You can turn now in your copy of the scriptures to Mark chapter 6. We'll be finishing up the chapter today. So it'll be in 45 through 56. So Jesus, he sent the disciples out. They make a great commotion with all their work. Makes Herod think that it's John the Baptist raised from the dead. And they come back to Jesus. They can't catch a break. There's tens of thousands of people, 5,000 men, and Jesus feeds them all. Now, John's account of this miracle in John chapter 6 says that the people were ready to make Jesus king by force. And so we're gonna see that Jesus is gonna send the disciples away and he's gonna run up the mountain to pray, but something extraordinary happens after that. So this is the word of the Lord, Mark chapter 6, beginning in verse 45. Immediately, he made his disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side, to Bethsaida, while he dismissed the crowd. And after he had taken leave of them, he went up on the mountain to pray. When evening came, the boat was out on the sea, and he was alone on the land. And he saw that They were making headway painfully, for the wind was against them. And at about the fourth watch of the night, that's roughly between 1 or 3 or 3 and 6 a.m., depending on how you count it, but dark, middle of the night, he came to them, walking on the sea. He meant to pass by them, 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 said, take heart, it is I, do not be afraid. And 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 hardened. When they had crossed over, they came to land at Gennesaret and moored to the shore. And when they got out of the boat, the people immediately recognized him and ran about the whole region and began to bring the sick people on their beds to wherever they heard he was. And wherever he came, in villages, cities, or countryside, they laid the sick in the marketplaces and implored him that they might touch even the fringe of his garment. And as many as touched him, they were made well. The grass withers and the flower fades, but the word of the Lord stands forever. Let's ask for his blessing on it this morning. Heavenly Father, I pray that you would teach us, that your Son would speak to us by the Spirit, and so speaking that we would live. and that we would touch him by faith, that we would reach out to him for salvation, and that we would all be made well. Lord, you know where we are this morning. You know all the troubles of our hearts. Lord, I pray that you would meet them this morning in your word. Lord, let the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in your sight. Oh, Lord, my rock, my redeemer. Amen. The ghost story cannot be killed. As you heard earlier, little kids are afraid of ghosts, but things continue to haunt us even as we get older. Even scientific man of recent days, recent centuries, has tried to say the supernatural is bunk. Materialism is in. Nothing exists except for the things that I can apprehend with my five senses. I can't taste it, touch it, smell it, see it. It ain't real. Yet man jettisoned God. You know, Frederick Nietzsche famously said that, you know, God is dead and we have killed him. Man has killed God for himself and has left himself defenseless against the ghosts. Because this ghost story cannot be killed. Man knows in the back of his mind, whether in the forefront or in the back, but in the back of his mind, he will always know there's something out there, whether it's spiritual forces or just the things that he's afraid of, always sneaking and creeping up on him. We will always be afraid. There always will be ghosts, whether of the past, the present, or even of the future. And so because of that, we're always going to feel afraid. It's normal for us to feel afraid as human beings. We were actually made to fear. We were made to fear God. But mankind cut off from God, from the garden onward, man's fear has turned to other things. The fear can begin to take control of us. So our scripture here is calling us this morning to let our fear be driven by faith. Rather, let faith drive your fears to Christ. Let faith in Christ drive your fears and you with them to Christ himself. So we see here in our text how this miracle is set up. I think it's significant that in verse 47, after Jesus sends the disciples away, dismisses the crowd, he prays. But in verse 47, Mark is reminding us, he gives us this detail. Now the boat was out on the sea and Jesus was out on the land. Kind of one of those things like, look, You know, Jesus was nowhere near these disciples, as there can be no mistaking what Jesus has done. Jesus sent them away and went and prayed to his father. They could not have been together. Just, you know, it's like if you had Like, look, the guy who fielded that ball off the wall in the ninth inning, he made that throw from the warning track straight home. Like a great Bo Jackson throw from prior days. All the way to the plate, and he gunned him down. What a great throw. Or, you know, they snapped the ball on the two-yard line. through a Hail Mary and it was caught and they made it all the way to the end zone just to highlight the disparity, the difference. Jesus was on the land. He was on the mountain. These disciples are rowing against the wind just to set up what's about to happen. Jesus sees they're having trouble making headway painfully. You can't sail against the wind. Where they were going, they had to row. So they got out the oars, they're rowing, they're having a hard time. There's no help. It's the middle of the night, Jesus sees them, and then it says he came to them. So it's a simple way of saying he came to them, but then walking on the sea, and he meant to pass by them. So Jesus, it's not like, for you kids out there, you guys seen The Incredibles? That was one movie I liked when I was a kid. This movie is over 20 years old now, by the way. It makes me feel old. But in that, the kid, the 10-year-old kid or so, Dash, he's got super