Acts 27

Please take out your copy of God's Word, which I pray is well read and treasured in your hearts.

And turn with me to the book of Acts chapter 27.

Acts 27 · chapter mention

Yes, we are still working our way through the book of Acts, which is our habit to do verse by verse exposition, but we are nearing the end.

We have this Sunday and two more if things go to plan and we'll complete our study of the book of Acts.

But before we get into today's text, I'll summarize where we are in Luke's narrative of the ascended Christ working by the agency of the Spirit in the life of the Apostle Paul.

At the beginning of chapter 21, Paul returns to Jerusalem where he is attacked at the temple and subsequently arrested by a Roman cohort.

Because of the uproar of the crowd, the confusion concerning their accusations against Paul and a plot to kill him, he is detained and stands trial a number of times across the following chapters.

In chapter 25, Paul exercises his right as a Roman citizen and makes an appeal to Caesar.

That is to be sent to Rome to stand trial before Caesar, which is granted to him.

And that brings us to the decision to sail for Rome in today's text.

And wasn't that the most sweeping summary ever of those chapters?

So before I begin reading in Acts 27, let me remind you, beloved, that this is God's word to us.

It was written for his glory and our good.

We would all do well to listen to it in order to believe its promises and obey its commands.

Now, as we read across the following chapter, I'm going to stop at some periodic places and give some brief explanation just so we know, fully wrap our minds around what's happening in this episode in Paul's life.

And then we'll give some application following it.

So Acts 27, verse 1.

Acts 27:1

So note first the phrase, we should sail.

I just think it's good for us to recognize that Luke is using first person plural pronouns again.

So he is back on the scene, right?

That means he joined Paul as he is sent to Rome.

He was likely nearby during all of those trials, but he's observing from a distance what is happening.

Many have supposed that Luke served as Paul's physician for his general health as he went on all of these hazardous journeys,

as well as the thorn in his flesh mentioned in 2 Corinthians.

We don't know exactly what that was, but many have supposed it was some kind of ailment that Paul carried with him.

Luke serves us as a beautiful example of friendship and service as he returns and joins him on his trip to trial and imprisonment in Rome.

Note also that they get on a ship of Adramidium.

And it's only substantial because I think sometimes words like this become distracting to us.

Like what in the world is a ship of Adramidium?

Adramidium was a place.

It was the ship's home port.

And the ship is likely a merchant ship carrying wheat westward, as we see in verse 38.

We find out later in the chapter that there's a massive number of people on this ship.

Ships of this size in that day would have been the largest seagoing vessel.

So it was a large ship of Adramidium carrying most likely wheat.

Verse 38 says, when they'd eaten enough, they lightened the ship, throwing out the wheat into the sea.

And we also see that he's accompanied by Aristarchus.

And Aristarchus has served as one of Paul's travel companions for quite some time.

In fact, he is one of the men seized in the Ephesian riot that we learned about back in chapter 19.

So another picture, a beautiful friendship and service to Paul as he goes with him.

Verse 3.

The next day we put in at Sidon, and Julius treated Paul kindly and gave him leave to go to his friends and be cared for.

And putting out to sea from there, we sailed under the lee of Cyprus because the winds were against us.

Now, if you would like, in the back of your Bible, probably there's a map of Paul's missionary journeys.

If you have an ESV like I do, a thin line, it's the last one.

So you can just very quickly turn to it and see the path that he takes.

If that helps you, you can flip back and forth between the two.

Sidon from Caesarea would have just been a bit north on the coast of Israel.

So they've sailed just a bit of a way.

And Julius, this soldier of the Augustan cohort, allows him to go to who's likely his friends being the church there in Sidon and be cared for.

We see also in these two verses that they sail under the lee of Cyprus.

Now, Luke uses the word lee twice more in this narrative.

So it's important that you understand what he's referring to.

And the lee is the protection of a landmass from the wind.

That is to say, they sailed on the downwind side of Cyprus.

