Miracle of Our Lord Walking on Water #2

Introduction and Review of the Narrative

0:03 This sermon was preached on Sunday morning, October 13th, 1985, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey. Now let us turn together to the Gospel according to Mark as we continue our consecutive expositions of this portion of God's holy and infallible word, Mark's Gospel and the sixth chapter. And I shall read the incident in your hearing, which was read in your hearing last Lord's Day morning as well. Mark chapter 6, beginning with verse 45 and concluding the reading at verse 52.

0:49 Mark, writing of the activity of our Lord, tells us that straightway he constrained his disciples to enter into the boat and to go before him unto the other side to Bethlehem. While he himself sends the multitude away. And after he had taken leave of them, he departed into the mountain to pray. And when even was come, the boat was in the midst of the sea, and he alone on the land.

1:23 And seeing them distressed in rowing, for the wind was contrary unto them, about the fourth watch of the night he comes unto them, walking on the land. And he would have passed by them. But they, when they saw him walking on the sea, supposed that it was a ghost, and cried out. For they all saw him and were troubled.

1:48 But he straightway spoke with them and said unto them, Be of good cheer, it is I, do not be afraid. And he went up unto them into the boat, and the wind ceased. And he went up unto them into the boat, and the wind ceased. And he went up unto them into the boat, and the wind ceased.

2:04 And they were sore amazed in themselves. For they understood not concerning the loaves, but their heart was hardened. Now let us again pause in the presence of God and ask that God by the Spirit will open his word to our understanding.

2:29 Once again, our Father, we do acknowledge our need of the present ministry of the Holy Spirit. If we are rightly to understand. If we are rightly to feel this portion of your word. If we are rightly to feel its impress, not only upon our categories of thought and perceived reality.

2:52 But, O Lord, we want to feel its impress upon our consciences, upon our affections, upon our wills. We long that in the entirety of our being, your word shall cast us into. Our own form. That by the Spirit we may think your thoughts after you.

3:15 Come then and shine upon the face of Christ. Come then and shine into our own hearts. That we may know ourselves as we ought. Minister to us, we earnestly plead.

3:30 For our own eternal good. And for the glory of your beloved Son. Amen.

3:43 Now in our initial introduction. examination of this passage last Lord's Day morning, the bulk of our time was taken up with an effort to grasp the basic contents of this fascinating incident in the life and ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ and his disciples. And for the benefit of those who were not with us, or who may not be that familiar with the major elements of this incident, let me briefly set forth the facts of the narrative. You'll remember that in this chapter the setting of this incident is very clear. Five thousand men plus women and children have just been fed by the miraculous power of Jesus, who multiplies five loaves and two fishes into sufficient food to feed the five thousand with twelve full baskets left over, gathered up, by the disciples. Now as a result of this miracle, according to John 6 and verse 15, the multitude was about to press Jesus against his will into the position of a king. They were

5:00 about to take him by force and make him a king. That is, a king according to their own notions of what the king of Israel should be. And at that point, Jesus, perceiving this intention, compels the disciples to get into a boat to go back to Bethsaida that was near Capernaum on the northwest shore of the Sea of Galilee, and he disperses the multitude and removes himself from the remaining segment of that multitude that he might himself go into the mountain to pray. Then we read in the passage of John 6 and verse 15, that the disciples were unch on that map, and were unable to saymoaly of the beginning of the voyage. John is recording him. The passage is very interesting. That had Wouldn't he be Fire.

6:11 And Jesus is looking up at it, to see if there wereอะไร explos γ quarantina and would he rather be looking over what would become a dream across the face of the wave, 건강 and fills his heart,to remember who Jesus was and what was going the most precious, did he in this passage experience what? The great miracle the disciples were doing. His first transition in the Bible is that, Intro 40 3. haven't we looked in the Bibleo request for gioia?

6:15 passed before him on the angry sea, actually walking upon the water. And in their present physical and emotional state, they give out one united chorus of shrieks, thinking that what they see is a ghost, an apparition, a phantom. And at that point, the Lord Jesus speaks with calming words of reassurance, assurance, gracious commands, and words of self-identification. He says, be not afraid, it is I.

6:55 Be of good cheer. This is not a ghost. This is not an apparition. It is your Lord himself.

