The Stilling of the Tempest

Introduction and Mark's Emphasis on Christ as Mighty Worker

0:03 This sermon was preached on Sunday morning, March 3rd, 1985, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey.

0:15 Now will you turn with me, please, to the fourth chapter of the Gospel according to Mark, the fourth chapter of Mark's Gospel, and follow as I read, beginning with verse 35, and read through to the end of the chapter. Mark's Gospel, chapter 4 and verse 35.

1:08 Mark's Gospel, chapter 4 and verse 35. Why are you fearful? Have you not yet faith? And they feared exceedingly, and said one to another, Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him? Let us once again bow before God in conscious dependence upon him and the present ministry of the Spirit as we seek to understand his word.

2:13 Our Father, we plead with you once more that you would send your Holy Spirit upon us, that as we consider together a story that is familiar to many of us, that the Holy Spirit will be present to bring out of his own truth that which is most needful to our hearts. Give us a sight of the glory and the power of your Son, that will cause us in ways that hitherto we have never known before to love him, to appreciate his glory, to trust him, and with all of our hearts to long to share with others the knowledge of so mighty a Savior. Hear us and answer this our plea, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

3:14 Now as we come this morning to direct ourselves, our attention to this amazing event in the life of our Lord is recorded in Mark 4, 35 through 41. We do well to remember and remind ourselves of one of those distinguishing traits of Mark's account of the life of our Lord. When we began our studies some 60 sermons ago, we noted that one of the distinctive traits of the gospel of Mark is that it is permeated with an emphasis upon our Lord as the mighty worker. As Mark was guided by the Holy Spirit in the selection of the materials included in his gospel record, he deliberately omits many of the discourses of our Lord found in the gospel of Matthew and found likewise in the gospel of Luke. And he concentrates rather upon the ministry, the ministry of the mighty deeds and works of Jesus of Nazareth. Well, after Mark's account of three parables, with an explanation as to the precise intent of parables, and then an exhortation to the disciples with reference to making good use of the stewardship of their further light,

4:40 it's as though Mark is restless to leave an account of the teaching ministry of Christ and to return to the gospel of Jesus Christ. He returns once more to highlighting the Lord Jesus as the mighty worker. In the parallel passage in Matthew's gospel, many more parables are recorded. But all Mark tells us is that with many such parables, he spoke to the multitudes.

5:06 And now with an almost sanctified restlessness to present the Lord Jesus in his mighty deeds of power, he returns in this last, last paragraph of the fourth chapter to concentrate his emphasis upon Christ the mighty worker, and having returned to that emphasis, it carries right on in to the next chapter. Here in the closing paragraph of chapter four, we see our Lord calming the raging of a tempestuous sea. Then in chapter five, we are confronted immediately with the same parable, the same Lord subduing the ravings of a tempestuous demon-possessed man. So whether it is a heaving, tempestuous sea, or whether it is a raving, tempestuous demon-possessed man, Mark delights to set forth the Lord Jesus as the mighty worker, able to calm the tempestuous sea, and able to conquer the powers of darkness, that possess the tempestuous man. Now as we come to examine this paragraph this morning, we'll try to collate the materials under two major headings. First of all, we'll consider the narrative of a furious tempest stilled.

The Prelude to the Tempest: Jesus' Weariness and Departure

6:34 The narrative of a furious tempest stilled, and then we'll consider together the lessons of a furious tempest. First of all, then, the narrative of a furious tempest stilled. And as I cast about in my mind how to organize the material, it became clear to me that there are basically four units of thought in the paragraph as far as the narrative itself is concerned. And I would like you to think of these four units of thought in terms of the four major movements in a great work of music, a symphony with four movements. The first movement we'll call the prelude, or the prelude, whichever pronunciation you prefer, and each is acceptable. The prelude to the tempest. The prelude to the tempest.

