This is a, as I said, a long
story actually, a sweeping saga, a true story. And a story of Paul's perilous voyage
on his way to Rome to be tried there. But it's also our story. The story of every believer.
I know you read between the lines, could read the Gospel story woven
throughout this wonderful story. The whole story could be summed
up in verse 22 where Paul stood up and said, I exhort you to
be of good cheer. There should be no loss of life
except the ship. The ship will be broken, but
not you. The last verse says, they were
all safe to land. They all came in safe to land.
Now this is a message of warning. The Gospels, there are always
words of warning, always with proof and rebuke. Paul said to
these All these people on board, you should have listened to me.
They got in a bad way. It was their own fault. And if
you want to, you could turn to Psalm 107 and mark that because
it goes perfectly with this and I'll be alluding to that throughout. But he said, you should have
listened to me. And now look at you. You're in all this trouble.
But for their comfort, he said, but be of good cheer. All will
be lost, but not your soul. You'll lose
everything but your life. That's all right. Our Lord sounds
just like what He said, didn't He? He said, in the world you
shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer. I have overcome
the world." This is a real story, as I said, a real story of real
people in real trouble because of their sins and unbelief. But
God, in great mercy, put a man in the midst of them to save
them. Verse 1, it was determined that
we should sail into Italy. And they delivered Paul and certain
other prisoners to Julius, a centurion of Augustus Caesar's band. This was the determinate will
of God as it was. There was a lot that was cast
in the lap, but the whole disposing there, I was of the Lord. Everything,
known unto God are all His works from the beginning of the world.
And Paul was made a prisoner. He was a prisoner for many years.
And he said, I'm a prisoner, not of Rome, but of Jesus Christ. In another place he said, the
things that have fallen out unto me are for the furtherance of
the gospel. And he was always content. He was always happy
to be a prisoner. Can you think about that? Now,
folks, he was in the bottom of this ship during this storm. And it wasn't pleasant. It was
the worst place to be in a storm. If you've ever been in a ship,
you don't want to be in the dark bottom of that ship. Well, he was. Yet he was full
of comfort, full of peace, and comforting others throughout
this voyage. Now, Paul was put through suffering
wrongfully. But it was a great mercy to the
people on board that ship that he was there with. Paul is just
a man, you know that? Paul is just a man. He's a sinful
man. His words and his deeds were
not infallible. There's only one infallible man
ever lived. The words he wrote, the words
the Lord wrote on paper were infallible. But everything Paul
did and said is not infallible, okay? He's a man. Nevertheless,
the Lord put him in this boat with these people.
Here's what makes him special. He's just a man. He's a man of
God, sent by God with the Word of
God. He's not infallible, but the
message he brings is. And he tells them that you're
all going to be saved. Paul is a type of Christ, yes.
You've seen that throughout this story. He's a type of Christ,
and we'll allude to that a little bit. But the greatest type of
Christ in this story is what? The ship. The ship. Paul is a prisoner. Paul is like
the rest of these people on board that ship. The reason he made
it was the ship. Now, he's put there with other
prisoners, and I thought about, you know, our Lord was made a
prisoner, as it were, confined to a body, put in this present
evil world in order to save us prisoners of hope. And we are captives, held captive
by the law, held captive by Satan. We're guilty as charged, but
God has sent us the Lord Jesus Christ to deliver these captives
and he sent us preachers. He sent us preachers. What a
gift. What a gift. Just men, but men of God. And worth listening to. Verse
3, this Julius, the centurion, treated Paul courteously. We
looked at this many years ago, how the Lord put Paul in the
hands of this Roman centurion. And this man treated him well
and kept him from harm many times. It's just a Roman centurion.
And John, I believe the Lord saved this man. Quite certain
of it. But the fact is, everyone, even
our enemies, whoever it may be, is in God's
hands and are for us, for God's people. Can you believe that?
It's so. Whether you believe it or not.
