Hello there,
Welcome to Jesus to the Core Missions. I am Darryl Thomas, and I am excited that you have joined with me in this great occasion to share the word of God. It is my desire that you prosper and be in health, even as your soul prospers. Today’s message will be coming from Matthew 8: 23-27 (KJV), and it reads:
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. But the men marvelled, saying, What manner of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him!
May God add a blessing to readers, hearers, and doers of His holy word. For the sake of clarity, I would like to repeat our text for the sake of clarity. Our text says that Jesus entered the ship, and his disciples followed him. “And, behold, there arose a great tempest in the sea, insomuch that the ship was covered with the waves: but he (Jesus) was asleep. And his disciples came to him, and awoke him, saying, Lord save us: we perish. And 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. But the men marvelled, saying, What manner of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him!” Before we delve into the meat of our text, I believe that it is important for us to understand that Matthew’s Gospel, Mark’s Gospel, and Luke’s Gospel are called the synoptic gospels. Bible scholars identify Matthew, Mark, and Luke as the synoptic gospels, because they are very similar. The synoptic gospels are similar, because they all agree on the things that happened in the life and the teachings of Jesus. When we look at the legends, the teachings, and the subjects are all three of synoptic gospels, they are very similar. Another way that the synoptic gospels are similar is their structure, in that they all have the same chronological flow. All of the synoptic gospels have the same chronological order.
The synoptic gospels do have small differences, but their similarities are undeniable. John’s Gospel is called the Fourth Gospel, because his gospel is much different than the synoptic gospels. John has a different chronological order and flow of writing. Also, John’s message was about the same person, but there was a different tone. For example, the synoptic gospels all began with the birth of Jesus. Matthew was a little different than Mark and Luke, because he used the lineage of Jesus leading up to his description of the birth of Jesus. However, he still started with the birth of Jesus. So, all of the synoptic gospels started with the birth of Jesus. John, on the other hand, did not start at the birth of Jesus.
John started his gospel message of Jesus at the beginning of time. John started his gospel like this, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. in John 1:1, John started his gospel saying that Jesus is God. Then, he went on down to the 14th verse and said, “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. So, first he said Jesus was God, and then went on to say that Jesus was the only begotten Son of God. In the 18th verse John says, “No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.” Here John is saying the Jesus is the only man who has ever seen God, and he declares again that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. After that he declares that Jesus Christ has ascended back into heaven, and he is in the bosom of the Father. So, John’s gospel is a bit different from the synoptic gospels. Why is it necessary that we know this?
It is important for us to understand the differences between the Synoptic Gospels and the Fourth Gospel, because it lets us know that we can compare and contrast the same stories and the teachings of Jesus based on the accounts of Matthew, Mark, and Luke.
For example, our original text is Matthew 8: 23-26. So, we know that Matthew said that Jesus entered the ship, and his disciples followed him. “And, behold, there arose a great tempest in the sea, insomuch that the ship was covered with the waves: but he (Jesus) was asleep. And his disciples came to him, and awoke him, saying, Lord save us: we perish. And he (Jesus) 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. But the men marvelled, saying, What manner of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him!” That is Matthew’s account. So, according to Matthew’s account, what is the first thing Jesus does?
The first thing Jesus does in response to the panic of his disciples is ask the question, “Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith?
Firstly, it is important for us to know that fear is a result of the fall. Fear is a part of the sin nature that we inherited being that we are the descendants of the first Adam. How do we know this? According to Genesis chapter 3, Adam and Eve committed the sin of eating the fruit from the forbidden tree. The bible says, “And the eyes of them both (Adam and Eve) were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed leaves together, and made themselves aprons. And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the field.” Here we see Adam and Eve hiding after they committed the sin of eating from the forbidden tree. Also, In Genesis 2:17, God tells Adam, “But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” Adam and Eve were both hiding, because they ate from the tree God told them not to eat. And Adam remembered that God told him “In the day he eats from the forbidden tree he would surely die." So, Adam and Eve were both hiding from God, because they were afraid of dying. By this we know that fear is a result of the sin nature we inherited from Adam. This is why we find in 2 Timothy 1:7, Paul is teaching Timothy sound doctrine when he proclaims that “God has not given us the spirit of fear.” Fear did not come from God. Fear came from sin.
