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Higher than and higher, hither ransomed soul,
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Earthly joys forgotten, Saviour to its goal.
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Where in joys unthought of, saints with angels sing,
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Their weary praising, praises to their
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King. And please be seated. For our
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New Testament reading, let's turn in Mark's Gospel today. Now when they drew near to Jerusalem, to Bethphage and Bethany, at the
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Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two of his disciples and said to them, Go into the village in front of you, and immediately as you enter it, you will find a colt tied on which no one has ever sat.
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Untie it and bring it. If anyone says to you, Why are you doing this? Say, The Lord has need of it, and will send it back here immediately.
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And they went away and found a colt tied at a door outside in the street, and they untied it.
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And some of those standing there said to them, What are you doing untying the colt? And they told them what
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Jesus had said, and they let them go. And they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks on it, and he sat on it.
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And many spread their cloaks on the road, and others spread leafy branches that they had cut from the fields.
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And those who went before and those who followed were shouting, Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the
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Lord! Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David! Hosanna in the highest!
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And he entered Jerusalem and went into the temple. And when he had looked around at everything, as it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the twelve.
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On the following day, when they came from Bethany, he was hungry. And seeing in the distance a fig tree and leaf, he went to see if he could find anything on it.
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When he came to it, he found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs. And he said to it,
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May no one ever eat fruit from you again. And his disciples heard it. And they came to Jerusalem.
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And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold and those who bought in the temple.
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And he overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. And he would not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple.
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And he was teaching them and saying to them, Is it not written, My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations?
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But you have made it a den of robbers. And the chief priests and the scribes heard it and were seeking a way to destroy him.
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For they feared him, because all the crowd was astonished at his teaching. And when evening came, they went out of the city.
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And as they passed in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered away to its roots. And Peter remembered and said to them,
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Rabbi, look, the fig tree that you cursed has withered. And Jesus answered them,
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Have faith in God. Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, Be taken up and thrown into the sea, and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him.
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Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.
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And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.
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And they came again to Jerusalem. And as he was walking in the temple, the chief priests and the scribes and the elders came to him.
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And they said to him, By what authority are you doing these things? Or who gave you the authority to do them?
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Jesus said to them, I will ask you one question. Answer me, and I will tell you by what authority
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I do these things. Was the baptism of John from heaven or from man? Answer me.
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And they discussed it with one another, saying, If we say from heaven, he will say, Why then did you not believe him?
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But if we say from man, they were afraid of the people, for they all held that John really was a prophet.
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So they answered Jesus, We do not know. And Jesus said to them, Neither will
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I tell you by what authority I do these things. Let's pray.
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Our gracious Heavenly Father, we thank you so much for the life of Christ and the pattern that we have.
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We thank you for his wisdom that he demonstrated and how he handled himself in public and how he handled himself when people opposed him.
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We thank you, Lord, that your will was accomplished, that Jesus Christ fully obeyed you in every area.
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And we thank you, Lord, for what this means for us, that because of Christ, because of his work, because of what he did on our behalf, we have a relationship with you that was not possible before.
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So, Lord, we rejoice in Jesus Christ. We're thankful for his life.
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We're thankful for his death, for his ascension, that he is now reigning over all things. And, Lord, we pray that as we study the
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Word of God this morning, that you would make these things real to us, that you would take the Word of God from our ear and implant it deep within our hearts, so that we might know you better.
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Lord, through the power of the Spirit, we pray that we would apply these truths to our lives so that you might be glorified.
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Lord, guide us and lead us as we continue to worship you and study your Word. Thank you,
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Lord, in Jesus' name, Amen. Well, let's turn again to John 6 as we continue this study in his
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Gospel. And today we'll consider the miracle of Jesus walking upon the
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Sea of Galilee. He was walking on the sea coming to his disciples to aid them as they were rowing across the sea.
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They were three or four miles into the sea, probably about halfway in the distance they were traveling.
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And Jesus came to them and comforted them, encouraged them, and stilled the sea as well.
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And so the verses we want to consider today are John 6, 15 through 22. Therefore when
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Jesus perceived that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, he departed again to the mountain by himself alone.
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Now when evening came, his disciples went down to the sea, got into the boat, and went over the sea toward Capernaum.
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And it was already dark, and Jesus had not come to them.
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And then the sea arose, because a great wind was blowing. So when they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw
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Jesus walking on the sea and drawing near the boat, and they were afraid.
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But he said to them, It is I, do not be afraid. And then they willingly received him into the boat, and immediately the boat was at the land where they were going.
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On the following day, when the people who were standing on the other side of the sea saw that there was no other boat there except that one which his disciples had entered, and that Jesus had not entered the boat with his disciples, but his disciples had gone away alone.
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However, other boats came from Tiberias near the place where they ate bread after the
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Lord had given thanks. When the people therefore saw that Jesus was not there nor his disciples, they also got into boats and came to Capernaum seeking
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Jesus. And when they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him,
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Rabbi, when did you come here? And we gave our attention two weekends ago at the miracle of Jesus feeding the 5 ,000.
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We stated that it was the only miracle recorded in all four Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.
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That is the only miracle in all four Gospels apart from the resurrection, which is of course in all four.
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Well, the miracle of Jesus walking upon the sea, recorded here, is recorded in three of the four
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Gospels. It's here in John's Gospel, but it's also recorded in Matthew and Mark.
