WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:06.879 This morning we're in the Gospel of Matthew, and we're going to be in chapter 8, verses 00:00:06.879 --> 00:00:11.019 23 to 27, and if you'd like to turn there now, we'll read in just a moment. 00:00:11.019 --> 00:00:14.179 So Matthew has taken his eyewitness account. 00:00:14.179 --> 00:00:21.199 He's taken a record of the historical life and ministry of Jesus, and he's crafted it 00:00:21.199 --> 00:00:23.280 into this literary masterpiece. 00:00:23.280 --> 00:00:27.760 It's an incredible work of art, and every little movement of the story in Matthew's 00:00:27.760 --> 00:00:34.039 Gospel, it's intentional, it has purpose, it's moving you along to learn something about 00:00:34.039 --> 00:00:35.760 Jesus. 00:00:35.760 --> 00:00:38.840 So just a quick overview of where we've been and what we've covered. 00:00:38.840 --> 00:00:42.920 So in the first three chapters of Matthew, it's just kind of an introduction. 00:00:42.920 --> 00:00:48.160 Now a lot happens, and I don't mean to skim over it, but here's how it's broadly structured. 00:00:48.160 --> 00:00:55.400 You've got an introduction, and then in chapters 4 to 7, Jesus announces the kingdom of God. 00:00:55.399 --> 00:00:59.679 This is the thing that the Israelites have been waiting for for a very long time, since 00:00:59.679 --> 00:01:00.759 David. 00:01:00.759 --> 00:01:04.400 He announces the kingdom of God, and then he goes up on the mountain, and he sits down, 00:01:04.400 --> 00:01:05.599 and he teaches them. 00:01:05.599 --> 00:01:07.140 And that's the Sermon on the Mount. 00:01:07.140 --> 00:01:11.539 It's the instructions of what kingdom life is like. 00:01:11.539 --> 00:01:17.079 So then he comes back down the mountain at the end of chapter 7, and the people are astounded 00:01:17.079 --> 00:01:19.159 by the authority with which he taught. 00:01:19.159 --> 00:01:22.680 They said, we've never heard anyone like this before. 00:01:22.680 --> 00:01:26.680 Now the next section is chapters 8 to 10, and we find ourselves in the middle of that 00:01:26.680 --> 00:01:27.760 just now. 00:01:27.760 --> 00:01:33.480 And it's broken up into, it's three groups of three stories about Jesus' power and 00:01:33.480 --> 00:01:39.080 authority coming to bear on the lives of people, because where Jesus goes, the kingdom 00:01:39.080 --> 00:01:41.360 of God is at hand. 00:01:41.360 --> 00:01:43.780 He brings the kingdom with him. 00:01:43.780 --> 00:01:48.200 And in between these three groups of three are two little stories of Jesus saying, follow 00:01:48.200 --> 00:01:53.079 me, and talking about what it means to follow Jesus. 00:01:53.079 --> 00:02:00.040 So now we're going to read chapter 8, verse 23 to 27. 00:02:00.040 --> 00:02:04.200 And when he got into the boat, his disciples followed him. 00:02:04.200 --> 00:02:09.680 And behold, there arose a great storm on the sea, so that the boat was being swamped by 00:02:09.680 --> 00:02:13.520 the waves, but he was asleep. 00:02:13.520 --> 00:02:18.719 And they went and woke him, saying, save us, Lord, we are perishing. 00:02:18.719 --> 00:02:23.879 And he said to them, why are you afraid, O you of little faith? 00:02:23.879 --> 00:02:29.879 Then he rose and rebuked the winds in the sea, and there was a great calm. 00:02:29.879 --> 00:02:37.280 And the men marveled, saying, what sort of man is this, that even the winds and sea obey 00:02:37.280 --> 00:02:40.480 him? 00:02:40.479 --> 00:02:45.719 Now there's a lot in this little passage, but the text gives us two questions just right 00:02:45.719 --> 00:02:46.719 in the story. 00:02:46.719 --> 00:02:49.359 And so I want to focus on those two questions. 00:02:49.359 --> 00:02:53.159 I will just take them one at a time, and we're going to kind of interrogate the questions 00:02:53.159 --> 00:03:00.159 with more questions to understand more about Jesus and the nature of the story. 00:03:00.159 --> 00:03:03.959 So the first question is asked by Jesus to the disciples. 00:03:03.959 --> 00:03:08.879 So they're in the boat crossing this lake, and it's a bit of a journey. 00:03:08.879 --> 00:03:16.479 It's about 13 miles across, and so it's several hours, and Jesus has fallen asleep. 00:03:16.479 --> 00:03:20.960 A storm comes suddenly tearing up, and it's swamping over the sides of the boat. 00:03:20.960 --> 00:03:23.240 They're absolutely terrified. 00:03:23.240 --> 00:03:24.599 This is not a mild wind. 00:03:24.599 --> 00:03:26.719 This is a serious storm. 