If you will, take your Bibles
and turn with me to Acts chapter 27. Acts, the 27th chapter. We'll be looking
at this entire chapter this morning. And the title of the message
is, Safety in the Storms of Life. Safety in the Storms of Life. Now, in this chapter, in Acts
27, we find Paul now sailing from Caesarea to Rome, where
he is to appear before Caesar. If you remember, he appealed
before Caesar, and Hephaestus said to Caesar, you will go,
and now then the time has come, and he's sailing to Rome. And
everything seems to be going well on this voyage. The Lord
has sent Luke and Aristarchus, which were fellow laborers of
Paul. He sent them with him so that he would have fellowship
on his journey. The Lord gave him this centurion
named Julius who favored Paul and allowed him liberty among
his friends. And so everything was going well
until they came to Crete. And Crete is a small island and
it's a harbor where they were set to winter. You cannot sail
during these times. At the time the Apostle Paul
lived, there was no compass or there was nothing but stars and
moon and so forth to guide you. And when the winter came, you
couldn't do anything as far as sailing. So they were wintering
there in Crete. Paul said when they got to this
place, the haven of rest there, they got to this harbor. Paul said, we should stay here.
I have a word from the Lord. We should stay here and winter
here. And the centurion believed the sailor instead of Paul. And so they would harbor about
40 or 50 miles along the coast of Crete at another harbor. They
figured, what could go wrong? Why listen to this man who's
a prisoner? We're a sailor, we know what
we're doing, and we're just going to stay close to the shore and
go to the opposite side here of Crete and winter. Then the
Scripture tells us that a Northeasterner came in and blew them away from
the coast. They couldn't get back. And so
the sailors, they started throwing all their stuff overboard. They
saw a little island and said, hey, let's go for there. They
couldn't make it. And so they put up the sails
and just let it drift. Well, they were at drift for
14 days, 14 days. With no moon, no stars, no sun
to guide them, they were lost. The Apostle Paul then stood up
and he told him, he said, I've told you we should have stayed.
I told you we should have stayed there, but you didn't listen.
And now here we are. But don't worry, because the
Lord has appeared to me and said everyone would be safe as long
as you stay in the ship. And as we find out, they came
to this island. And sure enough, the boat was
destroyed, but everyone survived. Now that's the history lesson
from Acts chapter 27. But obviously you know I'm not
going to stop there. You could have done that yourself.
And anyone that has an atlas and a little time to read this
chapter, you don't need the history of this. We know that the Scriptures
are given, all Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is
profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for
instruction in righteousness, and this Scripture is no different.
This Scripture is no different. We know that the sea many times
is a metaphor for a picture of life's journey to our desired
haven of rest." We know that. Job says this in Job 9, he says,
"...for now my days are swifter than a post. They flee away,
they see no good. They are passed away as swift
ships." Now is that not true? Is that not true of our life?
They just pass away as swift ships on the sea of life. And this sea of life, many times
for us, is calm, isn't it? Sometimes we have moments of
peace. From the time that Paul sailed
from Caesarea to Crete, it was a peaceful journey. And sometimes
we have storms. Sometimes we have troubles. And
this life, this sea of life, is a troublesome place. It's
a dangerous place. If you go out to sea and you're
to be a sailor, you know one thing that they cannot do is
they cannot tell you when those squalls are coming up. They just
come up all of a sudden. Many times there are many troubles
in life that just come up all of a sudden. And you can't help
that. Friends, we're on a dangerous,
this is a dangerous life. It's a life of grief and pain
and suffering here in this world. And we know this. And friends,
what can give us comfort in the midst of storms and what can
give us peace even in the times of calm is the same thing. It
is the Word of God. The Word of God is our rock.
