Let us now turn in the Bible to Mark chapter 6. Mark chapter 6, the scripture reading will begin at verse 30. Mark chapter 6, read to the end of the chapter. The text for the sermon will be verses 45 through 52. For your information, this is part of a series of sermons that I've been preaching in the book of Mark. which series began probably three years ago, and this is about as far as I have come in the series. And the text will be verses, I think I mentioned that, verses 45 through 52 of Mark chapter six. Begin the reading at verse 30. The apostles gathered themselves together unto Jesus and told him all things, both what they had done and what they had taught. He said unto them, come ye yourselves apart into a desert place and rest a while. For there were many coming and going, and they had no leisure so much as to eat. They departed into a desert place by ship privately. The people saw them departing. Many knew him, and ran afoot thither out of all cities, and out went them, and came together unto him. And Jesus, when he came out, saw much people, and was moved with compassion toward them, because they were as sheep, not having a shepherd. And he began to teach them many things. And when the day was now far spent, his disciples came unto him and said, This is a desert place, and now the time is far past. Send them away, that they may go into the country roundabout and into the villages and buy themselves bread, for they have nothing to eat. He answered and said unto them, give ye them to eat. And they say unto him, shall we go and buy 200 penny worth of bread and give them to eat? He saith unto them, how many loaves have ye? Go and see. And when they knew, they say, five and two fishes. And he commanded them to make all sit down by companies upon the green grass. And they sat down in ranks by hundreds and by fifteens. When he had taken the five loaves and the two fishes, he looked up to heaven and blessed and break the loaves and gave them to his disciples to set before them. The two fishes divided he among them all. And they did all eat and were filled. And they took up 12 baskets full of the fragments and of the fishes. And they that did eat of the loaves were about 5,000 men." And straightway, Now the words of our text, verses 45 through 52. And straightway he constrained his disciples to get into the ship and to go to the other side before unto Bethsaida, while he sent away the people. And when he had sent them away, he departed into a mountain to pray. And when even was come, the ship was in the midst of the sea, and he alone on the land. And he saw them toiling and rowing, for the wind was contrary unto them. And about the fourth watch of the night, he cometh unto them, walking upon the sea, and would have passed by them. But when they saw him walking upon the sea, they supposed it had been a spirit and cried out, for they all saw him and were troubled. And immediately he talked with them and saith unto them, be of good cheer. It is I. Be not afraid. And he went up unto them into the ship, and the wind ceased. And they were sore amazed in themselves beyond measure and wondered. For they considered not the miracle of the loaves, for their heart was hardened. And when they had passed over, they came into the land of Gennesaret and drew to the shore. When they were come out of the ship, straightway they knew him, and ran through that whole region roundabout, and began to carry about in beds those that were sick, where they heard he was. And whithersoever he entered into villages, or cities, or country, they laid the sick in the streets, and besought him that they might touch, if it were but the border of his garment. And as many as touched him, were made whole. May the Lord bless us in the reading of his word. Beloved in the Lord Jesus Christ, there was an earlier event in the book of Mark concerning Jesus and stormy seas in the Sea of Galilee. That earlier event takes place in Mark chapter 4. In that event, Mark chapter 4, the difference there is that Jesus went with his disciples in the boat through the storm on the Sea of Galilee. He had been teaching and preaching and doing miracles, went into the ship, went to the back of the ship, and went to sleep. And in the height of the storm, when the disciples thought for sure that The next wave or two would surely sink the ship to the bottom of the sea. They cried out, master, master, carest thou not that we perish? Jesus calmly is awakened from sleep, stands up with the water sloshing around in the bottom of the ship, and says to the sea, peace, be still, and immediately The wind ceased, the waves ceased, a great calm passed upon the Sea of Galilee at his word. Then turned to those troubled hearts and said to them those words which penetrate also our hearts still today. Why are ye so fearful? How is it that ye have no faith? I am in the midst of you. Why are ye so fearful? With Jesus in the midst of his church by his word and spirit, and personally within us by his spirit and grace and his word, There is no reason, none at all. For the word which he sows in that heart of good soil prepared by the Spirit, that word of our Lord Jesus Christ will never fail, never. Similarly, our text records the second event of Jesus