Storms of Life

Q: What does the Bible say about God's sovereignty in difficult times?

The Bible teaches that God is sovereign over all events, including storms in our lives, which serve His purposes. The Bible reveals that God's sovereignty encompasses every aspect of our lives, including the trials and storms we face. In Acts 27, Paul encounters a violent storm as he journeys to Rome, illustrating how God uses adverse circumstances to fulfill His divine purposes. As the psalmist states in Psalm 107, it is God who commands the stormy sea, demonstrating His control and authority over nature. To trust in God's sovereignty means acknowledging that every trial is under His wise and holy guidance, ultimately being useful for our growth, faith, and spiritual maturity.

Q: How do we know if our troubles are a result of disobedience to God?

While not all troubles stem from disobedience, many can be avoided by following God's revealed will. The sermon emphasizes that while not every difficulty in our lives is a direct result of disobedience, there are many circumstances where straying from God's will can lead to troubled waters. In Acts 27:9-11, Paul's warnings go unheeded, leading the sailors into a perilous storm. The implication is that a genuine understanding and commitment to God's will can help us avoid unnecessary trials. This recognition urges believers to examine their hearts and motivations seriously. Seeking God's will can provide a pathway to navigate life's choices and align ourselves more closely with His divine plan, reducing the risk of experiencing storms that arise from our actions.

Q: Why is surrendering to God's will important during life's storms?

Surrendering to God's will allows us to find peace and purpose amidst life's trials. Surrendering to God's will in our lives, especially during tumultuous times, is crucial for a believer. The sermon illustrates this by highlighting how the crew of Paul's ship ultimately had to 'let her drive'—to surrender control to the storm while trusting God. When we acknowledge that our lives are ultimately in God's sovereign hands, we can find peace in the chaos. God wants to use these storms to teach us lessons of faith, patience, and reliance on Him. Embracing surrender can lead to spiritual growth as we recognize His presence and purposes, affirming our trust that He has a plan even in our darkest hours.

Q: How can we seek guidance from God during trials?

We should seek God through prayer, Scripture, and fellowship, especially during trials. Seeking guidance from God in times of trial is essential for Christians. The sermon encourages believers to actively pursue God's word and communion with Him, particularly when facing storms. Paul exemplifies this process by turning to God in prayer and fasting before relaying God's comforting message to the crew. This demonstrates the importance of looking to Scripture, the teachings of the church, and prayer for encouragement and direction when we encounter difficulties. By immersing ourselves in God's Word and seeking guidance from fellow believers, we can receive the wisdom and reassurance critical for navigating life’s challenges.

Q: What does staying in the ship mean for a believer?

Staying in the ship symbolizes remaining steadfast in faith during life's challenges. In the context of the sermon, 'staying in the ship' represents the call for believers to remain anchored in their faith amid adversity. Paul admonishes the crew that they cannot be saved unless they 'abide in the ship' (Acts 27:31). This metaphor extends to trusting in Christ, our ultimate refuge. Staying in the ship requires perseverance and faith in God's promises, especially when life’s storms threaten to overwhelm us. It also reflects the importance of community and shared faith in navigating difficulties together. By holding fast to Christ and the means of grace within the church, believers can find the strength to endure and overcome.

Q: Why should we prioritize Christ above all during difficult times?

Prioritizing Christ refocuses our hearts and minds on what truly matters in life. Prioritizing Christ during life's challenges centers our hopes and aspirations on what matters most, particularly when storms rage around us. The sermon illustrates this by noting how, during the storm, the sailors discarded their cargo to reach the shore, symbolizing the need to value Christ above worldly concerns (Acts 27:38). The act of letting go of anything that hinders our relationship with Christ is vital. This focus on Him helps to clarify what is truly essential in life, allowing believers to let go of distractions and fully embrace their relationship with God. In difficult times, seeking Christ ensures that we do not become overwhelmed by our circumstances and instead find peace and purpose in Him.