They were protected from the strong winds by sailing in the lee of Cyprus because the winds were against them, Luke records.

Now, a sailing ship is most easily sailed with the wind at its stern, its backside.

That's the way we think of sailing ships, right?

The wind blowing it along.

But did you know that when the wind is at the bow of a ship, it can still be sailed?

I had never given this any thought until the year was 1996.

And my dad and I went up to Maine, and we got to take a sailing ship out, and we took it up the coast.

And I didn't think, how do we get back?

We had to turn around and sail against the wind.

And you do a process called tacking.

You cut across the wind, back and forth, and you make progress in that way.

But it's not an easy thing to do.

And so, with the wind at the bow against them, right, they can still sail, but with this difficulty.

And in especially high winds, it can become quite impossible.

And it became a continued problem on this voyage they're taking.

Verse 5.

And when we had sailed across the open sea along the coast of Cilicia and Pamphylia, we came to Myra in Lycia.

There the centurion found a ship of Alexandria sailing for Italy and put us on board.

We sailed slowly for a number of days and arrived with difficulty off Nidus.

And as the wind did not allow us to go farther, we sailed under the lee of Crete off Salmone.

Coasting along it with difficulty, we came to a place called Fairhavens, near which was the city of Lycia.

So they were working against the wind.

All this language of difficulty is what that means.

So they put into a port called Fairhavens.

Fairhavens still exists as a place.

It's still called Fairhavens.

And it now has a small city.

About 200 people live there.

But it likely did not have a city in that day as Luke records that it's near this city of Lycia.

But even if it did, it's a pretty poor port.

It's open to the southeast, which means that it's exposed to the winter winds.

And that's a problem.

So they finally make their way into this port, which gives them some temporary shelter.

But it's not going to give them long-term shelter from the wind.

And this sets up this issue that's before them.

We'll see in verse 9.

Since much time had passed and the voyage was now dangerous because even the fast was already over,

Paul advised them, saying,

Sirs, I perceive that the voyage will be with injury and much loss,

not only of the cargo and the ship, but also of our lives.

Now, when Luke uses the phrase, even the fast was already over,

he's doing so simply to mark the date.

He's referring to the last, the fast of the day of atonement, which fell in late September.

You can see why I'm filling in these details because we have no concept of much of this.

For ancient vessels, any travel on the Mediterranean past mid-September was dangerous.

It was dangerous to venture out past mid-September.

And all travel ceased from mid-November until past February, at least until February.

All travel ceased altogether.

So, they were trying to sneak this trip in.

So, back at the beginning of the chapter, when it was decided for them to go,

the decision was either we try to slip this trip in and get Paul to Rome now,

or we wait until the spring.

So, they're sneaking it in.

And with the difficulty they had experienced thus far,

they're entering an even more treacherous time to continue westward.

So, Paul says, and it doesn't really seem to be phrased as a prophecy in this way,

but he just says, I perceive this is going to go bad for us.

Look at how difficult it's been so far.

Verse 11,

But the centurion paid more attention to the pilot and to the owner of the ship than to what Paul said.

And because the harbor was not suitable to spend the winter in, that's fair havens,

the majority decided to put out to sea from there on the chance that somehow they could reach Phoenix,

a harbor of Crete, facing both southwest and northwest, and spend the winter there.

Now, when the south wind blew gently, supposing that they had obtained their purpose,

they weighed anchor and sailed along Crete close to the shore.

But soon, a tempestuous wind called the Northeaster struck down from the land.

And when the ship was caught and could not face the wind, we gave way to it and were driven along.

Running under the lee of a small island called Kauda,

we managed with difficulty to secure the ship's boat.

After hoisting it up, they used supports to undergird the ship.

Then, fearing they would run aground on the Sirtis,

they lowered the gear, and thus they were driven along.

So they decide to make a run for it, right, in the hopes of wintering at Phoenix.

But the winds shift.

So they get this nice wind, they say, now's our chance, and they go,

but the winds shift.

And a particular wind comes called the Northeaster, right, a tempestuous one, right,

coming from the Northeast.

