Let me invite you, if you have a copy of the Word of God available to you, to turn with me to the Gospel of Matthew, and I'd like to read in the eighth chapter, the eighth chapter of Matthew's Gospel. Matthew 8 and verse 1. When he had come down from the mountain, great multitudes followed him. And behold, a leper came and worshipped him, saying, Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean. Then Jesus put out his hand and touched him, saying, I am willing, be cleansed. Immediately his leprosy was cleansed. And Jesus said to him, see that you tell no one. But go your way, show yourself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded as a testimony to them. Now when Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, pleading with him, saying, Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, dreadfully tormented. And Jesus said to him, I will come and heal him. The centurion answered and said, Lord, I am not worthy that you should come under my roof. but only speak a word and my servant will be healed for I also am a man under authority having soldiers under me and I say to this one go and he goes and to another come and he comes and to my servant do this and he does it when Jesus heard it he marveled and said to those who followed assuredly I say to you I have not found such great faith not even in Israel And I say to you that many will come from the east and west and sit down with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. But the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then Jesus said to the centurion, Go your way, and as you have believed, so let it be done for you. And his servant was healed that same hour. Now when Jesus had come into Peter's house, he saw his wife's mother lying sick with a fever, so he touched her hand and the fever left her, and she arose and served them. When evening had come, they brought to him many who were demon-possessed, and he cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were sick. that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet saying he himself took our infirmities and bore our sicknesses and when Jesus saw great multitudes about him he gave a command to depart to the other side then a certain scribe came and said to him teacher I will follow you wherever you go and Jesus said to him foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head. Then another of his disciples said to him, Lord, let me first go and bury my father. But Jesus said to him, Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead. Now 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. Then his disciples came to him and awoke him, saying, Lord, save us, we are perishing. But he said to them, Why are you fearful, O you of little faith? Then he arose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm. So the men marveled, saying, Who can this be, that even the winds and the sea obey him? When he had come to the other side, to the country of the Gergesenes, they met him two demon possessed men coming out of the tombs exceedingly fierce so that no one could pass that way and suddenly they cried out saying what are we to do with you Jesus you son of God have you come here to torment us before the time now a good way off from them there was a herd of many swine feeding so the demons begged him saying if you cast us out permit us to go away into the herd of swine and he said to them go so when they had come out they went into the herd of swine and suddenly the whole herd of swine ran violently down the steep place into the sea and perished in the water then those who kept them fled and they went away into the city and told everything including what had happened to the demon possessed men and behold the whole city came out to meet Jesus and when they saw him they begged him to depart from their region I want to consider with you this evening this remarkable incident recorded in this eighth chapter where the sovereign authority of Christ is seen being exercised over the elements. The stilling of the storm. It's the first of a number of stories about storm and calm. Stories which reveal the antagonism of hell against our Lord Jesus Christ and all that he is doing and they also reveal the complete mastery that Christ has in dealing with that opposition. Now the reason I read the whole chapter was that it gives you the background and the context in which this incident takes place. It was a remarkably busy day in Capernaum. The Lord and his disciples have attended the synagogue worship. then afterwards they went up onto the mountainside where he preached what we know as the Sermon on the Mount after this they come to Peter's home and he heals Peter's mother-in-law and then we are told that in the evening there was that remarkable scene in the streets of Capernaum where scores and scores of people who were demon possessed and sick were brought out into the streets And with great assurance and authority, Matthew tells us that he healed every one of them, demonstrating his power and his supremacy over sickness and over disease. Now the other Gospels tell us that it was then that his relatives became alarmed and they thought that he was going insane and they tried to persuade him to leave his public ministry to come back to the seclusion and to the quietness of his home in Nazareth and it was at that point that he made this radical break with his earthly family and he went on with his public ministry and the crowds are