7:36 Verses 35 and 36. And on that day, when even was come, he saith unto them, Let us go over unto the ark, the other side and leaving the multitude they take him with them even as he was in the boat and other boats were with him now in this prelude to the tempest mark is very precise in noting that it was on the very same day in which all of these other events recorded in chapter four occurred that jesus set out in a boat with his disciples and on that day now think back over what you already know about that day it began at least with the events recorded in chapter four and verse one teaching the vast multitudes gathered on the shore of the sea of galilee while he himself pushing out a little bit from the shore sat in a boat and ministered to the multitudes now if you know anything about ministering to

8:50 crowds without any human amplification just the sheer expenditure of physical energy in constantly sustaining the voice is enough to exhaust the man but you add to that that which only a public speaker knows who ministers to men's eyeballs the larger the crowd the greater the crowd that one seeks to hold with his own mind as he speaks to them, the more there is a tremendous drain upon all of the faculties, not only the physical faculties, but the emotional and the mental faculties. And apparently, for several hours, our Lord had been engaged in that arduous task of ministering to the vast multitudes there by the shore of Galilee. Then he had this intensive, concentrated Bible conference with his own followers and with the inner circle. And in that context, he patiently explained the significance of the parable of the sower. According to Matthew 13, he likewise expounded to them the significance of the parable of the wheat and of the tares.

10:06 Furthermore, he brought exhortations to them. He brought explanation. In other words, he had spent the entire day pouring out the totality of his humanity in ministry, both to the multitudes and to the inner circle of his followers. Now, as that day draws toward evening, and we're not sure whether Mark is referring to the first evening according to the reckoning, in Palestine, there was what we would call late afternoon and then evening, that time between the sun beginning to go down and total darkness and the first part of it. But it was somewhere towards the conclusion of that day, we find our Lord Jesus taking the initiative and saying, let us go over unto the other side. Now, when he said the other side, he was referring to the place they arrived, according to chapter 5 and verse 1, that is called the country of the Gerasenes. Now, we do not know precisely where this is in terms of modern Palestine, but in all likelihood, it was a region about six miles as the crow flies, or if the boat went in a direct line

11:29 from Capernaum up here on the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee. Remember, that sea was thirteen miles this way, approximately six miles this way, and if you were to go south and east, six miles as the crow flies, that's the area to which the Gospel writer is most likely making reference. On the eastern shore, there were not the large cities such as one found up on the northern and the western shore, Bethsaida, Capernaum, these cities in which the mighty works of Christ were done in the midst of the vast multitudes. Obviously, the Lord Jesus at this point desires a retreat, not only from the skepticism and the blasphemy of his opponents who say that he is doing his mighty works as one himself in league with the devil, but just the sheer physical and mental exhaustion, and he longed for a place of quiet retreat, at least for a time. So, leaving the crowd behind, he went to the city of Bethsaida, and he went to the city of Bethsaida, and he went to the city of Bethsaida,

12:35 And he said, instead of their side, the disciples being the seamen, for remember, at least four times God had said, They take him with them, and here's a strange phrase found only in Mark, even as he was in the boat治 nuevaed up the bridge, and what Mark seems to be underscoring as the prelude to this description of this frightening tempest is that once the Lord Jesus said, the disciples being the seamen, for remember at least four times, and he went to the other side on this night as he sat still for the night, and he brought forth a candle, and said, poor rascal, I made a Trade to you and the later I said, Yes he will order you to go to the plate, and I will say, in this place, and he put them on your feet by hand, and he and month he put those two свою 나리가추 soon they revealed your life'säre people." Four of them were fishermen. They took the initiative to find the proper boat. They took the initiative to see to it that the boat would set out in the direction dictated by the Lord.

13:17 And this little phrase, even as he was, most of the commentators agree, refers to the fact that this retreat to the boat was made rather hastily, without any peculiar or special preparations, even as he was. That is, without any additional baggage being brought with him in all of his weariness, and at that stage, in what we would say, without even adequate preparation for a weekend visit to another place, the Lord Jesus, with the disciples, enters into this boat. And then Mark adds this detail that underscores what most agree is indeed the framework of his gospel, that Peter, as an eyewitness, passed on this, passed on this information to Mark, and here's another little stroke of detail, and other boats were with him. There was to be no easy retreat from the multitudes for the Lord Jesus. When he removes himself from the multitudes, pressing to the shore, and enters the boat, and the boat sets out to the other side, lo and behold, other boats are there, and it says, not with them, but it singles him out.

14:37 And there were other boats that were with him. Their attachment was not to his disciples, but to him. And the attachment was so intense, that they would not allow our Lord the luxury of a little privacy, even out in the ocean. Now many businessmen, who are harassed with tremendous pressures, find that the only place they can get any release from that, is when they're out on their yacht, in the middle of nowhere.

15:05 Well, the Lord Jesus didn't even have that luxury. There were many other boats with them. Well, that's Mark's account of what I have called the prelude to this frightening tempest. And if we were to put it to music, all of the music would be relatively sedate, no great crescendos, no clashing of cymbals, no double or triple forte.

