Now, beginning in verse number 1, we start to see the final journey that Paul is going
to make to Rome. In chapter 26, we have him standing before Agrippa, and Agrippa was almost
persuaded to be a Christian. Both Agrippa and the governor Festus agreed that he hadn't
done anything worthy of death or bonds, but because he appealed unto Caesar, they have
to send him to Caesar. So in chapter 27, we start to see that trip that he's making, and
along the way, a lot of problems are going to happen and a lot of catastrophes that eventually
lead to shipwreck. But look at verse number 1. It says, and when it was determined that
we should sail into Italy, they delivered Paul and certain other prisoners unto one
named Julius, a centurion of Augustus' band, and entering into a ship of Adramidium he
launched, meaning to sail by the coasts of Asia. One Aristarchus, a Macedonian, a Thessalonica
being with us. So basically they deliver Paul into the hands of a centurion. Now a
centurion, we learned this earlier in the book of Acts, is a leader that has 100 soldiers
under him. Just like the word century is 100 years, the centurion has 100 soldiers. Now
later in the chapter we see there were 276 people on the ship, and so 100 of these people
are soldiers that are there to escort Paul and a lot of other prisoners too. So basically
they get on the ship and it's a centurion, his 100 soldiers, Paul and a whole bunch of
other prisoners, we don't know how many, and then there are just the merchant men who are
on the ship, because this ship's primary purpose is going to be to deliver merchandise. It's
going to be to deliver goods that they're trading. That's how they're making money,
and basically the centurion and all these soldiers and prisoners are just hitching a
ride on the ship. That's how they're going to get to Italy, because of course Rome is
in Italy, and that's where Caesar is going to judge Paul. And so they get on the ship
and it says in verse number 2, a Macedonian of Thessalonica named Aristarchus, do you
see that, was along with them. Now this guy is mentioned somewhere else in the Bible,
does anybody remember where? It's the end of the book of Philemon. Paul says, there's
Saluthi, Epiphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, Marcus, Aristarchus, Demas, Lucas,
my fellow laborer. So this was a guy that was actually one of Paul's fellow preachers.
This was a guy who was also a Christian, he's also preaching the Gospel, and so he's along
with, and also the fact that we keep hearing the word we over and over again, that tells
us that Luke is also aboard the ship, right? Because Luke is the author of the book of
Acts, and so toward the end of the book of Acts, we started seeing him say we this and
we that, because that's where he picks up the story. So we've got Paul, a bunch of other
prisoners, soldiers, merchant men, and then at least two other preachers, because we've
got Luke and we've got Aristarchus aboard. So I'm not going to reread everything that
we just read. We read about all the different courts that they went in, and again it's just
a blow by blow of their sailing. Let's just jump down to verse number 8, it says,
And hardly passing it, came unto a place which is called the fair havens, nigh whereunto
was the city of Lycia. Now when much time was spent, and when sailing was now dangerous,
because the fast was now already passed, Paul admonished them, and said unto them,
Sirs, I perceive that this voyage will be with hurt, and much damage, not only of the
lady and ship, but also of our lives. Nevertheless the centurion believed the master and the
owner of the ship more than those things which were spoken by Paul. So basically they do
part of the trip, and they pull off to stop somewhere, and they're running behind schedule,
and it looks like the weather is going to change, and it looks as if it's going to be
very dangerous, because in the winter they can't make a voyage like this, so they have
to stop somewhere for the winter. So Paul, he's not saying he's got a revelation from
God or anything like that, but he basically just perceived, he's just thinking to himself,
hey I don't think this is a good idea. I think we should just park here for the winter, let's
not go any further, because this is too dangerous of a voyage. Well, if you look at verse number
12, it says, because the haven was not commodious to winter in, the more park it buys to the
park, then it's also. So because it wasn't convenient, it wasn't really a comfortable
place for them to stay, most of the people are just saying, you know, let's just go,
let's just see if we can get to, at least to Phoenice, it's going to be a nicer place
to spend our winter, let's just go there. Paul's saying no, but the ship master, who's
the expert, hell, they're going to go with what he says, and he says, yeah, I think we
can make it. Well, of course, they get out there, they start sailing, look at verse 14,
but not long after, there arose against it a tempestuous wind called Eurachlodon, and
when the ship was caught and could not bear up into the wind, we let her drive. We let
her drive, I mean, I'm not an expert on sailing and sailing terminology, but basically they
get to a point where they're not really in total control of the ship here, they're just
kind of letting it go. It says, and running under a certain island, which is called Hauda,
we have much work to come by the boat, which when they had taken up, they used helps undergirding
the ship and fearing lest they should fall into the quicksands, strike sail, and so were
driven. And we being exceedingly tossed with the tempest, the next day they lightened the
ship. Now how did they lighten the ship? Basically, they're going to take all the goods that they
were carrying, basically the main purpose of the trip, and just start throwing that
stuff overboard, all the merchandise that they're trading with, all the stuff they're
trying to sell, they just start throwing that overboard. Because pretty soon it gets
to a point where you're not worried about making money, you're just worried about surviving.
