Turn with me tonight, please,
to Acts chapter 27. Acts chapter 27. Before I read any verses here
in chapter 27, let me just kind of bring us up to this place. In Acts chapter 21, we know the
apostle Paul was rescued by a Roman centurion when a Jerusalem mob,
a Jewish mob, would have stoned him to death. He was then taken
as a prisoner. And because he was a Roman citizen,
he was allowed, as every Roman citizen had this right to appeal
under seizure. And eventually it became necessary
for Paul to appeal under seizure because one of the authorities
wanted him to go back to Jerusalem after he had been transported
to Caesarea to save his life in Jerusalem. They wanted him
to go back to Jerusalem, be judged there. And we know that man had
taken a pact or a vow to kill Paul when he came back to Jerusalem. So he appealed unto Caesar. And
then he appeared before Felix, who was a governor, Festus, who
was another governor, Agrippa, who was a king. And he's now
being transported to Rome in this chapter that we're looking
at tonight. He's being taken to Rome. under
the authority of a Roman centurion by the name of Julius, and of
course they're sailing. They're sailing to Rome. I want you to notice in verses
nine and 10 that Paul warned the centurion of the danger of
sailing this late in the year in the Mediterranean Sea. Verse
nine, we read, now when much time was spent and when sailing
was now dangerous because the fast was now already passed,
I believe that was a fast that had to do with the day of atonement. So this would have been in the
month of October or November, according to our calendar, and
it was not the best time to be sailing. They knew that. Paul
said unto them, sirs, I perceive that this voyage will be with
hurt and much damage, not only of the lady and the ship, but
also of our lives. Now this centurion, he had the
authority. He could believe Paul or he could
choose to go on in their journey. He was not a Christian. He was
not a believer. But I believe we need to learn,
or at least we can learn, as we look at the two reasons that
he made the choice that he made to sail in this most dangerous
time of the year. He did so According to verse
11, nevertheless the centurion believed the master and the owner
of the ship more than those things which were spoken by Paul. Now
here is the first reason he chose to sail on, because the haven
was not commodious to winter in. The more part advised to
depart thence, if by any means they might attain to Phenicia,
and there to winter, which is an haven of Crete and life toward
the southwest and northwest. And here's the second reason
that he chose to go on when the south wind blew softly. Supposing
If they had obtained their purpose, loosing thence, they sailed close
by Crete. Now I said we can learn. He was
not a Christian. He was not a believer by any
means. But we as Christians may learn
from the two reasons that caused him to make the choice that he
made. He made this choice based on
his comfort, on their comfort. And for a child of God, for a
Christian to make a decision in his life or her life based
on our comfort is not the best way to make a decision. Because
we know the right way is not always the easiest way. The right
way of serving Christ is not always the most comfortable way. because the Lord Jesus Christ,
you remember, told us as his disciples, take up your cross
and follow me. And then the second thing we
see, they thought they had a good providence when they saw the
south wind, the south wind blowing softly. Surely this was a sign
from God. Now, as believers, When we seek
the Lord's will in our life, when we have a decision that
we need to make, of course we pray about it, and we trust that
it is always God who works in us, both to will and to do of
His good pleasure. But we do observe providence. We do observe things that we
would call providential happenings. But here's the thing. Providence
never overrides the Word of God. It never overrides the Word of
God. And providence may look to us
like this is the way, this is an easy road, this is the way
we should go, but if it is not according to the Word of God,
that's not God's will for our life. God the Holy Spirit He's
the author of the Scriptures. He used men. The Bible has a
dual authorship, doesn't it? God, the Holy Spirit, and the
men, holy men. The Scripture says in 1 Peter
that God moved or breathed upon to write the Word of God, but
the point I'm making is God will never lead us to do anything
contrary to the Word of God. to his word. Well, let's go on. The ship, they sailed away, and
the ship was soon in a tempestuous wind, we read. It must have been
something like a hurricane. They were in a hurricane. You
know, they didn't have the GPS and things that we have today. They didn't even have that I
believe it's called a transit that sailors used for so many
years to plot their course by the stars. That had not even
been invented at this time. They just let loose from the
dock and sailed away, but it wasn't long until they were caught,
their ship was caught in a horrible storm, a very destructive storm. For 14 days, as we read through
this passage, for 14 days, they didn't see the sun. They didn't
see the sun, they didn't see a star. For 14 days, they were
in darkness, so to speak. And their ship was at the mercy
of the wind. They had no power to steer the
ship at all. The ship was just at the mercy
of this wind, this tempestuous wind. There were 276 men on board,
and it was feared that every last one of them would be buried
in the sea. Now among those 276 men, three
we know were Christians. Paul, Luke, because we see the
word us, Luke includes himself traveling along with Paul, and
this man in verse 2 from Thessalonica, Aristarchus. And he's mentioned
in other parts of the epistles that Paul wrote. So we know that
of the 276 men, if they had all been buried in the sea, three
of them would have went home to be with the Lord. For sure,
there may have been more. We don't know. But I would say
the vast majority of them would have died at sea and gone to