If you're looking at your little map in the back of your Bible,

you can see that on the south side of the island of Crete.

And so as this wind comes across the island of Crete,

not only is it a strong wind, but it becomes a turbulent wind as well.

The island itself begins to break the wind up, so it's not steady any longer.

And this wind is turbulent enough, strong enough,

that as they turn, it would seem they turn and try to go back

and make their way back into Fairhavens again.

And they're unable to sail against it, so they have to give in to its power.

Luke says that we manage with difficulty to secure the ship's boat.

So this would have been a boat used to go into shore.

This was a large sailing vessel,

so a boat that they could have landed on the beaches with.

And they had pulled it.

It would have been pulled along beside, behind the ship,

so they pulled it in and secured it on board the ship.

And then he says that they used supports to undergird the ship.

Some of your translations may say cables.

The wind was so strong and the sea so violent at this point

that they looped cables underneath the ship to help hold it together.

That's what they're doing, right?

It's already that kind of wind that they're looping rope,

tying it tight up underneath the ship to hold it together,

which was a common practice in such situations.

Then he says that they're concerned that they're going to run aground on the Sirdis.

The Sirdis Shallows or the Sirdis Sands

is an area off the coast of North Africa with many sandbars.

It's deep water, but it has a lot of sandbars in it.

And it's well known as a ship graveyard.

Lots of ships would run aground on these sandbars,

especially these large ships that would have carried heavy loads

and sat deep in the water, would get stuck and then get beat to death by the waves.

So it's a common place that people would run aground.

They are quite some distance from the Sirdis at this point,

but it would seem that they do not know their exact location.

They're just not quite aware where they are exactly in the Mediterranean Sea.

And so wishing to avoid the Sirdis altogether,

they lowered the gear,

which can mean either they lowered the sails

or they lowered the sea anchor.

Some of your translations may say that.

Or both.

It's possible that both things happen,

which is what I propose with my very limited knowledge of sailing.

As the winds coming from the northeast,

and they desire not to be driven to the southwest,

where this region, the Sirdis, was at,

they drop sails,

and they employ a sea anchor,

which was a large bag.

It's kind of like a parachute that floats under the water

that acts as a brake,

orients them with the wind,

and it's in this way

that they're driven along.

They're driven westward,

if you're looking at that little line on your map.

Verse 18.

Since we were violently storm-tossed,

they began the next day to jettison the cargo.

And on the third day,

they threw the ship's tackle overboard

with their own hands.

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.

Since they had been without food for a long time,

Paul stood up among them and said,

Men,

you should have listened to me

and not have set sail from Crete

and incurred this injury and loss.

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.

But we must run aground on some island.

When the fourteenth night had come,

as we were being driven across the Adriatic Sea,

about midnight,

the sailors suspected that they were nearing land.

So they took a sounding and found twenty fathoms.

A little farther on,

they took a sounding again and found fifteen fathoms.

And fearing that we might run on the rocks,

they let down four anchors from the stern

and prayed for day to come.

It gets intense, doesn't it?

I love it.

This is the Bible.

So Paul sees a vision.

He says,

We're going to be okay,

but we need to run aground.

And then these sailors perceive,

they think,

they suspect that they're nearing land.

And the only thing I can figure,

again with my very limited seafaring knowledge,

is that as experienced sailors,

maybe the waves begin to change

the way they're interacting with the bottom of the ocean

as it shallows out.

Maybe they have the kind of experience to know that.

That's the only thing I could guess.

It's nighttime.

They can't see that there's land coming up.

But maybe.

They think that they're approaching land.

And so they take a sounding.

They let down a rope that was intended for this very thing

with a weight tied to the end of it

and used for measuring depth.

And they found twenty fathoms,

which is 120 feet.

And then going a bit farther,

they measured 15 fathoms,

which is 90 feet.

So the ocean floor is approaching sea level,

which means that the sea is shallowing.

They're approaching land of some kind.

