God in the Boat (Part 2)

Jesus as the Son of God in the Calming of the Storm

Thanks for tuning in to No Compromise Radio with pastor and author, Dr. Mike Avendrock. Today on No Compromise Radio, we'll be hearing Pastor Mike open the Word of God in a recent message he preached at Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston, Massachusetts.

Now let's join Pastor Mike in progress as he preaches through the scriptures, verse by verse, with no compromise.

Now the liberals will say this, you can't have Jesus being the real God and the only way to heaven in our pluralistic society, so the liberals say. So we have to change it a little bit, get the supernatural thing out of it.

So Jesus really didn't calm the sea, he calmed the storm in the disciples' hearts. They were fearful and he needed to calm their fears. That's inadequate as far as I'm concerned. That's not what Mark is trying to say.

The point is Mark's saying Jesus is the Son of God, look at how powerful he is. He speaks and it's done. That's the point of the language. Jesus does what only God can do. So if you ever teach this, by the way, to kids and say, you know what, here's Jesus, he calms the storm.

When you have a lot of troubles in your life, Jesus can calm those storms in your life too. Don't do that because as bad as it is for liberals to say it, now we become not liberal in the reading, but we become liberal in the application.

Has nothing to do with us. This is Jesus showing himself as God, emphasizing Jesus's power. Listen to Psalm 107 for a moment. He made the storm be still, talking about the Lord, and the waves of the sea were hushed.

The Lord Yahweh did that. Who is Jesus? Yahweh. He said to them, Mark chapter 4 verse 40. There's usually a reason for his disclosure or there's a response to it. He talks to them and he says, why are you so afraid?

Have you still no faith? Why are you losing heart? Don't be showing cowardice. Why are you so timid? That's where we get NAS is better there. Don't be so timid. You know, Jesus is still God of the universe, whether he's sleeping or not, still upholding the universe while he's asleep.

Don't be fearful. By the way, the storm has stopped. The storm is going to kill them. Jesus, don't you care? We're going to perish. Now, the storm has stopped, but they're afraid. Why? Because as my old pastor would say, there's only one thing more frightening than having the storm outside cease, and that is having the holy God of the universe inside your boat, and you know you're sinful because he's holy.

People say, I just want Jesus near me. I just want him close to me. One man said, this passage is all about teaching that Jesus wants a personal relationship with each person. I'm all for personal relationships, but here the closer Jesus gets and the more you see him for how holy he is, the more afraid you get.

Sometimes close isn't too good. They knew they were in the presence of a supernatural God, and they were afraid. Like the women who saw the stone rolled away, and they knew Jesus was raised from the dead in Mark chapter 16, verse 8, and they were afraid.

Easy to see Jesus as Messiah as he rebukes demons and diseases, but when the rubber meets the road, do you really believe, disciples? To what extent do you believe that Jesus is the son of God? Verse 41, and they were filled with great fear, faban megan, megaphone, a lot, mega.

What else is mega? Megasize me, supersize me, that's what it means. And phobo, phobia, feared with a great fear, literally. Matthew says, what sort of men is this that even the winds and sea obey him?

R .C. Sproul quotes, or says, rather, as moral creatures, we're all exposed to all sorts of fears. We are anxious people given to phobias. Some people are afraid of cats, they're smart, others, sorry, there's no such thing as a dog I'd love cats.

You know what I'm thankful for at Bethlehem Bible Church? The cat lovers still like me. That's agape love. There is a special kind of phobia, R .C. says, from which we all suffer. It's called xenophobia, xenophobia.

Xenophobia is a fear of strangers, our foreigners. Since God is holy, he's the ultimate object of our xenophobia. He is the ultimate stranger. He is the ultimate foreigner, for he is holy and we are not.

God is too holy for us, he is too awesome. Meeting him personally without our sins covered would be our greatest trauma. John Calvin said, hence that dread and amazement with which as scripture uniformly relates, holy men were struck and overwhelmed whenever they beheld the presence of God.

Who then is this that even the wind and sea obey him? God and God alone. Well, let's go to the second passage today, having to do with Jesus and having to do with showing him, as Mark chapter 1 verse 1 says, the son of God.

