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Welcome everyone. This morning we are continuing a series together called FAQs: Frequently Asked Questions. We polled everyone in the church ask questions for almost two months. What is on your heart and mind? What do you want to know about God? Life. The Bible as as the Lord speaks to it and we would give you answers. There is no question off limits, nothing that you couldn’t ask that we wouldn’t give an answer to. You had the door just blown wide open to do that. And and now it’s closed. So no more asking questions. And I’m just teasing. We are a church that invites you to to learn and grow and ask questions to feel free. Know that regardless of where you’re at in your life, what you want to know. We just welcome any, anywhere that God has you as you desire to learn and grow to to ask us freely and and then discover the answers according to God’s Word. And so what we’ve done on Sunday morning is we’ve taken the popular themed questions that people have asked. We had a a question that people tended to center around and and what they desired to know. We have allowed that to become a part of our series that we’re doing on Sunday morning, and then we get individual questions that people might be asking. We are posting those to our Facebook page and our blog, our blogspot, so you can read about some of those questions that other people are asking and what the answer we carry here as a church family in response to that.
So if you haven’t liked us on Facebook, there’s your invitation. Discover Alpine Bible Church on Facebook. Write two questions we want to deal with today are pretty important to the Christian life. They not pretty. They are important to the Christian life. Uh, and they they center around confidence in the work of God, the finished work of God, and the continuing work of God in the life of a believer. Those two questions that we’re asking this morning, as we have the Frequently Asked Questions series can moving on, is how do I know if I am truly saved and why would God want to use me? How do I know if I’m a true believer in Christ and and why would God want to use me? Those two questions become important, and we’ve placed those two together this morning and answering those questions, because both of them deal with the finishing work of Christ and the ongoing work of Christ and the life of a believer. These two questions are common questions that believers should wrestle with in their lives and and find confidence in in Jesus and as we walk with Jesus is what I come to understand the Christian life. As you grow in your relationship with God, you grow in trust and dependability. In in Christ.
When you read the gospel of counts, you’ll discover that the the 12 disciples that Jesus chose in the beginning when when they were walking with Christ, they were very doubtful of the things that Jesus could do. But as they began to do ministry with Jesus and saw the resurrected Lord through that relationship, they grew in confidence in his reliability and dependability. And so as as we walk with Christ, I think as believers, we grow in that same confidence and dependability in Jesus. Colossians 123 says this, but you must continue to believe this truth and stand firmly in it. Don’t drift away from the assurance you received when you heard the good news. There’s confidence that comes in walking in the gospel and understanding what Jesus has done for you. And the reason Paul writes about that in Colossians 123 is, I feel like in the life of a believer there is a temptation that draws us away from Jesus. But what Jesus desires for us is for us to walk confidently in him. How do I know I am truly saved? And why would God want to use me? If you start reading the Bible as a believer, you’ll begin to discover some some powerful passages of Scripture that bring you to a place that you might challenge or think or consider about your salvation in Christ. How do I know that I’m truly saved? When you get to the book of Matthew, we we had one of the questions entered about salvation to know where we are in Christ.
Someone asked the question based on these these verses, how do we know that we’re a true believer in in Jesus of Jesus says these things and he says in Matthew seven and verse 13, the sermon on the Mount enter through the narrow gate, for the gate is wide, the gate is wide, and the way is broad that leads to destruction. And there are many who enter through it. For the gate is small, and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it. He goes on and says, just a few verses later, not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my father who is in heaven, will enter. Many will say to me on that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name cast out demons, and in your name perform many miracles? And then I will declare to them, I never knew you. Depart from me, you who practice lawlessness, lawlessness! Then everyone who hears these words of mine and acts on them may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rocks. Concerning salvation. This is a good passage of Scripture to stop and contemplate in our lives. Where do we rest in Jesus? And I just want to say, when it comes to these two questions, God doesn’t intend for the answer to be complicated.
