Jesus calmed the storm. But Jesus wasn't just trying to get back to his nap, he was making a huge claim about who he was and what he was about. Listen in as pastor Thomas delivers insight about this famous story of Jesus.
Transcript
Welcome to this week’s sermon from Trinity Church in Portland, Oregon. Following the scripture reading from Pastor Ryan Lister, Pastor Thomas Terry will deliver his message entitled, The Sovereign King of Creation. This message is part of our ongoing series called Follow the Son, which is teaching through the Gospel of Mark. Thanks for joining us. Here’s Ryan. Well, good morning, Trinity Church. We’ll be hearing from the Gospel of Mark. This morning, our passage comes from chapter 4, verses 35 through 41.
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 him with them in the boat, just as he was. And other boats were with him. And a great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling. But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion
— Mark 4
(ESV)
.
And they woke him and said to him, 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. He said to them, Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith? And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him
— Mark 4
(ESV)
? This Trinity Church is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. Well, if you were raised in a Christian home, or if you’ve been around Christian culture long enough, then the odds are you’ve probably heard this story a thousand times. Maybe you’ve seen this story in a children’s book, illustrating the craziness of the storm as Jesus yells, Be quiet! And stills the sea. Well, maybe you’ve seen this painting of Jesus as he stands on the edge of the boat with
his hands lifted high towards the winds and the waves, giving you this vivid picture of Jesus as he slays the storm with just his words. It’s not only a very popular passage, but it’s a very powerful imagery. The image of God powerfully commanding the storm into submission with just his words is extremely powerful. Having been a Christian for over 20 years, I have on many occasions heard many pastors preach this specific passage with a very specific angle, and the angle usually is something like this, that God is powerful enough to speak directly into the storms of your life. That he is powerful enough to bring you peace and immediate relief when the storms of life are overwhelming and life-threatening. At some point in the sermon, probably just before the close of the sermon, the preacher typically asks this question that everyone knows is coming. What are the waves in your life that God needs to immediately still?
Fear, Faith, and Identity
What are the unique storms in your personal life that God needs to silence? While it is true that God is sovereign over the storms of your life and the difficult circumstances that you’re facing, that’s not entirely what this passage is about. That’s not the main point of this passage. In fact, this passage has less to do with your personal storms of life and more to do with fear, faith, and the identity of Jesus. Also it has to do with fear, but not the fear of man, not the fear of natural disasters and not the fear of creation itself, but a healthy fear of God. The sovereign king of creation who exercises divine authority over man, over natural disasters and over creation, creation itself by virtue of being created is subject to the sovereign God who created it and spoke it into existence in the first place.
This passage also has to do with the identity of Jesus. In fact, it’s made completely clear at the end of this verse when the disciples, after witnessing this divine exercise of authority over nature, fearfully ask this rhetorical question, who is this man that even the winds and waves obey him? See, so far in Mark’s gospel, the identity of Jesus has been somewhat veiled. Some know that Jesus is the Messiah, though they’re not quite confident in what that means entirely. Some think he’s just a gifted teacher or an authoritative rabbi. Some think he’s a miracle worker who heals and casts out demons on demand. The scribes say he’s possessed by Satan. His family says he’s crazy. It seems that only the demons get his identity right, but Jesus quickly shuts them up so as to not reveal his identity prematurely. But it’s here in our passage this morning where Jesus, while alone on the boat privately
with his appointed apostles in the middle of this stormy sea, unveils a bit more of his identity, but not by way of casual conversation, not by way of a theological discussion, but by way of this powerful demonstration, this nature-bending display of the power of God that speaks louder than words could ever communicate. He puts his identity powerfully on display for his disciples to understand the magnitude and the power of his identity, that we might grow in our faith, that we might see him for who he is. Jesus throughout this eyewitness account is teaching his disciples and us this morning something so much more profound, something so much more powerful than just peace in the midst of life’s difficult storms. And my hope for us this morning is that this text would encourage us that we’re confronted with the sovereignty of God who is sovereign over all of creation, that we will see, yes,
that we can find comfort through our personal storms of life. But most importantly, we would see the greatness and power of God, that we would see how all of creation is subject to him and his will, and that Jesus is close when the storms come. So that as we walk through storms, as we are sitting in the storms, we don’t simply desire immediate relief, but deeper trust and a more robust faith of God who is the king of creation. This will give us true peace in the midst of life’s difficult storms. Not immediate relief, but a profound understanding that God is sovereign over everything and everyone, that he is sometimes the stiller of the storm, but he is sometimes the sender of the storm. But whether he’s the stiller of it or the sender, he is always with us in the storm, teaching us and making us better Christians while he’s using the storm.