7:03 And then no sooner does he make that identification, when according to Matthew, who inserts this incident, you have that whole event of, Peter getting out and walking on the water and sinking and being restored. And then Mark tells us, our Lord enters into the boat and as he does, as quickly as that storm came down upon them, the seas are calmed, and according to John, in what is probably an abnormally quick amount of time, they are found at their destination. Now the results of all of this are recorded for us in the passage, read in your hearing, to which we add the light given to us from Matthew's gospel, that as a result of this manifestation, it says that they were sore amazed in themselves. And that word means in current vernacular, they were blown out of their minds. They were utterly flabbergasted by what they had seen of our Lord's miraculous power. And the reason, for this astonishment according to Mark, is that they did not understand the lesson of the multiplication of the loaves and fishes,

8:23 and the reason they did not understand was because of this remaining hardness in their hearts. And then after opening up all of that material last Lord's Day, we simply had time to focus upon the two evident applications that lie on the surface, on the surface of the text. This passage constitutes, first of all, a powerful demonstration of the true identity of Jesus of Nazareth. And in the account of Matthew, that identity is clearly confessed right after our Lord enters the boat, for it says they spoke out and said, surely this is the Son of God. This is God the Son. They had seen omnipotence at work. The Lord of the wind and the waves and the Lord of their hearts had come in the manifestation of His grace and power.

9:25 But then secondly, this passage is also a humbling demonstration that partial hardness of heart can exist in the best of men, in the best of circumstances. They had been surrounded with miracle, in the very presence of their Lord. And yet Mark says their reaction was conditioned by this hardness of heart. And this is, I say, a humbling demonstration that partial hardness of heart can exist in the best of men, in the best of circumstances.

The Abiding Message and Basis for Application

10:04 Now, with that brief review behind us, I want us to press on this morning and to note in this passage, this passage, some, not all, but some of the other major dimensions of its application to us. What is the abiding message of this passage to us? Is it sufficient simply to say, as we have done, that it points us to the identity of Jesus as the Son of God, and points us to a side of our own hearts that is humbling and causes us to blush in God's presence? Well, my answer to that question is no. This passage is filled with many other valuable lessons about our Lord, about His disciples, and about the ways of Jesus with His disciples both then and now. And the premise which lies at the foundation of this additional application, of this passage, is the fact that God has so ordained the events in the lives of His people in the Old and the New Testaments that they are intended to be the very basis of extracting

11:25 principles and lessons of the Christian life. We read of the Old Testament history of Israel in 1 Corinthians chapter 10, that these things happened unto them by way of an example, verse 6, and verse 11, they are written for our admonition upon whom the end of the ages are come. Now surely, if the history of God's ancient people, where Christ was only present in type and shadow, in prophecy and promise, if that history is nonetheless exemplary for us, how much more is it worth to say that the gospel history, where the One who is the focus of all type and shadow and prophecy and promise, is actually here among men, entering into living relationships with living men, surely the Spirit of God has recorded these incidents, that we might learn how it is that He relates to us, and how He deals with us, and how we can expect Him, to react to us, and how we are to react to his dealings with us. Well then, with that brief polemic for what we are doing this morning behind us,

Distressing Concerns in Affliction: Perceived Distance and Indwelling Sin

12:47 let me suggest, as time permits, three or possibly four lines of application. First of all, the passage illustrates two distressing concerns which often attend seasons of intense affliction and buffeting providences. What the disciples were experiencing in this incident can rightly be described as intense affliction. You remember last week we pointed out that the Greek word used for their distress in rowing is a very vigorous word.

13:30 Seeing them literally tortured in their rowing. Seeing them inattentively. In a state of excruciating pain in their rowing, he came to them about the fourth watch. So they were in a period of intense affliction and in the midst of buffeting providences.

13:54 For Matthew tells us that the waves were doing the same thing to the boat. The waves were torturing. The waves were troubling the ship. And what?

14:06 This passage teaches us is that as with the disciples, so with us. There are two distressing concerns which often come to us in those seasons of intense affliction and buffeting providences. You see, unlike Jonah, who could look out upon the swelling and the heaving sea and the angry waves and the threatening skies, and know that those seas and waves and skies were a transcript of the frown upon God's brow for his disobedience, his angry sea coming in the path of disobedience, unlike Jonah, the angry waves and the heaving seas and the clouded skies came to these disciples in the path of experience. This is a very explicit obedience to their Lord. We read in verse 45 that their Lord constrained them, forced them, persuaded them, again a very strong word, against their own wills in the beginning.

