May the Lord help us to consider
his word this morning. Acts 27, verse 44. Acts 27, the last verse in the
chapter, verse 44. I'll read verse 43 as well. But the centurion willing to
save Paul kept them from their purpose. and commanded that they
which could swim should cast themselves first into the sea
and get to land. And the rest, some on boards
and some on broken pieces of the ship. And so it came to pass
that they escaped all safe to land. So this first 44 has been
on our mind and the rest, some on boards and some on broken
pieces of the ship. And so it came to pass that they
escaped all safe to land. May the Lord help us to consider
a little of the background here and that we might then be enabled
to make a few points regarding the spiritual journey. But it's
a glorious end. They all escaped. They escaped
all of them, all 276 safe to land. And this was a natural
deliverance, of course, friends, but there will be the deliverance
of the dear Lord's people safe to land, safe to that haven in
the skies, that mansion that has been prepared for them. But
then to consider the background, and just before we do that, to
name that, This text has been upon us as we had a conversation
on Monday with one of the Lord's servants regarding the different
pathways that the Lord brings his people through to glory. And we were perhaps pondering
those that we've recently known that have passed away, and they,
in their experience, one that passed away a year or two ago,
and how Differently they were led and jet in their last days
to watch them and to see the Lord working and then to bring
them safely to that desired haven. And it led our thoughts to this
word that for the rest here it was a struggle. There were the
naturally strong swimmers who were told to swim but the others
had to cling on. And friends, I believe, as a
child of God, well, they will know at times what it is to be
amongst the swimmers, if we're honest with ourselves, where
the Lord has blessed us and we feel full of the favour of the
Lord, rather like Naphtali of old, but for the most part, There
will be a clinging on, you know, to those various boards and other
pieces which we have come to. But the background in this chapter
is remarkable really because Paul was a prisoner. We mustn't forget here that he
was a prisoner that he must be taken to Rome. And this journey was a dangerous
voyage. And indeed at one point we read
that in verse 10 that Paul was very clear that he admonished
them and said that the voyage would be with much hurt and damage.
And yet we read the centurion who was clearly in charge of
the prisoners and Although he had dealt very reasonably
with Paul, we read that in verse 3, that he courteously entreated
Paul, gave him liberty to go to his friends to refresh himself. You know, friends, it just strikes
me immediately, you know, we fear man in so many different
ways. And I have a circumstance in my own labours at the moment
where I fear in man and how man will respond to something. But
when we see the Lord working in Julius here, to see that all
men's hearts are in his hand, it's a wonderful thing, but that
is a side thought. But Julius was moved then to
do that, and yet, in verse 11, he believed the master and the
owner of the ship, more than the things that were spoken by
Paul. And in some senses, one could say naturally, why shouldn't
he? Because Paul was one of the prisoners and although he had
a regard for him and no doubt a regard for Paul in his own
faith, Paul's faith that is, why should he necessarily believe
him? And so they pressed on. Although
the haven was not commodious, to wintering, they decided to
depart, and so they might attain to Thanissi. Well, you see, verse 13, the
south wind blew softly. You know, I feel, friends, that
there is that in our pathway at times, that we really want
the south wind. We like the south wind. It's
suitable to us. It blows softly. And it's gentle. And our little ship goes along,
bobs along nicely upon it. But the truth is, friends, that
in those circumstances, where is our religion? Where is our
faith? We need stirring up, don't we? We need the storms. We need those
things to go over our head. And I'm looking for a hymn which
I can't find, but it speaks of being beware when we're on in
those gentle waters. And so we should. So we should,
friends, lay out much prayer. Now I'm not saying that we will
always walk in paths of trouble and paths of stormy ways and
seas, but it's just being mindful, friends, that we keep close to
the Lord, that we pray to be kept when we do have those becalmed
waters. And we need the wind, you know,
for the ship to make any voyage in terms of naturally these ships,
these cutters that depended upon the wind in the sails. And we
need it in our sails spiritually, friends. And sometimes the wind
is contrary. And we read that in verse four,
that they sailed under Cyprus because the winds were contrary.
We will know something of it in the pathway, won't we? But
moving on from here, we read that not long in verse 14, after
this period of the south wind blowing softly, there was a tempestuous
wind called Eurocliden, and that wind caught the ship. Yes, you
see, friends, the winds that catch us, the winds of trouble,
the winds of difficulty, the winds of affliction, and these
things that come upon us, and sometimes without warning, and
we are tossed about. You know, I feel the voyage of
the Christian will be something like that recorded in that beautiful
Psalm 107, which records it very much in this way. They that go
down to the sea in ships that do business in great waters.
