Mark 4:35-41. That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, “Let us go over to the other side.” Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat. There were also other boats with him. A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?” He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm. He said to his disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?” They were terrified and asked each other, “Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!”
Go ahead and grab a seat. Jesus is in the boat. Have you heard somebody say that there's a popular telling of this story where the storms are the trials in your life, and you are one of the disciples in the boat, and you're freaking out and you're not sure what's going to happen. And then you remember, Jesus is in the boat. And that's supposed to be the point of this story. Is this encouraging thought that, hey, no matter what I go through in life, Jesus, he's right there with me. Jesus is in the boat. Like if you go on Instagram right now, and you type in, Jesus is in the boat, you're going to see a lot of things like this. If he's in the boat, you're not going down. And we got seventy hearts on that thing, you know, put a little sanctifying music on it, you could probably get triple digit hearts right there, you know? I mean, that's how it works. And all this story about this storm. Well, the storm's not really a storm. It's your trials. And it's not really the disciples. It's now you and Jesus. He's now somehow there with you in this story. Is that really what we're supposed to think? I mean, it's a cool message. It's trendy. I like it. It sounds good. I mean, yes, Jesus is with you. He's with you always, even to the end of the age; no matter what you're going through, Jesus is right there with you in it. But is that the point of what we just read? Is that the point of this account that Mark gives us with Jesus in the boat, with his disciples? Because on Instagram, if you just see how people are talking about it, you would think that the point that Jesus is in the boat is supposed to cast away all my fears when the actual story is the whole reason the disciples are afraid is because Jesus is in the boat with them, and they're afraid of him.
And so, we've actually taken a story that's supposed to lead to us fearing Jesus, and we've made Jesus down here with us so that we would have nothing to fear. So, open your Bible back up to Mark 4:35-41 and let me show you how Mark wrote this. And let's try to really see what his intent was when he gave us this account of the storm. And so, the problem is, in our interpretation of the Scriptures, we oftentimes use an allegorical interpretation, and I'll put that up here on the screen. What that means is, “It's a story or a picture that has a deeper meaning.” So, we're saying the storms are really this, the disciples are really us and we're looking for a meaning behind what happened in the story. Well, what we want to do is approach this with a literal interpretation, literal meaning. We're taking the words in their usual or most basic sense. We're not applying some other meaning to the words. No, this is an account where there was a great Storm on the Sea of Galilee one day when Jesus and his disciples were in the boat. And this is not a parable.
Now, in Mark chapter 4, Jesus has been telling a bunch of parables. He told a bunch of allegories, so to speak. He kept talking about a seed, and the seed goes into this soil. And there was a deeper meaning to what Jesus was saying. The farmer doesn't even know how the seed is growing. In fact, the smallest of all the seeds will become the largest of all the plants in the kingdom of God. So, Jesus has been standing on a boat with a massive crowd, speaking to them in parables, in allegories. Let me give you a story with a deeper meaning. But now he gets into the boat with his disciples. In fact, there are even other boats, and they set out into the sea to go somewhere else away from the crowd. And this is an actual event. Now, this is not a story with a deeper meaning. This is, there was a great storm, and the disciples were like, wow, this is a lot of wind, and these are the waves are really rocking. The water's coming into the boat. Jesus, he's tired from all of his teaching. Jesus, don't you know what's going on? Teacher, we're perishing.
Get the handout out of your bulletin, and I want you to circle some key things that show us how Mark tells this story so we can really track with what he's trying to show us. So, circle in verse 37 where it says, “a great windstorm.” Okay, Mark uses this word “great” three times in these verses to really show us what he's telling us here. And unfortunately, the storm is where it kind of gets all the talk, like, oh yeah, there was a storm. And the disciples, they should have trusted Jesus, but they were afraid of the storm. That's like me in my trials, where I should trust Jesus, but I get afraid. No, actually, after the great storm, it says “After Jesus woke,” in verse 39, “he rebuked the wind, and he said to the sea, ‘Peace, be still.’ And the wind ceased, and there was – circle It “a great calm.” And that's what we have here on the cover of your bulletin. We didn't have a picture of the storm. We have a picture of the calm. And I want you to really think this through with me. Don't put yourself in the storm. See how there was a massive storm, and the wind is howling. I don't know if you've ever really been in a serious storm where you can hear the wind, and the wind would knock you off your feet, and then the wind is affecting the water, and the water is rocking, and so you're kind of staggering about, water is coming over the side into the boat, and you're yelling at your friend, disciple, hey, watch out. Hey, do this. And we're shouting. And the volume keeps rising because of the wind, and the waves are sloshing over. And then Jesus just comes and he says, “Peace, be still,” and suddenly, the sea is glass, and suddenly, you can't hear anything except maybe the creaking of the boat or the sniffling of someone on the boat.
The great calm was more impressive than the great storm. In fact, these guys had been in storms, and maybe that was a bad storm, a mega storm is the Greek word, really here “megas”. It's like a mega storm. So, this was intense, but they had never seen a sudden change up like that, where it went from a great storm to immediately a great calm, just smooth, silent. You know, sometimes stillness is more profound than loud commotion, and it's in response to the great calm. Now look at what it says in the last verse, verse 41, “They were filled with,” circle it “’great fear,’ and they said to one another, who then, is this that even the wind,” which just quickly shut up, “and the sea,” which went still, “even the wind and the sea obey him.” Wow, they are in awe of who Jesus is, and the disciples have a great fear of Jesus.