15:26 He persuaded them to enter into the boat and to go before him to the other side. Then we read, While he sent them off, they went in a multitude away. So they were in this circumstance of intense affliction and buffeting providences with a good conscience that they came into it in the path of obedience. Totally opposite of Jonah, whose conscience did trouble him to the point where he says, Throw me into the sea and the sea will be calm.

16:04 My presence will be, as it were, an appeasement from an angry and a frightened man. He said, But not so these disciples. Whatever may have plagued their consciences when they were plying at their oars against that heaving sea, it was not any sense that they were in this mess because of disobedience. Their Lord had said, You must go to the boat.

16:28 Their Lord had said, Go before me to the other side. Now, in the midst of that situation of intense affliction and buffeting providences, that came to them in the path of obedience, what were the two things that most distress them. Well, the first one was this. Our Lord appears to be distant, detached, and utterly indifferent to their plight.

16:59 Our Lord appears to be distant, detached, and utterly indifferent to their plight. They see Him as a servant. As he makes his way up into the mountain to pray, they get into their boat, they begin to sail, perhaps under the power of the wind, we don't know, but they come to the point very soon where one of those fierce storms comes down upon them, and what happens? Does their Lord come to them to calm the storm after half an hour? No. After an hour? No. In all likelihood, they had been at least six hours fighting that storm, and they had only traveled a distance of approximately three and a half miles, according to John's parallel account of this incident.

17:56 And one can only imagine the thoughts that must have gone through their minds. Where is our Lord? Where is our Lord? Where is our Lord? How long must we pull against this heaving, tempestuous sea, making little or no progress?

18:16 Does he not care? Will he remain forever in his place of solitude? Does he come forth to needy multitudes and indiscriminate mass and meet their basic needs for food? Where is our Lord? Where is our Lord? Where is our Lord? How long must we pull against this heaving, tempestuous sea, making little or no progress?

18:33 Does he not care? Where is our Lord? Where is our Lord? How long must we pull against this heaving, tempestuous sea, making little or no progress?

19:03 Does he not care? Where is our Lord? Where is our Lord? How long must we pull against this heaving, tempestuous sea, making little or no progress?

19:34 Does he not care? Where is our Lord? Where is our Lord? How long must we pull against this heaving, tempestuous sea, making little or no progress?

20:07 Does he not care? Where is our Lord? Where is our Lord? How long must we pull against this heaving, tempestuous sea, making little or no progress?

20:37 Does he not care? Where is our Lord? Where is our Lord? How long must we pull against this heaving, tempestuous sea, making little or no progress?

21:08 Does he not care? Where is our Lord? Where is our Lord? How long must we pull against this heaving, tempestuous sea, making little or no progress?

21:38 Does he not care? Where is our Lord? Where is our Lord? How long must we pull against this heaving, tempestuous sea, making little or no progress?

22:08 Does he not care? Where is our Lord? Where is our Lord? How long must we pull against this heaving, tempestuous sea, making little or no progress?

22:39 Does he not care? Where is our Lord? Where is our Lord? How long must we pull against this heaving, tempestuous sea, making little or no progress?

23:09 Does he not care? Where is our Lord? Where is our Lord? How long must we pull against this heaving, tempestuous sea, making little or no progress?

23:40 Does he not care? Where is our Lord? Where is our Lord? How long must we pull against this heaving, tempestuous sea, making little or no progress?

24:27 I am with you all the days, even unto the end of the earth. I will in no wise fail you, neither will I forsake you. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. And clinging to that word of promise, sealed in the blood of the everlasting covenant, he holds to his course of obedience and faithfulness.

24:58 I am with you all the days, even unto the end of the earth. I will in no wise fail you, neither will I forsake you. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. I am with you all the days, even unto the end of the earth. I will in no wise fail you, neither will I forsake you. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. The exuberance born of an unmixed faith, but it is an exuberance that has a mingling of faith overlaid with clouded judgment rooted in a hard heart.

