I'm not sure how many more lessons
we'll have in the book of Acts, but I think at this point, which
might change tomorrow, I think we're going to be, after Acts,
we'll be in Mark for a while on Wednesdays, but I think we're
going to try Zechariah. We're going to look at Zechariah. In Acts chapter 27, let me read
just a section that we're going to be in. As you remember, Paul is on his
way by a ship to Rome, and they're meeting with some very, very
difficult, perilous times on sea, at the sea. We pick this
up in verse 18 of Acts 27, and 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. 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. But after
a 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." What? We're about ready to die here.
There's absolutely no form of human help to be found. There's
not any other ships around. We don't know where we are. We
can't control this thing. We're throwing everything overboard.
And Paul stands up and he says, I exhort you to be of good cheer. Now he's going to say this twice
in these five or six verses that we're going to be in. 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."
There it is again. The situation's not changed.
Still, it's a matter of conversation, it's a matter of seconds have
passed. Paul, did you not see what's going on? We haven't seen
sun, we haven't seen stars many days, we're getting hungry, Just
because you say, be of good cheer, and you say, believe in God,
and all these other things, God spoke with you, etc. It's still
raining. We're still tossed to and fro.
He said, be of good cheer, verse 25, for I believe, God, that
it shall be even as it was told me. This morning's message, if we
could title it, if I wanted to title it, Hope for Shipped Wreck
Sinners. hope for shipwrecked sinners. Before I get to the message,
I want to tell you a story that I believe I've told you before.
But bear with me as I, because I think this story ties in nicely
with our text today. In 1873, we have penned, or we would have penned,
a most lovely and heart-stirring hymn. That writer of that hymn, Horatio
Spafford, having experienced several very traumatic events,
he would therefore feel compelled to write his thoughts for all
to read and for all to sing. concerning the mighty grace that
causes God's people to stand firm in such hard and difficult
times. The hymn, you know it. The hymn,
I know it. It's one of my favorites. It
is well with my soul. The author, again, as I said,
was Horatio Spafford. And here are some of the events
that led up to him writing that hymn. which I said was in 1873. In 1871, his first trial was
the death of Horatio's only son. Shortly after the death of his
only son, the Great Chicago Fire happened, which ruined him financially. Then in 1873, planning a trip
to Europe with his wife Anne, and four of his lovely daughters,
he reserved the cruise line tickets. Being delayed himself, he sent
his five ladies to sea and would later meet them back up in Europe. The liner, which they were on,
while crossing the Atlantic, collided with a sailing ship
called the Locke Urn. sending the liner to the ocean
floor rather quickly. Anne survived. The four daughters
did not. Shortly afterwards, Spafford
traveled to reunite with his wife, Anne, and while passing over the spot where the
collision was said to have taken place, he penned the now famous
hymn as well. with my soul. Well, I looked at that hymn,
it's a beautiful hymn, but then to see why and how it was written. You lose a son, you lose your
financial well-being, you want to get away with your family,
and you lose all your children. Your wife survives. You gotta
go get her. She's distraught. She's grieving
tremendously, as well as Horatio. And as he's sailing the Atlantic,
he writes that hymn. How is it that Mr. Spafford, or Paul as it is in
our text, could possibly hold up under such grieving and troublesome
times or troublesome news? How is it? How is it that Paul could declare
twice in the teeth of being exceedingly tossed with
a tempest on this ship? He was no seaman. How is it that those who had
more experience than him, those who had the maritime know-how,
were about to lose their mind? Paul declares twice, once in
verse 22 and once again in verse 25, be of good cheer. Well, the
key is, The Word of God. This night,
an angel of the Lord spoke the Word of God. That's a key. So whatever you're going through,
and whatever I'm going through, or whatever we might go through, the key is the Word of God. And another key is, Paul said,
I believe God. No matter what may come, Though
Satan should buff it, Thou hast taught me to say, It
is well with my soul." Though it looks like the journey
is going to end here, remember earlier, I think in Acts 22,
earlier in the book of Acts, the Lord told him, you're going
to testify of me in Rome, and he's not made it yet. Now, when
we get to the last chapter, he makes it, but he's still not,
