Alright, let's turn to Acts chapter
27. You know, we sing a song like How Firm a Foundation,
a song like I Need Thee Every Hour. We read a psalm like that,
Psalm 8, Out of the Mouth of Babes. We hear that said a lot
when some child, cute little child says something, you know,
God's messengers are His babes, sinners that have been made to
submit to Him and set forth His Gospel. And He's ordained, founded
strength, established strength in the world because of His enemies
through the Gospel. The acts of the apostles are
the acts of our King. He really is reigning. He really
is alive. He really is seated upon a throne
and He really is working and He has chosen to work His work
of grace through the preaching of the gospel that declares this
very truth about Him. And that's It's been the case
throughout our study in Acts. We've seen great miracles of
His grace that He's done. What great lengths He's gone
to, to put the Gospel where He would have it to be preached,
and what great miracles He's brought through that Gospel in
the hearts of chosen sinners. And so, tonight's no exception.
We've been looking at this account of these men in this ship, and
they're going to take Paul to Rome. He's a prisoner, but he's
God's prisoner. He's God's messenger, and he's
in this ship. And this tempest has come upon
the people. God controls the tempest, and
it's laid heavy upon them. They're exceedingly tossed to
the point that they have no hope of saving themselves. There's
no hope in them. Well, Paul's in the same boat
with them. He's sitting right there in the same boat, in the
same ship with these folks. And yet he stands up in the midst
of them and he declares this word from the Lord to them. And here's what he says, Acts
27, 22. And now I exhort you to be of
good cheer, for there shall be no loss of any man's life among
you but of the ship. Where'd you get that, Paul? Where'd
that come from? God reveals in the hearts of
His people, through His gospel, through His Spirit, He reveals
His promises, what He's promised to do for each of His chosen,
redeemed, called children, and those promises are just what
He promised Paul here. He said there in verse 23, "...there
stood by me this night the angel of God." King, our Savior, our
God has promised to dwell in our midst. He said, I'll never leave thee
nor forsake thee. That's a promise. That's the
Word of God. He gives assurance by His promise
in Christ that where He is, where His purchased possession. Paul
says here, verse 23, whose I am. How did He get to be Christ?
God put him in Christ before the world began. Christ redeemed
him, bought him with His own, purchased him with His blood. He said through Isaiah, I've
graven thee upon the palms of my hands. Your walls are before
me continually. That's a promise of God to His
people that He purchased and you belong to Him. Paul said,
Whom I serve. You know how he got to that place?
He said in Romans 1, I was called of God and separated unto the
gospel of Christ. He says, woe be unto me if I
don't preach the gospel. I've been called and as I have
received mercy in the same manner, the same method that I received
mercy of God, I faint not. And I keep delivering the word
of this grace to needy sinners. God promises He'll honor those
that honor Him. Paul said, I'm serving Him. And
he says here that he said to him in verse 24, Fear not, Paul.
This is the Word of the Lord. He's promised to never leave
his people without a comforter. He said, Fear not, Paul. He speaks
through the Spirit, through the comforter, and he says this,
I, the Lord thy God, will hold thy right hand. saying unto thee,
Fear not, I will help thee. Fear not, thou worm, Jacob. You're
helpless. There's no doubt about that.
You're a helpless worm. You men of Israel, you're chosen
of God. God's Israel. He said, I'll help
thee, saith the Lord, and thy Redeemer, the one who purchased
you, the Holy One of Israel. He shall do as He says He will
do. He's the Holy One. Now these
are problems. This is the Word of God. Our
God promises His people through the Spirit of God, bearing witness
with our spirit, that we shall be saved. He says here in verse
24, Thou must be brought before Caesar, and, lo, God hath given
thee all them that sell with thee. This is what the Lord said.
