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Anniversary and it's supposed to be, as it says in the bulletin, it's their grand opening for their building. So that's going to be on Tuesday and the details are in the bulletin. And Bedford PCA is having their 50th anniversary services and they have a service on Sunday evening at 5.
So those are a few things ahead in the week. All right, well as we come before God, let's stand and have a time of preparation, silent preparation, and then I'll issue the call to worship. People of God, hear now the call to worship.
Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come and from the seven spirits who are before his throne and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness the firstborn from the dead and the ruler over the kings of the earth to him who loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood and has made us kings and priests to his God and Father to him be glory and dominion forever and ever.
Praise our God all you his servants and those who fear him both small and great. Let's look to the Lord our God in prayer. Gracious Heavenly Father how we thank you that that you are the one who makes it possible for us to have grace and peace that you bring grace and peace to us.
Oh Lord and we thank you that by your spirit that you work powerfully among your people and we ask you oh Lord as we come before you that we might rejoice in our Lord Jesus Christ. We praise you that he is the faithful witness that he is the light of the world that he has come in the world proclaiming salvation.
We praise you oh Lord that he was here among us that he was tempted as we are yet without sin. We praise you for the way that he was brought into the wilderness and tested by the devil and that he came forth and dude with power in order to minister and serve you not having any sin.
We praise you that throughout his entire ministry that he was faithful and that he went all the way to the death of the cross and obedience to your call and we praise you that by doing so that he made full atonement for our sin and now how we rejoice that he has been raised from the dead and he has been proclaimed as the Lord of Lords and the King of Kings.
He indeed is the firstborn from the dead and the ruler over the kings of all the earth. We pray oh Lord that the nations would bow down to him and that kings would submit to him. We thank you that we have seen this through the ages and we pray that you would continue this gracious work oh Lord.
We thank you that we ourselves are people who are for the most part at least not among the the Hebrew people the Jews to whom you made promises that we are those from other nations that you have graciously gathered in.
We pray that you would continue to do so oh Lord and that you would preserve those that you have gathered that you would bring about a great salvation in all the earth that would be visible to all and it would bring glory to you for you have promised dominion to Jesus Christ forever and ever and we know that one way or the other that you will bring it about that truly Lord all of your people from all ages will be gathered together before you and we will worship you in spirit and in truth.
We praise you and thank you oh Lord we ask them that you would be with us now as we have gathered together to remember Christ and to delight in him and to serve him and to receive instruction from his word.
We pray that we would receive the promises with gladness and joy and that we would also receive the commandments and be able to walk in them with by your grace. Be with us now Lord in this whole service we pray in Jesus name amen.
So we're singing through the psalter in the afternoon and we are now at Psalm 22 e 22 e in the book of Psalms for singing. This one is a bit of a new one for us. We usually sing another another version.
Of these verses 22 e. Psalm 22 is such a wonderful encouragement isn't it?
Speaking of something so great that happened. The prayers of the one who is who was put on the cross were heard and it leads to the whole world worshiping God and praising him for receiving his cry on behalf of his people.
It goes from Israel to the nations to all generations continuing to this day. What a what a joy that is. God has been so merciful and gracious to us. Let's turn now to hear his word from from Psalm 89 a psalm that's full of the promise of that mercy that God shows and demonstrates through all the ages with his people.
Psalm 89 will read the first 10 verses a contemplation of Ethan the Ezra height. I will sing of the mercies of the Lord forever. With my mouth will I make known your faithfulness to all generations. For I have said mercy shall be built up forever.
Your faithfulness you shall establish in the very heavens. I have made a covenant with my chosen. I have sworn to my servant David your seed I will establish forever and build up your throne to all generations and the heavens will praise your wonders.
Oh Lord your faithfulness also in the assembly of the saints for who in the heavens can be compared to the Lord who among the sons of the mighty can be likened to the Lord. God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of his of the saints and to be held in reverence by all those around him.
Oh Lord God of hosts who is mighty like you. Oh Lord your faithfulness also surrounds you. You rule the raging of the sea. When its waves rise you still them. You have broken Rahab and pieces as one who is slain.
You have scattered your enemies with your mighty arm. Amen. Here we end the reading of God's holy and infallible word. We praise God seeing his power demonstrated there. Speaking about how he controls all creation.
We heard something about that this morning didn't we? And also how he is the one who raises up nations and brings down nations such as Rahab there or Egypt as that would be referring to with his mighty arm.
