Mark

[0:00] If the Lord may be pleased to help me, I would ask your attention to Mark chapter 6 verses 47 and 48.

[0:21] Mark chapter 6 verses 47 and 48. And when even was come, the ship was in the midst of the sea, and he alone on the land.

[0:42] And he saw them toiling in rowing, for the wind was contrary unto them.

[0:53] And about the fourth watch of the night, he cometh unto them, walking upon the sea, and would have passed by them.

[1:09] I would that the Lord might lead us into this sacred truth, friends, today.

[1:21] There are many, many of his children that are cast down and toiling in rowing today.

[1:34] But what a mercy, friends, that we have such words as this. Because we, as the Lord is pleased to apply these things, we shall realize that the Lord is the same today.

[1:52] He does care for his children. He did care for his beloved disciples. Yes.

[2:04] And friends, there are many things to be learned from these things.

[2:15] And when he had sent them away, he departed into a mountain to pray.

[2:27] The first thing, friends, we need to consider and realize is that this was the pathway the Lord had appointed for them, for his disciples.

[2:46] He sent them away. Now, we might be puzzled. The Lord didn't go with them on this occasion.

[2:59] He stayed behind. But he sent his disciples away. The Lord is the same today. He knows what he will do.

[3:13] He knows what he's going to do. But, friends, often to us, we're greatly puzzled, very puzzled.

[3:26] But as we go forward and try, as we are enabled to do that which is right in God's sight, how often we're distressed.

[3:50] The disciples were obedient to the Lord. They got into the ship and they went off.

[4:02] And when he had sent them away, he departed into the mountain to pray.

[4:20] Friends, how often you and I are found in that pathway alone. You see, they were alone.

[4:34] The Lord wasn't with them. They were walking in the pathway the Lord had appointed, that he had commanded.

[4:47] They got into the boat. They were, as we know, in the next verse, soon found toiling and rowing.

[5:00] There were many things that were against them. Many things such as the powers of the water, the waves and the billows.

[5:18] They had no power over it. They were still struggling to row the boat.

[5:31] But they were making no headway. Isn't that just how you and I are oftentimes in our religion? The Lord, we trust and hope and, well, we believe we have some evidences here and there that he has called us.

[5:52] He has begun the work of grace. But there's many times, friends, when we're like the disciples. We're alone. He's not with us.

[6:06] Though he sees us, the Lord saw the disciples. He knew exactly where they were and what they were in. And the Lord requires his children to walk by faith.

[6:25] But faith, though the smallest, grace, though the smallest, shall surely be tried. It will be tried. Remember the woman that came to the Lord Jesus Christ.

[6:40] That a daughter might be healed. Look how she would try. She didn't find it very easy, did she?

[6:51] She didn't find it very encouraging. But she couldn't give up. She kept hoping.

[7:02] She kept pursuing. And when the dear Lord Jesus Christ said to this dear woman, I am not come but unto the lost sheep of the house of David, or something to that effect, how she, how it took hold of her, and she fell down, and she worshipped him.

[7:31] It was a wonderful case, friends. God-given faith was in her heart. And although it was such a strange, mysterious pathway that the woman had to walk in, and how she was really, the disciples would have turned her away.

[8:01] But not Jesus. No. Jesus didn't turn her away. We know the words that he spake to her were not very encouraging, but she was humbled and dread.

[8:19] But when she fell down and worshipped the Lord, why was it?

[8:33] She claimed that her daughter might be healed. But first, her soul was healed, because she was, and knew him, a poor, lost sheep.

[8:54] She had the double blessing, friend. It's a wonderful account. She fell down and worshipped the Lord.

[9:05] Because she realised the truth, and the experience, of what she had passed through and was in.

[9:16] And here the Lord Jesus was saying to her, that he had not come but, to the lost sheep of the house of David. The lost sheep.

[9:27] The ruined ones. The ones that have got no hope in self. These are the ones he'd come to save. And this went home with sweet divine power in her heart.

[9:45] Raised her up to a hope in his mercy. And then after that, her daughter was healed.

[9:57] She had, I say again, the double blessing. But then, friends, we would, as the Lord might help us, come to this word.

[10:09] And when he had sent them away, he departed into a mountain to pray.

[10:23] He sent them away. They got to walk in another pathway. A fresh pathway.

[10:36] How often, friends, the children of God are directed, are led, are brought, are into another pathway.

[10:49] We come into pathways that we have not walked in before. It's God's way.

[11:00] It's God's dealings. Friends, where would we be if the Lord didn't lead us forth by the right way in his paths?

[11:12] Left to ourselves, friends, it's nothing but an empty formality coming and going to the house of God perhaps for many years.

[11:27] And now some of us have proved him after many years the Lord has come and he's made his word to be life and power to our souls.

[11:41] But where would we be, friends, if the Lord didn't keep his work alive in our hearts? We soon get, as it were, sink into a rut and a formality.

[11:58] There's nothing in it. Friends, we may be favoured to hear the truth from time to time.