Jesus came for you to rescue you from this world, to redeem you from a sin cursed body and world, and give you eternity with him in in joy, in his presence. God desires that relationship with you. That’s the point of the gospel, Jesus pursuing you. And so when we talk about the security that we have in Christ, any way that we answer this, it’s not intended to be complicated. And to be honest, those that look at a passage like this and become concerned with their salvation in Jesus, those people are tend to be the people that I am not as concerned about in their walk with Christ, because it’s showing a genuineness in your heart and what Jesus desires for you to follow after him. I want to say I want to say that if you’re just uncertain because you’re not sure what the gospel is, then it’s important to understand what Jesus has done for you. Let me just give you that very clearly. If this question is being asked, how do I know I’m saved? How do I know we use this term redeemed or or born again? How do I know I’m a true Christian? How do I know I’m going to spend eternity with God? How do I know I’m saved? The answer is this Jesus knows you’re a sinner, right? Jesus knows that you can’t save yourself left unto yourself.
The Bible tells us the minute that man sinned, we were alienated from God. We lost our relationship with him. And no matter how good you lived your life, no amount of good can ever undo sin against a holy God. So before God, we stand condemned. But Jesus knows that we are created in him for relationship. So Christ came for you. God took on flesh. He came to the cross. He paid the debt that you could not pay to reconcile you to God. Jesus did it all when he hung on the cross. He said it was finished. And so when we talk about salvation, all of that salvation rests securely in what Christ has done. We say it like this. There is nothing that you have done that makes God love you more. There is nothing that you’re going to do that makes God love you less. God loves you infinitely. Matter of fact, no relationship in this world can demonstrate the love that Jesus has shown to you. And while you were yet sinners, Christ died for you. God created you for eternity, and that eternity is about knowing him. And so when you place your faith in the finished work of what Christ has done on your behalf, the Bible calls that born again. We looked at that a few weeks ago in John chapter three.
I think the first week of the facts series, we talked about John chapter three. So if you want to know more about that, go back and listen. But he answered for Nicodemus that question, what it means to be saved or to know we’re secure in Christ. But the question on the hand then we ask is, how do we know if we really have put our faith in Jesus, or we’ve done what we should do with with Christ? And and for those who look at a passage like this and ask that question, if you know what the gospel is and you’ve taken time to put your faith in Christ, I want to say that I’m I’m not as concerned about you in that position because you’re wrestling within your heart about your position in Jesus, which shows health in that relationship. But I’ll tell you what I am concerned about. I’m concerned about those who give no concern with the passage like this. I’m concerned about those who say they know Jesus, but what they mean is they have an intellectual knowledge with Christ and not a relational standing in Christ. I’m concerned for those who, when they when they are questioning their salvation in Christ, that they’re so afraid of eternity and what’s to come that it paralyzes you from enjoying what you have in Jesus now, and enjoying what God has called you to in this world.
And so I’ll just say it again. The answer to these questions shouldn’t be complicated, because it’s the very reason for which Jesus came. The answer for these questions are actually simple if we can just embrace it and accept it not just in our mind, but in our heart, and live life according to it. When when you turn to the book of Matthew, you know that this passage of Scripture is is famous for the sermon of the Mount. Some people call this the greatest message ever preached. I would say if Jesus is preaching a sermon, if you don’t call it the greatest message ever preached, that’s blasphemy, right? Anything Jesus said is far greater than anyone else is going to say. And Jesus, he begins to preach this message in Matthew chapter five to chapter seven. And you as a believer, if you’ve ever read this passage of Scripture of the sermon on the Mount, likely when you’ve gone through it, you just you just think, now that is just sweet. You know, Jesus says, all these sayings is so wonderful. I can imagine the sermon on the Mount. He goes up on this hill. All these people, he says these nice things and everybody just feels good walking away. And, and and you can get that from, from the sermon on the Mount, growing up in a Judeo post Judeo Christian society, it’s something that we’ve emphasized, something that we have ingrained to some degree in the way that we live in our culture towards one another.