in the stormy sea of Galilee with a second lesson, with a slightly different application to us as God's people, and an application which was preparing the disciples in their labor, in the absence as they would see it, or thought it was the case, when Jesus would ascend up into heaven, how must they function then as apostles with Christ in heaven? How would they face their work and fulfill their labors as apostles, as leaders of the church in the earth in the New Testament? That second event and its different application, although there are similarities, That occurred after Jesus had fed the 5,000 men beside women and children with five loaves and just two fish. A large multitude, which made it very clear that Jesus multiplied the bread and multiplied the fish so that all of the men, all of the women, all of the children could be, as the passage teaches, they could be filled. Amazing. And so impressed was the multitude by that miracle, in unbelief, they thought, aha, this Jesus, he will solve all of our problems with poverty, all of our problems with hunger, all of our problems with the Romans. He will establish the kingdom of Solomon again. And they wanted to make him their bread king, right there. And so did the disciples, too. But Jesus, rejecting that unbelief, immediately, or as the text teaches, straightway, immediately, constrained his disciples like a shepherd, herded the sheep into the ship and pushed the ship off the shore and sent them to the other side, to Bethsaida. But in this case, the second event, Jesus did not go with them. He sent them away to go to Bethsaida, near Capernaum, on the northwest side of the Sea of Galilee, while he went into a mountain to commune with his Father in heaven about what just happened and the temptation which Satan had delivered to him through the unbelief of that crowd and even his disciples, and to pray to the Father about what would happen next in his ministry. And it's during that night and about the fourth watch of the night, so after midnight, the disciples were caught in a great storm. And Jesus then met them at that time on the stormy sea to speak to them a word of encouragement and confirm that word by a mighty, impressive, a very emphatic miracle. To teach the apostles and to teach us also his church about the work that the church must do, how she must do that, and with what expectation she must have concerning her work and the trust that she must have in the Lord, walks upon the seas and speaks to his church this encouraging word in the stormy seas of life. Call your attention then to the text under this theme, the Lord's Encouraging Word. to his church in stormy seas. The Lord's encouraging word to his church in stormy seas. Notice, first of all, what is it? What is this word? And secondly, what is its basis? And thirdly, how is it received by us? What is this word? The word is set by Christ against the background of a very Difficult situation for the disciples on the Sea of Galilee. Jesus had commanded them, now go to Bethsaida. Go to the other side of the Sea of Galilee. He sent them alone, gave them their mandate, and told them to go. There's your goal. There is the boat. There are the oars. Start rowing. Go to the other side. In obedience to the master then, they did that. They got into the ship and began to row to the other side of the Sea of Galilee. During the night, the Lord sent a storm to buffet them. And although the disciples strained on the oars to move that ship closer to the goal that they were told to reach by the Lord, they made no progress. The storm had come. And it appeared to them that they may have been going backwards. They were driven back by the storm and were not getting any closer to their destination, it appeared. That part of the passage, beloved, is prophetic of many situations that the Church of Jesus Christ must face in this life. The Lord has given us his mandate. Go, which means for the church, preach the word. Administer the word, administer the sacraments, administer to my people Christian discipline if necessary. Teach catechism so that the lambs of the flock may be fed. Preach that word in the local congregation. If the Lord grants that opportunity, and wherever he grants that, also in missions. Build up my church with sound doctrine. Build up my church. in the power of that spirit of love and of a sound mind. Guide the people of God in the truth in a life which is antithetical, which is godly and honorable to me. Use many means to spread my word in the earth so that the other sheep may be gathered under the means of grace. As parents, we have the mandate, teach your children in my fear, raise them so that that next generation may also know and love and adore my name. And as believers in the office of believer, God gives us the mandate as prophets know my word, love my word, confess my word, confess my name, confess my truth. Not in haughtiness or in some obnoxious pride before men as though that's what God gives us to make a name for ourselves in the earth. No, confess my name. In love to me, in humility, in a sense of privilege. for the glory of my name. Do that in all of your spheres in life, in the single life, in the married life, with children, without children, whatever