Our text this morning is Matthew 8, verse 26. Just these words, Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith? With God's help, we wish to continue a study of the theme that we began last week, Fear Not Ye, but now we want to look at the same theme under the umbrella of this story. Look at it more in a story form. So our theme is Christ's question in the midst of a storm. In the first place, we will look at the context of this question, the history involved. Second, the addressees of this question, that is, to whom it was addressed. Third, the meaning of this question. And fourth, the application of this question. Christ's question in the midst of a storm. The context, the addressees, the meaning and the application. The background to our text this morning is a very busy day that Jesus spent in Capernaum near the beginning of his active, ordained ministry. The Lord and his disciples had attended a synagogue worship in Capernaum. They had gone up into a mountain where Jesus preached the famous Sermon on the Mount, the most famous sermon ever proclaimed. And after that, they came back down into Peter's home, where Jesus healed Peter's mother-in-law. And then that evening, there was a remarkable event in Jesus' ministry. People began to realize His power. They began to bring the sick into the streets, and scores of demon-possessed sick people were brought and Jesus walked among them, and the Bible says, healed them all. Well, you can imagine by this time, Jesus' ministry is creating a great stir. The other Gospel writers tell us that some of his relatives came and were alarmed at what he was doing. They tried to persuade him to leave public ministry and return to his family home in Nazareth. But that's when Jesus made a radical break. He deals with a few former followers, men who have been carried away by all the excitement, but were as yet unsaved. And then, instead of going back home to Nazareth, he breaks away from the people and encourages his disciples to get into a boat and to go to the other side of the lake. And it being a very full day, Jesus goes down into the boat, boys and girls, And he goes to sleep. He's got a human frame. He's exhausted. He's tired. He sleeps in the stern of the boat. Sleeps deeply. But as the boat is going across the little Sea of Galilee, the wind stirs up and a great storm beats against this boat. Now, the disciples were not novices in sailing. They had experience. They were fishermen, many of them, from this very sea. They were familiar with how quickly the winds could be aroused and the storms slash against fishing vessels. But this storm evidently was particularly severe. Mark says that the waves were beating into the ship. They were throwing themselves, as it were, into the ship, assailing the ship, attacking the ship. It was a violent storm. And that violent storm is a type of all the storms that come not only in our lives, but also that come in the realm of nature. You see, when you look at this storm, you have to understand that here is a symbol before us that if Jesus can calm this great storm, He can calm any storm that enters our lives as well. And so the disciples, in the midst of this storm, this picturesque storm, fly to Jesus. They don't know what to do. They awaken Him. They say, Master, don't you care that we are perishing? Save us or we perish. Jesus wakes up. He's very calm. He looks around. Before He calms the waves, He says, Oh, why dost thou doubt? You of little faith, why are you fearful? And then Conway, he looks up to the heavens and he rebukes the winds and he commands the waves. And immediately, The sea becomes a plane of glass. Perfectly calm. Absolutely still. And the disciples look around at each other and they say, what manner of man is this? That the wind and the waves and the sea obey Him. One moment we're like straws in the water. Helpless. Terrified. the depths of the sea opening to swallow us up and destroy us and bring us to a watery grave. And one moment later, it's as if there had never been a storm. The sovereign Lord of glory, Jesus Christ, exercises His Lordship over the very elements that He Himself had made in the beginning. Now all of this is not only a beautiful picture, congregation, of how God can calm the storms in our lives, but it is also a type, don't you think, of the greatest storm ever encountered. It's a forerunner of that most amazing of all storms that was stirred up by the revolt of Adam against God. A storm whose first ominous rumblings were heard over the Garden of Eden. And that storm, that storm came to its awful climax in the rending of the rocks and the thundering around the hill we call Calvary. There at Calvary, the Son of Man was lifted up from the earth And still, the master of the storm, he endured the raging of divine wrath. He took the waves. He took the storm, poured out against him by his own father. And there, with arms outstretched, he endured that storm to the end until he could say, it is finished. And his father's wrath was satisfied. And the temple veil ran from top to bottom. And the raging storm of our