So, I don't know how a story that's meant to tell us how the disciples became afraid of Jesus has now been used to tell us we don't need to be afraid because of Jesus. That might be a real point, but that's not the point of this. The point of this is that Jesus commands the wind, commands the sea, and is someone to be in awe of. Jesus, he is above and beyond us, and we should respond to him with Godly fear. Great storm, yes, but then there was a great calm because of what Jesus said, which led to a great fear of the disciples. So that's the outline of this text, and I want you to make sure that you see all of it. It wasn't just a storm. No, then, if you could take a moment later this week, in a quiet moment, and just try to imagine to yourself the wind howling all around, the water sloshing over the side and rocking up and down on these waves. And you're concerned if you're going to drown. You're concerned if you're going to get tossed into the sea. And then he speaks, and it's glass and it's silence. Wow. That is amazing. How can he tell the wind and the sea what to do?
So, the emphasis of the passage is not on the disciples being afraid of the storm. The emphasis in the passage is on the great fear they had of Jesus. In fact, look back at verse 40, when Jesus speaks to the disciples. “He said to them,’ Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?” Now, the thing you need to know is that word in verse 40 is not the same word for fear. Okay? Basically, in verse 40, he says, “Why are you so cowardly?” would be a way you could translate it. And next to verse 40, write down Revelation 21:8, because it talks about people who are cowardly. That's the only other time this word in Greek is used. So, the word for fear phobos is a very common word. It's what we get phobia from, where we understand the idea of being afraid of something. That's the normal word used in verse 41 that they had a great fear of who Jesus is. But this word here in verse 40 is not the same word for fear. It's only used really outside of this story one other time in Revelation 21:8, where it's translated “cowardly,” and it says that the cowards, the people without faith, the people who live in sin, they're going to end up in a lake, a lake of fire, which is the second death. So, the emphasis here is not on them being afraid of the storm. The point is, look at the fear they had of Jesus after he calmed the storm. In fact, it says this in Matthew 8:26, which is the same story as this. And then also in Luke, chapter 8, verse 25. It doesn't even give any word to the disciples about the storm. Jesus just says to them, “Where is your faith?” And then he says in Luke 8:25, that “the disciples were afraid, and they marveled, saying to one another, ‘Who then is this that he commands even winds and water, and they obey him?’” So if you really study Matthew 8, or here in Mark 4 or Luke 8, the emphasis is on how the disciples become afraid of Jesus, because if Jesus can tell the winds and the waves what to do, then who is he? He must be God, and God is someone to be feared. Can I get an amen?
Does anybody still believe in the fear of God anymore? This is something that's kind of been lost. We're making Bible stories about how we shouldn't be afraid when the whole Bible is trying to tell us we should be afraid of who God is and the ultimate unlimited power that he has over our lives. God is in control of the world that we live in. God decides what happens to us. He is over us, and that produces this fear. And the fear of the Lord is not a bad thing. If you study in the Scripture, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life. The fear of the Lord is when you realize I shouldn't just live my own way, I need to turn away from evil, and I need to turn to God, because God has the authority over my life. God made me, and he will decide what happens to me. And so, I'm going to fear him. And this first nature miracle in Mark, it produced a response of great fear. Who is this? The disciples said they got a glimpse into Jesus that was more than they had seen before, and they were blown away. So, it is kind of sad how we take these epic passages about Jesus and we make them about him being in the boat with us, when the point of a passage like this is to help you see how, how there's no one like Jesus. He's so beyond us, and we should respond in fear to him.
So, let's get this down for number one: “Make sure you see ‘Who this is.’” Make sure you see who this is. The point of this is to see Jesus and not to figure out something about ourselves. This is a revelation of who Jesus really is. And if you can tell the wind what to do and the water what to do, then the conclusion is, who is this? He must be God. That's who Jesus really is. And so that's what this is meant to produce within us. And so, I hope you can really hear what Mark is saying in this, okay? And go with me to Jonah, chapter 1, because in Jonah, if everybody can turn back to the book of Jonah, we get a very similar story in Jonah, chapter 1. And it's possible that Mark is familiar with Jonah, and he kind of wrote his story to follow the same outline as the story we have in Jonah, starting in chapter 1, verse 4. So, Jonah is one of the twelve prophets, and we've been reading through these twelve prophets this summer. So, you may have just read Jonah recently, and you may know that God sent Jonah to the city of Nineveh, which was the capital of Assyria. And Jonah, he knows God. He says, if you're sending me there, well, you're a gracious God, a merciful God, abounding in steadfast love, you're going to probably save those people if you send me there. And I don't want you to save them, because the Assyrians, they were the enemies of Israel. And so, Jonah, he gets on a boat going the opposite way of Nineveh, against what God told him to do. And so it says here in Jonah, chapter 1, verse 4, “But the Lord Yahweh hurled a great wind upon the sea. There was a mighty tempest on the sea, so that the ship threatened to break up.” Okay, so God causes a great storm, it says God sends a great wind on the sea, and this is because Jonah's going the wrong way. Now the sailors, the mariners on this boat that Jonah got on, they begin to understand that this is not your ordinary storm. There's Wow, there's something going on here. And they start calling out to their gods, as they believe different things. At this time, everybody believed in gods, usually many gods, and so they're calling out to their gods. And over time, as you keep reading the story, it's revealed that the only way the storm is going to stop is if you throw Jonah over the side into the sea. Because he's the problem. He's disobeying God. And that makes these sailors, mariners, feel very concerned because you're not supposed to throw people overboard into the sea. That doesn't quite sound right, but Jonah's like, no. This is what Yahweh wants you to do. This is what God wants you to do. So, pick it up in verse 14. “Therefore they called out to the Lord, ‘O Lord, let us not perish for this man's life and lay not on us innocent blood. For You, O Lord, have done as it pleased you.’” Basically, please don't hold us guilty of murdering this guy when we throw him overboard right now. “So, they picked up Jonah and hurled him into the sea, and the sea ceased from its raging. Then the men,” what does it say there, everybody? “Then the men feared the Lord.” What? Exceedingly, what have we got? We’ve got a great storm. Then you throw Jonah overboard by a great calm. And then what? The fear that the men have for Yahweh after the calm is even greater than the fear they had for the storm in the first place. In fact, it says about these sailors, it says, “They feared the Lord exceedingly. They offered a sacrifice to the Lord, and they made vows.” That seems to express that they now had an understanding of who God is, and they were committed to that idea of God moving forward. So maybe they went from worshiping many different gods to knowing the one true God, because they saw as men of the sea. hey, the wind doesn't just stop like that. The sea doesn't just become still like that. There's only one who could do that, and he is to be feared.