The Lord of glory, the Holy One of Israel said this, My sheep
hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me, And I give
unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall
any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father which gave them
me is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them out
of my Father's hand." These are promises of our God. These promises
that come when the Gospel is preached in truth. And faith
rests everything on the Word of God. Faith rests everything
on the Word of God. Believe in God. Believe in what
He's done. This gospel, these promises,
He makes us not ashamed to trust Him and to tell others to trust
Him. He says here in verse 25, Wherefore,
because God made all these promises to me and He's effectually made
them clear to me that this, He will not leave me. He has spoken
to me. He is keeping me. He is teaching me. He said, Wherefore,
sirs, be of good cheer. For I believe, God, that it shall
be even as it was told me. How be it? We must be cast upon
a certain island. Salvation is God casting his
people upon a certain island, upon the Canaan, shores of Canaan. And he must, according to his
promise, according to his word, according to the work that Christ
has wrought, according to the witness he's borne in the hearts
of those he's called by his grace, he must, deliver them to that
shore, and they shall be delivered there." Now, when God reveals
the certainty of His salvation in a sinner, this is what I want
you to see tonight. When He reveals this certainty
of His salvation in a sinner, the gospel doesn't work lasciviousness
in a man. It doesn't do that at all. The
gospel is the very gospel, the only gospel, the power of God
which makes His children obedient and makes them follow Him and
makes them trust Him to save them. And it's only through the
preaching of His gospel that He makes them useful to save
other sinners. We have some illustrations here
of what believers do who really have been called of God and who
really believe God. We have some illustrations here
of that. Now these are works of faith. These are the fruits
of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ unto the praise
of the glory of God. Our God does reign and He reigns
in the hearts of His people and He does it through this Word
of the Gospel. Now beforehand there was all this chaos and
all them fighting and trying to deliver themselves and then
they're brought to the end of themselves and Paul stands up
and he declares this Word of this Gospel. And now On this
side of the Gospel, we start seeing how God begins to work
in His people. The first thing we see here is
that through His Gospel, God makes His children to look up,
to look away, and watch in hope for Him. Look at verse 27. When
the fourteenth night was come, as we were driven up and down
in Adria, about midnight, the shipmen deemed that they drew
near to some country. Now Paul had told them. He said,
we must be cast on a certain island. Well, it was the fourteenth
night since Paul told them this. But
they're waiting, aren't they? The believer is made to wait
with long patience. He's waiting. They were driven
up and down in the sea. The tempest was still blowing. But we're not looking at things
below, are we? We're looking at things that aren't seen. We're
looking with the eye of faith. We're looking with a good hope
at what our God's promised He shall perform. We look at things
above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. And
this was about midnight when this happened. We don't know
the time, do we? We don't know when he's coming,
we don't know when he's returning, but we're watching. We're watching. The Lord said this, blessed are
those servants whom the Lord, when he cometh, shall find watching.
Watching. Verily, I say unto you, he shall
gird himself and make them to sit down to meet and will come
forth and serve them. This is what we'll do. Here's
the second thing. These are works of faith. These
are fruits of righteousness. These aren't the works that religious,
natural religion likes to boast about. Because they can't do
these. Can't affect these in anybody. Can't make anybody do
these. You can't discipline another man into this obedience. This
happens one way, by the power of God, the Holy Spirit, through
the preaching of the gospel of Christ, which is the power of
God unto salvation. Find out what that word is. Find
out what that word is. Here's what He does. He grows
us in grace and knowledge of Him through the gospel, and He
makes the believer trust the Lord more and more. First Acts
27 here, it says in verse 27, About midnight, the shipmen deemed
that they drew near to some country. Now watch what they do here.
They sounded and they found it 20 fathoms. And when they had
gone a little further, they sounded again and found it 15 fathoms.
It is getting more shallow. It looks like we've seen land
and now the water's getting more shallow. Then, fearing lest we
should fall upon rocks they cast four anchors out of the storm
stern and wished for the day now do you remember what they
did before the storm and before this word of grace when they
were trusting in himself you remember what they did what a
contrast a picture The contrast of a picture of unbelief that
we saw in them. First thing, they wouldn't listen
to Christ's ambassador. They wouldn't listen to what
Paul said. Second thing they did is they gloried in men. They
gloried in the master of the ship, in the wisdom of men. They gloried in the owner of
the ship, riches. And they gloried in their own
will, what the Moorpark wanted, what everybody wanted to do.
And they gloried in their will, and when that south wind blew,
oh yeah, we've obtained our purpose. And they worked feverishly to
save themselves when the storm came. They just kept working
and working and working, even when they feared before. It said
they feared the shallow waters and things, but they just kept
on working, trying to save themselves. That's an example of what it
is to make provision for the flesh. That's an example of what
it is to fulfill the lusts of flesh. The flesh don't want God
to save us. The flesh don't want to submit
to God. The flesh don't want to submit to God's Word. The
flesh don't want to have anything to do with God. The carnal man's
enmity against God. A carnal man hates God. boasting in our ability, boasting
in our self-will, boasting in that we can save ourselves. You
can't save yourself from a common cold, much less from the wrath
of God. But now here we have a picture
of growth in grace. Look at this. They've been told
to be of good cheer. They've been told that no man's
life is going to be lost. They've been told they've got
to be cast on a certain island. They deem they see this island.