And so they don't want to run around a ground on rocks.

So they let down four anchors from the back of the boat,

right,

as the boat's being driven forward

to slow them down and prevent this type of accident.

Verse 30.

And as the sailors were seeking to escape from the ship

and had lowered the ship's boat into the sea

under pretense of laying out anchors from the bow,

Paul said to the centurion and the soldiers,

unless these men stay in the ship,

you cannot be saved.

Right?

So God made this promise

that he would maintain the crew.

And Paul adds to that,

we've got to stay together in this.

Under pretense,

basically they say,

hey,

we're going to get out in the boat

and we're going to put some more anchors out

from the bow of the boat,

the front of the boat.

But they were lying about it.

And Paul says they must stay on board.

So,

verse 32.

Then the soldiers cut away the ropes of the ship's boat

and let it go.

They didn't let them get in it.

They cut the ropes.

As day was about to dawn,

Paul urged them all to take some food,

saying,

today is the 14th 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.

When they had eaten enough,

they lightened the ship,

throwing out the wheat into the sea.

Now when it was day,

they did not recognize the land,

but they noticed a bay with a beach

on which they planned,

if possible,

to run the ship ashore.

So they cast off the anchors

and left them in the sea,

at the same time loosening the ropes

that tied the rudders,

then hoisting the foresail to the wind

they made for the beach.

But striking a reef,

they ran the vessel aground.

The bow stuck and remained immovable,

and the stern was being broken up by the surf.

The soldiers' plan was to kill the prisoners,

lest any should swim away and escape.

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 safely brought to land.

So they see on this morning,

right after the 14th night,

they see an inlet with a beach,

and in order to run the ship aground,

they make it as light as they possibly can.

They cut away the anchors.

Loosening the ropes

doesn't mean they let the rudder flop.

It means that they actually cut the rudders away.

So there's not no rudder on the bottom of it.

It's as smooth as it can possibly be

on the bottom of this thing.

They hoist the mainsail,

but the wind would drive them

all the way in to land.

But as we see,

there's a reef that they get caught on,

and the boat gets beat to pieces

as they all abandon ship

and are brought safely to the shore.

So there's our text for today.

So let's make three valuable observations

from, or we could say in some cases,

about today's text.

As I've said to you before,

preaching from historical narrative

is often very difficult

because my first reading through this,

I really wanted to say,

and this morning there's one point.

Wow, what a journey, right?

What do we learn from such a text, right?

Like what is there to be said to us from a text?

And I do think there's some really important things

after further consideration.

So observations from or about today's text

as we read it together.

And here they are.

These are the three observations,

and then we'll go through them one by one.

Number one, God's words are true.

God's words are true.

Number two, God is in control of all things.

And number three, God uses suffering

to work good in the hearts of his people.

Okay, so first, God's words are true.

I want to make this first point

in a really general sense.

This is an astoundingly accurate account

of what a journey of this magnitude

would have been like.

Like that's lost on us, isn't it?

It was really lost on me

on my first reading of it.

Luke's account here has historical veracity

as a record of a treacherous first century crossing

of the Mediterranean Sea.

In fact, Acts chapter 27

Acts 27 · chapter mention

is used in lots of secular literature

as a historical account

of what it would have taken

and what sailing looked like in this day.

What would first century sailors do

in the case of a tempestuous wind?

What would happen in that way?

So it's a very historically voracious account.

F.F. Bruce,

who was a 20th century New Testament scholar,

wrote a work on Acts,

and he quotes in that work

the 19th century British yachtsman James Smith.

You're tracking that?

A book within a book.

James Smith wrote this book

entitled The Voyage and Shipwreck of St. Paul,

which is an exploration

of the accuracy of Luke's account.

So James Smith, as a yachtsman,

sets out to figure out

how historically accurate it is.

And where I found this

was F.F. Bruce talking about this book.

Okay?

I'm going to read this quote to you

as best I can

to let you track me.

