Mark 4:35-41

On that day when evening had come, he said to them, let us go across to the other side.

And leaving the crowd, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was.

And other boats were with him.

And a great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling.

But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion.

And they awoke him and said to him, teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?

And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, peace, be still.

And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.

He said to them, why are you so afraid?

Have you still no faith?

And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?

Let's pray together.

Father God, we do thank you this morning for your holy word.

And we thank you for Christ, who is your very character made manifest amongst us.

And we thank you for the gospel of Mark, that we have an opportunity to behold his life, to learn from it, to glean, to wonder at who he was.

We thank you for his accomplished work.

We thank you for who he is to us this day.

And I pray that by the gift of the Spirit, to those of us who have placed our faith in him, that we might learn, we might understand, we might apply your word today in wisdom in this world.

For the great end cause of magnifying your name.

And we pray this in Christ's name.

Amen.

Well, we would do well this morning as we would any time we study the gospel of Mark together to remember why it is Mark wrote this gospel account.

And it's very similar to the other gospel accounts.

It shouldn't be a strange concept to you.

But remember Mark 1, verse 1, it reads,

Mark 1:1

The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

And he takes a great deal of pains in presenting to us the fact that Jesus Christ was, in fact, the Son of God.

And therefore, God himself made flesh to dwell amongst us.

And the natural then response to understanding that is that we might follow him.

That we will be disciples of Christ.

And disciples of Christ make disciples.

So you've heard me saying over and over again that the great call of Mark to our lives is to recognize Jesus as the Christ.

And to become disciple-making disciples of Jesus the Christ.

We've witnessed a series of Jesus' miracles up to this point.

In fact, Mark fires through them pretty quickly for us.

Kind of laying out for us the authority that Jesus had.

His power over creation we've seen a number of times already in his healings.

That he has healed people of physical illness means that he had to do some regenerative work in them.

That there was some malady of a particular organ or of some limbs and he had to do a regenerative work.

Not apply some medicine but actually make something new.

So we've already seen this power over creation displayed for us in the gospel.

But here we see it in a particularly mighty way.

We see a display of Jesus as the creator and sustainer of creation.

Now, if you study much the attributes of God, you will come to know and understand that there are attributes of God that are both communicable.

Meaning things that we can do.

God is love.

Therefore, we can love.

And there are also some incommunicable attributes of God.

Things that God is that we will never be.

We're called to be holy because God is holy.

Not like God is holy.

We'll never be like God in that way.

And another way that we'll never be like God is in his creativity.

And I'm not suggesting that we cease using that term for the things that we do that are creative.

I have a very creative wife and I will continue to call her creative and appreciate her creativity.

But none of us are creative the way that God is creative.

The way that Jesus Christ is creative.

And that is that God creates from nothing.

The fancy Latin term for that is ex nihilo if you care about such things.

We will never be this way.

And in fact, I think one of the reasons that we're so wired to appreciate creativity

is that it gives some semblance, some reflection of who God is.

That God creates beauty.

Whether you like art or not, if that's where your mind is gone,

you may appreciate music.

You may appreciate buildings that are beautiful to behold.

All of these things are some reflection of God's creative person.

So we see that on display here in the person of Jesus Christ.

And this shouldn't be, for those of us who are students of the Bible, any real surprise.

We should already know this to be true.

I've got a number of texts I'd like for you to try to turn with me quickly for the sake of time.

John 1, verses 1-3.

John 1:1–3

Anybody catch that I just spilled water all over myself?

I'm just not being quite as full.

In the beginning was the Word, being Christ.

This is who John is writing of.

And the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

He was in the beginning with God.

And all things were made through Him,

and without Him was not anything made that was made.

Jesus Christ.

All things were made through Him,

and nothing was made apart from Him.

Ready?

Hebrews 1, verses 1-3.

Hebrews 1:1–3

Hebrews 1, verse 1.

Hebrews 1:1

Long ago, at many times and in many ways,

God spoke to our fathers by the prophets,

but in these last days He has spoken to us by His Son,

whom He appointed the heir of all things,

through whom He also created the world.

He is the radiance of the glory of God,

and the exact imprint of His nature,

the facsimile of God.

And He upholds the universe by the word of His power,

certainly the creator and sustainer.

of this world.

Colossians 1.

Don't turn in here.

Just stick with me.

Colossians 1, verses 16-17.

Colossians 1:16–17

For by Him all things were created,

in heaven and on earth,

visible and invisible,

whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities,

all things were created through Him and for Him.

And He is before all things,

and in Him all things hold together.

And the last one, 1 Corinthians 8, verse 6.

1 Corinthians 8:6

For us there is one God, the Father,

from whom are all things,

and from whom we exist,

and one Lord, Jesus Christ,

through whom are all things,

and through whom we exist.

And this is only a sampling of texts

in the New Testament

that make this very apparent to us,

that Jesus Christ,

being the Son of God,

is Himself God,

and is therefore the creator

and the sustainer of the universe.

And this is what we see displayed for us

as He has power over this storm.

There's much conversation as of late

about the question of origin.

Recently there was a debate

between Bill Nye, the science guy,

and Ken Ham,

which had some mixed review

at the quality of the debate itself.

But that sparked a lot of conversation.

There's a lot of people talking about

the issue of origin right now

and applying science to the age of the earth.

And all of those things are important and valuable.

And I appreciate young earth apologists

that are making a case

for the inerrancy of Scripture in that way.

I love it.

I appreciate that.

But more importantly than all of that,

if you want to ask where our origin is from,

how did this world come into existence?

It came into existence by Jesus.

That is it.

That is the answer to this great question.

I have encouraged a number of you,

particularly the families,

to use with your children

a resource called New City Catechism.

I would actually encourage everyone in here

to use it as a resource.

A question and an answer.

A doctrinal layout.

A road map, so to speak,

for us to understand the truths of God

in a very systematic way.

And the second question of that,

which we're working on with Cade,

is what is God?

What is God?

And the answer,

and Cade can say this with confidence,

I don't think he fully understands it,

but is that God is the creator

and sustainer of everyone and everything.

And this is such an important truth

for us to understand.

It's so key that we wrap our minds

around who Jesus is.

This is a magnificent thing about our Lord.

In fact, the use of the word Lord

in the Old Testament

was the word Yahweh.

In Hebrew, spelled Y-H-W-Y

in our English equivalent of that.

Which is the name that God gave Himself

in speaking to Moses in the burning bush,

which was to say,

I am.

That's how we read it in English.

I am.

In that everything emanates from Him.

You've heard me say before

that everything plugs into God.

God plugs into nothing.

He is self-sufficient.

He is self-sustaining.

All the power in this universe

comes from His being.

And in this miracle,

Jesus expresses Himself uniquely

as the Great I Am.

This is huge.

The miracles before this

have been a big deal.

He's shown that He has authority over sin.

He's shown that He has authority over Satan.

He's shown that He has authority over flesh

and that failing.

But here He is saying,

I am the Great I Am.

Watch what I'm about to do.

Now I'll tell you that I've stolen great part

the outline for this sermon

from John MacArthur.

I just think it's proper to give him

proper due in this

and not be a plagiarizer.

College students know what that means.

But we're going to look at this story

in four different parts.

The calm before the storm.

The calm during the storm.

The calm after the storm.

And the storm after the calm.

So that's how we're going to progress

through this together.

So let's look first

at the calm during the storm.

Verse 37.

We're just going to read that again

so it's fresh in our minds.

And a great windstorm arose.

Oh, excuse me.

I just jumped.

On that day when evening had come,

He said to them,

Let us go across to the other side.

And leaving the crowd,

they took Him with them in the boat

just as He was.

And other boats were with them.

Now, it's widely understood.

There's some debate.

We can't say with a great deal of finality on this.

But that this event proceeds,

follows up a day,

excuse me,

follows a day of teaching.

So beginning in chapter 4,

we see Him casting out on the side

teaching from a boat.

He's on the side of the Sea of Galilee.

And He's now gotten out

because the crowd is pressing it around Him

in a boat.

And He uses the water then

as a natural projection.

He didn't have a handy mic

that thumps His voice

when He looks the wrong direction.

But spoke out across the water

so that all this crowd

might hear the message

that He was teaching.

And we saw very quickly

kind of backing up that

a series of four sayings,

some of them parables,

some not really fitting into that mold.

And I believe that Mark

intends for us to see this

as a day of teaching.

There's some evidence to that.

There's just a little bit of evidence

contrary to that,

like in verse 10.

And when He was alone,

those around Him with the twelve

asked Him about the parables.

So at some point,

He was not with the crowd

and was able to give some explanation

to the disciples.

Ultimately, it doesn't really matter.

And praise God for that.

But certainly,

He has concluded some teaching.

And it's likely,

I would err,

if I'm going to err on a side,

I would err to the side,

of this being a full day of teaching.

Because it says,

in verse 36,

that they took Him with them

in the boat.

And the article is there

in the original language.

So, what boat are they referring to?

And I would assume

that it was the boat

that He was teaching from

in the beginning of chapter 4.

So it's been this

long day of teaching.

And I can say to you

that preaching a 45-minute sermon

is exhausting.

And some of you in your lives

will understand

what that looks like

and what that means

and what it feels like

to have this many eyes

staring at you

and have to kind of

pour yourself out

and to have both

something happening

coming out of your mouth

and dialogue running

in the back of your head.

Like, why is He looking

at me like that?

I'm not really sure

what I just said wrong.

Or as I tend to invent words

at times,

I'm thinking,

is that a word?

I don't think that's a word.

Should I go back

and correct myself?

No, I won't worry about it.

And moving forward like that.

And it's quite mentally exhausting.

The preparation for such

is exhausting.

And so we see Jesus here

wanting to get away.

Getting in a boat

in order to get away.

Jesus was God in flesh,

but He was still a man.

And I'm always encouraged

to see the times

that He rested,

the times that He withdrew,

because I feel that so readily

in my life as well.

So there's a calm

before the storm.

There's a calm during the storm,

beginning in verse 37.

And a great windstorm arose,

and the waves were breaking

into the boat,

so that the boat

was already filling.

But He was in the stern,

asleep on the cushion,

and they woke Him

and said to Him,

Teacher,

do you not care

that we are perishing?

And He awoke

and rebuked the wind

and said to the sea,

Peace.

Be still.

Now some of the incredibly

fascinating things

I learned this week

were about the Sea of Galilee.

As a person who likes adventure,

I really want to go

to the Sea of Galilee now.

It's a fascinating place

in the world.

I would say primarily

for its historical significance.

Many very important things happen.

The other lake miracle,

Jesus walked on these waters,

the Sea of Galilee.

The fact that He stilled a storm

on these waters

would be a reason

to go see this place.

But it's unique

in many different ways.

It's different from

all other bodies of water

in the world.

To give you some approximation

of the size of it,

it's 13 miles long

and 8 miles wide,

64 square miles.

And just to kind of

help you understand that,

Lake Lanier is 59 square miles.

If you ever look at pictures

of the Sea of Galilee,

it's much more open.

It doesn't quite have the fingers

that Lake Lanier has.

But it's roughly the same size.

At its greatest depth,

it's about 150 feet deep.

Just like Lake Lanier,

at the dam,

it's about 150 feet deep.

So it kind of helps,

I think,

you wrap your mind around

this is not a massive

body of water.

It's unique in that

it's 682 feet below sea level.

Not the lowest lake in the world.

The Dead Sea is the lowest,

but the Dead Sea

is a saltwater lake.

This is the lowest

freshwater lake in the world.

682 feet below sea level.

Fed primarily by the Jordan River,

although it does have

some natural springs

that feed it as well.

What's really,

really unique about

this particular lake

is the way that the mountains

border it

and the way the winds blow

across this lake.

Primarily in the wintertime.

There are two seasons.

The summer,

there's some fairly regular storms

that come in

that can be calculated.

In the wintertime,

the winds come from

a different direction

and they are really hard

to calculate.

Come up at any moment.

And this is the experience

that they find themselves in.

I can't say with certainty

that this was in the wintertime,

but they certainly

didn't set out across the lake

to brave a storm

of this nature,

so it's safe to assume

that it came up on them

very suddenly.

Now get this.

Imagine Lake Lanier.

I think most of us

have been out on the lake

and the lake on a really windy day

gets pretty choppy.

Pretty choppy on the lake

is like one foot waves.

Those waves are caused

by the wind.

Well, on the Sea of Galilee,

these waves can be up to

ten feet high

caused by the wind.

Isn't that fascinating?

Just a small body of water.

Waves ten feet high.

And these boats

were low-sided boats.

They were used to fish out of.

They hauled nets aboard them

and they hauled nets manually,

not with some kind of a crane

or something like that.

So they were low-sided boats

and these waves

would have crashed

across the deck.

And we see here

that it was happening,

such a storm was happening

that the boat was filling

with water

and a boat that's full of water

sinks,

just in case you didn't know that.

Right?

Now,

up to seven of the disciples,

possibly up to seven

were confident,

five,

but up to seven of the disciples

were fishermen.

They would have been very familiar

with this circumstance.

Very familiar with it.

They probably would have

encountered it before.

But here we see this calm

during the storm

as they're terribly concerned

having experienced this,

being in the midst of it,

having the boat

filling with water

and in the back of the boat,

Jesus is sleeping.

Jesus is sleeping

in the back of the boat.

That's the stern,

the back of the boat.

And He's asleep on the cushion,

which is probably something

that was always in a boat like this

and that the fishermen

would sit on

in order to steer the boat.

He just decided to doze off

and take a nap

after his long day of teaching.

Right?

This is similar

to the story of Jonah.

Remember the story of Jonah?

God calls him

to go and preach to Nineveh,

to call them to repent

and turn to God.

And he flees instead

in the opposite direction

across the Mediterranean

towards a town called Tarshish.

He doesn't quite get there,

but a great storm comes up

and he is also asleep in a boat.

And he admits

that it's probably his fault

that this is happening.

This is in Jonah 1

and is thrown overboard.

Although I think

that this comparison

is meant to express

contrast

rather than similarity.

Right?

It's meant to express

contrast

rather than similarity.

Jonah

is the victim

rather than the victor

in his story.

Jonah was tired

from running away

from God.

Fell into such a sleep

that he could sleep

through a storm

like this.

And I would

propose to you

that Jesus was tired

because he was running

after God.

Jesus could rest

because he knew

the promises of Romans 8.28.

Even though Paul

had yet to write it,

for those who love God,

all things work together

for good.

For those who are called

according to his purpose,

he could rest

confident

in the hands

of the king.

Further,

as Jonah's running away

from the call of God

to preach good news

to the people of Nineveh,

Jesus is running

towards

a divine appointment.

In John 5.19,

Jesus says,

Truly, truly,

I say to you,

the Son can do nothing

of his own accord,

but only what he sees

the Father doing.

For whatever the Father does,

that the Son does likewise.

He had a great confidence

in his ministry.

He didn't have to look

to some methodology.

He didn't have to

come up with some

sort of strategy.

His single-mindedness

is that he would listen

to what the Father

was doing

and do

what he said.

So he gets into a boat

and he sets out

across a lake

headed from the west

side of the lake

to the east

side of the lake.

We don't know.

Did Jesus know

the encounter

he was about to experience?

Maybe.

Probably not.

I would guess

in his humanity

that he did not know

the future

of his encounter

on the other side

of the lake,

but he knew

that he was meant

to go across the lake

and he could rest

in that.

