Linda Howard told me the other
day about a book she thought I would enjoy reading. It's called
Men of Purpose. I don't believe it's Ten Men
of Purpose, just Men of Purpose by Peter Meisters. So I was able
to purchase it and it has short biographical sketches of men
that all of us have heard of. Mr. Hines, Hines Ketchum, 57
variety. was a believer, child of God
and supported missions and Sunday schools in this country but he
got to visit London and he went over there to visit and also
took some of his products over there hoping they would start
selling them and he found out they were already selling them
but he was a successful businessman who loved the Lord but he went
to hear Charles Spurgeon preach on Sunday evening And he made
this comment, he said, he was the simplest, plainest, great
man I ever heard. What a compliment, right? The simplest, plainest, great
man I ever heard. When we preach the gospel, we
should be simple and plain, just like that hymn writer wrote in
the hymn we just finished singing. Remember, I'm a child. and so easily forget the things
that I've heard. We need to hear again and again
and again the truth that Jesus Christ came into this world to
save sinners. That story's old, but it never
grows old to the believer. I asked a man as he was leaving
the building this morning, He's been a member here for a long
time and I said, how long have you been a member here? He said,
I don't know. He said, it seems like it was
just yesterday. I said, well it does to me too,
but it's been years, I know that. Time goes by fast. The Lord's
blessed us as a congregation and myself as a pastor and I
do appreciate each and every one of you and the fellowship
and the love that we have in this congregation. It's to be
prized. If you will, let's look tonight
in Acts chapter 27. Acts chapter 27. I'm going to read the entire
chapter this evening. And when it was determined that
we should sail into Italy, they delivered Paul and certain other
prisoners under one named Julius, a centurion of Augustus' band. And entering into a ship of Adrometheum,
we launched, meaning to sail by the coast of Asia, one Aristarchus,
a Macedonian of Thessalonica, being with us. And the next day
we touched at Sidon. And Julius courteously entreated
Paul and gave him liberty to go unto his friends to refresh
himself. And when we had launched from
thence, we sailed under Cyprus, because the winds were contrary.
And when we had sailed over the sea of Cilicia and Pamphylia,
we came to Myra, a city of Lycia. And there Centurion found a ship,
there the Centurion found a ship of Alexandria sailing into Italy
and he put us therein. And when we had sailed slowly
many days and scarce were come over against Snidus, the wind
not suffering us, we sailed under Crete over against Thalmone. And hardly passing it came unto
a place which is called the Fair Havens. Whereunto was the city
of Lasea. Now, when much time was spent,
and when sailing was now dangerous because the fast was now already
past, Paul admonished them and said unto them, Sirs, I perceive
that this voyage will be with hurt and much damage, not only
of the lading and ship, but also of our lives. Nevertheless, the
centurion believed the master and the owner of the ship more
than those things which were spoken by Paul. And because the
haven was not commodious to winter in, the more part advised to
depart thence also, if by any means they might attain to Phanesi,
and there to winter, which is an haven of Crete, and life toward
the south, west, and northwest. And when the south wind blew
softly, supposing that they had obtained their purpose, loosing
thence, they sailed close by Crete. But not long after there
arose against it a tempestuous wind called Eurociden. And when the ship was caught
and could not bear up into the wind, we let her drive. And running
under a certain island, which is called Clauda, we had much
work to come by the boat. which, when they had taken up,
they used helps, undergirding the ship, and fearing lest they
should fall into the quicksand's straight sail, and so were driven. And we being exceedingly tossed
with the tempest, the next day they lightened the ship, and
the third day we cast out with our own hands the tackling of
the ship. And when neither sun nor stars
in many days appeared, and no small tempest lay on us, all
hope that we should be saved was then taken away. But after
a long abstinence, Paul stood forth in the midst of them and
said, Sirs, you should have hearkened unto me, and not have loosed
from Crete, and have gained this harm and loss. 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. Howbeit, we must be cast upon
a certain island. But when the fourteenth night
was come, as we were driven up and down, In Adria, about midnight,
the shipmen deemed that they drew near to some country, and
sounded and found it twenty fathoms. And when they had gone a little
further, they sounded again and found it fifteen fathoms. 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 fourth ship, 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. 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 there shall not a
hair fall from the head of any of you.' And 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 when we were in all in the
ship 203 score and 16 souls. That's 276 souls. 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 mined. 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
hoisted up the mainsail to the wind, and made toward the shore. And falling into a place where
the two seas met, they ran the ship aground, and the fore part
stuck fast and remained unmovable, but the hinder part was broken
with the violence of the waves. and the soldiers council was
to kill the prisoners lest any of them should swim out and escape
but the centurion willing to save Paul kept them from their
purpose and commanded that they which could swim should cast
themselves first into the sea and get to land and the rest
some on boards and some on broken pieces of the ship and so it
came to pass that they escaped all safe to land. I believe Andrea
went to get me a glass of water. I hope so. This happened to me last Sunday
night when I stood up to preach. I didn't know if I was going
to be able to speak The title of my message is Good
Cheer in the Darkest Storm. You notice in verse 20 we read,
we see darkness for the sun and stars had not appeared for many
days, for 14 days, for two weeks. They had not seen the sun in
the daytime nor the stars at night. And they were in the midst of
a great storm, because verse 20, if you notice there, it tells
us that they had not seen the sun or stars in many days, that no small tempest lay upon
us. They were in the middle of a
cyclone, or what we call in our part of the world a hurricane.
