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. THE GOOD AS WELL AS THE EVIL CANNOT PASS THROUGH THIS WORLD WITHOUT ENDURING MUCH TRIBULATION. We see on board a world in miniature. Stern law is represented by Julius the centurion, navigation by the captain, commerce by the merchants, labour by the sailors, the army by the stern-faced soldiers, science by Luke, literature by Paul, and law breaking by the prisoners. On board were all sorts and conditions of men. But there arose against them all the wave-stirring east wind, now called the "Levanter." 1. Mark the impartiality of that tempest. They were all caught in it. Fire will burn the saint as well as the sinner; water will drown the missionary as well as the pirate; poison will kill an apostle as well as an apostate. The elements know no partisanship, unless these be a Divine interposition. We have found out long ere this that affliction is no respecter of persons. Even the best of men lose the stars for many days; and in their tribulation they strike the sail, cast out the wheat, and send for the doctor to "undergird" the ship. Sorrow will enter every home at some time or other; and this is a wise provision, for there is nothing like it to keep the heart tender and sympathetic. Mercies that are pain born are frequently the most precious. 2. Paul in an Euroclydon! — all this is mysterious; but we have full confidence that it is wisely ordained, for to the godly storms are soul strengtheners. 3. The storm may last "many days"; but the saint will always meet with an angel when the waves are highest. He may lose sight of the natural sun and stars for many days; but he never loses sight of the Divine Sun, and, through the blackest night, the Star of Bethlehem. 4. The good and evil in the same storm; but what a difference between them! Paul had the angel of good cheer at his side, but the godless voyagers had no helper. 5. Paul publicly gave thanks to God "for the bread." How keen was his spiritual insight! He felt that the bread and the storm came from the same hand. Let us learn this profound lesson. The bread and the storm, the joy and the sorrow, the day and the night, come from the same Divine source. Think not so much of the storm as to forget the bread. II. THE FOOLISH WORLD IS ALWAYS PRONE TO REJECT THE SAGE ADVICE OF THE MAN OF GOD. 1. Paul advised them to steer the ship into the Fair Havens and winter there; but the centurion believed the master and owner, and the majority went with them. Paul saw the perils ahead, perhaps by prophetic foresight or by the prognosticating instinct. Anyhow, Paul's words proved true to the letter. Yes, the majority were against the man of God in that first century. "What does a dry landsman like him know about the navigation of the Adriatic? Let him stick to that new gospel of his, and abstain from all things nautical!" 2. Is it not in the nineteenth century as it was in the first? The courageous truth speaker is still the despised and rejected of men. Souls steeped in carnality will not abide in the Fair Havens of piety and purity and love; they will make for some Phenice of their own choosing. We who stand in these pulpits are continually thundering out the warnings, "The wages of sin is death," "The way of transgressors is hard," "Be wise, and winter in the Fair Haven of the gospel of Christ"! But thousands despise the warnings. There are some who say, "Preachers should strictly confine themselves to theology. Parsons, who know nothing of the ins-and-outs of London business life, should not dictate to business men what they must do and how they must do it." Yet Paul, the landsman, may give advice that even practised seamen would do well to follow. III. THE MOCKING WORLD ALWAYS DISCOVERS TO ITS COST THAT IT IS DANGEROUS TO IGNORE THE WARNINGS OF GOD-FEARING MEN. Their ship left the Fair Havens, and it is quite probable that they said, "How this south wind gives the lie to Paul's prognostications!" But in due time the Euroclydon rushed forth to prove that Paul was right. Better be in the humblest minority with the right than in the most aristocratic majority with the wrong. Do not allow the south wind to lead you to rash conclusions. Tell the young man that there is danger in dallying with his first temptations, and he will point you to the gentle south wind; but he may yet live to find that Paul is right, and to gladly place the helm in his hand. On a death bed you may send for the minister whose sermons you have laughed at. IV. GOD HONOURS HIS FAITHFUL SERVANTS BY COMMUNICATING WITH THE WORLD THROUGH THEIR INSTRUMENTALITY. 1. If Caesar had a message to the crew, he would have spoken through the centurion; if the Board of Trade of that day, through the captain; if the Chamber of Commerce of that time, through the merchants; but when the Royal Court of Heaven had a message to the trembling souls on board, it spoke through Paul. "The secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him." "Them that honour Me I will honour." If you wish to be God's ambassador you must be God's child, for His rule is not to employ aliens. "Whose I am, and whom I serve." What noble self-obliviousness in these words! He was not his own; and if we felt this Divine ownership more, there would be infinitely greater sacrifice infused into our service. 2. Paul became, in a secondary sense, the saviour of the two hundred and seventy-five souls on board. Who can estimate the national and civic value of a good man? He is the salt that preserves society from total corruption. Turn all the good men out of the world, and Dante's "Inferno" will not be a thing of fancy, but of fact. Take all the saints out of London, and it will become a Sodom, fit only for the flames. The religious element in English society is its best safeguard. A God-fearing democracy no power on earth can overthrow. V. THE SUBLIME CALMNESS OF THE GOOD MAN IN THE FACE OF DANGER. There is no revealer of character like a tempest. The storm revealed the cowardice and hypocrisy and selfishness of these seamen; but the same storm revealed the moral grandeur of Paul. A landsman calm in a sea-storm, and all the crew trembling like the aspen! His robust faith was the secret of his courage (ver. 25). His calm assurance pacified the panic-stricken crew (ver. 36). The good man is not the slave but the master of circumstances. VI. NO STORMS CAN PREVENT THE SUCCESSFUL ISSUE OF THE PURPOSES OF HEAVEN. God's "must" is mightier than all the storms of the centuries, even if gathered into one. In a very short time his magic words penetrated the royal palace, and several members of Caesar's household were converted. The universal dissemination of the, gospel is somewhat unlikely, and yet we believe in its possibility, for God's "must" will vanquish the Euroclydons. Rome must be reached! Our voyage to heaven has its innumerable perils. The reefs are deceptive, the currents are dangerous, and the haven is easily missed; but be of good cheer, for "there shall be no loss of any man's life." (J. Ossian Davies.) 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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