Good morning, everybody. Good
to be with you again. If you want to turn to Acts chapter
27. Acts 27. We're going to look at the back
half of this story this morning, but I want to give you an overview
of what's going on so maybe the story makes sense. If you're
familiar with the Book of Acts, what's happened at this point
is that Paul has been accused by the Jews of certain crimes,
and so he's been drugged before the lower Roman courts. He's
appeared before the leader Festus and the leader Agrippa. And finally,
Paul petitions. He says, no, I want to be judged
by Caesar himself. And this is a bold move, because you know
who Caesar is at this time? It's Nero, if you're familiar with
him. And he was a madman, a very, very wicked, violent man. But
Paul said, I want to be judged by him. And so Paul's a Roman
citizen, so this is his right, right? So they say, okay, we'll
let you do it. And so Paul's entrusted to the care of a Roman
centurion, and his name is Julius. And what we've learned early
in this chapter is that Julius actually proves to be a pretty
decent fellow, humanly speaking. He gives Paul leave to be with his
friends and things like that, not a bad guy. So they go from port
to port, and eventually, Paul and Julius and the other prisoners
end up in the port of Licea, the haven of Licea. And it's
getting on in the winter months. And so what happens in the wintertime
is all these terrible storms come through the sea. And Paul
perceived there's some danger here. And so he tells Julius,
he says, listen, don't shove off. If we leave here, if we
don't just winter here, if we leave here, we're all going to
be in grave danger. And so Julius goes and he talks
to the boat captain. And the boat captain says, no,
it's going to be fine. We can go. And Julius chooses to believe
a lie. He chooses to believe the boat
captain over Paul. Unbelief is always a choice.
The boat captain told Julius what he wanted to hear. Julius
didn't want to be there. He wanted to shove off. He was
just waiting for someone to tell him what he wanted to hear. And
so they shove off, right? And immediately, just like Paul
said, they are caught in the midst of a great storm. That
storm actually has a name in our story. It's called Eurocliden.
And I read a little bit about this. I guess this particular
storm is like a massive hurricane. And this was every sailor's worst
nightmare. If you were out in the middle of the storm as a
sailor in this Euroclide, there was nothing you could do. You
can try all you want to try to keep the boat running and things
like that, but you were at the mercy of the waves and the wind,
and there was absolutely nothing you could do. And that's where
these men find themselves. And as soon as this storm hits and
they find themselves in this position, you know what they
do? It is immediate. They go to work. They try to help the
ship. They try to fix the ship up.
At one point it says they cast out the tackling the ship, the
provisions with their own hands. It's all about them. They are
trying to work their way out of this situation they've made
for themselves. And what they find is that it is a completely
and utterly futile effort. They can't defeat the storm.
They can't do it. All their works are useless.
And what we're going to pick up in the story, they're in a
hopeless and helpless state. They have lost all hope of being
saved. That's a great place to be. Great
place to be. What's the point this morning? Here we have a
beautiful gospel picture, and we're gonna explore that gospel
picture. Also, when we look at this, if you had to pick something
that it focuses on in all this, we have a beautiful portrait
of true saving faith, what it looks like. So look at verse
20. It 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 taken away. Now, think of
this for a second. They're in the midst of this
big, terrible storm. They haven't seen the sun or
the stars, anything to see by or navigate by in several days,
and they're completely helpless and hopeless. They've lost all
hope of saving themselves, like I said before. Now, in the human
realm of things, This is a terrible position to find yourself in,
right? If you show me a man in this world who is helpless and
hopeless, I will show you a miserable man. But in the spiritual realm
of things, this is the best possible place a man can be. And mercifully,
this is what the Lord does with his people before he plants that
seed of faith. This is what precedes the planting
of faith. You see, there has to be a tearing
down before there can be a building up. Now if you think of this
illustration for a second. Let's say you're a farmer, right?
And he wants to plant a crop. What's the first thing he does?
Does he go out to his field and just immediately and indiscriminately
start throwing seed all over the place? No, it wouldn't take
root. What does he do? He goes out
there and he meticulously and carefully turns up that field.