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This miracle is not recorded in Luke's Gospel. The parallel account recorded in Mark chapter 6 is quite similar to this account in John.
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And as we read it, see if you can detect some of the differences in detail. It reads this way,
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Immediately he, Jesus, made his disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side to Bethsaida, while he sent the multitude away.
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And when he had sent them away, he departed to the mountain to pray. Now when evening came, the boat was in the middle of the sea, and he was alone on the land.
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Then he saw them straining at rowing, for the wind was against them. Now about the fourth watch of the night he came to them, walking on the sea, and would have passed them by.
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And when they saw him walking on the sea, they supposed it was a ghost, and cried out, for they all saw him and were troubled.
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But immediately he talked with them and said to them, Be of good cheer, it is I, do not be afraid.
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Then he went up into the boat to them, and the wind ceased. And they were greatly amazed in themselves, beyond measure, and marveled, for they had not understood about the loaves, because their heart was hardened.
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But then there is the third account in Matthew's Gospel, Matthew 14, which gives additional details, differing somewhat from the account in both
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John and Mark in points of emphasis, not that they're contradictory, of course, but they're supplemental.
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Matthew's Gospel alone records it was on this occasion that Peter walked upon the sea after the
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Lord granted his request to come away from the boat toward him. And so here's Matthew's account of this same miracle.
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Immediately Jesus made his disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side while he sent the multitudes away.
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And when he had sent the multitudes away, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray. And now when evening came, he was alone there.
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But the boat was now in the middle of the sea tossed by the waves, for the wind was contrary. Now in the fourth watch of the night,
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Jesus went to them walking on the sea. And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying,
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It is a ghost. And they cried out for fear. But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying,
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Be of good cheer. It is I. Do not be afraid. And Peter answered him and said,
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Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water. And he said,
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Come. And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus.
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But when he saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid. And beginning to sink, he cried out, saying,
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Lord, save me. And immediately Jesus stretched out his hand and caught him and said to him,
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O you of little faith, why did you doubt? And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased.
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And those who were in the boat came and worshipped him, saying, Truly, you are the
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Son of God. And so we have three accounts of this one miracle.
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There are some differences in detail. There is really a different point of view.
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In Mark's account from the other two accounts of Matthew and John, it's perhaps parallel somewhat with Matthew's account.
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And I want us to consider this point of view. For example, in Mark's account, it's largely recorded from the perspective of a narrator watching and following Jesus himself.
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And I listed a number of the phrases or clauses here that give emphasis to Jesus himself.
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Immediately he made his disciples get into the boat while he sent the multitude away.
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When he had sent them away, he departed to the mountain to pray. He was alone on the land.
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Then he saw them straining and rowing, for the wind was against them. About the fourth watch of the night, he came to them.
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But immediately he talked with them and said to them, Be of good cheer. Then he went up into the boat to them, and the wind ceased.
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So in John's gospel, the account is though the narrator is watching the disciples specifically and directly.
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And he gives the account as he's watching over the disciples. Jesus is off there. But in this account,
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Mark's account, it's as though the narrator is hovering over Jesus and watching him and telling the story from his perspective.
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And so there is a different perspective that's being conveyed here.
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And this is just one little narrative aspect that enhances the distinctiveness of some of these gospel accounts, something that we might not necessarily notice at a casual reading.
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And so again, in John's account, it's though the narrator is watching the disciples directly, what they are doing and experiencing.
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But in Mark and Matthew's account, the narrator is hovering above Jesus, watching, listening, following him as he goes to rescue his disciples from the danger that threatened them.
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The miracle story, however, that we just read is sometimes confused with another account of Jesus calming the
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Sea of Galilee. And this other account is not found in John's gospel, but it is found in the other three gospels, the synoptics of Matthew, Mark, and Luke.
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We're not going to read through these three accounts, but it is the account of Jesus with the disciples in the boat when the storm arises and Jesus is asleep in the boat.
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He's not walking on the water. He's in the boat. They awaken him out of concern, don't you care that we're perishing?
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And then he calms the sea, peace be still. Let's just look at Matthew 8, 23 -27 in your notes.
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When he got into a boat, his disciples followed him, and suddenly a great tempest arose on the sea so that the boat was covered with the waves, but he was asleep.
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And then his disciples came to him and awoke him, saying, Lord, save us, we're perishing. But he said to them,
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Why are you fearful, O you of little faith? And then he rose and rebuked the winds and the sea.
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There was a great calm, and so the men marveled, saying, Who can this be that even the winds and sea obey him?
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We won't read the other accounts that are in Mark and Luke, but oftentimes these two miracles are confused with one another, but there are some significant distinctions.
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But the fact is, therefore, that all four Gospels in total record six episodes of Jesus on this troubled sea of Galilee, interestingly.
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And Jesus calming the sea in which a storm had arisen and threatened the lives of his disciples.
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Five of the six accounts have Jesus calming the stormy sea to become calm.
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He rebuked the sea, rebuked the winds, peace be still, and there was calm. The second miracle, however, the one that we just considered that's separate from this account in John chapter 6, records that the sea is calm due to his direct command.
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Two of the Gospels record the first miracle, describing the sea becoming calm when
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Jesus got into the boat and the seas became calm. Interestingly, if you read
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John's account carefully, it does not record the sea becoming calm, but rather as soon as Jesus got into the boat, immediately the boat was at the shore, interestingly.
