to Mark's Gospel, chapter 4. We'll read from verse 35 and we'll read down to the end of verse 1 in chapter 5. Mark chapter 4. Let's ask the Lord again for a blessing as we turn to this word. Let's pray. Lord, with the psalmist we say that goodness and mercy have followed us all the days of our life. And we have this hope and expectation that we will dwell in the house of our Lord forever. And we thank thee, Lord, for the oneness of thy church, that there is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, one hope of our calling, one glorious Savior of sinners. And we pray, Lord, that thy blessing will rest upon this conference, that thou hast condowned with power from high above all things. glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and full of truth. We pray it all for Jesus' sake. Amen. Verse 35 of Mark 4, On the same day when the even was come, he said unto them, Let us pass over unto the other side. And when they had sent away the multitude, they took him even as he was in the ship. And there were also with them other little ships. And there arose a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into the ship so that it was now full. And he was in the hindered part of the ship, asleep on a pillow. And they awoke him and say unto him, Master, carest thou not that we perish? And he rose and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. And he said unto them, Why are ye so fearful? How is it that ye have no faith? They feared exceedingly, and said one to another, What manner of man is this? that even the wind and the sea obey him. I'd like to take as our theme this afternoon, the care of Jesus Christ. There are several reasons why I thought that this theme and this passage should One reason is that I hope it will illustrate in some way the way in which the Psalms would have registered in the mind of the Lord Jesus Christ. More and more, if you want to really know who Jesus is, if you want to know what he thinks and how he thinks, then we need to be students of the Psalms, the Psalms that filled his own mind. But another reason, the great reason really, is that there is nothing that compares to preaching directly on the person and the work of Jesus Christ. It's always relevant. It always, whoever, whenever, it always answers the prayer of the people of God. Sir, we would see Jesus. And whatever angle you look at Jesus, there is always, isn't there, more to see. There is always more beauty, there is always more fragrance, there is always more loveliness. Thomas Goodwin of Puritan said, that Christ is love covered in flesh. God is love. And here is the God who is love covered in flesh in the person and the work of Jesus Christ. And so when we ask the question, does Jesus care? We are getting to the very heart of his character. We are asking the question, what does he really like? And we can personalize that question, does Jesus care? And ask, does he care for someone like me? Now, I submit, that's maybe not a question that's pressing in our minds when everything's going smoothly in life. Health is good. Family is good. School is good. Work is good. Friends are good. Church is good. Yes, there's ups and downs. But generally speaking, life is good. But certainly, when things come into our lives, when these distresses, these straits, these anguishes come into our lives, then this is no academic question. When you get that devastating news, that doctor's report, But all of a sudden, things go so terribly wrong, we ask God, we think maybe we won't ask it out loud. Does God see? Does he really care? Maybe you look at the world today and all that's happening and you ask and you think to yourself, where is the Lord in all of this? Is it true that to be gracious, the Lord forgotten the path? Or that this tender, And did us over 20 years ago in this city with these horrendous events. Where is God when things go wrong? But in the lives and the trials that you have, and the difficulties that you have, and the questions you have, does Jesus care for someone like me? You know, we can all present well, we do present well. We come to church on the Lord's Day, we present well. You can come to a conference here and we present well. But is it not true that there can be a calm on our faces as there is a storm in our soul? Perhaps this morning, this afternoon, you come here and there is a storm in your life. Things seem out of control. Maybe it's the sense of sin. The sense of, I've sinned against God. My conscience accuses me. Another has accused me. And you have this over and over again. what my sins deserve and that I'm out of control with the sin that so easily besets me. And I feel like I'm going to perish. And you have this question if you don't say it out loud, you're thinking it. Why would one as glorious as Jesus Christ? Why would the brightness of the Father's glory? Why would the express image of his person? Why would the Lord of glory ever think far less care for a sinner like me. And with Peter, we find herself saying, depart from me, Lord, because I am a sinful man. It's a story. So this is no theoretical question. Does Jesus care? We're getting to the heart of this character. Now, we want to look at this question in this passage and ask or see three things. Does Jesus care? I want you to see that And secondly, it's a question he powerfully replies to. And thirdly, it's a question he