He goes through and he plows through all that dirt, plows
through all that horn play and those dirt clods, he removes
the rocks, he tears that field to pieces, loosens that dirt,
turns it all up, and once it's been thoroughly worked over,
then he very carefully goes by and he plants that seed. No different
with the Lord. Let me read you this. This is
Jeremiah 110, the Lord giving Jeremiah instructions on how
to preach. He said, see, I have this day set thee over the nations
and over the kingdoms. He's gonna mention six things
here. To root out, to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw
down, and to build, and to plant. Six things. How many of them
have to do with destruction? Four. How many have to do with
building up? Two. You know what it tells me?
The destroying is the harder part. Why? Because of pride. Human pride. We build false refuges. What do those false refuges look
like? Are works? what we do or what we abstain
from doing, our will, the choices we make. Our motives and intentions,
all those things we would bring before God and say, look at me,
show me favor because I, right here, all those false refuges
have to be completely and utterly destroyed, just burned to the
ground. And once they've been completely burned to the ground
and the field is completely and utterly turned up and loose,
in a hopeless and a helpless state, just where these men are
right here, then the Lord comes and he plants that peaceful seed
of faith. But there's gotta be war before
there can be peace. Now look at verse 21. Paul says, but after long abstinence,
Paul stood forth in the midst of them. He says, sirs, you should
have hearkened unto me and not have loosed from Crete and to
have gained this harm and loss. Now Paul's reminding them what
happened back in Lysia. He says, I told you, I warned
you, and you refused to believe me. Your unbelief is what got
us in this mess. And you know what? Since it's
your unbelief that got us in this mess, it's all your fault.
And that's the case with us. What's the root of the sin problem
that we have? It's unbelief. Now, go back. Go all the way back, go all the
way back to the garden. Adam and Eve. Lord told Adam,
you can eat of all the trees, all the fruit of all the trees
of the garden, except for this one tree, the tree of the knowledge
of good and evil. In the day that you eat thereof, you shall
surely die. No question about it. Is there
anything that could be misinterpreted about that? Absolutely nothing. This is a very simple command,
a very simple warning. Then Satan comes along. He says
this, he goes, no, he's lying. What he's not telling you is
you eat this fruit, your eyes are gonna be opened. You see,
you'll see good from evil. You'll be independent from God.
You'll be your own God. You'll be just like him. You'll
have independence. And you'll be able to choose the good over
the evil. That means there'll be moral virtue in your choice.
You know what that means? That means there'll be some glory
there for you. And because he told them what they wanted to
hear, because that's what every man wants to hear, that he can
be independent from God and he can get his own glory. Because
he told them what they wanted to hear, what happened? Adam
reached out, he grabbed the fruit, he ate it, and we died, every
one of us, in Adam. We died spiritually, lost that
uprightness in nature, and we have this wicked, sinful, even
nature that breathes out blaspheme from God with every breath. Here's
the thing, though. We won't truly understand our
personal depravity until we understand Adam's role in the fall. Adam
was a body. Adam was a figurehead. Adam was
the first man, but folks, you and I are Adam. We were all in
Adam. We were there. He is our seminal
head. He was a body that housed us all. You know what that means?
That means it was this hand right here that stretched forth and
took the fruit. And it was this mouth right here that ate it.
And it was this desire here to be independent from God. And
this desire right here to have my own glory. It's my fault.
I was the one that refused to believe God, that chose to believe
a lie. And that means presently as I am born in this world, a
sinner, that's my fault. And that's your fault, because
you weren't Adam. Now, these men have found themselves
in a hopeless and a helpless state. They know they cannot
save themselves. They've been confronted with
this, that your problem, it's unbelief. And because of your unbelief,
these circumstances you find yourself in, it's all your fault. Now, you know what they're ready
for? They're ready to have the gospel preached to them. Look
at verse 22. And now, I exhort you to be of
good cheer. You see, to a sinner, the gospel
is always good news. It's always a reason to be of
good cheer. Well, what is it? For there shall
be no loss of any man's life among you. but of the ship."
Now here we have the gospel in one verse. One single verse,
the entire gospel in one. Everybody in the ship is going
to live, but the ship has to be destroyed. Everybody in Christ,
they're going to live. They're going to arrive before
the Father safe and sound without a scratch on them. It's guaranteed.
Everybody in Christ is going to live, but the ship, the ship
has to die. That's the gospel right there.
