With the Disciples on the Lake of Galilee

DELIVERED ON THURSDAY EVENING, OCTOBER 6, 1881,

BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.

"The men marveled, saying, What manner of Man is this, that even the
winds and the sea obey Him!" Matthew 8:27.

"And they feared exceedingly, and said one to another, What manner of
Man is this, that even the wind and the sea obey Him?" Mark 4:41.

THIS story of the storm upon the lake is wonderfully full of spiritual
interest. Not only does it, literally, show to us the Divine power of
our blessed Master in lulling the storm, rendered the more conspicuous
by being placed, side by side, with the human weakness which made Him
sleep in the ship upon a pillow, but, spiritually, it is a kind of
ecclesiastical history, a miniature outline of the story of the Church
in all ages. No, the teaching ends not when you have read the incident
in that light–it also contains a suggestive forecast of the story of
every man who is making the spiritual voyage in company with Jesus.

Notice, first, how it is a kind of ecclesiastical history. There is
Christ in the vessel with His disciples. What is that but a Church with
its pastor? We see in the Church a vessel bearing a rich cargo,
steering for a desired haven and fitted out for fishing on the road,
should fair opportunity occur. Her being upon a sea shows her to be
here below, subject to trial, suffering, labor and peril. I scarcely
know of any more apt picture of a Church than a ship upon the
treacherous Galilean sea with Jesus and His disciples sailing in it.

After a while a storm comes–this we may safely reckon upon. Whatever
ship makes a fair voyage, with a favoring wind, the ship of the Church
of Jesus Christ never will. She has her calms, but these last not
forever–her sail is sure to be weather-beaten at one time or
another–and the occasions are seldom far apart. The vessel which has
Jesus for its Captain is destined to feel the tempest. Christ has not
come to send peace on earth, but a sword. This is His own declaration
and He knows His own intent. Every sail of the good ship which bears
the flag of the Lord High Admiral of our fleet must be beaten with the
wind and every plank in her must be tried by the waves.

To Christ's Church there are many storms and some of them of the most
terrible character. Of heresy–ah, how near to wrecking has she been
with the false doctrines of Gnosticism, Arianism, Popery and
Rationalism! Of persecution she has constant experience, but sometimes
exceedingly vehement has the hurricane been. In the early stages of
Church history, the pagan persecutions of Rome followed thick and fast
upon each other and when Giant Pagan had emptied out all his fury,
there came a worse tyrant whose magical arts raised hurricanes of wind
against the good ship–there sat, at Rome, a harlot who persecuted the
saints exceedingly–being drunk with their blood.

Then there raged a cyclone which almost drove the boat out of the water
and drenched and well-near drowned her crew–a fierce cyclone beat upon
the royal vessel, so that the waves threatened to swallow her up! Tears
and blood covered the saints as with a salt and crimson spray! Hers was
no pleasure trip–she went forth like the lifeboat, fashioned for the
purpose of riding out the storm. The true ship of the Lord was, and is,
and will be in a storm until the Lord shall come–and then there shall
be for it no further wave of trial, but the sea of glass forever!

Note, again, that while this storm was roaring worse and worse, the
Lord was in the ship, but He seemed to be asleep. So has it often been.
No Providence delivered the persecuted. No marvelous manifestations of
the Spirit scattered the heresy. The Christ was in the Church, but He
was in the back part, with His head upon a pillow, asleep. You all know
the portions of Church history which this illustrates.

Then came distress. The people in the vessel began to be alarmed. They
were afraid that they should utterly perish. And do you wonder at it
when the peril was so great? That distress led to prayer. Mighty prayer
has often been produced

by mighty trial. Oh, how slack has the Church been in the presentation
of her spiritual offering until the Lord has sent fire upon her and
that fire has seemed to kindle her frankincense so that it has begun to
smoke towards Heaven! Prayer was produced by distress and prayer
brought distress to an end!

