Acts chapter 27 tonight. I chose that hymn because of
our text. We'll begin reading in verse
33. Acts 27. And verse 33. While day was coming on, Paul
besought them all to take meat, saying, This day is the fourteenth
day that ye have tarried and continued fasting, having taken
nothing. Wherefore I pray you to take
some meat, for this is for your health. For there shall not a
hair fall from the head of any of you. And when he had thus
spoken, he took bread. Now, as we're reading this, remember
what this pictures. There's no question that these
folks in this ship picture the elect of God. There's just not
any question about it, and we'll see it again tonight. He said,
it says in verse 35, 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
two hundred, three score, and sixteen souls. No man can number
God's elect, but God knows exactly how many there are. And when they had eaten enough,
they lightened the ship and cast out the wheat into the sea. 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. And falling into a place where
two seas met, they ran the ship aground, and the forepart stuck
fast, and remained unmovable, But the hinder part was broken
with the violence of the waves, and the soldier's counsel was
to kill the prisoners, lest any of them should swim out and escape. But the centurion was 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 land, and the rest, some on boards, some on
broken pieces of the ship. And so it came to pass that they
escaped." And the title of the message tonight is these two
words, all safe, all safe to land. Well, we saw now in the
first part of this chapter a clear picture of the salvation of God's
elect. And we don't know who, if any,
of the people that were actually on this ship with Paul at this
time were sheep of God. I don't know that. I believe
that some were. Some almost certainly were. But
whether they were or not, the picture is a very clear one.
And let's look at it again. Let's review a bit. And I'm going
to give you this in easy I want you to be able to take notes
on this if you'd like to. This chapter has been a blessing
to my heart. So number one, they set sail
with their own purpose, with their own design, with their
own plan, just like we do on the Sea of Life. They determined
their own path, their own way, without a thought for God. These
men on this ship had no thought whatsoever. Look at verses 1
and 2 again. And it was 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 Adramiteum,
we launched, meaning to sail by the coasts of Asia. Here's
what we're going to do. It was determined we're going
to Italy. And that's how we set sail on the Sea of Life, isn't
it? Here's what I'm going to do. I've got big plans. This
is what I'm going to do. But we don't realize when we
set sail that God's holding the strings. The psalmist said, A
man purposeth in his heart, he deviseth his way in his heart,
but the Lord directs his steps. His purpose is one thing, and
what he ends up doing is another. And that's in God's hand. And
that's true of every one of us, lost or saved. But they set sail
with a purpose, didn't they? We're going to Italy. You may
get to Italy eventually, but you're going to go where God
takes you, where he directs your steps. And then number two, God
had a purpose that was contrary to theirs. The word contrary
is actually used in the text. Look at verse four. And when
we had launched from thence, we sailed under Cyprus because
the winds were contrary. Those contrary winds, where did
they come from? They came from God. What manner
of man is this that even the winds and the seas obey who?
They obey the Lord Jesus Christ. That's not just Mother Nature
taking them somewhere. That's Christ taking them where
He wants them to be. The winds were contrary. And
then look at verse 7. And when we had sailed slowly
many days and scarce were come over against Snidus, the wind
not suffering us, we sailed under Crete over against Salmoni The
wind didn't suffer well the wind doesn't have any will of its
own the wind doesn't decide anything It can't stop you from doing
what you do, but the one that controls the wind can and he
does He says into the proud waves hitherto shall you come and no
further? And he'll sit here the heart of the king is in his hand
and like the rivers of water he turneth it wither so ever
he will So he had a purpose that was contrary to to theirs, always
see God in the secondary causes. The things that happen in this
temporal world are secondary causes. God's on the throne. He's pulling the strings. The
winds and the seas obey Him. Every circumstance, every contingency
is at His sovereign command. If you find yourself somewhere
in a certain place at a certain time doing a certain thing, You
may be willful and sinful in it, but don't think God's surprised.
You're in his hand everywhere you go and everything you do.
