Twas A Dark And Stormy Night Series

Twas A Dark And Stormy Night (Gospel of John Part 19)

Text: John 6:15-21

Please open your Bibles to the Gospel of John chapter 6:15 – 21… We’ve been studying this Gospel account for a while now… and if you remember from last time, Jesus had just fed over 5000 people, and they wanted to make Him their king… so that’s where we’ll pick up this morning, and we’ll also go to Matthew and Mark, because they both talk about this event as well, and it will give us a full picture of what took place that evening on the Sea of Galilee.

(READ TEXT)….

Now turn over to Matthew 14:22-27 (READ).

And now Mark’s account in Mark 6:45-52 (READ)

So here’s John showing us yet ANOTHER miracle of Jesus. It’s another thing that shows us that Jesus is God. I mean… who else can walk 3-4 miles out on the sea in the middle of a storm? So John is telling us about this event, so that we won’t have any doubt that Jesus is God…

Now the reason I had you look at Matthew and Mark’s accounts of this event, is because John doesn’t go into a lot of details. He just basically tells us about Jesus walking on the water, and that’s pretty much it. Because that’s what he’s focusing on… showing you the miracle of Jesus walking on water, and bringing them safely to land… in order to prove that He is God. So by looking at what Matthew and Mark say about it, it fills in the details a little better, and we get a fuller picture of what happened and what’s going on.

So let’s start with the obvious… Jesus has gone up the mountain the pray, and He’s sent the disciples across the Sea of Galilee and has told them He’ll catch up later. They head out, and run smack dab into a storm. And it must’ve been a bad storm. Because out of the 12 disciples, several of them were experienced fishermen… who made their living on the Sea of Galilee. They’d probably been through a storm or two in their day, but this one was causing them some real problems. They had been struggling against it all night.

Now that brings us to our first point… When you’re serving God, and trying to be obedient to Him… you will never face troubles in this life. Right? Isn’t that what the TV preachers say? Isn’t that what those false prophets, flying around in their private jets say?

It may be what “they” say, but it’s not what the Bible says.

The Bible says, “In this world – YOU WILL HAVE TROUBLE.” You’re going to have storms come into your life… and granted… they come for different reasons. Remember the story of Jonah? He had a storm come into his life because he was in disobedience. It was a corrective storm, to get him back on track. God sent it, to correct him. And sometimes storms come into our lives as a consequence of our sin. If you’re being a dirt-bag to your neighbor… if you shoot his dog, and poison his garden… there’s a good chance that a storm is headed your direction. If you slander, or backbite, or gossip about your co-workers… there’s a good chance a storm is headed your direction. So sometimes… storms come as a direct result of our personal sin. And then sometimes the storms are instances where the devil outright attacking you… this is usually in the form of persecution. You know, not having a flat tire… not your boss coming down on you because you were late for work… but actual persecution… outright attacks against you personally BECAUSE you are a Christian, and BECAUSE of your stance on God’s Word.

2nd Timothy 3:12 – “All who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus WILL BE persecuted!” Jesus… when He was giving the parable of the sower in Matthew 13 says… I think it’s verse 20 or 2…1 that tribulation and persecution comes BECAUSE OF the Word… in other words, as you stand on God’s Word, and preach and proclaim God’s Word, the devil is going to take notice, and people are going to attack you, and slander you, and come at you. So that can be a cause for the storms we face in life as well… and the Bible says when you go through those, rejoice!

And then sometimes… because this world has been infected by sin… there are just storms that come. They aren’t a direct result of a specific sin you committed… and they aren’t a result of you standing on God’s Word. They just happen because there’s sin in this world.

And you might be living for God, and living for Jesus, and trying to be obedient, and faithful… and they just come… they would’ve come even if you weren’t doing those things.