And they don't want to die, they don't want to be shipwrecked, they don't want everyone
to be killed, so they start to just lighten the ship. They just start throwing valuable
things overboard. And you know, being in a life or death situation, or being in just
any kind of a difficult situation, summer helps you reevaluate what your priorities
are, what's important. You know, they didn't lighten the ship by throwing anybody overboard.
They threw their stuff overboard. You know, and when it really comes down to what is important
in life, think about what I preached on Sunday morning about people versus things. It comes
to a point where people's lives are not worth money or goods, and so that's the first thing
that just got chucked overboard. They just started lightening the ship and throwing it
over. It says they lightened the ship and the third day we cast out with our own hands
the hacking of the ship. Now they're even starting to throw overboard some of the equipment
that they use for sailing. This is even some of the stuff that's pretty important.
And when neither sun nor stars in many days appear, and no small tempest lay on us, all
hope that we should be saved was then taken away. So the storm is so bad, in the daytime
they can't see the sun, it's just all clouds, it's all storm clouds. At night they can't
see the stars, they don't know where they're going because they would navigate primarily
by using the stars. And so they haven't seen the stars, they haven't seen the sun for many
days, and it basically says they've lost all hope. I mean, all hope that we should be saved
was then taken away. It says, verse 21, but after long accidents, Paul stood forth in
the midst of them and said, sirs, you should have hearkened unto me. This is kind of an
I told you so that he's given up. You should have hearkened unto me and not of Lucifer
and to have gained this harm and loss. And now I exhort you to be of good cheer, for
there shall be no loss of any man's life among you, but of the ship. He's saying the ship
is going to be gone, but everybody's life is going to be saved. For there stood by me
this night the angel of God, whose I am and whom I serve, saying, Fear not, Paul, thou
must be brought before Caesar, and lo, God hath given thee all them that sail with thee.
Wherefore, sirs, be of good cheer, for I believe God, that it shall be even as it was told
me. Howbeit we must be cast upon a certain island. Flip over, if you would, in your Bible
with 2 Peter, chapter 1. 2 Peter, chapter number 1.
So here we see Paul after long
abstinence, meaning for a long time he abstained from speaking. He kept his mouth shut, and
he's just watching them, you know, battle this thing. And finally he gets up and cheers
him up a little by giving him a message, saying, Look, you know, I'm a servant of God, and
the angel of the Lord stood by me this night and told me that we're all going to be fine.
Every single person's going to survive, but the ship is going to be destroyed, and we're
going to be shipwrecked on an island. And he says, Be of good cheer, for I believe God,
and we're all going to be okay.
