Let's turn in our Bibles to Acts
chapter 27. Paul wrote to the Corinthians,
the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness. But unto us which are saved,
it is the power of God. It pleased God to save and to
continue saving unto salvation through the preaching of the
gospel, which declares that salvation is of God, of Christ Jesus the
Lord accomplished on the cross at Calvary. Now, to you who are
saved, though this gospel is delivered through just earthen
vessels, just men, This gospel is to you the power of God unto
salvation. The message of the cross, Christ's
finished work, what he accomplished on behalf of his people is the
power of God. And it's wrought in the hearts
of his people through the preaching of the gospel. And this word
is to us, we long for it. By his grace he's given us an
earnestness to hear it, to feed upon it, more than our daily
bread, and that's right, that's so. Yet many women who perish
do so because they glory in their own wisdom and they glory in
their own understanding rather than surrendering to Christ whose
word of grace is delivered through the preaching of the gospel.
What will it take to you who are perishing in your sin who
count this gospel foolishness, what will it take for you to
give yourself to Christ? To count the cross of Christ,
the preaching of the cross of Christ, to be the power of God,
what will it take to make you to surrender to Him and to feed
upon His Word of Grace through the Gospel. That's what I want
to try to see in God's Word tonight. Now our text is the account of
the Apostle Paul as he's being carried by the Roman guard to
stand before Caesar. But we're looking at this sea
voyage to learn spiritual lessons about how God brings His children
to hear the Word of God. Now Acts 27 verse 21 we read,
But after long abstinence, Paul stood forth in the midst of them
and said..." Now he stands up and he declares the truth of
the Lord to them. And not long after this, we will
find that the centurion and many of those on board this ship began
to listen to Paul and to heed the word that he delivered to
them. But that was not the case in the beginning. Back in verse
11, we saw, nevertheless, the centurion believed the master
and the owner of the ship more than those things which were
spoken by Paul. So what made the centurion go from disregarding
this word delivered by Paul to now regarding the word delivered
by Paul and heeding it? What happened? Verse 13. When
the south wind blew softly, supposing that they had obtained their
purpose, loosing thence they sailed close by Crete. But not
long after, there arose against it a tempestuous wind called
Uroclodon." Now we have here an illustration of the storm
that God is able to create in the inner man of every vessel
of mercy. And here's what I want you to
see tonight. Through the mighty hand of God, through the operation
of His grace, the Spirit of God always brings His children to
hear His gospel. And He honors His faithful servants
that He sent to declare it. And He brings those chosen children
of grace to Christ's feet to save them. Now, the measures
that we're going to see here that these sailors took, these
are good measures to take that any good sailor would take when
a storm comes upon him. But the spiritual lesson is what's
important. That's what's important. All
sinners are by nature like these sailors, like what we're going
to see here. We use natural wisdom, we use fleshly wisdom, we make
every attempt to save ourselves, but God's chosen. through his
word, through the preaching of the gospel, to bring the wisdom
of men to nothing and the understanding of the prudent to nothing. For
after that in the wisdom of God, the world by its own wisdom knew
not God. It pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. And here's why, that
your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the
power of God. Now, here's the first word of
the gospel. Humble yourselves under the mighty
hand of God. Humble yourselves under the mighty
hand of God. Verse 15. And when the ship was
caught and could not bear up into the wind, we let her drive. Now this ship was caught by the
hand of God. The Scriptures tell us He causes
the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth. He maketh
lightnings for the rain. He bringeth the wind out of His
treasures. Fire and hail, snow and vapor,
stormy wind fulfilling His word. Now their inability, this ship's
inability to bear up, to face the wind, shows us our inability
to face God. That's what we see here. That's
who we see in this wind that's fighting against them, is God.
If you want to strive against Him, you're going to lose. You're
going to lose against Him. They had no choice but to submit
to the Lord. And that's the same with you
and I. We have no choice but to submit to the Lord. God resisted
the proud, Beers said, and give us grace to the humble. Humble
yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, that
He may exalt you in due time. Now, here's the second word.
No amount of working on your part will settle your heart from
the fear of death. Verse 16, running under a certain
island which is called Clauda. Remember now, remember it's the
wind that's driving them. That is, it's God that's driving
them. And He drives them under a certain
island and gives them a little relief from the storm behind
this island. Now what are they going to do?
They began to work feverishly to save themselves, to save their
ship, and to save everything in it. Verse 16, and running
under a certain island, which is called Clauda, we had much
work to come by the boat, which when they had taken up, they
used helps undergirding the ship. The boat is the dinghy, the dinghy,
the little boat. Some say they towed it behind
them. Some said it was on board the ship and it took a lot of
work to get it up, to be able to use it or what have you. They
used helps. That means all hands on deck. Everybody that was able to help
them, they called on them to come help. And they undergirded
the ship to try to protect it from the force of the waves and
the force of the winds. The way of natural man is always
to have a backup plan. It's always to have a backup
plan. But in the way of salvation, it's all of God's grace. It's
by Christ Jesus through faith in Him to save with no dingies
and no helps and no undergirding. It's to be held by God our Father
in the eternal hands of His sovereign grace through the blood and righteousness
of Christ Jesus the Lord, trusting in His Spirit to lead us and
direct us and guide us. We're not far from this text
in Isaiah, but we're going to soon see that when God describes
the land He's bringing us to, He describes the ships as not
being carried about by masts and sails and oars. all of this much work they did
when they got through doing all this much work. Surely now, after
doing all this, their hearts are at ease and they're at peace.
Let's see. Verse 17. And fearing. Uh-oh. You mean after all that work
they're still fearful? and fearing lest they should
fall into quicksands, that is some shallow water that's out
by this island, they strake sail and so we're driven. As long
as we keep trying to save ourselves rather than submitting to God,
we never do enough so that the fear of perishing is gone. Only Christ's finished work for
His people will cause His vessels of mercy not to fear. That's
the only way. That's why He came. Look at Hebrews
2. Hebrews 2 verse 14. For as much then as the children
are partakers of flesh and blood, those given him from before the
foundation of the world, he also himself likewise took part of
the same. Here's why, that through death,
his death, his laying down his life, he might destroy him that
had the power of death, that is the devil. He destroyed him
by putting away the sin of his people. He took away the ammunition,
the accusations, the cause of accusations. Who shall lay anything
to the charge of God's elect? It's God that justifies. It's
Christ that died. He took away Satan's power. And this is what he did. He came
to do and deliver them who through fear of death were all their
lifetime subject to bondage. You see, the fear of death is
what's driving these sailors. The fear of perishing is what's
motivating these sailors to do what they're doing, to try to
save themselves. They don't have any rest. They
don't have any peace. And so it is with lost sinners,
in religion and out of religion. No peace, only bondage. Until
Christ comes, he's done the work at Calvary, but until he comes
in the power of his grace to the Holy Spirit and works this
work of grace in the heart and makes us to behold that we are
free from all bondage, will we cease from our labors and find
peace and rejoice that we shall never perish. In fact, If you
are indeed fighting against the mighty hand of God, and you are
a vessel of His mercy, you can be sure of this, the more you
fight against Him, the more the tempest is going to grow against
you. Look at the next verse, verse
18. And we, being exceedingly tossed with tempest, the storm's
getting worse. The storm's getting worse. Why
did the Lord... Turn to Ephesians chapter 4.
You notice those words there, we're exceedingly tossed with
tempest. Why did the Lord Jesus Christ
send His messengers to preach the gospel of His finished all
victorious work? Why did He do that? Look at Ephesians
4.14. That we henceforth be no more
children tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine. by the
slight of men and cunning craftiness whereby they lie in wait to deceive. We turn it over to Hebrews chapter
6. Christ is the believer's hope. He is the covert from the storm.
He is our refuge. He is our safe haven. He is our
hiding place. This is the gospel of God's salvation. He is the anchor of the soul.
