Okay, go with me back to Acts
27. This is a wonderful story, isn't
it? It's a wonderful story. When we study and prepare, we
put all of these things together in order to write out a message.
Sometimes we have a running commentary on the scriptures, a certain
portion of scripture. Sometimes we have an outline
with points, maybe for one verse or maybe for one word. Tonight
we have both. Tonight we have both. I want
us to look here at chapter 27, and in this chapter I have 10
points. Count them 10. I'm going to spend
18 minutes on each point. My aim is to be under three minutes
on each point. Two and a half minutes on each
point. And the title of this message is The Voyage of a Child
of God. The life, the voyage of a child
of God. This is every believer's life. Now let me tell you these ten
points and then we're going to see them in the chapter as we
go through it. Number one is the warning. The warning. Number two is the storm. The
storm of sin and rebellion. Number three is the failed works. Number four is the promise. Number five is the faith. Number
six is the tried faith. If God gives faith, he's going
to try it. If God gives faith, he's going to try it. If God
gives faith, he's going to try it. Number seven is the truth,
and number eight is the increased faith. If God gives faith, He's
going to increase it. He's going to try it, and He's
going to increase it. Number nine is the only hope, just one. Number ten is the gospel. All right, we start with the
warning. Look with me at verse one. And when it was determined
that we should sail into Italy, they delivered Paul and certain
other prisoners unto one named Julius, a centurion of Augustus'
band. And entering into a ship of Adramidium,
we launched, meaning to sail by the coast of Asia, one Aristarchus,
a Macedonian of Thessalonica, being with us. And the next day
we touched at Sidon, and Julius courteously entreated Paul and
gave him liberty to go unto his friends to refresh himself. And
when we had launched from thence, we sailed under Cyprus, because
the winds were contrary. And when we had sailed over the
sea of Cilicia and Pamphylia, we came to Myra, a city of Lacea. And there the centurion found
a ship of Alexandria sailing to Italy, and he put us therein."
This message is titled, The Voyage of a Child of God. A child of
God. And the reason is because this
only applies to those that God has already put in the ship. That's who this applies to. By
the end of this, we're going to see that this ship is Christ. And a sinner does not make a
decision to get in the ship. The only way a sinner can get
in the ship is to be put in the ship by God Almighty, and that's
what happened here. Verse 6 says there, the centurion
found a ship of Alexandria sailing into Italy, and he put us therein. And when we had sailed slowly
many days, and scarce were come over against Snidus, the wind
not suffering us, we sailed under Crete, over against Salmoni,
and hardly passing it, came unto a place which is called the Fair
Havens, nigh whereunto was the city of Lycia." They had just begun their voyage,
just started it out. And they had sailed slowly. They were just easing out. Slow sailing. The wind not suffering
them. There was no problems. No resistance. And they were sitting calmly
and safely in the fair havens. And I thought of our children.
I thought of our children. Here they sit. in the calmest
and safest place they could possibly be. This is the calmest and safest
place any of us could possibly be. The fair havens of God's
Word sit right there. The fair havens of God's Word. Verse 9 says, Now when much time
was spent And when sailing was now dangerous, because the fast
was now already passed, and that gives us a particular time of
year. There was a particular, it was on the tenth day of the
seventh month. The fast was already passed.