The Word of God is our anchor for our souls because the Word
of God is Christ. It's Christ our Savior. And if
we're to survive, if we're to arrive safe on heaven's shore,
we must anchor ourselves in the book. We must anchor ourselves
in Christ. He must be everything. Now, there
are several things that God has given us to teach us about how
to be safe in these storms of life. And I want us to see this
in four parts. Break this down into four parts
for us. First of all, I want us to see
a plan. These sailors had a plan. They had a plan. Second of all,
I want us to see a storm that came up. Then I want us to see
a new plan. They had a new plan after the
storm. And third, safety from the storm. I mean, third, a new plan, and
fourth, safety from the storm. First of all, a plan. Verses
1 through 8. Verses 1-8, these sailors had
a plan, didn't they? They planned to sail from Caesarea
to Rome with no problems. That's what their plan was. Their
plan was to sail and have no problems. And it was going just
fine until they got to Crete. And, you know, I had to look
this up in Atlas. I thought this was very interesting. Where they
had harbored, where they docked, they stayed there for a little
while, And Paul said, God said we should winter here. And the
sailors said, no, we have a plan. It's not a good place to winter
here. We want to winter just up the coast. at another place. And on the Atlas, it's a 160-mile
island. It's not very long at all. But
the place that they were sailing from and to was only like 40
miles. Not very far. They said, what
could go wrong? What possibly could happen? Why
would you tell us to winter at this place? We don't want to
be here. We want to be over there. It's better. It's better. But
the best laid plans of mice and men are destroyed. when it goes
contrary to God's Word. Isn't that true? It doesn't matter
how good the plan is. If it goes contrary to what God
says, it is not a good plan. It is not a good plan. And we
can and should make plans. There's nothing wrong with making
plans, but every plan should be submitted to the Word of God. We must say, if we're going to
do this or do that, what does God say about that? What does
God say? Friends, we are free as Christians
to do what we will. But I'll tell you this, if it
goes contrary to God's Word, you're not free to do that. You're
not free to do that. Oh, you can. And many times we
do. But that's not always going to
be expedient. We should say, if we go here
or there, as James said, if the Lord will, we shall live and
do this. Anything else is evil. That's
what James says. Believer following God's Word,
I'll tell you, is going to be costly. It's going to be costly. It's going to demand of us sacrifices. That's what God's Word is going
to demand of each and every one of us. Sacrifices. We may sacrifice
our plans, our dreams, our hopes, and it may cost us money, time,
energy. It may cost us loved ones. It
doesn't matter. But I'll tell you, if we don't
follow God's Word, in the end, it's going to cost us more. Always. Always. The storms of life are
not always according to our plans, are they? Who plans for a storm?
Who plans for that? Nobody. We have this plan and
it looks beautiful in our minds and we say, yeah, that's good.
That's reasonable. I could do that. There's nothing
wrong with that. And God says, yes, there is.
I said, don't go. I said, don't go. It's going to cost us. And you
know what the greatest storm that a man will ever face in
this life is his own sin? Our sin is the greatest storm
that we ever face. When the Word of God comes to
a sinner's heart, doesn't it blow contrary to the plans of
the flesh? The plans of the flesh are always
against God. But when God came to us, there
was a storm that brew in our hearts, and we were terrified
when we found out that our sin was against God. We found the
terror of the Lord. The Scripture says, God is jealous,
the Lord revengeth, the Lord revengeth and is furious. He won't let the wicked go. When
we found that out, was that not a storm? And how many times when
we sin against our God is it still not a storm? It is still
not troublesome to our hearts. I'll tell you, if sin is not
troublesome to your heart, something's wrong. Something's wrong. Paul
said this to Timothy, holding fast a good conscience, which
some, having put away concerning the faith, have made shipwreck. Believer, let us hold fast to
God's Word and not forsake the doctrine of faith. Let us hold fast to the haven
of a good conscience, a good conscience, so that we not make
shipwreck of the faith and prove our profession to be a lie. If
any man in the storm of conviction, let him flee to Christ for refuge. He's the only safe harbor from
storms. Isaiah 4, 6 says, there shall
be a tabernacle for a shadow in the daytime and from the heat,
and for a place of refuge and a covert from the storm and from
the rain. Who is the refuge? Christ. Christ
is our refuge. Let us cast all our plans and
hopes upon Christ and hold fast to Him no matter what. Second
of all, the storm. In verses 9-14, now we have the
storm come. In verses 9-14, we have the storm
coming. This storm here arose from their
disobedience. Had they been in the storm if
they would have heeded God's Word? No. They would have been
in the harbor. They would have been safe had
they heeded God's Word. Now, it's clear that not all
storms are because of sin. We know that. Not all storms
are because of sin. But I tell you this, most of
our storms are because of disobedience. Most of them come to us because
we are not following God's Word. We are not obeying God's revealed
will. Sometimes we say like these sailors,
I know what's best for my ship. Well, who are you to tell me
what's best for me? Preacher, you have no idea about
my circumstances. You have no idea about my life
or what I'm trying to do here. I'm trying to do something here.
