All right, we want to look at
Acts 27. We want to spend a little time
looking at this entire chapter, and indeed it ties completely
into chapter 28. I've been looking at this for
a couple of weeks, this Acts chapter 27, and I don't think
I've ever felt so inadequate and so overwhelmed. looking at
something as I have this Acts 27, I kind of had an idea of
what I felt like that the Lord would have me to say regarding
this. And it just kept exploding, just
kept opening up and opening up. I'm just overwhelmed by all the
mercy and tender grace that's contained in this portion of
God's Word. So I've tried to just pick a couple of things
at your leisure, if you can, spend some time and go through
these verses, putting these in a spiritual application. This
journey that Paul took to Rome, in a physical sense, put it in
a spiritual application to our walk here below and the troubles
and trials that we we indeed face, that our Lord sends our
way. I thought as I looked at this,
I was reminded of Jeremiah 29. Look over there for just a minute.
I want to begin this and we'll get the title of our message
from this. Jeremiah 29. The Lord had sent the people
of God, His chosen people, His special people. He had brought
them into captivity in Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar had marched there
and gathered many of those people. taken them back to Babylon into
captivity, and Jeremiah, under the inspiration of God Almighty,
sent these people a letter. And that's what's contained here.
And we'll pick up in verse 4, and the letter begins and says,
Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, unto all that
are carried away captives, whom I have caused to be carried away
from Jerusalem unto Babylon. And that really caught my eye
right there. This is God's people. This is his special people. And
who caused them to be carried away? He did. He did. It's God's
will. And we find these things here
in our walk here. The Lord brings us into these
places and these times and overwhelming trouble. And He says to them,
while you're in this place, in this foreign place, they don't
speak the language, their customs are so contrary, like we are
here in this walk here below. But He said, while you're here,
don't just sit and mope around. He said, build houses. Go over
there and build houses. Dwell in them. Plant gardens
and eat the fruit of them. Take you wives, and beget sons
and daughters, and take wives for your sons, and give your
daughters to husbands, that they may bear sons and daughters,
that you may be increased there and not diminished. And seek
the peace, seek the peace of the city, whether I have called
you to be carried away captives, and pray unto the Lord for it.
For in the peace thereof shall you have peace. For thus saith
the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, let not your prophets
and your diviners that be in the midst of you deceive you,
neither hearken to your dreams which you cause to be dreamed.
For they prophesy falsely unto you in my name. I have not sent
them, saith the Lord. Thus saith the Lord." Is this
going to be just a brief time of trouble? A toothache that's going to last
overnight is going to be prolonged. They're going to be in the valley
for many years, many years. And it may be that the Lord will
be pleased to bring us into the valley for a long period of time.
But here's the promise that's so encouraging to believe. Thus saith the Lord that after
seventy years be accomplished at Babylon. Who's going to visit
them? I will visit you. I will visit you and perform
my good word towards you in causing you to return to this place.
Seventy years they're going to be over there. For I know the
thoughts, this is the Lord speaking, speaking to us. I know the thoughts
that I think towards you, saith the Lord. Thoughts of peace. Isn't that comforting? Thoughts
in a time of trouble? In a place of captivity? When
your world's caving in all around you? I know my thoughts towards
you, the Lord saith. I know what my thoughts are.
They're thoughts of peace and not of evil. And here it is.
It's the title of the message. And expect it in. I know my thoughts. I'm going to give you an expected
end. And I thought as I was looking at this Acts 27, this is what's
going on here. This is a physical journey for
the Apostle Paul. He's in captivity and he's going
to Rome. He's going to appear before Caesar.
And in a spiritual sense, here we are. Here we are. Children
of God. Brethren of our Lord Jesus Christ.
He who came and died for us and washed us from all of our sins.
We are in this journey. We are in this walk here below.
We're in this place of captivity. We're in this place of trouble
and trial. The Lord said, in this world, in this world, and
we can all testify to this to a degree, greater or lesser,
you're going to have trouble. You're going to have tribulation.
And if you haven't, there's certainly, if the Lord carries his return,
there's certainly that very distinct probability. that troubles just
around the next bend in the river. And when those times happen,
when those things we're visited with by our God, this is a place
of comfort. This is a place of safety. This
is a place to uplift us and encourage us. We all know the story. We all know the background. Paul
was brought before the council there in Jerusalem. He was tried.