sin in the sight of a holy God has become like a calm plain, a calm sea, for Christ's sake, when received by faith. You see, only Christ, only His work on Calvary can still the storm of the Lord's controversy against His people. Only that work can speak peace to the heart of God the Father and peace to the hearts of men and women and boys and girls. From the stilling of that storm, all other storms of whatever kind, God can still. You see, at Calvary, Christ removed the disorder of the storm created by sin, taking that disorder upon Himself allowing it to spend itself upon Him in all its fury and tempest. And He exhausted it. He overcame it. He destroyed it. And procured peace through the shedding of His precious blood. So this isn't just one isolated storm here. It's full of symbolism. It's a reflection of the infinitely greater experience that Christ would endure at Calvary. But there's something else here, too. In this store, you see also the buffetings and the devices of Satan. You see, Luke tells us that Jesus departed with His disciples across this sea. But previously, when He was baptized, and was led into the wilderness. You remember what the Gospel writers say. Satan left Jesus for a season to wait for a more opportune moment. Well, here was the opportune moment when Satan came back. Jesus is sleeping. And Satan knows that Jesus and His disciples are going to the other side. This wonderful ministry that stirred so much commotion is obviously going to continue. He's got them all in one boat. He can destroy them all. You know, our President and Vice President aren't seen together since September 11. Very much, if at all. Because there's some fear, of course, that if they're both in one place, terrorists might be able to destroy them both at once. But here, you see, Satan sees his chance, one of his last chances, you see, to stop this growing Kingdom of God just as it's budding and flowering. He sees all the disciples together. What better opportunity to strike than to stir up the storm on this lake. This boat, you see, represents an armada of love and grace and mercy sailing over the sea to a place called Gadara, where further inroads are going to be made into the kingdom of darkness. And Jesus would cast out a legion of demons from a deranged and demon-possessed man. And so, Satan, stirs up all his power. The prince of the power of the air summons the fury of the elements with God's permission and makes a violent assault upon Christ and his disciples. The disciples are paralyzed with fear. They feel there's something unusual in the storm, something intensely strong. They begin to panic. They can't see clearly. They can't think clearly. Master, just on our care we are perishing. Maybe you've been in that situation. Times where you're prone to panic. The need is so urgent. You're facing surgery, or you just went through the loss of your job, or your marriage may be in grave difficulty, or you may have a rebellious child that seems to destroy everything. Perhaps you're in great trouble, spiritual trouble. You're in storms. You're in the midst of a fury. It seems like Satan is letting all of hell loose in your life. And you can't see clearly. You can't think clearly. You may even be charging God foolishly. How shall I face the mountains to come? Well, it's fascinating to see how the Lord addresses these men. And what really touched me this week was to notice that He addresses them before He addresses the storm. He addresses them first. He doesn't calm the storm and then look around and say, now why were you so fearful, you of little faith? But while the boat is reeling, while the waves are coming in, He says, why are you so fearful, O ye of little faith? he realizes that the greater problem between the storm and his disciples' unbelief is their unbelief. That's a greater problem than the storm. And so his priority is to speak to these men. That's what I want to look at in our second thought. Jesus speaks here in this question to men His disciples, who have three beautiful qualities. They all begin with a C, boys and girls, so you can remember them. The first thing is that He speaks to men who were called by Him. These weren't strangers. These were disciples. They heard His call. They followed Him. They weren't casual followers. They left everything behind to follow Him. They've already seen His power. They've seen Him heal all kinds of people and perform living wonders. They've heard Him preach. Preach about things pertaining to the kingdom of God. There were men who had heard the Sermon on the Mount. In the final application of that sermon, you remember what they heard, boys and girls. They heard about the wind and a storm and a house built on sand and a house built on the rock. And the house that was built on the rock on the Lord Jesus would stay firm in the greatest storm. They just had heard that. And yet these men are filled with doubt, filled with unbelief, when they come into the storm themselves. They should have expected it, don't you think? Jesus had warned them. what discipleship involved. He warned them that it