When What You've Dreaded Actually Happens

I have a theory. I've shared this theory with a few friends over the years, but I'll share it with you this morning by way of an introduction to the Bible passage we're about to read. This morning's sermon title is "When What You've Always Dreaded Actually Happens". I'm a dreamer, not in the John Lennon type or the Martin Luther King type.

I dream a lot when I sleep. This is my theory. Sometimes these dreams are nightmares. And the funny thing I've picked up over the years with these nightmares is this funny little quirk that often in the subconsciousness, because you're the author of your own dream of course, your mind becomes your own worst enemy. I'll explain.

I don't know if you've ever been in a nightmare situation where you're sort of dreaming and you think to yourself in the dream, in the nightmare, this could not get any worse unless blank happened. And then lo and behold, that's exactly what happens. So you're thinking, oh, this situation could not get any worse unless a swarm of bees attacks us. And just so happens, you know, for some reason, you are deathly allergic. I'm not normally allergic to bees, but in this dream, I am allergic to bees.

So I'm running away from bees. Inevitably, after what you've thought in the dream is the worst possible situation, your brain goes, that is exactly what's gonna happen in this scenario. It's my brain trying its best to be the next Steven Spielberg in setting up the tension. And then with a bang, you're right in the thick of a terrifying bee chase or you dream, I hope my brakes don't fail on this really steep mountain road and the brakes fail. Now perhaps you don't agree with my theory that this is what our brains do, that your brain hijacks your thoughts.

What is a far greater and terrifying thought is what you've always dreaded actually happening in real life. That's a far greater fear, isn't it? A bad dream is a pretty trivial sort of thing, but what about those things in life that are far more serious? As a young person, it might be your fear to fail. Failing to make the team, fearing to miss the career track that you've been dying for, that you feel your life has been set up to take.

For others, it could be the fear that you find your spouse cheating. That your family, that you've worked so hard and longed for, is starting to fall apart. It could be the fear of a child hearing their parents bicker or arguing and thinking that their parents will divorce. What about this fear: the knock on the door, that phone call in the middle of the night to tell us someone we loved as much as life itself has died. Any migrant knows that fear of that phone call in the middle of the night.

What do we do when what we've always dreaded actually happens? Well, this morning, we're going to open to a recorded story, I think, of exactly a situation like this in Mark 4:35 where the disciples of Jesus experienced something absolutely terrifying, something that several of them at least had dreaded for their entire lives. Let's have a look at Mark chapter 4, verse 35. Mark 4:35. "On that day when evening had come, he who is Jesus said to them who are the disciples, let us go across to the other side.

And leaving the crowd, they took him with them in the boat just as he was. And other boats were with him. And a great windstorm arose. And the waves were breaking into the boat so much that the boat was already filling. But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion.

And they woke him and said to him, 'Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?' And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, 'Peace, be still.' And the wind ceased and there was a great calm. And he said to them, 'Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?'

And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, 'Who then is this that even the wind and the sea obey him?'" So far, our reading. If you had asked any of the families of these disciples that were in the boat with Jesus at this time, what is the thing that they most dreaded? The answer, I'm sure, would certainly have been, because they were fishermen, the thing we most dread is a storm at sea.

This story we begin by seeing in verse 35 happens in a, oops, let me turn that on. Happens in a pretty ordinary sort of setup with a very ordinary request. On that day, when evening had come, at the end of the day, Jesus had been teaching crowds. He had been doing his ministry.

He says to his disciples, let's go across to the other side of the lake, the Sea of Galilee. There's nothing unusual about that sort of request. There's nothing particularly daunting for these fishermen. They've probably done that trip across the lake a thousand times. It's a pretty ordinary request.

We know that at least four of the 12 disciples here are fishermen. In Mark chapter 1:16-20, we see that Andrew, Peter, James, and John are fishermen, the first of the disciples to be called by Jesus on the Sea of Galilee. This is their backyard. This is their home turf. They know these waters.

And Jesus says to them, let's row across the lake. This would be the equivalent of us saying, I'm just gonna head down the road to pick up a bottle of milk, some bread for toast this morning, or I'm gonna drop the kids off at school. It's that sort of routine sort of thing. Now also, they would have been able to have a sense of the weather. They are people that are very in tune with their physical surroundings.