And I can't do that if I have to listen to the Word of God. As when some forsake worship. Some forsake worship because
they have plans, right? They have other things. It's
important. It's important to them. They
say, well, you know, I know where I should be, but I have other
things that are needful. These things are necessary. I'll
stay close to the shore. I'll stay close to Christ, but
I just have to move away for a little bit. They move away
and leave off reading or studying or prayer. And they say, I'm
not going away far. I'll be close. I'll come every
once in a while. But I must forsake it just for
a little time. I tell you that that is the course
of all apostates. Do you realize that? that leaving
off worship, prayer, and study is the course of every apostate
in history. Everyone who has professed faith
in Christ and has gone away and made shipwreck of the faith,
they have all taken this same course, to leave off the Word
of God and worship. That's the same course. And this is a course that will
never lead back to Christ, as long as the sailing is smooth.
As long as they have a smooth course to go away, as long as
their conscience doesn't conflict them, as long as there's no struggle
in their breasts, this is the course of every apostate and
no one will ever come back from it unless there's a storm. How many times have we went away
from the Word of God and God brought the storm to bring us
back? The only difference between me
and any apostate was that he brought the storm. The apostates,
He doesn't bring the storm. There's no storm for them. They're
smooth sailing away from the shore. True faith in Christ, friends,
is evidenced by obedience. to the Word of God, no matter
our feelings, no matter our logic, and no matter our reasoning for
doing so. We must always trust the Lord. Proverbs 3, 5, it says, Trust
in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not to thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him,
and He shall what? Direct your paths. Trust in the Lord and be obedient
to Him, lest He send storms of grief and chastisement upon us." When God's children are disobedient,
they should expect storms. Go to Hebrews chapter 12 and
verse 6. For whom the Lord loveth, he
chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If you
endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons. For what
son is he whom the Father chasteneth not?" Friends, if we depart from
the Word of God, if we depart from obedience in Christ, and
all is well, then you are found to be bastards and not sons." God loves and chastens every
child He'll save. And He does this by the storms
of life. He does this through the divine
providence in this life. They had a plan. Their plan was
contrary to the Word of God, and God in grace sent a storm."
Now, number three, a new plan. A new plan. A new plan. Verses 15 through 20. The first new plan that they
had was surrender. Look at that in verse 15. Looking
diligently... Oh, I'm sorry, I got it on the
wrong page. Verse 15, and when the ship was
caught, and they could not bear up into the wind, We let her
drive. Here was a new plan. They came
up, the wind came up and it blew them back. They saw that little
island we said we're going to make for that. They started throwing
everything overboard they could find. Everything that weighed
them down and they started trying to row and get to that little
island and the more they rowed, the wind blew them back further.
They couldn't do anything and the ship was about to break apart.
The only thing they could do was throw up their sails and
let it ride. Let it ride. Here's the first
new plan in the storm. Surrender. Surrender in the storm. Surrender. Believer, when our
plans are contrary to the will of God, and when we've been found
to be unfaithful to Christ, when the storm arises, this is the
new plan. Let it ride. Let it ride. Surrender to the wind. And this
is not fatalism. These men did everything they
could. And friends, we should do everything we can. We should
do all that we can to stay near Christ. We should do all we can
to worship Christ. Many times in the storms, we
must surrender to the winds of God's providence. Believer, our
sin sometimes leads us to dark places and dark consequences.
God says, oh yeah, you want that? Here you go. That's what you
want. There it is. Oh, what a chastisement
when God gives us what we want. David, he got what he wanted,
didn't he? He said, I want that woman. And
he had her. He said, I want to hide this.
I'm going to kill him. Kill Uriah. And he had that. And when he found out his sin,
the storm began to brew. And God says, Thy sin hath been
put away, but I will not put away the consequences. David
lost three sons, and he lost his kingdom, and worst of all,
he lost the ability to come and worship God. Psalm 84. Look at there. Look
at what David's words were in Psalm 84. Psalm 84 and verse 1, it says,
How amiable are thy tabernacles, O Lord! This is when David was
in the wilderness and not able to come to worship. He says,
My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth for the courts of the Lord. My
heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God. Yea, the
sparrow hath found an house, and the swallow a nest for herself. where she may lay her young,
even thine altars. O Lord of hosts, my King, my
God, blessed are they that dwell in thine house, they shall be
still praising thee." Friends, when David was cast out, it's
then he realized what he missed the most. He missed worship. He surrendered to God's providence
and God's providence drove him away from the very thing that
he needed the most. He was like these sailors in
the middle of that ocean. They had no compass. They had
no guide. They had no stars and no sun
and no moon. They couldn't figure out where
they were. And sometimes a storm blows us into these dark places. These dark places. So that David
even envied the birds in God's house. How many times have we
left God's church for someone or something and spent years
in grief and sorrow, missing all that time of worship and
praise? I know many men have come back
after many years and they've been very sorrowful. They've
missed out on so much. because they would not heed the
Word of God. Friends, yield to the Spirit
of God. Let us say, Thy will be done,
no matter the cost. It would be wise for us to realize
that both the ship and the storm are in the hands of God. Our little vessel on this big
sea of life is in the hand of God, and the sea itself is in
His hands. And He does with us as He pleases.
It is best to throw up the sails and let it ride. It is in Christ alone that we can find peace in this
storm. He alone can say, Peace, be still. and quiet our storms with a word. Therefore, in the storm, take
his yoke and find peace in your heart. You may not find peace
around you, but you'll find peace in your heart if you take his
yoke. Take his yoke. Believer, open your sails and
follow along wherever God's divine providence provides, yielding
to Him and serving Him in every way, and you shall find peace.
For all things work together for our good. Number two, the
second part of this plan is heed God's Word. Surrender and then
heed God's Word, verses 21 to 25. This is the time that Paul
stands up and he says, I told you so. I like that. Paul says, I told you. If you
would have just listened to me, we would have been back there
and not here. But we're here. When you sin,
friends, you can't go back and change it. You can't make the
past something it's not. But what you can do is flee to
Christ. You can now, at this moment,
at this time, heed His Word. Heed His Word. Hear God's Word
and God's man. That's what you can do. Avail yourself at all times to
God's Word. In study. In private study. In private prayer. Spend time
taking heed to His Word. And avail yourself always to
His message. Take heed to what He says. And
friends, you won't find yourself in that many messes. We would
just heed His Word. Friends, there is forgiveness
to all who repent and confess their sins to Christ. Every believer
that repents, every believer that confesses his sins, he is
faithful and just to forgive us our sins. Paul, as every gospel
preacher, says, come and hear the voice of Christ, for he that
hath begun a good work in you will perform it unto the day
of Jesus Christ. Is that not a good message to
hear? Yes, it is for me. Number three, the third part
of this plan is stay in the ship. Stay in the ship. Verses 26-38,
Paul tells them, he says, God came to me. Christ came to me
and he says, everybody who stays in the ship will be saved. Many times people, because of
trouble, because of trials, are rash and try to make it to
God by their own means. Some see the land and make for
the lifeboats of their free will, works religion, and self-righteousness. God said, don't take the lifeboats,
stay in the ship. Stay in the ship. All who remain
in the ship shall be saved, and if anyone is outside the ship,
they will be destroyed. Friends, all who remain in Christ
until the end, the same shall be saved. A man may face many storms in
his life and sincerely obey Christ, but if he's rash to abandon Christ
for his righteousness and religion, he'll be dashed upon the rocks
of God's wrath. Believer, Stay in the ship. And I'll tell
you, as this ship hit the ground, hit that rock, it was broken. But everyone that was in the
ship lived. Were we not in Christ when He
was broken? Were we not in the ship of Christ
when He was broken for us on the cross by the rocks of God's
wrath? Of course. Believer, we were
in Christ when He was broken for us, and all who are in Him
shall reach a safe haven. Cut the lifeboats of all your
self-righteousness and religion and hold on to the ship. Hold
on to Christ. Hold on to Christ. Number four,
safety from the storm. All who were faithful to remain
in the ship, some of them swam and some of them floated, but
all of them made it. And I thought of this. Some believers
at death are strong to swim to the shore. I read this in Fox's book of
martyrs, this man named John Rogers, and I won't forget it. He would not recant his faith
in Christ. And the church lined up his family
along the road to his death and his children there begging him,
please daddy, please don't go. And this man set his face to
the fire and he would not be moved. This man swam. This man was strong in his death. Strong to meet Christ. Some of
us float on big planks of boards and feel comfortable in our death,
and some hold on to little pieces. Some are very scared in death.
But you know what? The person with the little piece
made it just as much as the person that swam. They all had Christ,
and they all made it. Friends, cast off everything
and hold on to Christ. Obey His Word. Heed Him. Heed His Word. Surrender to His
will, no matter what it costs you. And friends, we will be
safe in every storm. In every storm. Praise God. I
thank you for this. God bless it. We're dismissed.