"WHAT MANNER OF MAN IS THIS?" Matthew 8:23-27 8-4-7
Today we’ll talk for a little while on, [WHAT MANNER OF MAN IS THIS] the Lord Jesus Christ. Listen as I read today’s text found in:
Matthew 8:23-27 23And when he was entered into a ship, his disciples followed him. 24And, behold, there arose a great tempest in the sea, insomuch that the ship was covered with the waves: but he was asleep. 25And his disciples came to him, and awoke him, saying, Lord, save us: we perish. 26And he saith unto them, Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith? Then he arose, and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a great calm. 27But the men marvelled, saying, What manner of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him!
Have you ever wondered, what was the purpose of this experience? Why was a storm allowed to arise on the sea with Christ in the boat?
The purpose of the storm was to cause His followers to ask in amazement, Matthew 8:27 27But the men marvelled, saying, What manner of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him!
He proved once again that He is the Messiah! Calming the storm did three things.
1. It demonstrated who He is: the Sovereign Lord who has all power—even power over nature.
2. It strengthened the belief of His followers: belief in Him as the Messiah and in His personal care as their Savior.
3. It gave to those on the boat and to us today a picture of His care and power—His care and power to deliver through all the storms of life (including our trials and fearful experiences).
It don’t matter what the storm or trial is or how terrifying it may be, Christ is able to deliver and bring about an assuring calm, if we’ll turn it over to Him.
1st pt.5: 7Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.
I’m afraid we’ll go to Him many times with our problems and then it seems that we’ll continue to worry with the problem. I suppose that’s our human nature.
I can’t think of many trials that would be more freighting than to be caught in a life-threatening storm at sea**.
In this experience God demonstrated His wonderful care and power to deliver believers through the storms of life.
We find in this account the basic fact that true disciples follow Jesus no matter what. The words in verse 23 have a great meaning, ["His disciples followed Him"].
His disciples followed Him wherever He went. They had made a genuine commitment; they were now committed to following Him regardless of the circumstances and the cost.
We get a good idea of the sacrifice His disciples made when we read about Peter’s family. Matthew 8:14-15 14And when Jesus was come into Peter’s house, he saw his wife’s mother** laid, and sick of a fever. 15And he touched her hand, and the fever left her: and she arose, and ministered unto them.
Peter and the others had left home, seldom to return, at least for any length of time. This was no doubt a big sacrifice for them and their families!
Let me read you these verses,
Luke 9:23-24 23And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. 24For whosoever will save his life shall
lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it.
Luke 14:33 So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple
Romans 8:13 For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify** the deeds of the body, ye shall live
Phil. 3:8 Paul says, Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord:-- Paul says now that he has found out the truth about Jesus Christ, his former religion he counts only as dung; useless, worthless, Jesus Christ is now uppermost in his thinking. The things that he used to consider most precious he now considers to be dung— He says he flushes his religion down the drain. He flushes away all the things he used to trust. Now he trusts the Lord Jesus and Him only for his salvation.
Phil. 3:8 Paul says, Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ
Let me remind us that every body that met Jesus didn’t follow Him. And it’s the same today, not all people that hear of Jesus and what He has done for lost mankind follows Him. Maybe they’re afraid that the waters might be to rough.
This lake was about 12 miles around, and it was about 8 miles across, Jesus could have walked around the lake, but He chose to go by sea in order to rest and to strengthen the disciples faith in Him.
I want us to notice that there is nothing said about the multitudes following Him at this time, not like they were following Him after the Sermon on the Mount
Matthew 8:1 1When he was come down from the mountain, great multitudes followed him
Why were they not following Him now? Let us remember that most of the multitude followed Him because of what they could get out of Him, not because they were sincerely interested in Him. He gave them food; it was not because of the miracles that they saw Him do.
John 6:26 Jesus answered them and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Ye seek me, not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves, and were filled.
The multitude no longer followed Him because it was most likely the effort required to follow Jesus was just too demanding.
Maybe it was it the potentially dangerous storms in their lives that they were sure to encounter as they journeyed following Him.
The journey to follow Jesus involved too many storms of abuse and ridicule, persecution and questions.
Maybe the cost of following Jesus required too much sacrifice, or maybe the denial of too many comforts.
Well we read in our text in Matt.8: that a great storm arose. I’m sure this was a terrifying and fearful experience; the apostles’ very lives were threatened.
The waves were covering the boat. It was, so to speak, a trial of trials. If Jesus could teach them His care through this experience, they would know He could take care of them through any storm or trial.
