When Salvation Is Impossible - part 1
024 When Salvation is Impossible – part 1
IMMINENT DANGER
Mark 4:35-41
March 8, 2026
Our theme over the next few weeks is going to be:
WHEN SALVATION IS IMPOSSIBLE
Now at first you might be tempted to balk at such a title.
After all, we know Jesus.
Maybe you’re even thinking ahead to that upcoming story about the Rich Young Ruler who walked away sad, prompting Jesus to say that it is easier for a camel to walk through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter heaven.
That prompted this conversation.
Mark 10:26-27 “They were even more astonished and said to Him, “Then who can be saved?” Looking at them, Jesus said, “With people it is impossible, but not with God; for all things are possible with God.”
And you can read that story and say:
“See, there’s never a time when salvation is impossible.”
Well that’s the question we’re going to approach the next couple weeks.
Mark is about to carry us through 4 virtually impossible scenarios
Where salvation or deliverance seemed impossible.
In fact, from a human perspective, it was impossible.
· We’ll see IMMINENT DANGER in the form of a storm threatening to drown the disciples.
· We’ll see INNUMERABLE DEMONS all inhabiting a man that no one could tame.
· We’ll see IMPENDING DEATH in a young girl whose deliverance was literally laughable.
· We’ll see INCURABLE DISEASE in a woman who had endured everything the medical field could throw at her and who had only grown worse.
All of those situations were impossible situations.
That is unless you have a genuine Savior.
In each of these impossible situations Jesus steps into the situation
And delivers when no one else even thought it was possible.
He’ll prove Himself
· To be “The Amazing Jesus” that Mark’s gospel is all about.
· Able to save even when salvation is impossible.
AND YOU SAY, “See, I knew it!
There’s no such thing as a scenario when salvation is impossible.”
But then we’ll turn to a 5th situation, and it happens to be a situation when salvation truly was impossible.
It happens, just like those blasphemers of Mark 3
Who were guilty of an eternal sin.
Jesus will enter His hometown and preach
And they will reject Him because they know His family history.
And we’ll read a shocking statement.
Mark 6:5-6 “And He could do no miracle there except that He laid His hands on a few sick people and healed them. And He wondered at their unbelief. And He was going around the villages teaching.”
By the time we get to Mark 6:5,
· That’s going to sound like the most absurd thing you’ve ever heard.
· You’re going to be convinced that no scenario could be devised in which Jesus could not save the day.
· We’ll see Him command the waves.
· We’ll see Him command a legion of demons.
· We’ll see Him heal an incurable disease.
· We’ll see Him raise the dead.
And then we’re actually going to read,
(Mark 6:5) “And He could do no miracle there…”
ARE YOU KIDDING ME?
It will seem unthinkable.
But it’s what Mark said.
But something else will happen then that will also seem backward.
Every event we are about to witness will end the same way.
People will be awestruck with wonder at the person and power of Jesus.
· Some will cower in fear at His majesty.
· Some will be totally mentally displaced in shock and awe.
· They’ll all be amazed at what Jesus can do.
But when we come to that 5th scenario
It’s not the crowd who is amazed in wonder,
It is actually Jesus who is amazed.
Mark says that (Mark 6:6) “He wondered at their unbelief.”
Jesus will be totally astonished that people could see all that He has done
And hear all that He has said and still not believe in Him.
But because they don’t believe, they cannot be saved.
BELIEVING IN CHRIST IS NOT OPTIONAL.
It is amazing to us that faith is all God requires in order to save sinners.
It is even more amazing when we realize that God grants that faith to us.
And it should therefore be absolutely burned into your mind
That if you refuse to offer faith to Christ then you will not be saved.
And I don’t know if Mark can make it any clearer.
So THIS MORNING we start a segment we’re calling:
WHEN SALVATION IS IMPOSSIBLE
Here we are faced with: IMMINENT DANGER
We’re going to see what Christ expects when we face it.
We’re also going to see what Christ deserves when we face it.
We’re going to break this story down into 6 points.
#1 AN INTENTIONAL DEPARTURE
Mark 4:35-36
These two verses serve as a transition between segments.
· They wrap up the judgment of Christ upon an unbelieving crowd
· They usher us into the purpose of Christ to grow the faith of His disciples.