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Now, of course, the sea was made calm, we know that from the other accounts, but the emphasis in John's Gospel is not so much him calming the sea, but rather him securing the confidence and peace of these disciples in the midst of this troubled sea, even as they were successfully arriving at their destination.
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But that there are two separate miraculous events is clear. In the one, Jesus is walking on the sea, coming to his disciples who were in distress.
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In the other event, Jesus is initially asleep in the boat, and, of course, coming to their aid when the disciples awakened him with their concern.
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In five of the six accounts recorded, we have the episodes concluding with the statement of the disciples.
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Their wonder and amazement, who is this one? In the second event, that is the second miracle, however, the disciples express a rhetorical question that speaks to his deity on display.
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The disciples said to themselves, who can this be, for he commands even the winds and the waves obey him.
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By the way, the whole emphasis in that is if winds and seas obey him, people ought to obey him.
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Everything else does. Demons obey him, the seas, winds obey him, fevers obey him and departs from Peter's mother -in -law.
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Now even the seas and waves obey him. Everybody ought to be obeying Jesus. And then in one of the accounts,
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Matthew's account, there is the declaration among the disciples saying, Jesus, truly you are the
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Son of God. There's an affirmation. However, in our account of John's Gospel, the disciples are not said to be afraid of the storm, but rather they're frightened of Jesus when they saw him walking upon the sea, but they had not yet recognized his identity.
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In John's Gospel alone, we read of what occurred the next morning when Jesus and the disciples arrived at the seashore.
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There the people expressed amazement and puzzlement. They saw the disciples get in the boat and travel out, but now they see
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Jesus there. Jesus, how'd you get here? You didn't get in the boat yesterday when the disciples left.
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Now you're here. How did you come here? And so they're left puzzled.
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There's a sense of mystery there on their part. They were clueless really as to what God was doing through the person of Jesus.
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The fact is the four Gospels provide for us rich and varied details of events, but woven together when considered side by side, they provide everything that's needful, what we might know of our
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Lord Jesus as he manifested his glory and revealed himself to his disciples.
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And so they enhance one another as we read them together. We would certainly argue they do not contradict one another, but their eyewitness, for example,
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John's Gospel, clearly reflects the eyewitness of John. He was in the boat, and he tells it from his perspective, whereas Mark and Matthew tell it more of the narrator again observing
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Jesus as he's moving about, accomplishing his purposes. Very interesting,
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I find, this point of perspective on the part of the narrator. Well, just with those few observations, let's consider now the details of John's account here in John 6.
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There are actually three periods of time that are mentioned here as I try and break it down a little bit for us.
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There is the day in which Jesus feeds the 5 ,000, then there is the evening and night in which he appears to the disciples on the sea, and then the next day, next morning, of course, they are on the seashore.
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So we can consider the details according to this threefold division. And so first, verse 15, we read of the day in which
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Jesus fed the 5 ,000. John 6 .15, Therefore when
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Jesus perceived that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, he departed again to the mountain by himself alone.
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Amazing statement when you consider it. The Lord Jesus had fed the 5 ,000 men, and then plus women and children that were not counted in that number.
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And their reaction in response of being fed by this bread and fish multiplied to them was their desire to make
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Jesus their king, then and there. They had concluded that Jesus was the great prophet, we emphasize this two weeks ago, the promised prophet that Moses declared would come.
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The Messiah would be a prophet as well as a king and priest. The prophet, this prophet would be the
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Messiah whom they would regard as the promised king, the son of David, King David. In other words, these
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Jews on this occasion thought that the time had arrived for the restoration of the kingdom of David.
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And that Jesus was the Messiah, the prophet who was going to inaugurate this promised kingdom.
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And in their understanding, of course, they understood the Messiah to rule over the kingdom, a restored
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Davidic kingdom that would conquer their enemies, the Romans. And the oppression of Israel would end and that the
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Jews would once again experience the blessing of God in the restored Davidic kingdom that Messiah would inaugurate.
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This was He. But it's clear that Jesus did not come to establish that kind of kingdom.
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That's quite clear, isn't it? They wanted to force Him to become king. He left them and went off to a mountain alone to pray.
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His kingdom was spiritual in nature, not physical. His kingdom was entered by the new birth, not by physical birth.
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His kingdom would be comprised of His disciples who put their faith in Him, not comprised of Jewish people who viewed
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Him as a Messiah, who was a miracle worker and would alleviate their problems and make life easier and more pleasant for them.
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That's not the kind of kingdom that Jesus would establish. He was not that kind of king.
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And yet He's often presented as that kind of king to the world today, isn't He? The whole health and wealth gospel crowd is presenting that kind of Jesus.
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He's going to come and solve your problems, make life a lot easier and blessed for you. Your wife's going to love you.
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Your kids are going to obey you. And your business is going to thrive. And you're going to be healthy too.
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You're going to have a pleasant life with Jesus as your king. Well, this is what they were thinking.
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Here in verse 15 we see our Lord Jesus in both His humility and His resolve to do the
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Father's will. He would be a king as His Father had purposed for Him and in the time and the manner that His Father had determined.
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It would be a rare thing for a man who upon the popular praise and urgency to make
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Him a king to discourage the enthusiasts and then go to be alone in order to pray.