Smith relates

how he made careful inquiries

of experienced Mediterranean navigators

in order to ascertain

the mean rate of drift

of a ship of this kind

laid to in such a gale.

So he asked around navigators, right?

How fast would a ship like this

drift under these conditions?

The conclusion which he reached

was a mean drift

of about 36 miles in 24 hours.

The soundings recorded in verse 28

indicate that the ship

was passing Korah,

a point on the west coast of Malta,

on her way into what's now called

St. Paul's Bay.

Okay?

On the island of Malta.

It's now called St. Paul's Bay.

But the distance from Klaudah

to the point of Korah

is 476.6 miles,

which, at the rate deduced

from the information,

would take exactly 13 days,

one hour, and 21 minutes.

And not only so,

the coincidence of the actual

bearing of St. Paul's Bay

from Klaudah

and the direction in which

a ship must have driven

in order to avoid the Cirtus

is, if possible,

still more striking

than that of the time

actually consumed

and the calculated time.

Then, after carefully reckoning

the direction of the ship's course

from the direction of the wind,

from the angle of the ship's head

with the wind,

and from the leeway,

he goes on.

So Smith goes on to say,

Hence, according to these calculations,

a ship starting late in the evening

from Klaudah would,

by midnight on the 14th day,

be less than three miles

from the entrance of St. Paul's Bay.

I admit that a coincidence

so very close as this

is to a certain extent accidental,

but it is an accident

which could not have happened

had there been any inaccuracy

on the part of the author

of the narrative.

So he just does this extensive study

which is to say

that Luke made a very careful recording

of this trip that took place.

The scripture has historical veracity.

This is one wonderful example

of that in our text today.

Secondly, God's words are true

in the text itself.

In verse 24,

Paul recounts this visitation

of an angel who said,

Do not be afraid, Paul.

You must stand before Caesar

and behold,

God has granted you

all those who sail with you.

Now, in light of this kind of storm,

the odds were very clearly

stacked against them.

This was a miserable situation to be in.

Don't read past

how very horrible this trip was.

They are two weeks

being driven in a storm.

They're not seeing the sun

or the moon or the stars.

They're being beaten down

in this horrible winter storm

for two weeks.

And yet,

God's word proves true.

Verse 44,

And so it was

that all were brought safely to land.

All 276 souls were spared.

Beloved, God's words are true.

And this is why we would all do well

to listen to it

in order to believe its promises

and obey its commands.

Proverbs 30, verse 5,

Proverbs 30:5

tells us that

every word of God proves true.

He's a shield to those

who take refuge in Him.

And Psalm 119, 89, says,

Forever, O Lord,

your word is firmly fixed

in the heavens.

If God has said something,

it will come to pass.

So God's words are true.

Not only are God's words true,

but God is in control

of all things.

So secondly,

God is in control

of all things.

Now Luke does not express

this reality directly

in this passage.

But as a good student

of our Bibles,

we can know that

God sovereignly rules

all things at all times.

We call this

God's omnipotence, right?

He is all-powerful.

Turn with me, if you will,

to Job chapter 37.

Job 37 · chapter mention

There's a lot of good

flipping happening.

I like to hear it.

Job chapter 37.

Job 37 · chapter mention

In the midst of Job's suffering,

I'm going to assume that you know

about Job's suffering.

I'll tell you more about it

if you would like to know.

But for the sake of time,

in the midst of Job's suffering,

the bad advice of Job's friends

is corrected by a young man

named Elihu.

I love Elihu.

He's a neat character

in the scripture.

I encourage you to study him.

Listen to what he says to Job

in Job 37,

beginning in verse 1

and following.

Elihu says,

At this also my heart

trembles and leaps

out of its place.

Keep listening to the thunder

of his voice

and the rumbling

that comes from his mouth.

Under the whole heavens

he lets it go

and is lightning

to the corners of the earth.

After it,

his voice roars.

He thunders

with his majestic voice

and he does not restrain

the lightnings

when his voice is heard.

God thunders wondrously

with his voice.

He does great things

that we cannot comprehend.

