Lessons from Storms

[00:00:00] I have some rather disjointed thoughts this morning. But they are so force forcefully in my heart that I feel I must share them with you. And they are all to do with the two occasions in the gospel according to Matthew where there was a storm. [00:00:24] There are two occasions in the Gospel according to Matthew. The first is in Matthew, chapter eight and verse 23. Now I'm going to read this to you in the new English Bible. [00:00:39] Not because I am over fond of the new English Bible, but because when I was reading it in the new English Bible, it was there that it struck me so forcefully and has remained with me ever since. Here it is. Matthew 823. Jesus then got into the boat, and his disciples followed. All at once a great storm arose on the lake till the waves were breaking right over the boat. But he went on sleepy market. [00:01:14] The waves were breaking right over the boat. But he went on sleeping. So they came and woke him up, crying, save us, lord, we are sinking. Why are you such cowards? He said, how little faith you have. [00:01:35] Then he stood up and rebuked the wind and the sea, and there was a dead calm. [00:01:41] The men were astonished at what had happened and exclaimed, what sort of man is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him? And then in chapter 14, verse 22. [00:01:57] Chapter 14, verse 22. [00:02:02] Then he made the disciples embark and go on ahead to the other side. Now you must note that in both these occasions the Lord took the initiative. He led them into the storm. First he got into the boat, and they followed him, and they found themselves in a storm. The second time he made the disciples embark and go on ahead to the other side, while he sent the people away. After doing that, he went up the hillside to pray alone. It grew late, and he was there by himself. The boat was already some furlongs from the shore, battling with a head wind and a rough sea. Between three and six in the morning, he came to them walking on the lake. [00:02:46] When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were so shaken that they cried out in terror, it's a ghost. But at once he spoke to them. Take heart. It is I. Do not be afraid. Peter called to him, Lord, if it's you, tell me to come to you over the water. Come on then, said Jesus. Peter stepped down from the boat and walked over the water towards Jesus. But when he saw the strength of the gale, he was seized with fear and beginning to think, he cried, save me, Lord. Jesus at once reached out and caught hold of him and said, why did you hesitate? How little faith you have. [00:03:30] They then climbed into the boat and the wind dropped and the men in the boat fell at his feet, exclaiming, truly you are the son of God. [00:03:45] Now it is rather extraordinary, first of all, that we find these two occasions in the gospel according to Matthew, and we find them both in the section from verse twelve of chapter four to verse twelve of chapter 16 that deals with the proclamation of the kingdom by the king. [00:04:10] And you will remember, those of you who have been studies on Matthew, that much of it is to do with the authority of the king and the kingdom. And both these signs, these miracles, set forth the authority, the supreme authority of our Lord Jesus Christ. [00:04:30] Now, I don't think it needs to be said here that there is, that these two miracles were not just miracles. They weren't just a performance of some great act. They were signs. And a sign is more than a miracle because a sign signifies something. In other words, both these miracles were meant to signify to us who are God's people for all time certain tremendous spiritual truths. They not only set before us the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ, the power of the Lord Jesus Christ, the supremacy of the Lord Jesus Christ, the victory of the Lord Jesus Christ, but they set before us also other things. There is more to it than just that, and that's really what I want to talk about this morning, because I think the last week or two we've known something of a storm. [00:05:31] Some of us have been more aware of it than others. But there has been a storm, a big storm, and it is well for us to understand why we're in a storm and how we are to face storms. For you must never, never think for a single moment that the christian life is stormless. [00:05:57] The christian life is storm filled. [00:06:01] Eternal spring and eternal summer all in one and eternal autumn will be ours in glory. [00:06:10] But down here we have storm after storm after storm. [00:06:16] And you've only got to read the word of God to discover that the more significant the work of God, the more present the Holy spirit, then the greater the storms, the more violent the conflict, the more tremendous the antagonism. Because you must remember that we live in a world which lies in the evil one. And the prince of this world, whilst he seems to have great power, has been cast out. He is a usurper. [00:06:43] And we are the representatives of the kingdom of heaven. We are here as the embodiment of the kingship of