He was brought before Herod. He was brought before Agrippa.
He was brought before Festus. And ultimately, when they began
followed down the road of punishing him, he said he was a Roman citizen
and that he would plead his case before Caesar. So there was a
band of centurions, there was a centurion and a band of Roman
officers that was going to escort him to Rome. And that's where
we pick up here in chapter 27, verse 1. And when it was determined
that we should sail into Italy, they delivered Paul and certain
other prisoners unto one named Julius. This is a centurion that's
in charge of this band of soldiers. that's escorting Paul and other
prisoners also up to Rome. And entering into the ship, we
launched, meaning to sail by the coast of Asia, one Aristarchus,
a Macedonian, of Thessalonica being with us. This is a fellow
laborer of Paul in the Gospel. This was a man that we were introduced
to in other places in the Scriptures, and he's on this journey also
with Paul. And they left. They sailed out
into the sea and headed on their journey towards Rome and Paul's
in captivity and he's going to go up there and appear before
Caesar. And verse 3, And the next day we touched Sidon, and
Julius courteously entreated Paul and gave him liberty to
go into his friends to refresh himself. Here we are. Here we
are in this captivity. The Lord has crossed our path
like he did Paul. Paul was 40 years old. Paul was
a rebel. He was a religious rebel. He was a Pharisee of the Pharisees
and religious and persecuted the church in all of this way
that believed in the Lord Jesus Christ and followed after the
Savior. And the Lord crossed His path
like He crosses all of His children's path, all of His sheep's path.
He crossed His path. And Henry used to say He unhorsed
Him and put Him in the dust. And that's what He's going to
do with all of us, all of us sinners. He's going to put us in the dust.
He's going to show us what we are and who we are and our inability
to do anything that in the favor of God, and He's going to show
us that our only hope is to flee to the Lord Jesus Christ. That's
what He did to Paul. And yet, Paul enters into this
spiritual journey then. He enters into this that's going
to come to this expected end. One day this silver cord will
break, and I no more shall sing, but oh, the joy when I awake
in the palace of the King, and I shall see Him face to face. What an amazing... That's our
expected end. And we're on this journey to
that expected end. One day He'll remove this tent.
One day He'll remove us from this land of captivity and trouble
and sorrow and grief and fears. And He'll remove us and He'll
bring us to Himself. That's the expected end. And
it's absolute, it's sure, it's as steadfast as God Almighty
sits on the throne and rules in the armies of heaven and among
the inhabitants of earth. None could stay his hand or say,
what are you doing? It's absolutely sure. It's chiseled
in stone. That's our expected end. And
along this journey, along this journey, Paul's on this journey. He's in captivity. He's in captivity. He's going up there to Rome and
going to face trial under Caesar. And yet along the way, look at
this, the Lord done something in this centurion's heart. I'm
going to do something for this prisoner Paul. And they stop
at this place and there's believers there. There's those of like,
same precious faith as Paul. And he tells Paul, he said, go
over there and visit with your brethren. Isn't that something?
And that's what God gives us here in this journey. In this
journey, in captivity that we are, going to our expected end,
He gives us these. You see that? Verse 3, Julius
courteously entreated Paul and gave him liberty to go unto his
friends to refresh himself. Is this a refreshing place? Huh? Is this a refreshing place? Can
you just hardly wait to get here? Can you just hardly wait to get
here and hear of our Lord Jesus Christ, what He's done for us,
what He suffered and endured for us? Isn't that amazing? And you of like, precious faith. Is it not joyous to see one another
and to fellowship with one another and tell what great things our
God has done for us? Here even in this captivity,
Paul encounters these other believers, as we do, in this journey along
the way. Yet on this journey, there's
going to be trouble. Yet on this journey, there's going to be
trouble. The Lord said, Be of good cheer. I've overcome the
world. In this world, you're going to have tribulation. And
Paul didn't want to go. Paul didn't want to go down this
road of trouble and trial. You see that here, look here
back in chapter 27, look here in verse 9. They launched from
that place where Paul had fellowship with the brethren and they went
out, back out into the sea and it was late in the year, the
time for sailing was past. There was times when the winds
were commodious for sailing, them old sail ships, you know,
they relied strictly on the wind, strictly on that to transport
them across the sea. Well, there's a time that you
can do that and then there's a time when that passes. This
time it passed. This time it passed because the
winds weren't favorable to make this journey now. And now when
much time, verse 9, when much time was spent and when sailing
was now dangerous because the fast was now already passed,
Paul admonished them. And Paul said to the centurion,
and he said to the captain of the ship and the owner of the
ship, and he said, ìSirs, I perceive that this voyage will be with
her in much damage, not only to the lady of the ship, but
also of our lives.î Nevertheless, the centurion believed the master
and the owner of the ship more than those saints which were
spoken of Paul. Now, here in this journey, weíre on to our
expected end. There are those things that arise.
