PIBC24- Tuesday

Introduction -

Welcome to PIBC! I am thankful once again to be with you all here.

Its been my pleasure and honor over the past several years to give these

Let’s open with a word of prayer—-

Our theme for this year is “More Than Conquerors”

I would like for us this morning for us to read the passage where this verse is found—- open your Bibles to Romans chapter 8.

Let’s Pray

The Bible tells us in verse 31,

Romans 8:31–“31 What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? 32 He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? 33 Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth. 34 Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36 As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. 37 Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. 38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, 39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

This week we will be thinking about this idea of conquering—-

The word conquer means —- One who gains a victory—-

But I want you to notice right off the bat that the Bible says not just a conqueror,

What does it say there in verse 37 “We are” What?

We are more than conquerors

See when we think of conqueror—- we get the idea of a single victory—perhaps one battle—- one fight—-a temporary estate…

But I want you to know that Christians are more than conquerors!

A Christian may falter—- a christian may experience a temporary defeat— but ultimately those who are in Christ are forever victorious!

1 Corinthians 15:57 tells us, “57 But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

We are going to look at a this idea of being More than a Conqueror—

There several Bible words that I have behind me…..

Here behind are some pairs of Bible words each pair are opposites.

On the one side— you have those who are not conquerors—- on the other side, we see those who conquer.

Not In Christ - In Christ

Fear—Faith Mark 4:35-41

Unrighteousness—Righteousness Romans 6:11-14

Darkness—Light Matthew 4:12-17

Hopelessness—Hope Romans 5:1-6

Unthankful—Thankfulness Romans 1:21, 2 Timothy 3:1-5

Disobedience—Obedience Ephesians 6:1-4

Ungodliness—Godliness 1 Timothy 4:6-12

No Peace-Peace Isaiah 48:22, 57:21, 59:8, Jeremiah 6:14 versus Isaiah 9:6—Romans 15:33

Unholy - Holy 2 Timothy 3:2, 1 Peter 1:15-16

Condemned - Saved John 3:16-21

Proud - Humility James 4:6

Defeat-Victory (‘Smitten,’ 1 John 5:4, Revelation 15:2)

We will look at some of these pairs of words this week.

You might sometime this week come down here and write these different Bible words down.

It would do you well, after you leave PIBC at the end of the week, when you get back home perhaps to study some of these words—-find out what God has to say about darkness and light, pride and humility.

In the back of many Bibles there is what is called a concordance—-

As we think about this matter of More than Conquerors, I would like for us look at one passage.

Please turn your Bibles to Mark 4:35–41 “35 And the same day, when the even was come, he saith unto them, Let us pass over unto the other side. 36 And when they had sent away the multitude, they took him even as he was in the ship. And there were also with him other little ships. 37 And there arose a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into the ship, so that it was now full. 38 And he was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow: and they awake him, and say unto him, Master, carest thou not that we perish? 39 And he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. 40 And he said unto them, Why are ye so fearful? how is it that ye have no faith? 41 And they feared exceedingly, and said one to another, What manner of man is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”

Many times the Lord Jesus Christ did amazing things in the lives of disciples.

And I want you to know assuredly this morning, that the Christian life, — from the day you get saved moving forward is an amazing life.

God has many wonderful things planned for you—- He has a purpose for you.

Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.

In fact Ephesians 2:10 tells us, “10 For we [speaking about Christians, those who are saved] are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.”

Oftentimes the Lord allowed situations to take place in the lives of His disciples to help teach them.

These events in the lives of these disciples illustrate for you and I an important truth.

This first pair of words I would like you to see are found in verse 40.

Can anyone tell what two “opposite” words we find there?

They both start with the letter ‘F’

Fear and Faith….

I realize the Bible says fearful—- we might say it this way… the disciples were full of fear.

Now I am not talking about the fear of God, that is a reverential fear because of who God is, and I am not speaking about—- a fear of spiders or snakes, or even heights—you should be afraid of jumping off of a building for instance—but what I am speaking about, is fear of where God leads you…

For instance —-

Fear says, I will not speak up about what God’s Word says about God creating the world and me.

Fear says, I will not tell my friend about Jesus who I know is lost.

Fear says, I will not obey my parents in front of the popular kids because i dont want them to laugh at me.

Fear says, I will not separate from the crowd that is doing wrong—because it is more important to me what they think than what God thinks.