perfectly redirects. He purposely raises it, he powerfully replies to it, and he perfectly redirects. Does Jesus care? A question he purposely raises in his people's minds. You know the story. Young people here, you know the story well. After a busy day, Jesus tells his disciples, let's go to the other side of the lake. They've done this many times. They're fishermen, after all. They've done this hundreds of times. They know the sea. They're at home in the sea. Likely, it's a beautiful day for sailing. Nobody objects to this. Jesus falls asleep on the boat, suggesting at least this calm day, but all of a sudden, As can happen in the deep sea of Galileo, as many of you know, that the wind can suddenly pick up. And the sky gets dark, and the clouds thicken, and it begins to rain, and then it begins to pour. And the waves start to hit onto the boat, and then into the boat. And very quickly, they're in the middle, or they're in the eye of this great storm. know what to do. They've been here before. Storms are not unusual for experienced sailors. And yet, this storm seems to be one of extraordinary strength. But finally, they get to the place that is the worst nightmare for any sailor, the place where they are out of control at sea. Now, to be out of control anywhere, It can be a terrifying experience. You're on your bike. You've been down the hill. And you suddenly realize to go too fast. You're out of control. And you're scared. If you're in a car and you hit ice, suddenly you lose the steering. You try to correct. You overcorrect. You're out of control. It's a scary thing. The out of control at sea is indeed a perilous thing. Here we're told not only that the waves are crashing onto the boat, they're now crashing into the boat. The boat's filling up with water. Verse 47, the waves beat into the ship so that it was now full. And so here now, the disciples reach this point of desperation. We're going to die. We're going down. We're sinking. We've lost control. We're going to perish at sea. And notice, by the way, how quickly this is all happening. They've had this busy day. They're going across the sea. And they're looking forward to a time of rest, no doubt. But all of a sudden, they're in this perilous storm. But it's not just the water. And it's not just the waves. And it's not just the sea that's troubling them. There's two other things in this passage. that really trouble and confuse them. The first thing is that they are in the middle of the storm precisely because they have obeyed Jesus. They're in the storm because they have done what Jesus told them. So these disciples are not like Jonah. Jonah's in a storm because he disobeyed God. Jonah's in a storm because he's going in the wrong direction. But these disciples are going in the very direction that the Lord told them. They're here because they obeyed and they followed the Jesus who said in verse 35, he said unto them, let us pass over unto the other side. And what did they do? They did, for all disciples, Mark's gospel here tells us they took him even as he was in the ship. Matthew's gospel says his disciples followed him, and Luke simply says they launched forth. Does Jesus not say in John chapter 10, my sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. and they shall never perish. So here they are then, and the reason they're in the storm, the reason they're at this point of perishing is because they did exactly what Jesus told them. Isn't that often the great distress that we find ourselves in? Yes, we get ourselves into storms and we know it's our own stupidity. But there's also times, whether or not, where we find ourselves in storms, that as far as we can tell, as we assess the situation, the reason I'm here is precisely because I have sought to follow the Lord. They're in the storm because they did what Jesus told them. Something else, though, that confuses and troubles them. It's not just that Jesus told them to cross This is the only time in the Gospels that we're told, if I'm not mistaken, that Jesus was asleep. But here, this is their problem. They can't make sense. They're in the middle of this life-threatening storm, the wind is blowing, the hurricane-like effects are there, the water is into the ship, they're out of control, they're beginning to go down. 1st 38 so calmly tells us. Jesus was in the hindered part of the ship, on a pillar. You wonder to yourself, lay me down in peace, and I will sleep, for thou, Lord, art the one who causes me to dwell in safety." Don't you see there too the real humanity of Jesus? You know, children, our children, some of you perhaps, your parents would say, you can sleep through anything. You can sleep through your alarm, you can sleep through your parents shouting at you to get up, you can sleep through an earthquake, my mum used to say. Well, not anymore, not anymore. I don't sleep as well as I used to do. When you get older, often you don't, some of us at least don't sleep as well as we used to. But look at Jesus here. Waves are crashing into this boat. The wind is howling. He is drenched here. He is asleep. He is absolutely exhausted. You see the real humanity. He's been preaching all day. Read the whole chapter four. He's been preaching all day. He's been teaching. He's been dealing with this person and that person, this question, that question, this sermon, that sermon. And he is absolutely