Acts 27, go back there with me
now. This story is another story of
many. God's providential care of His
people, like the children of Israel all through the wilderness,
through many dangers, enemies, how God brings His people through
all of these things, deep waters, tempests, all the trials of this
life. But it's much more than that.
This is a picture, another glorious picture of the gospel of Christ
crucified. Christ crucified. He is why and
the reason we get through these things. There could be, and there
are many verses that tell us the meaning of this story. Verse 9. It says, when the sailing
was now dangerous, that through many dangers, we just sang that. Many perils of this life. Verse 18, it says, they were
exceedingly tossed with tempest. Fellowship in the tempest. This
is what made me want to look at this. I began looking at Philippians. The fellowship of the gospel.
And we go through the fellowship of Christ's sufferings. And we
also go through the fellowship of trials and troubles. Verse
20, it says in the last line, all hope of being saved was taken
away. And all hope seems lost. And verse 31, verse 31 it says, You abide in a ship, you cannot
be saved. The reason everyone made it was
the ship, right? He said, no loss of life but
the ship. And the very last line, though,
tells us, all escaped. These were prisoners. They're prisoners and they escaped. All safe to land. How many times
has Scripture talked about you who have escaped? No loss of
life but the ship. Christ is the ship. Christ is
all our salvation. Christ is the purpose of this
story, as with every story. For us to believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ and be saved. To cling to Him like these escapees
did. all sails, cling to him, to see
that salvation is only in him, no other way. That's the purpose
of this story and every story in God's Word. So, verse 1, let's
begin. It was determined that we should
sail into Italy, and they delivered Paul and certain other prisoners
unto one Julius, a centurion of the Augusta Spain, and they
entered into a ship. It was determined, this whole
voice was determined by someone. And so is your life and everything
in it. All things work together for
good to them who are called according to the purpose of God. Those
who love God are called according to His purpose. Everything about
God's people is predestined. Don't you like that word? Don't
you love that word? Predestination. All predestined, all purposed
in Christ. To bring us to Christ, be saved
by Christ, and bring us all the way to glory. This story is of
Paul being brought to the judgment seat in Rome to appear before
Augustus Caesar. Augustus means the sacred and
majestic emperor and ruler over all. That man was not so. But that speaks of the one who
is. That we all must appear before the judgment seat of God. The
august one. The emperor, the ruler, the sovereign
over all. We all must appear there. How
are we going to get to God? One way. One way. Christ. So it was determined
that all of these on board, these prisoners were put with Paul
in this ship. Now, Paul, this, Christ is all
in it, isn't it? Paul represents Christ. The centurion
represents Christ. He was a captain. That's a centurion,
captain of hundreds. Had to carry over, charge over
the whole ship. He's the one that determined
everything. That's a picture of Christ. The ship's a picture
of Christ. Everything's a picture of Christ. In this story, we're
going to look at the ship as Christ, Paul as a preacher of
the gospel, put there with his fellow prisoners to bring them
to good cheer and to tell them the truth. Paul's a prisoner like them.