The Crisis of the Sudden Tempest: A Frightening Storm

15:30 You wouldn't find the conductor working up a sweat at this point. He'd just be conducting along at a very nice pace. Everything is very ordinary, very quiet in the prelude. But now if you'll notice the second movement in this paragraph, and it's what I'm calling the crisis of the sudden tempest.

15:52 The second movement in the narrative is the crisis of the sudden tempest. Whereas the first movement, the prelude, ends in these very ordinary and subdued tones, this movement begins with unexpected triplet, triple forte, and the clashing of the cymbals, and all of the woodwinds and the brass instruments all coming out with all of their sound. For notice the language. And there arises a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into the boat in so much that the boat was now filling.

16:30 And he himself was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. Here then is Mark's description. Of the crisis of the sudden tempest. And when we compare the accounts in Mark, I'm sorry, in Matthew chapter 8, and in Luke chapter 8, we find such vigorous language as this coming out in the other gospel writers.

16:56 Matthew uses a term that literally means there was a great shaking or a sea quake. Now you've all heard of earthquakes, in which the earth trembles. Matthew uses a term in which there was a, the very sea down to its foundations seemed to be shaking and heaving in the midst of this sudden tempest. Luke says that there arises a great storm.

17:25 There fell upon them a great storm. And it's the picture of something dropping down and seizing hold of something else. The storm, as it were, dropped down out of nowhere, and suddenly they were held in its fright. And it was a frightening, tempestuous grip.

17:42 Mark says that there arises a great storm of wind and the waves beat into the boat. Literally, the waves were, as it were, attacking the boat and were beginning to fill it. Now this matter of such a sudden tempestuous storm upon the Sea of Galilee was not an unusual thing. And let me give you a little bit of palisades.

18:09 A little bit of Palestinian topography that may help you to understand this passage when you read it. I quote now from one of the writers who spent years in Palestine seeking to discover in the topography and geography and in all of the other factors of Palestinian life those things that would help unlock certain passages of scripture. I now quote him. The Sea of Galilee, though but a small sheet of water, some thirteen miles long, by six broad, is liable to be visited by sharp and sudden squalls probably due to its situation.

18:46 It lies in a deep hollow of volcanic origin, bounded on either side by steep ranges of hills rising above the water level from one to two thousand feet. Now get the picture. The lake itself is between six or seven hundred feet below sea level, rising up sharply on either side are these lower ranges going up to one or two thousand feet. If you go thirty-five miles north you come to Mount Hermon, which is ninety-two hundred feet above sea level.

19:22 And this writer goes on to say that the difference of temperature at the top and bottom of these hills is considerable. Up on the highlands the air is cool and bracing. Down at the margin of the lake, which lies seven hundred feet below the level of the ocean, the climate is tropical. The storms caused by this inequality of temperature are tropical in their violence.

19:46 They come sweeping down the ravines upon the water. Those ravines almost form like it were a funnel for nature, down which nature pours its fury. They come sweeping down the ravines upon the water, and in a moment the lake, calm as glass before, becomes from end to end white with foam, while the waves rise into the air in columns of spray. Now that's the testimony of an eyewitness who saw one of these storms.

20:18 He saw the lake as calm as glass, and before long it was a mass of foam and shooting spray into the heavens. Well on this particular evening that's precisely what they experienced. There was this crisis of a sudden tempest. Now let's look at the details.

20:40 What happened? Well we read first of all that the waves were throwing themselves upon or beating themselves into the ship. And the result was that it was now filling up with water. So one can imagine what was going on in the minds of these disciples, many of whom had been fishermen for years.

21:03 And they had a very clear understanding at what point a ship can no longer hold water without capsizing. And they begin to see the level rising and whatever they would use to bail it out. One can only imagine in his mind the fury of activity as they tried to bail. And for every bucket out, two more come in.

21:22 It was losing business. The ship was now filling. And where was the Lord Jesus in all of this? And it's this phrase that I've had to exercise.

21:34 The utmost discipline. Simply to touch it, explain it, and pass over. To me it is one of the most captivating phrases in all of Scripture. And He Himself, and in the original the emphasis is upon He.

21:49 Even He Himself was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. Now this word for cushion is difficult to translate. It's a word that has, in one of the parts of it, the same word that we use in the Greek for head. So some have suggested it was a headrest.