involved hardship and loneliness and opposition and satanic buffeting. Jesus had put them in the boat. You see, these men didn't have to say as they were going across the sea, you know, we're running from God like Jonah. They weren't Jonahs. They were in the way of obedience when the storm arose. He deliberately He told them to set sail. Now that has a lot to say to us, congregation. If you are a true believer, then you are one of the chosen of God. Like these men, you are called by God for a particular purpose in this world. You have been drawn by God to Christ, married to Him by faith, You've been caught up into the destiny and the purposes of God, and yet there are times, isn't that so, that God comes and puts you purposely in great storms. Conflicts. Trials. Willed and allowed and directed by God. The old divines used to call this the dark night of the soul. Great spiritual storms. Great providential storms. great psychological storms in which we feel helpless in the midst of our trials, in which we are acutely made aware that we can do nothing, and that no matter how many years we have been following the Lord Jesus, we are absolutely powerless against the powers of hell that loosen our lives. Jesus is speaking to such men. Why are you fearful, O ye of little faith? It is I. Be not afraid. You're in My providence. You're in the circle of My will. There are no secondary causes, ultimately. We speak of secondary causes. But the ultimate cause of everything is Me. Everything comes from your Father's hand, dear child of God. Why be anxious? Why be afraid? Why are you afraid, O ye of little faith? Now, these disciples weren't only the called of Jesus. They were also the companions of Jesus. Now, what do I mean by that? Well, Jesus is with them. He's not on the shore. He's in the boat. And if He's in the boat with them, and He's Almighty, and they believe He's Son of God, as Peter said He believed, then they are safe when they are with Him. And if Jesus feels so comfortable with a storm that He's sleeping and He knows all things, certainly they're going to be safe, don't you think? Because even though His humanity is asleep, His divinity, of course, is always awake. And they confess that He was Divine Lord, thou art the Son of God. I read once of an old divine who was in a ship and he was awoken in the middle of the night and said, there's a storm and you better come out on deck. And he looked at the person and he said, is the captain awake? And the man said, yes. He said, the captain's up on deck. He said, well, I better get up there then. Because he thought to himself, if the captain is still sleeping, it can't be too bad. Here, their captain is sleeping. They must trust Him. He's with them. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you, He had promised. You see, dear child of God, so often when we come into great trials, we forget that. That's to our detriment. That's to our shame. We forget that the head is never separated from the body. That Jesus Christ is never separated from us. And that in every trial, He will be there. And He will carry us through no matter what the trial may be. He is one with His people. He never forsakes them. He never forgets them. He's never absent from us, says our catechism. And so Jesus' puzzling indifference as He sleeps in the bottom of the boat is not really an indifference, but it is rather a demonstration of His own total confidence in everything that is happening. And yet that's just how we behave sometimes with God, don't we? We say, Lord, does Thou not care that we perish? We're in some trial. And it's as if the Lord doesn't answer us. The Lord doesn't respond to us. He seems so far away. We think He doesn't care. But He does care. He's just not alarmed. because He's in control. And He wants us to see that He is in control. Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith? Didn't I promise, lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the world? And then thirdly, these men are not only the called and the companions of Christ, but they are also committed to Christ. They have left everything. They have given Christ the love of commitment. And that is, after all, don't you think, what discipleship is all about. A disciple is one who has surrendered the love of commitment to the One whom is the object of his worship. And these disciples have given full and total commitment to the Lord Jesus Christ. You see, Christ was committed to them, and the fruit of His commitment is their commitment to Him. And so they didn't need to worry. Christ is committed to fulfilling all His promises in them. And isn't that what He says to us still today in the Word, but also in the sacraments when He says, this bread is broken for you. This wine, this blood is shed for you. As surely as you drink the wine, as surely as you eat the bread of My holy meal, so surely I will wash away all your sins. I will strengthen your weak faith through My word and sacraments. I will keep you. Why are you afraid? You've committed yourselves to Me. Because I am committed to you. And that commitment