They had lived by the sea, by the lake, all their lives. They were fisher folk. Their fathers were fisher folk, and they had doubtless gone to and fro on the Sea of Galilee a hundred times. But this time, this time, it was going to be different. Now I don't know if you know this, but the writer of the Gospel of Mark is Mark.

Wow. That's amazing, K.J. I have a degree in stating the obvious. But historians, scholars, not that we have biblical evidence for this, we have traditional evidence. We have early documents that suggest that although Mark, who is John Mark from the Acts of the Apostles, we have him recorded there, Mark was actually a writer for Peter the Apostle.

In other words, the Gospel of Mark is an account of Peter, which makes it fascinating if you start reading this account. Imagine Peter telling this story. Peter from Galilee, the fisherman who knew this sea. And I can just imagine hearing Peter saying in brackets as he's telling the story to Mark, as they're writing this down, Mark, we didn't realise it at the time, but we were heading into a storm, but it was no accident.

Time and time again, as Peter would reflect on the three years with Jesus, he'd probably have to say again and many, many times, if you read it in that way, many, many times, this didn't happen by accident. This didn't happen by accident. We didn't turn up here by chance. There's a purpose to all of this. And with Jesus, there is no such thing as an accident.

And it's easy for us to accept that for these disciples, isn't it? We accept that, wow, they were trained by the Messiah Jesus for three years. Of course, these things couldn't have been accidents because they were going to be the apostles. And so we think God had extra involvement in this process.

But friends, I wanna tell you this morning that we have no idea the extent of power that God has. The Bible says that God is sovereign over every aspect of life. Every power, every law, every government, every leader, every event, every chance is ruled by this God. As present, therefore, as involved as He was in this moment on the Sea of Galilee, we are to understand that He is as present in our day, in our life today. And so nothing in our life, nothing in your life, good or bad, happens by accident.

That is not to say that some of the confusion of our life is not our responsibility. That doesn't say that the messiness of our decision making is not entirely our responsibility. It is entirely our responsibility. And yet, at the same time, the sovereign providence of Jesus Christ, the provision and the working of Jesus Christ means that nothing has taken place accidentally nor does it surprise Him.

In fact, it is so unsurprising for Jesus, this event, that we find him asleep in the boat. That is how unfazed he is by this whole commotion happening because he knows exactly what's gonna happen. It's an incredibly funny reversal. Expert fishermen that shouldn't be unprepared for a storm, that shouldn't be surprised on what they should do in a storm, they are panicking.

And yet, Jesus, the carpenter's son from landlocked Nazareth, perhaps the first time in a boat ever, is the one asleep. He should have been the one panicking. I can imagine grey-haired Peter many, many decades later thinking back on that moment with a smile and saying, we had no idea. But Jesus was setting us up for the biggest lesson of our life. So that's the setup.

An ordinary request. Let's just go for a drive down the road. Let's cross the lake. And then we come to the core issue that Jesus highlights. And that's the issue of the heart that says, does God care?

Do you realise that panic is the evidence that you believe an accident in your life is out of control? That is what panic is. Something in your life is out of control. Panic is believing that there is no plan, that there is no purpose to what is happening to us. But here is a great purpose in the storm.

These fresh baby disciples were being brought to the very question that is yelled by their lips in verse 38: "Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?" It's the most instinctive human response to a crisis like this, isn't it? It doesn't matter who you are. You can be the most educated person in this room.

You can be the wealthiest businessman. You can be the most influential and powerful government leader. You've probably heard it from hundreds of non-Christians telling you that they're not Christian and they don't believe in God because they know better, they're not as gullible as we are. But when crisis hits, how often do you hear this question: "Doesn't God care?"

Why doesn't He care? It's a story of a family friend of ours who's now a Christian who had set herself up towards us as an atheist. She said to us she's far too intelligent to believe in God. But tragedy struck her life in a truly terrifying way when her husband died in an accident in her backyard. And in the moment of her deepest grief, she asked my mum, where is my husband now?

I want to be with him. In the midst of crisis, even the most hardened person wrestles with the question, does God care? Does the Lord Jesus care about my situation? Does He know about it? What will He do about this?

And that, of course, is the question that Jesus wants His disciples to ask. He's been setting them up for that. The storm is there, not simply to test their physical strength to row against it. It's to test them spiritually. And so the very things that Jesus brings out in His question to them, do you notice?

It's a kind of an obvious question or an obvious answer. He says to them, why are you afraid? Like, come on. Why? We're nearly drowning.