Now, you may say, Well, it's easy to believe the promises of God, because he said, I believe
God. You know, you say, Well, of course you believe God, because you had the angel of
the Lord appear unto you in your bedroom in the cabin and tell you this. Right? Well,
there are a lot of things that God tells us. There are a lot of promises that God gives
us. For example, he said, I've never seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed baby
bred. He said, But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches and glory
by Christ Jesus. You know, God gives us all kinds of promises that he's going to feed
and clothe us and take care of us financially. He said, But seek ye first the kingdom of
God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you. And oftentimes people
have trouble with the faith of believing that and have trouble doing what's right. And
often they're just afraid, Well, you know, I've got to do something here, because I'm
not going to have food, I'm not going to have clothes, and they'll make stupid decisions
sometimes because they think they have to, instead of believing the promises of God,
instead of just relying on the fact, Hey, God's going to take care of you. You know,
they might take a job that takes them out of church or take a job that caused them to
do something that's immoral or wrong or dishonest or it's just a job that's a sinful job. Whatever
the case may be, where people don't have the faith to just do what's right, seek first
the kingdom of God, put him first, and then just believe that everything's going to turn
out okay. Because you see, when they got this message from God that all the people on the
ship would survive, there was a stipulation on that. We're going to get to it a little
bit later. But they wanted to basically put out a light bulb a little bit later. And Paul
basically tells them that, you know, unless these remain in the ship, he says, You cannot
be saved. So there was a stipulation here. They had to have some faith. Because later
on, they get in a position where they're going to let down the light bulbs and they're going
to get out and get the light bulbs. He said, No. If you believe God, you've got to stay
in the ship and then you'll be saved. And you see, God often asks us to step out in
faith and to do the right things. He said, Seek ye first the kingdom of God. That's our
part. That's the part that we have to do. Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness
and all these things will be added unto you. Now look at 2 Peter chapter 1 because you
say, Well, wait a minute, Pastor Anderson. That's easy for Paul because he had a physical
apparition of the angel of the Lord telling him that, you know, I haven't seen that kind
of a sign. But hold on a second. Look at what it says in 2 Peter 1 verse 16. It says, For
we have not followed cunningly devised fables when we've made known unto you the power and
coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For we received
from God the Father honor and glory when there came such a voice to him from the excellent
glory. This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. And this voice which came from
heaven we heard when we were with him in the Holy Mount. Now this is when Peter, James
and John were taken up to the Mount of Transfiguration and they physically saw Jesus transfigured
and he was glowing white and he had Moses and Elijah with him. You remember? And he
heard a voice, a literal audible voice he heard from heaven saying, This is my beloved
Son in whom I am well pleased. He said, I'm not following a cunningly devised fable. I
have seen and heard Jesus Christ in his glory and I heard a voice from heaven saying, This
is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. But look what he says in verse 19. We have
also, in addition to that he's saying, a more sure word of prophecy. Whereunto you do well
that you take heed as unto a light that shineth in a dark place until the day dawn and the
day star arise in your hearts. Knowing this verse that no prophecy of the scripture is
of any private interpretation. Now notice where the sentence begins and ends. The beginning
of the sentence is at the beginning of verse 19. You see that? There's a period at the
end of verse 18, right? So the sentence starts in verse 19 and we don't have a period until
verse 20. The end of verse 20. Do you see that? So he's saying, we have a more sure
word of prophecy than what we heard with our own ears and saw with our own eyes knowing
verse 20, this verse, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.
He's basically saying that the scripture is a more sure word of prophecy because it's
not of any private interpretation. Look at verse 21, he explains why. For the prophecy
came not in old time by the will of man, but holy men of God spake as they were moved by
the Holy Ghost. So God is telling us we can rely even more upon what's written in the
scriptures than even something that we heard or saw with our own ears and eyes. I mean,
Peter heard a voice, this is my beloved son, you might be well pleased, but he said I'll
rely on the Bible even more than that. This is even more sure of a word of prophecy. So,
yes, Paul had the angel of the Lord appear unto him and tell him, hey, everyone in this
ship is going to survive? But more than Paul even knew that that was God speaking, I know
that this is God speaking, the scripture right here. Because you see, Paul even said in Galatians,
if we or an angel from heaven come unto you bringing another gospel, he said let him be
first. You know, just because an angel came and said something doesn't necessarily make
it from God. Because the devil himself is transformed into an angel of light. You see,
according to the Bible, the thing that we can trust more than anything is God's word
in the scripture. More sure of word than even physically seeing Jesus Christ is God's word.
He said that's what I would rely on the most. That is the more sure word of prophecy. The
scripture, it did not come from man. Holy men of God spake as they were moved by the
Holy Ghost. And so we've got to take a lesson in this. Go back to Acts 27. Our lesson is
that when God makes us a promise, even if it seems impossible, God is going to make
good on his promise. Because this seemed pretty impossible. They haven't seen the sun, they
haven't seen the stars, they've thrown all their stuff overboard. Later, when the ship
gets run aground, the whole ship is going to begin to be battered to pieces later. And
people are going to be swimming to shore. Some people are just grabbing onto, the Bible
says, just pieces of lumber. I mean, just people who could not swim. Like the people
who could swim, they swam. People who were unable to swim are clinging to boards and
pieces of the ship. Out of 276 people, no one drowned. I mean, that's pretty unbelievable.
That's amazing. You'd think that some weak swimmer in the midst of a storm or somebody
who's never swam, there were people who could not swim, the Bible tells us. Clutching to
some broken piece of wood, you'd think that somebody would have just dipped under the
waves and you're not going to see them again. But yet when God makes a promise, he can fulfill
that promise. And so if God promises us, my God shall supply all your need according to
his riches and glory by Christ Jesus. If God promises us that whatsoever good thing any
man doeth, the same shall he receive of the Lord, whether he be bond or free. When God
promises us, seek ye first the kingdom of God and all these things shall be added unto
you, we can rely on that and that's why we should put God and the work of God and the
work of God first in our life and expect that God is going to provide our needs. Not
to put money first and say, well, I've got to put money first because we're living in
hard times. You know, I've got to put work first and obviously work matters. Work is
very important and work is critical and we've got to work and pay our bills and times are
tough right now. But I don't believe that we should let work take us out of church and
cause us to miss church and cause us to not do any soul-winning. Now look, because of
your job, you know, you may have an intense work schedule these days and you know, you
may not be able to go soul-winning at the same times you used to go or even at the official
church soul-winning times. But man, get out soul-winning. You know, pick a different time
and we've got so many people going out soul-winning. We have soul-winning going on every day of
the week. Somebody's out there soul-winning in our church, even if it's just a few people.
Don't get so caught up with work that you're just doing no soul-winning. And I'm not saying
to just quit your job and just go soul-winning nonstop. But what I am saying is that you
ought to make time to go soul-winning. Yes, do your job. Yes, work hard. Yes, put in the
overtime that's necessary to make the money to pay your bills and provide for your family.
God commands us to do that. He commands us, if any man provide not for his own, especially
for those of his own house, he denied the faith and is worse than an infidel. But you've
got to stop everything and ask yourself, wait a minute, what am I living for here?
I need to be out soul-winning. I need to be serving God with my life. I need to take the
time to do that. And God knows how much time you have. If you just have a little bit of
time, then give that time to God and get out there and serve God. What else? Not just soul-winning.
There's more to life than just soul-winning. What about your Bible reading? You know, does
that have a first place priority in your life? Are you seeking first the kingdom of God and
His righteousness? Are you first going to read the Bible or are you just too busy when
they're too busy? Look, you'll do better at work if you read your Bible because God will
bless you at work because if you seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness,
all these things will be added unto you. God's promises are true. Make Bible reading a priority.
God can help you do better on the job. He can help you succeed. Take the time to pray.
God will answer your prayers. Take time to do the things that are right in your life,
whatever the case may be, whether it's reading the Bible, praying, going out soul-winning,
memorizing the scripture, whatever it is that you're doing that's the spiritual aspect of
your day. We have spiritual things that we have to deal with and we have a lot of physical
responsibilities we have to deal with. Parents taking the time to read the Bible to their
children. Parents taking the time to teach the Bible to their children and have that
Bible time. That's seeking first the kingdom of God when you give that some priority. Maybe
it's going to be scheduled around other things but make time for it. Get that time in there
and God can bless you and multiply the rest of your time throughout the day. Just don't
let the spiritual go by the wayside because if we have the promise of God, we can rely
on it that if we seek first the kingdom of God, everything else God will take care of.
And so we can rely on that and we shouldn't just have so little faith that we put those
things on the back burner for a while because then you're going to start to backslide and
start to slip in other areas spiritually. And so rely on the promises of God that are
written in His Word more so than even if some angel had appeared unto you and told you these
things like happened with Paul here. But Paul said in verse 25, Wherefore, sirs, be of good
cheer, for I believe God, that it shall be even as it was told me. And here's the other
thing, be of good cheer. Don't stress about things and worry. You know a lot of people
are really worried right now and stressed out right now and you don't know what's going
to be. The Bible says, Wherefore, take no thought for the morrow, for the morrow shall
be thought for the things of the self, sufficient unto the days to evil their own. Be of good
cheer in your life. You say, Well, I don't even know what I'm going to eat tomorrow.
You know what? Do you know what you're going to eat today? And God promises to take care
of it. Be of good cheer. And it's easy to preach. It's hard to do. But we need to basically
be of good cheer and just not stress and worry and be upset like, Man, I don't know what
my job is going to be like six months from now. You know, that's six months from now.
You got to just take it one day at a time. And that's the best way to go through life
according to the Scripture is just one day at a time. Give us this day our daily bread.
Be of good cheer. I believe God. Everything's going to be fine. God's going to take care
of us. God's going to provide. And that's how we live our lives. And some of the things
you stress out and worry about, they don't even happen. Have you ever just really dreaded
something and it didn't even happen? You know, Brother Staker and I were talking and he was
talking about there was some big dreaded inspection or something that was going to
happen. And then it didn't even happen. Remember? It got canceled. You know, of course it happened
like the next day. But hey, that's tomorrow. You know, don't worry about that today. So
the bottom line is everything that you dread doesn't even always come to pass. These people
are in dread. And they're scared. And Paul is saying, Fear not. Be of good cheer. And
God is constantly telling us throughout the Bible, Fear not. Even about the tribulation,
he tells us, Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer. You know, don't be afraid
of it. Just live your life and God will take care of you. Be faithful unto death and I'll
give thee a crown of life. And so we ought not be fearful. We ought to be of good cheer.
He says in verse 27, But when the fourteenth night was come, so this is a long ordeal that
they're going through. Fourteen nights of battling a storm and not seeing the sun, not
seeing the stars. It says, When the fourteenth night was come, as we were driven up and down
Adria about midnight, the shipmen deemed that they drew near to some country and sounded
and found it twenty fathoms. So when it says they sounded, they're basically checking to
see how deep the water is. And they're realizing that the water is starting to become a little
more shallow because they're getting near to some country. They're getting closer to
land because the water is getting a little bit more shallow. And it says when they've
gone a little further, they sounded again and found it fifteen fathoms. So first it's
twenty fathoms, then it's fifteen fathoms, they're getting closer and closer to land.
Then fearing lest we should have fallen upon rocks, they cast four anchors out of the stern
and wished for the day. So they're getting close to the land but they're afraid to get
too close in the middle of the night because there could be big jagged rocks sticking up
and they don't want to just bash in the ship on these rocks. So they say, okay, fifteen
fathoms, we're close enough. They throw four anchors out of the back and they're just waiting
for daytime to come, just hoping, can we survive until daytime? It was midnight at that time.
So they threw out the four anchors, it says in verse 30, and as the shipmen were about
to flee out of the ship, when they had let down the boat into the sea, this is what I
spoke about just a little bit earlier, this life boat or this smaller boat that they're
letting down. When they had let down the boat into the sea under color as though they
would have cast anchors out of the foreship, Paul said to the centurion and to the soldiers,
except these abide in the ship, you cannot be saved. Now look what's going on here. For
many times that I read this, I read over this. Does anybody else realize what's happening?
Because sometimes you read over stuff in the Bible and you don't quite understand. This
one I read over several times before I figured out what they meant by they under color as
though they would have cast anchors out of the foreship. Now where did they cast the
four anchors? Out of the stern. So they threw four anchors out of the stern, well now the
shipmen, these are the guys who basically run the ship, they're the professional sailors
and professional merchantmen, they're pretending like, oh we're going to throw some more anchors
out of the front now. So they were putting on a show pretending. That's what it means
under color, like pretending that they're going to throw more anchors out. Really what
they're trying to do, they're trying to get out in a lifeboat and just leave all the soldiers
and all the prisoners and everybody else. They don't even know how to steer the ship.
They're going to leave all the guys on the ship who don't know anything about sailing
and they're going to get in a lifeboat and just get out of there and just survive. So
here's what Paul, thankfully Paul realizes what's going on. Other people don't seem to
be noticing that these guys are not throwing out more anchors, they're actually throwing
out a lifeboat and they're just pretending to cast anchors out of the foreship. It says
in verse 31, Paul said to the centurion and to the soldiers, except these abide in the
ship, you cannot be saved. Yeah, no kidding. Without these guys we're going to be in trouble,
okay? And so it says, then the soldiers cut off the ropes of the boat and let her fall
off. So basically they cut off this lifeboat and say, no, nobody's using this lifeboat.
You're staying here with us. You're going to get us to shore. And while the day was
coming on, Paul besought them all to take meat, saying, this day is the 14th day that
you have tarried and continued fasting, having taken nothing. Wherefore I pray you can take
some meat, for this is for health, for there shall not an hair fall from the head of any
of you. So they still didn't quite believe them that they were saved. So they're still
fasting, which means that they're not eating any food. They're just drinking water and
they're not getting any food. And so he's telling them, look, this isn't healthy. You
haven't eaten in 14 days and you need to have something to eat, relax, cheer up, everything's
going to be fine. Now that we cut off those lifeboats and stopped that from going wrong,
everything's going to be fine. Not a hair will fall from the head of any of you. And
when he had thus spoken, he's going to set the example, he took bread and gave thanks
to God in presence of them all. And when he had broken it, he began to eat. Then were
they all of good cheer and they also took some meat. Now the Bible defines itself. When
the Bible says meat here, we're not talking about animal. We're not talking about flesh.
When the Bible used the word meat, it's often just talking about food. When the Bible is
talking about meat, it uses the word flesh. Sometimes it uses the word meat too because
meat can just be any food. In the Old Testament, the meat offering was made from fine flour
mingled with oil and it's called a meat offering. Here, when he says take some meat, he's basically
telling them to eat bread because that's the type of food that they had. So he breaks bread
and then they were all of good cheer when he told them that and they also took some
meat. And he gave thanks to God in presence of them all. So he prays and thanks God for
keeping them safe. Thanks God for his food. And this is found throughout the Bible. We
should thank God for our food. Sometimes it's just a ritual that people just do as an automatic,
Dear Jesus, thank you for this food. And they're not really thinking about what they're doing.
But we should really have gratitude and thankfulness in our heart for every meal that we eat because
God is the one who provides our food for us. And the Bible talks about us praying, give
us this day our daily bread. And God's the one who provides our food. He's the one who
gives us the power to get wealth. He's the one who feeds us and clothes us and takes
care of us. So we should be thankful for our food. Not complain about it and whine about
it because it's not our exact favorite food, kids. Right, kids? Just give thanks for it.
This wasn't exactly the coolest meal in the world. They're breaking bread. It's probably
an unleavened bread if they're breaking it. It's probably like those matzo crackers that
we have in my office that we use for communion. It's not exactly the most exciting. It wasn't
like, hey, let's have a popsicle. Hey, let's get out some ice cream. Let's have a sundae.
This is like broken matzo bread. So we ought to be thankful for whatever food God gives
us. Just if He's given us food, I mean, they were just happy to have anything. You know,
being thankful for your food is all relative because I remember at different times you'd
be out camping or you'd be out hiking or you'd be out kayaking or something like that. And
you'll have some really dry granola bar. And normally, you just wouldn't really like it.
Man, this thing's bland. It's dry. It's hard. It doesn't taste that good. It's some health
thing or something. But man, when you're out there hiking or something and it's all you've
got, oh man, who knows what I'm talking about. Put up your head if you know what I'm talking
about. You're just savoring everybody. It's just so good. Just because it's all you've
got. You know, I went on this backpacking trip one time and the only thing that we brought,
this is all we brought. For breakfast, we brought these little oatmeal packs, these
dry oatmeal packs that you just reconstitute with water. For lunch, ramen. For dinner,
ramen. You know, we were just trying to keep everything really lightweight. And then we
had one meat serving per day was a little tuna can. Just no mayonnaise or anything,
just tuna. And man alive, the oatmeal wasn't that good. The ramen definitely wasn't good.
The second ramen meal was not good at all. But man alive, just that dry tuna. Oh man,
that was what you lived for each day. You craved it. At the end of the day, just put
each little piece of that tuna on your tongue. You just let it kind of sit there. Now eating
tuna, usually when you eat tuna, you want to mix it with mayonnaise, right? Put a little
lemon juice in, put it on bread, have a sandwich. Eating just dry tuna is not really the coolest
meal in the world. But when you're out there hiking and you've been eating ramen all day,
that tuna tastes great because everything is relative. And if you've ever done any fasting,
like the Bible talks about fasting where you go without food for a few days, you'll begin
to crave things that you hate, usually. You'll look at stuff and say, man, I would never
usually eat that, but that looks so good right now. Because you don't have anything else.
It's all relative. And so sometimes we can become spoiled. The Bible says the full soul
loathest than honeycomb. But to the hungry soul, every bitter thing is sweet to the hungry
soul. And if you go through life a little hungry, you actually enjoy life more than
when you're just constantly getting everything you want. Have you ever heard the term being
spoiled? You've been ruined. You've been spoiled because you've been given everything you want.
You always have. I mean, some people have literally never even experienced hunger, like
real hunger, because they just their whole life just eat. For them, hunger is just waiting
until seven to have dinner when they have lunch at noon. To them, hunger is only getting
one cent upon. It's when I really wanted two. But real hunger where you've gone like a day
without food or a couple of days without food, it'll make you appreciate food a lot more
and you'll enjoy food and you'll be a lot more thankful. And so don't get spoiled where
you just think everything is on a silver platter and scotch is my favorite meal all
the time. Or you don't get to have your soda or your milk or your juice with every meal.
You have to drink water with your meal. That's what normal people drink with their food,
a glass of water. And so we don't want to be spoiled and think that the world owes us
a living. Be thankful even for the simple things just to have food. Just be thankful
for healthy, and I'm not saying to get deep junk, but you know if you have healthy food,
even if it's not your favorite thing, even if it's rice and beans or whatever, you know
just be thankful for it. Praise God for it. Because some people don't even have that.
Some people go without that. And so be thankful for what food that you have and thank God
for it. And you know he thanked God for it publicly. He wasn't ashamed of it. He wasn't
afraid like oh man, you know, I'm going to go somewhere by myself. And you know he gave
thanks publicly in the presence of them all and thanked God for his food and ate the food.
They were of good cheer also. They took some meat, verse 36, and we were in all, we were
in all in the ship, 200, 3 score and 16 souls. That's 276. And when they had eaten enough,
they lightened the ship and cast out the wheat into the sea. So the first thing they cast
out was their merchandise. The second thing they're going to cast out is the tacking of
the ship, some of the equipment. The third thing they're throwing out is the food. Now
they just have to get rid of everything. They eat enough and then they're throwing everything
out because they're either going to be on land soon or they're going to be dead soon.
And so when it was day, so remember that was midnight at first, when it was day they knew
not the land. Meaning that they were not familiar with it. They looked at it because they knew
they were by some land. They looked at it and said we don't know what this is. We don't
know if it's an island. We don't know what country this is. We don't know where we are.
That's what it means when it says they knew not the land. But they discovered a certain
creek with a shore into which they were reminded if it were possible to thrust in the ship.
So they figure okay, there's a little creek here. Maybe we can just take the front of
the ship and just steer it right into that creek and just kind of wedge the ship into
that creek and then we can get out and be fine and not hit any rocks or anything like
that. Because think about it, they're in a giant ship. I mean it must have been a big
ship because it has how many people aboard? 276. And usually these kind of big ships they
go to some kind of a harbor or a dock. You can't just, it's not like you're just on a
sea-doo or something. You're just riding on it. We used to ride sea-doo. Sometimes you
just give it a lot of gas, just kind of ride it up onto the shore or you jump off of it
and just kind of pull it onto the sandy beach. This isn't that easy. This is a huge ship.
And so they're thinking okay, if there's a creek, we can sail the ship into the creek
and then it'll just kind of get stuck and wedged in the creek and that'll be a good
place to park our ship. Just kind of park it there. And they're just trying to survive.
They don't even care what happens to the ship as much as just can we survive? And so that's
their idea. If it were possible to thrust in the ship into this creek. Verse 40. And
when they had taken up the anchors, they committed themselves under the sea and loosed
the rudder bands and hoised up the main sole to the wind and made toward the shore. So
they're saying okay, let's do it. They pick up the rudders, they pick up the anchors and
they're just heading toward that creek. They're just sailing toward it. And falling into a
place where two seas met, they ran the ship aground and the four parts stuck fast and
remained unmovable. But the hinder part was broken with the violence of the waves. So
their idea doesn't really work because as they're heading over there, they get stuck
in a shallow spot. And the front of the ship becomes wedged in the shallow spot and the
back of the ship is just being beaten by the waves and just damaged and destroyed and beaten
and the front part is just stuck. So now pretty much it's time to get out of the ship. It
says the hinder part, look at the end of verse 41, was broken with the violence of the waves.
The waves are just beating the thing. And because it's stuck, it's just damaging the
ship. It's just battering it and destroying the back of the ship. And the soldier's council
was to kill the prisoners. Boy, those are some nice guys. Unless any of them should
swim out and escape. What is wrong with these guys? That's like the first thing on their
mind. Let's just make sure that none of these prisoners get out, you know. So what? You
know, wouldn't you think they'd just be, the first thing on their mind would just be,
all right, every man for himself, let's go. And did these guys really do anything worthy
of death? Well, first of all, they're all going where? Italy. These are all guys who
probably all appealed unto Caesar. So these are Roman citizens who are appealing unto
Caesar. Guess what? A lot of them might be totally innocent of their crimes, like Paul,
for example. Totally innocent, but for all we know, a bunch of the other guys. They haven't
even had a trial yet. Who knows if they're innocent or guilty? They're going to Italy
to be tried. They're prisoners. They're not being executed, but these guards just want
to just kill them, you know, rather than let them get out. Because they jaywalked or whatever
they did. But the bottom line is, though, I will, let's, okay, let's give the soldiers
a little credit here. Not much. Okay, all right. I guess, I mean, I'm just trying to
play the devil's advocate here, okay. I guess you could say that maybe they were afraid
that if we let these guys go, then we're going to get busted. Kind of like, remember in chapter
13, I think it was, where the soldiers were taken out and killed because Peter escaped.