They end up getting shipwrecked in this island, and I believe
they end up staying there three months. And then they have a
few more other stops, because obviously it's merchant vessels
that they're on, so they're making their stops, unload and load
before, but they get their own. They get there. But let me step back and let's
look at our text, and let's look at a few things that are going
to take place. First, we're going to be made
to see Our deeds are utterly worthless. In the things of God,
pertaining to God, our deeds are utterly worthless. Look at
verse 20. 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. Now let me insert a few things
that would not do dishonor to the text, but to where you see
you'll get my point. All hope that we should be saved
by our own means, by our own intellect, by our own righteousness, was then taken away. And that
is the place that we're going to have to be brought to by the
grace of God before we're going to be able to say, be of good
cheer. See what I'm saying? We're going
to have to be brought to that place because We are so proud
by nature, and God totally resists the proud. We are going to have
to be brought down or emptied so God will fill us with His
good grace and mercy. A good example of this, turn
with me to Daniel chapter 4. Daniel chapter 4. And let's start reading in verse
26, Daniel 4, verse 26. Then Nebuchadnezzar, excuse me,
that was chapter 3. Chapter 4, look at verse 28. All this came upon King Nebuchadnezzar,
king of Babylon, probably one of the greatest kingdoms at this
point in this time in history. At the end of 12 months, he walked
in the palace of the kingdom of Babylon. And the king spake
and said, is not this great Babylon that I have built for the house
of the kingdom by the might of my power and for the honor of
my majesty? Now, I'm gonna, I'll just stop
right there. You think, do you really think, do you really think
that he actually drove one nail of any homes in the palace? Do you think he actually did
any of the mason work that is required for these glorious temples
and kingdoms and palaces? Do you think he actually dirtied
or soiled his hands? No, I don't think so, such as
it is with bureaucrats today. We've done this and we've done
that, but really, They're standing on the shoulders of other people.
But we're proud. The king spake and said, is this
not the great Babylon that I have done? But look at verse 31. While
the word was in the king's mouth, there fell a voice from heaven
saying, O king Nebuchadnezzar, to thee it is spoken, the kingdom
is departed from thee. And they shall drive thee from
men, and thy dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field,
and they shall make thee to eat grass as oxen, and seven times
shall pass over thee, until thou know that the Most High rules
in the kingdom of men, and gives it to whomsoever he will. And the same hour was the thing
fulfilled upon Nebuchadnezzar. and he was driven from men, and
he'd eat grass as oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of
heaven, till his hairs were grown like eagle's feathers, and his
nails like bird's claws." That's what's gonna have to happen.
We're gonna have to be humbled. We're gonna have to... The religion
that we cling to, mama's religion, daddy's religion, religion that's
not of the gospel, our thoughts are not his thoughts, our ways
are not his ways, he's gonna take us and humble us, so He
might reveal to us that it's not by our works of righteousness,
it's not what these hands have done, it's not by our supposed
goodness, our free will. All hope, back to our text, was
then taken away. That's what's going to have to
happen. We must be stripped of our supposed righteousness and
our supposed free will and our supposed rights in all things
spiritual. We've got to get this right before
we can move to the next issue of Be of Good Cheer. Only the dying need a Savior. Only the sick need a physician. Only the loss need to be found. And as long as you and I hold
on to anything of self in this thing pertaining to our salvation,
pertaining to righteousness, justification, we are on the
outside looking in. Let's move to the next point.
God brings them to this point and then God sends a man and
says, be of good cheer. What, Paul, are you crazy? Paul
from Tarsus, are you crazy? What do you mean, be of good
cheer? Well, those who have heard the
good news and believe God can be of good cheer. Those who know
that my Redeemer liveth can be of good cheer. Those who know
and have been taught, great is thy faithfulness, have that renewal
every morning. Those who can say, look at what
he says here in verse 23, for there stood by me this night
an angel of God, God, whose I am. Those who know, as Paul said
in 1 Corinthians 16, you're bought with a price and you're not your
own. You couldn't buy yourself. You couldn't atone for yourself.
