The Apostle Paul went up to Jerusalem
around about March or April time because that was when the Passover
was. And he was arrested when he went
to Jerusalem and he was sent to Caesarea. That was two and
a half years ago. He spent two and a half years
in prison in Caesarea and he was tried by a number of Roman
consuls at the time, finally by a man called Festus and Agrippa
and Bernice. And at the end of two and a half
years, if you think about around about Easter time was Passover.
Two and a half years later, it was the end of the summer coming
on August, September time. And we begin our reading in Acts
chapter 27. We're going to read the first 20 verses or so. I'm going to split the chapter
into two. But we begin our reading being
told that it had been determined that Paul would be sent to Rome. This is what the Lord had told
him some two and a half years before, that he would go to Rome
and there he would preach the gospel. And now the beginning
of that process of Paul's journey to Rome is with us. and a centurion
and others are getting into a little boat and they are heading to
Rome. And little did they know what
they had in store. So it seems as if Luke is joining
Paul at this time. You'll notice at the beginning
of the passage that we're going to read in Acts chapter 27 that
we start to find the word we being used again. And that suggests
to us that Luke is with Paul and that Luke is making that
journey with Paul. And I think that not only is
it the we that tells us that, but the very precise details
that are given about the first-hand knowledge and experience of this
journey leads us to think that the writer of this account was
actually a first-hand witness. He saw and was part of everything
that is happening. So we're going to read from Acts
chapter 27 and verse 1, and we'll read down to verse 20. Now, I'm going to make a slight
difference today because I want to I want to show you a map as
well, because this is one of those passages that lends itself
very much to just seeing in a diagram form the way in which Paul's
journey went. So let's have a look together
at a little map here. And there it is for you. And
this is the journey. So down in that bottom right-hand
corner, you can see Judea and Jerusalem and there's a little
arrow there and a one beside it. Well, that was Paul heading
from Jerusalem to Caesarea where he spent two and a half years
and now it's determined that he should travel to Rome and
that's where the number two begins. So he moves from Caesarea and
he heads up to Sidon. So let's read Acts chapter 27,
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 Adramitium,
now let me just point something out to you. If you see where
Crete is, right in the middle of that map, and then go straight
up you come to the Aegean Sea and then to the right of the
Aegean Sea you can see a place called Adramitium. That's where
this ship was from. So we're actually learning that
when Paul got into a ship from Caesarea that ship was probably
heading all the way up there to Ad Remitium. And that's where
Paul was going to be. Well, he wouldn't go all the
way there. And that's not indeed what happened. He changed boats
at Myra. So this is where the boat is
from. And entering into a ship of Ad Meritium, we launched,
meaning to sail by the coasts of Asia. One, Aristarchus. Aristarchus was a man who was
often with Paul. He was with him on his missionary
journeys and he's going to Rome with him now and we're told in
Paul's letters to Philemon and Well to Philemon I think that
Aristarchus is a prisoner with him in Rome. So he is here too
coming from Caesarea with Paul. This is 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. So there's number two
arrow. They touched in at Sidon, that's
Tyre and Sidon on the coastline there. And Paul was able to be
sustained and nourished and given some help from perhaps a little
church that was there in Sidon. And when we had launched from
Fens, we sailed under Cyprus because the winds were contrary. Now, ordinarily, what they might
have done was sailed straight round where it says Cyprus there
and gone straight from Sidon, made a straight line up to Myra. But because the winds were contrary,
they couldn't go out into the open part of the Mediterranean.
They had to follow the coastline all the way up, which was a longer
journey. So already it's taking more time. 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 Lycia. So you can see Cilicia, Pamphylia,
the sea in front of that coastline. They came to Lucia and the city
of Myra. And there the centurion found
a ship of Alexandria sailing into Italy. Alexandria is down
on the south coast, the north coast of Africa. You can actually
see it there down close to Egypt or part of Egypt. And the ships
of Alexandria usually mean that they are large sailing ships. So it's not just a small ship
that's sort of going up the coast as perhaps the other one was.
This is a large ship and it's going to take them all the way
across the Mediterranean, all the way up to that top left-hand
corner, which is Italy. You can see the boot of Italy
there. all the way into Rome. So this is a large ship, what's
called a ship of Alexandria and when the Bible talks about a
ship of Alexandria it means a large ship. 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 Nidus, the wind
not suffering us, we sailed under Crete, over against Salome. So there was problems here. There
was problems in this journey because they were taking much
too long to make the distance. The winds were contrary to them. It had become late in the year.