Our Lord was taken out of prison. He could name this delivered
to be delivered. They delivered Paul into this
ship, and because Paul, this prisoner, was delivered and put
in this ship with the rest of these prisoners, they were all
saved. What a picture of Christ that is. What a picture it is
of a preacher of the gospel. So, Paul, a preacher of the gospel,
whom God puts in the midst of these certain prisoners. Look
at verse 1. It says, certain prisoners. That's us, isn't it? Isaiah 42,
7 says this, of the great servant Christ, his elect, it says that
he came to open blind eyes to bring the prisoners out of prison,
them that sit in darkness out of the prison house. So verse
2, they were put in a ship, this was purposed by God, that they
go, they be in this ship and go through many perils, many
storms, many tempests, deep waters. All of them, every single person,
put in this ship, determined and purposed by the emperor. They were all in this ship and
they all went through all the same things, didn't they? And
they all made it. Why? One way. One way. The ship was broken up. You know
what that means? The ship was broken. The ship
lost its life, but not one person in the ship did. I could go home
now, I just told you to go. There's so much here, so much
here. Ship, now I've told you this
so many times, a ship is a sailing vessel moved by the wind, completely
controlled by the wind, not manpower. Not manpower, not devices made
by man. The Titanic was unseekable under
manpower. What happened? The Ark of Noah,
everybody said, that won't float. Everybody in the Ark made it
safe. Most in the Titanic were lost. Salvation is of the Lord. The
wind bloweth where it listeth. Salvation is of the Lord, God
the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit were completely
under his divine control. Aren't you glad? Everything and
everyone under the complete control of our Lord and our God and God's
people especially. This Julius represents the Spirit
of God. This captain, this, he was, he
was the one who was given to take care of Paul. He took care
of Paul all the way around. Treated him courteously, kindly. Wouldn't let him kill him. He let Paul have liberty in him. Isn't that a picture of the Holy
Spirit that abides with all of God's people? Treats us so kindly,
so graciously to bring us to the promised land. But this was
a long journey. A long journey. If they would
have sailed, it was 2,500 mile a night. Sailing by the wind,
at best, five knots. A big, heavy sailing ship, 276
people on board. Sailing by the wind. And the
wind is never, it's always, many times, contrary. You remember
that message? Matthew 14, wind's contrary. Well, it would have taken 17
or 18 days if all was well, but it took months. Months. A long journey. And this life that we live, that God has
given us, 60, 70, 80, the older you get, the longer it seems and the more
you want to reach your desired home, don't you? Don't you, John?
Don't you, Earlene? Jeanette, don't you? My mother
certainly does. She does not know why she is
still living in this world. She wants to go home. My dad
did. He wanted to go home. The older
we get, the more we want to go home, and it just seems like
And David said that in a song, didn't he? Over and over. How
long, Lord? How long? How long? He won't be long now. He wasn't really that long. Three,
four, five months is how long this journey took. And looking
in the time of life, that's not long, is it? Seventy years? I'm sure Methuselah thought,
I can't live another year. 969 years. I can't take it any
more. We don't thank God we don't have
to live that long. It won't be long now. It won't be that long. Look at verse 4. It says that
the winds were contrary. Like that message of the disciples
in a boat with our Lord, a ship with our Lord, and contrary winds.
Nothing in your life is contrary to the will and purpose of God. Nothing in your life is contrary
to the purpose that God has sent it for. And that is to bring
you to Him. Everything. Divinely ordered
by God to bring you to God. Troubles, trials, that's what
it's all about. Verse 7. It says, when they sailed
slowly, many days, slow sailing, were scarce come over. Verse 18 says, you're hardly
passing by, hardly getting by. Does that sound like? Do you
remember when early in life, you know, you maybe struggled
in this life with making ends meet So on and so forth, you
know, trying to... My parents certainly had... Many
of our parents certainly had it tough, didn't they? Going
through the Depression. How are we going to get through
this? Hardly getting by. When you look
back, you say, how did I get through this? Do you know? It
was the mercy and grace of God. Sovereign providence of God bringing
it through. Verse 9, dangerous. Sailing was dangerous. Sailing
was dangerous. Oh, my. 2 Timothy 3 says, "...in
the last days perilous times." And those are the days we live
in. Stay with me now, okay? And Paul,
verse 9, Paul admonished them. You know, all Scripture is given
by inspiration of God. It's profitable for doctrine,
for reproof, for correction. We need admonishment, don't we?