00:03:26.719 --> 00:03:29.519 So terrified that they think they're going to die. 00:03:29.519 --> 00:03:30.599 They're certain of it. 00:03:30.599 --> 00:03:33.199 We are perishing, they say. 00:03:33.199 --> 00:03:36.599 So Jesus wakes up, and here's our first question. 00:03:36.599 --> 00:03:42.079 He says to them, why are you afraid? 00:03:42.079 --> 00:03:45.120 Why are you afraid, O you of little faith? 00:03:45.120 --> 00:03:47.240 So here's how we're going to interrogate the question. 00:03:47.240 --> 00:03:50.120 We're going to ask a series of other questions. 00:03:50.120 --> 00:03:53.719 Starting with this, what are they afraid of? 00:03:53.719 --> 00:03:56.159 Why are the disciples so terrified? 00:03:56.159 --> 00:03:58.319 It seems obvious, but it's worth talking about. 00:03:58.319 --> 00:04:06.159 So even though the lake of Galilee, as Luke's gospel calls it a lake, even though it's actually 00:04:06.159 --> 00:04:10.199 quite small, in fact, I think we still call it a lake. 00:04:10.199 --> 00:04:12.719 In normal parlance, it's a lake. 00:04:12.719 --> 00:04:15.439 Matthew calls it a sea. 00:04:15.439 --> 00:04:16.439 Why? 00:04:16.439 --> 00:04:22.560 Well, for thousands of years, the cultural imagination in this part of the world has 00:04:22.560 --> 00:04:29.639 always viewed the sea as the embodiment and location of chaos. 00:04:29.639 --> 00:04:39.279 And by chaos, I mean the unordered, the uncreated of judgment and evil and destruction and calamity, 00:04:39.279 --> 00:04:41.800 chaos. 00:04:41.800 --> 00:04:45.599 All the religions in this area viewed the chief source of evil and catastrophe in the 00:04:45.599 --> 00:04:51.599 world as the ancient sea, and in it they imagined some sort of dragon or serpent. 00:04:51.599 --> 00:04:56.639 Now, of course, we're in the realm of mythology, and there's no clue that Matthew believed 00:04:56.639 --> 00:04:59.399 in some dragon under the waters or anything like that. 00:04:59.399 --> 00:05:03.519 But like all the poets of Israel before him, he draws on the cultural imagery around him 00:05:03.519 --> 00:05:05.919 to make a point about God. 00:05:05.919 --> 00:05:11.560 So other religions around him had other names for this, Rahab, Leviathan, Teamot, whatever 00:05:11.560 --> 00:05:17.199 you name it, it was an essential religious and mythological part of the imagination 00:05:17.199 --> 00:05:21.639 of the culture in Jesus' day. 00:05:21.639 --> 00:05:25.839 Many biblical authors poetically take up that imagery, as I said, so Isaiah does it, Job 00:05:25.839 --> 00:05:28.359 does it, numerous Psalms do it. 00:05:28.360 --> 00:05:31.319 Jeremiah all over the place, right? 00:05:31.319 --> 00:05:38.040 Now Matthew is carefully describing this historical event in such a way that makes us think not 00:05:38.040 --> 00:05:46.379 about a lake and high winds, but about death and calamity and evil itself. 00:05:46.379 --> 00:05:50.720 This is kind of a cosmic storm. 00:05:50.720 --> 00:05:56.680 So that's why the sea is mentioned at the beginning of our story as Christians and at 00:05:56.680 --> 00:05:57.680 the end of our story. 00:05:57.680 --> 00:06:02.840 So in Genesis one, all the way back at the beginning, we see the spirit of God hovering 00:06:02.840 --> 00:06:08.600 over the face of the waters, and it's out of the chaos waters that he creates, that 00:06:08.600 --> 00:06:12.360 he brings life, that he orders the unordered. 00:06:12.360 --> 00:06:14.519 That's creation, that's the beginning. 00:06:14.519 --> 00:06:19.000 And all the way at the end of our story in Revelation 21, the first verse says, then 00:06:19.000 --> 00:06:23.720 I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed 00:06:23.720 --> 00:06:28.480 away, and the sea was no more. 00:06:28.480 --> 00:06:34.240 The sea was no more, because at the end of our story, there is no more death and destruction 00:06:34.240 --> 00:06:36.800 and calamity. 00:06:36.800 --> 00:06:45.880 So that's the kind of imaginative background to why Matthew is writing about the sea in 00:06:45.880 --> 00:06:49.040 this particular way. 00:06:49.040 --> 00:06:53.500 So that being said, it actually becomes more terrifying, not less. 00:06:53.500 --> 00:06:56.199 So I can understand why the disciples are scared. 00:06:56.199 --> 00:06:58.600 But that leads me to my next question. 00:06:58.600 --> 00:07:01.240 Why isn't Jesus afraid? 00:07:01.240 --> 00:07:09.079 Well, if you've seen the movie The Princess Bride, which is a great movie, there's a scene, 00:07:09.079 --> 00:07:12.519 maybe one of my favorite scenes where it's called The Battle of the Whits, and it's a 00:07:12.519 --> 00:07:17.399 battle of wits between Wesley, the good guy, and Vasini, the bad guy, or one of the bad 00:07:17.399 --> 00:07:19.160 guys. 00:07:19.160 --> 00:07:24.840 And Wesley has two goblets of wine, and he kind of turns his back and he adds some poison. 