There is another place in the bible where fear is counted as sin. Revelation 21:8 says, “But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.” So, we know that fear is sin, and the reality is that at some point in our lives we will be faced with fear. There is great comfort in Revelation 21:7 that says, “He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.” This lets me know that every sin that manifests itself in our mortal and corruptible bodies can be overcome.
As we look back at our anchor text, we see Jesus asking a question that He already knows the answer to. Jesus says, “Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith?” Jesus knew why his apostles were fearing, because he was there when Adam fell; and He witnessed the fear that fell on Adam and Eve as a result of the sin they committed. Jesus says in Revelation 1:8, “I am the Alpha and the Omega; the beginning and the end; which was, and is, and is to come. The Almighty.” I submit to you today that Jesus was there in the beginning, and he knew about the fear that overcame Adam, and he knew about the fear that overcame His disciples[ as they were on that ship. Yet He says, “Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith?”
It is interesting how Jesus, in this particular instance, answers His own question. He says, “Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith? He asked them why they are fearful, but he called them “O ye of little faith?” So, their faith was little. Their faith was small. In the Gospel of Mark Chapter 4:40 where Jesus said to his disciples, “...Why are ye so fearful? How is it that ye have no faith? So, the disciples had a dilemma; because some of them had little faith, and some of them had no faith at all. What an awful predicament to find yourself in? According to John 1: 14 that Jesus Christ was God manifested in the flesh, and the 139th Psalm reveals to us that God is all-seeing and he’s all-knowing. So, Jesus knew the answer to His question, but Jesus Christ of Nazareth (being a merciful God) utilized this experience as a moment to teach His disciples a lesson about faith. From this teachable moment, Jesus Christ is still teaching us today.
I don’t know about you, but I understand the fear and the panic that the disciples felt when the storm was on the sea. The bible says that the current of the sea was so strong, that the ship was being covered by the waves. This means that water was getting inside of the ship. Any time water starts getting inside a boat or a ship, it’s a sign that the ship is going down. The disciples know this. So, this is why they ran to Jesus saying, “Master!!! Save us!!! We perish!
How many of you have experienced storms in your life, and you wonder to God “Lord, Do you care that we are perishing?” I am not ashamed to testify that I know what it’s like to be overwhelmed with the feelings of panic and fear wondering, “Lord, do you care about what I am going through? Do you care about the suffering state of humanity?” As a preacher, I like to think of myself as a watchman. It is a part of our duties as preachers to be watchmen on the wall who will preach the Jesus Christ of the Bible and warn against dangers that have been set up against God’s people. Sometimes when you sit on that wall as a watchman, you can be discouraged by the things you see. Sometimes you see the plague that sin has been and how it is destroying humanity; Sin in the government; False doctrines creeping into the churches and Christian educational institutions; Corruption and witchcraft and manipulation in politics and government; Sometimes you see dangers and attacks established by the forces of Satan, and you sound the alarm in hopes that the people will here and that God will come to the rescue..
Every now and then, even as a preacher, anxiety and fear will try to creep in and take over your life. When your gaze and your focus is on all of these things, it can be overwhelming. Sometimes when the storm is raging, and the wind is moving and howling in violence; The waves of the water are so high, and the water is splashing into the ship. It can be distracting, but we must be determined to keep our eyes focused on Jesus. No matter how hard the wind blows; No matter how the waves are tossed and battered by the angry seas of life; we must have our minds made up, and our hearts fixed on the Jesus Christ of the Bible. In Isaiah 26:3, the prophet Isaiah was praying to the Holy One of Israel when he said, “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee. While Isaiah was thinking on the peace of God, he couldn’t keep it to himself; so in the following verse he had to preach saying “Trust ye in the LORD for ever: for in the LORD JEHOVAH is everlasting strength.” I encourage you today that you can trust in the LORD Jehovah. For HIS strength is everlasting.