Now then, if you turn in your
Bibles to the book of Acts chapter 27, here in this chapter we are
given a detailed description of a terrible storm at sea. Now, Paul had been a prisoner
for about two years, and he was about to be taken to Rome to
make his personal appeal to Caesar for his life. But while they
were at sea, there was a terrible storm arose from the northeast.
It was a violent storm which placed them all in danger and
finally destroyed the ship in which they were sailing. Now,
beloved, I hope this morning to give you more than just a
literal understanding of what took place here. I want, if I
can, to give you some practical, some spiritual, some gospel instruction
from this chapter. Now, for that, we need more than
an atlas and just common sense. If we're going to get out of
this chapter, what I really believe we ought to get out of it, I
say we need more than an atlas and more than common sense. I
think we need the illumination of God's Holy Spirit. We need the anointing of the
Spirit of God. Now, in Paul's day, the sea was
a terrible thing. The sailor had no compass in
that day, and so when the sun and the stars were blotted out
by thick clouds, he had no idea as to where he was going or what
direction the ship was taking. He had no engine to propel his
vessel against the mighty wind when he faced it. The sails and
the oars were useless instruments against contrary winds. We see here the energy of the
tear of the sea throughout this chapter and certainly throughout
the scriptures as a whole. In the book of Jonah, you remember
how that Jonah was in the sea and the storm arose and the sailors
cast Jonah into the troubled sea so as to appease the wrath
of the sea. And the disciples on one occasion,
in Mark chapter 4 and verses 37 through 40, were on a ship
and the Lord Jesus was asleep on a pillow in the hinder part
of the ship. And there arose a great storm,
a great wind, and they awoke the Lord Jesus and said, Master,
carest thou not that we perish? And you remember the Lord Jesus
arose, he rebuked the wind, and he said to the sea, peace be
still, and the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. The Lord
Jesus Christ is the master of the storm. Mr. Tenley wrote,
when the storms of life are raging, stand by me. When the world is
tossing me like a ship upon the sea, thou who rulest wind and
water, stand by me. The Lord Jesus Christ is God
over the elements. He's God over the sea. And so
he spoke, and there was a great calm. Now in 2 Corinthians 11,
verse 25 and 26, the Apostle Paul tells us that three times
he was shipwrecked, and a night and a day, he says, I have been
in the deep. He says, in perils of water,
in perils of the seas, among others. Now in literature and
poetry and in scripture, Our life in this world is frequently
compared to a voyage across a vast sea. Our life is pictured as
we being on a voyage over the vast sea of life. Now Job says, my days are passed
away as swift ships pass in the night. And across this vast sea
of life, we all are going to pass through many, many terrible
storms. We ought as the children of God
to be prepared for these various storms of life that are surely
to break out upon us. Now, it may be that some of you
are at this time in a real hard trial. It may be that you're
having difficult times. It may be that you're in a storm
or that you very soon will be. Maybe you have noticed on the
horizon a storm that is coming toward your life, in your life. These storms are many and varied
in this life and we all have experienced them to some degree
and will experience them more if God in his providence leaves
us for very long in this world. I want to be prepared and I want
you to be prepared to face whatever God sends our way. We need to
be prepared. We need to know what the Word
of God teaches. We need to know where our anchor
lies. We need to know how to get a
hold of God. We need to know how to cry out
to God to lay hold of Him. One time there was an individual
coming. He came to an elder of a church and said, I'm looking
for a preacher. I'm looking for a preacher. And
the elder said, well, what kind of a preacher do you want? How
tall do you want him? How large? How heavy? What do you want in a preacher?
And the fellow said, it doesn't make any difference to me what
he looks like, how tall he is. The only thing I want him to
be able to do is reach heaven on his knees. I want him to be
able to do that. Now, beloved, we need to know
how to deal with the problems and the storms and the tests
and the difficulties of life. We need to be able to get on
our knees and reach heaven. That's what I'm trying to say.
We need to be able to call upon our living God. Now, I want to
give you this morning seven statements that I have drawn from this chapter,
which are statements of comfort encouragement, instruction, and
edification. Seven statements that I want
to give you. First of all, if we take verses
1 through 8, this is what they tell me. This is what these verses
tell me. Things very seldom happen according
to our desires, our plans, and our expectations in this world. In verse 2, Luke says they meant
to sail by the coast of Asia, and they had mapped out their
course, and they had expected smooth sailing to Rome. But the providence of God interfered. The providence of God interfered.
Providence, as so often does, turned the plans of these sailors
upside down. It spoiled their expectation.
It kept them from carrying out their desires. A storm arose
in verse 4, and we're told that the winds were contrary to the
ship and to those thereon, contrary to our plans, contrary to our
desires, and our expectations, and contrary to our intentions. Did you ever have something to
come up in your life that just simply turned your plans upside
down? Did you ever have a storm to
come that just made your desires and expectations just simply
ruin them completely? Now, to the young and old, I
speak these words this morning. When you make your plans, you
would be wise to consider that there are certain storms, unexpected
might I say, storms that will arise and they will be contrary
winds in your lives, contrary to you. Contrary to all your
expectation and your plan, we must remember the words of James
in James 4 and verse 15. For that you ought to say, if
the Lord will, we shall live and do this or that. The man
was pictured in James as being one who would say, I'm going
into a certain city, and I'm going to buy, I'm going to sell,
and I'm going to get gain. And James said to him, you ought
to say, if the Lord will, You go into such and such a city
and buy and sell and get gain. If the Lord will, we will sail
by the coast of Asia and we will arrive at Rome, if the Lord will. If the Lord will, I'll get my
education. If the Lord will, I'll get my
training. I'll get a job. If the Lord will, I'll have a
family. If the Lord will, I'll have a happy home. If the Lord
lives, I'll live a long and prosperous life in this world. if the Lord
wills." What I'm saying is that all things, whether you want
to hear it or not, are dependent entirely upon the will of God. The decrees of God are made in
old time by wise and holy counsel. Providence is the outworking
of the decrees of God. And beloved, the will of God
determines what will happen in our life. Are you subject to
the will of God? The Bible says, Love not the
world, neither the things that are in the world. For if any
man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the
lust of the eyes, And the pride of life are not of the Father,
but is of the world, and the world is passing away. But listen
to this, they that will do the will of God shall abide forever. Jesus said, Not everyone who
says unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of God, but
they that do the will of my Father which is in heaven. One of the
outstanding characteristics of the life of our Lord Jesus was
that he came into this world to do the will of God and to
finish that work which the Father had given him to do. God's people
will be doing God's will and sometime in order to turn them,
sometimes God must bring contrary winds into their lives. He must
bring storms that alters their course and turns them in the
direction of His will. And God is completely able to
do that. The old proverb says, the best
laid plans of mice and men are soon dissolved and rent entwined. This is true. Life is full of
storms, contrary winds to us. They usually arise suddenly,
without warning, when you least expect them. You're going along
very smoothly. Everything seems to be just going
exactly like you think it ought to go. And suddenly one of these
storms comes and your whole life's very coarse is altered by those
winds. Now Job says that man who is
born of a woman has few days, and all of these days of man
born of a woman are full of trouble. They're full of trouble. As sparks
fly upward, a man is born into trouble. He's born into test
and affliction. And the people of God have affliction. They are poor and they are afflicted
people and they dwell in the midst of the land. They trust
in the Lord. Now life in this world cannot
be compared to a beautiful, blue, calm body of water. It cannot
be. No, that's not the way it is,
beloved. It is like the twisting, the
curving, the muddy, the topsy-turvy rapids of the Missouri River
in the spring. That more aptly describes man's
life, man's life in this world. Winds contrary to our hopes,
contrary to our plans, desires at every turn of the road, and
we need to expect it. in our families, in our business,
in our jobs, in our health. We need to expect the storms
of life to come. And that's what I see here in
this first part of this chapter. Number two, and I think this
might sting a little bit, but I think it's something that we
have to consider. Second, very often our storms
are the results of disobedience to God. I see that in verses
9 through 11. Verses 9 through 11. Now, I do
not mean to imply that all of our trials and all of our afflictions
and storms are the results of our disobedience. I'm not implying
that. I know better than that, and
I hope you do. But many of our sorrows, many
