Good afternoon, brothers and sisters in the Lord. I’ll ask you to open, please, your Bibles to Mark 6. Mark 6.
As we come to the study of God’s Word, I want to remind you—and my own heart—of a principle of Bible study that is absolutely indispensable. That principle is total reliance upon God’s Holy Spirit.
The Bible is like our Lord Jesus: there is a human side, and there is a divine side. We cannot neglect the human side. We need to study. We need to know what a paragraph is, and we need to know how to relate different things. We need academics. But if that is all we get, then we are in trouble.
There is a divine side as well, and only the Spirit of God can put the light upon the Lord Jesus in such a way that we can walk in that light. We need Him to show us the Savior. He has promised He would.
He has promised that if we would come with our mouths opened wide, He would feed us; that He would fill us. He has told us that all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden in the Lord Jesus. We know the hiding place.
He has told us that He has hidden these things from the wise and prudent, and He reveals them to babes. Now, I cannot work up a childlike attitude, and you cannot work up a childlike attitude, but God can create in us that kind of receptive heart that receives from Him.
Job 12:22 says:
He revealeth the deep things out of darkness,
And bringeth out to light the shadow of death.
I am going to ask you to bow with me, please, as we commit our time unto the Lord. And I remind you of what I know you know: we do not come into the presence of the Lord by bowing our heads. We are already in the presence of the Lord before we bow our heads. But in a special way, we acknowledge that presence as we bow before Him.
Will you join me, please, as we commit this time unto Him?
Our Father, we do thank Thee so much for the Holy Spirit, who lives in our hearts, who ever turns the eyes of our hearts unto the Lord Jesus. We pray that we might have a revelation of Him this afternoon; that we might behold Him according to our capacities, as You know them.
Minister the Savior unto us in a living way. Open our eyes. Open our hearts. We thank You in advance that You are going to meet with us, because we ask and we claim it in the all-prevailing name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.
Yesterday afternoon, we meditated for a little bit on heavenly obedience, or obeying by the grace of God, or supernatural obedience—whatever you want to call it, as long as you understand that it is the obedience that comes out of abiding in the Lord. It is a byproduct of our union with Him.
We illustrated that wonderful truth by Noah—God’s revelation of Himself to Noah. We saw how God gave Noah a vision of the Lord Jesus as the ark of His salvation, and how that vision captured his heart. He became consumed with that revelation and totally occupied with that revelation.
So much so that that revelation, which was at first inside, began to be manifest on the outside in terms of that great picture, the ark. At first, all his neighbors could see was the man Noah with a vision in his heart, but they could just see him.
As days passed, and weeks passed, and months passed, and years passed, the revelation got bigger and bigger and bigger. By contrast, he got smaller and smaller and smaller. Though they could see the ark and the man, the ark was getting bigger and the man was getting smaller.
Then came the glorious day when God gave the command, “Enter into the ark.” The man disappeared inside of that which pictured the Lord.
In that glorious moment, that command that God had given Noah—the great commission to go out and gather them in—Noah found himself a spectator. As he was abiding in the ark, God began to supernaturally perform that which He commanded Noah to do. They began to come: a great miracle of migration—animals and birds and insects, by twos and by sevens.
Noah, in amazement, watched as he got credit for obedience by abiding in Christ: obedience by the grace of God.
This afternoon, I would like to continue that same theme with a different illustration. Yesterday, we looked at that truth in terms of obeying by the grace of God—by what He does, by abiding in Christ.
This afternoon, I would like to take a slightly different view of the truth and simply say, obedience by faith. In other words, obedience by trusting in the Lord Jesus.
This time, I would like to take a New Testament illustration of that great truth. It is a very familiar story, and I deliberately tried to choose a familiar story so that we can all begin in the same place. It is the story about the disciples on the stormy sea.
There are three records of this in the Bible. Mark 6 is where we will use it as our text: Mark 6:32-52. It is also recorded in Matthew 14:13-33, and in John 6:1-21.
