Good morning everyone. Chilly morning out there this morning. Pastor said 21 below. I'm not sure what we had but my automatic cattle drinker was frozen so I was chipping ice this morning. 

We're gonna be looking at Acts 27 this morning continuing in our study, nearing the end of our study of this book of Acts. We've been going for many, many months through the book of Acts verse by verse, chapter by chapter, and these last chapters we've been taking some bigger chunks because they're stories that hang together. Before us this morning we have an amazing chapter, a tremendous event in the life of Paul the Apostle, and we're going to read this incredible story about the shipwreck on the Adriatic Sea and how God provided for the safety and security of Paul and all his companions on that ship. 

In this chapter we're going to see Paul, a prisoner of Rome, a believer in Jesus Christ, a man who trusted fully in the faithfulness and mercy of God, experience a great tempest, a tremendous trial, and not only come through it alive and well but in so doing bring glory to God every step of the way. And this is a great example to us and I think this chapter is a tremendous picture really of the Christian life. We see that there's a great struggle that requires great faith and focus, but in that there's also the mighty work of God, the sovereign protection and hand of God, and there's this opportunity to stand out in the world, to be a witness and glorify God through it all. 

This life in this world is a perilous journey. Paul knew that. He experienced it throughout his missionary journeys and his witnessing, his travels, his equipping and strengthening of the Saints and standing against false doctrines and confronting sin and the wisdom of this world. Paul was one who swam upstream every day of his life, and that is because he stood for the truth, his unwavering commitment to Jesus and the gospel in this hostile world. 

And as he wrote to Timothy, anyone who desires to live godly in this ungodly age will suffer persecution. Paul was in chains. He was on this ship headed to Rome as a prisoner of Jesus Christ. He was on a perilous, nearly deadly journey, but in all this he was in the hands of his Savior Lord, the sovereign over the universe, over all things. The one who had saved him, who had called him, who had sent him, equipped him, preserved him, and who would ultimately deliver him from this world and take him to be with Jesus forever in his final reward.

This life is a perilous journey, but the key is to remember our purpose, to remember our calling, to remember that our God is in control and is working all things together for our good in orchestrating the details of our lives, the path that we travel, and that he will keep his promise to preserve us, to work his will in us, to continue the work that he began until that great day when he comes to take us, to be with him, to glorify us and deliver us from this evil age. 

Well, this is a long chapter, but I'd like to, it's a good story, so think of this as just a nice chapter and a good book, and we're going to read through the whole chapter. It's long, but if you'd look with me at Acts 27 verse 1, it says, "...and when it was decided that we should sail to Italy, they delivered Paul and some other prisoners to one named Julius, a centurion of the Augustan regiment. So entering the ship at Adramidium, we put to sea, meaning to sail along the coast of Asia, Aristarchus, a Macedonian of Thessalonica, was with us. And the next day we landed at Sidon, and Julius treated Paul kindly and gave him liberty to go to his friends and receive care. When we had put to sea from there, we sailed under the shelter of Cyprus, because the winds were contrary. 

And when we had sailed over the sea, which is off Cilicia and Pamphylia, we came to Myra, a city of Lycia. There the centurion found an Alexandrian ship sailing to Italy, and he put us on board. When we had sailed slowly many days, and arrived with difficulty off Nidus, the wind not permitting us to proceed, we sailed under the shelter of Crete, off Salmone. Passing it with difficulty, we came to a place called Fairhavens, near the city of Lycia. 

Now when much time had been spent, and sailing was now dangerous because the fast was already over, Paul advised them, saying, “Men, I perceive that this voyage will end with disaster and much loss, not only of the cargo and ship, but also our lives.” Nevertheless, the centurion was more persuaded by the helmsman and the owner of the ship than by the things spoken by Paul, and because the harbor was not suitable to winter in, the majority advised to set sail from there also, if by any means they could reach Phoenix, a harbor of Crete, opening toward the southwest and northwest, and winter there. 

When the south wind blew softly, supposing that they had obtained their desire, putting out to sea, they sailed close by Crete. But not long after, a tempestuous headwind arose called Eurocleidon. So when the ship was caught and could not head into the wind, we let her drive. And running under the shelter of an island called Clotta, we secured the skiff with difficulty. When they had taken it on board, they used cables to undergird the ship, and fearing lest they should run aground on the surdous sands, they struck sail and were so driven. 