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Matthew Henry set forth five reasons that Jesus declined the insistence and effort of these people to make
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Him their king on this occasion. First, it was grounded upon a mistake concerning the nature of Christ's kingdom.
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As if it were of this world. And He must appear with outward pomp, a crown on His head and an army at His foot.
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Such a king as this they would make Him, which was as great a disparagement to His glory as it would be to lacquer gold or paint a ruby.
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Right notions of Christ's kingdom would keep us to right methods of advancing it. There is a good statement of principle.
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Secondly, it was excited by the love of the flesh. They would make
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Him their king who could feed them so plentifully without their toil and save them from the curse of eating their bread and the sweat of their face.
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Thirdly, it was intended to carry on a secular design. They hoped this might be a fair opportunity for shaking off the
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Roman yoke of which they were weary. If they had one to head them who could victual, in other words, provide the food for an entire army cheaper than another could provide for a family, they were sure of the sinews of the war and could not fail of success in the recovery of their ancient liberties.
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And thus is religion often prostituted to a secular interest and Christ is served only to serve a turn.
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Jesus wrote Augustine back in the 5th century, Jesus is usually sought after for something else, not for His own sake.
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And often a philosophy of ministry is to present Jesus as that kind of person.
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You come to Him and you can receive something that you desire rather than to submit to something
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God the Father desires through His Son. Fourthly, it was a tumultuous, seditious attempt and a disturbance of the public peace.
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It would make the country a seat of war and expose it to the resentments of their own power. And then fifthly, it was contrary to the mind of our
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Lord Jesus Himself for they would take Him by force, whether He would or not, whether He wanted to or not.
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Note, those who force honors upon Christ which He has not required at their hands displease
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Him and do Him the greatest dishonor. Those that say, I am of Christ in opposition to those that are of Apollos or Cephas, being
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Peter, so making Christ the head of a party, take Him by force to make
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Him a king contrary to His own mind. And that's an allusion, of course, to Paul's words to the church at Corinth in 1
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Corinthians and their party spirit. But please take note of this.
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Interestingly, dispensationalists, we don't have time to describe all that is, the vast number of evangelicals today in churches,
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Bible -believing churches, they say, teach that when Jesus came to Israel and ministered for those three years on earth,
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He was actually offering them the very kind of kingdom that Jesus refused to embrace on this occasion.
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Do you understand that? They teach that Jesus was offering an earthly millennium, a
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Jewish millennium in which He would rule there in Jerusalem over the world and that Israel once again would dominate the
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Gentile nations, an earthly millennium. They say that when Jesus came and ministered on earth,
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He was offering Israel that kind of kingdom all the way up to the point when they rejected
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Him as king and then God withdrew that offer of the kingdom. No, that kingdom will not take place until after the
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Second Coming. The future millennium, the kingdom that so many evangelicals teach, is the kind of kingdom
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Jesus refused here on this occasion. This is very clear.
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And so dispensationalists teach that God through Jesus was offering an earthly political kingdom, an earthly millennium dominated by Israel over the
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Gentile nations, just what these people wanted, ruled over by the promised son of David. And so when we read in John 6, 15 that Jewish people were about to come and take
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Him by force to make Him a king, they were attempting to establish the kind of kingdom that dispensationalists claim
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Jesus was actually offering them. And we see, of course, here He never was doing such a thing.
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And they also teach that one day they'll experience this kind of kingdom. No, when
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Jesus saw they wanted to force Him to be that kind of king, He departed again to the mountain by Himself alone.
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The fact is Jesus had no intention to establish that kind of earthly kingdom. These Jews failed completely to understand the true nature of the promised
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Davidic kingdom. And in this way today, dispensationalists fail completely to understand the true nature of the
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Davidic kingdom. That God promised Israel. Jesus Christ came to establish the promised kingdom of David.
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And when Jesus was crucified, buried, rose again, and then when He ascended into heaven,
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He did establish the Davidic kingdom. He sat down upon David's throne in heaven, the very throne of God, and He's ruling over Israel, the
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Israel of God. And so this church age is a manifestation of the kingdom that Jesus came to inaugurate.
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He did not come to inaugurate an earthly millennium of that form.
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Jesus brought into history the promised millennium of the Old Testament when He rose from the dead and He was seated on His throne.
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Peter makes that clear, that's His sermon, that's the subject of His sermon on the day of Pentecost in Acts chapter 2.
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And so Jesus departed from these would -be kingmakers to be alone with His Father. The parallel account in Mark reveals that Jesus sent
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His disciples away in the boat and He went up alone. Why did
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Jesus separate Himself from His disciples sending them away while He went up on a mountain to pray? I came across a sermon by Alexander McLaren, I have his complete works,
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I can't say that I use them much, but he was a well -known 19th century London preacher. No doubt he was in the shadow of Charles Spurgeon, but McLaren was a great man in and of himself.
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And he wrote these words, The haste and urgency with which the disciples were sent away against their will after the feeding of the 5 ,000 is explained in John's account.
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The crowd had been excited to a dangerous enthusiasm by a miracle so level to their tastes.
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A prophet who could feed them was something like a prophet, so they determined to make Him a king.
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Our Lord, fearing the outburst, resolved to withdraw into the lonely hills that the fickle blaze may die down.
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If the disciples had remained with Him, He could not have so easily stolen away or gone off alone.