Now I know there were those that naturally do and have done, but
spiritually we will all know what it is to go to the sea in
ships and do business in great waters. They see the works of
the Lord and his wonders in the deep. He commandeth and raiseth
the stormy wind, the Eurocliden as it was here, which lifteth
up the waves thereof, and they mount up to the heavens, they
go down again to the depths. Their soul is mounted because
of trouble. We will know it, friends. We
will know this trouble. We will know this being mounted.
And it's not easy walking through it, but it's where the Lord brings
his people. Why? They reel to and fro, that's
the effect of it. Oh, now the south wind, He's
not gently sending them along. Now it's the winds really battering
the ship. They reel to and fro and stagger
like a drunken man and are at their wits end. And the Lord
knows where you and I are this morning, friends. But you see,
it's this. Then they cry unto the Lord in
their trouble, profitable times to their soul, profitable times
to the grace that the Lord has worked in them. This is how they
grow in grace, you know. In these times of trouble, they
cry unto Lord, and this, he bringeth them out of their distresses.
He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still. Then are they glad, because they
be quiet. So he bringeth them unto their
desired haven. This storm, the ship was caught. They were being, verse 18, they
were exceedingly tossed with tempest. But before this, in
verse 17, they used helps. And I found this interesting.
So these seafaring men knew how they could shore up using helps,
undergirding the ship. Now what about your ship of faith?
You and I use some natural helps sometimes, don't we? Yes, we
might read some books, we might accrue a bit of help here and
there, we think, and they shore up our ship. But we have to prove,
you see, that our ship can only really be shored up by that help
from above. I will look up onto the hills
from whence cometh my help, my help cometh from the Lord, which
made heaven and earth. We will prove God is our refuge
and strength, a very present help in trouble. Not the help
of man, not the help that we seek ourselves, but that God-given
help. Well, they used helps undergirding
the ship. Yes, fear, unless they should
fall into the quicksands. Now, my friends, there the enemy
has many quicksands for you and I to fall into. And I fear, if
I might speak rightly, that on a Monday morning, the Lord often
puts me near, I put myself, and the Lord prevents me, I hope,
from falling into those quicksands, when we churn over those things. The enemy likes to lead us towards
it, saying, well, that was all very well, that sermon last evening,
but you missed this out, and you missed that, and hasn't the
enemy got a good knowledge of the scripture? And friends, we
prove it, you know, He is able to use the word. And we find
that we need to test very much the words that come upon us and
into our minds, that they are of the spirit and not of the
enemy. But we prove his temptations. They were exceedingly tossed
with a tempest, we read in 18. And so it was. And they came to this period
of seeming darkness where there was this tempest on them. Verse
20, neither sun nor stars in many days appeared. And they
came into a really dark patch. And poor sinner, you and I come
here sometimes. All hope that we should be saved
was then taken away. You know, we get in those places
that we cannot see our signs, we cannot see our hope, we cannot
see the day. I love it where later on, verse
29, it ends up by saying, they wished for the day. These are
real feelings in the Christian believer friends, they long for
the day. Yes. Watchman, what of the night?
Behold, the morning cometh, and also the night, yes, but what
of the day cometh? You see, we shall watch for the
day, watch for the light, the light of the gospel upon our
souls. And there are those dark places,
we need the light again, we need the Lord to appear again, to
lighten our dark pathway and our dark souls. Yes, dark and
cheerless is the morn, unaccompanied by these, says the hymn writer,
and it is so. That darkness. You see, friends, as much of
the gospel in what really here is, in a sense, a historic description
of Paul's journey to Rome and the dangers of it as he sailed
there. And yet so much in it, so much
in it. And Paul then makes the point
in verse 21 that you should have hearkened unto me and not loosed
from Crete. But you see now he says, I exhort
you to be of good cheer. Yes. And you know, I believe
this friends, the Lord gives those in darkness, there is that
time when they will know good cheer. It will come upon them
again. Yes, they will know what it is
to cheer up ye traveling souls. And they will know this, Jesus
Christ, your father's son, bid you undismay, go on. And perhaps that's what you need
this morning, dear friend. You know, it comes to me, my
dear mum was given that couplet as she walked over the bridge
in Paddock Wood to go to the shops one morning, not long after
she felt the sentence of death upon her. She was 49 at the time,
the Lord spared her till she was 57. He gave her a remarkable
promise that she would be spared for longer. yet at that time
was so burdened, but Jesus Christ, your father, son, bid you undismayed. Go on. We're dismayed easily,
aren't we? These things seem to be against
us, but to go on then in the journey of faith. And so they
were encouraged to believe that the no loss of any man's life,
and there stood by one, the angel, of God, Paul was not, and he
would have been, this would have been a mixed company, friends.