of our afflictions could be avoided if we were obedient to what is
revealed in this book as the will of God. In other words,
if we would do more than just say, well, I'm interested in
the will of God. Beloved, if we're sincerely interested
in God's will, we can avoid a whole lot of the pitfalls of our lives
if we seek it with all of our hearts. I remember reading after
Old Brother Mueller over in England, who many years ago had several
orphanages, and he was able to sustain all of them through prayer
and faith in God. He trusted God to supply for
all of his orphans. And he said, in order to find
the will of God, both in trivial matters as well as important
matters, is first of all, bring your own heart to the place where
that you have no will of your own. bring your own. He said
that's where the battle is. If you want to do the will of
God, bring your own heart to where you have no will of your
own in the matter. And then he said very shortly,
God will make known to your heart His will, and you'll be able
to see exactly what the Lord would have you to do. But many,
many times we have our own mind made up. before we ever begin
to pray, before we ever begin to call upon God, before we begin
to look for the will of God, we already have our minds made
up. We already say, well, this is what I'm going to do. Let
the preacher talk all he want to about my obedience or whatever. I'm going to do what I want to
do. Well, you're not finding the will of God In that way,
God thus, as He would put a bit into the mouth, as you would
put a bit into the mouth of the horse and turn the horse thereby,
God will put a bit in your mouth and turn you about and turn you
into the way of His will if you will not submit to what the revelation,
the Word of God has to say. We see what God would have us
to do, but we feel that we can do it some other way. and that
other way would be better for us. Well, we can take the easy
road and around maybe some of the pitfalls of life, or we can
take the hard road. These men would have avoided
the storm, they would have saved the ship and the cargo if they
would have listened to the word from God in verses 11 and 12.
if they would have listened to these words in verse 11. 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, it was not comfortable to winter
in, the more part, that means the majority, advised them to
depart thence. Now, beloved, there are things
here that we see. Usually, not always, the will
of God is contrary to the majority opinion. Who is this Paul anyway? The owner of this ship would
say, who is this Paul anyway? Is he the voice or is he the
spokesman for God? Is that who he is? Is he God's
spokesman? He's no sailor, that's for sure. What does he know? He's only
a preacher. What could he possibly know that
he could tell us anything in this situation? Well, beloved,
he is indeed God's spokesman. He's hearing from God. God is
visiting Paul on this ship. His angel is with Paul. His angel
is speaking to Paul. And Paul knows the will of God.
One way that I know what I'm not going to do in this world
is when I hear someone say, well, everyone else is doing it. Everyone
else is doing it. My friend, that ought to turn
you around and tell you something immediately. The majority in
this world are normally wrong. It's the minority who's looking
to God, who's trusting God, who's relying upon God. who is simply
seeking the mind and the will of God in the Word of God that
knows how to live in this world. We better listen to what God
says and be a doer of the Word and not a hearer only. The will
of God, my brother and sister, is always contrary to the pleasure
and the accommodation of the flesh. You better make up your
mind to buck the flesh as you live in this world. You see,
It was not commodious to winter in this harbor, not comfortable
to spend the winter there. So we're going to do something
about it. We're going to sail this ship. Contrary to the word
of God, we're going to run this ship right on down the sea and
we're going to where we want to go. Well, my friend, I've
attempted to walk with God now for over 50 years, and any time
my pleasure, my comfort, my reason, and the comfort or pleasure of
my family has determined my decision in any matter, it has always
been or turned out to be an absolute mess. You better seek the Lord. You say, well, I just think we
ought to have things a little better than what we got them.
Now, I think we ought to go here. I think we ought to go there.
I think we ought to do that or something else. You better wait
on the Lord. That's what you better do. And you better seek
the Lord. The will of God is always, hear me out, contrary
to the flesh. Brother, sister, I guarantee
it. It is always contrary to the
flesh, to the mind of the flesh. And whenever, listen to me, the
path of easiest resistance is always appealing to the flesh. That is verse 13. And when the
south wind blew softly, supposing that they had obtained their
purpose, loosing vents, they sailed close by Crete. Oh, the
soft winds was blowing. Oh, it's a beautiful day. Let's
sail today. In spite of what God has said,
