Pastor: Our text this morning comes from Acts chapter 27. I encourage you to turn with me to Acts chapter 27 we'll be considering the entirety of the chapter. I believe if you have it in front of you, it'll benefit you to follow along.
Pastor: Also, My goal is not for you to listen to me, but the Word of God. Only so much, listen to me as if I faithfully proclaim what God has in his word. And if God says it, then let us submit to it, believe it, and rest in it before we read it. Let's go again to the Lord in prayer, asking for the Lord to the bless the bless the word as we come to read it and seek to understand it. Let's pray.
Pastor: Our Heavenly Father, we thank you that you are not silent, but that you speak. The heavens are declaring your glory and your power, your existence. But Lord, as we come to Your Word, we come to know of Jesus. We come to know of our salvation. We come to know how our sins might be washed away, and we come to realize it is nothing but the blood of Jesus, Lord, we come to you, and apart from your grace, we are dead in our sins. And we recognize now that by the power of your Spirit, you must open up our eyes to see and behold by faith the risen and reigning Lord Jesus Christ, Lord, by the power of your spirit, unstop our deaf ears, that we might not simply hear words, but words of life. Let them sink deep into our hearts, that you would give us hearts of flesh and remove our hearts from of stone that the word might sink deep into our hearts and bear much fruit.
Pastor: Lord, we thank You that Your Word does not return void, but it goes out and it is sharper than any two edged sword. Lord, we do pray now that it will cut deep into our hearts the idols of our flesh, the things that we rely on this in this life, would indeed be put to death, and that we would rely and rest upon Christ and Him alone. Lord, be merciful now to your people in Jesus's name, Amen.
Pastor: People of God, hear God's word for us this morning from Acts chapter 27.
Pastor: And when it was decided that we should sail for Italy, they delivered Paul and some other prisoners to a centurion of the Augustinian cohort, Augustine cohort named Julius, and embarking in a ship of Adramyttium, which was about to sail to the ports along the coast of Asia. We put to sea accompanied by Aristarchus, a Macedonian from Thessalonica.
Pastor: The next day, we put in at Sidon. And Julius treated Paul kindly and gave him leave to go to his friend friends and be cared for, and putting out to sea. From there, we sailed under the lee of Cyprus because the winds were against us. And when we had sailed across the open sea along the coast of Cilicia and Pamphylia, we came to Myra in Lycia. There, the Centurion found a ship of Alexandria sailing for Italy, and put us on board. We sailed slowly for a number of days and arrived with difficulty off Cnidus, and as the wind did not allow us to go further, we sailed under the lee of Crete off Salmone. Coasting along it with difficulty, we came to a place called Fair Havens, near which was the city of Lasea. Since much time had passed and the voyage was now dangerous, because even the fast was already over, Paul advised them, saying, "Sirs, I perceive that the voyage will be with injury and much loss, not only of the cargo of the ship, but also our of our lives." But the Centurion paid more attention to the pilot and to the owner of the ship than to what Paul said, and because the harbor was not suitable to spend the winter in the majority, decided to put out to sea from there on the chance that somehow they could reach Phoenix, a harbor of Crete, facing both southwest and northwest, and spend the winter there.
Pastor: Now, when the south wind blew gently, supposing that they have obtained their purpose, they weighed anchor and sailed along Crete, close to the shore, but soon, a tempestuous wind called the northeaster struck down from the land, and when the ship was caught and could not face the wind, we gave way to it and were driven along. Running under the lee of a small island of Clauda, we managed with difficulty, to secure the ship's boat. After hoisting it up, they used supports to undergird the ship.
Pastor: Then, fearing that they would run aground in Syrtis, they lowered the gear, and thus they were driven along. Since we were violent, since we were violently storm tossed, they began the next day to jettison the cargo, and on the third day, they threw the ships tackle overboard with their own hands. When neither sun nor stars appeared for many days, and no small tempest lay on us, all hope of our being saved was at last abandoned.
Pastor: Since they had been without food for a long time. Paul stood up among them and said, "Men, you should have listened to me and not set sail from Crete and incurred this injury and loss.