The Crowd and Crossing
So let’s begin first this morning by setting some context in verse 35 with the crowd and the crossing. Verse 35. On that day when evening had come, he said to them, let us go across to the other side. Leaving the crowd, they took him with them in the boat just as he was. Other boats were with him. So if you remember a few weeks ago, Jesus was at the shoreline sitting in the boat preaching to a massive crowd. The boat was equal parts pulpit and equal parts barricade from the large crowd. Remember Jesus was preaching about the kingdom of God, but he was preaching in parables. Now I want to briefly draw your attention to two of the parables because I think it’s relevant to our passage this morning. The first being the parable of the sower. Jesus taught that the seed is the word of God and when the seed is sown on good soil,
the seed or the word is powerfully grown. It powerfully produces a fruitful harvest. The second would be the parable of the grower. Jesus taught that when the seed, the word of God is sown on good soil, God who is the grower, the one responsible for growing the seed, when he speaks it supernaturally and powerfully grows the word in the life of the hearer causing spiritual maturity. So these two parables in many ways center on the power of God’s word. God’s word is spoken and then supernaturally and powerfully things happen. And what we will soon see in our text this morning is that the power of his word is not relegated to simply sowing and growing, but that his word is far more powerful than we could actually comprehend. So Jesus, after a long day of preaching and teaching, obviously decides to call it a day.
And so Jesus says to his disciples, let’s go to the other side of the sea. Now he says this partly because Jesus is exhausted and we’ll see that clearly in the next verse. But he also says this because this is keeping in step with Jesus’s mission statement in Mark chapter one, verse 38. If you remember, Jesus was talking to his disciples and he said, let’s go on to the next towns that I may preach there also, for this is why I came. See, Jesus was in the business of preaching. So while he’s sitting on the boat, just as he was, Jesus instructs his disciples not to go back to the shore where the crowd was likely waiting for him so that they could engage with him. He says to his disciples, you need to shift the boat right where we are and go to the other
towns on the other side of the sea so that I can preach there also. And so Jesus and his 12 disciples leave the massive crowd and shift towards the opposite side of the sea, along with a few other boats that were likely filled with other followers of Jesus, which brings us to verse 37 with the wind and the waves. And a great windstorm arose and the waves were breaking into the boat so that the boat was already filling, but he was in the stern asleep on the cushion. So Jesus completely exhausted from a full day of preaching heads back to the boat and into the back of the boat with some sort of pillow or cushion. We’re not quite sure exactly what it is, but whatever it was, it was comfortable enough. And Jesus was tired enough that he fell into a deep sleep in the back of the boat.
And this here is actually the only time in the whole New Testament where we hear explicitly that Jesus was sleeping. And so this ought to grab your attention. This is not some insignificant detail. In fact, this is what I love about Mark. He puts emphasis on these little details to draw our attention to it. What Mark wants to do here is reveal something to us about the sleeping. Mark is setting up this juxtaposition about the humanity of Jesus and the deity of Jesus. Jesus in his humanity is experiencing the same tiredness that we would feel if we were teaching or loudly preaching to a massive crowd. Imagine the physical strain of having to project your voice over the noise of the massive crowd. To project your voice over the waves that were breaking on the shore for hours with no amplification. This would be exhausting, physically fatiguing.