This Aristarchus, verse 2. Now people, I'm not going to
go through every verse, so don't get frightened. Aristarchus, this is a blessing
here. This man from Thessalonica, he's
from the church at Thessalonica. Luke was constantly with Paul. You see, Paul came a great ways
to preach the gospel to Thessalonica. He hazarded his life. He left
his home, his family, all these things, and great sacrifice to
bring the gospel to Thessalonica. And this man from Thessalonica,
Eristarchus, said, if he's going to sacrifice his life for me
and give his life for me, I'm going to support him with everything
I've got. I'm going to be by his side. I'm not going to leave
him. And Luke was too. Luke said,
I'm with you, Paul. I'm with you. I'm right beside
you. I'll go through what you go through. They were volunteers. And I bet you Luke was down in
the hold of that ship with Paul. I bet you. And so was Aristarchus. Two, it says he entered into
a ship. They were put into a ship. And this whole story is them
being in a ship. Now, the difference between a
ship and a boat is this, for you landlubbers. A ship is an
ocean-going vessel. Anything called a ship is seaworthy. It must be a ship in order to
withstand heavy seas and high winds and boisterous seas and
deep, heavy seas, high winds and waves. A little boat won't
get it. It's got to be a heavy ship. And a ship, a heavy ship,
usually is a large ship with many rooms. In fact, on board
this ship were 276 people, 20 tons of people, let alone cargo. This was a big, heavy ship, but
it was able to bear them all. And our Lord is this ship. Is
He not? Christ is our ark of safety. And it's no accident our English
word uses this word, the fellowship of His suffering, being fellows
in one ship. If you're in Christ, if you're
in the fellowship of the Father and His Son, Fellowship of the
Gospel, of the mysteries of His suffering. He is your life. If you've ever been on board
a ship for any length of time, you are a prisoner to that ship. That ship is your life. It's
not part of your life. It's not part of your life. It
is your life. You can't go a day, you can't
go an hour without thinking about that ship. You're in it, in it. You live
and move and have your being. And I've been in a ship. Dad was at sea for months. Brother Cody, for months. It's
not a part of your life, is it? It's your life. Your conversation
is that ship. You serve that ship. Every day,
all day, you wake up, you go to bed. That ship. Because if
you make it to your destination, it's going to be for one reason,
the ship. My people, Christ is all. He either is or isn't. And if
we're in Him, He's our conversation. He's our hope. He's our life. He's our all, our conversation,
my, my. Verse 4 says, contrary winds
came up. Now, there's no such thing in
God's people's lives, contrary wind. We may think so. Like Jacob
said, everything's bent against me. No, Jacob. No, not at all. Now, this is a sailing ship. This is not a motorized ship. This is a sailing ship. As all
ships were up until a few hundred years ago, sailing ships, that
means they were completely controlled by the wind. They were completely
at the mercy of the wind. Now who is reckoned, who is likened
to the wind in Scripture? The Spirit of God. The Holy Spirit
of God that bloweth where it listeth. You cannot tell the
sound thereof, but God. God's people. Romans 8 says there's
no condemnation to them that are in Christ who are what? Led by the Spirit. Led by the
Spirit. The Spirit of God leads His people
where God purposes them. And some things seem contrary
or against us, but they're not, people. They're all for us, all
working together. for a sovereign direction and
purpose of God before the world began, and that is for all of
God's people to reach safely home. And they'll go through all sorts
of tempests and trials, up, down, north, east, but they're all
going to make it by the Spirit of God. Alright, verse 6 says
they were put in another ship And they came out of that ship.
This ship didn't go really through any troubles or no peril at all. I thought about this. What does
this represent? Well, you know, some of you were
in false religion. You believed another Jesus. And
you really didn't go through any troubles or trials at that
time. Pretty smooth sailing, wasn't
it? But see, that religion wouldn't
have taken you all the way. False religion won't take you
to God. But God had to put you in Christ,
in His church where the gospel is, in Christ for the long haul. And you're going to sail through
some heavy seas in order to reach the other shore.
All of God's people do. If not, they're not in the ship.
