S. S. Times Acts 27:1-20 And when it was determined that we should sail into Italy, they delivered Paul and certain other prisoners to one named Julius… I. SETTING OUT. 1. The promises of God never fail. Having been told that he shall bear witness at Rome, Paul is in good time — in God's time — transported thither. 2. The faithful spirit shown by Aristarchus is rewarded by a special designation of him by name. II. STORMY WITHOUT. The storm — 1. Frequently comes when it is least expected. This voyage of Paul's began with a soft breeze and ended with a tempest. 2. Usually finds the world's people unready and God's people prepared. The sailors are surprised by the tempest; Paul knows and has spoken of this very tempest before. 3. Tests the comparative value of our possessions. Shall we cling to our gold and our other treasures and be lost, or throw them overboard and be saved? 4. May wreck us unless we are ready "with our own hands" to throw overboard the unnecessary burdens. Even God cannot save the soul that will not voluntarily part with its sins. We must cast away or be cast away. 5. May drive us before it for a time. God does not promise us uninterruptedly smooth sailing. He does not promise a voyage continually in the direction we should choose. All He does promise is that if we do our best we shall reach the right haven at last. 6. Causes discomfort to the believing Paul as well as to the unbelieving among the ship's crew. Spiritual safety does not secure us from present bodily pain, but it makes us despise it for its practical harmlessness. 7. May blot out the light of material sun and stars, but there is one star which is never dimmed. "Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith." III. CALM WITHIN. 1. If the world would listen to the words of God's children warning of the nearness of danger, many an "injury and loss" even worse than this would be avoided. 2. If there is any loss, it will only be a financial and temporal and comparatively insignificant one to those who commit themselves fully to God's keeping. 3. If we as Christians lose anything in the storms of this world, it can at worst be nothing more than the loss of the ship in which we sail, the body in which we dwell. Our souls will be saved into God's presence. 4. If we are ever so much adrift, God can still find us. Says Matthew Henry: "Paul knows not where he is himself, yet God's angel knows where to find him out." 5. If God has promised that we shall in the body stand before Caesar, we need not fear the blows of the tempest. We are immortal until that promise of God is fulfilled. 6. If there is a praying Paul on board, the fact may be worth more to the ship's crew than all their labour at the pumps. Jonah, running away from duty, endangers the ship and its crew; Paul, pursuing the course of duty, is a saving companion to the ship's crew. 7. If we believe God, we shall have little to dread even in such storms as this which shipwrecked Paul. We shall believe that God will bring us through just as He has promised. "Is not God upon the ocean, just the same as on the land?" (S. S. Times.) Parallel Verses KJV: 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. |
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