And it’s a beautiful picture of what Christ’s kingdom is, is about. But I just want to say, when you get to this passage of Scripture, one of the things that Jesus is also doing is he is separating very clearly a life in relationship to him and a life of religion. Okay. And so when we look at a passage of Scripture like this, having a little bit of background understanding of why Jesus is saying this is important, if you if you come to a church and you’ve heard the message that it’s about relationship, you can’t earn it. Christ offers it to you freely on the cross, not according to what you do, but according to what he has done. That’s a biblical message, and the Bible just tells us, place your faith in that. But when Jesus is presenting this statement, he’s presenting this statement to religious people. And so when you have that mindset going into a a sermon of the Mount that Jesus is teaching here, you can begin to separate how Jesus is differentiating between religious life and relational life that Christ offers in him, apart from anything that we do. Let me let me just walk real quick. If you have your Bible open, I’m just going to read a few passages in Matthew five. It’s not up on the screen, but this this lays the groundwork for why Christ says what he says in the book of of Matthew.
If if you look in the very beginning, you think in Matthew chapter five, Jesus starts the sermon on the Mount with blessed or happy or joyful are you. That’s what the word blessed means. And and when Jesus is speaking to this crowd, you have to consider present within the audience are the Pharisees who put unnecessary burden of religious living on the lives of people and people who are just broken. That want to know Jesus. People that can’t live up to the Jewish law standard at this time, Israel is teaching live all of these hundreds of commandments before God. And and that’s what God wants in order for you to prove your worth before him. And so you’ve got people that have this weight. In fact, Jesus said, come to me, you are who are heavy and weary laden. I will give you rest. He’s understanding in the nation of Israel. Matthew, I think it’s in 11 when Jesus says that that they’ve got these burdens on themselves, they just can’t carry they they can never come to this place where they can rest, that they’re they’re secure in God. And so Jesus says in Matthew five and verse three, blessed are the poor in spirit. You think about Pharisee in this moment and religiously hurt in these moments, religiously broken in these moments, not feeling like you’re worthy or good enough.
Religion has a tendency to do this to people. It leads you to pride or to despair. The Pharisees in these moments live in these laws being uplifted by society and the prominence of of showing themselves as holier than thou when. They looked at this verse that Jesus opens up with in the sermon. It’s not one that they would agree with. Blessed are the poor in spirit with Jesus. I’m rich. Look how. Look how much fame I have. Look how good I am and all the laws that I’m living. I am worthy, others are not. And you’re telling me blessed are the poor in spirit? Jesus goes on and says in verse four, blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the gentle, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. Blessed are the merciful. When Jesus starts this passage, he comes to people who are just hungry for what God has created them for. Not religious life, but relational life. People that know that they’re just bankrupt in this world. Not about religion, but just freedom in Christ. Jesus is listing these to the to the broken world. And he says in verse 48, the very end of the chapter, therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly father is perfect. He’s saying to the Jewish people, you think that you’re living these laws to make yourself right before God.
Well, let me just let me just tell you what the standard is, is perfection. It’s to bring it to a place to recognize in your own life. I can’t do that. It is an impossibility. And Jesus would say, I know that’s that’s the whole point of my coming. If you could do it on your own, I wouldn’t even be here. The standard is perfection, and the perfection is an impossibility. And then Jesus goes on in chapter six, and then he just he just goes after religiously thinking people who who think that when they get to heaven and God asks them why they’re there, they say it’s all because of me. And so he says in verse one, look at this. Beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by by them. In verse five he says, when you pray, you are not to be like the hypocrites, for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners, that they may be seen by men. In verse seven, and when you are praying, do not use meaningless repetition as as Gentiles do, for they suppose that they will be heard for their many words. Verse 16. Whenever you fast, do not put on a gloomy face, as the hypocrites do, for they neglect their appearance, so that they will be noticed by men when they are fasting.
