Now, the part of the chapter that I'd like to focus on is beginning there in verse number
45.
The story about where the disciples are sent out into the ship and Jesus comes unto them
walking on the sea.
Look at verse 45.
The Bible reads,
And straightway he constrained his disciples to get into the ship, and to go to the other
side before unto Bethsaida, while he sent away the people.
Now, what people is he sending away?
Well, right before this, remember, he had just fed the 5,000.
And he did this great miracle, and these multitudes are thronging him, and they're so amazed by
the miracle that he did.
But he wants to send them away.
He constrained, or basically forced his disciples to get into the ship, side of the Sea of Galilee,
before unto Bethsaida.
Look at verse 46.
And when he had sent them away, he departed into a mountain to pray.
And when even was come, the ship was in the midst of the sea, and he alone on the land.
Now let me point out first of all that it says when even had come.
Now even, or evening, that's referring to the time that we would think of as 6 o'clock
p.m.
You know, basically the time that the sun's going down.
Right at the beginning of the night, right?
So at the evening time, when the sun's going down, Jesus up in the mountain to pray, they're
out in the midst of the sea at that time.
Look what it says in verse number 48.
And he saw them toiling in rowing, okay?
Because what happened is there's a great storm that came upon them.
Now if you study this in Matthew 14, Mark 6, and John 6, you get all different aspects
of the story.
But there's a huge storm.
They're toiling and rowing.
They're struggling at the oar.
It says, for the wind was contrary unto them, and about the fourth watch of the night he
cometh unto them, walking upon the sea, and would have passed by them.
But when they saw him walking upon the sea, they supposed it had been a spirit and cried
out.
Now notice, the Bible says that even, he's up in the mountain, he looks down, because
from the mountaintop he can see what's going on.
And he looks down and sees off in the distance that they're in the ship, they're in the midst
of the sea, they're toiling and rowing, the winds contrary unto them, they're in the midst
of the storm, but not until the fourth watch of the night does he actually come to them.
Now when's the fourth watch of the night?
Well if you study the Bible, there's a lot of talk in the Bible about the watchmen.
Because back in those days, that was their security system.
They'd have a guy who stays up all night watching.
And these people would trade off.
So in the Bible you'll read about the first watch of the night, the second watch of the
night, the third watch of the night, and the fourth watch of the night.
So basically if you divide up the night, the Bible says that there's 12 hours in the day
and 12 hours in the night.
If you divide up this night into four watches, they're about three hours each is what it
comes down to.
So basically, it's kind of like in Psalm 127 when the Bible says, except the Lord build
the house, they labor in vain that build it.
Except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.
So what the Bible there is saying is that unless God's protecting the city, you know,
having a watchman wake up and stay up all night and watching, that's not going to help.
If God wants it to be destroyed, it's going to be destroyed.
So all throughout the Bible, we have this concept of watches during the night.
And that's basically a guy would take a shift.
Instead of one guy staying up all night to watch, they'd have the first watch and then
he's relieved after three hours and he can go to bed.
And then the second watch, the third watch, and the fourth watch.
So with that being said, if you look at the Bible, the fourth watch of the night is basically
the last part of the night.
We're talking 3 a.m. to 6 a.m.
And so Jesus Christ, he's up in the mountain, he sees him struggling, he sees him rowing,
he sees him toiling hard, but not until the very end of the night, the very darkest hour,
and after they've been toiling, think about it now, for nine hours plus.
I mean for over nine hours.
They've been struggling, they've been rowing, they've been toiling, and obviously that kind
of physical activity is going to be hard to do for nine hours.
They're in a lot of pain.
They're afraid.
They don't know what's going to happen.
They don't know how this is going to end up.
Jesus doesn't come until the very end of the night.
And watch what happens when he comes.
It says in verse 49, when they saw him walking upon the sea, they supposed it had been a
spirit and cried out.
And they all saw him and were troubled.
And immediately he talked with them and saith unto them, Be of good cheer, it is I, be not
afraid.
And he went up unto them into the ship, and the wind ceased, and they were sore amazed
in themselves beyond measure and wonder.
So as soon as Jesus comes to them walking on the sea, the Bible says as soon as he enters
the ship, the wind ceases.
The moment he sets foot aboard that ship, the wind ceases, and that just amazed them.
That shocked them and surprised them.
Look at the next verse, verse 52.
For they considered not the miracle of the loaves, for their heart was hardened.
And when they had passed over, they came into the land of Gennesaret and drew to the shore.
Go to John chapter 11.
So you see here that God had to do this because of the fact that they did not consider the
miracle of the loaves.
Keep in mind, Jesus just finished feeding 5,000 men plus women and children with 5 loaves
and 2 fishes.
It was an amazing miracle.
In fact, it was such an amazing miracle that the Bible tells us that the people that were
there, they wanted to take him by force and make him king of Israel.
And that's when he had to send them away and get out of there.
But yet the disciples were not impressed by it.
Apparently they did not have proper respect for the Lord Jesus Christ.
They did not really fully understand his awesome power and his abilities because when this
happens, they're surprised.
Now why would they be surprised that someone that can feed 5,000 people with 5 loaves and
2 fishes could also walk on the sea and could also calm the storm?
And remember in the past, earlier in the book, he's already calmed the storm once.
And at that time they were amazed and said what manner of man is this, that even the
wind and the seas obey him.
And so what we see here is that a lot of times, even though we've already seen a lot of God's
works and we've been impressed in the past with God's miracles and God's power and God's
word, it seems that he has to keep showing these people over and over again and he has
to keep showing us his power because we don't fully internalize it.
We don't respect it.
We don't consider it as the Bible says.
Now look at John chapter 11 verse 1.
The Bible says,
Now a certain man was sick named Lazarus of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha.
It was that Mary which anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair,
whose brother Lazarus was sick.
Therefore his sister sent unto him, saying, Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick.
When Jesus heard that, he said, This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God,
that the Son of God might be glorified thereby.
Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.
When he had heard therefore that he was sick, watch this, he abode two days still in the
same place where he was.
Now nothing in the Bible is a coincidence, is it?
Nothing's accidental.
The Bible says he gets this message that he has one of his best friends, I mean the one
who he really loved, and you see in the Bible he spent a lot of time at their house.
These were close friends of his, Mary, Martha, and Lazarus, the siblings.
And when he hears that Lazarus is sick, he says, This sickness is not unto death, but
he said it's for the glory of God that the Son of God might be glorified thereby.
But notice he waits two days.
Instead of rushing there, which you would think he would do when he hears that a close
friend is very sick and at the point of death, you'd think that he would get right over there.
But instead the Bible's very careful to tell us, no, he waited two days.
He abode where he was for two days.
And then look what the Bible says in verse 7.
And after that, saith he to his disciples, Let us go into Judea again.
His disciples say unto him, Master, the Jews of late sought to stone thee, and goest thou
thither again?
Jesus answered, Are there not twelve hours in the day?
If any man walk in the day, he stumbleth not, because he seeth the light of this world.
But if a man walk in the night, he stumbleth, because there is no light in him.
These things said he, and after that he saith unto them, Our friend Lazarus sleepeth, but
I go, that I may awake him out of sleep.
Then said his disciples, Lord, if he sleep, he shall do well.
Howbeit Jesus spake of his death, but they thought that he had spoken of taking of rest
and sleep.
Then said Jesus unto them, Playly, Lazarus is dead.
And watch this, and I am glad for your sakes that I was not there.
Are you getting that?
I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, to the intent ye may believe.
Nevertheless, let us go unto him.
Then said Thomas, which is called Didymus unto his fellow disciples, Let us also go
that we may die with him.
Now what does that mean, let us also go that we may die with him?
He's referring back to verse 8, where his disciples said, Hey, remember the Jews were
trying to kill you in Jerusalem.
And they're afraid that if they go back to Jerusalem, they're going to be killed.
They think that that's probably what the delay was about, those two days of delay.
And when he goes to go back, they warn him and say, Hey, don't you know the Jews were
going to kill you?
Jesus wasn't afraid of that, he wasn't worried about that.
But Thomas said, you know what, let's go with him and die with him then.
Thomas is just showing there his dedication.
It's funny, this is not what Thomas is known for.
What's Thomas known for in the Bible?
Doubting Thomas.
You know, he's not known for the, isn't it funny how we do good things in our life, we
do bad things in our life.
It's the bad things that get remembered sometimes.
You can mess up your whole reputation, you can mess up your whole life by doing something
bad.
That's what people will focus on, because Thomas is called Doubting Thomas.
He's not called, you know, Bold Thomas, because I mean, this is a lot of courage and boldness.
He said, let's die with him.
I mean, he's willing to sacrifice his life for the Lord Jesus Christ, to obey him, to
follow him.
And, unfortunately, he doesn't get a lot of credit for that in the history books.
Everybody just calls him Doubting Thomas.
But notice here, he waited, and why did he wait?
Why did he wait those two days?
Because he wanted the glory to be greater of his miracle.
Because when he gets there, Lazarus has been dead for how many days?
Four days, right?
And so people are always trying to explain away and debunk God's miracles.
And so they say, oh, you know, he was in a coma, or oh, he was just asleep, or oh, you
know, his heart stopped beating for a few minutes.
You know, the fact that he was completely dead and in the grave and bound up in grave
clothes for four days, okay, that made the miracle more amazing.
Now obviously, when we understand and realize that God created this whole world by his word,
is it really a bigger miracle to raise somebody from the dead two days, four days, a week,
two weeks?
Does it really matter?
No.
Because one day God's going to raise every believer out of the grave, bodily, and it's
been a lot more than four days.
Obviously that's not an issue with God.
The time means nothing.
But in man's eyes, it does mean something.
You know, man looks at it and says, wow, this guy's been dead for four days.
That's more amazing.
You know, or wow, he fed 5,000 with five loaves and two fishes.
That's greater than feeding 4 loaves, or 4,000 people with seven loaves and two fishes like
he did another time.
You know, what I'm saying is that he wanted the miracle to be greater because he wanted
the disciples to believe that it really was a miracle.
And it's exactly what we saw back in Mark chapter 6 where he waited.
He saw immediately when they were in trouble, when they're struggling, when they're rowing,
but he let them go through that all night long so that he could show up after they've
already tried and failed to get out of it on their own.
He wants to show up at the darkest hour and get maximum glory for himself by then calming
the sea instantly by getting aboard the ship.
And my brother Garrett was telling me that when he was in seminary they taught him that
there was a, what was it, a ridge underwater.
You know, because these Bible seminaries, they're constantly attacking God's word.
And he was at Fuller Seminary, they taught him that Jesus didn't really walk on the water,
but rather there's this underwater ridge in the Sea of Galilee and he was just kind of
walking on that underwater ridge.
But you see, the Bible tells us the wind and the waves were so boisterous, the ship can't
even sail.
But yet he's going to be able to walk on this little ridge.
And not only that, but the Bible gives us the distance of how far out into the sea they
were.
I mean, how long is that ridge?
I mean, but that's the nonsense.
People are always trying to explain away the miracles of God.
So he has to make them bigger and more glorious and more impressive so that people will consider
them.
He said they considered not the miracle of the Lord.
They hadn't even thought about it and thought, wait a minute, this is amazing power.
And I think a lot of times we don't consider God's miracles.
You know, we go through a lot of struggles in our life.
You know, a lot of times our life can be like toiling and rowing.
You know, I feel like my life's kind of like that right now where, you know, I'm going
through some things right now where I feel like I'm just toiling and rowing and struggling.
And sometimes you wonder like, you know, where's God, right?
Is God going to come through for me or not?
Is God going to help me or not?
Why does God allow us to suffer through these trials and tribulations and hard times?