God is the one who is sovereign over all. This songs that you have chosen the first one is 119 S. So let's sing these together.
Now. S. Oh gracious heavenly father we come before you as our father. We come.
Thanking you that you have made yourself known to us as our father in heaven that you are the one who rules over all things and has all power and authority to control the sea and the wind and the affairs of nations.
And yet you are the one who is also a tender caring father to us. And we praise you that we can come to you with confidence as little children to a holy father through Jesus Christ. Truly by him we have been reconciled to you and we have not only become your servants but we have also been welcomed as your sons into your very own household.
We thank you for the joy and privilege that that gives to us and the confidence to call upon your name. We thank you for the holy spirit that you give to us that you are a father who is able to transform the character of those that you adopt as your sons.
We thank you lord for your power and grace that has given us a new heart that you have restored in us. So lord that after your image which was damaged by the fall so that we are renewed and knowledge righteousness and holiness after the image of him who created us lord truly you have been very gracious to us to restore us and we pray that we would grow in that grace that you have given to us that work that you have begun.
Oh lord we pray that that truly you would be glorified that your name would be glorified all over the earth that people would see your greatness and who you are that the nations would tremble before you because you would manifest your great name.
Well father is a judgment to us when you hide yourself and when you do not show your mighty arm among the peoples we pray lord that you would awaken us because we have hardened ourselves and blinded ourselves but truly oh lord you are a god who is revealed through all of creation if we only have eyes to see it but we also know that you have ways of making your your glory very conspicuous and that you will do that lord at the last day but we pray that you would do it now that during this time that people might see who you are and that they might repent and turn to you and begin to worship you and give you the praise that is due to your great name lord we pray that you would do this very soon that you would pour out your your mercy and grace in this way to show yourself.
We pray indeed lord that your kingdom would come and that it would spread into all the world. We thank you for the word of god that you have given us the living word who is common who has established his church.
We thank you for the expansion of that church and the means of grace that are used both for means of evangelism and also for the growth of your people. And we pray lord that you would bless those means.
That you would bless the word of God. That you would bless it to us Lord as we read your word privately in our families and also corporately in the place of worship. We pray that you would bless the preaching of the word and the exposition of the word the the application of the word and counseling in such areas of parents ministering the word to their children.
We pray that we might see your word to increase and go forth among us and to bring us to maturity and strength. May it bring us also oh lord that you would open our eyes. That we might love you and adore you.
That we might see how great you are and that we might humble ourselves before you and bow down in humble worship with joy and gladness in who you are. Oh father we do pray that you would cause also obedience to prevail in the earth.
That your will would be done on earth as it is in heaven. We pray lord that we might see the the beauty of your way lived out in the lives of your people in their homes and their church. That the aroma of Christ might be among us Lord.
That we might show forth his praises by the way that we live as he did when he was here for Jesus Christ was lovely among us. He went about doing good. He praised you and worshiped you. Oh lord. Help us to be like him.
Help us to grow more and more into his likeness. Help your church to mature. Turn us away from our folly. Turn us away from our half heartedness. Make us a people who are zealous for your name. Oh father please purge out of us that which is displeasing to you and give to us that which is pleasing.
May we see how beautiful it is to walk in your way and may we by your grace be able to do so Lord. We also pray that you would continue to provide for our daily needs. You have promised to do so. You who look after even the sparrow.
Surely Lord you look after those who are made in your image. We pray then Lord that we would give thanks for all of the provision and care that you have shown to us. That we would recognize it as from your hand father.
The health that we have the food and clothing that we have the many pleasures that we have even the the government that we have that in a measure does provide order in our society. We know how much more disordered it would be without them.
And yet Lord we see that there are many things that are done in an ungodly and disorderly way among those who lead us. And we pray that you would have mercy oh Lord. And that you would restore righteousness among those who govern us.
Oh father. Bring to repentance those who lead and if they will not repent we pray that you would remove them and that you would bring those who will serve you. Father we look to you with eyes of hope and expectation that you are mighty and able to do this.
We do pray that you would provide employment for us Lord wherever that is needed and that you would help us to be diligent in our work and to do our work heartily is unto the Lord. That we would glorify you in serving others and recognize our work service to both God and man.
