Dear congregation, there is a saying that goes like this, experience is the best teacher. And that's true, isn't it? Learning about a disease or a weather phenomenon in school children, with all the definitions and explanations and examples, that can be very helpful. if you go through that disease, or go through that hurricane, for example, that just hit some of the states in the south, it's different to learn about a hurricane, or to be in the middle of that hurricane. God in his providence has ways of making his children experience the things that he's already taught them in their minds. But he makes them through his way in their lives to really know these things from the inside out. As the disciples also experienced in the chapter before us. During the day the Lord had taught them many truths. But at night, they were forced to reckon with those truths in ways that they would never forget. And may the Lord bless these things to our own lives, no matter where we find ourselves, even just now. And that we too would know God's truth in our own experience, and stand in awe of Him. Our text is really the whole chapter, which is a long chapter, but we I've dealt with different parts of this chapter before, and I think we can, with the Lord's help, we can learn from that overall perspective of this chapter. So the text is really the whole chapter. This time I'll read verse 41. And they feared exceedingly and said one to another, what manner of man is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him? theme looking to the Lord tonight is, The One Whom Waves Obey. We'll see His teaching by day, verses 1 through 34, and His test by night, verses 35 through 41. The One Whom Waves Obey. His teaching by day, His test by night. Well, chapter four of Mark is the great chapter, at least in Mark, of the parables. The Lord Jesus had just appointed the 12 disciples, as we heard last week, and he was to teach them about the kingdom of God. And he was to teach this in a mysterious way, in a way that they could barely understand, and they came to the Lord to ask him what exactly he meant. But here in Mark 4, we have really four parables, and you can follow along if you have your Bibles open. The first parable is the parable of the sower, probably the most well-known parable. The sower goes forth to sow, and there's four soils. That's verses 3 through 20. Then there is the parable of the lampstand, and that's verses 21 through 25. The third parable is the parable of the seed growing secretly. That's 26 through 29. First the blade, then the ear, then the full corn in the ear. That's the third parable. And then finally, the parable of the mustard seed, which grows into a great bush. And that's 30 through 32. And so we have these four parables, children, and some explanation about why Jesus talks in parables, and what at least one of these parables means. Now, remember this, parables, as you've heard before, are earthly stories with heavenly meanings. And that's how Jesus taught, at least from this point of his ministry on, much of the time. He told them stories about everyday life, but he packed in there a heavenly meaning. Usually something about the kingdom of heaven. Now the kingdom of heaven is not like other kingdoms on the earth, like The British Empire, for example, you can go to certain places and you see the British flag and maybe you see Buckingham Palace or other things that speak of this kingdom. there is there in the United Kingdom. Or there are many other kingdoms in our world, in Africa, in South America, in Asia, and so on. Those are earthly kingdoms. You can actually go to these places, at least many of them, and you can see the kings, the queens, and so on. But the kingdom of heaven is not like that. You can't go to one place on earth and see all the things that belong to that kingdom. It's a spiritual kingdom. You can't see it with your physical eyes. Yes, you can see churches, you can see people meeting around the word, but this kingdom is an unseen kingdom, and yet it's real. It's there. And those who have faith, they know it's real. Because they experience it's truth in their hearts and lives. And that's what Jesus is saying in this chapter. The kingdom of God, that place where God reigns and rules, it's a spiritual kingdom. It might seem mysterious, but it's real. There's a second reason why it's mysterious, and that is because it grows so mysteriously. How do other kingdoms grow? Well, usually through war, where one king fights against another king or country, and takes their territory. Or perhaps you can have trade wars, and you can have colonialization, and things like that. And that's how kingdoms, earthly kingdoms grow. But in the kingdom of God, it isn't by war, certainly not as you think about in our world, or by trade, or anything like that. No. How does the kingdom of God exist? It's through the Word of God. And that's mysterious, isn't it? Wherever the Word is preached, wherever the Bible is translated, and it goes into different areas, the kingdom comes into being. And that's mysterious. You can't trace that out. You can't draw a line and follow it all. It's mysterious. But it's real and it happens. It's kind of like, children, the seed that the farmer has. And nowadays they put it in tractors, and they go, and it's all beautiful rows nowadays there that they plant the corn, the soybeans, or different kinds of seed. But if you just held some of those seeds in your hand, you'd say to yourself, well, this is very small, first of all, and this is dry, and how can a plant come from this? And sure, you can learn all the science about it, but still, it's mysterious that when you put this seed in the