00:07:24.840 --> 00:07:30.240 And Vasini has to choose which cup, the wine, which cup doesn't have the poison and drink 00:07:30.240 --> 00:07:31.240 it. 00:07:31.240 --> 00:07:33.960 They both drink, and the winner comes out alive. 00:07:33.960 --> 00:07:37.800 That's the premise of this Battle of the Whits. 00:07:37.800 --> 00:07:42.600 Now Wesley has built up an immunity to the poison, and so of course he adds the poison 00:07:42.600 --> 00:07:47.120 to both cups, and he'll come out fine either way. 00:07:47.120 --> 00:07:50.680 But both of them portray this incredible confidence in this scene. 00:07:50.680 --> 00:07:57.639 They're both just kind of smiling and calm, unrattled, unflappable, right? 00:07:57.639 --> 00:08:03.800 Vasini has an overconfidence in his own intelligence, an overconfidence in his powers of deduction, 00:08:03.800 --> 00:08:08.920 and of course you can guess how the story ends if you haven't seen it. 00:08:08.920 --> 00:08:15.600 Now what kind of person is fearless and confident in the face of death? 00:08:15.600 --> 00:08:17.879 I would suggest two kinds. 00:08:17.879 --> 00:08:23.160 The overconfident fool and the master of the situation. 00:08:23.160 --> 00:08:29.720 Now Jesus is no fool, and in this situation he is not afraid because he is the master 00:08:29.720 --> 00:08:30.720 of the situation. 00:08:30.720 --> 00:08:34.840 He is in complete control. 00:08:34.840 --> 00:08:38.680 Now the disciples aren't in complete control, right? 00:08:38.680 --> 00:08:42.320 They're being tossed about by the waves and the sea, and they feel as though they're drowning. 00:08:42.320 --> 00:08:47.000 And in fact it looks like they are drowning, or at least in imminent danger. 00:08:47.000 --> 00:08:52.240 So wasn't their fear reasonable? 00:08:52.240 --> 00:08:58.600 Why does Jesus kind of give them a little lecture and say that they have little faith 00:08:58.600 --> 00:09:01.879 if their fear was so reasonable? 00:09:01.879 --> 00:09:07.120 Well fear doesn't always equal little faith. 00:09:07.120 --> 00:09:08.120 Not all fear is bad. 00:09:08.120 --> 00:09:10.440 There are some very healthy fears. 00:09:10.440 --> 00:09:12.080 I'm afraid of poisonous snakes. 00:09:12.080 --> 00:09:14.840 I think that's a very healthy fear. 00:09:14.840 --> 00:09:15.840 But here's the thing. 00:09:15.840 --> 00:09:20.720 Here's why Jesus says they have little faith. 00:09:20.720 --> 00:09:23.560 Look at verse 25. 00:09:23.560 --> 00:09:26.360 Save us, Lord. 00:09:26.360 --> 00:09:35.759 The disciples knew Jesus could save them, but they didn't think he would save them. 00:09:35.759 --> 00:09:38.520 They didn't doubt Jesus' ability. 00:09:38.520 --> 00:09:41.280 They doubted Jesus' willingness. 00:09:41.279 --> 00:09:43.240 Do you see that? 00:09:43.240 --> 00:09:47.600 If they had no faith, they would say, hey, wake up. 00:09:47.600 --> 00:09:51.079 Do you know of anyone who could save us? 00:09:51.079 --> 00:09:53.799 Little faith says, wake up, Lord. 00:09:53.799 --> 00:09:57.480 You can save us, but I'm really scared you won't. 00:09:57.480 --> 00:09:58.779 But great faith. 00:09:58.779 --> 00:10:03.559 Great faith says, Lord, you can save us, and I trust you with it entirely. 00:10:03.559 --> 00:10:07.679 Now just a few stories before, this was preached on very recently. 00:10:07.679 --> 00:10:14.159 Jesus encounters a Roman centurion, and the centurion is, Jesus praises his faith and 00:10:14.159 --> 00:10:17.679 says, I haven't seen faith like this anywhere in Israel. 00:10:17.679 --> 00:10:19.039 Why? 00:10:19.039 --> 00:10:26.959 The centurion understands Jesus' authority and power and Jesus' heart. 00:10:26.959 --> 00:10:34.679 The disciples understand Jesus' authority, but they don't understand Jesus' heart. 00:10:34.679 --> 00:10:39.679 Do you doubt Jesus' heart toward you? 00:10:39.679 --> 00:10:45.359 Do you doubt his willingness to move toward you with healing and power? 00:10:45.359 --> 00:10:51.679 This is the man who, he reached out and touched the leper in the beginning of chapter 8. 00:10:51.679 --> 00:10:52.959 He didn't have to. 00:10:52.959 --> 00:10:58.000 He could have cleansed that leper with a word. 00:10:58.000 --> 00:11:01.159 He touched the leper because that's his heart. 00:11:01.159 --> 00:11:06.519 He wanted the leper to know the love and compassion of Jesus. 