That we are priest every day as we minister to you through the work that we do as a living sacrifice. We pray that we would also love one another in this way. Or that we would pour our lives out giving to one another physical things that are needed whether it be financial help or or service or whatever ministry is needed.
Especially may we do these among those that are in our own homes. For you have said that a man that will not provide for his own is worse than an infidel. And we take those words to heart. And we ask you Lord to make us diligent in providing for our own.
We also pray that we would have sufficient to give to others Lord who are in need that are outside. We pray that you would give us wisdom in our church to to use the resources that we have for work. That would be pleasing to you what we pray also that you would forgive us for our sins.
We know Lord that we have many sins that we commit every day and we don't even know of them many times we're indifferent to them. And we pray that you would open our eyes that we might see more and more clearly how we come short of your glory and that we might grow into the fullness of it.
But Lord forgive us for the ways that we do come short the many ways that we are that we fail to do what you have called us to do and that we even do things that you have told us not to do. Father have mercy upon us.
We pray restore us so Lord and help us then to be generous toward others who wrong us that we might be ready to forgive them. For if you have forgiven us how could we not forgive our brother. We pray Lord for those who have fallen into hard times in their families and things of that nature that where there is bitterness and where there is strife and where there is hostility that there would be repentance and restoration of relationship and that love would prevail.
Grant to us a forgiving spirit. That we may as those forgiven also forgive. For you have said that if we do not forgive one another you will not forgive us. You will deal with us as a displeased father who chastens us.
And we pray Lord that we would not live under that chastisement. That we would rather repent and receive the restoration of sons that we may be able to serve you gladly. We also pray Lord that that you would keep us from temptation.
We know that there are many temptations that come upon us father. We get tempted from the things in the world that are enticing to us too often our hearts are still to wed to the things of this world and we're drawn away.
Or so that we would even forget you. And we would go astray or we're drawn to things that are even very corrupt things that are attractive to us so Lord and that ought not to be attractive. We pray that you would change us so that our love for you eclipses whatever love we might have for the things of the world.
And father that we might come to rejoice in serving you and not in serving the old man and Satan and the world. That we would learn to rejoice in your your your way. Oh Lord please forgive us Lord in this regard to we pray Lord that you would also is as we're tempted that you would help us.
That you would help us in the temptations that come from trials when things go wrong for us. And we're tempted to grumble and complain and to harden our heart toward you. If Satan is not able to entice us away then he will try to drive us away.
He will bring persecution and hardship and following you he'll bring opposition and difficulty. And we know a lord that you give him leave to do this in order to test us in order that we might grow strong.
That we might understand that we need your grace and we need to depend on you. We pray that you would help us Lord in that regard give us patience in our afflictions even when they're long. We often want to tell you how long those afflictions should last and to tell you that they have gone on for too long.
But we pray that you would help us to realize that you are the one who knows what is best for us is a gracious father. That you do not give us any affliction that is not necessary. We pray then that we would receive it with hope and with gladness from a heavenly father that loves us.
Well father please bless us now as we as we turn to your word and bless our brother Ilya Korchagin as he preaches to us. We thank you for the ministry that he's had here among us and pray that you will continue to bless him as he goes forward in service to you O Lord.
That you would guide him into the place of further study and ministry that you would have for him in the days to come. We thank you for guiding all of the young men that are seeking your will. We pray Lord that you would continue to bless them and guide them.
All who are preparing for a gospel ministry we ask that you would establish them in your.
Way we pray O Lord these things in Jesus name. Amen. Good afternoon. If you have your Bibles with you please open up to Mark chapter 4. Mark chapter 4 verse 35 to 41. Here now the word of the Lord from Mark chapter 4.
On the same day when evening had come he said to them let us cross over to the other side now when they had left the multitude they took him along in the boat as he was and other little boats were also with him.
And a great windstorm arose and the waves beat into the boat so that it was already filling. But he was in the stern asleep on a pillow. And they awoke him and said to him teacher do you not care that we are perishing.
Then he arose and rebuked the wind and he said to the sea peace be still. And the wind ceased and there was a great calm. But he said to them why are you so fearful. How is it that you have no faith. And they feared exceedingly and said to one another who can this be.
That even the wind and the sea obey him. The grass withers and the flowers fade. The word of the Lord endures forever. Let us approach our God. And in time of prayer Almighty God we thank you Lord for your word.