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They might have caught the popular fervor. The divide would distract the crowd, make it easier for Him to disperse them, while many of them, as really happened, would be likely to set off and buy land for Capernaum when they saw the boat had gone.
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I think that's a reasonable description of why it took place. Well, now we move into the heart of the matter, the evening and the night in which the disciples saw
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Jesus walking on the sea, coming to them in the midst of this great storm. Verses 16 -21
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Now when evening came, his disciples went down to the sea, got into the boat. See, in this account, it doesn't say
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Jesus put them in the boat. They went down to the sea, got in the boat, and went over the sea toward Capernaum.
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Bethsaida, by the way, is near Capernaum. Bethsaida was mentioned in one of the other gospel accounts.
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It was already dark, and Jesus had not come to them. And then the sea arose because a great wind was blowing.
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They were alone, and it was dark. And it was then that the sea raised up against them.
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Of course, in the ancient world, this would have been regarded as one of the worst possible situations to find oneself.
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Darkness was itself foreboding. The sea was viewed as a chaotic place, uncontrollable.
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The sea was regarded as a place of death. And even the Canaanites, their god of death named
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Mot, M -O -T, was regarded as a god of the sea. In verse 19, we read of Jesus coming to them, walking on the water, which initially caused them to fear greatly.
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But here we see Jesus, of course, and He would seem undisturbed by the storm.
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In fact, it's as though He is managing it and controlling it.
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So when they had rowed about three or four miles, about halfway, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and drawing near the boat, and they were afraid.
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And so here we read of Jesus seemingly calm and unconcerned, walking upon the water. To see
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Jesus walking upon the surface of the sea was quite unsettling to these disciples. Some of them were seasoned fishermen on the lake.
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And by the way, in John's Gospel it's interesting, it doesn't seem they're afraid of the storm, they're afraid of Jesus when they thought they didn't know who
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He was. But again, we see the Lord Jesus as holy, undisturbed, and unhindered by the sea, which was tossing the disciples about wildly.
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We can go back into the Old Testament now, and we can link how
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God is described as in association with turbulent seas.
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For example, Psalm 89, 5 through 9, we read of God's power controlling the seas.
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The heavens will declare, Praise your wonders, O Lord, your faithfulness also in the assembly of the saints.
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For who in the heavens can be compared to the Lord? Who among the sons of the mighty can be likened to the
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Lord? God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints, and to be held in reverence by all those around Him.
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O Lord God of hosts, who is mighty like you, O Lord, your faithfulness also surrounds you.
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You rule the raging of the sea. When its waves rise, you still them. So God is presented as the one who controls the seas and calms the storms.
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Same idea, the great power of God is conveyed in Job 38, in which
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Job describes God as having set the boundaries of the so -called uncontrollable sea.
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No, he set the shorelines. You'll go this far, no farther. Who shut the sea with doors when it burst forth and issued from the womb?
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When I made the clouds its garment, thick darkness its swaddling band. When I fixed my limit for it, said,
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Bars and doors. When I said, This far you may come, but no farther. Here your proud waves must stop.
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He established the shoreline as a border. You chaotic seas, you know, this far, no more.
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But more directly than these references, consider what the psalmist says of God in Psalm 107.
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Here he has God calming the storm that violently whipped up the waves. Those who go down to the sea in ships, who do business on great waters, they see the works of the
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Lord and His wonders in the deep. For He commands and raises the stormy wind.
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See, here He's causing the seas to be stormy, which lifts up the waves of the sea.
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They mount up to the heavens. They go down again to the depths. Their soul melts because of trouble.
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They reel to and fro and stagger like a drunken man and are at their wits' end.
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And then they cry out to the Lord in their trouble, the sailors, you see. And He brings them out of their distresses and He calms the storm so that its waves are still.
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And then they are glad because they are quiet, so He guides them to their desired haven.
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Well, that sounds like John 6, doesn't it? The Lord Jesus. Well, we may couple this idea with what is recorded for us in Job 9, 4 through 8.
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This is interesting. Here we have God walking on the waves of the sea. God is wise in heart, mighty in strength.
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Who has hardened himself against Him and prospered? No one. He removes the mountains and they do not know.
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When He overturns them in His anger, He shakes the earth out of its place and its pillars tremble. He commands the sun and does not rise.
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He seals off the stars. He alone spreads out the heavens and treads on the waves of the sea.
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Clearly we see God in the Old Testament in His control of the sea,
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Jesus walking on the sea. This is another example in John's Gospel of showing forth the deity of Jesus Christ.
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Clearly and fully. It is very, very apparent. And so in Psalm 107, 29,
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God is described as the one who calms the sea. Job 9, 8 describes God who walks upon the seas.
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And in John 6, 19 through 22, Jesus Christ is manifesting Himself quite overtly that He is eternal
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God even as He was walking upon the sea. As one wrote,
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J .C. Ryle, by the way, He came to His disciples as they were rowing on the stormy lake, walking on the waters.
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He walked on them as easily as we walk on dry land. They bore Him as firmly as the pavement of the temple or the hills around Nazareth.
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That which is contrary to all reason was perfectly possible to Christ. He is
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God. But there is one more point of emphasis here,
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I believe, in which His deity is on display to His disciples. I'll have to grant it's not recognized by a lot of commentators, and we'll mention that.
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But I think it probably is. We read our Lord's words in verse 20.