Pastor: Yet now I urge you take heart, for there will be no loss of life among you, but only of the ship. For this very night, there stood before me an angel of God to whom I belong and whom I worship, and he said, 'Do not be afraid, Paul; you must stand before Caesar. And behold, God has granted you all those who sail with you.' So take heart, men, for I have faith in God that it will be exactly as I have told. But we must run aground on some island." When the fourteenth night had come, as we were being driven across the Adriatic Sea, about midnight the sailors suspected that there were nearing land. So they took a sounding and found twenty fathoms. A little farther on they took a sounding again and found fifteen fathoms. And fearing that we might run on the rocks, they let down four anchors from the stern and prayed for day to come. And as the sailors were seeking to escape from the ship, and had lowered the ship's boat into the sea under pretense of laying out anchors from the bow, Paul said to the centurion and the soldiers, "Unless these men stay in the ship, you cannot be saved." Then the soldiers cut away the ropes of the ship's boat and let it go.
Pastor: And day was about to dawn, Paul urged them all to take some food, saying, "Today is the fourteenth day that you have continued in suspense and without food, having taken nothing. Therefore I urge you to take some food. For it will give you strength, for not a hair is a perish from the head of any of you." And when he had said these things, he took bread, and giving thanks to God in the presence of all, he broke it and began to eat. Then they all were encouraged and ate some food themselves. (We were in all 276 persons in the ship) And when they had eaten enough, they lightened the ship, throwing out all the wheat into the sea.
Pastor: Now when it was day, they did not recognize the land, but they had noticed a bay with a beach, on which they planned if possible to run the ship ashore.
Pastor: So they cast off the anchors and left them in the sea, at the same time loosening the ropes that tied the rudders. Then hoisting the foresail to the wind they made for the beach.
Pastor: But striking a reef, they ran on the vessel aground. The bow struck the remaining and remained immovable, and the stern was being broken up by the surf. The soldiers plan was to kill the prisoners, lest any should swim and swim away and escape. But the centurion, wishing to save Paul, kept them from carrying out their plan. He ordered those who could swim to jump overboard first and make for the land and the rest of the on planks or on pieces of the ship. And so it was that all were brought safely to land.
Pastor: He who has ears, let him hear the Word of God. Please be seated in Acts. Chapter 26 it ended if you remember Paul standing before Governor Festus and King Agrippa, pleading and reasoning with them that they might believe not just to understand the facts intellectually or even to agree with the facts, but to believe in the facts that Jesus Christ is risen and reigning. But they do not believe. They do not respond to that call. They admit at the end of that chapter that Paul's really done nothing wrong, and he should be let go, but he's pleaded to go to Caesar, and to Caesar, he shall go. We are told, and God has also told Paul that he was sending him to Rome to testify and to be a witness in that great city. And it's been at least two years that God gave Paul that promise that he would go to Rome and testify there.
Pastor: And Paul has been in prison this entire time. And now, after that two year period, Paul finally begins his journey to Rome. And you may have noticed here in the book of Acts that in Luke or in Acts chapter 27 Luke gives us a crazy amount of detail about this ship and this shipwreck.
Pastor: This is a reminder to us that God is not just a God of broad strokes. It is not simply. God's plan that Paul is going to make it to Rome and somehow it will figure it out that the God that we worship, the true and living God, the One God, the Triune God, is, in fact, a God of every single detail. God is over every second of time. God is over every wind that blows. God is over every broken plank of this ship. God is over every Centurion. God is over every single hair of your head. So as we turn to Acts 27 I think one of the questions that I at least ask myself is, why doesn't it simply begin acts 27 Paul arrives safely in Rome the next day. Why doesn't it begin like that? I mean, Paul is being obedient to God. He's not running. Paul is exactly where God wants him to be. Why the storm for Paul? Why another hardship? Why more suffering?
