Well, after some weeks now, I invite you, we return to our study in the Gospel of Mark, and I invite you to turn to Mark, Matthew, Mark, second book of the New Testament, chapter six, as we now look at the section where Jesus here walks on the water. So we'll read together verses 45 through 56, 45 through 56, Mark chapter six. This is the word of the Lord, beginning at verse 45. Immediately, he made his disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side to Bethsaida, while he dismissed the crowd. And after he had taken leave of them, he went up on the mountain to pray. And when evening came, the boat was out on the sea, and he was alone on the land. And he saw that they were making headway painfully, for the wind was against them. And about the fourth watch of the night, he came to them. walking on the sea he meant to pass by them but when they saw him walking on the sea they thought it was a ghost and cried out for they all saw him and were terrified but immediately spoke to them and said take heart it is i do not be afraid and he got into the boat with them and the wind ceased and they were utterly astounded for they did not understand about the loaves but their hearts were hardened when they had crossed over they came to the land of Gennesaret and moored to the shore and when they got out of the boat the people immediately recognized him and ran about the whole region and began to bring the sick people on their beds to wherever they heard he was and wherever he came in villages cities to countryside they laid the sick in the marketplaces and implored him that they might touch even the fringe of his garment as many as touched it were made well may the lord bless this morning the hearing of his gospel well it has been uh the purpose from the beginning of our study in mark's gospel to make clear to us who jesus really is who has come to us if you remember back in chapter one the very first verse of this gospel you should all have that memorized by now by the way um the beginning of the gospel of jesus christ the son of god notice that was his great intention uh here to show us the son of god and there has been a long struggle if we look at this study and we understand this a long struggle in the life of his own disciples to appreciate this and believe this it's really no different today i i think about a lot when i say repeatedly as a pastor jesus is the son of god i don't know how that sets in in people's hearts and lives and whether it really has the sort of effect that it should do we really know what's being said to us when we say jesus is the son of the living god it's that kind of struggle i think that we have this morning that mark is challenging us to really appreciate what is being said about jesus and what it means for us mark is absolutely determined to make it clear he's using to do this many of the themes in the old testament that we know and are familiar with to identify jesus for us that's one of mark's great purposes here and we're going to see that this morning but think about all that mark has shown to us in this gospel about Jesus, His power and authority over the entire demonic realm. His authority over all of creation. His authority even over death and the grave so that He has raised somebody already in this book. People were questioning everywhere. Who is this? Herod thought John the Baptist revisited and raised. Others said He's a great prophet. Elijah, like one of the great prophets. But as I get away from this this week, working on Mark chapter 6, and I work through the intention of Mark and what he's purposely doing here in this passage, I believe that what we have is a great problem that is still being presented, that it's one thing still to remain and to still be just amazed with who Jesus is, but not really accept who He is. Just to be amazed. Well, I'm going to press you on this this morning. I was pressed in my study, so then I've got to press you. And that's what a pastor is supposed to do. The implication of that in our lives of loosely attaching ourselves to Jesus and not yet really knowing Him or not yet really listening to Him or not yet really bowing to Him is a big issue in mark and he's going to raise out of the roof your view of him today with the goal that that would start happening can that problem really happen in us today well come on we've been in the church for some of us for 30 this building was built in 58 you've been here from the beginning could you be here that long and still have this problem as we open up chapter six we find our disciples again in another struggle on the sea the lord appears to them and the entire effect is to confront the disciples whether they have come to him and know who has really come to them and that's what i'll emphasize more so who has come to them and what it means for them and i'm going to answer that this morning and what the implications are that the son of god has come to us and i'm going to challenge us again as to what keeps us from seeing that and bowing before him as we we should if you remember where we left off last time it's this glorious section where jesus had fed the 5 000 you remember the disciples were perplexed about this event they themselves needed to eat they didn't have anything with which to eat and Jesus had immediately put them in a scenario where they were now challenged themselves through their hands to feed the multitudes. But they only had a few fish and a few loaves. And you'll remember that something miraculous happened, that just from a few loaves and from a few fish, 12 baskets of bread and fish had been taken up. 12, the number of them. And Jesus knows what he's doing. But it was remarkable because as they're sitting in the stands, if you will, they wouldn't have seen, as Jesus is breaking the bread, all this bread continuing to come, they would have seen this miracle come through the hands of the disciples. It's a really big point we'll come back to. And Jesus was taking the moment, remember, and using this to train his own disciples, who are now called