00:11:06.519 --> 00:11:10.079 This is the man who healed the centurion's servant. 00:11:10.079 --> 00:11:13.719 Remember the centurion is the oppressor of Rome, of Israel. 00:11:13.719 --> 00:11:14.719 They're the enemy. 00:11:14.719 --> 00:11:17.000 They're the bad guys here. 00:11:17.000 --> 00:11:23.480 Jesus had the compassion to, without hesitation, to heal the servant of the centurion. 00:11:23.480 --> 00:11:28.959 Jesus went in to Peter's house and took the fever from his mother-in-law. 00:11:28.960 --> 00:11:35.160 And then huge crowds brought demon-oppressed people and sick people to him. 00:11:35.160 --> 00:11:42.680 And he spent all this time and energy healing and healing and freeing from oppression because 00:11:42.680 --> 00:11:46.000 that's Jesus' heart. 00:11:46.000 --> 00:11:47.000 That's who he is. 00:11:47.000 --> 00:11:52.040 He can't help himself, but do that because it's deep down. 00:11:52.040 --> 00:11:53.160 That's the heart of Jesus. 00:11:53.159 --> 00:12:02.759 His impulse, Jesus' inclination, is toward compassion and deliverance, not towards anger 00:12:02.759 --> 00:12:05.759 and frustration. 00:12:05.759 --> 00:12:11.439 In other words, your weakness and your need moves Jesus toward you. 00:12:11.439 --> 00:12:15.039 It doesn't push Jesus away from you. 00:12:15.039 --> 00:12:20.360 I wonder if you believe that. 00:12:20.360 --> 00:12:24.759 So here's a little bit of a rhetorical question that I'm going to answer anyway. 00:12:24.759 --> 00:12:26.960 How much faith do you need to be saved? 00:12:26.960 --> 00:12:30.240 Because salvation is really what we're talking about here. 00:12:30.240 --> 00:12:33.759 We're talking about the gospel through a story. 00:12:33.759 --> 00:12:37.039 And he calls them people of little faith. 00:12:37.039 --> 00:12:38.279 So how much faith do you need? 00:12:38.279 --> 00:12:40.759 How much faith is enough faith? 00:12:40.759 --> 00:12:44.399 Maybe we are those of little faith. 00:12:44.399 --> 00:12:46.440 But here's the good news. 00:12:46.440 --> 00:12:49.759 You are not saved by the size of your faith. 00:12:49.759 --> 00:12:53.600 You are saved by the object of your faith. 00:12:53.600 --> 00:12:56.679 In other words, it's not about how hard you believe. 00:12:56.679 --> 00:13:01.639 It's about who you look to in the storm. 00:13:01.639 --> 00:13:07.159 Keller pointed out once in a sermon on Exodus 14, I think it was 14. 00:13:07.159 --> 00:13:11.360 He said, you know, when the Red Sea was parted and Israel's walking through and you've got 00:13:11.360 --> 00:13:18.600 these towers of water on either side, surely you had some Israelites who were, you know, 00:13:18.600 --> 00:13:23.040 maybe jeering at the Egyptians and rejoicing and confident in God and the salvation that 00:13:23.040 --> 00:13:24.840 he brought on them. 00:13:24.840 --> 00:13:29.200 And some other Israelites who were probably thinking, I am certainly going to die in the 00:13:29.200 --> 00:13:31.600 waters right now. 00:13:31.600 --> 00:13:33.840 But they were all saved. 00:13:33.840 --> 00:13:38.680 The ones with great confidence in God and the ones with barely any confidence in God 00:13:38.680 --> 00:13:43.840 who were barely hanging on, God saved them all. 00:13:43.840 --> 00:13:48.120 Because we are not saved by the size of our faith. 00:13:48.120 --> 00:13:54.320 We are saved by the object of our faith. 00:13:54.320 --> 00:14:01.040 Now some people talk about, well, some people view, some commentators view Jesus' comment 00:14:01.040 --> 00:14:03.960 about little faith and asking why they're afraid. 00:14:03.960 --> 00:14:06.000 They view it as a rebuke. 00:14:06.000 --> 00:14:07.600 I don't think it is. 00:14:07.600 --> 00:14:08.600 Here's why. 00:14:08.600 --> 00:14:10.040 Look at verse 26. 00:14:10.040 --> 00:14:13.800 And Jesus said to them, he said to them, why are you afraid, O you of little faith? 00:14:13.799 --> 00:14:19.120 Then he rose and rebuked the winds in the sea. 00:14:19.120 --> 00:14:22.000 Have you ever rebuked someone while lying down? 00:14:22.000 --> 00:14:26.759 It's not a very authoritative kind of rebuke inducing position. 00:14:26.759 --> 00:14:29.799 And it says clearly, then he rose up. 00:14:29.799 --> 00:14:33.639 It's a little thing, but I think it matters because, you know, Jesus rebuked the sea, 00:14:33.639 --> 00:14:38.240 but I think he was treating his disciples with incredible gentleness. 00:14:38.240 --> 00:14:41.639 Jesus understands faith is a gift from God. 00:14:41.639 --> 00:14:44.840 God portions faith out to us. 00:14:44.840 --> 00:14:47.919 And he's not belittling them for the amount they have. 00:14:47.919 --> 00:14:51.240 I think he's encouraging them further up and further in. 00:14:51.240 --> 00:14:52.439 He's building their faith. 