God. We are really virtually the death knell of Satan, as he sees us gathering, as he sees us worshipping, as he sees the spirit of God bringing Christ into us and triumphing in us, in all our afflictions and problems and circumstances. The devil knows he's beaten, so he looks at us and he becomes frightened. [00:07:16] Thats why this table is a setting forth of the death of the Lord Jesus. The devil hates the thing. He hates it because every time we do it, it is as if a bell is tolling in his ears, ringing out his end, his destruction. [00:07:33] Every time there is a baptism, the devil hates it because the waters of baptism speak and set forth something again of the victory of the Lord Jesus Christ over the devil. And not just his victory over the devil personally, but the fact that he takes us into his victory. We go with him into death, into burial, and out into resurrection, where the devil can't get hold of us. You see, the power of the devil is death. [00:08:02] When you and I live a resurrection life down here, we've passed out of the realm of Satan. He can't do anything about it. The only way he can get a lever in our lives is for us to go back, as it were, take steps back from resurrection into the grave and back into the life before crucifixion. [00:08:23] That's putting it rather badly, but you know what I mean. Go back to the old life, go back to the old nature, go back to the old ways, and immediately the devil's got his, got his lever in us. But once there is more of Christ, there's more of the resurrection life and power of Christ. The more we know of the other side of the cross, the resurrection side of the cross, we have passed out and beyond the power of Satan. And what is the church? Is it an organization? Is it a system? Is it just some kind of institution, some hoary, old traditional antique? [00:08:58] Is it something that belongs to before the crucifixion and burial of the Lord Jesus? All men have made it like that. It's not much different from any other great religious systems of the world. It's not very much different from some of the other great human clubs and societies of the world. It is wholly explicable. [00:09:21] But that's not the church. The church is something that is on the other side of the cross, on the resurrection side. It is the new man. It is something that is born of God, empowered of God, endued of God. It is the manifestation of the Lord Jesus Christ through the members of his body. It is something wholly on the ground of resurrection. [00:09:46] And you and I know that the more our old man gets through into that church, the more corrupted and compromised it becomes, the more the Holy Spirit can bring the cross into our lives and work deeply in our beings. The more pure the thing is, the more sanctified the things. That's the word, sanctified. It doesn't mean we're miseries. [00:10:08] It doesn't mean we're just negatives. [00:10:12] Sanctification means that we're on the other side of the cross where there's joyous and peace. My dear friend, the sign that you're unsanctified is misery. [00:10:23] It's true. It's mi. The sign of the evidence. The hallmark of being on the wrong side of the cross is misery. [00:10:33] Don't you know it's an experience? Every time the Lord has released you, every time the Lord's already done something, you're filled with joy. [00:10:41] You may go through great suffering and great trouble and great darkness, but there's some joy and peace in your heart. You know, it's you're on the other side of the quest. But every time there's some issue that keeps you on the other side of the class. What is your experience? [00:10:55] Emptiness, vanity, frustration, all that. Well, now, we mustn't be diverted. But the whole Bible, I think, is filled with evidence for storm and difficulty. Someone read some portion. I was just trying to think where it was this morning. It was one of the portions that was read. It was either the Isaiah one or one of the others. I don't think it was the deuteronomy one, but it. His path is in the sea. [00:11:27] It's footsteps in mighty waters. [00:11:30] It speaks to something impossible. Here it is again. It's the same thing again. [00:11:36] When you go through the rivers, I will be with, and the floods, they shall not overflow thee. [00:11:45] The Lord's great pomps. Now it's all contained in these two stories. [00:11:52] These two stories you will remember in psalm two, when the Lord says he has set his king upon his holy hill of Zion, then the heathen rage and I and the peoples imagine a vain thing. There's a terrific storm. Terrific storm. Yet the Lord says calmly, in the midst of it all, I'm not the least bit bothered about this storm. He that sitteth in the heavens will laugh. [00:12:18] He will just laugh at them. There's a great storm. It's black, the waves are high, the wind is gale force, and everything is cracking up. And what does the Lord say? He says, I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion. Let them do their works. And then he said, I will tell the decree. [00:12:38] I will give to him the uttermost parts of the earth for a possession. [00:12:42] So