Good morning. It's good to be
with you this morning. Have you opened your Bibles with
me to Acts chapter 27? Acts chapter 27. The title of the message this
morning is taken from verse 31. Acts 27, verse 31. Paul said to the centurion and
to the soldiers, accept these, abide in the ship. You cannot
be saved. abide in the ship. That's our title this morning. I realize it's a lengthy passage,
but let's read this passage of Acts 27 this morning, beginning
with verse 1. And when it was determined that
we should sail into Italy, they delivered Paul and certain other
prisoners under 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 into his friends to refresh himself. And when we launched
from there, we sailed under Cyprus because the winds were contrary. When we had sailed over the Sea
of Cilicia and Pamphylia, we came to Myra, the city of Lycia. And there the centurion found
a ship of Alexander sailing into Italy, and he put us therein. And when we sailed slowly many
days, and scarce for comfort against the night, the wind not
suffering us, we sailed under Crete over into Salmoni. And
hardly passing it, came to a place which is called the Fair Havens.
Nowhere unto was the city of Lycia. And when much time was
spent, and when sailing was now dangerous, because the fast was
now already past, Paul admonished them. And he said unto them,
Sirs, I perceive that this voyage will be with hurt and much damage,
not only to the lady and ship, but also of our lives. Nevertheless,
the centurion believed the master and the owner of the ship more
than those things which were spoken of Paul. And because the
haven was not commodious to winter, In the moor part, it advised
us to depart thence also, by any means we might attain to
Phneise, and there to winter, which is a haven of Crete, and
a lie toward the southwest and northwest. And when the south
wind blew softly, supposing that they had attained their purpose,
losing thence, they sailed close by Crete. But not long after
there arose against it a tempestuous wind called Euryclidon, And when
the ship was caught and could not bear up into the wind, we
let her drive. And running under a certain island,
which is called Clotina, we had much work to come by the boat,
which when they had taken up, they used helps and undergirding
the ship and fearing as they should fall into the quicksand,
straight sail, and so we're driven. And we were being exceedingly
tossed with the tempest, and the next day they lightened the
ship, and the third day we cast out with our own hands the tackling
of the ship. And when neither sun nor star
in many days appeared, and no small tempest lay on us, all
hope that we should be saved was taken away. But after a long
afternoon, as Paul stood forth in the midst of them, and he
said, You should have hearkened unto me, and not of Lucifer's
creed, to have gained this harm and loss, 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. 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. Howbeit, we must be cast upon
a certain island, and when the fourteenth night was come, and
we were driven up and down in Egypt by midnight, the shipmen
deemed that they drew near to some country. And they sounded
and found it twenty fathoms. And when they had gone a little
further, they sounded again and found it fifteen fathoms. And
fearing lest we should have fallen upon rocks, they cast out four
anchors out of the stern, and they wished for the day. And
the shipmen were about to flee out of the ship, when they let
down the boat into the sea under collar, as though they would
have cast anchors out of the foreship. Paul said to the centurion
and to the soldiers, except these abide in the ship, you cannot
be saved. And the soldiers cut off the
ropes of the boat and let her fall off. And while the day was
coming on, Paul besought them all to take meat, saying, this
day is the 14th day that you've tarried and continued fasting,
having taken nothing. Wherefore, I pray you, take some
meat, for this is for your health. for there shall not a hair fall
from any of the head of any of you. And when he thus spoke,
and he took bread, and he gave thanks to God in the presence
of them all, and when he had broken it, he began to eat. Then
were they all of good cheer, and they took some meat, and
we were all in the ship. two hundred, three score, and
sixteen souls, two hundred and seventy-six of them. And when
they had eaten enough, they lightened the ship and cast the weed into
the sea. And when it was day, they knew not the land, but they
discovered a certain creek with a shore, into which they were
minded, if it were possible, to thrust in the ship. And when
they'd taken up anchors, they committed themselves into the
sea, and loosed the rudder bands, and hoisted up the main sails
of the wind, and made towards shore. And falling into a place
where two seas met, they ran the ship aground. And the forepart
struck fast and remained unmovable, but the hinder part was broken
with the violence of the waves, and the soldiers counseled. 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 and some on broken pieces of the ship, and so it
came to pass. They escaped all safe to land. Now I have a few things. I'd
just like to go back through this passage of Scripture this
morning. A few things that I'd like for us to see here this
morning. Look first at verse 13 and 14. It said, When the
wind blew softly, supposing they had obtained their purpose, loosing
this, they sailed close to Crete. But not long after, Not long
after, there arose against it a tempestuous wind called Euryclida. If you look in your margin, it
says a violent agitation. Is there anything, is there anything
more striking to represent the life of a believer? As we pass
through this world, as we experience this voyage through this life,
times of ease, yet times of trouble and difficulty. And this congregation
is no stranger to this, are you? God's sheep are no strangers.
