Even the Wind and Sea Obey Him

[0:00] Go ahead and pray, especially for both of those needs we brought up as the kids are dismissed. Father, I pray for that family that lost their son this week, that you would comfort them as only you can.

[0:16] Show your abiding grace to them that they can trust in you. I also pray for this young lady who's, I'm sure, terrified.

[0:28] I'm not sure what to do. And I'm sure she's being told all kinds of lies. But I ask, Father, that you would pierce her heart with the truth of what she ought to do and that you will be there for her.

[0:41] And that others would be there for her to support her, to love her and her little baby boy or girl. Be at work, Father, we ask in Jesus' name. Amen.

[0:54] Amen. All right, well, are you ready to jump back into the book of Mark? We've been in the book of Mark looking at the life of Jesus and his ministry. We're going to finish up chapter 4 today.

[1:07] So far, what we've looked at in chapter 4 has been a lot of parables. Jesus told his first major parable, anyway, here in chapter 4, the parable of the sower.

[1:23] We looked at that. We looked at the purpose of parables. Specifically, he explained that one. Then we looked at some of the other parables, ones that he did not explain, so we're left a little bit more on our own in trying to understand what they mean.

[1:38] Today, we're going to look at what happened after he told these parables. So let's go ahead and read. We are in, again, Mark chapter 4. And we're going to read the last few verses here, verse 35 to 41 to the end.

[1:56] So we'll read it here. On the same day when evening had come, he said to them, Let us cross over to the other side. Now when they had left the multitude, they took him along in the boat as he was.

[2:10] And the other little boats were also with him. And a great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat so that it was already filling. But he was in the stern, asleep on a pillow.

[2:23] And they awoke him and said to him, Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing? And then he arose and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, Peace, be still.

[2:35] And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. But he said to them, Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?

[2:47] And they feared exceedingly. And they said to one another, Who can this be that even the wind and the sea obey him?

[3:00] We're going to have two primary lessons that I'm going to bring out. I think that are the two primary lessons that are intended in this account.

[3:10] This isn't just a story that's made up. This is something that actually happened. But as I think we see as we go through the Bible, a lot of the things that happen, happen for a reason and a purpose.

[3:25] And to teach something. And there are two things, I think, the primary things to get out of this. And they really have to do, and we'll get into the details. But big picture, two big things.

[3:38] Who is this man? It's really about who Jesus is, his identity. And the other one that I think we need to pull out of here is, What kind of man is he?

[3:55] What kind of man is he? And what kind of God is our God? What is he like? And so let's start to go through verse by verse here. Again, Mark 4.35, On the same day when evening had come, he said to them, Let us cross over to the other side.

[4:13] Jesus had just finished really a teaching ministry. He was giving out parables and teaching the crowds. And then in private, he was giving more detail to his disciples, details that he did not give to the crowds.

[4:26] And so this was the same day. Evening had come, it said. And Jesus said, Let us cross over to the other side.

[4:38] And I don't know if he was looking for rest. We know from later on, he was asleep in a windstorm, so he was, I'm sure, very tired. And so maybe looking to cross the lake there.

[4:51] This is the Sea of Galilee, we call it. And maybe escape some of the crowds. And get a little bit of rest. The next verse.

[5:03] Now when they had left the multitude, they took him along in the boat as he was. And the other little boats were also with them. Now that phrase, as he was, does that confuse anybody else?

[5:15] What in the world does that mean? When they had left the multitude, they took him along in the boat as he was. Well, if that's confusing to you, it's okay. It's confusing to most Bible commentators as well.

[5:28] So, a lot of people make all kinds of ideas and guesses into what exactly that means. I think the best guess that I've seen is that it just means that he left in the same boat.

[5:40] If you remember, when we were going through the parables, in fact, I think it's in the very first verse of Mark 1. In fact, let me look here. Yeah, it says, And again, He began to teach by the sea, and a great multitude was gathered to him, so that he got into a boat and sat in it on the sea.

