I please God to bless us together
this evening as we conclude our meditation in the 27th chapter
of the Acts of the Apostles. And this evening we'll read from
verse 38, or right, sorry, verse 39. So the Acts of the Apostles,
chapter 27, and reading from verse 39. And when it was day,
they knew not the land, but they discovered a certain creek with
a shore into the which they were minded, if it were possible,
to thrust in the ship. And when they had taken up the
anchors, they committed themselves unto the sea, and loosed the
rudder bands, and hoist up the mainsail to the wind and made
towards shore. And falling into a place where
two seas met, they ran their ship aground, and the four parts
stuck fast, and remained unmovable, but the Hindapark was broken
with the violence of the waves, and the soldiers' counsel was
to kill the prisoners, lest any of them should swim out and escape. 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, some on broken
pieces of ship, and so it came to pass that they escaped all
safe to land." This is really a wonderful account
that we've been meditating on in this 27th chapter because
we see how God's grace was glorious and how that those words that
he had given to the Apostle Paul were fulfilled and what an encouragement
it was to realize the Lord was with them and of course there
were so many trials on this journey, a journey which of course Paul
warned them not to set off and yet they disregarded his views
and listened to the captain and the and the soldiers, and therefore
pursued that way and started sailing when it wasn't a good
time to sail. And of course, initially, it
all looked plain sailing. It all looked calm, it all looked
nice and easy. But it wasn't very long before that typhoon,
referred to here as Eurocliden, came and caused this tremendous
storm to occur, so that they were driven up and down in the
sea for those 14 days. It's almost impossible for us
to realize what it must have been like because there was no
way of any navigation, no sun, no moon. They were absolutely
literally at sea, didn't know where they were. And so for those
14 days, and then as we remember the apostle, he drew near to
God and he tells us, for there stood by me this night, the angel
of God, whose I am and whom I serve saying, fear not Paul, Thou must
be brought before Caesar, and lo, God hath given thee all them
that are with thee. Wherefore, sirs, be of good cheer,
for I believe God, that it shall be even as it was told me." was
wonderful to be able to read that and to know that Paul was
given that faith and to believe that which had been spoken to
him on that night when he'd gone aside to seek God's guidance
and blessing and how though of course it wasn't immediately
fulfilled they were still at sea They were still in a rough
sea, still a stormy sea. And yet, you see, the Lord was
gracious and brought to pass that which he had spoken of. And he says, he says, Wherefore,
sirs, be of good cheer, for I believe God that it shall be even as
was told me, albeit we must be cast upon a certain island. So he was convinced indeed that
they would all be brought safely to land, but we see how that
faith was tested and tried. And of course, it's no different
to us today, is it? In our walk, our path on this
earth, and we may be blessed sometimes with an indication
from God that it's the right way and that God will be with
us and he'll help us and he'll bring us safely through, but
then we'll find storms arise, tempests arise, and we wonder
where the scene will end. We wonder whether we ever will
escape, whether we ever will get safe to land. Well, let us
remember this occasion, this wonderful account. And so we
see these last few verses, what was occurring. And when it was
day, and of course that they passed nights and days and now
it was day when it was day they knew not the land but they discovered
you might remember that last time they were getting near land
and they wanted to find out how deep the water was so they sounded
and they found how deep it was and it was getting less so they
knew they were getting near to land and therefore they threw
some anchors to try and hold the boat so it wouldn't bring
them onto rocks if it were so. But now, day had dawned, and
clearly they could see the land. And what a wonderful thing that
was, surely. Can you imagine being 14 days
tossed to and fro in the middle of the sea, not knowing where
you were? And then suddenly, to be able to view the land.
Well, We must, of course, and we would desire to think of this
not only in a natural way, but also in a spiritual way. Because
there may be those times when we can't actually see the way.