earth, and you cover it, and the sun shines on it, and there's rain, and there's the right soil, then after a few days or weeks, something sprouts. And by the end of it, if it's corn, for example, you have this whole stalk of corn with a beautiful ear of corn, and from one kernel, you can get a hundred or more kernels, just from one kernel. It's mysterious, isn't it? It's amazing. But that's a picture of how the kingdom of God grows. It's like seed. The word is like seed that's cast upon human hearts. And that's how the kingdom of God grows. Now taking all these parables together, there's four lessons that we want to see here in our first point. about the kingdom of God from these parables. The first is the kingdom of God comes through God's word. This is how it all starts. The sower went out to sow. Just picture some man here with maybe bags on both of his shoulders. And here they are. And he grabs with one hand seed. And he's sowing it all over the soil. And he grabs. And he knows how to do this. But the seed, it falls on all kinds of different soil. Now have you ever stopped and thought about that? The Lord doesn't say, oh here's some good soil, let me throw down some seed on that soil. No. The sower went out to sow, and the seed fell on all kinds of ground. And that's exactly what our canons of Doris say when it says that the gospel must be promiscuously preached, meaning the Lord knows who are his, but the gospel should go everywhere. We don't go try and figure out, is this person elect? Because then I can preach the gospel to him. And that person, no, that doesn't look like an elect person, so I'm not going to preach the gospel to him or her. No. The sower went out to sow. That's how generous, that's how liberal we would say, even in a certain sense, God is. It just, the seed goes everywhere, wherever the Lord wishes. And yes, we see here now, secondly, the Word of God faces rejection, but also reception. The first lesson of these parables is that the kingdom of God comes through the sowing of the Word. The second lesson is, is the kingdom of God faces, in some places, rejection. And in other places, reception. And actually, when we take that first parable, we find that there are three soils that really reject that Word. They do it in different ways. You have the wayside, hearer. That's the kind of person who hears the word and they hear every word, at least most of it. They hear it. But after the preaching, they go and it's as if nothing's happened. Because as we saw earlier, Satan comes and he just picks away at that seed. They're no better for it. Their heart is so hard. It doesn't penetrate at all, just stays on the surface, and Satan quickly takes it away, and nothing ever happens. The wayside here. And then there's the rocky ground here, and that's the kind of person who receives the word, and it does something, initially. It even says here in the parable that he receives it with joy. There's a certain gladness. Oh, this is amazing. This truth, it's beautiful. It's really special to hear what I just heard. But there's no depth of earth. And when trials come, when tribulations come, when the sun beats down upon such a hearer, whatever was there shrivels up. And there's no lasting fruit. And that kind of hearer is in churches like this as well. Every one of these hearers is right in church here today. The wayside here, the rocky ground here. You delight in what you hear, but in the end, when life really, especially when it brings you some difficulties, the seed doesn't really matter. And whatever was there, it's withered away. And then there is the third here, which is the thorny ground here, and much the same. The seed falls on his or her life, and something starts to grow, but there's so many thorns, so many thistles, and it chokes out the little plant that's growing. Of course this doesn't mean that people can lose their salvation. No, it's looking at what happens to the Word of God. There can be temporary faith. There can be historical faith. There can be miraculous faith. That's how we teach it. So it looks like something's happening, but it's not truly happening. And so it is, these thorns are called the cares of this world. Oh, how many cares there are. It's hard to go through a day without having just thorns come up. And sure enough, they choke whatever has been growing in your life. Or the deceitfulness of riches. Riches, many of us want them, but at the end of the day, they steal our affection. And they promise so much and in the end they've just occupied all our attention. And in the end of the day we've just lived for this world, for Madam Bubble as one has called her. And yet the sower sows on all these grounds. Also today. This morning and this evening, the Lord is just bringing his word and it's falling on all these hearts, all these hearts here. How generous the Lord is. And yet, do we see our own portrait as well? What's your heart like? Even the children of the Lord, who by his grace are the good ground, which ultimately brings forth fruit, but they find in their lives so much that they say, you know, this isn't good. There's thorns in my life. There's so much that chokes the words, so much that preoccupies me. Sometimes I'm afraid there's not enough depth in my life. It's just like when tribulation comes, when the sun comes out, there's just so little there. I'm afraid that I'm this rocky ground. the Lord is speaking here very honestly, and He's speaking in such a way that He wants us to take heed how we hear, or what we hear. How is this with us? The ultimate test is not whether you have some joy under preaching. The ultimate test is not if there's some impact in your life. The ultimate