Now, you know what's interesting about this? You know how many
people were in this ship? Look down at verse 37. And we were in all, in the ship,
200, three score, and 16 souls. The scripture tells us that there
was an exact amount of men, precise amount of men in this boat. 276 men got inside that boat
according to the purpose and will of God. That boat, that
ship, protected and weathered the storm for 276 men all the
way through. And what we're going to find
at the end of this story is that exactly 276 men arrived safely
on the shore, exactly as God promised it. An exact number. How many people are in Christ?
An exact number. An exact number. There's always
been an exact number that have always shared an eternal union
with the Lord Jesus Christ. How does that eternal union work?
I don't know. We've always shared a union. We have always been
a part of Him. An exact number. I've always shared a union with
Christ. That same exact number the Father chose unto salvation
and election. He chose that exact same number,
those exact same people. Then He gave those people back
to Christ in the covenant of grace. That exact number. When
the Lord Jesus Christ came to this earth, he lived and he established
the righteousness for an exact number, those same exact people.
When he went to the cross, he went there bearing the sins of
that exact number of people. When he died, he single-handedly
accomplished the salvation of that exact number of people. Everybody in the ship presently,
right now, is saved. You know what that means? That
means there is nothing left to do. Now let me give you a scripture
that reinforces this. Turn to John chapter six. John chapter six and pick up
in verse 39. This is Christ speaking. He says,
and this is the Father's will which is sent me. that of all
which he hath given me, I should lose nothing, but should raise
it up again at the last day. Now, why will Christ lose nothing?
That exact number, why must they all be saved presently right
now? I'll tell you why, because it
was the Father's will. The Father has a will, He has a perfect
will, and that will is reinforced by His almighty power. He has
a will and He has the power to ensure that His will always comes
to pass, and His will always does come to pass. So when He
says, you're not going to lose one, He says it with power. Because
God is absolutely sovereign, always in control, has the power
to make his will come to pass, and Christ is a savior that cannot
fail, we must, everyone in the ship must be saved. Now somebody says that's great,
but it means absolutely nothing to me unless I know if I'm in
the ship or not. And I understand that. All you have to do is look
down one verse though. Look at verse 40. And this is the will of him that
sent me, that everyone which seeth the Son and believeth on
him may have everlasting life, and I will raise him up again
at the last day. So who's in the ship? Everybody
who seeth the Son and everybody who believeth on him. Now what
does that mean, to see the Son, that seeth the Son? The Lord
Jesus Christ asked the Pharisees a very poignant question, and
it's a wonderful question. What think ye of Christ, Whose
son is he? That was a question he asked.
Here's what I think. I think Jesus Christ is the son
of God. And being God's son, that makes him equal with God.
That means that he is God himself. I think he created all this.
This world, this universe, the stars in the sky, all of us,
he created all of it. And as the creator, he holds
it all in the palm of his hand. And day in, day out, second by
second, he is ruling and reigning, causing, as the first cause of
everything, to happen. Nothing happens outside his control.
I think he holds the hearts of the kings of this world, all
the big shots, all the men who think they're in charge, he holds
their hearts in his hand. And as the rivers of water, he
turns it any way he wants. He says, I want you to make this
decision. He turns his heart. You're going to make this decision.
He turns his heart. That's how easy it is for him. I think this. I think he forms light, and he
creates darkness, and he makes peace. And make no mistake, and
he creates evil. I think he's holy. He's righteous. He's incapable of sinning. I
think he loves his people. I think he loves them so much
that he was willing to suffer the equivalent of an attorney
in hell for all of them. I think he's approachable. I
think a sinner come to him needing mercy, he won't be turned away.