26:14 Isn't that what the text says? They understood not concerning the loaves, but their heart was heart. Perhaps you've had the experience of going down to the cellar, looking for some turpentine to clean a paintbrush that has an oil base. The substance.

26:33 And you remembered that sometime a year or two ago, you put a jar of turpentine when you'd cleaned another brush, and digging through every... Oh, there you find it on the shelf, and it looks as clear as crystal.

26:43 Oh, say, oh, I found some nice clear turpentine. Then you happen, when picking up the bottle to take it outside to clean your brush, you shake it up a little bit, and lo and behold, all of the sediment from all of the previously cleaned brushes that had settled to the bottom suddenly is brought up into suspension, which was clear as crystal, now is as thick as molasses, and looks like a combination of what water paint cups look like when a little two-year-old is doing some water painting after he's been at it for an hour, all right? Now, what happened? The thing appeared to be as clear as crystal, and when you carried the jar to the place where you're going to do your clean-up, you did not put anything in there that wasn't in there. All you did was agitate what was already there, so that it was now visible throughout the whole. Now, that's precisely what happened to these disciples. The residue, the silt, the remains of superstition were there, was there in their hearts.

27:52 The unbelief was there in their hearts. The spiritual dullness was a condition. The use of the particular verb here describes a condition that comes into being and remains, for their hearts, for their heart was hardened. It had been and remained in a state of partial hardness.

28:14 But you see, while they were out there, carrying the loaves and the fishes multiplied from the hand of Jesus, no superstition evidenced itself, no unbelief evidenced itself. How can there be unbelief when you're standing there, boggled-eyed, watching Jesus create food?

28:33 How can there be superstition when you're standing two feet away? And He's multiplying it, and filling up the basket, and you're carrying it, and come back, and He fills it again? Oh, no! Faith seemed to be as clear as crystal.

28:47 All of the superstitions of past notions accumulated in early formative years. Not a sign of them, but what happens a very short time later, in the midst of intense, severe affliction and buffeting providences, the remains of their unbelief, their superstition, and spiritual dullness are stirred up until they permeate the entire solution of their spiritual perspective, their words, and their reactions. And that's one of the greatest griefs to the true child of God. You see, severe affliction and buffeting providences create nothing. They create nothing. They only reveal what's already there. Taking down that jar of food, that jar of turps, and agitating it only reveals what was there for the past two years.

29:50 And every time you passed it and thought, there I have a clear jar of clean turps, you were self-deceived. Taking it off the shelf and shaking it created nothing. This storm created nothing. It simply shook the jar and brought up to the level of their own consciousness what was there all along.

30:14 Where faith should have been feeding upon the incident, the scene in which they participated a few hours before, unbelief prevailed. While superstition should have been banished, it surfaced. And while the heart should have been softened by the sight of the compassion and power of Jesus to men's relatively limited need of hunger, they should have reason to their greater need. And the largeness of his heart, and the grace and ability of his power.

30:48 But the point is, this distressful providence brought all of that garbage to the surface. Why? That the disciples might know themselves more accurately, and then appreciate more fully both the glory of Christ person in whom they never saw any of these things, and then ultimately appreciate more fully the wonder of his salvation that takes in hand sinners as they are, cleanses and accepts them for the sake of his own work on their behalf, and then patiently and lovingly brings them along, purifying them, ridding them of the sediment that yet remains in their hearts. Do you not, child of God, find it a most distressing thing that in your distress the worst of you comes out? Isn't it humbling? And you may have gone months and not given in to a certain passion, a certain disposition, a certain weakness of character, and you really thought that that had been clean purged out of you by God's grace and power.

32:11 And God comes down at the shelf and just shakes you a little bit. And sometimes it's the silliest thing that shakes us, and then we see and we say, where'd that come from? God says it's been there all the time. I don't want you to be deceived about yourself, for it's only in the honesty of what you are that you will appreciate me for who I am and trust me for what I say I will do for my people.