When they nailed his son to the cross, he was in control. Number
three, we can preach on that all night, but we'll go to number
three. A preacher told them they were
headed for shipwreck. This is not a good trip you're
fixing to make. Look at verse 9. Now, when much
time was spent, and when sailing was now dangerous because the
fast was now already passed, Paul admonished them. The preacher,
God's man, admonished them and said unto them, Sirs, I perceive
that this voyage will be with hurt and much damage. He didn't
say, well, I'm worried about it. I think just maybe this might.
No, he was pretty certain about it, isn't he? And God's preachers
have a certain message, and there's no question about it. There's
no him-horn around about it. If you sail that way, if you
sail your way, you're going to have shipwreck. You determine
your way without a thought for God, and you don't think about
spiritual things, and you don't acknowledge God in all your ways,
bow to Him in all of your purposes and say, I've got my life to
live, you're headed for shipwreck, my friend. Paul said, you're
in trouble. I perceive that this voyage will
be with hurt and much damage, not only of the lading in the
ship, but also of our lives. He warned them. And then they
came up with three excuses, didn't they? You remember that? They
came up with three excuses not to listen to God's preacher.
First of all, verse 11. Nevertheless, the centurion believed
the master and the owner of the ship more than those things which
were spoken by Paul. There was a more experienced
seaman there And they figured that he knew better than Paul.
Now what is that? That's human reasoning. We will
reason our way out of believing God, won't we? And until he comes
in mercy and breaks us, we're going to say, well, I know better
than that preacher. He doesn't know anything about
me. He says I'm a worm in a maggot. I'm better than old Joe down
here. Human reasoning. You can lean on the arm of the
flesh if you want to. But at shipwreck, destruction,
there's a way that seems right to a man. It seemed right to
him to listen to the captain of that ship, because he'd been
sailing a lot more than Paul had. He knew what he was talking
about. Yeah, there's a way that seems right to a man, but the
end thereof is the way of destruction. And then secondly, in addition
to human reasoning, they said this, it's not commodious. To winter here, look at verse
12, "...and because the haven was not commodious to winter
in, the more part advised to depart thence also, if by any
means they might attain unto Phineis, and there to winter,
which is in the haven of Crete, and lieeth toward the south-west
and north-west." Well, if we stay here, it's not going to
be comfortable here. It gets really cold here. You know what
that word commodious means? We talked about it last time.
It means convenient. When we have a more convenient
season, we'll call for you. And that's how it is. You know,
most people are going to go to hell because it's not convenient
for them to serve God, to bow to God. It doesn't fit along
with their lifestyle. It just doesn't fit. It doesn't
work for me. It's okay for those Christians who live like that.
That just doesn't work for me. I've got other considerations,
you know. What an insult to God. It's not
convenient right now. When I've had my fun, I'll think
about spiritual things. When it's convenient, I'll bow
to your sovereign authority. When it suits me, I'll obey God. What an insult. Salvation is
more than just a fire escape from hell. Salvation is owning
God as God. And we're not going to do that
by nature. We're just not going to do that. You'll do that when
it suits God, not when it suits you. And it's not going to ever
suit you to do that. And then thirdly, verse 13. And when the south wind blew
softly, supposing that they had obtained their purpose, loosing
fence, they sailed close by creek. Well, look, that preacher said
it wasn't a good time to sail, but look, there's a wind blowing
our way. What's he talking about? He said it wasn't God's will
for us to do this, but obviously God's on our side. There's a
south wind blowing. They figured God's with us after
all. We're not doing what that preacher said, but, you know,
we're going contrary to what he warned us. Now, I understand
that, but me and the man upstairs, we got an understanding. And
he just doesn't realize that. He sends me the south wind and
everything's going. I got a promotion the other day.
God's on my side. God's blessing me. Have you ever
heard that? Never darken the door of a worship
house. Oh man, God's just blessing me.
The south wind's blowing. I got a promotion on my job.
Everybody likes me. My family, everything going great.
That preacher doesn't know what he's talking about. Yeah, that's
right. Number five. The preacher had
warned of trouble and trouble came. Trouble came. But you know
something, this is merciful trouble here. When the preacher warns
you, and you remember back that prophet, God told the prophet,
if you don't warn the children of men about what I said and
tell them what I said, their blood will be on your hands.
You warn them now. You warn them. You warn them.