Jesus would have been extremely exhausted. Jesus was fully human, so he was completely susceptible to all the tiredness that comes from being human. So while he is fast asleep in the back of the boat because of his tiredness in the middle of the sea, there’s this sudden and severe shift in the weather. This wouldn’t be uncommon for the Sea of Galilee, given its size and the location of the sea. The Sea of Galilee was roughly 13 miles long and 7 miles wide. It was surrounded by mountains and hills and cliffs. As the cold air would shoot down from the mountains, it would collide with the warm air just above the basin of the sea. This collision of hot air and cold air created these raging winds and massive waves, which would make for a pretty severe or violent storm. Now these types of storms, when they hit, they could be dangerous, sometimes life-threatening.
Wind and Waves
Now remember there were fishermen on the boats. We know for sure that at least four of the disciples were fishermen, but there could be seven maybe that were fishermen. So at least four of the disciples were familiar with these types of turns in the weather. They’ve weathered these kind of storms before. This storm was a bit different from what was typical, and you know it’s a different kind of storm because this caused for even the fishermen to panic. Now think about when you and I travel on a plane. Imagine you and I are cruising on a plane at 30,000 feet. The mild turbulence begins to set in. It starts to shake the plane a bit. It’s just a bit of turbulence. It’s not too far out of the ordinary, but then suddenly the turbulence hits harder, and then it hits harder again, each time with a little bit more force and jolt.
The turbulence is becoming more and more aggressive, causing the plane to suddenly lift and drop. The cabin gets real quiet, real quick, except for the short gasps of breath and the quick little shrills that synchronize with every jolt of the plane. The turbulence moves from mild to extreme, and everyone on the plane is clutching their armrests. They’re stressing, and they’re waiting for the captain to calmly communicate over the loudspeaker. Ladies and gentlemen, as you know, we’re dealing with a little bit of turbulence here, but there’s nothing really to worry about. We’re going to descend a few hundred feet. We’re going to find some smoother air, and once we lock into some smoother air, things will be a whole lot smoother for us. It’s only going to take a few minutes, and then things will get back to normal. So you’re still a little bit anxious, but because the pilot just re-insured you that
everything’s going to be okay, there’s really not much to worry about. I mean, after all, these are the professionals. We’ve seen this type of turbulence a thousand times. If they say it’s all good, well, then it’s all good. But imagine the level of panic we would experience if the captain of the plane started panicking, if he expressed over the loudspeaker in a very shaky voice, you know, I’ve never experienced this kind of turbulence before. I don’t know if we’re going to make it. If the pilot is panicking, then it’s going to be all bad. If the professionals are starting to freak out, then you know it’s a really bad situation. And this is exactly what was happening here. See, the intensity of the storm had caused these professional fishermen in the boat to freak out, and they quickly are sobered to the reality of the severity.
The other disciples who are not fishermen are looking at the fishermen like, yo, what’s up? Is this all bad? And the fishermen are like, yes, this is all bad. And so this brings us here to the second half of verse 38, where we see the rest and rebuke. And they woke him and said to him, teacher, do you not care that we are perishing? Notice how the disciples respond to Jesus. They’re so overwhelmed by fear that they actually rebuke Jesus. The disciples have the audacity to rebuke Jesus. They’re in a complete panic. They’re completely freaking out, fearful for their lives. And Jesus is asleep in the back of the boat. How could Jesus be asleep in the boat right now? Could he not hear the violent winds crashing, the waves toppling over the boat, putting water into the boat? Wouldn’t the water wake Jesus up?