And they were caught up in it, their ship was taken up in it. Thank you, Andrew. Don't you wish you had some? Brother Shanks used to take a
drink and he'd say, Good cheer in the darkest storm.
Fourteen days without any sun or stars and in the midst of
what Luke tells us was no small tempest, a cyclone. What a time for this very small
man, Paul. who was now a prisoner, to stand
forth and say, be of good cheer, none of us shall lose our lives. What a time for a man like this
to stand. If you looked at the Apostle
Paul from what I've read, he was certainly no figure as far
as his stature, his person, to attract any attention or any
awe. A very small, diminutive person. And yet he stands forth, think
of all these men, soldiers, sailors, prisoners, rough type people
I would imagine. And he stands forth and he says,
be of good cheer, none of us shall lose our life. The Roman
centurion, Julius, The Roman soldiers, the sailors, and the
prisoners on board this ship, they did not realize it, but
also on board with them, there was cargo of great value. There were at least two men on
board, maybe more, who were God's servants and God's
angels were attending them. The scripture teaches us that
angels are sent forth to minister unto those who are heirs of salvation. And we know that both Paul and
Luke had angels around them. And it was one of these angels
that spoke to Paul, says the angel of God, and gave him this
message. And the message was a message
of good cheer. No person No person on this ship
is going to lose his life, not even lose a hair. That was a
message of good cheer. Why? Because Paul, the apostle
Paul, he must appear before Caesar. Notice that in verse 24. The
angel said, fear not Paul, thou must be brought before Caesar.
And lo, God hath given thee all them that sail with thee. Tonight, for just a few minutes,
I want us to consider a few of Paul's words. A very few of Paul's
words which we read. First, those of his words in
verse 23, when he said, Whose I am, and whom I serve. For there stood by me this night
the angel of God, whose I am, and whom I serve." I want us
to think about those words first, and then second, his words in
verse 25, I believe God. I believe God. So first his words,
whose I am and whom I serve. Now the antecedent of whose is
God, an angel of God, whose I am. In the darkest storm every child
of God must know, must know that this is true and nothing can
change it. The darkest storm you may find
yourself in, a cyclone like the Apostle Paul was in. Every child of God must know
that this is true and nothing can change it. Whose I am? I
am God's. I am God's. First, I am God's by creation. Every child of God, every person
really, is able to say this. I am God's by creation. He made
me. David, in Psalm 139, he said,
I will praise thee for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Every child
of God is able to say this, I will praise thee for I am fearfully
and wonderfully made, marvelous are thy works and that my soul
knoweth right well. My substance was not hid from
thee when I was made in secret, curiously wrought in the lowest
part of the earth. Thine eyes did see my substance,
yet being imperfect. When you and I, we were being
formed in the womb of our mothers, He saw us, and He sewed together,
that's actually what that word says to us, fearfully and wonderfully
made, as though you would stitch, carefully, a seamstress, carefully
stitch. He stitched us together, put
us together, I am God's. Who's I am? I'm God's. He created
me. He created me. God made Adam
a man and He made Eve a woman. If He made you a man, don't try
to make yourself a woman. And if He made you a woman, don't
try to make yourself a man. God did not make a mistake when
He created you, when He made you. We are living in wicked, I want
to say crazy, foolish times, but that's really not the case.