When Jesus is pointing out about the religious mentality of living life as if you are to please God is to say that when you live life that way and you start to believe your own press, you become arrogant and proud. That’s more than anything. That person that’s not concerned with the passage like this needs to recognize before Jesus. There is no hope. Jesus became that hope. God made it more simple than the Pharisees could ever make it by their law. It’s just about knowing him. The answer. To know whether or not I’m secure in Christ isn’t intended to be complicated. But it’s intended to be clear. And so when you turn to chapter seven and Jesus finally gets to the culmination of this message, he says in verse 13, enter through the narrow gate, saying to religious world, for the gate is wide, and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. For the gate is small, and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it. And then when you get to chapter seven and verse 21, Jesus drops what I call the bomb on extreme religion. Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my father who is in heaven, will enter. I’ll talk about what the will of the father is in a minute.
And he says, many will say to me on that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name cast out demons, and in your name perform many miracles? Like, I can’t say it any more clear than what Jesus says in this passage of Scripture. This this passage is saying in verse 22, there are people that when they come to God, they think they’re going to present all the good that they’ve done. And that’s not impressive to a God that can go ahead and do it apart from you. There’s nothing you can do for the Lord that he can’t do for himself. And so when he says in verse 23, and then I will declare to them, I never knew you, depart from me. Jesus in this verse gives indication of what the most significant thing is that was missing in, in, in their understanding of what Christ came to do. Look, let me read it one more time and I will declare to them, this is where they’re guilty. I never knew you. Depart from me, you who practice lawlessness. They’re thinking all religiously, and Jesus thinks about relational. I never knew you. It’s the purpose of salvation in Christ is reconnection of that relationship with God that we lost in sin. I never knew you. This is not just an intellectual knowledge, but a knowledge of a word of intimacy.
I never knew you. This is about personally connecting to Jesus who came to die for you. In fact, in Hebrew terms, this this word never knew you was an idiom that would they would often use in reference to relationship between a husband and wife. They know each other in intimacy. And Jesus is saying, you did all this religious participation in this world, but you forgot the biggest point of any of this. And it’s about knowing me. What you do for me is an outflow of knowing me. What Jesus is saying to us is that when you think about heaven, when you think about Christ, it’s not that good people go to heaven. It’s that forgiven people do. Your walk with Jesus. Jesus already knows that we fail. Jesus already knows that we’re broken. Jesus came for that reason. That’s why he started his very first sermon in Matthew five about the brokenness of the human spirit. And what Jesus desires to do is to heal that brokenness in us, that we could be reconciled to him for relationship. So how do we know that you’re saved? It centers and hinges on this word knowing him personally, intimately. You know, the Bible tells us in a couple of instances in, in second Corinthians 313 five, I would say here in Matthew seven and Philippians two, it says, let me read in second Corinthians 13, test yourselves to see if you are in the faith, examine yourselves, or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you unless indeed you fail the test? It is important for every believer to come to a place in their life, and they ask the question, am I truly saved? Do I really know Jesus? And when Paul says this in second Corinthians 13, he then begins to explain a test for us as believers to examine if we’re truly in the faith and what Paul emphasizes right after chapter 13 and verse five is a commitment to the Word of God, knowing that what God said is truth and what he says because it’s truth, it’s what I believe.
And so we examine our lives to see if it aligns with what Jesus proclaims, and if it doesn’t align with what Jesus proclaims as evidence that we are outside of the faith, not in the faith necessarily, but outside of the faith in Christ. And Philippians 212 it says this work out your salvation in fear and trembling. Well, some of you that might throw you for a loop in Philippians two, work out your salvation and fear and trembling. God loves me, right? Why does he want me to be in fear and trembling over this? And the answer is this while God is also loving in relationship, friend to us, coming for us, God is still Lord, reigning over heaven and earth.