And they do. Preachers do. We warn. And trouble's
coming. Our way, our determination, we're
going to do what we think is right. We're going to Italy.
And we're going right now. And we're going to get there,
come hell or high water. Shipwreck is waiting on you.
You're too willful now. You've got to bow to God. There's
nothing wrong with making plans and saying, I'm going to do this
now. But what the Scripture says is, what you ought to say is
this, if the Lord will, we'll live and do this or that. If
you don't say it with these lips, you better realize in your heart
that you're going to go where God wants you to go. And don't
be willful and say, I'm going to do this, and I'm going to
live my life, and I've got big plans for myself. You may or
may not. But God's going to take you somewhere
else. And there's trouble coming when
we go in our way. But it's mercy when it comes
in this life, when it comes now before it's too late. God sent
him trouble before it was too late. Aren't you glad he did
that? Aren't you glad he knocked you off your high horse before
he had to throw you in hell? Everybody's coming down now.
Every knee's gonna bow. Everybody's coming down. The
trouble is coming. The day of judgment and God's
wrath is coming. But I pray to God he'll bring
you down before that day comes. And he did here. He busted up
their ship. And I'm glad he did mine, too. He stopped me on my
way to hell. He stopped Saul. Paul knew something
about this, didn't he? He knew something about the mercy
of God coming and stopping you in your purposeful way and saying,
I've got something for you to do, and making you willing, making
you say, what is it, Lord? I'm ready to do it. This is merciful
trouble. When God causes you to abandon
all hope of saving yourself, And cast yourself upon his mercy. You are highly, highly blessed
of God. It's not pleasant to the flesh,
but you'll thank him for the rest of your life for it, for
bringing you down to the dust. Look at verse 14. But not long
after there arose against it a tempestuous wind called Uroclidan. Uroclidan. I keep saying that
wrong. You've got to look at that little emphasis mark there,
don't you? And when the ship was caught and could not bear
up into the wind, we let her drive. What are you going to
do when you're in God's hand? You're going to let her drive.
That's what you're going to do. You're going to sit back and
watch and see what God's going to do when it comes down to that.
I guarantee you that, because you can't fight against God.
And running under a certain island, which is called Clauda, we had
much work to come by the boat, which when they had Taken up,
they used helps undergirding the ship. They did all kinds
of things to make it work out their way now. And fearing lest
they should fall into the quicksand, strait sail, and so were driven,
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." That's
exactly what you need. You need God to take all your
hope away. You need to come to the place
where you've spent all you've had, and you're worse. You're not any better, but only
worse. And then you'll look to Christ. And God has had mercy
on you when you come to that place. There's not any hope!
Yeah, there is. But not where you've been looking.
Not where you've been looking. You've got to come to the place
where all hope is lost. Number six. It is then when you come to that
place that the good news of the gospel will mean something to
you. You've heard the message maybe many times before that,
but now it's going to mean something to you because God's done brought
you down where you can hear it. Is that right? Look at verse
21. But after long abstinence, Paul stood forth in the midst
of them and said, Sirs, you should have hearkened unto me. not have
loosed from Crete, and to have gained this harm and loss. And
now I'm going to tell you what to do again. I told you what
to do then. I'm going to tell you something
else. But guess what? It's good news. I exhort you, be of good cheer,
for there shall be no loss of any man's life among you but
of the ship. The preacher's got good news,
and you can hear it now. When all hope is lost, then you're
ready to hear the good news. Is that right? How can you tell
a sinner to be of good cheer when the ship is going down in
treacherous waters and all hope is lost? How can a sinner be
of good cheer in the face of this truth that God is holy and
they're all together sinful and that God must and shall punish
sin? Peter said, You've killed the
Prince of Life, and God raised Him from the dead. You murdered
Him, but He's not dead now. He's on the throne. What's He
going to do with you? And they said, What shall we do? Men and brethren, what shall
we do? Be of good cheer, because unto you is preached through
His blood this day the remission of sins. The blood that spurted
out when you nailed his hands to a tree, that's the blood of
God. And that's the blood that puts
away sin. Repent. Bow. Believe on that
Christ that you crucified and that precious blood. See that
blood shed for the forgiveness of your sins. Bow to that sovereign
Christ who came to this earth This is a faithful saying, and
worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into this world
to save sinners. And I'm the biggest, baddest
one, Paul said. He came to save sinners. That's
the good news now. Through his blood is preached.