thing is, is there fruit Is there fruit in your life because of the Word? And when we hear about these different soils, we can almost get discouraged and say, well is this all in vain? Well no, because there's the good ground. And this is the ground that the Lord Himself has brought about. He has plowed it up, as it were, with His law. And By nature we don't have this good soil, but God makes sure that there is this soil that receives the word, and puts down root, and brings forth fruit. And he talks here about 30, 60, and a hundredfold in other words. Even though only one of the soils brings forth fruit. That soil, that one soil brings forth 30 times, 60 times, or a hundred times fruit unto the living God. In other words, God will have his people. And Christ will have the reward of his labors. And Christ shall have dominion from sea to sea. And abundant fields of grain shall wave, all ripe for harvesting. There's nothing lacking in the Lord's work. Any lack is on our side. But the Lord and His cause, His kingdom, how glorious, how good it is. The kingdom of God grows through the Word of God. The kingdom of God meets with rejection, but also reception. And then thirdly, these parables teach us that the kingdom grows in stages. and we shouldn't despise small things. Sometimes God's work seems very small, and it's easy to discount it. Take for example the parable of the seed growing secretly, verses 26 through 29. There the sower sows and then goes to sleep. It's an amazing reference that the Lord gives there, but that's how it is as a farmer. Those of you who are farmers, who have seen this, or even if you have a garden, you sow the seed, but you don't just sit there by your soil and just day and night look and do different things. No, you sow the seed and you go to bed, you rest. Because the Lord is in control of that, spiritually as well. And then, this parable draws attention to the fact that the seed comes up. But first, it's just the blade. There's no fruit yet. If you've planted corn, and something comes up, and you say, let me see if there's corn. Well, you're much too early. Corn will come, if it's right. But first, there's the blade. In other words, the Lord Jesus is saying here, don't despise the day of small things for yourself, dear believer, but also around you. Know that the Lord, he parcels out his work bit by bit. And if we judged everything after the first week or the first month or the first year, there'd be nothing. First the blade. But that very blade expands. And pretty soon there's an ear. Now don't, don't grab the corn when it just produces the ear. No, you want to wait even further. In other words, the Lord has a process whereby He is maturing His children. And He has a way of doing that. And he doesn't skip any stages. First the blade, then the ear, then the corn and the air. Now in some of his people's lives that's faster, and in others it's slower. The Lord governs that. But don't despise the day of small things. Indeed lament your own sin, lament your own slowness, perform what God has called you to do, but also don't be too quick to judge the work of God as if it were in vain in your life and in the lives of others. The husbandman is patient, we read in James chapter 5, till all is done. So that thirdly, the kingdom grows in stages and may appear very small, but we're not to despise that smallness. And then fourthly, and lastly here under our first point, the message of the kingdom should be spread far and wide. And this is what that second parable, the parable of the lampstand teaches us, where the Lord Jesus says, you don't take a candle, children, or a lamp in your bedroom, for example, and put that under your bed. I mean maybe in certain cases if you're looking for something you might do that, but that's not typical. You put a lamp in a high place where it illumines the whole room. For example here, these lights are high up and they make whole church to shine brightly. You can't imagine those lights under the pews. That wouldn't make any sense. And so too the light of the knowledge of God. The gospel should not be hid. It should be set on a lampstand. People everywhere need to hear this. The Lord is speaking in the first instance here to his disciples whom he's appointed. They will be apostles. They shouldn't take Jesus's teaching about the kingdom of heaven and everything else he teaches them and hide it in some really small club where there's four walls and the door is locked and no one hears about this. No. The kingdom of God must be preached far and wide just like the sower does. everywhere. Our whole world needs to hear these things. And so this week, remember the people around you, your neighbors, your colleagues at work, family members that don't know about the Lord, or seem to resist even anything having to do with the Lord. May the church not hide the light of God under a bushel. May we shine the gospel far and wide. What a blessing it is for this church to have an evangelism committee, and for people to go door to door, and others praying, and VBS. And we support, don't we, many who go to the length and breadth of this earth. But to have that mindset, Who's to say that that person at the desk next to you, or that student in college with you, or your neighbor might end up converted, changed, and his or her whole family affected, and there would be future preachers, office bearers, or children of God through that lineage? Who's to tell? What if the gospel had never reached you? or never reached your ancestors. The light must be spread far and wide, and God will do what He pleases with it. A little tract, a little word, a card, a text, a sermon link, whatever it may be, who