Where Is Your Faith?

[00:00:00] This audio sermon is provided by AnabaptistSermons.com and may be freely copied and distributed. You may not sell or edit this sermon. Our prayer is that you would be blessed by this ministry. Please turn in your Bibles to Luke chapter 8. The Gospel of Luke chapter 8. I would like to begin reading at verse 22. [00:00:38] Now it came to pass on a certain day that he went into a ship with his disciples, and he said unto them, Let us go over to the other side of the lake. And they launched forth. But as they sailed, he fell asleep, and there came down a storm of wind on the lake. And they were filled with water and were in jeopardy. And they came to him and awoke him, saying, Master, Master, we perish. [00:01:12] Then he arose and rebuked the wind and the raging of the water, and they ceased, and there was a calm. And he said unto them, Where is your faith? and they being afraid wondered saying one to another what manner of man is this for he commandeth even the winds and water and they obey him before we study together from this passage [00:01:52] Let's bow together in prayer. Brother Tom Keener, lead us please. Come, Father in heaven, dear Lord, just now we thank you for this passage that we have to look at. Thank you for the scriptures. Thank you that we can all be here this morning to worship you. We just thank you that you are the lone creator of the earth. Nature obeys you. We thank you for the power that you have. We pray just now that your blessing would be upon us. [00:02:29] And also, Brother Paul, as he brings this message to us, we ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Amen. Now, as we come to the Scriptures, the emphasis that we would like to take from this passage is an emphasis on faith. We usually look at the matter of faith as twofold. [00:03:00] We talk about saving faith, that faith that is exercised by the grace of God and believing God for salvation, believing in the Lord Jesus Christ and His shed blood at Calvary for our forgiveness, for our remission of sins, and all of its attendant truth. We talk about saving faith. And then we tend to talk about faith in general, [00:03:31] which is just trusting God for the daily activities and our needs and so on. In truth, there are not two, but only one. And I would like us to look to God to adjust our thinking in this way, that genuine faith is abandoning our self-effort and placing ourselves at the total disposal of God. [00:04:14] Whether for salvation or anything else. We have a dichotomy many times in our thinking, which goes something like this, which is a variation of what we just mentioned, that we are saved by grace through faith, and thereafter we need to do the best we can. But the scripture says that we who are saved by grace through faith are to live by faith. [00:04:58] And in essence it is the same faith. We are to live our Christian lives the same way we were saved. In total dependence upon God. and rejection of ourselves, our selfishness, our self-centeredness, rejection of our plans and submission to his. This is reflected in this passage. The passage is familiar, repeated in the other Gospels with additional information, [00:05:32] But it is the case of the tempest on the Sea of Galilee as the disciples were crossing with the Lord as they were crossing the sea. This is not the only time there was a storm on the Sea of Galilee. And I think we need to recognize that there are regular storms on the Sea of Galilee even today. It is not a huge body of water, but it is very susceptible to stormy weather as storms come down out of the mountains, on the one hand, from the direction of Hermon and its foothills. [00:06:27] As storms also come through the passes, or one pass in particular, a major pass through the mountains coming from west to east from the Mediterranean Sea, it is very subject to stormy weather. And those storms come up quickly, and they can be disastrous. in terms of shipping. [00:07:01] Now, the boat that they were in was by our dimensions small. It would be like an overgrown rowboat with a sail. A boat of that vintage has been discovered. Those of you who have visited the Holy Land have probably seen the boat. It is under special environmental control, but it was dug out of the sand on the shores of Galilee. [00:07:42] As I recall it, it's between 20 and 30 feet long, open rowboat style, with the ability to have a sail. If you can imagine that kind of a boat with the disciples in it and the Lord pretty well loaded, storm comes up, they were in danger for their lives, would not have had life jackets such as we have today. [00:08:20] Today, the ship, the boat would have been sinkable as opposed to how they advertise boats today as not being sinkable. I'm a little hesitant about that description after the history of the Titanic, but at any rate, so they were in real danger. I have seen storms come up on our lakes here in the United States. and a lake that is very pleasant to travel and become very unpleasant in a short period of time. [00:09:01] And Galilee is particularly that type of a lake, very picturesque, very calm many times, and yet there are the other times fairly frequently when it is downright dangerous to be on with small craft. So that's a bit of the background and as you think about the things that this passage reveals, we have the plan of God in place. [00:09:32] If you will think with me at verse 22, on a certain day he went into a ship, that would be a boat, with his disciples and he said unto them, let us go to the other side of the lake. And as you read this in greater context, the Lord had a plan. He had some ministry that was particularly in view on the other side of the lake, as is revealed by reading on in this passage. He was operating according to