It's not that he doesn't know about it.
It's not that he doesn't have the power to do it, but he likes to wait and then do it.
I mean look, he's looking down from them from the mountain.
He knows they're in pain.
He knows they're afraid.
He knows they're struggling.
He knows they're suffering, but he says I'm going to wait.
I'm going to let them suffer through the whole night and then I'm going to show up at the
last minute and bail them out just to show that it's me that's saving them and not their
own hand, not their own strength, not their own wisdom.
You see, because man is constantly trying to take credit for what God accomplishes and
what God does.
Remember King Nebuchadnezzar?
Nebuchadnezzar, he took over the whole known civilized world at that time, didn't he?
And the Bible clearly stated over and over again before he did it that God was going
to give him all the kingdoms of the world, that God was going to allow him to take over
all these nations, that God was going to set him up over those kingdoms, not because of
his greatness, because in God's eyes he was the basest of men.
But God put him in charge and what did he say in Daniel chapter 4?
Is not this great Babylon that I've built and I've conquered and I've done all this
and God had to punish him by taking out his heart of a man and giving him the heart of
a beast and causing him to go on all fours and eat grass and you remember seven times
passed over him as the fingernails of his hands grew out like bird claws and his hair
became matted like birds' feathers and he ate grass and lived out in the wilderness
with the beasts of the field until he knew that God was the one who gave him everything
he had.
But he wanted to take credit for it.
Like he was just this great world conqueror when really it was God that had allowed him
to conquer and had allowed him to take over those nations.
Somebody throughout the Bible, God is telling us that he wants to get all the glory.
Remember with Gideon, he said you have too many troops when you have 32,000 troops.
He said I don't want Israel to say my own hand has saved me and so he said we're going
to whittle it down to 300 troops.
That way people will know that only God could cause 300 troops to defeat this giant army
that's like the sandwiches by the seashore innumerable, probably over a million soldiers
that they were facing.
You say that's impossible, of course it's impossible.
That's why God did it, because he wanted to show that he can do the impossible, that nothing
is impossible with God.
That with God all things are possible and constantly in the Bible he's showing us that
his miracles are real, that his power is boundless, that he truly is the Lord God omnipotent.
And the Bible tells us for example when Jesus turned the water into wine in John chapter
2, he tells us that they filled the water pots all the way to the brim and that these
water pots contained two or three firkins a piece.
I mean he gives us the size of the pot and the fact that it was filled to the brim just
so that somebody won't say, oh he put a little additive.
He had a Kool-Aid pack to turn the water into wine, you know, because he had water and then
he just added a little, you know, a super concentrated little pill of super condensed
wine, you know.
But he tells us no, these are huge pots, number one.
And number two, they're filled up to the brim so that nobody could have added enough to
turn it into the wine.
And of course the wine tasted much better than anything that ever tasted so it wasn't
Kool-Aid, okay, because Kool-Aid wouldn't taste that good, alright.
So what I'm saying is that God is constantly trying to show us his power, show us his glory,
show us his greatness and many times our heart is hardened and he has to put us through trials
and tribulations so that he can see us through, so that he can get us out of them, so that
he can bail us out.
Otherwise we will become prideful and arrogant and haughty in our lives.
People for whom everything goes right, people who always succeed, people who are always
doing great financially, people who have a great family and great finances and great
health and great everything, you know what?
They get prideful, they get arrogant, they start thinking too much of themselves.
And they don't give God the glory for the things they do.
They don't give God the praise for the things that he allows to happen in their life.
And over and over again we see that truly the prosperity of fools shall destroy them.
And many times we see Hollywood stars and musicians of course destroy their lives because
of success, because of being given everything that they want.
But you know what?
The tribulations make us better.
Look at Romans 5, Romans chapter 5.
The trials of life make us stronger, they make us better.
The Bible says that God will cause some people to be put into prison, that they may be tried,
the Bible says.
And Job, he went through trials and tribulations and suffering.
When he got boils all over his body, his children died, he lost all his money, he lost his business,
his wife turned on him, his friends turned on him.
And he said, when I'm tried I shall come forth as gold.
He endured it and he came out better, stronger, and a greater man.
Where did I have you turn?
Romans 5, let me get there myself.
In Romans chapter 5 the Bible says this in verse 3, and not only so, but we glory in
tribulations also, knowing that tribulation worketh patience, and patience experience,
and experience hope, and hope maketh not ashamed because the love of God is shed abroad
in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.
You see, we need patience in our life.
The Bible says, but you have need of patience, that after you have done the will of God,
you might receive the promise.
And we live in an age where people are impatient.
They want everything right now.
They don't want to wait to go to bed until they get married.
They want to commit fornication, don't they?
They don't want to wait until they're married.
They don't want to wait to eat a decent meal.
They go to fast food because it's quick.
And they don't want to wait for something that's of quality.
They don't want to wait for God to come through in their lives.
They want to do everything themselves.
They want to take things into their own hands instead of following God's commandments and
waiting on the Lord.
You see, patience is something that we all need and that we all probably struggle with
in our lives.
So how are we going to get patience?
Most of us are impatient people.
I know I'm an impatient person, but the Bible says we need patience.
The reason we need patience is because when you serve God, you don't get rewarded instantly.
That's why he said you have need of patience that after you've done the will of God, you
might receive the promise.
You don't receive the rewards right away.
When you sow that seed that's a good seed, you don't reap that seed right away.
You wait for the harvest.
You don't just instantly get gratification.
Now sin gives instant gratification.
Go out and commit sin and you'll get instant gratification.
You will enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season and then you'll have suffering for
a lifetime.
But when it comes to good things and doing right, the rewards do not come instantly.
You have to wait.
You have to be patient.
You have to patiently hope for it, the Bible says.
So we have need of patience.
How do we get patience in our life?
How do we learn to be patient?
Well look what the Bible says.