exhausted. Nobody worked as hard as he did. Nobody had the enormous pressure that he had on his shoulders. And so no doubt the disciples have let him sleep. We're the fishermen. We can take care of this voyage. This is what we're good at. You sleep. But do you see the lesson here? The lesson for us is that we are, that so often the disciples are tested exactly at the point that you think you're strongest. Amen. Moses is known for his meekness. And yet he strikes the rock and I, Peter is known for being bold, and yet a little maid makes him curse and swear he does not know the Saviour. Here are the fishermen, known for their skill and the courage at sea. This is their area of strength. This is their area of expertise. And here they are in this boat, crying out for help. Crying out, you notice, cry out to the son of a carpenter for help in navigating the boat. You see there that Jerome is aware of faith because they realize that this is more than a carpenter's son. And there's more than just a cry of terror here, there's the cry of faith. But here the point is, we're emphasizing in the lives of God's people, in your life my dear friend, nothing happens by chance. When you follow Christ and you do what he says, nothing happens by accident. Christ has a purpose in bringing his people through the storm. He is bringing them to see that their strength is weakness in his sight. To see just how weak and poor and needy their best efforts are to make them see that there is no point of their lives. Have we learned this lesson? There is no point of our lives over which we can say, I can do without Jesus Christ here. Oh, I need him there, I need him in worship, I need him in prayer, I need him in preaching, but I'm okay over here at my work. No, you're not. You need Christ at every point, at every time. There is no point of our lives over which we can say, we can do without Christ here. Jesus then often brings devastating experiences into the lives of his people, not to harm or destroy them, but to bring them to depend more and more and more upon himself. So does Jesus care? It's a question he purposely raises in their minds. But secondly here, it's a question that he gives a powerful, to which he gives a powerful reply. I'm going to break a homiletical rule here, and I'm going to smuggle in another point. So the other point here is this is a painful reply. This is a painful reply. In many ways, it's the most painful, it's the most hurtful question that was ever asked of anyone anywhere. You know, people can question a lot about you, can't they? They can question your strength. They can question your skill. They can question your knowledge. They can question your beauty. They can question your speech. They can question your knowledge. They can question your wisdom. That's one thing. But it's another thing. Well, what did Jesus say again in John 10, that the real difference between the good shepherd and the hired hound, the hireling is, when the wolf comes, the one who's in it for himself, the one who is hired for the service and in it for himself, he flees. Why? Because he doesn't care for the sheep. The good shepherd does not flee. He'll give His life for the sheep. Now listen to this question again. Most, don't you care? What a terrible thing to say to Christ. But dear friends, the reason He is here is because He cares. The reason you can find Him exhausted on this boat is because he cares. He has been preaching, he has been teaching, he has been preaching again and teaching again, he has been healing and he is absolutely exhausted on this boat and there is all the evidence you need to see how deeply this man cares. Here is the eternal Son of God. Here's the one of whom we sing in Psalm 121. This is the God who, what? Slumbers not, nor slumbers. And here he is, that God, in the person of his Son, sound asleep and exhaustion in the boat. Why? He is made, Hebrews 2 says, in all points, like unto his brethren. Why? not just so that he would sleep a sleep of exhaustion, but so that he would sleep a sleep of death. Oh, this is the God who for his people cares. But we see here in this powerful reply his purpose. He's showing his power and he's showing his care because what is it that woke Jesus up? What woke the Savior up from his What woke up the exhausted seagull? It wasn't the howling of the wind. It wasn't the rocking of the boat. It wasn't the raging of the sea. It wasn't the lashing of the waves. It wasn't the rain and the waves that were drenching him in the inner part of the ship. That did not wake him up. What woke the good shepherd up was the bleating of his sheep. The Good Shepherd does not flee when trouble comes. The Good Shepherd cares. The Good Shepherd loves his sheep. The Good Shepherd gives his life for his sheep. And the Good Shepherd wakes up and hears the sheep bleating. Master, save us, we perish. God is our refuge. under strength, in straits, a present aid. Thomas Boston writes here of the prayer of the disciples, he notes the unbelief, he says, the language of passion is sometimes mixed with the language of grace in the prayers of the saints. There is a lot of bath in this prayer. Jesus hears the germ of faith. Though it's like the small seed, the mustard seed, he heard it and it wakes him up. And I tell you this afternoon, that when you cry to this same Savior and say, rise, help and redeem us, thy