The Lord gives us wisdom. The Lord gives us some insight.
He gives us... Listen to that still, small voice.
Listen to that still, small voice. You remember when Elijah, after
he had challenged those 450 prophets of Baal, you remember that? He
stood there on Mount Carmel. He said, God's my God. Let it
be known this day that thou art God. And the fire fell. Remember that? And he took those
prophets and killed all those false prophets. And Jezebel,
the queen, said, I'm going to do the same thing to Elijah.
Elijah was fearful, and he went running out into the wilderness.
Forty days he was out there, hiding in a cave out there. And
the Lord came to him and spoke to him in a still, small voice. Listen to that still, small voice.
Elijah, what are you doing here? He said, I'm the only one left.
Only one. He said, I've got 7,000 that
haven't bowed their knee to Baal. You go back there and preach
to them. You go back there. And the Lord speaks to us. He
speaks to us through His Word. He speaks to us. He raises these
men up. We're going to have a visiting man of God, a servant of God
here this morning, Brother Joe Terrell. I have no idea what
his notes had on them. But I can promise you the end
of them notes is going to be about our Lord Jesus Christ,
about hope in Him and faith in Him and trust in Him. He's our
rock. He's our deliverer. He's our sacrifice before God.
He gives us these... We've got a discerning ear. We've
got a discerning ear. Spurgeon, I think it was Spurgeon,
said, I don't know anything about playing the piano. I don't either.
I'm just sitting in amazement at Mike over here playing that
piano. I don't know anything about how
you do that. But I know one thing. When he hits a sour note, I know
at the end. And we all know it. And when
we hear somebody up ranting and raring on television or whatever,
we've got a discerning ear. The Lord's given us that. Listen
to that still, small boy. Listen to what He's given us.
And Paul knew. Paul knew. Trouble's coming.
Let's don't go. Let's don't go any farther. We
need to stay right here. We need to enter right here. Look over here in verse I'll find it here in a minute.
Bear with me. I'll find it. Yeah, verse 24. Verse 23, ìThere stood by me
this night the angel of God.î This is later on in his journey.
ìBut there stood by me this night the angel of God, whom I serve,
saying, ìFear not, Paul, thou must be brought before Caesar.îî
Now it must be. That's the expected end of this
physical journey. He's got to end up up there.
Paul's now saying, this don't go. We're not going to go because
trouble's out there. I perceive that we've got trouble.
We're not going to make this journey. But yet he's got to
go. He's got to go because there's a certain island out there. There's
a certain place that he's got to land. He's got to preach to
those barbarous people there on that island. Now the storm
arises. Paul said, I don't want to go.
Paul's on this journey to this expected end. And there they
go out to sea. And the wind is not blowing at
all. And there they set. And then all of a sudden, this
terrific storm arises. This storm arises just out of
nowhere. And this little ship is tossed to and fro. And they
can't guide the ship. They don't have a direction that
they want to go in. But the wind overwhelms them and just takes
them where they don't want to go. And they've got no control
over it. Do you ever feel that way? Do you ever feel that way
in this journey here? Do you ever feel that way when
the world just It just overwhelms you. And you can't see daylight,
you can't see the stars and the moon and the sun, and you don't
know... How am I going to get out of this? There's no way to
get out of this. There's no way to get out of this. I'm just
overwhelmed. I'm weeping. I'm fearful. I'm sorrowful. My whole world's turned upside
down. Do you all know something about
that? Paul certainly knew something about it. Paul certainly knew
something about it. Paul knew, Paul knew, I've got
to end up at Rome. I've got to appear before Caesar.