apostles, train them of something about their own spiritual need as he had already fed them with his word. Remember, that was the crucial emphasis there in the previous section, that Jesus had been feeding them. He had spent all day teaching them. He was their food. That was the message. Jesus. He was the bread come down from heaven. He was the one that gives life to the world. His life sustains. And that is how the biblical writers applied these feeding events. If you need help with that, just go to John 6. It was way beyond a physical feeding. In fact, that's why people left him, because he took it to the spiritual feeding that people needed. And they would not accept that. So here we are, 12 baskets sitting in front of them. No sooner, as they're gazing on these baskets, Jesus launches them into another scenario. And he wants us, because Mark shows us this, and this is the two bookends, to draw the connection that these two events have to be understood together. Mark is telling a continuous story. That's why it's so good to preach through books. You see this. He's done this already when he told them the parables and then immediately puts them out in another storm. You have the same thing being repeated. It's somewhat deja vu. Look at verse 45. Immediately, he made his disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side, to Bethsaida, while he dismissed the crowd. There's no break. Mark's saying see these together back in chapter 4 they got into the boat and remember what happened a great storm had come on them and Jesus in that particular scenario was down in the boat sleeping but this time is different this time he's not with them this time he's absent from them so we see a progression in what he's doing here we see him training them, we see him teaching them, and how appropriate for Pentecost, isn't it? But the central focus of this passage is that Jesus is about to reveal himself to his disciples, teaching them he is the object of their faith, even when he's not physically present with them. That he is the one to be worshipped in their life, because up to this point, they really haven't got it. They were amazed by him, but they're struggling truly to worship him as he is. So the imagery is powerful here. If you look at this section there, Jesus, we know, is walking on the water. He goes up on a mountain, and they are out in the midst of the sea. And the disciples, Mark says that the wind was very strong against them. the text uses a powerful word to capture this, that they were making headway painfully. You can just imagine them. The wind has come on them and they're going absolutely nowhere. They're straining. I shouldn't say this, but that was kind of like being in Reverend Kamega's boat, but that's a bad thing to say. Thing moves really slow. And if wind goes, you're not going anywhere. But anyways. Hopefully he doesn't listen to this sermon. Why is he doing this? Has Jesus deserted them? Has he forgotten them? You'll remember in the first storm, Jesus in that boat sleeping. It wasn't, we said, that Jesus needed a nap. It showed his humanity. It wasn't just that. And that he didn't know this gale-force wind was coming. Oh no, he knew all about it. He, in his providence and leading, had led them right into the storm and knew exactly what would come of the storm. And the same is here. Jesus knew, Jesus determined that the wind would come. He placed them right out there in the midst of it while he now remains behind. Now, it's really remarkable if you look carefully at verse 48 that we read that he saw them struggling from the mountain. I mean, we are getting imagery here, aren't we? He looks out, and he sees them high from his peak, struggling in the midst of the windstorm. But the text makes it very clear, which is even more provocative. The text makes it clear, Mark says, that he didn't go to them until the fourth watch of the night. That's about 3 to 6 a.m., 5 a.m. So sometime between 3 a.m. and 5 a.m., he sees it. He sees them out there. He doesn't come. He then decides to go at that time. This shouldn't be so confusing to us by now. You remember in John 11, when Lazarus was sick, there's a very purposeful, intentional statement that is given in John 11 that when Jesus heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed there. Two more days, he decided that he would not go. And Martha, so troubled about the whole thing, comes up to him and says, Lord, if you would have been here, this would have never happened. And Jesus gives us some indication of how we should view providence. If you believe, I tell you and I told you, you would see the glory of God. That's the answer, isn't it? Well, many of you know the delay. Stay with me for a minute and see what Jesus is doing. Mark says he departed to the mountain to pray. I've heard a lot of sermons in my life on this walking of water incident and a big part of the application is personal prayer life at this point. But I'm not convinced that's at all what Mark's doing at all. I could do a sermon on personal prayer and I would love to do that. But I'm stuck on why the Lord is allowing them to go through this. Mark says, he departed to the mountain alone to pray. He could have rescued them from the start. He could have ended this from the start. Instead, he leaves them alone in the darkness and struggling. It's obvious, it should be at least, to the common surface reader that something very important here is going on, but I mean watching them straining and rowing. And then he doesn't go until hours later. How would you put that together? He sends them out, he looks up and he sees them, and then at the fourth watch of the night, he comes. Now here's the difference between making this a prayer life sermon. What's he doing? He's praying. He's praying. While for six hours, the disciples are out there feeling like they're going nowhere. Think of the imagery of this. That's a little common to experience, isn't it? Feeling like we're going nowhere. On a mountain, looking at them, praying, communing with His Father, lifting them