cannot be broken. Nothing that will ever happen to you will destroy you. I will keep you. I'm committed to you. In ancient times, sometimes large vessels that were being brought into a harbor and faced storms just outside the harbor weren't able to safely enter into the harbor by themselves. What they would sometimes do is they'd send a smaller boat out in front of the big boat. And that boat would be called the forerunner. And they take the anchor of the ship and they put the anchor in the smaller boat. The smaller boat would then go to shore. And when the time was ripe, the man who was called the forerunner, because he was so identified with the little boat, he would pull with others on shore, he would pull at the anchor and bring the big ship safe to land at his due time. And it was said of that method that it was a foolproof method. It could never fail. The only way it could fail is if that strong wire of the anchor, that thick wire between the boat, the two boats, would be broken. But it couldn't be broken. And you see, Jesus, dear child of God, is your forerunner. He's already in heaven at the right hand of God. He's your anchor without the ship, outside of the ship of your life. And He is pulling and tugging through trials and providences, through your joys and sorrows. He is tugging you through the storms of this life. He is bringing the ship of your life into the eternal harbor of heaven and He will not fail. The anchor is tied. with a wire of his own blood. And that blood is effectual. He's the intercessor who's entered within the veil. So why are you fearful, O you of little faith? Well, what does this question really mean? What are all the implications of this question? That's our third thought. I want to lay before you several of them. And the first is this. By this question, Christ is saying to us that He exercises within this universe absolute, exclusive sovereignty. This whole story, as well as Christ's question, declares that Jesus Christ is in control of every situation. Isn't that true? The storm didn't take Jesus one moment by surprise. In fact, He's so calm, He gets up. He even postpones dealing with the storm as He asked the question. You see, the main cause of danger is not the storm. It's the unbelief. There is always more peril to you and to me, dear believer, from our own unbelief than there is from the most adverse circumstances around us. And the reason that is true is because our Lord is in full control of every situation. And so the most important thing in every storm is not to lose faith. It's not to get rid of the storm. That's a blessing that comes in due time. But the real issue is not to lose faith. And yet, we're always doing that, aren't we? We're always prone to lose faith. We look at the nation. We look at all the confusion. We look at all the immorality. Sabbath desecration. Sexual permissiveness. The abortion holocaust. The substance abuse. And we say, we lose faith. Where is God? The question so many people ask after September 11th. Where was God? God was right there. God is in control. Whatever may be uncertain in the world, of this you can be infallibly sure, that all things were together for good to them that love Him. Dear child of God, your worst affliction, your greatest bereavement are all working together for your good. That is what exclusive sovereignty is all about. And may I ask you this morning, is that the bedrock of your life? Do you trust in a sovereign God? Do you trust in the very central teaching of the Bible that a sovereign God in Jesus Christ is a warm and personal God who's in control of all situations and is a lovely God to serve and to worship? Do you love this God? Do you lean on His sovereignty? the strength you receive from day to day, do you see that it comes not from a blind, impersonal, capricious God of sovereignty, but from a God who is full of compassion, a sovereign God who controls every area of our lives, every event, every hair of our head, every man, every woman, every boy, every nation, every principality, every power. There isn't a thing in this world that isn't under the domain of this sovereign God. And blessed be God, He is sovereign in our lives as well. Why are you fearful, O you of little faith? Have I ever proven unfaithful to you? Do you face some trial right now? I declare to you the scriptural teaching, the very heart of biblical Christianity, that the God whom you know in Jesus Christ sits upon the throne of the universe. And all power and all authority in heaven and earth belongs to Him, is controlled by Him, and is subject to Him. The winds and the waves belong to God, the very God who created them. And the God who stirs them up is able to calm them. The world has not gone mad. The world has gone very sinful. But God is in control. The world is not filled with anarchy because God is still in control. The government rests not upon Satan's shoulders. The government of this world doesn't rest upon some political leaders in Washington or Moscow or London or Beijing. But the government of this world rests firmly on the shoulders of Jesus