Mark 4, beginning in verse 35, listen as I read, Mark 4, verse 35, 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 with them in the boat just as he was and the other boats were with him and a great wind storm arose and the waves were breaking into the boat so that the boat was already filling. And he was in the stern asleep on the cushion and they woke him and said to him, to 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 and he said to them, why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith? They were filled with great fear and said to one another, who then is this that even the wind and the sea obey him? This is the word of the Lord. Lord God, we ask that you would teach us who you are. Whether we have heard of you most of our life or perhaps today is the first time we really will understand something of who you are. Do what only you can do, reveal the truth to us. We praise you for your holy word and to thank you, Holy Spirit, for helping us see. We ask all this in Christ's name, amen. There are many, many truths that we can discover as we walk through these miracles. But one thing that you might not see immediately is that this miracle is what Spurgeon would call, a miniature outline of the story of the church in all ages. It is a type of ecclesiastical history. What does he mean by that? Throughout the history of the church, one of the great symbols has been a vessel on water. A vessel on the sea. In fact, if you look around our sanctuary at the stained glass, you will notice ships set south. Perhaps the clearest one is in this third window from the front here on the north side, under the title historical, on the right panel you see there is a boat. In that boat, we have this promise that the body of Christ is sailing, and Christ is the admiral, the king, the captain of that ship. Interestingly, look at me by the way, don't start studying the glass. It is a great picture because as we as the body of Christ are in the boat, we have been promised that it is not going to be smooth sailing. We have actually been promised that there will be treacherous storms. It is true. It is not the sense of once we are in the boat with Jesus, it is all calm from here to eternity. There will be a time when it is smooth for eternity, but between now and then we will be going through storms. The church in all generations has gone through storms, storms of heresy and persecution. It is happening today just as it happened in the book of Acts. But the church also goes through the storms of individual members experiencing great pain. Pain that is the fruit of living in a broken and fallen world, where disease is a reality, where relationships shatter, where dreams are crushed, where children wander away, hearts break. But in the midst of all the storms, for those who are in Christ, they trust that there is the God, the one true Christ, reigning as king, Lord of the storms, mightier than all the waves. Spurgeon says this, every sale of the good ship that bears the flag of the Lord high admiral of our fleet must be beaten with wind. And every plank in her must be tried by the waves. This is God's will. Spurgeon goes on to say, this is not a picture of men who are out of the center of God's will as people sometimes put it today. They were with the Lord, and yet they passed through a terrible storm, a great danger that brought terror into the hearts and threatened their lives. This is what we can expect also, not in spite of, but because we travel in company with Jesus through this world. Look around you, see the people that you know who have gone through storms that are beyond anything that they could have imagined, who are going through storms that are beyond anything they could have ever considered. Children with serious disease, children who die way too early, marriages that fall apart. Children who once for a season were so obedient and seemed grateful to be so suddenly turning their backs on the faith that you sought to teach them, or maybe not radical rebellion, but just seeming indifferent. Children in our sanctuary now, some as freshmen and sophomores in high school, junior seniors, seeing a world that is so difficult to navigate, emptying nesters in our body, wondering what is the meaning now? We poured our lives here, and they're gone, and how are they doing? People who have dreamed of being married, single still, and sad about it, we're all in the boat together. And as you look around, there are people who have gone through the storms, who this very day say, by God's grace, I am on some calm water. And if you ask them, do you think it will be calm forever? Their response should be one day, but it won't be until that day. Because we all know that we are either in the midst of a storm, coming out of a storm, or heading into a storm, isn't it true? We know it's true, if you don't know that, you are living in an unbelievable denial. That is life this side of heaven. One should know it, the world knows it, but we have an answer. The answer is that in that ship with us is our Savior and our Lord who is in complete control. Though Jesus as a man is sleeping on a cushion because he's tired, he is not out of control. And when the disciples wake him, don't you care, he cares. He stands up, and he speaks his power through a word over the wind and the storm that he himself has made. That is God's unbelievable glory. You may be in the midst of a storm right now that you never considered. It's beyond what you could have ever imagined for your life, and you wonder, indeed, am I going to survive? And if I do, what will the new normal look like? And I'm not sure I like that new normal, and if that's how you feel, you're normal. You're a human being who has been put on this earth, and if you are in Christ, you've been saved by a God who lovingly reaches out to you to remind you of who he is. Even though he never promises this side of heaven to answer all of our questions, he never promises to say, this is why this is happening. He never promises to say, I'm going to take away all the pain until eternity, but the whole time, you know what he does promise, to give us himself. Do you see in this passage the presence of Christ, he's in the boat, he's in the storm. He is Lord of the storm, he's raining his king. Our world right now, as the church looks out, things look completely out of control. Do they not? What is happening? Watching a football game with your child, if you don't have a DVR to pause so they don't have to watch commercials, you don't see perhaps what's being promoted as normal, even shows with that title in it, like the new normal. This is what's ordinary, but it's always been that way. The church has gone through storms in every generation of heresy, corruption, persecution. But Christ has never, ever, ever failed to reign, and he never will. That is why this image that the Lord gives us of the boat is so powerful. If you are in Christ, you have professed faith in Christ, you are in the boat. I'm in the boat with you, but I'm not the head of the boat. The elders aren't the head of the