Pastor: Don't we often assume that if I'm following God faithfully, things should be easier in life, I think, Acts 27 reminds us that following Christ does not exempt us from storms and difficult circumstances and trials. Now, if suffering is indeed random, it is unbearable, but this chapter reminds us that suffering and storms of life are all governed by God himself, even when we don't understand what's happening, even when all visible hope might seem lost, we can still trust him. We can remember his promises. We can remember His Word does not fail, and we can remember that we are not our own, but that we belong to him, body and soul, in life and in death, to our faithful savior, Jesus Christ. Now Paul is handed over to a Roman Centurion named Julius, who is responsible for bringing prisoners to Rome. Many prisoners are heading to Rome, and guess what these prisoners are going to do in Rome, die?
Pastor: What's in Rome at this time?
Pastor: Coliseum Christians are and others are being herded over to Rome for the entertainment of others to be put to death in coliseums and other places. Also want you to notice too, is what's interesting is the pronoun we guess who is included in this voyage, Luke himself.
Pastor: Luke is with Paul. Also, we're told that Aristarchus is with Paul. You might remember, Aristarchus, back from Thessalonica. Was a convert. He went with Paul to Ephesus, where there was a riot, and so Paul has some companions with him.
Pastor: It's also to note, how does Paul have companions with him? Is that this is not a military vessel that Paul is on. This is a merchant ship. It is carrying goods, and it's also been chartered by Rome, if you will, to now carry these prisoners to the city. And this is why Luke and Aristarchus are able to secure a place on the ship, as well the kindness of God to give Paul companions, and also the kindness of God here that Paul finds favor in the eyes of Julius, who is the Centurion over the prisoners. Now the journey begins, and they are moving along the Mediterranean.
Pastor: They have to travel kind of northwest to get to Rome. We are told this trip to Rome has a connection they make. They exchange ships in Myra, and the weather so far is fine, but after they change ships, we are told that the weather begins to turn. We start to hear language of begin the sailing slowly.
Pastor: Well, now we are sailing with difficulty, and then the winds are against us. This is the opposite of smooth sailing. And by verse 10, Paul warns them, then I perceive that the voyage will be with injury and much loss. Remember, Paul is a very experienced traveler. He has sailed thousands and thousands of miles over these very waters.
Pastor: And Paul's also been shipwrecked before, and he's, I think, in Paul's mind and heart, he's like, I don't want to go through that again. I don't want to do that again. And this isn't divine revelation that Paul's given. This is just from his own experience of. A being in boats and sailing for 1000s of miles.
Pastor: So you know, you imagine you go to fly on an airplane and someone that you know, they fly all the time, weekly, constantly, and you sit next to them and they say, Something doesn't feel right. I don't think we should take off, wouldn't you, at that moment, think I'm not feeling so great about this. That's Paul. Paul's not feeling great about that, and he's communicating things don't seem right. We're also told it's a dangerous time to sail because even the fast was already over. This is referring to the day of atonement has passed, and what it's telling us, it's giving us, when this is happening in the calendar, that it's happening around October, early October of when they're setting sail. It'd be a little bit like us saying, Let's go sailing in the Caribbean late September, early October, you could do it, and you could be fine, or you might hit a massive hurricane around that time. It's a dangerous time to be in the Caribbean in September and October, and that's what Paul is saying. This is a dangerous time for us to be out in the Mediterranean. And there are these little medi canes. They call them category one, like hurricanes that still, in fact, to this day, hit the Mediterranean seas. So they don't listen to Paul, they listen to the ship's owner and the pilot, and they push forward, hoping to get to Phoenix to winter there. Verse 14, a tempestuous wind called the North Easter, flings off the land into the sea and strikes them. What they were hoping wouldn't occur has indeed occurred, and they are now in the middle of a massive storm.
Pastor: People are starting to panic.
Pastor: They secure the lifeboat to the ship. They start wrapping cables around the ship to try to keep it from breaking apart. They are tossing cargo overboard. They throw their fishing tackle overboard. They are trying to do everything they can to keep the ship above the water and not below it. After days, we are told of being hammered by this storm. It appears their efforts are not enough. Luke gives us a very sobering statement in verse 20, all hope of our being saved was at last abandoned. Remember who's saying this too, by the way, who's writing these words?