He said not only sow verse 3, but we glory in tribulations also, knowing that tribulation
worketh patience.
The trials and tribulations of our life, they teach us patience.
They help us to gain this attribute that we need.
And then he says this, patience, experience.
Now how does patience bring us experience?
Because when we go through trials and tribulations in our life, they're not always fixed right
away, are they?
You know, like for example, they're toiling and rowing, right?
Did Jesus come right then and just fix the problem right then?
No.
It's not fixed right away.
They had to wait.
Now Jesus eventually saved them.
Jesus eventually bailed them out, but they had to wait for it.
Same thing with Lazarus.
He died.
They had to wait for four days thinking, we're never going to see our brother again.
He's dead.
He's gone forever.
He doesn't always fix it right away.
He made them wait, okay?
Now, we go through trials and tribulations in our life.
We want them fixed right, we have a financial problem we want to fix right now.
You know, we have problems with the IRS, we want to fix right now.
You know, we have problems with our health, we want it fixed right now.
Business problems, fix it now.
Our marriage problem, fix it now.
Problem with the children, we want it fixed right now.
But God doesn't always fix it right now.
He makes us patiently wait for it.
After we've many times gone through trials and tribulations and noticed, wait a minute,
God doesn't fix things right away, but eventually He always fixes it.
He always comes through in the end.
Once we realize that, then we develop patience saying, you know what, I've been through this
before, this is my first rodeo, you know what, I'm going to patiently wait and God's going
to come through.
God will eventually come through.
He doesn't do it instantly, but He always has and I know He's going to do it this time
also.
Now once we've gone through that tribulation and trial, patiently endured it, then we have
experience.
What is experience?
Well it means we have one under our belt and then pretty soon we've had three or four horrible
trials and tribulations under our belt.
The more times we see this pattern of God allowing us to struggle, allowing us to suffer,
not helping us out right away, but always saving us before it's too late, the more we
see that pattern the more experience we have with it, right?
Then the Bible says that that experience brings hope.
That means we always know, we can always hope and realize, hey, weeping may endure for the
night, but joy cometh in the morning.
Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord deliverth them out of them all.
See He didn't say God is going to not allow us to go through any afflictions in our life.
God's not going to allow us to suffer.
God's not going to put us through hard times.
No, He said many are the afflictions of the righteous.
If you're a righteous person, you're going to go through a lot of hard times.
You're going to suffer a lot, you're going to struggle a lot, you're going to go through
a lot of pain.
He said many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord deliverth them out of them all.
That's the hope.
Yes, we're struggling, but the hope is that the Lord will deliver us from them all.
That's why the Bible says, but we know that all things work together for good to them
that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose.
It might not seem like that right now.
When we look at the circumstances, when we say how can this work out for good?
This is all bad.
This is all horrible.
But you know what?
It's making us a better person.
It's making us stronger.
It's teaching us patience.
It's giving us experience.
You know I remember the first time that somebody took their fist and shocked me in the nose
as hard as they could.
You've been there.
You ever just been punched in the face?
You know what?
It didn't feel good.
But let me tell you something.
Within seconds, listen to me now, I'm not saying minutes, within seconds the thought
that went through my head was, man I'm glad that happened.
Now usually we don't always have, listen to me, usually we don't always have that kind
of clarity.
Usually it's like way later we're like, man I'm glad that happened back there because
it helped me, it strengthened me, it taught me.
Usually you don't see it right away but you know that time when I got socked in the face
full blown when I was a young boy, I thought, man I'm glad that happened.
Because you know what?
I know that now I know what it's like to be socked in the face and I know I can handle
it and keep fighting.
And so the fear of the unknown is gone.
Because if you've never had somebody just punch you in the face as hard as they can,
you don't really know what it's like.
But once it happens, once it happens you're not really as afraid of it anymore.
Because it's not that fear of the unknown, you're like, I've been there, I've done that,
it hurts, but you keep fighting, it's okay.
And maybe that's a silly illustration, maybe it's not.
But what I'm saying is that we go through hard times and they make us stronger.
They make us less soft.
They make us less weak.
They are good for us.
David said it's good for me that I've been afflicted, that I might keep thy word.
So you know I look at all the hard times I've been through and at the time they weren't
fun but all of them were good for me.
They're all helpful.
They all teach us things.
And a lot of times we're learning things and we don't realize it but we're going to need
those things later, 5 years from now, 10 years from now.
Or we'll be able to help others.
And let's go to 2 Corinthians chapter 1.
2 Corinthians chapter 1 is another great passage on this.
Go to 2 Corinthians chapter number 1.
Look at verse number 4.
The Bibles, actually let's look at verse 3, blessed be God, because what are we talking
about this morning?
We're talking about going through struggles and trials and tribulations and hard times
in your life.
When you're rowing and struggling and you're afraid, you think the ship's going to tip
over, you think you're going to crash, you think it's all going to fall apart, you think
you're going to die, and Jesus just sits back and watches.
From up on a mountain, on the land, completely safe, he just looks down and just watches
and just says, you know, I'm just going to wait until the fourth watch of the night.
See you in 9 hours.
I mean that's what happened in the story.
Oh, Lazarus is dying?
I'll wait 2 days.
Look what it says in 2 Corinthians chapter 1 verse 3.
Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the
God of all comfort, who comforteth us.
And by the way, the word comfort, look at those letters that form the meat of that word,
the root word there.
It's fort, right?
Fortitude, strength.
He gives us strength to go through hard times.
He says, who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which
are in any trouble by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.
So what is he saying there?
He says when we go through affliction or tribulation or trials and troubles, he said the reason
that God's putting us through that sometimes is so that we will be able to comfort others
that are in trouble.
You see it's easier for me to comfort somebody who's going through a particular trial if
I've been through that exact trial, right?
Otherwise I don't know what they're going through.
I don't understand their situation.
I can't really sympathize with them because I've never been there.
