Pastor Allan Kircher
Shell Point Baptist Church
July 14, 2013
Mark 4:35-41
It’s about time for a storm!
Intro: Background
• This text finds Jesus/end/long/difficult day.
• Jesus had a confrontation with the Pharisees 3:22
• Appointed 12 Apostles
• Parable/Sower from the boat.
He used boat/pulpit from which He preached/multitudes that gathered to hear Him 4:1.
• Day ended, called His disciples into/boat/commanded them to set sail for the other side/lake.
• Nighttime found the disciples rowing across that little lake.
• While they guided the boat
• An exhausted Jesus lay fast asleep in the rear of the boat.
• The Lord was weary from the business of the day.
By the way, this passage clearly presents/humanity of the Lord.
• I praise the Lord that He understands our weakness.
• He is able to sympathize with us when we grow weary
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The Lord’s disciples were accustomed to being on the Sea of Galilee at night, they fishermen after all.
• While they rowed for/other side
• Tremendous storm engulfed their boat.
• They found themselves/fight/their very lives.
• Storm of unusual power and intensity.
• It terrified/disciples/caused them/fear for their lives.
On that dark/terrifying night, they experienced the Lord’s power to deliver them from the /storm/threatened to kill them.
I would like us to join/Lord/His men/they face/storm/their lives.
• They found themselves/hopeless situation
• There seemed to be no escape
• It was so intense they feared for their lives.
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We all find ourselves in storms from time to time.
• Everyone here is on a journey.
• Redeemed/sailing toward a place called Heaven.
• Lost/sailing toward a place called Hell.
As we sail, storms will arise and threaten our boats.
• Often, just like/disciples
• We come to believe/storms will destroy us.
• Not sent to destroy you, but to develop you.
• They may grind you at times/Lord use them to grow you.
I pray that God will use the truths from this passage to teach us that there is hope. Let’s explore these verses together today.
I. V. 37 THE REALITIES OF THIS STORM
This Storm Was Unexpected
• Mark tells us “a furious squall came up.”
• Storms like this/very common/Sea of Galilee.
• The Sea of Galilee is a most unusual body of water.
Below sea level and is surrounded by mountains, it is susceptible to sudden storms.
• Winds sweeping across the land come up and over the mountains, creating downdrafts over the lake.
• Storms like this one did not usually occur at night.
• disciples did not set out in a storm
• they did not expect to encounter a storm
• But a storm came anyway!
• That’s life isn’t it?
It can be calm sailing one minute, and the next, you are fighting for your life!
• One minute/enjoying fair weather
• The next, you find yourself/middle/terrible/horrible storm.
One phone call, one twenty-four hour period of time, one doctor visit, one tick of the clock, and you are in the storm of your life.
• The Bible says that/storms will come our way John 16:33.
In fact, you are in one of three places today.
• In a storm--just coming out storm--headed into storm.
• Sudden storms are a part of our lives.
This Storm Was Unrelenting
The storm continued its assault on that little boat until Mark tells us “the boat nearly swamped”.
• Mark tells us that this was a “furious” squall.
• Words means, “Exceeding, loud, large, mighty.”
• Refers/storm of extraordinary fierceness.
• Disciples felt no stability, no safety, and no security.
• A violent storm/middle/night.
• They could not determine their proximity to the shore.
• They were in terrible danger, and they knew it.
• They awoke the sleeping Savior and they cried
• “Help us Lord! This storm is killing us!”
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When our storms come, very often they are severe and they terrify us.
• They fill us with fear and worry.
• They blow in w/o warning and they increase in their intensity until it seems that they will never end.
The storms of sin arise.
• It rages within us and around us.
• When sin enters our hearts
• It always comes in as a pleasant, calm breeze.
• It promises us the best, but/soon displays/darker side.
It will rip through your life like a tornado leaving a trail of damage and destruction that can only be repaired by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ and His forgiveness.
• Some are in that storm today!
• There is no storm on earth that Heaven cannot calm!
• No problem so great that Jesus cannot fix.
• Bring that storm to Him and watch Him deal with it!
This Storm Was Unusual - Where did this storm come from? It may have been natural, after all, the Sea of Galilee was susceptible to storms of this nature.
• Yet, it did come at night and that was extremely rare.
• Strong possibility that this storm was supernatural in nature.
• Let me show you why I say that.
God may have sent/purpose/teaching these men to trust/Jesus.
• Satan may have sent this storm to kill Jesus.
• After all, Satan had been trying to stop the Lord Jesus before Jesus was born in Bethlehem.
When Jesus calmed the storm in v. 39, He said “be still”; it is the same word that is translated “hold thy peace” in Mark 1:25.
• Word means “to be muzzled”.
• Idea of muzzling a violent animal.
• When Jesus used that word in Mark 1:25
• He was speaking to demons, commanding them to be quiet.
• The Bible does not reveal the source of this storm
• But there was something unusual about this storm.
The storms that arise in our own lives come from various sources as well.
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Sometimes we cause the storms. We act foolishly get us into trouble, when we do, we have to pay the price.
• Jonah discovered that truth.
• So did Naomi and her family.
• We always reap what we sow, Gal. 6:7.
• Sometimes we cause our own storms.
Sometimes God sends the storms. Why would He do that?
• He does it to discipline us and draw us closer to Him.
• the case with David after he had sinned with Bathsheba
• He does it to teach us to trust His more deeply.
• The case/Job and all that he was forced to endure.
• When God sends the storm it is always to draw us closer.
Sometimes Satan is behind the storms.
• Satan will whip up a storm in your life to defeat you, discourage you, and drive you away from the Lord
• everything in His power to destroy you
• Destroy your faith in God.
