Storms

Paul goes on to say, notice verse 25, therefore, keep up your courage, men.

Underline these words if you'd like. For I believe God. It will turn out exactly as I have been told, but we must run aground on a certain island. Third, that's another way of saying I believe what God says will happen will happen. And sometimes God allows shipwrecks, perhaps, if we tried to peg it as a why, so that God can use people who are tossed about in their stormy rough waters to deliver a truth to us, that God is to be believed.

As part of his legal trial before the Roman government, the Apostle Paul was transported to Rome to stand before Caesar. As you likely know, there was a shipwreck along the way. There's something incredibly powerful and moving about the faithful testimony of someone who's in the process of being shipwrecked.

We all face those times of great trial and testing, but when faith is shaken and rocked, that's when it's most definitely proven. We'll explore that together today here on Wisdom for the Heart as Stephen Davey teaches from Acts 27 and a lesson he's calling simply storms. No one volunteers to go through storms. You avoid them at all costs. You stay away from them if you can. Whether they're hurricane winds or thunderstorms or tornadoes, storms, much like storms of life, sometimes come and they hit you broadside and with all their fury and force, there's nothing you can do. It may come on the heels of a telephone call or a letter.

Perhaps it's the result of a doctor's report or maybe a company that decided to downsize. Perhaps it's the loss of a family member or whatever, but you find that life suddenly is turned upside down and all you can do is run for cover and try as best you can to ride out the storm. I find it fascinating that Luke records for us one of the most detailed accounts of a hurricane in all of scripture. In fact, Acts 27, where we pick our study back up, is one of the most detailed accounts in all of maritime records of the effects of a hurricane on a ship and its passengers that you'll certainly find not only in scripture but in secular record.

It's a passage, by the way, as we get into it, we'll discover some clues on how to ride out the storms of life. So let's pick up our study with chapter 27 as Paul begins his journey. As you remember, he's wanted to go to Rome.

He is finally making it there to speak before the Emperor Nero. Let's join their journey at verse 7. And when we had sailed slowly for a good many days and with difficulty had arrived off Canitis, since the wind did not permit us to go further, we sailed under the shelter of Crete off Salmone.

And with difficulty sailing past it, we came to a certain place called Fair Havens, near which was the city of La Silla. And when considerable time had passed and the voyage was now dangerous, since even the fast was already over, Paul began to admonish them. Now this, by the way, gives us an important chronological clue.

The mention to the fact that the fast is now over is a reference to the Day of Atonement. In other words, winter is approaching, it's cold, the weather is turning surly, it's time to hunker down and stay in Fair Haven, not be off sailing the Mediterranean. Verse 10, and Paul said to the men, I perceive that the voyage will certainly be attended with damage and great loss, not only of the cargo and the ship, but also of our lives. But the centurion was more persuaded by the pilot and the captain of the ship than by what was being said to Paul or by Paul.

And because the harbor was not suitable for wintering, literally it was not desirable, it was this crummy little village with nothing to do, the majority reached a decision to put out to sea from there if somehow they could reach Phoenix, a harbor of Crete facing southwest and northwest, they could spend the winter there. Now let's stop for a moment. They're about to refuse the advice of Paul, and by the way, they're about to provide every generation from that point till this some very practical reasons why sometimes we create the storms and the problem that we find ourselves involved in.

Let me show you. If we dig a little deeper, you'll see the first reason they're about to sail into this storm was the simple fact of impatience. They were unwilling to wait. Now, we can identify to some extent and sympathize because life never quite moves fast enough for us either, does it? But if you go back to verse four, you read the words, the winds were contrary.

In other words, from the very outset of this trip, the winds seem to be against them. What should have taken, by the way, two or three weeks will take seven long months. Now, a journey that would take us normally three weeks and it ends up taking us seven months.

First of all, we wouldn't start out or begin or we'd fly home or we'd turn around and come back. I can remember as a family piling into the old Chrysler and heading toward Minnesota. My parents were brave enough to put four kids in a car and drive straight through 26 hours.

I guess brave is the word. And we did it. I remember one particular time getting down the road a mile and the car broke down and we came back unpacked and that was our summer vacation. It's a haunting memory of mine. I guess I'm not over it. That's why I brought it up. But anyway, the winds were contrary.

I saw Minnesota in that as I studied this week. Now, then head to verse seven. When we had sailed slowly for a good many days. Slowly.

Why? Not for sightseeing, but the wind is against them. And with difficulty had arrived off Canitis since the wind did not permit us to go further. Look at verse eight again.

And with difficulty sailing past it, we came to fair havens. Now, on the one hand, you can see why they have good reason to be impatient. They want to get to Rome. It's been a long journey, much longer than than usual. And Paul says, Look, it's past Atonement Day, at least in his Jewish calendar. It's time to stop sailing. It's time to hunker down and wait it out here in this tiny little village with nothing to do. And they said we're not waiting. Now's our chance. We see the next verse or two will tell you a soft wind blowing. Let's make a run for it and see if we can make it there. Let's not wait. You may be in the middle of a storm because you wouldn't wait.

You heard the same voices. Maybe it was your own saying I need to hurry. I need to make my decision. Now I'll lose the opportunity. I have to walk through it now. I have to move there now. I have to change now.

I have to buy that now. And I want to remind you that Satan is a lot like a salesman who tells you if you don't do it now, you'll lose the opportunity. Not to say that salesmen are like the devil.

But in that instance, they sound a lot alike. And our problem, ladies and gentlemen, is not impulse buying. Our problem is impulse living. And if we don't do it now, we'll miss it. And so we have to reach. We have to change.

We have to go. And sometimes you have to. And God makes it very clear. But I'm afraid that some of our storms are created by our own impatience. The second thing that they do that that sets them up for the storm is this.

They follow expert advice. Look at verse ten again. Men, Paul says, I perceive that the voyage will be attended with damage.

The Greek word I perceive literally could be amplified to say I perceive by virtue of my experience. According to second Corinthians Chapter 11, verse twenty five, Paul has already been shipwrecked three times. He's had experience and he perceives that they should winter here and their impatience is driving them forward. And he stands up and he says, Look, I perceive we're in trouble if we go forward.

What the experts say? Well, you have the centurion here looking at Paul and and then I guess back at the ship's captain and then Paul and back at the ship's captain. And he underestimated Paul and he overestimated the expert.

The third law into disaster was a desire for comfort. Verse twelve says the harbor was not suitable or desirable for wintering. Fair Haven's was evidently not so fair. One commentator suggested it was named by its Chamber of Commerce in hopes of maybe maybe luring people looking for a cheap vacation. The fair come to fair Haven's.

It was anything but fair. Well, fair or foul, these passengers will soon wish for that little village over what they're about to experience. The fourth thing that they do that sort of seals it is that they listen to the majority opinion.

Look at verse twelve again. The majority reached a decision to put out to sea from there. Everybody said we ought to do it. They took a poll. Confused people have been taking polls ever since. Let's find out what the majority want to do. The majority, as if it were true, can somehow arrive at the truth.

If enough people say the same thing, that must be the truth. The majority here will sail themselves right into the middle of a hurricane. But they said, let's let's sail.

Let's go. Verse fourteen. But before very long, they're rushed down from the land of violent wind, even had a name for it. When Bonnie or George or whatever, this one's called you're a kilo. Even sounds bad, doesn't it? To compound original word your ass simply means east wind and a kilo is Latin for for north wind.

This was the dreaded northeastern. It was feared by all who sailed the med. It was a storm with violent winds. In fact, the word Luke selects under inspiration for wind is the Greek word to phone night, which gives us our word typhoon. These people have sailed right into the middle of hurricane force winds. A typhoon. Quite a storm created by these opposite air masses creating hurricane winds and pounding right now.

Verse fifteen. When the ship was caught in it, they could not face the wind. That is, they couldn't even turn to face it. And so we gave up or gave way to it and let ourselves be driven along and running under the shelter of a small island called Klara. We were scarcely able to get the ship's boat under control. And after they had hoisted it up, that is, they're talking now about that dinghy that's been trailing behind on a rope. They hoist that thing up because it's crashing against the ship.

After they hoisted it up, they used supporting cables and undergirding the ship and fearing that they might run aground on the shallows and service. They let down the sea anchor and so let themselves be driven along. The next day, as we were being violently storm tossed, they began to jettison the cargo. And on the third day, they threw the ship's tackle overboard with their own hands. Now, notice these words. And since neither sun nor stars appeared for many days, imagine that, and no small storm was assailing us.

That's the English way of saying this was a Lulu of a storm. From then on, all hope of our being saved was gradually abandoned. Now, just climb in and feel those heavy words again. Hope was gradually abandoned. Have you ever been in a situation where hope is pulled from your hand as tightly as you may wish to hold? Hope slid out of their grasp.

It was gradually abandoned. Paul evidently believed that now was a teachable moment. And so in verse 21, we read, Paul stood up in their midst and said, men, you ought to have followed my advice. Well, everyone's listening now, by the way, but I want you to know this is a word for today. While everyone else wants to know what everyone else wants to say, regarding any number of issues or decisions, in fact, we are immersed now with the decisions of even mainline denominations who are struggling over basic things that the word teaches.

You have to go back and ask, I believe the same kind of question. Is anybody listening to Paul? I think if he were standing here today and addressing our country and our churches, he would begin with a rebuke.

You should have listened to me. Frankly, I think that we are smack in the middle of storms sometimes simply because we listen to everyone else. But the inspired scriptures penned by the apostle Paul. Is anybody listening to Paul?

He doesn't stop with that rebuke. He continues with Revelation verse 22. And yet now I urge you to keep up your courage for there shall be no loss of life among you, but only of the ship for this very night, an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve stood before me saying, do not be afraid. Paul, you must stand before Caesar and behold, God has granted you all those who are sailing with you. Paul, you're going to make it to Rome. You're going to stand before Nero and everyone sailing with you will survive this storm. Now, in these brief words that Paul delivers to this crew and its passengers, you find some anchors on which to hold to help you weather your storm.

Let's go back and take a closer look. The first is this phrase, or let's reword it to say this. If you're keeping notes, there is a God. Look at verse 23 again. Paul said this very night, an angel of the God stood before me.

You know what friends? There is something incredibly powerful about the faithful testimony of someone who is in the process of going through a storm of being shipwrecked in front of 200 people. Now, by the way, just because Paul stands up to speak doesn't mean that the waves settled down and the winds stopped blowing.

This boat is still being tossed like a cork in a bottle that's being shook by a kid. They are all over the water up and down and the mist is in their face and the waves are crashing over and he stands up and he says, in effect, there is a God. What confidence composed and steady at this point. It's the same confidence WC Martin wrote about in an old hymn text, and I've given it to you in your notes. It's something if you're going through a time of storm, you may want to commit to memory as he wrote, though the angry surges roll on my tempest driven soul, I am peaceful for I know wildly though the winds may blow, I have an anchor safe and sure it shall evermore endure. There is a God. And by the way, some of you may be in a storm right now where that's the basic thing that you're wondering and you're afraid to say it because you're a believer and you walk with Christ and this thing hit you broadside and you're wondering, where are you, Lord?

The second thing he also says, in effect, is this. I belong to him and he belongs to me. Notice the phrase in verse 23, the angel of the God to whom I belong.

You want to underline those words in your text to whom I belong. Now, at this point, it's fascinating to me that nobody stood up and said, Look, if this God is your God and he's the kind of God that can give you confidence in this kind of storm, well, then why did he allow this storm and why is he putting you through it? Paul?

Well, what could he possibly have in mind? You know something? The Bible doesn't give us the answer.

A trip that should have taken two or three weeks will end up taking seven months. Why all of this disaster? Why all of the fear? Why the shipwreck?

Why? We're not told. And frankly, I don't believe that Paul was told either. And maybe one of the greatest developments in our faith, ladies and gentlemen, is the development of faith that when we are in the midst of a storm and the wind is howling and the waves are are crashing into our little vessel, that we can at that point muster up the courage and the objective faith to say to people who ask us there is a God and I belong to him and he belongs to me. By the way, the focus of scripture in this chapter in fact, throughout the word has little to do with why shipwrecks are allowed by God or who causes storms to enter our lives and why this and why that. But it focuses so often as it does right here on the believers response. And I think of another hurricane in scripture.

Can you? The man's name was Job and the scripture tells us that the hurricane came and while all of his children were in the same house, it collapsed the house upon them and they all died. And this book is a catalog of his response. Paul shouts above the howling storm here in the crashing waves. My God is alive and I belong to him.

And that means he belongs to me. And that truth is bigger than any storm. Now Paul goes on to say notice verse 25. Therefore, keep up your courage, men. Underline these words if you'd like for I believe God.

Wow. It will turn out exactly as I have been told. But we must run aground on a certain island. Third, that's another way of simply saying I believe what God says will happen will happen.

And sometimes God allows shipwrecks perhaps if we tried to peg it as a why so that we can hear people say what Paul just said here so that God can use people who are tossed about in their stormy rough waters to deliver a truth to us that God is to be believed. And what he says will happen will happen. Now what I want to do is simply read the rest of this chapter with that interruption. It's hard for me to do that.

I want you to know. But I'm going to start at verse 27 and read through. Now what I recommend that you do is just listen. And I want you to by way of imagination enter the scene and see the storm and hear it and feel it and the ship is turning and tossing and just listen as we read through this. But when the 14th night had come as we were being driven about in the Adriatic Sea about midnight the sailors began to surmise that they were approaching some land and they took soundings or depths and found it to be 20 fathoms and a little further on they took another sounding and found it to be 15 fathoms and fearing that we might run aground somewhere on the rocks they cast four anchors from the stern and wished for daybreak. And as the sailors were trying to escape from the ship and had let down the ship's boat or dinghy into the sea on the pretense of intending to lay out anchors from the bow. Paul said to the centurion and to the soldiers unless these men remain in the ship you yourselves cannot be saved.

Then the soldiers cut away the ropes of the ship's boat and let it fall away. And until the day was about to dawn Paul was encouraging them all to take some food saying today is the 14th day that you have been constantly watching and going without eating having taken nothing. Therefore I encourage you to take some food for this is for your preservation for not a hair from the head of any of you shall perish. And having said this he took bread and gave thanks to God and the presence of all and he broke it and began to eat. And all of them were encouraged and they themselves also took food.

And all of us in the ship were two hundred and seventy six persons. And when they had eaten enough they began to lighten the ship by throwing out the wheat into the sea. And when day came they could not recognize the land but they did observe a certain bay with the beach or creek and they resolved to drive the ship onto it if they could. So casting off the anchors they left them in the sea while at the same time they were loosening the ropes of the rudders and hoisting the force sail to the wind. They were heading for the beach but striking a reef where two seas met they ran the vessel aground and the prow stuck fast and remained immovable but the stern began to be broken up by the force of the waves. And the soldiers plan was to kill the prisoners that none of them should swim away and escape.

But the centurion wanting to bring Paul safely through kept them from their intention and commanded that those who could swim should jump overboard first and get to land and the rest should follow some on planks and others on various things from the ship. And thus it happened that they were all brought safely to the land. Just as Paul said they all survived and made it and now lay I'm sure or sat exhausted on the beach.

Their ordeal was for the most part over. Can I give you some lessons from this detailed record of a storm that I think apply to us. Number one the benefit of Christianity is not the absence of storms it is the presence of God in the midst of the storm. You know I think that we give people the wrong impression when we try to sell them on Christianity by telling them look if if you come to Jesus Christ all of your problems will disappear.

They'll all be gone. In fact one of the difficulties that I have in dealing with new believers is that I know one of the first things they're going to discover is that because just because they became Christians didn't mean that all the water settled down. But we do have this benefit. He is with us in the midst of the storm. Secondly the lesson of Christianity is that while we want the Lord to deliver us he wants to develop us. In fact in First Thessalonians 2 Paul said that he wanted to come to them over and over again but Satan stopped us. He said we know that he didn't want Paul in Rome.

He would one day we know testify before the Emperor Nero and if you chart it out as we'll attempt to do a chronologically through history we'll discover that about the time Paul delivered the gospel to Nero Nero lost it and would self-destruct. Why did God though allow Satan to rough up the waters if that's what's happening here why not send the angel is still the water why not stop the storm why not rescue the boat from destruction. Imagine ladies and gentlemen all the inconvenience apart from fear and terror all the inconvenience that God allowed Paul to be put through why why not allow nothing but sunshine and smooth sailing. Well ladies and gentlemen I believe that we are simply too interested in getting to Rome.

God is interested in who we will be when we get there. Third the perspective of Christianity is that even the worst storms cannot derail the plan of God for your life. What's your storm today? Where are the heavy winds coming from?

Where are you turning for help? Are you meditating on God's Word or has the storm driven you away from it? Have the heavy winds and the upsets of life sent you scurrying far from the prospects of prayer? Have you lost sight of the fact that God is alive? Can you say with this hymn writer though the angry surges roll on my tempest driven soul I am peaceful for I know wildly though the winds may blow I've an anchor safe and sure that can ever more endure.

Well while you're bracing for the worst of the storm hold on to these anchors God is alive you belong to him he belongs to you and what he says he will do he will do. I hope this lesson is of great encouragement to you. Thanks for joining us today here on Wisdom for the Heart with Stephen Davey. Stephen taught these lessons back in 1998.

They are just as relevant today as they were 23 years ago. We recently received an anonymous note here at Wisdom International. It simply said keep up the awesome work that you're doing there at Wisdom. I can't find the words to describe the value of your ministry in my life.

I pray that your reward will be great in heaven. Well thank you for writing to us and thank you especially for praying for us. We'd really enjoy hearing from you and learning how God's using this ministry to build you up in the faith. Our mailing address is Wisdom for the Heart P.O. Box 37297 Raleigh, North Carolina 27627. Well thanks again for joining us today and I hope you'll be with us for our next Bible message right here on Wisdom for the Heart.