There's only one way you'll be turned away, only one. If you
come and you try to bargain for it, I mean try to buy it. Come
say, you give me mercy and I'll do this, or I'll do this and
you give me mercy, you'll be turned away. If you come empty-handed
with nothing, completely approachable. Come, bountiful storehouses for
you. I think he's long-suffering and forbearing. He'd have to
be put up with people like us. I think he cannot fail. You want
to know why I think all that? Because that's what this book
teaches. That's why. Now, have you seen him? Do you believe him? What does that mean? Paul said
this, I know whom I have believed. That's the son who we just spoke
of. And I'm persuaded. I've looked at everything. And
I know it must be this way. that he is able, he has the ability
to keep that which I've committed unto him against that day. Well,
what did Polk committed to him? Everything. He had no plan B,
he had no safety net, committed the entire salvation of my soul
to him, his work, his obedience, him alone. You believe on him? You're in the ship. The promise
is to you. Everybody in the ship is gonna
arrive on shore safe and sound. Now, Paul's gonna tell us why
he believes the promise. Look at verse 23. Of your text, I'm sorry. Acts
27, verse 23. Paul said, 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. Now, when I read of things like
this in the scripture, I get a little jealous. Wouldn't you love to
have the Lord appear to you? Wouldn't decision-making Would
it be easier if the Lord appeared to you and said, this is the
way it is? He says it in his word. Listen, this is the reason
Paul believed what he was told. This is the first reason, number
one, because it was God that told him. The angel of God stood
by me, that's Christ. It's written here in the word.
This is the inspired word of God. Why can I believe this?
Why can I take this promise home? Why is this promise to be believed?
How can I know what's going to come to pass? Because it's written
right here in the inspired Word of God. I think it's interesting.
There's at least some segment of the population that is striving
for success, striving for perfection. We call them perfectionists,
right? Everyone's looking for perfection as close as they can
get. Impossible with humans. One thing in this entire world
that's perfect, it's right here. It's right here. Completely and utterly
inerrant. All the promises of God being
yay and amen, this is the very word and promise of God. That's
the first one. He says, I believe this because
it was God who told me. Here's the second reason, because
it was a must. He said, Paul, you must stand before Caesar.
You must be cast upon a certain island. This is God's will. It
is a must. It must happen. Why must everything
in this book take place? Why is it historical? It's already
taken place. It's already over. Why? How do
we know that? Because it's a must. Because
God uttered it. Because this is the purpose and
will of God. And if God can make a promise,
if he can purpose something, and it doesn't come to pass,
that means God is a liar. Numbers 23, 19 says this, God
is not a man that he should lie, neither the son of man that he
should repent. Hath he said and shall he not do it? Or hath he
spoken and shall he not make it good? Two things the angel
says to Paul, he says, fear not and be of good cheer. What's
the reason we can fear not? What's the reason we can be of
good cheer? Because everybody in the ship is gonna be safe
and sound and we know this because of this, because God can't lie. He's incapable of it. Look at verse 29. I'm sorry,
verse 27. Let's see what happens here. But when the fourteenth night
was come, and 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.
Then fearing lest we should have fallen upon rocks, they cast
four anchors out of the stern, and wished for the day. Now,
here's what's happening. It's midnight, so they're completely
in the dark, right? But they've set a watch. The
men on the boat, they've set a watch. And as they go along,
they perceive, by some means, that there's land there. They're
coming near the land. So they start sounding. What
this is, it's a technique where you're gauging the shallowness
of the water. So they sound, they take a reading, they go
a little further, they find out, they sound again, that the water's
getting shallower, right? So they're right. They know they're
getting toward land. Here's the problem. They can't
see anything. They don't know what's in front of them. And
so fearing that they're going to crash against the rocks, right?
They stop. They can't go forward because
of the rocks. They can't go back because the wind is at their
backs. You know what they do? They drop anchor, and when it says
there they wish for the day they literally prayed for life. They
waited on the Lord. Here's my point to all this.
Here's my observation here. These men had the promise of
God. The promise was this, everybody
in the ship is going to be safe. It didn't make them apathetic
or presumptuous in any way. They still set the watch. They
still sounded, still gauged the depth of the water. They were
still leery of the rocks. It didn't make them apathetic
or presumptuous, even though they had the promise. The promise
actually made them more diligent. Now, here's a scripture I thought.
It says 1 Peter 2, verses 3 and 4. It says, if so be, ye have tasted that the Lord
is gracious. Now let's just stop there for
a second. The Lord is gracious. He's gracious. You know what
that means? That means he gives to those who need it freely.
He requires nothing in return. And he doesn't look for a reason
in the person he gives to. And he gives to the worst, to
only the most needy. God is gracious, God is gracious. If so be ye have tasted that
the Lord is gracious, listen to this, to whom coming. Not to whom you've come. not
to whom you're going to come, not to whom you came a year ago,
to whom coming this very moment as unto a living stone disallowed
indeed of men, but chosen of God and precious. You see, faith
is not a once and done activity. Faith is perpetual. It's continual. It is a continual coming to Christ. We continually need him. We continually
need mercy. We continually need him to bring
us before the father and present us blameless and faultless. We
have the promise. The work is already done. We
come and we come and we come. It's perpetual. I like how the
Scripture words this. It's beautiful. It's the Scripture.
