142 Acts 27:1-13 A WARNING UNHEEDED Introduction: In this text the Apostle Paul begins his journey toward the city of Rome where he had long desired to go, where he had made plans to go and where he had prayed to go. He is not going as he had originally planned. Rather, he is going as a prisoner of the Roman government, but he is happy to be going and counts it a special blessing from God that he is now on his way. Our text gives a brief account of his journey, taking special note of some of the special blessings of God upon him and also of some of the difficulties of the journey. I would like to focus your attention upon a warning which the Apostle Paul gives to the Roman centurion who is in charge of him and all the prisoners who are being sent to Rome for trial. This is a warning which the centurion would have done well to heed, but he didn’t. I want you to see a comparison between the warning which Paul gave to the centurion and the warning which the gospel of Jesus Christ gives to all men. I. Paul, aboard a ship of Adramyttium V. 1, “And when it was determined that we should sail into Italy...” It had already been previously determined that Paul would be sent to Rome for trial. This had been determined from the time that Paul, as a Roman citizen, had appealed his case to be heard by the Roman Caesar. But what this verse is talking about is that after Paul’s hearing before King Agrippa, considerable time had lapsed before a ship would arrive which would carry him at least a part of the way on his trip toward Rome. Now a ship had arrived that would carry them on their way toward Italy and, thus, on their way to Rome. Luke, the writer of the Book of Acts, says, “...it was determined that we should sail into Italy...” By the word, we, he is telling us that he, himself, was included in the group. He was not a prisoner, of course, but he was allowed to accompany Paul and help to see to his need. Perhaps you will recall that Luke was a doctor. It was a special blessing from God that Luke and others were allowed to accompany Paul and help see to his needs. They would help to supply his physical needs and they would also bring him spiritual encouragement which he would need. Let us pause right here to see a special blessing in our own lives. God has provided medical help and made it available for His children as they travel along on life’s journey. He has provided doctors, nurses, medicines and hospitals. Let us not think that it is mere coincidence that we have these blessings available to us. Let us not think that it is merely because men are smart that all of the special “know-how” and all of the special training and special facilities and special instruments are available to us in our lives. It is because God has made special arrangements to have these people and their skill and the best of facilities and made them available to us in our time of need. It is because God has been especially good to us. (V. 1), “...they delivered Paul and certain other prisoners unto [one] named Julius, a centurion of Augustus' band.” A Roman centurion by the name of Julius was placed in charge of Paul and all of the other prisoner who were being sent to Rome. Before focusing our attention on Julius, let us first note the “certain other prisoners” who were also placed in custody of Julius. The Greek word which here is translated “other” means “other of a different kind.” There was a sharp difference in the nature and character of those other prisoners and the nature and character of this Christian man, the Apostle Paul. Paul was a godly Christian man. He was a model prisoner. He behaved himself well. But those other prisoners were of a different stripe. They were rough and unruly and ungodly in their speech and conduct. Let me say to you that there ought always to be a difference between the attitude of the Christian and the attitude of others. There ought always to be a difference between the speech and conduct of the Christian and the speech and conduct of those who are not Christians. The Christian should live a godly life letting his light shine before men so that they may see his good works and glorify God in heaven. But now let us give our attention to Julius, the centurion who was in charge of the prisoners. He was a member of a distinguished band. A band was made up of about 400 to 600 men. The band of which Julius was a member had been named after the Roman Caesar Agustus, himself. They had been given this distinguished name because they had distinguished themselves and shown themselves to be men of outstanding bravery, honor and responsibility. In other words, God arranged for the Apostle Paul to be placed in the hands of a good and responsible man. Not all of the people around Paul on this trip would be kind and responsible men, but this centurian who was in charge would prove to be a blessing in the life of Paul. Likewise in our own lives we can see that in spite of the fact that some of the people with whom we have been in contact have been scoundrels, yet God had placed some outstanding men and women in our lives who are a blessing to us in so many different ways. Since Julius was called a centurion this means that he was in charge of 100 Roman soldiers. Now you will understand that it would not take 100 soldiers to keep the Apostle Paul under control. So this gives us some idea of how many other prisoners there