mercy we trust, you will have it so unhitched. You will have what it says here, and he arose. And then he gives this powerful, powerful response in verse 39. He arose and rebuked the wind. Isn't this incredible? Do you ever see a man speak of a storm? He arose and he rebuked the wind and he said to the sea, peace. Shh. Be still. Majestic, awesome power. There's something so impressive about the sea, isn't there? Down the coast of Florida a few years ago, I remember looking at the big waves that were crashing onto the shore relentlessly. There's something uncontrollable about the sea. It's so big, isn't it? Even on the coastline, so powerful, so impressive. I remember thinking then as I gazed off towards Scotland, the words of Sam Lington, think when he woke up and he saw the waves and the wind? He says he rebuked them. Some commentators suggest maybe there is a satanic element here. I can't prove that but that's what some say. Because of the strength of this and he rebuked the sea. But what did he think? Did he go to Psalm 93? Did he think The floods, O Lord, have lifted up. They lifted up their voice. The floods, O Lord, have lifted up and made a mighty noise, but yet the Lord that is on high is more of might, by far, than is the noise of many such as great sea billows are. Or to this might go to Psalm 89 verse nine. Even in the raging of the sea, Thou over it dost reign. And when the waves are off to swell, thou stillest then again. Or did he, as he looked at the stormy sea and the stormy disciples, did he simply go to Psalm 46 verse 10? Be still and know that I am God. There are times in your life when all you see are the storms and the waves and you see everything out of control. You might not say it, but that's the way it seems to you. He's not aware of my situation, it would seem. He doesn't recognize my pain. You feel all alone, in a storm, all by yourself, nobody's seeing you, nobody caring. Does Jesus care? It's a question he powerfully replies to. Thirdly here, it's a question he perfectly redirects. And he begins this redirection by redirecting the questions. You know, as a teacher, you used to say to students, there's no bad questions. You can ask anything. You can ask anything. It's not really true, is it? There are bad questions. Where's your skull? Where's your navel experience? Where's your navel cottage? You're fishing, aren't you? That's not the relevant question. The relevant question is this, in the eye of the storm. Where is your faith? The problem you see, and it's our problem too, is the circumstances control the faith rather than the other way around. The circumstances blur our vision of Christ. Is this what Christ is coming and saying, is this what you think of me? Is this the view you have of me? Is this the impression you have had in these first four chapters of this gospel of Mark, that I am one who doesn't care? Where is your faith? Who made the sea? Who upholds all things by the word of his power? We're thankful for questions like these in the Bible, aren't we? Why do we have so little faith? Why do you doubt? Where is your faith? And of course, this should make us all ask, do we have faith? God has often used these kinds of circumstances in the lives of people to show them that they don't have faith at all. Martin Luther and the Storm, the psalm of Tarsus on the Damascus Wall. So often, he's bringing these circumstances into the lives of his people to mature their faith, to sharpen and focus it. In their straits here, we go through the different Gospels, it appears many of them are shouting out to Jesus. One person is saying, Lord save us, we perish. Another is saying, Master, who do you care? We perish. Another one is saying, Master, Master, we perish. Yet even as we said, in their straits, they're calling out to the carpets of their son. and so much that's wrong, so much that's sinful. Even if there is faith, like the grain of the mustard seed, even if it's unrecognizable to the disciples themselves, to this powerful reply. The first effect of verse 41 is that now they fear God. As stated in verse 41, they feared exceedingly. Now that's maybe not what we'd expect it to say. We might expect it to say, you know, here's this great storm and they're afraid a lot and it calms down and there's not a ripple in the ocean and they're relaxed. They calm down. They were at peace, no, as if they feared exceedingly. It's as though they're more afraid now than they were in the eye of the storm. But of course, this is a different fear. This is the fear of God. The fear of God, Hugh Martin said, is an enduring reverence. It is to be profoundly aware, as Jacob was, Is it true that whatever experience you go through, if you are brought to that question, it is a blessed experience? Who is this? What manner of man is this? This is Christ's purpose in the beginning, maturing their faith, making them see who he is. Notice it's not even what manner of faith do I have. What manner of man is this? His faith is all in this, taken up with this object, with Christ. That's a great place to come. What manner of man is this? This is a real man. This is a man who's tired. This is a man who's exhausted. This is a man who sleeps through a star. This is a man who's hungry in the wilderness, thirsty in the desert. This is a real man, bone in our bone. of our flesh, but my dear friend, though he is a real man, he