For to the snow,

he says,

fall on the earth.

Likewise to the downpour,

his mighty downpour.

He seals up the hand

of every man

that all men

whom he made

may know it.

Then the beasts

go into their lairs

and remain in their dens.

From its chamber

comes the whirlwind

and cold

from the scattering winds.

By the breath of God,

ice is given

and the broad waters

are frozen fast.

He loads the thick cloud

with moisture.

The clouds scatter his lightning.

They turn around

and around

by his guidance

to accomplish

all that he commands them

on the face

of the habitable world.

Whether for correction

or for his land

or for love,

he causes it

to happen.

And after further correction

by God himself

to Job,

Job says in Job 42,

Job 42:2

verse 2,

I know that you

can do all things

and that no purpose

of yours

can be thwarted.

So,

we learn from Job

that God is in control

of all things

and certainly

expressed so clearly

in Job 37

by Elihu

that he is in control

of the weather.

In Jeremiah 32,

Jeremiah 32:27

verse 27,

God says,

Behold,

I am the Lord,

the God of all flesh.

Is anything

too hard

for me?

And we know,

of course,

that's a rhetorical question.

The answer is clear.

No,

nothing is too hard

for the Lord,

the God of all flesh.

So,

God caused

the shifting winds,

right?

When they made

their run for it

with the gentle

south wind,

he caused the wind

to shift.

That northeaster

was sent

by the Lord.

That northeaster

that drives the ship

that Paul is on

across the sea

to be broken up

on a reef.

Why would God

do such a thing?

Doesn't it seem

best in our minds

that Paul would

just be taken

safely to Rome?

Wasn't he already

giving enough,

sacrificing enough?

Does Paul really

have to go through

another shipwreck?

And yes,

this is the fourth

that we know about.

Well,

there's many reasons.

I think there's

a multitude

of reasons

why this may have

happened to Paul

and his companion.

but one that we

can be sure of.

We find out

in chapter 28

that the island

they are shipwrecked

on is called Malta

and they spend

the winter there.

They spend three

months in that place.

Church tradition

holds that Paul

established,

by God's grace,

a church on that

island before he

left.

He's there.

Chapter 28 tells us

he's healing people.

He is preaching

the gospel

as Paul does

every time

he's working

miracles.

And church history

tells us

that a church

was established

while he was there.

So,

God brought

the saving message

of the gospel

of Jesus Christ

to Malta

with a storm.

So,

God is in control

of all things.

We would do well

to remember that

and to trust him

in all things.

And thirdly,

God uses

suffering

to work good

in the hearts

of his people.

So,

God is in control

of all things

including

our suffering.

He brings about

our suffering.

He ordains

our suffering.

And he does so

to work good

in the hearts

of his people.

God's control

of all things

at all times

for the good

of his people

is called

his providence.

It's a precious

word.

God's providence

extends

to the suffering

of his people.

If you suffer

and you're not

a Christian,

you need to see

your suffering

as a judgment.

Sin in the world

working its effect,

bringing about

conviction.

That's what needs

to be happening

in your hearts

as you suffer

as an unbeliever.

But if you're

in Christ,

suffering is ordained

for your good.

Can you just imagine,

right,

then wrap your brains

back around

how miserable

a two-week storm

must have been.

I can't ride

a kid's roller coaster

without feeling

nauseous.

When I drive

in the mountains

around here,

I feel sick.

Thinking about

being tossed

in a boat

for two weeks

is absolutely

horrid

to me.

This is the biggest

ship of the day,

most likely,

but it's not

cutting through

these waves.

They are riding

up and down,

these massive

wave trains.

In fact,

I think that

the reason

that they're

not eating,

they're tense,

right?

There's not a lot

of time

to take breaks

as these waves

are crashing

and they're having

to mend lines

all the time.

But I imagine

they just didn't

feel good enough

to eat.

Probably even

the best of sailors

feel sick

after a certain

amount of time

being tossed

up and down

in that way.