00:14:52.439 --> 00:14:55.639 He's strengthening their faith right now. 00:14:55.639 --> 00:14:57.840 That's what walking with Jesus. 00:14:57.840 --> 00:15:01.960 That's what following Jesus does. 00:15:01.960 --> 00:15:05.840 Now of course the story progresses and, you know, he rebukes the winds and the seas and 00:15:05.840 --> 00:15:12.680 they just suddenly go still and calm and peaceful and silent. 00:15:12.680 --> 00:15:15.519 And their response, it says the men marvel. 00:15:15.519 --> 00:15:18.160 They marvel at him. 00:15:18.160 --> 00:15:20.920 Now marvel is not the language of the light. 00:15:20.920 --> 00:15:25.600 This isn't the sort of word you would use in Disneyland, right? 00:15:25.600 --> 00:15:29.639 You know, you're, you're marveling at the wonderful roller coasters. 00:15:29.639 --> 00:15:30.639 I don't know. 00:15:30.639 --> 00:15:32.560 I've been to Disneyland in 20 years. 00:15:32.559 --> 00:15:40.479 But this is the language of, well, some time ago I went with William, a seven-year-old. 00:15:40.479 --> 00:15:45.439 We went up the Salisbury Craigs and I, I don't do well with heights. 00:15:45.439 --> 00:15:47.159 I do not do well with heights. 00:15:47.159 --> 00:15:52.000 But I walked up to the cliff's edge, I think 43 meters up, something like that. 00:15:52.000 --> 00:15:58.759 And I looked, I looked over and I caught my breath and I marveled because it's at, it's 00:15:58.759 --> 00:16:06.679 at the same time terrifying and incredibly beautiful and wonderful. 00:16:06.679 --> 00:16:09.960 And it, marveling is, is those two things coming together. 00:16:09.960 --> 00:16:16.480 It's, it's beauty and terror kind of mixed up into, into one. 00:16:16.480 --> 00:16:20.120 They marveled at Jesus. 00:16:20.120 --> 00:16:22.600 And then they, they asked the second question. 00:16:22.600 --> 00:16:26.480 So I said earlier that there's, there's two questions in this passage. 00:16:26.480 --> 00:16:28.519 The first one, why are you afraid? 00:16:28.519 --> 00:16:31.079 Asked by Jesus to the disciples. 00:16:31.079 --> 00:16:39.840 Now the second question, the disciples ask among themselves, what sort of man is this 00:16:39.840 --> 00:16:42.960 that even the wind and the waves obey him? 00:16:42.960 --> 00:16:46.159 What sort of human is this? 00:16:46.159 --> 00:16:48.240 Who can do that? 00:16:48.240 --> 00:16:52.600 Well, Matthew ends the story right there. 00:16:52.600 --> 00:16:58.039 He doesn't answer the question directly, which is brilliant because he's inviting you and 00:16:58.039 --> 00:17:04.519 I to ask of our own, of ourselves and of each other the same question. 00:17:04.519 --> 00:17:11.440 We need to wrestle with this text and ask ourselves, what sort of human is this? 00:17:11.440 --> 00:17:16.639 Now, if you're familiar with the story of Jonah, it would be a reasonable assumption 00:17:16.639 --> 00:17:21.159 to say Jesus is a Jonah-like human, right? 00:17:21.160 --> 00:17:27.800 Because in the story of Jonah, he's, he's a prophet and he's on a boat in the sea when 00:17:27.800 --> 00:17:31.560 a storm comes up and the sea is, is still. 00:17:31.560 --> 00:17:36.080 The storm is abated and Jonah, we find during the storm, he's asleep in the boat. 00:17:36.080 --> 00:17:45.160 So it would be reasonable to assume that Matthew is saying that Jesus is like Jonah. 00:17:45.160 --> 00:17:49.600 We know Matthew very carefully wrote and arranged the gospel to link the historical life of 00:17:49.599 --> 00:17:54.719 Jesus and his miracles with the story of God in Israel in the Old Testament. 00:17:54.719 --> 00:17:58.240 It's very sophisticated and it's very vivid. 00:17:58.240 --> 00:18:00.319 So that's all a very reasonable assumption. 00:18:00.319 --> 00:18:05.599 But actually, I think Matthew is telling us that Jesus is very different from Jonah. 00:18:05.599 --> 00:18:09.519 And I think he's telling us that very much on purpose. 00:18:09.519 --> 00:18:11.240 Here's why. 00:18:11.240 --> 00:18:18.919 In the Jonah story, the sailors who are terrified of the storm, they wake Jonah up and they say, 00:18:18.920 --> 00:18:22.960 call out to your God that he might save us. 00:18:22.960 --> 00:18:26.640 Maybe he'll give us a thought and save. 00:18:26.640 --> 00:18:29.480 Call out to your God to save us. 00:18:29.480 --> 00:18:34.240 But in this story, the disciples wake Jesus and say, you can save us. 00:18:34.240 --> 00:18:38.360 Do you see the difference? 