Opposite of that:

Faith— trust—- in the Lord Jesus Christ says, I believe what God has written in this book and am not ashamed to speak up about it.

Faith says—- I will obey my parents because that what the Lord Jesus Christ says in His Word.

Faith says, I will witness to my friends even though I am scared my trust in the Lord is greater than me being scared.

Faith says—- though I face a giant —-whom I cannot defeat by the name of Goliath—God will give me the victory because He is my captain.

Young Person can I help you the answer up front —- Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ —- who is the Savior—- who is God’s only begotten Son—-defeats fear.

Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ defeats fear…. Let’s repeat that together…

The penman in the book of Hebrews put it this way in Hebrews 12:1–2 “1 Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, 2 Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

We sing a blessed hymn —- it is entitled Faith is the victory… verse 2 of that hymn says

His banner over us is love,   Our sword the Word of God; We tread the road the saints before   With shouts of triumph trod. By faith, they like a whirlwind’s breath,   Swept on o’er every field; The faith by which they conquered death   Is still our shining shield.

Faith is the victory! Faith is the victory! O glorious victory,  That overcomes the world.

What makes a Christian more than a conqueror??—- the Lord Jesus Christ and we access enter into that victory defeating fear through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Ephesians 2:8–9 “8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.”

Hebrews 11:6 “6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.”

You see the disciples were full of fear—- because:

-They didn’t count on the difficulty following Jesus.

Mark 4:35–36 “35 And the same day, when the even was come, he [Jesus] saith unto them, Let us pass over unto the other side. 36 And when they had sent away the multitude, they took him even as he was in the ship. And there were also with him other little ships.”

Jesus told them—-let us pass over to the other side…

Well if you are on a big lake—- called a sea…the sea of Galilee… And you have to get from one side to the other—- how would you get there?

In a boat… in a ship…

Now here is the amazing thing… alot of these disciples were great fishermen. Before this time, that earned a living fishing—

They did not do that from the shore, they did it from the boat.

So for a-lot of these disciples, there was nothing unusual about them getting in a boat and going from place to another in that boat.

Besides this they were following Jesus’ instructions—

Young person, can I tell you difficulty will come following the Lord Jesus Christ.

It’s not easy to stand up and tell the class, “I believe God created the world, and created man” and hear folks snickering as if you said something funny.

The Bible says, 2 Timothy 3:12 “12 Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.”

It’s not easy to separate from the crowd of your peers who are doing the wrong thing.

If it were easy or automatic we would not have to read in 2 Corinthians 6:17 “17 Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you,”

It’s not easy sometimes—-lets be honest —- to obey our parents…

Paul put it this way in Romans 7:18–19 “18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. 19 For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.”

The problem the disciples faced here was they were not prepared for the storm that was about to come.

- They thought the Lord did not care…

Notice with me verse 38.

Mark 4:38 “38 And he [Jesus] was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow: and they awake him, and say unto him, Master, carest thou not that we perish?”

Many times Christians get overtaken by fear— because they think that somehow God does not care about them.

Here the disciples asked the Son of God—-Carest thou not that we perish?

In other words—we do not trust you because we are in the midst of this storm—-we dont think you care—-

Young person—God cares.

God loves you… If you’ve come here to PIBC and do not know Jesus as your Savior—- can I tell you the Bible says John 3:16 “16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

Romans 5:6 “6 For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.”

John 15:13 “13 Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.”

Jesus died for you —-while you were still enemies to him… He died for your sin and mine— He was buried and rose again so that you can be saved.

For those who are saved, you are a Christian— did you know that the Lord allows difficulties into your life to help you?

This is the case for the disciples here in this passage. The Lord told them to go to the other side. The Lord knew it would be by boat… The Lord knew about the storm that was to come… the Lord has the power to overcome the storm…

Romans 8:28 “28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”

Here’s the problem and we will close—-

- Their fear of the circumstance was greater than their faith in God.

How do we know this?

In all three records we have of this incident— the Lord’s statement reveals that they were overcome with fear and lacked faith.

In Luke 8:25 we find these words…“25 And he said unto them, Where is your faith? …”

In Matthew 8:26 we read this statement,“26 And he saith unto them, Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith? …”

And here in our text Mark 4:40 “40 And he said unto them, Why are ye so fearful? how is it that ye have no faith?”

Certainly we are more than conquerors— the Bible declares that for the Christian—if we are going to act like that we must have faith in the Lord —He is object of our faith and not allow fear to hinder us from doing what God wants us to do.