As God is certainly quite capable of doing,
One event accomplishes both objectives.
FOR IN REGARD TO THE UNBELIEVING CROWD…
· Those who had no ears to hear…
· Those who would not listen…
“On that day, when evening came, He said to them, “Let us go over to the other side.” Leaving the crowd, they took Him along with them in the boat, just as He was; and other boats were with Him.”
Two phrases really seal their fate.
· “Let us go…”
· “Leaving the crowd…”
They had not listened to the truth and now the truth was leaving.
I like that Mark says that He left “just as He was”.
· Jesus had gotten into that boat and pulled a little way away from the land so that He could teach unhindered.
· The crowd, though they did not understand the sermon, undoubtedly hung around waiting for Him to come back to land to receive the miracles they had come for.
· But instead of coming back to land, when Jesus finished the sermon, He just departed across the lake “just as He was”.
This crowd received nothing on that day.
It was a fulfillment of what Jesus had taught His disciples:
Mark 4:25 “For whoever has, to him more shall be given; and whoever does not have, even what he has shall be taken away from him.”
Again we are reminded how serious it is
That we listen to the truth when it is presented.
But this story doesn’t just seal the fate of the crowd
It also is about to push the disciples into a new learning experience.
Jesus is the sovereign God of the universe.
· He controls the very seas.
· He ordains all things.
· He is about to intentionally push His disciples right through the midst of a
storm.
He more than knows it is coming.
He is the author of it.
And it is for a purpose.
He is about to expose the hearts of His disciples
And help them see where their faith must still grow.
This trip across the sea is intentional on both counts.
#2 A TERRIFYING STORM
Mark 4:37
The story is not foreign to you,
But we have grown to really enjoy
The emphatic way that Mark tells stories.
When we studied this story in Matthew’s gospel:
Matthew 8:24 “And behold, there arose a great storm on the sea, so that the boat was being covered with the waves; but Jesus Himself was asleep.”
· The word Matthew uses for “great storm” is SEISMOS.
· It’s where we get our word for seismograph.
· It’s how we measure earthquakes.
Matthew says there was “an earthquake on the sea”
Certainly a tax collector, unfamiliar with the moving of a boat, must have been overwhelmed by the rise and fall and shaking of the entire thing.
But Mark and Luke both use a different word.
They both call it a “gale of wind”
“gale of wind” translates (LIE-LOPS)
If you want some perspective.
· In the Septuagint (the Greek Old Testament) this word is used of another significant event.
TURN TO: JOB 36
We don’t have time to give a full back-story here, but you simply need to know that
Job came to a point in his suffering that
He almost demanded the presence of God for an explanation.
Job 23:3-4 “Oh that I knew where I might find Him, That I might come to His seat! “I would present my case before Him And fill my mouth with arguments.”
Well, Job is about to get his wish.
At this point a young man named Elihu is speaking
He sort of takes issue with the entire group.
· He certainly does not agree with Job’s friends and rebukes them for condemning Job without any proof of his sin.
· But Elihu is also offended by the way Job has sought to justify himself before God.
Elihu actually starts speaking in chapter 32, but we’re going to pick up in chapter 36 because that is the chapter where God shows up.
(READ 36:24-33)
As Elihu speaks there is a storm building in the distance.
· In verse 28 it starts to sprinkle.
· In verse 29 the clouds are rolling in.
· In verse 30 the lightning starts to strike.
· And in verse 31 Elihu reminds of God’s propensity to judge men with such storms.
· In verse 32 God is shooting the lightning with precision.
· In verse 33 Elihu says that the thunder is God declaring His presence.
Can you picture this storm building?
(READ 37:1-5)
· Can you feel the earth shaking?
· Can you sense Elihu’s fear even witnessing it?
· God is booming in the heavens.
And Elihu starts describing the amazing creative power of God.
And perhaps at this point Job is starting to retreat a little.
(READ 37:14)
Elihu tells Job to look at this storm and consider
The God he has demanded an audience with.
Now look at:
Job 38:1 “Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind and said,”
It’s as if Elihu announces God’s presence
And God comes to Job riding a tornado.
What is interesting is that the word “whirlwind” in Job 38:1
Is the exact same word Mark and Luke use to describe this storm.
It is a LIE-LOPS
· Not a gust
· It is an ongoing, destructive storm.
