Today, I want to talk to you about something that you usually won't hear about during Christmas. But it's what Christmas is really all about. Are you ready? God's anger. Yes, God's anger. Now, I want you to listen for just a moment, okay? This is what happens.

It says in Mark chapter 4, verse 35: "On that day when evening came, he said to them, Jesus, 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." And there arose a fierce gale of wind.

Do you know what a fierce gale of wind is? It's a wind that could blow you down. A wind that could blow down a house. A wind that would cause the sea to rise up and just swallow any boat. Swallow it down.

Just a fierce gale of wind, and the waves were breaking over the boat so much that the boat was already filling up with water. So these sailors knew that the boat was going to sink down and they were going to die. Okay, Jesus himself was in the stern asleep on the cushion. Now, remember that he was asleep.

Was he awake or asleep? Awake or asleep? He was asleep on the cushion. That's very important. I want you to remember that.

And they woke him and said to him, "Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?" And he got up and rebuked the wind and said to the wind, "Hush, be still." And the wind died down and it became perfectly calm.

And you know what? After you hear this story, what do preachers usually tell you? Well, they usually tell you that Jesus can speak to the storm and calm it. Okay? So he gets up, he's asleep on the cushion, he rises up, he says, "Be still," and the storm was over.

Now, this was a storm that was so great that even the best sailors couldn't sail through it. The boat was going to sink down completely. The boat was already filling with water. So everybody in the boat knew they could do nothing to help themselves.

And Jesus was asleep on the cushion and he rises up and he rebukes the wind. And everyone says this story is about the power of Jesus Christ over nature. Well, it is. But that's not the most important thing about this story.

Now, I want to read to you another passage. It says that Jonah rose up to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. So he went down to Joppa, found a ship which was going to Tarshish, paid the fare and went down into it to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord.

So here's a man. He's running away from God. He's disobeying God. Do you understand? Now, let's go on. And the Lord hurled a great wind on the sea and there was a great storm on the sea so that the ship was about to break up.

It says like like if you were to make a snowball and hurl it with all your might, God made a storm and with all his might, he hurled it down on the sea. He did it. God caused it. It didn't just happen. It wasn't just the fact that nature is out of control. God did this. God made a storm and He hurled it down on the sea.

Do you see that? This is very important. Is that frightening?

When I was a little boy, one time, I went out shark fishing with my uncle. And I was about nine years old. And I'll never forget, a big storm came up. And I was already afraid because we were fishing for sharks.

But I noticed that when the waves came up, there was the big waves like this and then a trough. And we would be down in the trough and the waves would be up there. And then we'd come up again and go down. And I was very afraid. There was nothing I could do to save myself.

Okay, that's where this boat was. It was full of really strong sailors, but God made a storm and he hurled it down on the water.

Now, all the sailors are kind of wondering, why is God doing this? Why?

And so here's what happened. They go to Jonah to make a long story short. They go to Jonah and they find him asleep in the boat. You remember when we talked about the story about Jesus? Where did they find him?

Asleep in the boat. And here now, Jonah is asleep in the boat. Do you see that?

And they say, Jonah, why is this big storm happening? And he says, because I'm in disobedience against God.

Well, what can we do to calm the storm? This is what they did. They picked up Jonah and threw him into the sea.

Now, why did they do that? Because Jonah told them to. He said in verse 12, "Pick me up and throw me into the sea." Then the sea will become calm for you.

And then again, it says, so they picked up Jonah, threw him into the sea and the sea stopped its raging.

Now, it says that God sent. He made a storm and he threw it down on the water.

Here it says that the storm was raging and the boat was going to break apart and no one could do anything. Do you see that? What was that storm?

That storm was God's anger. Now, why is God angry? Because of our sin. Furious because of our sin. He hates sin. Why does he hate sin? Because he's good. He's good.

And because he is so good and so loving, he hates sin. And because of our sin, the anger of God comes down like a raging storm. And there's nothing that we can do, nothing that we can do to stop it.

Now, when that raging storm came, Jonah said, "Pick me up and throw me into the water," didn't he? And what happened?

The storm stopped.

So Jonah was a guilty man full of sin. And he said, if you'll take me, pick me up and throw me into the water, then the storm will stop.

Jesus was not a guilty man. Jesus was innocent. Jesus never sinned. And in order to stop the storm that was coming against you and me for our sin, we didn't have to throw him in. He threw himself into the sea.

When Jesus was on the cross, it was like him. Let's imagine for a moment that we're in a boat and all of us are terrified because the waves are so high, the boat's going to break apart.

But Jesus is asleep. Why is he asleep? Because he's done nothing wrong. He's never sinned. That wrath, that anger of God that's coming up all around us and tearing our boat apart, it has nothing to do with him. He never broke God's law. He never sinned. He's just asleep.

God's not against him. He's the perfect son of God who always obeyed. But we're in that boat and you and I, we deserve to die. We deserve to be swallowed up by that ocean.

But Jesus comes forth right at the moment that we're about to die and he throws himself into that ocean. Even though he didn't deserve to die, he throws himself into that. And when he did, when he paid for our sins with his life, then God's anger was calmed and now God can freely love us.

Do you see that? Just think about this for a moment. You're to be swallowed up into the ocean and sucked down to die forever. And Jesus says, stop. And he takes off running and he jumps right out of the boat and throws his own body into that sea.

And when he does, the sea becomes calm.

Now, children, what are you going to do when you see that there's somebody out there that loves you that much, that threw their own body into the sea?

Are you going to just be able to stop thinking about that? No. Shouldn't you live for that person? Shouldn't you love that person? Shouldn't you believe in that person?

That's why Jesus is more important than anything else.

Do you realize that this morning, this morning alone, I've sinned enough to go to hell? This morning alone.

But Jesus threw himself into the sea. He stopped the wrath of God that was coming against me and you by His own death in our place, even though He did not deserve to die.

You want to know what Christmas is all about?

It's about a baby in a manger who would grow up living a sinless life and go to a cross and die in your place.

It's about a great king who would throw himself into the sea, even though he did not deserve it, in order to save the people in the boat.

Several years ago, when I was in Ukraine, they told me a story, and it's all over the place. I don't know if it's an urban legend, but it's about a Russian prince and his slave.

And they were in a dog sled in Siberia.

And they were both taking off in a pack of wolves.

And wolves aren't like what you think. They're not just like dogs. A wolf's head can be that big.

And this pack of wolves came after them.

And pretty soon they realized, we're not going to be able to outrun this pack of wolves. We're going to die.

And so the servant threw himself off of the dog sled and the wolves ate the servant.

And the king was saved.

And someone said, that's a picture of the cross.

And another man said, no, it's not. If it had been a picture of the cross, it would have been the king who threw himself off the dog sled in order to save the slave.

Do you see that?

See, that's why we love Jesus, children. I don't like religion. I'm not all about rules and all kinds of things like that.

It's all about loyalty to one person.

That's what it's about.

Loyalty to one person.

To Jesus Christ.

To the One who made you and the One who died for you.

It's about being loyal to Him.

Alright, God bless you.

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