Verses 7 and 8, when we sailed slowly many days and scarce were
come over against needless wind, not much wind, we sailed under
Crete and hardly passing it came to this place called the Fair
Havens. At first they started out in this ship, this smooth
sailing. Everything was pretty smooth sailing. They all probably
thought, this is nice. Especially those land lovers. This is nice. And they came to
this place called the Fair Havens. It's still there today. It's
an oasis, an island, and the Fair Havens. But people, that's
not where they're stopping. And that's not where they're
bound. That's not the haven that they're going to reach. But they
were going through some smooth sailing and came to this Fair
Haven. And God's people go through some
fair times. There's no storms. There's no
trouble. And that's good, isn't it? That's good, isn't it? And it's also the mercy of God
for a young believer not to go through heavy seas at first.
God doesn't usually put a young believer through heavy trials
and troubles at first. And so everything is just wonderful. But it can't stay that way because
faith is only tested in heavy seas, deep waters. The worth of that ship that you
are trusting in is only known in deep waters. Isn't that what
Psalm 107 says? They that go down to the sea
in ships, not boats, Ships, fellowships, they do business in great waters,
deep waters. These see the works of the Lord.
You don't see the works of the Lord in peaceful times, prosperous
times. God's people do, but you know
what I'm saying? That the great mercies and grace of God and
the wondrous salvation of our Lord is only seen in deep waters
of trouble. And I bet you most of them wanted
to stay in that fair haven. You reckon? You reckon they wanted
to stay there? And people, if all went well
for us in this world, we'd want to stay here, wouldn't we? We'd want to stay here. Carnal
security is deadening. When they shall say, peace and
safety, our Lord said then, sudden destruction. And I could almost
wish upon the church, great trouble. Because the church has always
thrived in great trouble. But it gets like Ephesus and
Laodicea and everything is just fine. I'm telling you the truth. A man of God is supposed to see
things. These are perilous times, all
right. It's a famine, not a bread, though. And the great peril that
we're in is complacency. All right, then the sailing got
dangerous, verse 9. The sailing got dangerous, and
as much time went by, then it began to get dangerous. It began
to get dangerous. Paul said in verse 10, And he
told them earlier, they were going by this island of Crete,
and said, we should stay here, the weather is getting rough,
we need to stay here. But these men were determined
to get where they were going, to go in the direction that they
wanted to go, and Paul told them, you need to stay here, don't
go this way, don't do this now, because it's going to be dangerous. He said, verse 10, I perceive
this voyage will be to hurt and much damage, not just of the
ship, but of our lives also, hurt and damaged. And he warned them of great danger
and that they needed to wait a while before going any further.
My, my, we're looking at James, aren't we, about waiting and
patience. Hardest thing in the world for us to do. Read on with
me, verses 11 through 14. It says, Nevertheless, the centurion
believed the master, the captain, the owner of the ship more than
those things spoken by Paul. They didn't believe that place
was commodious to winter in. And they all got together, the
majority agreed, we'll go on. Verse 13, And the wind blew softly,
and they thought, see, it's okay. And they all began to kind of
laugh at this preacher. What does he know? We're sailors. No. We're sailors. Does this sound familiar? Like
disciples. Well, teacher. We've been fishing
all our lives. And they thought, what does this
preacher know? And it looked like everything's just fine, but it
didn't take long, verse 14, that they were going away that they
thought was right, and up came the most fearsome trial and storm
they'd ever been through. Now, here's the point. In 1 Corinthians 2, verse 15
says, he that is spiritual judges all things. He said, we have the mind of
Christ. In other words, those that God has given a people and
God has given the truth to and He's given sound judgment and
discernment to. And we would do well to consult
and listen to them rather than worldly experts. Who should we listen to? The
world concerning the affairs of this world and things of this
world, the wisdom of this world, the experts of this world, so-called
wise of this world, or a man who is in communion with God?
and a man who is studying and looking at God's Word at least
eight hours a day. The wisdom of God comes from
asking, pleading, looking, reading, studying the wisdom of God for
discernment, how to lead, what to say, what to do. Who should
we listen to? They didn't listen to Jeremiah.