Christ. He's sovereign. And His absolute, well-meant sovereignty is our strength. It's the anchor of our soul in our every difficulty, in our every storm that we will ever encounter. His hand is in my hand. All shall be well. God has not abdicated His throne, and therefore, Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith? The second thing here is that this question teaches us not only the absolute sovereignty of God, but also that God is at work universally, universally. He calms every storm, every wind. You see, this is symbolic. that He's in control of every area of our lives. The Christian life is not a life of plain sailing. It's not a life freed from waves and trials. God never promises people an easy life. You can't read church history or Bible history and ever come to that conclusion. There are mysteries in providence we will never fathom in this life. Many of God's people will go into their graves with more unanswered riddles than answered. Because here we live by faith, not by sight. God never promised to answer all our riddles on this side. But you see, our text this morning affirms that the mysteries of God's providence are to motivate us to exercise faith rather than to drive us from faith. All people, Christians, non-Christians, are born to trouble as the sparks fly upward because of our sin in Adam. But the great difference between the Christian and the non-Christian is that all the storms and tempests and trials and disappointments and bereavements in this life, the Christian may believe that he has one grand answer for them all, but he doesn't understand the mystery of each of them. And the grand answer for all is that God will work all things together for good. And that God wants us to trust Him when we don't understand Him. To trust Him in the most painful and appalling and torturing circumstances of our lives. He's the Divine Weaver. And we must submit to His weaving. Oh, why are you fearful, O ye of little faith? The third thing we learn, the third meaning of this question, is that God is not only sovereign and universally at work, but He also works benevolently. Benevolently. You know, you've read this question many times, I have too, and I've said it over and over again. I've tried to pronounce it different ways. How did Jesus say this question? Did He say, why are you fearful? Did he say, why of all people are you fearful? Or did he say, why are you full of fear? Did he look down on them? Did he degrade them? The more I read it, the more I look at the context, the more I think he just said this question in love. A mild rebuke, to be sure, but it was a benevolent question. Why are you fearful, O ye of little faith? So tenderly, like a father lovingly rebuking his child, even as he puts his arm around his child's shoulders and draws him to himself, as if he says, oh, everything will work out all right. Just trust me, your father. Why are you fearful? I'll take care of you. Oh, ye of little faith. How often we need God to do that for us. Isn't that true? Sometimes we stumble over small things or we stumble over big things. But in small things and big things, we need to remember to trust God. And we have every encouragement to do so. all His promises, all His past dealings with us? Oh, He's such a trustworthy God. Testify against me, He can say. He can say to every person in this congregation today, unconverted or like, testify against me. When have I done you ill? So why are you fearful? You know what we need to say over and over again to ourselves? A thousand times I graciously will teach thee the way that thou shalt go, and with my eye upon thee my counsel make thee know. But be ye not unruly or slow to understand. Be not perverse but willing to heed my wise command." You see, in your blackest moment, God is doing you good. The devil wants to use those black moments to destroy you. God will allow the devil to use those black moments to destroy your self-righteousness, but not your faith. Luke 22, 31, 32, Simon, Simon, Satan has desired to have you, to sift you as wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith, just your faith, everything else can be destroyed, but your faith fail not. Why am I going through what I'm going through? Why am I facing what I'm facing? Why the trials? Why these riddles? So that everything of you fails, but your faith in Jesus Christ will not fail. That's God's benevolence. His love to you. And finally, fourthly, I think this question teaches us that God works particularly, not only benevolently, universally, sovereignly, but particularly. There's a personalness about this question. There's a personalness with God's dealings in all of our lives. You know, the whole world is seeking security and significance. You boil it down, what do people want? They want to feel secure and they want to be significant. Do you know that that is what Christianity really offers? Security in Christ and significance. Personal significance. Because if I'm in Christ, I belong to the best king in all the world and I have real identity. And I'm secure. If God before us, who can be