In the sermon 'An Obedient Storm' by Jason Dohm, the account from Luke 8:22-25 is used to highlight the supremacy of Jesus Christ over nature. Jesus calming the storm illustrates His divine authority and power, as He commands the wind and the waves to be still, and they obey Him. The sermon emphasizes the importance of recognizing Jesus' dual nature as both God and man, with His ability to perform miracles showcasing His divinity, while His need for rest reflects His humanity. Furthermore, the sermon draws out implications such as the expectation for disciples to trust in Jesus despite fearful circumstances, and how God uses storms in believers' lives to strengthen their faith and prepare them for future challenges. The repeated biblical theme of God's control over nature is underscored, encouraging believers to trust in God's wisdom and sovereignty even in life's storms.

The title of the message today is, An Obedient Storm. Our text says before us a storm that is most likely much wilder than any storm that you've ever encountered. And yet, Jesus is going to tell it to get still, and it's going to obey Him. So just imagine the wildest storm you've ever been through. This one's worse.

And now there's a man who can just say, storm get still and it will obey him. That's actually what we have in our text today. Which is wonderful. Chapter 8, we're in chapter 8. Chapter 8 opened by telling us that Jesus went through every city and village preaching and bringing the glad tidings of the Kingdom of God.

Those are the exact words of verse 1. And then we were given a good dose of that preaching. First public preaching, which was the parable of the sower, and then private instruction to a smaller group of disciples, where he explains that to them and more. So it's been the teaching of Jesus up to this point in chapter 8. Now we're shifting to mighty works that demonstrate the supremacy of the Lord Jesus.

He is the King over everything. And so we're actually going to get three consecutive accounts of things that nobody else can do, only Jesus can do. Jesus does them to prove that He is supreme. This week He is supreme over nature, He tells a raging storm, get still, and it obeys him. Next week it will be over demonic spiritual powers.

He'll prove himself to be supreme over that. There's a man who identifies himself as a legion because he's possessed by so many demonic spirits. And they'll end up begging Jesus' indulgence. It's amazing. And then the following week, he'll prove himself supreme over even death.

Death will have to yield to Jesus. So again, three accounts in a row, all things that nobody can do, only Jesus and Jesus does them. So I hope you're refreshed and I hope you're not too dulled by your familiarity with the Gospels that these cease to be exciting. That would be so sad. Don't let that be true.

We call this Christology. What is Christology? Christology, the study of Christ. Christ just means the anointed of God. So God promised to send one that he would anoint to do certain things.

And this is the study of the identity and work of that anointed one that God promised to send. At the end of today's text, the disciples will ask, who can this be? For he commands even the winds and the water and they obey him. And friends, That is the question of all questions. There's actually not a more important question, a question that it's more important that you get resolved for yourself than that.

Who can this be who can do these things that no one else can do? What does this mean? Well, the scripture actually tells us what these things mean. So I hope this can be part of us being so settled on the subject of who Jesus of Nazareth really is and what God really sent him to do and that he did all those things. The structure this morning will be a little different.

We're not subdividing. I'll start with an exposition, meaning just working through the text and explaining bits and pieces of the text so we have a good understanding of what it is and what it means. Then we'll talk about the implications. In other words, based on what we have in the text, there are certain things that have to be true, that have to follow on, and I'll give you four implications of that and then we'll talk about applications. In other words, we should always do something based on the truths of Scripture.

What should we do based on the truths that are set before us? So let's start. Exposition, I'm going to, I know it was just read, but I'm going to reread our text, Luke chapter 8 verses 22 through 25. Follow along as I reread it. Now it happened on a certain day that He got into a boat with His disciples And He said to them, Let us cross over to the other side of the lake.

And they launched out. But as they sailed, He fell asleep. And a windstorm came down on the lake, and they were filling with water and were in jeopardy. And they came to Him and awoke Him, saying, Master, Master, we're perishing. Then He arose and rebuked the wind and the raging of the water.