Then the Master rose up and displayed His power and Godhead. You know
how He has done so in reformations and revivals time after time. He has
chided the unbelief of His trembling saints and then He has hushed the
winds and the waves–and there has been a time of peace for His poor,
weather-beaten Church–a period free from bloodshed and heresy, an era
of progress and peace. The Church has a history which has many a time
repeated itself. If you take an interest in the navigation of that
wondrous vessel which carries Christ and all His chosen, you will never
have to complain of lack of incidents!

But I think I said that the story of the storm upon the lake is an
admirable emblem of the spiritual voyage of every man who is bound for
the fair havens in company with Jesus. We are with Christ, happy with
Him and sailing pleas-antly–will this last? Right speedily comes a
storm. The ship rocks and reels. She is covered with the waves. It
looks as if our poor rowboat will sink to the bottom! Yet Jesus is in
our hearts and that is our safety. We are not saved by seamanship, but
by having on board the Lord Paramount who rules all winds and
waves–and never yet lost a vessel that bore the Cross at its masthead!

Sometimes within our hearts He seems to be asleep. We hear not His
voice; we see but little of His face–His eyes are closed and He,
Himself, is hidden out of sight. He has not altogether left us, blessed
be His name, but He appears to be asleep. Ah, then the ship rocks,
again, and we reel, again, and we wonder that He can still sleep! Then
are we driven in awe at alarm to prayer, to which we ought to have
betaken ourselves long before! It may be that we have been busy with
ropes and tackle, strengthening the mast, furling the sail, doing all
kinds necessary work and, therefore, leaving undone the most necessary
work of all, namely, seeking out the Master and telling Him the story
of our peril.

We pray not till we are forced to our knees, sad sinners that we are!
The boat will go down! She will go down! And now it is that we, also,
go down to the cabin and begin to wake Him up with, "Master, save us!
We perish!" Then you know what happens–how the gentle rebuke passes
over our spirit and we are humbled. But the grander rebuke is heard by
the winds and waves–and they are quieted and sleep at the Master's
feet–and in us and around us there is a great calm. Oh, how profound
the peace! How blessed the stillness!

We were about to say, "Would God it would last on forever," but as yet
tranquility cannot be perpetual. Our perils of waters will be sure to
repeat themselves. Often we go down to the sea in ships and do business
in great waters, so that we see the works of the Lord and His wonders
in the deep. Hear how a poet sings the story–

"Fierce was the wild billow Dark was the night! Oars labored heavily
Foam glimmered white! Trembled the mariners Peril was near Then said
the God of God– 'Peace!Itis I!' Ridge of the mountain wave, Lower your
crest! Wail of Euroclydon, Be you at rest! Sorrow can never be–
Darkness must fly– Where says the Light of Light– Peace!Itis I!'
Jesus, Deliverer! Come You to me! Soothe You my voyaging Over life's
sea! You, when the storm of death

Roars sweeping by,

Whisper, O Truth of Truth!–

'Peace! It is I!'"

On this occasion I will not further call your attention to the storm,
or to the calm, but I beg you to observe the feelings of the disciples
about the whole matter. The text says that, "The men marveled, saying,
What manner of Man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey Him!"
God evidently thinks much of His people's inward feelings, for they are
recorded here and in many other cases. The report of what these poor
fishermen felt is as carefully made as the record of what their Lord
and Master said, since this was necessary to set forth the intent and
purpose of their Lord's utterances. God often regards the external
action as a mere husk, but the feeling of His people is the innermost
kernel of their life-story and He prizes it.

Some men practice introspection so much that they grow, at last, to
make a kind of fetish of their inward feeling. This is wrong. Yet there
is an error on the other side in which we cease to make conscience of
our feelings and think them to be a matter of no consequence, as if
there could be real life without feeling. I will cry up faith as much
as anyone–but there is no need to depreciate all the other Graces, and
especially all the emotions, in order to do honor to faith! We may
honor the heir and yet see no reason for slaying all the rest of the
royal seed. We must both feel aright and believe aright–and it is
sometimes good for us to have a lesson about how to feel towards our
Lord Jesus Christ.