So you can see that there's a similar idea of the storm leading to the calm, leading to the fear that we have in Jonah 1. And that's what Mark is now showing us, that same pattern of events, but this time, instead of Yahweh causing the calm and then fearing Yahweh, now it's Jesus in the boat with his disciples, and now the disciples are afraid of Jesus. So, this is a way that Mark is proving to us that Jesus is a God. He is the Son of God who became a man, and he has all the authority and power of God himself. So go back now to Mark 4. Hopefully, now we're all tracking with what Mark actually wrote in the literal way. But now let's really try to think through this question that they ask. Okay, now let's really consider “Who is this” if he can tell the wind to stop its howling and if he can tell the sea to be still? Who is able to do that? Okay? So, wow. I can't believe that he has power over the physical world that we live in, even the wind of the of the heavens and the water of the sea, even they do what Jesus says.
Now go back to Mark 1:27, because we saw a statement like verse 41 of Mark 4. We saw this earlier in Mark 1:27. Do you remember when Jesus cast out the first demon? If you've been going through Mark with us, when he was teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum, a demon started saying, “We know who you are.” And he told the demon to be silent, and he cast the demon out. And then he got this response in Mark 1:27, “They were all amazed, so that they questioned among themselves, saying, ‘What is this?’ A new teaching with authority. He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him.” Wow. He can tell demons what to do. What kind of authority is this. So, Mark has already been revealing to us who Jesus is, and we've seen Jesus silence and cast out demons. We've seen Jesus heal many people of their diseases. We've heard Jesus teach with great authority and cause profound responses in the people who hear him. But see, we haven't seen this. What we’ve get to now in Mark 4, we haven't seen yet, him do a miracle over the physical world. So, we've got an idea over the spiritual world, even his idea over our own bodies. But wow, you mean he can do geographical miracles? You mean Jesus can even tell the planet that we live on what to do, and it will listen to him. Whoa. Their minds are blown by this. They have a fear of Jesus in response to seeing that Jesus can tell nature what to do, and so this is the first Nature Miracle. And there's going to be more in Mark, more things on the sea that he does. How he takes bread and fish and multiplies them, he's going to curse a fig tree, and the fig tree is going to wither up just because he spoke to it. So, they're going to continue to see this. But this is the first glimpse in Mark of a Nature Miracle.
So, who is able to control the physical world that we live in, things like wind and sea? Who is that? Well, let's actually use the Scripture that they had, and let's try to answer “Who is this?” Go with me to Psalm 89:9. If everybody could grab your Bible, I want to turn us to three different Psalms that talk about stilling the sea. Who is able to do this, and what can we learn about him? The first one we want to go to is Psalm 89:9. And I’ve got to just tell you, I'm getting very excited about the Psalms. My mind is often going to the Psalms, because after we finish reading through the twelve, we are going to read the Psalms together as a church next. And so, we're reading Zechariah this week. I'll be preaching from Zechariah this Wednesday night. Then we have Malachi, the last of the twelve, and in a few weeks, you'll see me back up here, and I'll be inviting you and every single one of us here at the church. let's all go read the Psalms together as we go into the fall season, let's go get to know who God is through these Psalms. And so, I want to take you to three of them that refer to this idea of someone who can command the wind and the sea. And I want to just talk to you for a minute about the idea of nature, the idea of the physical world that we live in. Okay, I've seen a lot of you posting things this summer as you travel, and you see these beautiful views, and you go on these epic trails and hikes, and you go to some of the national parks and some of the beaches, I see people posting beautiful shots of nature, and I think it's very healthy, very good to get out there in nature. But over the course of my life, I see people start to talk about nature almost like nature's its own thing. And I just want to warn our entire church in this way of thinking, like we have nature channels and nature shows and nature this. And once you don't have respect for nature, it has you in its grasp; like nature is this force in and of itself. In fact, a lot of people refer to Mother Nature. And so, you start to get this idea that life just happens, the world just exists, kind of it's become this way over millions of years, and it just keeps going in this natural way. That's how nature works. It just kind of does its own thing, and there's science to back it up. And what we're doing here is we're acting like God has nothing to do with nature, like there's a force of nature out there and God's not in control of it. God's not commanding it. Jesus isn’t upholding the universe by the Word of his power. No, it's just nature.
And then, I've been here preaching this all weekend. I was here preaching this last night. And then this is the front page of the Orange County Register this very morning. This is the headline in the biggest font on the front page: “Big Picture, Nature Rebounding from Destruction.” That's how it said. Now it's talking about the tragic fires that we had. And hey, the animals are doing all right, the plants are growing back. You know what? I would love to see Jesus renew life after fire. Wouldn't that be a great headline? Because that's exactly how it is. That's how we should all be thinking about it. And I'm concerned, is that, how you're thinking about it? Do plants just grow by themselves? Do animals just live by themselves? Does the world just spin in planetary rotation exactly as it's supposed to, by himself? Or is Jesus doing it? What really happens? What do you think happens? Because Hebrews, chapter 1, verse 3 says that “Jesus is upholding the universe by the Word of his power.” John, chapter 1, verse 2 says, “Nothing has been made except if Jesus made it.” Colossians 1:16 says that all things that have been created were created by Jesus specifically. And so, no, there is no nature that exists outside of the Lord Jesus. That's why I don't like to use the word nature, because of how people use it. It's a fine word, but people are using it like it's its own, independent thing. I like to use the word “creation” because it shows that somebody made it. There was an intelligent design behind it, and even now, without him sustaining it, it wouldn't just naturally work. No, he's doing it. That's how it happens. He speaks, and the physical world you live in responds.