We need rebuke, don't we? We certainly do. We need the
warnings. How many times, how many times
have I said this, that the Scripture is full of warnings, lest we
presume You need to trust and hope in the mercy of God for
you and your children. Hope in the mercy of God. Trust
in the mercy of God. But do not presume upon that
mercy. Whatever you do, do not presume
upon the mercy of God. It'll be all right. Don't do
that. Cry out and don't quit crying
for you and your children until you've reached land, because
you don't know what God's going to do. He's merciful, yes. He
might spare you and your children. He might not. But he will all
those who call him, all who stay in the ship. Do you hear me? This is what Paul
was saying the whole trip. He said, don't jump ship. Whatever you do, that's what
Moses told the people. Don't leave the house. That's
what the two men told Rahab. Do not leave the house where
this scarlet line is, or your blood is on your own head. Paul warned them, admonished
them. As do I. He's a faithful preacher. He
doesn't preach smooth things all the time, does he? But warnings. Listen to Acts 20. Acts 20. Paul is leaving. Remember
the message on say farewell and say hello? Paul's leaving the
church at Ephesus. He calls them all together. This
is his last message. This is his farewell message
to the church at Ephesus. And he said, I have kept back
nothing profitable from you. I've testified to Jews and Greeks
repentance toward God. That's the first message. Do
we ever quit repenting? No. Faith toward our Lord Jesus
Christ. He said, take good heed unto
yourselves. He said, I know when I leave,
grievous wolves will come in. not sparing the flock of your
own selves, who speak perverse things, to draw away disciples
after themselves." That wasn't Paul, was it? Paul was a faithful
preacher. And how you know is he kept warning
them. He says, watch, remember. I'm quoting to you. Paul said,
I cease not to warn everyone, night and day, with tears. And he said, I commend you, once
again, to the grace of God. The word of his grace able to
build you up and give you inheritance among all them were sanctified. So he warned them, he admonished
them, verse 10, you do understand that no type is perfect, so don't
try to make it so. So he warned them that we need
to stay here and not leave yet. That's what he was telling them.
Nevertheless, verse 10, he said, Sirs, I perceive this voyage
will be with hurt and much damage, not only of the lading of the
ship and also of our lives. And if we do not heed the word
of God, from a man of God, there will
be much injury and much hurt to us and our children. Yes,
they will, if we do not. And verse 11 says the centurion
believed the master. See, he doesn't represent the
Spirit of God here, but he's just a Roman soldier. So who's
he going to believe? Well, he's going to believe the
man who built the ship, and the man who owned the ship, and the
captain of the ship, and these people, these worldly wise men.
He's going to listen to them, and not listen to this preacher.
What does this preacher know? That's what he did. Verse 11.
It says he believed the ownership more than those things spoken
by Paul. Who should we listen to? Who should we listen to? The
worldly wise people, the rich, the famous, the wise, the scientists,
the doctors, the lawyers of this world. Should we? What does Scripture
say? Hath not God made foolish the
wisdom of this world? Do you esteem that as such? Do
you consult and take counsel from the people of this world
or the Word of God from a man of God? Who should you consult? Who should you follow? Who should
you listen to? Who should you ask? What should
we do? Sadly, these people believe these
experts, these sailors. We've been sailing all these
years. What does that preacher know? That's what Peter and all
of them said to Christ in them. We've been fishing all our lives.
What do you know? Professing themselves to be wise,
they became fools. Should have listened. Should
have listened. You saved yourself some hurt. They didn't listen to Moses.
They didn't listen to Samuel. They didn't listen to Jeremiah.
Ezekiel, God said to Ezekiel, Ezekiel, they'll come and they'll
listen to you and they'll go home and talk about you, but
they're not going to do what you said. They're not going to do it. Too
much hurt. And it's only the mercy and grace
of God by the very gospel that that man preached that any of
us are saved at all. Because our natural tendency
is not to listen. We're not going to listen. We're
going to do what I want to do. We're going to do what I think. We're going
to do what everybody else says. I just told men the other day,
and I'm going to get off of this, but this is pertinent. I said, I'm going to quit giving
counsel. I'm going to quit telling anybody to do anything. They're
not going to listen to me. I'm just going to preach the
gospel. I remember a man, an older preacher, when I first
started pastoring, he said that very few people will follow you.