How could you be sleeping right now, Jesus? Now the fear, humanly speaking, was not really the issue here. The disciples fearing for their lives and desiring to wake up Jesus for help would be normal. See, these disciples knew that Jesus had some sort of divine connection with God. And in their distress, they wake Jesus up because they’re desperate. They know that if anyone can help them, it’s Jesus, because Jesus has this relationship with God. If Jesus would simply wake up from sleeping and ask God for help, then God might save them. They likely recall all of their Old Testament Bible studies of the Psalms concerning deliverance and help from God. Psalm 65, verses 5 through 7, by awesome deeds, you answer us with righteousness, O God of our salvation, the hope of all the ends of the earth and of the farthest seas, the one
who by his strength established the mountains being girded with might, who stills the roaring of the seas, the roaring of their waves. Or maybe they remembered Psalm 89.9, you rule the raging of the seas. When its waves rise, you still them. These disciples needed help. They needed deliverance and they needed to go to God and ask for help because they were in danger. They know that Jesus has this special connection with God that might bring them some deliverance. So it’s not the fear that is the concern here. They do the right thing by going to Jesus to ask Jesus for help. But it’s what the disciples are saying and thinking when they wake Jesus up. They begin to question if Jesus actually cares for them. They immediately begin to question everything they thought they knew about him. Jesus, where are you? How could you let this happen?
Why are you not doing anything to help us? Do you not even care? Do you care what we’re going through? Their fear exposed hidden things about God. See, fear is the great revealer of what the heart truly believes about God. I know this to be true even in my own life. You know this to be true. When scary, dangerous, disastrous, or life-threatening circumstances come your way, how do you respond? The fear of losing a job, the fear of losing your home, the fear of losing your health or your life savings, the fear of losing your child. How do you respond to those fears? Fear most often produces in people a fight-or-flight mentality. But as Christians, when we are faced with fear, it should produce a faith mentality. When we are confronted with fear, do you fight God? Do you run from God? Or do you have faith that God is ultimately in control of the situation?
How does fear play itself out for you? Do you have faith that God cares? Do you have faith that God is intimately involved in those fearful affairs? See, this was hard for the disciples. And this is exceedingly hard for us when we are faced with fearful situations. Notice what these disciples say to Jesus. Look how far fear pushes them. Teacher. They call him teacher. Do you not care that we are dying here? Wake up, Jesus. Do something. You did all these things for other people. You casted out all kinds of demons. You healed people you barely knew. We were just at the shore and all these people that you didn’t even know came to you with all of these concerns. You demonstrated your care and compassion towards them. We’re your disciples. We’re the insiders. You don’t care that we’re dying here? All you have to do is ask God to deliver us.
He will hear you. We’re about to drown and you’re asleep. And you see this revealed so much about the disciples. In their fear, Jesus was downgraded to simply a teacher. He did all these miraculous things, all these divine things, but now he’s just a teacher. In their fear, they forgot that Jesus was far more than a teacher. Their fear also revealed that they were no different from the crowds that were coming to Jesus for immediate deliverance and relief from their momentary suffering. Instead of simply asking Jesus for help to miraculously deliver them, they accuse him of being distant, uninvolved, and unconcerned with their wellbeing. Do you even care, Jesus? Why would they ask this question? How could they ask this question? And of course Jesus cares about them. See this reveals even more about the disciples. That the disciples had yet to fully understand who Jesus actually is and what Jesus has actually
come to do. Because if they knew, they would know that Jesus cares so deeply for them. That Jesus cares so much for these men that he would lay his life down for them. And isn’t this how we respond? Isn’t this how we behave with Jesus? When we’re going through difficult situations, when we’re overcome with fear, the first thing we do is forget that God actually cares. Sometimes we even view the difficult circumstances as evidence that God is distant. When in fact he’s using the difficult situations to show us that he is near and close. He uses difficult circumstances to cause us to draw near to him as he draws near to us. Of course Jesus cares for us. He cares so deeply for us that he took on all of our sin, all of our guilt, and all the punishment that we deserve because of our sin so that we could be brought back in