But it says, if you've tasted that the Lord is gracious. Now,
have you ever eaten something for the first time and that was
all you wanted to eat for a long time after that? It happens to
me all the time. And you ask Jamie, I'll go for
years sometimes. I will literally eat the same thing every day.
I don't care, right? Eventually, I get tired of it, right? But
here's the thing, if you've ever tasted that the Lord is gracious,
if you're a sinner, and the Lord Jesus Christ reveals himself
to you, and you taste of his grace, he's all you ever want,
and you just keep on coming back for more, you never get tired
of him. Just give me more. Just tell me one more time that
everybody in the ship is safe. Tell me one more time that the
shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ has put away my sins and
I stand faultless before God. Tell me one more time, it never
gets old to me. Just keep on telling me. Look at verse 30. And as the shipmen were about
to flee out of the ship, when they had let down the boat
into the sea, under color, as though they would have cast anchors
out of the foreship. Paul said to the centurion, to
the soldiers, except these abide in the ship, you cannot be saved. Then the soldiers cut off the
ropes of the boat and let her fall off. Now, we looked at this
example last time I was with you, if you remember, but I want
to look at it again. Here's what's happening here. These men, some
of them on the boat, they got scared, and they lost confidence
in the ship. Now, you know what that tells
me? It tells me as long as we have this old man, as long as
we have this old nature, we're going to struggle with unbelief,
just like these men did. They're struggling with unbelief. They lose some confidence in
the ship, and they find a rowboat, a little dinghy, a lifeboat that's
on the ship, right? It's customary in those times.
You have a big ship, got a lifeboat on it, right? They find this
little lifeboat, and this becomes plan B. This becomes the safety
net. And so they lie. What they say
is, they're like, listen, what we're going to do, we're going
to get out in the little rowboat, right? And we're going to take the anchors
from the big ship, and we're going to cast them out further. We're
going to make the big ship even more secure. They were lying.
It wasn't what it was. They had lost confidence in the
big ship. And they decided, for some reason, that they would
be more secure in the little tiny dinghy than they would the
big ship. Now, let's talk about how monumentally stupid this
is right now. From a human standpoint, there is a storm raging. Eurocliden
is still pounding that arm, right? These men said, I don't feel
comfortable in this big ship anymore. The ship under which
God's promise is, Everyone in the ship, it has everything to
do with geographical location. You are either in the ship or
you are not in the ship. The promise to those in the ship,
God had promised, the promise was to those in the ship. And
this is the same ship that had proven itself time and time again.
It had gotten through the storm just perfectly up to this point.
And they said, you know what? Not the ship anymore. We're going
to be more safe in the little dinghy. That little dinghy that
is sure to capsize with the smallest of the waves. Say, that's ridiculous. It is no more ridiculous than
salvation by words. None whatsoever. The scripture
is clear, Isaiah 64 6, all our righteousnesses are as filthy
rags. You can't take that two ways. Everything that comes from
me and you is unacceptable to God. That's just the way it is.
And for man to approach unto God and say, you show me favor
because I, and he interjects something about you, it is the
same as being in the middle of a hurricane, getting down in
a little dingy, it is certain death. Absolute certain death.
The promise was in the ship, but the Lord intervened. And
I'm thankful for that, that when his people are just caught under
unbelief, he intervenes. And Paul says, unless you abide
in the ship, you cannot be saved. You know what they did? They
took that little dinghy, they lowered it in the water, and
they cut the cords, and they watched it sail off into the
darkness. No plan B, no safety net. All they had was the bare
word of God and the ship. Where there is true saving faith,
it is a burning the bridge and a cutting of ties with everything
else. There is no Christ stand. There are no plan Bs. If this
doesn't work out, well, I still can fall back on that. You burn
every bridge, you cut every time, and you are left with nothing
but the bare promise of God and Christ alone. That's it, faith
is always singular. Look at verse 33. And while the day was coming
on, Paul besought them all to take meat, saying, this day is
the 14th 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, because all your hairs
are numbered. And when he had 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
200, three score, and 16 souls." Think about this for a minute.