Now, notice it was after long abstinence. Paul wasn't harping
on them every hour. He wasn't saying, I told you
so, I told you so, every time he got up in the morning, and
every time before he went. No. He told them the truth, and
then he waited on God. to work on their heart and to
bring them to the place they needed to be. Is that right?
Now, that doesn't mean we don't keep preaching it. But we're
not begging sinners to come, are we? That's not God's way.
We're not harping on sinners all the time. Go knock on their
door. You better repent. You better believe you're going
to hell. No, you want to hear the truth. I'll tell you the
truth. And let's see if God will do something for you. We don't
need you to do anything for God. You've done enough. Let's see
if God will do something for you. How about that? And that's
what he did. He waited on God, didn't he?
After long, he shut up. He told them the truth and he
let God do what God does. We ain't ever saved anybody yet,
so why would we try? But we can tell the truth, and
he did. And then when they were to the place where they could
hear it, he told them again, didn't he? You should have listened
to me. You should have heard me when I said, as shipwreck,
your way is the wrong way. I know it seems right to you,
but it's not right. But he told them the truth again. And this time, by God's grace,
now, they could have been just as hard and they could have been
bitter against Paul. Just the fact that he was right
doesn't mean that they'd listen to him this time. Is that true?
The Lord Jesus Christ was proven right over and over and over.
He made them look like fools with his truth, but they still
hated it all the more. That's not a guarantee that there's
going to be mercy for you. God's going to have to just open
your eyes and your ears and bring you to the place where you will
hear His truth. And He did that for them. That's
grace. And then look at number seven.
Upon what basis can we preach this good news? Can I just tell
you, well, things have been bad, you know, but I got a good feeling
about things, you know. I just thank God. We have an
authority upon which to tell you there's good news from God.
There's a gospel. Look at verse 23. For there stood
by me this night the angel of God, the messenger of God, whose
I am and whom I serve, saying, Fear not, Paul, for 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." I'm not telling you be of good cheer because,
you know, you should have a positive attitude and God has a wonderful
plan for you. No, be of good cheer because
on the authority of God's Word, there's mercy in His blood. If
you'll bow to Christ and come to Him, He'll have mercy on you.
He ain't never turned a sinner away yet that came to Him for
mercy. For pure, unadulterated, free, sovereign mercy, you come
for that, you'll get it from Him. It's His to give. And God
made Paul a promise here that can only be paralleled by one
other promise. This can only picture one thing.
He said, everybody in this ship is yours, Paul. I'm giving them
to you. When did he ever say that before?
This is the Father's will that has sent me. Of all that He has
given me, I should lose nothing. God has not guaranteed us that
all that hear us will be saved. That's not what this is. But
He has guaranteed us this. All that He's given to His Son,
all of His sheep, all of His people are going to be saved.
And some most hate that truth. That's the most wonderful thing
I've ever heard in my life. How about you? My Savior's not
a failure. Everybody he came to save he
saved them everybody that he came to redeem Everybody that
he shed his blood to remit their sins their sins are remitted
before God God Listen to this What is Paul saying
here? I believe God You believe God
And you can rest like I'm resting Paul wasn't scared of that storm.
God already said, you're going to have to go. You're going to
get there, and everybody that's with you is getting there. And
so Paul was resting assured on the Word of God. What about you? Do you believe God? I believe
God. Do you believe? Then peace, peace,
rest. It's not going to be pleasant.
The ship's going to be busted up, and there's going to be worry
and fear and doubt. But that's not going to make
you any less safe than you are. Because God has promised. And
Christ said, in this world you have tribulation. And we do,
don't we? And we fear and doubt and worry
because it's our nature to worry. If I ain't got nothing to worry
about, I'll make up something and start worrying about it.