Rest and Rebuke
to a right relationship with God. Of course he cares. He cares enough to die for you. Why would he not care about your difficult circumstances? Why would he not care when we’re afraid? He doesn’t just save us and then leave us. He saves us into a relationship with him, a father and children relationship. He always cares and he is always close no matter how difficult the circumstances might be. He doesn’t leave us or forsake us. He is always near. Not only does he always care and not only is he always close, but he is sovereign over the situation. We see this in verse 39 with the sovereignty and submission. He awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, peace, be still. The wind ceased and there was a great calm. After the fearful disciples wake Jesus up from his deep sleep in the back of the boat,
Jesus with only his words rebukes the wind and stills the violent sea. It’s here where Mark masterfully juxtaposes the humanity of Jesus and the deity of Jesus. His voice weakened and parched because of prolonged and persistent preaching reveals the limitations of his humanity, but his voice powerfully bends the laws of physics and sovereignly speaks the storm into submission, exercising divine authority over the creation order. He is fully man, but he’s fully God. He’s fully man, so he speaks with a weak voice, but he’s fully God, so he speaks with the most powerful voice. And there’s one important detail that I don’t want you to miss. Notice that Jesus rebuked the wind and spoke to the sea. These were two separate commands, but both immediately synchronize in submission. And this again just demonstrates the magnitude and the power of God in his words. It wasn’t that Jesus just spoke and the winds slowly subsided and then the swelling of the
waves eventually leveled out. No, Jesus speaks and both the winds and the waves immediately obey. Creation hears its creator’s voice and it complies. The commentator, William Hendrickson, beautifully says it like this. He says, the winds and waves synchronize in the sublime symphony of a solemn silence. And he beautifully captures this instantaneous nature of the chaotic sea coming to a calm. See the sudden response of the wind is miraculous, but could be reasoned away. But the immediate stilling of the sea would be an undeniable miracle because the way that waves move, the way that oceans move, if the wind randomly subsided, then the waves would still need time to settle to a calm. But they both submit in an instant, demonstrating the cosmic power of God over creation. This is powerful. And after Jesus powerfully rebukes the wind and authoritatively speaks to the waves, he then turns to his disciples to mildly rebuke their fear and lovingly address their lack
Sovereignty and Submission
of faith. And we see what he says in verses 40 and 41 with the fear and faith. He said to them, why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith? And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, who then is this? That even the wind and the sea obey him. Jesus asks his disciples to rhetorical questions, one about fear and one about faith. He says, why are you afraid? And do you have no faith? And the reason why Jesus asks these two questions of the disciples, because these questions go hand in hand, they were full of fear because there was a lack of faith. They were fearful because they didn’t have faith. They didn’t trust that God cared or that God was in control. They were fearful and they had little faith. And so Jesus is saying to these disciples and says to us this morning with these questions,
you need to have fearless faith. If you intend to be an effective disciple, you need to be fearless. When the difficult circumstances of life come at you head on. In fact, it’s in those moments when you experience fear that your faith should be most activated. Yes, you will experience fearful things in this life. You will be afraid of things in this life, but you cannot let fear control you or control what you know to be true about God who is sovereign over all things. See, fear reveals, the very nature of fear reveals that we are not in control, but faith enables us to trust in the truth that God is always in control. Jesus is saying to his disciples, oh, you still don’t trust me? Have you not seen everything that I’ve done? Have you not heard everything that I’ve said? Why are you letting fear control what you know to be true about me?