can tell what God will use in His sovereign good pleasure to spread the message of the kingdom? Well, this is the teaching that occupied the disciples and the crowds that day. The Lord Jesus was actually in a boat, teaching from the boat, and you have to think of it this way, by the Sea of Galilee, there's these hills that rise up around the Sea of Galilee, and they could hear him. He would call out from the boat, a sower went out to sow, and people would hear it. And then he might gather with his disciples who were in the boat with him and explain the parables. And he said, to you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of heaven. And then he would say, the kingdom of heaven is like the smallest of seeds, a mustard seed. And then he would say different things to his disciples. So that's how he'd been teaching all day long. And here's where the rubber meets the road. Take heed what you hear. In Luke 8, the same story, it's, take heed how you hear. And literally, the word is, see how you hear. In other words, picture it. Or to put it in the language of the parable, which of these soils are you? Just picture it. See it. Have you until now been that wayside hearer? The seed falls, that precious seed, it falls on your heart. But your heart is so hard, and it doesn't take long. You're back in your car, you're back on your way home, and the seed's gone. No effect. You can't even remember what it was that was preached to you. There's no worth whatsoever. See how you hear. Is it those thorns in your life, those cares? They come back day and night. Cares, cares, cares. How am I going to make it? How am I going to make another day? What about this? What about that? This problem, that problem. Or riches. My bank account, my investments. Well this is going down. That over there is going up and the seed is choked. How are you here? Or that rocky soil? Yes. It enters my heart. It affects me. It does something to me. I can't say it leaves me cold. Some part of me wants this. Balaam, let me die the death of the righteous. In that moment, he wanted conversion. He wanted to die the death of the righteous. No depth. No depth. Tribulation comes. The sun shines and shrivels all up. See how you hear. What is it? What is it for you? Which of these represents you? You see, congregation, it's one of two things. Either you receive the Word in truth. It makes a lasting difference in your life. And there's fruit. Perhaps not right away, at least not that you see. It's the blade. It's the blade. And you wonder, is it just rocky soil in my life? Just the blade. Be patient, be patient. Do you need the word in your life? Say, this kingdom of God cannot come in my life just by my own imagination, just by me shoring up my life, changing some habits, doing this and this. I need to receive this word of God. I need the Lord to give me this word of life. Or I'm nothing. I'm lost. It's all thorns. It's all thistles. It's all rocky. And Satan is real. And Satan is right there. And he's ready to pick it away. I know it! How many seeds has he not picked away from my life? I need that Word. I need that life-giving power of the Word. I need this King. This sovereign King. of the kingdom in my life. Those in whom the Lord is working, they need the kingdom. They need the king of this kingdom. Man by nature does not like the kingdom of God, not in truth. Man wants something to contribute to. Man wants something to organize. Man wants something to make happen. Man wants to sit on the throne, but to have a sovereign God of grace, who sows the seed of the Word, and whose very sowing shows me what I am. Wayside, rocky, thorny, or good ground. That's what every child of God needs and loves. Perhaps you're here this evening and you say, you know, you're raising some good questions and I just don't know what it is in my life. I hear these things. I love coming to church. I love hearing about the kingdom of God, but I'm afraid, I'm afraid that it's just so thorny, so rocky in my soul. And what if it stays that way? What if it never amounts to anything in my life? Well, we've heard the teaching by day, but come with me. Come with me then, secondly, to this test at night. Jesus, we already saw, had been teaching from a boat, but here in verse 35, as the sun is setting on this day of teaching, Jesus tells his disciples, he says, let us pass over to the other side. Jesus has spent the whole day working, teaching. It was a day of hard work for the Lord Jesus, and so he goes down into the ship. He goes into what we call the stern of the ship, and he goes and grabs probably some sailors pillows, and he lies down, and he sleeps. You know, see Jesus was truly human. He didn't just appear as a man, He was flesh and blood like you and me. He's sleeping here, truly sleeping. And then all of a sudden, the sun has gone down and it's night time. And here on the Sea of Galilee, which some of you have been on, beautiful part of God's creation, but it's in this Jordan Rift Valley, and it's one of the lowest parts of the earth, especially down by the Dead Sea, and there's mountains all around, or at least high hills, and that can create weather patterns where, and these men were fishermen, they were used to this, but this particular time a storm comes out of nowhere, and pretty soon this whole lake is in a furious tumult. Matthew in the parallel passage, he uses a word that indicates that there's an earthquake as well, and there's indeed many earthquakes right in this section. So just imagine an earthquake, the whole earth shaking, and that creates waves, gigantic waves, kind of tsunami-like waves. This is a humongous storm that's threatening to kill everyone in this