speed, and at one point when he's being chased by bad guys, he's running really fast. He finds himself running on the water, and then he laughs and speeds off on the water. You know, it's not like that or some sort of superhero super running speed where you defy the laws of physics and viscosity and fluid dynamics and all of those smart people things. Jesus is not running, he's walking. He's walking. And you know, Jesus, I guess, he probably walks for some amount of time on this water towards this boat. Means to pass by them. It's a miracle. No one's ever seen or done anything like it. And he meant to pass by them, but when they saw him, verse 49 says, walking on the sea, they thought it was a ghost. You know, there was a prevailing belief back then that those who had died on the water in a crazy storm or by accident, that the ghost would wander on the water. So actually, per that superstitious belief, it's more reasonable for them to believe that Jesus is a ghost than to believe that's Jesus walking on the water. because at least a ghost walking on the water would make sense. The fact that, and that's what they interpret it as. There's no other place in their mind for them to go. So they're terrified. They're crying out. The ghost stories that Peter, James, John, and Andrew had heard on the water growing up were coming true as a ghost. They cry out. We don't know who cries out and spots Jesus first, but you can imagine the pandemonium that breaks out on this boat. Imagine the guys who were, you know, like Levi, the tax collector, Matthew, in other words. He's a tax collector. He's not a sailor. How scared do you think he is? He's known nothing about ghosts on the water. They're frightened. They all saw him and they were terrified. But then it says, immediately, Jesus seeing this, he spoke to them. above the wind and above the waves, he spoke to them and said, take heart, it is I, do not be afraid. And he got into the boat with them and the wind ceased and they were utterly astounded. Jesus goes up to them and over the wind, over the waves says, take heart, it is I, do not be afraid. Seems like a good thing to say to a bunch of people freaking out, but there's a lot more here than meets the eye. When Jesus says, it is I, what you see in the original language, the Greek, is ego, I, a me, which is am. Jesus says, take heart, I am. Do not be afraid. Ego, a me. Whenever Jesus says ego, a me, we see it a bunch of times in John, It is a claim at divinity. You go back to Exodus 3.14, you have Moses in the burning bush, and God is speaking to Moses. And Moses, he says, go, you know, free, go out and lead my people out of slavery. And Moses says, well, who should I say sent me to them? And God responds, I am who I am. Say this to the people of Israel. I am has sent me to you. And then later in Isaiah 43 and other places, we have God reiterating through Isaiah, I am he, so that you may know that I am. And so Jesus takes that upon himself rightfully as the son of God and says, take heart, I am, do not be afraid. Jesus here both demonstrates his divinity, his godness, that he is the son of God by walking on the water, and then he declares it for himself. This is actually the pattern of all of Jesus's miracles. Jesus teaches the people, but gives miracles to them to show them that teaching is for real. This is legit. Paul and Barnabas, when they're on the, I think it's the island of Cyprus, and they're before Sergius Paulus, the proconsul, and they have this guy, Bargesus, who is contradicting everything they're preaching. And finally, you know, Paul says, you, without quoting, it's like, you blind guy, how long are you gonna make crooked the straight ways of the Lord? From now on, for a little while, you're not gonna be able to see anything. And of course, bar Jesus goes blind and needs help. And it says that Sergius Paulus, this proconsul, this leader, believed, and it says, because he was astonished at the teaching of the Lord. He was already concerned, astonished by this teaching, but then Paul, making a guy go blind, that's contradicting him, sealed the deal. That's what we're meant to get out of this. It's great to see the comfort and the, The grand scale of what Jesus teaches from the scriptures for ourself, but then to see him do the things of God, along with speaking them, encourages us. It builds faith within us. That was what the disciples were supposed to get out of this, and they're hard going, and they're rowing in the middle of the night, but they missed it. Jesus demonstrates, declares divinity, and they swing and they miss. It says they were utterly astounded. That's like astounded into disbelief. They're suspended by it. They see it, but they can't consciously within their heart and their mind reckon the Jesus that they've been walking with, with the Jesus that has just been shown to them. And it says, why? 52, for they did not understand about the loaves. the feeding of the 5,000, but their hearts were hardened. They did not understand about the loaves, but because their hearts were hardened, had they understood what Jesus was doing in feeding the 5,000 and who he was portraying himself to be, the new prophet that Moses prophesied, the one who would lead the people out into a second exodus, not away from Egypt, not away from the Romans, but into salvation from sin and death, If they had understood that, they would have understood what Jesus had just done before them. But the fact of the matter is that worldly fears, worldly fears harden our hearts. If you have taken points, this is my first point. Worldly fears harden our hearts. God may speak through the preacher, through the teacher, Through the scriptures, in the worship, God may speak, God may do wondrous things before you, but if your heart is hardened, you will not receive them rightly. Worldly fear can take the heart and harden it further, as we see with these disciples. It's a hard thing, the hard heart. You know, as