we'll sail today. We'll go today. The wind is just
real soft. The sun is shining. Everything
is beautiful. No thought about down the road. No thought about tomorrow. And that's the way the flesh
is. The flesh, the sun shining today, that's all it needs. Flesh
is not concerned about anything about tomorrow, next week, or
at the end of life. The flesh is not concerned about
how things are going to be with you later on. The flesh is only
concerned about today, right now, about now. That's what the
flesh is concerned about. And my friend, we need to be
thinking about what's coming down the road. And we need to
get in the habit of bucking the flesh and seeking the mind of
God to know His will. And in those days when that wind
is blowing softly, and you say, it's blowing in my direction,
this is a good wind, and I'm just gonna set sail, you better
watch what you're doing. You better make sure this is
the will of God. Paul, you were wrong. We know
best We know best. We're sailors. We were trained
at this job. We've been at this a long time,
Paul. What could you know about it?
Hold on, beloved. Hold on. It's not over yet. It's
not over. Tomorrow's another day. Tomorrow's
another day. There'll be a different set of
circumstances tomorrow. You get your heart right with
God today, and stay on the Lord today, and keep things right
in your soul today with the Lord, because tomorrow is another day. Well, the third thing I see is
that when the storm comes, The only thing for us to do is surrender. I mean when the storm comes down
on us, whether we've been disobedient or whether we haven't been, when
the storm comes, I mean when the sky fills with black clouds
and the storm comes, the only thing we can do is surrender.
Look at verse 15. We let her drive. We let her
drive. Get a good grip, my friend. Let
her drive. They put out all the effort they
could in verses 15 through 20. I don't have time to read all
these verses, but you can read them, you can look at them. And
so they put out all the effort they could to bring the ship
under control and to handle it in the storm. Hear me, child
of God, there is nothing that happens under the heavens that
God did not order. Nothing that happens under the
heavens that God did not order. Did the Lord send this ship?
Absolutely. Life is hard, but God is good. Unfair, somebody says, but God
is absolutely just. Life is short, somebody says. Yes, but God is eternal. John Newton said everything is
needful that he sends. He went on to say that nothing
is needful that he withholds. Everything is needful that God
sends. These storms are needful. They've been sent of God. Now, beloved, we need to get
a hold of that. Shall there be evil in the city?
Psalm 107 talks about how that, and I'd like for you just to
turn there quickly. I'd like to read these verses.
Psalm 107. And let's read verse 25 through
29 quickly. For he commandeth and raiseth
the stormy sea. Who does? God does. I told you that God is sovereign.
And he commands and he raises the stormy sea, which lifteth
up the waves thereof. They mount up to the heaven.
They go down again to the depths. Their soul is melted because
of trouble, that is, the people on the sea. They reel to and
fro and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wits end. Then they cry unto the Lord in
their trouble, and he bringeth them out of their distresses. He maketh the storm calm, so
that the waves thereof are still." Now, beloved, what this tells
us is that God is in control of the storms. It's the Lord
that controls the storm. Poet said, I do not know what
may befall of sunshine or of rain. I do not know what may
be mine of pleasure and of pain. But this I know, my Savior knows,
and whatever whatsoever it be, still I can trust his love to
give what will be best for me. The Lord is in control of the
storm. Now, beloved, he brought us here.
It is by the will of God that I'm in this storm, and in that
I will rest. You must surrender yourself.
You must bow before God. Lay your life before the Lord.
It is of the Lord that you're where you are. He will keep you
here in His love and give you grace in this trial to behave
yourself as a child of God. you'll be able to submit yourself
to the Lord. Then he will make the trial a
blessing to you, teaching you the lessons that he intends for
you to learn, and working out his grace, which he means to
bestow upon your life. In his goodness, he will bring
you out again, and when he knows how and when he knows it's time
he'll bring you out again. There are four things quickly
you should be saying to yourself if you're in a storm this morning.
in order to get your soul to be quiet and to submit yourself
to the Lord and to surrender yourself and say, let her drive. And these four things are this.
Number one, I'm here by his appointment. Number two, I'm in his keeping
as I'm in this storm. Number three, I'm under his training. He's got me here to teach me
something. That's why he put me here. And
number four, I'm here for his time. You know, the psalmist
said that my times are in his hands. And I'm here to serve