an everlasting perdition, everlasting hell. Now what I would like for us
to especially see tonight is how Paul encouraged these men. how he encouraged the other 275
men who were with him in the ship. And according to verse
20, they were men who had no hope. They had no hope of being
saved. You can imagine, can't you? In a situation like that, why
would they have any hope? 14 days, the wind just taking
them wherever, no control over the ship's steering, and no sun
and no stars, no light. They had lost all hope. Verse
20, and when neither sun nor stars in many days appeared,
and no small tempest lay on us, notice this, all, not most, not
the majority, all hope. that we should be saved was then
taken away. Everyone on this ship, except
Paul, Luke and Aristarchus, had no hope. How did? Two times we see that Paul tells
them, notice in verse 22, two times he tells them, be of good
cheer. You see what I'm saying is how
did Paul encourage these men? Two times he tells them in the
midst of this horrible storm, be of good cheer. In verse 22,
and now I exhort you to be of good cheer. And then in verse
25, wherefore, sirs, be of good cheer. Well, that begs the question,
were they encouraged? Two times he told them, be of
good cheer. Were they encouraged? Look down
to verse 36. Then were they all of good cheer. He encouraged them, and they
were encouraged. All, the scripture says. They
were all of good cheer. Now, how did Paul encourage them? Not just by saying, be of good
cheer. How did Paul encourage them? The simple answer is this. Paul believed God and his word. Paul believed God and His Word. Let's read verses 22 through
25. 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. Amen. Can you say that tonight? Whose I am. And that antecedent
is God, right? The angel of God. Whose I am. I'm his. I'm his. And he is mine. 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." How did he
encourage these men? He believed God. He believed
God's word. Now, in looking at God's word
to Paul, I see these four promises. First of all, The angel of God
told him that he must appear before Caesar. See that in verse
24. Fear not, Paul, this is what
the angel told him. Fear not, Paul, thou must be
brought before Caesar. Now, there's a lot we are not
told about Paul appearing before Caesar. When he was converted,
and this is recorded in Acts chapter 9, on the road to Damascus,
you remember he was blinded when he saw the Lord, that great light. And he was led by the hand into
Damascus, and God sent one of his servants, Ananias, to go
and speak to him. And God told Ananias this. Ananias was afraid of him. Paul had a reputation. Saul of
Tarsus, he had a reputation, didn't he? I mean, he persecuted
the church of God. That's why he was coming to Damascus
to begin with. Ananias said, I've heard of him.
God said, go to it. He is a chosen vessel to bear
my name. And so God telling Ananias, you
go You lay hands on Saul, because he is a chosen vessel to bear
my name before Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel."
Now, at this point, he had done all three of those things. He
had preached Christ in the synagogues to the Jews. He had gone to the
Gentiles, preaching Christ. And he had stood before those
Roman procouncils and that one king already and preached Christ. And remember when he preached
Christ before that king, that was Agrippa who said, Paul, almost
thou persuadest me to be a Christian. He trembled. One of them, I think
it was Felix. He trembled at the preaching
of Paul. But as far as we know, none of
them were converted. But this angel told Paul, you
must appear before Caesar. That's interesting, isn't it? Caesar, Augustus Caesar. Wouldn't you have liked to have
seen that? Hear this small, of statue of
man, but great in faith, power of God the Holy Spirit, stand
before the ruler of the known world, and preach Christ. I believe Paul was released from
that first imprisonment, but taken again as a prisoner, and
then it was no longer Augustus Caesar, but Nero was Caesar. And that is probably when Paul
was martyred in Rome. God said you must. When God says
something, it's going to happen. I believe God, Paul said. Be
of good cheer. I believe God. And God told me
through that angel, his angel, that I must appear before Caesar. The second thing that we see,
Paul, all who sail with you must survive this storm. Verse 24,
the last part of it. And lo, God hath given thee all
them that sail with thee. They all. All 276 on board this
ship, they all must survive this storm because God said they would. He believed God. God told me
we're all going to survive this storm. And he encouraged them
by believing God and believing God's word. He believed this
promise. In fact, And this is interesting. He believed God's promise that
they would all survive so much. Look down in verse 34. He told
them, there shall not a hair fall from the head of any of
you. Now remember, they're going to
get to shore through the water. But Paul said, there's not even
a hair of your head that's going to perish in this storm. He believed God. Let me read
that verse. That was verse 34. Wherefore,
I pray you to take some meat for this is for your health for
there shall not an hair fall from the head of any of you. Now that's being saved. It's not even a hair. would be lost. Number three,
Paul, you must be cast upon a certain island. He told him that in verse
26. Albeit, we must be cast upon
a certain island. Now, we know that the island
that they were cast upon at that time, according to Verse 1 of
chapter 28 was called Melita, but it is the island of Malta. And on this island, on this island
of Malta, at least two signs of an apostle were wrought. Turn back to Mark chapter 16. At least two signs of an apostle
were wrought here on the isle of Malta. This is all recorded
in the next chapter. We won't read it, but trust me,
it's there. Here in Mark chapter 16, in verse 17, we read, and these
signs shall follow them that believe. Paul believed, didn't
he? He believed God. In my name shall they cast out
devils. They shall speak with new tongues.