[5:58] And the whole multitude was on the land facing the sea. Jesus was teaching from a boat. And the people were on the shore, and it created a nice setting there for him to be able to preach to the crowds without being right in the middle of them.

[6:14] And so, I think most, kind of the best guess on what that means, that that they took him along in the boat as he was probably refers to, well, he was, this was the boat that he had already been in, that he had been preaching or teaching from.

[6:33] And then it mentions, this is, this is kind of an interesting thing as I was reading this, and the other little boats were also with him. Now, as you finish this story, do these other little boats come into play at all?

[6:46] They don't, not as far as I can tell. And so, why in the world would you mention these other little boats that were going along with them? Well, you know, sometimes you'll read fictional stories or somebody will make up some kind of a story.

[7:06] And then, then you'll have like actual, real eyewitness accounts. And one of the things when you ask somebody about what they experienced is that they'll add all these little details about the story, and some of them seem to be irrelevant.

[7:22] But it was something that seemed to them, that person who's telling the story, it just, it's, it made a memory. It, it was a little detail that, for whatever reason, impacted them.

[7:36] And so that's actually an earmark of a real, actual account, a real, actual story. story. In fact, people who learn how to lie, who, who learn how to lie well, they know that you have to add lots of detail.

[7:53] And that actually is very difficult, right, when you're telling a lie because then you have to remember all the detail and how everything fits together and it's easy to, sometimes, to create holes. But I thought that was interesting because this was something that Mark is, he's, Mark is the author here and he's giving this account of what he experienced and he's just providing this little detail.

[8:16] Oh, and there were these other little boats that came along too. That's not an integral part of the story but it's just something that he remembers. This is an account of a real, actual story, something that somebody actually experienced.

[8:33] One, one thing I wanted to point out about this boat, we don't know the size of the boat, we know, we know kind of how many people had to be in it. Jesus had already had his 12 disciples, it seemed that they were all with him in this boat so it had to be of some size to be able to fit that many people, a dozen or so people and enough room for him to catch a nap.

[8:58] But, you know, people have wondered, well, what were the boats like back then? And you know, in 1986, they actually found out.

[9:11] There were, the only thing that people knew about boats back then was from writings in the Bible, descriptions, which were fairly sparse, some descriptions from writings from the Romans and then there were a few pictures like old, like mosaics that they would find that would be an image of a boat so they could see, well, what did the boats look like back then?

[9:33] But in 1986, two Jewish brothers somewhere in Israel, and we're actually right there at the Sea of Galilee, there was a draught and it hadn't rained in forever and it caused the sea to come down, to recede to some degree, I'm not sure how much, but as they were exploring and these brothers were always exploring for different artifacts, things about history and they saw this boat in the mud where the water had receded and they called the authorities and they came out and they actually, it took 12 days but they were able to excavate it, you can imagine that that boat would have been pretty brittle and it was, so they'd take great care, but they wanted to excavate it before what?

[10:24] Before it started raining and the water started going up again, right? So they did it in 12 days, day and night, they worked on excavating that and today, you can go to Israel and there's a specific museum that this boat has found and you can, they did all kinds of things to preserve it in its existing state but it's basically in its existing structure, it's got most of its form and structure, it's about 27 feet long and 7 1⁄2 feet wide made of all kinds of different kinds of wood and so, you know, those are the kinds of boats that Jesus would have been in.

[11:05] You know, in looking into this and what we know about history and about boats back then, it got me to thinking, it's easy for us to think when it comes to historical facts that the further we get out from a historical event or a historical era, the more information we lose about that time period and that is true to a certain extent.

[11:32] You know, if there's a certain event that happened within your lifetime, you have your own memories and even different things associated with that but as time goes on, those memories are lost and, you know, the evidence of that event or whatever it might be is lost to at least the common, you know, to most people.

[11:54] when it comes to historical evidence for the time in which Jesus lived, we actually know more now today, in fact, we know a lot more today about that time period, how people lived, what kinds of events happened than people knew 500 years ago, than people knew 1,000 years ago, than people knew 1,500 years ago.

[12:21] We know now more today about what life was like then some of the historical events that happened. We know more, significantly more, than people did who were closer to that.

[12:33] Now, we probably don't know as much as the people who lived during the life of Jesus or maybe even a generation after but after that, a lot got lost and so, I just, I find it interesting, a lot of people think that, you know, well, we've lost so much information and it's harder to get.

[12:53] We continually, and I think in 100 years from now, we'll know even more about what life was like back then. But let's continue on. Verse 37.

[13:04] So they're on a boat. They're crossing over to the other side. Verse 37, and a great windstorm arose and the waves beat into the boat so that it was already filling.

[13:16] Filling with what? Filling with water. You know, this was actually a very common kind of thing to happen on the Sea of Galilee and we know that because it's something that's common today on the Sea of Galilee for storms like that to arise.

[13:30] Galilee's a big lake and it's called a sea but it's not like a sea like we would consider a sea today, like the Mediterranean Sea. This is just a really large lake. Not quite as big as our Great Lakes, for example, but still fairly large.

[13:45] You know, not a small lake where you wouldn't have a lot of big waves but this is a large lake. Large enough to where you wouldn't necessarily be able to see all the way to the other side.

[14:01] But the geography of the area provided actually the right conditions for frequent storms. I'm going to read an excerpt from a book called The Land of the Book. It was written well over 100 years ago.

[14:12] And I didn't write down the author's name but I'm going to sort of read an excerpt here. He says this and this is about this passage.

[14:24] To understand the cause of these sudden and violent tempests we must remember that the lake lies low, about 600 feet lower than the ocean. So the Sea of Galilee is quite a bit below sea level, 600 feet below sea level.

[14:39] That the vast and naked plateaus of the Julian rise to a great height spreading backward to the wilds of the Huron and upward to the snowy Hermon.

[14:50] That the water courses have cut out profound ravines and wild gorges converging to the head of this lake and that these act like giant funnels to draw down the cold winds from the mountains.

[15:05] So what causes violent winds? If you know this from school, right, it's hot air and cold air and they mix together and it causes the wind to become agitated and violent.

[15:17] And that's the condition that we find. There's these cold mountains and plateaus and the wind from there, there's these ravines and it kind of causes a wind tunnel and the cold air will come down and it'll mix with the warm air that's kind of hovering over the Sea of Galilee and it'll cause these storms.

[15:36] On the occasion referred to, we subsequently, so this is somebody who was actually there, this was I think around 100 years ago, sometime in the 1800s. On the occasion referred to, we subsequently pitched our tents at the shore and remained for three days and nights exposed to this tremendous wind.

[15:52] We had to double pin all the tent ropes and frequently were obliged to hang with our whole weight upon them to keep the quivering tabernacle or tent from being carried up bodily into the air.

[16:04] I don't know if anybody's ever experienced that in a tent when it's really windy and you're trying to keep the tent from going flying, flying off into the air. No wonder the disciples toiled and rode hard all that night and how natural their amazement and terror at the sight of Jesus walking on the waves.

[16:19] He's talking about a different story where Peter walks on water. The faith of Peter in desiring and daring to set foot on such a sea is most striking and impressive, more so indeed than its failure after he made the attempt.

[16:34] The whole lake as we had it was lashed into fury. The waves repeatedly rolled up to our tent door, tumbling over the ropes and such violence as to carry away the tent pins.

[16:46] And moreover, those winds were not only violent but they were come done suddenly. And often, when the sky is perfectly clear, I once went in to swim near the hot baths and before I was aware, a wind came rushing over the cliffs with such force that it was with great difficulty I could regain the shore.

[17:05] Some such sudden wind it was, I suppose, that filled the ship with waves so that it was now full while Jesus was asleep on a pillow in the hinder parts of the ship. Nor is it strange that the disciples aroused him with the cry of, Master, Master, carest thou not that we perish?