boat. Christ, our king, is the head admiral. He is the one who is in complete control. As a pastor, I look out on this body and know that many of you have gone through experiences that you never thought you could survive. Others of you are in the midst of challenging circumstances that you aren't sure you can survive, and others of you are terrified that what has happened to some of the people I'm even speaking about might indeed happen to you. It might. I would be lying if I said anything else, but this is true throughout the church. The power of our Savior Christ has always revealed His presence. Throughout the church, the power of our risen Christ, our king, has always shown that He is good and He is faithful. And people who believe that, even in the most overwhelming circumstances, find a peace that they finally describe as beyond what understanding, because it is. They can approach things and see things in ways that you can never imagine. And it is a gift from God of Himself. It's amazing. And that's why we go here because you, no matter how far you feel, you have fallen. No matter how powerful and painful the brokenness in your life, you, if you are in Christ, are in a vessel on a stormy sea with people like you who have the same God who believe deeply that He can heal. He can bring peace. He can make things calm, but it might not happen until eternity. But there will be a day where that sea will be glassy, and it will become forever. And what Christ does is He calls His people to look beyond the storm to the Lord who's raining and believe that He knows what He's doing, that He is in control, even though we can't make sense of it all. The disciples were real people, 12 real men on this boat with Jesus. There were other boats around this boat, the text tells us that, and these men were terrified of the wind and the waves. Why? Because they thought they were going to die. It was real. They walked with Jesus for three years and went through unbelievable circumstances where they saw the power of God, of Christ, flowing, and ways that were beyond anything they could ever imagine, and yet they still stumbled, they still fell, they still lacked faith. We do too, don't we? And He, the Lord knows it. And that's why the greatest storm of all took place, over 2,000 years ago in that hill called Golgotha, where for the disciples whom Jesus had forecast that this storm was going to happen, He took it. In the garden He prayed earnestly with blood sweating from His body because of how He felt about what He was about to do, and He said, Lord, Your will be done. And it was the Lord's will. His father's will. Listen to this. It was the Lord's will. It was His father's will to crush Him. It was. Why? So that His people could live the promise that one day through the blood of that man, through that man's righteousness, his perfect robe, we as people would be covered. And though between now and eternity, that day in which we are on the heavenly shore, we'll be full of storms and pain, sin and brokenness. We have eternity to gaze at this God, a sea perfectly calm. It seemed out of control, I promise you, on Golgotha, but God was in complete control. This was His will. Going through storms together, going through a storm individually, you will be afraid. But what the Lord does, even in the worst of circumstances, is He teaches us to preach to ourselves daily, multiple times a day, the truth of His holy word which I'm speaking now. Last Sunday, it was a very moving piece that our choir sung, a very familiar hymn. It is well with my soul. It was, if you weren't here, it was just spectacular. And we clapped not to praise any man or any woman but our God. But I want you to listen just for a minute to what? One portion of this hymn says, in the first verse, whatever my lot, thou, you God, have taught me to say it is well with my soul, no matter what the circumstances, no matter how much the lack of peace demands your anxiety, your fear. We preach the truth to ourselves, those who are in Christ, that no matter the lot, it is well with my soul. The man who wrote that hymn, some of you know the story, but I'm going to tell you again, his name was Eratio Spapper, in 1871 he had lost his only son. Let that sink in, if you have a child, let it sink in, if you know of people in our very body who have lost the child, it has happened. He had lost his only son and then in 1871 the great fire consumed much of his real estate. He was a lawyer, a wealthy man. In 1873 he was supporting Dwight Omudi in his large evangelistic efforts that were taking place all around the world, a deep devoted man of God. In 1873 he put his wife and four daughters on a ship to go across the Atlantic. He had purchased himself a ticket also but he had to be delayed. So he was. He put his wife and four girls on the ship and he set sail and on that voyage that ship was struck by another vessel. A number of days went by before Eratio heard what had happened but he received a cable from his wife that simply said saved alone. He then had to take the ticket, get on a ship and sail across the very ocean and apparently it was pointed out at some point that this is where the ship had sunk. What went through his mind as he considered those waters and swallowed up his four girls? I've often thought about that man and what must that have been like? But he thought about his wife sitting on the other side of the ocean waiting for her husband to mourn together to find hope. It's there that he penned those words. It is well with my soul. It's there in that him that he speaks of the cross and what Christ did to die for his sin. Brothers and sisters, that him reminds us of what Scripture says. For those who are in Christ, it is well with our soul. It is not a phrase that we use to deny the pain that we are in but a phrase that we use to be reminded while in the pain that he is still in control. He is still reigning as king. We can find great comfort not because he promised that things like that wouldn't happen this side of heaven but because he's with us in the midst of it. It's still hard. But there's that hope. As we prepare to come to the table, I want you to know that this table is for people who believe that, who have placed their faith in Jesus Christ, who know no matter what the circumstances, their life is in good hands with Christ. It is well with their soul but if it is not true of you at this point that you have trusted in Christ, I want to tell you simply this. It is not well with your soul. You do not know that promise that I'm speaking of. And maybe it's true that today is the day that he has brought you here to reveal that truth to you. If you have not yet professed faith in Christ and I urge you not to come to this table, less what Paul says you would eat and drink judgment on yourself but instead consider what it means to have a Savior who died to make your soul well for eternity. If you choose not to believe that and you never do believe that, then what awaits those who are outside Christ is storms beyond your ultimate imagination that will last for eternity, trust