Christ Jesus is the high priest who, in behalf of His people,
bringing honor and glory to God, declaring God just and justifier
of all those whom God gave Him, of all those He will bring to
believe on Him by God-given faith. Christ Jesus, the High Priest,
has entered into the presence of God. And brethren, when He
arose, Those who died with Him at Calvary came out of that grave
and arose with Him and sat down with Him at the right hand of
God. He's entered into the very holiest
of holies, into the very presence of God to make intercession for
His people. And they're going to be saved.
This is the anchor. Look at Hebrews 6.19. Which hope
we have as an anchor of the soul. both sure and steadfast. And which entereth into that
within the veil, whether the forerunner is for us entered,
even Jesus made a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. This is our anchor. This is our
hope. This is our steadfastness. And it's God gave Christ Himself. Who is this hope? Who is this
anchor? Who is this sure and steadfastness? The one in whom God's immutable
promise is yea and amen. This one sent forth preachers,
pastors after His own heart to declare the work He's done and
He is doing in the midst of His people. So that He brings His
people to be no more children, tossed here and there on the
storm and on the tempest, but to be anchored in Him, to be
steadfast in Him and not be carried about by every wind of doctrine.
We even, us who walk by faith, who are called by His grace,
how often do we find ourselves turning again to our own wisdom
and our own understanding rather than feeding upon this Word nourishing,
being nourished by this word, we neglect it, and then we begin
to be tossed, and we begin to look to ourselves to save ourselves,
and we become carried about like children, like children. Oh, we sacrifice feverishly,
don't we? We really get to thinking, we
really get to thinking that our job and our home and our clothing,
and our bank account, and that next business deal we're going
to make, we get to thinking that's our salvation. That's our security. That's what's keeping us in this
world. We far too often feel that way, and we come under the
mighty, faithful, chastening hand of our God, and He corrects
us. And it's a storm, but it's a
storm of His grace. It's the storm of grace is what
it is. Has God brought that storm into
your soul? Whether you know Him or you don't.
Has He? If He has, if there's any inkling of this need for
Christ in you, you want to hear this next word. Now listen to
this next word. This is the third thing. It's
not enough for us to sacrifice. We must first give ourselves
to God. To Christ. Look at verse 18.
And we being exceedingly tossed with a tempest, the next day
they lightened the ship. They threw some things overboard.
And the third day we cast out with our own hands the tackling
of the ship. Matthew Henry said, any man will
rather make shipwreck of his goods than of his life. Many will rather make shipwreck
of faith and a good conscience than of their goods. Why is that
the case? Man is willing to do anything
but give himself. The rich young ruler, he came
to the Lord asking what he must do. And he was willing to do
whatever the Lord told him to do except for one thing. Give
Himself. Give Himself. And that's what
the Lord commanded him. Forsake everything else and give
yourself to Me and follow Me. He was too big a fish, too big
a boat, had too many irons in the fire, too important to give
himself to Christ and follow Him. What about King Saul? Do you remember him? King Saul
was given a word to go and to do as God commanded. And he went
and he was to slay all the rams and all the sheep in this land. And he got there and he got to
looking at them. And he thought, these would be good, fat, healthy
rams to take back and offer up to God as a burnt offering. And
so he took them back and he offered them to God. He sacrificed those
things to God. But you know what he did in doing
that? He didn't submit himself and give himself to God. And
Samuel came to him and he said, Hath the Lord as great a delight
in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the
Lord? when we're tossed to and fro,
we'll be the last to obey the voice of God and the first to
be concerned about everybody else not obeying it. Isn't that
right? That's been my experience. When
I've neglected this gospel, I'm the first one. I've experienced
this. Be the first one. The last one
to heed and the first one to be concerned about everybody
else, but the fact that I haven't given myself to it. He said what? To obey is better than sacrifice. That's what Samuel Toth saw.
And to hearken, to obey and hearken, to hear and to heed his word,
to obey his word, this is better than the fat of rams. Now listen
to what he says rebellion is. It's as the sin of witchcraft. And as stubbornness is as iniquity.