And so, let's get this down for point number two: “Jesus is the Lord of all Creation.” That's what they have their eyes open to see. That's the glimpse that they get. And they are afraid. Wow, we've never seen some raw, unlimited power that you can tell the wind and the sea what to do. You controlled the heavens and the oceans. Who is this? Well, it's God, it's the Lord, it's the one who's in charge. It's the boss of our planet. And man, I really want you to see this, and I want to go through three different Psalms together to make sure that that's the way we are all thinking. And so, look at Psalm 89, verse 9, where it says, “You rule the raging of the sea, when its waves rise, you still them.” Who's the one who's over all the storms? What's his name? Jesus, okay, he can still the sea. Now, that's clearly what we saw in Mark 4. Let's get the whole context now here in Psalm 89. Let's read some of the other verses around it. Verse 5, “The heavens praise your wonders, Lord, your faithfulness too, in the assembly of the holy ones. For who in the skies above can compare with the Lord? Who is like the Lord among the heavenly beings? In the council of the holy ones God is greatly feared; he is more awesome than all who surround him. Who is like you, Lord God Almighty? You, Lord, are mighty, and your faithfulness surrounds you.” And then it talks about how you can still the seas.
So, you can see there's this idea of God in the heavenly realm, in the spiritual realm, where there's all the other beings, all the other heavenly ones. In fact, whenever you see Lord, God of hosts, “of hosts” is talking about the armies of heaven, the armies of angels and the legions of demons. And is there any spiritual being that can compare to God? Does God rule with authority over all the spiritual realm? Has Jesus been given the name that is above every name so that all principalities, rulers, Angels and Demons, do they all bow down to the Lord Jesus? Well, the answer to that is Yes, and that's why you fear him, because he has power in the spiritual realm. But now we go from the heavens to the seas. So, Mark's done this, just like the Psalms is doing this. Do you see his power in the heavens? Yeah, he's got power here, too, and that's what this Psalm is saying. In fact, let's keep reading. It says, “You crushed Rahab like one of the slain; with your strong arm you scattered your enemies. The heavens are yours, and yours also the earth; you founded the world and all that is in it.”
So, this is what happens with me when I read the Bible. Maybe this happens with you, too. You're reading, you're like, oh, he makes the waves. Still, that's epic. “You crushed Rahab like a carcass.” What in the world is that about? Does that happen to anybody else when you read the Bible? Rahab, I thought she was this lady from Judges. I don't think she got crushed like a carcass. What is this about? I have no idea. Okay, let's just keep reading. Does anybody else do that in your Bible time? I would encourage you to stop doing that. Don't just keep reading when you don't know what it's saying. If you're on your phone or your tablet or something, start clicking buttons, find out what's going on. If you're i reading the Bible, maybe you've got some cross references. Who is Rahab that got crushed like a carcass, and why are we saying that right after we're stealing the waves of the raging sea? Well, if you start looking up Rahab, not just the lady in judges. But you start seeing like it goes all the way back to Job 26:12. There's some kind of connection between Rahab and the water. And then in Psalm 87 verse 4, there's a list of nations, and Rahab is one of them. So, there's some nation that has some connotation with water. And then you get to Isaiah 30, verse 7, and it says flat out that Egypt, the nation of Egypt, is who we're referring to as Rahab. And then you realize, oh yeah, there's a nation that God showed his power over with water, that was the nation of Egypt. And all of a sudden, you're back to the sea, and Moses is holding out his staff, and God is parting the sea. God is stilling the sea, and his people walk across on dry ground, and then here come their enemies, the Egyptians, who have made their hearts hard against God. They have pride. Those are our slaves. We're going to go get them back. And the horse and the rider, they go in there, and God slams the water down on them, and he judges the Egyptians, and he delivers his people. Oh, you can control the wind and the sea. Oh, you're him. That's a God who can make the sea stop for his people, and who can throw the horse and rider of Egypt in the sea and win a victory.
You, Jesus, is Yahweh. That is mind blowing. That is a God to be feared. Though, if we got out there on the wind and the sea, they have power over us, but God has power over them. Wow, that's the connection there. And if we don't look up Rahab. We won't think, what's the coolest thing? Maybe that God ever did with water? How about what he did with the Egyptian army? Because he crushed them like a carcass. Do you see that God's power over the wind and the sea? Go to Psalm 65 with me. Psalm 65, another similar verse here in Psalm 65, verse 7. Psalm 65:7. You just see these cool references that not just that God can start a storm, but God can calm the storm. He can still the sea, he can cease the wind. And so, you see that Psalm 65:7, “who stilled the roaring of the seas, the roaring of their waves, and the turmoil of the nations?” So, now we're starting to get how the thought typically goes. We start describing God's power over the physical creation, like the water, the seas. But then not just is God over the physical world, he's also over the nations of the world. And so, it'll start comparing the seas to the nations. And just like the seas will rise, nations will rise, but God is still over them all. He can still them all. And so that's what you start to see.
Now, let's go back and get the context. Let's start reading in verse 5, and let's go through verse 8 You answer us with awesome and righteous deeds, God our Savior, the hope of all the ends of the earth and of the farthest seas, who formed the mountains by your power, having armed yourself with strength, who stilled the roaring of the seas, the roaring of their waves, and the turmoil of the nations. The whole earth is filled with awe at your wonders; where morning dawns, where evening fades, you call forth songs of joy.”