Now, before we roll up our sleeves and dive into the passage, let me give you a couple of keys that I think will help you get the maximum benefit out of this passage and help press us toward the heart of the Lord. Little donkey work.
The first key is in Mark 6:51-52. Let me begin reading from verse 49.
And when they saw Him walking on the sea, they supposed that it was a ghost, and cried out;
For they all saw Him, and were troubled.
But immediately He spake with them, and saith unto them, Be of good cheer: it is I; be not afraid.
And He went up unto them into the boat; and the wind ceased: and they were sore amazed in themselves beyond measure, and wondered.
For they understood not concerning the loaves, but their heart was hardened.
Now, here is the verse that I say is a key: “For they had not gained any insight into the incident of the loaves, but their heart was hardened.”
Very clearly, the Holy Spirit connects this story—the disciples on the stormy sea—with the story that preceded it: the feeding of the five thousand. They were supposed to learn something by the feeding of the five thousand, and they were supposed to apply that something when they were out on the stormy sea.
They did not. They failed the test. They flunked. But clearly, that is the key: Mark 6:52. They had not gained any insight from the miracle of the loaves. If we are going to understand God’s heart, I think it is important to home in on what the principle was—what the message was that they were supposed to learn and apply, but failed to learn and apply on the stormy sea.
The second key that I think will help us get to God’s heart in this passage has to do with the disciples’ relationship to the Lord Jesus—the way they related to Him.
It is easy to picture in your mind’s eye, because there are three scenes in this story. The disciples do not move. In every scene, they are in the boat in the middle of the stormy sea. But the Lord Jesus moves.
In the first scene, the disciples are out in the middle of the stormy sea, and the Lord Jesus is on the distant shore, on a mountain, praying.
And after He had taken leave of them, He departed into the mountain to pray.
And when even was come, the boat was in the midst of the sea, and He alone on the land.
—Mark 6:46-47
In this first relationship, Jesus was on the mountain praying. He was out of sight. To them, He was invisible. They could not see Him. They were here, and He was there, praying on a distant mountain.
In the second scene, the disciples are still in the boat in the midst of the stormy sea, but this time Jesus has moved. This time, He is walking on the water and intending to pass by them.
And seeing them distressed in rowing, for the wind was contrary unto them, about the fourth watch of the night He cometh unto them, walking on the sea; and He would have passed by them.
—Mark 6:48
Now it is not Jesus on the mountain; now it is Jesus on the sea, walking on the water and intending to pass by.
In the third scene, Jesus moves again.
And He went up unto them into the boat; and the wind ceased.
—Mark 6:51
Matthew’s account includes the part where Peter walks upon the water. We are not going to have time to develop that, but in effect, God was reteaching the message of the miracle of the loaves. He gave them another lesson, and it was the same one.
That is scene three: the Lord Jesus on the ship, on the boat, with the disciples. I like the way John records it in John 6:21: “They were willing therefore to receive Him into the boat.” Well, exactly so.
Those are the three possibilities of relating to the Lord Jesus from the stormy sea. I can relate to the Savior on the mountain praying. I can relate to the Savior on the sea as He passes by. Or I can relate to Jesus on the boat as He works many wonderful miracles.
Those are the two keys. If we understand the message of the loaves, and if we understand how they related to the Lord Jesus, I think God can unveil His precious heart and Son to our spirits. May God help us.
The first key is from Mark 6:52: “They gained no insight from the miracle of the loaves.” I am quite sure all of us are familiar with the whole story of the feeding of the five thousand, so to save time, let me tell the story again in terms of the facts that tie into the great principle.
What is the lesson? What is the message?
It all begins in verse 37 with this wonderful command:
He answered and said unto them, Give ye them to eat.
—Mark 6:37
That is the command. Like Noah was commanded, “Go get them.” Impossible. God gives a command, simple enough: feed them.