You couldn't forgive yourself. You couldn't do anything to please
God on your behalf. But those who say, Who's I am? Say, well, we're all His by creation.
Well, that's true. But what I'm saying is, are you
His by redemption? By blood, atonement, sacrifice? If you can say that, I am His. Whose I am. I'm bought with a
price. And you're not even arguing whether
He dies for everybody. I am the chief of sinners. I've
come to the end of my rope. All hope of salvation of me being
delivered by myself or by my neighbors or by my mom or dad
or prayers or payment or purgatory, or all these things, all hope
is over. You can say, He's given me good
cheer. Those who can say, whose I am and whom I serve. We don't serve self, we don't
serve this, we serve Him. I know we have to have jobs to
pay bills, to keep the work of God going, to pay for the things,
the taxes. We're under Caesar, the things
that are Caesar. I understand all that, but the
goal of our jobs and the goal of our living and the goal of
all that we do is to serve Him. You know, anything that hinders
that, anything that hinders You see, Bruce and I were talking
about this this morning before everybody got here. We just complicate
things so much. Really, it's simple. And that's
one thing when I get up here and I stand and I proclaim the
simplicity of the gospel of God's grace. Because I need it. I've prepared and I've looked
at these things. This lesson, I probably need
more than anyone here this morning. But I'm telling you, it simplifies
anything that you do, any decisions you make. If it hinders the gospel,
if it hinders fellowshipping with those who believe the gospel,
if it hinders gathering together, if it hinders your giving, if
it hinders your love for one another, if it hinders being
a good father, if it hinders a good wife, if it hinders worshipping
Christ, do something different. I wrote down somewhere, it might
be in my study Bible, because I usually write them. Nope, not
here. By Matthew Henry. In all our
choices, this principle should overrule us. That is best for
us, is that which is best for our souls. One sentence. I like what Brother Henry said.
He says, you know, the Lord, He'll say a few things, and then
men have to write volumes about what He said. You know, they've
got to complicate things. Paul said, you're at the end
of your rope. That's a good thing. God brought
us here. Paul wasn't immune from that. He's in the middle of them.
But he stands up and he says twice, be of good cheer. But
he could say that because the Word of God There stood by me
this night an angel of God, an angel of God. Exhort you, be
of good cheer. He said, fear not Paul, the word
of God. No, we don't have audible voices
anymore. If you do that, then you're, you know, we've got another
issue. No. He's spoken to us, as Hebrews
tells us, as Bruce has been going over Hebrews, by language of
son in this book. Everything we need to know about
the Redeemer, everything we need to know about redemption, and
life to honor and glorify Him is written in the full canonization
of this book here. We need no other. Be of good cheer. This God, this
only true God, the one and only sovereign that Matt read in Isaiah,
the majestic, omnipotent, the one who is over all and controls
all things by the word of His power and grace, He says to you,
in this book, if you're His, be of good cheer. Those who can
truly say, be of good cheer, are those also who truly know,
sixthly, that none can lay anything to the charge of God's elect. He said, be of good cheer. Thirdly,
He says, I believe God. To really believe is to be given
grace to do so, first off, Secondly, is to trust absolutely and completely
upon the person of Jesus Christ and his sin-atoning work for
you and me. He says, I believe God, verse
25, wherefore, sirs, be of good cheer, I believe God, that it
shall be even as it was told me. Well, do you know what you're
doing? Do you know about it? Do you
know other people, the naysayers? Well, you're not, you know, you're
not smart enough to figure this thing out on your own. You need
to go get help. You need to do this. I'm not
sure. Do you know what you're doing
there? I'm standing on the naked Word of God. Well, yeah, I know,
but you need other expert opinion. We do? We do? to rest upon Him in all things,
to rest upon Him in life, to rest upon Him in trial, in peril,
in hardship and loss. Paul trusted in God and in the
Word of God. Everything we need to know, as
I said, is written in the book of books. Turn back to Acts 26. Acts chapter 26. And look at
verse 22. Having therefore obtained help
of God, Paul says, I continue unto this day, witnessing both
the small and great, what, saying none other things than those
which the prophets and Moses did say should come." Because
they didn't have the New Testament. The Scriptures. The Scriptures. Whether you or I understand everything
therein, is something else in this book. Believe what is revealed
to you and submit to it and He will give you more light. You
know, the best answer you can give anybody is according to
the scriptures. Turn to 1 Corinthians chapter
15. 1 Corinthians chapter 15. 1 Corinthians 15. Look at verses 3 and 4. Paul
says, "...for I delivered unto you first of all that which also
I received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the
Scriptures." Look at verse 4, "...and that he was buried, and
that he rose again the third day according to the Scriptures." Let me ask you a basic, just
a question. How do you know there's a heaven? I mean, Nathan, how do you know
there's a heaven? Where did you hear that there's a heaven? From
your dad? Or your mom? Or Henry? Where did they get it from? What other book in the world
makes a declaration about that? Heaven? Hell? These little children
we have? Our children? You're going to tell them about
heaven and hell. Sure you are. They're going to say, where are
you getting that from? If they question you, where do you get
it from? What's your source? There's no other book in the
world that declares things such and then says, just believe it.