You who are perishing, who count the word of God foolishness,
the preaching of the cross of Christ foolishness, your stubbornness,
your stiff neck, it says iniquity. And he says, an idolatry. Because you know who we're really
worshiping? Ourselves. We're not giving ourselves to
him, we're worshiping ourselves. We got an idol, a big fat eye
for an idol. because thou hast rejected the
word of the Lord, Samuel told Saul. God's rejected you from
being king. The Lord Jesus Christ didn't
only give up the glory he had with the Father, he didn't only
come to where his people were, he didn't only make himself of
no reputation, he didn't only go about serving sinners as the
servant of God, but he gave himself even unto the death of the cross. I'm the good shepherd, he said,
the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. Peter said,
who his own self bear our sins in his own body on the tree,
that we being dead to sins, dead with him, dead to sins, should
live unto righteousness. give ourselves to Him. That's
what He's saying. By whose stripes we've been healed. Been healed. Christ also hath
loved us and given Himself for an offering and a sacrifice to
God for a sweet-smelling savor. Greater love hath no man than
this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. You know,
when Jonah was in the ship, he was rebelling against God, and
the sailors in that ship were casting everything overboard.
And when God broke Jonah's heart through that tempest and broke
his heart, you know what Jonah said? Take me up and throw me
into the sea. A broken and a contrite spirit. A broken and a contrite spirit. A broken and a contrite heart.
Oh God, thou wilt not despise. That's the sacrifices with which
God is well pleased. When our Lord Jesus Christ gave
himself, you know what he was doing? He was giving himself
to God. as the servant of the Lord, as
the Son of Man, as the righteous God-man, as the Man of God, He
was giving Himself, even unto death, manifesting, declaring
the true, perfect, spotless faithfulness of all those who are brought
to lay hold of Him. And this is that spotless faithfulness,
brethren. He trusted His Father to deliver
Him through that storm of that cross, in the shame of being
made sin for His people, to sit with Him again in His throne
in glory. You trusting Him for that? Remember the brethren in Macedonia?
Paul said this, First they gave their own selves to the Lord,
and unto us by the will of God. That's what they did first. They
gave themselves in trusting their salvation, their eternal soul's
well-being, everything, everything that matters. They gave it all
to Christ, trusting Him to deliver them to Canaan's shore. And they gave themselves to serve
the church. They gave themselves to be a
help to Paul, to serve with Paul, to walk with Paul, to strengthen
Paul, to help him to do whatever he needed to be done for one
reason. Not just for Paul's sake, though
they loved Paul, but for the sake of him who gave himself
for them. That's why they did it. Who was
used to write the Acts of the Apostles? Luke, the physician. God, in His grace, in the storm
of His grace, just like it's the experience of every believer
born of God, in the storm of His grace, He turned Luke and
caused Luke to give himself to Christ and to give himself to
Paul and to the furtherance of the gospel and to be a help in
the ministering to needy, lost sinners. Now let me ask you something. You may prove me wrong on this.
I've searched this, but I'm pretty sure what I'm going to say here
is so. But if you find something, I'll stand corrected. But I don't
find anything in this book about what Luke did as a physician
to help anybody. But he wrote the Gospel of Luke,
and he wrote the Acts of the Apostle, and through that, God
has thoroughly, completely, wholly healed a multitude. Isn't that
right? Aren't you glad God did this
work of grace in his heart? We wouldn't have the book if
he didn't. We wouldn't have this account if he didn't. Giving
ourselves to Christ is the evidence that the love of God fills our
hearts. Not the giving of our substance
while there's an absence of ourselves. Paul said that. He said, though
I bestow all my goods to feed the poor. That looked like a
loving word. Though I give my body to be burned.
for men. That looks like a good work.
And have not charity, it profiteth me nothing. Love toward whom? He looked like that's love towards
sinners. It's got to be love toward Christ. And those that
have Lord's love towards Christ, this is what Peter says, casting
all your care. That's you. Not yours, but you. All your care upon Him, for He
careth for you. But what's it going to take for
a sinner like me? A hard-hearted, stubborn, stiff-necked
sinner like me. What's it going to take for me
to be brought to this place where I will heed this gospel and heed
God's Word to me, heed this Gospel of Christ to me, spoken through
His message. What's it going to take to bring
me to this place? So that I'm anchored, and I'm
sure, and I'm steadfast, and I'm consistent, and I'm no more
tossed to and fro. What's it going to take? 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, that
is, by our own hand. All hope that we should be saved
was then taken away. This is the fourth thing. It's
going to take God removing all the hope that we have in ourselves,
all the hope in some imaginary light that we think that is light
to save us and guide us, which light is generally our wisdom
and the understanding of the prudent. And if the light that's
in you is darkness, that's great darkness. Great darkness. But
God's going to remove that vain light. He's going to take away
all hope in our vain striving. He's going to take away all our
vain treasures. You notice here that when they
started out, They were trying to save not only themselves,
their lives, but they were trying to save the ship and all the
goods that were on board the ship. They wanted to save everything.
But now they're left so utterly hopeless. They despair that even
their lives will be lost. Have you ever been there? You
ever been to that spot? Are you there now? Are you kept
there? That's where God keeps His people. He really is. He brings us here and He keeps
us here so that He makes the light, the treasure, the ship
in which we must abide, Christ Jesus the Lord, precious unto
us. Then how's God pleased to feed
us and to strengthen us and to settle us and to anchor us when
He's brought us to this place? How does He do that? How does
He do it in the first hour and continue to do it throughout
the life of faith as we sail through this life in every storm
and high and windy gale? How does He do this for us? Verse
21, But after long abstinence, Paul stood forth in the midst
of them and said, Sirs, you should have hearkened unto me, and not
have loosed from Crete, and to have gained this harm and loss.
Paul spoke the word. And when they didn't heed him,
back in the beginning, he heeded his own word. And he committed
himself to the Lord, and he waited on the Lord. Only God could bring
this about, and bring these men now to listen to it. But when
he did, God stood up. Now Paul stood up and he declared
to them the Word of the Lord. This is how you're going to be
strengthened. This is how we're going to be kept. This is how
we're going to be edified. Well, I don't believe that. Well, you
don't believe in what pleases God, because this is how God
said it pleased Him. Well, I don't understand. I don't
believe that. Well, you're not all that wise. You're not all
that prudent. God did this to bring you to
the utter end of yourself and prove that your wisdom and your
prudence is utter ignorance. And your strength is less than
the very least weakness of God Almighty. This is foolishness. It is. It's not just foolish.
It's foolish that God would use an earthen vessel to preach His
Gospel, to deliver His Word. That's foolish. It is foolish. God didn't have to do that. God's
powerful. But it pleased Him to do it this
way, to show you that even His very weakness is stronger than
our strongest might and power. And when he brings the sinner
to this extreme, hopeless state, then the preaching of the cross
of Christ ceases to be the words of a man and becomes the power
of God unto salvation, the words of eternal life. Listen to Paul. Look at this with me too. 2 Corinthians
5 and verse 20. We are ambassadors for Christ,
as though God did beseech by us. We pray you in Christ's stead,
be ye reconciled to God. Is that just the words of a man?
Are you hearing tonight just the words of a man? If you are,
one thing is certain, you will go on in your wisdom and the
understanding of your prudence. But if God's speaking to you
in the heart, you're just hearing an ambassador. You're just hearing
someone beseeching you in the behalf of God. God's speaking.
And I pray that's how it is. Because here's the Word of Grace.
He hath made Him sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be
made the righteousness of God in Him. You know who He's talking
to? He's talking to baby Corinthian believers. who had not been matured
and had their senses exercised to discern good and evil, who
thought that minding earthly things, suing one another at
the law, overlooking this sin and that, these earthly things,
touch not, taste not, they thought these things were strong meat. And he's declaring to them, listen,
You're not reconciled. You're walking contrary to God.
Be reconciled to God. This is the very first principle.