We're in the middle of the sea with the of this huge lake, and we can't swim. We can't get out of here. What do you mean? Why are we afraid? And apart from anything else, the poise of Jesus to calmly ask that question is almost the most staggering.

Why are you afraid? And you can imagine the disciple shaking their head in disbelief. And this question is so out of order that it hits them like a truck because immediately, you sense there's a missing link here. There's a missing link here. Either Jesus doesn't understand the enormity of what it means to drown at sea, how terrible that is, or it's the disciples that don't understand who Jesus is.

That's the missing link. And of course, that's the point. In fact, it's the point of the whole Gospel of Mark. Again, scholars, commentators point out that Mark, the Gospel, the testimony of Jesus, is setting up this question: "Who is Jesus?"

It's sort of Peter just laying out. This is what Jesus did, then He did this, then then He said this, then this happened. The death, the resurrection of Jesus. Now who is Jesus? You decide.

And so this five, six verse story is actually a snapshot of the entire gospel account. The question is, who is this man? And that is what Jesus is wanting to hear from them when He asked them, why are you afraid? Is it because you don't really know Me? You don't know who I am?

Is it because you don't understand the significance of My presence with you? And this is brought out by that second question, do you still have no faith? You see the purpose of this crisis, just masterfully orchestrated by Christ, is to expose the reality of their hearts. Because life was going well up until this point. Ministry was going great.

Thousands of people coming to see Jesus. Crowds. And these 12, they were helping out. They were serving Jesus. They were making it possible for this ministry to happen.

They had a probably a great joy in seeing the rabbis and the religious officials that were so corrupt, being just thrown here and there by Jesus in His teaching. There's a thrill and a vibrancy and an energy in this ministry, and it was easy to be followers of Jesus then. Jesus takes them away from the crowds in the middle of the night with no one to look on, in the middle of an ocean, of a lake. And here, they are faced with the question, who am I? And Jesus leads them there and He penetrates down into their real spiritual condition and He says to them, why do you still have no faith?

Why do you still not believe? There are no cheering crowds to hide behind. There are no enemies that can distract you from your creeping doubts. And Jesus shows them who they really are, deep, deep, deep down. They don't know Jesus.

Friends, this is the piercing question I wanna reflect on this morning. Do you know Jesus? And do you know if He cares for you? And you may say, yes, I know. I know He cares.

Wanna ask you this question: How do you know He cares? How? When everything around you might naively sort of have you trusting in the fact that of course He cares for me because my life is going well. Of course He cares for me because everything is in good order in my life. Well, what about if those things are taken away?

Do you still, will you still know if He cares for you? How do you know He cares for you when the thing that you dread the most actually happens. Which leads us to our third and our final point: the game changer. In verse 39, Jesus, it says, wakes up and He rebukes the wind and the sea. He says to both of them, peace.

Be still. And the wind ceased and there was a great calm. Isn't that just a wonderful little detail to put in? It wasn't that weather sort of simmered down and it became sort of a gradual easing rolling wave and you're sort of able to get yourself back to shore. The detail Peter puts in there is it is flat.

I don't know if you've watched the movie "The Truman Show" with Jim Carrey. It's a great one. I love it. In the end, one of the final scenes, Jim, the character Truman, he's trying to escape this man-made world that he's been put in, and it's just horrible waves and stuff like that to try and keep him from escaping, and then all of a sudden, the director turns off the weather. And the rain and the wind, it all stops, and it is just calm.

And the sun sort of breaks through on the clouds. Get that image here. It is exceedingly calm, the Bible says. The lake turns to glass. And the question is, who is this?

That even the winds and the waves will listen to Him? It's not a question of a seeker, really. I think it's a question of someone who's found something. It's a rhetorical question. And the answer is, this must be the Lord.

This must be the king of creation. That creation will listen to Him. It can be no other than God. And this is the one we must go to. This is the one we must hold on to.

This is the one who can, therefore, deal with our deepest fears. And so when life is collapsing all around us and we are tempted to cry out, does God care? Remember the Lord Jesus and you will know that God cares. Why is that? Because Jesus would go on to rescue His disciples from a far greater fate than drowning at sea.

The reality of an eternity in the overwhelming floods of hell. That is what Jesus goes on to do. That place, hell, is the place of uncontrolled chaos. If you think storms and waves are bad, this is a place outside of that control. "Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?"