up in prayer, they are in the most secure place they could ever be. And doesn't that give you so much perspective? You know, it's constantly the question of the psalmists and their distress, and they use this, that the sea waves and the billows roll over us. They cry out, help, oh God, how long deep, you can apply this stuff now, deep calls to deep in the roar of your waterfalls. All your waves and breakers have gone over me. My soul is in deep despair. It's the common experience of the sheep. It's the common experience of the sheep that they find themselves in Psalm 46-like experiences. That's what I described in the reading of the law. We're out in the deep. We feel like we're going nowhere. In fact, it feels like the wind is pushing us back. And carried in the midst of the sea while the waters foam and they roar, never quite understanding what the Lord is doing and why He's doing it. And the picture here, the power of this passage is that while they are in this storm, sickness, and while we are in the storm, He is on His holy mountain praying. You know, I think a lot of what Hebrews says and the author to the book of Hebrews must have been very much and profoundly affected by this for when he says we don't have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses but was in all points tempted as we are yet without sin therefore he is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through him since he does what? Lives to make intercession for them. Have you just ever stopped and pondered that? he lives to make intercession for his sheep that he prays for you it's a marvel it is an absolute marvel that's hard for us even to fathom and to even think about that god and all of his glory prays for us and that means then that we really are in the safest place we could ever be when he attaches a promise that the son of god will never leave us nor forsake us the burden of course at this point is that he is going to the cross for them that the weight of that is on his back and all the way to the cross to suffer horrendous death of crucifixion suffering the torments of hell that all looms in his mind and there as he's going to suffer throughout the entirety of his life and this is what what what i can't get over studying the gospels throughout the entirety of his life all we see is the great concern demonstrated that he would preserve and keep and not lose one of his sheep and i think you see that again illustrated in the next section where he's out healing and helping how many people it's love this is this is care and he looks out at his disciples straining and rowing and the crashing and they're in distress and i almost can hear can't you hear the prayer you say well i don't know what he prayed i got a good idea i've manifested your name to the men you've given me out of the world i pray for them i do not pray for the world but for those whom you've given me for their yours while i was with them in the world i kept them in your name those who you gave me and i kept but now i come to you and these things i speak in the world that they may have their joy fulfilled in themselves i have given them your word and the world has hated them because they're not of this world just as i am not of the world i do not pray that you should take them out of the world but that you should keep them from the evil one it's my greatest guess i think it's a good one don't you? When Peter was being assaulted by Satan, Jesus pointed it out. You know, he's asked Peter to sift you as wheat. Do you know what I've done for you? I've prayed for you. You know the promise is that he will pray for you. Do you ever think about it? That prayer is heard. There's a reason we say in our Heidelberg, not one hair, which is a biblical verse, can fall from our head without the will of our Father in heaven. If only we believe that. He sustains us. But you will never appreciate that as you should until you see Him for who He is. Let me restate that. You will never appreciate any of this until you see Him for who He is. And that's what Mark wants to do now. When this first scene happened, Jesus was below the boat. They came running and asking him, don't you care? Don't you care that we're perishing? Remember? Don't you care that we're perishing? Foolish question. He gets up, silences the storm, and what does he say? Why are you fearing, O you of little faith? They were amazed at him and they asked the question, who could this be that even the wind in the sea obeys him? Who could it be? Jesus was not letting that go. I'll put him back in the same scenario and I'm going to answer that. so we read in verse 25 that about the fourth watch of the night jesus went to them walking on the sea i mean this is absolutely glorious maybe we've read it so much that it loses its real punch and we don't even feel what we should with it anyway he walked on what i've seen crazy preachers try to do this and i heard about one who did it and fell and died by the way. You can read it online. This is a revelation of Jesus. Imagine seeing in the middle of the night a man walking on the sea. The place that all the disciples understood was a place of darkness and evil and here he is walking over their fears. Every last one of them he's triumphed over. So that we read when the disciples saw him, they supposed he was a ghost and they all cried out and saw him and were troubled and then the verse that you spend too much time on your bible studies he would have passed them by way more spiritualizing and strange ideas have been presented about that it is a grand moment though it is a grand moment and it's certainly the intention of mark to show us who came down from the holy mountain, even though it wasn't the holy mountain, it was telling us about something of him. Mark is taking many of the themes of the Old Testament that we would have known, that they would have known, to help declare something of him. Who can walk on the water? Well, Job declared it. Job declared it in 9.8. God alone stretches out the heavens and treads on the waves of the sea. They