Though feeling must be secondary to faith, yet it is far from being
unimportant. At this time I shall principally talk about three feelings
towards Christ. First, the men marveled. We will dwell upon
that–marveling at Christ's work. Secondly, if you will turn to Mark,
the fourth chapter and the 41st verse, you will see that Mark describes
the feeling of the men as, fearing "exceedingly." That shall be our
second head–awe-stricken at His Presence. Thirdly, we see them, in our
text, admiring His Person, for they said, "What manner of Man," or,
more correctly, "What kind of Person is this, that even the winds and
the sea obey Him!"

I. First, then, MARVELING AT HIS WORK. May I ask you to indulge, for a
little while, the feeling of wonder? You believe in Jesus Christ and
you are saved. Salvation comes not by wondering, but by believing. But
now, having been saved, having passed from death unto life–and having
been preserved for years upon the sea of life in the midst of many
storms and, at this moment enjoying a great calm and restfulness of
spirit, I invite you to marvel. What wonderful things Jesus has done
for me! It is in my power, if I choose, to waste my time in reading
romances, but I care nothing for them, for my own life is to me more
romantic than romance!

The story of God's goodness to me is more thrilling than any work of
fiction could possibly be! I am speaking to some here who I am sure
will join with me in acknowledging that there is a freshness, a
novelty, a surprise power about the dealings of God with us which we do
not meet with anywhere else! Well do we sing in our hymn–

"I need not go abroad for joys– I have a feast at home,"

and we can also add that we need not go abroad for wonders, for we have
a perfect museum at home in our own experience! John Bunyan, when he
was describing the experience of his pilgrim, said, "Oh, world of
wonders! I can say no less." And so it is. The life of the godly man,
on the God side of it, as he receives Grace from Jesus, is a gallery of
heavenly art! He is an exhibition of Divine skill and power, a
wonderland of mercy–

"Still has my life new wonders seen

Of loving kindness rare!

A monument of Grace I stand,

Your goodness to declare."

Let us think for a minute or two of the parallel between us and these
disciples as to wonderment. Consider, first, that the instantaneous and
profound calm was contrary to Nature. The Galilean Lake lies in a deep
hollow, much below the level of the ocean, and in the sides of the
cliffs and hills which shut it in, there are valleys and openings which
act as funnels, down which, blasts of cold air from the mountains often
rush upon a sudden. When the time of storm is really on, the Lake of
Galilee is not tossed about like an ordinary open sea, but is rent,
torn, heaved up and almost hurled out of its bed by down-driving
hurricanes and twisting whirlwinds! No sailor knows which way the wind
will blow except that it blows all ways at once and particularly
downwards–as if, with a direct downdraft from Heaven, it blows vessels
into the water–and soon, changing its course, lifts them into the air!

Any mariner who is not used to that strange, wild sea, would soon lose
his head and despair of life. It is like a boiling cauldron–the
spirits of the vast deep stir it to its bottom! Yet this billowy lake,
in a moment, was turned to glass by the words of Jesus–a fact far more
wonderful to witness than to read about! Such a change in the
uproarious elements was altogether contrary to Nature and, therefore,
"the men marveled." Now, Beloved, look back upon what your life has
been. I do not know exactly where you begin your life story. Some
commence in the slime pits of Sodom–in vice and drunkenness. Others
begin with wandering on the dark mountains of infidelity, or among the
hogs and sloughs of Phari-seeism and formality.

However it may have been, it is a miracle that you should have been
made to fall at Jesus' feet and cry out for mercy through His precious
blood! That you should give up all trust and confidence in self and, at
the same time, should turn away from favorite lusts which you once
reveled in, is such a wonder that nobody would have believed it, had it
been prophesied to them! Certainly you never would have believed it,
yourself–and yet it has taken place–and other unlooked-for changes
have followed it. Why, you have lived, since then, in a way that would
have been once condemned by yourself as utterly absurd! Had an Oracle
informed you of it, you would have ridiculed its forecast. "No," you
would have said, "I shall never be that! I shall never feel that! I
shall never do that!"