Maybe you are like the disciples in this story, and your faith is small. You may even feel like you don’t have any faith. Maybe life has dealt you a hard blow. Maybe life has dealt several blows to your faith. Tragedy is all around, and your heart has been broken; but even though your faith is small you have to muster up all the faith you have (even though it’s small) cry out to Jesus, and say, “Lord Save Us! If you don’t save us, we will perish. One could argue that if it were not for Jesus, that ship would have gone down and the men would have surely perished. But the miracle in this passage is that Jesus was there. The miracle is that God was there. The safety, and the refuge, and the security we have in the presence of God is a beautiful thing. Thank God that the disciples, even though their faith was small, they had enough faith to go to Jesus. Because He was there, and He is there for you even now. As we have evaluated Matthew, we are able to see that Jesus used what seemed to be a tragedy to teach his disciples a lesson about faith. In His infinite wisdom, we are able to recognize that Jesus teaches this lesson by simply asking the question, “Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith?”
There is critical information found in the gospel of Mark that mentions the same instance that Matthew was talking about, but there was a small difference between the two. Matthew tells us that Jesus rebuked the winds and the sea, but Mark tells us exactly what Jesus said when He was rebuking the wind and the sea. In Mark 4:39, the apostle Mark said, “And he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.”
When we look at Mark 4: 39 (KJV) ,which is also one of the synoptic gospels as we mentioned before, there we see where Mark said, “And he arose and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.” Why is it important that Jesus said, “Peace, be still.” One could argue that Jesus was simply proving his apostles his divinity as the Son of God. I would agree that this is true, because the fact that Jesus could command nature to do a thing and it listens is definitely a God-like characteristic. For example, In Genesis 1:1-3 (KJV), the prophet Moses teaches us that, “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.” In the very genesis of creation, God commands for light to appear and light appears. So, when Jesus declares Peace and commands the winds to be still, and it obeys: that is indeed a God-like characteristic. So, to say that in this moment Jesus could have been declaring his Godship as the Son of God could definitely be true.
However, I believe that there is more that Jesus was teaching His disciples when He spoke these words. We know that the wisdom of God is infinite. God’s wisdom has no limit. We also know that in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And we know that Jesus is that Word that is God. In knowing this, we know that Jesus also is omniscient in His ability which means that He (Jesus) knew that the storm was coming on to the sea but yet He chose to go to sleep. Jesus knows that the storm is coming. Why would he choose to go to sleep? Well, as I mentioned before, Jesus the Christ was a master teacher. The thing about a master teacher is that they can teach you a whole lot without saying much. Sometimes they only say a few words. When they use more than a few words, it usually takes time and study for the student to unpack what the teacher is saying. Sometimes they don’t say anything. Sometimes they choose to show.
In this moment, it is my belief that Jesus Christ the Son of the living God was showing His apostles what inward peace looks like; and he was also showing them that inner peace has the ability to affect the external surroundings. Dr. Rayford T. Iglehart said that, “Many times people are praying for God to remove trouble and conflict from their lives, but peace is not the removal of external conflict. Peace is the removal of conflict in the internal.” What he is saying is that when you get to the root of peace, it starts on the inside. We have to have peace in our souls and in our spirits regardless of the chaos that is going on outside.
So, the question is “How do we get this peace on the inside?” For those who are practicing a life of sin, it is a matter of repenting and believing in Jesus Christ the Son of the living God. Paul says in Romans 10:9, “If thou confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in thine heart that God raised him from the dead; thou shalt be saved. In 1 John 1:8-9 the apostle John says, “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves; and the truth is not in us. But if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins, and cleanse us of all unrighteousness. So, we must confess with our mouths that Jesus Christ is the Lord and Master of our lives. We must also confess our sins, and God is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and cleans us of all unrighteousness. The apostle John also said in 1 John 2:1, “My little children, I write these things unto you that ye sin not; but if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the Righteous.” This means that after we have confessed our Jesus Christ as our Lord believing that God the Father raised him from the dead; This means that after we have confessed our sins, we are determined to “sin not.” We are determined to live holy while turning away from sin; but if any man sins, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous.