the case may be. You have your mandate. You have your work. You have your station and calling. Now row. to the goal which the Lord gives us. Our destination is not a kingdom in this earth. Our destination is, to use the figure of the text, our destination is the harbor of heaven, the harbor of glory, the pier of peace in the harbor of heaven. That's the goal. However, The text teaches us in its example, its prophetic viewpoint, that in the history of the church and the earth, we must labor against contrary winds and threatening seas. If any of you have sailed or know sailors, those who have yachts and like to go sailing, They enjoy forecasts before they go off on their trip. They enjoy the forecast of the weather conditions where we're told the winds are favorable and the seas following. A very comfortable, easy, wonderful forecast for wonderful sailing. Well, the forecast for the Church of Jesus Christ and the earth according to the text and all of scripture is not that. Favorable winds and seas following, oh no. Contrary winds and threatening seas is the forecast. We must labor against the winds of wickedness, disorderliness, lawlessness, unbelief, false teaching, heresy, worldly philosophy, all sorts of ungodliness and temptations from the world. There are the winds, the icy winds of reproach for the sake of Jesus Christ, sacrifice for his church, for our fellow saints. There is the wind of our own sins, our own sinful natures and weaknesses against which we must fight. There are the storms of sickness, surgery, cancer, Families torn apart because of sin or controversy. There are storms of financial crisis. And those storms may be short blasts of wind, a squall that arises and then disappears, or it could be a typhoon whose winds and waves last for days and days and long periods of time. The storms can disorient us spiritually, cause us confusion. Questioning arises in our hearts and minds as we face these storms in life and the consequences of them rip through not just the congregation, the churches, but rip through our own souls and turn us, as it were, upside down, inside out. We don't know which way is up anymore, or down, or left, or right. Sometimes these storms come upon us without our cause. We're sinned against. Or some of these storms are the result of God's chastisement upon us for our sins. Many are the storms. Many strong are the contrary winds and the threatening seas. And it appears, in the midst of those storms, we're not making any progress. When churches split, to us, that does not appear to be progress. When there's schism, those depart from the truth. There's disorderliness. When there is a lack of understanding of the truth or a lack of distinctiveness in the doctrines of the Reformed confessions, it doesn't appear to us to be progress. We face the contrary winds and the threatening seas as God's people when the world comes at us with its typhoons and hurricanes of worldly music. Very alluring and attractive movies. Partying, fun in sin that looks so attractive, so easy, so comfortable to the soul. And yet, the next wave, it seems, and the next wind are ready to swamp the church and the youth of the church and bring the ship to destruction. It appears from our perspective often that to continue in faithfulness to the mandate of Jesus Christ is impossible. Impossible. It's exactly at that point, beloved, in the height of the storms of life, we need to hear and to see this Jesus in the text, our Lord. He says, be of good cheer. It is I. Be not afraid. That's a remarkable thing that Jesus does and how he comes to his disciples. He was not carried by the Lord and then dropped into the ship. That would not serve the gospel. Jesus could have done that, but no, that would not serve us, his people. On the shore, after he had finished prayer with his father in heaven, and our father, he could see the disciples in the middle of the sea, toiling against that terrible storm. He could see them through the darkness. Storms did not cover them from his sight. which is comforting for us to know that when we're in the storms of our lives, we're not hidden from the Lord. He penetrates through the darkness and knows exactly where you are in life and where I am in life. And seeing them in the middle of the sea, begins to walk on the sea as wavy as the sea was, straight to the ship. Walking on the sea as though that sea were a flat road, Not going up and down, but as the Lord of the wind and the wave, walking calmly, majestically to his disciples, toiling in the ship in the Sea of Galilee. When Jesus came to them, they did not recognize him. They were not even ready to see him. They did not expect Jesus to come to them. He was on the mountain somewhere else, and he's forgotten about us. He's left us alone. We're all by ourselves. And then when they see this figure moving over the waves, they thought it was a ghost. Or maybe the devil has come to destroy them and to bring upon them their doom. And their confusion, the great trouble of their heart, Jesus appears to them by his word declaring, be of good cheer. It is I. Be not afraid. The disciples must know that their Jesus is there standing before them. I am, he says literally. I am. In the Greek, this is the