[17:22] So that's a personal experience of somebody who actually was there sometime in the 1800s and he experienced that same kind of weather. that Jesus and his disciples did here in Mark.

[17:34] Verse 38, but he, talking about Jesus, was in the stern, that's the back of the ship, asleep on a pillow. And they awoke him and they said to him, Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?

[17:48] I don't know what kind of pillow it was. You wouldn't necessarily think it's a pillow like we use in our beds today, just a small pillow, but probably a large cushion, kind of like a couch or a mattress or something like that that he was sleeping on.

[18:02] Some people even think it might have been like a hammock. But, it's interesting here that they had to wake him up. You would think, right, if you're in the middle of a big storm where the boat's filling up with water and the waves are violently crashing against the boat, that that would wake you up.

[18:20] Well, remember what Jesus had just done. He had just preached to these crowds, probably in the hot sun, all day long. And I don't know how many days before that he had been preaching.

[18:31] It's an exhausting thing to do. Especially, crowds were, as we've seen, looking at the life of Jesus, quite demanding. Looking for him to heal them and asking questions.

[18:45] Jesus is totally exhausted. And, you know, when you're exhausted, sometimes there can be all kinds of things going on around you. Kids screaming, yelling, and you're just dead to the world, right?

[18:59] And that's, I think, what was going on here. Jesus was dead to the world. He was out. But then they ask him, what was their question to him? Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?

[19:14] Our lives are in danger here. Our lives are on the line and you're sleeping. It says, then he arose and he rebuked the wind and said to the sea, peace, be still.

[19:27] And the wind ceased and there was a great calm. You can imagine here, you've got wind that is howling, beating against you, knocking you over, maybe concern of being knocked off this boat if you stand up.

[19:48] Waves were crashing against the hull of this small boat, being tossed about on the inside. The waves are getting into the boat so much so that it's starting to fill up with water.

[20:03] water. And they tell Jesus and Jesus gets up and he says, stop, peace, be still.

[20:21] And the wind stops. And the water that was raging is all of a sudden still. it says, it uses the term, there was a great calm.

[20:37] Not a small calm, a great calm. Can you imagine that? That would be quite shocking. I mean, it's neat. In fact, we experienced a storm.

[20:49] We were up north this last week on northern Ohio and there was a tremendous storm that came through all night. It was just raining and thundering and lightning. I think there was a little bit of that down here but I think we got the brunt of it up there because there was so much flooding, so much rain.

[21:06] We were inside of a nice cozy house. But the next day we went out to the water and it was just nice and calm, nice and calm.

[21:17] But that happened over a period of hours of going from violent heavy rain to kind of a calm, it was actually a clear morning that morning after.

[21:30] That's somewhat normal to go from in a moment raging, violent winds and waves to a moment later pure calm. Absolutely incredible.

[21:42] And we see how shocked and amazed and it uses even the word fearful. They were fearful. We'll talk about that more in a second. And then he said to them, verse 40, why are you so fearful?

[21:57] How is it that you have no faith? And I don't know about you, but when I read that question, why are you so fearful, my first gut reaction is, um, Jesus, why are we afraid?

[22:12] Why were these disciples afraid? They were about to die. I mean, it seems unreasonable to ask a question like that. Of course they were afraid.

[22:23] You're about to drown. Wouldn't you be afraid? Alright, would there be a good reason to be afraid? Yes. What was it that Jesus expected them to do differently?

[22:37] To react or respond differently? And then he says, well, how is it that you have no faith? And I think the big question to ask here is, well, what kind of faith?

[22:50] Faith in what? And whenever you see faith talked about in the Bible, and faith is a huge subject matter in the Bible, isn't it? We always need to ask ourselves, well, what is the subject or object of the faith that we're being asked to trust or hold to or believe?

[23:09] Because throughout the Bible, there's different things that God has asked different people to believe. So in this particular circumstance, when he says they have no faith, what is he talking about?