But it doesn't make me any less secure than I am in the arms
of Jesus Christ. Not one whit. And so, He said,
don't be afraid. God told me you're going to be
alright. You believe God. You believe the record concerning
His Son. And God has told me, and I believe
Him, it's all going to be well with you. It is well with your
soul. If you're in Christ, it's well with you. And that's what
He said. It's going to be alright. Good
news. The storm is raging. He probably
had to shout it because The storm hadn't quit yet. That's okay, it's worth shouting.
Be of good cheer in the midst of the storm. And oh, for grace
to obey this. Listen to Mark 5, 35. While the
Lord Jesus Christ yet spake, there came from the ruler of
the synagogue's house, you remember, he came and said, Lord, my daughter's
grievously sick. She's on her deathbed. She's
on her deathbed. And you remember that was when
the woman with the issue of blood came along and touched him, and
he stopped and spoke. And then while he yet spake,
there came from that ruler of the synagogue's house one of
his servants and said, Your daughter's dead. Don't bother him anymore. Don't trouble the master any
further. And as soon as Jesus heard the word that was spoken,
He said unto the ruler of the synagogue what Paul said to those
people that day on that ship. Be not afraid, only believe. Don't you wish you could do that?
Oh, but I believe. That's not what he said. He said
only believe. Don't do nothing but believe.
Don't be afraid. Don't be upset. Don't worry. Only believe. Oh, for the grace to obey that
gracious command. Only believe. Number eight. We're going to be through with
the introduction here in a minute. Now, what's our message to believers? Do they believe God? Do you believe
God? What's our message to believers?
to those who are given by God to his son and secure eternally
utterly infinitely gloriously secure. What's our message to
you? Look at verse 29. Then fearing lest we should have
fallen upon rocks, they cast four anchors out of the stern
and wished for the day. 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 force ship, Paul said to the centurion and to the soldiers,
except these abide in the ship, you can't be saved. Except you
abide. Except you abide. How many times
would you have abandoned ship? if not for the grace of God sustaining
you and keeping you. We're kept. We are kept. God didn't save you. He didn't
wind you up and then just let you run. He's still saving you. Did you know that? And He's going
to save you. Tomorrow He's going to have to
save you. We're kept by the power of God Almighty. I Peter 1, 3,
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which
according to His abundant mercy hath forgotten us again unto
a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead
to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled that fadeth not
away, reserved in heaven for you. There's a place in heaven
for you on the very throne of God. who are kept by the power of
God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last
time. You see that? He's not done saving
you yet. It's done in His purpose and
grace and in His divine decree. It's done. But in our experience,
He saved me In every sense of the word, in every way that a
man can be saved, He's saving me. And He's saving me right
now. And He'll save me tomorrow. He'll
keep on saving me. And He'll save me unto the end.
He that endureth unto the end shall be saved, He said. And
we will. We will endure. We will persevere
because He'll preserve us. He'll preserve us. He's promised
to do that. But prone to wander, Lord, I
feel it. Don't you? Prone to leave the
God I love. So what's our message? What's
our attitude? Here's my heart, Lord. Take it
and you seal it. I don't want my security to depend
upon me holding on to you. Take my heart and seal it. Seal
it for thy courts above. My security. is in being kept
by the power of God unto salvation. Now, what if these men had said,
well, Paul, you already told us that we're going to be all
right. You already said that God had ordained that we were
going to be safe. You said you believed God, and
he said everything's going to be all right, so we'll do what
we want. Was that their attitude? Is that your attitude? I've heard
men say that now. If everything, well, you believe
this, what about this? Except these abide in the ship,
you can't be saved. What's our message to believers?
Abide in Christ. Stay with Christ. Continue in
Christ Jesus. Is that the message? Listen to
Colossians 121. For time's sake, I'm going to
have to quote these to you tonight. Colossians 121. And you? that were at one time alienated
and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled
in the body of his flesh through death to present you holy and
unblameable and unreprovable in his sight." He's reconciled
you to God. Christ came down here to reconcile
sinners to God. Verse 23, "...if ye continue
in the faith..." Oh, wait a minute now. If you continue in the faith,
grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope
of the gospel which you have heard, and which was preached
to every creature which is under heaven, whereof I, Paul, have
made a minister." Has God ordained the eternal security of all of
His elect without question, without exception, and without fail?
