“ON A STORMY SEA” (Mt 8:23-27)
Mar. 24th, 2004
Int. John Mac Duff said: “We have already, indeed, found our Blessed Redeemer discoursing from the deck of a vessel to the listening multitudes, and, in the miraculous Catch, claiming as the Lord of Nature, dominion over the Fish of the sea. But He is now to manifest His dominion over the Sea itself. As He has already asserted Lordship over its tenants, He is about to claim sovereignty also over their unstable watery realm itself.”
1. The following lesson speaks emphatically "concerning Christ and his Church," and we should let these two points successively engage our thoughts.
2. His disciples constituted the infant church crossing this stormy sea.
I. OUR TEXT SPEAKS OF OUR SAVIOUR’S HUMANITY AND DEITY.
A. CONSIDER FIRST HIS PERFECT HUMANITY.....(ASLEEP) (Vr. 24-b)
1. Our Lord had become tired before at Jacob’s well. (Jn 4)
2. Our Lord displayed his humanity at the tomb of Lazrus. (Jn 11:35)
3. Our Lord would later manifest His humanity at the cross by crying, “I thirst.” (Jn 19:28)
4. Pilate, observing his humanity declared: "Behold the Man!" (Jn 19:5)
5. We are reminded that He is indeed “bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh” (Gen 2:23)
6. Little wonder it is said: “He remembereth our frame, that we are but dust.” (Ps 103:14)
B. CONSIDER HIS SINLESS HUMANITY.
1. Jonah was asleep on a stormy sea; but he was the cause of the storm. (Jonah 1:5)
2. (Acts 12:6) "And when Herod would have brought him forth, the same night Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains: and the keepers before the door kept the prison.
3. Jesus was asleep on a stormy sea, but it was from the exhaustion of a day of great toil in his Father’s vineyard. (Vr. 24)
a. He was asleep. Mac. Arthur says: "Just before the disciples saw one of the most awesome displays of His deity, they were given a touching picture of His humanity. He was so weary that not even the violent tossing of the boat awakened Him—even though the disciples feared they would drown (v. 25)."
4. Matthew Henry: "We never read of Christ’s sleeping but at this time;
a. “He was up all night in prayer to God: (Lk 6:12)
b. “This was a sleep, not of security, like Jonah’s in a storm, but of holy serenity, and dependence upon his Father:
c. “He slept to show that he was really and truly man, and subject to the sinless infirmities of our nature.
d. “Those that can lay their heads upon the pillow of a clear conscience, may sleep quietly and sweetly in a storm.”
5. The Sea of Galilee.
a. Sometimes referred to as "The Sea of Tiberias" (Jn 6:1; 21:1)
b. Sometimes referred to as "The lake of Gennesaret" (Lk 5:1)
6. Josephus says it is 16 miles long and 6 wide; others say 14 miles long and 6 miles wide.
7. (Isa 57:20) “But the wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt.”
8. Octavous Winslow: "The world is "like the troubled sea, which casts up mire and dirt." With all its fleshly enjoyments, attractions of rank and affluence, of pomp and power, the worldling is an utter stranger to real, substantial, satisfying peace."
C. CONSIDER OUR LORD’S DEITY ON THIS SEA ALSO.
1. His Humanity was proclaimed in Bethlehem’s birth.
a. But in that same night Angels over Bethlehem sang of His glory. (Lk 2:14)
b. Pulpit Commentary: " A carpenter of the inland town of Nazareth; these men were natives of the seashore, and fishermen well used to the sea. Yet they instinctively cry to Christ. In all his trouble the Christian cannot but turn to his Master."
1. Pulpit Commentary: "Their skill and their long experience of those waters now failed them."
c. Caesar in the ship: — "One of the greatest of the old Romans was once overtaken by a storm at sea, and when the captain of the ship was full of terror, the conqueror said, “Why do you fear for the ship? Do you not know that it carries Caesar? “
1. Let us, as Christians, remember that the ship in which we must cross the waves of this troublesome world, is the ship of the Church, and that it carries Jesus."