Pastor: This is Dr Luke. And what is Dr Luke known for? Is Dr Luke known for exaggeration. Is Dr Luke known for flowery language. Dr Luke is known for precision detail. This is not exaggeration. This is not simply discouragement. This is not simply nervousness. This is despair. There is no sun, there is no stars, there is no navigation, there is no control, there is no hope. We are out in the middle of the sea, and at this point, we are simply just waiting to take our last breath and then sink to the its very bottom. We are staring death in its face. There's no hope, there's no hope. There is no hope. And some of you might know what that feels like in your life, when you have felt all hope has been lost. Maybe there was a diagnosis you have received, a broken marriage, a wayward child, a grief or a particular suffering that just does not seem to ever go away, and you feel like wave after wave after wave comes crashing over you, and you feel like you can barely catch your breath, and maybe you're interpreting those circumstances of your life as very proof that God must be against me, or he's forgotten about me, or he's not with me any longer. I mean, isn't that what happened to Jonah? I mean, we get why God sends a storm to Jonah, right? I mean, he kind of deserved it. He's running away from God, so he thought he's rebelling, and he needs to storm as a little bit of a holy spanking, right? We get that. We get that, but, but here Paul's being obedient.
Unknown: Yeah,
Pastor: well, maybe, maybe it's because Paul used to persecute Christians. Remember, he even confessed last and last week, he even said he used to force Christians to try to blaspheme against Christ. He voted to kill innocent women and children.
Pastor: This is probably God just probably getting back at Paul.
Pastor: Now, isn't it, right? Maybe, maybe God getting back at me and my circumstances, is that we think that way, don't we? Don't we? God getting back at me, beloved, that is not the gospel.
Pastor: You are united to the Lord Jesus Christ. He has taken your punishment upon himself. He has endured the very wrath of God, all of it upon himself. He has drank the cup of curse to its very dregs. Remember we the benediction we end that God's face shines upon his people.
Pastor: Paul is not paying here for former sins, and neither are you. Remember we still live in a broken world. We are still affected by real pain. There is real grief and real fear, but God is still good. He is still present, he is still trustworthy. And our suffering is never abstract. It is always personal. And so what is God sometimes doing in our suffering? Often he is drawing us to a deeper trust in Him, a greater, deeper dependence on him, a deeper communion with Him. He's often refining our faith, reordering the loves of our lives, revealing the idols of our hearts. I mean, nothing reveals idols like suffering, right? God in His wisdom and goodness, often allows the things we lean upon to become fragile in this world, health can be taken away. Finances can be lost. Plans can collapse.
Pastor: People disappoint, and every storm is an opportunity to teach us not to depend on ourselves or our own strength or on our own wisdom, but to depend on Christ, who raises the dead. If something can be taken away from you, it was never meant to be your foundation, and that's often what God is doing in our suffering, drawing us closer and nearer to him. Also, as we'll see too an opportunity to witness. We'll see Julius here, and maybe even learn later that Julius will take the message to other Roman guards. Now Paul stands up, and what's interesting, Paul stands up, and he stands up. And there are experienced yet terrified sailors all around Paul. There are panicked Roman soldiers around Paul, prisoners who are now expecting at any moment to die around Paul and in the middle of this storm, this chained prisoner stands up to speak. What's interesting that the strongest person aboard is not the Centurion. It is not a captain of the ship, but it is a Christian who knows and rests in the promises of God. You know, BB Warfield, and one of his sermons back in 1909 has this this, this illustration that I'll give to you about a Christian who knows the promises of God are the strongest in the world. He says, we, we have a following bit of a personal experience from a general officer of the United States Army. He was in a great western city at a time of intense excitement and violent rioting.