And yet, it has been so with you. The boiling cauldron of your nature
has been cooled down and quieted–and an obedient calm has succeeded
rebellious rage. Is it not so? I can only say that if your religion has
never produced a wonder, I wonder that you believe in it! If there is
not something about you, through Divine Grace, which quite surprises
yourself, I should not be amazed if, one of these days, you wake up and
find that you have been self-deceived! Far above Nature are the ways of
Grace in men! And if you know them, they have produced in you what your
natural temperament and your worldly surroundings never could have
produced. There has been fire where you looked for snow, and cool
streams where you expected flames. A growth of good wheat has been seen
where Nature would have produced nothing but thorns and briars. Where
sin abounded, Grace has much more abounded, and your life has become
the theater of miracles and the home of wonders!

These men marveled, next, because the calm was so unexpected by reason.
The ship was near going to pieces! A gust of wind threatened to lift
her right out of the water and the next threatened to plunge her to the
bottom of the sea! The weary fishermen certainly did not look for a
calm–there were no signs of such a gift! When they said, "Master, we
perish," I do not know what they thought their Lord would do, but they
assuredly never dreamed that He would stand up in the back part of the
ship, and say, "Winds and waves, what are you doing? Your Master is
here. Be still." That was beyond their nautical experience and their
fathers had never seen such wonders in their day. They could not hope
that in a moment they should be in a profound calm!

Now, may I ask you to wonder a little at what the Lord has done for
you? Has He not done for you what you never expected? To speak for
myself, I never reckoned upon standing here to preach to thousands of
God's people. When I was first brought to Jesus I had no such hope. Why
should I be taken from the school and from the desk to lead a part of
His flock? I wonder more and more that by His Grace I am what I am!
Some of you, when you sit at the Communion Table, may well feel that
the most wonderful thing about it is that you should find a welcome
place at the Lord's own festival. Did some of you expect, a year ago,
that you would be here, now, on a Thursday night, listening to a talk
about Jesus

Christ?

Why, you hardly know how you got here! You can scarcely tell the way by
which the Lord has led you to be a lover of the Gospel. Look at your
inner feelings, as well as your outward position–are you not often
made the subject of desires, of longings, of groanings and, on the
other hand, of enjoyments, of sweet and precious endearments, of high
and gracious expectations which utterly surprise you as you remember
what you used to be? Are you not "like them that dream" when you think
over the Lord's loving kindness? And if others say, "the Lord has done
great things for you," does not your heart chime in with all its bells
and ring out notes of joy, "The Lord has done great things for us, of
which we are glad"? Come, indulge your wonder! Admire and marvel at the
exceeding Grace of God towards you in working contrary to Nature,
contrary to all reasonable expectations and bringing you to be His dear
and favored child! Marvels of mercy, wonders of Grace belong unto God
Most High!

Besides this, the idea of a storm which should immediately be followed
by a great calm was a strikingly new experience. These fishermen of the
Galilean Lake had never seen it after this fashion before. We read in
the Old Testament of

some, to whom it was said, "You have not gone this way before," and
certainly the same might have been said to these disciples. "You have
been in storms, but you never before, in your lives, were one minute in
a storm and the next in a calm." It must have been enough to make them
weep for joy, or, at least, it must have led them to hold up their
hands in glad astonishment! The deliverance worked by their Lord was so
fresh, so altogether new that marveling was natural!