[23:24] Because it seems they had at least some faith. He says they had no faith. Now, we use hyperbole, right? Exaggeration a lot. And so, this I'm sure is hyperbole.

[23:37] He's not saying they're completely faithless. But he's saying, you know, you have a little faith. In fact, Jesus used that phrase a lot. Oh, ye of little faith. We see that multiple times in the Gospels.

[23:51] But they had faith enough to, what, go to Jesus, right? That was something. Did they get any credit for that? It doesn't seem like Jesus gave them any credit for that. But they went to Jesus and they awoke him and they were saying, Jesus, help us, basically.

[24:06] I think there are a few possibilities. I'll just throw some things out there. Was Jesus expecting them to have faith that they could stop the storm? That's a possibility, right?

[24:18] Well, why are you guys getting me up? I'm trying to take a nap. Why don't you guys stop the storm? If you just had enough faith, and you know, there are passages in which Jesus tells his disciples that if you have enough faith, you can do what?

[24:32] Move mountains. Sure enough, you know, you could stop the wind. I don't think that's what Jesus was talking about here. One, Jesus hadn't really taught that to them yet.

[24:45] He hadn't even given them authority over demons and healing at this point. He will later, he'll give them authority over sickness and disease to heal people and to cast out demons.

[25:01] But he hadn't even done that yet. So, you can't expect someone to do something, to have faith for something that you haven't given them authority to do. Was it just faith that they would be safe?

[25:13] Is that what he was expecting? You should have just sat there and done nothing and just believed that you'd be fine. Should they have just, maybe it was faith in Jesus, but they just needed to wait for Jesus to do something in his own time, after he woke up.

[25:32] They just needed to be more patient. None of those seem to fit right with me, or sit right with me. Let's continue on and then we'll kind of revisit that question once we get to the end here.

[25:47] The last verse says this, and they feared exceedingly, and they said to one another, who can this be that even the wind and the sea obeyed him?

[26:01] This word for fear, it's a word that means fear, afraid. But it can also be used as a word for reverence. We talk about the fear of God, you have a reverence, an awe when it comes to God.

[26:19] This word fear, it's a Greek word phobio, you can imagine some of our English words that come from this Greek word phobia, you have a fear of spiders, or a fear of whatever it might be, claustrophobic, a fear of tight spaces.

[26:35] But it is also used for reverence. So the word fear can be used in both a positive and a negative sense, a negative fear or a positive healthy type of fear.

[26:52] But you can imagine, they had seen some amazing things from Jesus at this point, hadn't they? They had seen him heal the sick, they had seen people with demons that were Jesus cast out with just a word, the authority that he had over demons.

[27:17] But you know, some of the prophets of old had healed people, right? We see stories of, well it's multiple, but I think of Elijah and Elisha and the people that they healed.

[27:31] there was some kind of demonic activity, a little bit, that you saw David played a harp for King Saul and there was at least some piece there that Saul experienced with that.

[27:49] But seeing wind and waves, these wild elements of the earth obey the command of this man. This was something altogether different.

[28:01] And so they asked this question, who is this guy? They already knew he was the Messiah, right? They knew he was the anointed one.

[28:15] But they're realizing this guy is more than just the chosen one, more than just the anointed one, more than just the deliverer of Israel. In fact, he's more than just a man.

[28:28] A man can't do this kind of thing. he's greater than we even imagined. There's a psalm I think that fits in really well here. Psalm chapter 89 verse 8.

[28:40] Psalm 89 verse 8. You don't have to turn there, but if you're taking notes, you can write that down. Psalm 89 verse 8 and 9 says this, Who?

[28:54] The Lord of hosts, the Lord of the heavens, who is mighty like you, O Lord. Your faithfulness also surrounds you. You rule the raging of the sea.

[29:05] When its waves rise, you still them. Who is it that does that? Is it just any old person? It's the Lord of hosts who does these things.

[29:20] Who is mighty like you, O Lord? The God of hosts? The one who created all the elements of the earth.