It's true. The book. What about judgment? What right do I have to stand
up here and tell you there's a judgment to come? Where am I getting my
information? Reader's Digest? Dear Abby, Novels? What about Salvation? According to the Scriptures. A year or so ago, we were down
visiting family, and the person, the family member
who knows everything about everything, going to dabble in the Koran
and learn about these Muslims that are so contrary and try
to figure them out, and started making comments about Scripture. Well, I said a little bit, but
Melinda just said, it's the Word of God, it's the truth. Well,
when he said, maybe yes, maybe no, then she said, we've got
nothing to talk about. Because we say, there's a heaven. Where do you get that? Where
do you deduce that? Where do you draw your conclusions?
According to the scripture. And Henry Mahan made this comment,
and this is absolutely true, the most dishonest man is the
one who only uses and believes half of what is written in this
book and teaches half of what is written in this book and discounts
the other. You've heard people say that.
Well, Paul didn't really mean that when he wrote that. Well,
how do you know Paul meant what he wrote when he said about the resurrection?
I told that to my boss a couple of jobs ago. He said, it's just
a book written by a bunch of men. I said, well, then if that's
the case, how do you know what they wrote about salvation wasn't
their opinion? You're going to pick and choose
what you want to? The scripture says you better not add and you
better not take anything from this book. If you only take half what's
right and what's wrong, in order for any sinner, you or I, to
have any good cheer, we must know a few things. that the issue of our sin has
forever been settled by the bloodstained sacrifice." Where do you find
that? In the book. Paul says, I believe God, be
of good cheer. Why? The Word of God, and in
that the believer stands on it. Did you say Paul was scared?
I'm sure he was. But he said, be of good cheer. Secondly, we must know that God
is honored. in this book. We must know that
justice has been satisfied. If Christ has paid my sin, I'm
not going to have to pay it myself. Where do I get that? He by himself
obtained eternal salvation. By himself he sat at the right
hand of God. Where do I get that? Good books? Do I get that? Do I get comfort because John
Gill told me? No, I get comfort because this
is what this book says. What do the Bereans do when the
quote, and I'm using these human terms, the great Apostle Paul
preached to them? They received what he said and
they went home and they searched. What did he say? He said they
searched the scriptures to see if these things were so. And
when we get to the next chapter in Acts 28, we're going to see
that the very last couple of verses, Paul is disputing with
them and reasoning with them out of the scriptures that Jesus
is the Christ. Some believe, some don't believe.
That's what happens every time the gospel is preached. Fourthly,
we must know in order to have good cheer, then that all things
work for good to all his dear, chosen, redeemed people. Then and only then can you and
I be of good cheer. In the midst of the most difficult,
perilous times, if God gives you a word, if God gives you
grace to believe that word, stand on it, and all else comes crumbling
down around you, You can say, like Horatio did, it is well
with my soul. And people are not going to understand
it. They can't figure it out. They'll think you're crazy. They don't understand the peace
that passes all understanding in the person and work of Jesus
Christ. Like that song says, hallelujah,
what a Savior. What a marvelous, glorious Redeemer
we worship and we serve. Matt, would you close us please?