Mark 4:35-41
The Calm Below the Surface
Outline:
I. \\#Mark 1:1-15\\ Introduction
A. \\#1:1-8\\ Jesus Was Announced
B. \\#1:9-11\\ Jesus Was Authenticated
C. \\#1:12-13\\ Jesus Was Proven
D. \\#1:14-15\\ The Bridge
II. \\#Mark 1:16-2:28\\ Meet Jesus
A. \\#1:14-2:12\\ Jesus’ Authority
1. \\#1:16-20\\ Jesus Has Authority over Men
2. \\#1:21-22\\ Jesus Has Authority in Doctrine
3. \\#1:23-28\\ Jesus Has Authority over Demons
4. \\#1:29-39\\ Jesus Has Authority over Sickness
5. \\#1:40-45\\ Jesus Has Authority over Disease
6. \\#2:1-12\\ Jesus Has Authority over Sin
B. \\#2:13-28\\ Jesus Cares for Sinners
C. \\#2:13-28\\ Jesus Is Not Like Others
1. \\#2:13-17\\ He’s not like everyone else.
2. \\#2:18-22\\ He’s not like the disciples of John or the
Pharisees.
3. \\#23-28\\ He’s not like the Pharisees.
III. \\#Mark 3:1-35\\ Things Are Changing
A. \\#3:1-6\\ The Relationship Between Jesus and the Pharisees
B. \\#3:7-12\\ The Relationship Between Jesus and the People
C. \\#3:13-19\\ The Relationship Between Jesus and His Disciples
D. \\#3:22-30\\ The Relationship Between Jesus and the Scribes
E. \\#3:31-35\\ The Relationship Between Jesus and His Family
IV. \\#Mark 4:1-10:52\\ The Words and Power of Jesus
A. \\#4:1-20\\ Bad Weeds Kill Good Seeds
B. \\#4:21-34\\ Parable Epilogues
C. \\#4:35-41\\ Faith - The Calm Below the Surface
We moved into the largest section of Mark’s gospel at the beginning
of chapter 4. This is the section where Mark, like all of the other
gospel writers, just wanted to wow us with our Savior. I cannot see
any particular pattern to the miracles Mark selects now. It appears
that he, like Matthew and Luke, just started listing some miracle
after miracle, sermon and sermon, and impossibility after
impossibility.
Mark 4:41 …and said one to another, What
manner of man is this, that even the wind
and the sea obey him?
Notice the situation around which Jesus gave His disciples a rebuke.
1. They are on a ship.
2. A terrible storm comes.
3. \\#37\\ Water fills the ship so that is about to sink.
4. The disciples, some of whom are experienced fishermen, think
they are about to sink, so much so that they panicked.
5. The disciples wake Jesus, Who does not fix the boat, but fixes
the storm. What a GOD!
6. Then Jesus REBUKED the disciples for having no faith.
Peter, Andrew, James, and John were all experienced fishermen. It is
likely that they were traveling on one of their boats. I know nothing
about the sea, but if I am ever on a boat and a storm rises so severe
that the captain and all the experienced hands onboard think it is
going to sink, I might be a little panicky too.
Yet, Jesus said, they should have had faith. What does that mean?
What did He expect them to do? Why did Jesus rebuke them for having
no faith?
Tonight, let’s see if we can answer some of those questions.
I. Faith is essential to the Christian life.
A. You can see that God both expects Christians to have faith and
that having faith is important by Jesus reaction to the
disciples lack of it.
Mark 4:40 And he said unto them, Why are ye
so fearful? how is it that ye have no faith?
B. From this story, what I see is that faith is meant to help us
deal with the problems in our everyday lives.
1. The disciples were not under a steeple or inside a church.
a. There was no priest, preacher, pastor, shepherd, or
bishop in front of them.
b. But still these disciples were rebuked for not
exercising their faith when a very real life-
threatening situation arose.
2. A lot of people believe that religion is for the church
house—ONLY.
a. More and more I am getting the impression that people
think God is ok in church, just keep Him there.
b. Obviously that is not what Jesus intended here.
c. Jesus rebuked them for not using their faith to deal
with a sinking ship in a turbulent storm.
C. Why is faith essential to the everyday life of a Christian?
1. Everything God has obligated Himself to give to us, comes
by faith.
2. "Requests made to God must be ordered by prayer, paid for
by faith, and shipped by obedience."
a. Now God may give us what we ask for if we do not have
faith. He is that kind of God.
b. Indeed, God may give us gifts even if we don’t ask for
them at all.
c. But if we do not have faith when we place our order,
God is not obligated to give it to us.
James 1:6 But let him ask in faith, nothing
wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of
the sea driven with the wind and tossed.
7 For let not that man think that he shall
receive any thing of the Lord.
E. God does not ask for much when He gives us something, but He
does ask for faith.
F. Faith is essential to living the successful Christian life!
II. Faith is God’s means of finding God’s will for our life.
A. It does not matter what area of life we are discussing.
1. salvation, guidance, assistance, help
2. Faith is God’s means of finding God’s will for it.
B. Some think that faith is a knife to carve out of life what we
want.
