This is Connect with Skip Heitzig, and we're so glad you're joining us today. Sign up for daily devotional emails and receive teachings from God's dregs, and he has not been poured or emptied from vessel to vessel. It's an illustration from the world of wine in antiquity. When they would ferment wine, the dregs, the sledge, would collect at the bottom, and that would affect the taste. It would have to be agitated regularly and poured from one vessel into another, and as it was poured, it would mix things up and it would keep the taste and keep the wine better.
So what a picture. Moab has been at ease from his youth. He has not been poured from vessel to vessel. He has settled down in his dregs, the sludge. Some of us have sludge in our lives.
Just gunk, man, just junk. We just got so used to this, and God starts shaking things up, and before you shake your fist at God, just think that God might have something better for you down the road. So storms change comfort.
Headwinds all the way. So verse 15, when the ship was caught and could not head into the wind, we just let it go. Let her drive. Remember, there's no rudder on this baby. There's just some oars, and pick those babies up.
Just let it go. And running under the shelter of an island called Clouda, we secured the skiff. That's the small ship, the dinghy with difficulty. And when they had taken it on board, they brought that little ship that usually hangs off the end, brought it on the hull.
They used cables to undergird the ship, fearing lest they should run aground on the certain sands. They struck sail and were so driven. And because we were exceedingly tempest-tossed, the next day they lightened the ship.
And on the third day, we threw the ship's tackle overboard with our own hands. Now in those days, they navigated by the stars. They didn't have a compass. They didn't have radar, sonar. They didn't even have a compass.
They would navigate by the stars. You're going to see that they won't be able to do that because it's cloudy as we go on. So what they were afraid of when they said the certain sands, these are probably the shoals, the sandbars off the coast of Libya in northern Africa. They don't know where they're at.
They don't have a radar screen or a computer. They just know they're going in that direction. And they're afraid because it's a legendary place where ships can get caught.
And so they did a common practice. They put ropes underneath the cables, tightened it up so that that sturdy wood wouldn't come apart in the strong storm. But then it's interesting, in verse 18 and 19, they start throwing things overboard. So in verse 18, they lightened the ship. This is a grain ship. They're throwing grain overboard, probably. We know they do that down in verse 38.
When it was day, they didn't recognize the land, but they observed a bay with a beach. Oh, that's verse 39. So when they had eaten enough, they lightened the ship and threw out the wheat into the sea. Then in verse 19, they're not just throwing the cargo, but they're throwing the ship's tackle.
That's a generalized term, a broad term for things like beds, tables, any kind of furnishings at all. They just throw it overboard. Okay, what kind of a ship is it? What are they bringing to Rome? Grain. They wouldn't get paid unless they delivered the full amount of grain. It's a grain ship.
Its duty, its sole purpose is to bring grain from Egypt to Rome. But now, they're throwing it overboard. And there is a second principle in storms. They don't just change your comfort zone. They change your values. When you have a storm, suddenly that grain that is so important, man, that's my paycheck.
You kidding? I'm not going to throw that overboard. When it comes to the paycheck or your life, throw the grain overboard.
Throw the tackle overboard. It changes your values. Suddenly, other things are more important to you than just that.
And storms will do that. It's one of the refining ways that the Lord uses them in your life. It changes your value system. It turns salesmen into survivors. It changes entrepreneurs into endurers.
These people are just hanging on for their life as this storm gets worse and worse. There's a great story. And I've read it before, and I confirmed it on a couple of different sources this week. But years ago, there was this famous European wrestler from Turkey. His name was Yusuf Ismail. And Yusuf was nicknamed the Terrible Turk, Yusuf the Terrible Turk.
He was 305 pounds. He won all the championships in all of Europe in wrestling. He came to America to go up against a guy named Strangler Lewis. You know, wrestlers had gangster names in those days. So you got Yusuf the Turk against Strangler Lewis.
And Yusuf the Turk won on American soil the title, international title. He was paid $5,000. He demanded that the payment be given to him in gold coin. And he wore a belt around his pack, around his body, where he put his money. He kept gold coin.