00:18:38.360 --> 00:18:46.560 As we read the Bible and study it over our whole lives, you'll never grow past that wonderful 00:18:46.560 --> 00:18:47.560 privilege. 00:18:47.559 --> 00:18:51.159 You'll never have mastered your Bible, which is wonderful. 00:18:51.159 --> 00:18:55.079 As we do that, we build the sort of familiarity with the story where we read one thing. 00:18:55.079 --> 00:18:57.960 We say, you know, that's an awful lot like this other story. 00:18:57.960 --> 00:19:01.440 And this bit reminds me of that bit over here. 00:19:01.440 --> 00:19:07.319 And it's good to follow those threads and see to what conclusions they lead you. 00:19:07.319 --> 00:19:12.919 Now if you follow the thread in the story of Jesus calming the sea to Jonah and you look 00:19:12.920 --> 00:19:20.279 long and hard, here's what I think you will come to as a conclusion, that the story of 00:19:20.279 --> 00:19:30.960 Jesus calming the storm is less like a Jonah story and more like an Exodus story. 00:19:30.960 --> 00:19:36.640 So let's look at two passages from the Old Testament to demonstrate what I mean. 00:19:36.640 --> 00:19:42.759 The first is Isaiah, chapter 51, verses 9 to 10. 00:19:42.759 --> 00:19:46.759 And I'm going to read it and I may interrupt myself and explain some things as we go along. 00:19:46.759 --> 00:19:49.240 Isaiah 51, 9. 00:19:49.240 --> 00:19:50.240 Awake. 00:19:50.240 --> 00:19:52.240 All right, stop right there. 00:19:52.240 --> 00:19:55.039 I told you I'd interrupt. 00:19:55.039 --> 00:19:56.960 Awake. 00:19:56.960 --> 00:20:03.599 When the people of Israel are in kind of soul distress, right, if they're absolutely despairing 00:20:03.599 --> 00:20:09.640 at the level of their very life of life, their soul, they often, when they feel that way 00:20:09.640 --> 00:20:15.880 and God seems far away, like God's not acting, like God's not saving them, they often use 00:20:15.880 --> 00:20:21.080 the language of waking God up from sleep. 00:20:21.080 --> 00:20:23.360 So that's what's going on here. 00:20:23.360 --> 00:20:24.360 Awake. 00:20:24.360 --> 00:20:25.360 Awake. 00:20:25.360 --> 00:20:28.440 Put on strength, O arm of the Lord. 00:20:28.440 --> 00:20:32.320 Awake as in days of old, the generations of long ago. 00:20:32.320 --> 00:20:36.400 Was it not you who cut Rahab in pieces, who pierced the dragon? 00:20:36.400 --> 00:20:40.480 Again, remember that sea language that we talked about earlier? 00:20:40.480 --> 00:20:47.600 That's the borrowing, the mythological imagery from surrounding cultures to illustrate a point 00:20:47.600 --> 00:20:52.280 through poetry here about chaos and calamity. 00:20:52.280 --> 00:20:56.040 Was it not you who cut Rahab in pieces, who pierced the dragon? 00:20:56.040 --> 00:21:00.200 And here we see that Isaiah is reflecting on the Exodus story. 00:21:00.200 --> 00:21:05.200 Was it not you who dried up the sea, the waters of the great deep, who made the depths of 00:21:05.200 --> 00:21:12.559 the sea away for the redeemed to pass over? 00:21:12.559 --> 00:21:18.120 Now our second Old Testament passage that I want to read is Psalm 106, 7 to 10. 00:21:18.120 --> 00:21:22.680 And then I'm going to read it and then we'll talk about both of them and draw it in. 00:21:22.680 --> 00:21:27.319 Psalm 106 starting in verse 7, Our fathers, when they were in Egypt, did not consider 00:21:27.319 --> 00:21:29.080 your wondrous works. 00:21:29.080 --> 00:21:34.200 They did not remember the abundance of your steadfast love, but rebelled by the sea at 00:21:34.200 --> 00:21:40.680 the Red Sea, yet he saved them for his namesake, that he might make known his mighty power. 00:21:40.680 --> 00:21:45.160 He rebuked the Red Sea and it became dry. 00:21:45.160 --> 00:21:47.799 And he led them through the deep as through a desert. 00:21:47.799 --> 00:21:54.720 So he saved them from the hand of the foe and redeemed them from the power of the enemy. 00:21:54.720 --> 00:21:58.559 Now what do these two passages from the Old Testament have in common with each other, first 00:21:58.559 --> 00:22:01.360 of all, before we talk about their commonality with Matthew? 00:22:01.359 --> 00:22:04.919 Well, the first thing they have in common with each other is they're both reflections 00:22:04.919 --> 00:22:07.119 on Exodus. 00:22:07.119 --> 00:22:11.839 And they're written many, many years after the event, but Exodus was such a formative 00:22:11.839 --> 00:22:18.879 event for God's people that from the point of Exodus 14 that Derek read for us earlier, 00:22:18.879 --> 00:22:24.159 throughout the entire rest of the Bible, that language is taken hold of and used to illustrate 00:22:24.159 --> 00:22:26.519 points about God over and over again. 