beginning to gather around him and to follow him and then Matthew you remember tells us that he deals with one or two men who said that they would like to become his followers but they had obviously been carried away by the excitement and by the enthusiasm and he lays before them the terms of discipleship he then urges his disciples to get into a boat and to go to the other side of the lake so they were the events of that day and such were the demands that were made upon Christ that he is physically exhausted and he goes to the stern of the boat and he lies down and he falls asleep Matthew tells us that at that point suddenly and unexpectedly this severe storm comes upon them and by all accounts it wasn't the usual kind of storm You can gather from the other Gospels and this Gospel that it was quite an extraordinary storm. Now remember that these disciples with him in the boat were Galilean fishermen. They were very very familiar with the Sea of Galilee. They'd been bought, born rather, they'd been raised alongside the Sea of Galilee. They were not novices in the matter of sailing. They were hardened fishermen. They'd earned their living working on the Sea of Galilee. They knew all the hazards that you could encounter when you were sailing on that lake. They knew that there were certain wind gullies which created tremendous storms where the wind immediately whips up and whips up the waves, the whole waves, the surface of the water begins to spew and to foam and any boat that's on the lake at that point can be tossed here and there like a cork on the water. Now this seems to be even more severe than that and the severity of the storm was such that we are told that the waves were towering over the boat and they were crashing onto it and they were filling the boat with water. These disciples had never seen a storm like this. Mark's account tells us that the waves were literally beating into the ship, literally throwing themselves into it and assailing it and making an attack upon it. So it was a violent storm of nature, the kind that we see increasingly in the day and age in which we live. And in one sense, the violent disturbances that we see in nature all over the world, are akin to the disturbances that you see in the life of men and women and young people in society. And these are the things that our Lord came into this world to destroy. Storms, earthquakes, hurricanes, tsunamis, famines, they are all part of the confusion and the disorder that sin has brought into the created order of God. Now this incident is demonstrating to us the lordship and the kingship of our Lord Jesus Christ. Here is the sovereign lord and king exercising his kingship over the very elements that he had created. So as such it is a token not only of what he is able to do and what he has done but what he will yet do when he returns to reign. The whole created order in which we are now living, which has been disordered and broken by the fall of Adam, we are told it will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. And the voice that stilled this disorder of nature in this storm is the same voice at the end of the age that will still the whole of creation. and set it free from its groaning. Now, when you think about it, it's a staggering thought. The whole disorder and chaos of a fallen world will be brought by Christ into perfection and into harmony and into beauty simply by a word of command. Now, when you look at this storm in that light, there is a particular message and a particular meaning in what our Lord is doing. Look at this scene in Matthew as the other disciples describe it. Our Lord here is in the midst of all these pressures that are upon him from people who wanted to be healed, people who wanted to speak to him and so on. He's right in the midst of that and in the midst of those pressures he gets into this little fishing boat and Luke tells us that it all began very calmly and very quietly with a tired Jesus committing himself to the care of his own men and lying down to sleep in the boat. And no sooner are they on the way than the storm develops. Now, don't underestimate the severity of the storm. In the midst of that terrible fury, such was the tiredness of our Lord that he simply slept on calmly and peacefully in the stern of the boat. As the Son of Man, He had a perfect trust and a sublime and simple confidence that His Heavenly Father would take care of Him. The disciples, on the other hand, recognize that it's a situation of the gravest danger both for themselves and for Him. And so they are immediately filled with fear and panic. now that fear was natural but as we shall see it was also something that was foolish and they try to manage on their own dealing with the storm without disturbing him and now they reach a point where they have to waken him from his sleep and as undisturbed as he was by the shrieking of the wind and the howling of the waves, he immediately awakens when he hears the voice, Master, do you not care that we are perishing? So here is the Son of Man benignly sleeping, but the Son of God awakens and he speaks aggressively and powerfully and he looks down at the waves and he looks up into the heavens and then he rebuked the winds and he commanded the waves and immediately in a matter of seconds there was this great calm. It was a miraculous calm. It wasn't as if the storm gradually died down. It was an immediate, instantaneous, absolutely perfect calm. So it's no wonder