Acts 10

Chapter 10. A Voyage and Its LessonsI planned many times to come to you (but have been prevented from doing so until now) in order that I might have a harvest among you, just as I have had among the other Gentiles…. That is why I am so eager to preach the gospel also to you who are at Rome. (Romans 1:13, Romans 1:15)We are to look this time at a missionary journey, perhaps the greatest ever made, whose expenses were paid by the Roman Empire, a journey in which a prisoner became himself the captain and the crew his converts, and a journey which became a sort of type of the whole missionary work and future history of the Church, and a pattern of the principles upon which God in the coming ages was to work out the evangelization of the world. We have already called attention to the fact that the book of Acts has no formal conclusion, but like a broken column, it closes in the very midst of the story and leaves the later ages of Christianity to add the finishing chapters. The lessons of Paul’s voyage, recorded so minutely in the 27th chapter of Acts, divide themselves into two groups.

Section I: Lessons for the Future History of the Church

Section I—Lessons for the Future History of the ChurchThe Church’s Voyage It has been pointed out by a discriminating writer, Professor Stiffler, that the stormy sea through which Paul had to pass to Rome is the type of this tempestuous world wherein the Church has to work out her mission and destiny like a ship sailing over storm-swept seas. It recalls the picture in the Gospels where the Master ascended the Mount to pray and left the disciples to battle with the storm on the Galilean lake, coming to them at length in the fourth watch of the morning walking upon the sea. So the little ship of the Church is struggling through the tempests of time, while the Master is praying beyond at God’s right hand and coming soon in His blessed advent. Perhaps the same lesson was suggested by the later scene on the same Galilean Sea, when the Master stood on the shore and called to His struggling and disappointed disciples as they cast their fishing nets into the sea. In the present instance we see the Church represented by Paul’s ship passing through the stormy deep to reach the goal. That goal is Rome, which represents the heathen world. That voyage stands for the Church’s great mission to evangelize the world. Opposition of the most formidable kind from the hosts of earth and hell assails her at every point, but with God in command and faith at the helm she passes triumphantly to her goal, and adversaries and difficulties are only met to contribute to the final result. But even when Rome is reached and the message given, we find that it is the old story, “Some were convinced… but others would not believe” (Acts 28:24). The evangelization of the world is a very different thing from the conversion of the world. As in the case of Paul, so it is still true and will be to the end of the story, “Some were convinced… but others would not believe.” We are sent to give the gospel as a witness and gather out a people for His name; but the conversion of the world as a universal fact will never come until He comes Himself to establish His kingdom of victorious power and universal righteousness and peace.