God is Lord. And when you come before a king. You think, as a person in humility before Christ? Who am I before him? Work out your salvation. It says in Philippians 212, in fear and trembling. And it goes on a list. If you look at Philippians 212, you can make a note look later this week, starting in verse 13 to 17. Paul then begins to describe what becomes evident in the life of a believer when Jesus is who they have placed their faith in. How do I know I am saved? The answer answer is easy. The Bible says this for us. It says in John 628 and 29. Then they asked him, what must we do to work the works God requires? What must me do to do the work that God requires? You would expect after this passage, if you’re in a religious life, that they would then list a bunch of rules and regulations. But Jesus answered and says this the work of God is this to believe in the one whom he has sent. How do you know you’re saved? The answer I would ask is then what are you trusting in? Jesus hung on the cross. He said to tell us that he paid in full. What? What are you trusting in? According to what the Bible says in John six, that there are two kinds of people, those that are believing in Jesus and those that aren’t, those who trust in completely in what Christ has done and those who don’t.
In First John chapter five, I don’t know. People like to share their testimonies sometime about what God’s doing in the life, but how about this the testimony of God. And this is what he says. And the testimony is this, that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the son has life, and he who does not have the son does not have life. Very simple. Jesus alone paid for it all. It’s not about just just intellectually knowing that, but giving your heart over to God and recognition of what Jesus has done on your behalf rather than us dying in sin before a holy God, Jesus dies and sin for us. How do we know that we’re saved? The answer is this. What? Are you trusting in Christ or not? And the second thing I would just ask is what kind of fruit do you bear? Do you display the evidence of a transformed life in Christ? Philippians 212 when it tells us to work out our salvation in fear and trembling, lists the way that we could display the work of Christ within us. Second Corinthians 517 says, anyone that is in Christ is a new creation. Behold, all things are passed away. All things have become new. Jesus does a work in us. When he redeems us, he changes the desires of our heart, and the fruit of his spirit will flow naturally in our lives.
I would be concerned within my life if I claim to know Jesus, and I display nothing that gives evidence to Jesus. Jesus transforms your life. There is a hunger there that cannot be quenched. I remember about a year ago we had the opportunity to come and sit with a meal after church, with a new family that had come here, and they they came to know the Lord here. And my wife and I were sitting down. And we just want to know, do they know for sure whether or not they know the Lord? And we want to enjoy just the company that we have, and all of a sudden they just say this to my wife and I, um, we have this weird, uh, unquenchable desire. Now I’m getting on TV and anything that has Jesus on it, I just want to watch it. And anytime I can get near the Bible, I can’t put it down. And we’re staying up till till the Am’s of the morning and just reading about Christ. Evidence of a life that’s transformed by him. In my own life. I can tell you the person I was and the person I am, I’m not near where I should be today, but the things that I loved versus the things that I love now are far different because of what Christ has done within my heart.
The evidence of faith is made known through the power of Christ’s Spirit at work within us. It’s not to say as a believer you don’t struggle. It’s not to say as a believer you don’t wake up some days and you just don’t desire to draw near to God. But what God does ultimately throughout our lives is he transforms it in his image, even though we may struggle. Answer for a question is this how do you know you’re safe? Do you know him? Have you placed your confidence and trust in what he’s done? Colossians 123 but you must continue to believe this truth and stand firmly in it. Don’t drift away from the assurance you received when you heard the good news. It says to us in Colossians one. Look, Christians have probably been asking that question since the beginning. We as people have this tendency where when we look at just forgiveness, that’s just lavish with, with, with nothing and expectation in return, like, like we’ve got to do something to earn this. We as people, we don’t live in a society like that, right? You get something. But on the back end of that, somebody expecting something from you. And so we’re left with a question of, oh, what can I do? What can I do to to show my worth in this moment or what what can I do to show you my appreciation at this moment? Or how can I reconcile this debt that I feel like I’m obligated to? Because you’ve given me this gift? I mean, we do it at Christmas, right? Someone gives you a gift, and man, you got to give it back.