And they ceased, and there was a calm. But he said to them, Where is your faith? And they were afraid and marveled, saying to one another, Who can this be? For he commands even the winds and water, and they obey him." The first thing I should say is this, this history is found in Matthew, it's Matthew chapter 8, it's found in Mark, it's Mark chapter 4, and it's found here in Luke, Luke chapter 8. They're very, very similar, so I don't feel the need to read each of them, although I'll be just plucking a few little extras from the others just to add color to it, but When you overlap them, you find that it's almost all overlap.

I'll just be drawing on them very selectively. Now imagine how important something is if it's mentioned in three out of the four Gospels. So I just want to say, pay attention. God thinks this is important. How do we know?

Because he had it included in three out of the four gospels. And most accounts actually don't fit that profile. So we should really stand up and pay attention whenever something is repeated and repeated and repeated. A certain day comes, Jesus and his disciples get into a boat. Jesus directs them to cross over to the other side of the lake.

So what are they doing? They're getting into a boat, they're going across the lake. Why? Because Jesus says this is what we're doing. This is Lake Gennesaret.

What's that? You know it as the Sea of Galilee. Most often it's referred to as the Sea of Galilee. It's rightly called the lake here because it's actually a freshwater lake. But we know it as the Sea of Galilee.

It's 13 miles long, so if you look at a map of Israel, you find the Sea of Galilee is 13 miles north to south, and it's 8 miles wide. So 13 miles north to south, 8 miles across, east to west. Across east to west. In next week's text, we're going, we see that they're going from the west side, Galilee, where Jesus grew up, to the east side, the country of the Gadarenes. This is where they will encounter a man who is possessed by many, many demons.

If you're going from here to there west east, because of where the Sea of Galilee is, you either have to walk a long ways around or you have to get into a boat and cross in a boat. So they are getting into a boat and crossing it in the boat so that they don't have to walk around. As they're sailing, remember at least four have been professional fishermen on the Sea of Galilee. So they know boats, they know these waters, and they are professional seamen essentially. So They're sailing, they're in good hands, and Jesus goes to sleep in the boat.

Mark 4.38 says that Jesus was in the stern. The stern is in the rear or the back of the boat. Mark 4.38 says, He's asleep on a pillow. So this is not you dozing off. This is a man who has laid down his heads on a pillow in the rear of the boat and he has chosen to go to sleep.

While Jesus is sleeping, a windstorm comes down on a lake. It descends on the lake. That's actually how it literally happens. These windstorms come down on the lake. We need to understand the geography.

The Sea of Galilee is the lowest freshwater lake on planet Earth. So take all the lakes on Earth, supposedly Minnesota has 10, 000 of them, add the rest of the lakes of the Earth. The lowest one on the whole earth is the Sea of Galilee. It's approximately 700 feet below sea level, meaning that you have to go from the water level of the Sea of Galilee more than two football fields up to get to just the water level at the ocean. So you have hard time finding places on earth that are lower than that and no no freshwater lake is lower than that.

Listen to what John MacArthur says is just a note from John MacArthur's study Bible. He says, the Sea of Galilee is more than 690 feet below sea level. To the north, Mount Hermon rises 9200 feet and From May to October, strong winds often sweep through the narrow surrounding gorges into this valley causing extremely sudden and violent storms. So what's happening in our text is actually consistent with the geology and the geography that we have here. Hot air rises, cool air drops, and so when you have a temperature gradient, most often between April and October, you have essentially the valleys coming into the Sea of Galilee functioning like wind tunnels and it'll come and it'll be all at once and it'll be very violent.

I've actually never seen a lexicon entry like this So the lexicon helps us understand how to translate words from the original Greek into English and to bring the meaning over. And so I'm looking at the lexicon on keywords every week and so I've seen the lexicon on a lot of words and I've never seen one that reads like this. Listen to the lexicon for this Greek word that is being translated, windstorm. Okay, one meaning giving the primary meaning. A whirlwind.

A tempestuous wind. Whirlwind, a tempestuous wind, to a violent attack of wind. Who says that? Well, the lexicon says that for this word. In trying to bring over the fullness of the meaning of this word, the lexicon says, well it's like a violent attack of wind, A, meaning it's just adding detail to that notion.