Now we see where he goes

at the beginning

of chapter 5.

We'll talk about this

at length

in some coming weeks.

Chapter 5,

verse 1,

he ends up in the

land of the Gerasenes.

There are two cities there,

Gerasa and Gadara,

I'm assuming,

is the way you pronounce

these things.

And this is where

he casts out

a demon,

which is demons,

called legion.

Remember the story

of the crazy man

who lived amongst

the tombs

and he casts the demons

out and he puts them

into a herd of pigs?

Guess what Jews

didn't eat?

Pigs.

These are Gentile towns

that he's gone to.

Jesus' primary ministry

was amongst Jewish people,

but here we see him

crossing to the other

side of the lake

to proclaim

the good news

of the coming kingdom,

which was his

consistent message

to Gentile peoples.

How do we know this?

Chapter 5,

verse 18,

the man that he's

cast this legion

out of

wants to go with him.

They're going to get

back in the boat

and go back across

the Sea of Galilee

and he wants to go with him

and instead

he tells him

to stay.

He tells him to stay

and go share

the good news.

Verse 19 and 20,

into the Decapolis,

which is a group

of ten cities

which were on the

eastern front

of the Roman Empire

in modern day Jordan,

they were Gentile cities

in this largely Jewish region

and this is where

this man that legion

was cast out of

goes and shares

the good news

of the coming kingdom.

I was so enlivened

by this

as I read this

because our God

is a global God.

He makes

global promises

all throughout

the Old Testament.

We know that we are meant

to go to the ends

of the earth

and here we see

Jesus as part of that work

as ministering primarily

to Jewish people

of Jewish descent

but also expanding

that reality

out and beyond

to Gentiles as well.

We read in Isaiah 60

Isaiah 60:1–3

verses 1-3

Arise, shine

for your light has come

and the glory of the Lord

has risen upon you

for behold

darkness shall cover the earth

and thick darkness

the peoples

but the Lord

will arise upon you

and His glory

will be seen upon you

and nations shall come

to your light

and kings

to the brightness

of your shining.

And Jesus could

rest

in this.

So that's the calm

during the storm.

And then the calm

after the storm.

He awakes

and He rebukes

the wind

and rebukes it

peace

be still

and the wind

ceased

and there was

a great calm.

He said to them

why are you so afraid?

Have you still

no faith?

Now remember

that these are the men

that Jesus spoke to

in chapter 4

verse 11

He says

to these men

to you has been given

the secret

of the kingdom of God.

We know that these men

except for one

all became

followers of Christ

in their finality.

They pursued Him

to death.

But yet

they still lacked faith

at this point.

What a fascinating

time

in history.

They still

lacked

the faith

to believe

He is

who He says

He is.

He has made this point

to them

previously

at the end of chapter 3.

They are those

that are sitting

with Him

and He says

that those who are

my family

those who are

my mothers

and my brothers

and my sisters

are those who do

the will

of my Father.

He has already

made this claim

that He is the Son of God

again and again

and again

and yet they still

find their faith

so weak.

Faith is confidence

in the person

and promises

of God

which find their

fulfillment in Christ.

Faith is confidence

in the person

and promises

of God

which find their

fulfillment in Christ.

2 Corinthians 1.20

says for all the promises

of God

find their yes

in Him

being Jesus.

So we ask this question

why are you so afraid?

If you believe I am

who I say I am

why are you afraid?

If I am God incarnate

coming to dwell amongst you

and I'm asleep on the boat

why are you afraid

of a little storm?

Ten foot waves

right?

Why are you afraid

of a little storm?

Have you still

no faith?

And this is a piercing

question

that Jesus asked

and we would do well

to ask ourselves

the same question.

Do we have faith

that Jesus Christ

is the Son of God?

That's the case

that's been building here

that Mark is driving at.

And most of us

I believe

with a great deal

of confidence

in the room

can say yes

of course I do.