They see the water is getting more shallow. But fearing less
we should fall upon rocks, This fear has a different effect upon
them, doesn't it? They just cast out anchors and
waited. Waited. You see, when the believer hears
the gospel preached, and he's taught these things, and he learns
them in his head, in his heart, he believes them, but God's going
to bring you providentially into storms of trial, and He's going
to make you to understand He really does do what He says He
will do. And He is reigning in this earth,
in the hearts of His people, in His church, just as He says
He is. And when He does this, we grow
in grace and we grow in knowledge of Him. And when we do that,
brethren, we see the dangers that we face in this earth and
our inability to save ourselves from them. We're no match for
the tempest. They've seen that. We're no,
without Christ the light, we're in darkness, just like they were
in darkness. They couldn't see very well.
And there's a lot of jagged rocks. The nearer we approach the shore,
the nearer we approach final glory, all through this life,
and the nearer we approach, there's many jagged rocks that would
sink us, brethren, that would just, we'd be lost. but growth
in grace is not growing more confident in yourself. That's
what the world teaches you to do. That's what the world's gospel
teaches you to do. Be more confident in yourself,
but the growing in grace teaches us to be less confident in ourselves
and more confident, persuaded that God alone is able to save
and that he shall. That's growing in grace. and
His promises, these promises He makes to us of sure salvation
in Christ. These are the things, this Word
of this Gospel, this is what makes us draw nearer to Him and
hug up to Him and drop the anchor and ever be waiting and watching
on Christ the Light. to lead us and to guide us and
direct us. Look over at Romans 13.11. There's
something about this scripture that made me think of Romans
13.11. But look at this. This is what I'm saying. Romans
13.11. And that knowing the time, that
now it is high time to awake out of sleep. For now is our
salvation nearer than when we believe. You know what I picture
on that ship? I picture this word sort of going
through the ship. Hey, we've seen land. They're in the middle of a storm
and this word's going through. And I just picture them all coming
up there and just looking. Waking out of sleep and coming
up there at midnight and watching. And saying, you know what? Our
salvation is drawing near. It's drawing near. And he says
here, he says, the night is far spent, the day is at hand. Let
us therefore cast off the works of darkness, those works of self-will
and self-confidence and self-righteousness and self-salvation and self-understanding
and all things selfless. Cast off the works of darkness
and put on the armor of light. Let us walk honestly as in the
day, not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness,
not in strife and envying, but put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ
and make not provision for the flesh to fulfill the lust thereof.
Drop anchor. Just drop anchor and wait. Well,
that's what growth in grace is. Growth in grace. Third thing,
this word of promise, this gospel, hearing this gospel preached,
God's going to grow His sheep, His children, to cast off every
other provision and just simply abide in Christ, more and more. Verse 30, And as the shipmen were about
to flee out of the ship, when they had let down the boat into
the sea under color as though they would have cast anchors
out of the foreship. Now these shipmen are in the
front of the ship. They're up at the front. They heard the
same word that Paul stood up and preached. They heard the
same word come out of his mouth. And they go through the same
motions of those that were in the back of the ship that threw
out the anchors and waited. They're going through the same
motion. They have a form of godliness in what the picture is here.
But they're doing it under color as a disguise. Though they would
have cast anchors out of the foreshield. They went up there
pretending like they were, they believed just like these others
did. But what was their hope? Their hope of salvation was in
something else other than the ship. They want to get in the
lifeboat and be saved by the lifeboat. Do you see the wickedness
of unbelief? They're looking somewhere else
and they're willing to leave everybody in that ship and forsake
them in that ship just simply to save themselves. The rest
of you, be damned. We're getting in the lifeboat.
It's going to save us. That's what they're saying. What's
the cure? What's the cure for that? What's
going to cure you and me of trying to get in the lifeboat and saying
the heck with everybody else and just trying to save ourselves?