against us? The deceased Reverend Elsout, the present Reverend Elsout's father, saw an old rickety truck in Nigeria, I think I told you before, and on the side of it it read, in painted letters, crudely but beautifully, God plus one equals majority. He's a personal God. He will keep you. He will make all things well. Why are you fearful, O you of little faith? He's universal, benevolent, particular, and personal sovereignty will keep you in the palm of his hand. Let me apply this beautiful, tenderly rebuking, loving question first to God's people, and then to the unsaved as we close this morning. First, dear child of God, why do you doubt God's love? Has He ever in the past shown Himself unloving or unlovable? Has He ever shown Himself impatient with you? You remember when He first called you. But also since then, has there ever been a time when He has not been a lovely God? Has He ever given you a burden too heavy for you to bear? Without giving you a way of escape that you may be able to bear it? Come, child of God. Deep down you know He loves you, though it's so hard to understand. But the proofs and the pledges of that love lie over the field of your life. You see them everywhere. So don't let the present troubles overwhelm you. Take them to Jesus. Look to Him. Why are you fearful? Oh, you of little faith. Or perhaps you doubt the Lord's power. The Lord's power. The disciples might have done so that night, don't you think? Where was His power? This boat is capsizing, as it were. And yet, they'd just seen His power. They'd just seen His miracles. They'd just heard His powerful words. They know He casts out devils. And if He can cast out devils, why can't He cast out the wind? So come, child of God. Come away from your fear. Has He not cast out sin in your life? And you know how strong sin was rooted in you. And if He can cast out sin, can He not take care of every trouble you face? Have you ever experienced in the past that He was an impotent God. Well, He won't be impotent this week, next week. He can. He will. He has promised to be with you. Or perhaps you are suspicious a little bit deep down of His wisdom. The disciples could have said that too. Lord, we're in the midst of a storm Wasn't it kind of foolish of Thee to put all of us, the whole future church, in one boat that could be destroyed? Wouldn't it have been better to parcel us off and to send us different ways? And Lord, if Thou art really the Son of God, why allow the storm to begin with? That brings us into so much danger. Isn't it unwise of Thee? Well, we often say that too, don't we? Maybe not outright with words. But we say to ourselves, if I had been God, reverently speaking, I would have done it differently. And we say that because we look at the jigsaw puzzle of our lives straight on and we can only look at a little piece at once. But God looks at the whole mural of our lives. He sees the whole picture. And He knows exactly what we need. And His wisdom is always right. And deep down you know it. You know it because when you look back years later, You have to say, you have to admit, I needed exactly the trials He sent my way. I needed exactly the number of waves and winds He sent into my life. Well, you see, child of God, you have no reason to fear with a slavish fear. Your Lord is in your boat. He will not desert you. Your life is hid with Christ in God. He will never be separated from you. You know, there's a story told, boys and girls, of a woman who was in a boat in a storm. Her husband was the captain. And she was very afraid. And that husband said to her, why are you afraid? She said, well, why aren't you afraid? This boat is going to go down. He said, I'm not afraid. She's trembling with fear. She says, but why not? Tell me why not. And he says to his cabin boy, go get me my sword. Gets him his sword. He puts his sword in his hand and he looks at his wife and he says, are you afraid of me? She smiles at him. She says, of course not. He says, why aren't you afraid of me? She says, well, because you're my husband. And you love me. He says, well, that's why I'm not afraid of the storm. Because my Father in heaven is also my husband. He loves me. Whatever he does for me will be for good. She said, what if the boat does sink? Let's take a worst case scenario. What if it does sink? He said, it will still be for my good. Because then my soul will go to be with Him. My body one day as well. You see, even if the trial admits of no earthly solution, it will admit of a heavenly solution. Therefore, why do you fear, O ye of little faith? Let me apply this also to the unsaved. This text, actually, was the precise text that was used for the conversion of Dr. John Owen as an unbeliever. A very simple preacher preached this text, and Owen was saved beneath it. And I believe it has many applications to the unsaved as well, even though its direct address is to the disciples of Christ. But there are so many things that you who are unbelievers wrestle with that show how little faith you have in the power of God, in the might of the Saviorhood of Christ. And you need to