same words used in the book of John where Jesus says, I am the bread of life. I am, which we know from the Old Testament is the same. I am that I am. That's what he says to his disciples. Be of good cheer. I am. Be not afraid. Be of good cheer. It means be of good courage. And do not be afraid. Do not be afraid. You do not stand in judgment, ready to be judged by the God of heaven and earth, and so be condemned in your sin. Be not afraid. You have peace with me. Now, of course, that did not apply to every single disciple. It did not apply to Judas Iscariot. Referring to the other disciples, yes, be not afraid. You have peace with God, peace with me. Be of good courage, be of good cheer. Be steadfast in your labor, be steadfast in the purpose, the goal which I have set before you to go to the other side, to Bethsaida. And then to confirm that they must be of good cheer, He is the I am, and they ought not to be afraid, but to have peace in their soul. Jesus confirms that word with a wonderful miracle. After Peter came to him, according to John chapter six, on the sea, Jesus grabbed him before he drowned, and they walk back into the boat. As soon as Jesus steps into the boat, the seas are calm. And, immediately, they're at the shore. They're at the shore, not because of the rowing of the disciples, but the Lord brings the ship there at the shore. Powerful. A powerful confirmation of his word. Be of good courage. I am. Be not afraid. That's the Word of God, beloved, to you, His Church. Be of good courage. You say, be of good cheer. When I suffer all of this pain, my schedule and routine is upside down. The foundation of my soul, as it were, is destroyed. I don't know which way is up anymore. My personal life is a mess, my home life. Be of good cheer, yes. Do not despair in your grievous toil, in your personal life, as you walk with the Lord. Walk by faith with Him in repentance, in godly fear. Seek to walk in His ways with Him and be faithful in your personal life, in your home life, in your covenant instruction, in your membership in the church. Seek to serve the Lord in your place in His kingdom, at your position and time in your life according to His purpose. Be of good courage. Be firm in your purpose to seek and to serve that kingdom, my kingdom. In fact, be bold in your courage to continue to do according to my word what I have called you to do in your station and calling in life. Do not be discouraged. Do not be driven to despair that Well, since there's no progress according to my expectations, or this isn't happening according to my timetable, do not despair of the contrary winds and the threatening seas which, from your viewpoint, seem to make your work look useless, in vain. No, be not discouraged. Be faithful and humble in your labor. and be assured that it will serve your arrival at the appointed destination. Be of good courage, because I am. I am the unchangeable Jesus, your Lord who doesn't change from yesterday, today, and forever. I am the sovereign one. who walks above the stormy seas, and they cannot touch me. I am your Savior in the storm, so that even the gates of hell cannot prevail against you, my church. I am your security in the storm, so that none can pluck you out of my hand. I am your surety of salvation so that because of me, sealed with my spirit, you will reach the harbor of heaven through the storms which I send you through. Therefore, be not afraid. Be not afraid that I come to you in the word today to destroy you. Be not afraid that as you toil against the contrary winds and the threatening seas, and to you it seems there's no progress. All of my work, all of my labors as a parent over my covenant children, or labors in the church, and then there's this, which appears to be going backwards. And now the Lord comes to me to destroy me. No. Be not afraid. You have peace with God. His blessing is upon you, even within and as you toil in service of my kingdom. They cannot overthrow the work that I am doing through you. That leads to the question, a very important question, well, what is the basis for that? toiling all night, no progress, be of good courage? I am. Be not afraid. Well, certainly the basis could never be found in the disciples for that word of blessing. The Lord does not reward his disciples with his word for some kind of merit through all of the rowing that they had been doing that night. Jesus could not do that. And he could not do that because of their unbelief. The disciples earlier, the previous day, just hours before, wanted to make Jesus their earthly king. They wanted that earthly kingdom of Solomon. That's what they had their hearts set on. And at the end of the text, we read in verse 52, for their heart. was hardened. They did not understand the miracle of the bread of life. They did not understand. They did not recognize who that was in the storm. They couldn't. They had unbelief over their eyes. For that unbelief, what they deserved, not a word of blessing, but to be cursed and sent to the bottom of the sea. Beloved, let us never look to ourselves as some kind of reason. We deserve that word of blessing. We don't. That enhances, you understand, the wonder of what Jesus does say to us. It isn't because of us that he