And he had between $8,000 and $10,000 of gold coin, including the five that he won in America, around his body. Now, you think, well, that's dangerous. Not for him.
Nobody's going to come at Yusuf the Terrible Turk. So he kind of bore it around quite proudly. Well, he's going back to Europe on the USS Burgoyne, a ship that was taking him back home. Got into a storm. The ship began to sink. He was tossed overboard. But because he had that gold around him, it was an anchor. He was trapped. He sunk to the bottom to his death. And that reminds us of one of the Proverbs that says, riches do not help in the day of wrath. Caught by his own greed, so to speak, pinned by it. Storms will change your value. I bet if you could interview Yusuf as he's going down, he'd say, take this stupid money belt off. I just want to breathe, man.
I just want to live. Now, verse 20, when neither sun nor stars appeared for many days. Remember, no compass.
They're navigating by stars. They can't see any. And no small tempest beat on us. That's the diminutive way of saying it was a big old storm. All hope that we would be saved was finally given up.
You just have to picture utter despair. They have fought headwinds. They have fought this massive nor'easter called the Eurokleiden. They can't see to navigate. They're afraid. They can't control the ship.
They're throwing stuff overboard. They still can't see the stars. We're dead. We resign ourselves to a death at sea. But after long abstinence from food, now they're fasting, not because they're holy, but because they're sick to their stomach. Nobody wants to eat.
They want to just survive. It says, then Paul stood in the midst of them and said, man, you should have listened to me. Don't you hate it when somebody says that to you? And Paul said, now let me tell you what to do. I think you ought to stay here in Fairhaven. Oh, you're just a preacher.
What do you know? Well, now the preacher was right. And so he said, well, you should have listened to me.
But he didn't do that to rub it in as much as to give them better counsel now and not have sailed from Crete and incurred this disaster and loss. And now I urge you, take heart, cheer up, 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 to whom I belong and whom I serve, saying, do not be afraid, Paul.
You must be brought before Caesar. 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 me.
However, we must run aground on a certain island. You're listening to Connect with Skip Heitzig. Before we get back to Skip's teaching, God desires to work in and through your life as a believer, and he does this through the Holy Spirit who lives in everyone who places their trust in Jesus. We want to help you better understand the Holy Spirit by sending you The Holy Spirit Then and Now, a resource featuring two books by Chuck Smith, the Book of Acts commentary and Power, a biblical balance on the person and work of the Holy Spirit with an introduction by Skip Heitzig. This resource is our thanks for your gift of at least $50 today to help share biblical teaching with more people around the world through Connect with Skip Heitzig.
Go to connectwithskip.com slash offer or call 800-922-1888 and request your copy when you give at least $50 today to reach people around the world through Connect with Skip Heitzig. Let's continue with today's teaching with Pastor Skip. Now you notice that Paul starting to take charge. It's what leaders do. When there's difficulties and everybody's burned out and there's just no way out, a leader arises and he moves now from captive to captain. He says, you should have listened to me, but don't despair.
Take heart, cheer up. The Lord appeared to me through a messenger, and he gave a message of God. Now storms will do this, but it's not going to be enough. And he gave a message of God.
Now storms will do this to you. They'll bring out the best in you, or they'll bring out the worst in you. And the mettle of a man or a woman is tested in difficulty. You want to find out who a person really is? Listen to them, watch them, observe them in a trial.
That's who they are. And Paul rises to the top. Now as we go through this, I want you to notice something of what we just read. What kept Paul so calm?
What kept him so tethered? Where he could say, cheer up. Everybody's saying, we're dead. Cheer up, man. What are you, a nutcase?
No. Listen, Paul had three anchors. Three anchors that kept his faith strong that he let down. He let down three anchors. First of all, he let down the anchor of ownership.
Ownership. Notice what he says, verse 23. For there stood by me this night an angel of the God to whom I belong. Do you belong to him? Have you given him your life? Have you turned your life over to him? As I like to tell young believers, you're turning the pink slip of your life over to him. You're not saying, God is my co-pilot, man. You're getting in the backseat and letting him drive. Do you belong to him?