And it is a depiction of the destructive power of God’s mighty wrath.
It is a storm of God sent for destruction.
Now, both Mark and Luke call this storm a LIE-LOPS,
But Mark, as he is customed to do, goes even further.
See that word “fierce”?
“fierce” translates MEGAS
We get our word “mega” there.
This isn’t just an earth-shattering storm,
This is a huge, mighty, even fierce earth-shattering storm.
It is very important to Mark that you understand
Just how bleak and hopeless the situation actually is.
This is NOT a group of fisherman caught in a boat during a thunderstorm, as frightening as that might be.
This is a group of fisherman caught on the sea
When a category 5 cyclone hits.
This is a life-ender.
This is a total destroyer.
Matthew called it an earthquake on the sea.
This is a tsunami.
AND THEN MARK BRINGS IT PERSONAL.
He says, “and the waves were breaking over the boat so much that the boat was already filling up.”
A boat in the water is a natural thing.
Water in the boat is a problem.
This storm is about to bury them in the sea.
Psalms 107:23-27 “Those who go down to the sea in ships, Who do business on great waters; They have seen the works of the Lord, And His wonders in the deep. For He spoke and raised up a stormy wind, Which lifted up the waves of the sea. They rose up to the heavens, they went down to the depths; Their soul melted away in their misery. They reeled and staggered like a drunken man, And were at their wits’ end.”
It is a terrifying storm.
#3 A LOSS OF FAITH
Mark 4:38
Here we find that famous fact about this story.
“Jesus Himself was in the stern, asleep on the cushion…”
Do you want the good news or the bad news?
· The good news is that Jesus “was in the stern”.
· The bad news is that Jesus “was…asleep on the cushion”
It is perhaps the most noted depiction of His humanity in the gospels.
He had preached all day, He is exhausted,
He is asleep even in the midst of this storm.
And yet while everyone was terrified at the judgment, Jesus was at peace.
Psalms 4:8 “In peace I will both lie down and sleep, For You alone, O Lord, make me to dwell in safety.”
Psalms 131:2 “Surely I have composed and quieted my soul; Like a weaned child rests against his mother, My soul is like a weaned child within me.”
There was Jesus.
The storm was raging, He was at total peace and rest in the moment.
But while the soul of Jesus was at perfect rest,
The souls of His disciples were in totally disarray.
“they woke Him and said to Him, “Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?”
We again see the dramatic flair of Mark.
They have lost their minds and are in a full-blown panic.
Matthew 8:25 “And they came to Him and woke Him, saying, “Save us, Lord; we are perishing!”
Luke 8:24a “They came to Jesus and woke Him up, saying, “Master, Master, we are perishing!”
· Matthew says they called Him “Lord”
· Luke says they called Him “Master”
· Mark says they called Him “Teacher”
You say, “Which account is accurate?”
And the answer is,
It depends on which of the frantic shouting 12 you are quoting?
· They said all of those things, and probably much more.
· I’m sure they were all yelling at the same time.
But let’s bear in mind that Mark is telling PETER’S STORY,
Based on Peter’s life I think there’s a pretty good chance
That these were Peter’s words.
AND THE FOCUS HERE IS ON A LOSS OF FAITH.
Matthew saw a cry for salvation.
Luke saw a description of danger.
Mark heard the disciples lose their faith.
“Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?”
That’s not just a description of danger,
That is an accusation of some failure on the part of Jesus
To do what was expected.
They perceived themselves to be “perishing”
The fact that Jesus had yet to do anything only meant one thing to them,
That He did “not care”.
It reminds us of Jesus purposely waiting for Lazarus to die.
Both Martha and Mary had the same phrase, “If You had been here…”
· Where were You?
· Did you not care?
· Do you not love us?
There is so little we ever really understand about God’s sovereign plan
And all that He is accomplishing in our lives.
But we are often prone to see only one solution to our dilemma
And if that is not the solution God has ordained
We can easily turn against Him.
And don’t leave THE ENEMY out of this.
We know the type of temptation he likes to whisper in our ears.
Remember when Jesus hadn’t eaten for 40 days?
Matthew 4:3 “And the tempter came and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.”
That was not Satan’s concern for the physical well-being of Jesus.
It was a backhanded accusation against the Father’s failure to provide.
