Riding Out the Storm | Part 1

1:05 and it reminds us that God rules over life's storms. If you have your Bible, turn to Acts chapter 27, beginning in verse 20, as Adrian Rogers shares more about riding out the storm. Take God's Word and turn with me please to Acts, the book of Acts chapter 27. If you know anything about the book of Acts, you know that the book of Acts is a narrative. It tells how the early church began to spread. And it tells of the missionary journeys of the Apostle Paul. And in Acts chapter 27, it tells of the Apostle Paul aboard a ship. and that ship rides into the teeth of a ferocious storm. And it tells how Paul went through that storm, if you will, how Paul rode out the storm.

2:03 That's what I want to talk to you about today, is riding out the storm. I love this 27th chapter of the book of Acts and preach from it from time to time because when you open the Bible there, you can smell the salt hair. There's something about this story. It's one of the most gripping stories. If you listen, you can hear the booming thunder. You can see the lightning as its fingers flash across the bosom of the sky. You can hear the old ship creak and groan. You can hear the moaning and the whistling of the wind. It is an incredible story, the story of a ship in the midst of a storm. But that brings up a question even before we begin to read. Why would God take almost an entire chapter in the Word of God and tell us about a storm and a ship in that storm?

3:03 Because it is more than history. The Holy Spirit has taken this story and made an incredible illustration with a great spiritual application for all of us. Because, you see, life is like a voyage. Sometimes the sea is calm. Sometimes the wind blows softly. Sometimes the sun is shining. Thank God for those times. Maybe that's where you are right now, just sailing along. And if you are, enjoy it. It's a gift of God. But sometimes the wind rises. Sometimes the sky darkens. Sometimes we find ourselves in the midst of a terrible storm. And that's the way life is. This chapter is an illustration of every human being sailing between two eternities.

3:57 Sometimes things are good, and sometimes things are bad. Now, in this particular story, before we break in, I want to remind you that the Apostle Paul is a prisoner. He's been taken prisoner for preaching the gospel of Christ. They are taking him to Rome to be adjudicated. He started out, by the way, on this ship as a prisoner. But we're going to find out before it was over, he was the captain. You know, Paul was different than most of us. Many of us see difficulties in every opportunity. The Apostle Paul saw opportunity in every difficulty. You put him in prison, he becomes the jailer. He's singing songs in the night. You put him before King Agrippa, and he's the defendant. Before long, he's the prosecuting attorney.

4:52 He takes every opportunity and applies to it the Word of God, which says, thanks be unto God, who causeth us always to triumph in Christ Jesus. And if you're in a storm right now, we're going to look and see what Paul did and then see what we can do, learn how to ride out the storm. Now, look in verse 20, if you will. He describes the storm, and when neither sun nor stars in many days appeared, and no small tempest lay on us. Now, folks, that's just old English for saying it was a big one. No small tempest lay on us. All hope that we should be saved was then taken away. Maybe that's where you are. I mean, you're in the midst of a terrible storm and all hope seems to vanish from you. But after long abstinence, Paul stood forth in the midst of them and said, Sirs, ye should have hearkened unto me and not have loosed from Crete to have gained this harm and loss.

5:57 And now I exhort you, be of good cheer, for there shall be no loss of any man's life among you but of the ship. For there stood by me this night the angel of God, whose I am and whom I serve, saying, Fear not, Paul. By the way, somebody has said, I've not counted them, but somebody has said that at least 365 times in the Bible we find this phrase, fear not. One for every day of the year. Fear not, Paul, for thou must be brought before Caesar, and lo, God hath given thee all them that say it with thee, wherefore, sirs, be of good cheer. For I believe God that it shall be even as it was told me. Well, basically three things I want you to see as we look in this passage of Scripture today.

6:56 First of all, the reason for these kind of storms. And secondly, I want you to see the reaction of people when they get into storms, good people and bad people, godly and godless. And then thirdly, I want you to see the result of the storm, what it does in the lives of those who are people of God and in the lives of those who don't know the Lord. Now, we all get into storms, whether you're saved or lost. Actually, basically, there are four basic kind of storms in life. One, just the normal storms that come because we're part of nature. The Bible says God makes it to rain upon the just and the unjust. And if you're a human being, you live in a world that has storms just because we're here. Well, that's one kind of storm we get into.