00:22:26.519 --> 00:22:29.279 So they're both reflections on the Exodus story. 00:22:29.279 --> 00:22:35.799 In Isaiah, the defeat of Rahab the dragon is the poet's way of describing God's power 00:22:35.799 --> 00:22:40.960 being exerted over the forces of evil and chaos for the salvation of his people when 00:22:40.960 --> 00:22:44.319 God brought them out from Egypt. 00:22:44.319 --> 00:22:52.039 And in Psalm 106, God redeems his people from the power of the enemy by rebuking the sea. 00:22:52.039 --> 00:22:54.279 That's the first thing they have in common, reflection on Exodus. 00:22:54.279 --> 00:23:01.759 The second thing is this, both are about the power of Yahweh to save. 00:23:01.759 --> 00:23:06.200 Isaiah says very explicitly that Yahweh is the one who defeats the dragon. 00:23:06.200 --> 00:23:09.200 You did this, and he's addressing Yahweh. 00:23:09.200 --> 00:23:17.359 And Psalm 106 is a prayer addressed to Yahweh, and it says that Yahweh rebuked the sea. 00:23:17.359 --> 00:23:19.440 So this is a really important point. 00:23:19.440 --> 00:23:27.160 In the Old Testament, the sea is rebuked, calmed, mastered, subdued many times only by 00:23:27.160 --> 00:23:28.799 Yahweh. 00:23:28.799 --> 00:23:33.080 Yahweh is the only one with the power to do that. 00:23:33.080 --> 00:23:39.279 And by the way, Yahweh is the special personal name of the God of Israel. 00:23:39.279 --> 00:23:43.480 It's his I am name, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob name. 00:23:43.480 --> 00:23:47.680 And whenever you're reading your English Bible and you see the Lord in all lower caps, you 00:23:47.680 --> 00:23:54.920 know, in all capital letters, that underneath that lies the Hebrew word Yahweh. 00:23:54.920 --> 00:23:59.360 So Matthew is actually making a remarkable claim about Jesus. 00:23:59.360 --> 00:24:04.320 In fact, Jesus is making a remarkable claim about Jesus. 00:24:04.320 --> 00:24:10.880 Jesus is not just a powerful prophet like Moses. 00:24:10.880 --> 00:24:14.600 He's not just acting merely on behalf of Yahweh. 00:24:14.599 --> 00:24:18.839 Jesus is Yahweh. 00:24:18.839 --> 00:24:21.879 That's what Matthew is getting at. 00:24:21.879 --> 00:24:30.559 The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob has become a man and is in the midst of his people, fulfilling 00:24:30.559 --> 00:24:34.799 the promise in a way that nobody foresaw. 00:24:34.799 --> 00:24:41.000 Jesus is Yahweh, and he has come to bring the kingdom of God into our time and space, 00:24:41.000 --> 00:24:48.039 and at the heart of the kingdom is this powerful reality, God with us. 00:24:48.039 --> 00:24:56.640 So Jesus does not call out to Yahweh to calm the storm because he is Yahweh. 00:24:56.640 --> 00:25:00.680 So the New Testament many times makes it clear that Jesus is Yahweh. 00:25:00.680 --> 00:25:01.680 I'm not making this up. 00:25:01.680 --> 00:25:03.480 I'll give you a couple of examples. 00:25:03.480 --> 00:25:09.160 For instance, in Isaiah 45, Yahweh says, To me every knee shall bow, and every tongue 00:25:09.160 --> 00:25:11.279 shall swear allegiance. 00:25:11.279 --> 00:25:17.240 But in Philippians 2, Paul lifts up that verse and swaps out the names, and he says at the 00:25:17.240 --> 00:25:22.920 name of Jesus every knee shall bow, and every tongue confess. 00:25:22.920 --> 00:25:23.920 Here's another one. 00:25:23.920 --> 00:25:30.759 Joel 2.32 says, And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls on the name of Yahweh 00:25:30.759 --> 00:25:32.240 shall be saved. 00:25:32.240 --> 00:25:37.279 In Romans 10, Paul's talking about Jesus, and he says that everyone who calls on Jesus' 00:25:37.279 --> 00:25:41.720 name will be saved, and he's quoting Joel too. 00:25:41.720 --> 00:25:47.480 So either Paul's crazy or he's right. 00:25:47.480 --> 00:25:48.960 He's not crazy. 00:25:48.960 --> 00:25:54.319 There are dozens of these in the New Testament, and that truth is repeated again and again 00:25:54.319 --> 00:25:58.359 and again in myriad different ways. 00:25:58.359 --> 00:26:00.119 So I won't belabor the point. 00:26:00.119 --> 00:26:03.960 This is fundamental to our beliefs as Christians. 00:26:03.960 --> 00:26:07.840 This is not just some good teacher. 00:26:07.840 --> 00:26:10.559 Jesus is Yahweh himself, the God of the Old Testament. 00:26:10.559 --> 00:26:17.400 He is Immanuel, God with us, right in our midst. 00:26:17.400 --> 00:26:27.160 Society, even parts of Christian society has tamed Jesus, but Jesus tamed the storm. 