They didn't listen to Ezekiel. They said, oh, he has a good
voice. It's just so. And God has not left Himself
without a witness in this world. I consult these men all the time. All the time. And if we're going in a certain
direction, Paul warned, as all of God's people, God's preachers
do, He warned them. He told young Timothy, preached
the word, Timothy, instant end season out of sea, reprove, rebuke,
correct, don't let no man despise your youth. They need it. He warned them. Paul said to
the Ephesians, I cease not to warn you, day and night with
tears. All of those who preach and read
God's Word carefully, they see the warnings in His Word. Brother
Chapman, I listened to him preach from this, and he spent about
15 minutes going through the Scriptures with all the warnings. All the warnings. So full of
warnings. My pastor said many times, and
I've quoted it, the Scriptures are full of warnings, lest we
should presume. Keep back thy servant from presumptuous
things. Secret sin. And yet promises,
lest we despair. And you set the one over against
the other, we need them badly. Especially in peaceful times. Everything's going just fine.
We're going this way and it looks okay. Oh no. And all whom God gives a people
to, they warn the people of danger if they persist in certain things,
persist in going in a direction that's contrary to the truth,
because that's the way they want to lead. And people think no
harm is going to come at this at first. But if you're one of
God's people, a nor'easter is coming. And you're going to despair of
your life. Great trouble. Hebrews 13 says,
Obey them that have the rule over you and submit yourselves.
They watch for your soul as they that must give an account. He
told Ezekiel, If you fail to warn them, their blood is on
your hands. And they may do it with joy,
not with grief. This is unprofitable for you,
grief. So these men, they didn't listen
to Paul. They didn't listen to him. They went away that seemed
right to them. And boy, they got in deep waters. Verse 15,
the ship was caught and couldn't bear up under the wind. And verse
13, they were running under a certain island, did much work to come
by the boat. That is, they were trying to
get the lifeboat. They were trying to hold on to their lives now.
And when they get in the depths of this storm, they're thinking,
well, read on. And they took up and they used
helps undergirding the ship. They were doing everything to
keep everything from falling apart. And now what do you think
they're thinking? We sure wish we could listen
to them. And that's what Psalm 107 says,
doesn't it? It says, because of their transgression
and because of their iniquities, that's me, that's all of us,
are afflicted, afflicted. Verse 17 and that, verse 11 says, they rebelled
against the words of God. He brought them down with great
labor. They cried in their distress.
Oh my. If we refuse to listen to God's
Word through God's man, continue in a way that seems right to
us, if we're His people, He's going to raise a stormy wind
and waves of trouble until we despair of our lives. But brethren,
read on. And they were exceedingly tossed
with a tempest, verse 18. The next day they lightened the
ship. The third day they began to cast out everything in that
ship. Paul talked about riches that
are kept by the owners thereof to their hurt. Our Lord said
this, didn't He? Didn't our Lord warn of this
constantly? Lay not up for yourselves treasure
on earth. Why? Because it's going to be
a heavy burden. It's going to weigh you down.
Riches are going to just weigh you down. People drowned in them. More
people have fallen from riches. And now they get in trouble.
And you know what they're doing with all this stuff? This is no good to us now. One thing neatly, salvation. They began to toss overboard
those things that they took delight in before. Verse 20, And neither
sun nor stars in many days appeared, no small tempest lay on us, and
all hope was taken away. They didn't have any light, they
were in darkness. Couldn't see any stars for direction,
they didn't know which way to go. And they lost all hope of being
saved. Have you ever been there? Every one of God's people have
been there. Why? Because you didn't listen to Him. You didn't
listen. And you wonder if you lost. And Paul hadn't been saying anything. It says, after long abstinence,
verse 21, Paul stood forth in the midst of them. What do you reckon Paul and Silas
and Aristarchus were doing in the
midst of this storm? Now, they're going through it
too. And they're in the helm of the ship. They're in more trouble. They're
sick. Perhaps, like everybody else. Okay. What do you reckon
they were doing? They were doing what they were
doing in Philippi, in that jail, Paul and Silas. They were praying.
They were worshiping. They were singing. And they had
peace. And they had comfort. And they
had consolation. And they had hope. Their hope
wasn't gone. No, no. They had hope. So Paul stood
up in verse 21 and said, Sirs, you should have hearkened unto
me and not have loosed from Crete to have gained this harm. We
need rebukes, don't we? Don't we? But we sure need comforts. Verse 22, Now I exhort you to
be of good cheer. I reckon he's smiling. We can't
enter into this. We can, we can't. But this storm
in here, I mean, this sea, this boat, this ship is doing this,
and they've thrown everything overboard. And this thing is
tossing up and down and all that. And Paul is probably holding
on to the mast. And they're all drenched to the
bone. It's cold and the wind's blowing them. And Paul's smiling
and crying out above that wind, Be of good cheer! You see this? Don't worry. How can you say this, preacher?
