Message for THE LORD'S DAY MORNING, September 6, 2018 Christian Hope Church of Christ, Plymouth, North Carolina by Reggie A. Braziel, Minister Message 28 in Making A Difference Sermon Series from the Gospel of Mark JESUS WALKS ON WATER Mark 6:45-52 (NKJV) As we continue with our series of messages from the Gospel of Mark, I would like for you to please open your Bibles once again to Mark chapter six. And we are going to pick up right where we left off last Lord's Day, beginning in verse 45 and we'll read down to verse 52. MARK 6:45-52 (NKJV) 45 Immediately He made His disciples get into the boat and go before Him to the other side, to Bethsaida, while He sent the multitude away. 46 And when He had sent them away, He departed to the mountain to pray. 47 Now when evening came, the boat was in the middle of the sea; and He was alone on the land. 48 Then He saw them straining at rowing, for the wind was against them. Now about the fourth watch of the night He came to them, walking on the sea, and would have passed them by. 49 And when they saw Him walking on the sea, they supposed it was a ghost, and cried out; 50 for they all saw Him and were troubled. But immediately He talked with them and said to them, Be of good cheer! It is I; do be afraid. 51 Then He went up into the boat to them, and the wind ceased. And they were greatly amazed in themselves beyond measure marveled. 52 For they had not understood about the loaves, because their heart was hardened. Let's pause here and ask the LORD to bless our time of study this morning.
I N T R O D U C T I O N It had been a long and busy day for JESUS and His apostles. After hearing the report of what His disciples had done and taught on the mission He sent them on, Jesus and His apostles got in a boat and set sail for the other side of the Sea of Galilee to a secluded place, where they would spend some down time to get some rest. As you remember from our message last Lord's Day, those plans were quickly canceled when a crowd of 15,000-20,000 people greeted them when they came ashore. Jesus was filled with compassion for the multitude. He saw them as sheep without a shepherd. So Jesus spent the day teaching the great multitude and at the end of the day, He performed that great miracle of Feeding Thousands with just five loaves and two fish. It is now late in the evening on the same day as we come to today's text. -Everyone has eaten until full. -The disciples have gone around and collected all the food that was left over, which was enough to fill 12 baskets. And this brings us to the first thought we want to consider and that is... I. Jesus SENDS His DISCIPLES Away (vs. 45, 46) 45 Immediately He made His disciples get into the boat and go before Him to the other side, to Bethsaida, while He sent the multitude away. 46 And when He had sent them away, He departed to the mountain to pray. 1. It is very easy to read these two verses and totally miss the significance of what is going on here. Pay close attention to the fact that Jesus sends away two groups of people here; He sends away His disciples and He sends away the multitude.
2. Pay close attention to the wording of verse 45... v. 45 Immediately He made His disciples get into the boat and go before Him to the other side, to Bethsaida. Immediately Immediately after the miraculous feeding of the multitude...just as soon as everyone was done eating and the leftovers were gathered, Jesus immediately made His disciples get into the boat and leave! The Greek term for made literally means Jesus forced forced or Jesus drove drove His disciples to get back in the boat and He sent them away. 3. Why the rush? Why the sense of urgency? Mark doesn't tell us, but John does in his account of this same event. JOHN 6:15 (NKJV) Therefore when Jesus perceived that they were about to come and take Him by force to make Him king, He departed again to the mountain by Himself alone. 4. Here is what's going on. After the miraculous feeding of the multitude there was a sense of euphoria in the air. The enthusiasm for JESUS reaches a fever pitch. For nearly two years now, Jesus has been preaching and teaching and healing sick people and driving out demons and raising the dead back to life. They now know Jesus can heal all their diseases, and raise their dead, and that He could provide all their physical needs as He had supplied them with food that evening. They now believe Jesus is just the man to become their king. They believe He is the man who can overthrow Herod and deliver them from Roman oppression and return Israel back over to the Jewish people.