[29:32] He created the wind. He created the waters. And can anyone but him command those same elements to be still at his word?

[29:48] The first lesson here is this man, Jesus, is more than just a man. As we've taught in the past about the divinity of Christ, he is not just God the Son.

[30:02] He is, or not just the Son of God. He is God the Son. He is our creator. I think the second lesson we should take away is about faith.

[30:14] O ye of little faith, where is your faith? Why don't you have any faith? Why are you so fearful? Jesus chided them. And I think it goes back to their question.

[30:28] I think what he was chiding them about, this is my view, I think it's hard to discern when he's talking about faith what specifically it was aimed at, but I think that he was talking about their question to him.

[30:44] this is their question. Do you not care that we're perishing? Do you not care? And so their faith, their lack of faith, was in Jesus and his care for them, and really God's care for them.

[31:08] Don't you care? care? And this doubt in God's love and care for us has been going on since the very beginning.

[31:20] Right? In fact, if we go back to the very first sin in the beginning, in Genesis chapter 3, the base root of that sin was what not believing God God.

[31:39] Genesis chapter 3, verse 1 says this, Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, Has God indeed said, did God really say that you shall not eat of every tree of the garden?

[31:59] A few verses later, she responds and she says, well, this is what he told us. verse 4, the serpent says to the woman, you will not surely die.

[32:15] Don't believe God, he's lying to you. For God knows that in the day you eat of it, your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.

[32:28] God doesn't want you to have what he has. He's hiding something from you.

[32:40] He's not trustworthy. Don't trust him. I know that he's lying to you. Go ahead and eat so you can be like God.

[32:54] And it's that lack of faith that has caused problems in the world ever since. You know, really when it comes right down to it, the one thing God wants from us, the one thing, is that we would believe him when he tells us something.

[33:16] one of the primary things that he wants us to believe is that he's good, that he cares about us, that he loves us.

[33:39] And it should be somewhat obvious, even to Adam and Eve here, even to us, even to those who maybe even have never read the Bible. Like Adam and Eve, had they read the Bible?

[33:51] They'd never read the Bible. It didn't exist. But they knew that God had breathed life into them. Would a selfish God who didn't want the best for you breathe life into you?

[34:05] He created the sun to provide warmth on the earth. earth. In fact, he created millions of stars to decorate the night sky.

[34:22] He created a fruitful garden to produce wonderful food for Adam and Eve to eat. In fact, a garden that had an automatic watering system.

[34:36] That's pretty cool. The Bible says that there was a mist that came up out of the ground every morning and it watered all the trees and the plants.

[34:48] And so there wasn't Adam and Eve had to cultivate the garden, but there was relatively little that they had to do. And he did all that.

[35:00] He decorated the sky, provided warmth, provided fertile ground, provided wonderful things. And this was all for who? Was this for God to enjoy? No, it was for us.

[35:12] It was for us. Is the God who would create those things for us, is he worthy of our trust? Is it hard to see that he would be a God who would want the best for us, that is good to us?

[35:31] Later on in the Psalms, this is what the psalmist says in Psalm 31. Psalm 31 verse 19. Oh, how great is your goodness, which you have laid up for those who fear you, which you have prepared for those who trust in you, in the presence of the sons of men.

[35:56] God is good, and he wants us to trust that he is good, to trust in his goodness. He wants us to fear him, to be in awe of him.

[36:09] He uses that word fear, goodness that he has laid up for those who fear him, for those who do not fear the elements, who do not fear man, who do not fear the things in the world, but fear him, in spite of what's going on in the world, in spite of our circumstances.

[36:33] There's another psalm, and you can turn here. We'll read a few of these verses. Psalm 56. We'll read the first few verses. Psalm 56. This is a psalm of David.

[36:48] And this is a psalm in which, in fact, I think it says it at the beginning. Psalm 56. Let me find it. It says, to the chief musician set to the silent dove in the distant lands, a victim of David when the Philistines captured him in Gath.