But he says, you know, a lot of times God puts us through trials, we get through the
trial so that we can show somebody else how to get through that same situation.
How to get through.
You know, if you've lost a loved one, you could probably comfort someone who's lost
a loved one better than someone who hasn't.
You know, and that's just one example we could go down the list.
And keep reading.
Revelation verse 5, for as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation
also aboundeth by Christ.
And whether we be afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation, which is effectual
in the enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer.
Or whether we be comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation.
And our hope of you is steadfast, knowing that as ye are partakers of the sufferings,
so shall ye be also of the consolation.
What's he saying there?
We know God's always going to come through eventually, and we know that when we're suffering
it's never in vain.
There's always a reason why.
It's so that we can help someone else when they're going through the same thing.
Or it's to try us and strengthen us and to give us more patience, experience, hope to
build us up in the faith, to make us strong, not weak, but strong in the Lord and in the
power of his might.
So this is a concept that we could see all throughout the Bible.
We could go on and on through the Bible.
Go to John chapter 6 though, and I want to show you another aspect of this story that's
pretty interesting.
Because I was studying this chapter this week and I was really pouring over it with a fine
toothed comb in all three places.
I was looking at it in Matthew 14, and I was looking at it in Mark 6, and I was looking
at it in John 6.
And it's interesting because a lot of times we look at the four gospels and you kind of
wonder, you know, why is God telling us the same story three times?
But it's amazing because there are different things to learn from each of the three.
Because for example, when you're in Matthew 14, you get the part where Peter is asked
to come out on the water with Jesus.
That's not recorded in Mark 6 and John 6.
So that is unique to the Matthew account because God's given us a different angle, a different
lesson to be learned there.
And then in Mark 6, you get the part where Jesus is up on the mountain and he sees them
at even, showing us that Jesus knew all along that they were struggling, and letting us
know that they struggled for at least nine hours.
Which we don't necessarily get from the other stories.
The other stories tell us that they were in the midst of the sea, rowing, the wind is
contrary.
But every one of the four gospels gives us different truths and a different aspect of
the story.
Look at John 6.
This is a very interesting account of the story.
It says in John 6, beginning in verse number 14, let me turn there myself.
Then those men, and this is talking about the men that were fed with the five loaves
and two fishes.
Then those men, when they had seen the miracle that Jesus did, said, this is of a truth,
that prophet, that should come into the world.
So it's amazing how the men that he fed, they seemed more impressed than his own disciples
for some reason.
Maybe they were just starting to get used to the miracles, or they just weren't really
taking it in anymore.
Look at verse 15.
When Jesus therefore perceived that they would come and take him by force to make him a king,
he departed again into a mountain, himself alone, right?
Just like in Mark 6.
Look at John 6, 16.
And when even was now come, his disciples went down unto the sea, and entered into a
ship and went over the sea toward Capernaum.
And it was now dark, and Jesus was not come to them, and the sea arose by reason of a
great wind that blew.
Now what I want you to see here, first of all, is that this trip is a very short trip.
Because it's around evening that they're getting into the ship, and it's around evening that
Jesus looks down, and they're already in the midst of the sea.
Because they're not crossing the Mediterranean Sea here.
They're not crossing a huge body of water.
They're crossing a very small body of water, because they're crossing the Sea of Galilee,
which is only, and in fact, God gives us the distances here that they go.
Let's keep reading.
It says in, let me find my place, it says in 19, are you sure I'm in 19?
Where was I reading?
Oh, okay, sorry.
And he entered into a ship and went over the sea toward Capernaum, and it was now dark,
and Jesus was not come to them.
Verse 18.
The sea arose by reason of a great wind that blew.
And when they had rowed about five and twenty or thirty furlongs, they see Jesus walking
on the sea and drawing nigh unto the ship, and they were afraid.
But he saith unto them, it is I, be not afraid.
Now you say five and twenty or thirty furlongs, Pastor Anderson, I don't know what that means,
that's obsolete.
Believe it or not, that is not an archaic or obsolete measurement.
In fact, in 1985 is when that officially was dropped from the English system.
So this isn't something that goes back 400 years.
In 1985, they said, you know what, we're no longer using furlongs in the English system.
Now what is a furlong?
Well, a furlong is a very concrete measurement.
In fact, the acre, which is a very important measurement, even today, right?
The acre comes from the furlong, okay?
The furlong is exactly, and always has been, exactly an eighth of a mile.
A mile is eight furlongs, I mean exactly.
And here's what it is.
An acre in the old English system was a furlong long and a chain wide.
And a furlong was an eighth of a mile, okay, and a chain was a tenth of that, okay?
Now you say, what's the significance of that?
Well the original acres, you know, basically if you do a little math in your head, were
220 yards by 22 yards.
And the significance of the acre was that that was the amount of land that the average
man with the average team of oxen could plow in one day, okay?
And the word furlong comes from the word that's used a lot in the Bible, furrows.
You know how the Bible always talks about furrows?
That's when they dig this groove in the land.
Have you ever seen them when they do farming?
They drag the plow and it creates this long ditch, this long, you know, furrow in the
ground.
Well, the long furrow is the furlong, okay?
Because they would do long furrows but the longest they would make it was an eighth of
a mile, okay?
And so that's been a standard unit of measurement literally for thousands of years.
Literally going back to before, you know, the New Testament was written.
That measurement has not changed.
The furlong, you know, obviously it was called something else in a different language.
But that unit of measurement, that distance, that eighth of a mile, for example, in the
Bible says, you know, if anybody will compel you to go a mile with them, go with them twain.
That mile is pretty much the same mile that we have today.
I mean, the mile has been around for thousands of years and so has the furlong which is an
eighth of a mile.
Now, we don't really measure things an eighth of a mile.
What do we say instead of a furlong?
What do we say?
Does anybody know?
A block.
We say a block because I don't know if you know this, I don't know how long you've been
living in Phoenix, but did you know that the blocks are exactly an eighth of a mile?
