Saved From Small Faith (Part 2)

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

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

The Full Humanity of Jesus and the Disciples’ Fear in the Storm

Now remember, Jesus was fully man. I pretty much have the same M .O. every single Sunday. Get up, preach first service, do Sunday school slash discipleship, preach second service, go home, eat, pass out.

Wake up, come back here and preach again. Pass out. It makes you tired. I'm not asking for all your sympathy or anything, but pastors all know, preachers know, it's tiring to preach. Jesus is preached all day.

He's sleeping. He's fully man. And he's got his head, Mark says, on the cushion, on the thing for the head. What do you give people who aren't fishermen? You give them this little cushion for the newbie deals, the kind of thing you set on, a little cushion.

And Jesus must be tired because he slept through this kind of storm. The full humanity of Jesus, it reminds me of Hebrews 4, Jesus our substitute, yes, but here our representative. For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in all things as we are yet without sin.

Verse 25, and they went and awoke him saying, save us, Lord, we are perishing. Very terse, very in the original, Lord, save, we perish, save us. They're not getting, if I could put this in theological terms, the Christological belief so that they trust in God no matter what.

We're perishing. We're going down. We're going down with a ship. There's water everywhere. I'm sure they're saying it out loud. We're dying. Mark even tells us that they said to Jesus, teacher, don't you care that we're perishing?

You don't even love us enough. Now the good news is they realize that he's Lord. It says Lord there in 825, that God could save them, rescue them. We're not talking about safe from sins here. This is just rescuing.

But if you're on a boat and the boat's going down, I don't go to the carpenter. I go to the fishermen. I go to the boat people. You ever go up to Bath, Maine and see how they make the boats and they roll them down the big, whatever they call them.

It's a technical word for them, the rollers. What are they, Charlie? Do we know? I'm dying. Don't you care that we're perishing? They say in Mark's account, they're going to the carpenter. They're going to Jesus.

That part's good. It's a violent storm, but it kind of sounds like Martha to Jesus. Lord, if you had been here, my brother wouldn't have died. We're going to drown for all you care, Jesus. I'm sure it was loud.

I'm sure they're afraid. Verse 26, now read this like you're reading it for the first time. I know you all know the passage. If I was Jesus, I would do it the opposite way. I would rebuke the winds, then give them a little lesson.

Jesus doesn't do that, does he? Matthew 8 says, he said to them, so he's going to talk to them about discipleship first, then he's going to calm the sea. Why are you afraid, O you of little faith? Only use it to the disciples.

Then he rose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm. Help us, we're going to perish. The plea for deliverance, we're going to die, and Jesus doesn't calm the storm yet. He rebukes their little faith.

Men of little faith. They've got some faith, they followed, but they've got little faith. It should be greater faith. They've already seen him do all these things in Matthew chapter 8. But to show his credentials, he then does what?

He rose and rebuked the winds and the sea. If you only rebuke the wind, the sea would still churn. If you only rebuke the sea, the winds would keep going and make it all chaotic again. So he rebukes both, and there was a great calm.

We've got the great waves, the great storm. Now the great calm. Jesus doesn't say to them, you don't have any knowledge. They've got knowledge. But he wants them to remember that Jesus, the Son of God, Messiah, is on the boat.

Seeing Jesus properly in trials. Now see what the liberals do is this. That Jesus really didn't stop the wind and the waves. He just calmed the fears of the winds and the waves in the disciples' hearts.

Because they don't want a supernatural Jesus. So I don't like that about the liberal approach at all. No one would read this and say, oh, that's what is happening. But what is true is this. When I watch Jesus show his divine credentials, I've seen him sleeping on the boat in the passage.

He's fully human, but now he's fully divine. When I see Jesus show his divine credentials, he's wanting these disciples in a trial to see that Jesus is the powerful God of the universe. And anything less than that is a wavering faith, is a little faith.

In other words, faith in who this God is drives out the fear. You have like a little teeter-totter. As your trust driven by the Spirit of God and the risen Savior increases, faith increases, fear comes out.

It drives itself out. You ask yourself the question, what's the opposite of anxiety? And people say, oh, I struggle with anxiety. I have anxiety issues. Does this have anything to do with anxiety? Is there any kind of principle I could say, as the disciples needed to trust in the God of the universe who was in their boat, so do I need to be trusting in that same God?

It's not a liberal application. It's true. Let's think about it just for a second. If I'm afraid or anxious or have faith, it all has to do with how I see the object of my faith. I mean really. Stop and think about it for a second.