Well, now, Brothers and Sisters, to come back to ourselves, again–have
you not often experienced that which has astounded you by its novelty?
Are not God's mercies new every morning? I address some of you who have
been 40 or 50 years in the ways of God–do you not find a continual
freshness in the manifestations of God's goodness to you, both in
Providence and Grace? Let me ask you, has religious life been to you
like mounting a treadmill, monotonous, wearisome, uniform? If so, there
is something wrong about you, for while we live near to God, we dwell
under new heavens and walk upon a new earth! When a man travels through
the Alps on a bright sunshiny day, all things are as new, as though
born that morning–that drop of dew on the grass–he never saw before!
That drifting cloud has newly arrived upon the scene. Never before has
the traveler seen the face of Nature radiant with the same smile as
that which now delights him.

Has it not been so with you in the journey of life? Have not all things
become new and remained new since you were born anew? Has not Grace
been heaped upon Grace, so that each new experience has excelled its
predecessor? Still have I beheld fresh beauties in my Master's face,
fresh glories in my Master's Words, fresh assurance of His faithfulness
in His Providence, fresh joy in my Master's Spirit as He has dealt
graciously with my soul! I know that it is so with you and I want you
to marvel at it, that God should take so much trouble to manifest
Himself to poor creatures that are not worth His treading on–that He
should devise a thousand things most rare and new for such
insignificant insects of a day as we are. Glory be to His blessed name,
it may well be said of us, "The men marveled and said, What manner of
Person is this who deals so with His people?" "Who is a God like unto
You? What is man that You are mindful of Him? And the son of man that
you visit him?" These three things made the disciples wonder.

There was another. I should think that it was a great marvel to them
that a calm was sent so soon after the storm. Man needs time, but God's
Word runs very quickly. Man travels with weary feet–the Lord rides
upon a cherub and does fly, yes, He flies upon the wings of the wind!
The particles of air and the drops of water were all in confusion
through the storm, rushing as if chaos had come, again, rising in
whirlwinds and falling in cataracts! Yet they did but see the face of
their Maker and they were still! In one single instant there was a
calm! Have not you and I experienced instantaneous workings of Divine
Grace upon our spirits? It may not be so with all, but some of us, at
the first instant of our faith, lost the burden of sin in a moment! Our
load was all gone before we knew where we were. The change from sorrow
to joy was not worked in us by degrees, but in a moment the sun leaped
above the horizon and the night of our soul was over.

Has it not been so since? We have been, in the midst of God's people,
as heavy as lead and without power to enjoy a Truth of God, or to
perform a holy act. The hymns seemed a mockery and the prayer an empty
form–and yet, in a single moment, the rod of the Lord has touched the
rock and the waters have flowed forth–and by the very means of Grace
which seemed so dull and powerless, we have been enlivened and
comforted! We have blessed the Lord that we ever came to the place. I
do not know how it is that we undergo such sudden changes. Yes I do–it
is because God works all good things in us and He is able to
accomplish, in an instant, that which we could not effect in a year! He
can, in a moment, change our prison into a palace and our ashes into
beauty. He can bid us put off our sackcloth and put on the wedding
garments of delight. As in the twinkling of an eye, this corruptible
shall put on incorruption, so in an instant our spiritual death can
blossom into heavenly life! This is a great wonder. Go and marvel at
what the Lord has so speedily done for you.

And then, to think that it should have been so perfect! When a storm
subsides, the sea is generally angry for hours, if not for days. A
great wind at Dover, yesterday, would make the Channel rough for some
time. But when our Lord Jesus makes a calm, the sea forgets her raging
and smiles at once! In fact, "He makes the storm a calm, so that the
waves are still." The winds hush all their fury and are quiet in an
instant when He bids them rest. And oh, when the Lord gives joy and
peace and blessedness to His people, He does not do it by halves! "When
He gives quietness, who, then, can make trouble?" There is no such
thing as a half-blessing for a child of God. The Lord gives Him
fullness of peace–"the peace of God which passes all understanding."
He causes him to enjoy quiet, through believing, and He enables him to
rejoice in tribulation, also, for tribulation works blessing to the
souls of men.