You may be wondering to yourself “I have done all of these things. I have confessed Jesus Christ as my Lord believing that God has raised him from the dead. I have confessed my sins. I have committed myself to a life of holiness forsaking the life of sin; but somehow fear and anxiety has been creeping up causing me to worry about things I cannot control. It is important that I remind you that, even though you have done all of these things, you still live in sinful flesh because of the sin of Adam. Even though you have given your life to Jesus Christ, you still have a sin nature. The Elder Michael C. Hickmon says it like this, “Your flesh cannot be saved.” This is a true saying. Our flesh cannot be saved, because we were born with a fallen nature. Our flesh cannot be saved. Paul said in 1Corinthians 15:50, “Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither can corruption inherit incorruption.” In the book of Romans, Paul talks about the war that goes on in our bodily members. He talks about how the flesh is warring against the Spirit, and he also says that the Spirit is against the flesh. Paul says when I would do good, evil was always present.
It is the Spirit of God who gives us peace. It is the Spirit of God who gives us liberty and freedom. 2 Corinthians 3:17 says, “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty.” The Spirit of God wants us to live in faith, and peace, and freedom, and it is our sin nature that wants to panic and fear the unknown. So, what must we do? Paul says that in Galatians 5: 24-25, “And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.” We must crucify and reject the lusts of the flesh. We must die to our sin nature, and walk in the Spirit of God.
Isaiah talked about the focus of the mind, in that if a man keeps his eyes stayed on God, then God will keep him in perfect peace. If you keep your eyes on Jesus, He will keep you in perfect peace. Don’t worry about tomorrow. Just keep your eyes on Jesus. Well, in John chapter 12, Jesus was telling his disciples that He was getting to be crucified. In John chapter 13 he prophesies of the betrayal of Judas Iscariot, and he prophesies the denial of Peter. In John chapter 14, Jesus was comforting His apostles saying, “Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know.”
Then Jesus tells of the perfect union between the Father and Son. He goes on to tell of the coming of the Comforter who is the Spirit of Truth, and how the Spirit of Truth would teach us all things, and bring all things to our remembrance that was taught by Jesus. Then, He goes on to say in John 14," Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” I heard Jesus say I leave you peace, and the world can’t give you peace.
The President of the United States can’t give you peace. The government can’t give you peace. The doctor and the nurses can't give you peace. The psychologists and the counselors can’t give you peace. And the gospel preachers, though we love you with mighty burning fire and we wish the best for your life, we can not give you that peace that surpasses all understanding. There was only one who qualified to bring us into the right fellowship with God. There is only one who was qualified to bring peace and good will towards mankind; and that is Jesus Christ the Son of the living God. How is Jesus the only one who qualified to give us peace that surpasses all understanding?
In John 1:12 the apostle John teaches us that Jesus gave us the power to become sons of God. Can’t you see? That is why JESUS was able to sleep in the middle of the storm. Jesus was able to sleep in perfect peace in the midst of the storm, because He knew that He was the only begotten Son of God. He knew that He couldn’t die until it was time; but one day He chose to die so that it would be possible for us to become sons of God. One day, He died so that we can rest in the peace of God. The prophet Isaiah said, “He was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities, and the chastisement of our peace was upon him.” He was wounded to wash away our sins. He was bruised to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. He was chastised so that we can have peace in our souls and peace in our spirits. He went through everything he went through to give us the peace that is only given to the children of God. I can hear the Master say, "Come unto me, all ye that labour, and are heavy laden; and I will give you rest for your souls" (Matthew 11:28-29). Come to Him now while the blood is still running warm in your veins. He will give you peace in the midst of the storm. He will give you the peace that passes all understanding.
Let us pray,
Our Father who art in heaven. We thank you for sharing your word with us today. We ask that you forgive us of all our sins and cleanse us of all unrighteousness. We confess Jesus Christ as our Lord and Master, and we believe that you raised him from the dead to save us from sin and the penalty thereof. We thank you for giving us the power to become children of God. Thank you for your only begotten Son making the perfect sacrifice so that we could be in the right fellowship with you. Thank you for the Holy Spirit who comforts us, makes us free, and teaches us all things pertaining to Jesus Christ our Lord. Thank you for giving us the peace that passes all understanding. Help us to always be mindful of the peace you provided for us even in the midst of the storm, free from all fear and anxiety. In Jesus Christ mighty name we pray,
Amen.
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