Now, one time when I got to go on a trip all the way across the world to Dubai, and Dubai is in the Middle East, close to Israel, right? And I met this guy there. I was at Gulf Theological Seminary. Some of you might know our missionary, Dr Eric Zeller, who is the president of this seminary. And he was introducing me to some of the Bible teachers they have training up guys there in Dubai to plant churches all over that part of the world. And he introduced me to the guy who was their Old Testament teacher at the seminary. And he asked me where I was from. I said, I'm from Huntington Beach, California. And he said, “Oh, you're from the coastlands. You're from the ends of the earth.” And immediately I was like, I like this guy. We're going to be friends, you know, because in this guy's mind, a man who spends his time reading the Hebrew Scriptures, we are as far out on the outer edges of the Earth, as you can get, if Jerusalem, if Israel, is the center of the Earth, where all these psalms are being written in the Hebrew language. Well, we're the ends of the earth. We're the coastlands. And did you see what it said about us here at the ends of the earth? It says that God is the hope of the ends of the earth and of the farthest seas. And it says in verse 8 that “those who dwell at the ends of the earth are in awe at your signs.” What signs are we talking about here? “You make the going out of the morning and the evening to shout for joy.” Let me ask you, do we get some epic sunrises and sunsets here at the coastlands, at the ends of the earth? Yesterday morning, I woke up; I was so tired. I'm driving. We've been having this overcast marine layer in the mornings lately, and I'm driving. And because the clouds are gray, because it's still kind of dark because of this cloud layer, there's those little holes in the clouds, and those rays of sunlight are just coming through. And because it's so dark and the contrast of the backdrop, you can see the rays of light, you know what I'm talking about, when it's just like these radiant beams of glory coming through the clouds. And next time you see that speak his name, “Jesus, you are awesome. Jesus, that's amazing what you're doing right there.” If I were to ask you what color is the sky, you would say, what? And you would be wrong. Most of every sunset around here, the sky is not just blue. I mean, last night, after I was able to preach this, God, as if he as if he knew what we were talking about, I guess, man, we had such an orange and pink, that sherbert kind of a sky that we get around here almost every night. And you look over this way, you just see these hues of orange and pink, and you just, it's like you're driving into a golden hour. You're driving into glory. If you drive towards it, like that's him with a shout of joy. He's ending the day with a shout of joy. He's bringing in the day. You think the sun rises and sets by itself. That's Jesus. Speak his name. Give him glory. Don't say, Oh, what a beautiful sunset. Oh, what a beautiful creator. That's Jesus. He is controlling this. And we're here at the coastland. We're here at the ends of the earth. We're the people who should be in awe of his signs. We’ve got so many people appreciating nature, but so few people worshiping the Savior. Make sure you see, oh, that's Jesus. He commands, he speaks and that happens. He calls for the rising and the setting of the sun. He makes it look at the words here you make, the going out of the morning and the evening to shout for joy. He is the one making that happen. Make sure you're giving him the praise, because he's definitely the one doing it.
Go over to Psalm, 107, a third Psalm, I want to turn you to. I don't even know if you know this is in the Bible. Psalm 107 begins book five, and it's a long Psalm. It gives these different scenarios of reasons to praise the Lord. And look at what it says in Psalm 107, verse 23. It begins to take us out onto the seas here. And it says, “Some went down to the sea, and ships doing business on the great waters. They saw the deeds of the Lord, His wondrous works in the deep, for he commanded and raised the stormy wind, which lifted up the waves of the sea.” So hey, let's talk about those who go out on the boats and you’ve got to remember, at the context of the Psalms, or at the time of Jesus and the disciples, they're going by wind power, and they're out there at the mercy of the wind and at the mercy of the waves. That's how their boats are moving around. And so, when you get out there and you see the storm come, notice. Can everybody write this down if you're taking notes? He commanded and raised the stormy wind. Notice, storms don't just happen. They happen because God says so. That's the idea here, that God is commanding the planet you live on, and it's responding to his Word. And notice this phrase, we need to bring this back, “his wondrous works in the deep.” Wondrous. That's a word we want to bring back. Because if something's wondrous, it's awe inspiring, it's overwhelming. It's the kind of thing of which I could be afraid. And we don't really use the word wondrous anymore. We've kind of brought everything down to the level of wonderfull. And even that doesn't mean I'm full of wonder. It means it's pleasing to me. It's delightful to me. I enjoy it. It's wonderful. But here, man, if you ever got out there in the sea and you could see the wind howling as it comes in, you could see the waves rocking your boat, and you realize that these wind, and these waves want to do to me. They're going to have the way with our ship here. Wow, that's the wondrous works of God that you're witnessing. You get a small glimpse of his power in his creation. And then look at what it says, as it tells the tale of the sea here, about these waves that God commands. Verse 26 “They mounted up to heaven, and then they went down to the depths. And the sailors, their courage melted away in their evil plight. They became cowards in the face of the storm, they reeled and staggered like drunken men. They were at their wit's end. Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress. He made the storm be still and the waves of the sea were hushed. They were glad when the waters were quiet, and he brought them to their desired Haven. Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love, for his wondrous works to the children of man. Let them extol him in the congregation of the people and praise him in the assembly of the elders.” We should be gathering together as God's people and worshiping him. Why? Because he is the God who can make great storms, and he is the God who can make great calm, and he can deliver many people who have been lost at sea. He has delivered them, and they should come and praise him. Why? Because he's the one who's doing this. Who is this?