were along with Paul who were being sent back to Rome. We are not given the number, but there was a sizable number of ruffians who were being sent as prisoners along with Paul to Rome. V. 2, “And entering into a ship of Adramyttium...” The ship on which Paul and his group found passage was from the city of Adramyttium, a port city on the eastern coast of the country which we now call “Turkey.” This ship was not going all the way to Rome, Italy, but it would take them at least part of the way. They would need to change ships later. For Paul, it must have been good to be on the way. (V. 2), “...we launched, meaning to sail by the coasts of Asia...” This simply means that they did not head right out to open seas to cross over to Italy, but they followed along the coast for the purpose of stopping at several of the ports where they would load and unload some of the passengers and cargo. (V. 2), “...one Aristarchus, a Macedonian of Thessalonica, being with us.” Here we are told that Luke was not the only Christian who was allowed to accompany Paul of this trip to Rome. A Christian by the name of Aristarchus who was from Macedonia also accompanied Paul. From earlier chapters we learn that he had accompanied Paul all the way from Macedonia helping to bring the offering from the Gentile churches to help the Christians in Jerusalem through the great drought. Along with Luke, he must have been a great help to Paul and a great comfort to Paul. V. 3, “ And the next [day] we touched at Sidon. And Julius courteously entreated Paul, and gave [him] liberty to go unto his friends to refresh himself.” The city of Sidon (or Zidon as it is sometimes spelled in Scripture) lay just 67 miles north of Caesarea. It is now called Sayda and is in the country now known as Lebanon. They traveled that 67 miles in just one day’s time. A good strong wind was necessary to travel that far in one day’s time in a loaded ship. While they were in port loading and unloading passengers and cargo the centurion allowed Paul to leave the ship and go to the home of his friends to refresh himself and visit. I am confident that he sent a soldier along to guard him and to make sure that he came back to the ship. Governor Festus and the Caesar would frown upon him sending a prisoner off unguarded. But what I want you to notice is that this was a highly unusual kindness and favor to be extended to a prisoner. Such a favor can be accounted for in three ways. For one thing, Governor Festus himself must have instructed him to show Paul favor. For another, Julius, himself, by this time must have taken note that Paul was not like his other prisoners. He could tell by Paul’s good behavior that Paul was a man who could be trusted. But most of all we should understand that Julius was extra kind to Paul because God was watching over Paul and God had touched the heart of Julius and inclined him to be kind to Paul. All blessings one way or another come from God. All of our blessing including all of the kindness that others show to us come from God. Our God is watching over us. Thank God that He is! V. 4-5, “And when we had launched from thence, we sailed under Cyprus, because the winds were contrary. And when we had sailed over the sea of Cilicia and Pamphylia, we came to Myra, [a city] of Lycia.” Luke says that they sailed under the island of Cyprus. Normally we would understand that to mean that they sailed south of Cyprus. However, in this case it could not mean to the south of because they sailed through the sea of Cilicia and Pamphylia which lay to the north of Cyprus. Therefore, what the term “under Cyprus” means here in this verse is that they sailed to the leeward side of Cyprus. That is, because the winds were blowing contrary and hindering their progress, they sailed to the leeward side of the island which would help to block the winds which were a hindrance to them. They went into the port at the city of Lycia which now is a southern port in Turkey. II. Paul being transferred to a ship of Alexandria V. 6, “And there the centurion found a ship of Alexandria sailing into Italy; and he put us therein.” Luke tells us that the centurion who was in charge took his prisoners and left the ship which was headed to Adramyttium. We would understand that he did so because that ship would now take a sharp northerly turn and would no longer carry them closer to Rome. So he and his soldiers and his prisoners and the Christians who were accompanying Paul boarded a ship which was from Alexandria, Egypt and was heading for Italy. Down in verse 38 we learn that this ship was loaded with wheat, but it still had room for a lot of passengers. It must have been a one of the larger ships of that day. V. 7, “And when we had sailed slowly many days, and scarce were come over against Cnidus, the wind not suffering us, we sailed under Crete, over against Salmone” From Myra they sailed westward and came near the city of Cnidus. They should have been able to sail this distance in two or three days, but Luke said that it took them many days. Apparently it was not that there was no wind. It was just that the wind blew contrary to the direction which they wanted to travel. The wind hindered them from making much speed. There is no mention of them trying to make port at Cnidus. Apparently the wind was what hindered them from making port there. So they headed out to sea and came near the Island