00:26:27.160 --> 00:26:34.600 We can't let anything take the teeth, the power out of this. 00:26:34.600 --> 00:26:43.440 If we take the divinity out of Christ, we take the power to save out of the very gospel. 00:26:43.440 --> 00:26:48.640 Jesus is the God-man, fully God and fully man. 00:26:48.640 --> 00:26:53.880 So let's not be led into the lie, the horrible lie, that Jesus is just a good example. 00:26:53.880 --> 00:26:57.480 He is the only one to whom we can cry out in a storm. 00:26:57.480 --> 00:27:01.800 An example never saved you. 00:27:01.800 --> 00:27:09.040 So Matthew shows that Jesus is Yahweh himself, and he does this by doing what only Yahweh 00:27:09.040 --> 00:27:11.320 could possibly do. 00:27:11.320 --> 00:27:18.160 And he uses the vocabulary and literary imagination of the Exodus to make this point clear to 00:27:18.160 --> 00:27:20.100 us. 00:27:20.099 --> 00:27:26.119 So Matthew is pointing us back to the Exodus to learn a couple things that are really crucial. 00:27:26.119 --> 00:27:30.079 Like Israel, we need to be freed. 00:27:30.079 --> 00:27:32.839 We need an Exodus. 00:27:32.839 --> 00:27:36.959 Not from Egypt, but from the power of sin and death. 00:27:36.959 --> 00:27:42.559 That's what we've been enslaved to, and the gospel is our Exodus story. 00:27:42.559 --> 00:27:45.919 But also, like Israel, we need a mediator. 00:27:45.920 --> 00:27:50.080 God gave Israel Moses as a mediator to go between God and man. 00:27:50.080 --> 00:27:53.120 God said, you know, I'm not going to be in their midst at a certain point, because I 00:27:53.120 --> 00:27:55.160 might just burn them up. 00:27:55.160 --> 00:27:56.160 They're sinful. 00:27:56.160 --> 00:27:59.000 They need to go between. 00:27:59.000 --> 00:28:06.640 Well, Jesus is the mediator, the final mediator between God and man, and this mediator is 00:28:06.640 --> 00:28:10.800 God and man. 00:28:10.799 --> 00:28:16.519 As a man, he's caught in the storm along with everybody else, but as God, he's in complete 00:28:16.519 --> 00:28:20.119 control over it. 00:28:20.119 --> 00:28:24.960 Only Jesus can stand in the gap, and you know, only Jesus can be caught in the storm of death 00:28:24.960 --> 00:28:31.599 that plagues us all and come out the other side alive with the power over sin and death. 00:28:31.599 --> 00:28:37.879 Only Jesus can do that, and he takes you along with him, because the gospel is our Exodus 00:28:37.879 --> 00:28:39.879 story. 00:28:39.880 --> 00:28:46.360 When Yahweh was about to lead the Israelites through the Red Sea, Moses said to the people 00:28:46.360 --> 00:28:55.040 of this from Exodus 14, 13 to 14, he said, fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation 00:28:55.040 --> 00:28:58.280 of Yahweh, which He will work for you today. 00:28:58.280 --> 00:29:02.520 For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall never see again. 00:29:02.520 --> 00:29:04.600 Yahweh will fight for you. 00:29:04.600 --> 00:29:08.320 You have only to be silent. 00:29:08.319 --> 00:29:14.439 The only thing Jesus wants you to bring him is nothing. 00:29:14.439 --> 00:29:15.879 That's it. 00:29:15.879 --> 00:29:16.879 Empty hands. 00:29:16.879 --> 00:29:20.639 Just a little faith is enough. 00:29:20.639 --> 00:29:21.639 We just trust Him. 00:29:21.639 --> 00:29:23.799 We just call out for Him to save us. 00:29:23.799 --> 00:29:31.399 We look to Jesus to save us from everything that ultimately terrifies us, knowing not only 00:29:31.399 --> 00:29:38.240 that He can, but that He wants to, knowing that His heart is to move toward you with 00:29:38.240 --> 00:29:40.480 compassion and deliverance. 00:29:40.480 --> 00:29:41.480 Amen. 00:29:41.480 --> 00:29:46.559 Let's pray. 00:29:46.559 --> 00:29:51.640 Lord Jesus, we stand in awe of who you are. 00:29:51.640 --> 00:29:57.720 We're in awe of your power and your authority, and we're in awe of your kindness toward us. 00:29:57.720 --> 00:30:01.319 Thank you for calling us to follow you. 00:30:01.319 --> 00:30:04.279 Thank you for being worth following. 00:30:04.279 --> 00:30:10.920 Lord, help us to follow you boldly and to never hesitate to come to you with our troubles, 00:30:10.920 --> 00:30:16.559 to never hold back from bringing you all of our need, all of our weakness. 00:30:16.559 --> 00:30:20.639 Lord, you said you don't want our sacrifices and our good deeds. 00:30:20.639 --> 00:30:25.720 You just want us to turn to you in the day of trouble, and you will save us. 00:30:25.720 --> 00:30:30.240 So we just throw ourselves into your arms believing that. 00:30:30.240 --> 00:30:34.240 Amen.