that the disciples looked at him and they looked at one another and they said, what manner of man is this that even the winds and the sea obey him in this way? A tremendous contrast in a matter of moments. One moment they're like straws on the water, ready to perish, totally helpless, terrified out of their wits. the depths of the lake opening its mouth to take them into a watery grave and then the next moment everything is calm and placid calm and smooth as a mill pond it was an astonishing incident the Lord of Glory exercising his Lordship over the elements that he had created in the beginning and all of that is a glorious picture of what He came to do with all the storms of life, whether they are the disorders that are caused by sin, whether they are the disorders that are outwith our own control, He came to still them. But remember that He came to still the greatest storm of all. That storm which erupted thousands of years ago in the Garden of Eden when man revolted against God and those first ominous rumblings of the storm that were heard there in paradise and that storm is going to continue until it comes to its climax at the place called Calvary where the rocks are broken and there is thunder and there is darkness And there you have the mighty Son of God lifted up from the earth, the Master and Lord of the storm, and He's towering over the raging wrath of Almighty God against sin. And there on that cross, His hands outstretched, He is taking into Himself all the vials of the judgment of God, and He is speaking to mankind a word of peace which he has accomplished through his death and it is that work of Christ alone that can still the storm that is in the life of any sinner and can speak peace to the hearts of men and to the heart of God and so it is from that storm that all other storms of whatever kind are stilled It was a calvary that he removed the disorder of sin, the storm that has been created by sin. And in that way he overcame sin, he exhausted sin, he destroyed sin. So there is a sense in which this storm here is a reflection or a rehearsal of that infinitely greater experience that was going to be seen at the cross. But that's not everything that we can say about this storm on the lake. From Mark's account we are told that when Jesus went into that little boat to go across the lake, Mark tells us that there were other little boats involved. Other little boats went across the lake with them. They went into this storm. They experienced this calm. So that those men in those boats were sharing this experience without knowing why it had come, without knowing how it had been dealt with, because here they are on the perimeter of things, but who knows that the Holy Spirit had used that storm to awaken whatever they already knew about Christ and His teachings, that's why they were following Him, and who knows that faith was not created in them. and that, like many another, the teachings of Christ may have come savingly to them as a result of things that they passed through that they couldn't understand. Now, do you remember in the account in Luke's Gospel of our Lord's temptations in the wilderness? We are told that after he repulsed Satan, that Satan departed from him, and Luke tells us that he departed from him until a more opportune season. And it's a reminder to us that with the coming of Christ into any situation there is always a greater intensity in the warfare between God and Satan. Whenever Christ comes into a situation his very presence seems to draw out the activity of the devil and his demons. Now we read that on the other side of that lake there was a sadly tormented man who was waiting for Christ to come. And bear in mind that our Lord is on His way to the cross where He is going to defeat Satan. He is going to bind him and set all the captives like that man free. So Satan knows that his time is short. He knows what Christ has come to do. So there is no doubt in my own mind that this sailing of this boat on the lake was another opportune occasion for the devil. Here in that little boat was the whole foundation church and they were sailing over the sea of Galilee. What better opportunity for the devil to seek to destroy Christ and all of his disciples? Because Christ is going to go across that lake, make further inroads into the kingdom of darkness. He's going to cast out legions of demons into this herd of swine. What better opportunity for Satan to strike than this? And John says in 1 John 5, 16, we know that we are of God and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one. Revelation 12 and verse 12, the devil has come down having great wrath because he knows that his time is short. And sometimes, you know, I think as evangelicals, our belief in the doctrine of the devil is too theoretical. And we need to realize the practical outworkings of the activity of Satan. And if we began to realize that, we'd probably realize why the work of God so often seems to be full of colossal contradictions. And there are satanic storms in church fellowships which are calculated to disrupt the fellowship, demoralize and destroy the work of God in any given local church. So here is a picture of the prince of the power of the air, summoning all the fury of the elements, and making this violent assault upon Christ and his followers. No wonder these men were terrified. They were involved in something that was totally beyond their understanding, something they'd never experienced, and