it's as if the Lord says, right now, mark what I'm going to say here. It's as if the Lord steps back and says, right, just because I have done it, just because my victory is absolutely secure, I'm going to let the devil do his worst. [00:13:02] He can simply exhaust himself. That's exactly what the devil is doing, exhausting himself. [00:13:09] His last great exhaustion will take place at the end of the age when he will put into his thing every reserve he's got in his armoury and he will be completely exhausted. When he's done it all. The Lord will come and destroy him with the breath of his mouth. Just like that. With the breath of his mouth. He'll be destroyed. He'll be so exhausted, he won't be able to lift up. [00:13:32] So the Lord knows exactly what he's doing. But now let's come to these stories. [00:13:38] Why is it that we have these two stories? Now, I think all of you know that Matthew was a very mythological man. [00:13:48] You remember, in our studies of Matthew, he was a very methodical man. He had, we believe, some kind of rabbinical background, and he put everything carefully. Now, why is it that he has given us this little story in Matthew chapter eight first, and then later on Matthew chapter 414? Now, I'm going to ask you a question. When you look at Matthew eight, listen to this. He went on sleeping, so they came and woke him up, crying, save us, Lord. We're thinking, why are you such cowards? He said, how little faith you have. Then he stood up. Now, what did he expect them to do? That's my question. Have you ever asked yourself, what did he expect them to do? They were sinking. Didn't they do the right thing, going to him and waking him? I mean, otherwise they would have been on the bottom of the seabed, a lot of them. Now, I'm quite sure that perhaps one or two of them would have said, it's all right for him. He probably won't sink. [00:14:48] But us, I mean, we shall drown. [00:14:52] We shall drown. You see, that's what they were fighting. No, it was self preservation. They weren't bothered about the master. They were bothered about themselves. Care us thou not that we perish. [00:15:03] They didn't come. Say, Lord, Lord, your wonderful ministry, the object of your coming into the world, will be ended if we go down. They said, carest thou not that we perish? [00:15:14] Oh, how light that is, isn't it? To many of us, carest thou not that we perish? We're not the least bit bothered about the interests of the Lord or the object of the Lord or the purpose of God or what the Lord has as he shame. All we're bothered about is little self. Carest thou not that we perish? And some people run round in circles all their christian life with one parrot like cry, carest thou not that I perish round and round and round? [00:15:41] Now what? Why did the Lord say, why are you such cowards? What a cruel thing to say. [00:15:50] After all, it is really, it doesn't seem to be the compassionate Lord that we know. Why did he say it? Now just let's think then. Did he expect them to sink? [00:16:02] Do you think, dear friend, that the Lord was going to try and teach them to walk on the water? Then do you think that perhaps the objective of the Lord was the boat would have gone down? That's all right. And they would have found that they weren't sinking. And then he would have stood up and said, come on, we're going to walk to the shore. The boat's gone down. [00:16:23] But why else would there be such a rebuke? [00:16:28] After all, if we are in a great trouble, don't we all say we should pray when we're in a frightful storm? Don't we all say the right thing to do is to get before the Lord? [00:16:37] But here the Lord says to them, you cowards. [00:16:41] Well, if the Lord stood in our prayer meeting on Tuesday and said to us, you cowards, coming to me and crying like this about your problems, we would have said, all this is contrary to all the teaching we've ever received. We're supposed to seek the Lord in these things, aren't we? Why did the Lord do it then if there was not an objective? [00:17:06] Now you will notice that in a little later on when the same thing happens in Matthew 14. This time he won't even see. He didn't even go on sleeping. He wasn't even in the boat. He made them get into the boat and then he went up to pray. And whilst he was praying, every now and again he looked and there they were in a terrific store, absolutely terrific. And he watched all the time. He never hastened. Just watch them. See? I suppose he thought, now if they're going to learn the lesson this time. Now Luke adds a very interesting little addition. He adds something which is very interesting. He says, when the Lord walked on the water, he went, he made as if to pass them. Now why? [00:17:51] Have you ever thought why? [00:17:55] Just as if he wasn't going to go to them, he made as if to pass them. You see, his idea was, look, I'm not coming in that boat. I'm going to teach you to walk on the water. [00:18:06] So he made as if to pass. Now, when Peter saw him, he said, lord, is it you tell me to come. And the Lord said, come on, come on. This is just what I've been waiting