And because we were exceedingly tempest-tossed, the next day they lightened the ship. On the third day, we threw the ship's tackle overboard with our own hands. Now when neither sun nor stars appeared for many days, and no small tempest beat on us, all hope that we would be saved was finally given up. 

But after long abstinence from food, then Paul stood in the midst of them and said, “Men, you should have listened to me, and not have sailed from Crete and incurred this disaster and loss. And I urge you to take heart, for there will be no loss of life among you, but only of the ship. For there stood by me this night an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve, saying, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul. You must be brought before Caesar, and indeed God has granted you all those who sail with you.’ Therefore take heart, men, for I believe God that it will be just as it was told to me. However, we must run aground on a certain island.” 

Now when the fourteenth night had come, as we were driven up and down the Adriatic Sea, about midnight, the sailors sensed that they were drawing near some land. And they took soundings and found it to be twenty fathoms, and when they had gone a little farther, they took soundings again and found it to be fifteen fathoms. Then fearing lest we should run aground on the rocks, they dropped four anchors from the stern and prayed for day to come. 

And as the sailors were seeking to escape from the ship, when they had let down the skiff into the sea, under pretense of putting out anchors from the prow, 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 skiff and let it fall off. 

And as day was about to dawn, Paul implored them all to take food, saying, “Today is the fourteenth day you have waited and continued without food and eaten nothing. Therefore I urge you to take nourishment, for this is for your survival, since not a hair will fall from the head of any of you.” And when he had said these things, he took bread and gave thanks to God in the presence of them all, and when he had broken it, he began to eat. Then they were all encouraged and also took food themselves. 

And in all, we were two hundred and seventy-six persons on the ship. So when they had eaten enough, they lightened the ship and threw out the wheat into the sea. When it was day, they did not recognize the land, but they observed a bay with a beach onto which they planned to run the ship, if possible. And they let go the anchors and left them in the sea. Meanwhile, loosing the rudder ropes, they hoisted the mainsail to the wind and made for shore. 

But striking a place where two seas met, they ran the ship aground, and the prow stuck fast and remained immovable. But the stern was being broken up by the violence of the waves, and the soldiers' plan was to kill the prisoners lest any of them should swim away and escape. But the centurion, wanting to save Paul, kept them from their purpose and commanded that those who could swim should jump overboard first and get to land, and the rest, some on boards and some on parts of the ship. And so it was that they all escaped safely to land. 

Well, I have five points for you this morning. First, we're going to look at a perilous journey. Second, sound advice. Third, in the midst of a storm. Fourth, take heart. And fifth, the promise of God. 

Well, it's amazing to me how the Bible often de-emphasizes the difficulties and hardships of the lives of the people it records. We see this over and over again, how the temporal, earthly struggles and difficulties are never the focus of the Word of God. When men write about these things, they tend to over-dramatize, to make heavy weight of the struggle of the carnal, temporal things. But God's Word sort of passes over these things, accentuating the truth that it is the eternal, the sovereign will of God, the furtherance of the gospel, the cause of Christ that matters, and not the ups and downs of daily life. 

The Bible assumes a struggle. In fact, it promises over and over suffering for the one who would follow Jesus in this world. Some of these sufferings are associated with our witness, our identification with Christ, and our witness before the world, and some of these struggles are simply a result of living in this cursed world. But there are immense struggles in this life: sorrow, grief, sickness, disease, fear, doubt. But this is not the emphasis, the great concern of God. 

He knows the end from the beginning. He is sovereign and in control over all things. He's working toward an end, a purpose, and He's bringing His will and promises to pass, including in the lives and details of every one of His children. It's not that God does not care. He cares about every intimate detail of your life, my brother, my sister. He is a faithful and merciful high priest. We're able to come to Him, to boldly approach His throne and crawl up into His lap, as it were, to find mercy and help in our time of need. He is there every step, every moment, every grief, every joy. 

But the point is a matter of perspective and focus. And this is what we really need to get hold of as believers in Jesus Christ if we are to be fruitful and joy-filled through each mountain and valley of this perilous journey. Paul is a great example of this in our text today. Luke kind of passes over the difficulty of the situation with a few direct words in these first several verses. He says, “We set sail; we traveled with great difficulty; the winds were contrary; we traveled slowly with difficulty.” 