I feel that I cannot speak as I could wish, but I shall finish this
division of the discourse by saying that one point of wonder was that
the calm was worked so evidently by the Master's Words. He spoke and it
was done. He poured no oil upon the waters. His will was revealed in a
Word and that will was Law. Not an atom of matter dares to move if the
Divine fiat forbids–the sovereignty of Jesus is supreme–and His Word
is with power. Now, dear Friend, I know that there must have been very
much that is wonderful in your life as a Christian, but do not think
yourself the only partaker of such wonderment! Let us all sit down and
enquire, each one, "Why is this to me? Why me, Lord? How can such great
Grace be shown to me? And how can the Son of God stoop to look at me
and take me into marriage union with Himself and promise that I shall
live because He lives–that I shall reign because He reigns?"

Sit down, I say, and believingly marvel, and marvel, and marvel, and
never leave off marveling! And let me drop one little word into your
ear. Is there something that you need of God concerning which unbelief
has said that it is too wonderful to be expected? Let that be the
reason why you shall expect it! There is nothing to a Christian so
probable as the unexpected–and there is nothing which God is so likely
to do for us as that which is above all we ask or even think! God is at
home in wonderland! If what you need is a commonplace thing, perhaps it
may not come. But if it strikes you as a marvel, you are in a fit state
of heart to honor God for it and you are likely to receive it!

Do not think that because between you and Heaven, if you reach it,
there will be a giant causeway of marvels, therefore you will never get
there! But, on the contrary, conclude that the God who began to save
you by so great a miracle as the gift and death of His own dear Son,
will go on to perfect your salvation even if He has to fling into the
sea a thousand heavens to make stepping stones for you to tread upon so
you can reach His Presence. "He that spared not His own Son, but freely
delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not, with Him, also freely
give us all things?" Therefore expect wonders!

These men marveled–expect to keep on marveling till you get to
Heaven–and to keep on marveling when you are in Heaven and throughout
eternity! Wonder will be a principal ingredient of our adoration in
Heaven! We–

"Shall sing with wonder and surprise His loving kindness in the skies."
I have been somewhat long on this first head. I will therefore give you
a little, and only a little, upon the second.

II. Let us now see how the disciples were AWE-STRICKEN AT OUR LORD'S
PRESENCE. Mark says that "the men feared greatly." They feared greatly
because they found themselves in the Presence of One who had stilled
the winds and the waves! Brothers and Sisters, it is well to cultivate
that holy familiarity which comes from nearness to Jesus and yet we
ought always to be humbled by a sense of that nearness. Permit me to
remind the boldest Believer that our loving Lord is still God over all!
He is to be honored and reverenced, worshipped and adored by all who
draw near to Him. However much He is our Brother, He says, "You call me
Master and Lord, and you do well, for so I am."

He is all the greater because of His condescension to us and we are
bound to recognize this. Whenever Jesus is near, the feeling of holy
awe and solemn dread will steal over true disciples. I am afraid of
that way of being so familiar with Christ as to talk of Him as, "dear
Jesus" and, "dear Lord," as if He were some Jack or Harry that we might
pat on the back whenever we liked. No, no. This will never do! It is
not such language as men would use to their prince–let them not, thus,
address the King of kings! However favored we may be, we are but dust
and ashes–and our spirit must be chastened with reverence.

When Jesus is near us, we ought to exceedingly fear because we have
doubted Him. If you had been suspicious of a dear friend and had
indulged hard thoughts about him and, all of a sudden you found
yourself sitting in the same room with him, you would feel awkward,
especially if you understood that he knew what you had said and
thought. Oh, you will feel ashamed of yourself, my Brothers and
Sisters, if Jesus shall draw near to you! The wisest thing you can do
in such a case is to say, "My Master, my Lord, since You favor me with
Your Presence, I will first fall at Your feet and confess that I
doubted You; that I thought that the stormy wind would swallow up the
vessel and that the waves would devour both You and me. Forgive me,
Master, forgive me for having thought so evil of You."