We thank you for your guidance. We thank you for your love toward us that we being your sheep have a perfect and wonderful shepherd who never fails us and is always near us. Lord as we contemplate your nearness this afternoon we ask that you would be with us in so doing that we would grow in our love for you and that you would help us to have clear minds and hearts in order that your word would take root deeply in us help us to live a life for your glory.
We ask all these things in Jesus precious name. Amen. One of the most commonly asked questions is why does God allow bad things to happen. And oftentimes we add this very loaded caveat in there why does God allow bad things to happen to good people.
It doesn't matter who it doesn't matter the field of inquiry whether it's science or politics or philosophy or theology. Everybody that is by far the most asked question. We look at a world that seems so chaotic and we wonder why is it so bad.
And surely if the world is filled with pretty decent people. And why is it the case that God allows such an untold amount of suffering. There's an entire industry that's devoted to answering this question.
Almost no end of ink has been spilled writing books trying to answer this thousands of hours of podcast episodes. There is an entire field of study on this question. Why does God allow evil at all. Especially when it seems to flourish so greatly.
But the thing is that this is entirely an emotional question that doesn't make it invalid or bad. But quite frankly there's no logical contradiction in saying that God may allow suffering to the degree that we see it in this earth no more or less for a wonderful purpose that we cannot understand.
There's actually no contradiction there. And so therefore when we look out at the world around us the only thing that we can truly say is that I just don't like how much suffering there really is. And especially when you are going through some suffering yourself you want to be very careful how you are dealt with when other people are suffering around you.
It may be reasonable to ask well dear friend right before that suffering where was your hope. And where was your trust. Perhaps the Lord is using the suffering in your life to show a lack of trust in him and faith in his purposes might seem out of place when the suffering is extreme.
And so oftentimes we don't ask it so poignantly and so directly. But for exactly that reason this is a very helpful and good question for us to consider when the suffering is indeed very small and trivial.
Let's be honest with ourselves this afternoon we asked that question at the smallest inconvenience. We get cut off in traffic and we think well that's just great isn't it. Why would God allow that the weather.
We complain about the weather. Wouldn't you know what actually the Puritans talked about that how sinful it is to complain about the weather on and on it goes where we ask that question why does God allow bad things to happen.
This passage that we find here in Mark there's a group of men that are wondering that exact question why does God allow this storm to come upon us this calamity that is no mere small inconvenience. Indeed it is a matter of life and death.
And where we demand an answer Jesus does not sit them down and catechize them on all the particulars of what his purposes are. He simply speaks order into that situation as he deems fit. Perhaps somewhat expected but also not in entirely the way the disciples end up seeing here.
So too we must take a step back and ask ourselves whether it is a minor inconvenience or whether it feels like my life is completely falling apart what is the calamity that God is allowing in my life exposing in my trust in God's purposes.
And perhaps if that's the case then maybe this calamity this might sound strange is in some sense a gift that God has given me not for the purposes of mocking me or to put me down but to actually demonstrate the need that I have so that I may find that presence and that need in him.
Because one of the most common themes in scripture is the closeness and the presence of God. Indeed there will be calamities and there will be storms but Jesus leads through the storm. And we're going to see that this afternoon in three ways God leading into calamity man's accusation and calamity and lastly God leading out of calamity.
So God leading into calamity man's accusation and calamity and God leading out of calamity. We begin now in verse 35 on the same day when evening had come he said to them that is Jesus. Let us cross over to the other side.
Now we begin a new section here in mark and that's important to also sort of set the context in the stage for where we're at at this portion of the gospel Jesus is now with his disciples transitioning into a ministry that is marked most directly by miracles.
These aren't the first miracles that Jesus performs however with the entire ministry with his disciples this is now a new section after this beginning in chapter 5 in the first 20 verses we are going to see Jesus exercise a demon from a man and to heal him.
Following that from verses 21 to 43 we're going to see Jesus raise a girl from the dead and interspersed in that he's also going to heal a woman who had had a very serious medical issue for a long time.
And so these three things put together demonstrate what to us right now at the tail end of chapter 4 it's telling us that Jesus whoever he is is superior to the entire created order he can by the word of his power tell the seas to hush and they obey him and they listen to him again.
If you didn't know anything about Jesus whoever he is he's superior to the created order. But he's not only superior to it in some general sense with respect to creation. He can command illness to die out.
He can command cancers to shrink. He can command whatever he so desires with respect to that aspect of the created order as well. And even the created order that we can't see he's above the demons. He's above every spiritual being with a few short miracles.