22:11 And it may have been a rest that was there, like a pillow or a cushion in a boat. And perhaps His men took different watches through the night when they were fishing throughout the night. That was the place where when it came your time to sleep, you didn't have a bunk, but you had somewhere in the stern of the ship where you at least had a leather-covered pillow. You didn't have to sleep on a harp.

22:33 You didn't have to sleep on a cardboard. Or it may have been a cushion on which the steersman would normally sit. We do not know precisely, but this much we do know, that while Mark describes the crisis of this sudden tempest, the Lord Jesus is sound asleep in the stern of the ship. According to Luke's account, it was as the boat first started out on its journey, before the storm came, that sleep overtook our Lord in His weariness.

23:06 And Luke makes it very plain in his account that before the storm came, in all of its fury, the Lord Jesus was asleep. And that sleep was so deep that He was, as we often say, well, the guy was sleeping like he was drugged, like he were dead. And this is precisely the kind of sleep in which our Lord was held at that time. Now, would you like to be a musician attempting to put this second movement to music?

23:36 How in the world could one combine, at one and the same time, all of the tempestuousness of the storm, while at the same time picturing the slumbering Lord in the stern of the ship? It would be impossible. And Mark brings them together, sets them in what we would say juxtaposition, one against the other, and the contrast is so vivid. If one only has eyes of the mind to see and stirs up his imagination and tries to picture the heaving of the sea and the boat tossed about like a cork and the waves breaking in upon it and the disciples furiously bailing, and then your eye falls upon the stern of that ship, tossed and turned and yawing, this way and that, and you see a man who looks like he's dead, sound asleep, oblivious to the fury of the storm. Well, you see, the poor musician, he'd be helpless to put that into one expression at the same time. The storm would demand all of the clashing of the cymbals and all at his disposal to give the impression of fury. Some of you who know Giuseppe Verdi's opera Othello, you remember that opening section when the ship is coming in in a stormy night.

24:59 Well, if you were a musician, you'd do something like that. But how could you do that? Well, at the same time having the silence of a four-beat rest extended over a lengthy period of time. That's what we have in the picture that is set before us.

The Stilling of the Tempest: Disciples' Rebuke and Christ's Command

25:14 Now we come to the third movement, and it's what I'm calling the stilling of the tempest. We have the prelude to the tempest, the Lord Jesus with the disciples sets out to go across to the eastern shore of Galilee. We have the crisis of the storm, the sudden tempest that comes to that little ship with the Lord Jesus fast asleep in the stern. But now we have in 38b to 41 the stilling of the tempest.

25:44 Notice the first element in that. And they came unto him. They come to the Lord Jesus. And the first thing they do, Mark says, is they awake him and they say unto him, Teacher, don't you care that we perish?

26:03 The first thing they do is they raise him up from his sleep. And the word for wake here is the standard word for resurrection in the New Testament. When someone was raised from the dead, that's the word that is used. So they came and they roused the Lord Jesus from his slumber.

26:20 Now can you imagine what that must have been like? If the crashing of the waves and the splashing of the water upon him and whatever else attended it, if that didn't wake him, can you imagine what they must have had to do to awaken him? No wonder the word for resurrection is used. Did they slap his face?

26:40 Did they shake him by the shoulders? I don't know. But all I read is that they first of all bring him out of his sleep only partially as we shall see. They bring him out of that deep slumber and having awakened him, then they have the temerity to rebuke him.

27:00 They rebuke him. And they say to him, Teacher, don't you care? And the emphasis falls upon you, even you. Don't you care that we perish?

27:16 Can it be that you, whose heart has been manifested throughout this entire day, giving yourself in selfless abandonment to the multitudes, giving yourself to us as a careful explanation of our problems with the parables and why you teach in this method, can it be that you would be indifferent that we're about to perish? They rebuke him. Now then, notice what Mark tells us. He goes on to say, And he awoke.

27:50 Well, wait a minute. Was he awake when they rebuked him, or wasn't he? That word could be translated in when he was fully awake. Now you get the picture.

28:00 You see the detail that Mark gives us. You've seen people. They've been in one of those deep, deep slumbers. You get them partially awake, and they come staggering out of the room.

28:10 They don't know what time of day it is. They hardly know their own name. If they go up to the sink, splash some cold water on their face, belt down a couple of cups of coffee, then they say, Ah, now I'm fully awake. Well, Mark uses that word.

28:24 And when he was fully awake, now all of his faculties are alert, and he sees the situation. The blood drained from the faces of his disciples as they're held in the grip of this paralyzing fear. As he sees the heaving of the sea and the boat that is filling with water, then the Lord Jesus does something. And what does he do?