says, be of good courage. It is I, or I am. Be not afraid. If we look at ourselves and what we do, Lord has given us our mandate. How well have we fulfilled that mandate in life? Have we always spoken the truth in love? Have we always preached the word clearly? Have we never muddled the message of the Lord? Have our words always been edifying? Has our conduct in schism and controversy always been honorable, Christian? Have our thoughts always been in love? Have we never grumbled nor complained against the Lord for the storm that he brought into our life When we thought, well, this isn't the right time, and certainly I don't need this kind of storm right now, who are we to decide that? Have we never doubted the gifts which the Lord has given us to serve in his kingdom? Here's the mandate, here are your gifts, now roll. And when a little storm comes along, what do we do? We complain. The oars, Lord, are too short. Or I'm in the wrong position in the boat. Or the boat isn't quite right. We're proud. We trust in our own wisdom. We're even prone to quit when the storm becomes too intense, it's too long, too difficult. try to come up with a lifeboat of our own devising into which to jump, to quit the work, and to be driven backwards. And for that, beloved, we do not deserve this evening what the Lord says to you and me. Be of good courage. We deserve him to say, be afraid, it is I. Must recognize that beloved, repent and confess our sin before the Lord. By that same faith, which the Lord works repentance to seek his mercy. Word of forgiveness, this word. And he worked this word in us. This word of our Lord, which has its basis only in him. I am, the Lord says, I am your almighty and only Savior. You cannot save the church. I didn't call you to do that. I only called you to row, to do your work as a servant in my kingdom. It is not, then, by your own arm of strength, it is not by your wisdom, that the ship is going to get even one inch closer to the destination. That's something we, I think, and should have learned in the past couple of years through the controversy in the churches, through the health situation in the world with COVID. We cannot save the church. We cannot convince someone of the truth by our own power and wisdom. We cannot bring the church one inch closer to glory. It is not in our power. What we can do, sadly, is cause trouble in the church and go backwards in our sin and unbelief. Jesus, beloved, declares, I am. I am that I am. I am Jehovah in the flesh. I am your peace with God. Now through my atoning blood, which I shed for you on the cross, and there I received all of the waves and the billows of God's wrath for you. I suffered your hell. I suffered the curse which you should have suffered to remove it so that you might have only the blessing of the Lord and the work of his grace and spirit to save you from your sin. That Jesus Christ, the I Am, he is the anchor of your souls. He anchors you to the throne of God's glory and grace. And when he arose from the dead, he anchored us to that throne and that new everlasting life. And in the midst of the storms, then it is that Christ who takes his spirit and he blows upon you, not with the terrifying wind of the worlds and temptations from the world, the wind of his spirit and grace to work in you that truth where you might see him in the storm and recognize him. Yes, this is the work of the Lord in my life. Be still and know that I am with you. I am God with you. And secondly, Jesus says, I am, meaning I am in control of this storm or these storms in which you are led. He walks above the sea majestically as the great king, not fretting about whether he would get to the ship or not or whether his disciples would sink before he got there. No. He walks on the sea to serve the revelation of the gospel in this text. He's in control of the gale force winds and the towering seas. And that's true in your life too, beloved. He's in control of those storms. He sends them to you for your good. To teach you that your salvation and the salvation of your children, it's not in your power. It's humanly impossible. But what's impossible for you is possible with me, saith the Lord. And so we learn in the storms We do not learn this in a vacuum. We learn this through the storms of life. Yes, we are sinners, not able to save ourselves. He alone is our savior and teaches us the blessed life of trusting in him and walking with him to that goal which he has set for us on the other shore. And thus, as I am, Jesus teaches you and me, your appointed destination is sure. It doesn't appear that way, does it, in the storms of life? That's when the questions arise. But the Lord makes very clear in the parallel passage, it's not mentioned here in the text, but in the parallel passage, at the very moment when he steps into the ship with Peter, not only does the sea become instantly calm, but the ship miraculously is at the shore. And that's an emphatic truth and revelation of the chief prophet, our Lord Jesus Christ, to his church, whom he has saved and whom he has sealed by his spirit, that the goal which he has set, in which all of your labor in the church and in the home, that goal is certain. Is that not encouraging, beloved? Doesn't that