I understand that you’re afraid, that’s okay, but why don’t you trust me? Why are you not trusting me? This is what’s crazy about this whole situation. These disciples wanted a supernatural intervention from God because they were terrified. That’s why they were crying out, Jesus, do something. We need a supernatural intervention from God, do something. When Jesus supernaturally intervenes by forcing the storm into submission, they become even more terrified because they just realized that Jesus just did what only God can do. They wanted God to be with them in the storm, but they didn’t know that God was with them, literally right next to them in the boat in the middle of the storm. This caused great fear. These disciples, when confronted with the divine authority of God over the elements of nature, respond in the only reasonable way, a healthy fear, a great fear. When confronted with the divine power of God that placed the winds and waves into submission,
the only reasonable question to ask is, who is this man? Who is he? And of course, the only reasonable response, the only right answer is God. The God who spoke creation into existence is the same God who spoke creation into submission. The display of power just proved that Jesus is not simply a teacher. He doesn’t have some kind of divine connection with God, but Jesus is equal with God. Jesus is God, the creator and sustainer of all creation. These disciples had just realized that Jesus was God. They just realized what John tells us in his gospel, in the beginning of his gospel. In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made. The wind and the waves, Jesus created it.
Jesus, the word, says with his words, peace, be still, and creation recognizes the voice of its creator and obeys. And the disciples, settling from the shock of what they had just witnessed, are now overcome with great fear. Great fear. Their fear was greater than what they previously feared. They were freaking out before, but now they are overcome with fear. What could be more fearful than a raging, life-threatening storm? Sitting in a boat with God, who sovereignly controls the raging and life-threatening storm with only his words. They were exceedingly fearful because they began to recognize the identity of Jesus. They began to see Jesus for who he actually is. That he is God, and that God was with them in the boat. You have to remember that these disciples were Jews, so they would have known the Old Testament scriptures, particularly the Psalms. Psalm 103, they probably heard a thousand times in the synagogue.
Psalm 107, verses 23 to 30, says this,
some went down to the sea in ships, doing business on the great waters. They saw the deeds of the Lord, his wondrous works in the deep, for he commanded and raised the stormy wind, which lifted up the waves of the sea. They mounted up to heaven. They went down to the depths. Their courage melted away in their evil plight. They reeled and staggered like drunken men, and were at their wit’s end. Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress. He made the storm be still, and the waves of the sea were hushed. Then they were glad that the waters were quiet, and he brought them to their desired haven
— Psalm 107
(ESV)
. Not only did these disciples just witness the power of God bending nature, controlling the raging storm, they also witnessed the power of God’s word that transcends time and
space. What was written in the Old Testament was manifested in the disciples’ present reality. God’s word powerfully spoken in the days of old about this specific day, with these specific disciples, in this specific storm. This is unimaginable power. God was truly with them in the storm. God heard their cry and delivered them to their desired haven, and this created a healthy fear of God. This should create in you and me a healthy fear of God. Not a fear that pushes us away from God, but a healthy fear because God is exceedingly powerful, incredibly powerful. But not only is he powerful, exceedingly powerful, he’s intimately close. This is precisely what this text means for us this morning, that yes, God is great and powerful and majestic and sovereign over creation, but God is personal and intimate and near to us when we are going through difficult circumstances.
Fear and Faith
When the storm is raging, he is intimately close. He is God and he is near, and this is a comforting reality. God is more powerful than you can imagine, and he is closer than you can comprehend. He is the sovereign king of creation who exercises divine authority over the storm by the power of his word, and he is with you and me in the midst of the raging storms. If you have faith in him, if you trust him as the sovereign king of creation, then when the storms come, you have nothing to fear because you are his and because you are saved, which means that even if you succumb to the storm, you have nothing to fear because you’ve already been rescued from death into eternal life. First Corinthians 15 tells us, oh, death, where is your victory? Oh, death, where is your sting? The sting of death is sin and the power of sin is the law, but thanks be to God who gives
us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. For those who have come to trust Jesus as Lord of all creation, but as personal savior, Jesus has defeated death so that you have no reason to fear any storm. Now listen, there are many things in this life that are completely broken. There are so many things that are wrong in this world. This world is full of evil people who do unimaginable things, hurtful and painful things, and I know that this morning, some of you are here thinking to yourselves, where was God in all of his power when I needed him the most? Why did he not help me in my storm? In your fear and in your desperation, you’ve cried out, Jesus, where are you? If you are all powerful, then where were you? Where were you when I was going through this dark storm? I have asked these very same questions a thousand times.