And the answer from Jesus, calming the sea is obvious. Of course, I do. Of course, I care, Peter. But that response, this story in miniature is casting forward to a greater rescue. It's the reason the apostle Paul can tell Christians in Romans 8, and we know that passage so well, that gives us incredible hope, he says, in uncertainty.

In the midst of crisis, he says, what shall we say then? If God is for us, who can be against us? He says, listen to this. He who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also graciously give us all things? He goes on.

He says, can tribulations, can distress, persecution, famine, danger or sword separate us from the love of Christ? He says, no. Through all these things, through all these things, we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. If God the Father did not spare His only Son, but gave Him to the cross for us bearing the punishment of our sin, friend, where's the reason to fear? Where's the reason to crumble when hardship comes?

Do you know, oh, it's amazing. Do you know the picture that the Bible gives us of what heaven is like? In Revelation 15, we find a snapshot. Now whether this is a metaphor, whether this is how it's going to be in reality, the Bible portrays the peace that Christ has achieved through His death on the cross as an ocean. As an ocean.

And in Revelation 15, we find a vision of that final victory over sin and death. And when you read it, you see how God, in the context, has dealt with all His enemies. Every single power that has arrayed themselves against God, God crushes. He deals with. He has judged the wickedness of evil humanity.

He has conquered the beast who has set himself up against Him. And this is how the story resolves itself. Have a look. Let's turn actually to Revelation 15. And we're gonna read from verse 2.

Revelation 15:2. This is John the apostle, you know, having this incredible vision of the end time. And John says, "I saw what appeared to be a sea of glass mingled with fire. And those also who had conquered the beast and its image and the number of its name, standing beside the sea of glass with harps of God in their hands." The believers, Christians, standing by that glassy sea.

And they sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the lamb saying, "Great and amazing are your deeds, O Lord God the Almighty. Just and true are your ways, King of the nations. Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify your name? For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship you for your righteous acts have been revealed."

The sea of glass is a representation of the ultimate peace we will have with God. Jesus Christ has conquered every single thing that has set itself up against His people. And we see in Mark 4 in Jesus calming the winds and the waves of Galilee, and it becoming exceedingly calm, we see in that a foretaste of what He would achieve for every person that would make Him their Lord and their Saviour. I wonder if the question that was asked of Jesus by these disciples, if it pierced His heart when he when He was asked the question, "Teacher, don't you care?"

And because the cross was laying ahead of Him, the thought would have been, Peter, more than you know. The storms that may come tomorrow. I mean, Suzanne had sat here last week. The storms that may come tomorrow, rest assured that Jesus Christ is with us. He is with us in that boat.

The storms are no accidents, not when we have a Lord who is sovereign and in control. And so we believe that there is a plan. We believe there is a purpose. But then take this as your ultimate comfort: that the storm over our eternal destination against enemies that caused all the turbulence of our life, that that has come to a sea of glass without a single ripple for all eternity because Christ has absorbed the fury of God's judgment. He has absorbed the fury of Satan and hell itself, and He gives us peace without limit.

Let's pray. Oh God, may we give our lives and entrust them into the one who can and does have control. Lord, You're the only one that does. And so, Father, we offer our lives to you again. Lord Jesus, we accept you as the Lord in our life.

And Lord, in those moments of panic, Father, Holy Spirit, will you remind us of your presence? When those storms rage and the waves look so menacing, help us to know that the one that is with us has promised that we will not perish, at least not for eternity. And so, Lord, if God the Father did not spare His only Son, but gave Him up for us all, how will He not along with Him give us all things? Father, I pray for everyone here who does not know you. I pray for everyone here who has not made that personal decision.

Father, may they find you. Will you receive them this morning? Will you accept their apology and their heart seeking forgiveness and grace? And Father, will you give them forgiveness and grace this morning in their hearts with an assurance that you have done so with a taste of incredible peace. And Lord Jesus, for those who have done so and those who are in the midst of incredible struggle and hardship, Father, give them the comfort and the knowledge and the vision of that sea of glass.

With not a single ripple in it. Where everything, Lord, everything in our life, everything for all eternity will be perfect and peaceful. Help us to draw strength from that. Help us to await that with anticipation and great courage. And in the meantime, Lord Jesus, give us the grace and the strength to deal with everything that this life may throw at us.

We pray it in Jesus' name, through the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen.