Promised, Not Easy
On Trial With Christ Acts Part 3 • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Introduction
Introduction
Good morning please open in your Bibles to Acts chapter 27 that is Acts chapter 27. If I were to pole the room this morning and ask you if life is easy, I am sure the overwhelming answer would be no. Life is hard, and that is a fact. However, we are not alone and God has promised to see us through. Life is hard, but it is not directionless. We have a destination a course has been set for us, and no matter what storms we sail through God has promised that he Philippians 1:6 “he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” God promises Romans 8:28 “… that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” These are promises that God has made to us, but they do not mean that life will get any easier.
The Lord appeared to Paul in Acts 23:11 and he promised that Paul would go to Rome and testify to the facts about Jesus there. But as we will see from today’s text it wasn’t exactly smooth sailing. Pardon the pun. We know that life is difficult and we know the God has promised to see us through it, but what do we do in the midst of life’s difficulties. Do we just hang on? Or is there action we can take. As we sail with Paul this morning in chapter 27 of the book of Acts I want to see three action steps that take as Christians in midst of difficulty. In the first 8 verse of our text Paul sails from Caesarea to Fair Havens. Let’s read verses 9-25 and keep the map on the screen.
When All Hope Seems Lost, Take Heart v. 9-25
When All Hope Seems Lost, Take Heart v. 9-25
By the time they make it to Fair Havens, the Fast, which refers to the Day of Atonement, had been completed. It was fairly common knowledge that to sail the Mediterranean between the months of September to November was dangerous, and the Day of Atonement would fall between late September and October. Paul is simply stating this is not a good time of year to sail, I think we should wait until after winter. Dangerous winter storms were known to happen, and of course this is exactly what does happen.
However, the sailors and the centurion disagree with Paul and in an effort to winter in a port that was more suitable they attempt to sail a very short distance to the port of Phoenix. This voyage should only take a few hours, but instead it ends us taking 14 days! They began to sail along Crete and a wind called the northeaster came down and blew them off course. They seem to get some temporary relief from the storm around the small island of Cauda. And there they get the lifeboat hoisted and undergrid the ship. That means they ran ropes under the ship in order to reinforced it against the strong winds. But they are still able to correct their coarse and the winds are so strong they fear being blown to Syrtis. So, they lower the gear, probably anchors that would drag behind the ship to slow it down while being blown by the wind. In desperation they start throwing cargo overboard. By the third day they even throw the ships tackle overboard (the rigging to lift things off and on the ship). And verse 20 tells us, Acts 27:20 “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.” In other words they had lost all hope. They did not believe that they would be rescued.
And it is in this moment Paul stands us and says, “Acts 27:22–25“ Yet now I urge you to 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 the 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 been told.”
Paul delivers a promise and because of his faith in God, who always keeps his promises he tells these men to take heart. Do not lose heart because has promised that I would stand before Caesar and he has promised to keep the lives of all those sailing with Paul. There is no earthly reason for Paul to be optimistic. They are blown WAY of course, they have thrown everything overboard, they have stopped eating food… There is no reason to hope. Except the word of a prisoner that has seen an angel. And according to this message God himself has promised their salvation. So, they are to trust God’s word and take heart.
To take heart is to be of good courage. Be bold and believe even in the midst of hopelessness that God will deliver you! 2 Corinthians 1:8–10 “For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead. He delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will deliver us again.” The saying that God will not give you more that you can handle… it is false. We can be utterly burdened beyond our strength. But we cannot bear a burden that HE cannot lift. Because he raises the dead, he delivered and he will deliver. So set your hope on him to deliver you again. Show courage and dare to believe in the power of God even when there is no earthly hope.
Pray through one of these Psalms: 13,130,27,42,43,34 and there are more, but I want to dare you to believe in God even when you don’t see the sun or stars for days. Acknowledge you pain, your feeling of abandonment, your anger, your bitterness, your fear and worry, but then be courageous and believe. Take heart! And when that isn’t enough cry out that God would help your unbelief. Will you resolve to say Psalm 13:5–6“But I have trusted in your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation. I will sing to the Lord, because he has dealt bountifully with me.” in the worst of times?
This is not a platitude or a buck up kind of message. How will we know that God will deliver us? Because he rose from the dead. For three days his followers had no hope, they thought it was all over. They buried and prepared the body. But he rose. So whether you are in the dark for 3 days, 14 days, or a lifetime. Know the resurrection is coming. So, dear saint take heart. Dare to believe in the goodness of God in the darkness of life.
And even as we do that we need to know that things may not get better right away. It did not for these men, and some attempted to escape… but
Know that Escape Will Not Work v. 27-38
Know that Escape Will Not Work v. 27-38
The sailors began to take fathoms because they believed they were nearing land. They found the water was becoming more shallow which lead them to believe they were nearing land, but they feared striking the rocks. So, they let down the anchors and began to pray for day to come. The pagan sailors were praying to their silent gods for day to come. And as they did not work they attempted to escape using the ships lifeboat. They were pretending to set anchors from below, but Paul knew what was happening Acts 27:31–32 “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.” The centurion and soldiers are now trusting Paul, but they also know that if the professional sailors leave they will die at sea. They will not have the expertise to survive the voyage. So, they cut away the lifeboat.
And Paul speaks to the voyagers again and urges them to all take food. He says, “Acts 27:33–38 “As 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 to 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 the wheat into the sea.” This was all as day was about to dawn, and they knew they were getting closer to land. However, without light they had no hope of navigating the shoreline and avoiding the rocks. Yet, they resolved to eat throw out the rest of the cargo and wait for day. Escape was no longer possible, they would have to trust the promise of Paul’s God.
I believe we can all resonate with these sailors. Escape is an incredible temptation. We long to escape the pressures and difficulties of life through pleasure, entertainment, food, daydreams, fantasies. And even by means of cutting, induced vomiting, divorce, abandonment of responsibilities like a job or parenthood, and the most extreme cases people are tempted to escape through suicide. Life is hard and often seems hopeless and these escapes whisper a false promise of freedom. But, they cannot save you. In fact, they typically make things much worse.
If you are living in the midst of life’s heartaches, you must know that escape will not help. It offers a false promise of freedom, but the truth is escapism is a cruel master that only tightens its grip as you indulge it. With every attempt to escape the cords of the master just tighten around your neck cutting deeper into your soul and enslaving you more and more.
You need true freedom. You must learn to believe that morning will come!
Believe Morning Will Come v. 39-44
Believe Morning Will Come v. 39-44
As we read this text we learn that day came and they saw land. But the land is unfamiliar and they do in fact lose the ship as Paul foretold. And even after all that Paul has done some of the soldiers want to kill the prisoners which would have included Paul. But the centurion wishes to save him kept them from carrying out the plan, and instead ordered the ones who could swim to to swim to shore as the others used the ships remains to float to the shore. And they all make it safely to land. Morning comes and it is a bit anticlimactic.
They don’t glide into the beach, but they wreck the ship and some men probably rather clumsily make it to land holding on to planks. And that is a bit of lesson in of itself. As we talk about the freedom that only Christ can bring, the truth is that it doesn’t mean there is going to be some amazing climactic experience that signals the end of your suffering. Sometimes the difficulties just stops and life is just sort of normal. And often times after really trying times and perhaps have a long time of utilizing escapism, normal life feels a bit unfamiliar. The land is unknown for you. And that is ok. It’s ok to not always feel on top of the world. Most of life is just a bit normal, but listen to what the text says, Acts 27:44 “… And so it was that all were brought safely to land.”
Throughout this text the author Luke has been sneaking in one repetitive word. The greek word is sozo, it is the root word or “save.” IN verse 20 we are told Acts 27:20 “…all hope of our being saved was at last abandoned.” Acts 27:31 “Paul said..“Unless these men stay in the ship, you cannot be saved.”” Acts 27:43–44 “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 on planks or on pieces of the ship. And so it was that all were brought safely to land.” “Safely” this root word which means to deliver is the root word that Luke uses when he speaks of salvation in Christ throughout the book of Acts. Their only hope of deliverance was the promise of God given to Paul. As God was present with Paul so he was present with all onboard the ship. They made it safely, they were saved or obtained salvation according to the promise of God. Acts 26:18 “to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’”
This has been the theme of the entire book of Acts. That salvation comes through Christ alone by faith alone no matter where you are in the world, in your faith, or in your circumstances. Praying to false gods, like the sailors did will not bring hope. They had to resort to escape. The only one who was hopeful was Paul he gave them the promise of God on two occasions. Through Paul these sailors were offered hope. A hope that can only be offered by the one who rose from the dead and in through belief is his name one there is the forgiveness of sins and the hope of eternal life.
Conclusion
Conclusion
If you are here this morning and life’s difficulties are overwhelming you, I want to help. If you have fallen into patterns of escapism you’re not alone and there is hope. Take heart and be of good courage, reach out and let others bear the burden with you. Know that escape will not work, and will actually make things worse. I am not promising easy, but in Christ there is hope. Morning will come, in him you can sing Psalm 27:13 “I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living!” It might not be the climax you are expecting, but it will be so very good.
Morning Morning Difference
Take heart in the middle of trouble
Don’t wait for the end, and take heart because you know God is faithful
Cling to the promises of God in the middle of trouble
Psalm 34:18 “The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.”
Learn to see God’s goodness in the middle of trouble
Psalm 27:13 “I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living!”