Impossible—because there were five thousand men, without counting women and children. As you know, there was a paucity of supply. They just had five loaves, five biscuits, and two fish. They were inadequate to fulfill the command: “Feed them.” Impossible from every point of view.
Then our Lord Jesus comes into the picture. Now, this is another one of those stories that we are so tempted to just read, “La, la, la,” and miss the heart of God. I hope God helps you, as you study the Bible, to go slowly through it and sense the Holy Spirit and how He is unveiling the Lord.
Even when our Lord showed His sufficiency in this marvelous miracle, He did it in such a way that they had to trust Him. In other words, as He performed the miracle, they could not feel His sufficiency.
Try to picture it; I think it helps. Picture these twelve disciples and our Lord Jesus. According to the record, He divided that little boy’s lunch thirteen ways. He gave each disciple some, and He kept some in His hand.
Fishermen. Big boys. Big hands—pulling ropes and pulling nets—big, powerful fishermen’s hands.
As this whole thing begins to unfold, picture them as Jesus says, “Come now.” He prays, and He breaks the bread. Then He gives them one thirteenth of a loaf in that big paw of Peter.
The Bible tells us that they gathered in groups, and the smallest group was fifty—in fifties and hundreds. Can you picture Andrew? Can you picture James? Can you picture Peter getting his piece?
“Feed them.” The smallest group is fifty. Which group would you go to? How would you give it? Would you give the whole thing to the first person, or would you break it?
As Peter stood there with that morsel in his hand, that was to represent the sufficiency of Christ, the Bread of Life. He was to learn that day a lesson: He is enough.
Even when He does not feel like He is enough. Certainly, it did not feel like He was enough. He was to learn the lesson that He is enough even when it does not look like He is enough. Certainly, it did not look like He was enough. It looked so insufficient, so inadequate.
How often God gives us impossible commands, or brings us into some stormy sea, and somehow it never feels like we have enough Jesus to go through that. It does not look like we have enough Jesus to go through that.
The Lord laid out this glorious object lesson that they might understand the principle of the loaves. He set up a situation to teach them a glorious truth. The glorious truth was the all-sufficiency of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Mark 6:41 says:
And He took the five loaves and the two fishes, and looking up to heaven, He blessed, and brake the loaves; and He gave to the disciples to set before them; and the two fishes divided He among them all.
And they all ate, and were filled.
And they took up broken pieces, twelve basketfuls, and also of the fishes.
That is the miracle of the loaves. The Lord Jesus engineered a situation so that they had to keep coming back to Him. As they came to Him, He gave to them, and there was always sufficiency.
“I have called you to an impossible task: feed the people. You are not adequate to feed the people, but if you keep coming to Me, in union with Me, you can do what I have commanded you to do.”
You know, it was more exciting for them to come to the Lord Jesus and draw from His sufficiency than it was to feed the people. Just like those who study the Word sometimes find it more pleasant to receive from the Lord than even to hand it out.
It is a great pleasure to hand it out, but, oh, when God begins to dawn Christ on you—the glory, the thrill, the wonder of coming to the Lord and drawing from His sufficiency.
That is the lesson of the loaves. It did not feel like enough. It did not look like enough. But if they had to carry what they handed out, it would have broken their backs.
In the distribution, what they gave out was phenomenal. They could have never even begun to carry what they handed out. That is the sufficiency of Jesus.
To put all the facts together, here is the truth of this great lesson of the loaves: at the end of the day, you will find that the Lord Jesus is more than enough for you and thousands like you, no matter what it feels like and no matter what it looks like.
That is the lesson of the loaves. As we draw from His sufficiency, at the end of the day He is enough. At the end of the day, He is adequate. He is sufficient. At the end of the day, He is enough for you and thousands like you, no matter what it feels like and no matter what it looks like.
Now let me show you the transition, and we will move out to the sea. We know immediately that something spiritual is going on here, because the Holy Spirit records that our Lord Jesus did something here that He had not done before this and, according to the strict record, never did again.