See, so you have all of these thoughts that God is sovereign over his creation, and he rules the wind and the waves. And then Jesus now can tell the wind and the waves what to do. So, who is Jesus? Jesus is the Lord of all creation, and by this story, we're not supposed to feel good about Jesus being with us. We're supposed to fear who Jesus really is, and we're supposed to get on our knees and confess with our mouths that Jesus is the Lord. And someday, everybody's going to see it. But through Mark 4:35-41 you can see it today. You can see who Jesus is now, because he can tell the wind and the waves what to do, and only God can do that. That's who Jesus is. So, he's showing that he is God. And when the disciples saw it, they responded with fear.
Let me ask you a personal question. Have you ever been afraid of Jesus? Have you ever seen something about Jesus where you realize that he had power and authority over you, that Jesus decides how you're going to live? He decides what's going to happen on your planet. He decides what's going to happen with your body. Jesus decides how many days you're going to live, and after you die, you will stand before Jesus in judgment, and he will decide what happens to you for eternity. Do you know Jesus? That gives you a reason to be afraid, because if you're never afraid of Jesus, do you really even know who he is? He's someone who should inspire fear, awe, worship, and great reverence in our hearts. I shouldn't be comforted that Jesus is in the boat with me. Whoa, to be in the presence of Jesus, that would be a fearful thing, because he is the Lord of heaven and of earth. Wow. That's how the disciples respond.
Now go back to Mark 4, because I want you to see something about these disciples that Mark is going to make very clear. And this is kind of the part of the beginning of it. We're just at the beginning of a repetitive point that Mark is going to make over and over. Here the disciples asked this profound question, “Who is he that the winds and the sea obey Him?” But it seems like the disciples have a hard time really seeing who Jesus is, and this goes again against the way we think. And I'm sorry to go against the way we think again, but how we think is a lot of people would say, well, if I saw Jesus, then I believe in him. If I experienced a miracle like this, that would increase my faith. A lot of people, even though we can say faith is not by sight, people think that seeing is believing. And many people are waiting to feel something. Many people are waiting to experience something. Many people are waiting for something to happen. And then when that happens, whether it's really bad, like hitting rock bottom, or whether it's really awesome and I get a glimpse of the glory of God, well when something happens, then I'll really respond to God with faith. Well, I just want to tell you that you can't really have something more amazing happen than thinking you might perish in a storm and then experience a great calm on the sea. And these guys don't get it just because that happens. They don't have great faith just because they experienced it or because they saw it. If you think that's how it works, Mark is here to teach you a different way to think. And so, one of the main themes of the gospel of Mark is not just the revelation of the glory of who Jesus is, but it's the utter inability of the disciples to see who Jesus is. And so, look what Jesus says in verse 40, when “he said to them, ‘Why are you acting so cowardly?’” It's translated afraid there. It's not the same word for fear. And then he says, “Have you still no faith?” How come you guys aren't getting who I am and what I'm able to do?
Now, Mark gives us three different scenes that happen on the Sea of Galilee on the boat. Go over to Mark, chapter 6. He gives us three different times. And the point of all three of these scenes is not just to see that Jesus is Lord over the Sea of Galilee, but also that the disciples are having such a hard time seeing who Jesus is. And you see that very well illustrated here in Mark 6:45. This is after Jesus has had fed thousands of people with five loaves and two fish. So, this is another Nature Miracle where Jesus has somehow miraculously multiplied a little bit of bread and just a couple of fish into a lot of bread and a lot of fish. “And so immediately he made his disciples get into the boat, and they go before him to the other side, and he dismissed the crowd.” So, Jesus, he's been teaching. He does this epic miracle, sends the disciples away, sends the crowd away. He goes up on the mountain to pray, and then it says in verse 47, “When evening came.” So, we've got another night scene on the sea. The boat was out on the sea, and he was alone on the land, and he saw that they were making headway painfully because the wind was against them. So, they're not moving very quickly at all. They're going into the wind. And so, it says “About the fourth watch of the night, he came to them walking on the sea. Jesus stepping on to liquid, walking across the lake. And it says he meant to pass by them. He's just going to beat them to the other side. “But when they saw him walking on the sea, they thought it was a ghost and cried out for they all saw him and were terrified. But immediately he spoke to them and says, ‘Take heart. It is I. Do not be afraid.” I'm just out here having a little walk. Don't worry about it. And he got into the boat with them. And then notice again what happens. So, I want to make sure you are just as impressed with the great calm as you are with the walking on water. Soon they're going and they can't make progress because of the wind for it seems like a long time in the night. And then Jesus gets in the boat with you, and immediately wind’s gone, and immediately you can start sailing. As soon as Jesus gets in the boat, he can walk on it again. So, he shows his power over the water and the wind. And then look what happens. It says in verse 51, “He got into the boat with them, and the wind ceased. And they were utterly astounded, for they did not understand about the loaves, but their hearts were” what everybody? So you just saw two of the most amazing things that have ever happened, a miraculous feeding of thousands of people and a man walking on the water. And you're not getting it. And Mark's making it very clear they're not really seeing Jesus yet.