28:50 Notice the text. First of all, he speaks a word to the wind. And he awoke and rebuked the wind. And that's the standard word for rebuke.

29:04 He gave the wind a rebuke. And then he spoke to the sea with two imperatives. He first of all said to the sea, Be silent. Be silent.

29:21 The very word used in Mark 3 and verse 4. But they held their peace. Jesus asked them a question. They were silent.

29:30 They did not utter anything. Jesus says to that raging sea, Be silent. Then he speaks another word of imperative. The word we had back in Mark chapter 1 when he cast out the demon.

29:46 And remember we translated it, Be muzzled. Hush up! As our southern friends would say. And he uses a strange form of the verb here.

29:55 Very rare in the New Testament. It's a perfect passive imperative for you Greek students. And the significance is this. Be muzzled and remain muzzled under my command.

30:09 So he speaks first of all according to the text. Rebuting the wind. And then he speaks two words of command to the sea. He says be silent.

30:25 Be muzzled and remain so. Now what do the wind and the sea do at his rebuke? And at his command? Well Mark tells us that the wind had ceased.

30:40 And there's again a graphic word that is used which describes what happens when someone spends his strength and can no longer stand and says I've passed. Well that's what happened to the wind. When Jesus spoke to it and said his word of rebuke. His word of rebuke.

31:02 It says the wind ceased. It spent its strength. And then it says the sea became calm. There was a great calm.

31:14 Not just the calm to an ordinary sea with perhaps wave heights of a foot or two or six inches. But from the heaving tempestuous stormy sea suddenly in an instant it was smooth as glass. You could see if it were a moonlit night. You could see the moonbeams shimmering across that lake as though it were polished glass.

31:39 There was not just a calm. An ordinary calm. But there was a great calm. Now there's the third movement that is set before us.

The Results of the Tempest Stilled: Rebuke, Appreciation, and Arrival

31:51 The stilling of the tempest. And now if you're musically inclined I hope you would see that this would be one that would be the musician's delight. A movement that would begin with all of the tumult and the turmoil and the agitation and would end with a quiet and a calm and a peace that would reflect what the sea was like when the Lord Jesus was done rebuking it and commanding the waves and the wind. Well then the fourth movement, the final movement in the narrative is what I'm calling the results of the tempest still.

32:30 What results did this produce? Well according to the passage it produced first of all a gentle rebuke from our Lord. Verse 40 And he said unto them Why are you fearful? Why are you cowardly?

32:50 Would perhaps be a better translation. Why are you cowardly? Have you not yet faith? In other words, have you not yet such faith as would keep you from coming under the grip of this paralyzing terror?

33:08 He was not saying that they had no faith. What he's saying is have you not yet faith sufficient to meet this particular crisis? Have I ever disappointed you in any previous crisis? Has there been any other circumstance in which you were in jeopardy that I did not come to your aid?

33:28 Have you not yet faith? The results of the stilling of the tempest were first of all this gentle rebuke from our Lord. But then secondly there was a deeper appreciation of our Lord. Verse 41 And they feared exceedingly and said one to another Who then is this that even the wind and the sea obey?

34:00 They had been astounded at the manifestation of His power in chapter 1 when He cast out the demon from the demon-possessed man in the synagogue. They had been amazed as they saw Him as Lord over every form of sickness and illness and disease and the powers of darkness. But now this was an entirely new experience. Up until now they had never seen anything like this in their interaction with our Lord.

34:29 And so they come to this deeper appreciation. Who then is He? We have an estimation of Him that puts Him at this level. But in the light of what we have seen our estimation is too low.

34:43 Who then is this that even the wind and the sea obey Him? The result of the tempest stilled was a deeper appreciation of our Lord following upon the heels of the gentle rebuke from our Lord and then finally the result was a safe arrival at their destination. Chapter 5 and verse 1 probably really ought to be tacked on to chapter 4. And they came to the other side of the sea into the country of the Gerasenes.

35:15 This all began when Jesus said let us go to the other side and it all ends with them getting there. Jesus' intention was realized. Well that's the fourth movement closing with the journey complete everyone safe, but in the interim an unforgettable experience now embedded in their minds and hopefully etched upon their hearts. Here's the narrative of the furious tempest stilled.

Lesson 1: The True Identity of Jesus Christ as the God-Man

35:46 I hope you've been able to see it, feel it, hear it and put yourself where they were that day. But now we come to seek to ascertain what is there in all of this for our instruction. The lessons of the furious tempest stilled. What are those lessons?