Because if you go from 48th Street to 40th Street, how far have you gone?
Exactly one mile.
So see how the furlong's not really that obsolete?
We just call it a block, but it's the same distance.
So we use that measure, you know, go three blocks down.
We number our streets in furlongs.
I mean, we are on 48th Street.
We are 48 furlongs from Central Avenue, okay?
See how easy this is?
So it's not that complicated of a measurement.
The furlong is not hard to understand.
It's used in the Bible and other places.
For example, when the Bible talks about the blood being up to the horse bridles by the
space of, how many again, it's a slip in my mind, I'm drawing a blank, and he talks about
the great city one day that descends from heaven in Revelation 21, how it's going to
be 12,000 furlongs by 12,000 furlongs by 12,000 furlongs, which is, you know, if you do the
math, what's 12,000 divided by 8, 1,500, 1,500 miles, okay?
So if they're in the midst of the sea, how far did the Bible say that they went?
It said they went about, not exactly, but about, he gives us an approximate number,
25 or 30 furlongs.
So what is that in miles?
What is 25 or 30 furlongs in miles?
You just divide it by 8, right?
Help me out.
What?
Three and a half, right?
But honestly, if you looked at the two boundaries of 25 and 30, it's three and an eighth, right?
On one end.
And then you got, man, you learn a lot in church, you know what I mean?
We really go to math and everything, but anyway, it's three and an eighth miles to three and
three quarter miles.
That's 25 or 30 furlongs.
So you could just roughly say three and a half, right?
Because we're talking three and an eighth to three.
So how wide is the sea approximately then, about, if they're in the midst of it and that's
about how far into it they are?
It's about seven miles, right?
Because they're about three and a half into it when it says, you know, this is the midst,
okay?
You say, why is that significant?
Well, think about this aspect of it, because I was just going over this, I was trying to
understand why does God, whenever I see something in the Bible, I always say, why is this here?
It's always there for a reason, always.
Nothing in the Bible is coincidental, nothing in the Bible is incidental, nothing in the
Bible is an accident.
It's all there for a reason.
So when I see 25 or 30 furlongs, I'm looking at that saying, what's God trying to show
us here?
You know, I think one thing he's trying to show us is it's a short trip, because it doesn't
take long if you're rowing in good conditions to go three and a half miles, does it?
If you're rowing and you've got good conditions, not a big deal.
But wait a minute, then they're going to spend nine hours in some odd, just stuck in the
middle there.
And you say, how could they be stuck that long?
Well you know, if you're out at sea and I haven't done much sailing, and when I did
it was on a clear, perfect day with a blue sky, you know, you can't always go where you
want to go when you're in the midst of a storm.
And here's the thing, you don't want to take it to land in a storm.
You can't bring that thing into port during a storm because you're going to crash on the
rocks or you're not going to be able to steer right.
You probably want to stay away from the storm.
So they're basically in the midst of the sea pretty much the whole night.
I mean, they're struggling through this thing.
But why does the Bible tell us, look down at your Bible again.
It says in John chapter 6, beginning in verse 18, and the sea arose by reason of a great
wind that blew.
And when they had rowed about five and twenty or thirty furlongs, they see Jesus walking
on the sea and drawing nigh unto the ship and they were afraid.
But he saith unto them, it is I, be not afraid.
Now look, verse 21 is the part that made me even study this.
I was reading my Bible this week.
I got to verse 21.
That's what made me even dig in and study this passage.
Look at verse 21.
Then they willingly received him into the ship, and here's a miracle that's not often
focused on, and immediately the ship was at the land whither they went.
Look at that.
So they're only halfway there.
They're only 25-30 furlongs into this thing.
And then when Jesus gets aboard the ship, boom, instantly they're at the other side.
Now isn't that an interesting miracle?
Not only did he just calm the sea, but he also just miraculously just transported them
to the other side.
So they're struggling, they're striving, they're suffering, they get three and a half or so
miles into this thing, and then it's like boom, Jesus shows up and it's over.
They're saved.
They're at the other side.
Now, let me ask you this.
Would you say that their trip was shortened?
Because how far were they originally going to go?
You know, roughly, right?
And how many did they end up going?
You know, somewhere between three and an eight, three and three-quarter, you know, he doesn't
give us the exact number.
Okay, go to Matthew 24.
Matthew chapter 24.
Look at Matthew 24, and I'll show you an interesting correlation with John chapter 6 here.
Matthew chapter 24.
So remember it says when he got there, immediately the ship was at the land whither they went.
And then they're on the other side and there's things that take place on that other side.
Great chapter, John 6.
A lot of great salvation scripture and doctrine in there.
But look at Matthew 24 verse 21.
This is, of course, Jesus prophesying about His coming and the end of the world and so
forth.
And the Bible says in Matthew 24, 21, For then shall be great tribulation, such as was
not since the beginning of the world to this time, no nor ever shall be.
And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved.
For the elect's sake, those days shall be shortened.
Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there believe it not, and so
on and so forth.
So we see here that the Bible is telling us that on this earth there will be a great time
of tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world, no nor ever shall
be.
Keep your finger there, we're going to come right back, but go to Mark 13 and let me show
you a slightly different wording of this in Mark 13.
It says in Mark chapter number 13 and verse number, let me find my place here, verse 19,
it says this, Mark 13, 19, And in those days shall be affliction.
So you notice instead of tribulation, here it uses the word affliction.
It says, For in those days shall be affliction, such as was not from the beginning of the
creation which God created, unto this time neither shall be.
And except that the Lord had shortened those days, no flesh should be saved.
But for the elect's sake, whom he hath chosen, he hath shortened the days.
And then if you jump down to verse 24, he says, But in those days after that tribulation.
So notice how he used the word tribulation and affliction interchangeably, because he
calls it great affliction, but then he says after that tribulation, kind of like what
we saw in Matthew 24.