What's going to prevent that self-serving, selfish spirit? What's going to stop it? What
are we talking about? Word of this Gospel. Look what
Paul did. Verse 31, Paul said. He just
stood up, declared the truth to them. Paul said to the centurion
and to the soldiers, except these abide in the ship, you cannot
be saved. We see a type of Christ in this
ship, don't we? Except you abide in the ship,
you can't be saved. The Word of God was that the
ship would be lost. Remember, Paul said that the
ship's going to be lost. And he says here, but if you
don't abide in this ship, you're going to be lost. How's that? How's that? Well,
we have the benefit of looking ahead here and we can see what
happened to this ship and how it's a picture of Christ. Look
at verse 41. falling into a place where two seas met, they ran
the ship aground, and the fore part stuck fast and remained
unmovable, but the hinder part was broken with the violence
of the waves." Christ Jesus is our ship of salvation. He's God
and He's man. A body hast thou prepared me.
And He offered that body. That body was broken. He offered
that body through the eternal spirit. He sacrificed His humanity
on the altar of His deity. It gave it eternal saving efficacy. Now two sets, two kinds of seas
met on Him, didn't they? Mercy and justice. Mercy and
justice met in Him. Justice broke Him in the violence
of the wrath of God. Just like this ship was broken.
And that very act whereby he gave himself an offering unto
God, his soul an offering unto God, that very act is God's mercy
in saving all those he gave to his son. His son justified him
when he did that. And that's God's mercy. Every
one of them, every one of them has got to be saved. They're
going to receive mercy. These two seas have kissed together
in harmony and it's stuck, it's stuck fast, immovable. Christ
is raised from the dead and He's seated at God's right hand. What
He did, He succeeded in doing. His people shall be saved from
their sins. He saved them already and they're
going to be brought to a knowledge of it and know it. By the faithfulness
of Christ Jesus, the righteousness of God is manifest. God in mercy
justly justified his children. and through this Gospel of Christ.
God reveals this. This, His righteousness. This is what He reveals in the
Gospel. If this is not declared in the Gospel, His righteousness
is not set forth in the Gospel. It's not the Gospel at all if
His righteousness is not set forth. And He reveals this in
His people through the Gospel. And He gives life and He gives
faith to each one He's justified. and those in whom He reveals
Christ in. You know what they say? Look
at Romans 1.16. This is what they say with Paul. Romans 1.16. A few pages to your
right. I am not ashamed of the gospel
of Christ. Why? For it's the power of God
unto salvation to everyone that believes. This is how I came
to know the Gospel. This is how I've been grown in
grace. This is how my hope is grown. This is how I'm fed. This
is my food. This is my life. This is my nourishment. The Gospel of Christ is the power
of God unto salvation. Not just calling you out that
first hour, but continuing this work of grace, this work of grace,
this work of growing and nurturing and ministering. It's the power
of God unto salvation to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
For therein, in this gospel of Christ, is the righteousness
of God revealed from Christ the faithful to those God gives faith. And the just, those he justified,
shall live one way, by faith. That's it. And now Paul says
to them, sitting here, you see a picture of this, he says, now
except you abide in this ship, you can't be saved. Except you
abide in Christ, you shall not be saved. That's what Christ
said. He said, abide in me, and I in you. This is what John said. Look
over here, 1 John 1. He says that which was 1 John
1, let's start in verse 1. That which was from the beginning,
which we've heard. You see, I can't tell you something
I hadn't heard. Which we've seen with our eyes.
I've seen Christ. by faith, which we've looked
upon, our hands have handled of the Word of Life. He is this
Word. You can't separate this Gospel
from Him. He's the Word. He's the Word
of Life. The Life was manifested. We've seen it bear witness, show
unto you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested
unto us. The Word was made flesh and dwelt
among us. And that which we've seen and
heard, what do we do? Declare, preach we unto you. Why? That ye also may have fellowship
with us. Fellowship. This is what we're
talking about. Fellows in the same ship. Abiding
in the same ship. He says, you're going to have
fellowship with us. It's going to be one way if you abide in
this ship. And he says here, and truly,
our fellowship, our abiding, is with the Father and with His
Son, Jesus Christ. One. One with the Father, one
with the Son, one with His brethren. One. How did He do that? He did
it through the Gospel. And here's what the Gospel revelation,
here's what it will cause you to do. Cause you to do in the
first hour, cause you to do every day of your life of faith. This
is what it will cause you to do. Verse 32 in our text. Then the soldiers cut off the
ropes of the boat and let her fall off. As Brother Bruce Crabtree says,
you can't have Christ in any just-in-case boats. It's all
Christ or nothing. They cut the boat and let it
go. No lifeboats. Christ is our life. He's our ship. We're going to
abide in Him. We're going to stay in Him. Alright brethren,
that's the gospel now. This is how He grows us. Now,
let me show you this fourth point. This gospel strengthens us. So
we desire this gospel more and more. And thus it strengthens
us more, and thus we desire it more. And it strengthens us more,
and we desire it more. Look at verse 33. While the day
was coming on, Paul besought them all to take meat, saying,
This day is the fourteenth day that you have tarried and continue
fasting. And what he means by that is
they just wasn't eating. He said, You have taken nothing.