boat. And The waves are coming over the walls of the ship, and we don't read this here, but the disciples, probably as good fishermen, many of them would have been bailing water out of the ship, just trying as much as they could to get rid of water so that the ship wouldn't sink. But it comes to a point where it says that the ship was now full. Now full. Some of you here can relate to a full ship. It feels like the ship of your life is this far away from sinking. You've had wave after wave after wave come upon you. And you've been bailing, and you're wet, and you're weary, and you're afraid. And there, not that far away, there's a huge wave. And that's going to do you in. You know it. There's nothing you can do against the power of this tempestuous sea. And Jesus, where's Jesus? Maybe that's your cry. Where is He? I'm about to perish. I'm literally a breath away from succumbing. And Jesus, where is he? Well, in this story, Jesus is in the stern of the boat and he's asleep, lying on this pillow. And he'd given the disciples a clue to this in his parable of the man who sows the seed all day and at night he sleeps. And this is exactly what Jesus is doing. He's sowed all day long the seed of the word to thousands of people and now he's sleeping as he himself said in the parable. There's nothing wrong with that. In fact the Bible tells us that he gives his beloved sleep. On the other hand it is right for the disciples to wake up the Lord Jesus in their need. I cry in distress, and thy help I implore. No longer thy coming delay." But the way that they say it to their Master tells us a lot of what's in their soul. Master, carest thou not that we perish? In other words, Jesus, do you not care that we're about to die and to be gone forever, that our life is now over. Death is staring us in the face and it seems, Lord, that thou dost not care. What's happening here? Well, the teaching of the day is being tested at night. Children, do you ever have tests? Maybe your teacher has taught you some lesson about vertebrates or invertebrates. And after a week or more of that, you have a test. And you know, it's one thing to hear the teacher talk about all those things, but it's another thing to have that paper in front of you, or however it is, and to fill that all in. A test is something that often we get anxious about. Maybe you don't sleep so well the night before a test, because in the test, You're being tried whether you know what you've been taught. That's exactly how it is here for these disciples. They're going through this test at night in the dark. Do they believe in the sovereignty of God? Do they believe that there is a kingdom which God is working out? in this world through which He rules and reigns by His Word? Do they believe that God is in control? That He reigns, that He rules over all things? Do they believe that His Word is all-powerful for them in their lives? And maybe in these moments, if you could have just stopped them and just asked them, do you believe that the Lord is all-powerful? They would have said, yes, I believe that Jesus is all-powerful. I believe that God can do anything. But here, the issue is not His power. The issue is, carest thou? Does the Lord Jesus care about me and my need, my situation? In this place where I'm ready to die. Perhaps that's exactly your question. Right now. Because of circumstances. Because of trials. Because of waves. Because of billows. Whatever they are in your life just now. You see if we could think back to the sower went out to sow. What do you think those wide open arms, What do they tell you? And He takes the seed of the Word and He throws it on your life. Does He care? Yes, He cares. There's not just might with Jesus, there's mercy as well. He cares so much. He cares Like that sower who throws down that seed and goes to sleep. Do you think that that farmer didn't care about that seed in the earth? Of course he cared. Farmers are very caring people. That's my experience. They care a lot about their animals. They care a lot about their fields. They care a lot about the harvest. Do you think that the Lord does not care? Even when the Lord Jesus is sleeping here, basically prophesied he would do in that parable. He is so full of care. But you see congregation the Lord puts us to the test and he determines that. And let me say it to you like this. The Lord cares so much that he tests His own work in His people. Because He knows that it is through those tests that His people grow the most. It is through those tests that the seed shows itself to be the seed that the Lord Himself has planted. Of course He cares. God cares for us. Our God is He. And that's what faith holds on to, even in the midst of the storms. The winds and the waves, they test that faith. They reveal so much weakness in our faith, isn't it? They even, people of God, they bring us to that place where we wonder. And we hear the Lord even in this passage saying, why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith? I don't think he's saying that they had no faith. except for in the case of Judas, but there's no faith in evidence. And so in Matthew it says, O ye of little faith. It's so small in your life that it almost seems like it's non-existent, but this farmer who's content with the blade, and then the ear, and then the full corn in the ear of the Lord Jesus, he recognizes and knows the grace that he has placed in each of his people. But ought we not to pray, Lord, increase my faith, grow my faith, help my faith to put down roots and to bring forth fruits? Or if we have no faith at all, Lord, give me faith, because I'm going to succumb without faith. The next wave will do me in. I had