] You know, I'm always nervous when a Christian says that, oh, since I've become a Christian, everything has been plain and plain sailing and smooth sailing all the way in my life.

[28:12] Thankfully, I very rarely hear Christians saying that. But it's always nerve wracking when you think when somebody who's a professing Christian say that there's no problems in their lives.

[28:25] But the Lord never promised us that. The Lord never promised us that. But notice this, the disciples did not wake up Jesus until they were nearly swarmed.

[28:39] Until they were nearly swarmed. Or we read here that the boat was already filling. Nearly swarmed, already filling with water, obviously.

[28:52] Why did they not wake up Jesus before that? Why did they not wake him up before that? The storm started to hit the ship. They didn't do anything.

[29:03] They didn't wake him up. They didn't ask him to stop the winds and the waves. No, they waited until much later.

[29:15] What were they trying to do? Were they trying to scoop out the water from the boat? Were they perhaps, they were being fishermen and they've experienced this, they might be thinking to themselves, we've been there before, we're cool, we know what to do, don't need to wake up Jesus, we know what we're doing, we're fishermen, been down that road, we'll sort it out and start shoveling the water out of the boat.

[29:43] Perhaps too embarrassed to ask, too proud to ask for help. Does it sound familiar? When we face troubles in life, are we like that before God?

[29:57] When we face troubles in life, we try and fix them? too quick to try and fix things and too forgetful to pray?

[30:11] I know even my wife has said this to me before, you're always trying to fix things. I don't mean fixing like things that is broken, but trying to fix things. And we forget to pray.

[30:29] We forget to pray. We forget to ask the Lord for help. That's what we're like. If we're honest enough, that's what we're like. We face troubles, we try and fix things, and then we forget to pray, or we're too proud to pray.

[30:44] And then just like the disciples who say, teacher, do you not care that we're perishing when we face troubles? We complain to God, why do we get this?

[30:55] Why did the Lord put me in this position? We complain to God, or complain to God about what He did to us.

[31:09] That's what we're like. If we're honest enough, that's what we're like. We face dangers, and our response to dangers is a lack of prayer, trying to sort things out in our own strength, or complain.

[31:29] But then, we see in my third point is this, the power of Jesus to deliver us. The power of Jesus to deliver us. Well, there must be that in this miracle.

[31:44] The storm began, the waves hit the ship, Jesus was in the part of the boat, the bottom of the boat, asleep.

[31:57] Now, this shows us one thing. He's fully God and fully man. We know that. He has a body just like our own. A body that could hunger, a body that could thirst, a body that could feel pain, and a body that was tired and needed rest.

[32:17] Remember, I mentioned that he already taught the three parables before that. He faced all the various accusations by his own family and by the scribes and Pharisees, and he was tired.

[32:32] He said before that, I must be about my father's business, but that doesn't mean that he was not going to be tired. He has been preaching to large crowds in the open air.

[32:43] When his work was finished, he fell asleep in the boat. You know, this year, we mark the 1700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea, where we get the Nicene Creed.

[32:59] This creed, it's an ancient creed, so the Council of Nicaea was in 325 AD. This particular creed serves as a central statement of the Christian faith.

[33:13] faith. It was formulated in response to the debates at that time in the early church about who Christ was.

[33:27] He was divine, yes, but he was also human. And so in the second part of the Nicene Creed, we read that we believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father.

[33:42] He is God, he is the Son of God, he is divine. And then that next part says, for us and for our salvation, he came down from heaven, was incarnate from the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary and was made man, and was made man.

[34:02] He was God and he was man, and as man, he was tired, and so he fell asleep. the disciples woke him up, he stood up and he re-read, he woke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, peace, be still.

[34:21] He rebuked the wind. Amazing. One writer said that this storm was brought about by Satan, because the way he rebuked the wind was like the way he rebuked the man with the unclean spirit.

[34:35] When he said, be silent or hold your peace and come out of him, and now Jesus is saying, peace to the wind, be still. But what's more impressive is what happened next.

[34:52] The wind seized, I'm reading verse 30, the wind seized and there was a great calm. There is something slightly creepy about this, I'm not going to lie, that when you read those words, the wind seized and there was a great calm.

[35:07] there's a slight creepiness in that. The winds, the storms beating against the ship, the water throwing up into the boat itself, filling up the boat, and all of a sudden he says, peace be still, and everything just went dead quiet.

[35:29] Now, again, when you look at the internet, there are those people who say, oh yeah, storms can come down very quickly, you know, storms, even thunderstorms, cyclones, can disappear suddenly.

[35:43] You know, and they'll say because of the various storm movements, the environments they move into, the changes in temperature, the changes in atmospheric conditions, yes, the storm can disappear very quickly.

[35:55] But the miracle is this, this was commanded by Jesus. The way the storm ended was commanded by Jesus. himself. That's why it was a miracle.

[36:09] You can have all the reasons as to why the storm can end quickly, but you cannot explain why the storm can end when Jesus said, peace be still. That is a miracle.

[36:22] But you know what? The bigger miracle is this, Christ can do miracles upon our hearts. Christ can do miracles upon our hearts.

[36:37] That's the bigger miracle there. Not the fact that he can stop the storm, which is already miraculous enough, but the bigger miracle is this, he can change us. you know, the Lord not only deals with our struggles in our lives, but he deals with our hearts as well.

[36:58] You know, personalities too abrasive in a sinful way? Are we too short tempered? Are we too rough? Well, guess what?