What a fool. Some of them are saying, you were the fool. No, he didn't say that either,
did he? Be of good cheer. Read on. Oh, my. There shall
be no loss of life among you. Whoever's on this ship is going
to make it. And I didn't say that. He said,
the angel of God came to me. Read on. The angel of God, whose
I am, I belong to him. He came to me and said, Paul,
you're mine and mine are thine and thine are mine. Whom I serve." Yes, he did. I
serve him. Don't you? Brethren, I do. Not very well, but I do. And
he said, "'Fear not, Paul, thou must be brought before Caesar.
And, lo, God hath given thee all them that sail with thee.'"
Now, this is certainly, most certainly, a picture of Christ.
He always said to his people, "'Fear not.'" Remember that time
he was asleep in the ship? And they woke him up. But he
woke up and rubbed his eyes. And he's in the same ship. He's
going through the same tempests. He was tempted in all points
like as we are, yet without sin. And he got up on the bow of that
ship and said, Where's your faith? Why don't you just go to sleep? And he rebuked that wind and
that sea. You know, Paul, when I say Paul was a man, he was.
But the Lord gave these men powers raised a dead man. Peter raised
a dead man. When, if need be, for the preaching
of the gospel, these men had these powers for the preaching
of the gospel. Could Paul have stilled that sea? If need be. The Lord said he'd save this
mountain and be removed, if need be, if it was for the purpose
of the gospel. But now in this sin, in this
situation, this storm was for the purpose of preaching that
gospel. And the storms of life we go
through, the troubles and the trials and the deep waters and
the troubles we get ourselves into and troubles God sends that
we don't know what they're for. But all of this is so that you
will hear the gospel. That's why I say calm waters
and calm times and peaceful times and prosperous times, you don't
hear the gospel much. You know that? I don't. Do we? Be honest. Do we? It doesn't
mean much to you until you feel like all hope is lost. If you
feel like all hope is lost, you're going to be listening. A fellow
stands up and says, listen, be of good cheer. I've got good
news. What, what, what? Do you see
land? Yeah. We can't see a thing. It's dark. No stars. Some can't see the sun, got no
sails, no rudder. How in the world can you see
the land? I see it far off by faith. Be of good cheer. This is all about trusting the
Lord, staying in the ship. Be of good cheer. There'll be
no loss of life but the ship. The ship's going to be broken. The ship is going to take you
all the way, but the ship will be broken in the process. As I said, old Paul and Aristarchus
and Luke were met together praying and singing, and two or three
are gathered together. Christ said, I'll be there. And
he was. The angel of the Lord came. How
did he get on board that ship? The same way he did when Peter
and all of them were on that ship, and he came walking on
the water. Paul wasn't afraid. He knew who
it was. He knew him well. He'd been calling on him, and
he came. Verse 26, but he said, how be
it? We must be cast upon a certain
island. Give good cheer. I believe God.
I believe God. It'll be even as he told me.
God can't lie. Would you hear me? God can't
lie. It'll be exactly as He promised. Anyone that trusts Him, there's
no one that's ever trusted Him, His promises, that He's failed
them. It's perished. Not one. Be of
good cheer. All the promises of God in Christ
are yea and amen to the glory of God. Stay in the ship. But we're going to be cast upon
a certain island. Our Lord said we must, through
much tribulation, cast all our care on Him, on Christ alone. So they feared, though they still
were fearful, weren't they? Shipmen, look at this verse 30,
this is good. Those shipmen, those sailors
on board that ship, they were getting out of there. They were
getting out of there. And they were going to let that
boat down. And they were going to abandon
the ship. They were going to leave everybody
to fend for themselves. They were afraid for their lives
too. And they said, we're getting out of here. We're leaving. a preacher years ago that you
know well and esteem highly. And this is not an isolated incident.