1. When I was working on the message, my first thoughts went
to our name-it-and-claim it brethren; but then I thought,
we all do it.
2. We may not all claim a healing or a bigger house, but
most of every Christians’ prayer life is us telling God
what we want.
3. That is not in the Bible.
C. Faith is not a knife we can use to carve what we want out
of life. Faith is a compass so we can find what God wants
in our lives.
1. Faith doesn’t create a new path.
2. It helps us find God’s path.
D. One of the first steps in living by faith is to find out what
God wants.
1. We can’t have faith if we do not know what God wants.
2. How do we find out what God wants? Some suggestions?
a. Let me share with you three things to help you discern
God’s will.
(1) We must be patient.
(a) Abraham spent 25 years waiting for Isaac.
(b) Joseph spent around 13 years waiting on God
as a slave.
(c) David waited a similar time after being
anointed king until he because king.
(d) These men waited that long AFTER they knew
what the will of God for them was.
(e) God does not always make us wait so long,
but we are not the ones in charge. He is.
(f) An impatient Christian, sooner or later,
will think God has failed him.
(g) Pray and be patient.
(2) We must spend time in the Word.
(a) God, does, will speak to your spirit.
(b) God typically reveals His will by giving
you peace to do a certain thing in a
matter; but always the Word of God is the
sieve for the thoughts, the peace, and the
direction we think we have.
(c) An ignorant Christian, sooner or later, will
think God has failed him.
(d) Pray and study.
(3) We should listen to godly counsel.
(a) Others may have insights that you do not.
(b) Pray and listen, like right now.
(c) Preaching is godly counsel.
(d) Listen to Bible teachers godly friends as
they speak.
i. Store what they say in your bag of
wisdom.
ii. And when you get enough nuggets in
there, you will be surprised at how
often that bag is helpful to you.
(e) An isolated Christian, sooner or later, will
think God has failed him.
(f) Pray and listen.
b. You say, "Wait a minute, Preacher. These people were
on a boat that was about to sink. They did not have
time to do all of that!"
(1) You are absolutely right. They did not.
(2) And that takes us two other things we need to
know about faith.
(a) Faith works best when you walk in it daily,
not when you try to jump into it in the
middle of a storm.
i. You can jump on the ship of faith in
the middle of a storm.
ii. It is just more difficult to do.
iii. I cannot tell you how many people have
come to me in desperation, wanting
God to take control of their lives
when they were in the middle of a
storm.
aa. Some on the way to jail.
bb. Some on the way to divorce.
cc. Some on the way to financial
ruin.
iv. As it turned out, most of them did not
want God. They only wanted a
reprieve from the storm they were in.
(b) Although the disciples did not get
everything correct on that ship, they got
one thing correct.
i. They got the very first step of faith
correct.
ii. The very first step of faith is to run
to Jesus.
iii. Whether you have time to find the will
of God, learn the Word of God, listen
to the counsel of God or not, just
run to Jesus and cast yourself upon
Him.
E. We should take note concerning the disciples, Jesus was their
Compass.
1. There was certainly an advantage to having God in the
flesh walking with you.
a. Jesus would not take the disciples anywhere God did
not want them or tell them to do anything God did not
want them to do.
b. For them, that part of living by faith was taken care
of—as long as Jesus was there.
2. The disadvantage was that since Jesus did direct them,
Their faith may not have grown in all the ways it needed
To grow.
3. Maybe that is why Jesus needed to take them through so
many storms!
III. Faith is an anchor.
A. Among the many things that faith does, faith gives strength.
1. That strength is our anchor.
a. It keeps us steady in the midst of storms.
b. The disciples had no anchor because they had no
strength.
c. Because of the direct guidance of Jesus, they were
where God wanted them to be and they were doing what
God wanted them to do.
d. But they lacked the peace, the calm, the strength—
faith’s anchor.
2. Jesus left the disciples in the storm long enough for them
to see they had no anchor. He already knew.
3. It is their lack of strength that demonstrates to us
their faith’s failing.
4. Jesus ended the lesson when He calmed the storm, and then
He rebuked them to let them know their faith was not
strong enough—yet.
B. I say YET because we will see strength later in their lives
and in the lives of other of God’s people.
1. Peter will be in jail, waiting for the executioner the
next morning, but he was sound asleep between guards
that night.
2. Paul and Silas, beaten and in prison, but praising the
Lord.
3. John, exiled to the island of Patmos, but in the Spirit
on the Lord’s Day.
C. People sometimes marvel at the calmness of God’s children in
times of adversity.
1. It is at that time that some even want that kind of faith.
2. But the calmness and strength of faith is only the tip of
faith’s iceberg.
3. Christians appear strong and confident because of what is
below the surface.
4. It is easy to be calm when you know you are where God
wants you to be doing what God wants you to do.
5. Faith is the calm below the surface.
So Jesus rebuked the disciples for their lack of faith. It was
obvious that as yet, they had no anchor for faith gives strength to
stay on the path that God has given to us.
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