I wonder if you've ever been in a boat on a great body of water when the winds were contrary? How about for days, for weeks? Reading this account of Paul's journey on the sea brought me back to many memories of my time on Lake Superior. For five years I ran a charter boat out of Black River Harbor on the Big Lake, and in fact, the first time I ever spent any time with Pastor Krens was on my charter boat. He and his brother had come up with Guy Folsom for a day of fishing one spring, and the winds were with us that day and we caught a pile of fish, and we had a great time of fellowship. 

But there were days when the winds were contrary, and I can remember many times standing on the dock in the harbor with eager clients wanting to go fishing and telling them it really wasn't a wise thing with the strong winds and the waves that we could see out beyond the breakwall. But sometimes they insisted, and we'd come out of the mouth of that river past the breakwall and enter that tempestuous sea. And fishing was never fun when someone was chumming with their breakfast. 

Other times we would be enjoying a nice day of fishing on calm waters, and within moments a gale would come and turn the lake into an angry dangerous tempest. I remember one time Ray and Ron and I were out just a beautiful flat day, and one of us looked and said, “What's that?” And I said, “That's a gale!” and we just grabbed all our gear, and you could see the wave coming, the wind just… before we knew it we were in four, five, six-foot waves. Sometimes the waves would crash over the bow and run down the gunwales, tossing the boat to and fro, making you wonder if you're gonna make it miles back to the harbor. It was a constant worry, and when bad situations came it was a sick feeling in the stomach and a tense arduous journey picking your way back through the waves or the fog into the harbor. 

I was never in a storm more than a couple of hours, but there were definitely some white-knuckle rides back to safety, and there were times when I was thankful to be back on the shore. I can't even imagine the journey that Paul and Luke and the others took. Day after day, tossed in the waves, 276 souls aboard, many sick, literally fearing for their lives day after day, even at the end not seeing sun or moon or stars, not eating for 14 days. Driven by the waves and wind, waiting on the ship to come apart, and yet Luke says, “We traveled with difficulty.” 

You see, the Word of God has never focused on the temporal storm. God is never concerned that things are going to spin out of control, get away from Him, and foil His plans. He knows all along what the outcome will be in this perilous journey of life. I think of those to whom Peter writes—persecuted, dispersed from their homes into Gentile regions, some even lost their lives—and Peter writes, “If need be for a little while you have been grieved with various trials.” It's not insensitive; it's not God sympathizing with us; it's a matter of what is important, what the perspective is, what matters, and Peter's saying in that first chapter, “It's your salvation that matters; it's in this that you greatly rejoice.” 

The question is, do we trust Him in the storm? Paul is an example to us in this chapter, this event in his life and ministry of what it means to trust the Lord, and because of this he's able to stand up and lead; he's able to give sound advice. We see this first in verse 9, it says, “Much time had been spent and sailing was now dangerous because of the fast was already over.” Paul advised them; he said, “Don't go; don't leave. It's a bad time to sail.” It's like the Ides of November, right? “Don't go out there.” 

But this is really amazing to me because Paul is a prisoner, one of many on this ship headed to Rome. Who is he to speak? Why does he have a voice? Why would anyone listen to Paul? We see an earlier detail related to this as well. Look at verse 3, it says, “The next day we landed at Sidon, and Julius treated Paul kindly and gave him liberty to go to his friends and receive care.” Paul must have been quite a guy, a leader of men for sure. Julius had just taken custody of Paul a day before they'd sailed one day, and when they get to Sidon, Julius allows this prisoner to go into town and find some of his friends to care for him. This makes no sense in the world. 

But Paul was a fervent believer, a witness for Jesus. He was a leader. He must have been an incredibly winsome guy and he was under the sovereign hand and grace of God. But finally, Julius decides to listen to the experts rather than heed Paul's advice and that would come back to bite him as we see Paul's words come true later in the chapter. 

We see in our text a perilous journey. We're all on a perilous journey in this Christian life. We see sound advice from a wise man, a follower of Jesus Christ, and we see the world turn from that and find themselves in the midst of a storm. Look at verse 13. When the south wind blew softly, supposing that they had obtained their desire, putting out to sea, they sailed close by Crete. But not long after, a tempestuous headwind arose called Eurocleidon. So when the ship was caught and could not head into the wind, we let her drive. 

And in verse 20 it says when neither sun nor stars appeared for many days, and no small tempest beat on us, all hope that we would be saved was finally given up. That's quite a place to find yourself in, my friends. All that could be done from a worldly perspective had been done. The sailors had tried every tactic that they knew and they had come to the end of themselves, recognized the gravity of the situation, and they had resigned themselves to death. 

This is what happens when a tempest strikes in this world, when tragedy comes and the situation has no earthly solution, no human way out. This is what the Israelites found themselves in; this situation at the Red Sea when Pharaoh's armies were closing in. This was the giant that David faced with five stones. This was the wall that confronted Joshua, Jericho; Daniel in the lion's den; Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the fiery furnace; and it goes on and on and on in the history of mankind among those who follow the one true God, who believe in and depend on the only Savior of mankind. 

Paul was one of those, and in the midst of the storm with no hope, he was not worried, not anxious. We've seen this before—these things do not move me, he said. He trusts in the sovereign God of the universe. He knows him personally. 

So in the midst of the storm, Paul stands up among them and says, “Take heart.” Take heart! They had lost all hope, they'd given up, they'd resigned themselves to death. Paul, the prisoner, stands up and says, “Take heart!” Verse 21, “But after long abstinence from food, then Paul stood in the midst of them and said, ‘Men, you should have listened to me and not have sailed from Crete and incurred this disaster and loss. And now I urge you to take heart, for there will be no loss of life among you but only of the ship; for there stood by me this night an angel of God, of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve, saying, “Do not be afraid, Paul. You must be brought before Caesar, and indeed God has granted you all those who sail with you.”’ Therefore take heart, men, for I believe God that it will be just as it was told to me.” 

There's such a tremendous application here for us, my friends. When circumstances really fall apart, when everything looks bleak and all worldly wisdom says, “Curse God and die,” how do we respond? Do we, as Job, say, “The Lord gives and the Lord takes away; blessed be the name of the Lord”? Do we, as Paul here, trust the Lord and look to and believe His revelation to us? He got a word from God. We have a word from God right here. 

Do we believe it? Do we believe Romans 8:28? Do we trust God's sovereignty and grace and mercy in the midst of the storm? Can we take heart? Can we have peace knowing that our joy is an abiding joy, not based on circumstances, but on a secure relationship with God through our Lord Jesus Christ that we know Him and we can trust His promises and His word when the tempest beats against us? We must look to Jesus. We must trust the Lord. We must take heart. And that is the key. Standing on the promises of God, it is the Word of God, the promise of God, that sustains us through the storms of this life. 

Let's look at verse 26 together: “However, we must run aground on a certain island.” he says. And when the fourteenth night had come, as we were driven up and down the Adriatic Sea about midnight, the sailors sensed that they were drawing near some land. And they took soundings and found it to be twenty fathoms, and when they had gone a little farther, they took soundings again and found it to be fifteen fathoms. They're getting closer to shallow water, and they were afraid they were gonna go up on the rocks. So they throw out the anchors, and then some of them try to escape and Paul says they have to stay on the ship. 

This is a desperate situation. You can almost see this in a movie. You know, this is a serious situation they find them in, and things must be done correctly. Paul stands up in the midst of this after 14 days; they hadn't eaten. Not only are they tossed to and fro and scared to death and beaten and sick, they haven't eaten in two weeks. So Paul says, “Take some nourishment,” and he breaks bread and he gives thanks to God, and they eat. 

And it says they were encouraged in verse 36 and took food for themselves. When they had eaten enough, they lightened the ship and threw out the wheat into the sea. They tried to make it to a beach on the island, but they hit a rock, and the prow sticks fast in the rock, the waves start breaking up the ship, and everyone bails out. And verse 44 says, “And so it was that they all escaped safely to land.” God's Word to Paul, His promise was fulfilled. Everyone lived. They lost all the cargo; they lost the ship, but they themselves were saved just as God had said. 

I wonder in the face of adversity, in the midst of the storm, can we trust in the promises of God? Can we have peace and assurance and joy through it all? The answer, the Bible, the example of Paul in his life and ministry is a resounding yes. God wants this for us. He intends this for us, and he provides this for us by his grace and his mercy. 

I thought of Paul's words again in 2nd Corinthians 11. Turn over to 2nd Corinthians 11, and let's look at that together, beginning at verse 23. "Are they ministers of Christ? I speak as a fool. I am more; in labors more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequently, in deaths often. From the Jews five times I received forty stripes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods; once I was stoned; three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I have been in the deep; in journeys often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of my own countrymen, in perils of the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, and perils among false brethren; in weariness and toil, in sleeplessness often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness. Besides the other things, what comes upon me daily, my deep concern for all the churches." 

Paul's life was continual peril, continual persecution, continual heartache and concern for all the churches. We're studying the book of Philippians right now on Thursday night, and he loved the Philippians. He had this great bond with them. And what I've thought as I've looked at that book is they didn't have any trouble there. Really wasn't like Galatia, where they had these great doctrinal troubles; or Corinth, where they had these great moral troubles and practice problems, and Paul was dealing with that all the time. He would go and preach the gospel and churches be formed and people be on fire, and he'd leave, and then he'd get news. It was a heartache; it was a concern continually for him. 

Paul knew what it was to suffer, what it was to be naked and cold and hungry, to fear and to be attacked and persecuted. But the key to his life and ministry, the key to his peace and joy in the midst of all these things, was to be content in Christ. 

Turn over to Philippians 4 with me, please. A tremendous passage. Philippians 4:4, "Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice! Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus." 

Finally, brethren, "Whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy, meditate on these things." The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you. 

But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at last your care for me has flourished again; though you surely did care, but you lacked opportunity. Not that I speak in regard to need. Look what Paul says here: “For I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content. I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” 

Paul learned. It says he learned, my friends, to be content in Christ. This is a process of learning to trust the Lord, to renew our minds to His Word, to His truth, to His promises, and to believe Him, to take Him at His word and to trust Him to bring it to pass. We learn to be content in Jesus by going through these trials, by trusting Him and experiencing His grace and mercy as He brings us through and teaches us to depend on Him. 

And in learning to be content in Christ, we learn to believe Him. We learn to stand on His promises, no matter what's coming at us in this world. We have all kinds of suffering and trials. This is a perilous journey. And as Mike said this morning, none of us get out of it alive. 

This made me think of the present situation with my mom. It's interesting to interact with family, especially to see the difference between those who know the Lord, who believe Jesus and trust His promises, and those who are lost. 

My mom had a good life, not an easy life. She had five kids in five years, and worst of all, she had me 11 years later. I grew up on a hog farm, mostly with my mom. My brothers and sisters were much older than me and were mostly gone by the time I was 12 or 13, and my dad ran two businesses, and he was a politician, so he was gone a lot. 

I can remember my mom out in the barn in the middle of the night, she and I assisting sows having babies. I can remember the colt that experienced a difficult birth, and he didn't get enough oxygen, and there he was laying on our kitchen floor with hot water bottles all over him thrashing until he died right there early in the morning. I remember getting up at 4:30 in the morning in the summer to process tomatoes and beans and all kinds of vegetables—canning, freezing all day long. 

I remember the troubles of my brothers and sisters in life and marriage with children—all the burdens my mother bore. She didn't have an easy life but a good life. From a relative human perspective, many people thought she was good, and she did many good things. But the best thing she ever did, she did when she was 70 years old. 

She forsook her religion—the religion that she spent a lifetime in, that she buried her parents in, that she raised six kids in the church, she buried her husband in. She forsook her own righteousness through religious works, and she turned in faith to Jesus Christ to receive His righteousness, His salvation by grace through faith. She gave her testimony and was baptized in a Baptist church because she believed Jesus. 

And my friends, that's her only assurance today as she lies on her deathbed. That's the trust that I have. That I stand on the promise of God that at the moment she breathes her last, she will be absent from the body and be welcomed into the arms of her Lord. I don't fear. I don't doubt. I'm happy for my mom. She's had a rough go the last many years with health and suffering. I'm glad that it's over for her. 

My brothers and sisters, I can only have this peace. I can only have this contentment—not in my own feelings or emotions or wisdom, but in the promise of God in the person of Jesus Christ. That's the lesson from Paul in this amazing 27th chapter of the book of Acts. And that's the lesson we are to learn in every day of life when the storms come and we realize our constant need for Jesus. That we have peace in Him. We have joy in Him. We can be content in Him no matter what comes on this perilous journey that we're all traveling. 

Let's close in prayer. Father, we thank you for your promises. We thank you for your grace, your mercy. We thank you for the example of Paul and so many others in your Word that trusted you in the face of all opposition and impossible circumstances. That they believed what you said would happen would happen. Help us to do that, Lord, every day in order to glorify you, to have peace, and to be a witness in this world. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.