I can't stress this enough. The storm is still raging. Your
old Clyde is still beating down on these guys, right? There's
some bad decision making going on the boat. Clearly there are
some hysterical people on this boat because this group of guys
decided they wanted to get in a little dingy in the middle
of the storm. There's some bad decision making going on. Everyone
seems to be up in the arms and quite frightened. And in the
midst of all this, what does Paul do? He gives thanks. And very quietly, and very patiently,
and very calmly, he starts having a meal. You know what he looks
like? He looks like a man who believes God. While everyone
else around him was hysterical and running around like a chicken
with their head cut off, Paul very calmly, very patiently,
gives thanks, breaks bread, and starts having a meal. Faith is
encouraging to others. Two things from this, though.
Number one, faith is always accompanied by thanksgiving. always accompanied
by thanksgiving. We can't help but give thanks
to God for what the Lord Jesus Christ has done for us. But I
wanna give you this scripture. David says this four times in
the Psalms. This exact verse is repeated
four times in the Psalms. He uses this verse to start three
different Psalms, meaning three different times, this is the
very first thing he wanted people to hear. This is what he said.
Oh, give thanks unto the Lord. Why? for he is good, for his
mercy endureth forever. Give thanks to the Lord, why?
Number one, because he's good. I think about this quite a bit.
How thankful are we that it is a good man that rules over us
all? I say man. The Lord Jesus Christ
is a man. There's a man in glory right
now that rules and reigns and he is a good man. He is not like
you and me. In him there is no malice. In
him there is no envy. There's no wicked jealousy. Everything
about him is beautiful. You think about the attributes
of a good man in this world. Humanly speaking, humanly speaking,
right? He's kind and gentle and yet confident and capable. All
these different things. He's all those things. He's a
good man. But I think about this too. My pastor says this a lot
and I completely agree with it. If I were in charge, if you or
I were God, how many people would be saved? Not a one. Not a one. We'd show mercy for
a little while, right? A little while, but time would
go on. People would shake their fist in our face. What would
happen? Eventually, we would wipe everybody out. The man who
sits on the throne, who rules and reigns, he is a good man.
Everything about him is good. Everything he does is good. There's
perfect justice, perfect judgment, perfect equity in his kingdom.
He never calls good evil and evil good. Everything is perfect
with him. You think about this world, there's
so much injustice in every way, right? We're willing to sweep
things under the carpet for some people, but hold other people accountable
and things like that. We call good evil and evil good
constantly. He never does. No, there's perfect justice,
perfect judgment in his kingdom. And his providence is perfect.
It's good. Everything that happens for his
people, it's always good. It's good for us. And we know
that all things work together for good to them that love God,
to them who are the called according to his purpose. He has a good
purpose. Everything about him is good.
And his mercy endures forever. Revelation 13 refers to the Lord
Jesus Christ as the lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
You know what that means? That means in the purpose and
the mind of God, Jesus Christ has always been the suitable
sacrifice for his people. God has always been satisfied
with those in Christ because Jesus Christ is the lamb slain
from the foundation of the world. That means his mercy, it's eternal. That's hard for us to grab hold
of, right? Eternity is a hard concept. There's never been a
time when we were not under the mercy of God. We were born under
mercy. There was mercy for yesterday.
There was mercy for today. There'll be mercy for tomorrow.
There was mercy before we were even born. Before we ever committed
one sin, there was mercy for those sins. And there will always
be mercy. There will never be a time when
that faucet of mercy will be turned off and God's wrath will
be pointed towards us. The wrath is gone. It's been
paid for. His mercy endureth forever. Why do we give thanks?
Because he's good. The Lord is good. And because
his mercy to his people. Everybody in the ship, it endures
forever. Faith is always accompanied by
thanksgiving. The second thing I noticed here
is faith must be continually nourished. Now Paul's sitting
there, he's having a meal. What does he eat? What does he
do? He breaks bread. You know what I immediately thought
of? The last supper, the Lord's table. The Lord said, this do
in remembrance of me. And he broke bread. He says,
this is my body broken for you. Here's the wine. This is my blood
shed for you. What is it that nourishes faith?
What do we feed on? What does it keep going on? The
broken body and the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ alone.