As long as we are worrying and working to save ourselves, We will worry
more and work more to save ourselves. And we'll cease eating this gospel
bread. And when we stop eating this
gospel bread, we don't want this gospel bread. Our health gets
worse and worse and worse. We don't want to be around the
brethren who want this gospel bread. We don't have any oneness
with them, any fellowship with them. This gospel is health. to us. It is our life. Look at verse 34. This is all
in picture here, brethren. He says, Wherefore I pray you
to take some meat, for this is for your health. Now look, here's
the meat. This is the promise of the meat.
There shall not a hair fall from the head of any of you. Consistency
in all areas. Consistency comes from a steady
diet of hearing these precious promises preached from God's
Word. And if somebody doesn't think that's so, they're slapping
in the face the Apostle Paul, Peter, James, John, all the brethren
who bore so much ridicule and shame and cursing and shipwreck
and stripes and punishments because they were used of God to go forth
and preach this gospel. It is, it is. Job said, I desire
it more than my necessary food. They were worried over all these
big things, you know. They were worried about the ship.
Wanted to protect their ship and all their goods. They were
worried about the waves. They were worried about the winds. They had all these big, broad
spectrum of things on their mind that they were worried about.
And it's everybody in chaos trying to man this ship and do all these
things and save everybody. Everybody be saved by themselves.
But now, and when all that happened, they were just exceedingly tossed. But listen to this promise of
God that settles our heart. There shall not a hair... I doubt they were very worried
about the hairs of their head. This is God's promise to His
people. There shall not a hair of your head, a hair fall from
the head of any of you. He's going to save me that minutely,
in that great detail. That settles my heart. That gets
me focused in on one person. And all those big things that
I'm troubled and worried about now, they're behind me. I'm looking at one now that is
able to save me to the uttermost, even the hairs of my head. And
the more we feed on that Gospel, The more our hearts are cheered
by that gospel, and the more we want to hear those promises
of that gospel, and the more we desire to eat of this bread,
and the more one we will be with our brethren. Watch it now in
type here. They were all tossed before,
all running around, bumping into one another, just oh. But now,
they sit down, together with Paul and with one another. Look,
when he had thus spoken, he took bread and gave thanks to God
in presence of them all. Now brethren, this is what This is what I do, I take this
bread and I ask God constantly, Lord bless this bread, this gospel
bread, Christ the bread, Christ the meat, Christ the life, bless
this to the nourishment of the bodies of your people, of your
body, of your saints, bless this to them. And when he had broken
it, he began to eat. Paul didn't wait on them. Paul
said, I'm going to be a leader in this thing. I'm eating, I'm
going to eat. And then were they all, all,
you see they were all of good cheer. They heard that promise,
not even a hair of your head is going to fall to the ground.
And they were of good cheer. And they also took meat. They
sat down and ate. You know, in the very beginning,
I saw this, I'm gonna embarrass my wife probably, but I saw this
in the hospital. In the very beginning, a baby,
an infant, has to be taught where the milk is. And they have to
be taught how to eat it. So they don't even know how to
do that. That's the very first lesson for an infant. for a baby,
for a babe. That's the very first principle
of a babe in Christ, taught to a babe in Christ, where the milk
is and how to eat it, where to get it. The Corinthians, they
were rich people. Let's turn to 2 Corinthians.
I want to make this point to you. I mean 1 Corinthians. 1 Corinthians chapter 2. They
were rich people. They were in a most prosperous
area, the Corinthian brethren were. Full of, I mean, material
riches. And they were full of the world.
And they were minding earthly things. And they were missing
this gospel food. And the result was, they couldn't
hear it. They couldn't delight in it.