This is the very first word of grace. You know what John said? You have an unction from the
Holy One and you need not that any man teach you. You know what
the first evidence that you have an unction from the Holy One
and need not any man teach you? Your desire for God's man to
teach you because it pleases God for it to be so. That's so. That's so. They were babies. He's trying
to teach them, I came to determine nothing among you save Jesus
Christ and Him crucified. But He said you weren't able
to bear it because you're carnal and you're yet carnal and not
able to get the strong meat. You can't digest it because you
can't get past. Well this one ought not be doing
that one and this one ought to be doing that one and they're
not consistent and they're not consistent and we're going to
overlook this one and we're going to be more harsh on this one.
All carnal things. You know, If a little one walks
in my house and I've got a blazing fire going, I'm going to take
it for granted that because they have not had their senses exercised
to discern between good and evil, that I'm going to have to tell
them, don't get over there close to that fire or you'll get burned.
I can't talk to them about anything else. And I can't talk to them
about much because I'm going to have to constantly be telling
them, don't come around that fire or you're going to get burned.
But if Scott comes in the room, I'm going to take for granted
his senses exercise to discern between good and evil, and me
and him can talk about some stronger things. And me and I have to
be sitting there continually going, Scott, now get away from
that fire. Get away from that fire. Huh? He says in chapter 6 verse 1,
We then, as workers together with Him, beseech you also that
you receive not the grace of God in vain. For He saith, I
have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have
I succored thee. Behold, now is the accepted time.
Behold, now is the day of salvation. Right now. Right now. Brethren, listen to me. I'm not a Sabbatarian yoking
you and telling you, you've got to observe a day. That's not
what I'm doing. I'm telling you the words of
God's grace, and if He's given you a heart, you'll desire to
hear the Word of God speaking to you through His Word, through
His Gospel, and you'll be where His Gospel preach because you
want to be. That's right. Now, here's the Word of eternal
life. Here's our Gospel. Here's our food. Here's our hope.
This is God's Word to me to deliver to His children of mercy. Look
at verse 22. Acts 27, 22. And now I exhort
you. Now, they wouldn't hear Him in
the beginning. Now they're brought to where
they're going to hear Him. And He told you, you should have
listened to Him in the beginning. That wasn't upbraiding them just
for the sake of upbraiding them. That was to settle them to know
this word I'm about to speak to you is just as important as
that word I spoke to you back there in the beginning. And if
you don't heed this word I'm about to speak to you, as you
didn't heed that word I spoke to you in the beginning, it won't
profit you any more than that word did in the beginning. Now
listen, that's what He's telling them, listen to me. Now I exhort
you to be of good cheer. For there shall be no loss of
any life among you, but of the ship. For there stood by me this
night the angel of God." God stands by those He's called by
His grace, those He's everlastingly loved, and He will not leave
them comfortless. And if He's given us pastors,
He's going to give them a word of His grace. He's going to stand
by them and give them a word of His grace to comfort His people
with. And he says here, verse 23, whose
I am. Paul wasn't his own. He was bought
with the precious, precious, precious blood of the Lord Jesus
Christ. He was God's own purchased possession. God revealed that to Paul when
Paul didn't want anything to do with him anymore than these
sailors wanted anything to do with the Word of the Lord spoken
by Paul. But he did it through a storm just like he did it through
these sailors and brought Paul to hear this Word, to love this
Word, to cherish this Word, and to go forth preaching this Word. And you know what the effectual
result was? Verse 23, whom I serve. Paul gave himself to Christ.
He wasn't a prisoner of Rome. He's the will and bond servant
of the Lord Jesus Christ, his righteousness. That's why he's
standing there. And he says this to them. He
said to me, fear not Paul. This is the word of this gospel,
the cure for fear. Brethren, the word of the gospel
is the cure for fear. Fear not is what God is telling
us in Christ to His people. Fear not! Thou must be brought
before Caesar, and lo, God hath given thee all them that sell
with thee. You know what all my assurance is? All my assurance,
because of God's free grace, is this. I must be delivered
through every storm. The same justice that demanded
that Christ die when He bore my sin and His own body on the
tree, right now is the very justice that demands I must be delivered,
I must be saved. I delight in God's justice as
much as I delight in His mercy. Don't you? Don't you? It was
His mercy that wrought that judgment upon my substitute instead of
upon me. And it's His mercy and His justice
that demands I must be saved. And I know this, all those that
God the Father elected unto salvation, all those that the Son of God
has redeemed by His own blood, shall be given life through the
Spirit of God and faith to believe on His Son, and they too must
be saved. And they all, just as He said,
I've given the men in this ship to thee, they all will be in
fellowship with Christ, with my God, with my Savior, with
my Lord, with this Gospel, with me, with my brethren, and they
are a gift of God. That's what they are. Now, what's going to happen when
he does this? We're going to focus on this
next time, but I couldn't leave without giving you these few
things, and this will be a little foretaste, Lord willing, of what
we have next time. What's going to be some evidence
of what you'll really do confessing that you believe God? One thing
you're going to do is this. We see some illustrations of
this in type and what they did. They dropped anchor and waited
for the day, the day star. Look at verse 29. Then fearing
lest we should have fallen upon rocks, they cast four anchors
out of the stern and wished for the day. Before they were pulling
up anchors and setting sail and saying, we're going to make it.
Now they dropped anchor and said we'll just wait. We'll wait for
God to raise the day star so we can see and guide us. Here's
the next thing they did. They cut the ropes on the dinghy
and stayed in the ship. You know before I'm giving my
message away for next time, but I've got to tell you, before
they were reasoning, you know, we just want to go a little bit
out of this harbor and just go down to Phanesi. We want to get
out of this place that means shaggy and go down there to where
it means palm tree. We don't want to go that far out, just
a little bit out of the way, you know. Now Paul has told them
the ship's going to be lost. But he tells them unless you
abide in the ship, you'll be lost. And now, They don't say, well,
Paul, that don't even make any sense. You know what they did?
Look at verse 31. Paul said to the soldiers, except
these about in the ship, you cannot be saved. Then the soldiers
cut off the ropes of the boat and let her fall off. It's not going to be Christ plus
anything. It's not going to be Christ plus anything. Not a backup
plan. Christ is all or is nothing.
They cut the ropes and said, keep your word and let her go.
Here's the third thing. All that working they were doing
to save themselves, to provide for themselves and to ensure
their security and their safety and their convenience and their
pleasure and all those things had caused them to stop eating. You know, yours has caused you
to stop eating. It always does. Mine always does. All my striving causes me to
stop eating this bread. This bread. The bread from heaven. The Lord said, except you eat
the flesh of the Son of God and drink His blood, you have no
life in you. You know what He's saying? Your
life, your food has got to be Christ. It pleased God through the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believed. This is how the table
is set. And this is how God feeds you,
and nourishes you, and strengthens you, and edifies you. And at
God's Word to them, spoken through Paul, with thanksgiving to God,
they ceased from their labors, and they sat down, and they ate
meat with Paul. Look at verse 34. Wherefore I pray you to take
some meat. For this is the 14th. For this
is for your health. For there shall not a hair fall
from the head of any of you. You're not gonna die. You can
stop. You can stop running around this
deck of this ship like a chicken with your head cut off. You're
not gonna, not a hair of your head's gonna fall. You can actually show up and
sit down at the table and eat. You're not going to perish. God's
going to provide for you. You believe Him? And when he had thus spoken,
he took bread and he gave thanks to God in presence of them all.
And when he had broken it, he began to eat. Now you know what
he told them back there in verse 25? He says, Wherefore sirs,
be of good cheer, for I believe God. that it shall be even as
it was told me. Do you believe Him? Right here
where you are, in the midst of this storm, do you believe God
that it shall be even as God says it shall be? Here's my prayer
for you. I pray God bring you to the end
of yourself, to the end of your wisdom, and to your prudent understanding. I pray that for everyone here,
myself included. In every trial, for you who know
Him and you who don't. I pray that he give you an earnest
appetite to feed upon the word of this gospel that you might
eat and live and not perish. This is for your health. For
your health. And as I give you this bread,
right here, right now, it's my prayer. This is my prayer for
everybody in this ship. That he would do this. Except
you eat the flesh of the Son of God and drink his blood, you
have no life in you.