had anticipated that God would come and walk on the water. And the picture here that we have is the Christ, the Son of the living God, the very one through whom all creation came, through whom the sea was even made, the earth and the sea, whose spirit hovered over the face of the waters at creation. From the beginning of the world, he had stretched out his hands, the command was given, now has come down, assuming a human nature, and is treading and walking on the very waters that were there when he created. Now to rescue. his disciples cry out it's an apparition it's a ghost i'd think the same thing but then comes that little phrase and he would have passed them by why is mark saying that i think you can get that from his statement to them in verse 27 we read immediately there's mark's word and we read all over the place he keeps using that particular word immediately. But what we see here is that immediately Jesus is answering them and said, take heart. It is I. Do not be afraid. Now that's not the best way to say it. Take heart. I am. Do not be afraid. And this should have some kind of appreciation going through Exodus. That when Moses was at the burning bush and God asked, God, indeed, remember what God said. Indeed, when I come to the children of Israel and say to them, the God of your fathers has sent me to you and they say, what is His name? What shall I say to them? And God said to Moses, I am who I am. You shall say to the children of Israel, I am has sent you. here we have jesus walking by the boat in a display of glory declaring i am and be of good cheer lift up your hearts and there's something glorious that mark would have wanted us to understand about this and wanted the reader to understand about this what might the disciples have thought well numerous times in the old testament when the lord passed by people he was displaying and putting on display his glory who can forget elijah in the cave when the lord passed by and the rocks are breaking and he passed it says that the lord in his glory passed by elijah but there's one other one that they wouldn't have missed this is exodus 33 after the golden calf event i will make my goodness pass by you and i will proclaim the name of the lord before you well he just did both those things i will proclaim my goodness make my goodness pass before you and proclaim the name of the lord before you i will be gracious on whom i will be gracious and i will have compassion on whom i will have compassion and the lord said here is a place by me and you shall stand on the rock and here it is and so it will be that while my glory passes by i will put you in the cleft of the rock and i will cover you with my hand while i pass by the glory of yahweh passed them that day and sheltered them the glory of the only begotten son of god full of grace and truth the i am that had come down from heaven to earth taking on human nature to deliver in the storm of the sea and Jesus is revealing to his disciples I am who I am and I've come and I love you it's so remarkable he's our keeper he's our intercessor he's our mediator he's the one who through everything was made uphold your lives in the storm living to make intercession desiring constantly to proclaim his goodness to you desiring constantly to do this you see it as he goes out and demonstrates this in front of the disciples again healing and caring for all who put their hands on him what what a savior look look at him says mark consider him says mark consider what he's like consider who he is he gets in the boat immediately without a word this time the wind just dies and they are blown out of their minds beyond measure shock marveling why mark says well they didn't understand the loaves yet you say what in the world it's not hard he just said that their amazement and their shock of his power over creation was evidence that they still had not yet understood about the loaves what in the world do the loaves have to do with this think about it he with that power two little fish few little fish and loaves fed 5 000 people 12 baskets were taken over their number it was a spiritual lesson and it was a spiritual lesson of this he was the one that sustains their life When he saw that the people were hungry, he taught them. He fed them with who? Him. His presence was in the Word. He is the Word incarnate and his presence is still. The Word preached, as we say, is the voice of Christ. His life sustains. His supper sustains. Now this must have had some kind of great moment in the life of the disciples because when Matthew records it, do you know what Matthew says happened? This must have been a big pivotal moment in the Gospels. Matthew records that this event, when it happened in Peter, this is where he sunk, when they get back into the boat and come to him, it said this, and they worshiped him. First time I find it. saying, truly, you are the Son of God. That's what Mark said from the beginning. Now, he had fed them. His word in the breaking of bread was about his life that sustains. And I ask the question today, do you see what sustains you? So that when I'm in great fear and the wind is beating me to a pulp and it is then that the very word of his promise and the gospel believed of who he is and what he has come to do makes me to know and makes me to understand that there is indeed nothing that can separate me from that love nothing nothing at all and in the in his absence he is the i am interceding for me and that as the Lord of creation he could merely speak a word from his holy mountain and the wind would stop and if we had faith like that one man who would say I don't even need you to come here just speak it and it'll be done Jesus says well that would be faith as I haven't seen in all of Israel but here's what saddens me today how does this end in this particular text Mark says up to this point something was the reality in the hearts of the disciples what was it for they had not yet understood about the loaves the loaves declared him his life the loaves declared that this was god incarnate among them for they had not yet understood about the loaves for their hearts were hardened. How could you see all this for so long? Hear all this. Receive the bread from heaven and still have hard hearts. Don't you think it's prompting us here? It's a warning to Pastor Gordon that in all my teaching and preaching and doing all this, I could have a very hard heart to the Lord. But how would I apply this to churchgoers? Can our attitude be here? Can our attitude to the Word proclaimed, to the Gospel preached, to the sacrament given, which is given to sustain your life, could my attitude be and reflect a hard heart to it for 40 years? We could still be in church, Still be a part of the community. Be long-standing members. And do you know it's possible to be here with a hard heart? What creates that? Walls. What kind of walls? Walls that we create that keep us from bowing, from confessing, from worshiping, and confessing from the heart in joy. Who's come to us? Who we're meeting with right now? You see, if we really believed that, it'd change everything, wouldn't it? Who's praying for us right now? Can I speak openly? With a goal of absolute love in what I say, to challenge the Escondido URC, wouldn't that be healthy for us? I challenge me. I fear that for some, that it is merely the tradition of the family and the idol of the family that keeps people here. As long as every generation is here with the kids and everyone's in a row, we think the boat is secure. I know the Lord blesses that. I want that. I think that'd be wonderful. But that's not why we're here. And yet when we have tried to create the picture-perfect life, from the baptism to the grave, everything mapped out, you can still miss Jesus in all of that. So that there's no heartfelt worship, there's no passion for truth, there's no drive to come to hear Christ and Him crucified. We would say of the supper, it's not that important. I don't want people here just to please family. Jesus warned about that. It's already addressed that in Mark. Do you think people who come with that come with the kind of receptive hearts and expressive hearts that are thankful for the Son of God? Who came to us to love us and to save us? The cultural tradition can be an idol. And in that case, Jesus has not even really made it into our own blood families. I've seen this kind of problem that hardens the arteries of our hearts so that we miss Jesus and then we wonder why our children don't connect with this. Or we think it's about the solution as to the music or the worship style. No, it's about the hardness of your heart. Listen, it's about the hardness of your heart. And proof of that will be that you never really speak much about Jesus in your life. We're here because of Him. The Son of the living God is meeting with us. That's what's happening. And so I ask, do you know who's come to you today? I want the single great reason that people come to the Escondido URC is that they are needy, begging sinners in need of the bread of life and understand where they get it and what they're coming for. That the Word and sacrament are a great joy to us. Not burdens or not something meaningless to our existence, but the life with which He sustains us and I know that my own hardness of heart can keep even the pastor from that. Any other reason for which you come, this church will slowly die. And we'll all stand back and wonder why. Let this get a hold of you. And then your worship experience, I promise, will be different. Until then, we'll be in the boat loosely connected with Jesus and have no perspective in the storms of life either. Have no joy expressed in our Savior, no trust in His life. Fear in death, absent will be the power of Christ in me as we sung out from the beginning. Missing the real reason for my Christianity. So is your heart hard to him today? I guess it would be marked by how you respond to this challenge. It's intended only for good. And yet in all this, I say this. Look at how patient he is with these guys. He doesn't give up on them, does he? He loves them. It is a marvel. He loves them. He prays for them. He's about ready to die for them. And that should have the same kind of perspective in the way that we love these people here. If you're frustrated with people, remember how you've treated Jesus and how patient he's been with you before you run off somewhere else. He is ready to die. And he comes to them in their greatest need and proclaims, I love you and I'm putting on display for you, my goodness. May that not just amaze us today, but I hope it helps you to know who Jesus is and may it lead you in your lives to a response of coming to the Lord's house to worship in spirit and in truth since He's absent and yet present by His Spirit. Confessing with our mouths that the one who loves us and comes to us in the Word and sacrament is the Son of God. And we have nothing anymore to fear. It's okay to express that today. It's okay for this congregation to express it. It's okay to talk about it. It's okay to say amen. He's not absent from us. And I send His Spirit in all of our hardships to comfort you. And He says to you today, every single one of His people, take courage. Do not be afraid. I am. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we need to be challenged. It's good for us. I was challenged. The congregation was challenged. But a challenge where you want to show us how marvelous the multitude of your mercies are to us every day. Change our attitudes and hardness of hearts. Let us see Jesus by faith, trusting in the promises and receive with joy the implanted word which is able to save us and come with joy wanting and desiring the table of our Lord which is the spiritual nourishment of our souls and his life body and blood and all that he's given for us fill us with such drive and excitement to be in your house may we know that you will never leave us nor forsake us thank you for sending the Holy Spirit who makes these things alive in our hearts and gives us life in the heart may that be so and every one of us today. In Jesus' name, amen.