And yet, on this journey, this is one of God's choice servants. This is one that the Lord used
to write over half of the New Testament. This is the Apostle
Paul, and he's out there at sea on a ship, in a ship, and the
trouble is all around him. And it's over what, 276 people
on that ship, and none of them combined. can do anything to
repel the force of this storm. They're going to go where that
storm is going to take them. And here we are, here we are
in this journey to our expected end. And it may be that the Lord
is going, who do you think sent that storm? Do you think this
was an accident? Do you think, my goodness, if
that captain had just been a little more alert, if that fellow had
just steered a different course, he should have known these things.
Who commands the storm? Who rides upon the storm? Who
commands the wind? Well, they was in this storm.
Was it just a twenty minute shower like sometimes we have? Sometimes
we're out there in the yard in the summertime and it's just
beautiful. And then all of a sudden you hear something rushing over
the hill and you see the leaves turn belly up and the trees bend
down. And it's coming. It's coming.
And it comes through with such violence and such force. Thunder
rolls and lightning cracks and the downpour of the rain. And
it's gone. Suddenly and quickly, it's gone.
It served its purpose and it's gone. And maybe I'm the only
one in here. When the Lord brings me into
the valley, I want Him to bring me out just as quick as He brought
me in. Don't we? Aren't we that way? This was
14 days. This was fourteen days. Fourteen
days of violent storm. That ship all rolling up and
down. Seventy foot waves all around
it. And the Lord just didn't deliver them as soon as He brought
them into it. And I think there's a good lesson
to learn here. There's a good lesson to learn here. And I hope
we learn it. I hope we learn it. You know
the old writers. I read John Gill. laborious effort for me
to read John Gill. John Gill said Job's trial lasted
seven years. Seven years. Do you remember
what the Lord said when Satan approached the Lord? The Lord
said, have you considered my servant Job? Ain't nothing like
him. Ain't nothing like him anywhere. He's perfect. He's perfect in
Christ. He's perfect. He's upright. He
lives what he says he believes. He walks. And puts forth that
that he holds in his heart to be near and dear to him. He's
perfect, he's upright, he fears God. He fears God, he respects
and honors God who rules on high down here among the inhabitants
of the earth. And he avoids evil. He hates evil. He does evil? Yes he does, but he hates it.
He hates it. That's the description of Job.
And yet the Lord gave Job into the hands of Satan. He'll sit
for seven years. This is a choice servant. None
like him. None like him in the old ways.
Perfect and upright. And yet the Lord turned him over
to Satan for seven years. You remember that when our Lord
was here in His public ministry and He went to that place called
the Pool of Siloam. You remember that? Do you think
it was any accident He was there? Do you think that man that had
that infirmity for 38 years? Do you think it was any accident
that the Lord crossed His path? Around that Pool of Siloam lay
sick people. Twenty-five deep. And the Lord
stood in the midst of all those sick people. Supposedly when
the angel came down and troubled the waters, whoever stepped into
the waters first was healed from whatever their infirmity was.
All these people laying around there. All of them sick. Some
of them people was helping them, trying to get in the water when
it was troubled. Here laid this man back there. Laid back there
on a cot. Way back there. And our Lord
passed through all those people. Stepped over this one and that
one and went back to that one. He'd been laying there for 38
years. And the Lord went to him. He
said, I don't have anybody to help me. He said, when the water's
troubled, I make my move. Can't you just see that fellow?
38 years. Can't you just see him on his
hands and knees and crawling down towards that water trouble?
Whoever gets in there first, the Lord's going to heal them.
He can't get there. He said, somebody steps in before
I do. I've been in this shape 38 years. You think the Lord
always intended? You think the Lord, before He
ever formed the heavens and the earth, intended to save that
man? He sure did. But He left him there for 38
years. 38 years. Jonah was in the belly
of the fish three days, three nights. I may be able to handle
that. 38 years. It's grace. That takes
grace. 14 days. This storm raged and
rocked that boat. And all hope was gone. You see
that? Look at verse 20. And when neither
sun nor stars in many days appeared, and no small tempest lay on us,
all hope that we should be saved was then taken away. All hope
gone. All hope gone. I remember hearing
a story years ago. I think it was Charles Wesley.