the purpose and the will of God in my generation and for my day. And the Lord has a purpose in
what he allows to come into the lives of his children. So the
sooner that we realize that God is in our storms, the sooner
we'll have peace in these storms. There is only one way to bring
peace to the heart, joy to the mind, and beauty to the life
of a believer. It is to accept and it is to
do the will of God in our hearts and our lives, whatever it be
a sunshiny day or whether it be a stormy time in our life. And so we need to remember that.
We'll have peace when we surrender and when we just let that old
ship drive. This is God's doing. Let it drive. Who can stay his hand? Fight
all you want to. Rebel all you want to. Throw
everything over. My friend, you better just let
her drive. You better surrender to the Lord
and to His will in this storm. Fourthly, I'm hurrying very fastly. I know there are three common
lies that are told in our day and time. The first one is the
checks in the bank or the checks in the mail. And the second one
is I'm from the government and I'm here to do you good. And
the third is I'll be brief. Those are three common lies as
told in our day. Well, fourthly, when the storm
comes, we need to seek a word from God to comfort and to guide
us through the storm. In verses 21 through 25. I want
you to look at this. Verse 21, after long abstinence,
Paul was fasting. He had fasted, they fasted about
14 days. They were serious, dead serious. They were in this storm and they
knew that their life could very well be snuffed out at any moment. Paul stood forth in the midst
of them and said, Sirs, you should have hearkened unto me. You ought
to listen to what I told you before and since you didn't,
You wouldn't have gained this harm and loss if you'd listened
to me. And now I exhort you to be of good cheer, for there shall
be no loss of any man's life among you but of the ship. For
there stood by me this night the angel of God, whose I am
and whom I serve, saying, Fear not, Paul. Thou must be brought
before Caesar, and, lo, God hath given thee all them that sail
with thee. Wherefore, sirs, be of good cheer,
for I believe, God, that it shall be even as it was told me." Now,
beloved, the tendency of the flesh is to neglect the worship
of God and the word of God and the ministry of the gospel when
storms comes into our lives. We sit back at home, say, I don't
feel like going to church. I really just don't feel like
going to church. Poor me, poor me. Pity me, pity
me. I just don't feel like that I
can go to church. Well, beloved, if you ever need
the gospel, if you ever need the Word of God, if you ever
need the comfort of the holy, sacred scriptures, it's when
you're in the storm. It's when the trials are fast
upon your life. That's the time when you need
the Word of God. So when you got a bereavement
in your family, When you have these storms and setbacks and
when there's discouragement on every side and when you feel
like your life is just literally coming apart at the seams, that's
the time. Just say, well, I'm going to
the house of God. I'm going to see if there's not
a word comes to my soul from the living God. I'm going to
see if God has something to say to my soul this morning, if the
Lord would speak to me and give me some comfort and some direction
in my life. Trusting God alone, no matter
what happens. And that brings me to the fifth
thing. And no matter how severe the storm is, I want you to see
this in verse 31 through 32. Stay in the ship. Stay in the
ship. Verse 31 and 32, let me read
these verses. Paul said to the centurion and
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, what am I saying
here? I mean this, that you're in the
storm. Some people say, well, I don't
know what to do. I'm at the point where I don't know whether to
abandon faith, lean on human wisdom. I don't know whether
to consult a psychologist. I don't know whether to go to
a counselor. I don't know which direction
to go. I don't know what to do. My life's all topsy-turvy, and
I'm all distressed, and I don't know what to do. Stay in the
ship! Trust God, my friend, and trust Him alone. God will be
as good as His Word. Look at verse 38. Look at verse
38. And when they had eaten enough,
they lightened the ship, 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 which they
were minded if it were possible to thrust in the ship. And they
were all in the ship in verse 37. Two hundred, three score,
sixteen souls. Two hundred and seventy-six souls.
They were all alive and they were all in the ship. Now the
storms of life have a way of changing our values. Here we
are in this world, and everything's been going really good for us.
And we've just been getting along fine. But then these storms come,
and they change our thinking about life. And let me illustrate
that by, one time down in Texas, there was some fellas years,
many, many years ago, broke into a bank, stole a lot of gold,
a lot of gold bars. And they put them on an old cart,
and there was two or three men, and they started out across the