Section II: Lessons for Our Individual Life

Section II—Lessons for Our Individual LifeTrial

1. Trial Turned to Opportunity The whole story of the apostle’s life was one of uninterrupted trial, opposition and persecution. God might have made it different; but the way of difficulty was for the education of His servants and the introduction of His kingdom. The Master Himself had foretold that His disciples should be brought before kings and councils in the course of their ministry, but He had added, “This will result in your being witnesses to them” (Luke 21:13). And so they recognized every situation as just an opportunity to preach the gospel. Instead of looking at their side of the trial and planning for their defense and deliverance, their first thought was how this affected the cause of the Master and the work of their testimony. What a difference it would make in our lives if we accustomed ourselves thus to look at our trials. Have you thought of it, that perhaps the difficulty with which you are now contending, the uncongenial people and uncomfortable surroundings that so distress and apparently hinder you, are just a providential pulpit and congregation which God has given you for the purpose of reaching people that you could reach in no other way, and teaching or learning lessons which could only thus be exemplified? Stop looking at your end of it, and begin to think what it means for your Master and your fellow men, and so your hardest trials will become your most precious opportunities. Paul’s arrest at Jerusalem seemed unfortunate, but it gave him his long-desired opportunity of giving his testimony to his fellow countrymen on the Castle steps in the Temple Square. His detention at Caesarea for two years seemed like a fearful loss of time in his busy life, and yet it enabled him to preach the gospel to governors and kings who never could have listened to him otherwise. The plot of the Jews to assassinate him, which was most cruel and cowardly, and the injustice of the Romans in working into the hands of his enemies by threatening to send him back to Jerusalem for trial and thus putting him in the power of his assassins, forced him to make a direct appeal unto Caesar for his protection. This appeal made necessary his journey to Rome and provided the long sought opportunity for carrying the gospel to the great metropolis of the world. Even the shipwreck and the “northeaster” (Acts 27:14) had their place, for they brought Paul to the front with his victorious faith and his splendid example, winning for him the hearts of soldiers and sailors, and enabling him to show the power and faithfulness of God to that heathen multitude under the most impressive circumstances. So God is ever giving to us new opportunities even in dark disguises. Let us not fail to recognize them and use the opportunities His providence sends us. Disobedience
2. Disobedience Leading to Danger It was not long until the first vivid lesson was painfully taught the class in which Paul was now to be the leader. Disregarding his prudent message advising them to remain and winter in the harbor of Lasea, the centurion and pilot and owner of the ship decided to venture forward to the Port of Phoenix. Deceived by the south wind, which blew softly, they determined to make the venture in spite of Paul’s warning, so they cast loose from Lasea, and sailed along the coast of Crete toward their intended harbor. But soon the soft south wind was exchanged for the wild “northeaster,” a cyclone sweeping across from the African desert at certain seasons, rendering navigation most perilous. They soon found themselves helpless in the fury of the storm and were driven before it for many days upon a sea of foam and under a starless sky. Soon they had to undergird the ship to keep her from falling to pieces, and throw overboard the heavy freight and even the tackling of the vessel. The end was soon in sight, and the story records it in a few unmistakable words: “we finally gave up all hope of being saved” (Acts 27:20). Then it was that Paul stepped forward and reminded them frankly of their presumption and folly in neglecting his warning. “Men, you should have taken my advice,” he tells them, “not to sail from Crete; then you would have spared yourselves this damage and loss” (Acts 27:21). Disobedience always leads to danger. The way of wrong is the way of peril; the way of transgressors is hard. God has said so, and you can never make it otherwise. Right is always safe and wrong is always perilous. You can no more make a crooked line straight than you can make a wrong act wise or happy in its final issue. Oh, that the young minds and hearts of this seductive age would learn and remember that it pays to be true, honest, upright and good, and that “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23), and the fruit of iniquity is bitterness and sorrow. Must God teach you this by breaking your own heart and wrecking your life? Will you not learn it from the lessons of the past and the uniform story of His own faithful Word? Divine Help
3. Mercy in Emergency The world is willing to echo the lesson of warning. Its philosophy is full of the maxims of prudence and practical retribution, but the world utterly fails to provide a way of escape when the mischief has been done. There is the difference between Christianity and ethical systems. They can tell us when we are wrong, they can upbraid us for having disobeyed the law of righteousness, but they cannot remedy the wrong or save us out of the consequence of our own sin and folly. The poor Chinese man was right when he told his people how Confucius and Buddha had come to him in the pit into which he had fallen, and gave him the best advice, explaining just why he had fallen in through his own fault and telling him what to do if he ever got out, but passing on in cold neglect and leaving him to his fate; while Jesus of Nazareth, without a word of blame, leaped down into the mire, lifted him out of the quicksand, cleaned and clothed him, and then took him by the hand and led him all the way. That is the beauty and glory of the gospel of the grace of God. How finely we see it in the story of Paul’s shipwreck! “You should have taken my advice,” he says, “then you would have spared yourselves this damage and loss. But now I urge you to keep up your courage, because not one of you will be lost; only the ship will be destroyed” (Acts 27:21-22). Then Paul tells them of his God and His promise and his own confidence in that promise, and from that hour takes command, as the messenger of hope and cheer and the instrument of the great deliverance. It is only when you are at the end of all earthly help and hope that you find God and learn real faith. There is no situation so desperate but God can help it if we only will let Him. Even Judas might have been saved if he had listened to the gentle appeal in that crisis hour: “Friend, why have you come?” (Matthew 26:50, margin). The difference between Judas and Peter was that Judas would not believe in the mercy of Christ, and Peter would. Oh, how many today are taking their lives in remorseful suicide just because they do not know the infinite tenderness, love and grace of this heavenly Friend! Let us tell them of Jesus, the Friend of the helpless, the Hope of forlorn, lost men and women. Is there anybody reading this message, given up by your friends, given up by yourself, with no light or hope or prospect? Oh, beloved, listen to One who says, “Thou hast destroyed thyself; but in me is thine help” (Hosea 13:9). God is ready to forgive and forget all the past and make all the present and the future right if you will but trust Him and let Him have you. All He wants is a man who has come to the end of himself and is willing to begin again with God. There is mercy for the worst emergency, for the worst man or woman. There is mercy this moment for you. The Salt of the Earth