This is what is true. God is sovereign. God is sovereign, but he is not responsible for those evil things that happen to you. And just because he didn’t give you the immediate deliverance from those dark storms doesn’t mean that he wasn’t close or that he didn’t care. His heart breaks for his kids when evil things happen. His heart breaks for his people when evil things happen to us. In fact, in my own life, in some mysterious way, God has used these dark storms to draw me closer to him. I have found indescribable closeness through the darkest of storms. I don’t know how that works, but I have felt his divine comfort and care in a way that I don’t think I would have known if I hadn’t experienced his nearness to me in the darkest storms. There was no one else for me to turn to, to offer me help.
There was no place for me to find comfort. There was no place for me to find the will to persevere than in the presence of Jesus with all of my pain and all of my questions. In fact, the more I fought him for allowing those things to happen, the more I felt his tangible care for me, his comfort. God has sustained me and drawn near to me through those evil acts committed against me. This is hard for us to understand, that God is not responsible for the evil done to us, but that he comes to us with love and care, with the promise of a future hope. He cares for you in your dark storms, even if he doesn’t immediately deliver you from them. He is close, but even if he does still the storm, or even if he just sits with you in the storm, the truth is he is with you in the storm and you have been rescued from death.
Dear Christian, you need to know that the same God who spoke creation into existence, who sustains all creation by the power of his word, is the same God who cares for you. He is the same God who will judge all the evils of this world. All the wickedness of this world, he will come to judge perfectly. He is the same God who will pardon all of our sin by the precious blood of Jesus that bought our souls and brought us near. The very thing that separated you from God, Jesus paid for with his perfect life. This is how much he cares for you. He died for your sin to rescue you. He died to make things right and better, to punish all of the evil injustices of this world and to bring us by his blood into a place where those evil things will never happen
to us again. Listen, he is powerful enough to speak creation into existence. He is powerful enough to speak creation into submission, which means he’s powerful enough to renovate and recreate creation, to recreate this broken world where we will be with him for all of eternity, where we will be like him in this new creation with no more pain, no more sorrow, and no more evil. So until that day, we can rest in the raging storm. It will be fearful, but we can rest that God cares, that he is with us. That means that we can even succumb to the storm. And because we are his, we are already rescued from death. And listen, if you are here this morning and you don’t know Jesus, there is a raging storm that is sitting, it’s sitting right over you. And that storm is the consequence of your sin.
And you can trust in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of those sins and his blood will calm that storm. That storm is inevitable. It is waiting for you to give you what you deserve because of your sin. But if you trust in Jesus, if you repent and turn from your sin, Jesus will settle the storm and give you life. And you can come to him right where you are. If you embrace him by faith as the Lord, the creator of creation, the sustainer of creation, the one to whom all creation submits itself. If the winds and the waves obey him, then so should you. Let’s pray. Our father and our God, what a sweet and comforting passage this is for us this morning. To know that you are all powerful, that you are sovereign over all things. But not only are you powerful over everyone and everything, but you are close to us so
that when we are afraid, we can know and we can trust and have a certainty and assurance that you are with us, that you are close to us. You are God, but you are close. You are all powerful, but you care about the storms of our life. And so father, I do pray that you would cause for us to rest in that reality, that we would see you for who you are. And with the difficult circumstances of life come to our front door, we would not forget who you are and what you’ve done and how you are with us. And father, I pray for those here this morning who are wrestling, who are confused. I pray, oh Lord and God, that you would be close to them, that you would be their comfort, that you would help them to see that you do care and that you are close.
We pray these things in Christ’s name. Thanks for joining us for this week’s sermon from Trinity Church in Portland, Oregon. If you’d like to learn more about us, you can visit our website at www.trinityportland.com.