God's Purposes in Affliction: Preventing Sin

32:35 And so the disciples had to come to that distressing discovery of their own dullness, superstition, and hardness of heart in the midst of those tempestuous circumstances. And child of God, don't be discouraged when you find your Lord dealing with you in the same way. But then I must hasten on. The passage not only illustrates two distressing concerns that often attend intense affliction and buffeting providences, but in the second place, the passage demonstrates two, perhaps more, but I see at least two of the manifold purposes of God in sending intense affliction and buffeting providences. God's purposes in affliction are manifold. We read in 2 Corinthians 1, one of His purposes is to equip us to empathize with others experimentally. Other purposes are clearly expounded in the hundred and nineteenth Psalm.

33:51 But in this passage, the intense affliction and the buffeting providence had at least two purposes with reference to the disciples. Number one, in the first instance it was clearly to prevent a sin of the most horrendous nature. You say, well how in the world did that whole situation prevent sin of a horrendous nature? Well if you look over at the John 6 passage, the parallel passage, the verse alluded to earlier, Jesus therefore perceiving that they were about to come and take Him by force to make Him King, withdrew again into the mountain Himself alone. And when evening came, His disciples went down to the sea. Now you see both Matthew and Mark in particular, underscore, that there was some reluctance on the part of the disciples to leave at this point. And what was the reluctance?

34:58 Well when we read into their reluctance the testimony of the rest of the Gospels, we see that at this stage their minds were still in great measure filled with the carnal notions which the Jews had about Messiah as a king in the sense of a political and military deliverer. So that when Mark tells us that Jesus had to constrain them or force them or make them get into the boat, the implication is clear. They were right there with that enthusiastic mob feeling that time has now come, we can make Him King. And in the light of subsequent requests, maybe some of them were thinking, aha, I'll be prime minister number one, I'll be, you see. Now I say this was a horrendous, a sin of a horrendous nature. It was nothing less than the sin of seeking to bypass the cross.

36:09 When Peter stood before our Lord and said no, whatever you're going to do as Messiah, however you're going to accomplish it, it can't be the way you've just said. A cross, rejection, death, no, Lord, never, never. While Peter has life and breath and a sword and fists and feet, I'll stomp, I'll kick, I'll bite, I'll slash, never, never, never, Lord. Turn around and say, oh, Peter, I love that kind of enthusiasm.

36:37 Peter, I appreciate such expressions of loyalty. No, he turned to Him and said what? Get behind me, you devil. You mean Jesus calls His disciples devils?

36:50 Yes, when they act like devils. You say that's not kind. Well, go complain to the Lord Jesus. You tell Him.

36:59 He wasn't kind. He was too sharp. He was harsh. Get behind me, you devil.

37:07 Things of God, Peter, you're thinking like a natural man. When you bring natural man's thoughts to the principles of the kingdom, you become the very instrument of the devil who doesn't want me to redeem a great multitude of every kindred, tribe, and tongue, and nation by the sacrifice of my own self upon the cross. Peter, I do not commend you for this enthusiasm. I do not commend you for this expression of loyalty.

37:38 You are unwittingly but really the mouthpiece of the devil. Get behind me. That was the temptation here. They would come and by force make Him a king with a carnal perspective of that kingship in a way that would buy people past the baptism of Gethsemane in Golgotha and the triumphs of the open tomb and the glory of an ascension and a session at the right hand of the Father that would be the fruit and the reward of His obedience unto death.

38:18 So what did our Lord do to prevent any further involvement in that horrendous sin? He tells them, Now, fellows, get down to that boat and go over to the other side and then very quickly if I may say it reverently, He snaps His fingers and brings such a set of providential circumstances that all every last thought about sitting on the throne next to Jesus and ordering 25 cities and being hot shots in some earthly kingdom clean gone out of their heads. All they've got to do is pull on oars and try to keep themselves alive. The Lord distracted every last fiber of their being from any thought about making Him a king by force.

39:01 He providentially got them totally preoccupied with a difficult and severe providence. To do what? To prevent a horrendous sin. Isn't that amazing grace?

39:14 So while they think, Here we are, out of sight, out of mind. Our Lord is distant from us, indifferent to us. It was His very love for them as well as His determination to do the Father's will that ordered that combination of dark and intense providences and severe afflictions. One author of another generation has captured this principle very, very clearly.