If I thought rightly as a disciple, if I'm Peter, I see Jesus in the boat. Here's the way I should have thought about things. Wait a second. Jesus is virgin born. He has the credentials of royalty. The forerunner John the Baptist has come and said, make straight the ways of the Lord.

He's been tempted by Satan and he never gave in. He preached that sermon on the mount. And he's told me that he's on his way to Calvary to die on the cross, a sinner's death and be raised from the dead.

Jesus can't die in the boat because he hasn't died yet on the cross. There's no way he's going to die. Jesus has been raised up as the Messiah to do the messianic work. Isaiah 61, Isaiah 35. And until that work is done, he's not going to die.

Jesus can't die in the boat. I'm in the boat with him. Mark says that Jesus said, why are you so afraid? Because as the ESV study Bible rightly says, the antidote to fear is faith. The antidote of anxiety is trust.

Jesus said in Mark, why are you so timid? Why are you so fearful? I'm expecting more out of you. They want to know why Jesus isn't afraid. Jesus wants to know why they are afraid. How is it that you have no faith?

Yeah, but it's easy. I know you're the Messiah when you're taking care of the leper. But now I'm in trouble. Now my health is in trouble. Now I'm in danger. What about that? And so what's so obvious in Scripture isn't so obvious in our own lives.

I always use this illustration because it's true. Why is the providence of God so obvious in Genesis 37 -50? You just go, you know what? I just look at that and I go, God's sovereignly controlling everything.

They meant it for evil. God meant it for good. Romans 8 -28. I just see it. It just kind of ebbs out of Genesis 37 -50. God is providentially guiding Joseph. It's obvious. Why is it so obvious in Genesis 37 -50?

Because in my life it's not so obvious. It doesn't seem so obvious. But the same God of Genesis 37 -50 has been my God because of what Christ has done for me. And it's the same thing here. Years ago we went to Scotland and it was St. George's Tron.

Alexander had just retired and Sinclair Ferguson was the pastor. I was preaching through Mark. And you know what? Every sermon in Mark was the same. Jesus is awesome. And in me I wanted to tell people.

Because Jesus is awesome, here's like three steps. Three practical applications in light of Jesus being awesome. But it was like every week it was the same thing. I said, Dr. Ferguson, I'm a pastor and I'm preaching through Mark.

I'm just new at this. Could you help me somehow? How do I manage through this? I'm preaching through Mark and the gospel of Jesus Christ. He does all these things. Who talks like Jesus? Who acts like Jesus?

Who does these things? He's amazing, but I feel like I want to tell people, do something. And then Dr. Ferguson said, I wish I could speak in a Scottish brogue. I so wish I could. The church would be bigger, I know.

It would. He looked at me and he said, Mike, is there anything wrong with just showing people the greatness of Jesus every week? Show people the object of their faith and when they see his power in the lives of his disciples.

I'm not trying to make this walk on all fours. I got a storm in my heart. Jesus stills it. I'm not trying to do that at all. I'm just saying, behold your God. This is the God of the Bible. This is your God.

And so, if you've got fear and anxiety and everything else, let me just show you who Jesus is. This is why every day when I get up and read the Bible, I don't wake up like Jesus and immediately just start ordering things.

I have to get up, get my coffee, do all that. But 20 minutes into it, I open my Bible to either Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John. Why? Because I just want to see who this Jesus is again. To be reminded. Oh, I read other parts of the Bible too, but my mind so easily forgets.

You know, my problem is I forget what I'm supposed to remember. I remember what I'm supposed to forget. It's easy to draw messianic conclusions when somebody else is in the hot seat. But this God is our God by His grace.

And He deals with their faith first. Then He rose and rebuked the wind and the sea and there was a great calm. By the way, this is language of exorcism. I don't know if the sea was demonically oppressed, if Satan was doing something to the sea or not.

I don't need to know. It was acting like it sure was. And with the language of, Mark says, be muzzled, be gagged, be still. If I talk to a dog, sit. Be still. Stay. That's the language. And there was a great calm.

I mean, it didn't just slowly die out. Sudden cessation. Flat. Now who does that? I mean, just stand there at the jetty in the Philippines and yell at the ocean. Stop. Quit. As thousands upon thousands of people die.

Be quiet. Cease. Hush. Jesus doesn't use beads. He doesn't use incense. He doesn't give some kind of Latin deal. He just says, shut up. Be silent. See? Because our kids know, right? Our society knows today.

