144 Acts 27:26-36 WHAT TO DO WHEN YOUR SHIP RUNS AGROUND Introduction: In earlier texts the ship on which the Apostle Paul as a prisoner was being carried toward Rome was caught in a storm. For fourteen days the storm had battered the ship. The crew with all its passengers were tired and weary and had lost all hope. In our most recent text the Apostle Paul told them all to be of good cheer. He said that angel of God had appeared to him in the night and had told him that even though the ship would be wrecked and all of its cargo lost, Paul and all of the people aboard the ship would be safely reach the shore. In our text today the ship does run aground and is torn apart, but as God had said and as Paul had related, all of the people aboard the ship safely reached the shore. . From this record we learn what to do when our ship runs aground. I. Remember God The people on board this ship remembered God and they remembered the promise that God had made to them through the Apostle Paul. That is the very first thing that we need to do when our ship runs aground. Whether we are literally aboard a ship that is in a storm or whether we are in some other storm of life that has hit us and which threatens us, we need to remember God. Remember that God is supreme. God rules over the winds and the waves. God rules over the storms. God rules over all things. God rules over every situation and every kind of storm that hits our lives. God can bring us safely through the storm no matter how powerful the forces may be that beat upon us. Remember that if God is not willing to help us then there is nothing that can be done to help us. There is nobody in this whole wide world who can help us. But if God is willing to help us then there is no problem that is too great for God to handle. There is no storm that is too powerful for God to handle. Our hope is God. Our only hope is God. II. Listen to God If Julius, the Roman centurion who made the decision to try to make it on to the next harbor, had listened to the message which God had given through the Apostle Paul, they would not have been caught in this storm. They would have been safely anchored at the Island of Crete in a bay called “The Fair Havens.” God had told Paul that if they traveled on that the ship and its cargo and its passengers would be in grave danger and Paul had related that warning to the centurion. But the centurion, had not listened to Paul. More important, he had not listened to God. Instead he had listened instead to the captain of the ship and the owner of the ship who wanted to go on to the next harbor where there were better accommodations. Now because he had not listened to God he and all aboard the ship were caught in a storm which threatened to tear the ship apart and dump them all into the stormy waters of the sea. God had spoken again. God had sent an angel to the Apostle Paul to tell him that even though the ship and all of its cargo would be lost to the storm that Paul and all of the people aboard the ship would be protected by the power of God and would make it safely to the sea. That was a promise that God had made. We will see later that this promise was conditional. If they were all going to be spared, they would all have to stay aboard the ship until the ship was stuck on a sandbar. If the crew members should leave the ship on the lifeboat, then the centurion and the crew would all perish. It pays to listen to God. It pays to do whatever God tells us to do. Now let me point out that listening to God and doing what God tells us to do does not mean that we will never be caught in a storm. The Apostle Paul had listened to God and Paul sought to do what God told him to do, but Paul was caught in the storm anyway. But being caught in the storm did not stop Paul from listening to God. It just gave Paul another good reason to keep on listening to God. So when God sent the angel to tell Paul that all would be saved through the storm Paul was listening. He was anxiously listening to God. The centurion had failed to listen to God when God warned them not to go on to the next harbor, but now that the ship was about wreck it was vital for him not to make the same mistake all over again. It was important this time for him to start listening to God and start listen to the Apostle Paul who was bringing him the word of God. His very life depended on his willingness to listen to God this time. The lives of the 100 soldiers under his command and the lives of most of his prisoners depended on him listening to God and him obeying the word of God. God intended to spare the Apostle Paul and I am convinced that He would have spared the Christians with Paul even if the centurion failed to listen to God. But it was vital for his own sake and for the sake of others that he listen to God and be submissive to the will of God. III. Believe what God has said God had said that if they tried to move on to the next harbor, they would be in trouble, but neither the centurion nor the captain of the ship nor the owner of the ship had believed God. Now they are in the storm and God tells them that they would loose the ship with all of its cargo. I doubt that at this point they had any trouble believe this. The storm itself had already convinced them that this was so even before God told them through