In those days after that tribulation the sun shall be darkened and the moon shall not give
her light and the stars of heaven shall fall and the powers that are in heaven shall be
shaken and then shall they see the Son of Man coming in the clouds with great power
and glory and then shall he send his angels and he shall gather together his elect from
the four winds from the uttermost part of the earth to the uttermost part of heaven.
Jump back to Matthew 24.
So what's interesting about this is that in Matthew 24, the Bible talks about a time of
great affliction, great tribulation.
I don't have time to go into all that that entails, but it's going to be a time the Bible
tells us of earthquakes, famines, pestilence, warfare on this earth.
Of course the Antichrist will come to power and the Antichrist will rule and reign over
the entire world and he will basically make war with the saints, because he will cause
everyone to receive a mark in their right hand or in their forehead to be able to buy
or sell.
And anybody who will not bow down and worship the image of the beast will be killed.
But there will be those who obviously are saints, who are believers, who are saved,
who will not bow down.
Many will be beheaded for the cause of Christ, okay?
But for the elect's sake, those days shall be shortened, the Bible tells us, okay?
And he said if they were not shortened, no flesh should be saved.
But for the elect's sake, they shall be shortened.
So what he's saying is if this period of tribulation were allowed to continue and run its course
with the Antichrist in power, because it talks a lot about, you know, false Christs and everything,
you know, beheading God's people, beheading those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ,
he's saying if those days were not shortened, no flesh should be saved.
Because the Bible says he that shall endure to the end shall be saved.
Not talking about going to heaven there, talking about the flesh being saved, not the soul
being saved.
A lot of people will rip that verse out of context, won't they?
And say, well you've got to endure to the end to be saved.
Yeah, if you're in the tribulation, you've got to endure to the end so that your skin
will be saved, your flesh.
We're not talking about, you know, your soul going to heaven.
And so, the Bible tells us that those days are shortened for the elect's sake.
You say, who are the elect?
Well, look it up.
You know, I looked up all 16 scriptures that use elect, and it uses it in more verses than
that, but you know, 16 passages use elect, and they're all talking about the saved, they're
all talking about believers, and it's pretty clear who shall lay anything to the charge
of God's elect, God before us who can be against us, on and on.
But look at Matthew 24, look down in your Bible.
The Bible says in verse 29, immediately after the tribulation of those days, shall the sun
be darkened and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven
and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken, and then shall appear the sign of the Son
of Man in heaven, and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the
Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory, and he shall send
his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from
the four winds from one end of heaven to the other.
Now what's this talking about?
The rapture.
Now people will say, oh that can't be the rapture, because it comes after the tribulation.
You know what that's called?
Circular logic.
Circular reasoning.
It's a trumpet, it's Jesus in the clouds, it's him gathering the elect to be, oh but
we know the Bible says that the rapture is going to come before the tribulation.
Yeah except it doesn't say that anywhere in the whole Bible, never.
It's funny because people who believe in this pre-trib rapture garbage, they'll try
to say, oh look at the verse where he says, no man knoweth the day or the hour.
That proves he can come at any moment.
Okay let's look at it.
He says in verse number 36, but of that day and hour knoweth no man, no not the angels
of heaven, but my Father only.
But wait a minute, what day and hour?
The day that comes after the tribulation when he comes to God?
So see, they deceive the ignorant my friend.
They find somebody who's never read Matthew 24 and they show them verse 36, see it says
no man knoweth the day or the hour of Christ's coming.
But what they forget to show them is verse 29 when it says it'll be after the tribulation.
So you see how when they want it to, Matthew 24 is about the rapture.
When they get to verse 36 it's about the rapture.
What about when they get to verse 40?
Then it's suddenly about the rapture.
Then shall two be in the field, the one shall be taken and the other left.
Two women shall be grinding at the mill, the one shall be taken and the other left.
Watch therefore for you know not what hour your Lord doth come.
They like that, but they don't read the whole passage where he said this all happens after
the tribulation.
Now the big problem is that most people confuse the tribulation with God's wrath.
They think that God's going to pour out his wrath during the tribulation.
The Bible's crystal clear in Revelation 6 that God does not pour out his wrath until
after the sun and moon are darkened.
And Matthew 24 says the sun and moon are darkened after the tribulation.
So how can the tribulation and God's wrath be the same thing?
They can't.
So here's what's interesting.
I've got to close with this.
Compare this with John 6 and it's amazing.
If you study the book of Revelation, I don't have time to go into the whole thing tonight,
or this morning.
And I'm not going into it tonight either, I'm preaching something different.
But anyway, I don't have time to go into the whole thing, but think about this.
At the end of the Bible, there's a seven year period known as Daniel's 70th week.
You know, and during that week, the Bible talks about how in the midst of the week,
there's going to be what's called the abomination of desolation.
And in fact it comes slightly before the exact midpoint, because it says it comes 1290 days
from the end.
So we're talking slightly less than three and a half years into it comes the abomination
of desolation and that's where Christians begin to be beheaded en masse.
And that's where we see the fifth seal opened in Revelation 6, when there are all these
martyrs and all these souls in heaven that have been beheaded for the cause of Christ,
happening at the fifth seal.
When that abomination of desolation takes place and you have to get the mark, you have
to be beheaded if you don't worship the anti-Christ and so forth.
Now look, with all the technology that's out there today, with all the surveillance
cameras, with the RFID tracking and with all the different aspects of the police state
that we have, the checkpoints, the totalitarian system that we're starting to go into as a
nation and as a world really, if the government decided, hey we're going to kill everybody
who doesn't take this mark in their right hand or their forehead, they're not going
to be able to buy or sell.
You know what, eventually they're going to succeed at that and kill everybody because
I mean, where are you going to hide?
You know, the Bible says head for the hills, but it's like, okay, where are you going to
go when they got satellites everywhere, where they got cameras everywhere?
There's going to be nowhere to hide and that's why the Bible says, except those days should
be shortened, there should no flesh be saved.