for. The first time this happened, I wanted to teach you this, but you got into all. You all got into such a panic. We had to do something immediately. [00:18:26] Now, this time. Come on. And Peter clambered over the side of the boat, and he started to walk. And he was walking on the water. [00:18:37] He was walking on the water until, of course, the strength of the gale, as it puts in the new English Bible, he saw the strength of the gale and he began to think. Now, is it not interesting that the Lord said to him, why did you hesitate? [00:18:58] Isn't that just like us? Now, don't you think that the Lord's at the Lord's way? What the Lord's trying to teach us is this. When we're babes, when we're very young babes, the Lord Molly cognitive, he cares for us in every way. He starts his training very early, but nevertheless, it is very simple. And I won't go into it, but it's very, very simple training. Just like we had very simple training when we were babes, very simple little things. A lot of things were excused when we were babies. But then as we got a little older, the Lord says, no more excuses. You're going to learn. But if we're going to go on into the work of God, then the Lord has an objective. These were the twelve apostles. These were the men who were going to take over, as it were, from the Lord. They were going to be the representatives of the Lord, as it were. They were going to be the first church, the first, the beginning of the church. Now, what is the Lord's object? Dear, dear child of God, the Lord's object is not just to stand up and stop the storm. That's what we all want. [00:20:03] That's not the Lord's way. He wants to give us an ability to go through the storm and ride the storm. That's what he wants. He wants us to learn this very simple lesson that we can't think, very simple, can't sink. It's the most wonderful lesson. Once you've learned that, all you know, lot of us are subject to fears, but once you've found you can't sink in the storm, your fears are gone. You've faced the worst fear, and you've overcome. So the rest of the fears leave you. What does it matter? Here we are in a storm, right? We'll walk. It doesn't really matter. We should get a drenching. [00:20:41] We won't be able to see much. The spray will be in our eyes, but we are walking on the water. [00:20:48] You see, the Lord has a timing for these things. Oh, dear, how panicked filled we become when the Lord doesn't immediately answer our prayer and do something instantly and it all becomes dead calm. [00:21:02] But that's not really the Lord's mind. Now I say here there are three things. Perhaps you could just remember these three things. [00:21:13] First, I want you to understand these. This incident, this sign speaks to us of this. [00:21:24] Christ rides every storm. [00:21:32] It will never sink him. [00:21:36] No storm, however terrible, will ever sink Christ. [00:21:43] No storm, however terrible, will ever destroy Christ. [00:21:48] No storm, however fierce, will ever frustrate Christ. That's even more important to us because we all accept the verse. Frustrate him. No storm will ever frustrate him. He went on sleeping. [00:22:05] Oh, the faith of the Lord. The sovereignty of the Lord. If the Lord had been running round the boat like I would have been saying, quick there, that bucket, that there. Quick. This, do that. Hurry up. We're going down. All hands too, you know. I mean, if the Lord had been running around like that, we would have all understood it. But, oh, here is the authority of the Lord. I mean, even if he had stood on the deck and just said, do this, do that, calmly, do that, do the other, we would have said, oh, what a sort of. [00:22:36] But the real authority of our Lord Jesus is manifested in those words. He went on sleeping. [00:22:43] That shows authority that if the great storm comes and his twelve chosen apostles are in danger of drowning and he goes on sleeping, what authority? [00:22:55] He could have raised the lot from the dead if he'd wanted to. [00:22:58] No, no problem. He raised the widow of Nain's son. He raised Lazarus, though. If they'd all drowned, he would have just raised them up and then, what a story they would have had. [00:23:09] You see, they missed all that because they got panic stricken. [00:23:17] Well, you all laugh, but it's absolutely, absolutely true. They missed all that because they got panic stricken. Think. Think of what might have happened. Why the Lord? I think that's why the Lord said, why are you such cowards? In one sense it was as if the Lord was saying, you've robbed me of something and you've robbed yourself of something. I was going to teach you something here that you'd never forget, but you've robbed me of it because you got so panic stricken with the storm. [00:23:47] And with your own condition and everything else, your own circumstances. [00:23:53] The Lord rides every storm. Oh, when I think of the storms in the Lord's life. Think of his birth. Think of his life. Think of his cross. [00:24:04] Think of the early church. [00:24:06] Think of the arenas of Rome, the amphitheaters of Rome. Think of church history. Think