Of course I believe

that Jesus is the Son of God

and I see fruit

in your lives

that bear evidence

of this reality.

But I don't know that

to be true

of everyone in here.

And we would be remiss

at this point

if we didn't ask

that question.

Do you believe

that Jesus

is the Christ?

It's not merely enough

just to say it.

It's not enough

just to have

some mental recognition

of it.

It's not enough

to have grown up

in a Christian home

and to attend church services

on a regular basis.

All those things

are outward trappings.

Where is your heart?

At the end of chapter 3

we found three categories.

We found his family

coming to him

thinking that he was insane.

That he was a lunatic.

We saw the scribes

accusing him

of being a liar.

Saying that he couldn't

possibly be

the son of God

but that he must be

the son of Satan

doing these miracles

from the power of Satan.

And then we see

those who are truly

his family

his mothers

and his brothers

doing the will of God

and that is to believe

that he is the Christ.

So he's either going to be

a liar

a lunatic

or Lord

in your life.

And this

question

and the answer to it

has such

great

consequence.

I would plead with you

if you can't say

with confidence

you place your faith

in Christ

do that today.

Begin searching.

Begin asking questions.

Begin stepping out

of Christendom

this little bubble

that we live in

that for some people

is so magical

and neat

and for some people

is so distasteful

because they've seen

the hypocrisy

so many.

And begin to really

ask questions

of your heart.

What do I believe

about Jesus Christ?

There is no more

important question

in this world.

Do I believe

that he was

in fact

the Son of God?

And if what he said

was true

about himself

then this Bible

these scriptures

are of utmost importance

and the way we arrange

our lives by them

matter immensely.

The question

the answer to this question

has eternal consequence

and I can't

with you

I'm right there with you

I'm not more high minded

than you

I cannot wrap my mind

around eternity.

I do not know

what that looks like.

Every example I've seen

people have told me

oh I saw this great example

somebody was showing

about eternity

that is a poor example

of eternity.

A piece of string

stretched across a string

with a little flag on it

this is your life

this is eternity

no

you can measure that

right?

Eternity is much bigger

than that

it's forever

I don't even know

it's so

so difficult to see

but the answer

to this question

has eternal consequence

death

pain

punishment

I fully believe

in hell

Jesus spoke about it

more than he spoke

about heaven

there's retribution

coming

for those who are

enemies of God

who are not found

in his family

what that would be like

I just can't imagine

I can't imagine

what eternal joy

is like

and that's what's promised

to those of us

who do believe

that Jesus is the Christ

this matters not just

for eternity

but it matters now too

the way we arrange our lives

what we believe to be true

matters now

you want to have life

now

believe in Christ

you want to have death

you want to live a miserable life

you've come to the end

of everything

that you think might possibly

bring you some satisfaction

and some joy

continue on that path

right?