I'm sure Mike knows this story. Joe probably knows it. All of
them probably know it. If I know it, everybody else
probably knows it five years ago. But old Wesley was in his
house there one night and a violent storm come up and he was still
in his bed clothes. He had his robe on ready to get
ready for bed, you know. And that wind, rain was blowing
in through the open window there. He went to shut that window.
He walked towards to shut that window. Had that big old robe
on, you know. In flew, through that window
flew a little bird. Flew right inside his robe. He
said he could just feel that little heartbeat. He said that
bird was terrified. That bird was right inside old
Wesley's big robe, you know, safe and dry and secure. Wesley
went right to his desk and he sat down and he wrote this song. Jesus, lover of my soul, lift
me to thy bosom, fly. While the near waters roll, while
the tempest still is high, Tide me, O my Savior, high, Till this
storm of life is passed, Safe unto the haven God, O receive
my soul at last." That's the place these people were in. That's
the place Paul was in. One of God's children. One that
the Lord Jesus Christ came and hung on the cross and said, Father,
forgive me. Forgive me. He said that about
us. He's crossed our path and given
us faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Given us that to flee to Him
and lay hold of the Savior. And we're in this journey to
our expected end. And along the way, you know something
about trouble. And it may not be quick. It may
not be an overnight trouble. It may be prolonged. It may go
on for a period of time. And you just think, all hope's
gone. All hope's gone. No, no, no. But, but, look at this, verse
24 through 26, fear not, fear not. Look here, verse 24, angel
of the Lord, angel of God, whose I am and whom I serve. Paul,
in the midst of all this, you know, I hope nobody's like me,
but When these storms come, boy, I can't see out. I just get overwhelmed. I just get down and I get depressed
and I get sorrowful and all those things. Paul, in the midst of
all this, the angel of the Lord appeared to him. Paul said, I
serve the Lord. I serve Him. Whose I am and whom
I serve. And he said, fear not, Paul.
Fear not, Paul. Thou must be brought before Caesar.
God hath given thee all them that sail with thee. Wherefore,
sirs," listen to this, here it is, wherefore, sirs, time of
trouble, time of trial, time of weeping, sorrow, sirs, be
of good cheer, I believe God. I believe God. I believe He can
do what He says He's going to do. What does He say He's going
to do for His people? He's going to bring every one
of them to be with Him for all eternity. He's going to save
them from their sin and shame. He's going to wash them in the
blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. He's going to robe them with
that perfect robe of righteousness. Huh? I believe God. It shall be even as it was told
me. What was told Paul? You've got to go to Rome, Paul.
What's the spiritual occupation of that? We've got an expected
end. Already determined. Already set. Already chiseled
and sewn. And it's as sure as the Lord Jesus Christ sits on
the throne beside the Heavenly Father. That's how sure it is.
We're going to go to that expected end. And nothing can stop us.
Paul said, okay, be a good cheer. Be a good cheer. And here's the
warning. Stay. Stay. Stay in the ship. Don't leave
the ship. Don't leave the ship. Stay in
the ship. Stay in Christ, no matter what comes. No matter what the Lord is pleased
to send our way. Stay in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, down here, beginning in verse 27, After
this 14 days, after all this trouble and after all this trial
and heartache and sorrow and all hope was gone, land is near. Land is near. When the 14th night
was come, as we'd driven up and down, about midnight, the shipmen
deemed that they drew near to some country and sounded and
found it was 20 fathoms of water. And they sounded a little bit
later and it was closer. The water was getting shallower
and they knew they was coming upon land. And look here, verse 30, ìAnd
as the shipmen were about to flee out of the ship, when they
had let down the boat into the sea, Paul said to the centurion
and the soldiers, ìExcept these abide in the ship, except these
abide in the ship, trouble all around. All hopeís gone. Weíre
not going to escape this.î Paul said, ìStay in the ship.î Thatís
the encouragement that we have here when all these things are
brought our way. Whatever you do, don't leave
Christ. Don't leave Christ. I believe God. I believe God. And it will be just as it was
told me. And that ship run into where
the two seas come together. There was an inlet there. And
that ship run in there, run aground. And that storm was still so violent,
it broke that ship in half. The front part stuck right ashore
there. But that last part, that back
part, It was all broke up into little bits and pieces. And some
of them soldiers, they said, let's kill them prisoners. Kill
them prisoners so they don't escape. And the centurion said,
no, we're not going to kill any of them. And some of them launched
out of that ship. Some of them could swim. Some
of them couldn't swim. But they grabbed on to pieces
of the boat. They grabbed on to little slivers. And they made
it. Every one of them. 276 of them.
