The Perfect Savior

Mark 6:45-52

If you brought your bibles, turn with me over to the gospel of Mark chapter six. The gospel of Mark chapter six, and in a moment we are going to read verses 45-52 as we get back to our study of the gospel of Mark chapter six.

When you think of perfection what do you think of? Maybe, you think of a golfer who hits a hole in one. Or a bowler who throws a perfect game.

Or maybe your idea of perfection is being in the deer blind on opening day, or a cup of coffee next to the fire in the fall.

Whatever your idea of perfect is, if you have been a Christian for any length of time, you know you are not perfect. You know you fall short, and you will never be perfect until you leave this world and go home to be with the Lord.

 In fact, the more we try to be perfect the more we realize how imperfect we are!!

So, when I think of perfection, I think of the Lord Jesus Christ. The perfect Lamb of God without spot or blemish, who came into the world and lived the perfect life we could not live, and to die on a cross the death we deserved.

 It is at the cross of Jesus Christ that the perfection of God meets the imperfection of man. And the most undeserved suffering the world has ever known, meets the greatest gift of love.

What we learn from this passage is; Jesus is the perfect Savior. The question is, Is He your Savior?

Mark 6:45–52 KJV

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. 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. And he saw them toiling in rowing; 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: For 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 wondered. For they considered not the miracle of the loaves: for their heart was hardened.

Lets Pray together,

Father, We thank you for Your Word!! We ask You to Incline our heart to Your Word this morning.

Open our eyes and allow us to see what You would show us. Unite our Spirit with Yours and teach us, Satisfy our souls through Your Word!!

In Jesus name, I pray, Amen!!

 Our passage this morning is one of the most familiar stories in scripture. It has been depicted in art throughout history. In paintings and murals, on cathedral walls and ceilings.

Anyone who has been in church or Sunday School for any length of time has heard the story of Jesus walking on the water.

However, what we may not be familiar with, are the deep theological implications of this story. It is important we realize that Only God, in the form of a human being, is capable of what we see in this story.

In fact, that is the point that Mark wants to make here. That is what Jesus has been trying to teach the disciples from the very beginning.

That He is the incarnate Son of God, and the purpose of the miracles He performed was to teach them who He is, so that, when He leaves this world, they will understand what He has done.

What is amazing to me, is verse 52 tells us they still did not get it. “For they considered not the miracle of the loaves: for their heart was hardened.”

And as I read this passage, I cannot help but think to myself; are you kidding me?

What else does Jesus have to do to prove Himself to you? He has just fed over five thousand people with less than a loaf of bread.

Before that, He raised a man’s daughter from the dead and healed a woman who had bled for twelve years. What else does He have to do to prove to you He is God?

Then I realize we are not so different from the disciples, and every time we find ourselves in trouble, we forget who He is. We forget where to turn too. We forget that He is God, fully divine yet fully human.

He came into the world to give His life as a ransom for us and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God to forever intercede for us.

Jesus is the perfect Savior for life’s storms.

Mark shows us four characteristics in this passage that make Jesus the Perfect Savior!!

I. His Perfect Wisdom Vs. 45-46

In Vs. 45 Mark begins with this word “Straightway,” and this is a word he uses over and over again in his gospel. It means immediately.

And Mark uses that word often because his gospel moves so fast, and he keeps things moving by using the word “straightway or immediately.”.

But here he’s using it to connect this story back to the previous story. The feeding of the five thousand. We have every reason to believe this happens on the same day.

It was already starting to get late, and the disciples wanted to send the people away, but Jesus wanted to feed them, and teach the disciples am important lesson about the providence of God. Now, in rapid succession we step into this scene.

 Notice  it says, “Jesus made them get into the boat.” He constrained them” I do not want you to miss this. We should underline the word “constrained” in this passage, because it that important.

In other words, Jesus compelled them to get in the boat and go. This tells us, that this was something the disciples did not want to do. But why? Why would He have to make them go?

 Remember, this story takes place at the height of Jesus’ ministry. When Jesus fed the five thousand, He reached the apex of His popularity.

In John’s gospel in chapter 6:15 it tells us the people wanted to take Him by force and make Him their King.

He had just provided for them everything they needed out of thin air and they were ready to hoist Him onto their shoulders and carry Him off the field like the coach that won the game. They were ready to put Him in charge.

This is not what Jesus came to do. He did not come for the popularity of man, but for the will of God.

And He knew the disciples were not going to be able to understand this. The disciples would not want to leave in this moment.

This would have been a huge moment for the disciples. This would have been a moment they were going to receive all of the authority and power a person could ever want. And Jesus knew they would not be able to handle that. So, He sends them away.

 He shows us His perfect wisdom. Isaiah tells us that His ways are not are ways and His thoughts are not our thoughts but His thoughts are high above.