They shall take up serpents. Remember when they were drenched
from the cold rain and the water, they got on that island and they
built a fire, and Paul was just like everyone else. He was busy
working, gathering sticks for the fire, and there was a serpent
that came out of those sticks and latched upon Paul. And the
people there on that island, they saw that. Barbarians, it
says. They saw that and they said,
this guy must be a murderer. He must be a murderer. He's escaped
the sea, but vengeance is coming upon him. And they watched and
they looked, but nothing happened. He didn't fall down dead, which
they expected. That was something that the Lord
had told his apostles, take up serpents. They hadn't told me
that. And I'm not going to be in a
church building where they're handling serpents. That's not
taught us in the word of God. These signs were signs of an
apostle. And also healing of the sick. We see that here too. And if they drink any deadly
thing, it shall not hurt them. They shall lay hands on the sick
and they shall recover. And you can read about that in
Acts chapter 28, how a dignitary there on the island, he was healed
or his father was healed first, and then people brought others
from all over the island and they were all healed. And I cannot
help but believe that also, it says on this certain island,
this certain island, Notice that in verse 26. Howbeit
we must be cast upon a certain island. I believe there were
some certain people on that island, no doubt, that God had chosen from before the foundation of
the world to be saved. And in the fullness of time,
they would be saved by Paul coming to that island and preaching
the gospel. It was a time of love, no doubt
for some, when God passed by and said, live, live. Here's the fourth thing. Paul,
all must remain on the ship, verse 31. all must remain on the ship. You see, when they sounded the
depth, they found out it was 20 fathoms and they went a little
further and they sounded the depth again and it was 15 fathoms. They knew they were approaching
land and it was dark and night and afraid of being ruined upon
the rocks, they cast anchors out of the out of the bow, out
of the stern of the ship. And they had that lifeboat on
there, and these sailors were determined, let down the lifeboat
and escape, escape to the island or to the land. And Paul said,
no. He told that centurion, except
these remain on the ship. You cannot be saved. And this
time, they believed Paul. This time, the centurion and
the soldiers believed Paul. And they cut the ropes and the
lifeboat fell into the sea. And it was needful, think about
this, it was needful because if you look down in verse 40,
I assume it was these sailors who would do what we're told
had to take place here. When they had taken up the anchors,
someone had to take up the anchors. They committed themselves under
the sea. They loosed the rudder band.
Someone had to do that, the sailors, and hoisted up the mainsail to
the wind and made toward the shore. And they had a place they
wanted to strike. That was where two seas met,
and there was some kind of an outlet into the sea. And so they drove the bow of the ship into the sand
and the stern was tossed to and fro by the waves so that the
ship came apart. And the soldiers, you know what they
wanted to do? They wanted to kill all those
prisoners. And do you know why they wanted
to kill them? The Roman law was If a prisoner escaped, then the
person who was in charge of him and allowed him to escape, he
received the punishment that prisoner was to receive. That's
the reason that jailer in Acts chapter 16, remember, on that
great earthquake and he drew that sword and he would have
taken his own life. And Paul said, sir, Do thyself
no harm. We're all here. We're all here. Paul encouraged those who had
lost all hope by believing God and his promises, his word. There's nothing that discourages
like unbelief. The 10 spies, you remember, they
sent 12 spies to spy out the land of Canaan. The 10 spies
came back with an evil report and they discouraged the whole
nation. The whole nation was discouraged
because of their unbelief. There's nothing that discourages
like unbelief and there's nothing that encourages like faith, like
believing God. Now, I want to give us, in closing,
a few promises of God to believe. Verily, verily, I say unto you,
He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me,
hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation, but
is passed from death unto life. Believe God. Believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved in the house. Believe God. Ask and it shall be given you.
Seek and you shall find. Knock and it shall be opened
unto you. Believe God. When thou passest
through the waters, I will be with thee, and through the rivers
they shall not overflow thee. When thou walkest through the
fire, thou shall not be burned, neither shall the flame kindle
upon thee. Believe God. I will never leave
thee, nor forsake thee. Believe God. I go to to prepare
a place for you, and if I go and prepare a place for you,
I will come again and receive you unto myself, that where I
am there you may be also. Believe God. For we know that
if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we
have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal
in the heavens. Believe God. But my God shall
supply all your needs according to his riches in glory by Christ
Jesus. No wonder, no wonder that man
said, Lord, I believe, help thou mine unbelief. Have you ever
prayed that? I have. I have. I believe, Paul believed, and
through his faith in God and the promises of God, he was able
to encourage every person on that ship. May the Lord bless
these words tonight.