39:45 And he comments as follows, Our afflictions are not merely at times chastisements to mark the divine displeasure at sins of which we have been guilty or restoratives to bring us back to the life from which we have partially strayed, but they are frequently also preventives and come to occupy our attention and engage our energies so that some temptation which we were courting or coquetting with coquetting is an old word for flirting with a coquettish person was a flirtatious he said some sin that we were presently courting or flirting with may be neutralized and counteracted. Christ sent these disciples into the boat to contend with the storm just to keep them from being carried away by the foolish project of the multitude. So when we are bent on something that will endanger our spiritual lives God may send upon us a serious affliction simply to take us out of harm's way. Can we not look back on many occasions in our own history when it was so with us?

41:01 The world was too much with us. We were becoming enamored of its pleasures and pursuits. We were just on the outer rim of the vortex beginning to feel the fatal in-draft of the whirlpool. You get the imagery?

41:14 You know how the whirlpool goes? There's the outer edge and the closer you get to the center at which point whatever is there is sucked down into the water. He says we were on the outer edge moving closer and closer to the vortex of the whirlpool wherein many have been engulfed when lo! A beloved child was stricken with dangerous illness.

41:37 Our business became dreadfully involved or we were made the target at which the unscrupulous and the vicious shot the arrows of their scorn and by the pressure of the terrible calamity we were delivered from the spell by which we were so nearly beguiled. Let us be thankful brethren that the ordering of our lives is in the hand of one who sees the end from the beginning and who makes our very buffeting with the billows of trial the means of holding us back from folly and delivering us from the influence of evil. Can your heart find an echo of the question of the dear man of God when he says does not our own experience confirm that Jesus still deals with his disciples this way? Isn't that how he dealt with Paul? You read in 2 Corinthians chapter 12 there came upon Paul a messenger of Satan to buffet him. This thing that he described as a stake in his flesh and whatever it was and I don't have a clue what it was because the Bible doesn't tell us and my speculation is worth no more than anyone else's but whatever it was this much we know he said to his God O God I cannot complete the stewardship of my ministry with this stake in me for this cause he said

43:06 three times I sought the Lord probably referring to three seasons of intense concentrated earnest prayer that this affliction might leave him and God said no no Paul because if I take that affliction away the thing that keeps you consciously dependent will be removed and it will leave you so vulnerable to pride the pride that would come because of the abundance of the revelations I've given to you and the great privileges conferred upon you Paul I can take a man who's so weak that he feels he can't stand and preach unless I give him supernatural strength I can use a man like that but a man whose heart is swelled with the demon of pride I cannot I will not I refuse to use him for God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble what did God do? God brought a sustained intense affliction upon Paul God permitted a buffeting providence why? to prevent a harm that would have cut off his usefulness God uses weak men but not proud men he hates pride it's the very breath and atmosphere of hell that's why it says these six things does the Lord hate

God's Purposes in Affliction: Displaying Grace and Power

44:33 yea seven are an abomination to him a proud look haughty eyes them that walk in pride he is able to abase well the passage demonstrates that one of the manifold purposes of God in sending intense affliction and buffeting providences is clearly to prevent sin in the lives of his people and the suffering of his people the second purpose of God in affliction seen in the passage is this it was clearly to provide a strange theatre for the unforgettable display of his grace and his power it was clearly to provide a strange theatre for the unforgettable display of his grace and power now these disciples had seen his grace and power in the quiet grassy hillside feeding the five thousand you say I love that picture a grassy hillside five thousand people sitting in groups of fifty and a hundred and the disciples just quietly and yet orderly distributing the food I like Jesus' display of his power and his grace that just makes me feel so nice then we come to the next incident

46:02 and here we find people with every vein in their arms standing out and agonizing with every pull of the oars the boat straining and creaking under the buffing of the waves and you say that's unpleasant my friend the same Jesus who put the crowd down on the hillside on the green grass ordered this storm ordered the intensity of it ordered the length of it every detail of it was under his control because as soon as it had served its purpose he stopped it just like that no big deal for him he stopped it just like that got up into the boat said alright it served its purpose now we'll dismantle the theater but he made that theater to do what? to be the very place within which the disciples would receive an unforgettable display of his grace and of his power grace that came to them in the midst of their mingled unbelief and superstition and grace that as it comes and approaches in his very person they regard as an apparition in a ghost and shriek with horror and there's no word of reproof or rebuke simply be not afraid it is I and you see