Never say the word shut up. They're like, Pastor Mike just says shut up. No, Jesus said it. In Mark, he said, be quiet. That's how he talked to the demon in Mark chapter 1. Be quiet. And the tense is in Mark, put a muzzle on it and keep a muzzle on it.

The wind died down and became perfectly calm with the word. Not gradual. It's like they're in the eye of the hurricane. One minute Jesus is sleeping. He's fully human. And he had to be to be our representative.

And the next minute, the God of the Creator, Jesus the Creator rather, I think of Colossians 1, for by Him all things were created, including the Sea of Galilee, including Mount Hermon, both in the heavens and on earth, visible, invisible, whether thrones, dominions, rulers, authorities, all things, including those disciples, have been created by Jesus and for Jesus.

And He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together, stilling the sea. And then what do they say? The men marveled, saying, what sort of man? The men knew this wasn't a regular kind of man.

The men marveled, saying, what sort of man is this? Literally, what sort is this? Because only God, think Old Testament, only God can control the winds and the sea. And you know what they were thinking if they were thinking about the Old Testament.

Many times in the Old Testament, Yahweh alone controls the sea, but there's one time that we really think, alright, remember Exodus, and remember the Egyptian armies there, mountain here, mountain here, and the ocean there, and God says, go through it, go through the Red Sea.

How do you get 2 million people in one watch of the night to get through the Red Sea? Little single file? It would take 14 days to go single file through that. So you open it up to be about 1 mile, from 1 kilometer to 1 mile wide, you make everything dry, and you put 3 people through that, and that God who did that is in my boat.

Now if that God can do that, I'm afraid I'm going to die? Turn to Psalm 107 and let me give you just a little taste of what the Old Testament says about God alone possessing power over oceans. I mean, who's got power over the ocean?

Who's got power over the sea? There are places we can't even go down to the sea yet, haven't even been explored. Jesus has divine credentials. Jesus isn't just the disciples, God, He's adopted you and the family.

This, behold your God. I'll never leave you nor forsake you. Psalm 107, now what Psalm 107 is showing us is four groups of people in distress. Who God is in the middle of the distress. This particular group found in verses 23 and following are in distress because they're caught in a storm.

It's like they're ready to be shipwrecked in the rocks. Psalm 107, my point here again is Jesus does only what God can do because Jesus is God. Some went down, Psalm 107, 23 to the ships, to the sea and ships doing business on the great waters.

They saw the deeds of the Lord Yahweh, His wondrous works in the deeps. For He commanded and raised the stormy wind which lifted up the waves in the sea. They mounted up to heaven. They went down to the depths.

Their courage melted away in their evil plight. You can see them go up on top of the wave and down to the bottom of the wave. They reeled and staggered like drunken men and were at their wits end. Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble and He delivered them from their distress.

He, God alone can do it. Yahweh, verse 24, verse 28 Lord, capital L-O-R-D. He made the storm be still and the waves of the sea were hushed. What's the response? They were glad that the waters were quiet and He brought them to their desired haven.

Let them thank the Lord for His steadfast love, for His wondrous works to the children of man. Let them extol Him in the congregation of the people and praise Him in the assembly of the elder. The elders.

William Hendrickson said, It takes a God to change the weather. I love it in Job 38. God said, I fixed the limits for the sea. I set its doors and bars in place. When I said, Thus far you can come and no farther.

Here is where your proud waves halt. Power over nature. Power over sea. Power over the devil's sway. Back to Matthew chapter 8 again. So I ask you the question. They ask the question. Now I'll ask you the question.

What sort of man is this? Well, we know He's the virgin-born Redeemer who's come to save His people from their sins by dying on the cross and being raised from the dead. Little faith was only seeing the surface of things.

Not remembering who God in fact was. Jesus shows that He's sovereign over the wind. Sovereign over the waves where only Yahweh was in the Old Testament. I don't know if you know this or not, but there's lots of miracles in the Bible where somebody's healed.

There's lots of miracles where people are having demons cast out of them, but there's hardly any where it shows supernatural power over nature. Much more rare in Jewish and Christian circles. And just like Psalm 37, if this is our God, then what's our response?

Follow Him wherever He'll go. Discipleship. The implications for discipleship are clear. Mark says they were filled after Jesus calmed the waves. Afterwards they were filled with great fear. Now first you're afraid.

Then you fear a great fear, literally. Why? Storm's over, but Jesus God is in your boat and Jesus is holy. They realize they're not. What sort of man is this? And we don't even get the answer. You don't need the answer.