It’s just so weird. You’ve got those cousins you never talk to, and you write them a $25 gift card, and then they got a they just turn it and send it back to you, right? Like they got you Walmart and you got them Best Buy. I mean what’s I don’t get it right. You can’t just accept the gift. You can’t just look at it at God, who is infinitely loving to you and just say thank you. I think you got. As a person on the inside, questioning of whether or not I’m saved because I’m struggling internally with just feeling worth. I can look at you and say that in you I am worthy. Not apart, not apart from you, but because of you. God thank you. And just resting your heart in that truth. Knowing you don’t owe him because there’s nothing that you can give to him. But yourself. What do you give? We ask the question sometimes with those that are wealthy. What do you give a guy that’s got everything? When it comes to the Lord, what do you give to a God that owns everything? Answers you created in his image and for his goodness and glory.
God wants your trust in him. The next question, let me just ask this as well, that we are trusting in the finished work of Christ for our salvation and trusting in him, but also the continued work of Christ. And so we would then ask, If Christ has saved me, why? Why would he want to use me? Why would God want to use me in both of those questions can struggle with a personal identity. I don’t feel worthy enough to be saved. I don’t feel worthy enough to be used. Why would God want to to use me? And the answer is it’s not because of you. It has nothing to do with your ability or your gifts. It’s not based on your ability and strength, but rather his ability and strength at work within you. When I was a little kid. I don’t know if you believe this or not, but I hated standing in front of public. As a matter of fact, I hated standing in front of people. I was not a social person. I liked to hide. Took the F on the book reports. Never stood in front of public, just despised it. And and some of that was because I was a person that lacked self-confidence. And sometimes I think that word is a sham to us as a people. Self confidence. I began to realize that what I really needed wasn’t self-confidence, but realizing Christ.
It’s not my confidence in me that matters, but my confidence in Christ that matters. That Jesus has given me a worth far greater than any worth that I could seek to achieve on my own. Jesus value is placed on me not because of what I’ve done, but because of who I am in light of who he is. He is being created in his image. If it were up to my strengths and talents and abilities, God would have never chosen me. His strength is far greater. There’s nothing I can do in service to him that he can’t do through me, or won’t do through me that he can’t even do. He can do it himself. Why would God want to use me with? The answer begins with it’s it’s it’s not about me, but it’s about his power working in me and through me. He wants to do a work in you and through you, by by his authority. Philippians one six says this being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. Colossians 129. For this purpose also I labor striving according to his power, which mightily works within me. God has a plan of working his will through you, and as confident as you can be in Christ for salvation, you can be confident in God’s desire that he wants to continue to do his work in you according to his plan, by his power that carries you on.
God loves us apart from performance. God sees your worth, apart from your performance, and God desires to use you because it’s not about your ability but about his. In fact, First Corinthians says this. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong. When I read a passage like this, it’s a challenge for me as a believer to sit and think, what am I doing in my life that’s outside of my own strength? What is it that God can do in me and through me that I can’t attribute it to my own worth? It gives us the ability to dream big in Christ. If you accomplish something for the Lord within your own power and strength, something that you can measure when you get to the end, you know, do you not really know if it’s Christ at work? I mean, yes, ultimately. But he gets glory the bigger we dream and the more that we live for him, the more that we’re passionate and going bold for Jesus. Some of the places that I know that we’ve seen as a church family is we have a church family, right? In six years of meeting here, every year, every year we’ve done something different.
As a church, we’ve been in a different location every year doing something differently. And now we just hit our year mark and we’re going to go to two services. God continues to do a work within us that we can look back and say, yeah, we know weigh in our strength. Could we ever anticipated what God has, has done, would have been done. I love last week we went and helped the Whatley family make a move because Raymond is overseas serving our country, and we went and and helped him move. And when we got there, everyone had to carry like three boxes and that was it because we had so many people show up to help. It’s an opportunity for us as a believer to stand back and just see where God moves. God moves in the hearts of his people. God, we see the need and in that need we show up to participate. How beautiful it is when this church does that. Collectively seeing God move. The more we align together in those things we see as God works in our hearts, he works through lives. God uses the weak things of this world. Because his power is made known. You consider the type of people that God has used within Scripture? Moses couldn’t speak. Peter was a hothead. Jonah disobeyed. Paul was called a little man. Esther was a captured lady. Martha wouldn’t slow down.