be lovingly yet firmly admonished to not allow those wrestlings to keep you away from this Savior. Some of you labor like this. You say, But I'm so guilty and I'm so sinful. I've got so many years of sin racked up. Surely, there's no hope for me in God. I've sinned against light. I've sinned against better knowledge. I can scarcely believe that there would ever be any pardon possible for me. And I answer you this morning. Why are you fearful? O you of little faith. Who did Christ come Four, He didn't come for the righteous. He came for sinners. Is there any sin that He's not able to forgive except the unpardonable sin which you haven't committed or you certainly wouldn't be here today? You see, Jesus Christ came. This is a faithful saying. He came to save sinners, even chief sinners. You do the Lord a great dishonor when you think that He cannot save you, that He cannot forgive you. It is you who will not believe in Him, not He who cannot save you. The difficulty lies on your side, not on His. He says that He is able to save to the uttermost all that come unto God by Him. and that he ever lives to make intercession for them. He delights in mercy. David put it this way, pardon my iniquity, for it is great. And so when your sins come in at you, my unconverted friend, and your conscience speaks loudly like waves and wind and you think there's no hope for you, you're going to sink because you're such a hell-worthy sinner, fly to Christ. He can simply say, waves and wind be calm. I throw your sins into the sea of my eternal forgetfulness. Why are you fearful, O ye of little faith? But others of you operate under another burden. You say, it's not so much my past sins that I struggle with, that I know Christ will save the greatest of sinners, It's my present propensity to sin that my heart never seems to get any better. If somehow I could make my heart better and conquer my bosom sins, then I could go to Him and He would perhaps save me. But now it's so hopeless because I'm such a hypocrite, you see. I'm like Samson. I'm bound with cords. bound up and I can't break free from sin. Well, that is of course a great difficulty. It creates much struggle. But you see, we don't loosen ourselves from the bondage of sin and then go to Christ, all as polished people. But we come to Christ in our bondage. He saves from sin. We cry and we sigh to Him where we're at. A strong man armed may keep the house, but a stronger than he shall come. That's Jesus. And when He comes, He shall cast out the strong man armed within, Satan, and he shall set up his own throne in his soul. Oh, believe in this Christ, O thou of little faith, and you shall be saved. He comes. The sinner is in bondage. to sinners who can't conquer their bosom sin. He comes and says, behold, I make all things new. He alone can bring the waves of your bosom sin to a calm. Well, but then someone else says, the trouble with me is I just think that I'm just polluted from head to toe, and there's just nothing in me that Christ would be interested in. Nothing in me to work upon. I'm just leprous from head to toe. No material to work with. I'm a hopeless case. Well, that reminds us, of course, of the lepers and the Pentateuch. You remember in Leviticus, if the leper was partly leprous, He had to be set outside the camp. He was still sick. But if he was totally leprous, you see, then the healing process had already begun. My friend, if you feel totally leprous, the Spirit is striving with you. He's emptying you and He's leading you to Christ. Don't resist His will. Bow before Him as a total leper. And He will pronounce you clean through His own precious blood by His sovereign grace. Well, you say, perhaps another one of you say, I've got a totally different problem than all that. My problem is I don't feel my sin. I'm totally insensible. I hear about other people weeping about their sins. I've never shed one tear for my sin. Well, do you think if you shed some tears that that would help Christ to save you? Christ doesn't want help from you, my friend. Bring your stony heart to Him. Why dost thou fear, O thou of little faith? He has got a righteousness that can conquer the stoniest of hearts. Besides, if you're so sensible of your sin that you're sensible of your insensibility, aren't you sensible after all? You see, the purest tear you could ever shed will have no value to justify you before God, but one drop of Christ's blood is able to do it. While you say, and this is my last counsel, my trouble is concerning all the difficulties of the Christian life. If I were to become a Christian, And I were to do away with all these things I have to do away with, how would I ever hold on to the end? How could I ever compare with other of God's people? I'm just cut from a different cloth. They're different than I am. Well, how will you do it? Not through your holding on to God, but through Christ's holding on to you. He will be your omega, your ending, as well as your alpha, your beginning. Trust Him, my unconverted friend. Trust Him, dear child of God. Why are you fearful, O you of little faith? Amen.