36:09 And I confess that as I've meditated upon this passage in some parts of it for weeks, I confess the pull of many, many lessons and I almost succumbed to the temptation to preach a couple of messages on the passage and I said no, I want the people to feel the overarching pressure of the entire passage and if I limit myself to one sermon then I'll be sure to make the applications without which it would be irresponsible to preach the passage and not make them. The applications that are dictated by the obvious emphasis of the passage itself and what are they? Well as time permits let me set three of them before you. Here are the three great lessons of the furious tempest stilled. That particular evening. First of all, it powerfully declares the true identity of our Lord Jesus Christ. It powerfully declares the true identity of our Lord.

37:16 You see the passage ends with the question which in some ways is not a question but almost an exclamation. Who then is this that even the wind and the sea are subject unto him? What is the true identity of this person? This one who can be sound asleep in the midst of a raging tempestuous storm and yet when fully awake can speak to the wind and speak to the sea and they recognize the voice of their master and they are stilled.

37:55 Who is he? Well I say this passage powerfully declares his true identity and what is his true identity? Well we learn from scripture that he is the God-man. How did Mark introduce him to us?

38:12 In chapter one and verse one he told us the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ the man Jesus who was anointed to be God's Christ but who is to be understood as nothing other than Son of God. That's Mark's gospel the gospel of the God and Christ Jesus Son of God. And he never moves from that perspective and here in one of the most eloquent testimonies to it Mark brings before us this powerful declaration of the true identity of our Lord. Notice the moving demonstration of his true but perfect humanity the moving demonstration of his true but perfect humanity. Here in this passage the emphasis falls first upon the reality of his humanity on that very day exhausted, spent in mind and body and spirit utterly poured out our Lord very soon in that journey to the other side that drifts off into a sleep so deep that even the beginnings of the sudden storm that caused the waves to splash and crack against the side of the ship

39:39 don't cause him to blink. He doesn't turn over and lift up an eye and say what's going on sound asleep and even when the storm reaches its fury and what was that sleep? It was the sleep of an exhausted spent humanity. I can remember as a boy of about 12 years of age going with my father on a sailing trip from Stanford, Connecticut across to a point on Long Island.

40:11 It was about the distance that they were intending to travel. But that night a small hurricane came up in Long Island where we were anchored for the night and I'll never forget that sleepless night. I was up in the pipe berth right in the where the the bow of the boat where the two sides the two planes come up together there was a berth up under there and I remember that night I couldn't sleep at all I'm a light sleeper and every wave that crashed against the side of the boat I thought for sure was going to come right through and into my bunk. And all night long the waves crashed and I tossed and I turned and longed for sleep but no sleep came.

40:48 But here was the Lord Jesus sound asleep and what was the rationale for that deep drug-like slumber? I say the rationale was spent exhausted humanity. But you see it is not only a touching picture of true and real humanity but perfect humanity. He is so committed to the will of his Father in faith that he slumbers through a storm that others think is going to take them all down to Davy Jones' locker.

41:30 Don't you believe that we are all going to perish including you? If this boat goes down and we perish awake and bailing and ready to swim surely sleeping silently like that you are going to perish. But the Lord Jesus may I say it reverently had pillowed his head not just on the rough leather pillow at the stern of the ship but he had pillowed his head on the bosom of his Father's love and protection. I wonder if perhaps he did not murmur to himself in Hebrew before he went to sleep the very Psalm we sang this morning.

42:15 He will preserve thy going out let us go to the other side and thy coming in. He that keepeth thee will neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord is thy shade upon thy right hand. Oh my friend do you see something of the beauty of Christ?

42:37 The beauty of our Savior in his true but perfect humanity true humanity spent exhausted drug-like sleep humanity and yet perfect humanity so trusting in his Father that he sleeps the sleep of a child in the midst of a storm. You want to know who Jesus is? That's who he is. He is true man.

43:05 There is nothing that is true of us as men and women. Sin accepted that was not true of him. He felt the pressure and the weariness and the expenditure of all of his energies and faculties to the point of bone weariness. So when you and I are there we need not think somehow our God who is infinite in power can never quite identify with me in my creaturely weakness.

43:34 We have not a high priest who cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities but one who was in all points tempted like as we are yet without sin. But I don't want a Savior who can simply empathize and sympathize. I need one who himself had no sin no sin of unbelief no sin of mistrust. If he is to die for my sins he must have no sin.