You would expect therefore as Jesus enters his hometown at the beginning of chapter 6 for him to be recognized as the great and mighty prophet that he is. But of course instead we know that Jesus is immediately rejected in his own hometown.
So after all of Jesus's miracles at least in this formal section Jesus faces rejection. We might say to ourselves well perhaps I can understand. If you had grown up with him and you're not used to that kind of thing.
Maybe they were a little bit freaked out. Fine maybe we can try really hard to excuse that disbelief. But surely with the disciples before this new section of miracles you would expect something very different.
The men that are now with him in the gospel ministry surely they're going to be far more faithful. Are they not. But we're gonna see that isn't the case and continue on continuing on and flushing out some of that context.
Verse 36 now tells us perhaps where the hope of the Apostles really lay. Now when they had left the multitude they took him along in the boat as he was and other little boats were also with him. Now it doesn't say this precisely in this verse but judging from the reaction of the disciples later on what may have been the case here with respect to that question of where is my hope and my trust immediately before a calamity think about the situation.
Jesus is traveling with a group of men that he has asked to help him to get to the other side of the Sea of Galilee. Many of these were very experienced fishermen. This is the first time that I'm preaching from this general area in Atlantic Canada.
You probably have met some very good fishermen. They don't even think twice about going very far out into the sea. These would have been men. Some of them at least that would have been perhaps even familiar with the Sea of Galilee.
They know their way around water. They're experts. Moreover the text tells us when evening had come in that context being around 6 p .m. it's very well. It's very possible that there would have been some amount of light as well.
They took other boats with them. So the situation seems entirely foolproof. We are experienced fishermen. There are lots of men lots of boats. We can. We have good visibility. Still no mention of an impending storm.
Nothing that would have suggested to them even on a human level that calamity is about to come. This is quite literally pardon the pun the calm before the storm. And it was a situation where for the disciples it would have been humanly very easy to trust in one's ability not even think twice about it.
Let's be honest with ourselves when we get in our car in the morning to drive to church do we stress all the details about all the things that can go wrong. No. Intuitively we say well I've done this a million times before.
What could possibly go wrong. The interesting thing in a sense isn't so much that it's the fact that Jesus knowing that a storm is immediately on the horizon does nothing to prevent the situation. Oh isn't that interesting.
Doesn't that reframe the question why does God allow bad things to happen. He gets into the boat with them. This isn't Jesus forgetting or being passive or inactive. This is something that we actually see all throughout scripture.
Very common theme. In fact think for example about Jesus. Think for example from Psalm 23 when the Lord is described as our shepherd. The shepherd sees that the valley of the shadow of death is coming from far away.
And the passage still says. Even though I walk through this valley I shall fear. No evil for you are with me. We might be forgiven almost for wondering. Well then why doesn't the shepherd just go around.
Surely there's another way to go through this life then to pointlessly go through all these scary valleys. But that's simply not the life that we live. That's simply not the path that the shepherd has ordained.
He knows better than the sheep were to go. And the comfort and the hope that that sheep has is that his shepherd is with him. Jesus is with his people. He gets into the boat with them. Now as we think about beyond these immediate events it's worthwhile to also think of some parallels between this passage and another very familiar Old Testament passage.
Matter of fact we looked a little bit at it last week during our call to worship. There's some very striking similarities between here and another Old Testament prophet. And if if maybe these connections aren't immediately obvious it's Jonah.
Matter of fact when the Old Testament was when the Old Testament was translated into Greek there's even a lot of the same language that's used between these two passages. The word great is used multiple times.
There's a marine journey that's that's taking place. The the storm is great. The the fear is great the threat is great. All of these things are great. And we're going to see especially a little bit later how tight of a parallel that forms with Mark chapter 4.
So having set some of that context and thinking about the little mental checklist that you often have and that we see particularly here the question then stands for us when you think about the challenges in your life however great or small they may have been if it helps perhaps think of some of the smaller ones for now what immediately preceded it.
Could it be that right before that thing happened. Whatever it was that maybe you too had a little checklist. I've got little boats with me and there are other people involved and I know what I'm doing.
And this is something that's well within my control. This is a form of pride. Is there perhaps unrepentant pride that the Lord is forcing us to deal with and to bring before him. This is God leading into calamity.