“His honor is engaged to save
The meanest of his sheep
All that his Heavenly Father gave
His hands securely keep.”
“The God that rules on high,
And thunders when he please,
That rides upon the stormy sky,
And manages the seas.
2. His Humanity was touchingly proclaimed in his receiving baptism (a sinner's rite) at a sinner's hand.
a. But the Heavens were opened, and a sublime voice from "the Excellent Glory" declared His Divinity.
3. His Humanity was seen in his weeping at the tomb of Lazarus.
a. But his Deity was powerfully proclaimed when the call Lazarus from the dead.
4. The cross of Calvary with it’s crown of thorns—the gash of the spear—the criminal's torture—the malefactor associates, all speak of His humanity;
a. But a blackened sun; rumbling rocks; the earth trembling to support its Creator's cross—were nature's glorious testimonies that He who hung in ignominy on that tree was also "The Mighty God."
5. His being asleep on the lake that day proclaimed his humanity.
a. He rebuking the sea and the great calm proclaimed his Deity.
b. (Psa 107:29-30) "He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still. Then are they glad because they be quiet; so he bringeth them unto their desired haven"
6. Moses stretched his rod over the Red Sea and it parted it’s waters. (Ex 14:21)
a. Jesus merely spoke and calmed the Sea of Galilee.
7. David said: “The sea is His, and He made it; and His hands formed the dry land. Oh, come let us worship and bow down, let us kneel before the Lord our Maker!”
8. Jesus in his humanity was buried in a borrowed tomb.
a. But the Mystery of Godliness, “Deity (God) was in Christ..”
b. His name shall be called “Emmanuel”, “God with us.”
9. We need not, like the disciples, now go to awake Him; for in yonder glorious Heaven "He faints not, neither is weary."
a. "He that keeps Israel" now "neither slumbers nor sleeps." (Ps 121:4)
10. Today, we have this blessed assurance, (Heb 13:8) “Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today and forever.”
II. OUR TEXT DEMONSTRATES A GREAT LESSON LEARNED BY HIS DISCIPLES.
A. CONSIDER THEIR PROCLAIMATION.... “WHAT MANNER OF MAN IS THIS” (Vr. 27)
1. We witness his power over even the winds and sea.
a. Matthew Henry says: "He did not chide them for disturbing him with their prayers, but for disturbing themselves with their fears." (Vr. 26)
b. (Luke 8:25 KJV) "And he said unto them, Where is your faith? And they being afraid wondered, saying one to another, What manner of man is this! for he commandeth even the winds and water, and they obey him."
Ill. Brother Carey’s plane ran out of gas. When he asked his companion, how was his Calvinism holding out? He responded, “Brother Carey, right now, it is kinda cramped.”
2. He claimed all power both in heaven and earth. (Mt. 28:19-20)
3. “The earth is His...He hath established it upon the floods”.....(Ps 24:1-2)
4. Pulpit Commentary: "The “prince of the powers of the air” would rejoice to sink such a freight as Christ and his Church." (Eph 2:2)
III. OUR TEXT SPEAKS OF HIS LITTLE FLOCK–THE CHURCH.
A. HE HAD CALLED THEM TO BE FISHERS OF MEN.
1. They were now learning the dangers and heartaches of this calling.
a. Some say his disciples plus the multitude, but according to (Mk 4:36) they had sent the multitude away.
2. The bottom of that sea is strewed with wrecks from over the years.
B. THEY WERE CRYING FOR HIS DELIVERANCE.
1. They would discover that he was not like Baal in Elijah’s day–on a long journey and unable to answer their cry. (1 Kings 18:27)
2. Whitfield says: "The presence of Christ in the ship, did not preserve the disciples from fears and troubles; they were filled with uneasiness, although Christ was with them: this was only for a trial of their faith, to see if they would stand fast for the Lord in a persecuting time."