of Salmone and went just south of the Island of Crete, which now is sometimes called Candy Island. By going south of Crete they would be taking the leeward side and would provide some protection from the fierce wind which had now turned to come from the north. V. 8, “And, hardly passing it, came unto a place which is called The fair havens; nigh whereunto was the city [of] Lasea.” Even though they were on the leeward side of Crete, they were hardly passing it. That is, they were hardly moving forward. The wind was still blowing very hard against them so that they made little progress. Finally they came to a place which was called The Fair Havens near the city of Lasea. At this place they found a bay which extended inland sufficient to provide some protection from the northerly winds. III. Paul’s warning unheeded V. 9-10, “Now when much time was spent, and when sailing was now dangerous, because the fast was now already past, 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 ship, but also of our lives.” It was at Fair Havens near Lasea that Paul warned the centurion that they should not try to go further, but that they should stay for the winter in this inland bay. He pointed out that the Jewish fast days were already past, which meant that the winter season was blowing in upon them. It may not have been icy yet, but the northerly winds were already blowing in. Paul warned them that the ship with its cargo was in danger and that even their lives were in danger if they should proceed any farther. Luke does not tell us that the Lord had given Paul this warning to pass on to the centurion, but he spoke so positively that they would suffer loss if they traveled on that it leads us to believe that the Lord, Himself had given Paul this warning which he was to sound out to the centurion and others. V. 11, Nevertheless the centurion believed the master and the owner of the ship, more than those things which were spoken by Paul.” It appears from this verse, that the centurion had the final say as to whether or not the ship would move on. It appears that his decision would prevail even over the captain of the ship and over the owner of the ship, who must have also been aboard. This gives us some idea just how much power the Roman government exercised over the people of the empire. However, the centurion did consult with the captain of the ship and with its owner to see what their thinking might be. It was their opinion that they should wait for the storm to be over and that they should then move on to the next port and winter there. They reasoned that they would have a much better port and that the accommodations would be much better there. They looked at it from the material point of view. They were looking for moving the ship a little further down the line. That would mean more money by moving on. They were also looking at the more pleasant accommodations to stay in for the winter. The Fair Havens was not to their liking at all. They did not want to spend the winter there. V. 12-13, “And because the haven was not commodious to winter in, the more part advised to depart thence also, if by any means they might attain to Phenice, [and there] to winter; [which is] an haven of Crete, and lieth toward the south west and north west. And when the south wind blew softly, supposing that they had obtained [their] purpose, loosing [thence], they sailed close by Crete.” The centurion believed the captain and the owner of the ship rather than believing Paul. Therefore, when the storm was over and the weather cleared they raised anchor and moved out of their safe harbor. As you know he made a sad mistake. Listen! A lot of people make a much bigger mistake. God, through His written word and through the witness of His Christians, warns all men to repent of their sin and trust the Lord Jesus Christ to save their souls. He informs men that if they fail to heed His warning they will suffer great loss. They will be cast into The Lake of Fire and Brimstone. There they will suffer for ever and forever. Yet many a person listens to the wrong voices. They listen to people who tell them that the Bible is a book of fables. Or they listen to people who deny the existence of God altogether. Or they listen to somebody who ridicules Christians and makes fun of them. Or, perhaps, they listen to people who have the wrong idea about how to go to heaven and think that you have to earn your right to go to heaven by good works. Or else they are just more interested in making money and accumulating wealth or just having a good time in the world. But for whatever reason, they fail to heed the warnings that God gives. They sail their ship right straight ahead into a storm that will rip their ship apart and send their soul out into eternity unprepared to meet God. Conclusion: Let me appeal to each of you today. Hear the warning of God. Heed the warning of God. Hear the call of God to repent of your sin. Hear the invitation of God to call upon the Lord Jesus Christ and trust Him to save your soul. In Isaiah 45:22 the Lord Jesus cries out to every lost soul. He says, Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else.” I call upon every unsaved person in this congregation to look to Jesus by faith and trust Him to save your soul. I call upon every saved person in this congregation to dedicate your life to the worship and service of Jesus Christ.