they were out of their depth. And they were in this situation which they just could not understand. panicking, in great alarm, can't think clearly, and it's very interesting to see how our Lord addresses them in the way that he did. You might have expected our Lord to say something different than what he did say to them, but did you notice that before he speaks to the storm, he speaks to them, and he says to them, why are you fearful? Oh you of little faith. Do you see the point here? Our Lord in that situation sees that the priority was not to still the storm. The priority was to speak to these men. There were lessons that needed to be taught. There were lessons that needed to be learned by these men. And so He addresses them. Why are you fearful, O you of little faith? Well, I don't know. I know your faces and I know some of your names. I can remember you. I don't know what's going on in your life at this very moment. I don't know what you've come through this week. I don't know what's happening in your family life. I don't know what's happening in your church life. I don't know what's happening in your personal lives. But maybe that's God's word for you this evening. Why are you so fearful? Oh you of little faith. Now let me apply those words in this way. To whom were these words spoken? And then, what do the words signify? Well, to whom were the words spoken? Why are you fearful, O you of little faith? Well, in the first place, they were addressed to those men who had been called by Christ. And you will notice that Matthew points out in verse 23 that our Lord got into the boat and His disciples followed Him. He got into the boat, these men followed Him. Now, it's not the first time that they followed him. They've been with him for some time. They have experienced him coming to them and calling them, and they have followed him at some cost to themselves. They've been doing that for some time. So they are not among the very casual followers. you know, the crowds that would come and then they would drift away again. They were not those people who followed him for a time and then when they listened to the stern aspects of his teaching that they turned away because they couldn't stand these hard sayings. They were not some kind of superficial fair-weather friends. These were sincere men whose lives have been drawn out after him and they were in this crisis because of their determination to stay by the side of their Master. They've been called by Him. They've been chosen by Him. They are to be His disciples. They've seen something of His power and His authority. They've watched Him perform miracles. They've listened to His public ministry, teaching and preaching the things pertaining to the Kingdom of God. These are the men who had just listened to the Sermon on the Mount and in that sermon he had spoken about a great deal of the nature of the discipleship and he'd used the illustration of a storm beating upon a house of those who profess to be followers and how you can stand the test of the storm. So a few hours before this storm on the lake he has been teaching all of these things about discipleship. Those two men that came to Him, we will follow you wherever you go. And the other disciples have listened to Him say to them what it means. I have nowhere to lay my head. Are you willing to give up that kind of life in order to follow Me? Are you willing to give up the care of your family in order to follow Me? He is saying to those two men, there will be hardship in following Me. There is a cost in following Me. There is loneliness in following Me. There is opposition in following Me. And in the light of all that knowledge, his disciples then saw him getting into the boat and they continued to follow him. It never crossed their minds that they should do anything else. So these men knew all about these things and they continued as his called followers. Now from the other accounts of the story we see that it was the Lord who directed them into the ship and to sail across the lake. The two accounts are not contradictory. He deliberately directed them into this. It was as if our Lord is intent that he is going to show these men something more of what true discipleship is all about. So here are these men who are going through this terrific ordeal, this terrible storm, this terrible crisis, not because they were out of the will of God, but because they were in the will of God. As a result of our Lord's calling them, they were simply seeking to be obedient to the voice of Christ. And he must have known that the storm was going to come, but he deliberately leads his disciples into it. In other words, he had his own sovereign reason for putting his disciples into this situation. So when he speaks this word to them, He is speaking to those whom He has called and He has chosen and they are followers of Him. They are not words that can be directed or applied to all men, everywhere, irrespective of who they are or what they are. They are words that are spoken to those who know Christ, they've responded to Christ, and they are seeking to follow Christ in their lives. And you may be able to say to me this evening, Pastor Hughes, that's exactly my situation. I've come to know Christ. I want to follow Christ. I want to put Christ first in my life. So if you're a true believer this evening, you're in the same situation as these men. And as such, you have been called and chosen by God for a specific purpose. You