Caught in a fierce storm, the disciples feared they were going to drown. Once Jesus calmed the wind and the waves, however, they grew even more afraid. Today, R.C. Sproul looks into the identity of the Man who is unlike all others. Get R.C. Sproul’s book The Holiness of God, plus lifetime digital access to his teaching series Fear and Trembling with the digital study guide, all for your donation of any amount: https://gift.renewingyourmind.org/3601/fear-and-trembling Meet Today’s Teacher: R.C. Sproul (1939–2017) was known for his ability to winsomely and clearly communicate deep, practical truths from God’s Word. He was founder of Ligonier Ministries, first minister of preaching and teaching at Saint Andrew’s Chapel, first president of Reformation Bible College, and executive editor of Tabletalk magazine. Meet the Host: Nathan W. Bingham is vice president of ministry engagement for Ligonier Ministries, executive producer and host of Renewing Your Mind, host of the Ask Ligonier podcast, and a graduate of Presbyterian Theological College in Melbourne, Australia. Nathan joined Ligonier in 2012 and lives in Central Florida with his wife and four children. Renewing Your Mind is a donor-supported outreach of Ligonier Ministries. Explore all of our podcasts: https://www.ligonier.org/podcasts
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Jesus stands up, looks at the waves, and he shouts a command saying, peace, be still. And instantly the seas like glass and everything is absolutely calm. Now, what would you expect that the reaction of the disciples would be at that? The Bible says they became exceedingly afraid.
Even though we may be afraid of hurricanes and floods and fires and other natural disasters, there's something that is even more frightening to us than the wind or the sea. It's the presence of God.
It's common for people to think of Jesus as merely meek and mild, nothing like the portrait of God found in the Old Testament. But when people encountered Jesus during his ministry, their responses might not be what you would imagine. You're listening to the Thursday edition of Renewing Your Mind as we're spending a week in R.C. Sproul's series, Fear and Trembling.
Today, Dr. Sproul directs our attention to Jesus. We've seen already that the holiness of God is often downplayed today, resulting in a distortion of the character of God. Well, the same is true when we consider God the Son, the Lord Jesus. Many people have created a Jesus in their own image.
So here's Dr. Sproul to examine several key moments in Jesus' ministry and the responses of those around him.
Have you ever noticed something that I at least find strange about people who are not professing Christians? That they sometimes are very hostile towards Christians and hostile to the church, but you almost never hear them say unkind things about Jesus. They're not willing to affirm his deity or that he is the savior of the world.
But they'll usually say that he was a great prophet or a great teacher or a great man. And people were so kind in their assessment of the historical Jesus that it makes me wonder what it was about him that so infuriated many of his contemporaries that they actually clamored for his blood And of course, they executed him.
So as nice as we are about Jesus from a safe distance of about 2,000 years, if we go back in time and look at the period in which he was walking around this earth, we find all these people who hated him. Why? Why? Well, I think there are a couple of episodes recorded for us in the New Testament that'll give us an inkling at least as to why so many people hated him.
And the first one is found in the gospel according to Saint Mark, where we read in the fourth chapter in the 35th verse these words. Mark says, on the same day when evening had come, he said to them, let us cross over to the other side. And when they had left the multitude, they took him along in the boat as he was. And other little boats were also with him.
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