Jesus knows this event could be devastating to the overall plan of God. So, He sends the disciples ahead of Him to Bethsaida, because He knew the disciples would have caved in to the will of the people.

 Then Vs. 46 tells us Jesus sent the crowd away as well. In human wisdom this makes no sense to us. We long for popularity. We long for notoriety. He is at the height of His popularity. He is at the height of success.

If He were a Baptist, He would start collecting money for a building project. But Jesus knows What makes the ministry a success is being and acting according to the will of the Father.

So, He sends everyone away because He knows their hearts are far from Him and their hearts are far from the will of God.

Let me ask you this; Where is your heart today? What do you view as a successful life? Is it popularity, wealth or is it the will of God for your life? Because the former are temporary, but the latter is eternal.

John Rockefeller was one of the richest men in the world. He was once asked how much money he needed to make him happy, and he said, “just a little more.” If Rockefeller couldn’t be happy by all the wealth and power he had, you and I will never be satisfied.

But true contentment in life, comes from eternal values like love and faith. Because in the end, when we stand before God, our bank accounts wont matter. And whatever tittle you had before your name will mean nothing. But it will be the eternal treasures of Christ that last forever.

2 Corinthians 4:18 “while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.”

He is teaching us to measure our lives by the eternal impact we can make for God. In other words, don’t be too distracted by the world, that you lose sight of God’s will for your life.

 Notice after Jesus sends everyone away, “He departed into a mountain to pray.” That tells us, Jesus had a specific location where He chose to meet with the Father.  

And this is an example for us to follow. It is indicative of the fact that we should have a specific place we go and get alone with God.

This word pray here describes communion and fellowship with God. Certainly, knowing what we know about this story, Jesus is there interceding on behalf of His disciples, because they are getting ready to enter into a storm.

 What we see in this passage is the perfect wisdom of Christ. Conventional wisdom would have approached success differently. Human wisdom would have embraced the temporary success of the world and gave up the eternal glory of God. But Jesus stayed focused on God’s plan for Him.

 The lesson we learn from this passage is Jesus knows exactly what He is doing in our life. He knows exactly what we need. He knows what God’s will is for our life and if we will listen to Him, He will lead us to the kind of success that leads to heaven.

Jesus said, “what does it profit a man to gain the world but to lose his soul,” and the answer is it doesn’t. It does not profit us anything to give up God for the popularity of the world.

Jesus is the perfect Savior, and the first thing we see in this story is, His perfect wisdom. The next thing we see is;

II. His Perfect Knowledge, Vs. 47-48a

Here we see the omniscience of God who has complete knowledge of what is taking place in the world. We act and react with limited knowledge, but Jesus has perfect knowledge.

 Vs. 47 says, “When even was come.” That means it was night time.

If you were here with us a couple weeks ago, we talked about how exhausted the disciples were from ministering to the crowds of people, well remember all this all takes place on that same day.

You talk about a busy day. It was a full day of miracles, and boat rides, and ministry, and feeding people, and picking up leftovers. And if they were already exhausted coming into the day it is about to get worse.

We are told in Vs. 47 “the ship was in the midst of the sea.”

What Mark wants us to understand here, is that the boat was far, far from the shore now.

It was out in the deepest part of the sea. We are told in Matthew 14:24, “it was a long distance from the land” John 6:19 tells us they were 3-4 miles away.

So, the point is; they are in deep water. They are in over their heads, and we read at the end of Vs. 47, “He is alone on the land.”

Jesus is not in the boat with the disciples this time. The last time they faced a storm on the sea of Galilee Jesus was in the boat asleep, this time they are all alone.

It is important we understand what that means. That means, Every one who is a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ at that time, is on the sea of Galilee, and they are in trouble.

He is not with them. He is on a mountain praying and the future of the Kingdom of God is in peril.

 Then we are told in Vs. 48, “He saw them toiling in rowing.”

This is taking place sometime between three and six o’clock in the morning. When the disciples are at the farthest point away from the shore. In the middle of the night when no one can see a thing, Yet “Jesus sees them.”

There is something supernatural that is taking place in this story. This something that goes beyond physical eyesight. This is divine knowledge.

 This word “toiling” in Vs. 48 describes a physical torture they were going through. They were expending all of their energy trying to row this boat across the sea and they were losing.  They were wearing themselves out not getting anywhere.

Matt. 14 says, “the boat was already battered by the waves.” John 6 says, the sea was stirred up.

It was like a swirling vortex.” There was a whirlpool taking place on the sea of Galilee, and the disciples were caught in the middle of it. But none of this escaped the vision of Christ.

This describes the omniscience of God In our life and teaches us we are never beyond the all knowing, all seeing presence of God.

Especially in our most difficult situations. He is always with us. He is seated at the right hand of God and He sees our every storm in life.