Never a single gust, nor a steady blowing wind, however violent, but a storm breaking forth from black thunderclouds in furious gusts with floods of rain and throwing everything topsy-turvy." The lexicon just doesn't talk like that, but it does for this word. It tells you about all that is loaded into this word, a windstorm. So probably what we've been thinking isn't nearly violent enough for what this Greek word is trying to convey to us? What a word. This is what's happening.

And so the wind is driving waves up over the sides of the boat and the waves are spilling over the side and the boat is filling up with water. Things are getting bad. Really bad, really fast. So that even the professional fishermen believe that they're in big trouble. So you and I were not accustomed to these things.

Probably wouldn't take as much to scare us. They've seen a lot on this lake, but even the professional fishermen can see this is really bad. It's getting really bad really fast. We might not be far at all from the end of our lives. They go to Jesus and say, we're perishing, We're in danger.

So they wake Jesus up and they say to Him, Master, Master, we're perishing. In Matthew 825 they say, Lord save us, we're perishing in Mark 438 they say teacher do you not care that we're perishing in Mark's account it's so it has a tinge of accusation do you not care Are you going to sleep while we die? So that gives us a flavor of the desperation being experienced and the desperation being expressed as they wake Jesus up and speak to Him. What does Jesus do? He speaks.

Not to the disciples, not at first at least. He simply speaks to the wind, gives it instructions, gives it a command, He speaks to the waves. He rebukes the wind and the raging of the water. In Mark 439, he says, peace be still. But in Mark 439, where the new King James renders it, peace be still, it has a note, our translation has a note that says, literally, be quiet.

Peace be still, sounds so peaceful. But the literal meaning of what he says there is, be quiet. Wind, be quiet. Waves, be quiet. The NASB renders Mark 439, hush, be still.

This is a good sense of what the Greek is communicating. Jesus speaks. What happened? The wind ceased, the waves died down, and there was a great calm. All at once.

All at Jesus' command. Now imagine one moment there's a more violent storm than probably any of us have ever experienced that gives us that great lexicon entry of a violent wind attack. And the next moment, the wind is silent and gone, and the sea is calm. So the waves were coming over and filling the boat, and now it's calm, and that's just one moment to the next. Yes, amazing.

Now Jesus speaks again, this time to his disciples. He says, where is your faith? Matthew 8.26 he says, why are you fearful, oh you of little faith? So did they have no faith? They at least woke up Jesus and said save us, We're perishing.

They went to him to be saved. That sounds pretty good. I think I would be happy if I did that well under those circumstances. In Mark 4 verse 40 he says, why are you so fearful? So this is really getting to the heart of why he says, where is your faith?

Not that they didn't have saving faith, not that they didn't have any faith, but that they were fearful and not trustful of him in these dire circumstances. The disciples had seen Jesus turn water into wine. Now we didn't study that, but that's in John chapter 2. He turns a massive amount of water into great wine. The disciples were there for that.

They've seen Jesus caused the lame to walk and Jesus give sight to the blind and Jesus give hearing to the deaf. And Jesus to cure all kinds of diseases, and Jesus to set at liberty Those who were possessed by unclean spirits many many many instances of all these things They have seen Jesus Raise a widow's son from the dead In chapter 5 just reminding you of where we've been, in chapter 5, they have seen Jesus take control of nature and fill their net to breaking with fish. Remember that? They fished all night, they didn't catch a thing. Jesus says go out into the deep.

Fishermen know you don't you fish in the shallows, that's where the fish are. But they said because you said it will do it and after fishing all night with nothing now they they can't even handle the catch that they've got. So they've seen Him take command of nature already. Jesus expected his disciples to totally trust him. He expected that of his disciples.

Otherwise, he wouldn't say to them in these circumstances, when they did come to Him, where is your faith?" Ryle says this, well might he ask that question, where is your faith? Where was the prophet of believing if they could not believe in the time of need? Where was the benefit of trusting if they were to trust their master in sunshine only, but not in storms? That is such a humiliating question. What's the good of trusting if you only trust when the sun is shining?

It's easy to trust. You almost don't even need to trust when the sun is shining. We need faith for storms, in storms. Our text ends with the reaction of the disciples. They were afraid.

They were afraid when water was coming in over, but now Jesus calms everything. And they're still afraid. And they marveled. And they said to one another, who can this be? For He commands even the winds and water and they obey Him." It's fearful to be in such a violent storm like this.