There is something unique in this passage, something our Lord Jesus did which is almost out of character for the Lord. Let me quote Matthew’s account of it and then read Mark’s. It is really the same thing.
Matthew 14:22 says:
And straightway He constrained the disciples to enter into the boat, and to go before Him unto the other side.
That is a strong Greek word there: “He made them.” The King James says He constrained them to get into the boat. Brother Darby translates it, “He compelled the disciples to go on board the ship.”
Listen to Mark 6:45:
And straightway He constrained His disciples to enter into the boat, and to go before Him unto the other side.
He never forced anybody to do anything, but the Greek word here is so interesting. It implies resistance. He made them. He compelled them. He forced them. For some reason, they resisted that.
Maybe it was a good reason. Jesus says, “Get into the boat.” They say, “No, that’s all right. We’ll wait for You.” He says, “Get into the boat.” “No, that’s okay. We’ll help You clean up.” “Get into the boat.”
“Well, You know these people are trying to make You king. You might need a little protection. We’ll just sort of wait around.” “Get into the boat.” “We don’t want to be alone.” “Get into the boat.” All right—now they are going to get tested.
Then Jesus gives a command. Sounds simple enough. When they were with the loaves, He said, “Feed them.” Impossible.
Matthew 14:22 gives the command: “Get into the boat and go ahead of Me to the other side. I’ll meet you on the other side.”
Mark 6:45 gives the same idea:
And straightway He constrained His disciples to enter into the boat, and to go before Him unto the other side to Bethsaida, while He Himself sendeth the multitude away.
Get into the boat. Go just a little bit north of Capernaum. Sounds easy enough. They probably had done that a thousand times before. So simple to obey Jesus.
Well, you know the story and how God engineered things here. Let me read a couple of isolated texts from Matthew, Mark, and John so that you get the sense of what is happening.
John 6:18 says:
And the sea was rising by reason of a great wind that blew.
Do not forget now, this is a test. They had already sat in on the lecture, and now they have left. They have got to go to the laboratory and see whether what they learned is real in life.
Matthew 14:24 says:
But the boat was now in the midst of the sea, distressed by the waves; for the wind was contrary.
Do not confuse this story with the other storm story. There was another time when there was a stormy sea, and Jesus was sleeping in the boat. This is the second storm.
The first time, it was a matter of life and death—a matter of survival. There is nothing in this storm that would suggest it is life-threatening. It is just frustrating to the nth degree. There is a contrary wind.
I do not think the issue here is survival. I think it is overcoming. They are going to have to learn a lot.
According to John 6:19, they had already rowed about three or four miles. If we can believe the scholars, it was about a seven-mile trip altogether. Practically speaking, they were about halfway there.
Matthew says it was the fourth watch of the night. The Jews divided the night into four three-hour watches, beginning at six o’clock and ending at six in the morning. From six to nine was the first watch; from nine to twelve, the second; from twelve to three, the third; and from three until six in the morning, the last watch.
What that means practically is that these boys were tired. These disciples were exhausted. They had been up all day. The feeding of the five thousand began early in the morning and went all through the day. Then at night they began to go out.
The Bible says they rowed through three watches. That is nine hours, folks, of rowing—minimum—because it was somewhere in the fourth watch that Jesus came. Do you ever row through three watches and find yourself not even halfway there? That is exactly what they did.
They had almost worn themselves out in their attempt to obey the Lord. Simple command: “Go to the other side. I’ll meet you on the other side. Go ahead of Me to the other side.” They were finding that that simple command was not so simple after all.
You have the picture in your mind’s eye: the night is dark, the night is long, the Master is absent, the sea is boisterous, the wind is contrary, the men are tired, and they are not halfway there—or just about halfway.
The Bible tells us that when Jesus looked off from the mountain on which He was praying, He saw them.
And after He had taken leave of them, He departed into the mountain to pray.
And when even was come, the boat was in the midst of the sea, and He alone on the land.