is not a mere man. This is the man who, though he is exhausted, says, Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Amen. This is the man who, though he is hungry, says, I am the bread of life. He that believeth in me shall never hunger. This is the man who, though he is thirsty, says, Now these storms in our lives again, if they bring us to this, to fix our eyes, to focus our eyes upon Jesus Christ. As we look at the storms of persecution, the storm clouds gathering for the church today, let us focus our mind on this question. What manner of man is this? What kind of a savior do you have here in a minute if you have Jesus Christ as your Lord and your King? I tell you, if you ask this question, it will fuel your prayer. Here is a man who with a word can calm the stormy sea when things seem so out of control and impossible to us. This is a man who will bring you to the other side. That's why we read Mark 5 verse 1. Don't ever read this passage without reading Mark 5 verse 1. And they came over unto him. Let me just quickly go to Revelation 21 with you and read the first thing we read there of the new heaven and new earth. Revelation 21 verse 1, when we think of the other side, I saw, John says, a new heaven and a new earth. For the first heaven and the first earth were cast away from us, and there was no more sea. The sea that in Revelation represents where the dragon is and where the forces of wickedness do their work in his own sea. This savior will bring all these people to the other side, to Emmanuel's land that lasts in everlasting glory. What manner of man is this? Now the last effect, and the great effect, is that not only do they fear God and they now focus on Christ, but now they fix their eyes And here they realized it's the one who can save and does save his people, not just from drowning on the Sea of Galilee, but from drowning in everlasting woe and hell itself in the lake that burns with fire unquenchable. This man is that man who saves his people from that awful woe. And he does not do it. You need to see this. He does not do that. by merely speaking a word. The God who can say, let there be light, and there is light. The God who can say, shh, to those stormy windows, quiet, cannot say, peace be still. And the sin is simply dismissed. No, something more is required. Something more is needed to save sinners like me, like you, to save all people that on earth do dwell, who are to sing praise to God, this Christ had to go through another storm, a far, far infinitely greater storm than this one. The storm of which we sing in Psalm 69. If you want the psalms of the cross, you go to Psalm 22, and you go to Psalm 69. Psalm 69 is the one that's quoted most in the New Testament, referring to Christ in this world. And that psalm begins to say, because the floods do so environment me, that even unto my very soul come in the waters' feet. I downward in deep mire do sink, where standing there is none. I am into deep waters come, where floods have over me gone. Why is he here? Why is he here? Why is the brightness of the Father's glory He says in that psalm, it is for thee I am reproached, for thee is our shame, until thy brethren know me not, and hated is my name. And what did Jesus find? What did the Savior find in that storm? As the storm clouds began to gather over Gethsemane, when the shadow of Calvary began to loom over him in the garden, When he begins to sweat, as it were, great drops of blood, when he begins to bear our sorrows and carry our grief, when he begins to take the transgression and the iniquity and the sin of all his strain, sheep upon him, what does he find in that storm? Matthew 26, verse 40. Again, and again, and again. Could you not watch? I looked on my right hand and beheld, but there was no man that would know me. Refuge failed me. No man cared for me. There's no disciple. There's no angel. No, not God himself is in this storm saying, peace be still. Thou hast brought me down to darkness, son of David. Beneath thy wrath I am oppressed. All thy billows of affliction overwhelm my soul. Distressed waves of wrath have surged about me. Dark and lonely is my way. Now ask it again, my dear friend. Look at Calvary's cross and ask it again. What manner of man is this? I see a man who's powerful. I see a man with poise. But above all these things, I see I see the God who for his people cares. That, my dear friend, is what Jesus Christ is really like. That's the truth we need in all the storms of our life. Peter learned his lesson in Acts 12. You can read it in another storm. Peter's in, he's in prison. Kenneth's killed James, the brother of John. He's now captured Peter. That's a storm. And the night before his execution, Acts 12, verse 6, in the eye of the storm when Heav'n would have brought him forth, the same night Peter, bound with two chains, was sleeping beside the soldiers. I wonder if it might have been back to this time when Jesus was telling them that he often brings his people through devastating experiences. Humble yourselves, therefore, unto the mighty hand of God, and he will exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon him. O Lord, we ask this, for he careth for you. Amen. Oh Lord, what will we render unto thee for all thy benefits to us. We thank you so much, Lord Jesus Christ, the God, the Father, and know the power of God. For Jesus' sake, amen. Amen.