It's fearful to be in the presence of a man who can tell the storm, hush, be still, and it obeys Him. This has forced them to grapple with Jesus's identity. Who are we dealing with here? Who can this be that can give these commands and nature obeys Him immediately, perfectly, instantaneously. Him immediately, perfectly, instantaneously.

We're working towards Luke 9 20. We're in the middle of chapter 8 now, but we're working towards the middle of chapter 9 where Jesus after some more proofs will then ask them who do you say that I am? Implications from our text. So That's a brief explanation of what we have there. What are the implications?

What has to be true based on the truths of this history? I'm going to give you four. Number one, Jesus is God. That's the big implication. Jesus is not calling on God to still the wind and the waves.

Jesus is acting as God to still the winds and the waves. He's not calling on God, He's acting as God. You go to the other miracles of the Bible and they don't read anything like this. There is either an instruction from God to do something and the prophet does according to the instruction of God, or it is someone calling on God and God responding to do the miracle. There's not a hint of that here anywhere.

This is unique in the gospels and unique to the Lord Jesus Christ. He is not calling on God. He is God acting. Genesis 1-9. So I just want to read to you from the first page of your Bible.

Genesis 1-9, then God said, Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear. And it was so. Since the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, it has been normal for God to command water and for water to obey its creator. Since the first page of your Bible when God created the heavens and the earth, it has been a very normal thing for God to command water and for water to obey its creator. J.C.

Ryle says this, It needed the power of Him who brought the flood on the earth in the days of Noah, and in due season took it away. God sent the flood, God took the waters away. Who divided the Red Sea and the River Jordan into two parts and made a path for His people through the waters. Remember these two instances. They're fleeing from the Egyptian army.

He parts the Red Sea. They walk through on dry land. This is God commanding water and water obeying its creator. It happened again 40 years later when they're entering the promised land through the River Jordan, he parts the River Jordan and they walk through again on dry land. This is God commanding water and water obeying its creator.

Ryle concludes by saying this, no power short of this could in a moment turn a storm into a calm. No power short of the power of God to command His creation could have done this. The disciples ask, who can this be? For he commands even the winds and water and they obey him. Well the answer has been embedded all over the Old Testament hundreds of years before this happens.

In other words, God's been setting up this event in Matthew 4 and Mark 8 and Luke 8. He's been setting this up for hundreds of years in the Old Testament and speaking of it in almost exactly the same words so that when you see this happen in the Gospels you can say, oh that's God! Let me give you a sampling. Just giving you my favorites. Psalm 65 verse 7.

You can note it if you'd like. Psalm 65 verse 7. David says this of God, you who still the noise of the seas, the noise of the waves. He's talking about God. You still the noise of the seas.

You still the noise of the waves. Psalm 89 verse 9, the psalmist says this of God, Psalm 89 verse 9, you rule the raging of the sea. When its waves rise, you still them. Psalm 93 verse 4, the psalmist says of God, the Lord on high is mightier than the noise of many waters than the mighty waves of the sea. The Lord's mightier than all that.

It's the most violent storm we've ever seen. Don't worry, the Lord's mightier. Psalm 107, this is what Jake read. I'm going to read it again just because now that we've been through it in detail in Luke chapter 8, just listen to it and overlay the language of these two texts. Again, Psalm 107, 23-31.

Those who go down to the sea in ships, check, who do business on great waters, they see the works of the Lord and His wonders in the deep. For He commands and raises the stormy wind which lifts up the waves of the sea. They mount up to the heavens. They go down again into the depths. Their soul melts because of trouble.

They reel to and fro and stagger like a drunken man and are at their wits' end. Then they cry out to the Lord in their trouble, and He brings them out of their disaster. He calms the storm so that its waves are still. Then they are glad because they are quiet. So He guides them to their desired haven.

Oh, that men would give thanks to the Lord for His goodness and for His wonderful works to the children of men." That is fine commentary on Luke chapter 8, is it not? But there's an important point here in Psalm 107, which hasn't been mentioned yet, but which is very important. God didn't just quiet the storm. God raised the storm. So it is all the geological facts are true, but all those are secondary causes.