There are those times of ease and times of joy, but boy, there's
times of difficulty and times of trouble. we must be brought to see our
desperate condition before we'll cry out to him. In Psalm 107,
David wrote this. He said, they that go down to
the sea in ships, that do business in great waters, in deep waters,
troubled waters, these see the works of the Lord and his wonders
in the deep. For he commandeth and raises
the stormy wind which lifted up the waves thereof. They mount
up to the heaven and they go down to the depths. David said
their soul melteth because of trouble, because of times of
trouble. They reel to and fro like a drunken
man. They're at their wits end. Then
they cry unto the Lord in their trouble. and He bringeth them
up out of all their distresses. Storms and tempests abound. But the Lord Jesus Christ, He's
our hiding place. We're brought to these times
of trouble and difficulty to teach us to look to Him and to
rest in Him and Him alone. Second, look at verse 20. Here's
the place I believe we're brought to. It says, when neither sun
nor stars in many days appeared, and no small tempest lay upon
us, no sun, no stars, darkness. When there's no sun, there's
darkness. There's no light. It says, all hope All hope that
we should be saved was taken away and left to ourselves. In darkness,
we are hopeless. We're helpless. Paul, writing
under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit to that church at
Ephesus, he said, at that time, ye were without Christ, being
aliens from the Commonwealth of Israel, strangers from the
covenant of promise, having no hope and without God in this
world. And that's where we'll remain
until God is pleased to breathe life into us. You know, Adam
When God made Adam, when he formed him out of the dust of the earth,
up until that point he was just a pile of dirt. No life there. And the scriptures say this,
that God breathed into him the breath of life. God commanded
the light to shine out of darkness. He has shined in our hearts to
give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is God, Almighty God, that
calls His people out of darkness into His marvelous light. This leads me to our third point.
A message of good news. A message of good news. A promise. A promise of deliverance. Look
at verses 21. After long abstinence, Paul stood
forth in the midst of them and he said, he said, sirs, he said,
he said, you should have hearkened unto me and not have loosed from
creed and to gain this harm and loss. Verse 21, I'm sorry. Verse 22, now I exhort you, be
of good cheer, for there shall be no loss of any man's life
among you but of the ship." How can Paul be, how can he be certain
of this? He said, there stood by me this
night the angel of God, whose I am and whom I serve. Any doubt this can be anyone
but the Lord Jesus Christ. For Paul to say that, angel,
whose I am and whom I serve. It's the Lord Jesus Christ saying,
fear not Paul thou must be brought before Caesar and lo God hath
given thee all these that sail with thee. There's going to be
no loss of any man's life among you but of the ship. That ship
is going to be destroyed. But these prisoners are going
to be set free. That's a reason to be of good
cheer, isn't it? Our Lord, when He was there in
the garden with His disciples, and that band of officers from
the chief priests and the Pharisees, they came with their lanterns
and their torches and their weapons. Our Lord said, Whom seek ye?
And they said, Jesus of Nazareth. He said, I'm he. And he spoke,
listen, he spoke in power. They went, they went backwards
and they fell to the ground and he asked, he asked them, our
Lord asked them, he said, whom seek ye? They replied, Jesus
of Nazareth. And the Lord spoke again and
he said, I'm, I'm he. If you seek me. You imagine that, when all those
with him saw that band coming toward them, our Lord spoke in
power. He said this, he said, if you
seek me, then you let these, you let these my sheep, you let
them, you let them go. This must point to our substitute. They take him, they take him
and his people are set free. This ship, this ship, it's going
to be destroyed. But the prisoners, every man
on that ship is going to be set free. There on the cross, our
Lord had been, He had been scourged and beaten and stripped of His
raiment. There on the cross where He bore
our sins, in His body on the tree. God's Word said He was made. There He hangs on that cross.
He was made to be sin. He was made sin that we might
be made the righteousness of God in Him. There He cried out,
My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me? there on the cross
where our Lord cried out, it's finished. It is finished. And he bowed his head and he
gave up the ghost. It was there on the cross that
the Lord Jesus Christ died and his people Every last one of
them set free. Sin's been punished. The wages
of sin is dead. The sin debt has been paid. And
his people, his people set free. A sinful people, mind you, deserving
of death, deserving of condemnation, set free in the Lord Jesus Christ. Fourth, true faith. True faith lays hold and settles
upon God's Word. Upon His Word and upon His promises. Paul said, be of good cheer.
Why? I believe God. I believe God
that it will be even as He told me. It's going to be just as
He said it would be. Whatever God has told His people,
that which He has promised His people, He'll perform it. He'll accomplish it. Consider some of these things
spoken in God's word. He says, I'll be their God and
they'll be my people. God's word declares that he will
never leave nor forsake his people. that he'll guide and protect
his people, that he will supply every need. We need to be reminded
of these things, don't we? How quickly, how quickly we forget,
how quickly we turn our heads and we look to ourselves. He'll supply every need. Concerning
the Lord Jesus Christ, the scriptures declare that we are justified
by His righteousness, that we're pardoned through His blood. That He has saved us with an
everlasting salvation. And concerning His Spirit, He
that hath begun a good work in you. You ever start something
and then just find something else to do? We get distracted
easily, don't we? But this is what is said of the
spirit of God. He that hath begun a good work
in you, he'll finish it. He'll complete it. He that is
our comforter, that spirit which is our comforter and our guide.
Paul said, sirs, I believe God that it shall be even as he has
told me. There's just one way of deliverance. Don't go thinking anything else.
Look at verse 30 of Acts 27. Those shipmen, they were going
to flee out of the ship. They let that lifeboat down into
the sea like they were putting anchors down. Isn't that every one of us by
nature? Looking for our own way of deliverance. Would you look to your way? Would
we look to our way? Absolutely. Would we look to
our own works? Without a doubt. Would we look to this world?
Aren't we prone? If we're honest, aren't we prone
to do that? This is the command. This is
the command. No different today than it was
when these men were on this ship. Abide in the ship. Abide in the
Lord Jesus Christ. It's the same message throughout
God's Word. In the day of Noah, In the day
of Noah, there was one place of safety. It was in the ark. It was in the ark. Eight souls,
scriptures say eight souls were saved. Noah and his family in
the ark. You know, when Jericho was destroyed, there was one place of safety.
Those men told Rahab, hang that scarlet thread outside your window
and bring your family in the house. That whole city was destroyed,
but Rahab and her family, they were safe, safe behind that scarlet
thread. The children of Israel, consider
their day. God passed through in judgment,
killing all the firstborn. There was one place of safety.
Those under the blood. Safe, safe and secure. He said, when I see the blood,
I'll pass over. I'll pass over the undead. The
manslayer. That one who had killed a man. There was one place. There was
one place to flee. The city, the city of refuge. One place of safety. And listen,
it wasn't enough to know some facts and figures and recite
things about the city. Or have a picture of the city
in their living room. No, you had to be in the city
to be safe. And these prisoners, there was
one place that was to abide in the ship. Listen, all these,
all these point to the Savior. They point to the Lord Jesus
Christ. The believer rests in Christ. They were to abide in the ship. Philippians 3, 8 says this, that
I may win Christ and be found in Him. Abide in the ship. Every other refuge, six, every
other refuge has to be removed. It says what they do. They cut
the ropes to that boat and they let it fall off. They had to
get rid of it. Why? Because every time a little
storm would hit or a wind would hit or the rain would pick up,
what would they do? Back to that lifeboat. Huh? Only
one place. Only one place of refuge. Listen,
not only did they cut the ropes to that boat and let it fall
into the sea, they took what they had. They took the food
that they had. They cast it in the sea. They
committed themselves to the sea. No turning back. resting in His
Word, resting in His promises alone. Paul said this. You think about this. He said,
there shall not a hair fall from any of you. Now, there were 276
men on this boat. He said, not a hair is going
to fall from any of you. Now, you think about it. In Matthew
chapter 10, verse 30, We read this, that even the hairs of
our head are numbered. That's how intimately he knows
his people. And I read this. I don't know
if this is an average, but the average person has 100,000 hairs
on their head. You think about that. Not one. Not one's gonna fall from your
head. Paul said you're not gonna lose one. Seventh, there's a new man here. There's
a new man on this ship. Look back in verse 11. The centurion. This one that
was Acts 27 verse 11. This one that was in charge of
Paul and his care. Look at verse 11. It says this,
that he, nevertheless the centurion, believed the master and the owner
of the ship more than those things that were spoken by Paul. How long, and I ask you this
and I ask myself this, as we said under the message
of a faithful pastor, how long did we believe the things spoken
by this world more than that man? How long did we, how long did
we sit in false religion? Those of you that have come out
of, those of us that have come out of false, how long did we
believe the things that were spoken by man rather than the
things in God's Word? There may be some here that continue
to do that. Huh? Hear the things of this
world rather than the things preached, declared from God's
word. The centurion believed the master
and owner of the ship more than the things spoken by Paul. More than the things spoken by
God's messenger. But here's good news. In time,
in God's time, this centurion, he heard. He heard, he believed. How is that? Romans 10 verse
14, How shall they call on Him in whom they've not believed?
And how shall they believe in Him in whom they've not heard? And how shall they hear? without
a preacher. And how shall they preach except
they be sinners? As it's written, how beautiful
are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace and bring
glad tidings of good things. Paul had some glad tidings here,
didn't he? He had some good things. Consider
this for a moment, what Paul declared. Tell me these aren't
glad tidings. Be of good cheer. Paul, we're
on a ship that's going to sink. Be of good cheer. We're all going to die. What
did he say? There shall be no loss of any
man's life among you but of the ship. How can you be certain
of that, Paul? There stood by me this night
the angel of God, whose I am and whom I serve, saying, fear
not. Oh, don't be afraid. Thou must
be brought before Caesar, and lo, God hath given thee all them
that sail with thee. Paul goes on, he says this, he
says, I believe God. I believe, God, that it shall
be even as it was told me." What did he tell those men that were
looking at another way of deliverance? Except these abide in the ship,
you cannot be saved. Be of good cheer. No loss of
any man's life among you. Fear not. God hath given thee
all them that sail with thee. Paul says, I believe God. Abide
in the ship. And in verse 34, he said, not
a hair. Not a hair is going to fall from
any of you. Listen, a message of comfort. A message of hope. A message about a refuge. Abide
in the ship. A promise. Not of man, but a
promise of God. Look at verse 42. The soldier's
counsel was to kill the prisoners. But this centurion, And mind
you, this is the same centurion back there in verse 11. What did he say? It said of him,
he believed the owner and the master of the ship more than
the things of Paul. This man, this centurion willing
to save Paul kept them from their purpose. I remember Brother Henry
used to say, he's under new ownership now, huh? Not his old master,
huh? Not the owner of this earthly
ship, but the master. Believing what Paul had said,
his desire now is to save Paul and to keep these men from their
purpose. Keep them from their purpose.
Listen, God's purpose is gonna be accomplished. Listen to a few of these scriptures.
The purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel
of his own will. His own purpose and grace which
he given us in Christ Jesus before the world began. I was thinking of this this morning,
looking over my nose. Can you imagine? I mean, you
just think for a minute about this voyage. And I suspect the
men on this ship, these were hardened, sea-going men. But they now fear. They fear
for their lives. But you know God, Almighty God
has a purpose in this matter. You reckon they ask, what good
can come from this? Me and Abby were talking to some
friends not too long ago. I think Abby said, we could wire
ourselves to death. Trouble comes, heartache comes. over and over, relentless like
these waves. And boy, we can. We can just,
we can just lie ourselves to death. But God has a purpose in all
things. What do the scriptures say? We
know. We know. Boy, we forget, and
we, how quickly we forget. But we know that all things work
together for good to them who love God, to them who are called
according to His purpose, God's purpose. And it's going to be
no matter how Terrible the conditions look
to us. Almighty God sits on the throne, and His purpose is going
to be accomplished. This man who earlier did not
believe those things spoken of, he's now willing to risk his
life to save Him. He hears. He believes. He's a new man. Well, last point, complete deliverance,
just as it was promised. Not one, not one of God's sheep
is going to be lost. Each one is going to be delivered. Look at verse 44. So it came to pass that they
escaped, all 276 of them, all safe to land. That's how many they started
with, wasn't it? Not one. It says they're all. Not one
was lost. And so it is with every one of
God's sheep. Those chosen in Christ. Those ordained to eternal life. Those called by the Spirit of
God. Those in His care. Those purchased
and redeemed by the blood of His Son. partakers of His blessing
and His grace, not one will be lost. This is the Father's will
which hath sent me, that of all which He hath given me, I should
lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day. Abide in the ship. Abide in the
Lord Jesus Christ. And in closing, turn back to
Acts 27. Look at verse 42 through verse
44. I don't want there to be any
confusion here, okay? And the soldier's council, verse
42, the soldier's council was to kill the prisoners lest any
of them should swim out and escape. Now you can look this up when
you get home. Get your concordance and look
this up. That word, escape, It means just what we would think
a prisoner would do, escape, under their own power to flee. I'm in a prison and I get a couple
of other inmates together and we decide to do this and cut
a hole in the fence under our own power and flee. That's what
that word escape means. Let's read on here. But the centurion,
willing to save Paul, kept them from their purpose, commanded
that they which could swim should cast themselves first into the
sea and get to the land. And the rest, some on board,
some on broken pieces of ship, so it came to pass that they
escaped." There's that word again. They escaped, all safe to land. That word escape has a completely
different meaning. It blessed me when I read this.
That word escape, it means this. It means rescued. It means preserved. It means healed. It means made
perfectly whole. It means saved thoroughly. Isn't that what Almighty God
has done for his people in Christ? Rescued us, redeemed us, preserved
us, healed us, made us perfectly whole. He saved us thoroughly
and completely. With that said, I say this, abide,
abide in the ship. Abide in the Lord Jesus Christ. May God be pleased to bless his
word.