And again, it's not telling you to do anything, it's telling you to respond with a belief and an affirmation, Jesus walking on water. Another passage of King Jesus, Mark chapter 6 verses 45 to 52. Here we have Yahweh, the I am in the middle of the storm, and it is great.

We use walking on water today to say things like, well, you know, we can do, that person can do something extraordinarily well, they can walk on water. I watched on YouTube two days ago, the Chris Angel walking across a pool because he says he can walk on water.

And from the camera angle, it looked like he could until you saw what was underneath the water with all the plexiglass. Walking on water is not just a figure of speech talking about performing extraordinary tasks.

Jesus was walking on the water. Albert Schweitzer said, this was an optical illusion. It looked like he was walking on water. Others said he was walking on a sandbar. Oh yeah, walking on a sandbar will prove that I'm God.

Others have said, Orion the Hunter, the mythology of God, he walked on water. Let's take a look at chapter 6 verse 45. What's the reason for the miracle? Jesus is the son of God and you either believe it or you don't.

Chapter 6 verse 45, Mark loves to use this word, immediately, straight away, KJV I think says, he made his disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side to Bethsaida while he dismissed the crowd.

And with post haste, with an energetic style, he forces them to get in the boat. Why? Most likely because if not careful, these men are going to get caught up in the messianic, Jesus is going to take over Rome kind of thinking.

So he wants them gone so he can pray and he doesn't want them to buy into what the crowd is thinking. The Bible elsewhere has said, Jesus therefore perceiving that they were intending to come and take him by force to make him king, withdrew again to the mountain by himself alone.

So, Jesus constrained or made his disciples get in a boat. And in my mind, I think, although I can't prove it, he probably gave the boat a shove. That's at least the idea. All right, get going. Makes them go.

And when evening had came, excuse me, when evening came, verse 47, the boat was out on the sea and he was alone in the land. Stated for a very obvious reason that we'll learn in a minute, but it's clearly stated, plainly described, they were out on the boat, on the sea, he was alone in the land.

He was on shore, they were on the water. Mark wants us to know that. Jesus is praying, probably way past midnight, and verse 48 says, and he saw that they were making headway painfully, for the wind was against them.

And about the fourth watch of the night, he came to them, walking on the sea, and he meant to pass them by. I don't know how he saw them in the dark night, all the way across the ocean. It's about 13 miles one way and seven the other, so I don't know how he could see three and a half miles.

Maybe he had keen eyesight, or maybe this is supernatural sight, which I think that's more likely. Some kind of night vision, the supernatural God of the universe, supernaturally seen. And what does he see?

He sees them straining, making headway, the ESV says, painfully. The word means to strain. It means to be tortured with torment as you row. It's used of a woman's childbirth in Revelation chapter 12. So much pain in that particular moment of delivery, it's similar to the pain that these men are fighting for their lives as they're rowing the boat, and Jesus sees that.

I remember once I was on the Missouri River and a windstorm came up, and I was the only one in a canoe, and it was a long size, big canoe, and I'm sitting in the back, and the wind just pushes the front of the canoe to wherever it wants to go.

There's no way with that kind of wind, with my weight in the back, I could ever get anywhere. So then I turned around and I tried to sit in the front of the canoe to go someplace. That didn't work, so finally I jumped out of the canoe with the rope to the front of the canoe and just swam the canoe to the side.

I'm not saying that to be impressive, it was only 10 feet, I'm just kidding. But the point is, the wind blowing everything around, straining. And this is during the fourth watch that Jesus goes out there between 3 a .m. and 6 a .m.

They've been out there for a long time, John says in John 6 that they've been out, they're out three or four miles, so they're right in the middle of the sea. This is one third a mile an hour, and literally you can swim faster than that.

So what does Jesus do? He came to them walking on the sea. Not by the sea, but upon the sea. It means on top of, epi. Now if you're not careful, you're going to think it's some kind of movie, and you're going to think that it's some kind of flat water, and Jesus just kind of walking.