Very few people will be their pastor. Most people, you just
preach to them and go on. That's sad, isn't it? God put
this wise man with wisdom from heaven in this ship, and they
wouldn't listen to him. They did when all hope seemed
to be lost, when everything seemed to be lost, when finally they
were losing everything and casting everything out, and they all
despaired of their lives. Now, Paul, please tell us what
we should do. Tell us. And he stood up, the man of faith,
didn't he? Right in the middle of that darkness, and I'm getting
ahead of myself, but I've got to. Stood up in the middle of
that darkness and those perils and those tempests where everybody's
scared and despaired for their life and said, be of good cheer.
It's going to be exactly what God told me to tell you. Now
there, who are you going to listen to? I remember, and it's still so,
people have on their Facebook page, I got my vaccination. We
can do this. You can't do nothing. And that ain't going to save
you. The Lord save you. Did you hear me? And I didn't
say that. You have nothing to fear but
God. Had to say that before we got
to it. fear of the Lord to begin it with. That's what we sang,
didn't it? Grace that first taught my heart
to fear, and then grace my fear to relieve. Well, it says, verse
13, though, when the south wind blew softly, they supposed that
they'd reached their purpose, and they said, well, see, Paul,
what do you know? Everything's fine. This must
be the will of God. Everything's going smoothly. Everybody blames the will of
God for doing what they want to do. You know that? You know what? God may let you have your will
to show you it's going to be much hurt and damage to you because
you did not follow His revealed will. That's so. I know that
from experience, from the Word of God. How this wouldn't be
if it wasn't God's will. And He lets you have your way.
So you get in great trouble till you despair of your salvation
and of your children. And then you come begging. And
God is so merciful. Like Paul in the end said, See,
you should have done what I told you, but be of good cheer. You didn't, but God's merciful. Isn't that wonderful? That's
wonderful. Verse 15. Not, or verse 14, not
long after I rose, I ignored Easter. I went in great detail
in a message ten years ago. If you want to look at what that's
all about and much of this, go back and listen to that. But
anyway, after, you know, we think, well, everything's fine, this
must be, it's alright, we're not, you know, we're going to
do what we want to do and go where we want to go and everything's
fine, and then God's going to chase you. You're going to send
a fiery trowel, a tempest of troubles and trowel, you're going
to go through it. That's exactly right. Exactly right. Maybe the hardest trowel of your
life. This was unbearable. We couldn't hardly bear up under
the wind. Couldn't hardly bear it. The ship was caught up in this,
verse 15, caught up and not bare up under the wind. We let her
drive. They couldn't do anything but just ride it out. They're
trying, Mike. You're trying. If you ever sailed
in a fierce storm, sometimes you just quit sailing. They struck
the sail and put the sail down and said, we're just going to
have to bare this. We're going to have to hope for the best.
Who's controlling this ship? Who's sent the wind? Our Lord. To teach us a lesson that you
have never controlled anything or anyone. That nothing and no
one is out of sight of His absolute sovereign power. The Lord giveth,
the Lord taketh away, the Lord kills, the Lord makes light,
the Lord wounds, makes sick. You can't keep yourself from
getting a cold, let alone dying. Fear the Lord. Don't fear man,
don't fear a thing. Fear the Lord. That's the beginning
of wisdom. If you fear the Lord, you'll have faith. Faith in Him who does these things.
And then verse 16, it says, they're running under a certain island.
They had much work to come by the boat. That's this lifeboat
is what this is. They had a lifeboat on this ship.