a preacher, how do you preach to a bunch of people who may have hard hearts? I don't know your hearts. You know your hearts. But it does make the task seem somewhat impossible sometimes. Like if God doesn't move to soften the heart by the gracious wind of the Holy Spirit, what am I to do? What is Jesus to do? Jesus performed one of the greatest miracles of all time. I think all four Gospels record it. And same with the feeding of the 5,000. Yet the disciples here have hard hearts. It is God who must take the hard heart and make it soft. It is only by Him that we become sensible to the things of God. And luckily, there are parts of my own heart that are hard, I'm sure. Actually, I know it, and shouldn't be that way. But God has promised that if you love Him, if you are His people, and just like He loved these disciples, He will take that hard heart and soften it. over time by his gracious influence. We may not understand, we may have hard hearts about what the scriptures say, but God is working. So if you are frustrated with the state of your hard heart, if you know that you have one, trust God that he loves you and because he loves you, he is working. Even things, problems that seem like they have no solution. You can't solve them. Maybe you've been beating your head against them for years and years and years. God softens the heart. He will take these things from yourself, from others, maybe things you don't understand, and he can make crooked ways straight, as he does for these disciples, even though they miss it. The fact that we have this in Mark and John, I think in Luke and definitely in Matthew, the disciples, they got it. It just took a little time. Worldly fear hardens the heart, makes us insensible to the things of God. They were afraid of the winds and the waves, they were afraid of ghosts, and these things made them insensible to what Jesus was doing. But we see worldly fear hardens the heart. But secondly, on the other hand, godly fear, fear that is driven by faith, seeks the heart of Christ. Godly fear seeks the heart of Christ. And we see that in the crowds at Gennesaret. It says, when they got out of the boat in 54, the people immediately recognized him. Mark is drawing for us a contrast. You know, the disciples didn't recognize him. They thought he was a ghost. Yeah, they were on the water. Yeah, they were rowing hard. It's the middle of the night. They should have seen Christ walking on the water, recognized him and said, that is my God. We have these people who didn't saw no such thing other than what they heard with their ears about what Jesus had been doing for others. Says they immediately recognized him. ran about the whole region to bring the sick people on their beds to wherever he was, wherever he came, in villages, cities, or the countryside. They laid the sick in the marketplaces and implored that they might touch even the fringe of his garment, and as many as touched it were made well. The disciples, they should have had, they definitely did have actually a better theology, a better knowledge of who Jesus was and what he was doing. But it is these people who have very little knowledge, but they've heard about the mercy found in Christ. They recognize him and they bring all those to him who need that mercy. You know, we talked about in chapter five, the woman who had the issue of blood, you know, some sort of hemorrhaging. She was made unclean and she said, if I can just touch the fringe of his garment, I will be made well. And she goes in the crowd and is pressing on Jesus and touches the tassel on the corner of his robe and is healed. Those people here, the same people said, if I, like this woman, if I can just touch the fringe of his garment, I will be saved. I will be made well from this sickness. They recognized Jesus as one who was full of mercy. They had many fears, fears for their loved ones, fears for their friends, their own health problems, if they're bringing this themselves or their sick friends to him. But they said that this fear driven by faith, they said, if I can just touch Jesus, I can be made well. You know, it's like when we have a problem and, Maybe here's not the best example, but it's normally if you have some sort of problem, legal issue, it's like if I can just stand before the judge and explain what's going on, all will be well. If I can just get a raise, if I can just plant without the rain and tornadoes ripping my crops apart, if we can just sell a little bit more, if we can just do a little bit more, all will be made well. But these people, Those are worldly things. These people said, if I can just touch Jesus, if I can just get close enough to him to grab onto him just a little bit, all will be well. Because they recognized him as one who has mercy. Godly fear seeks the heart of Christ. The disciples should have seen it. You know, Job 9a says that God is the one who tramples on the waves of the sea. Psalm 77, 19, your way was through the sea, your path through the great waters, yet your footprints were not seen. They had all the reason, all the knowledge in the world not to miss it, but they did, because their worldly fears were driving the boat. But as these people, just by the little bit of faith, a mustard seed of faith just to stand before Christ and all be made well, they saw him and they recognized him. Do you recognize your savior when you need him? Do you recognize it as his voice who still speaks to you? Who, you know, C.S. Lewis says that God whispers to us in our prosperity and yells at us in our pain. In any case, whether whispering or yelling, do you recognize the voice of your shepherd? Jesus came to do in flesh and blood what God has only done in wind and voice in the Old Testament, and has written for us in a more sure way for us to believe it and to know it with all of our hearts. It's a hard thing to not understand the hard heart, going back to it quickly, especially when we can't see what God is