We must remember at this point in Jesus' ministry, the disciples were still prone to believe that Jesus' Messiahship involved a political over-throw. Of course JESUS had no plan to lead a political revolution. He had no plan to lead a rebellion against Roman rule. He came to DIE! He came to DIE for the sins of the world, NOT to become the political king of Israel! These people were trying to side-track Jesus from His mission. They were trying to get Him to take a detour away from the cross. And Jesus knew He had to take immediate action to defuse this volatile situation that was about to get out of control. He knew He had to separate His disciples from the multitude. This is why Jesus Immediately made His disciples get back in the boat and sent them away, while He stayed behind to send the multitude away. 5. In verse 46 Mark tells us that after Jesus sent the multitude away, He departed to the mountain to pray. Now what did Jesus pray about? He could have prayed for His Father's protection from having another uprising of the people to make Him king. He is praying that He might stay focused on His true mission and not yield to the temptation to be side-tracked by the agenda of others. 6. But I have a strong feeling that JESUS wasn't just praying about heavenly matters. I believe He was also praying for His disciples. Remember JESUS had sent them away in the boat. Jesus knew that His disciples were about to encounter a storm on the sea. They didn't know that yet, but JESUS who even knows every secret thought of man, knew that His disciples were heading into a storm.
JESUS is likely praying for His Father to bless His disciples with an enduring, trusting faith in the midst of the storm. 7. There is a powerful truth that you and I need to grap here so listen closely!!! NO STORM comes into our life by accident or by coincidence. God's hand is in every storm we go through. He either allows the storm to come to us or He sends us into the storm so that our faith and trust in Him will grow. Knowing that truth ought to give you and me a different perspective on life's storms. The purpose of life's storms is not to destroy us or to make our lives miserable, but rather to increase our faith and trust in the LORD! Well after JESUS SENT HIS DISCIPLES AWAY, the next thing we notice is... II. Jesus SAW His DISCIPLES In Trouble (vs. 47,48a) 47 Now when evening came, the boat was in the middle of the sea; and He was alone on the land. 48 Then He saw them straining at rowing, for the wind was against them. 1. I want you to notice in verse 47 it says the boat was in the middle of the sea. Now, we can easily read right over those words and totally miss their significance. 2. The fact that the boat is in the middle of the sea tells us the boat is way off course. Remember at least six or seven of the twelve disciples were professional fishermen who were very familiar with those waters. They were expert sailors. Normally in the day time and especially at night, these fishermen would sail along the coast line. They used the shoreline as their map or GPS. BUT THE DISCIPLES ARE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE SEA! THEY ARE WAY OFF COURSE!
3. The question is why? John 6:18 tells us why. 18 Then the sea arose because a great wind was blowing. 4. I have talked about these sudden, unexpected storms in one of our previous messages. That night one of those powerful storms blew up and the disciples got caught right in the middle of it. And verse 48 says, Then He saw them straining at rowing. If you have ever been in a boat when a strong wind kicks up you can relate to this. Jesus saw His disciples rowing as hard as they could row. He saw them exerting every ounce of human strength they had, all to no avail. The harder they rowed the farther the wind pushed them out to sea. 5. JESUS saw them straining and struggling and rowing just as hard as they could row. He saw His disciples fighting a battle they could not humanly win. -Their expertise as professional fishermen was of no use to them. - Their navigation skills as experienced sailors was of no use to them. - Their knowledge of the sea was of no use to them. Their greatest human strengths and resources were rendered totally powerless against the powerful storm. 6. Often you and I do the same thing the disciples did when we find ourselves in the midst of a life storm. We strain...and we struggle...and we try rowing against the storm with the oars of our human wisdom and human strength
6. Often when we find ourselves in the midst of a life storm we strain and we struggle just as hard as we can. We try rowing with the oars of our human strength and our human wisdom only to have the storm pound us into submission. 7. It was only when the disciples came to the end of themselves that they realized the presence of the LORD was with them. Let's move on to verses 48b-52, where we see... III. Jesus SAVES His DISCIPLES (vs. 48b-52) 48b Now about the fourth watch of the night He came to them, walking on the sea, and would have passed them by. 49 And when they saw Him walking on the sea, they supposed it was a ghost, and cried out; 50 for they all saw Him and were troubled. But immediately He talked with them and said to them, Be of good cheer! It is I; do be afraid. 51 Then He went up into the boat to them, and the wind ceased. And they were greatly amazed in themselves beyond measure marveled. 52 For they had not understood about the loaves, because their heart was hardened. 1. It is the middle of the night. Everything is pitch dark. The disciples have likely been fighting against this storm for about eight to nine hours now. They are absolutely exhausted. The fierce wind blowing in their faces is causing their eyes to water. And it is everything they can do to keep from getting thrown overboard by the powerful waves crashing against the side of the boat. 2. Sometime during the fourth watch of the night, which was between 3:00 o'clock and 6:00 o'clock in the morning, JESUS comes walking on top of the water. I have walked THROUGH water...and I have walked UNDER water, BUT I HAVE NEVER WALKED ON TOP OF WATER...how about you? JESUS CAME WALKING ON THE WATER TO THEM.