Paul admonished them and said unto them, Sirs, I perceive that
this voyage will be with hurt and much damage, not only of
the lading and ship, but also of our lives. There's the warning. There's the warning. Find shelter. We must have shelter. We must have shelter. Children, adults, we're in the shelter. We're in
the shelter right here, right now. We must stay right here. We must stay right here. I'm
not talking about these four walls. I'm talking about the
gospel. I'm talking about the gospel,
the preaching of Christ crucified. If we lose and if we leave this
fair haven, it's going to bring much hurt and it's going to bring
much danger to us. Much. much. Paul said this, he said, to write
the same things to you, to me indeed is not grievous, but for
you it is safe. It's so safe. It is so safe. This word, this gospel, Christ
and Him crucified, it is so, so safe. So here's the warning. All of us must stay in the safety
of Christ and His gospel, all of us. All right, now here's
the reality of sin and rebellion against that warning. No soul
is exempt from it, not any flesh. Here comes the storm. Verse 11
says, nevertheless, the centurion believed the master and the owner
of the ship more than those things which were spoken by Paul. And
because the haven was not commodious to winter in. The word commodious
means convenient. It didn't have much to offer
by way of worldly things. It didn't appeal to the flesh
that much. Verse 12, because the haven was
not commodious to winter in, the more part it buys to depart
thence also, if by any means they might attain to Phenicia
and there to winter. which is a haven of Crete and
life toward the southwest and northwest. Phanesi means palm
tree. We'd rather go there. And Crete
means, my margin, there's another verse that has it in it, it says
candy. That's what it means. But it also means fleshly. That's
what the flesh wants, the things of the flesh. Verse 13, and when
the south wind blew softly, supposing that they had obtained their
purpose, loosing thence, they sailed close by Crete. It was
so inviting, that south wind. Don't you love it when the south
wind comes up? Not the north wind, that's too cold. But when
that south wind blows up, it was so inviting, it blew so softly. So they left the fair havens
and they went after it. Verse 14. But not long after
there arose against it a tempestuous wind called Heraclodon. That means a violent agitation
and that's what sin is. That's what sin is. It's all
consuming. It's all engulfing. It binds. It imprisons. It curses. Verse 15, And when
the ship was caught and could not bear up into the wind, We
let her drive. This flesh has no control over
sin. Man thinks he has a free will.
If he does, stop sinning. Just stop sinning. Forget about
salvation. Just stop sinning. Start there.
Man has no control over sin. Sin controls this flesh. We're imprisoned to it, bound
to it, and it's driving this flesh straight into the depths
of hell. That's where it's driving it. Once a soul realizes, that's
the case, once a soul realizes that he's a sinner, he sinned
against God, this is what that soul does. Verse 16, and running
under a certain island which is called Clauda, We had much
work to come by the boat. Man by nature thinks I need to
help the boat. That's what I need to do. I need
to patch this boat. I'm starting to realize this
boat is sinking. And I got some work to do. This
boat is not going to make it without me adding my work to
it. Verse 16, 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 and fearing lest they
should fall into the quicksand, strake sail, and so were driven. Once a soul realizes the danger
his sin has put him in, he goes to work. What must I do to be
saved? What must I do? Verse 18, and
we being exceedingly tossed with the tempest. The next day they
lightened the ship. They started throwing stuff out.
And that's what men do. They start throwing stuff out.
When my dad was in college in the 1960s, he went to the concert
of a very famous band. And the drummer of that band
threw out his drumsticks. And my dad caught one of them
and he kept it until my father and my mother both got religion.
And as soon as they got religion, they threw that drumstick out.
Threw it away. Can't keep this. That thing is
drenched in sin. That has to go. They started
throwing everything out. Did that do anything for my dad's
soul? Throwing that drumstick away? Absolutely not. Made him feel better. Absolutely
not. All of man's works are failed
works. They're all failed works, but
he ignorantly just keeps working. He just keeps on working. They
just keep throwing stuff out of the ship. What else can we
throw out? He throws all the drinking out.
He throws all the smoking out. He throws all the dancing out.
He throws everything out except pride. He won't throw that out.
Self-righteousness, he won't throw that out. Verse 18, we
being exceedingly tossed with a tempest, the next day they
lightened the ship, and the third day we cast out with our own
hands the tackling of the ship. That word tackling translates
furniture, apparatus, equipment. They threw out all the furniture. They put themselves in such a
condition that there was nowhere to rest. They threw all the furniture
out. There's nowhere to rest. Nowhere. They were working and they were
working and they were working and they finally realized it
was all in vain. Every bit of it. All their works
had failed. Verse 20 says, And when neither
sun nor stars in many days appeared, and no small tempest lay on us,
all hope that we should be saved was then taken away." It didn't
work. After all that, after everything
we did, as it turns out, it's not going to save us. What a
blessed place to be. What a blessed position to be
in. That's where God brings his child
right before he speaks the word of promise to his heart. Verse 21 says, 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. And now I
exhort you to be of good cheer." You shouldn't have done that.
You've sinned, you've done wrong. Death lies in front of you and
now here's what I have to say about it. Be of good cheer. For
there shall be no loss of any man's life among you but of the
ship. This is the promise of a substitute. A substitute. He said, you're
in a bad condition. You're in a very bad condition,
but you be of good cheer. Not one life that is in this
ship will be destroyed. And the reason is because the
ship itself will be destroyed. From this point on, this ship
is Christ, the One who made Himself to be what we are. He became
us, Hebrews 7 says, and He's able to save us to the uttermost. Paul said, here's the promise
from God. I believe it, and you need to
believe it too. Verse 22, 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. 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 sail with thee. Wherefore, sirs, be
of good cheer, for I believe God, that it shall be even as
it was told me." That right there is faith. I believe God. Verse 26, he said, How be it?
That faith is going to be tried. How be it? We must be cast upon
a certain island. But 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, and
sounded and found it twenty fathoms And when they had gone a little
further, they sounded again and found it fifteen fathoms. A fathom
was from the tip of the middle finger stretched out this way
to the tip of the middle finger stretched out the other way.
Approximately six feet. So verse twenty-eight says they
sounded and found it twenty fathoms. A hundred and twenty feet from
some country. Here they are in the pitch black
of night. And they're going to hit something in a hundred and
twenty feet. And then they sounded again and they found it 15 fathoms,
90 feet away from something. And they're scared for their
lives. Verse 29 says, Then fearing lest we should have fallen upon
rocks, they cast four anchors out of the stern and wished for
the day. Oh, I wish the morning would come. God save us. Verse 30 says, and as the shipmen
were about to flee out of the ship when they had let down the
boat into the sea under color, they had a lifeboat in the bigger
boat, and they made like they were going to put some anchors
down, and they were really trying to sneak out in that boat. When
they let down the boat into the sea under color as though they
would have cast anchors out of the foreship, how often would
our fleshly fears allow us to jump out of Christ if we could? How often would our flesh, the
fears of this flesh, let us jump out of Christ if we could do
it? Thinking that we're doing the
right thing. It's just too dangerous right here. I see some danger
right here. And if I stay where I am, I don't
think I'm going to make it. I think the best thing for me
to do is go this way. Go that way. How often would
that happen if we were not kept by the power of God? That's our
only hope in this, is to be kept by
the power of God. Salvation is of the Lord, start
to finish. Because here's the truth. He
said in verse 31, Paul said to the centurion and to the soldiers,
except these abide in the ship, you cannot be saved. It's as
simple as that. It is as simple as that. There's only one way. He that
hath the Son hath life, he that hath not the Son of God hath
not life. It is as simple as that. The end of verse 31 says,
Except these abide in the ship, you cannot be saved. And we've
already said a man cannot decide to be in the ship. He has to
be put in the ship. Salvations of the Lord start
to finish. Start to finish. And God proves
that to us through the trying of our faith. Every single trial
that He brings, you wonder why do these trials come? Why doesn't
He just make it easy for us? Why this way? The reason is because
every trial that comes proves to us more and more that Christ
is all. Christ is all. Every single time. He in mercy reminds us to just
sit back down in the ship. Just stay right there. Don't
jump. That's what we do. Something
comes along, we jump. Don't do it. Sit down. Stay in the ship.
It will be fine. Except you abide in the ship,
you cannot be saved. There's one chair you missed.
Christ, sit there. Just sit right there. Got to abide in the ship. That's
only going to happen if we're kept by the power of God. The
confirmation of that truth is increasing our faith. It's increasing
our faith. The trial of that faith, a reminder
of the only remedy will increase a believer's look into Christ
and trusting in Christ. That's why they come. It increases
our faith. Verse 32 says, Then the soldiers cut off the ropes
of the boat and let her fall off. They said, here they're
tying this thing down, anchoring this thing down. And he said,
except you stay in this ship, you can't be saved. And God calls
them to believe it. And they cut those ropes. He
said, so be it. We'll stay right here. And while
the day, verse 33, was coming on, Paul besought them all to
take meat, saying, This day is the fourteenth day that you have
tarried and continued fasting, having taken nothing. Wherefore
I pray you to take some meat, for this is for your health,
for there shall not a hair fall from the head of any of you.
And when he thus spoken, he took bread and gave thanks to God
in presence of them all. And when he had broken it, he
began to eat. Then were they all of good cheer,
and they also took some meat. And we were in all in the ship
two hundred, three score, and sixteen souls." Two hundred and
seventy-six men. And when they had eaten enough,
they lightened the ship and cast out the wheat into the sea. Paul
took bread. He told them, except you abide
in the ship, you cannot be saved. And he took bread, and he gave thanks. And he broke
it. And that's what we're doing right
now. We take bread and we're giving thanks and we're breaking
it. And this is a reminder that what we're doing right now is
we're remembering. We're being reminded. This renewed view of
the promise. We forgot about it. We haven't
been thinking about it. And we come in here and all of
a sudden there's a reminder. A renewed view of the promise.
We have one good news in this life. One message to tell. There's only one message that
will strengthen the weak hands and confirm the feeble knees.
Behold, your God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompense. He will come and save you." Hear,
they're about to hit rocks. I'm 90 feet away from death.
Your God's going to come and save you. That'll make a lame
man leap as a heart. That'll make the tongue of the
dumb sing. Paul took that bread and he broke
it and he said, here, take this and eat it. This is broken for
you. That's Christ, isn't it? Verse 38 says, and when they
had eaten enough, they lightened the ship and cast out the wheat
into the sea. Our Lord said, whoever eats the
heavenly bread of my body, he'll never hunger again. Never again. Whoever partakes of Christ will
truly be satisfied. He will truly be satisfied. This time, you know, they were
throwing out all the stuff before. This time they threw out the
wheat. They ate that wheat. They were selling that wheat.
It was their livelihood. Our Lord said, whoever will lose
his life for my sake and the gospel shall find it. You'll
find life eternal. They cast it all out. All we
need is a ship. We don't need all that. Well,
their voyage is almost done. Almost over, and that's going
to be the case for every single child of God. Every single child,
we are all getting closer and closer to the final shore. Closer
and closer. And the closer we get, the more
clearly we're going to see that we really honestly only have
one hope. One true hope. Verse 39 says, 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, the sea of death. And they loosed the rudder bands,
you steer with the rudder, and they hoist up the main sail to
the wind and made toward shore. They saw there was one place,
they looked out and they didn't know this land, and they saw
one creek. They saw there's one place, one
way. Everything else was rocks. There's
one way. And they said, it's all in the
hands of God. They took up all the anchors. They loosed all
the rudder bands. They hoist up the mainsail. And
they all cried, Jesus, Savior, pilot me. And lo and behold, the gospel
held true. The message held true. That promise
held true. I love this with all my heart. I love this with all my heart.
Verse 41 says, And falling into a place where two seas met, God
and man, holiness and sin, righteousness and judgment, wrath and punishment. Falling into a place where two
seas met, they ran the ship aground, and the forepart stuck fast. The forepart, the front, the
head, stuck fast and remained unmovable. It says, but the hinder
part, the body of this ship, was broken with the violence
of the waves. When every single child of God
finally reaches that final shore, at that moment he's going to
truly and fully realize what saved him. He's going to really
honestly experience what saved him. Christ, our Head, remained
unmovable. He set His face like a flint
to the place where two seas meet. And under the wrath of God Almighty,
His body was broken, delivering His people. Verse 42 says, and
the soldier's 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. He truly did set the prisoners
free. All the prisoners went free.
All the prisoners who were in the ship went free. And verse 44 says, the rest,
some on boards and some on broken pieces of the ship. And so it
came to pass that they escaped all safe to land. Every soul
made it safe and sound. And it was all because of that
ship. They were all clinging to that broken ship. Can't you
just see them all holding on to broken pieces of that ship?
This is the only thing that's going to get me there. All holding
on to that broken ship. And I love how it says in verse
44, and so it came to pass. Just like the promise of God
said it would, it came to pass. And we're all going to finally
see that. We're all going to finally get to say that. We're
going to stand there looking back saying it all came to pass.
Just like God said it would. Just like the promise of God
said it would. Every bit of it. Thank God for
the ship. Thank God for the broken ship.
Okay, let's stand together.