doing. God, why would you do this? Why would you do that? Sometimes it takes time. You know, I heard someone recently say the famous phrase, you know, time heals all wounds. That's true to some extent. But some wounds with time only fester. A great preacher who recently passed away, some of you may know the name, Harry Reader, he was the pastor at, oh, the big church in Birmingham, in our denomination. Briarwood, thank you. We call it Briarworld as well. He recently passed away in a car accident, but I'm never gonna forget the story of his conversion. I think both sermons I heard by him in person, he told it both times, so bear with me. But he was kind of in and around the church, grew up in it, but kind of was walking on his own way, and he got married, and his wife was taking him to church, and he wasn't really about it. Someone was trying to disciple him, this middle-aged man some daughters, four daughters. But it comes around that this man's wife dies suddenly and is a hard thing for the family. And he goes over there to comfort with his wife, the family, and it turns out that it was him that needed comforting. He was beside himself when he walked in. It was actually the husband of this man that pulled him to another room, shared the gospel with a softened heart, to Harry's softened heart, and he believed. And as he's praying for his own salvation, he basically, when he's done, says, oh Lord, if there's anything you would like me to do to help you out of gratitude for what you've done for me, I'll do it. Not knowing that he would become the great pastor that he'd become. But this family, it was so hard for this family. And Harry Reader goes off and he gets trained and he's beginning his ministry and he speaks to a small group as he's planting his first church. And he shares the testimony of how this woman's death led to his being saved by the father, the widower. And in that audience, small audience, was one of the daughters. And one of the daughters came up to him afterwards and said, I want you to know something, that me and my sisters, we don't really go to church anymore. because we just lost belief after our mother passed. But we've all agreed that if we could see one good thing God brought out of this, that we would come back. And sure enough, there was Harry Reader entering the ministry, saved because their mother passed. And then all four of them came back and joined his church saying, yes, God has done great good out of great evil. Out of the worst of our fears, church, God can bring great comfort and good. I know all of us, when tornadoes are coming, when the tornadoes of health are spinning out of control, when we're afraid of losing people, we're afraid of the violence, the terror that stalks at noonday, as the psalmist says, that we, the tendency is to, you know, shields up You know, get into our formation and hunker down until it's over. And of course, if tornadoes coming, please do get into your storm shelters. That's not what I'm saying. I'm talking about your souls. Armor up. No one come in. Nothing gets out. But Christ says, dude, come to me. Take heart. It is I. Do not be afraid. Do not be afraid of those who can kill the body or the things or the elements that can kill the body, but be afraid of those who can, afraid of him who kills body and soul. But if he can kill body and soul, he can save both. That is Jesus and Jesus alone. We're always gonna be afraid, but our fear needs to be driven to Christ by our faith in him. We need to fear God above all, but not fear him just because he can kill us and save us, but because he loves us, because he's worthy of worship. A fellow named Thomas Brown said, I fear God, yet I am not afraid of him. We must fear God, church, but not be afraid of Him, but approach Him as the best Father you could ever ask for. A Father you love and respect, but a Father who has given you all things through His Son. It is Jesus, by the death on the cross, that takes everything that could have killed us and separated us from the Father, and has put sin and death to death by His own death. Christ, his blood is our righteousness. And if he has bought us for himself on that cross, if he has come out of that tomb for our life, there is no one who can take you, take it away from you. Through the cross and the tomb, the empty tomb in Christ reigning in the heavens, even to you now, church, he says, take heart. It is I. Do not be afraid. Come to the only one who can save your soul, who can keep it, for he who keeps Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps. Take heart and love and worship the one who has loved you first, who calls you to himself and calls you to rest in him. Cast your souls at the feet of Jesus and you will find far more than you would ever have lost. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, you're the only one who gives utterance. Lord, you speak to us through your son. You give comfort like we wouldn't believe. Far more than we ever could have asked for. Lord, you give it. Lord, you tell us through your servant, Paul, that he who did not spare his own son, he's talking about you, that you who did not spare Christ, would you not also graciously give us all things? Lord, you have proven that you had given the most valuable thing to yourself, which is your very own son. You gave him, will you not also give us courage to trust him, to believe in him, to know that he is far better than what we could have imagined. Not just because of the miracles, not just because of the good word, although those things are included, because of the very heart that beats in his chest for us. That we would know that love and we would forsake all other things, all of the designs in this world, all other sins, all of our fears even. and that we would know that love that surpasses knowledge. Lord, give it to us and be gracious to us. Lord, we ask all these things in the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.