[37:12] David was captured by his enemies, and I'm sure that was a fearful experience. But he wrote this song in the midst of that, and he said this, be merciful to me, O God, for man would swallow me up.

[37:29] Fighting all day he oppresses me. My enemies would hound me all day. For there are many who fight against me, O Most High. Whenever I am afraid, I will trust in you.

[37:46] In God, I will praise his word, in God I have put my trust, I will not fear. What can flesh do to me?

[37:59] what can flesh do to me? When I'm afraid, when something fearful comes, I'm not going to put my trust in the physical world, in the world around me, in horses or chariots.

[38:18] I'm going to put my trust in the goodness of God. Because fear will come. but when I'm afraid, I'm going to choose to trust in him.

[38:32] Choose to trust in his goodness that he has a good plan for me. There's another passage, we'll turn to Hebrews, Hebrews, and it talks about men of faith.

[38:51] It talks about, this is Hebrews chapter 11, sometimes we call it the hall of faith. And it's this listing of all these, the importance of faith and all these different men and women of old, of ancient times, and their faith.

[39:13] And interestingly enough, in verse 6 of chapter 11 here, he says this, but without faith it's impossible to please him.

[39:24] For he who comes to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him. You've got to believe that he is, that's important, right? But then what's the next part? Believe that he's good, that he has your best interest in mind.

[39:42] Regardless of the circumstances, regardless of what's going on around you. And in this whole chapter he lists all kinds of people from Abel to Enoch to Moses and Noah and Abraham and all these people who put their faith and trust in him.

[40:03] And for many of them, Noah, he put his trust in God and he was delivered from the raging waters. But let's look down at verse 30 towards the end.

[40:23] By faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they were encircled for seven days. By faith they got a victory. By faith the harlot Rahab did not perish with those who did not believe when she had received the spies with peace.

[40:38] By faith Rahab, she had her life saved. And he says this, what more shall I say? For the time would fail me to tell of Gideon and Barak and Samson and Jephthah and also of David and Samuel and the prophets who through faith they subdued kingdoms and they worked righteousness and obtained promises and they stopped the mouth of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, became valiant in battle, turned to fight the armies of the aliens.

[41:11] By their faith they overcame. Women received their dead, raised to life again. Others, there's a kind of the story turns here now.

[41:30] Verse 35, others, they were tortured, not accepting deliverance that they might obtain a better resurrection.

[41:42] Still others had trials of mockings and scourging, yes, and of chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were tempted, they were slain with the sword, they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented, of whom the world was not worthy.

[42:00] They wandered in deserts and mountains and dens and caves of earth. And all these, having obtained a good testimony through faith, they did not receive the promise.

[42:14] There were many, they held on to faith and they did not see the victory in their life. They died, they suffered, but they held on that God was good and he had a good plan for them.

[42:40] See, I think God in his wisdom has decided that it would be good for us to experience suffering and pain in life. Difficulty, trials, tribulations, all the different words that the Bible uses.

[42:56] But he wants us to trust him. That ultimately, at the end of it all, he wants something for us beyond what we can even imagine.

[43:10] 1 Corinthians chapter 2 verse 9 says this, But as it is written, eye has not seen nor ear heard nor has it entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love him.

[43:30] We have a future that God has promised for those who are willing to trust in him, for those who love him. Paul prays a prayer for the Ephesians in chapter 3 of Ephesians.

[43:43] He's praying for the Ephesians that they would understand the height and the depth and the breadth of God's love for them. And understanding God's love is where faith comes from.

[44:00] Faith is something that has to be built up. And how is faith built up? Well, in Romans chapter 10, I think it's verse 17, it says, faith comes by hearing, and hearing what?

[44:11] The word of God. That's where faith comes. It's not something you have to try to conjure up. Read the word, or we just believe it. So Paul's praying in chapter 3 of Ephesians here for the Ephesians that they would understand and grasp the height and the depth and the breadth and the width of God's love for them.

[44:33] And he says this, verse 20, Ephesians 3, 20, now to him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think according to the power that works in us.