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So when they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and drawing near the boat.
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They were afraid. But He said to them, It is I, be not afraid.
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It is I. This is the common way that you translate this
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Greek phrase. It is I. And most translators do so. And I listed four
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English translations and the Greek translation, or the Greek text, that clearly they commonly translate it.
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It is I. But this phrase, this Greek phrase, Ego eimi, ego is the personal pronoun
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I, eimi is the verb to be, I am, can be translated by the expression
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I am. And it's found commonly in John's Gospel, where it's translated
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I am. And we'll get to a number of those as we continue. I am the resurrection and the life.
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I am the light of the world. I am the true bread. And everyone recognizes these as common expressions of Jesus declaring
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His deity, associating Himself with Jehovah the Old Testament, God, I am.
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As stated in Exodus chapter 3, when God called Moses to come to that burning bush in which the manifestation of the glory of God was in that bush,
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John Owen, by the way, says that's the eternal nature of God being manifest in this earthly bush is a picture of the incarnation, the deity of God in the humanity of Jesus Christ.
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And the bush was not burned, not consumed. And so the humanity of Jesus and the deity of Jesus are two natures in one person.
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Interesting. I happened to read that this week. But when
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Moses asked God, well, you're sending me to Egypt to take your people out. They're going to ask me what your name is.
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Who should I say your name is? And God responded to Moses, you tell them I am.
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I sent you. And that was God's name. His personal name. We call
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Him God. And in the Hebrew it's El, or Elo, or Elohim is the plural form of majesty.
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Adonai is the Hebrew word for Lord. All right, but Ego Emi, I am, is commonly our understanding of the word, the name
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Jehovah, His personal name. Lars is my personal name. God's personal name,
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I am. Jehovah, I am. And Jesus announces to His disciples as He's walking across the sea, clearly
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His deity is undisplayed, and He makes His claim to His disciples, Ego Emi.
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Don't be afraid, I am. And then He came to them in the boat. Now again, commentators will commonly say, no, that's not the case.
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In fact, in this, it's just a simple way of saying, it is
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I. And that's true. In fact, later in John chapter 9, I believe, there's a blind man who uses the same expression,
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Ego Emi, I am. He wasn't claiming to be God, of course. And so most commentators would argue this should not be translated,
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I am, but simply as, it is I. And most translators would agree with this.
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I appreciated, however, Edward Klink, there's a black quote there, where he gave emphasis that he thought that this was a claim to deity.
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In the center of an important section of the gospel, as Jesus is beginning to be noticed by friends and foes,
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Jesus takes the opportunity to make Himself known to His disciples, and therefore to the readers, to the gospel's witness.
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In what is a moment of both wonder and worship, the gospel declares in God's own words that identity of His Son.
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In this pericope, or episode, the reader of the fourth gospel exhorted to encounter the I am, the one of the unconsumed burning bush who alone can walk on the waves of the sea.
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Job chapter 9, verse 8. It would seem the entire episode speaks forth of the deity of Christ.
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D .A. Carson, who is a great commentator, by the way, of John's gospel, probably the best one available, everybody quotes him.
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He doesn't think that it ought to be translated as I am, but rather it is
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I. But interestingly, after making his comments on this, he kind of backs off a little bit, makes a little qualification.
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And so I left the black quote on the top of page 9. The Greek behind this expression, egoimi, literally
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I am, the expression is sometimes used with an explicit predicate. In other words,
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I'm going to do something. Sometimes with a predicate that is implicit in the context, in other words, implied, and sometimes absolutely, just simply
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I am. But the expression bears no necessary theological baggage.
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It is perfectly normal to say it is I, a point made clear when it appears on the lips of the man born blind after he's healed,
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John 9. He says egoimi, I am. And so Carson says you shouldn't necessarily translate this as I am.
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If in the present passage there is any hint of the epiphany or appearance of a divine figure, it's not because the words egoimi are used, but because in the gospel as a whole,
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Jesus is a divine figure. Through John's gospel, he presents himself as God.
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The words make perfectly good sense in Greek as a form of self -identification. Simply, it is
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I. And doubtless, that is how the disciples understood them. Perhaps so.
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Thus formally, nothing is heightened, he would argue. But then he makes this a little qualified statement.
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On the other hand, the thoughtful reader who has read through this gospel two or three times ought to observe the number and varied forms of I am sayings and wonder if this occurrence in verse 20 may not be in anticipation of a clearer self -disclosure of Jesus.
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In other words, he's saying even though the disciples might not have perceived this, a really informed reader of the
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Greek text would probably see it this way. And so I don't think it's that stretch.
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That big a stretch. Others argued against it. F .F. Brews, J .C. Ryle, who are of course great men.
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But the fact that you have Jesus walking on the water, Jesus still in the water, these illustrations, revelations of Jesus as God, I don't think it's far -fetched to say the it is
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I is also a statement. They would have heard the words, I am. Don't be afraid,
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I am. And then he stepped into the boat. And they were impressed.
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They knew he was the Son of God and they declared it in one of the gospel accounts. And so they drew that conclusion.
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Well, we then read in verse 21, then they willingly received him into the boat and immediately the boat was at the land where they were going.
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Again, the other gospel accounts record Jesus calming the storm as soon as he entered the boat. No doubt that's what happened.
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But that's not the emphasis of John's gospel. The emphasis is that they just immediately arrived at their destination.