[37:10] Guess what is the miracle? Jesus Christ can tame us and can change us. Do we have a conscience that is troubled because of sin?

[37:24] Or do we have a conscience that is troubled because of some tough decision that we have to make? Well, guess what? It's the miracle there. Christ can speak peace into it.

[37:38] And our troubled conscience can be calm. There's a hymn, well-known hymn, peace, perfect peace, in this dark world of sin, the blood of Jesus whispers peace within.

[37:57] That's the gospel there, good news there. If we are troubled by the fact that we know that we are on this journey of life, and we know that the decisions that we've made in our own life has brought us all kinds of troubles, all kinds of dangers, and if we know that we are on this journey with the dangers that we face, and we know that we are outside of Christ, and we know that we're not in the good of the gospel, and we know that we are far from God, well, the miracle is this, He can change us, He can convert us, He can bring us from death unto life, He can bring us from darkness into light, He can say peace, perfect peace, peace, be still, our troubled conscience can be calm, that's the miracle, when we put our faith and trust in

[38:58] Him, when we call out to our God, when we call out to Christ, and we say, Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner, save me, Lord, when we call out to Him, when we call out like the disciples, we're perishing, I am perishing under that weight of sin, well, there comes Christ, and He says, peace, be still, put our, we need to put our faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, we don't need to be in despair, we don't need to be in despair in our own lives, but we need to humble ourselves and come to Jesus as a humble sinner, and that's when Jesus would speak to us, peace, be still, but notice this, He's going to say to the disciples, why are you afraid, have you still no faith, now please don't read that and think that He's rebuking them, in the sense that why do you not have any faith, why are you faithless, no,

[40:05] He, the disciples, yes, the disciples did demonstrate a distinct lack of faith, and they did demonstrate a certain, they allowed fears to overwhelm them, but what Jesus is doing, He's being very patient, very gentle, and tender in dealing with them, don't forget the disciples have seen many of Christ's miracles, and they've heard many of His parables, and now with what they're facing, when Jesus saw them being so troubled, so afraid, He's not going to tell them off, He's not going to cast them aside, because of their unbelief, He's going to ask them two questions, why are you so afraid, have you still no faith?

[41:01] He's asking them in a very gentle way, asking them in a very gentle way, as we read in the Psalms, Psalm 103, as a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear Him.

[41:17] I think it can be safe to say that they feared the Lord more than they feared the storms, because we read at the end of it in verse 41, 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?

[41:38] This is Jesus showing compassion to His children, Jesus showing compassion to His disciples, Jesus showing compassion to those tough fishermen who are now humble.

[41:52] These questions, these two questions are not there to imply that they were absolute unbelievers, no. The purpose of these two questions was to challenge their weak faith, their weakened faith, not the absence of faith, but their weakened faith, in the midst of the storms, and all their fears.

[42:15] basically He's asking them, why are you so afraid? Why do you not use this same faith and approach me earlier? Why do you not wake me up earlier?

[42:30] Why do you work up your stress and your fears? Let's be honest, we know what it's like to do that, when we get all worked up and all stressed and we forget to pray, like I mentioned earlier, we are very good at building up stress levels.

[42:50] You know what? Jesus sees our weakness. He sees our weaknesses, our shortcomings, our defects, and even our sins. And mercifully, if we belong to Christ, He will not cast us off.

[43:08] You know, He could have just stood up, walked on the water, and walked to the shore, and just left them, this bunch of fishermen, the two proud. He could have just walk on the water, and walk away from them, and let the ship just go down with them.

[43:25] But He didn't do that. He's not going to cast us off. He's going to bear with us continually. He's going to love us, and raise us up, when we're down. He's going to restore us.

[43:36] There will be pain when we feel, when we will feel that, under the chastising hand of our Lord. But that's how the Lord deals with us. That's how the Lord deals with us.

[43:49] When we bear that in mind, when we recognise that, perhaps we can be a bit more understanding, and more loving and patient towards other Christians. Christians. There may be Christians that we know of who are weak in the faith.

[44:07] There are Christians that we know of who fail in the Christian character. If the Lord has received them, and if the Lord is bearing with them, then surely we must bear with them too.

[44:23] Those Christians who are weaker in the faith, who are weak in the faith, and perhaps have defects in a Christian character. We know that we have similar defects as well.

[44:36] But isn't this wonderful that this miracle is there to teach us that the Lord truly has power to deliver us from our sins, from our troubles, from our fears, from all our stress.

[44:53] One hymn puts it this way by Isaac Watts, Awake our souls, away our fears, let every trembling thought be gone, awake and run the heavenly race, and put a cheerful courage on.

[45:09] True, tis a straight and thorny road, and mortal spirits tire and faint, but they forget the mighty God that feeds the strength of every saint.

[45:22] That's what we ought to do. This miracle, of Christ coming in a storm, truly should awake us, awake our souls, and that we should run to him, turn to him, call upon him, if we haven't done so already, call upon the Lord, call upon the name of the Lord, trust in him, turn to him.

[45:48] And for those of us who are Christians, we still do that daily, we still need to turn to him, we still need to trust in him. seek him, and be blessed by him.

[45:59] This is the Lord whom we worship, Jesus calming the storm, and he is also able to calm us in our own storms as well, the storms of our own lives. Well, may the Lord bless these few thoughts to all our hearts.

[46:13] We will take take .