They were full of division amongst themselves. division toward one
another. Now look what Paul says, 1 Corinthians
2, 2. He says, I determined not to know anything among you save
Jesus Christ and Him crucified. This is the strong meat. And
he said, I came to you to declare to you this strong meat. Now
look over at chapter 3, verse 1. And I, brethren, could not
speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto
babes in Christ. I have fed you with milk and
not with meat. For hitherto you were not able
to bear it, neither yet now are you able." Everything he's going
to feed them with in this first letter that he has here, it's
not strong meat. It's baby food. They got to get
some of these things taken care of and repent from these division
and these dead works and minding the things of the flesh so they
can begin to feed on this sincere milk, milk of the word. You're
not, now are you, neither yet now are you able, for you're
yet carnal, for whereas there's among you, this is what happens
when you mind the things of the flesh. There's envying and strife
and divisions. Are you not carnal and walk as
men? Some were saying, I'm of Paul,
I'm of Apollos, I'm of Cephas. And some were saying, I'm of
Christ. I don't need anybody to teach me. Babies, absolute
babies, just like that infant that has to be directed to her
mother's breast to even have any understanding that this is
where the milk's coming from. And so Paul spends the first
two chapters of 1 Corinthians dealing with the importance of
hearing and feeding upon the gospel of Christ, declaring why
God, it pleased God to do it this way. And this is what made them sick
and divided and all this thing. Where there is no eating, there
is no health. Where there is no health, there
is no cheer. But listen to this, Jeremiah
said, Thy words were found, and I did eat them, and Thy word
was unto me the joy and rejoicing of my heart. For I am called
by Thy name, O Lord God of hosts. You know what Peter said? Wherefore,
laying aside all malice and guile and hypocrisies, trying to act
like we're wise when we're babies, and envies and all evil speakings
as newborn babes, A little harmless baby, all it
knows is, I just need to eat this milk. I just want this milk.
As newborn babies, desire the sincere milk of the word that
you may grow thereby. If so be you have tasted, the
Lord is gracious. If you've tasted it, you'll want
another taste. You'll keep eating, keep eating, keep eating. Do
you find a critical spirit in you? Do you find that when something
happens, your first reaction is to point the finger. It's
always somebody else's fault. Rather than considering I might
be the one at fault, rather than considering it might be sin that's
in me, rather than considering that maybe I just need to bear
this burden and bear with this one or that one. You need to
eat the bread. Need to eat the bread. Need a
steady diet of this gospel. Feed upon it. Feed upon it. Well, somebody might say, but
I need strong meat. You know, a baby is sure to say
that. But I need strong meat and that meat's not strong enough
for me. I can assure you this, God's going to give bread enough,
the right bread, the right food, to every one of His children
in His ship. Look at verse 37. Acts 27, 37. And we were in all,
in the ship, two hundred, three score, and sixteen souls. And
when they had eaten enough, there was plenty. If you're one of
His children, you're numbered. God knows you. He knows you better
than you know yourself. If you're one of His children,
you're numbered in His ship. And I can assure you of this,
if you will consistently hear, come to the table, and feed upon
this gospel, you will consistently find that there's meat just for
you. Meat just for you. Guaranteed. I guarantee it. I know it. I
know it. I know it. And I'm going to be
like Paul. I'm eating. If you don't want
to eat, eat. But I'm eating. This is health. It's health. And then that's how, through
this gospel, that's how He's going to make us useful. He's
going to make us useful by feeding us and strengthening us this
way. Now the work of righteousness is finished by Christ. It's done. There's nothing to be added to
it. Our reward is Christ the Lord. There's going to be no
covetousness in glory. We have exceeding riches in Him. Everything we could desire we
have in Him. We're not working for a reward. We want to serve
Him because He's grown us and He's made us useful. But now
there are all types of jobs in the church that have to be done
that make us collectively be able to get this word out, to
cast this bread out upon the waters. But in order for us to
be useful to do that, we've got to eat and be strengthened to
be able to do that. You see a picture of that here,
verse 38. When they had eaten enough, they lightened the ship
and cast out the weed into the sea. When are you going to be
used of God? Be spiritually healthy and used
of God to cast the bread upon the waters and God bless the
word and save sinners by it. When is that going to happen?
When you have a hunger and a thirst for this gospel yourself. You
think about this. I tell somebody, well, y'all
should go over here to Hopewell. There is a good restaurant over
there. It's one of the best restaurants.