have been drawn to Christ. You have been married to Him by faith. And you've been caught up into a destiny that defies understanding and it beggars description. because Christ has purposes for his own that very often are beyond your fathoming or your understanding. Now that's what you need to bear in mind in your times of great trouble. There are times in the Christian life when the Lord's people experience storm and conflict and trial and they are not experiencing it because of some failure on their part or because of some particular sin that they've committed. They are experiencing it because the Lord has willed it and the Lord has allowed it. Indeed, there are times when the Lord has sent it for a particular purpose. And if you go through the history of God's people, you will see again and again how they experienced storms in their life. Times that were so tempestuous and so turbulent that you could only describe them as the dark night of the soul. You read about Jacob crying out to God in anguish. All of these things are against me. You look at Elijah saying, I just wish that I could die. You look at David in the depths of despair. You listen to the Apostle Paul at times. They find themselves in trouble and in danger and in fear of their lives. Not because of sin, not because of disobedience, but simply because they are followers wanting to do the will of God. And that may well be you this evening. and you find yourself in a situation of fear and foreboding and distress and you feel yourself so helpless in the light of it and it may be that you've been following Christ for years and yet you are at a time in your life when all hell seems to be let loose against you and it can only be described as a violent storm of trouble well here is Christ's word to you why are you fearful? Oh, you of little faith. He has called you. He is leading you. He has a definite purpose in what He is doing. The Lord never abandons His children. He never abandons anybody that He has set His love upon. The Good Shepherd never loses track or trace of any of His sheep. That is what the providence of God is all about. that even in the battles of life and in the storms of life there are experiences into which He has led you. Why then are you anxious or afraid? So, to whom these words were addressed? They are addressed to those who have been called by Christ. In the second place, they are addressed to those people who were the companions of Christ. Now, what do I mean by that? Well, when He is saying to these men, Why are you fearful, O you of little faith? What is he doing? He is reminding them that he is with them. He is their companion in this situation. His body and his mind were in need of rest. There was simply no doubt in his mind about what was happening. He knew what was happening. It would be wonderful to be able to see things as Christ sees them. But we don't. We have to rely upon Him. And so there is great tenderness and simplicity as He is teaching them this important lesson. And it almost appears as if He expected them to ride out the storm, knowing that He was with them. And no matter how severe the storm became, how desperate the situation was, they would still have the victory because He was there with them. Yes, He was tired. Yes, He was weary. Yes, He was fast asleep, but He was still there. It might have appeared that He didn't show any care and that He wasn't concerned and that He was uninterested in their situation, but Jesus is saying that could not be further from the truth. His humanity might have been asleep, but His divinity was wide awake. So here is the same one who has already said to his people of old, when you pass through the waters, I will be with you. I will be your companion. So he's training them to recognize his oneness with them in everything that is taking place. Always reckon, he is saying, on my presence with you, even though your senses might tell you otherwise. You're looking at me asleep, your senses feel that I'm not interested, I don't care. But don't believe your senses, trust in me. One of the Puritans says that the head is always with the body, and the body cannot drown while the head is above the water." It's a lovely quote. He may appear to be distant, he may appear to be indifferent, there may be this seeming detachment, but he is showing them that he is absolutely in control of everything. And when you sing that hymn, my favourite hymn, my funeral hymn, how firm a foundation he stands to the Lord. The soul that on Jesus has leaned for repose, I will not, I will not desert to expose. That soul, though all hell should endeavour to shake, I'll never, no never, no never forsake. And the last word that he gave to these men before he went back to his father, remember, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world, even if you don't see me. And he took 40 days and nights to teach them that lesson before he went back into the glory. I will always be with you. So to whom were these words spoken? They were spoken to the called of Christ, they were spoken to the companions of Christ, and they were spoken to those who were committed to Christ. And we read that when Jesus called these men, what did they do? They left everything to follow Him. They left their nets, they left their fishing, they left their business, they left their home. They went without any kind of hesitation or reserve and they followed Him as their Lord and Master. In other words, these