Mary the Virgin was too young. Abraham was 100 years old with a kid. Joseph was in prison, and Thomas doubted. We ask the question. God. Why? Why would you even use me? And through the lives of these individuals, we see the evidence of God’s power being made known. God loves to use us in our weaknesses. Matt. Mark. Chapter six. We we get to a place in Scripture where Jesus is creating this miraculous story. It’s the the walking on water. And when you read the story as a as a group of believers, you know, we know we could probably just tell it to you without even reading this passage of Scripture. If you’ve read the Bible, you likely know the story. It’s second hand to you. When we read the story, I think when we discover in the story is what God desires to do in us and through us as as we serve him and answers the question why God would want to use us? It tells us like this. And in verse 47, when it was evening, the boat was in the middle of the sea. The disciples had gone out into the sea and Jesus was on the shore, having finished some teaching time with with the crowds, and had gone on by himself. And it says, and he was alone on the land, seeing them straining at the oars, for the wind was against them. And about the fourth watch of the night he came to them, walking on the sea.
He came to them walking on the sea. We think about the God that you served, who has called you into the world to do the things that he desires for you to reflect his nature. It is a God who walks on seas. He came to them walking on the sea, and he intended to pass by them. But when they saw him walking on the sea, they supposed that it was a ghost, and cried out. I guess they had had a lot of ghost encounters. Seems normal, right? Even before television, for they all saw him and were terrified. But immediately he spoke with them and said to them, take courage, it is I. Do not be afraid. Then he got into the boat with him, and the wind stopped, and they were utterly astonished. You think about what Christ is doing in these moments when Jesus calls us into this world, I think he knows that it’s not necessarily going to be easy, right? If Jesus were interested in making this moment for them light or easy, all he had to do from the side of the shore was say to the wind, wind, be still. And the moment for the disciples would have been easy. But when Jesus left the shore and he began to walk on the water, what Christ is teaching us in this moment is that he’s not about making life easy.
He’s not about doing things on his own. What Jesus is after in this moment are the heart of the men who rest on that boat. Because what God desires to do is work a far greater miracle in their lives than he does with just calm in the ocean. Jesus could have come. Excuse me. The sea. Jesus could have just calmed the Sea of Galilee. But what Jesus desired to do is to go before these individuals that are serving him, and in the moment of rowing across the sea and obedience to Christ is continued to do a miraculous work in their lives. What Jesus desires in your life is not to make life easy. You think in our world, when anything bad happens, I mean, we just lose our faith instantly, right? I lost my job. Oh, God. Where are you? Right. Or you’re driving along and and you get in a fender bender curse, right. In the moments of the storm. God desires to make himself known in your life. In the moments of the storm, not only does God desire to use you in that and through that, but God is continuing to do his work in you as he’s promised. He’s showing that as you serve him in a moment where it doesn’t make sense by your own strength, that his presence is there and he’s working his miracle on your heart, which is far greater than anything that he could have done in calming the sea.
In a moment he calms the sea, but he works the miracle in your heart, and that stays with you in relationship to him throughout all of eternity. God is working his miracle. And you. He’s not after you because of your ability. He is after you because of his ability to transform your life in the midst of any storm, to use you for his glory. When you come to God and you ask the question, God, why would you use me? The answer, very simply is it has nothing to do with your ability. But in those moments you recognize that Jesus wants to work his power in you and through you. And so you can stop and just say, And God, thank you. Thank you that I knew there is hope. Thank you that in you there is future. Thank you God that in you there is joy. Just thank you God. And knowing that I couldn’t offer anything to someone who already has everything that you still desire to work your miracle in me, that in me and through me I may begin to better know you and grow in you. To stretch my faith in ways that I couldn’t even imagine and find in the end. God, you are worthy. Can I tell you? It wasn’t until I understood that. And I could understand what Paul says in Philippians chapter three and verse ten.