desert to go to Mexico. They was going down south with
all this gold. Well, everything went all right
for a little bit, but then they got out there in the desert,
and the horse give out, and because it couldn't pull that cart with
all that weight on it through the desert, and the further they
went, hotter it got, and they just got to the place where they
begin to think. Well, maybe this wasn't too wise. Maybe we shouldn't have stolen
all this gold. Maybe we shouldn't. Why? It changed
their thinking altogether. And first thing you know, they
abandoned it to save their lives. And I will tell you something,
in this world, when we're going through all of these storms and
these trials, it'll change our thinking about things. It really
will. We'll find out what's really
important in life. We'll find out the things that
really matter. We'll find out what it is that
we ought to have all the time been setting our affection on,
and how that we have just literally missed the point of life, and
how that we've missed what God would have us to be looking at,
seeing in this world. Well, as these men change their
mind about life and what's really important, we will too. Except
you abide in the ship, Paul said you cannot be saved. You've got
to abide in the ship. You've got to keep trusting the
Lord and looking to God and keep faith alone at most in your heart. If your storms make you leave
Christ, you never knew Christ to begin with. You must keep
looking to Christ. The sixth thing, set your heart
upon Christ and only on Christ and seek Christ and nothing else.
I like this verse 39 here when it talks about this certain creek
with a shore. And that's what they wanted to
do is get to the shore. Now I liken the shore here to
the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the shore, and what we want
to do is we want to get to Him. You must, in essence, throw everything
else to the wind, throw it all off, and ask for nothing, seek
nothing but Christ. They didn't ask for the wheat.
They didn't want the boat anymore. All they wanted was the shore.
All they wanted was the shore. Now, friend, if God Almighty
sends certain storms into your life, that makes you see the
absolute utter emptiness of this world and the things of this
world, the things of time and sense. What a blessing it would
be. And you'd say, all I really want
is Christ. That's all I really need. Just
the shore. Get me to the shore. That's all
I want. And beloved, I guarantee you,
if you care for nothing, if you seek nothing, ask for nothing,
but Christ, you will have him. You will have him. You'll make
it to the shore. if you'll set your attention
on just getting to the shore like these men did. Whatever
happens to it and everything in it, let it go. We want to
get to the shore. And those of you here that you're
just clutching and holding on, oh, you're holding on, you're
holding on. Some of you are holding on to things you ought to let
go of. Remember a story about an old Indian and a white man,
and they both heard the gospel. And the Indian, he got saved
immediately. Just right now, since he heard
the gospel, he believed it and was saved. And the white man...
He didn't get saved for a long time, but after a while he did
get saved. And so he went to the old Indian and said, how
is this that you heard the gospel and immediately you were saved? And I was under conviction for
weeks and months before I finally was saved. The old Indian said,
well, look at it like this. A prince comes and he offers
each of us a beautiful garment. And you took a look at your coat
when he offered you this beautiful garment woven from the top to
the bottom by his doing and dying. You looked at your coat and you
said, this is still pretty good. This is all right. I'll just
keep mine for a while. And he said, when he offered
it to me, or when he told me and presented it to me, he said,
I looked at my old blanket. It was full of holes. It was
rotten. It was coming apart. And he said,
why? He said, I threw that old blanket
away and took the new garment. Took it immediately. And that's
the way some people are. You know, they're hanging on
to their own self-righteousness. They're hanging on to their little
bit of doing. They're hanging on to what they've been about.
They're hanging on to their family, to their religion, to their family's
religion. Throw it overboard! and get to
the shore, get to Christ. Come to Christ! Because when
you get to Him, then my friend, you'll be saved. You'll be saved.
That's what is important. Not your little, you say, I'm
just trying to maintain my own ego. I don't want to just, you
know, be a fanatic about this. You better throw it all away.
And you better make it to the shore. Look good at that old
rags you've got that you're dressed in. Look real good at them. And
you'll find out that they're nothing to boast about, nothing
to look at. They're really nothing but filthy
rags in the sight of God. Get to Christ. He'll give you
the robe of salvation. He'll give you that robe that
is absolutely pure and spotless. He'll give it to you. Get to