So Paul has

to urge them

to take food

they haven't

even eaten.

You can just

reduce the suffering

to that.

They just haven't

eaten for two

whole weeks.

What a miserable

time of suffering

that Paul and his

companions are

part of along

with the others

on that ship.

What does God

intend to accomplish

with such a thing?

In 2 Corinthians

2 Corinthians 11:24–30

chapter 11

verses 24

through 30,

you may want

to join me there.

I'll give you a little

time if you want

to.

Paul writes the

following,

but keep in mind

that this is

written,

the book of 2

Corinthians is

written before

the event that we

read about this

morning from

Acts 27.

So this is

front loaded

to this journey

that Paul goes

on.

2 Corinthians 11

beginning in

verse 24.

Paul says,

five times I

received at the

hands of the

Jews the 40

lashes less

one.

Three times I

was beaten with

rods.

Once I was

stoned.

We know that

stoning,

they thought he

was dead,

but he actually

wasn't.

Three times I

was shipwrecked.

And night and a

day I was adrift

at sea.

This is verse 25

if you're just

joining me.

So before this

shipwreck, he was

shipwrecked three

other times.

And Luke doesn't

even record that

for us in the

book of Acts.

But sometime in

the Acts narrative,

he's shipwrecked

three times.

And one of those

times he's just

adrift on a

plank for a

night and a

day in the

ocean.

Right?

That's suffering.

Just a fascinating

note.

Paul took between

nine and twelve

ocean journeys up

to this time,

Acts chapter 27,

Acts 27 · chapter mention

which means the

shipwreck rate for

Paul was really

high.

A third to

twenty-five percent

of the time.

I don't know if

that was normative

in the day or

not, but Paul

really is suffering.

Right?

God's bringing

about.

And again, God

is in control of

all things.

God is putting

him through these

shipwrecks.

Verse 26,

on frequent

journeys in

danger from

rivers, danger

from robbers,

danger from my

own people,

danger from

Gentiles, danger

in the city,

dangers in the

wilderness, danger

at sea, danger

from false

brothers, in

toil and hardship

through many a

sleepless night, in

hunger and thirst,

often without food,

in cold and

exposure.

And apart from

other things,

all that stuff,

there's the daily

pressure on me of

my anxiety for all

the churches.

And he expresses

that by saying,

who is weak and I

am not weak?

I am with them

and their suffering.

Who was made to

fall and I am not

indignant or I'm not

concerned about their

failure.

So on top of all

of that, this great

love and concern

for the church as an

apostle of Jesus

Christ.

So Paul was made

to suffer, right?

By the good hand

of God, Paul was

made to suffer.

And to what end?

Why?

What does this

produce in Paul?

Look at verse 30.

He says,

If I must boast,

I will boast of the

things that show my

weakness.

What does all this

produce in Paul?

Humility.

It produces a great

humility in his life.

If God would bring

about suffering in

this way, then he

would see his great

need of God.

Let me give you

another very

applicable example

from Mark chapter

four.

However, when Jesus

with the apostles

crossing the Sea of

Galilee, they are

caught in a violent

storm, right?

As we study this

together, the Sea of

Galilee would have

been much like Lake

Lanier, kind of in

its general size,

although it's different

in its shape.

I fully recognize

nothing's quite the

shape of Lake

Lanier.

water.

The storms were

immense.

The way that winds

came through the

valley would kick up

waves that were 10

to 20 feet high.

I don't know how much

time you spend at the

ocean, but I don't

think any of us have

probably been out in

waves that big.

If you have, I want to

talk to you after the

service because that's

incredible.

Huge waves.

They're experiencing

this other great,

huge, violent storm.

Jesus is asleep in the

stern of the boat.

The back of the boat

passed out on a

cushion.

Mark chapter 4 tells

Mark 4 · chapter mention

us that the waves are

crashing over the ship.

They're taking on water

and Jesus is asleep.

Why?

Because he's the son of

God and he trusts God's

goodness in the situation.