Not a man was lost. The Lord preserved every one
of them and delivered them safely to that island. Now on that island
there was barbarous people. You remember the story. A big
fire was built to accommodate 276 people. He was going to feed
these people. And a snake came out of that
fire and latched right on to Paul. And they thought, well,
this guy's a murderer. Let's sit and watch him die.
God wasn't going to kill this man. This man's going to appear
before Caesar. He ain't going to die no matter
how many snakes come out of that fire. It's determined. He's got
an expected end. And so they just watched and
waited for him to pass out and die, you know. Nothing happened
to him. And they said, we're going to
hear this fella. This fella's a God. We're going to hear this fella.
And the ruler of that island, Publius, he had his father was
sick. He went there, Paul went there, and the Lord, through
Paul, healed that man. And all the people on the island
came. Paul healed those people, every one of them, from their
sicknesses and diseases. And he was there three months. What
do you reckon Paul done in those three months that he was there?
He had the attention of all those people. All of them. Look to
Paul. Paul said, now that I've got
your attention, let me tell you about the Lord Jesus Christ.
It's not recorded here anywhere. I believe the Lord had some sheep
in this place. I believe Paul didn't want to
go. Paul said, let's winter here. No, no, we're not going winter
here. We're going to go out and we're going to go ahead. And
that storm came and overwhelmed that ship and they crashed onto
that island. Paul was there the whole winter, three months. I
believe he preached to those people. I just believe that the
Lord honored that preaching. I believe the Lord had some people
there. And then they left, and uneventful from then on, and
went on up to Rome where Paul had to appear before Caesar.
He got there. Wasn't it lucky on Paul's part
that they gave him his own house to live in? And he could have
visitors. This is public enemy number one. He's up there at Rome. Nero hates
him for breathing even. And yet here Paul is up there
in his own home. He's up there for two years.
And people come and he preaches to them. He preaches to them. Where is that here in the latter
part? I'll probably not be able to find it. I love these people
that can use notes. Yeah, here it is. Chapter 28. Look at this. And when they had appointed him
a day, there came many to him into his lodging, to whom he
expounded and testified the kingdom of God, persuading them concerning
Jesus, both out of the law of Moses and out of the prophets.
From morning to evening, and look here, some believed. Some
believed the things which were spoken. Some believed none. Well, we've been put on this
journey. The Lord has crossed our path,
mercifully and graciously. He's crossed our path with the
Gospel, and He's given us faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. And
He's put us on this journey. And along the way, oh, we fellowship
with one another. We're so glad to meet one another
and talk about what the Lord has done for us. But along this
way, there's going to be trouble. There's going to be heartache
and there's going to be sorrow. Stay in the ship. Don't get sidetracked. Don't launch out with a little
boat. Don't launch out here somewhere on your own. Stay in the ship. There's safety in the ship. The
Lord promised Paul, said, everybody stays in the ship, they're going
to be saved. Everybody stays in Christ. Cling to Him. And
I believe Him. I believe He said what He's going
to do. He's going to bring us to our expected end, which is
joy and happiness with our Lord Jesus Christ for all eternity.
I hope that's been... Like I said, it's just... Dealing with the Word of God
is not what you say, it's what you don't say. Because there's
just so much that I left out. But at your leisure, go back,
look through this. This is a place of much comfort.
This is a place of much hope in time of trouble. Go back and
find this journey of Paul to his expected end and what happened
to him along the way.