That was their, you know, if all else is lost, we've got this
lifeboat. You understand? We've got this. This is our security,
like people do with riches. like people do with, you know,
their savings and their 401K and so on and so forth. We've got this lifeboat to fall
back on. If all else fails, we'll get in this boat. Well, buddy,
this boat was about, they did everything they could to keep
this boat in the ship. And in just a few minutes, they're
going to have to cut the ropes. I don't know who or what you
still trust in. You need to cut the ropes. It's
not going to save you or your children. Verse 17, they used helps trying
to undergird the ship. That ship didn't need their help.
God didn't need our help. Christ didn't need our help.
Spirit of God didn't need our help. Vain is the help of man,
isn't it? Where does our help come from?
From the Lord. He that keepeth this ship. Who
was keeping this ship afloat? From going into the quicksand.
Verse 17, they feared that it would fall into quicksand. Boy,
that's a good definition of this world, isn't it? Suck in. Suck
the life out of you. Paul said that. Don't sail yet. And they were in danger of being
sucked up by this world. They struck sail and they were
driven. Seethingly tossed with tempest, verse 18. The next day,
they lightened the ship. What are they doing? Throwing
things out. You see, when they first got
on this ship, oh, this is wonderful. They're going on a little sail. I've always wanted to sail on
a ship. This is wonderful. They brought their things, their
clothes and their possessions, and they brought their prized
sea chest that given to them by their grandfather with all
their, you know, dishes. The Titanic and other, and they
brought all these, want these trinkets and toys and goodies
and jewels and things that they love are precious to them and
their sea chest. Boy, right now, they don't know
if they're going to, and they're starting to throw things overboard.
Don't need this. This is not going to help me.
This is hindering me. Are you with me? Are you with
it? The Lord. This is of the Lord,
and that's why this happened. Interesting story, isn't it?
This is salvation, people. This is the gospel. This is the
truth. This is truth. This is your voice. This is what God is putting you
through. This is your only hope and that
of your children. Christ. Nothing and no one else
will save you. You need to get rid of it. Let us lay aside every weight
and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and run with patience
the race that is set before us. Look in unto the Lord Jesus.
Look into Him, because without Him you can do nothing. You and
your children are going to make it one way, and they and you
need to be in Christ, be found in Christ. That's my mission. That's the
reason I'm here. That's the reason for this message
and every message I preach. That's why God sent me to Rocky
Mountain, Virginia, to preach to I don't know how many is in
here. There were exact number of people in that ship, and God
sent a preacher to preach to them the good news, and yet there
were warnings, and rebukes, and reproof, and all that. Don't
jump ship, whatever you do. You're going to be saved one
way. That's the purpose of this message.
This is a matter of life or death. Isn't it? If you're in Christ,
you're alive. You're children are in Christ. My heart's desire and prayer
to God, my prayer to God, for you and your children, constantly,
that you might be saved, that you might be in Christ. If you
or your children do not hear or listen to the gospel, I hope
in God's mercy, but I don't presume upon it. And I fear for you. I do. That's the purpose of this story. It says, we cast out with our
own hands, verse 19, the tackling of the ship. Now they have no
means whatsoever of controlling that ship. They are absolutely
out of everything, totally out of their control. They thought
it was to begin with. It never was. The Lord kept showing
that. You're not controlling anything
or anyone. I am. Now cast it out. Cast all
your care upon Him. He cared for you. He always has.
He's always taken care of you. Cast all your care upon Him.
In verse 20, there's neither sun or stars, many days, darkness. No small tempest, no small trial. You know, God saves some of the
hardest trials for God's people in their old age. Like Abraham, didn't he? After
these things, the Lord did try Abraham, his only son. Take him
and kill him. All hope that we should be saved
was taken away. All hope in their helps, all
hope in them undergirding a ship, all hope in their possessions,
all hope in their the wisdom of these wise men. All hope was
gone. That's a good place to be. You
know that? God's going to bring every one
of His people to this point. And brothers and sisters, He's
going to bring us to that point all our lives. Because there's
time we get in the quicksands again. There's time when we heap
to ourselves all these things and riches and still have some
joy and security and think, well, you know, But it'll suck the
life out of us if we're not careful. So God's going to bring His people,
if they belong to Him, if they're in Christ, He's going to bring
us all continually, all our lives, to the point where we have no
hope in anyone or anything, where we almost despair of our own
life until we look to Christ and Christ alone and find all
our joy and all our comfort and all our peace and all our life,
that Christ is our life, like Paul was a prisoner. and Philippians
and Ephesians. And he wrote all those from prison.