Go over a little further into Mark, chapter 8. Go to Mark, chapter 8, verse 14. And this story is not very well known. This is what happens here in Mark 8. It isn’t a famous miracle or story at all. What happens here is Jesus and his disciples are on the boat. They get to the land. Guess who's waiting for them on the land? The Pharisees. And the Pharisees are like, “Jesus, we want to see a sign from you.” And Jesus is like, looking at these guys like an evil people want to see a sign. And what more? I mean, he's already been casting out all the demons. He's already been healing all the diseases. He's already been giving out free food when there was no food. He's already been teaching things like you've never heard before. I mean, what more do you really need to see if that's how it works. Give us a sign, and then we'll believe. And Jesus basically just says, I'm not dealing with these guys. And they get back in the boat and they go sail somewhere else. Now, when they get back in the boat and sail somewhere else, the disciples are like, oh, we don't have any bread, because maybe they were going to do like some Door Dash when they got to the shore, and it didn't happen. And so now we're going somewhere else, and we've got no bread. And when they're going somewhere else and they have no bread, Jesus says, hey, “watch out for the leaven of the Pharisees.” Like those guys, Jesus is thinking about these guys on the shore that he's frustrated with. He's saying, watch out for the leaven of the Pharisees. And when they hear the word leaven, they're like, oh, Jesus is upset. We don't have any bread. We’ve got a big problem. Do you have the bread? I don't have the bread. We don't have any bread. And so, there's this massive miscommunication. And Jesus is like looking at the Pharisees and they're over here worrying about bread. This is after he's miraculously multiplied bread for thousands of people. And in the Gospel of Mark, he does it one time for five thousand men and one time for four thousand men. So, he does it multiple times in this gospel, and then they're over here saying, we don't have any bread. What are we going to do? And so, Jesus tells us what he really thinks about these disciples, starting in Mark, chapter 8, verse 17, please pay attention to this. “Aware of their discussion, Jesus asked them: ‘Why are you talking about having no bread? Do you still not see or understand? Are your hearts hardened? Do you have eyes but fail to see, and ears but fail to hear? And don’t you remember? When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many basketfuls of pieces did you pick up?’ ‘Twelve,’ they replied. ‘And when I broke the seven loaves for the four thousand, how many basketfuls of pieces did you pick up?’ They answered, ‘Seven’. He said to them, ‘Do you still not understand?’”
See, I'm hoping you're going to walk away from this sermon understanding a couple of things about Jesus. One, everything that happens in the physical world, you want to connect to his power and his might. But then also, I want you to see that just because you see something happen, just because you experience something, just because you feel something, that doesn't mean you respond with faith. In fact, one of the questions that the book of Mark wants to get you to ask is, how do you really hear? How do you really see? How do you really come to understand? If you just go through your natural process in life, you will not see your way to faith. You will not feel your way to salvation. I have seen people hit rock bottom and keep digging. I have seen people have tremendous success and completely forget about God. I have seen all manner of things happen to people. They do not produce faith.
See, the only thing that can produce faith, even if Jesus was right there with them, they saw Jesus with their own eyes, they don't understand. They don't have faith yet. No, we're going to have to keep reading. And Jesus is going to say, guys, here's what's going to happen, I'm going to go to Jerusalem, they're going to get me, they're going to kill me, and on the third day I will be raised. No, that's not going to happen. Not you, Jesus. No, guys, here's what's going to happen. And then after he goes to Jerusalem, and they get him, and they kill him, and on the third day he is raised, what do you read in all the Gospels? And they remembered what he had said.
See, faith, the only way that faith comes is faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of Christ. There's only one way to have a response of faith, and you have to see Jesus as he's revealed in the Scripture. Like what we're doing right now, seeing Jesus as one who can calm a great storm and freak out his disciples. This is where faith comes from. It comes from hearing the Word about Christ. Do you remember that after Jesus rose, two of the disciples were on the road to Emmaus, and Jesus comes up and walks with them, but they don't know it's Jesus. Do you remember this? They can't recognize it's Jesus, and Jesus begins to tell them from the Law and the Prophets. He says, why are you so hard of heart? Why do you not understand? Didn't the prophets tell you? And Jesus begins to use Scripture that, of course there's going to be a Messiah, and of course the Messiah has to suffer and die, and of course the Messiah would be raised on the third day. And these guys who have seen Jesus die on the cross, and they've heard about him rising from the dead, it's not until Jesus explains it to them from the Scripture that their hearts burn within them, and then when Jesus breaks the bread for their meal, their eyes are open to realize that the person they've been talking to the whole time is the actual resurrected Lord Jesus. And as soon as they recognize it's Jesus, he disappears right in front of their eyes. And what do they say to each other? Wasn't that the best Bible study you ever had in your life? Because they are more impressed with seeing Jesus in here than in seeing Jesus with their own eyes. If you want to have faith, you have to get your eyeballs in the Bible. You have to see Jesus. Faith is not something you can muster up yourself. Faith is a response to seeing who Jesus really is.
Let's get this down for number three: “Jesus is the author of our faith.” Jesus is the author of our faith. You will have faith in direct proportion to how you see Jesus. You can't see somebody who has faith, don't think, oh, that's just their personality. Don't think, oh, God just made them that way. Don't think, oh well, they just have faith. That's just the kind of the person they are. No. The reason, if you know somebody who has faith, I'll tell you exactly why they have faith, because they've seen Jesus in the Scripture, because they've heard the Word of Christ and God revealed to them who Jesus is, and when they see Jesus for who he really is, that's what produces a response of faith. It's not because they had an experience, it's not because they saw something with their eyes. It's because they saw who Jesus is, revealed to them by God in the Scripture. The Holy Spirit illuminated it to them. And so, if you're like, well, I wish I had more faith. I wish I could be more strong and less cowardly. I wish I knew Jesus better. Well, let me ask you, does the book stay closed? Because if the book is closed, then you won't see, you won't have faith.
Don't go try hard this week to be a person of faith. Don't go look at your storms and think I’ve got to be tough because Jesus is in the boat with me. No. Open up the book and start seeing who Jesus is. That's where faith will come from. If you don't have time in the stillness, if you don't have time in the silence, you may never really get the great fear that comes with knowing Jesus. You may never see who he really is, that produces this response of faith. So, it's moments like this, when we've opened the book and we've read the word, this is your best chance of seeing who Jesus is in moments like this. And I keep talking to people here at the church, I've had so many great conversations with people this summer, and so many people are waiting for something to happen. I don't know. It's like they want it to get worse before they believe. So many people are waiting for a feeling, an emotion, something to make them will to have a spark of faith. No, no, no, don't. For that feeling may never come.