[12:19] But, friends, without the power of God and the application of the word, it profiteth nothing.

[12:29] we need to be kept alive. We read in the word of God, by these things men live.

[12:48] Friends, I say again, we come into paths that we have not known from time to time, fresh paths.

[13:03] Friends, sometimes it seems before one is finished, we come into another. One thing after another.

[13:18] And how these things cast us down, how the disciples must have been cast down. The Lord had commanded them to get into the ship and go to the other side.

[13:36] And here they were. They were in the night season, literally. they were toiling in rowing.

[13:52] The evening was come, the ship was in the midst of the sea, and he alone on the land. And there they were, toiling in rowing, making no end way.

[14:07] isn't that often where you and I are, in our religion, in various things that we come into.

[14:23] We're toiling in rowing, we're praying, we're trying to take these things to the Lord, we're begging him to intercede on our behalf.

[14:38] We're begging him to, to deliver, whether it be ourselves personal, or whether it be connected with us, might be our own family, sons or daughters, it might be various others, friends, the Lord's people, whom we know, various ones that we see and we can see sometimes they're in trouble, they're in trouble.

[15:23] he saw them toiling in rowing.

[15:36] Does that find any of us friends? Are we toiling in rowing in a certain matter, making no headway, helpless, us, can't do anything ourselves, yet the Lord, it seems like it was here with the disciples, the Lord stayed behind.

[16:06] He didn't get into the ship and go with them, he sent them off, that he stayed behind. He departed into a mountain to pray.

[16:23] our friends, what a wonderful thing if the Lord is doing that for us.

[16:41] For you, dear friends here as a church and people, for you and I personally, for our families.

[16:59] Oh friends, how we need the Lord to appear in so many ways. He saw them toiling in rowing.

[17:16] He knows friends, when we are sorely distressed, when we are tempted by the adversary to give up. Because, he says, we're wasting our time.

[17:32] The Lord will not appear, and time rolls on, and things seem to get rather worse. What can we say to these things?

[17:49] What did the disciples do? did they give up because of the winds and the waves, and turn round, and let the wind carry them along?

[18:01] No, they didn't. They still kept toiling and rowing. They still kept the oars going, but they made no headway.

[18:14] They couldn't make any headway, because of the winds that were so strong and powerful, head on. Yet the Lord had told them they was to go to the other side.

[18:28] friends, it sometimes seems to us it's impossible.

[18:41] We trust the Lord has shown us the way, told us the way that we are to go. Yet everything seems to be against us.

[18:55] that's just how it seemed with the disciples. But friends, they didn't give up. Oh, that the Lord would grant to you and I faith, faith to believe, faith to trust in our God.

[19:20] The disciples didn't keep toiling in rowing in vain, did they? In the end, the Lord came, he saw them, he came right where they were.

[19:31] But remember this, friends, when did he come? The darkest hour of the night. The darkest hour of the night.

[19:48] Those many of his children know what that is. to come to come into the darkest hour of the night, when things are at their worst, when things are so hard, so, as far as we're concerned, impossible.

[20:11] We are utterly helpless. We can't do any more. it rests in our Lord's hands.

[20:23] That's where the disciples were. They couldn't get any further. Friends, one great lesson to learn.

[20:39] They didn't lay down and give up and die. to turn back is to perish, it's to die.

[20:50] He that taketh the plough and turneth back is not fit for the kingdom of heaven. Yet the way is so rough, so rugged, so impossible, yet the Lord says the Lord will appear at one of our hymns, isn't it?

[21:11] the Lord will appear. And he did appear for his disciples. And he does appear for his children.

[21:26] I'm sure there are those of us that can look back in our lives and say, well, yes, the Lord did appear for me there.

[21:38] He did. We know he did. We haven't any doubts about it. But you might be in a case today where he hasn't appeared and you don't know how to carry on.

[21:59] the Lord saw them toiling in rain.

[22:10] He saw them. He sees you and I today. You may have many things, friends, that is causing you to, that you're laboring under.

[22:31] You're distressed. You're tossed to and fro. Will he ever come? Will he ever come?

[22:46] The Lord, the Lord departed into a mountain. to pray. To pray.

[23:02] Friends, what a mercy it is that the dear Lord sees his children. He sees you and I. He knows just what you and I are in.

[23:15] He knows what you and I are laboring under. He knows our weaknesses. He knows our weaknesses. friends, the word of God is truth.

[23:37] We read there, do we not, in Ecclesiastes, I think it is, there is a time and a season to everything. a time and a season.

[23:55] A time and that time there is the season, that is, there is a spell of a time and a season.

[24:17] The Lord knows, friends, it might be minutes, it might be hours, it might be weeks, it might be years. I don't doubt, there are those of us here who have got those things and we've been in them now, some of them for years.

[24:44] some of them have come perhaps recently, perhaps we've only got into them perhaps weeks, but he saw and he sees you and I and he knows the trouble, he knows the anxiety that it causes us.