motivate us to be faithful? Let us receive that word then. We must receive it by faith. It teaches us there are several ways in which we do not receive this word or see this Christ before us in the storms and recognize him and acknowledge his presence and acknowledge his guidance in life. In the first place, we cannot receive this word by our good works, our works of service to the Lord. Now it's true, faithful service is certainly necessary to be a faithful office bearer in the church, faithful parents, faithful children, faithful in the married life and the single life, certainly. Nevertheless, by our good works, you do not gain this word. The message to you tonight isn't, well, beloved, just go out, keep the commandments a little better than last week, and well, then you'll be encouraged. And that's how you'll understand that Jesus is with you. No. If that's the message tonight, then we'll never be encouraged because As you well know, and as we learn, even our best works are polluted. It would only raise the questions of whether we're ever going to get to the other shore if I need to receive this encouragement through the means of my good works. The means of receiving this word is not our good works, but that out of which good works flow. Secondly, to say, well, there's this storm, a financial crisis, a health crisis. Well, this is what other people of God has faced, so I better just get used to it. It's just the way it is. Nothing I can do about it. Just grin and bear it. It's not going to help, beloved, the suffering soul at the brink of shipwreck. Just get used to it. No. That's not faith. That's unbelief. Or self-pity. Oh, woe is me. Another storm in my life. Self-pity doesn't see Christ. It's like the disciples in the boat, and oh, there's this thing out there, and ooh, it troubles me, but woe is me. I'm destined to doom. No. Unbelief doesn't receive this word. Unbelief doesn't want a kingdom that comes through storms. Will not submit to the Lord who brings us through tribulation by which to work in you and me his salvation. We want grand resources, better oars, a nicer ship, better weather forecast, seas following, favorable winds, that's what we want. We think our value before God is based on our work and God should look at all the rowing we have done and that should count for something in his judgment. And when there is seemingly no progress, we're prone to complain. We don't like that. We wanna put a good face before men. That's a real temptation as a missionary. Writing the reports every month to write a report and say, well, there's been a schism here. One congregation is gone. Two seminary students are gone. The mission field is gone. The congregation has disbanded. Unbelief doesn't want that. We want to look good. We want to look impressive. We don't want to deny ourselves, do we? We don't want to do the hard rowing where it appears we're not making any progress. We look at verse 52, and we're shocked when we read that with the disciples, their heart was hardened yet. Really? And yet, beloved, that's us. And so we cry out to the Lord in repentance, Lord, help thou my unbelief. And the Lord comes to us and speaks the word of the text to conquer that unbelief, beloved, and to work that faith which sees him in the storm, hears him, which knows his word, knows the holy scriptures and all of the doctrines of the scriptures which teach us These storms don't come to us by chance. They're not controlled by the devil, though he may certainly be involved in them and tempting us to deny the Lord. But my Lord and Savior, he is in charge. He's the captain of this ship. He has chartered the course. He controls the weather forecast and the maritime environment. And this word works the faith, beloved, in which we are convinced of that truth. We're assured of that truth. Be of good courage. Do not give up. Because I am with you. You have Because of me, peace with God. Now, and that's your destination too. It's that sure in me. I am that I am. And it's by that faith, beloved, you must go forward in life. In faithfulness to Him. Be of good courage. Be firm. in the unchanging truth of the I am and all of the doctrine of Jesus Christ our Lord. And set your face to all of those storms in life, the sickness, the calamity, the crisis, the controversy, whatever it may be. And by faith and humility, row forward in the wisdom and the strength and the meekness and the love of Jesus Christ. Trusting through your labor, trusting through the labor that the Lord gives you the opportunity to do by his grace through faith, he will guide you. He will lead you. You will arrive. because of him in the harbor of heaven. Amen. Let us pray. Our Father who art in heaven, we thank thee for thy word this evening. Grant us the grace to feed on thy word, to spiritually digest thy word. to enjoy its nutrition, to be strengthened then in this week and in all the days of our life here in this earth, to go forward in faith, facing the storms of life, not in fear, not in despair. May we be of good courage. May we know that we have peace with thee through the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, the I am that I am. who is with us, who is in us by his spirit. In his name we pray, amen.