Who sent that storm? Was it because hot air rises and cool air descends? No! It's because God did all those geologic things as secondary causes, and God sent this storm in this moment. And then Jesus calmed this storm.

And Luke 8 reads just like Psalm 107. That was number one, Jesus is God. Number two, Jesus is man. The MacArthur Study Bible has this note. Jesus was asleep.

Just before the disciples saw one of the most awesome displays of His deity, awesome displays of Him being God, they were giving a touching picture of His humanity. He was so weary that not even the violent tossing of the boat awakened Him, even though the disciples feared They were drowned. So they're in this boat and it's thrashing around. Water's coming over the edge and Jesus is sleeping in the boat like a man who's so exhausted. When you read the Bibles, when you read the Gospels, you see why Jesus was so exhausted.

He was always doing his Father's work. Now let's let J.C. Ryle bring us into application. It's a little early for application, but this one fit really good here. So we'll quote him here.

J.C. Ryle says, angels and spirits require neither food nor refreshment. But flesh and blood, flesh and blood to keep up a healthy existence must eat and drink and sleep. If the Lord Jesus could be weary and need rest, He must have had two natures in one person, a human nature as well as a divine. The truth now before us is full of deep consolation and encouragement for all true Christians.

The one Mediator in whom we are bid to trust has himself been partaker of flesh and blood. The mighty high priest who is living for us at God's right hand has had personal experience of all the sinless infirmities of the body. He has himself hungered and thirsted and suffered pain. He has Himself endured weariness and sought rest and sleep. Let us pour out our hearts before Him with freedom and tell Him our least troubles without reserve.

He who made atonement for us on the cross is one who can be touched with the feeling of our infirmities. Hebrews 4 verse 15. Ryle is saying, watch Jesus sleep in the back of this boat and be so encouraged that Jesus knows what it's like to be hungry and thirsty and exhausted and to crave sleep. The one who is sitting at the right hand of God his Father is one who knows all about these things that we're struggling with so we should bring with him with to him with such freedom even the smallest things because he understands them and he has sympathy for us in these things amen amen number one was Jesus is God number two was Jesus is man number three Jesus isn't responding to circumstances. He is making disciples.

It reads like he's reacting, but the Bible teaches us that God doesn't react. God does what pleases Him to accomplish His purposes. So Jesus isn't responding to circumstances. He is making disciples. Think who's in the boat with Jesus?

It is men who have both amazing success and tremendous pressure and hardships ahead of them. We can kind of read the book of Acts and the epistles and know what's in store for these men. Study church history and know what's in store for these men. Amazing success, Yes, they are going to turn the world upside down. But tremendous pressures and hardships in front of them.

Church history says that aside from Judas, 10 of the 11 will be martyred for taking the good news to the world. That's the thanks they'll get for taking the gospel to the world. They will be killed for their preaching of the gospel. Jesus is making them ready for these pressures and these hardships. This storm is about making them ready for coming pressures and coming hardships.

Jesus gets them into this boat and directs them to cross over to the other side. This was about a lot more than just transportation and not having to walk around. Jesus' disciple making in our text. These men needed to know about themselves. Their faith.

If a study of Peter tells us anything, it's that he thought a lot more of his faith than it actually measured up to when push came to shove. Same is being shown in this text. Probably thought Their faith was at one level and this text humbled them and told them they needed to grow. They needed to know about themselves. They needed to know about Himself.

They needed to know about Jesus, who He was. Number four, final implication. I'm sure there are more. These are the ones I've mined out. Number four, Jesus expects His disciples to trust Him.

I've said that already, but I want to develop that now. If you are a disciple of Jesus Christ, if your only hope is that He went to the cross and died for you, and you belong to Him by faith, He expects you to trust Him. Does that mean that very fearful things aren't out there? No, that's not what that means. Of course That's not what that means.

That storm was real. That storm was real. That storm would have frightened all of us. Friends, here's what the Bible does with human fear. It acknowledges it as a normal human experience, but it doesn't coddle it.

The Bible doesn't say, expect and never be afraid. It's easy to not fear. That's not the Bible. The Bible looks all these things square in the face, but it does not coddle our unbelief. It does not coddle our lack of trust.