I know every single preacher has done that. But a preacher
you know and esteem well was thinking about Quentin, the pastor. And he called Brother Mahan,
who was still in the ministry at the time, a pastor that is.
And he called him and said to him, Brother Mahan said, do you
ever think about quitting? And Dad said, all the time. All the time. I'm getting out
of here. It's too much for me by myself,
let alone to try to take care of this ship. All the time. Do you know what Paul did? Do
you know what the Lord did? Cut the ropes. They're not leaving. These men
were in charge of this ship. And Paul said, we can't make
it. We need these men. If they leave,
we can't make it. You may not think you need me. And I tell you what, I need you. Cut the ropes. You're not going
anywhere. You're here to stay. You're going to sort it out with
the rest of us." And they said, okay. And they went back to work. Went back to work. Day was coming on, verse 33,
starting to get light. Starting to get light. There's
light at the end of this story. Starting to get light. And Paul
said, verse 33, to everyone, they'd been fast, they were so
fearful, they were so troubled, they were so worried, they were
in such sorrows and deep waters that they couldn't eat. They
couldn't eat. You've been there. Everybody's
been there. Whatever it may be. Diver's trials,
we've all been there, and we'll be again. And they couldn't eat
for sorrow, for fear, for worry, for troubles, and they couldn't
eat. And Paul said, take some meat.
Verse 33, take meat. He continued this long. This
is for your health. Verse 34, this is for your health. Take some meat. And I know that people, and we
all tend to do it, we get so drowned in our troubles and our
sorrows that we forget and we go off and hide or something
and don't come to worship and hear the thing we need for our
spiritual health to get through this thing. And I want to take people to
Temple. You've forsaken your own mercy. Eat! Old Elijah got under that
juniper tree feeling sorry for himself, and the Lord sent a
raven and said, Eat! You're going to need this. Now
again, I'm not preaching at you, I'm with you. We're in this thing
together. I've done it. Get all down in
the dumps and feel sorry for yourself, and you forget that
thing that you need the most. Eat. Gather with the saints. Eat this bread, this meat. Paul did, verse 35, he said,
"...took bread and gave thanks." They can give thanks. What you
got to be thankful for, Paul? Everything. And I'm not in hell
right now. I was before injurious and a
persecutor, a blasphemer. I'm the chief of sinners, but
God. I tell you, Paul would say, if
anybody asks you, well, you've got to be thankful for everything
this side of hell. And I'm going through less than
I deserve. And it's just the mercy of God
that I'm alive today. In everything give thanks, for
this is the will of God concerning you. In everything, rejoice in
everything I say. Paul said that. God said that. He gave thanks in the presence
of them all. When a man is going through deep
waters and trouble, when a woman or whoever, a believer is going
through deep sufferings and they can come... Some of you all have
gone through some deep, deep waters and been here the very
next worship service to worship. You know what that did for the
rest of us. You know what that did for the
rest of us? It strengthened our faith. It's true. All of God said true. Paul gave thanks and a prayer.
He's a prisoner. He's not free like the rest of
them. He's a prisoner. And he broke it in front of all
of them. He's the one serving. Look at that. He's the president.
He's doing the serving, doing the comforting. And then they
were all of good cheer. Verse 36, and they took some
meat. And in that ship, they had the exact number of souls.
Is that significant? Oh, yeah. The Lord has His people
numbered, His elect. He knows them that are here.
And verse 38, they ate enough. They all ate. Now, this wasn't
a delectable meal. This is sea biscuit. It's full
of weevils, hardtack, salt meat. You would need it. You would
need it if it's sitting in front of you right now. But they all
thought, this is the best thing you've ever had. And if you're
hungry, it can be a bad preacher. There are no bad preachers who
are preaching the truth. It might not be the best preacher
on earth, but buddy, it'll be the best message you've ever
heard, if you're hungry enough. They all began to eat that and
think, this is wonderful! Wonderful! So glad we got this. I thought we were going to die. Verse 39, then it became day.
The sun's coming up. Boy, when the sun's coming up.