plan. They were going to travel to the other side of the lake in the plan of God. [00:10:08] Did the Lord Jesus Christ know that the storm was coming? I don't see how it's possible that he did not know. I think he must have known, being the God-man, it was a part of the plan. It fit the plan. They were operating according to a plan. Let us go. He was planning to minister with his disciples on the other side of the lake. The plan of God included a storm, as you read this passage. [00:10:43] And the plan of God for us today includes storms. There are those who teach what is called the health and wealth gospel. It is a false gospel, but it has at its core the idea that there are no storms for those who are in the will of God. That if your faith is strong enough, there will be no storms. [00:11:15] There will only be health and wealth and peace and safety and on and on. That is not what the Bible teaches. The Bible here illustrates and otherwise teaches that there are storms that come into our lives and they are a part of the overall plan of God for us. They will be used, maybe I better back up, they can be used to our benefit. [00:11:51] They are intended for our benefit. The other thing that we need to note here is that they arrived on the other side. Just peeking into verse 26, when they arrived on the other side. So, when the Lord said, let us go, He was laying out step one of a plan. That plan included a storm. [00:12:27] It included the revelation of the disciples' lack of faith. It included the power of God manifested in control of the storm And it included the destination And because he was and is God They were going to arrive at the destination Now without him would they have arrived at the destination? [00:12:59] Some people ask that Certainly by faith they would have. Now you'll notice the reaction of the apostles or the disciples. And the storm came and verse 23 said that they were filled with water. I think that is a reference to the boat. And if you can imagine an open boat such as this was, [00:13:30] Riding fairly low in the water with the passengers, when the waves get high enough, they wash in. And that is the picture. The boat would have been pitching, rolling, and the waves would have been high enough to wash in. And so, you have this situation of somewhat panic in the terms of natural things. [00:14:05] This boat's going down, and they're in it. And they suddenly became aware of all the known facts of the Sea of Galilee. Here we have a storm, a tempest. One translation carries the idea of a hurricane, a major storm. Some Bible students would believe that actually the storm was worse than usual on the Sea of Galilee, which it could have been, but just a usual storm, whatever that may be, would have been sufficient to give them this problem. [00:14:37] The Sea of Galilee is not shallow, it's deep. I'm thinking that all those things started rolling in their minds. Here we are in the midst of a storm, on a deep lake, and the man in whom we trust is asleep. Why was it that the Lord slept? [00:15:14] Was he that tired? Could be. Probably not. Sleep is a reflection of the absence of fear. If you are afraid, you will not normally sleep well. [00:15:50] There are some of you here, of whom I'm aware, who have had problems with fear. And you have usually told me that you don't sleep well. It is a common result of fear. The Lord had no fear. He was in the perfect trust relationship with his Heavenly Father, [00:16:21] an absolute trust in God. The plan was going forward. You see, the storms of life, including this one, are a test of our faith, and the opposite of faith in this sense is fear. When we are afraid, we are not trusting. [00:16:54] I say it again. When we are afraid, we are not trusting. The Lord himself could sleep in the midst of a tempest. I assume, having looked at that boat outside of Magdala on the shores of the Sea of Galilee, I'm assuming that he was getting wet, but he was sleeping. [00:17:26] and full confidence and trust in God. However, the rest of the passengers did not have that type of full confidence and trust. And they spoke to him in panic. For you'll notice that it says in verse 24, And they came to him and awoke him, saying, Master, Master, we perish. [00:17:58] They were in full-blown panic. They were afraid. And they came to the Lord. That was good. They needed to do that. But did they need the panic? If they were trusting God, as we are called to trust God, [00:18:28] and I think we need to be pretty careful about being hard on these guys. We weren't there. It was a panic-type situation. And yet it does, by the definition of the Savior himself, define lack of faith. Because he clearly brings that out. And as you reflect on that, a familiar verse could come to mind. [00:19:02] For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish. And again, I remind you of the connection between saving faith and faith as a Christian in our daily life. We have been saved from perishing. [00:19:36] I recognize it's a bit of a play on words because as we think of perishing in John 3.16, we are thinking of perishing eternally. And the disciples were undoubtedly primarily reflecting on this life. On the other hand, I do believe we can make a connection. Because if we truly are trusting in the Lord, we end up with a sentiment such as Job had. [00:20:10] Though he slay me, yet will I trust him You see, what the Lord is reflecting on, as I think we'll see in a moment Is that the disciples had no right As believers To panic Even if they died on the lake They are to trust him We are to trust him in life or death. [00:20:47] To face death is a panic, though I recognize that we all choose life and we ought to. But to face death as a panic and in fear is in fact to face death without faith. And