Pastor: The streets were overrun daily by a dangerous crowd. One day, he observed approaching him a man of singularity, combined calmness and firmness of mind, whose very demeanor inspired confidence. So impressed was he with his bearing amid the surrounding uproar that when he had passed, he turned to look back at him, only to find that the stranger had done the same on observing his turning, the stranger at once came back to him and touching his chest with his forefinger, demanding, without preface, what is the chief end of man on receiving the countersign man's chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever. Ah, he said, I knew you were a shorter catechism boy, by your looks. Why that was just what I was thinking of you, was the rejoinder. And warfield's point is, it is worthwhile to be a shorter catechism boy. They grow to be men. And better than that, they are exceedingly apt to grow to be men of God, so apt that we cannot afford to have them miss that chance of it. Train up a child in the way he should go, and even when he is old, he will not depart from it, resting in the promises of God, finding confidence in God's word. That's what Paul says. He says, Take heart, take courage. Why?
Pastor: Because God has spoken verse 23 for this very night, stood before me an angel of God to whom I belong and whom I worship. And he said, Do not be afraid, Paul. You must stand before Caesar. And behold, God has granted you all those who sail with you. So take heart men, for I have faith in God that it will be exactly as I have told you, I want you to notice where Paul's comfort is found. Is it found that he is no longer in the storm? It is not they are still in the storm. The storm is not yet over. Is it found in his changed circumstances? It is not Paul's comfort is found in that very statement that I belong to God.
Pastor: And isn't that what we confess in the Heidelberg? What is your only comfort in life and in death? And you remember how it started, that my circumstances improved, that my health got better, that my bank accounts increased, that my marital relationships, we have better communication. Is that how it starts it does not my only comfort in life and in death is that I am not my own. And that is exactly what Paul tells us, The God to whom I belong, that is where our hope begins. We are not our own. We Belong, body and soul, to our faithful savior, Jesus Christ. I in the God in whom I belong and whom I worship, maybe just stay there for a moment too, the God to whom you belong, to whom you worship. Do you know that? Do you believe that? Do you rest in that truth. The God to whom you belong is ordering every single moment of your life, every single breath of your life, every single hair on your head or lack thereof, as it's getting there, but he's over it all. Do you believe that and that you belong to him?
Unknown: You
Pastor: know, it is Mother's Day. And so here's your mother's day sermon. Point comes from Isaiah. Isaiah 49 verse 15. It says, Can a woman forget her nursing child? Women, can you forget a child that you have nursed, that you have born? Of course, you can't. Can a mother forget her nursing child, that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb. Is that possible? Mothers? It's not really, is it even those may forget, but God says, Yet I will not forget you. Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands. Mothers, you may at one point it's possible to forget your children and not have compassion on them. It's possible, Unlikely, but possible. But God will never forget his children, and he'll always have compassion and mercy on them. And it is because you belong to Christ, you don't have to be afraid. We are such a fearful people, but we are called not to be afraid. God tells Paul you're going to stand before Caesar, and Paul tells the crew, I have faith in God that it will be exactly as I have been told. And that is faith trusting God's word, that it will be exactly as God has said it will be, even when the circumstances seem to scream the opposite at us. Remember, Jesus entered the great storm of God's judgment and wrath against sin on our behalf, and the circumstances screamed no hope, no hope, no hope, and he died on the cross. It, but God's Word does not fail. Did it happen exactly as he said it would?
Pastor: Yes, it did. And he rose from the dead just as he said. He entered that storm for you. He's risen for you. He lives for you, and is coming again for you. And what will happen exactly as he says, we can take hope in that we can trust in that we can have confidence in that. Notice it says also that God has granted you all those who sail with you.
Pastor: It appears that Paul was praying not merely for himself, but for the others on the ship, and God has granted that to Paul. He has concern for others, and that's also part of our suffering. Is the witness of our suffering.
Pastor: Many guards will end up believing the Gospel. But also, how can one have confidence in the midst of storms and suffering? We find our confidence in Christ and this world is not our home. Another thing to know after God gives the promise that no life will be lost, Paul doesn't just sit back and fold his hands. He warns some of the sailors who are attempting to escape the ship secretly by a lifeboat, unless these men stay in the ship, you cannot be saved. Now, I guess here's the theological question is, could these sailors have then voided God's promise?