And seeing them distressed in rowing, for the wind was contrary unto them, about the fourth watch of the night He cometh unto them, walking on the sea; and He would have passed by them.
—Mark 6:46-48
From His mountain, where He prayed, He looked off and saw them struggling at the oars. I am not going to take time to prove it now, but I think there is more included here than physical exhaustion.
Struggling at the oar, straining at the oar—I think it is more than tired muscles, aching joints, and limp limbs. I do not doubt that is included, but it was more than that.
Our Lord was testing them as to whether or not they had learned the message of the loaves: that at the end of the day He is adequate. He is enough. If they would continually come and draw from His sufficiency, they would find that He was enough for them and thousands like them, no matter how it felt or what it looked like.
After nine hours of rowing, I do not think they were thinking, “What a marvelous lesson we learned at the feeding of the five thousand.” I do not think they were thinking about the sufficiency of Jesus.
They had become storm-conscious. They had become self-conscious. They were thinking about their muscles, their aches, and their pains. They were enveloped in their circumstances.
That expression, “struggling at the oars,” is more a description of a heart attitude than it is of a physical thing. I cannot prove it, but put twelve fishermen in a boat, after working all day, then get them rowing all night and not making much headway.
My Bible does not tell me what they were thinking or what they were saying, but I do not believe they were saying, “Row, row, row your boat, gently down the stream.”
Struggling at the oars. As I understand it, it was their attempt to obey the Savior in their own strength, in their own energy. The whole story illustrates the frustration of their failure and the exhaustion that comes with repeated attempts to be successful—trying to obey God apart from a miracle.
That is the first key to understanding the passage: the incident of the loaves. They are not adequate to obey the Lord. The command is an impossible command, and without a miracle they will never obey that command.
The second key is that there are three possible ways for a Christian to relate to the Savior when he is in the storm, in the boat, on a stormy sea. He can relate to the Lord Jesus on the mountain praying; he can relate to the Lord Jesus on the water as He passes by; or he can relate to the Lord Jesus in the boat as He is invited in to do mighty miracles.
Let me suggest the heart of each of these and trust the Lord with you that God will dawn His Son upon us.
The first way it is possible to relate to the Lord Jesus from the midst of the stormy sea is to relate to Him as He is on the distant shore, on the mountain, praying.
Matthew 14:23 says:
And after He had sent the multitudes away, He went up into the mountain apart to pray: and when even was come, He was there alone.
Mark 6:46 says:
And after He had taken leave of them, He departed into the mountain to pray.
The disciples are out on the storm-tossed sea, and Jesus is far away somewhere on a mountain—out of sight, out of vision. We do not know what He prayed for that night. The Bible does not tell us.
Maybe He was praying that they would pass the test. Maybe He was praying about the ministry He had with the crowd that very day, or what was coming up in His life. Maybe He was just having fellowship with His holy Father God. He had done that many times. We do not know.
What we do know is that as He prayed, He watched. Somewhere between three and six in the morning, He saw them struggling at the oars. He saw them straining. He saw them trying so hard and becoming so exhausted.
The Bible says He came down to rescue them.
I like to call this relationship between the disciples and the Lord on the mountain the relationship of faith. At that time, Jesus is invisible. They cannot see Him. I think that is the relationship of faith: trusting an invisible God, trusting a God you cannot see.
In this first scene, He is invisible. With these eyes, He cannot be seen. He is still there. He is still watching. He is still praying. He is still present.
From the storm-tossed ship, God intended them to apply the lesson. No doubt by now they knew they were inadequate for the task. They could not obey in their own strength. No doubt by now they saw the impossibility of the command.
But as we read the record, they missed the glory of coming to the Lord over and over again to draw from His sufficiency. “He is gone. He is out of sight. Where is the Lord?”
They rowed, and they rowed, and they rowed, and somehow they felt like they were on their own. They did not understand that though the duty was theirs, the power was not theirs. Though the responsibility was theirs, the power and the life were not theirs.