Just walking, there is flat and smooth, and he's just walking, but it's stormy, there's waves, and Jesus is walking, and if there's a trough, he's walking down the trough and up the trough. You can see, if you're the disciples, something coming, and pretty soon you can see him when he's on the crescent of the wave, and then you can't see him when he's down below, and Jesus is walking on the water.

If the waves are eight foot, he's on top of the waves, and then he's on the bottom of the waves. However big it is, he's walking on the water. It's dark. Can you imagine the disciples seeing some outline form of the human, and why did he do this?

Some parlor trick? No. What's the passage saying? If you don't get this, you didn't get the whole sermon. He intended to pass by them. He intended to pass by them. What does that mean? Barclay, the non-supernaturalist says, this statement is clothed in mystery, which defies explanation.

It defies explanation when you're not a supernaturalist. One person said, Jesus is going to meet them on the other side, but as he saw their floundering, he stopped to help. Another commentator said, it was a playful surprise.

Hi. It's a good time to drink water right now. Others said, he's going to test their faith. NIV translates it wrongly, so you think wrongly about it. He was about to pass by them. To pass by them, that might be okay translation, but what does it mean to pass by?

Not to pass by them, but to pass by. If you're thinking, Jesus is going to pass by, I don't mean pass by them. That's why NIV's wrong. It's like, Jesus is here, and I mean, the boat's there, I'm Jesus, he passes by them.

He just goes past. But what is the pass? What is the pass? If you're thinking, why would he pass by? Not pass by them, but pass by. What is happening here? What's the only way to solve the riddle? Come back next week and we'll find out.

No. Think like a Jew. Think like a person who knows the Old Testament. Where does it say in the Old Testament that God passes by? For what reason does it say in the Old Testament, God passes by? Why would Jesus pass by?

And if God passes by in the Old Testament, and Jesus is passing by in the New for the exact same reason, Yahweh is Jesus. Let me read you two passages about passing by. Job 9, God alone stretches out the heavens and treads on the waves of the sea.

When he passes me, I cannot see him. When he goes by, I cannot perceive him. But with much more ease of understanding, Moses, God, Exodus 33, God says, I'm going to make my goodness pass by you to reveal myself to you.

Why does Jesus pass by? To reveal himself. It's self-revelation, to show you that I am God. Exodus 33, God said, and it will come about while my glory is passing by that I will put you in the cleft of the rock and cover you with my hand until I have passed by.

Then I will take my hand away and you will see my back, but my face shall not be seen. Then the Lord passed by in front of him and proclaimed, the Lord, the Lord God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in loving kindness and truth.

Why would Jesus pass by? The same reason Jesus passed by Moses when he was in the cleft of the rock, to show him who he was, God of the universe. He passes by to show himself as the Son of God. The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

Why then did Jesus walk on water? To show that he was God and to reveal himself as the Old Testament Yahweh. Self-disclosure, verse 49. But how do they respond? But when they saw him walking on the sea, they thought it was a ghost, a phantasma is the Greek word, and they cried out.

First he's down at the trough, then he's up at the crest, and then you see him, then you don't. Back then, if a phantasm crossed your path, it was like a black cat on Friday the 13th walking under a ladder.

Seeing a water phantom, were you seeing a water phantom? And so what did they do? They cried out. It's a shriek or a scream. They're scared to death. They didn't say, we're perishing, we're straining at the oars, we're tired, our muscles are cramping, they're afraid of the phantasm.

Jesus, we're so afraid of you, you're walking on a sandbar, we're scared. Okay. I mean, it's just, unbelief is incredible. Jesus, you're just, you're walking on a shallow part of the lake. Immediately, he spoke with them and said to them, take courage, it is I, do not be afraid.

Stop fearing. It is I, ego, a me. Not too happy with the ESV translation, I am. God of the universe, Moses in the burning bush, God discloses himself with his personal name, I am, and discloses himself, tells Moses that he is God.

The only way you learn about God is if he decides to disclose himself to you, like he did to Moses, like Jesus did to the disciples on the boat. Don't be afraid, I am. This is self-disclosure, Exodus three language.

God said to Moses, I am who I am. And he said, thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, I am has sent me to you. What happened next? Matthew 14 describes it, but Mark doesn't. Peter answered and said to him, Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.