He was not afraid of standing up and declaring what the Lord
had spoken to him. And he recommended in due course
that they had said that they would be cast upon a certain
island, and he recommended that they eat, as we read a little
later. But then they started to come
closer to land. Oh, friends, We think of those
that come closer to land. You know, there's still danger.
There's real danger still for the Christian believer right
through the journey till their very last breath. And here they
are coming close to land. And there's danger to the Christian. Let me just come back to that.
The reason being that the enemy is still out to get us. And oh,
how we see it in some of those that have those prolonged illnesses. And of course, that's not the
way with all of the Lord's people. Some are taken suddenly, but
how the enemy wishes to have his last assail upon them. Well, they came here and they
knew they were drawing near as they sounded. It was 20 fathoms
and then it's 15 fathoms deep to the bottom. And they then
started to fear they would fall upon And so they wished for the
day that they might see where the rocks and the land were.
But Paul, you see, said at this time, and they wanted to flee
on to let one down of the little boats from the ship. No doubt they had these boats
there that they would have let down and escaped to land. But
it wasn't to be so. This isn't the direction of the
Lord. And how man was kept here from
doing that that he would do to try and save himself. And how
you and I try to extricate ourselves from our own problems. You see,
we want to let down our own little boat into the sea. That'll help
us. We'll get to land, we'll be able
to resolve this situation. And friends, even in salvation,
if we can do a little bit and get this boat, that'll help on
the journey. Friends, there is that in nature
still, even though we know that Jesus Christ must be the first
and the last, the beginning and the end, the Alpha and Omega,
yet somehow in between, one of those letters, part of the journey,
we want to do ourselves. So we want to let the boat down,
but you say, no, it had to go. The soldiers cut off the ropes
of the boat and let her fall off. Yes, they must stay in the
ship. And you and I, friends, we must
stay in the ship and look into the Lord and to him alone. What
teaching there is in this background, and it's taken longer than I
thought, but it's good. It's good for us to consider
these things. And then they were encouraged
to take some meat. We see the preparation. Preparation,
as we see indeed with the Lord's saints that come down to the
end, there is that preparation for glory and that giving thanks
to God in the presence of them all. And they were of good cheer. Yes. And how the Lord does give
at times those little tokens to cheer us up, to help us on
our way, the blessing here, the favour there, the encouragement. And so we go on. And they knew
not the land when it was day, but they discovered a certain
creek. Now you'd think there's safety. You've got light instead
of darkness. They can see the creek. They
can see where they're going. But, oh, it's now where they
fall into a place where two seas meet that they run the ship aground. And, oh, You see, they're almost
in land, they're almost at the harbour, but here it is, here
it is, that the ship is broken. And the councils decide that
the prisoners should be killed. They don't want them to escape
and to swim out. The prisoners should be killed.
Satan desires that each of the Lord's children, he desires that
they should be destroyed. Friend, I saw, I've never seen
this before, but the centurion here was one that stood between,
you know. I don't know where he stood in
his religion, it's not recorded, but he wanted to save Paul. For
Paul's sake, he commanded, he gave this command, and for Paul's
sake, they were not It could not be so, and neither can the
enemy destroy those that are his. Whatever his taunts have
been to you, poor soul, and whatever his taunts have been to you of
light and me, he may say, destroy, destroy them. But you know, it
won't be so. The centurion, he said, commanded
that they that swim could cast themselves first into the sea
to get to land. Now we come to our text then
friends, but what there is in the background spiritually on
that journey as we launch out into the deep. And of course
we sung a little of it that Jesus holds a helm and guides a ship.