were men who have demonstrated love and loyalty and commitment to Christ. There was once a young couple in a relationship that wasn't going very well. And the young man said that he had expressed his love for the young woman again and again. But she said that she didn't want to get too serious. And she kept saying to him, I just want to be good friends. I just want us to be good friends. And eventually the young man could bear it no more. And his reply was, I don't want to be just good friends. I want to be your husband. She was totally astonished. Well, that to me is an illustration of what commitment is all about. It is the love of commitment. That's what's involved in Christian discipleship. And when Jesus is speaking these words, He's speaking to men who have committed themselves to Him like that. They have committed themselves to Him They have committed themselves to His work, to the work of His kingdom, to the establishing of His kingdom, to the evangelizing of those who have lost. They've committed themselves to Him. If you say that you're committed to Christ, well, I'll tell you exactly where your commitment should be seen. It should be in this church. Where is Christ? He is in the local church. You commit yourself to the local church. you put your roots down in the local church, you take the knife to the throat of your own inclinations, and you say, I'm going to commit myself to Christ, and I'm going to commit myself to this church, and to this ministry, and to this outreach, and this is where I'm going to be. Now the wonderful thing in the Christian life is this, that if you're a Christian, you follow a God, and you serve a God, who has also committed himself to you. And he is the one who comes to you and he says to you, I don't just want to be good friends, I want to be your husband. I want to care for you. I want to love you. I want to give my absolute commitment to you on my part. a commitment that is from everlasting and it is to everlasting, it knows no bounds, it knows no limit, it is a commitment which was willing to go all the way to the place called Calvary where the corn of wheat fell into the ground and it died so that it might bring forth fruit. So that is how we have to understand these words. He is speaking them to men to whom he has committed himself utterly. And He says to them, Why are you fearful, O you of little faith? Now let me ask you, is that your relationship to Christ? That you've responded to His call? You know Him as your companion? You have committed yourself to Him and you know that He is committed to you? That's how it was with these men. So having considered to whom the words were spoken, let me quickly focus on the question What do these words then signify? And they signify three principal things. First of all, that our Lord Jesus Christ exercises exclusive sovereignty. Here are the words of assurance of Christ to these fearful, anxious men. And they are not living in a world that is calm and peaceful, They're living in a world that is full of all kinds of storms. And he is saying to these men, I am in control, not only of this situation, but of the whole world. And he is showing to them that this situation did not take him by surprise for one moment. And such was his control of the situation that he is able to postpone dealing with the storm until he has dealt with their unbelief. And so he speaks to them first and then he stills the storm. Now what is he doing? He is dealing with the main cause of danger. The danger for these men was not from the storm and from the winds and the waves. The danger was their own lack of faith. And so he deals with that. And there is always more peril to the Christian in their own unbelief than there is in the most adverse circumstances by which you can be surrounded. And it's often more easy for Christ to deal with the physical storms than it is for him to deal with the storms of doubt and unbelief in the hearts of his people. So, in a sense, the storm was a concession to their weakness, as many miracles and signs and wonders often are. People who crave miracles and signs and wonders are simply demonstrating their lack of faith. They don't trust Christ. They've got to be able to see with their eyes and so on. So when the storms of irrational doubt begin to surround you, what we need to do is to be calm in our thinking. Christ is willing. He is able. He has the power and the ability to see you through. And so He says to you, why are you fearful? And the most important thing in the storm is don't lose faith. How often does the Apostle Paul say, we do not lose heart, we do not lose heart, we do not lose heart. That is the danger. That was the danger for these disciples. They were in danger of losing faith in Christ. And it's teaching us that we should never lose faith in God. no matter what you see happening in the world whatever you see happening in the troubled world in Afghanistan, in Iran, in Korea when you see all that's going on in the storms, in the earthquakes, in the floods all the unrest that there is in the world when you see the turmoil that there is in these United States at this particular moment when you see the intensity and the ferocity of what's happening in the world of nature and you listen to people who are saying all kinds of things about what is happening and you have the voice of secular humanism which is saying well of course you can be sure of nothing and that's the voice of despondency and