It's wicked. We are living in wicked times. And one of the reasons is that
men have been taught that we have evolved as though we had
no creator. No, every one of us should be
able to say, whose I am? I am God's. God created me. I
didn't just evolve out of a cell or something of that nature,
a germ. No, I am God. God created me. Now this may be as far as you
can go. Some of you here tonight. This
is as far as you can go. You can say, who's I am? God
created me. Everyone can go that far. But
a child of God, we're going to go a little bit further. Whose
I am, I am God's by choice. I am His
by choice. He wrote, the Apostle Paul, he
wrote, according as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation
of the world. Let others deny sovereign election
if they will. But grace has taught us that
this is so, that this is true. Every spiritual blessing that
we have, we have because we were chosen in Christ from before
the foundation of the world. And I say this, He must have
chosen me or I would never have chosen Him. Can you say that
tonight? If He had left me to myself,
Hell-bent on ending in hell, running as fast and far and furious
as my legs could take me away from God. If he had not chosen
me, I would never have chosen him. Paul confessed in verse 25 that
he believed God. Blessed, he had this scripture,
Blessed is the man whom thou choosest and causest to approach
unto thee. No doubt, he, like David, could
say, I esteem all thy precepts concerning all things to be right. They're right because God said
them. You know, a few years ago, it was common, and I think still
in some circles, they say, well, God said it, I believe it, that
settles it. No, whether you believe it or
not, it's settled. God's Word is settled in heaven,
the scripture says. Let God be true and every man
a liar. Whether you believe it or I believe
it makes no difference. If God said it, it's true. If we find it in the Word of
God, it's so. God's truth doesn't hinge upon
men or women believing or not believing the truth. Someone
hears that there's a place the scriptures call hell, where God
is going to punish the wicked. They say, well I don't believe
that. Doesn't matter whether you believe it or not. It's so. It's true. Why? Because God said
it. And the same thing is true of
many other things that we find in the scripture. Now God's sovereign
election does not deny that men must hear the gospel. They must
hear of Christ and they must believe in Christ. And we see
that this is illustrated in this chapter ever so well. God told Paul, there's not a
man on this ship that's going to lose his life. And yet when
these sailors tried to flee, Paul told them, told the centurion,
if they leave this ship, we're going to die. Yes, God told them there's not
a man on this ship that's going to lose his life. And then Paul
said, and Paul knew that and Paul believed that, but yet the
God who had ordained the end, the end was that they would all
be safe. He also ordained the means. And the means, in this case,
were they all were to remain on that ship. God, yes, He has
chosen a people to eternal life and the means to that end is
faith in Christ. You must believe in Christ. That's one reason we preach the
gospel. It's not the only reason we're
commanded to preach the gospel. But God has chosen, the scripture
says, to use the preaching of the gospel in saving His people.
I read a statement just yesterday that I thought was so good. See
if I can remember it. God can save, God's grace can
save men without preaching. But all the preaching in the
world cannot save anyone without God's grace. That's so, isn't
it? All the preaching in the world.
God's chosen to use it. But all the preaching in the
world without God's blessing, without God's grace, will not
save anyone. So, first of all, I am God's
by creation. Second, I am God's by choice. Third, I am God's by ransom. The Son of God ransomed me with
his precious blood. Can you say that tonight? I've
been ransomed with the precious blood of Jesus Christ. He said,
even as the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to
minister and to give his life a ransom for many. Paul was able
to say this, whose I am? I'm his by creation, I'm his
by choice, and I'm his by purchase. He ransomed me. He purchased
me. Remember this text in Galatians
chapter 2. Let me read it to us tonight. Galatians chapter 2 and verse
20. I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless
I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth, and the life which I
now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God,
now notice, who loved me, who loved me, and gave himself for
me. Every child of God should be
able to say the same. Whose I am? I'm His by creation. I'm His by choice. I'm His by
purchase. He purchased. He gave Himself
for me. As if there were no one else
in the world, He gave Himself for me. He shed His blood to
purchase me. We've been bought with a price.
We're not our own. Therefore, glorify God in your
bodies and in your soul. wrote, inspired of the Spirit
of God. Number four, I am God's by conquest. He conquered
me by his grace. He conquered me by his grace
when I was fighting against him with all my might. Paul could
say like all who are saved, I am my beloved's and my beloved's
is mine. You know the story of the Apostle
Paul, his conversion experience. He was not looking for Christ. He was looking for those who
believed in Christ to punish them, to cause them harm. He was not looking for Christ.