Absolutely. So what's my message to you?
Abide in Christ or you can't be saved. If you leave, if you
go from Christ, if you fall from grace, you never knew grace. If you leave Christ, you never
had Christ. If you despise Christ, you never
loved Him. You never knew Him. And so there's
a warning there for us, isn't there? What are you saying, Chris?
Are you saying that there's a possibility? That maybe one of the elect could
fall away, could fail to continue in the faith? No, that's not
what Paul was saying, and that's not what I'm saying. I didn't
say that. He didn't say that. Here's what
we're saying. Abide in the ship. And you know what a believer
says? I'm not going anywhere. Where would I go? To whom shall
we go? Thou hast the words of eternal
life. We believe and are sure that
thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God. Where are
we going to go? Abide in the ship. Except you abide in the
ship, you can't be saved. The believer's attitude about
this is exactly that. I must stay with Christ. If I
go to hell, I'll go there clinging to the Lord Jesus Christ. We
are eternally secure. So will we do what we want to
do? Will we live like we want to live? No. The love of Christ
will constrain us. We'll live like he wants us to
live when we have faith and when God has blessed us. And when
we live in the flesh and walk after the flesh, we'll do what
we want to do. And then God will whip us and pick us back up on
our feet and we'll walk in the spirit again. Is that right? Is that your experience? Well, we're eternally secure.
God's promising we'll do what we want. No, that's not the believer's
attitude. Well, we'll just lower this lifeboat.
We'll take her for a spin if we want to. No. Look at verse
32 again. Here's the believer's attitude. Paul said, except you stay in
the ship, you can't be saved. They were already lowering the
boat down now. We're getting out of here. We're going to try
to make it to land in this boat. Paul said, you've got to stay
with the ship or you can't be saved. What'd they do? Well,
you know, Paul's been right before, but, you know, let's hedge our
bet. We'll just crank the boat back
up to where it was in case we need to get out later. No, they
didn't do that either, did they? Cut the ropes. It's gone. All other hope. And I'm telling you, I've told
you this before, and I know many of you would say the same thing.
All of my eggs are in one basket. How about you? If Christ's blood
is not enough to wash my sin away, I'm in big trouble. I'm
not worried about it. Are you? I'm not worried. I'm
not in the least worried about it. If His righteousness, if
there's a chink in the armor somewhere, if He didn't do always
those things that please the Father, I'm in big trouble. Because
all my eggs are in one basket. By the grace of God, now, they're
not bragging on me or you. We're not worth bragging on.
But by the grace of God, we've cut the ropes, have we not? He
that putteth his hand to the plow and looks back, not worthy
of me, Christ said. There's no looking back. No. No, there's no looking back.
Cut her loose. Look at verse 33. And while the
day was coming on, Paul besought them all to take meat, saying,
This day is the fourteenth day that you have tarried and continued
fasting, having taken nothing. Wherefore, I pray you to take
some meat, for this is for your health. For this shall not fall
from the head of any of you. And when he had thus spoken,
he took bread and gave thanks to God. Here's the believer's
attitude. God hath ordained your health.
So what are we going to do? Say, Well, I don't need to eat.
God said everything will be fine. No. God hath ordained that not
a hair will fall out of your head. So eat. Eat something.
It's rebellion and unbelief that says God has ordained our health
so we don't need to eat. That's rebellion and unbelief.
That's despising the means that God has ordained that will bring
about the end that he has ordained. The believer loves the purpose
of God, and the believer loves the means that God has ordained
to accomplish that purpose. You remember, I quoted this before,
2 Samuel 5, 19, David inquired of the Lord, saying, Shall I
go up to the Philistines? Will you deliver them into my
hand? And the Lord said to David, Go up, for I will doubtless deliver
the Philistines into your hand. He didn't say, I've delivered. I will doubtless deliver them
into your hands so you don't need to go up." He said, I've
delivered them. They're yours. You're going to
whoop them. Now go do it. Now what did David do? He said,
well, I'll just stay home. It's already been settled. Well,
he strapped his sword on, and he went up, and it says, David
came to Baal-Parisim, and David smote them there. And did it
ruin it for him somehow that God told him that the victory
is already won? Does that bother you that we
can't fail? That Paul said and the Lord Jesus
said that the message that I preach will always be successful? That
doesn't bother me, does it you? No, God said it's going to be
that way and I'm going to do what he said do so that what
he said will come to pass will come to pass by the means that
he has ordained. That doesn't cause me to pause
for a moment or to fret or to question his purpose, his way
of doing things. I've heard some religious fools
who say, well, we won't take our child to the doctor. We won't
give her any medicine. We'll just leave her in God's
hands. Well, you know what God's will is going to be in that case?