Pastor: Didn't God just say no one's going to be lost, and then Paul says, if you leave the ship, you cannot be saved? What's happening here? Well, God's promise is not going to be void, but staying on the ship was the means God, sovereignly, is using to keep them alive. They had the responsibility to stay on the ship. They also have the responsibility to eat. They will also, very shortly, have the responsibility to swim or try to float to shore. What you see is Paul, not simply, I got the promise, and so I'm just going to let go and let God. God uses means, ordinary means, to save His people. And that's exactly what we do as well. We call them the ordinary means of grace that God gives to save His people.
Pastor: And what are those ordinary means that God gives to His people to usher them safely to the shores of heaven, the word of God, hearing it, preached to you, reading it, prayer, the sacraments, Christian Fellowship, and all of those are those ordinary means that God is using in your life to safely usher you to the shores of heaven. Now, eventually the ship runs aground, it begins to break apart. The soldiers plan to kill the prisoners because Roman guards would suffer the punishment meant for the prisoners. Remember the Philippian jailer? That's why he was going to run himself through. He thought all the prisoners were escaped, so he thought he was going to die. So he might as well take things into his own hands. Paul says, Don't do that same thing. And Julius, however, who Paul has found favor in his eyes, says, Don't do that. We I want to spare Paul's life, and we see God's providence again. Verse 43 ordered those who could swim to jump overboard first and and make for land and then the rest on on planks or pieces of the ship. I also want you to notice no one arrives on shore elegantly, right? No one arrives, you know, with their hair still done nice, but yet, 44 says, and so they were brought ashore to land. God's promise was kept, but, and every single person doesn't make it.
Pastor: But this is, again, a picture of us. We don't reach the shores of heaven on comfy couches. We arrive weary. We even maybe arrive limping. We arrive clinging to Christ as if he's at plank with white knuckles of faith. This, this picture, really chapter 27 is really almost an illustration or analogy of us. But every single person who was united to Christ reaches the eternal shores, not because our grip was perfect, but because you belong to Christ, and His grip will never let you go. He is the captain of our salvation, and he will never lose one of his own. You know, Acts 27 reminds us that the storms we face in life are real.
Pastor: Suffering is painful. Evil. Life is hard, but it is not because God is absent or unable or doesn't care. He is present. He is purposeful. He is faithful to his people. He is good all the time. God is good. Psalm 46 reminds us, God is our refuge and our strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way, though the mountains be moved into the sea, though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling, we don't have to be afraid, even though the Earth itself is crumbling around us, because we belong to Christ, when all hope seems lost, remember the promises of God remain certain and unchanged, and because we belong to Christ, you can know this is not condemnation. The storms in my life are not random. My future is indeed secure. Jesus will bring every one of his people safely home, and one day you who are in the Lord Jesus Christ will, like Paul, stand on the shores of heaven, and we will be able to declare it was exactly as he told us. It was exactly as he said. Every single word of God was true. It was yes and amen in Jesus Christ, and looking back, we can feel so silly. I was scared of that. I didn't trust, I didn't rely, I didn't believe. But take heart.
Pastor: Be encouraged. Do not fear. You are not your own. You were bought with a price. You Belong body and soul in life and in death to your faithful Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's pray.
Pastor: Our Heavenly Father. We thank you that you seek to encourage us, Lord, we are a people who are frail and afraid so often.
Pastor: We do measure your love towards us by looking at our circumstances so often, and we forget Christ. We forget that you have given us your son. We forget that we belong body and soul to him, and that nothing in all of creation will separate us from His love Lord. We forget that Christ has taken all of our curse upon himself, and that we might get blessing in Christ, Lord, I do pray as much as we might bear, that you would strip the idols from our hands, the things that we are seeking to lay our foundation in, that are not from you, that you might take them away and that we might rely on you. Strengthen our faith, give us heavenly eyes, let us take courage this day, and it's in Jesus' name we pray.
Pastor: Amen.