“If You are the Son of God”
The disciples have received the same accusation about Jesus
AND THEY HAVE BELIEVED IT.
Jesus doesn’t care.
Jesus doesn’t love us.
The disciples received an attack on their faith, and they bought it.
#4 A DEMONSTRATION OF POWER
Mark 4:39
Psalms 107:28-29 “Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, And He brought them out of their distresses. He caused the storm to be still, So that the waves of the sea were hushed.”
That is exactly what happened here.
Again, you know the story,
But it’s also important that you grab Mark’s flair and excitement.
“And He got up and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Hush, be still.”
This is not the first time Jesus has used this phrase.
Mark 1:23-25 “Just then there was a man in their synagogue with an unclean spirit; and he cried out, saying, “What business do we have with each other, Jesus of Nazareth? Have You come to destroy us? I know who You are—the Holy One of God!” And Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be quiet, and come out of him!”
· There it was “Be quiet…”
· Here it is “Be still”
It is the Greek word (fi-MA-o)
It means “to muzzle or to gag”
Jesus told that demon to put a sock in it!
And Jesus told the same to this raging storm.
Jesus spoke to the sea like He spoke to the demon.
He speaks to it like some sort of raging monster.
YOU CAN PICTURE HERE
· Jesus standing on the deck of the boat,
· With a giant wave threatening to come crashing down
· And push that boat to the depths.
It is dark, it is flashing light, it is spraying mist,
It is ready to crash down and destroy them all.
And Jesus looks straight at and says, “Be muzzled!”
“Be still!”
And we read:
“And the wind died down and it became perfectly calm.”
“died down” is (ka-POD-zo)
It means “to grow weary or tired; to cease from raging”
Like when a toddler pitches a fit
But finally wears themself out and falls asleep.
Vincent says “the sea sank to rest as if exhausted by its own beating.”
(Vincent, Marvin [Vincent’s Word Studies In The New Testament – Vol. 1; Hendrickson Publishers; Peabody, MA;] pg. 185)
It is the picture of the sea outside of its created intent.
It had yielded to its own curse of corruption.
God created the sea good,
But here, cursed by the fall, it had stumbled out of control.
This was not the original intent of God’s creation,
But the ugliness of sin and corruption had taken hold of it.
Jesus released the sea from its bondage to sin
And allowed it to go back to rest.
“and it became perfectly calm”
Now, there is that use of (MEGAS) again.
This time rendered “perfectly”.
What was once a mega-storm had now become mega-calm.
Jesus humanity was on full display as He slept in the boat.
Now His deity is on full display as He commands the sea.
But His redemption is also on display,
· Not only as He delivers the disciples from the sea,
· But even delivers the sea from its own corruption.
That is power like the human mind cannot fathom.
This was a situation in which salvation was impossible,
Jesus stepped in and totally redeemed it.
He silenced the monster of sin
And delivered God’s creation and children from its evil effects.
It was a demonstration of absolute power and authority.
#5 AN EXPOSED PROBLEM
Mark 4:40
Jesus solved the problem of the sea,
But there was still a problem in the boat.
It is a problem which the sea had exposed.
A problem which had laid buried and had not yet come to the surface.
IT WAS THE FEAR OF THE APOSTLES.
“Why are you afraid?”
“afraid” is (die-LOS)
Some translate it “timid” some translate it “fearful”
But it has a very different translation in the book of Revelation.
Revelation 21:8 “But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”
There it is translated as “cowardly”
And cowardice of such magnitude
That one would even deny the Lord and defect from him out of fear.
It is the type of cowardice that leads men to hell.
It is the type of cowardice that shows up in the rocky soil who look fine until persecution arises because of the word and then they fall away.
And that is what the DISCIPLES HAD DEMONSTRATED in the boat.
When they awoke Jesus the troubling thing to Jesus was NOT the waves,
It was the fact that His followers were demonstrating
The type of cowardice that causes men to fall away from Him.
“Do you still have no faith?”
· Is your profession only an empty one?
· Have you claimed to have faith, but do you really not?
· You say you trust Me, but do you really?
· Is there faith in you at all?
IT’S NOT just that the disciples were afraid in the storm.
IT’S NOT even that they woke Him up or cried out for Him to save.
It’s that, as Mark pointed out, in the middle of the storm
They questioned whether Jesus was really a Savior at all.