Paul that the ship and the cargo would be destroyed. But now God promises that if they will all stay aboard the ship and none of them will jump ship that all of them will be spared and will reach the shore safely. This would be a lot harder for them to believe. In fact, the crew members did not believe it --- at least, not at first. Because they did not believe God they intended to get aboard the lifeboat and leave the ship. And they would have done so if Paul and the centurian had not stopped them. Listen! God has made a promise that many men find equally hard to believe. God has promised that if lost sinners will repent of their sin and call upon Jesus Christ and depend on Jesus to save them and keep them out of hell then Jesus will save them. Listen to Romans 10:13, “For whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” Listen also to Acts 16:31, “...Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved...” God promises that all who trust in Jesus for salvation shall be saved. It is vital for men to believe what God has said. IV. Do what God says do I have already called to your attention that the members of the crew were determined to do what they wanted to do instead of doing what the Lord told them to do. The Lord told them to stay in the ship, but they all wanted to get in the lifeboat and leave the ship. Now Paul believed what God had said and when Paul told the centurion what God said, the centurion believed what God had said. Earlier when God told them not to leave the Fair Havens harbor he had not believed God. But the storm had persuaded the centurion that he should have listened to God the first time. He did not make that same mistake this time. He believed God. God through the Apostle Paul told him to keep the ships crew aboard the ship and he believed God. In fact God through the Apostle Paul told him that if he did not keep the ship’s crew aboard ship that he would not survive and he believed God. So because he believed God he kept the ship’s crew aboard the ship. He did not argue with them and try to persuade them that they should stay on the ship. He just gave orders and his soldiers just cut the ropes and the lifeboat in which they had planned to leave the ship dropped into the sea and was carried away by the wind and waves. Likewise God has told lost sinners that they need to repent of their sins. Jesus said, “Except ye repent, ye will all likewise perish.” That means that if you do not repent of your sin that you will go into everlasting fire to suffer there forever and ever. God has told every sinner who wants to go to heaven that he can be saved by trusting in Jesus. But God has also told us that if one does not trust in Jesus that he is already condemned to go to hell and that he only has a limited time in which to get saved. Every lost man, woman, boy and girl ought to do what God has said and call on Jesus and ask Jesus to save his soul. And every man, woman, boy and girl who already believes what God has said and who has already trusted Jesus for salvation should do what God tells him to do. He should love the Lord Jesus Christ with all his heart and he should seek to live as God has instructed him to live. God has told all of us Christians that if we live according to His word that He will bless us with great spiritual blessings. But He has also told us that if we fail to live according to His word that He will chasten us like a loving parent chastens a child. We ought to believe God and try very hard to be obedient to His word. Conclusion: In the closing moments of this message let first appeal to those of you who are saved. I want to ask every man, woman, boy and girl who is saved to renew your effort to live according to the word of God. I think I already know that you want to do the will of God. When obey the word of God you can know that you are doing the will of God. If you know that you are not obeying the word of God you can know that you are not doing the will of God. So God’s sake and for your sake, will you please start right now to renew your effort to live by the word of God. If you are not saved, let me ask you a question: If you had been that Roman centurion aboard that ship that was surely going down and the Apostle Paul told you that you that in order for you to survive, you must stop the crew from getting into the lifeboat, would you have believed God and cut the ropes? Listen! You are on a ship that is going down! Every man, woman, boy and girl who has never trusted Jesus for salvation is on a ship that is surely going down. You are on the Ship of Physical Life. And the Ship of Physical Life is surely going down. But through the Bible God has told you that if you place your faith in Jesus Christ to be your Savior, that Jesus will save you and that you will survive. Acts 16:31 says, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.” Romans 10:13 says, “For whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” John 3:14-15 says, “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.” God has promised that if you trust Jesus you will not go to hell when you die. Instead you will go to heaven. Now let me ask you one more question: Will you believe God’s promise and place your faith in Jesus Christ tonight to save your soul? If so, will you come forward in this invitation.