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The sea, they were laboring so hard, they were only halfway across, they were laboring so hard.
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When he was with them, it just seemed it was over. They had arrived because he was with them.
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And then, of course, we read the following day after they arrived, there's mystery there. Verses 22 -25, the crowd, how did you get here?
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The point of the paragraph is to show that the crowd was uninformed as to his purpose and his presence. They were clueless.
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They didn't know who he was, where he came from, how he arrived among them. They knew he had been with them the day before.
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They were clueless, even though they wanted to make him king. They didn't have a clue as to the truth of anything.
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And by the way, in verse 25, we have the question of the people posing to Jesus is really setting the stage for the beginning of Jesus' next long discourse, which takes up the rest of John chapter 6, which we will begin to address next
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Lord's Day, Lord willing. Where he starts out with 5 ,000 at the beginning of chapter 6, he ends up with 12, his disciples at the end of John chapter 6.
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And basically, what he set before them was divine sovereignty and salvation. He set for their sin, sinfulness, and that only
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God's grace is going to save you from your sin. And they didn't want to hear that. And so by the end of John chapter 6, that 5 ,000 who wanted to make him king, they just raised a cloud of dust as they scattered.
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And even his disciples were troubled. They were clueless. They didn't understand. We had it in our hands
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Jesus, you could have been king. We had arrived, and look what you've done. And yet, you know,
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Jesus basically challenged them, this is your chance. Are you going to go away also? And Peter, of course, responded, to whom are we going to go?
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You've got the words of eternal life. We're not going anywhere. You know, we don't have a clue as to what you're doing, but we know that you're the one.
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And so, it was grace that sustained them in their difficulty. Well, let's just consider a few words of application for us, and then we'll close.
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We may draw some conclusions and applications for ourselves from this account. It's the word of God. And in doing so, we acknowledge that we're seeing this miracle as metaphorical of the
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Christian life. And this is important with regard to John's Gospel. In other words, because the
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Holy Spirit moved these Gospel writers to record the events in the way they did, the Lord has provided a measure of insight and instruction for us that we are to understand and apply.
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And in this way, please give attention to this, in this way the miracles in John's Gospel serve as narrative parables.
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You know, in John's Gospel, there's no parable given by Jesus. The miracles themselves serve as parables.
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They're metaphorical of the Christian life, and therefore we're to find instruction and guidance in the miracles.
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Again, Alexander McLaren, I mentioned him earlier, expressed the matter quite well. There are none of our Lord's parables recorded in this
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Gospel, but all the miracles which it narrates are parables. Moral and religious truth is communicated by the outward event, as in the parable it's communicated by the story.
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See, in a parable in Matthew, Mark, and Luke, Jesus conveyed the truth of the story. John's Gospel is conveyed through a miracle.
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The mere visible fact becomes more than semi -transparent. The analogy between the spiritual and the natural world, which men instinctively apprehend, of which the poet, and the orator, and the religious teacher have always made abundant use, and which has sometimes been attempted unsuccessfully,
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I think, to elevate to the rank of scientific truth, underlies the whole series of these miracles.
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It is the principle, if not the only key to the meaning of this one before us.
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In other words, the miracle of Jesus walking on the sea, it's the only key that we have to understanding this miracle is when we see it as a parable instructing us on how to understand our
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Lord and how to understand ourselves. And so, what does the record of this miracle teach us as it's recorded by John as the
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Holy Spirit directed him? Well, first, the Lord Jesus, of course, has great concern for his own and he watches over each and every one preserving him or her to their heavenly destination.
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And that's clearly illustrated in this story. To depart from John for a moment, to call
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Mark's account, we read these words. Now when evening came, the boat was in the middle of the sea. He was alone on the land and then he saw them straining and rowing.
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They were straining out there on the sea and Jesus saw them. They were alone, they thought. He was watching over them even in their difficulty.
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If Jesus were but an ordinary man, he would have been helpless to come to their aid, but he was their master.
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Even the promised son of man, their king, who had come to deliver them from whatever threatened them.
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And if you are his disciple, he sees you in your difficulty. He cares for you in your distress.
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That's certainly conveyed here. And it may be a very serious, serious matter if you're a disciple of Jesus.
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He cares for you and he's watching you, isn't he? You're not alone. And that's assured secondly.
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Jesus was assuring his disciples that in the worst of conditions they are not alone. He's with them and he's for them and he will preserve them.
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He declared to them, but he said to them, it is I, be not afraid. Don't be afraid.
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But by saying this, Jesus also describes his coming appearance as a divine epiphany, a divine appearance.
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And this occurs in a context and that is where the emphasis lies in his self -revelation that should convince them that in virtue of the glory given him by God, no darkness was too deep, waves too high, sea too wide for him to find them and be with them in the midst of the tumult.
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Take heart, Christian. Of these disciples it was said the solitary crew were not so solitary as they thought.
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And if you're a disciple of Christ in the midst of your difficulty, no matter how great it is, you're not as solitary as you might think.
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The Lord's with you. And just as the words of Jesus calmed his disciples on this occasion, so his words have calmed the fears of disciples throughout these 2 ,000 years.
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In countless situations, the words of Jesus consoled the troubled soul when they sensed his promise,
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I will never leave you nor forsake you. And that's certainly underscored by this miracle.