Remember, “Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?”
There were many frantic statements yelled at Jesus in that moment,
AND JESUS HEARD THEM ALL.
And Jesus rebuked them hardest for letting cowardice sink their faith.
Does it make sense to you now why the next time Peter tried to get out of the boat?
Does it make sense why Peter was so crushed that he failed in the garden?
Does it make sense why Peter was reinstated and chosen to preach at Pentecost?
But here He addresses that sort of frantic fear
That would cause a man to deny even His saving work.
It’s one thing to be afraid.
It’s quite another to deny the salvation of the Lord because of it.
We are reminded here that
We must never allow such fears to cause us to defect from the Lord.
We are called to trust Him through life’s storms,
Even when we do not understand what He is doing.
And in fact, God has aided us in this faith.
2 Timothy 1:7 “For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline.”
· “timidity” there is another form of that same word (die-LOS)
The Spirit God has given us is not one of cowardice.
His Spirit gives us “power and love and discipline”
Cowardice does not come from listening to God,
It comes from listening to the enemy.
Jesus called out His disciples for demonstrating the wrong kind of faith.
#6 A NEW UNDERSTANDING
Mark 4:41
“They became very much afraid…”
· Literally “They feared a great fear”
“very much” is MEGAS again.
A mega-storm turned into mega-peace which produced mega-fear
“afraid” here is PHOBEO
It is that awe induced fear of God.
Did Jesus not teach us that this is the cure for cowardice?
Matthew 10:28 “Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.”
SO LET’S JUST SAY IT LIKE THIS.
The presence of cowardice indicates a lack of the fear of God.
A lack of the fear of God indicates a failure to truly know Him.
How many saints in Scripture encountered God and their response was always the same?
Job 42:5-6 “I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear; But now my eye sees You; Therefore I retract, And I repent in dust and ashes.”
Isaiah 6:5 “Then I said, “Woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips, And I live among a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.”
Revelation 1:17 “When I saw Him, I fell at His feet like a dead man…”
When men encountered God it always produced the same thing…
PHOBEO
This is the cure for timidity and cowardice.
The disciples were overcome with this new fear of Christ.
“and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey Him?”
· Or “Since what we saw just happened, who is this?”
What this indicates is that as of yet the disciples had still failed
To understand the full nature of the person of Jesus.
· They recognized Him as the Christ.
· They called Him Lord.
· They had failed to understand that He is God.
They’re starting to figure it out.
Jesus just did what only God can do.
Psalms 65:5-7 “By awesome deeds You answer us in righteousness, O God of our salvation, You who are the trust of all the ends of the earth and of the farthest sea; Who establishes the mountains by His strength, Being girded with might; Who stills the roaring of the seas, The roaring of their waves, And the tumult of the peoples.”
Psalms 89:9 “You rule the swelling of the sea; When its waves rise, You still them.”
And thus we come to the completion of this first incident
When salvation seemed impossible.
We learn who Jesus is
We learn that faith in Him is non-negotiable.
We learn that cowardice is not acceptable.
If the storms of life can cause us to abandon Him or turn on Him
Then the problem is ours, not His.
He is God, and He has never stopped loving us.
He is God, and He has promised to save us.
And “neither height nor depth nor any created thing”
Should ever be allowed to shake us out of that faith.
Hebrews 13:5-6 “Make sure that your character is free from the love of money, being content with what you have; for He Himself has said, “I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you,” so that we confidently say, “The Lord is my helper, I will not be afraid. What will man do to me?”
And thus we must trust Him.
1 Peter 5:6-7 “Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you.”
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.”
We have a Savior who saves when salvation is impossible.
We must give the kind of faith that is not affected by the waves.
AND THIS MORNING
We recognize that Savior as we partake of the Lord’s Supper.
We serve a Savior who has promised to save us
From the storm of God’s judgment.
Matthew 7:24-25 “Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock. “And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock.”
Or as we read:
1 Thessalonians 5:9 “For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ,”
Romans 5:9 “Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him.”
He will save.
Don’t let His timing cause you to doubt.
He is the Savior who loves you.
He is the Savior who cares about you.
He specifically cares whether or not you perish.
In fact He died so that you would not.
And as we partake
We ask Him to cast out our cowardice while we reaffirm our faith in Him.