47:27 if you and I are committed to the perspective of Philippians 1.20 the perspective of the great apostle who said this is my passion in life that whether by life or death Jesus Christ shall be magnified in this body then dear friend expect your share of intense affliction and buffeting providences because it is often in that theater alone that we receive our unforgettable discoveries of the grace and of the power of Christ it's in the intense affliction of a broken heart over a wayward son or daughter that goes on day after day week after week month after month year after year until the spirit of the broken hearted mother or father says oh God I cannot face another day and yet they face a day and another and another and the days become weeks and the weeks months and the months years and their trial becomes the theater in which men see the glory of the grace and the power of Jesus some who are bent all of their days with physical weakness never know an hour of grace never know an hour of waking experience in which nerve signals are not being sent to their brain reminding them of their physical affliction

48:54 and yet they are models of sweetness and patience until finally we can't stand it any longer we say how in the world do you keep so sweet when I know you're in pain day and night and they say this is what Jesus does dark providences become the theater in which he displays his glory and displays his power that's the other message of 2 Corinthians 12 he said my strength Paul is made perfect in the midst of weakness not by replacing the weakness but in the midst of it I'll keep you weak that what is done through you you and everyone else will have sense enough to say that's not Paul that's God working in him by his own power and then the passage not only illustrates these two distressing concerns that often attend our afflictions demonstrates the two two of the manifold purposes of God in affliction but the passage underscores two vital vital things in relationship to our profiting from seasons of intense affliction and buffeting providences it underscores two vital duties look at the last verse they were sore amazed for

Vital Duties for Profiting from Affliction: Tender Heart and Quickened Understanding

50:21 or because they did not understand concerning the loaves but their heart was hardened they didn't understand their heart was hardened defective understanding was rooted in partial hardness the darkness in the mind was rooted in an ethical condition of the heart and does not that underscore dear people of God that as we pass into and through afflictions we need to cry to God above all else for two things we need to cry that he'll overcome every area of hardness of heart that whatever sins we cling to whatever duties we are not engaging in that contribute to partial hardness that we may deal with the sins and take up the duties lest through partial hardness of heart we do not perceive and are not able to reason from past displays of Christ's grace and power in previous times of need to our present situation of need that was their problem they did not understand concerning the loaves they didn't enter into the rational steps of strengthening faith and they did not because the heart was in a hard condition

51:49 and dear people we need to cry to God that we may have our hearts softened that our hearts may not be hardened and what hardens them according to Hebrews 4 it is the deceitfulness of sin Hebrews 3.13 exhort one another lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin the hardening process is so often imperceptible because sin has deceived us and therefore we need constantly to cry O God soften my heart use every instrument every means of grace to give me a tender heart it's one of the most beautiful descriptions found in the Old Testament because thy heart was tender and the context is it was a man who when he heard the word of God didn't stiff neck it and stiff arm it but he embraced it and was bent and broken and ordered his life by it even though it meant some radical changes in his personal and national life God says through the prophet because thy heart was tender O how we need to cry to God for a tender heart and then we need to cry to God for a quickened understanding and it has nothing to do with your IQ you can have an earned PhD in ten fields of the most advanced technology and be an utter dunce when it comes to the things of faith

53:16 hath not God chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith has nothing to do with IQ and raw intellect it has to do with a sensitive heart that then gives a perceptive mind that says wait a minute we're here in the storm but we're here by our Lord's directive that's the Lord who when he saw the multitudes hungry was moved with compassion when all he had was five loaves and two fishes he fed them surely that's the Lord the one who calmed the sea some months ago when we crossed this very sea can he not even now let us row on brethren not in fear that's looking for ghosts and spooks to jump out of the clouds but let's with every stroke say our Lord will come our Lord will meet us our Lord will deliver us his heart is toward us faith is not looking out at heaving seas and saying oh isn't it a beautiful glassy sea take your hands off the oars that long to con yourself and you've had it no with Christ in the vessel with Christ in the vessel with Christ in the vessel we can smile at the storm and shout hallelujah and shout hallelujah and shout hallelujah and smile at the storm yeah it's a real storm the afflictive providences are real God doesn't want you to act like a Christian scientist