7:50 There's another kind of storm we get into, and these are the ones that we ourselves engineer by our foolishness, and they're caused by disobedience. That's the kind of a storm that Jonah got into when Jonah tried to flee from the presence of the Lord. You remember that story? He spent the night on a foam blubber mattress. You remember? He was swallowed by a whale. What was the problem with Jonah? He was out of the will of God and he ran right in the teeth of a storm. Now there's a third kind of storm. There are storms that God sends us into for development. Remember the story there in the Gospels where Jesus commanded his disciples to get in a ship to go to the other side of the sea? And Jesus knew that a storm was brewing. But there he was trying to teach them a lesson for their development, for their discipleship. And sometimes we do get into storms, not because we're out of the will of God like Jonah was, but because we're in the will of God.

8:45 But now here's the fourth kind of storm we get into. We get into some storms because we're dragged into them by other people. That's where the Apostle Paul was. Now he was a prisoner, but he was also a mariner. I mean, he had been through shipwrecks before. He'd sailed before. He was a seasoned traveler. and he knew that this ship ought not to sail and he tried to warn everybody but they wouldn't listen to him. He was guarded by a centurion. He had to go along. The higher power said, we're going to sail and he sailed with them. Now some of you can really identify with this. Many times we're in storms and they're not of our own making. Sometimes children get into difficulty because of the parents. I mean, little children are born with ungodly parents or unwise parents, and these little children are just dragged along into a storm because of the parents.

9:45 Sometimes we get into difficulty because of authorities that are over us. Sometimes, folks, America goes into storms because of bad leadership, because of bad leadership. And sometimes Congress or the president or the judges make laws and rules, and we're aboard the ship of state. And we see ourselves sailing into judgment. We say, I wish I could get my hand on the tiller. I wish somehow that I could do this, but we're just aboard the ship of state. We're prisoners, as it were, and that's very much like the apostle Paul was. Paul really didn't want to sail. Look, if you will, in verses 9 and 10. Now when much time was spent and when sailing was now dangerous, there was a certain time in the Mediterranean, especially in those days, you didn't sail because the fast was now already passed.

10:42 Paul admonished them and said unto them, Sirs, I perceive that this voyage will be with hurt and much damage, not only of the lading and the ship, but also of our lives. Now, the apostle Paul had his spiritual radar. He would say, don't sail, don't sail, don't sail. But again, the matter was taken out of Paul's hands. There really wasn't much he could do about it. Look in verse 11. Nevertheless, the centurion believed the master and owner of the ship more than those things which were spoken by Paul. Now you have a businessman. He owns the ship. He is a shipping tycoon.

11:33 He's motivated by profit. He's led by worldly wisdom. And so over here you have the man of God, and over here you have the man of the world. And the centurion has to make a decision. So he just says, well, I'm not going to go with a religious fanatic. I'm not going to go with a prisoner. I'm going to go with the man who is obviously a successful man. He owns this ship. And so he said, we are going to sail. Now, let me just tell you right now the mistake the owner of this ship made, and it's the kind of a mistake that you can make. Let me give you five ways to sink a ship, okay? Now, I'm talking about your ship. Let me just tell you five ways to make a bad decision. And many of you today are in danger of making this kind of a bad decision. and you're going to sail into a storm and it will not be a storm for your development. It will be a storm because of your disobedience and because of your ignorance.

12:31 Number one, just make your decision in haste. Look, if you will, in verse 9 again. Now when much time was spent. Now when much time was spent, they said, hey, time is going past. We better do something. Thank you. decide in haste, repent in leisure. There are a lot of folks who say, well, let's do something even if it's wrong. Sometimes people get married that way, they marry in haste. Sometimes people make business decisions that way. Sometimes a man will just quit school, quit a job, leave a church, go someplace, move out of a city. No real leadership from the Lord. Listen to me, my friend If you're in the middle of a decision You wait on God Bloom where you're planted until God moves you Don't just simply think that Just because time is passing by That you've got to do something They said, well, much time is spent Learn this The Holy Spirit of God does not push If you feel something between your shoulder blades pushing you, that's not the Holy Spirit.

13:55 He leads. He guides. He doesn't shove. Number two, you're going to make a mistake if you depend upon worldly wisdom rather than upon godly wisdom. Look again in verse 11. Nevertheless, the centurion believed the master and owner of the ship more than those things which were spoken by Paul. You go to the people of this world. You say, tell me what to do. Some of you have marriage problems, and you're going to an ungodly counselor, and he's telling you what to do. You forsake any counsel that is not based on the Word of God. One woman went to a psychiatrist to try to get help about her marriage, and the psychiatrist had been married four times. There are people trying to tell you what to do.

14:54 Advice contrary to the will of God. One way to sink your ship is make your decision in haste. Number two, another way to sink your ship is to depend upon worldly wisdom rather than godly wisdom. Number three, take the easy way out. Look, if you will, in verse 12. The Bible says they sail because the haven, and that is the port, was not commodious to winter in.