Christ came looking for him. Our Lord gave two different parables
of a shepherd who had sheep and one was lost. You may be here
tonight and you may be one of Christ's sheep and you may be
lost. And the Son of Man, the Son of
God, came to seek and to save that which was lost. He comes
And with His love and by His grace, He conquers us, so that
we come to Him willingly. Some people get the idea because
we believe in God's sovereign grace, that means that God just
forces people. He does force people, but it's
a gentle persuasion. He works in our heart, gives
us a desire, a will. If you will to come to Christ,
if you desire to come to Christ, What did he say? All that the
Father giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh to me
I will in no wise cast out. If you desire to come to him,
you say, well, I don't have any desire. Well, he hasn't found
you. That doesn't mean he won't, but
he hasn't yet. Because when he finds you, he
will work in your heart and give you a new birth and a desire
to know him, to follow him, to serve him. But notice the second part of
his statement. First of all, who's I am? I'm
his by creation, I'm his by choice, I'm his by purchase, I'm his
by conquest, whom I serve. And the same is true of every
child of God. Every one of us are God's servants. Paul, even in the midst of this
storm, he was serving God. Now, he couldn't preach like
he had. He couldn't travel and go forth
preaching, carrying the gospel like he had for so many years,
but he was still serving God. Wherever God puts us, wherever
God places us, He served God by serving others. He's the only one on this ship
that had a word of cheers, as far as we know. Think of how
he served these men. Surely they were in desperation,
thinking, we're going to go down. We're going to lose our lives.
We're not going to see our families. We're not going home. Never again. And here this man comes. How
does he serve God? He serves God by hearing the
message from God and delivering that message. In Romans chapter
6, the Apostle Paul tells believers that we have been set free from
serving or being servants of sin so that we might become servants
of God or servants of righteousness. The Lord Jesus taught us that
it is impossible to serve two masters. Every child of God must
say with Paul, whose I am and whom I serve. Well, how do we
serve God? Well, some people have the mistaken
idea that the only way to serve God is to be a preacher, to be
a missionary, or something like that. We know that's not true.
God doesn't call everyone to preach. He doesn't call everyone
to take the gospel into a foreign land. And it seems clear to me
from Matthew chapter 25 that we serve God when we serve his
people. That's the way we serve God,
when we serve his people. Remember he said, inasmuch as
you have done it unto the least of these, my brethren, you have
done it unto me. Some are hungry. Some of God's
people are hungry. You say, hungry for food? Not
necessarily. There may be some who are hungry
for food, but some are just hungry for fellowship. Some are just
hungry for friendship. And the words of concern, the
words of encouragement, there's so many different ways that we
may serve God. We may serve God by praying for
those who are called to preach the gospel, by giving to support
in the furtherance of the gospel. One thing is true of all of God's
people, and that is He has not called us only to be served. There's a lot of believers who
believe the church and the pastor and the gospel and everything
is just here for them, to serve them. We are here to serve one
another, all of us are. It's not, ask not what the church
may do for me, but what I may do for the church. how he may
use me, the Apostle Paul, whose I am and whom I serve. But notice the second part of
the words we're looking at, verse 25, I believe God. Paul said he believed God by
believing that it would be just as God told him. How do we believe
God? Well God has not told us by the
voice of an angel but he has told us by a more sure word of
prophecy and that is the written word of God. What has he told
us? Well he's told us a number of
things. One thing he has told us, that
whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting
life. Paul said, I believe God. Do
you believe God? Do you? What has he told us? Verily,
verily, I say unto thee, he that heareth my words, and believeth
on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into
condemnation. Do you believe God? Paul did. And I cannot stress
too much to any of us the importance of believing God. One old writer
that I read recently, he said, faith is just saying amen to
what God says. Just reading or hearing what
God says and just saying amen. That's right. I believe that.
Amen. Whosoever liveth and believeth
in me shall never die. Do you believe that? Paul said, I believe God. It's
one thing to believe things about God. It's something else to believe
God. Many people believe things about
Him. Paul said, I believe God. I believe God. And I cannot stress too much
the need for all of us to believe God. Paul did. And what was the
result? The result was every last person
on this ship was saved. Look down to the last verse. rest, that is the centurion willing
to save Paul kept them from their purpose of killing the prisoners
and commanded that they which could swim should cast themselves
first into the sea and get to land and rest some on boards
some on broken pieces of the ship take a promise take a promise
like these boards one guy I assume He grabbed a hold of a board
and he wasn't going to let loose of that board. He couldn't swim.
And he held on as tight as he could and he got to shore. Take
a promise. Whosoever liveth and believeth
in me shall never die. Grab hold of that board. By faith. Wrap your arms around that promise. And bring it to you and hold
it to you. For your life. For your salvation. to trust in Christ and Him only. Some got there on board and one
guy got a broken piece of the ship. Maybe just a mask, I don't
know. A part of the mask. But he grabbed
hold of it and he wasn't going to let loose until he set his
feet on shore. And he got to shore. Take that scripture the Lord
gave of that man who went up to the temple. and all he did
was he cried God be merciful to me the sinner and he got to
shore he went home justified believe God Just like the Apostle
Paul. What a blessing for every one
of us tonight if we could, in truth, all of us walk out of
this house, out the door and say, whose I am and whom I serve. Can you say that tonight? I trust
that you can. Let us sing a verse or two of
a hymn before we're dismissed.