And they go, and I'm not there. And they go again, and I'm not
there. And they go again, and I'm not there. And they keep
showing up, and I'm not there. And they ask people at the restaurant,
you ever seen Clay? We don't even know who he is.
I'm not going to be very credible about that, Emma, that I think
that that's good food for you. Not very credible at all. When
am I going to be credible? When I'm living on this bread
myself and people are beholding, man, he's eat up with this gospel.
It is his health. He loves it more than his necessary
food indeed. And that's what he's going to
do. When he makes us useful is when he set our mind on the hope
of God's promise of what God said He'll do through His Word.
Verse 39. When it was day, they knew not
the land. They didn't know this place.
They'd never been there before. All this is going to be new to
us. All these things that are going to come up are going to
be completely new to us. We're not going to know it. But we have
His promise, don't we? What He said? That's our hope.
And look what they saw. They discovered a certain creek
with a shore. There was some land there in
this creek. They looked up and it wasn't all just jagged rocks.
There was a way. God had made a way. And they
saw that. And they have this promise. They're
going to be delivered. The people are going to be delivered.
Abiding the ship, you're going to be delivered. And because
they had this hope and they were grown in this knowledge and this
understanding, it says, into the which they were minded. They
had their minds set on this one spot. If we can get right in
there, fellas. Right in that spot right there. But this time,
look at this, they're not saying, oh, we've obtained our purpose,
we can get in that spot. They were minded if it were possible. We're minded. We see the things
now and we say, if the Lord's willing, only He can bless this
world. But if He's willing, He's willing
to thrust in the ship. You see this hope that comes
through this gospel and it sets our minds and it gives us, we
trust that the Lord's willing on this. It strengthens His children
to commit to Him through this Gospel. Look at verse 40. When they had taken up the anchors,
they committed themselves into the sea, and loosed the rudder
bands, and hosed up the main sail to the wind, and made toward
the shore. Who controlled the wind? God
did. In the beginning, they were trying to set sail against it.
Now, they just commit to Him. This is a picture of faith. This
is being committed to what God has promised and what God has
said He would do, and they're just committed to it. They're
just committed to it. And then, there's something else
He'll give us through hearing this Word. He'll give us a merciful
spirit. Look at verse 42. And the soldier's
counsel was to kill the prisoners, lest any of them should swim
out and escape. They weren't hearing this word.
They weren't hearing this promise. Those who aren't hearing it,
they're bound in prison themselves and they want to bind others
in prison. And if there's a possibility
that the others are going to be set free, they'd sooner kill
them than see them go free. Oh, I've heard people, saints
being delivered out of that bondage of religion and those folks from
whence they came. Just kill them with their tongue. Kill them with their tongue.
You better repent. You know good, sorry, scoundrel.
Kill them. But, when you hear this gospel
and you're made useful, God's going to give you a merciful
spirit. Look at this. 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. Mercy. Mercy. Now, brethren,
when we hear this gospel and He works this, it gives us a
hunger and a thirst after it. Gives us hope that He's really
going to do what He says He's going to do through this gospel.
Makes us committed to Him and to the work that He's promised
to perform. And when He's brought us to this
place and made us to now no longer want to deal harshly and critically
with our will and our hand and our yoking, but to deal mercifully
with one another. Now, you'll be useful and God
will use you. Before then, nothing but envy
and strife and division and not fit for anything. Not fit for
anything. Well, here's the last word. Verse 44 at the end. Through
this gospel, God will do what He says He will do. And so it
came to pass. that they escaped all safe to
land. Every one of them. The Lord God asked this question.
Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread, and
labor for that which satisfieth not? It don't satisfy God, it
won't satisfy you. satisfieth not, hearken diligently
unto me, he said, and eat ye that which is good, and let your
soul delight itself in fatness. And then he said, if you go home
tonight, read Isaiah 55. He said, then I'll use you. Nations
will come to you. My people out of every nation,
kindred, tribe, and I'll use you and draw them. I'll say to
the north, give up. To the south, hold not back.
To the east, to the west, let my people come. And you'll be
useful then. But that gospel's gonna set our
mind and our affection on one and make us know he's doing the
work. It's his work. It's his power.
And we got none. He's going to make us witnesses
before He ever uses us to bear witness of Him. He's going to
make us witnesses of what His power and grace works in the
heart before He ever uses us to say a word about Him or blesses
that word. I pray that's a blessing to you.