3. And I want you to notice something very interesting Mark tells us in verse 48, He came walking on the sea, (now listen closely) and would have passed them by. Now when we read that it sounds like Jesus intended to keep walking past the boat His disciples were in, perhaps waving at them as He passed by. Did Jesus intend to just let His disciples drown? NOT AT ALL!!! In the original Greek language this phrase means, Jesus desired to come alongside of them. What a beautiful thought! In the midst of the storm! In the midst of their trouble! In the midst of their weakness... JESUS DESIRED TO COME ALONGSIDE OF HIS DISCIPLES. HE WANTED HIS DISCIPLES TO KNOW THEY WERE NOT ALONE BUT THAT HE WAS WITH THEM IN THE STORM. 4. Now we might picture Jesus with His face and hair soaked and His clothes drenched with water. But I like the way one commentator describes it: He says, Jesus smoothed the waves around Him and behind Him with each step He took. In other words, Jesus was perfectly dry! He was untouched by the storm! 5. Well as the disciples saw Jesus walking on the water towards them and Mark tells us, they supposed it was a ghost, and cried out; for they all saw Him and were troubled. Now picture this! There's a powerful storm all around them. They see what appears to be a ghost coming towards them. And they have no where to go! They are trapped in the boat! And they let out what can be best described as a bloodcurdling scream! They are in a state of sheer panic!
6. Well Jesus quickly calmed their fears. He says to them, Be of good cheer! It is I; do not be afraid. Its not a ghost! it is Me, Your LORD and Master. 7. And with those calm, soothing words, Jesus stepped into the boat with them, and immediately the wind died down and the waves went flat as though there had never been a storm! Mark says, And they were greatly amazed in themselves beyond measure and marveled. (v. 51) ************************************************************ C O N C L U S I O N It has been said, Everyone is currently going through a storm, or just been through a storm, or is about to go through a storm. Whether you are IN ONE...JUST CAME OUT OF ONE...or ARE ABOUT TO TO GO THROUGH ONE, there is a valuable lesson for all of us to take away from today's message. And that lesson is this: While the LORD doesn't promise us we will never go through storms in this life, He does promise to be with us in our storms. While Jesus' disciples were in the midst of the storm they felt as though they had been abandoned by the LORD, but what they didn't realize was that JESUS WAS WATCHING OVER THEM THE WHOLE TIME! JESUS SAW THEIR STRUGGLE! HE WAS KEENLY AWARE OF THEIR FEAR, AND BEFORE LONG JESUS APPEARED IN THE MIDST OF THE STORM AND MADE HIS PRESENCE KNOWN. And in an instant, the disciples' fear was transformed into faith! In the midst of our storms we sometimes don't sense the presence of the LORD with us. In fact, in our weakest moments we might even feel as though the LORD has forsaken us and left us to perish in our storm. BUT NOTHING COULD BE FURTHER FROM THE TRUTH. As we leave here today remember this great truth: In the midst of every storm, we need not fear, for the LORD is with us; and Our Savior is greater than our storm!