We then have man's accusation in calamity. Continuing on in verse 37 we read as follows. And a great windstorm arose and the waves beat into the boat so that it was already filling. But he that is Jesus was in the stern asleep on a pillow and they woke him and said to him teacher do you not care that we are perishing.
So everything that we had seen before is now worthless. There's no hope to be found in this. And if experienced fishermen are saying that the situation is dire then we are not talking about a small inconvenience.
We spoke about this earlier to try to ease ourselves a little bit into it because we understand that when a great issue has happened we're very sensitive. We don't want to ask probing questions. We certainly don't want to be asked probing questions.
But here's the fact whatever the calamity is no matter how great or small the fact stays the same. We ought to think to ourselves. Where was my hope right before this. It is a helpful question to ask is a healing question to ask.
And because these things are so sensitive sometimes people give perhaps well-meaning but very misguided advice. How many times have you heard Christians say something to the effect of God won't give you more than you can handle.
Don't worry about it you'll be fine. God doesn't give you more than you can handle. God helps those who help themselves. We know these. Well unfortunately the Apostle Paul would disagree because I'm first.
In 2nd Corinthians chapter 1 verse 8 he says that we despaired of life itself. When speaking about the challenges of his ministry not for nothing. The specific challenge he names one of them includes shipwreck.
So it's not the case that God doesn't give you more than you can handle. That's not the hope. Because if that were the case then what that would mean effectively is that you can handle everything on your own.
But you can't can't handle anything. The hope is that you won't be given anything more than God can handle because definitionally there's nothing that he can't handle. And so while the disciples are terrified and have concluded that this is the absolute end of the road where is Jesus.
He is sleeping in the middle of a storm. Perhaps that ought to be added to one of Jesus's miracles because what Jesus is doing here is that he is demonstrating what Psalm 127 talks about that God gives to his beloved in his sleep.
It's not bringing us to a theology of sleep that if you get so many hours or a particular REM cycle then you'll be particularly sanctified. No it's not that at all. It's that there is a kind of man whose trust in the Lord is so secure and so perfect that he can sleep quite literally rest assured in the goodness of his shepherd.
This is what Jesus is doing. There's a calamity and everything seems to be falling apart. The world looks like it's on fire. And he knows that his God is with him just as he is with his own people. And so now they're giving their thoughts and response in the situation to God directly.
Perhaps we have done something like that as well. Let's see again exactly how they respond in the midst of such calamity. They awoke him and said to him teacher do you not care that we are perishing. This is a very serious and very loaded question.
Let's break that down. Teacher do you not care that we are perishing. It's not a hypothetical. They're not saying Jesus. I just was wondering. They're insisting. They're implying Jesus. You obviously don't care about us.
Because if that were the case you wouldn't be taking an app in the middle of our calamity. Surely you would have done something or said something by now not only that but they have already concluded that the worst outcome is the only one possible we are perishing.
And finally it demonstrates that they really don't know what they're dealing with. They had seen Jesus's ministry before this they had received the teaching of the parables. They understand that this is a man unlike any other man whoever else he may be.
And yet when push comes to shove they do that one of the oldest sins in Scripture. Going all the way back to Genesis 3 12 they blame God. It's not my fault. It's this woman you gave me something that we see in Scripture all over the place.
Man blames God when he's in a tight spot. And so they are telling God surely you don't care about me. Evidenced by the fact that I am suffering so not a minor inconvenience a life-or-death issue. And so again the question stands for us.
Do we blame God. Dear friend this is wickedness. It is blasphemy to look at a perfect Lord and say you have failed me. God does not fail his children. Have we not many times over perhaps even in our hearts even if we haven't verbalized it in exactly the same way that the disciples do.
Have we not asked the question Jesus do you not care. The disciples were saying that to Jesus who had been teaching and teaching and teaching ad nauseam and spent so much of his time and energy teaching because he loves his people drawing entire crowds to give the oracles of God undeserved pearls from the divine directly.
He had worn himself out he was exhausted. He wasn't taking a nap because he was lazy. It's because he was so weary from everything that had happened. And you wonder does Jesus care. Not only that but there's also a sense of pride and hubris in the question as well.
Jesus we are doing you a favor. You asked us to bring you to the other side and you couldn't have given us safer passage. Does that not describe our own lives so often when life is easy it's easy when days are good things seem like they'll just work themselves out.
I know what I'm about. But then when everything seems to be falling apart around us not only do we ask the why do you do the do you not care question but also wondering why is God allowing me to perish.