You know, we're actually living in a culture that's exactly the opposite of that, that where every fear is legitimate and should be treated with kid gloves. The Bible just doesn't do that. You're going to have to go somewhere else for that kind of advice. The Bible actually says we should repent of our unbelief. This is God's disposition towards our fear.

Why? Because for we who are united to Jesus by faith, saved, we who are saved, whoever that applies to, here, we are in the hands of an all-wise, almighty, perfectly faithful God. He's all-wise. He's never doing anything dumb. He's never bringing you into anything and it's dumb that He's bringing you there.

He's all wise. He could have kept you out of it and He did bring you into it. He's almighty and He's perfectly faithful. He's not going to abandon you. He might bring you into the valley of the shadow of death.

He'll go with you and bring you out the other side of it. That means that you're always going to be rescued. Notice in church history sometimes that's meant you die. The Bible's realistic about that too. But in the end, to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.

In the end, Death is gain to the Christian. That doesn't mean we should be foolish and reckless. That doesn't mean that death isn't a very sobering prospect. Of course it is. But is this true or isn't it?

If it is, then we who belong to God through His Son Jesus Christ are loved by Him, and so things are coming to us through perfect wisdom, and He's almighty. He can keep anything from happening and make anything happen, and He's perfectly faithful, and He's given us all of these promises, and it's impossible for him to lie so it's all going to come true and so our fears are not legitimate. They're very normal and it's very hard not to fear, but they're not legitimate. Here is what Job was brought to say. I'm choosing my words carefully.

Brought to say. Job didn't start in this spot. Job, through tremendous pressure and hardship, was brought along, discipled by God, caused to grow, and brought into this spot. Job 13 verse 15. He says, though he slay me, yet I will trust Him.

How's all this going to end? It might end with God killing me. Okay? I'm trusting Him. Because I think He's all wise, and I think He's all mighty, and I think He's perfectly faithful.

So, I'd rather him be in charge, come what may. God's trying to bring us to that spot. God is bringing us to that spot. God's not trying to do things. God's doing things.

He who began a good work in us will bring it to completion. If he kills me, I'll trust Him. God is working in our lives knowing we're not there yet, but He's bringing us there. Thank God He's doing this so He doesn't just leave us legitimizing every fear as if He's not the all-faithful God. Here's what God brought Habakkuk to say.

God brought Habakkuk. There it is. There's the right bookmark. God brought Habakkuk to say this. This is at the very end of Habakkuk.

It's only three chapters, but there is an extensive dialogue between God and Habakkuk where God reveals the judgments that He's going to pour out on Israel. And Habakkuk doesn't understand how a nation more ungodly than Israel could be used to judge and discipline Israel. At the very end, here's what Habakkuk says, Though the fig tree may not blossom, nor fruit beyond the vines, Though the labor of the olive may fail, and the fields yield no food, though the flock may be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord. I will joy in the God of my salvation. For the Lord God is my strength.

He will make my feet like deer's feet, and He will make me walk on my high hills." If God cuts off the food supply, all the crops fail and all the herds die. What are you going to do then, Habakkuk? I'm going to rejoice in the Lord. I'm going to have joy in the God of my salvation. He will save me.

In life or in death, I bet everything on that He will save me. In life or in death, I bet everything that He will save me. God is bringing us to that spot. He is teaching us to trust Him. And He won't be coddling our lack of trust.

I have a lot of lack of trust and God is telling me in this text, don't expect me to coddle it. I think he's telling us we shouldn't coddle it either. We should call it what it is and deal honestly with it. Applications, I'll give you three. Three applications.

One, This is a God who can save you and then keep you a God who can tell a storm worse than you've ever experienced, hush, be still. And it instantaneously gets quiet is a God who can save you. And not only can He save you, He can keep you. So I don't know if your sins and weaknesses have ever driven you to despair. All those things are true about you and it's not good.

But there's good news. That's not the end of the story. In fact, that's not the story at all. The story is there is a God who chooses to save and He will not be held back from it, and then it will not be reversed. It will not be reversed.

No one can do it. He's too mighty. He's determined to do what pleases him, and that's what he's going to do. And this is our hope. Not that we'll be able to get our act together and after he saved us now maybe we'll be able to sort of limp to the finish line.