4. The Secret of Paul’s Safety Why was it that Paul could offer such a hope and lead such a rescue? Why was it that other ships went down in that storm, and his company were all safely landed? Why is it that some carry charmed lives and are immortal in the face of danger, death and even despair? Paul tells the secret. Here it is: God, “whose I am and whom I serve” (Acts 27:23). Do you belong to God? Then you are His property and He must take care of His property. Are you serving Him? Then His work is more important than anything else in the world, and nothing can be allowed to hinder it. Consecration is the secret of faith, and a life that is all the Lord’s is panoplied by omnipotence and protected by every angel in heaven and every force on earth. But there is another element of safety. “Last night an angel of… God… stood beside me and said, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul. You must stand trial before Caesar’” (Acts 27:23-24). That was one of God’s “musts.” Men sometimes have their “musts,” but, oh, they are shattered like the ships they sail on by the buffeting waves. But God’s “musts” always get through. If God has a purpose for you it must be fulfilled. If God has a plan for your life and you have accepted it and committed it to Him for execution, neither earth nor heaven nor hell can prevail against it. If God has sent you to India, China, Africa or even Tibet you must get there. Oh, to have such a “must” in our life! What invincible power, what momentous impulsive force it would give to us! What confidence it will afford our faith as we quietly lean back upon the everlasting arms and see God triumph! I know a woman who was dying of consumption and given up by all physicians, when it was distinctly recalled to her mind that in her early girlhood she had consecrated herself as a missionary to India and God had entered into a covenant with her to send her to that land. This recollection took possession of her and became interwoven in her prayer and faith, until she felt she must not die until she had fulfilled her heavenly calling. Need we say that the cable held, the faith founded on God’s “must” was stronger than the power of disease or the word of physicians. She came forth from the last stage of consumption restored to perfect health, went out to India, preached the gospel there for nearly 20 years, and is today a woman in the full vigor of life, so hardy and robust that one would never imagine that she had ever known the awful disease. Have you got any of God’s “musts” in your life? Ask Him to give you something to do, to put a mission in your life and a “must” in your future, and then go forth invincible to be one of the eternal forces in the world. Believing God
5. The Power of Faith, Hope and Cheerfulness “So keep up your courage, men, for I have faith in God that it will happen just as he told me” (Acts 27:25). That single verse is worth all the philosophy and poetry of the world’s literature. What else could inspire such a scene as that tossing deck presented, with the man who had gone on board as a prisoner, standing in the midst of 276 desperate men and making them eat and drink in the teeth of the storm, and put their hearts and hands together to save the sinking ship simply at his command! Beloved, if you want to be a power in the world and have an influence over your fellow men, give up your groaning, whining, fretting and complaining. Arise and shine! “Shake off your dust;… Free yourself from the chains on your neck” (Isaiah 52:2). Throw off your gloom, depression, despondency and foreboding, and clothe yourself with the sunshine of hope and cheer, and go forth among your fellow men radiant as the spring, bright as the morning, and helpful as the light. Let your face be an epistle of joy and hope, let your bearing and your step tell of victory and gladness, and let your life be an evangel of hope and inspiration in a world where there are enough tears and clouds, and where God has sent us to be the lights of the world and the comforters of the sorrowing. A Sound Mind
6. Faith and Common Sense We have some fine examples in this story of the perfect harmony between the most sublime trust and the most severe practical wisdom. “Not one of you will be lost,” was Paul’s announcement. “I have faith in God that it will happen just as he told me” (Acts 27:22, Acts 27:25). More explicit and unquestioning faith we could not find. But a little later we hear him saying, as the sailor crew were trying to escape and leave the ship and the soldiers to their fate, “Unless these men stay with the ship, you cannot be saved” (Acts 27:31). Here are the two horns of the dilemma, the two sides of the great question of God’s purpose and man’s responsibility, but a common sense faith can easily recognize them. The God that ordains the end also ordains the means to that end. Faith and obedience are but the two oars of the boat, the two hands that grasp the hand of omnipotence; and if we truly believe God for the promise, we shall as certainly obey Him with respect to the command. The faith, therefore, that lies down in indolent inertness and fails to watch and work in the line of God’s plan and as the instrument for answering its own prayers, if such be God’s way, is not intelligent, scriptural faith, but ignorant and foolish presumption. The man that pleases God always obeys God and watches and hearkens to know His will and to be used by Him in carrying out the promise on which that faith was supremely realized. God gives us wisdom to understand at once the confidence of faith, and, while we trust Him with all our heart, to obey Him with responsive feet and willing hands. Hard Places
7. The Value of Hard Places One has often been tempted to wonder why God allowed His distinguished servant to have so hard a struggle with the elements. Why did not some mighty angel come with a lifeboat from the skies to transport the great apostle through the surf and storm and let the world see how mighty was his God? Why did God allow him to drift for days in the tempest, and at last narrowly to escape like a waif flung ashore on a floating plank or fragment of the broken wreck? Oh, that is God’s way of hiding His power and teaching us the lesson of true power ourselves. Only by the discipline of difficulty do we ever learn to put on His strength. One day an amateur naturalist saw a butterfly struggling out of its cocoon or shell, and he thought he would help the little worm to liberty. So he gently cut a larger opening in the mouth of the shell, and the struggling worm found it easier to get out and duly emerged into the light and liberty of his new birth. But, alas, that worm never could fly. The others came out later with hard struggling through their narrow cells, and soon were beating the summer air with their buoyant wings. But this lazy grub lay around on the leaf in indolent apathy and sordid helplessness, and in a little while died of uselessness, while the others went forth into their heaven of summer glory, among the blossoms and the branches. Ah, dear friends, that is what would happen to us if God made it too easy for us. We would grovel on the ground and would be ruined by ease and self-indulgence. Let us thank Him for the wholesome discipline and the inexorable love that will not let us miss our life’s lesson and our eternal recompense.