How does a passage like this forces to consider our circumstances differently. When we're confronted with such an obvious display of blasphemy are we not forced to reconsider. Therefore where was my heart immediately prior to whatever storm life brought to me.
We conclude now with God leading out of calamity. This is when Jesus arises. And it's verse 39 says he rebuked the wind and he said to the sea peace be still and the wind ceased and there was a great calm.
But he said to them why are you so fearful. How is it that you have no faith again. Let's think about what's happening here. We talked about some of the similarities with Jonah. Some of those similarities are linguistic stylistic.
But think about in the grand scheme of things what this means. Jonah suffered in a way that we can totally understand he was a very disobedient man. You can hardly think of any other instance in Scripture where a prophet was told by God do this.
And he says boldly no I hate those people. I'm gonna go do my own thing. And tries to get as far away from the situation as possible. So when we read that as people and we find him at the bottom of the sea we think good you had what's coming.
God asked you to do something and you said no and you just got what was coming to you didn't you. Well how. How does that story continue. In Jonah 2 he finds himself at the bottom of the sea inside that fish.
And he is saying to himself that the Lord is great. He's praising God. In Jonah 2 he says I will look towards God's Holy Temple. I know that salvation is from the Lord. That's why he's a prophet. Because despite the fact that he hates the Ninevites so much he still understands the goodness of God.
He disobeys direct orders from God fulfills them in the end anyway. But when he finally finds himself in the depth of that calamity he says I know that God is good. The disciples on the other hand are doing Jesus a favor.
They're involved in ministry. It's a good thing to do. In some of those cases it almost looks like they volunteered. Philip said oh you know who I am. That's it. I'm dropping everything and I'm following you.
They seem to be doing all the right things. Shouldn't the Lord reward that. But then the first calamity comes and they're immediately blaming God. They're not looking towards God's Holy Temple. They're not saying salvation is from the Lord.
They're saying no. Clearly death is from the Lord. Because we're about to die here even though Jesus is with us. What that means is that to find yourself in this state of disobedience at this level is to be more disobedient than the disobedient prophet par excellence in scripture it's to be worse than Jonah.
That's why it's so serious in Jonah's case his suffering clarified that which he always knew. And so then isn't the burden on us then to not get so lost in the calamity not to get so lost in that problem so as to not see the light of God in the midst of it.
Especially because Jesus then stands up and he rebukes the wind and he says peace be still. And what happens immediately. The wind ceases and there is a great calm. Because for all the all that we hear that Jesus never said or he never claimed to be God someone oh 729 says otherwise speaking of God and God alone it says he caused the storm to be still so that the waves of the sea were hushed.
That's one of several passages in the Psalms that speak like that Jesus did not have to always recite the Nicene Creed. He demonstrated himself that he is God Almighty and that he is in the boat with us.
Jesus leads to the storm. And what storm is a match for God himself. Now when we looked a bit earlier at this whole question of blaming God we talked about how that's one of the oldest sins in Scripture.
Going all the way back to Adam even Cain as we looked at this morning am I my brother's keeper. Man blames God time and time again happens almost everywhere in Scripture. But almost every time that happens if not every single time without fail God is the one that has the final say in that.
Because when Adam blames his wife what does God do he speaks into that situation responding by saying here's this covenant that I'm making. Here are the effects of these sins. Death will come pain and childbirth toil under the Sun all the rest of it.
But I'm also making this wonderful covenant that there will come a Redeemer and a Savior. When Job finds himself an unspeakable calamity loses everybody loses everything. And him and his friends are arguing and waxing eloquent about why this is happening.
And perhaps there has been some great injustice because why does God allow bad things to happen to good people. At the very end of that book God comes into the story and he asks the Job where were you when I made the monsters of the deep.
What an odd time for a biology lesson. But it's not about that it's God asking Job. You do not even understand the majesty of the world around you could you possibly begin to understand my glorious purposes in all things.
And Job rather than being scandalized and outraged understands that he needs to repent. And dust and ashes which is what he says. Likewise after this horrible situation and where the humanity of the disciples is on full display.
Humanity by the way that we can look at and say well I understand where they're coming from. That's exactly the problem we can we can understand being in that state. They blame God. And then finally Jesus has the final word why are you so fearful.
How is it that you have no faith. It's such a beautiful sentence because it's so direct it leaves no room for interpretation. Jesus is not commending them. He's saying how is it that you still have no faith.