so, as the Lord reflects on the disciples, you'll notice what he says in verse 25. [00:21:21] He said unto them, Where is your faith? What was he saying? I was operating according to a plan. The plan included arrival at the other side. The storm was a test of your faith. And because you panicked, you didn't get a very good grade on the test. [00:22:00] I think that's what he's saying. Now, as we think of that application, of applying that to our lives today, how do we do in the reverses and troubles and storms and tempests of life? I would have to confess to you that I don't do very well many times. Maybe I even should say most of the time. You know, what do we do when we are traveling and running a schedule [00:22:32] and then we come on what they call on the road a parking lot and there we sit behind an accident or whatever has held up the traffic and we watch the clock slowly tick us into lateness. What do we do? I would have to say to you there are times when I get very angry with that situation. You know, here I planned to be early, and I was going to be early, but this happened. [00:23:10] And therein lies the problem. I planned instead of submitting myself to God's plan. that's usually why we get angry that's usually why we panic because things are not going our way not the way we planned them not the way we wanted them to turn out and so we get angry or we panic like the disciples [00:23:41] now the ship is going down and we're going down with it and there the Lord sleeps But the difference is the matter of faith. He had implicit trust and complete confidence in God. And he can sleep. They didn't. And they couldn't. So he says, where is your faith? How do we respond to the emergencies of life? [00:24:16] I'm not saying we shouldn't respond in whatever way would be beneficial, but how do we respond in our minds, in our hearts? Panic, anger, or trust? How is it? When we were first starting out in the ministry, there was another Bible-believing church about 12 miles down the road, [00:24:50] and another young couple was starting out in the ministry there, and we would get together with them from time to time and visit and cry on each other's shoulders and various other things. And I remember one time Ron related that they were up in the country part of our area there on a rainy night. They'd made a pastoral call and they were trying to find their way back home and they weren't doing too well and they made some wrong turns. [00:25:26] And they made another wrong turn, happened to be into a field lane, and they dropped into the mud, stuck. And Ron said, I said to Mary Ellen, it's time to pray. And he said, we had a season of prayer right there, stuck in the mud, didn't have any idea what to do, didn't know where we were. [00:26:05] I know we knew we were going to stay in New York, and that's about it. And he said, after we said amen, I looked up and there was a four-wheel drive truck with a farmer sitting in it. And he got out and came around to my window. He said, I rolled down the window and he said, do you know where you are? And I said, no. And he pulled me out and pointed me in the right direction and we went home. [00:26:38] I've often reflected on that because that's probably not what I would have done at least at that time in my life and perhaps not even now but it is the correct response but the flesh would try to figure this thing out figure out how we possibly could get out of there all of those things Rather than simply submitting ourselves to the will of God. [00:27:12] And we are called to submit ourselves to the will of God. Whether the storm comes, and it probably will, or whether it doesn't. We need to trust God with our present as much as we have trusted him with our past. We need to trust God with our future as much as we trust him with our past. [00:27:47] And the disciples, like most of us, weren't doing that very well on this occasion on the lake. And so the Lord asked this question, where is your faith? Their faith was probably initially partly in their ability to sail a boat. But that wasn't good enough. [00:28:22] And then the Lord illustrated the object of what their faith was supposed to be And he said, peace be still And the scripture says He rose, he rebuked the wind, the raging of the water And they ceased and there was a calm Actually the order is, then he asked the question He is the object of our faith. [00:29:01] He's supposed to be at least. Just as He is for our salvation, so for our daily lives. So I say again, fear is the lack of faith. It doesn't matter whether Jesus was in the boat or whether he wasn't. We are to trust him with our lives. The question of our study this morning, [00:29:36] the question for us as individuals and as a congregation is, where is your faith? Is it in your ability to do things? Is it in your ability to work things out? Is it in your skill? Is it in your maturity? Or is it in Christ himself? [00:30:13] Come what may. storm or no storm persecution or no persecution where is your faith? it is to be in him let us examine our own lives let us really examine our own lives to see whether our faith for life and eternity [00:30:44] is anchored where it belongs. May we pray. Thank you, Father, for your word, for the challenge of this account. We confess to you that many, many times we accept your salvation and then try to live the Christian life on our own. [00:31:18] Help us to realize that we need your help as much in the Christian life as we needed your help for salvation. And help us to understand that you're working your plan as you have promised in Romans 8, 28. You're working your plan. for the good. And help us not to fight your will, but to submit ourselves to your will, whatever it may be. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.