of the 30 years war. [00:24:16] Think of all the carnage and bloodshed and storms. Of church history. [00:24:23] Oh, my. Just think of it all. And the Lord's. [00:24:28] He has. He has walked through every storm. [00:24:34] No storm has sunk him. The blood of the martyrs. What has happened? It has become the seed of the church. [00:24:41] So that's the first thing. Christ rides every storm. Get that clear. If you're in a storm today where the first thing you can say is, praise the Lord. If he's sleeping, he'll ride it. He'll ride this storm. It can't sink him. It can do a lot to me, but it can't sink him. [00:25:02] Alright. That's the first thing. What a wonderful thing it would have been if the disciples had gone. Lay to the Lord and said, well, Lord, we knew it. We would drown. We thought we might drown, but we knew it couldn't touch you. That would have been wonderful, wouldn't it? Then I think the Lord would have said, my, what faith. [00:25:19] What faith and what devotion. [00:25:22] The second thing is this. [00:25:25] The Lord Jesus can stop with a single word. [00:25:30] Any storm, one single word and he can stop it. So don't get panic stricken. [00:25:38] The Lord's only got to say the word and it's finished. And don't you know that in your experience, big storm, and then suddenly the Lord just says a word and it's done, it's over. [00:25:47] He can do it. So if he doesn't do it, there's a reason. [00:25:51] What is the object to teach us to walk on the sea? [00:25:59] When we have learned that simple little lesson of walking on the sea? What can the devil do? [00:26:07] Have you ever thought of it? [00:26:10] What can the devil do? [00:26:15] You have learned to do something. That means he has no capacity, no ability to frighten you. [00:26:24] You're walking on the storm. [00:26:27] Now, maybe this is a word more for the older ones. But you see how often we all want the storm removed and stopped. [00:26:36] And you know when we do and when we get panic stricken and cry to the Lord, we rob the Lord of something and we rob ourselves of something. [00:26:47] That's the saddest thing. The Lord always is so gracious that he had to stop it. If we get so panic stricken and so tied up, he'll just stop it. But you know where we are? I'm going to put it in colloquial language. We're back to square one. [00:27:04] Lord said, well, there you are. Oh, what kind of person is this that he has such authority? Well, that's tremendous. But he could. That could be seen over other things when later they saw other things happen, but they're really virtually back to square one. [00:27:20] You see, it's one thing to say, look at that, he stopped that storm. [00:27:25] But is that really what we want the Lord to be? Don't we want something more practical? [00:27:31] We don't just want someone who can stop the storm, we want someone who can enable us to walk on the stormy sea. When that happens, we are invincible, absolutely invincible. [00:27:47] We're walking the stormy sea. And let me tell you this, I think that once we've got really, really practised, I mean, once we've got our eyes really on the Lord and we're practiced at walking on stormy seas, then the Lord can fill our hearts with praise and we'll walk on the stormy sea singing songs of Zion. Now, Peter didn't do that. He was a bit too bothered about walking on the water and he walked. Then he sank and the Lord had to take and he said, why did you hesitate? Don't you see? The Lord would teach us to walk on stormy seas and once we've got used to it, well, I can only say that when I was first put on skis, I couldn't think of anything else but how to stop. And I couldn't stop. [00:28:37] But I dare say that once you got used to being on them, you could sing on them. [00:28:42] And I think when you walk on the sea, when you really learn to walk on the water, the stormy waters, well, then, first of all, you can only think about the wind and the waves. But there comes a time when you worship the Lord in the middle of the storm. And when that happens, my, how much it means to christ then. He's got frontline soldiers, he's got men and women who he can put right in the front line and he knows they'll go through. [00:29:19] Invincible. Why are they invincible? They've got nothing in themselves. [00:29:25] But you see, they have discovered the secret. Looking unto Jesus, the author and completer of our faith. [00:29:36] Well, may the Lord help us. Shall we pray now? Lord, thou knowest we are all human. And whenever a storm comes into our life, or whenever a storm comes upon the church, whenever we see the troubles and the difficulties, personal or corporate. [00:29:58] Our hearts begin to fail for fear. Oh, that thou couldst teach us, Lord, when thou art sleeping in the boat or when thou art not even seeming even in the boat. We might learn what it is, dear Lord, to trust in thee. And in the end to know what it is, Lord, to walk on the stormy seas. [00:30:20] And not only walk on them, Lord, but to sing thy praises and worship thee and be in communion with thee, Lord. O dear Lord, help us. We pray everyone for thy namesake. Amen.