Why are you afraid. But it's also gracious. He's not biting. He's not mean he's not rude but he's so direct in trying to get them to see the depth of their sin. It was sinful to blame God in one's calamity.
Christian why are you so fearful. Why do you rage against God. Because you may have lost a loved one. Why are you so fearful looking at the circumstances of your life knowing that perhaps you may lose your house soon.
Perhaps your children are not walking with the Lord. Perhaps you are in you're not on speaking terms with relatives or loved ones. Perhaps there is church hurt that you have never been able to get over.
Perhaps worse. We can spend an infinite amount of time going through all of the very real and valid ways that people suffer. That Christians experience great hardship and heartache. And the answer would still be the same for the person who blames God.
The answer would still be Christian. Why are you fearful. How is it that you have no faith not to put down not to mock but to help us to see that Jesus is in the boat with us. The storm is not the be-all and end-all.
And I can't guarantee for you anything about your circumstances. Christian. It might get worse. I don't know. But the gracious Savior who's bigger than all our problems is near us and he is with us. The disciples having understood this verse 41 says.
Feared exceedingly and said to one another who can this be. That even the wind and the sea obey him. Who is this. This is God Almighty Emmanuel. The very name means God with us. We've looked at that last week during the afternoon service from Hebrews 9 God tabernacling with his people giving us his spirit dwelling with us closely and with fellowship.
The disciples if nothing else develop a proper fear of God in the midst of horrible suffering. It is guaranteed that in this life there will be much suffering. There will be heartache sleepless nights tears.
There will be times where we want to raise our voice and scream and do all manner of things. Pain is real. We cannot get around it. We cannot pretend like it's not real. Scripture does not ask us to pretend like we're not suffering.
What scripture does ask us is to look to our God in the midst of all that to recognize that we live in a fallen world and that the suffering that we experience is in one form or another the result of human sin.
We live in a very broken world and pain is guaranteed. But however great the problem may be there is always an infinitely greater Savior near near us and with us. And so dear friend if you do not know Christ if you have not repented and come before him if you're not walking with the Lord then there are no guarantees for you.
I can't guarantee for you that God is with you and everything is going to be ultimately worked out for your for his glory and for your good. As scripture tells us you forfeit that guarantee by refusing to submit to the great God that loves his people.
But the wonderful news is that you have at any moment the opportunity to come before that Savior and to say Lord forgive me for not seeing your goodness in the midst of such horrible circumstances. Do not neglect so great a salvation you're not guaranteed.
Tomorrow come and flee to this Savior fall before him in repentance and say Lord I need you and you alone as for the rest of us. This is the hope that we have. Dear friend it is more than possible that you have experienced things in your life that I cannot comprehend.
I don't know what it's like. I can't even pretend to empathize. I do. But I mean I can't guarantee for you that I understand every single thing that you may have gone through. But what I can say with absolute certainty standing on the authority of God's Word is that Jesus loves his sheep and Jesus leads through the storm.
Amen. Almighty God we thank you that you are with us. We thank you Lord for your great and awesome presence with us Lord. We also know that the calamities that you have ordained in our life refine us.
They demonstrate a lack of faith that demonstrate Lord and over abundance of faith in our own abilities. And in thinking that things are just gonna work out on their own Lord we ask that as these challenges come that you would use them to continue to purify our hearts and that through this Lord we would come to see your great love and presence with your people.
Lord forgive us for all the times that we have blamed you. Forgive us Lord for all the times that we have clenched our fists to the sky and said this is not fair. Surely a loving God would not allow this Lord.
We rebuke these thoughts and these feelings. Lord help us to see from your Word that we can indeed rely on a great Savior and not on our circumstances. Help us Lord to trust you. Knowing that you suffered more than any of us would.
Help us Lord to understand that you have ordained this these challenges in our life so that we may grow deeper in love with our Savior. Help us to walk after you glorifying you in seasons of abundance and in seasons of great need.
Knowing that you are always with us no matter the circumstance. We ask Lord that you would help us to glorify you and that by the Spirit we would live a life there's a wonderful testimony of the riches and goodness shown to us by you.
We ask all these things in Jesus precious name. Amen. Our song of response comes from Psalm.
107 selection D. Please rise for our final psalm this Lord's day Lord lift.
Up his countenance upon you and give you peace.