44:02 And what is the sin of all sins but the wicked sin of unbelief? The crowning damning sin! And here in the passage we have a picture of the real but perfect humanity of our Savior. But there is also in this passage declaring his identity not only the moving demonstration of his humanity but a marvelous manifestation of his deity.

44:31 He is introduced in Mark 1-1 as Son of God and when the disciples raise the question and the composition the fourth movement ends as it were with these notes ringing in our ears reverberating through the entire concert hall. Who is this? What is the identity of the one who speaks to winds and waves and they obey his will? My friend you make the answer.

45:03 Is there any man who would dare go out this day in the face of gale winds and bracing himself against the wind that fain would carry him off his feet dare to say I rebuke you wind and go out to a foaming raging sea and say be silent be muzzled and remain so and make that sea as smooth as glass. You see it is only God who can thus speak to his creation the creation recognizes the voice of its master its own creator and sovereign Lord and so the picture set before us of the mighty worker is not only the mighty worker who is one with us in our humanity who is above us and beyond us in his deity. Now my friend listen to me you may sit there and say well I get so excited about all of that if you ever begin to feel the way to your sin that will be the most exciting thing you ever heard that God sent from heaven one who in the marvelous mystery of true humanity joined the true deity lived the life you and I should have lived and died the death we deserved upon a cross that you and I might have a savior and a righteousness not our own.

Lesson 2: The Growing Faith and Spiritual Perception of the Disciples

46:33 But then I must hasten on that is the main point of application that is where the passage takes us and that is why I wanted to work that point thoroughly because it is indeed the heart and burden of the passage but very quickly now in the second place the lesson of the furious tempest stilled is this it clearly depicts the growing faith and spiritual perception of the disciples it clearly depicts the growing faith and spiritual perception of the disciples what is it what they had previously seen and heard of the Lord Jesus had obviously created some faith in him for they had attached themselves to him leaving father and mother and business and economic stability and so many other things furthermore have you noticed a little bit of the irony what was Jesus' trade he was brought up as an apprentice what children his father Joseph was a what what do you call a man of balance who bangs nails makes houses and tables a carpenter that's right he was an apprentice carpenter who were these men experienced sailors now they were in over their head almost literally figuratively they were experienced sailors who no doubt had ridden out

48:01 many a tempestuous night in that very lake these fellows had come to the end of their rope and they said we've had it well when you've had it as an experienced seaman and your ship is in trouble you don't call a carpenter unless you believe your carpenter's more than a carpenter so you see how their faith broke through in the midst of their unbelief you see it why do they wake the Lord Jesus because their faith had yet had risen at least to the point where they had some inkling of hope that maybe he can do something when all of our efforts as expert seamen have failed perhaps he can intervene we cannot forget what we saw him do in the synagogue when he spoke to the demon possessed we cannot forget what he did when he touched the fevered brow of Peter's mother we cannot forget and so faith is struggling against unbelief in their hearts and so it's a beautiful picture clearly setting forth the growing faith and spiritual perception of the disciples and I'm convinced that this is the only way that we can overcome the evil that is in our hearts and that is that this is why our Lord firmly but graciously deals with them notice they have the temerity to rebuke the Lord Jesus don't you care that we're perishing now when he comes to deal with them does he turn around and say who are you to rebuke me

49:29 I'm your master I am your Lord who to rebuke me he didn't do that you see Jesus understood that when we're held in the paralysis of fear that is born of a weak faith we often say rash things we run off at the mouth we shoot now and aim later and we say stupid things foolish things in our hearts and sometimes with our mouths isn't it wonderful to have a savior who sees through that and sees the true intention of the heart and he saw in the hearts of those men and I wonder if the Lord Jesus didn't even smile I can't prove it from the text he avoided it here you fellows are rebuking me that you're all going to perish well why in the world are you waking me up I'm not an experienced seaman if you don't have confidence in me so when he says have you not yet faith he's not saying as we've already intimated don't you have any faith what he's saying is don't you have faith sufficient to cause you in the midst of an otherwise terrifying circumstance to believe that if I am with you all is well if I am with you all is well and so there is that struggle of faith and unbelief and the Lord Jesus sees that same struggle in your heart and in my heart