They sort of felt like it was up to them to obey and get to the other side. If they had only learned the lesson of the loaves, they would have come to Him over and over again to draw from His sufficiency.
At the end of the day, they would have discovered that He is enough for them and for thousands like them, no matter what it feels like and no matter what it looks like. According to the record, they missed Him on the mountain.
Now, instead of looking at the second way—walking on the sea—I am going to ask you to set that aside for a moment. We see Him on the mountain. I want to take you to the third one: let us look at Him in the boat.
John 6:21 says:
They were willing therefore to receive Him into the boat: and straightway the boat was at the land whither they were going.
Mark 6:51 says:
And He went up unto them into the boat; and the wind ceased: and they were sore amazed in themselves beyond measure, and wondered.
For they understood not concerning the loaves, but their heart was hardened.
I understand that this is the exact opposite of Jesus on the mountain. Jesus on the mountain is invisible: I cannot see Him. Jesus in the boat is visible: I can see Him. I can touch Him. I can handle Him. I can talk to Him. He is right there in person, right in front of these eyes.
It is the exact opposite of Jesus on the mountain. If Jesus on the mountain is trusting an invisible God, Jesus in the boat is sight. It is going by sight and not by faith.
When He got into the boat, they saw some wonderful miracles. God mentions two of them. Matthew 14:32 says:
And when they got up into the boat, the wind ceased.
If you have ever tried to serve the Lord in your own strength, and you have rowed and rowed and rowed until you have worn yourself out—and I think every child of God has experienced that—isn’t it a glorious thing when the wind stops and the Lord finally rescues?
Only John mentions the second miracle. I know some read it differently, but they are wrong.
John 6:21 says:
They were willing therefore to receive Him into the boat: and straightway the boat was at the land whither they were going.
I do not have a problem with the fact that God raptured the boat. As He got in, immediately they were at their destination.
That is the third possibility: sight. It left no room for faith. He clearly identified Himself. He clearly removed their fear. He clearly calmed the storm. He clearly brought them to their destination.
I can relate to Jesus on the mountain, the invisible God. I can relate to Jesus in the boat, the visible God. What is in the middle?
Mark 6:48-50 says:
And seeing them distressed in rowing, for the wind was contrary unto them, about the fourth watch of the night He cometh unto them, walking on the sea; and He would have passed by them.
But they, when they saw Him walking on the sea, supposed that it was a ghost, and cried out;
For they all saw Him, and were troubled. But immediately He spake with them, and saith unto them, Be of good cheer: it is I; be not afraid.
Verse 49 says they thought it was a ghost. What is a ghost?
Faith: invisible. Sight: visible. In the middle: mixture. The ghost. He is visible; He is invisible. I am not sure. Is it material? Is it spirit?
Halfway—half visible, half invisible; half spirit, half flesh. It looks spiritual, but is it spiritual? The middle road leaves you on the deck, scratching your head, saying, “Is it the Lord, or some enemy trying to hurt us?”
Let me try to tie all of this together by a principle that has become, for my heart, one of the most precious in all the Word of God.
The principle is this: God always deals with us as we are and where we are in order to make us what He wants us to be and to bring us to the place that He wants us to be.
I would not trade all the stars in heaven ten times laden with gold for that precious truth: that God deals with me where I am and as I am. If He does not have an ideal situation to work with, He will work with a situation that is not ideal. Glorious, glorious truth.
Think of it in terms of these three possible ways to relate to Him. God wants me to trust Him. He is my High Priest, and He is praying. Sometimes I am out in the storm, and my heart cries out, “Where is the Lord?”
He wants me to know that as I keep coming to Him and drawing from His sufficiency, at the end of the day I will discover that He is enough for me and thousands like me, no matter what it feels like and no matter what it looks like.