They executed the prison guard. And then remember in chapter 16, the prison guard, the Philippian
jailer, thought he was going to be killed because all the prisoners escaped. Remember
he was about to commit suicide? But either way, even if you say, okay, well, there, you
know, they're just trying to say, either way. So basically what they're saying is we'll
kill all these guys just in case we might get in trouble. I mean, come on, they're not
going to put 100 of them to death because the ship wrecked. So even if you wanted to
give them, you know, a little bit of slack, these soldiers say, well, you know, they're
just looking out for themselves. Well, is that the right way to live your life? Kill
others to look out for yourself. It's all part of officer safety. Basically just, you
know, let's just kill these guys and make sure that we get out of this okay because
we don't want to get that put in our file because somebody escaped. So the centurion,
thank God for the centurion. You know, he's not going to go for it. And he's mainly thinking
of Paul. The Bible says, but the centurion willing to save Paul kept them from their
purpose. So he says, no, no, no guys, don't kill the prisoners. Can we kill them? Can
we kill them? No, no, no. Put that away. Put that sword away. Don't kill them. And so he
kept them from their purpose. But you know, this just shows you what people are like.
You know, people are sinners. You know, there's just a lot of bad people in this world who
don't really care about anybody except themselves. And sometimes being in a dangerous situation
can bring that out in people where they're just looking out for themselves and they don't
care about anybody else. Just kill all these prisoners because I don't want to get in trouble
for letting them escape. And so he said, you know, the centurion willing to save Paul kept
them from their purpose and commanded that they which could swim should cast themselves
first into the sea and get to land. So there are some that can swim and some that cannot.
We've got to take it for granted today that everybody can swim or most people can swim.
But back in those days, you know, apparently there were a lot of people who couldn't swim
because some people threw themselves in that could swim. They were the ones that were just
supposed to just first jump in, swim to shore if you could swim. And the rest, some on boards
and some on broken pieces of the ship. Now that doesn't sound very good. If you can't
swim and you're on a broken piece of a ship trying to get to land, you're on a board?
And this wasn't a surfboard, this wasn't a, you know, I mean this is a board like a piece
of wood, like a piece of lumber. And so, but thank God because of his promise, I think
that God supernaturally, you know, was watching over them here. And because he said he was
going to save Paul and he said I've also given you those that are with you in the ship. So
God's angels or whatever, they made sure, somehow God made sure that everybody made
safe so that his word would come true. Every single person made it, even against all the
odds. And so it came to pass that they escaped all safe to land. And then we'll just read
the first few verses of chapter 28 just to give us the context here. It says, And when
they were escaped, then they knew that the island was called Melita, and the barbarous
people showed us no little kindness, for they kindled the fire and received us every one
because of the present rain and because of the cold. So this island is what it is that
they've been watching. They didn't know whether it was the mainland or the island. They haven't
seen the stars in two weeks. They've just been thrown around and they don't really know
quite where they are. When they get there, they figure out that they're on an island,
it's called Melita, it's inhabited, and the barbarous people showed them no little kindness,
killed them a fire, take care of them. So it was nice people, but they were barbarians,
meaning that they're uncivilized, meaning that they were not as advanced technologically.
They're just a little bit more of an uncivilized tribe on the island there.
But I think the biggest thing that we can take from the story here is that Paul went
through a lot of dangers and a lot of storms and a lot of life-threatening situations here,
and God was able to protect him. God was able to keep him safe. We ought to be able to believe
God, trust his promises, believe that he's going to keep us safe and keep us through
things, and if bad things do happen to us, then God's allowing them to happen. As long
as we're doing what's right and serving God, he's going to protect us and feed us and clothe
us, and that's what we see here against all the odds. All 276 of them made it alive. They
made it past the bloodthirsty soldiers, they made it through the storms, they made it through
the sea, they made it through not knowing how to swim. God can protect us against all
the odds. And so that's Paulides and Epilogue prayer. Father, we thank you so much for your
word and for the many, many promises that we have in your word. Help us to anchor our
soul on those promises and to believe you, just like Paul said, I believe God. Help us
to believe the promises in your word and to always seek first the kingdom of God and to
put you and your work and your word first in our lives. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.