And we don't know which way we're going. It always seems to be
rough and stormy. Darkness, no light. And then
suddenly, as the light dawns on a day, we see land. We see spiritual land. What do
we see? We're looking forward to that
land of glory. We have that faith to believe
that we will arrive safely home. We have that view of the saviour
who has died for us upon the cross at Calvary. That one who
has therefore taken away all our sins and therefore from that
darkness that we were in Suddenly the light shines, the glorious
light of the everlasting gospel. And how encouraging it would
be, how encouraging it was here for these people. They did all
that they could to make haste. They discovered this creek with
a shore into which they were minded, if it were possible,
to thrust in the ship. And when they had taken up the
anchors, They committed themselves unto the sea, and loosed the
rudder-bands, and hoist up the mainsail to the wind, and made
toward shore." So, here again, they'd seen the shore, and everything
looked good now. And they were doing that which
was necessary to enable them to steer the boat in a safe course. And I expect they were really
hoping that they would soon, therefore, get into this creek
and find themselves in calm water and safely get to that land. But it wasn't to be so. And surely
that's the same in our spiritual life. As we may come out of a
time of real storm and darkness, and we may think, well now, I
believe by faith I can see the land afar off, and we trust it's
going to be a good, calm journey for the rest of our life. And
we may feel and desire that Lord will take care of us and watch
over us. And we may therefore commit our
way unto him. These people, these sailors,
they committed themselves unto the sea. They were familiar with
it. And we may desire and may have that grace to commit our
way unto the Lord, that he will indeed be with us and bring us
safely home at last. And it may seem to be going well,
Because here they were, they did all that was necessary to
conclude their journey, but they didn't really expect to happen
what Paul had said would. And in their endeavours, as we
read here, and falling into a place where two seas met, they weren't
aware of that. Sometimes we may not be aware
of these things in our lives. We may not be aware of what's
ahead of us, We may only see perhaps the one direction, one
direction as it were of the sea, and suddenly we come across another
direction, and we find our journey suddenly takes a turn for the
worse. And here on this occasion, the
boat is here on the ground, and the forepart's stuck fast and
remained unmovable but the hind part was broken with the violence
of the waves. And again, we see the spiritual
significance here, as perhaps we may have that desire and the
efforts to pursue the narrow way, and then suddenly we find
we're driven, as these people were driven, onto the ground,
and there was no progress. And worse than that, the ship
was breaking up. We may think sometimes, well,
perhaps our ship is breaking up. Well, these sailors, they
had to leave the ship, and to leave everything, leave it all
behind, and cast all their care upon the Lord, that he would
enable them to get safe to land. And surely it's the same in spiritual
life sometimes. We come to that situation where
we have to, we find that that which we've been relying upon
to take us, to be with us, to help us, suddenly we find it's
of no use. It's run aground, as it were.
And worse still, it's breaking up. What's gonna happen? The sailors had to cast themselves
into the sea. and to cast themselves upon the
mercy of the Lord. Isn't that what we have to do
today? We have to leave everything and cast ourselves upon the mercy
and grace of our God. Now, God is faithful. God was
faithful to these people. The promise which Paul had been
given was to be fulfilled. not in a way perhaps they expected,
and it seemed very dark and not possible. But as for God, his
way was perfect. He knew what he would do. He
knew how they would be delivered, and so it is in our lives. The
Lord knows how he will bring us safe home to glory. And some, and the rest, some
on broken pieces of the ship, And so it came to pass that they
escaped all safe to land. What a blessing it is to believe
that we shall all escape out of the snares and the traps and
the ways the devil sets for us. And by God's grace and with God's
help, we shall arrive safe at land, indeed come safely into
our desired haven, that place of heaven at last. And then you
see we can look back, no doubt, these sailors as they clambered
up on the shore, and look back over all those stormy days, and
realised they'd been delivered, they'd been saved. And no doubt
Paul truly was able to give thanks to God for his faithfulness,
and his love, and his mercy. And so may we today, in light
manners, we journey on with our eye aflame, looking towards promised
land and believe in that through the grace of God we shall get
safely home so that it may be said and we pray it may be said
of all of us with regard to our spiritual life and so it came
to pass that they escaped all safe to land. Amen.