He wants me to trust Him even though I cannot see Him. He wants me to trust Him even though I am in the storm and rowing against the contrary wind. That is His desire. That is His pleasure: that I trust my High Priest. He is enough. He is adequate.
What if I do not? What if I struggle at the oars? What if my faith fails? What if I lean in an unhealthy way on the arm of the flesh? What if I become frustrated, tired, and exhausted? Will He forsake me?
Brothers and sisters in the Lord, God always deals with us as we are and where we are in order that He might make us what He would have us be and bring us to the place that He would have us be.
Our Lord Jesus looks out from the mountain, and they fail the test. In His great grace, He sees them struggling at the oars. So He comes down, and He begins to walk on the sea.
Did you notice how God tells us that it was His intention to pass by? He was not planning to get aboard. He was not planning to calm the sea. He was not planning to take them to their destination by a mighty miracle. That was not His intention.
His intention was to come into the picture because they had left Him out of the picture. They forgot the miracle of the loaves. They forgot that He is enough, that He is sufficient.
It was His intention to pass by so that they might learn two things:
That He is on top of it. That He is Lord. That He is sovereign. That should have been enough. It should have been enough that He had called them to do it: “I will meet you on the other side.” The Word should have been enough.
They should have drawn from His sufficiency. At the end of the day, they did not come to the end of the day; they only went halfway. If they had drawn from Him, they would have seen at the end of the day that He was enough for them and thousands like them, no matter how it felt or what it looked like.
But now He walks by so that they will know He is there and that it is under control. How many times, friends in Christ, has our faith begun to falter and we do not trust an invisible God? By His grace, He comes into view just so that we will know He is there and He is in control.
I do not know anything else; I just know He is there and He is in control. That should be enough.
Brothers and sisters, what if that is not enough? Will He forsake us? Will He abandon us? Will He say, “Ah, stupid people, I knew I could not trust them to trust Me”?
Oh, brothers and sisters in Christ, He wants us to trust Him on the mountain. But if we do not, He will come walking on the sea, intending to pass by, that we might know He is there and that He is in control.
But if we fail there—what if we look out and see mixture? We stumble. We see second causes, circumstances, Satan, and some failure on our part.
“I know it is the Lord, but if I had only taken my pills.” “I can see God in it, but if he had only buckled his seat belt.” “I know it is the Lord, but that guy is so violent, and the way he invaded my life and my family”—and so on.
What if we do not have Joseph’s faith to see just the Lord and no second cause? “You sold me; God sent me.” Human evil—God meant good. What if we do not have Job’s faith to say, “The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away”? You say Satan is doing it, and we are in trouble, and all that kind of thing.
What if we mix up God’s part and our part, grace and faith and works? We get it all mixed up, and He is a ghost. We supplement Christ: Christ plus my wisdom; Christ plus my program; Christ plus my fasting; Christ plus my devotions; Christ plus my faithfulness. We mix it all up. What then?
Oh, glorious truth: God always deals with us as and where we are in order that He might make us into what He wants us to be and bring us to the place that He wants us to be.
He wants me to trust Him on the mountain, but if I fail and struggle at the oars, He will walk by on the sea. If I look out there and get confused and afraid, He will do three things.
He does not mock us, brothers and sisters in Christ. The first thing He will do is identify Himself. He will let us know who He is: “It is I. Do not be afraid anymore.”
Then He will come aboard. He will do the most amazing miracles that you will ever behold in all your life. He will calm your storm, and He will take you to your destination.
It is an amazing thing. This is the stuff testimonies are made of. “Oh, I want to tell you about what the Lord did. Oh, how He calmed the storm, how He did a mighty miracle, how He delivered me from fear.”
Many times—I am not judging; I am not saying all the time, but many times—He does not do those mighty miracles in answer to faith. He does those miracles in answer to unbelief. He does those miracles because we need it, and if we need it, God is faithful to give it to us.
In His love, He expresses Himself. We love that relationship. “I want Jesus in the boat. I want to see Jesus do signs and wonders and miracles and shake things up. I want to arrive at my destination. I want the storm to be calm.”