So the apostles,

though, they frantically

wake him up and then we

read beginning in verse

39, and he awoke and

rebuked the wind and said

to the sea, peace, be

still.

And the wind ceased and

there was a great calm.

He said to them, he

turned to the apostles,

why are you so afraid?

Have you still no faith?

So Jesus, having exercised

his control over nature,

turns his attention to the

apostles and what is his

concern?

Their faith.

His concern is for their

belief in him as the

Christ.

And we see later on in the

chapter, they say, who is

this guy that can even talk

to the storm and tell it

what to do.

He's concerned about

bringing about good,

birthing good in the

hearts of his people.

Paul wrote in Romans

Romans 8:28

chapter 8, verse 28, 29.

We know that for those who

love God, all things work

together for good.

For those who are called

according to his purpose.

purpose.

What is the good that God

works all things together

for?

What is this good that God's

effort is aimed at?

Paul doesn't leave us

uninformed.

Praise God.

Verse 29.

For those whom he foreknew,

he also predestined to be

conformed to the image of

his son in order that he

might be the firstborn among

many brothers.

Ignore this morning, if you

can, the controversial

words of verse 29 and see

that God is working all

things so that his people

will be conformed to the

image of his son.

This is the good that God

seeks.

Our sanctification, our

growing perfection in

Jesus Christ.

Humility, faith and every

other good work.

suffering is aimed at

bringing that about in

God's people.

So, beloved Christian,

take heart this morning.

Whatever figurative storm

you are experiencing,

none of us are experiencing

quite the same storm, but

whatever the figurative

storm you may have been

through, you are currently

going through, or that you

will go through, hold fast

to the truth that God's

words are true.

God is in control of all

things, and God uses

suffering to work good in

the hearts of his people.

Now, I'm going to close

this morning with a reading

of a hymn written by

William Cowper entitled,

God Moves in a Mysterious

Way.

People like to use that

phrase a lot.

That comes from this hymn.

But before I read it, let me

tell you a bit of the story

that led him to the writing

of this hymn.

It's not entirely because

of this event, but it's part

of the events of his life

that led him to the writing

of this hymn.

Cowper was a gifted and

famous English hymn writer

in the 18th century.

Really well known.

But he dealt with serious

bouts of depression.

There were at least four

years-long bouts of depression

in his life.

On one occasion, he sought

to take his own life by

drowning himself in the

Thames River.

Full intention to do this.

So he hired a carriage that

night to take him from his

house to the river.

But on the way there, a thick

fog enveloped London, and the

carriage driver was unable

to find his way around the

city.

Couldn't see at all to get

him to the Thames River.

So they're working their way

around the city, trying to

find the river.

The driver has no idea why

he wants to go there.

But frustrated by the state

of their disorientation,

Cowper asked the driver to

stop so that he could just

proceed on foot.

He just said, okay, let me

out.

I'm going to go figure this

out on foot.

And upon leaving the

carriage, he steps out of

the carriage.

Cowper found himself back at

the front door of his very

own house.

The place that the carriage

stopped was back at his

front door.

And he was overwhelmed by

this.

And he saw this as a mighty

providence of God preventing

him from carrying out his

plan.

It was after this incident

that Cowper penned the

following.

So hear Cowper in the midst

of a storm.

Hear him suffering.

And this is what he wrote.

God moves in a mysterious

way.

His wonders to perform.

He plants his footsteps in the

sea and rides upon the storm.

Deep and unfathomable minds of

never failing skill, he treasures

up his bright designs and works

his sovereign will.

Ye fearful saints, fresh courage

take.

The clouds ye so much dread are big

with mercy and shall break in

blessings on your head.

Judge not the Lord by feeble

sense, but trust him for his

grace.

Behind a frowning providence, he

hides a smiling face.

His purposes will ripen fast,

unfolding every hour.

The bud may have a bitter taste,

but sweet will be the flower.

Blind unbelief is sure to err and

scan his work in vain.

God is his own interpreter and he

will make it plain.

Let's pray together.