15:20 They weren't comfortable. And so they made their decision on the basis of what would be easy. You're almost always going to get in trouble this way. We're called upon to endure hardness as good soldiers of Jesus Christ. Do you know why an animal eats and drinks? Because it wants to eat and drink. Do you know why an animal copulates? Because it wants to. It is just simply led by its sensual desires. And there's so many people who make their decisions on the animal plane rather than on the spiritual plane, rather than being led of the Spirit, they are driven by the flesh. Here's the fourth way you can sink your ship. Just follow the crowd. Just follow the crowd. Look in verse 12 again. The haven was not commodious to winter in, and the more part. advised to depart thence also.

16:17 That is, they polled the crowd. They said, what does everybody want to do? Now, there was a crowd on that boat, and when they took a vote, 272 hands went up. Paul is outvoted. They said, let's sail. Learn this and learn it well, everyone listening to me. The majority is almost always wrong. Almost always the majority is wrong. Don't get the idea that if everybody says it, that it's right, that we have morality today in America by a majority. Twelve spies went out to spy out the land in Joshua's day. Ten said it can't be done. Only two said it could be done. The ten were wrong, the two were right. Isn't that right? When the people didn't have a king and they wanted a king, the people of Israel, they should have been a theocracy, but they wanted a monarchy.

17:09 They said, how many of you want a king? And they all voted for king. They got Saul. God gave them what they wanted, but after a while they didn't want what they got. Majority was wrong. When Jesus was there before Pilate, Pilate said, I'm going to release a prisoner to you. Do you want Jesus or Barabbas? The Bible says that they shouted for Barabbas to be released and for Jesus to be crucified. The majority said release Barabbas and crucify Jesus. Never a more heinous crime has ever been committed on this earth, but it was done at the will of the majority. And there are many times when you young people want to do something, or adults, and you're trying to find out what you ought to do, you go from person to person to person to person, and you ask people trying to rack up enough votes to get permission to do what you already wanted to do anyway. You sink your ship that way by going with the majority.

18:04 Do you know what the majority generally is? A lot of people pooling their ignorance. That's what it is. Now here's another way to sink your ship. Just depend upon circumstances. Make your decision upon circumstances. Look in verse 13. And when the south wind blew softly, supposing they had obtained their purpose, loosing thence they sailed close by Crete. the wind just blows so soft. They said, look at this. The sun is shining. The sea is calm. The wind is blowing in our direction. It must be the will of God. Do you know there are a lot of people who are just led by circumstances? And they say, well, I just told God if he didn't want me to do it, don't let it happen. They said, well, I ask God, Lord, it must be your will.

19:00 It looks good. Just circumstances. And that soothing south wind was soon to turn into a horrible, ferocious storm that would sink that ship. There's five ways to sink a ship. It's still happening today. These are the reasons for the storms of life. Let's talk a little bit about the reaction to the storms of life. How do people react? Well, let's begin now in verse 14 and read through verse 21. But not long after there rose against it a tempestuous wind called Eurachlidon. And when the ship was caught up and could not bear up into the wind, we let her drive. What does that mean?

19:58 They couldn't control it. I mean, the wind now just picks up the ship, and they said, we can't turn this way, we can't turn that way. And it's just blown along by the storm. What's the first thing happens to an ungodly man when he gets himself in a storm? Well, they just let her drive. What I mean by that is there are broken dreams. The old ship's captain and owner and the centurion, not as strong as they thought they were. The Bible says they couldn't bear up. I've seen it happen many times. These people, these moguls, these tycoons, these know-it-alls, let the storm come. And they find themselves now driven by winds that they cannot control. They're at the mercy of forces.

20:50 that they cannot understand, dimly comprehend. They're aboard a floundering vessel. Dreams dissolve. Number two, they begin to labor with a desperate effort. Look, if you will, in verse 16. And running under a certain island which is called Claudia, we had much work to come by the boat. That is, they got on the lee side of that island and things lightened up a little bit and they said, hey, we've got to get this thing straightened out. And so now with beads of perspiration on their brow and their backs aching, they're trying to get the tackle of the ship back together. They're trying to get it all back together and they are working with much labor. You know what the devil will tell you? The devil will tell you it is hard to be a Christian. That is a lie.

21:44 Jesus said, take my yoke upon you and learn of me for my yoke is easy and my burden is light. The Bible says the way of the transgressor is hard. I don't mean there's no discipline in being a Christian. I don't mean that at all. I don't mean there's no hardness in being a Christian. Yes, we're to endure hardness as good soldiers of Jesus Christ. But as far as the labor, the grueling, gruesome toil, that comes with sin. There's so many people who are making this desperate effort to try to put things back together.