despair And then you have the voice of godless, atheistic materialism, and they say, well, this is the state of the world, we simply need to eat, drink and be merry because tomorrow we are going to die. It's an attitude of hopelessness and heedlessness, but that is not the voice of God, and that is not the message of the Gospel, and it is not the voice of faith. The voice of faith has an absolute assurance and a positive certainty about God and the outcome of what is going to happen. Whatever else may be unpredictable and uncertain in this world, of this you can be infallibly sure that all things do work together for good to them that love God. Not just some things, not just the things that you can explain, not just the things that you can understand, but all things work together for good. For the ultimate good of your soul and for the ultimate glory of your God. That is what the sovereignty of God is all about. Now ask yourself the question, if you're a Christian, is that the bedrock of my life? Is that what I'm building my life on? And Christ is saying to you, that is what I want to be the bedrock of your life. Because that is the whole teaching of the Bible, that the Sovereign God is in absolute control of all things. The Lord is King. So that is what you must see as the significance of what He is saying to these disciples. He is teaching them something in all that they have gone through. That He is in absolute control of every area of your life. Not in some general, blind, impersonal sense. but that in every area of your life, He is controlling the events. He is over all the circumstances. He is in control of men and of nations, of principalities and powers, in order to bring about the good of His people. And it is only a sovereign God who can do that. And He was doing it here. And He reaches to the ends of the earth. He reaches to the depths of your life. He reaches to the ultimate area and circumference of all of your experiences, and He takes them, and He forms them, and He molds them, and He shapes them. And why does He do it? For your eventual and ultimate good and blessing, and for His own supreme glory. Now that is the astonishing foundational truth that lies at the heart of biblical Christianity. that the God that we know in Jesus Christ is the God who sits upon the throne of the universe. And all authority and power in heaven and on earth has been given to him, it is controlled by him, it is subject to him. And that is something that those of us who are believers, we need to have it etched into our minds, we need to have it engraved into our hearts, that God is in control. And if it's for no other reason, it's so that you might be able to understand this world in which you live, about which many people are saying the world has gone mad. So the great question is, who is in ultimate control of this mad world? A world that is stumbling from one crisis to another without any apparent cohesion? Who is in control? Well, this incident and the whole of scripture is showing us that the ultimate control rests on the shoulders of the Lord Jesus Christ. That is where true government begins and ends. And that is why the doctrine of the sovereignty of God is not simply an academic doctrine. It's not simply a piece of theology. It is the very fiber from which we need to build our life. It is the foundation upon which all of our thinking needs to be based. It is the sheet anchor for your soul in days of terrible storm. That the hand that is controlling all the circumstances of the world in which we live, the history which is behind us, the future, the destiny which is before us, is all in the hands of a sovereign God. So he is at work in the lives of his people sovereignly. and it is teaching us that He is at work in the lives of His people universally. Every area and aspect of your life, there is nothing that is excluded. God is at work. He's touching every conceivable circumstance, every area. Now that does not mean that you go away from this service and you say, well that's wonderful and as a Christian my life will be plain sailing because of all this you could never read the Bible or church history with any kind of objectivity and come to that conclusion there are mysteries in the providence of God that you will never fathom and that you will never understand sometimes the mysteries of God's providence drive people away from God and they become sour and bitter and cynical My daughter and son-in-law have friends that they have been trying to help for some time. A young couple who had four children. One child died at six weeks old. Another child died aged two with meningitis. Another child died suddenly at the age of ten with a burst aneurysm in the brain. and it all happened within one year. Three out of four children taken. So you can't simply chatter cheerfully in the presence of a problem like that and say all things work together for good. That is the solemn pathway that many of the profoundest saints have had to walk. And it can be said of the Christian as well as the non-Christian that man is born to trouble as the sparks fly upwards. But the difference between the Christian and the non-Christian is this. In all the storms and tempests and trials and disappointments and bereavements and tragedies, we do know that all things do work together for good and for the glory of God. Now that's an important and enormously important thing for you to grasp. And I believe that the Lord wants us to