And he has nothing. He said, I've suffered the loss
of all things, but I can't help it, but Doug, I want to win Christ
and be found in Him. He said, let this man be in you.
And he's telling them, be of good cheer. He's exhorting them. He's trying to comfort them.
They've got all this pinery and everything. He has nothing. Oh,
he has everything. He's rich. Increased with goods,
but unlike the lay of the sea in church, who were rich and
increased with goods and had need of nothing, Paul was rich
in faith. Because when it's all over, we
are literally going to lose everything and everyone. We're not going
to cast it out. God is. Like Job. So this is where God
brings all his people, all their lives, to keep them from perishing. Our Lord Jesus Christ said that,
He that liveth and believeth on me shall never perish. Didn't
He say that? All the Father giveth me shall
come to me. Have you come to cry? You keep coming to cry. Why are you here? Why did you
come here this morning? You come to worship, cry? You
come to hear from, cry? He said, I will no wise cast
a man. No wise, for no reason. These were prisoners. You know,
if they're going to lighten the ship, throw these prisoners overboard.
Huh? We don't need them. In fact,
they tried to kill them in the end, but the captain wouldn't
let them. The soldier, kill these prisoners? Uh-uh. No, no, no, no, no. Why? Paul was on that. He was given
charge of these people, and he told them the truth, and he represents
Christ and the preacher of the gospel. So, and this church still
exists for one reason, and so do you and I. He said, Be of
good cheer. Be of good cheer. Verse 22, No
loss of life but the ship. And there stood by me the angel
of God, whose I am, whom I serve, saying, Fear not, Paul, thou
must be brought before Caesar. And, lo, God hath given thee
all them that sail with thee. Noah was a man. He preached for
a hundred years, didn't he? In Rochester. He was a man. Noah
was the man whom God used to bring those animals into the
ship. They came. Noah is a man, and
Noah represents a preacher, but most importantly represents Christ
in our rest. And with whom God has given Christ
all the people that he chose in a covenant, and all with him
shall be saved. All in Christ shall be saved.
Be of good cheer, Sir. Sir Anderson. Brothers, sisters,
be of good cheer. Verse 25, I believe God. That
it shall be even as He has told me, was told me, it was told
me. I believe God. Let me tell you one more time
what God told me to tell you. Okay? Here's what God has told
me to tell you. This I know, that all things
work together for good to them that love God, who are called
according to His purpose. for whom he did foreknow, preordain,
predestine, order this journey, put you in Christ, the fellowship
of Christ. He did predestinate to be conformed
to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among
many brethren. Moreover, whom he did predestinate
he called, whom he called he justified, whom he justified
he also glorified. What do we say to these things?
If God be for us, who can be against us? He that spared not
his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not
with him freely give us all things? Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's what? Elect. There you go again. Yes! Predestination. Right there in this verse. Isn't
it good news? Be of good cheer. You're a sinner. No hope in yourselves. Don't hardly listen to nobody.