Paul in this passage of Scripture just says this I want to know Christ. Yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death. It’s not about easy, it’s about Jesus. Paul says it’s the intimacy of knowing him that even in the darkest storms with all the clouds around me, he recognizes no matter how bad the moment is, rather than curse God just to realize his presence is there, and to know him and the power of his resurrection and the participation in his sufferings. More than anything that this world offers, just knowing Jesus is what it’s about. Working that miracle in us and through us. And Mark eight. God blew my mind a little bit this week as I was thinking about this message, I came to my devotional time and came to Mark eight and I read the verse. Many of you might know, whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. And I walked away from that, and I thought that that should be a little more extreme than I just treated that that verse. Jesus saying, whoever wants to be a disciple must take up his cross and follow me. I mean, you think in in our Christian world today we take on a cross. I mean, it’s a decorative piece, right? It’s on my car, it’s on my house, it’s on our church, it’s on everywhere I go.
Does the cross carry the cross? Jesus. I got my nice little cross. Jesus. Let’s just go now and enjoy the day. I’m carrying it around with my my little cross. But you think when. Mark eight. When Jesus makes this statement, Jesus has yet to die on the cross. And so in the mind of believers, when Jesus says, take up your cross and follow me, the cross to them was despised and despicable, and you would be Jesus and be like you. What are you talking about? Christ, I’m not taking up my cross. That thing is disgusting. Apart from what you’ve done. But today we’ve beautified it, right? I mean, God’s glory is made known in it. Corinthians says, the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness, but to us which are saved, it’s the power of God. I began to realize that in my life I’ve become desensitized to what this verse represents. So how? How could I relate it to today? Experiencing Christ and what he desires to do in me and through me in this world. I thought about what believers are going through across the country. What they’ve had to take up to follow Jesus. You know, we’ve even said in church what’s taking place in Iraq today with ISIS, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria. Their their desire is anyone who, who, who does anything professes anything other than Islam is to be annihilated.
They’re marking the the homes of the Christians with the Arabic letter for in to say Christians live here to be able to attack them and destroy them because they’re not a part of the Islamic State. What if what if Jesus were today living in that area and he said, I want you to be able to, knowing that they’re cutting off the heads of children and leaders. And he says, if you desire to follow me, be willing to stand even before ISIS with your neck on the line. It’s easy to see in the life of Christ why so many people would begin to follow Him in Jesus. Make a statement like that and the crowd would just go the other way. But Jesus desires to do something in you and through you. That’s far better than just an easy life. And that’s to make his glory and presence made known. And as he conforms you into his image, in the midst of that, he uses you for his goodness and glory. Why does God want to use you? It has nothing to do with you but everything about his power working in you and through you. The storm for us is a picture of salvation that Christ has brought to every believer. Salvation isn’t something that Jesus just did and done and is done.
Salvation is something that Christ continues to work in you and through you throughout the rest of your life. He is making his salvation known. And so it says to us in first Peter chapter two and verse nine, but you are a chosen people, not that God might choose you to serve, but God has already chosen you. You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, his special possession that he has placed on you by his worth, not yours. That you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. It’s about relationship to Christ. And so let me close with this thought for us as believers. Philippians one six says this being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it out to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. Regardless of salvation, a relationship where God is using you. Do you know what God asks of you? It’s just asking you. For you. He wants your heart and your life. Lay down before him as Lord. To work out your salvation and fear and trembling. To recognize that while he loves you, he is still Lord. And by that mighty power of the Lord that you bow down before that power works within you to calm the raging seas. And to make his glory known in your life and the life of others. Let me close in the word of prayer.