Because if you belong to him in a storm, that gives you an anchor, you see. There was an old man who was asked by a younger group, hey, what do you do in trials? What do you do in temptations?
What do you do when life goes crazy? He said, simple. I lift my head toward heaven. I say, God, your property is in danger.
It's a good perspective. If you're the Lord's, then you're his property. Then you're his responsibility. Well, I've got this disease.
Well, I've got this disease. That's his responsibility. You belong to him. That's an anchor of ownership.
Second is the anchor of service. The Lord to whom I belong and whom I serve. Paul is saying, I'm on this boat because I'm on a mission from God.
And if you're on a mission from God, do you know that you're invincible till God's done with you in that mission? Oh, he died such an untimely death. He died before his time.
No, he didn't. He died right on time. You don't know his time. God knows his time. It is appointed to every man to die once. You don't know that date. You have a shelf life.
You don't know the end date. God does. But if you're serving the Lord, you're on a mission, like the two witnesses in Revelation, and when they had finished their testimony, then power was given to the beast, the false prophet, to kill them.
Only when they finished their testimony. So that's an anchor. The anchor of ownership, the anchor of service.
Third is the anchor of trust. He says, verse 25, for I believe God. That it's going to be just like God said.
Man, I want to hang out with Paul. What faith? Dude, you're in a storm.
We all think we're going to die. I've got three anchors down, man. And one of them is, I believe what God told me. I trust his word. He's the promise keeper.
All the way. I believe God. When Abraham Lincoln was president during the worst time of our nation's history, the Civil War, he kept a Bible on his desk or on his table. And after he died, it was discovered that in one particular psalm, it was a smudge mark, which indicated that that long bony finger of his was laying across that scripture for many days over a lifetime. And it was Psalm 34, verse 4. I sought the Lord, and he heard me and delivered me from all my fears.
It's a great thing for a leader during a difficult time to remember. I sought the Lord, and he heard me. I believe God. I sought the Lord. He heard me. He delivered me from all my fears. So take heart.
I believe God. It will be just as he told me. However, we must remember that we must run aground on a certain island now, when the fourteenth night had come. Two stinking weeks later. One hour must have seemed like a week, but two full weeks after this.
Problem after problem. As we were driven up and down the Adriatic Sea about midnight, the sailors sensed that they were drawing near some land. They must have heard surf crashing, breakers going off. And they took soundings and found it to be 20 fathoms. And when they had gone a little further, they took soundings again and found it to be 15 fathoms. Now soundings, the Greek word is hearing the land. The Greek word is hearing the land.
Hearing the land. What they would do, the sailors would take a weight and tie it to a rope that was marked. They threw it overboard, and it would sink to the bottom.
They'd hear it, feel it hit. They could then measure it, bring it out, and see how deep the water was. A fathom is six feet. So we have 120 feet, now a little shallower 90 feet, as they took these soundings as they are hearing the land. Then fearing lest we should run aground on the rocks, they dropped four anchors from the stern. I remember Paul had his own anchors in his heart, but they're dropping these anchors, four anchors from the stern and prayed for a day to come. Next, we don't have the time now, but they have done some interesting archaeology of the area, and some believe they have actually found these four anchors for another time.
Don't have time to get into it. Sorry, preview of coming attractions. And as the sailors were seeking to escape from the ship, when they had let down the skiff into the sea, under the pretense of putting anchors out from the prow, Paul said to the centurion and the soldiers, unless these men stay in the ship, you cannot be saved. They're trying to get on the dinghy. They're trying to navigate a smaller ship instead of the bigger one.
Then the soldiers cut away the ropes of the skiff, and they let it fall off. Now they're listening to the preacher. And as it was day about to dawn, Paul implored them to take food saying, today is the 14th day that you have waited and continued without food and eaten nothing.
Now I have an interesting question. If Paul has just said, verse 24, God told me that we're going to make it, everybody's going to make it, God has foreordained that we should all make it through the storm, and we're all going to live, we're all going to be delivered. If that's true, then here he says, wait, don't get in that boat. Unless these men stay in the ship, you cannot be saved. Now the captain, if he were a strict Calvinist, could have said, what difference does it make if it's all in the will of God that we survive? It makes no difference at all whether we're in this boat or that boat. Paul says, no, don't get in that boat, you won't live.
He just said you will live, but you'll live as long as you stay in this ship. So you have on one sense, one hand, God foreordaining an outcome, and Paul states that, but then he says, wait, wait, you have to make the right choice about which boat you're going to get into. Now this is just an interesting thing to note, that both of these are here, because it's funny, and I don't have a lot of patience for either side of this argument, people who are really ardent in one little camp or another, because I don't think they're thinking well. But the Calvinist will say, with or without human cooperation, God is sovereign will get his will done. The Arminian side of it will say, well, the response of man is so crucial. I contend it's quite simple.
Both of them are true. One is given from a divine perspective, one is seen from a human perspective. From a human perspective, we are implored to make the right choice. From a divine perspective, we were chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world. It's two spokes in the same wheel.
I have no problem with it. So Paul says, yep, God foreordained it, but don't get in that boat, or it ain't gonna work. So again, Paul's taking charge, and he's just so practical, man. He says, look, here's what we need, guys. You haven't eaten for a while, so what we need is prayer and a good breakfast.
So practical. When he had said these things, he took bread, and he gave thanks in the presence of them all. Interesting if you wonder, should I pray in a restaurant, like in front of people, out loud?
I mean, I don't wanna, why not? Paul did it in front of all these 276 people, including the centurion and the helmsman. I was in the DMV, or excuse me, we call it here, MVD, right?
Getting something registered on Monday. And it was great, because it's a packed house. You know, these things are packed, and people are waiting. And somebody recognized me there and asked me a Bible question about death and resurrection. I thought, oh, this is great. So they asked it out loud.
I answered it out loud. Another guy said, oh, I recognize you, so we are having this three-way discussion about the promises of God. And nobody's gonna leave, because they're in line, man.
They wanna be next and get that license or something. It's like, perfect setup. He prayed in the presence of them all. Then they were all encouraged, and they took food themselves. And we were 276 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 the beach, unto which they planned to run the ship if possible. They let go the anchors, left them in the sea, meanwhile loosing the rudder ropes, and 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, 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 the land. And the rest, some on boards and some on the ship and on parts of the ship, and so it was that they all escaped safely to land. Now next time we're going to finish the book. We'll be in chapter 28.
We'll easily finish the book, and I'll mop up and drag out a few points from this chapter as we go, because the storm continues. The drama continues before Paul does get to Rome, but it says the ship was broken up, and they got on board. So I've always just had this thought, could they maybe have stood up? The Bible doesn't say they did not. There's no evidence in scripture that says they just held on to them in the ocean. Maybe we have the first instance in the Bible of somebody surfing to the land.
I mean, I would have tried that. It's like, you're on the board. Just stand up now, because it could really be awesome.
I doubt it. Thanks for listening to Connect with Skip Heitzig. We hope you've been strengthened in your walk with Jesus by today's program. Before we let you go, we want to remind you about this month's resource that will help you understand the person and work of the Holy Spirit.
Our two-book bundle, The Holy Spirit Then and Now, with two books by Chuck Smith, is our thanks for your support of Connect with Skip Heitzig today. Request your copy when you give $50 or more. Call 800-922-1888.
That's 800-922-1888. Or visit connectwithskip.com slash donate. And did you know that you can find full message series and libraries of content from Skip Heitzig on YouTube? Simply visit the Connect with Skip Heitzig channel on YouTube, and be sure to subscribe to the channel so you never miss any new content. Come back next time for more verse-by-verse teaching of God's word here on Connect with Skip Heitzig. Connect with Skip Heitzig is a presentation of Connection Communications, connecting you to God's never-changing truth in ever-changing times.