They were waiting all night for this sun to come up. The sun
comes up. Oh, they were waiting for the
morning, more than they watched for the morning. They were waiting
for the sun to come up. And they came to this land. They
didn't know what it was, where it was. Verse 38, I left this
out. They cast the wheat out into the sea. Didn't the Lord say, cast your
bread upon the water? Cast your bread upon the water. You just need enough to eat,
food and rainwater. The rest of it, cast it out there.
He said, you'll see it again after many days. You don't need
that. We're not staying here. Can't keep it. Don't keep it.
Cast it out there. Let somebody else use it. So
they cast all the bread out of that boat. And it became day.
They didn't know where they were. And the ship came to this land. Verse 40, they took up the anchors,
cut the anchors off, the rudder bands, hoisted the main sail,
made toward shore. Getting close now. Brethren,
now is our salvation nearer than when we first began. Some of
you are old. Some of you are old. We're all
older, aren't we? Much older than we first began. It's not long now. It's just
not long at all. Land ho. Land ho. What's your faith up there? Huh? Blow, O mighty wind, upon your
garden, let the spices flow out. We're heading home. I came to this place where two
seas met. I said before, this is mercy
and truth. Righteousness and peace meet
together. And the ship, the forward part of it stuck fast and remained
unmovable. Brethren, we have a forerunner
right now within the veil, the Lord Jesus Christ. And it says
this in Hebrews. I had this written down to read
and I'm going to read it because this is a great blessing. It
says here, it says, God by two immutable things, His oath, His
covenant, He cannot lie. We have a strong consolation
who fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us,
which hope we have as an anchor for the soul, sure and steadfast,
who is within the veil right now." That's Jesus Christ, our
high priest. He's there right now. Be grounded
and settled, unmovable brethren, in the work of the Lord. It says,
though, the waves broke that boat up. Right before our Lord
went within that veil, you know what He did? He had His disciples
meet around a table and He broke bread. And you know what He said?
Take, eat, this is my body broken for you. Broken for you. I must. So you know how we're
saved? By Christ and Him crucified. Christ, our Lord, our Savior,
our Provider, our Keeper, crucified, smitten, wounded, smitten, afflicted,
our sins subsumed, our offering, His blood shed, His death. We're
going to be saved alive because He died, broken forever. And the soldiers, they wanted
to kill the prisoners. These men represent the law,
don't they? They're the law. The law says, kill them all. No. No. That ain't going to happen
according to the Word of God. And he gave the command, willing
to save Paul. Oh, my. The Lord has His people. Nothing moves and nothing harms
us while we trust in Him. He kept them from their purpose.
And He said, those that could swim, cast yourselves into the
sea, get to land, and the rest, some on board, some on pieces
of the ship, Where am I? At the end here. If you cast yourself on the mercy
of the Lord, you'll make it safe. If you lay hold of any promise
that Christ has made, some of them held this peace, some of
them held that peace, there's all peace in the ship. If you cast your care, your soul,
lay hold of any promise Christ made to you, I guarantee you,
from His Word, you're going to make it. Great faith? Enoch walked into heaven, didn't
he? As it were, swimming. Little faith. Wow, look at all
I've got to hold on to. Good enough. A little faith. And it says in the end, it came
to pass. It came to pass. Just exactly
what he said. They were all safe to land. Now that's the record. That's
the story. This is the record that God hath
given to us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. Stand with me. Our Lord, again, we thank You
for Your Word. It is our hope, our help, our
comfort, our instruction. All Scripture is given by inspiration
of Thee. It is profitable for doctrine,
reproof, correction, instruction in righteousness. The man of
God, the woman of God might be thoroughly furnished in all good
works. Faith comes by hearing, hearing by the Word of God. Thank
You for Your Word. Lord, there is nothing we face
that Your people haven't been through and the sheer mercies
of God, the Word of God, the promises of God have kept them. You have kept them. By Your Word,
by Your power, all those that trust in You. Lord, troubles
of our own making, troubles and trials You send to test our faith,
all these things, we believe, are Your mercy and Your grace
for us to bring us to Thee someday. And we thank You for them all.
We ask Your forgiveness of our sins. But we sure thank You for
Christ and Him crucified. It's in His name we pray and
admit here. Amen.