3. Believer's Bible Commentary: "The Sea of Galilee is noted for sudden, violent storms that whip it into a churning froth. Winds sweep down the valley of the Jordan from the north, picking up speed in the narrow gorge. When they hit the Sea, it becomes extremely unsafe for navigation."
4. John Mac Arthur says: "The Sea of Galilee is more than 690 ft. below sea level. To the N, Mt. Hermon rises 9,200 ft., and from May to Oct. strong winds often sweep through the narrow surrounding gorges into this valley, causing extremely sudden and violent storms.
a. “Great tempest now” at his rebuke, there would soon be "a great calm." (Vr. 26).
b. There are some great storms in the voyage of life even when sailing according to the Master’s orders.
c. The storm that they were experiencing was mild compared to the one they would see upon their arrival upon the other side of the lake.
5. This storm was for their sakes and God's glory. (John 11:4) "When Jesus heard that, he said, This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby."
6. (Isaiah 54:11) "O thou afflicted, tossed with tempest, and not comforted, behold, I will la y thy stones with fair colours, and lay thy foundations with sapphires."
C. THE LORD’S CHURCH MUST CONSTANTLY GO THROUGH ONE STORM OR ANOTHER.
1. The Storm of Persecution abounds in many parts of the world today.
2. The Storm of liberalism and Modernism faces our churches today.
3. The Storm coldness of heart batters our little ships (Churches) today.
Why do I drift on a storm-tossed sea,
With neither compass, nor star, nor chart;
When, as I drift, God's own plan for me
Waits at the door of my slow-trusting heart?
Down from the heavens it drops like a scroll,
Each day a bit will the Master unroll;
Each day a bit of the veil will He lift,
Why did I falter? Why wander, and drift?
Drifting, while God's at the helm to steer;
Groping, when God lays the course, so clear;
Swerving, when straight into port I might sail;
Wrecking, when Heaven lies just within hail?
Help me, O Lord, in Thy plan to believe;
Help me, my fragment each day to receive;
Oh that my will may with Thine have no strife!
Since God-yielded wills find the God-planned life.
-Author Unknown
D. THE LORD’S PRESENCE GOES BEFORE HIS ELECT PEOPLE THOUGH.
1. "GOD is in the midst of her: she shall not be moved: THE LORD shall help her, and that right early." (Ps 46:5)
2. (Psa 104:7 KJV) "At thy rebuke they fled; at the voice of thy thunder they hasted away."
3. (Mat 6:30 KJV) "Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, oh ye of little faith?"
4. Mark adds "Peace, be still” (Mk 4:39) "And he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm."
5. (Ps.102:13) "Thou shalt arise, and have mercy upon Zion: for the time to favour her, yea, the set time, is come."
6. (Ps. 65:7) "Which stilleth the noise of the seas, the noise of their waves, and the tumult of the people."
E. STORMS ARE GOOD FOR GOD’S CHILDREN.
1. It is not the exotic plant nursed in the glass hothouse and artificial heat which is the type of strength; but the plant struggling for existence on bleak cliffs, or the pine battling with Alpine gusts, or shivering amid Alpine snows.
2. It is the Christian that stands by the grave of his wife and children that will be able to say: “
"My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever!"
3. To many saints are like Martha, who said: "Lord, if You had been here, this never would have happened.”
a. He was with these and it still happened...
4. They would learn the importance of “asking and receiving”
5. The voices of wind, and rain, and mountain waves didn’t awaken him, but the cry of His people did.
F. NOTICE HOW THEY MARVELED AT HIS POWER. (Vr. 27)
1. (Mark 4:41) “And they feared exceedingly, and said one to another, What manner of man is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”
CONCLUSION: No doubt a few people in Noah’s day climbed into their little boats and thought to weather the storm; but only those in the Ark of God made it safely through the storm.
1. And only in Christ our Ark can we make it safely through the storms of life too.