This do in remembrance of me. What did we come here for this
morning? to be fed, and to be, and to remember, to be reminded
one more time that the broken body and the shed blood of the
Lord Jesus Christ is the very accomplishment of our salvation.
There is nothing left to do. In that singular act, when he
said, it is finished, speaking of everyone in the ship, in him,
he completed salvation. It's over. That broken body,
that shed blood is everything. And it's that message that nourishes
faith. That's why we have to come back. We have to come back
every Sunday. We have to come back every Tuesday
or Wednesday, whatever day it is. We have to keep on hearing it.
I have to hear one more time. What is it? Why am I secure?
Because this man, the Lord Jesus Christ, his body was broken and
his blood was shed and that satisfied God on your behalf and it's done. Look at verse 38. And when they'd eaten enough,
they lightened the ship and cast out the wheat. into the sea.
After they were done having this meal, you know what they did?
They threw all provisions out the window. When you have the
broken body and the shed blood, if you have Christ and Him crucified,
you can't eat anything else. You're plumb full. If you're
a sinner, it's all you want. That's all you need. It's everything
that satisfies God, so it's everything that satisfies you. And you know
what you do? You take all of the provisions, just throw them
out. I can't eat another bite. That's it. Look at 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 toward shore. So they see it, right? Their
prayers are answered, daylight comes, and they see it. They
said, if it's possible, if it's possible at all, it's gonna be
right there in this little creek here. And they immediately hoist
that sail, and they make toward shore. Now, here's my point.
Here's what I keyed in on. Said they knew not the land.
Faith doesn't know everything, and faith doesn't understand
everything, but it makes for Christ. Now, what do I mean by
that? People ask all the time, what
do you have to know? What do you need to know to be safe?
And folks, that's a terrible question. It's a horrible question.
It's not what you know. It's who you know. That's the
point. But let's look at a man, as far
as we can tell, probably knew the least of anybody else in
the scripture. Turn over to Luke chapter 23. The Lord was crucified between
two malefactors, two prisoners. He chose to save one and he chose
to pass by another. Let's read about the one that
he chose to save. Verse 39, Luke 23. And one of the malefactors, which
were hanged, railed on him. saying, if thou be Christ, save
thyself and us. But the other, and this is the
man I want to consider, answering rebuked him, saying, dost thou
not fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation? Well,
what did this man know? Number one, he knew that he was
under the condemnation of God. He knew that he was a condemned
man before God. Look at verse 41. And we indeed
justly, For we receive the due reward of our deeds. Not only
was he under the condemnation of God, he knew that, he says
it's right. Indeed, justly, we're criminals. We're getting exactly
what we deserve. If God sends me to hell, what
am I getting? I'm getting exactly what I deserve. We indeed do
justly. But this man had done nothing
amiss. He knew this man hanging next
to the Lord Jesus Christ, this was the spotless lamb. This is
the man who had done no sin and knew no sin. This was the holy
one. Verse 42, and he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when
thou comest into thy kingdom. Here's who this man knew. He
knew that this one hanging next to him, this spotless lamb, this
was the Lord and this was the king. He says, you're God. You're
the sovereign of the universe. It's actually in your hands.
That's where I'm sitting right now. You're the one who's gonna
make this decision. As to save, as to damn, it's
completely and utterly up to you. You're the king, you're
the sovereign, you're the Lord. He knew exactly who he was talking
to, right? And he knew this one thing, if
you just remember me. Now this man I don't think could
walk you through all the intricacies of imputation and sanctification
and probably didn't know anything about the two natures. But you
know what this man knew? He knew he was a condemned man, justly
so, and he knew he was in the hands of this man, God himself,
the sovereign, to be done with as he sees fit. And he knew,
if you just remember me, if you just remember me, I'll be saved. Verse 43. And Jesus said unto
him, Verily I say unto thee, Today thou shalt be with me in
paradise. It's not what you know, it's
who you know. You know that? A condemned man justly before
a holy and a sovereign God, and your only hope is that he remembers
you. Is that what you're gonna do? Hoist the mainsail and make for
Christ. Yeah, you don't understand everything, you don't know everything,
you don't have to. Hoist the mainsail, loose the rubber bands,
make for Christ right now. Verse 41 of your text, Acts 27,
verse 41. And falling into a place where
two seas met, they ran the ship aground, and the four parts stuck
fast and remained unmovable. But the hinder part was broken
with the violence of the waves. Now here the promise takes effect.