This is how it works. Can you hear who Jesus is right now? Can you see that the winds and the sea obey him? Can you see that he's the Lord? Can you confess with your mouth that Jesus is the Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead? Well, then you can be saved as you hear the word of Christ, respond with faith right now. Put your trust in Jesus right now. Say, Jesus, you're the Lord of my life. You'll decide why I was born. You'll decide when I die. You will determine everything in between. You are in control of me. You have authority over me. You don't exist for me. I exist for you, Lord Jesus, show me who you are. I want to see you. I want to know you. I don't want to wait till I see you when it's too late. With my eyes I want to see you now by faith. Jesus, show me who you are.
So many people are waiting for something that's not going to happen. I think of the guy, Jesus tells the story of a man who died and then he went to hell. Remember this story, and the guy had many brothers, and he's like, oh, he's talking to Abraham up above, and he sees a guy he knows from Earth there with Abraham, and he says, oh, you’ve got to send him back to tell my brothers, all my brothers. They don't believe. They're going to come to this terrible place that I'm in. Send them back to tell my brothers. Do you remember what Abraham says? “They have the law, they have the prophets. If they're not going to see it in the book, they won't even believe it.. If somebody comes back from the dead, what are we waiting for? Jesus has already done it. It's already been written down. We’ve got to see it. We’ve got to ask God to open my eyes. I want to see Jesus. I don't want to live by what I can see. I want to live by faith.
Go with me to Hebrews, chapter 12. Hebrews, chapter 12 talks about how we're supposed to live this life. And I know we've got people in the room; you need to see Jesus and believe in him for the first time. And then I've got brothers and sisters in the room. Maybe you've known about Jesus for a while now, and you've believed in him, and you've had faith. I want to encourage you. Your faith will grow in proportion to how you see Jesus in the Scripture. Stay faithful getting in that Bible, keep listening to God's Word, keep getting it on your heart. That's how you're going to see him and know him. And here in Hebrews, chapter 12, verse 1. It says, “Therefore” coming to the climax of this book. “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses. Who's the great cloud of witnesses? All the people of faith that get described in Hebrews 11. Hebrews 11 is a whole chapter of faith. People who live by things they can't see and they do things that the world isn't even worthy of, things that transcend normal human life. All these people of faith. Well, since we have all these examples of faith, let us also lay aside every weight, lay aside all the burdens, all the trials, all the cares of this life, and lay aside the sin which clings so closely, all the temptations that want to take us down. Lay those aside and let us run with endurance, the race that is set before us. How are we going to do that? Verse 2, “Looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our” what?
If you're thinking, I want to have faith, you can't have faith unless you look to Jesus and respond to him. That's where faith comes from. Faith comes from a response to Jesus. He begins that work of faith. He's the founder of it. He finishes that work of faith. He's the perfecter of it. He who began a good work of faith in you will be faithful to complete it. Jesus, he commands the sun to rise and the sun to set. Jesus, He commands your faith to rise, and he will bring your faith all the way to the end, and in the end, you won't be like I did this. I believe that I tried for this. What you will say, along with the angels and along with all of creation, is you will say Jesus is the one who did it, and you will give him the glory, and you will worship him. And you won't think I had faith, you'll think I saw Jesus and I responded to him. That's where faith comes from. So, if you can see Jesus right now, don't miss this moment. Don't just leave here and go on with your regularly scheduled life. He's out there bringing a great calm to a great storm, and you should respond to Jesus with a great fear. If you ever find yourself in the boat with Jesus, it's not going to be a moment to think, oh, everything's okay. You're going to be like, “Who is this?” And I pray that you can see Jesus so that you can truly have be a person of faith. Let me pray now.
Father, I come before you on behalf of everybody here, and God, I pray that you would speak to us through your Word today, by the power of your Spirit, and that you would show us your Son, Jesus. God, we know how pleased you are with Jesus. We know that he did exactly what you told him to do when he died on the cross for our sins, when he rose on the third day. We know that right now. The reason you're hearing this prayer, Father, is because Jesus is at your right-hand interceding for us. And so, Father, we know that you have given Jesus the name Lord, and you've exalted Jesus, and you're so pleased to honor your Son, Jesus with all things. And God, we want you to honor Jesus here in Huntington Beach right now. We want you to exalt Jesus in our hearts. God, when we leave here today and we see the sunset later on, we want to worship Jesus. God, when we go and see the ocean and we see the waves rising and falling, when we feel the wind blowing, we want to worship Jesus. And when we can see past ourselves that life is not about us, and we can see him exalted as the risen Lord, ready to return, ready to reign, ready to establish his kingdom, we want to worship Jesus. Oh, Father, I pray that you will open the eyes of our hearts. I pray for those who are still waiting for some feeling or some experience or to see something in their lives. I pray that they could hear this Word of Christ today, that they would turn and believe in Jesus. I pray for my brothers and sisters who have known Jesus for a while, that we could see him afresh today. How can I not trust him with everything? If he controls the wind and the sea, surely he can take care of me. Give us faith in Jesus. And Father, I look forward to the kingdom when it comes. I pray that today we would make our paths straight. Today we get would get ready, because the Lord is coming. And he'll reign on a throne there in Jerusalem, and he'll send a river out to the Dead Sea. He'll turn deserts into fertile places of trees and fruit. When Jesus comes, he'll change the world as we know it, through his power, because he is the Lord of all creation. So, God, we look forward to when we can see Jesus, but until that day, give us faith. Open our eyes to see him. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen.