The reading of God's Word this morning comes from Mark, the Gospel of Mark, chapter 6. If you're looking in your pew Bibles, that is page number 1070. Page number 1070. And the text that we'll be reading is Mark 6, 30 through 52, but our text that we'll be focusing on this evening will be Mark 6, 45 to 52. Mark 45 to 52. But we'll be reading, again, starting at verse 30. This is God's holy word. hounds and got there ahead of them. When he went ashore, he saw a great crowd and he had compassion on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd. And he began to teach them many things. And when it grew late, his disciples came to him and said, this is a desolate place and the hour is now late. Send them away to go into the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat. But he answered them, you give them something to eat. And they said to him, shall we go and buy 200 denarii worth of bread and give it to them to eat? And he said to them, how many loaves do you have? Go and see. And when they had found out, they said five and two fish. Then he commanded them all to sit down in groups on the green grass. So they sat down in groups by hundreds and by fifties. And taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and said a blessing and broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples to set before the people. And he divided the two fish among them all, and they all ate and were satisfied. And they took up 12 baskets full of broken pieces and of the fish. And those who ate the loaves were five thousand men 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 they cried out, for they all saw him and were terrified. But immediately he 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. Would you pray with me? Our Father, without the presence of your Holy Spirit, what we do here is futile, and so we ask that your Spirit would be heavily involved in the preaching, in the exhorting, and the listening of God's Word this evening. Lord, may you change hearts and may we find great comfort in our Savior and Lord and may we begin to learn a little and a little bit more what it means to lean on Him in faith. And it's in Jesus' name that we pray now. Amen. All throughout Jesus' ministry, He was doing things that were completely unexpected by the people around Him. And that included His disciples. He was casting out demons. He was healing the sick. He was feeding thousands and thousands of people with bread. And one of the most difficult things for the people of that time to understand about Jesus was this. What was Jesus' ultimate point in doing the things that he was doing? Who was Jesus revealing himself to be? Who was this man? the disciples actually asked that same question in Mark 4. A different storm had arisen, water was pouring into their boat, and the disciples, worried for their lives, go down into the stern of the boat, and they wake up Jesus, where he was sleeping, and they say to him, Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing? And so Jesus gets up, and he goes onto the deck of the boat, and he looks out at the wind and the waves, and he rebukes them. And everything is turned to calm. And the disciples ask this question about Jesus. Who then is this, that even the wind and the waves obey him? People were constantly asking that very question. Who can do such things? They were trying to put the puzzle pieces together about this man, Jesus, the likes of whom they had never seen before. And most people throughout the Gospels just did not understand the who, the what, and the why of the God-man, Jesus Christ. But they could tell. They could tell that this was not your normal human being. They could tell that Jesus was something rather extraordinary. And we might read the Gospels and we might think, these people were so utterly blind. How could they not see? I mean, even the disciples, how could they be so blind and be so slow of heart to believe? But let me pose a question to you this evening. How did last week go for you? How did you respond to the circumstances that happened in your personal lives? Did you place your faith and your trust in God? That he was working for your good through each and every circumstance? Or did you worry about your present circumstances? Because I think if we're honest, we will say that we are a very worried people. We're worried about money. We're worried about the future. We're worried about children. We're worried about the job that we'll get after college. We're worried about whether we'll be accepted in school by our peers. And I think, if we're honest, we'll say something along these lines. I know that I can trust God for my salvation, but I have a very hard time trusting God on a week-to-week basis. I don't trust Him very much daily. Oftentimes, I don't even think about Him through my daily circumstances. I grumble when I get stuck in something so small as traffic. And in general, I grumble when things don't go my way. And this is the application that our passage is focusing in on this evening. The Bible wants to wage war on our worried lives. The Bible presents such a full-orbed and amazing picture of Jesus Christ that we can never fully plumb the depths of this God-man. But Jesus wants us to trust him in all circumstances that we go through, small or great, good or bad. And we ought to ask from a passage like this, this evening, the same question that the disciples asked in Mark 4. Who is this man? But it must go further than simply asking the question, to actually believing and adopting the answer and believing that God has our best intentions at heart, no matter what happens to us. That Jesus is in complete control of our lives and that who this passage presents Jesus to be has great ramifications for our life, but also for our faith. And so as we come to our text this evening, I want us to take a long look at the end of our passage. Do you recall what it said? Look there at verse 51 in the middle. It says that the disciples were utterly astounded for they did not understand about the loaves, but their hearts were hardened. And that's the main point of the message this evening. What didn't the disciples understand about the loaves? And then the driving thrust of our message will be that because Jesus Christ is the great I am and the bread of life, we ought to trust him to be our protector throughout our lives. And the message has three points this evening. Jesus is showing himself to be divine in three ways. First, by walking on the water. Second, by meaning to pass by the disciples. and third, by claiming to be, I am. And we'll come to some of these and it'll make more sense when we get to them, but I want to repeat those. We have three points, that Jesus is showing himself to be divine by walking on the sea, by meaning to pass by the disciples and by claiming to be the great I am. In the previous section, Jesus has just asked his disciples to come away by themselves to a desolate place to rest because Jesus had just sent them out two by two on their journey to the surrounding countrysides. And as Mark 6.31 told us, that many were coming and going from them, but they did not even have time to eat. And so following Jesus' orders, they all get into a boat by themselves to go to a desolate place. The passage is stressing that it's a desolate place so that they can rest. but they find that upon coming to this desolate place that a group of people has already met them. They have already gotten there first. You can imagine the disciples' reaction. Ah, we just wanted to rest. But look at verse 34 of chapter 6. How does our Lord respond to this group of people? Well, it says he had compassion on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd. They had no one to lead them. They had no one to guide them. They were seeking direction. And instead of shooing them away because he was worn out and tired, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, he actually begins to teach them many things. And after teaching them, it's in this desolate place that Jesus multiplies the loaves and the fish and everyone there eats and is satisfied. What do you think was Jesus' main point in multiplying the loaves of bread? What was he getting at? Well, we see that Jesus compassionately takes into account the physical needs of these people and the miracle is certainly not less than that. But the miracle is certainly more than that. Jesus is showing himself to be the bread of life, the sustenance through which those who believe in him would truly live. He is the shepherd of the sheep, the great provider of our needs, both physical and spiritual. Listen to this Bible verse from Ezekiel 34. And I will set over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he shall feed them. he shall feed them and be their shepherd. Could there be any mistake in our minds what Jesus is proclaiming himself to be through the miracle of the multiplication of the loaves, that he is the great shepherd of the sheep, that he is the bread of life, that he is in control of nature. And with all this background, we come to our text. Please read with me at verse 45. It says this, And so as Jesus often did in his earthly ministry, he would take time away from the crowd. He would take time away from the tyranny of the urgent needs of the crowd to go away by himself and to pray to his Father. and have communion with his Father. But we're going to see that there was a secondary purpose in Jesus going up the mountain to pray. And we're going to see that after we read verse 47. Verse 47 says, And when evening came, the boat was out on the sea, and he was alone on land. And he saw that they were making headway painfully, for the wind was against them. And so we see that Jesus' secondary purpose in going up the mountain by himself was to create distance between himself and the disciples, to pray for them to the Father and to watch them struggle through the night. It's very obvious from our text that it's presenting the distance between these two parties, Jesus and his disciples. In the first windstorm in Mark 4, Jesus was actually in the boat with the disciples. But now, he's nowhere to be found, at least from the disciples' perspective. And what's perhaps the most striking thing about these next few verses is that Jesus does not immediately come to their aid. He sees them struggling. He sees them painfully toiling. But he lets them continue that until the wee hours of the morning. Perhaps you didn't pick it up from the narrative, but it says that when evening came, the boat was out on the sea. So let's say that evening was at 6 o'clock. Let's say that evening was at 6 o'clock. And as you can see from your Bibles, the fourth watch of the night was anywhere from 3 a.m. to 6 a.m. So Jesus is watching them from the mountain, and he's seeing them struggle, and he lets them struggle for 9 to 12 hours. And he's watching them do this. It's a very striking picture, isn't it? Why would Jesus let them struggle so painfully so long? It's because he wants to show them something. He wants to reveal to his disciples something about who he is, and he wants to do so at the disciples' weakest point, when they're at their wits' end, so that this demonstration of who he is will have the most effect. No doubt the disciples are brutally tired. They've been straining literally against the oars for hours upon hours. Their muscles are cramping. And then all at once, Jesus, after waiting until this fourth watch, praying to his Father on behalf of the disciples, comes down the mountain and begins to walk upon the sea toward them. What does that mean? What does it mean that Jesus would walk upon the sea towards them? The sea was feared by the Jews. The sea was a place of watery chaos. Recall at the beginning of creation, the Bible says that the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the waters. The sea was the place of Sheol, where storms easily arose, they filled boats, they sunk them, and drowned men. It was the place of watery depths and watery darkness. And it's on this storm-tossed sea, this dangerous place of chaos and tumult and wind, that Jesus walks. Listen to Psalm 77, 19. Your way was through the sea, your path through the great waters, yet your footprints were unseen. That's talking about the Exodus. Or listen to Job 9.8, speaking of God, who alone stretched out the heavens and trampled the waves of the sea. Or listen to these verses from Isaiah 43. I am the Lord, your Holy One, the Creator of Israel, your King. Thus says the Lord, who makes a way in the sea, a path in the mighty waters. With all this Old Testament background, could it be any mistake what Jesus is proclaiming through walking upon the water? That he's Lord of creation. That he's Lord over the sea. And he means to walk toward them. And so he walks toward them. But look again at verse 48, at the last statement. of verse 48. It's really rather strange. So it's the fourth watch. Jesus comes to them, but the last statement of verse 48 says he meant to pass by them. When I read that for the first time, I thought, why would Jesus come to them in the fourth watch of the night and then mean to pass by them? Well, we are seeing that Jesus is extremely purposeful in every part of our passage this morning. So what is the purpose of him meaning to pass by them? And as I was thinking about this, there's no doubt that this passage is presenting us with Jesus' divinity. It's presenting us with a fact that Jesus is God himself. And whenever God desired to show his glory in the Old Testament in a theophany, that would happen by him passing by. And so when Abraham split the animals and the flaming torch came through those animals, it passed through them. Or do you remember when Moses is on Mount Sinai and he says to God, please show me your glory. And God says to him, I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim my name before you, the Lord, God's covenant name. And while my glory passes by, I will put you in the cleft of the rock and I will cover you with my hand until I have passed by you. That's an incredible account. So just as the glory theophanies in the Old Testament show Jesus' means to pass by his disciples to show them his glory. But what happens? Look at verse 49. But when they saw him walking on the sea, they thought it was a ghost. And they cried out, for they all saw him and were terrified. The disciples don't immediately grasp the point because of their fear. They miss the significance of Jesus' actions here because of their panic. And Jesus, desiring to calm their fears, Mark says, immediately speaks to them. and look at what he says in verse 50. He says, take heart, it is I, do not be afraid. This is one of those times where you wish that English translations would be just a little more literal in their translation of explicitly what the original is saying. It's explicit that Jesus is saying, I am, I am. Be courageous, disciples, the Lord of heaven and earth. The great I am is with you. Do not be afraid. It's really quite astonishing to me that some Bible scholars believe that Jesus is only presented as divine in the Gospel of John. We're seeing that that's really an absolutely ridiculous claim because Jesus has shown himself to be divine in three ways in just this small story by walking on the water, by meaning to pass by the disciples, and by claiming himself to be the great I am. Look at verse 51. And he got into the boat with them and the wind ceased. In Mark 4, with the first storm, Jesus rebuked the wind and the waves, but now he merely gets into the boat with them And just like that, everything goes calm. This whole section of Scripture is a testament to who Jesus is. This passage of Scripture is literally screaming, don't you understand who Jesus is? But the disciples don't. They have seen Jesus calm two storms. They have seen him heal people, heal the blind. They've seen him multiply loaves and fish for thousands of people, but they still don't understand. It's really a sad ending to our passage this evening. Look at the ending of verse 51 again, where it says, And they were utterly astounded, for they did not understand about the loaves, but their hearts were hardened. The disciples, like so many others during Jesus' time, missed the point. They focused on the specific event, but missed the big picture. They missed the forest for the trees. And it's interesting here that Mark highlights specifically a lack of belief about the loaves. I mean, just a day earlier, the disciples had seen their Lord do a great miracle. They had seen with their very eyes Jesus Christ multiply loaves and fish for thousands and thousands of people. But when their faith is tested with a severe windstorm, it is exposed that they really don't understand about Jesus very well at all. I mean, couldn't they see that because Jesus could multiply bread that he could also provide for them at any time and place, whether he was present or not? Couldn't they see that Jesus was in control of nature Why were they utterly astounded? Why did Jesus calming this storm come as such a profound shock that they respond in the exact same way that they responded in the first storm? They still don't have the answer to the question, who is this man? They can acknowledge, as they do in Matthew's recounting of the story, that truly Jesus is the Son of God. And what's incredible is that they even worship in that account. But they haven't truly understood the real depth of who this man is. That Jesus is God incarnate in the flesh, Lord of the sea, that he is sovereign over all. And so what does this mean for us? What does this mean for the saints at the Escondido United Reformed Church? this evening? Well, I think we would do well to ask the question, do we understand about the loaves incident? Do we understand the Lord that we serve? Do we understand that all nature can be controlled by Jesus because he is truly God? If we understand this, it's really going to have profound, practical implications on our lives. because we're going to see that the small things that we worry about are really small in relation to Jesus' power. Because we believe in the Son of Man, worry is rather unbefitting for us. I mean, He's our sovereign protector. He is our sustenance and the true bread of life. He's the great I Am. But if you understand yourself, you know that worry creeps in. You will sometimes think to yourself, how is this problem? Or how is that problem? How are these going to be resolved? And we must understand something very important from this passage, that we are often just like the disciples. We may stand up with all the bravado in the world and say, I will always trust in Jesus Christ throughout all circumstances. But it's just bravado. When the going gets tough and there's no solution we can see, we find sometimes we actually lack trust, that we fear in times of trouble, that we doubt in the storms of our own lives. We lack trust in the Lord. But here's a question. Does he reject us for such things? Does he, does Jesus say to his disciples, you don't understand, you should understand by now, therefore I'm going to get new disciples, you guys can leave. Does he say that? Jesus does say to his disciples, oh you of little faith. And he does say to his disciples, do you still not understand? But he never rejects us for our slowness of heart. He graciously shows us again and again, week after week, the who and the what of his person and his work. He refreshes us again and again with the gospel and we understand more, little by little, how this faith in Christ can give us peace and give us joy all throughout our lives that none can save but God alone. Without Christ, we would truly be lost at sea, completely confused by the storms of life, and he is the one who guides us to our heavenly haven in peace. But because we fail to trust in Christ at times does not mean that we should not actively pursue leaning on Him now. We can lean on Christ now in our present struggles. Because Christ is the bread of life and the great I am, because Christ is God, we can trust Him with our everything, with our whole selves. We can think to ourselves when we begin to worry about the future. We can think, wait. Wait, Jesus was the one who is Lord of the sea. He walked on the sea. He calmed the chaos of the storms. He claimed to be the great I am. We can say that in our times of doubt. And we can take great hope in our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ. We can lean on him. We can trust him, not only for our salvation, but in every day, month, and year of our short lives in all circumstances. Because we are learning the answer to the question that I posed at the beginning. Who is this man, Jesus? And so we see the two ways that this passage really comforts us this evening. The first is that we find righteousness and forgiveness in Christ for those times when we do worry and when we do lack trust in God's provision for our lives. Christ doesn't reject us, but he graciously reveals himself again and again through the preaching that happens here every Sunday and we need that so much and the second comfort that this passage brings us is by showing us that while Jesus was truly man He was also truly God the Son the second person of the Trinity and this means that we can cling to Him in our times of worry and doubt and we can find great strength in having a Savior who still lives and is lifting us up before the Father, just as Jesus was praying for his disciples through their storm. In our struggles, we can give up fighting in our own strength and we can say, I entrust everything to you because you are the great I am. The disciples' hearts were hardened toward the truth of Jesus' divinity in multiplying the loaves of bread. and then he showed them his divinity three times more over. And their hearts were still hard. Let not our hearts be hardened toward these truths, but may we embrace them with a heart of gratitude and a heart of faith. Amen.