The ship, they run it forward, all of a sudden it sticks in
the ground, it's completely unmovable. Christ, the unmovable rock. And
the hinder part is destroyed with the violence of the waves.
The Lord Jesus Christ had to die. But you know what happened
on the cross? On the cross, two seas met. I'm gonna give you a scripture
here. Psalm 85, 9, 10 says, surely his salvation is nigh them that
fear him. that glory may dwell in our land. Listen to this.
Mercy and truth are met together. Righteousness and peace have
kissed each other. So what's that all about? Mercy
and truth, righteousness and peace. What are you talking about
there? What's the truth about me? The truth about me is I have
broken God's holy law with every action, with every thought, with
every breath from my nostrils. I've never kept one commandment
one time. So how can God be merciful to
me, truth and mercy? How can he be merciful to me
without defying his sense of perfect justice? How can he hold
me to his standard, which is perfect righteousness, and be
at peace with me if I'm a sinful man? On the cross, two seas met. Now, here's something that is
impossible in the human realm. It is impossible to show mercy
and to do justice. If a man commits a crime, And
he is found guilty of that crime, rightfully. And he is given the
appropriate punishment for that crime. You know what happens?
That's justice. But if all that happens, you
know what you can't do? You can't show mercy. Also this, man commits
a crime. He's brought before the judge.
He's convicted of that crime. And they said, no, we're just
not going to punish you. We're not going to hold you accountable.
That's mercy, but where did it come at the expense at? Justice. There's no justice there. On
the cross, two seas met, God's mercy and God's justice were
accomplished in a singular man. The sins of the elect were taken
off of Christ, or taken off the elect and put in Christ. The
wrath of the Father for those sins came down on Christ and
justice was accomplished. Christ suffered appropriately.
He suffered in a manner that actually satisfied God, in a
manner that actually put away the sin to where it was no more.
See, justice on the cross was completely and utterly accomplished.
And since the sins have been lifted off of us, they were put
in Christ and actually put away. That means mercy is showered
down upon everybody in the ship. Why can God accept us? It's for
this reason, and if the scripture didn't teach this, I wouldn't
say it. It's because right now, presently, we are completely
and utterly acceptable in the person of Jesus Christ. Mercy
and truth, they met. Justice has already been accomplished,
and now mercy is everywhere. God's demands are both justice
and mercy. It's not as if, well, his demand
is justice, and he might be merciful. His demand is justice, and his
demand is mercy, and the Lord Jesus Christ accomplished both
in one body. Now, look at verse 42. Let's
end the story. 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 Pole, 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. So it came
to pass that they escaped all safe to land." The promise is
fulfilled. Paul said, it's going to be exactly
as he told me. I know that. And you know what?
It happened exactly as he told Paul. All the promises of God
are yea and amen. What about these guys, right?
It says, some swam, others were clinging to pieces of the ship.
What's that talking about? That's talking about faith being
given in measure. Now, faith, folks, is the gift
of God. We can't muster it. Nothing we do to get it, the
Lord freely gives it. And whatever strength of faith you or I have,
whether it be weak faith, mid-grade faith, strong faith, it's exactly
what the Lord has given us, right? The question is, who represents
who in this story? You got some who are strong,
some who are clinging to pieces of the ship. And so if you look
at this story on the surface, you may say, well, the guys with
strong faith, they're the guys who could swim, right? And the
weaker ones were the ones that were clinging to pieces of the ship.
And that may be. But I know how I want to die.
I want to die clinging to the ship. Not kicking, not paddling,
not struggling. Literally holding as tight as
I can to the ship waiting for it to drag me to shore. And I
say that the strongest faith that's represented here are those
men that clung to the ship to the very end, not kicking, not
paddling, not swimming, literally waiting for the ship to drag
them onto the shore. That's how I wanna die. That's
the faith I wanna die with. All right, well Paul said, except
these abide in the ship, You cannot be saved. There is one
place of safety. Don't get in the dinghy. Don't
get in the lifeboat. There is one place of safety. It is in
the ship. Now, loose the rudder end and
hoist the mainsail and get to Christ, if you're a sinner. I'll
leave it there.