But for the elect's sake, those days shall be shortened.
You see, the anti-Christ, when he comes to power over this world, he's going to make
war with the saints, but he is going to overcome them, yes, but he's not going to be able to
wipe them out because his reign of terror will be cut very short by the coming of the
Lord Jesus Christ in the clouds.
You know, the anti-Christ, he's going to have his one world government, he's going to be
persecuting the believers, he's going to be beheading those who will not worship his image,
sort of like Nebuchadnezzar set up an image in Daniel 3, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego,
wouldn't bow down, he's going to set up that image, he's going to make people worship it,
but here's the thing, before he succeeds in wiping out believers, oh many will be martyred,
make no mistake, but Jesus Christ will cut it short, he'll come in the clouds, we'll
be caught up together with him in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.
The Bible says we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent
them which are asleep, he said we'll be caught up in the clouds and Jesus Christ will then
pour out his wrath on this earth for approximately three and a half years, a little bit less
than three and a half years.
So the abomination of desolation happens slightly less than three and a half years into it.
The rapture happens a little more than three and a half years into it, and that time in
between is that horrible part of the tribulation where people are being beheaded and killed
if they won't take the mark of the beast.
They can't buy or sell and so on and so forth.
Now let's apply that to John 6.
How far did they go into that thing before Jesus shows up and rescues them?
They're going into, and turn to Daniel 7, they're going into this trip that lasts for
seven miles.
They're on a seven mile trip, they're struggling, they're suffering, they're going through great
trials and tribulation, right?
They get approximately three and a half years into it, oh I'm sorry did I say years?
Little over three and a half miles into it, Jesus shows up during the fourth watch and
as soon as he gets there, the trip is shortened.
Just like the Bible said, the days would be shortened, instead the mileage is shortened.
Do you see how in the story the miles represent years?
The trip being shortened, you know, with distance is like the time shortening of the tribulation.
When Jesus Christ cuts it short, when he comes in the clouds, and instantly it's done.
Instantly they're to the other side.
Instantly it's over.
So I was looking at this story and thinking, wow, this is an amazing picture of the rapture.
You know, Jesus is coming in the clouds.
He shows up just at the same time he shows up in the book of Revelation.
You know, a little over three and a half years into it, here it's a little more than three
and a half miles into it, at an unspecified time.
Nobody knows the day or the hour.
That's why he didn't say it's 25 furlongs.
It's 30 furlongs, it's 28 furlongs, it's 29 furlongs.
He gave us that vague number, 25 or 30, because he doesn't want us to know the exact day or
hour.
He never reveals that unto us.
But look at this.
I was scratching my head at the end of it all, saying, you know, what's the fourth watch
about?
Why the fourth watch?
What does that represent?
Because the imagery is mind boggling how Jesus comes three and a half miles into it and takes
him to the other side.
The trip is shortened, just as the days will be shortened.
And I was thinking, what is the fourth watch?
So I started looking up all the important scriptures on the rapture.
And I got to Daniel 7, where it talks about Jesus coming in the clouds and so forth, and
it talks about the tribulation of Daniel 7.
When I got to Daniel 7, I figured out what the fourth watch is.
Look at verse 19.
The Bible says this, then I would know the truth of the fourth beast, which was divers
from all the others, exceeding dreadful, whose teeth were of iron and his nails of brass,
which devoured, break in pieces and stamped the residue with his feet, and of the ten
horns that were in his head, sound familiar?
And of the other which came up, and before whom three fell, even of that horn that had
eyes and a mouth that spayed very great things, whose look was more stout than his fellows.
I beheld him the same horn made war with the saints, sound familiar?
If you read your Bible, you know that's Revelation 13.
He said that he made war with the saints and prevailed against them.
Revelation 13 says he overcame them.
Until the Ancient of Days came and judgment was given to the saints of the Most High,
and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom.
Thus he said, the fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth, which shall be
divers from all kingdoms, and watch this, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall
tread it down and break it in pieces, and the ten horns out of his kingdom are ten kings
that shall arise.
I mean, anybody who reads the book of Revelation knows that all of this is in Revelation.
It's all talking about the Antichrist and his worldwide kingdom.
It says it's going to, that fourth kingdom, he says, the fourth kingdom will be divers
from any kingdom before it because it will devour the entire earth.
It will be the first truly one-world government that this world has ever seen, with the Antichrist.
It said, all nations, all kindreds, all tongues, it's called the fourth kingdom, when the Antichrist
has set up a total one-world government.
And when is Jesus going to come?
Show up?
The fourth watch of the night, after three and a, look, don't explain this away, three
and a half miles of tribulation, trials, suffering, struggling at the oar, Jesus is looking down
watching the whole thing, and then boom, the fourth watch, the fourth kingdom, three and
a half miles into it, boom, he shows up.
It's over.
The trip has been shortened because they're instantly to the other side.
No more a seven mile trip, oh no, shortly more than, a little more than three and a
half miles into it, you know, 3.6 miles, 3.7, whatever, he doesn't give us the exact number.
It's uncanny, my friend, the Bible's an amazing book.
Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.
Father, we thank you so much for your word and we thank you so much for the truths that
it contains, dear God, and we are truly living in a generation that has itching ears and
that wants to turn away their errors from the truth and turn their errors into fables
and Jewish fables.
God help us please to study to show ourselves approved and to learn the truth of these things.
And Father, please help us, you know, I know I'm going through some trials and struggles
right now and I'm sure many other people are going through their own trials and tribulations
and struggles and hard times right now, dear God.
Help us to have patience, Lord, I know that's what you're trying to teach us.
Help us to have patience, help us to endure the sufferings of our life so that we can
help others, so that we can be stronger, so that we can be better.
Please just help us, Lord, and help us to have the faith to endure the trials and to
know that you will bail us out eventually of our problems.
It just might be in the final hour, in the darkest hour, just before the dawn.
And in Jesus' name we pray.