[44:46] To him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. God's power is at work in us now and will be at work in the future to give us, what does he say?

[45:03] Exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think. I don't know about you, but I can think and ask a lot.

[45:15] But beyond what we can even think, God has something better for us. And that's what God wants.

[45:30] He wants us to trust him through it all. God to God to God to God to God to run his course. God wants us to trust that he is good.

[45:47] There's a man I want to speak about who wrote a famous song that most of us are familiar with. And he has a story in his life where there was a boat that was not saved like the ones that the disciples were in.

[46:08] His name is Horatio Spafford. He lived in the 1800s. He worked with the famous evangelist D.L. Moody. He was a wealthy man, owned a lot of property.

[46:20] I'm going to read a little bit about his life. He experienced one great tragedy in the Chicago fire of 1871 which ruined him financially. He had been a successful lawyer and invested in property in the Chicago area.

[46:35] Much of it was burned up. And then he made plans to travel to England to go help out D.L. Moody and some of his evangelistic efforts out there in England.

[46:50] But he had business and so he sent his family ahead while he was delayed doing his business related to zoning problems trying to rebuild after the Chicago fire.

[47:03] While his family was crossing the Atlantic Ocean the ship sank rapidly after a collision with a sea vessel and all four of his daughters perished. His wife Anna survived and he sent him the now famous telegram that said saved alone.

[47:20] That's how it started. I'm the only one that survived. Shortly afterwards as Spafford traveled to meet his grieving wife he was inspired to write this hymn as the ship passed near where his daughters had died.

[47:38] This is a boat that Jesus didn't save. It sunk. And you can imagine the indescribable grief of both him and his wife losing their four daughters.

[47:51] But you know what and we'll see in this song that Horatio chose to believe and to trust in the goodness of God. That God cared through it all.

[48:05] He refused to submit to the fear that maybe God doesn't actually care about me. Through pain, through suffering and even death God's God's word, God has provided a vessel for all of us who will trust in him.

[48:24] One like that prefigured in Noah's flood that saved eight people through an indescribable judgment. God has prepared a vessel for all of us who will trust in him that will carry us safely to a peaceful shore called eternal life.

[48:47] Because of that promise we can have peace right now regardless of what's going on in our life. These are the words that Horatio wrote.

[49:00] When peace like a river attendeth my way, when sorrows like sea billows roll, whatever my lot thou hast taught me to say, it is well, it is well with my soul.

[49:16] Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come, let this blessed assurance control that Christ has regarded my helpless estate and has shed his own blood for my soul.

[49:32] O my sin, O the bliss of this glorious thought, my sin, not in part, but the whole, is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more.

[49:43] Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul. And the final verse, O Lord, haste the day when my faith will be sight, my trust in you will be made sight.

[50:02] The clouds be rolled back as a scroll, the trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend, even so it is well with my soul.

[50:15] Through all of that terrible suffering that he experienced, he knew that it was well with his soul, and that is the promise that God provides and offers to all of us.

[50:31] He's so good, isn't he? He's so good, isn't he? So, I'll finish up with this. Is it well with your soul today? All you have to do is trust in him.

[50:48] You can have that peace without end. He'll provide safe passage to those peaceful shores of eternal life just if you trust in him and what he accomplished for you.

[51:03] on the cross. He is good. Amen. Amen. Let's end with a word of prayer.

[51:14] Father, I pray that today as we consider this story, this account of your calming of the storm, that we would be reminded today and tomorrow and the next day of your goodness toward us, your love, your care and concern for us, that even though we might experience all kinds of torment and turmoil and pain and suffering in this life, that ultimately you love us and you want the best for us.

[51:51] I pray that you would, like Paul prayed for the Ephesians, you would make your love and your care known, the height, the depth, the breadth, the width of it, to our minds, that we would know beyond a shadow of a doubt how much you love and care for us through any storm of life.

[52:11] We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Thanks, everyone. up. . .

[52:22] . . .