But God, rich in mercy, with great love, if He loved us, gave
us to Christ. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of these prisoners, these elect? Huh? It's God that justifies. Who is He that condemneth? Any
of them going to die? No. Why? Christ died. That's the story. No loss of
life but the ship. The ship gave its life that all
those worthless prisoners might be saying. God sent me to tell
you that. Nothing more, nothing less. Who
is he that condemns? There is right now no condemnation
of them that are in Jesus Christ, who are led by His Spirit. who
takes the things of Christ and keeps showing you, keeps bringing
you to cry, keeps bringing you to cry. Here you are. Here you
sit. One more time. I'm here to tell you, be a good
chair. It's going to be just like God told me to tell you. It's going to be all right. Don't
jump ship. And then it will be exactly like
God told me to tell you. Yes, it will. Be a good chair. Verse 26. In our text, look at
it, verse 26, how be it we must be cast upon a certain island. This is wonderful. Oh, brothers
and sisters. Oh, Nick, give me, give me, give
me another hour. This, there's so much right here.
We must, Paul says as a prophet, as God's preacher, he said we
must be cast upon this certain island. All cast outs are going
to be cast away. on an island isolated from this
world and outside the camp. That's all of God's prisoners.
He's going to bring them to an isolated place where they're
cut off. That's good. This little place is like an
island for castaway. Together here, they're going
to be all together on this island. That'd be all right, wouldn't it? A certain little place together
that they've got a preacher. They got the truth. John was
put on the Isle of Patmos. Why? To write the Word of God. Paul
was put in prison. Why? To write the Word of God. Isaiah 42, this is prophetic.
Isaiah 42, verse 4 says, the isles shall wait for his law. Our Lord said, Other sheep I
have which are not of this fold, them also I must bring. How? A preacher or the gospel. Paul
has to stop at Malta. And he stays there three months
preaching the gospel because God had some sheep right there. Isn't that something? Paul says,
I believe God, but we've got to stop to make. And this is a picture of all
the fullness of the Gentiles will be fulfilled. He's going
to bring them in before we all reach the fair haven. And verse 27 says the 14th night
has come. We were driven down and at midnight
the shipmen deemed that we were near. We were near to some country.
We were getting near, brothers and sisters. Now is your salvation
nearer than when you first believed. It really is. We were talking,
I was talking to Jeanette. She's eighty, I forget what she
told me now, eighty-something. Doesn't much matter, does it?
Eighty-two, five, six, eight, doesn't matter. John, eighty-five,
right? After seventy, borrowed time,
isn't it? David died at seventy, the Lord,
and it says he lived, he was an old man. He lived a full life. God gave him rest from all his
enemies. That's my age. Over. And here you are all these
years later. Huh? But you're so close. You're so close. So near. And none of us know. They drew
near and they sounded and found out there's 20 fathoms. And verse
29, they feared lest they would fall upon the rocks. You fear falling? If you're going
to fall, you need to fall on a rock. But they fear, you know,
even in your old age, you will have doubts and fears, won't
you? That's why I'm sent, to tell
you, fear not. If you trust Christ, if you keep
coming to whom coming, you have nothing to fear. Nothing. You may forget everyone's name
and everyone's face, but the Lord hasn't forgotten you and
never will. He can't. He said, I've got them written
right here on the palm of my hand. Isn't that good news? That's
good news. And verse 20, they were wishing
for the day. Is that you? And the shipmen,
verse 30, were about to flee the ship. They let down the boat.
See, that's that lifeboat. Into the sea, under cover, a
flag. And they cast anchors out of the poor ship. And Paul said
to the centurion and to the soldiers, except these abide in the ship,
you cannot be saved. Don't get in that lifeboat. Don't you dare get in that lifeboat.
That's not going to save you. I told you in the beginning.
There'd be no loss of life but ship. You stay in the ship except
you abide in the ship. Do you remember that? I just
preached on that. John 15, the Lord said, except
you abide in Me. In my words, abide in you. You'd
be cast out. Abide in Me. Literally. With Him. In Him. Where He is.
Don't leave. Don't do it. For any reason.