• seeking to defeat and destroy God’s children and he will do whatever it takes to accomplish that, 1 Pet. 5:8.
Satan is limited in his ability to torment us by the sovereign will of God.
Regardless of the source, the storms of life come, and we are forced to deal with them.
II. V. 35, 38 THE REALM OF THIS STORM
The Storm Was In Their Face
The disciples:
• Could feel the wind/waves as they battered the boat.
• Were tired/overcome/weariness from struggling/oars.
When our storms come, we can feel them too.
They:
• Shake our world.
• Touch our heart and we feel it.
• Batter our lives/wear us down/leave us broken/wounded
The storms of life are like the storm the disciples faced on Galilee that night; they hit us in the face and they wear us out.
• Greatest danger/disciples faced that night was not physical
• Not the storm that battered their boat.
• The real storm they faced that night was the storm that struck them at the very heart of their walk with Jesus.
• That storm was the most devastating.
• Let me say something about that storm.
The Storm Was In Their Faith - “don’t you care if we drown?”
They accused the Lord of not caring about what they were facing.
Why this doubt? They had seen Jesus face and conquer every imaginable situation in life, Mark 1:22-2:12.
• Now/faced with a storm and they are afraid.
• They should have known that a puff of wind on a little pond could not thwart sovereign omnipotence!
Do you know what their problem was?
• They were looking at their situation and not at their Savior.
• They had their eyes on the problem and not on the Problem-solver.
• We are just like that, aren’t we?
Have there been times, when the storms are raging in your life, that you have questioned God’s concern for you?
You might not have said it out loud, but I am sure there have been times when your flesh has cried
• “Lord, don’t you care about what is happening to me?”
• Or, “If the Lord really loves me, then why is this happening?”
• We’ve all been there!
• He cares! more than you can imagine, Heb. 4:15-16.
• He is working in your situation
• Even though you might not see it now.
The Storm Was In Their Fears - While the storm is raging about them, Jesus is fast asleep/back/boat.
• They went to where Jesus was sleeping
• Began to shake Him to wake Him up.
• These men are terrified
• Have lost all hope of ever surviving this storm.
• Let’s examine the doubts of these men today.
They ran to Him and they cried “we perish”.
Remember, it was Jesus Who had sent them out onto the sea in the first place.
These men had left everything to follow Jesus and now He has led them into an impossibly dangerous situation.
They are afraid the Jesus is just going to let them all die
Jesus did not save you just to abandon you when times get tough.
• He is absolutely committed to you
• He will never forsake you, Heb. 13:5.
• The word “forsake” means that He won’t “abandon you, desert you or leave you under any circumstances”.
When the storm is raging; when your boat is rocking and reeling; when the adverse winds are blowing; when the waves are crashing against your vessel;
• He will not let you sink!
• He will hold you up and never desert you under any circumstances.
• The Lord Jesus Christ is absolutely committed to you!
• He is committed to you!
He will be present with you and He will give you grace sufficient for your need, 2 Cor. 12:9.
• They need not have feared.
• They had His promise “Let us go over to the other side”
• Jesus had already told them what was going to happen.
• He told them before the journey started that they were headed to the other side of the lake.
• If they had believed His words, they could have laughed in the face of the storm.
Of course, this is just like us, isn’t it?
The Lord has promised us that everything is going to be all right too Rom. 8:28.
Promised us that He will take care of us, Luke 12:32.
• If we could just learn to take Him at His Word
• We could face the storms of life without fear.
• We would understand Who controls the storms
• we would enjoy His peace
• Even while the winds blow and the waves beat against us.
III. V. 39-41 THE REASONS FOR THIS STORM
They Learned Something About His Character - They learned some things about the Person of Jesus they had never understood before.
They learned:
• He is the all-powerful, sovereign Creator.
• He is Lord of all!
The Lord still possesses that same power today.
• Your storm is no problem for Him!
• He can silence it with a word, if He desires to.
• He may, however, desire to allow that storm to rage.
• When He does this, He is well able to protect you in the midst of the storm.
• Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego – Dan. 3
• Daniel in the lion’s den – Dan. 6
It would have been great if they could have taken the things the Lord did for others and applied it to their own lives.
If they could have said,
• “You know, if Jesus can heal a leper
• cure Peter’s mother-in-law/cast out devils
• heal that guy with the palsy and forgive his sins
• Then I am sure that He can take care of this storm too.”
But, they seemed unable to process/information/apply it to their own lives.
So, He sent them into this storm to teach them to trust Him.
• What about us? We have the Bible.
• It tells us all the things He has done and can do.
• We have the testimony of others around us.
• We have seen what He has done for them.
• We have even seen Him move in our own lives.
Wouldn’t it be great if we could just trust Him?
We don’t, so He uses the storms to teach us that we can lean on Him and trust Him to take care of us.
God has His reasons for sending the storms into our lives.
• To educate us/teach us to trust Him.
• Purpose/not to hurt us but to grow us.
Our duty is not to try/figure out why we are there.
Our duty is to trust Him to do what is right/every situation/life.
Conc: When the Lord is in your boat, you have an advantage.
• v. 36 that there “were also other boats with him.
• many boats on that sea that night
• But only one contained the Lord of glory.
As we sail on the sea of life, we need to remember that every one of us is subject to going through the storms.
• We are all on the sea/all in our boat/all voyage together.
• Need to be sure that Jesus rides with us in our boat.
If He is in your boat, worship Him for His faithfulness to you.
• If the storm clouds have gathered
• if the fierce winds have begun to blow around you
• if the waves of affliction are battering your boat
• Run to Jesus!
• Call on Jesus! Reach out to Jesus!
