Is Jesus in Your Boat

Our passage today, friends, is found in Mark's Gospel in chapter 4. You can turn in your Bibles there now. We will be in verses 35 to 41. Here now is the word of God, and may the Spirit of the Lord attend the reading of His holy word.

And when they had sent away the multitude, they took him, even as he was in the ship, and there were also with him other little ships. And there arose a great storm of wind, and the waves beaten to the ship, so that it was now full. And he was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow.

And they awake him, and say unto him, Master, carest thou not they were perished? And he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. And he said unto them, Why are ye so fearful, and how is it that ye have no faith? And they feared exceedingly, and said to one another, What manner of man is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him? This striking passage from Mark's gospel shows the humanity in Jesus, in that he was so dog-tired, he slept right through a raging storm.

It also shows the frailty of his disciples, who go and disturb his sleep by hollering, Oh, wake up, don't you care that we're all going to drown? The title of my message today, friends, is, Is Jesus in your boat? I'd like to make the following four observations from this text. Number one, Jesus was with them in the boat all the time, but they failed to appropriate him by faith. Rather, fear and unbelief filled their hearts, because of their adverse circumstances, and it took their eyes off of him, who was just a few steps below in the cabin.

The captain of their faith was there with them in their trial. Number two, because of their adverse circumstances, they were filled with the fear of perishing, and they assumed Jesus didn't care about them. In reality, Jesus would die on a cross so they would not perish, thus demonstrating his great love for them.

Number three, Jesus rebuked the wind then. He rebuked his men for their unbelief. I believe our unbelief tries the heart of God more than our wretched sins.

Jesus died for our sins, and he puts them away as far from us as the east is from the west, but our unbelief staggers him. Number four, if Jesus is with us, as he promises in scripture, I'm always with you, even until the end of the age. Then why allow our circumstances to take our eyes off of him? He reminds me of a story that D.O. Moody used to tell.

I'd like to share it with you now, friends. When Moody reached the age of 50, he developed heart trouble. This was confirmed by two physicians, one in America and one in Scotland.

From these physical exams, he took the advice of his doctors and decided to slow down before embarking for America. He sent a cable from England to his friend in Chicago, R.A. Torrey, and he informed Dr. Torrey that he had decided to slacken his fall campaign on the advice of his physicians and to make the necessary cancellations. On his way back to America, the ship he was on began to sink.

His son, Will, was aboard with him, and this added to his concern. At one point, in the dark night as the ship was sinking, the captain on deck informed the passengers that they were to await their doom. All hope seemed to be gone.

Moody went below to pray in his cabin. Miraculously, the captain ship was able to remain afloat for a few days until help arrived in the form of another vessel. The gripping part of this story that really intrigues me is found by the following remarks by Moody.

Listen to this. During the long hours, Moody wrestled with his soul. He heard, as it were, the voice of his Lord.

"'Were you ready to let up and go slow? Then I will take you to myself. You are no use to me, unless you are out and out,' Moody later related. "'No one on earth knows what I passed through, though as I thought that my work was finished and I would never again have the privilege of preaching the gospel of the Son of God, and on that dark night, the first night of the accident, I made a vow that if God would spare my life and bring me back to America, the World's Fair campaign would be undertaken with all the power that He would give me.

For the next five years of Moody's life he labored harder than ever before for the Lord, dying at the young age of sixty-two, that night in the boat. He knew that Jesus was with him, and it increased his faith and challenged him to go deep with God than ever before. Let me ask you, friend, is Jesus in your boat? Then what are you afraid of? Let us pray.'"