He spreads the sails and catch the breezes and sent to waft
us through the deep. And so the rest, the rest, those
strugglers. And, you know, it's interesting
when I read Gil's commentary on this portion, he says this,
the Lord's people are just about saved. And what he means by that
is there's a clinging on, but they do cling, they do cling. and they are given strength to
cling to the boards, the boards of hope, the broken pieces of
which, friends, I want to speak rightly, but the broken pieces
to me represent the broken body of the dear Lord Jesus. That's
what they're clinging to, because he's made a way of salvation. Yes, those hands that were cruelly
hung on the tree, those kind hands that did such good, they,
we nailed them to the cross of wood. And you see that broken
body, broken for us, broken for sinners. They're clinging to
that, that they should get safe to that haven. And the rest,
oh my friends, are you among the rest, am I? I hope we are. Yes, there will be those times
when we will swim in faith. But you know, we're going to
know this part, the rest, some on boards. The boards are broken. The boards are seemingly just
bobbling along on the water. They're holding them because
they're holding on to it above their head above water. But the
waters are around them. Yes, the waters have gone over
our souls, says one. And it is so with the waters
of trouble and difficulty, but they will not take us under.
We will not be dragged under. No, my friends, because they
escaped all safe to land. And so will each and every one
of the dear Lord's people. It must be so. However strong
and however weak your faith is this morning, friends, the truth
is this. once in Christ, in him forever,
thus the eternal covenant stands and that being in him, you will
be brought through safe to land. You must. And his honour and
his name's at stake to save you from the burning lake. And so
you will get saved to land. You will. led by him brave the
ocean, each tumultuous storm defy as we sang. You see, because
the waves will obey him and the storms before him fly. Yes, the
rest, some on boards. You see, friends, it was interesting. I remember reading Mr. Bradford,
the pastor at Matfield's book on his seafaring days. As you
know, he was in the Navy, but you see, in 1907 he was shipwrecked
off the coast of West Africa and it took him back in his thoughts
to dear old John Newton of Amazing Grace fame who himself was shipwrecked,
well hit a storm off the west coast of Africa and It wasn't
actually wrecked, but they managed to come through, but they thought
they were going to be wrecked. And how the Lord worked in John
Newton. And he says, he said to the pilot
of the ship that day, that it was bringing him, the storm was
bringing him to the Lord Jesus to confess his sins. So it was
with Newton, but Mr. Bradford said this, the words
as he spent three or four days in a fierce storm. And he speaks
of this, that, that hymn came to his mind and was a blessing
to him. Eternal father strong to save,
whose arm doth mind the restless wave. Friends, And this God doth
mine the restless waves that perhaps that are around you at
this time. Yes, he's in control of them.
Oh, for us to remember it, and we have them, don't we? You know,
a little boat, it's being, oh, it's not bobbing now, it's up
and down, and oh, friends, you know this, I wanna speak naturally,
but, There were many when a boat starts to move about, they see
that, they find naturally that seasickness. So it is in our
religion, friends, that we feel ill. We feel that the whole thing
is bringing us down and we have no religion, but friends, what
does it do? It brings us to prayer and exercise
before the Lord. It's good. It's good. One says
it was good for me that I was afflicted. Before I was afflicted,
I went astray. So it is good to have these tempests
and these storms. I know we don't like it naturally,
but it is good for us spiritually. And the rest, some on boards
and some on broken pieces of the ship. And we can imagine
this ship having broken up. Of course, it would have been
mainly made of wood, and there would have been bits of mass,
and there would have been bits of the board of the top of the
ship, and no doubt some of the lower parts. There would have
been doors, and there would have been the edging of the windows. But they were clinging, all of
them clinging to something, and all of them were given something
to cling to. and no doubt each of the things
that they clung to in a broken ship would have been a different
shape and a different size. So it is with a Christian believer
that, as I would put it in this right way, the faith shaped differently,
the work of grace being conducted individually. It's a wonderful
thought and yet they all got safe to land. and with some that
greater work in early years and with others that work, that deep
conviction of sin, with others so gentle it's a beginning that
they can barely see where it was. But you see they got safe to
land but it did strike me what warnings there are that they
thought near to the haven when they could see everything was
right for them not, for the ship not to be grounded. And that's
the very time that it was grounded. Oh how we do need to lay up prayers
for our end. How we do need to seek to be
prepared and how we do need to have that right religion given
of God. It's so struck me when I was
thinking and Pilgrim's Progress you know and you see Christian he struggled
when he got to the river but he was with hopeful and hopeful