Whenever we are near to Christ, one of the first feelings should be
that of great humiliation. Let us fall at His feet and confess how ill
we have thought of Him. Brethren, we have been so foolish as to fear
His creatures, paying to them a sort of worship of fear, as if they had
more power to harm than Jesus had to help! We clothe wind and sea with
attributes which belong only to God–and look upon our trials as if
they tried the Lord, too–and vanquished Him because they

vanquish us. Are we not, because of this, smitten with dread in the
Presence of the Christ? And then the next feeling should be–since He
has come to me, this Mighty One who has worked such marvels for me, let
me try to order myself aright in His Presence.

I notice whenever the Lord Jesus Christ is very present in this
congregation how carefully everybody sings. I notice about tune, time
and tone a difference from the singing which is usual and even from
that singing which comes of having an acquired skill in music. Though
it may seem a trifle, yet I cannot help observing that when people come
to the Communion Table, as a matter of routine they frequently behave
roughly, walking noisily and looking about, or else they sit like
statues, with a chill propriety of posture and vacancy of countenance.
But you will notice that fellowship with Jesus affects the glance of
the eyes, the thoughts of the soul and, consequently, the movements of
the body. When a man is truly conscious that Jesus, the Wonder-Worker
is near, he fears exceedingly.

If ever you say to Jesus, "You know that I love You," mind you, put,
"Lord," before it–"Lord, You know all things"–for He is still your
Lord. Where Jesus is, there is godly fear, which is, by no means, the
same as slavish fear. Every true child has a reverence for his father.
Every true daughter has a loving respect for her mother. So is it with
us towards our Lord Jesus. We owe so much to Him and He is so great and
so good–and we are so little and so sinful– that there must be a
blessed sense of holy awe whenever we come before Him. Indulge it.
Indulge it now! You know how John puts it–"When I saw Him, I fell at
His feet as dead."

Why, that is the man who leaned His head on the bosom of Christ! Yes,
that is the man who fell at His feet as dead. If your head has never
leaned upon the bosom of the Lord, I should not wonder if you can hold
it up in His Presence! But when it has once lain there, in confiding
love, reposing upon boundless Mercy, then that head of yours will lie
in the dust uncrowned if God has honored it–for it will be your
delight to cast your crown at His feet and give Him all the Glory! O,
reign forever, King of Kings and Lord of Lords! Conquer me, my Lord!
Subdue me perfectly! Make dust of me beneath Your feet! If You shall be
but the tenth of an inch the higher for my downcasting, Oh, my Master,
and my Lord, with joy I would shrink to nothing before You, that You
may be All in All! May this be your feeling and mine. The men feared
exceedingly–let us fear, also, after a believing sort.

III. Now to close. The third thing is ADMIRING THE PERSON OF Jesus, for
these men who marveled, and who feared exceedingly, admired the Person
of Him who had set them free from the storm, saying, "What manner of
Person is this, that even the wind and the sea obey Him?" Come, let us
admire and adore the Nature of Christ which is altogether beyond our
comprehension! The winds and the sea obeyed Him though He had slept
like other men. When His head was that of an infant, the crown of the
universe was about His brow! When He was in the carpenter's shop, He
was still the Creator of all worlds! When He went to die upon the
Cross, a myriad of angels would have come to rescue Him if He had but
willed it. Even in His humiliation He was still the Son of the Highest,
God over all, blessed forever!

Now that He is exalted in Heaven, do not forget the other side of the
question–believe that He is just as much Man, now, as when He was
here–as truly a Brother of our race as He is God over all, blessed
forevermore. Let us now give our hearts to admiration of Him in His
complex Nature which is beyond comprehension. He is my next of kin and
yet my God–at once my Redeemer and my Lord! We may each one cry with
Job, "I know that my next of kin lives, and that He shall stand in the
latter day upon the earth. And though, after my skin, worms devour this
body, yet in my flesh shall I see

God."