Nobody needs to record the answer. What sort of man is this? Because it's the Son of God. The Son of Man. Do you believe it? What we do when we're having fearful times and times of anxiety. I'll just make it as simple as you can.

I would read Matthew chapter 8. When you're having an anxiety attack or you're having I just heard this week that telling someone who's got an anxiety attack to read their Bible and pray is basically doing damage to them.

Oh, can you do more for the people? Can you come alongside? I get all that. My problem is when I'm afraid I'm not trusting. When I have anxiety I'm not trusting. I need a good glimpse again of who this God is.

Sitting there choking thinking I can't breathe and my focus is I hate to say this because it's going to probably sound rude, especially with my family and kids like in the second row. But I got kind of the wrong focus.

My focus is Kim. My focus is kids. My focus should be, you know what? If I'm not supposed to die, I'm living. If I'm supposed to die, Obamacare can't save me. That's what I got. I got Obamacare because I went in.

In India you pay cash before you get treated. Here, they got my driver's license, they Xeroxed it, they gave me two shots, put two band-aids on, said see you later. I thought, am I supposed to not be under observation or something?

After they put the band-aids on then they said $15. I thought this is socialized medicine, but at least it's medicine. Everybody there wants to know what do I think about Obamacare? What do I know? It's all the wrong thing.

I'm driving to the hospital, well Roddick's driving to the hospital and I thought, you know, the righteous, effective prayers of righteous people accomplish a lot. I know Kim's going to be praying for me.

She's a prayer warrior. I need prayer. I'm texting Kim, choking on, you know, anaphylactic seizure with hazelnuts. I know you're going to be worried. Please pray for me. I love you. XXOO. Send. Kim said she was praying for my health when she was at the track and then praying that we'd be grandparents together.

Still might happen. Still might not. I didn't have the heart to say my own personal life insurance policy still is in effect. But the one that just expired that the church holds for me and the kids because 15 years ago I said to the elders, if I die you better take care of my wife and kids or I'm coming back to haunt you.

And so they quick got $300 ,000 policy out of my wife and kids. I didn't have the heart to tell Pradeep it's still, it's expired and now sitting on my desk. And just before I left I thought I don't have time to get blood tests and all that stuff.

It's just $300 ,000. Poor Harry, poor Harry, Pradeep, Steve, they got to take care of him either way. But I'm actually thinking about all this stuff. Sometimes a quick flash, a lightning flash of who God is.

God help me. Not afraid to die but I just don't want to die in the Czech Republic. Not right now. Red socks are on tonight. I mean come on. When you struggle with fear and anxiety I kid you not. What you think about God matters.

Don't let people tell you don't pray, don't read the Bible. That's where you start friends. I replace anxiety with trust. Wow. On my own gumption no the Spirit of God is pleased to use the Word of God so I'm reminded again who is this God?

The Yahweh, the God of the universe is in that car with me as I'm flying down to the hospital. Then the other thing I kept thinking about I thought when you die what do you think of? Some great Bible verse absent from the body, present with the Lord.

You think of Martin Luther preached in such a way that unbelievers either hear you and they either hate you or hate their sin. I mean some great quote like that. And I've got a John Wesley quote going through my mind.

Out of all people how's Wesley in my mind? Christians die well. I don't want to freak out. Embarrass myself in front of this my student is taking me, my preaching student is taking me to the hospital.

God’s Voice Over the Waters and the Prayer for Deliverance

The voice of the Lord is over the waters. The God of glory thunders. The Lord over many waters. The voice of the Lord is powerful. The voice of the Lord is full of majesty. God is our refuge and strength.

A very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way. Though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea. Though its waters roar and foam. Though the mountains tremble at its swelling pride.

O God of our salvation and the hope of all the ends of the earth and of the farthest seas. Be girded with might who stills the roaring of the seas. The roaring of their ways. The tumult of their peoples so that those who dwell at the ends of the earth are in awe of your signs.

You make the going out of the morning and the evening to shout for joy. But as for me my prayer is to you O Lord at an acceptable time O God. Deliver me from the sinking in the mire. Let me be delivered from my enemies and from the deep waters.

Let not the flood sweep over me or the deep swallow me up or the pit close its mouth over me. When the water saw you O God. When the water saw you they were afraid. Indeed the deep trembled. The clouds poured out water.

The skies gave forth thunder. Your arrows flashed on every side. The crash of your thunder was in the whirlwind. Your lightnings lighted up the world. The earth trembled and shook. Your way was through the sea.

Your path to the great waters.