said brother the bottom is good and it was a strength to Christian
as they waded through those waters to cross the that final Jordan
as it's referred to. But you see, ignorance found
an easy way over. Ignorance found a boat and vainglory
carried him in the boat over the river. And now he's ascending
the hill to the celestial city. Yes. Now ignorance then has come
to that point where he knocks on the gate and the messengers
come from God and the angel messengers and speak to him and ask him
for his pass. You know friends, we got some
Dutch, we got a Dutch CD and it's got this wonderful hymn,
Is Your Passport Right? Passport for Heaven. And it brings
me to that thought this morning that we do need it to be stamped,
don't we, with the blood of Christ. We do need that complete and
finished work to be clear and certain. And so you see ignorance. He fumbles in his bosom and there's
nothing there, nothing there. He's got nothing to offer. Take
him, take him, cast him. Even there, even at the gates
of heaven, there is a way to hell. Cast him into hell for
eternity. Well, my friends, if our beginning
is right, our end will be. But oh, may we plead, may we
beg and ever be before the Lord desiring to be in that right
way, because even at the end. You know, I will name it, but
my dear mother-in-law, soon after she entered into hospital, she
felt that last verse of hymn that God willing we'll sing this
evening, but she felt that last verse of hymn 320, to be on her
spirit, blind unbelief is sure to her and scan his work in vain. God is his own interpreter and
he will make it plain. And for a period, it was a help
to her. But the enemy got hold of this word and he said to her,
yes, the Lord will make it, God will make it plain that you are
lost. And of course, as a family, we
said to her, well, that simply cannot be the case. But when
the enemy's at work, he chips away. And he did at her firstly
when she was in her final illness. But oh, how thankful we are that
the Lord came in. and he cast that aside and he
drew near with his presence, we believe, on two occasions.
You see, the thing is, we do have a great enemy and you can
see it when you look at this ship and when you consider how
there was that, it was destroyed and yet they all had something
to cling to. Yes. Well, we world friends,
we cling to the cross of Christ, won't we? We're clinging to him,
I believe. He will have us to do it. And there's nowhere else, nowhere
else at all. I think Paul speaks of the way
that he had to come in the journey. He said that I've had journeyings
often in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, yes, in perils
by mine own countrymen. in perils by the heathen, in
perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils
in the sea, in perils among false brethren. Yes, in weariness and
painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, and so
on and so forth. But, you see, in all that, the
Lord was with him. And so, friends, Those experiences
are indicative of the experiences of the child of God, but they
all got safe to land and they escaped. They escaped and we
shall escape. Who shall escape? How shall we
escape if we neglect so great a salvation? Friends, we won't
be left to neglect it despite what the enemy says, because
we shall escape safe to land. Yes, perhaps there will be those final
gasps as we get to land, but we will, friends. I believe it
to verily be the case that he will bring us through. He will
bring us through. And I'm trying to think of a
word that Paul writes regarding that. the fear of shipwreck of faith. That's what we fear. And yet,
it cannot be so. The little ship of the Christian
will be safely landed on those shores above. You see, when he
says, I go and prepare a place for you, it spoke to his children in that
way, that that place was ready. But, They're having to fight
the battle to get to that place as strengthened and enabled by
him. And there's so much against it,
isn't there? But all 276 souls. Yes, and the word promise given
unto Paul came to pass. Now friends, if you and I had
been given a promise regarding our never dying soul, that will
be one of the boards. That promise or promises They
will be one of those things that we will cling to, you know, and
they will help us to get to land. And at times the Lord refreshes
them, renews them, brings them back to our soul and brings them
back to our thoughts and considerations. It's a wonderful mercy. Well,
the rest, some on boards, some on broken pieces of the ship.
And so it came to pass that they escaped all safe to land. Well, we sung this, rendered
safe by his protection, we shall pass the watery waste. We shall, friends. And perhaps
there's that thing before you in the week ahead, you know,
and you wonder how the scene will end. Well, I believe friends,
on a broken board, you will get through that and there will be
many more storms ahead. But so beautiful are those words. You know, I had a really difficult
day at work once many years ago and got in the car and felt completely
broken down under it. And it just these few words came
in spoken by the Lord to his disciples. And there was a great
calm. Well, any in turmoil, may the
Lord softly speak those words to us. And there was a great
calm. You know, there will be an eternal
calm in heaven. We can't begin to imagine it,
friends. And the rest, some on boards
and some on broken pieces of the ship. And so it came to pass
that they escaped, all safe to land. Oh, man.