the shore, my friend. That's where we need to be. And
I'm going to say this again. I guarantee you that if you care
for nothing, if you seek nothing, if you ask for nothing but Christ,
you will have Him and you won't have Him until you get there.
You must get there or you'll never have Him. As long as you
keep hanging on to something else, looking to something else,
you'll never have Him. You may not have anything else
but Him, but you'll have Him. But what difference does it make
if you have Him, amen, if you have Christ? If you don't have
any... Somebody said, you just give
up all your reputation to take on yourself Christ? Absolutely. Give up all your righteousness,
you give up your religion? Give it all up! Christ. Christ. Christ is all in all. If you be risen with Christ,
set your affection on things above, where Christ is seated
at the right hand of God and not on the toys of this earth. Set them on Christ. Where your
treasure is, the Bible says, there's where your heart will
be also. Number seven and last. One last thing. God will graciously
bring you through the storm to your desired haven. Verses 41
through 44. God will bring you through. Some
on broken pieces. God uses broken pieces to accomplish
his purpose. You say, my life has just literally
come apart, preacher. I don't know what to do. I don't
know which direction to go. But my life is in pieces. God
will use pieces, like he used pieces of this broken ship to
get some of these 276. Not a one of them. perished in
the waters of that sea. Not a one of them. They all made
it. God brought them through. And
so it came to pass that they escaped all safe to the land. They escaped, all of them, safe
to the land. The storms will come, and when
they come, they're designed by God. as we said earlier, and
they're designed to teach us some lessons, but most of all,
designed to teach us to trust our God. They increase our faith,
they increase our patience, our hope. What God is doing in the
storms is knocking off the props that we've been leaning on. And
all of us lean on props, you know, we'll just lean on anything
we can. But the Lord comes along with
these storms, knocks them props out from under us. And knocking
out these props, He teaches us to trust the Lord. And God is
teaching us to measure everything in the light of eternity. God
teaches us to value nothing more now than we will value it when
we come to die. or value it in eternity. The storms teach us that the
whole of salvation, that the whole of deliverance, both to
our souls and to the experiences of life, are in God's hands.
It's the Lord's hand that delivers. And we need to keep that ever
more in our hearts and in our minds. I hope this morning that God
in his mercy will give us these lessons in such a way that we
will not lose sight of them. And that when we read this chapter
from now on, Brother Randy did an excellent job reading this
chapter, these big words, very able, read these words, and I
hope that when you read this chapter, that you'll think more
about the chapter than what you would just saying, well, this
is literally a story here, but there's more in it. The preacher
showed us there were more in it than just what literally happened. May God bless these things to
your heart. Let's pray. Father, in the name
of Jesus, we ask for a blessing this morning on what has been
preached, on what has been said. And I pray that you will encourage
this people and bless them, Lord. Bless them. Make thyself known
to them. May their faith be greatly increased. And may we have, Lord, each one
of us, in our hearts, preparation made for the day when the storm
comes, that we'll behave ourselves as your children, and that we'll
surrender ourselves under the will of God, and submit ourselves,
and wait on the Lord, and be a good testimony to those around
us. The dying hour is coming. It is appointed, and the man
wants to die. And after this, the judgment, the dying hour
is coming. Oh, Father, thank you that some
of us have been made to flee to the shore, to swim to the
shore, to sail to the shore, and that we're there in Christ. And I pray for those this morning
that are still outside. still in the water, never made
it to shore yet. Lord, I pray that you'll bring
them to the shore right now in their hearts. May they feel that
solid rock, that solid ground under them and rejoice that they're
in Christ, on Christ, and they know Him. Lord, reveal Thyself. Make Thyself known. Thank You,
Lord, for this privilege we've had to worship this morning.
How it's done our souls good. We glory in Thee. In Jesus' name,
Amen.

Storms of Life

What does the Bible say about God's sovereignty in difficult times?

How do we know if our troubles are a result of disobedience to God?

Why is surrendering to God's will important during life's storms?

How can we seek guidance from God during trials?

What does staying in the ship mean for a believer?

Why should we prioritize Christ above all during difficult times?

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Storms of Life

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