fainted. unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Hope in the Lord, you waiting saints, and he will still provide." Dear believing friend here this evening, you look at the trials that God has brought into your life from this perspective in this light. Lord tests the knowledge He gives you by day. He tests that in the nights of our own experience. In order that we would know His work. That we would know His character. Even through that difficulty in which we lay it all out on the table and we say, Lord carest Thou? Dost Thou not care? And the Lord comes as He does here in this chapter. One moment He's sleeping. He's there fully man, appearing in all the reality of his humanity. In the next moment, in answer to his people's cry, he stands upright and he speaks. Be still. Literally, be muzzled. Quiet creation. Wind. It's your maker speaking to you. Stop! Waves settle down. One person put it like this, that day the wind and the waves heard the voice of the one who created them long ago. Heard them from the lips of a man of flesh and blood. Be still and know that I am God. I shall be exalted above the heathen. I shall be exalted in the earth." And you know what faith does? True faith does exactly what these disciples do. And they feared exceedingly and said one to another, what manner of man is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him." In other words, these disciples who had heard about the kingdom all day long, when they are tested here in the night of trial and tumult and tempest. It's no longer about the kingdom, but it's about the King. The king of the kingdom stands among them, stands on this ship about to sink, and his voice speaks over the waters, and he brings calm. He brings, in the words of our text, a great calm. It wasn't that over the next few minutes the winds died down, and a half hour later, no, instantaneously, The waves die down at the voice of the Lord. And the wind stops. And against the backdrop of that mighty theater of power, there's this calm. In the face of which you can't say anything but, be still my soul. The Lord is on thy side. Wait patiently. Why didn't I trust? Why did I doubt? No faith? Lord, increase my faith. And give me that faith that sees, even in that Lord who appears to sleep. And I cry with the psalmist, Awake, Lord, why sleepest thou? But grant me faith to see, even in that reverently speaking, sleeping Lord, help my faith to see in Him. What manner of man is this, that the winds and the waves obey Him? And shall I not obey Him? If those inanimate elements of creation, hear the voice of their Maker, and instantaneously obey Him. Should not I, and should not everything in me, obey this One? You know congregation, when we take the whole Word of God We see even greater depth, greater mercy, greater care of this God-man, Jesus Christ. Because the day came when the disciples weren't with their master, but when he was alone. And the waves and the billows went over his head. and there was no place of standing for Him. And when He didn't arise as He hung there on the cross and tell the billows and the waves of the wrath of God to be quiet, but He let them come over Him. Billow after billow after billow. And I ask you tonight, can you stand by the cross of Calvary and still ask this question, does thou not care? Because what that cross tells each and every one of us is that he cared so much, so deeply. that he wasn't content to simply be on the ship with the disciples, but he went all the way to the cross where he for me, who should otherwise have perished everlastingly, he took innumerable reproaches. He died the death. He reverently speaking, perished. In order that in the gospel today, He, as it were, puts His hands in His pockets, and He casts the seed of this Word upon your heart, upon your life. A seed which tells you that He is King. A seed which tells you that He is mighty to save. A seed which tells you that He is merciful. And am I going to just be a wayside here? Be gone thorns, be gone rocks. Lord, give me to receive with meekness the engrafted word which is able to save my soul, that I perish not. And when I, in the midst of conviction, in the midst of trials, I see those billows of the wrath of God, which I deserve, as I see them rising up before me, and I think that they're going to cover me, I hear a voice, the voice of this man, this God-man, saying, Peace, be still. wave, stand back, don't cover him, don't cover her. I have paid the ransom." And their congregation, the message of sovereign grace, so full, so free, so full of care for needy sinners also tonight. For you have rejected the word of God times without number, who have had until today nothing but a hard heart, and maybe today under the hearing of God's word, you know and you feel that hardness of heart, but you say, Lord, give me a new heart. Create in me a new heart, a clean heart, oh God. For what will it be, friend? If you make it through this life and you reach eternity and the ship of your life goes out into that darkness, that night, on the other side of which there's never a morning, a darkness and a tempest and billows and wrath for which there is never a calm, having heard this word, Well friends, while He proffers peace and pardon, while the calm that lies in Jesus Christ in the Gospel is held out to sinners, may you experience it, may you know it. May all the lessons by day and all the tests by night May they reveal unto your soul and make you say, what manner of God, man, is this? Because if that's in your soul, then heaven has already begun. It may not feel like it in this earth, but this is heaven in my soul. What manner of man is this? Worthy is the Lamb that was slain. Amen.