reject Jesus as the Christ

you want life

accept him

for who he is

who he said

he is

that's a very piercing

question

have you still

no

faith

that's the calm

after the storm

then there's a bit of a storm

after the calm

it says

and they were filled

with great fear

and said to one another

who then is this

that even the wind

and the sea

obey him

you see their response

of faithlessness

at this point

and they really

should have known

these men

while they were simple men

they would have known

their scriptures

as Jews

they would have been

saturated by this

and they should have

known who he was

Job 38

8-11

says

this is God speaking to Job

or who shut in the sea

with doors

when it burst out

from the womb

when I made clouds

its garment

and thick darkness

its swaddling band

and prescribed limits

for it

and set bars

and doors

and said

thus far shall you come

and no farther

and here shall your proud waves

be stayed

they would have been

familiar with

these words of God

to Job

right

and the clear answer

to that is

me

God

the one who's speaking

I am the one

who set the limits

on the sea

we see in Psalm 65

a Psalm of David

verses 5-8

by awesome deeds

you answer us

with righteousness

O God of our salvation

the hope of all

the ends of the earth

and of the farthest seas

the one who by his strength

established the mountains

being girded with might

who stills the roaring

of the seas

the roaring of their waves

the tumult of the peoples

so that those who dwell

at the ends of the earth

are in awe at your signs

you make the going out

of the morning

and the evening

to shout for joy

David saw

that this Christ

was going to

still

the roaring

of the waves

and here they are

witnessing it

unique characters

in history

in the boat

with Christ

when there is a

great calm

brought about

by his simple words

peace

be still

and yet they didn't

believe

there is a storm

going on in their hearts

who is

this man

they feared him

it says

a man who speaks

to the waves

and they

obey

what we believe

about Jesus

has to have

some real effect

in our lives

in fact

the word believe

that we see so often

throughout our New Testament

scriptures

is the Greek word

pastuo

and it means

to be persuaded of

to place confidence in

it carries a weight

with it

that's not simply

understanding something

to be true

but understanding it

to be true

and having it affect

the way that you live

it's that kind

of a belief

John 14

12

Jesus says

truly truly

I say to you

whoever

believes in me

will also do

the works

that I do

and greater works

than these

will he do

because I am going

to the Father

whoever believes

in me

has this kind of

deep abiding

belief

this persuasion

this confidence

in who Jesus

is

will also

do the works

that I do

so the belief

in us

births

activity

it births

good works

it births

following the example

of Christ

and to make it so simple

and repetitive

for you

it makes us

disciple making disciples

those who pursue Christ

in all that he did

and Jesus was about

the work

of seeking

and saving

the lost

so the reality

that Jesus Christ

is the Son of God

has real implication

for today's living

we could just look at this

and say

man that was awesome

how cool

Jesus spoke

and the waves stopped

but it has

real implications

for today

this reality

that Jesus Christ

is the Son

of God

1 John 5

12 says

God has given us

eternal life

and this life

is in his Son

he who has the Son

has life

who has not

the Son of God

has not

life

and the opposite

of that being

death

I mentioned that

previously

right

he is

the surety

of our salvation

placing our faith

in him

and that means

something today

your confidence

in who Jesus is

means something

for your position

today

his accomplished

work

is what's granted

you access

into the family

of God

it's what's given

you adoption

you are a

daughter

or a son

of the most

high

because of

the accomplished

work of Christ

we don't believe

he was the

the Son of God

then his work

was nothing

he was just

a man

who was crazy

and died

for his insanity

Galatians 2 20

says that we

live by faith

in the Son of God

who loved us

and gave himself

for us

so it carries out

a process in our

life

the continual

believing

in the good news

of Jesus Christ

carries out a process

of faith for us

it builds our faith

the opposite

puts faith to death

in our lives

as Chris so

poignantly said

this morning

in our Sunday

school class

right

believing

that Jesus

is who he says

he is

believing in the

work that he did

that it has been

accomplished

births faith in us

and so we live

by that

faith

God creates

life in us

in Jesus Christ

and God sustains

life in us

in Jesus Christ

remember who God is

the creator

and sustainer

of everyone

and everything

this happens

by the person

and work

of Jesus Christ

it means something

for you and I

today

today

it means something

right now

sitting in your chair

this moment

this great reality

this means something

for one of our elders

this morning

Stan Luttrell

and his family

aren't here

you may note

they're in Tennessee

where his father

is potentially dying

he's had a heart condition

had a stint

put in yesterday

we're going to reach

the 24 hour mark