It was autumn. It was approaching winter. And
the winds on the Mediterranean Sea were causing their journey
to take too long. And so they got as far as Myra,
they changed ship to the ship of Alexandria, they headed number
four there to Nidus, and from Nidus they were pushed underneath
the city or the island of Crete. And we're told there that they
came to a place called Fairhaven. And so verse 8 says, and hardly
passing it, came unto a place which is called the Fair Havens,
nigh whereunto was the city of Lacea. Now when much time was
spent, and when sailing was now dangerous because the fast was
now already passed, Paul admonished them. So we're getting so late
in the year for this journey. Paul says to them in verse 10,
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. 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 more part advised to
depart thence if by any means they might attain to Phoenice,
and there to Winter, which is an haven of Crete, and lieth
towards the south-west and north-west. So here they were in Fairhaven,
that's at the tip of the arrow which is five, And it probably
means that this wasn't a good place to overwinter. So they decided that they were
going to try and move along the island a little bit to that place
which is called Phoenix. And if they could reach Phoenix,
then they would be able to overwinter at Phoenix before making that
big journey which would take them right across the Mediterranean
journey number six. And when the south wind blew
softly, supposing that they had obtained their purpose, losing
thence, they sailed close by Crete. But not long after, there
arose against it a tempestuous wind called Eurocleidon. 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 Clauda, so you can see that little island there
at the tip of Crete, we had much work to come by the boat. which
when we had taken up they used helps undergirding the ship and
fearing lest they should fall into the quicksands, strake sail,
and so were driven. And we being exceedingly tossed
with a tempest, the next day they lighted the ship, 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 stars
in many days appeared, and no small tempest lay upon us, all
hope that we should be saved was then taken away. So really we see that this has
been quite a dramatic trip that the apostle has had. And when
we look at this map, when we see what it was that was happening,
we're given a little glimpse into just how dangerous and troublesome
this journey was. Let me flip back onto the main
screen here now and pick up. I hope you'll remember the journey
that we've just seen as we've read the verses. But as we see
these different stages in the journey, we remember that the
Apostle Paul knew and was able to tell the centurion that this
was going to be a dangerous and a costly journey. Paul had a
perception and that perception, we read about it in verses 10
and 11, was founded upon both apostolic revelation and also
a prophetic word that the Holy Spirit had given him. And we
shall see that as we read on perhaps next week as the Lord
enables to actually what happened. But what we notice from verses
10 and 11 is that the centurion and the master of the ship and
the owner of the ship, it may be that they were two different
people, they felt that they could risk the journey. They wanted
to risk the journey and at least find a place of safe harbour
in Crete, in the island of Crete, on that little tip where we saw
Phoenix. But because it was autumn, because
these winter storms were approaching, that opportunity was coming to
an end quickly. And in verse 14, as we read,
we're told that they were driven further out to sea. The wind
was coming off the land and they were driven out to sea and they
feared that they would be driven right across to some sandbanks
which were off the coast of Africa. Let me just show you those again.
You can see the sandbanks of Sirtis just off the coast of
Libya there. And as they were driven away
from the island of Crete, there was concern that they would be
lost, the ship would be lost, and lives would be lost on those
sandbanks there. So this is the concern that the
men had at this time. Verse 14 tells us that they were
driven out to sea and that in order to preserve the ship, they
braced it. They threw anything that was
not essential overboard and they tried to tie ropes and chains
around the bottom of the ship to hold the sides of the ship
together. It must have been a really terrifying
experience for all those that were on the ship. And in verse
20 we're told that they were many days without light. They couldn't tell about the
position of the sun. They couldn't tell for navigation. They couldn't have the benefit
of the stars. And we're told that in that little boat all
hope was gone. Now, in a sense, there's not
an awful lot of doctrine in this little passage. It's more of
a story than teaching us. But I think there's one interesting
lesson that I would want to draw from it. And that was the situation
that the centurion was put in when he was wondering about making
the journey. And Paul said, this isn't going
to turn out well. Who would the centurion believe? Would he believe Paul? Or would
he believe the owner and the master of the ship? I think if
I had been the centurion, I would not have followed Paul's advice. I would not have heeded his warning
because I would have thought to myself, I'm going to go with
the experts. I'm going to go with the people
whose ship this is and who own this ship. But you see, the point
was that Paul spoke for God. And that's something that Paul
will draw upon a little later in this story. And we'll come
back to that next week as well. But here's what I want to point
out to you, and especially some of you younger people who may
be listening in, that the Bible does not give us an answer to
every predicament that we face. It doesn't answer every decision
that has to be made. And we have to be wise and we
have to be careful about the paths that we choose in life
and about the decisions that we make. Nevertheless, when we are shown
the truth in the Word of God, we are bound to believe it and
we should follow it. The Word of God is true, and
that which God has revealed isn't to be negotiated with. If the
Lord teaches us something, if the Lord illuminates our understanding,
then we must beware of sinning against the truth. If the Lord
lays a conviction upon our heart, it is wise to take heed to that
conviction. And we will see next week that
the centurion learned that lesson. We are not to be gullible fools
about every wind of doctrine that we hear. The Apostle Paul
writes in Ephesians chapter 4 that we henceforth be no more children
tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine
by the slight of men, by cunning craftiness whereby they lie in
wait to deceive. But when the Holy Spirit opens
the eyes of our understanding and enlightens us that we should
know what is the hope of His calling, what is the riches of
the glory of His inheritance in the saints, let us be bold
to trust the Lord, even against the wisdom of men. knowing that
being made wise unto salvation is a unique and blessed gift
from God. And if the Lord God and the Lord
Jesus Christ and God the Holy Spirit is pleased to show us
the way of salvation, then let us believe that way. Let us trust
the Lord Jesus Christ and let us commit our lives and well-being
into his care and keeping. Amen.