Acts 27:10 And said to them, Sirs, I perceive that this voyage will be with hurt and much damage, not only of the lading and ship… St. Paul was moved by God's Spirit to warn the sailors of the consequences of proceeding on the voyage. No doubt the apostle had a large experience of the sea, and in part gave his personal opinion, but we must recognize that he had the gift of foresight, and this may very readily, on occasion, pass into the gift of prophecy. We note that it is an almost universal method of Divine dealing to warn before judgment falls. Illustration may be found in Noah's warning before the flood, Jonah's warning to Nineveh, Daniel's to Nebuchadnezzar, the warnings of Jehovah's prophets, and our Lord's warning addressed to the guilty people of Jerusalem. We ask why these are given both to individuals and to nations, and what precise purposes do such warnings accomplish. I. THEY MAY BE PREVENTVE OF CALAMITY. St. Paul's would have been if it had been heeded. The warning of Jonah was, for the king and people of Nineveh did give heed to it. Explain that in the Divine rule of the world and men, no events need be regarded as absolutely and irrevocably settled. God's foreknowings and fore-ordainings are quite consistent with the conditional character of all events as regarded by men. We can prevent overhanging calamities up to certain limits of time. We can if we will duly keep Divine principles, and heed Divine warnings. II. THEY SHOW THE CONNECTION BETWEEN MAN'S CONDUCT AND MAN'S CIRCUMSTANCES. This is always the point of a Divine warning. This connection we are always in peril of denying or of forgetting. If we possibly can we think of events as accidents, and then all moral relations and uses are taken away from them. We never can call them "accidents" in the face of Divine warnings, for these distinctly affirm that the character of the coming events depends upon ourselves. It should be carefully shown that public events may not depend on individuals, but they do upon social conditions; and it may also be shown that the wrongdoing of some one may involve the calamity of many. In further and more minutely unfolding the mission of Divine warnings, it may be shown that - III. THEY MAKE MEN PERSONALLY RESPONSIBLE, AND GIVE THEIR AFTER-ACTIONS A DISTINCT MORAL QUALITY. The warned man does not act at unawares. All excuses are taken away. The character of his proposed conduct is revealed to him in its issues. He acts upon knowledge, and the action is obedient or self-willed, good or bad. IV. THEY SOLEMNLY AFFIRM THE SUPREME KNOWLEDGE OF GOD, AND THE DIVINE OVERRULING OF ALL AFFAIRS. In man's willfulness he says of some things, "They are mere calamities; man's conduct had nothing to do with them;" and then again of other events he will say, "They are simply the natural consequences of men's foolish and wicked doings, and we need not think that God has anything to do with them." Correcting both errors, God's warnings make us understand that he rules and overrules all events, all actions, all sins, "making the very wroth of man to praise him." Show, in conclusion, that warnings still come to us (1) through men; (2) through the Word; (3) through providences; (4) through the inward witnessings of God's Holy Spirit. Individuals and nations now cannot press on in paths of evil without finding, again and again, God's angel of warning blocking the way, as he did for foolish, covetous, willful Balaam. - R.T. Parallel Verses KJV: And said unto them, Sirs, I perceive that this voyage will be with hurt and much damage, not only of the lading and ship, but also of our lives. |
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