I will tell you, friends, sometimes with all the wonders, miracles, signs, and God doing great things, you miss out on the very point that He was trying to teach: what it means to draw from the sufficiency of the Lord.
Arriving at your destination is sort of incidental to drawing from Him, His life, and His sufficiency. There is no miracle, no sign, no wonder, no deliverance, no success that can substitute for the joy you will have as you keep coming to the Lord to draw from His sufficiency.
As you come to Him and draw from His sufficiency, you will find at the end of the day that He is enough—more than enough—for you and for thousands like you, no matter how it feels and no matter how it looks.
He will not only identify Himself. He will not only come aboard and work miracles. In passing, let me just say this: some of you might, in your life, have experienced, “I failed to see Him on the mountain. My faith struggled. He came by walking, and I saw that it was Him and that He was in control.”
But you might think, “I failed so much. I have been such a failure. How come He did not come aboard and stop my storm? How come He did not finally rescue me? I am ready to give up. I am ready to quit. I am ready to throw in the towel.”
I will tell you this, friends: if He has not come aboard and stopped your storm, it is because you did not need it. You did not need it. If you needed it, He would have done it.
Some of you think that you are that weak: “Oh, I just want Him aboard.” If He has not come aboard, it is because He knows you do not need it. Hang in there, brothers and sisters in Christ.
At the end of the day, the testimony will be that He is enough for you and for thousands like you.
There is one other thing He does when He comes aboard, and I will not develop it; I will just mention it. He sort of gives a mild rebuke.
He did that to Peter for not looking to Him. He was teaching the same lesson when Peter walked on the water. The Holy Spirit tells us that they did not learn from the miracle of the loaves and that their hearts were hardened.
When you read it, you wonder about the way it is worded, because it says they were amazed at Him and marveled at Him because their heart was hardened. You say, “Well, I thought they should have gotten an attaboy. They are amazed, they worship, they marvel: ‘Who is this that does such wonders?’” But they marveled because their hearts were hardened.
My wife and I have tasted the faithfulness of the Lord through the years. Over and over again, He has come through, and He has come through. Then a little storm comes, and, “Oh, what are we going to do?” Then God answers, and we are amazed.
Shame on us. Shame on us for being amazed that our God comes through.
He wants us to trust Him on the mountain—the invisible God. If we fail, He will walk by. He loves us. He will walk by and let us know He is there, that He is in control.
If we still fail, He will come aboard. He will do a marvelous miracle. I tell you, friends, we have a wonderful Teacher in our Lord Jesus Christ.
If you did not learn the miracle of the loaves, guess what? You are going to repeat the course. He is going to teach again.
If you fail, guess what? You have got it. He is going to teach you again and again until we are conformed into the image of Christ.
We obey by faith. We trust the Lord by faith. He is off there on the distant shore. Your High Priest is praying for you. You say, “Sometimes I hold His love in suspicion, and I wonder where He is.”
He is there. He is watching. If you struggle, He will come and rescue you. If you struggle more, He will get in the boat and do some great thing for you. He will rebuke you and start again.
He has called us to trust Him. Brothers and sisters in Christ, let me close with this.
Your Lord Jesus is enough. Your Lord Jesus is sufficient.
If you trust Him, and if you keep coming to Him and drawing from His sufficiency, at the end of the day you will see that He has been enough for you and for thousands like you, no matter how it feels and no matter what it looks like.
Let us bow.
Father, we thank Thee so much for Your great patience in Your instruction in our lives. We pray, Lord, that as never before, we might learn to continually come to the Lord and draw from His wonderful sufficiency, so that there might be a name and a testimony of that sufficiency to the world.
We thank You that You are working this in our hearts this moment, and that You are going to continue to work it in us in an ever-increasing, rising tide of blessing throughout the days of this conference.
Burn these things into our hearts indelibly, we ask, in the precious name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.