grasp it. Not just the things that you can understand. Not just the things that you can fathom. the most disturbing, torturing circumstances that some of you have been facing, some of us are facing, some of us who will yet face. They are part of the warp and the woof that God is weaving into His purposes for His children. So, if you are a child of God this evening, there is nothing in your life that is excluded from this. Tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril and sort, all things work together for good. So that's the significance of what our Lord is saying to these men. Why then are you fearful, O you of little faith? He is at work sovereignly. He is at work universally. But He is at work benevolently. Wouldn't you love to know how our Lord said certain things? Wouldn't you love to have heard the tone of his voice? Or you read them on the page of scripture? How did he say it? Why are you fearful? Oh, you of little faith. Why are you fearful? Oh, you of little faith. Tenderly, compassionately, patiently, why are you fearful? I am working everything out in my own sovereign way." And that's one of the most difficult things at times for God's people to believe. And I'm sure that that young couple found it very, very difficult to believe. And these disciples just couldn't see it in the midst of the storm. It was a terrifying experience. And when you're going through something like that, you don't want one of these chirpy wayside pulpits that say, cheer up, it may never happen. Sometimes it does happen. And what then? Well, the Word of God says it may happen, and even if it does happen, God is in control. And Christ is saying, why are you fearful? Benjamin Warfield, B.B. Warfield, world-renowned theologian, taught at Princeton Seminary for almost 34 years until he died in 1921. At the age of 25 he married Annie Pierce Kinkead. They took their honeymoon in Germany and on their honeymoon during a fierce storm she was struck by lightning and permanently paralyzed he cared for her for 39 years 39 years she was paralyzed and because of her extraordinary needs he seldom left his home for more than two hours at a time during all the years of his marriage and when B.B. Warfield came to write his thoughts on Romans 8.28 he said this The fundamental thought is the universal government of God. All that comes to you is under His controlling hand. The secondary thought is the favor of God to those that love Him. If He governs all, then nothing but good can befall those to whom He would do good. He will so govern all things that we shall reap only good from all that befalls us. 39 years caring for a paralyzed wife. And he says, God is good. And that is the theme of the whole of scripture. Taste and see that the Lord is good. God is good and only good to his people. And that is the central truth of the Bible. It is the central truth of this passage. It is the central truth that the devil will go to all kinds of lengths to get you not to believe. And the devil will come to you in the midst of the storm. Where is your God now? Is this the kindness of God? Is this the goodness of God? Why should this happen to you? And Jesus says, Why are you fearful, O you of little faith? So whatever your situation, retain the posture of worship. Job said, I came into the world with nothing. I go out of the world with nothing. He kneeled on the ground and he said, Blessed be the Lord. He has given and he has taken away. and His name is still blessed. Retain the posture of worship. And whenever you are going through it, remember that it is this God who says to you, I love you. And greater love has no man than this. He's demonstrated His love for you in that He laid down His life in order to redeem you and in order to have you as his chosen bride and he will never let you go and he will take all the things that you cannot understand and he will bring them for your ultimate good and if you don't see it in this world you will see it in the next and you will be able to say all the way the Saviour let me What have I to ask beside? Sovereignly, universally, benevolently, personally and particularly. If you want a sense of security and of belonging, this is where you find it. When you look at all these kind of pop stars and film stars, movie stars and so on, And the way they live, the way they behave, the Paris Hiltons of this world, why are they like that? They have no sense of significance. They don't know who they are. They don't know what they are for. But when you get a grasp of this, you know that you matter to God. And you know that God is with you. And He'll never let you go. And that will give you a sense of security and of assurance and it will give you a sense of identity that I am what I am by the grace of Almighty God. Well, let us bow together in prayer. Let us pray. Father, we do thank you for who you are and we ask your forgiveness for the times that we do not believe and that our faith fails us. We thank you for this passage in scripture. We thank you for our blessed Saviour who is seen at His most glorious in the back cloth of the storm. And we do ask that you will bless these words to all of our hearts and that you will carve this truth of His supreme sovereignty and love and care over His people, carve it into our hearts against those times and those days and those occasions when we go through the storm. Hear our prayers. Receive our thanks. We ask these things in our Saviour's worthy name. Amen.