That's not how this works. God undertakes the saving work and he undertakes the keeping work and he's taking a people to heaven and not one will be missing when they call the roll. Number two, it's a question Why your storms? God's glory and your good. It's not the geology of Israel.

That's all secondary stuff. There are valleys that become wind tunnels when you have a lake below sea level. It's not the real answer. The real answer is God is determined to grow you. Do not leave us stunted and immature like we are today.

He's going to help us to grow. Thank you God for being committed to helping us to grow. Why your storms? It's not the secondary stuff. Take your eyes off that.

Put your eyes on God. God is giving you these things to bring us to maturity. Praise God. You need to be changed. You need every storm that God brings.

He's not doing it to torture us. He's actually doing it out of love to grow us. Number three, finally. Also a question. Where is your faith?

Where is your faith? Use your fears to root out lack of trust. So we're actually being given a tool in the toolbox. I have fears. I started wondering as I was writing the sermon, what am I afraid of?

A couple things pop right to mind. You can use that as a tool in the toolbox to identify lack of trust. The sooner you put your finger on it, the sooner you can deal with it. We should be dealing with areas in our life that are lack of trust. Am I saying that fear is sin and that we should repent of it?

Of course that's what I'm saying. Fear is sin and we should repent of it. Did you come here surprised that you're still a sinner? I didn't. I'm not surprised that you're a sinner, Or that I'm a sinner.

Is fear uncommon? No. Are there fearful things that we face in life? Yes. But the overriding truth is that God is all-wise and all-powerful and perfectly faithful and those should rule the day.

But if fear is sin and I need to repent about it, I'd have to repent a thousand times. Of course! Of course you have to repent a thousand times. That number's low. What did you think the Christian life was?

The Bible teaches us that among other things it is a lifetime of ongoing repentance. When do I get to stop? When you die and you're perfected in a moment, and not until then. And even then, let's say God gives you 50 years till you die, and you make progress all along the way. You make unusual progress along the way.

There's going to be a lot of work to perfect you for heaven on the day that you die. You make good use of the time and you keep growing and keep growing and keep growing year after year for 50 more years. There's going to be a lot left. This is how it works. This is what the Bible teaches us.

Of course, we should repent and keep repenting. But God doesn't despise that. God is causing us to be dependent upon Him, and He's so gracious. We should take these things to Him. We should identify these areas where we are afraid, and go be honest with God in prayer.

God, I'm afraid. I know that is like saying that I don't trust you to be faithful. I'm sorry. Please help. I need help.

And then tomorrow, are you going to have to do the same thing again? Of course. Of course you are. We'll give J.C. Ryle the last word.

He says, They forgot for a moment their masters never failing care for them in time past. They forgot with him they must be safe no matter what happened. It is only too true that sight and sense and feeling make men very poor theologians." Wow! That one is worth the price of admission. There was no price of admission, but if you've been charged for admission that would have been worth the price of admission.

It is only too true that sight and sense and feeling make men very poor theologians. We get off of what this book says and we start trusting our senses. But Christians aren't supposed to be that kind of people. We're supposed to think that the most important things, the most powerful things, are things you can't even see. It's spiritual things and God reigns over all those.

Don't let sight and sense and feeling make you a poor theologian. This is the last sentence of what he says. They teach us to watch and pray. They teach us what to watch and pray against in our own hearts. These things teach us what to watch and pray against in our own hearts.

God I am a fearful man about many things. I find fearful people in the Bible, fearful psalmists. I was reading about Paul's fears this morning. God, help us, help us. Because it's normal doesn't mean it's good.

I pray that You would Help us turn our eyes to heaven where Christ is seated next to God interceding for His people. That sight and sense and feeling wouldn't make us poor theologians, but we would trust our Bibles more than we trust our sense of the circumstances around us. It would allow us over time to be able to rest even when storms are raging. Thank you. In the New Testament, we can see people making progress so that we know it's possible to make progress and pass in the future tests that we failed today.

Thank you for being full of grace for people like us and we love you and we do trust you. We believe, help, or unbelief. We pray in Jesus name, Amen.