Use the means that God has given. And then it's in God's hands
anyway. But He has been pleased to ordain
and use means to accomplish His purposes. So don't be a fool. I'm saying that to myself. Don't
be a fool. Verse 38, And when they had eaten enough, they lightened
the ship. When God teaches you something,
when He reveals Himself to you, and you know some things, like
Paul said, we discern all things. You can discern spiritual things. You're spiritually minded, not
carnally minded. anymore, there's going to be
some lightening of the ship in there. There's going to be some
things that you thought before were necessary, and you're going
to find out now they're really not. I'm going to leave that
behind. Paul said, all my self-righteousness, I count it but done, and I press
toward the mark. Is that right? Lighten the ship.
We're lightening it all the way we go, aren't we? Verse 39, we're
through. I've got to read through to the
end, though, again, or at least some of it. 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 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, and falling into a place where two seas met. They
ran the ship aground, and the forepart stuck fast and remained
unmovable, but the hinder part was broken with the violence
of the waves, and the soldier's counsel was to kill the prisoners."
Man, this just isn't going to work out the way Paul said, is
it? Circumstances just aren't falling
into place the way they ought to. But, verse 43, the centurion,
willing to save Paul, kept them from their purpose. Remember
what I said? See God in the secondary causes. It says here, the centurion kept
them from their purposes. But who was it that said, not
a hair will fall from their heads? It wasn't the centurion that
said that. It was God that said that. What a frightful experience
this must have been. To be on this ship, to be run
aground and thrashed violently about. This is a huge ship. Two
hundred and some odd people. A huge ship. And what a storm
it must have been. To break that thing apart. And
then to have the soldier's counsel be expressed. We're going to
have to kill these prisoners. They're going to escape. Let's
just kill them. Oh, the doubts and the fears. That kind of thing
happens in this life, doesn't it? We think, I know these things
are right, but look at the circumstances. I know the Lord bid me to walk
on the water, but look at those waves. Look at the wind. I didn't know it was that strong.
But there are two words that stand out in this text that are
a great comfort to his people. In all of the troubles and the
fears and the close calls, there aren't any close calls with God,
are there? That we experience in this life when your sins are
looming ever large before you. David said, My sins ever before
me. Remember these two words. All safe. All safe, just like
God said from the start. All safe. Christ has dealt with your sins,
and God doesn't remember them anymore. All safe. And when this
world has you in a corner, have they ever had you that way? Got
you back to the wall by your own foolishness, probably. By
our own willingness and tendency to get in with them, to play
the game, And they'll turn on us, and they'll get us in a corner,
our backs against the wall, and it'll seem like your enemies
are going to have their way with you after all. Remember these
two words, all safe, all safe. The psalmist said, the Lord is
my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? Be still, my soul. The hour is
hastening on, when we shall be forever with the Lord. when disappointment,
grief, and fear are gone. Sorrow forgot. Love's purest
joy is restored. Be still, my soul, when change
and tears are past. All safe, all safe, all safe
and blessed. We shall meet at last. Be still. Be of good cheer. I believe God. I believe God, don't you? And
we may float into the arms of Christ at last on a broken piece
of ship. We're not guaranteed a bed of
roses in this life, are we? We're not guaranteed that. We're
not going to float along on clouds of ease. We may or may not. We
may, by the skin of our teeth, from our perspective, have to
grab on to anything we can grab on to. But you are promised this. You're
not promised a bed of roses, but you're promised this. All
safe. All safe. Let's bow in prayer.