at about noon

of the success

of such an operation

it means something

for them

as they sit

at his bedside

wondering what

will happen to him

it means that God

is able to heal

his father

that it's possible

that that might happen

that he can pray that

that if it's God's will

God can heal his father

if we see

his father

come back

to some

level of rejuvenation

this will be a great work

of God

maybe by the hands

of able doctors

but it will certainly

be a work of God

and Stan's father

as far as he knows

is not a believer

he may be at the very

end of his life

right now

and his eternal

surety

is not secure

his dad may be

facing an eternity

of torment

and separation

from God

knowing that Jesus

is the Christ

knowing that he is

in fact

God himself

that he can say

to the waves

and the wind

peace be still

and they obey him

certainly means

that Jesus is able

to save his father

you can pray

confident prayers

that God would

save his father

it means things

for us

day by day

that we remember

who Jesus

is

the vision statement

of Christ Family Church

that Christ Family Church

exists

to glorify God

by experiencing

proclaiming

and displaying

the supremacy

of Jesus Christ

in all things

to all peoples

is Jesus Christ

supreme

is Jesus Christ

the son of God

made manifest

the one who is being

exalted

at God's right hand

even now

as we speak

if he is this

then he is certainly

supreme

to everything else

in this world

the father himself

has exalted

the son

the spirit

exists

to exalt

the son

he is supreme

to all

things

so is Christ

supreme

in your

experience

in all things

do you experience

Christ to be supreme

in all things

has this truth

worked down into you

in such a way

that you can say

in every moment

of every day

Christ is supreme

Christ is better

than

anything else

that I might

experience

in this world

the clear answer

to that is no

and the clear answer

to that should be

yes

is Christ supreme

in your proclamation

in all things

what do you talk

about

what do you spend

your days

gabbing on about

right

what occupies

your words

so I'll tell you

this

you talk about

the things you love

think over this

past week

the things you

spent your time

talking about

what did you

talk about

this week

not that we

don't ever

talk about

anything else

in this world

right

but is the

personal work

of Jesus Christ

the predominant

thing that you

talked about

this past week

I'm afraid

that the

resounding

answer to that

would be no

for most of us

but the clear

answer should be

yes

Jesus Christ

is supreme

and therefore

I talk about

him

is Christ

supreme

in your

display

in all things

do you live

like you have

a hope

beyond this

world

right

do you live

in such a way

that people see

you and think

you're odd

this person is

different

even in this

Christian culture

that we live in

we should be

set apart

not that we

want to be

set apart

for the sake

of being

set apart

right

sometimes you

can run away

from things

and not ever

know what

you're running

to

right

but a lot

of Christians

don't look

any different

from this

world

they give

no really

clear evidence

that they

have any

hope at all

beyond the

normal things

of this

world

right

how do we

arrange our

lives

this means

things about

the way we

dress

this means

things about

what we

drive

what kind

of professions

we pursue

this means

things about

the quality

of our

study

this means

things about

the quality

of our

work

this means

things about

how we

take care of

our homes

and what we

use our

homes for

right

it means

things for

every aspect

of our

living

and I know

this is a

high and

lofty concept

and it's so

difficult to

take this and

play it out

into every

situation in

your life

but you've

got to start

taking this

reality

and begin

filtering who

you are

through it

is Christ

supreme

in everything

in your life

right

if he's not

when you're not

experiencing them

to be that

then you

have failed

to believe

in that

moment

the reality

of the

gospel

and don't

hear me

saying that

you can

you can

wax and

wane

that you

can

unbelieve

the gospel

right

if you

are gods

you are

gods

you are

secure

in his

hand

and I

have

confidence

that you

will

progress

until the

end

in your

faith

full

confidence

in that

praise

god

for our

soteriology

the doctrines

around

salvation

that we

believe

around

here

the bible

clearly

teaches

!

this

to

us

you're

secure

in that

way

but in

those

moments

you

forget

the

riches

of that

truth

for your

life

in those

moments

right

you fail

to believe

it

at that

time

right

because

belief

really

believing

that Jesus

is who

he said

he is

will have

effect

it will

change

the way

we live

it will

give us

power

to deny

sin

it will

give us

power

to live

righteous

lives

right

these

realities

of the

gospel

we must

filter

everything

through it

so this

is the

storm

after the

calm

and I

hope

for everyone

in here

I maybe

shook you

up a bit

but I

hope that

you find

a calmness

in your

confidence

in your

faith in

Christ

this morning

if you

don't

it's time

to wake

Jesus up

that he

might

calm

that

storm

for you

let's

pray

together