54:44 pain is not real it's all in your head I wonder they don't go around and shoot some of those people no really I marvel that more Christian science practitioners are not shot to death in frustration and anger by people whose pain is real someone tells them it's just you know it's not real it's all in your head think it away no the storms are real the afflictions are real and God never calls upon us to make some leap into a world of of never never land and fantasy no but while we're pulling at the oars in obedience to Christ it's not to be a pulling of despair but a pulling of hope and of confidence that reasons from his past dealings to our present dilemma but you won't do that if you have a hard heart look at that connection again they understood not but their heart was hardened that's why some of you can sit under a ministry that week by week strengthens your faith you have a tender heart but others sitting under the same ministry haven't made an inch of progress in grace for ten years horrible horrible horrible ugly reality and the problem is your hard heart well let me just point in the direction of the fourth I don't have time to amplify it but you can meditate upon it this afternoon at your leisure

The Invincibility of Christ's Purpose to Build His Church

56:10 the passage illustrates the invincibility of our Lord in his purpose to build his church the invincibility of our Lord in his purpose to build his church you say where in the world do you find a church on that sea well what was in that boat eleven of the twelve foundation stones in the city of God the church is built upon the foundation of what apostles and prophets Christ the chief cornerstone when John sees the city of God he said it is a city on which are inscribed in the foundation the names of twelve apostles of the land now look at this picture eleven of those foundation stones are in the boat do you think Jesus is going to let them sink and be buried in the silt at the bottom of the sea of Galilee no siree he's committed and he called out those twelve to form them into foundation stones and they were invincible until his work for them was done what a wonderful display of Christ's commitment his commitment to build his church and that commitment is one in which he is invincible and all whom he purposes to use are invincible until what he's purpose to do through them is done you see that boat was not to be their tomb

57:38 it was God's tumbling bin now have you ever some of you ever seen a tumbling bin where they put stamped metal that's to be used for certain parts in a big bin it looks like a big drum pretty much like a small cement mixer that operates with a little motor sometimes with a crank a bin that comes out and the mouth of it's a little smaller and as those pieces of metal tumble and rub against each other all of the burrs are rubbed off now that's what this boat was this was God's tumbling bin to roll off some of the burrs of superstition and unbelief he never intended it to be their coffin never and there'll be times when God throws you in the bin and you say Lord this is it he says no it isn't I've got a lot of work for you to do but there's some edges there that I've got to rub off so if I've got to use an ocean I've got to use some waves I've got to use some wind I'll use whatever I want because I'm purposing in the building of my church not simply to accomplish my end of calling to myself all of those for whom I have given my life's blood but I'm purposed that I shall make them all into my likeness and my image and so while the Lord is committed that these shall have a peculiar place in the foundations of his church he's also committed to fashioning their character into that which reflects his own likeness well you can meditate on the implications of that

Conclusion and Call to Unbelievers

59:06 but I see that very clearly in the passage may God grant as we meditate upon this incident that we shall derive the lesson so vital for the Christian life if you're not a child of God then surely if you've been thinking at all you couldn't help but wonder and say that man's talking about things that I don't have a clue about he's off somewhere in a world that I know nothing about well that's true my friend you don't for the scripture says except a man be born again he cannot perceive the kingdom of God but that world and those principles and these relationships between Christ and his people and his people in Christ these are blessed realities they stand before you in the gospel as Christ stands before you and he stands before you as the mighty God who is able to subdue your passions and lusts and break the chains that bind you and bring you under the canopy of his gracious forgiveness and take you into the ranks of his disciples and begin to make you into that man or woman that his grace and his grace alone can make you may God grant that you will see something of loveliness in him that will cause you to run to him and to plead with him to have mercy upon you let us pray our Father we thank you for your holy word

60:34 we thank you for this incident of our Lord's coming to these distressed disciples upon an angry sea in the fourth watch of the night and though none of us has been in that literal set of circumstances how we thank you that as we have entered seasons of severe and intense affliction when providences have buffeted us from one side to another that that very circumstance has been the path by which our Lord Jesus has come to our hearts with new discoveries of his grace and power and how we thank you oh Lord we thank you and we pray that any of your distressed and suffering children this morning who in a special way need to derive help and comfort from this portion of your word may be enabled to derive every ounce of comfort that ought to be theirs oh Lord seal your word to our hearts and may the blessings of your grace rest upon us and abide with us we plead in Jesus name Amen