Because He lives as my Kinsman–there is the sweetness of it and
because He is my God–there is the Glory of it! He is both tenderly
compassionate for my infirmities and gloriously able to overcome them.
He is a complete Savior because He is both Human and Divine. Come, my
Soul, bow down in wonder that God should send such a Savior as this to
you! A person asked me the other day whether I had seen a book
entitled, "Sixteen Saviors." I answered–"No, I have not and I do not
want to know of 16 saviors. I am perfectly satisfied with One." If all
who dwell in Heaven and earth could be made into saviors and the whole
were put together, you might blow them away as a child blows away
thistledown! There is this one Savior, the Son of Man, and yet the
mighty God–and He cannot be moved! Joy then, my Brothers and Sisters,
and rejoice in the Nature of your blessed Lord!

Next, rejoice in His power which has no limit, so that even the winds
and the waves obey Him. The winds–can they have a master? The waves
that cast their spray upon the face of princes–can they acknowledge a
sovereign? Yes, the most fickle of elements and the most unruly of
forces are all under the power of Jesus! Joy and rejoice in this.
Little, as

well as great, yon Atlantic that divides the world and that little drop
in the basin of Gennesaret are alike in the hands of Jesus! The power
of God is seen in a falling mountain when it crashes village, but it is
as truly present when the seeds are scattered from the pod of the
gorse, or a rose leaf falls upon the garden walk. God is seen when an
angel flashes from Heaven to earth and is He not seen when a bee flits
from flower to flower?

Jesus is the Master of the little as well as of the great! Yes, He is
King of all things and I joy, this moment, to think that even the
wicked actions of ungodly men, though they are not deprived of their
sinfulness, so as to make the men the less responsible, are,
nevertheless, overruled by that great Lord of ours who works all things
according to the counsel of His will! In the front I see Jesus leading
the van of Providence. Behind He guards the rear. On the heights I see
Jesus reigning King of Kings and Lord of Lords. In the deeps I mark the
terror of His justice as He binds the dragon with His chain. Let the
universal cry of "Hallelujah" rise unto the Son of God, world without
end!

Sit down and admire and adore His unlimited power–and then conclude by
paying homage to that sovereignty of His which brooks no question, for
the winds and waves did not only perform His will, but, as if they were
waking into life and rising into intelligent knowledge of Him, they are
said to obey Him–from which I gather that Christ is not only the
forceful Master of unintelligent agencies, but that He is the Sovereign
Master of things that can obey Him–and He will be obeyed. Ah, you may
bite at Him and hiss at Him, but as the viper broke his teeth against
the file, yet hurt it not, so shall the ungodly exercise all their
craft and all their strength–and the result shall be shame and
confusion of face to them.

The kingdom of our Lord and Master is, by some, thought to be a long
way off, and His cause is despaired of by faint-hearted men. But He
that sits in the heavens laughs at the impatience of saints as well as
at the impiety of sinners, for He knows that all is well! Out of
seeming evil He produces good and from that good a better, still, and
better still in infinite progression! All things move towards His
eternal coronation! As once every atom of history converged to His
Cross, so does it today project itself towards His crown–the Lord
Jesus comes to His well-earned Throne as surely as He came to the
shameful Cross! He comes and when He comes, it shall be as when He rose
in the ship and rebuked the winds, and the men marveled–for all storms
of raging passion, conflicting opinion and fierce warfare shall be
hushed–and He shall be admired in His saints and glorified in all them
that believe! Even unbelievers shall marvel at Him and say, "What
manner of Person is this, that even earth and Hell obey Him and all
things are subject to His sovereign power!"

Happy are the eyes that shall see Him in that day with joy! Happy are
the men who shall sit at the right hand of the Coming One! Oh, Beloved,
your eyes and mine shall see it if we have first looked to the Redeemer
upon the Cross and found salvation in Him! Courage, Brothers and
Sisters, let the waves dash and the winds howl–the Lord of Hosts is
with us–the God of Jacob is our refuge! All is safe because of His
Presence and all shall end gloriously because of His manifestation! The
Lord bless you, in tempest and in calm, for Christ's sake. Amen.
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The Law Written in the Heart