For any thing. For anyone. Anyone, don't go
down with, don't let them flee, fine, but don't go down with
them. Okay? Your husbands and wives and children
and all that, if they don't believe Christ, don't go down with them. Stay in the ship. You cannot
be saved otherwise. So verse 32, the soldiers cut
the ropes and let her fall. Cut the ropes, boys, and let
her fall. The day was coming on, Paul said
in verse 33, it's the 14th day, fasting, verse 34, I pray you
take some meat and not a hair of your head is going to fall
on the ground. Let alone your soul. Not a hair
of your head. Do you believe that? Not a hair. every wave. God controls the hairs in your
head. How much more the waves and the billows and the tempest
and the trials and troubles and everything, the king's heart
and everything, huh? So he spoke and he took bread
and gave thanks in the presence of them all. He broke bread.
That's Christ, isn't it? Crucify, take, eat. When he broke
it, he gave and began to eat, and they were all of good cheer.
What cheered them up? What gave them strength? What
was it that cheered them in this? They're still in darkness. They're
in darkness, but they've got light now. They've got hope now.
All hope seemed to be gone. They've got hope now. Why? They
heard this man preach the gospel. Take some bread. Eat in Christ's
body bread indeed, meat indeed. In verse 37 it says there were
203 score and 16 sold. 276 people exactly were put in
this ship. Exactly 270. Why is that important? Because God has his people numbered. There is the stars of the sea,
a sky and the sands of the sea. Surely he has everyone numbered.
They are elect according to the foreknowledge of God. Every single
soul. The foundation of God standeth
sure, having this seal, the Lord knoweth them that are hidden. 276 souls were put in this ship. How many ended up safe on land? 276. Like those fish, was it
258, 252 fish caught in a net? How many were brought to land? 257, exact number. Oh man, this is wonderful. Too
good, too wonderful for me. They said they all got good cheer,
and all of them ate the meat, the same meat, and they all began,
verse 30, to lighten the ships, cast out the wheat, cast out
the bread, cast out everything. Verse 40, they took up anchor,
committed themselves unto the sea. Lord, brethren, commit yourselves. Cast yourselves into the sea
of God's mercy. Loose the rudder bands, the wind,
the Spirit of God is leading and guiding. And they fell into
a place, verse 41, where two seas met, oh my, mercy and truth,
righteousness and peace that kissed each other. The God and
man met together. And the ship, listen, are you
still with me? If you're not, get with me right
now and look at this verse with me. Verse 41. If you don't see
anything else, see this. The ship went aground and stuck
fast and remained unmovable. Isn't that our Lord Jesus Christ?
The rock in a sure place, unmovable, unchangeable. His
hinder part was broken with the violence of the waves. Psalm
42 is the picture of Christ on the cross. All thy waves and
thy billows have come over me. He said this is my body broken
for you. This is an unmovable, unchangeable
A rock solid foundation that you can be grounded and settle
the truth in this is that Christ Jesus is your salvation. Christ
crucified on the cross. Whom he died for, those in him
will be saved no matter what. Isn't that good news? Soldiers
took counsel to kill the prisoners lest any of them should swim
out and escape. Stay with me now. Stay with me.
Let's kill them, kill them all. We ought to be, shouldn't we?
Who stops it? Who keeps God from killing it?
God Himself, the Spirit of God. The centurion willing to save
Paul kept them from their purpose and commanded them that those
that could swim cast themselves into the sea. You cast yourselves
in the sea, verse 44, the rest, some on board, some on broken
pieces of ship, they came to pass, they all escaped safe to
land. Every one of them, holding on to what little bit they could
hold on to. If it's one little board, a board of what? A piece of what? The ship. You say, I don't have
much faith. Oh, do you have some? Smile. Do you have some faith? What
are you clinging to? Lifeboat? Or did you catch that
out long ago? Huh? Who or what are you clinging
to? Are you really clinging to Christ?
Is Christ all your hope? Is Christ your life? Do you really
desire to be found in Christ? With His righteousness on? Are
you clinging to that? You're going to make it safe
to land. God told me to tell you that.
Ain't that good news? I don't have much fat, but you
have some? I quit, John. I'm going to leave
you since then.