50:58 and how we should be grateful to him that he doesn't rub under our nose the stupid things we say in the fever of the fear that is born of our unbelief you remember David who dared to go forth and take out a giant a little while later he says one day I shall perish by the hand of Saul held in the paralysis of unbelief but he wasn't totally unbelieving and God who implanted that faith nurtured it until once again he became a mighty warrior child of God you work out the implications if you can't draw consolation from that I don't know what to say to you I don't know what to say to you I'm determined to be miserable if you can find no consolation in this pattern of the struggling emerging developing faith and perception of the disciples and it's set there for our comfort and then finally this tempest that is stilled by the Lord teaches this very vital lesson it underscores it illustrates a vital principle of the Christian life and what is the principle the principle is this that when the Lord seems to be asleep in the midst of our own most threatening

Lesson 3: God Bides His Time to Show His Power in Our Trials

52:28 personal circumstances he's just biding his time to show us his power when he seems to be asleep in our most distressing circumstances he's just biding his time to show us his power and then let's say that this is the final lesson of our psalm that we are going to share with you this is the message that we bring into our lives as And that's the lesson that God would set before us as his children. There may be some of you this very day that God has put you in a situation where you feel the ship is sinking. You're bailing at a rate that seems to be only one half necessary to keep you afloat. But you know what you've forgotten?

53:46 Christ is there in the vessel with you. Dare I quote the little ditty we used to say? With Christ in the vessel, with Christ in the vessel, with Christ in the vessel, we'll smile at the storm and shout hallelujah! And shout hallelujah!

54:06 And shout hallelujah! And smile at the storm. Now is that playing head games on yourself? No.

54:13 That's believing what he says. When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee. And through the floods, they shall not overflow. And through the fire, it shall not kindle upon thee.

54:31 I shall never forget to my dying day unless I get more senile than I am.

54:38 The words of an eminent servant of God that I heard about 20, 25 years ago. He said, you know, brother, three Hebrew children went into the fire, didn't they? And they went in bound hand and foot, didn't they? He was a very animated preacher.

54:56 He makes me look like a pussycat.

54:59 At age 70, I literally saw the man almost crawl right out of the pulpit when he was describing how God was getting the children of Israel out of Egypt right down to the last hoof. And he got his leg right up over the top of him. At age 70!

55:14 So there's hope that I won't tame down with the passing of the years. But anyway, he said this. They went in bound hand and foot. And there's only one thing they lost in the fire.

55:28 Their ropes.

55:30 All they lost in the fire was their ropes.

55:34 And what they discovered, was one like unto the Son of Man walking with them. My dear friend who's in the fire, you know what God's doing? Burning your ropes. Stripping away your creature confidence.

55:47 You get into the place with the ships filling so fast that your bucket can't pack it anymore. Good. Good. As long as you've got a bucket, you'll go to your bucket instead of to your Savior.

56:00 All of us is so perverse by nature, we'll go to our own veiling bucket rather than to the Lord Jesus. God's got to let the storm get so intense that your only hope, and I say it reverently, is to abruptly shake the Lord Jesus with earnest, fervent, importunate prayer, the likes of which you've never known. Then bless God for the tempest. If you can but learn to wrestle with your Savior, then when He has worked in you what He desires to work in you, it's no big deal for Him to say, peace be still, demuzzled and stay.

56:42 God can remove the trial like that. His great work is not the wind and the sea, but it's the unbelief in your heart and in mine. That great principle is here in the passage. May God help us to pray it in and by His grace to live it out.

Conclusion and Call to Trust Christ

56:58 Well, so much then for the stilling of the great tempest as we behold our blessed Lord, the mighty worker. Oh, I pity anyone who doesn't know Him. How can you face life without Him? In all of His tempests, and then with the great and final tempest coming down as it were through the ravines, death itself that's going to come and sweep you away and sweep me away.

57:26 My friend, don't face it in that frail little vessel without Christ as your companion. Let us pray.

57:43 Our Father, we thank You for Your dear Son. We worship You and praise You. For all that He is in Himself as the God-Man. We thank You that He is perfectly suited to be a perfect Savior to such needy sinners as we are.

58:04 And we thank You for this incident in His life and in the life of the disciples. And we pray that the Holy Spirit, as only He can do, will apply it powerfully and individually to every one of our hearts. May we know it. Sanctifying, elevating, and saving power.

58:24 Have mercy upon those who are strangers to the beauty of Your Son in their need of Him. O Lord, use Your Word today to draw them to Yourself. Thank You for Your presence with us in our worship and the ministry of the Word. May the blessings of Your grace rest upon us as we leave this place.

58:45 May it be in Your fear and in the joy of the Holy Spirit. We ask through Jesus Christ.