Let me say that our lives here in this present world have many trying and troublesome experiences. I don’t know of any one that don’t have some type of storms in their lives. Listen as I read us these scriptures;
Job 5:7 7Yet man is born unto trouble, as the sparks fly upward.
Job 14:1 1Man that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble.
Psalm 116:3 the sorrows of death compassed me, and the pains of hell gat hold upon me: I found trouble and sorrow
Eccles. 2:23 For all his days are sorrows, and his travail grief; yea, his heart taketh not rest in the night. This is also vanity
Jeremiah 8:15 We looked for peace, but no good came; and for a time of health, and behold trouble!
We have many storms throughout life, unexpected storms. There is no warning or sign of their coming. People are going to have storms to come in their lives whether they follow Jesus are not, but if we are truly His followers, He will help us along our journey here in this life.
Some of the storms of life are great. Some are life-threatening storms.
Nature itself can appear calm and peaceful; but its storms can arise quickly, and unexpectedly. The picture is also true with some of the trials of life—trials that everyone has or will have. What we need is the shelter and protection of Jesus Christ Himself.
Life as we know at this time, is consistently made of Mt. peaks and valleys.
Up and down, up and down, if your not at this time in the valley of some type of problems, just sit tight because there’s one on the way, we’re either in a valley, or we’ve just come out of one, or one is on the way. But lets remember if it were not for the valleys we all go through, there would be no mountaintops.
Our text in Matt.8: reveals to us that there are and will be storms in our lives that we cannot prevent, and storms that we’re not able to control.
I want us to notice that these seasoned and self-confident fishermen were unable to handle this particular storm.
They were seasoned fishermen. They knew the sea and the boat; they knew how to handle themselves in the midst of any situation or trial that they may encounter when it came to the sea. But this was a storm that they were all terrified by.
The same is true with many of us. We are seasoned at living and in handling the storms of life. We feel that no trial or situation can swoop down upon us beyond our control.
We are completely self sufficient, or so we think and feel.
They were face to face with a storm so severe that they were not able to save themselves. No doubt they had faced storms before, but they had never confronted a situation as terrifying as this severe storm.
You and I will sooner or later come upon a storm in our life that we’ll just not be able to control. It may very well be a storm that nothing we can do will save us from this storm.
That was the situation the disciples found them selves in here in Matt.8, but Jesus was on board with them.
They were completely helpless and hopeless left to themselves. When the terrifying storm hits us, it may well leave us fearful, helpless, and hopeless.
It seems that they may had tried to handle the storm without waking Jesus until the situation got out of control, because we’re told that now the waves were covering their little ship, so we see that they tried to control it them selves until it became life threating.
Matt.8: 24And, behold, there arose a great tempest in the sea, insomuch that the ship was covered with the waves: but he was asleep. 25And his disciples came to him, and awoke him, saying, Lord, save us: we perish.
This is the problem in many of our situations: lack of trust and faith in Christ and failing to call upon Him at the beginning of the problem.
They could have had Jesus’ help quicker. But to them, He was asleep. Jesus was present, but He was asleep. They didn’t want to bother Him. He was unaware of their desperate situation, He didn’t know of their need—or so the disciples thought.
I wonder how often our lack of trust and our sin cause us to feel like the Lord is unaware and out of reach and untouched by our need.
Lets be mindful to call on our Great God any time and especially in time of trouble.
2 Chron. 20:12 12O our God, wilt thou not judge them? for we have no might against this great company that cometh against us; neither know we what to do: but our eyes are upon thee.
Psalm 127:1 --- except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain
Jeremiah 10:23 O Lord, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps
John 3:27 John answered and said, A man can receive nothing, except it be given him from heaven
and Jesus said this in . John 15:5 .without me ye can do nothing
Romans 7:18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not
2 Cor. 3:5 Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God
Why did the disciples call upon Jesus now? Why not earlier? The situation was totally out of control, they were about to perish and die. They had waited and waited, tried and tried to handle the situation themselves.
They were prideful, big & strong men, sturdy, capable, seasoned, and prideful in their profession. They had always handled every situation before; they could handle this one, or so they thought.
But notice: they had almost waited too late humanly speaking. Jesus stirred Himself and heard their confession.
One thing we learn from our passages is that it’s possible to wait to late.
We can die and slip into eternity before we know it. Also, we can waste a lifetime
of living - really living in all the fullness of life. Abundant life comes only through Christ—
The biggest reason of all that the lost sinners don’t call on Jesus to save them is a true sense of need.
Jesus said in Mark 8: 36For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?
Lost sinner s don’t see their need to be saved, they don’t understand that without Him they’ll surely die in the sea of their sin. Lets you and I dear brothers and sisters throw out the lifeline that they can receive and be saved.