He will never leave us, He will never forsake us. Jesus is the perfect Savior and the second thing we see in this story is His perfect knowledge. The third thing I want you to see is;

III. His Perfect Timing Vs. 48b

When the disciples were in the most danger place at the most dangerous time, Jesus comes to them on the water.

The end of Vs. 48 tells us “at about the fourth watch of the night, He came to them.”

The fourth watch of the night would have been sometime between 3am and 6 am.

 So, in the middle of the night. When the night was at it’s darkest hour. When the disciples were at their weakest point. Jesus came to them.

His timing was perfect. Jesus waited until the storm was at it’s fiercest and the disciples were at their weakest before He rescues them.

I can’t help but think about how this reminds me of the story of Lazarus and how Jesus waited until Lazarus was dead for four days before He went to Bethany. Why? Because He wanted the people to see the glory and the power of God.

You see God does not work on our timetable. We want everything in our life instantly, but in God’s perfect timing, He knows what is best for us. He will wait for the right time intentionally to achieve a greater good in our life.

  I want you to see in this story He waited until the night was the darkest, the wind was the strongest, the waves were the highest, the storm was the greatest and the disciples were the weakest and that is when He came to them.

 His timing is perfect, and what we learn from this passage is that sometimes we are to strong with in our own effort for Jesus to help us. Sometimes we are not willing to give up straining at the oars of life and give it over to God and trust Him with it.

  Years ago, I had a cousin name Ray that drown in a lake trying to save his friend from drowning. And what I learned is that when a person is drowning you can not save them until they are ready to give up the fight. As long as a person is fighting and trying to save themselves you can not help them they will pull you down with them and that is what happened to my cousin.

 The proper method is to wait until that person gives up the fight and then you can move in and save their life. That is what Jesus does in our life. When we are ready and willing to hand it over to Him He will come to us and rescue from the storm.

 Jesus is the perfect Savior and we see that in this story. So far, we have seen His perfect wisdom. We’ve seen His perfect knowledge. We’ve seen His perfect timing. The final thing I want to show you is;

IV. His Perfect Power Vs. 48-51

He came to them walking on the sea. He literally came to them walking on the water.

     This speaks of the absolute sovereignty of God, at work in Jesus Christ. He did not come to them swimming out to sea like a man. But, He came to them defying all gravity and nature walking on the water.

And the lesson He is teaching the disciples in this story and teaching us today is: The waves that are flowing over your head are already under my feet. No matter what the storm is in your life it is all beneath me!!

He walked out to them in the middle of the storm stepping out on the white caps like it was sidewalk completely unhindered by the wind and the waves.

Completely unstoppable and all powerful. He is the Christ the perfect Savior. He triumphs over it like it is nothing and He can do the same thing in our life. No storm is too great that He cannot conquer. He has absolute sovereignty over life.

 David tells us in Psalm 8:5-6, “You have crowned Him with glory and majesty, You make Him to rule over the works of your hands, You have put all things under His feet.”

Paul tells us the same thing in Ephesians 1:22, “He put all things in subjection under His feet and gave Him as head over all things to the church.”

Nothing you will ever go through or fear in this world is above Him. It is all under His feet. He is the perfect Savior who has perfect power.

 Notice what He says In Vs. 50, He comes to their aid and says, “Be of good cheer, It is I, be not afraid.”

This could literally say, do not be afraid because, “I Am.” This is an Old Testament parallel. It is the name given to Moses by God to describe Him to the people. He is the Great I am. He is everything they need, and Jesus was everything the disciples need in the storm.

 He speaks peace into their souls. He speaks with a peace the world can not understand. John 14:27 says, “Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives I give it to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be afraid.”

What are you going through today that you need to hear God say, “Do not let your heart be troubled?”

Philippians 4:6–7 “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

(slow down)

     Finally, Jesus steps into the boat and the wind stops, the storm ceases and their hearts are calmed. And what we learn from this story is that it is better to go through storms in life with Jesus in the boat than to try and go through them without Him.

 Notice Vs. 52, “For they considered not the miracle of the loaves; for their hearts were hardened”

This is designed to teach us that sometimes those who are closest to Jesus are the ones who misunderstand Him the most.  

The disciples, who were the closest people to Jesus Did not recognize Him and what He was capable of at all. Sometimes we cannot see the forest for the trees, especially when you are going through a storm in life.

 Can you grasp what they disciples could not grasp? He is the sovereign God of the universe.

He is the perfect Savior. He is perfect in wisdom. He is perfect in knowledge.

He is the one who can save us and deliver us from whatever we face in life. Proverb 3:5-6, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not to your own understanding, in all of your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight.”

Lets Pray together,

Father we thank you that you have given us a perfect Savior.

We thank you that Jesus is everything we need no matter what the storms are we face.

Father help us not to be afraid, but to remember where to turn.

We pray these things in Jesus name, Amen!!