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And then third, in addition to knowing that the Lord is with you, if you're one of his disciples, he couples the idea of him being present with his disciples with the assuring word and command, it is
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I. Do not be afraid. The tense within the
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Greek language is very precise and conveys ideas in significant precise ways.
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And the Greek construction of the command, do not be afraid is quite explicit here. Jesus was not simply telling them, don't become afraid.
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They were already afraid. He was telling them to stop being afraid. That's the emphasis.
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The fact is, it's a common matter for true disciples of the Lord at times to be afraid. Very afraid.
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And yet they may be comforted and settled in the heart when they know that the Lord is with them even in the most dire situations.
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And we have numbers of instances in the scriptures in which the Christians are exhorted, don't be afraid.
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And the primary reason for not being consumed by fear is that regardless of what befalls us, we know that God is for us and God is with us.
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And we have to remember that, don't we? And be reminded of that. Fear is a crippling thing.
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And I know it's an experience that many people have. I don't want to sound weird or anything, but it's something
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I don't experience a lot of. You know, from time to time I'm sure everybody does.
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But I know some Christians are gripped with this. And as I was thinking as I was preparing this, perhaps
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I'm not as sympathetic as I should be because I don't encounter it to any great degree.
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But for some Christians they have a lot of fear in their lives.
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And that shouldn't be the case. There are promises. I came across a set of volumes
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I downloaded yesterday on my hard drive and the works of Alexander Toplady, six volumes
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PDF file. And I came across an essay, an essay on the various fears to which
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God's people are liable. And he went through and talked about how the common fears that people have, the general fears of Christians.
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And he based his essay on Paul's own testimony when he wrote in 2 Corinthians 7 .5, when we came into Macedonia, our flesh had no rest, but were troubled on every side.
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Without fighting, within were fears. And he went on to talk about how Christians, many
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Christians struggle with fears. And so Toplady wrote, Unwillingly I return to earth and withdrawing my mind from a contemplation of the glory that shall be revealed to stand to consider the various fears to which all
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God's converted people and myself among the rest are subject while imprisoned in a body of clay.
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Within are fears. For that sorceress whose name is fear can transform herself into a multiplicity of shapes though she is in reality the same identical hag.
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I love that. But the
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Lord is with you. Do not be afraid. If you're a
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Christian, if you're not a Christian, you ought to be afraid. You ought to be scared to death until you flee to Jesus.
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But for it's clear that the Lord Jesus was controlling the sea even when it had stirred itself into a great tempest.
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One major idea of Jesus being conveyed here by Jesus walking on the sea was that he was controlling the sea even as the tempest was being blown about by the wind.
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We have a revelation here of Christ as the Lord of the material universe, a kingdom wider in its range or profounder in its authority than that which the shouting crowd has sought to force upon him.
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And so it is. We should know that nothing comes into the lives of them who know him in a saving relationship but which the
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Lord ultimately doesn't bring benefit to them and glory to his name. That doesn't say that everything that happens to us is good.
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There's a lot of evil things that happen to God's people. But whatever happens to God's people, even though it's evil, he brings good out of that which is a wonderful blessing.
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We'll close with the words of Alexander McLaren, The end of life is to make men. The meaning of all events is to mold character.
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Anything that makes me stronger is a blessing. Anything that develops my morale is the highest good that can come to me.
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If therefore antagonism mold me in the wrestling foes, that is, good qualities that throw the world and give me good strong muscles and put tan and color into my cheek,
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I need not mind the cold and the wet, nor the care for the whistling wind in my face, nor the dash of the spray over the boughs.
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The summer sailing and fair weather admits landlocked bays and blue seas under calm skies may be all very well for triflers.
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But blown seas and stormy showers are better if the purpose of the voyage is to brace or to strengthen and call our powers.
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And so be thankful if when the boat is crossing the mouth of some glen that opens upon the lake and a sudden gust smites the sheets and sends you to the helm and takes all your effort to keep you from sinking, do not murmur or think that God's providence is strange because many and many a time when it's dark and Jesus has not yet come to us, the storm of wind comes down upon the lake and threatens to drive us from our course.
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Let us rather recognize him as the Lord who in love and kindness sent all the different kinds of weather which, according to the old proverb, make up the full sum dear.
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But again, understand this is only true of disciples. If you don't have
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Jesus, you're on your own, which ought to be a scary thing in today's world, any world, any day.
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Again, this chapter opens with well over 5 ,000 people who want to make him king, but they were clueless as to the nature of the kingdom that Jesus was going to establish.
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And by the end of the chapter he whittles them down to only 12 and they had their doubts, confused and disillusioned, but they knew who he was and they would be standing with him at the end of the day.
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May the Lord help us stand and not be shaken off by all the confusion.
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Doesn't seem like the Lord's coming through with what I thought he was going to do. No, he's doing just fine and we need to submit and believe on him and not be afraid because he's with us.
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Amen? Let's pray. Thank you Father for your word and we just pray you'd help us take to heart these glorious promises.
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Thank you that Jesus is the one who is king over his kingdom and that we are citizens of that kingdom, we who have turned from sin and have bowed our hearts unto
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King Jesus. Help us to go forth from here, Lord, not being afraid, but being comforted, trusting in Jesus to guide us through and to be with us,
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Lord, until we reach our shore, wherever and whenever that may take place. For it's in Jesus' name we pray.