And he said, come. And Peter got out of the boat, walked on the water, came toward Jesus, but seeing the wind, he became afraid and began to sink. He cried out, saying, Lord, save me. What does Mark say, chapter six, verse 51?

Chapter six, verse 51, and he got into the boat with them, and the wind ceased. And as KJV says, it's a great translation, and they were what, who has KJV? And they were sorely amazed. They were exceedingly beyond measure amazed.

Literally the text says they're out of their minds. As we say in Nebraska, they're out of their gourds. They are dumbfounded. This is the right response, in a sense, to the self-disclosure that a man could be God.

I try to think of it this way. If I met somebody at Venice Beach in a couple months when I'm in California, or I met somebody here, and they walked up to me and said, I'm God, that would be a very interesting conversation.

And now this person's walking on the water. Divine disclosure. And why did he do all this? Here was the object lesson. They didn't know that he was God in the flesh, Yahweh, from the previous incident, which was what?

Verse 52 tells us, for they did not understand about the loaves, but their hearts were hardened. God made the food. God gave the manna. God gave the food to the 5 ,000 to the 4 ,000. Marcus saying, the disciples never really thought, oh yeah, you know, Jesus just made food for 10 ,000 people.

He must be God. So Jesus gives them this object lesson. He discloses himself as the I Am. So what? When you preach, you should always answer, so what? So what? So what must I do? Pastor, I've heard about it today.

I need to walk out with three points of encouragement. I need to walk out with three kind of to-do things. I need three points in a poem. When you're in a trial, keep your eyes on Jesus. By the way, is that true?

Is that a true adage? Keep your eyes on Jesus. Don't glance at Jesus and gaze on your problems, but gaze on Jesus and only glance at your problems. It's true, but it's nothing to do with Mark 6. This is God, and you should know that he's God Almighty, worthy of worship, adoration, and everything he says is true.

No salvation through any other means. Jesus alone is the substitutionary sin bearer. He alone raised himself from the dead. Second point is, whatever trial you're going through this week, God can still that trial in your heart.

Is that true? It's true, but it has nothing to do with Mark 4 or Mark 6. Mark 4 and 6 just says, just take a good look. Just drink deeply as you look at Jesus, and then everything else just gets put into the right perspective.

It just gets put rightly where you say, Jesus is God. I know that he's God, and if you know he's God, by the way, it is by God's free will that he disclosed himself to you, because if he didn't, you would still be a pagan.

How do you know that God has revealed himself to you? If you believe with saving faith, not just intellectual, not just with emotional, but with a volitional trust, taking God at his word, if you believe that, that he's your substitutionary sin bearer, raised from the dead, and will soon ascend, God has revealed it to you in a very personal way.

This passage says not to do something, it says to believe something. The beginning of the gospel or good news of Jesus Christ, the son of God. There's nobody like Jesus. Father, this morning, we give you glory, laud, and honor for giving us such a great king and savior, Christ Jesus.

In the councils of the Godhood, Godhead, and eternity past, that you would devise such a plan to rescue desperate sinners like us, thank you. Thank you for the revelation we have in the gospel of Mark that shows our Lord and savior fully man, fully God, sent on a divine mission to exalt you and to rescue us.

Thank you for that. I pray for all the people here today and those homesick, those that will watch the video, I pray that you would stir their hearts this week, that you would let them revel in your son as they read the gospels.

Jesus healing people, Jesus raising people from the dead, Jesus forgiving sinners. Thank you that we have a pure word, thank you that we have something that is greater than anything else, that you would disclose yourself to us freely by your own will, your own decision when we least deserved it.

Help us to respond with truly you are a great God and your son is the son of God. I pray, Father, for every unbeliever here. I pray for any person who does not believe that Jesus is Lord and savior. I pray that through your spirit's working, Father, that you would reveal yourself and your son to them and cause them to be born again today.

To think that through the preaching of the word through a frail, sinful man, that you could quicken the minds and hearts of unbelievers. For the praise of all the saints and all the angels through all eternity, Father, may that be true today.

In Jesus' name, amen.