[25:28] Friends, the Lord knows what he will do. Oh, friends, these are solemn things.

[25:43] that chapter, this chapter that we read together, how solemn it was. What we read about regarding John the Baptist being in prison, he served the Lord, he loved the Lord, he honoured the Lord, and it cost him his life.

[26:10] it cost him his life. But friends, heaven was his portion.

[26:26] That was only the means. I know these things are strange, they are mysterious to us.

[26:37] the Lord's way is past finding out. We don't understand how the Lord works, but he does work.

[26:52] And who shall let it? Who shall let it? The Lord could have stopped King Herod from doing what he did, or commanding that it should be done.

[27:14] The Lord could have preserved and delivered John, but that wasn't the will of the Lord.

[27:27] but we know, friends, the solemn events that took place regarding Herod, he was eaten of worms.

[27:49] The judgments of God fell upon him. because he had beheaded John.

[28:02] And John was one of the Lord's children, one whom the Lord loved. And friends, when the enemy, whoever they are, hurt a child of God, they hurt our Lord Jesus Christ.

[28:27] The Lord has made that very clear in his word. He has said, he that touches you, touches the apple of mine eye. There we see how the Lord loves his children, and how he feels for them.

[28:46] I feel friends, we can say this, and I hope in a right way, that the dear Lord Jesus Christ cannot bear to see his dear children in sorrow.

[29:09] Look at Mary at the sepulchre. she was pouring out a little of her heart to the Lord Jesus Christ.

[29:21] She didn't know it was he. The dear Lord Jesus didn't intend she should know him at that moment. But he couldn't, stand much of it, could he?

[29:46] Mary. Mary. How sacred, how sweet, how blessed, how touching.

[30:06] And friends, our Jesus is the same to die. He is compassionate. He is feeling toward his dear children.

[30:23] He loves his children. And when he had sent them away, he departed into a mountain to pray.

[30:45] Friends, what a needful thing that is, to have the prayers of our Lord Jesus Christ. We mentioned, I believe, in prayer regarding the Lord Jesus Christ, praying for his children.

[31:05] He prayed in particular for Peter, we know, but he prays for every one of his dear children, that their faith fail not.

[31:17] And he went up into that mountain to pray when he sent his disciples away. And friends, there's no doubt about him, he was praying.

[31:31] to his father. He was praying. He had the pathway that he was walking in.

[31:43] He was suffering many things. He was doing the will of his father, which is in heaven. But he also is continually, and was continually, praying for his dear children, his disciples.

[32:09] And friends, we have that wonderful prayer of the Lord Jesus Christ in the 17th of John, and how he pleads for his dear children.

[32:21] How he has made it clear of how he has kept them, kept them. Where would you and I be if the Lord didn't keep us friends?

[32:37] There were disciples so-called in the word of God, and that they departed and walked no more with him, we read.

[32:48] Why? Because they were offended in him, offended in the word, they didn't like to be found out guilty.

[33:02] Aye, we need the Lord to humble us, to humble us, that we might confess our sins before him.

[33:22] Friends, the Lord detests hard hearts, and you know we have hard hearts.

[33:35] we have known hard and rebellious in our heart toward God.

[33:50] Why? In one case particularly, it was because I was desperate, I needed him, and friends, he didn't come, come, and I couldn't wait any longer.

[34:12] And I told the Lord I couldn't, but then I had hard and rebellious thoughts about him because he didn't hear my prayer when I was stranded, and I was about to walk away.

[34:27] but he came. He came, he sent somebody right where I was, and they asked me if I was in trouble.

[34:42] I didn't know them, absolute stranger to me. God. He was in it. The Lord was in it.

[34:58] But what is so amazing, friends, is how hard and rebellious we are, and yet he has mercy.

[35:10] And friends, if that don't break your heart and mine, nothing will. Ah, the Lord knows how to humble his dear children.

[35:25] He does. And how needful it is. Look at David. He'd sinned grievously. There was no repentance, yet he was a child of God.

[35:39] He knew the law of God, didn't he? But you see, the flesh will try continually to justify itself. But without repentance, there's no remission.

[35:56] And the Lord dealt with David, and he will deal with every child of God. God's love. It may be you've got somebody on your mind.

[36:17] Maybe you've got many fears concerning them, and their pathway, their war, their conduct. God's love.

[36:27] But, friends, is there a case too hard for the Lord to deal with?

[36:40] No. It isn't. The trouble is, friends, that you and I left to ourselves, we lack faith.

[36:50] faith. We lack faith. And we're impatient. We want the Lord to work immediately, but he will work in his time.

[37:07] But, friends, we are commanded to pray without ceasing. we're not to give up.

[37:21] The disciples didn't give up. They still toiled in rowing. And the Lord did come, didn't he?

[37:35] He did deliver them. Oh, friends, you and I might be enabled to still press on, looking unto Jesus.

[37:48] That's the secret, looking unto Jesus. May he bless a few things. For his name's sake, amen.