Back to the Bible Canada with Dr. John Neufeld - Jesus Goes Global: A Prisoner of Christ: Saved!

Hi, this is Ben Lowell and welcome to Back to the Bible Canada with Dr. John Newfell.

Well today we continue our series, Jesus Goes Global, A Prisoner of Christ, with a message

titled Saved.

So turning your Bible to Acts 27, verses 27 to 44, as we join Dr. Newfell now.

Not every time when the Bible uses the word Saved or Salvation, is it speaking of salvation

from sin?

There are other ways that God saves.

You know, for this kind of thing, think about Psalm 107.

The first two verses will give thanks to the Lord for He is good, for His dead, fast love

endures forever.

Let the redeemed of the Lord say so whom He has redeemed from trouble.

You see, the word redeemed that's used here is often when we think of redemption.

We think of salvation from sin or our release from the bondage of, not only of our sin,

but also of Satan's dominion.

It's good to use the word that way, but here in Psalm 107, we redeemed from trouble.

Then the Psalm is full of examples of people who are redeemed from trouble, verses 4-6.

Some wandered in desert waste, finding no way to a city to dwell in, hungry and thirsty

their soul fainted within them.

Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble and He delivered them from their distress.

Here are travelers who are required to make a dangerous journey across the desert.

They will have to take enough food and water along, but in this case something happened.

I mean, perhaps they underestimated how many supplies they had to take, or perhaps there

was some kind of an accident along the way, or perhaps they had to deal with an unexpected

emergency, but nonetheless, suddenly they find themselves in trouble.

They've run out of water and in their desperation, what do they do?

They cried out to the Lord and He saved them.

Well the Psalm goes on, and in verse 23, we read that some went down to the sea and ships

doing business on the great waters.

And as we've already seen, if you've been following me in this series in the last chapters

of the Book of Acts, this wasn't the ancient world of very dangerous business.

You might think that you're making the best decisions to keep yourself safe, but you

have to take risks as well, and so many ameriner died.

Notice Psalm 107 says next, it's in verse 25 to 27, for he commanded and raised the stormy

wind which lifted up the waves of the sea.

They mounted up to heaven.

They went down to the depths.

Their courage melted away in their evil plight.

They reeled and staggered like drunken men, and were at their wit's end, and you know,

you can imagine the terror.

These waters have been replaced by massive mountains of waves, and the most courageous

man among them is reduced to cowardice, verses 28 and 29.

Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and He delivered them from their distress.

He made the storm still, and the waves of the sea were hushed.

I almost think about Jesus on the sea of Galilee, and simply speaking a word to nature, and

all nature abays his voice.

The voice of the Creator who speaks to the waves so that they terrify the soul, and then

speaks to the waves again so that the waves are stilled and the soul is saved.

Everyone who's ever been in a desperate condition knows about this.

The soldier in the firefight, the miner when the mineshaft collapses, the mountain climber

who falls into a crevasse, and most assuredly the sailor at sea, when the calm and predictable

waters become a massive mountain of waves, with the wind howling at all hope, is seemingly

lost.

In our study of the Book of Acts, we have traced just such a moment.

And it wasn't just a moment, but we now come to the place where the terror of death

has been going on for two weeks straight, and still the storm does not abate, and amazingly

the sailors are not dead, at least not yet.

So let's read a part of our account, Acts 27-27-32.

When the 14th night had come, as we were driven across the Adriatic Sea, about midnight,

the sailors suspected that they were nearing land.

So they took a sounding and found twenty fathoms, a little further and they took a sounding

again and found fifteen fathoms, and fearing that they might run on the rocks, they let

down four anchors from the stern and prayed for day to come.

And as the sailors were seeking to escape from the ship, and they lowered the ship's

boat into the sea under pre-tens of laying out anchors from the bow, Paul said to the

Centurion and the soldiers, unless these men stay in the ship, you cannot be saved.

Then the soldiers cut away the ropes of the ship's boat and let it go.

Well, it's night, and there's no light, and for days now that's how Luke describes

it for us.

They've not been able to see the moon or the stars.

The weather is violent, and they're sucked in.

You know, at night it's absolute darkness, and you simply can't get a bearing of where

you are.

But there's been a suspicion, you know, in my understanding, they had let down one

of their anchors, but it didn't hold them fast, and the sailors now as the storm is driving

them along or suspecting that they are nearing land.

Well, how would they know that?

Well, most likely they would have even in the howling storm have heard.

So they think, breakers, well, good news, no, no, not hardly.

This is even greater danger than they had experienced before, because if the ship breaks

up, they will be immediately thrown into the sea and they may drown.

I mean, it's often surprising for moderns to hear this, but many ancient sailors

could not swim.

Once they hit the sea, that was the death sentence.

And so all the terror they had endured, well, they have a new one now.

The time is at hand.

This seems like the hour of death.

They take soundings, twenty-fathoms to the bottom, about thirty-six meters.

They do it again.

Oh no, it's twenty-seven meters now.

We're heading to the rocks.

What do we do?

And the answer is, can't do anything.

The forces of nature are too strong.

And then they do what all people do in a time of distress.

They say, yes, they do what can be done.

And in this case, they let down not one but four anchors, but it's not enough.

And then they pray.

There's not a time for theological reflection to evaluate what they know about God.

This is just very raw praying.

Save me.

That kind of thing.

As we've seen, you know, Psalm 107 speaks of this.

Has it been often said, you know, there are no atheists and foxholes?

No time for anything, but cries, oh God, save.

But the sailors have another plan as well.

They're going to lower the ship's boat back into the water.

You're going to remember they had hauled it up before to prevent the thing from being destroyed.

Now the sailors are saying, let's put it back in.

You know, it won't save the prisoners, it won't save the Roman soldiers and the merchants

and the travelers on board, but it'll save us.

Not everyone else will be saved, but we're going to abandon them and we're going to let

them drown to save our own lives.

It's come down to that.

The survival instincts are kicking in and what kicks out is concerned for anyone but

self.

You know, it's amazing how distress and the extremities of life makes cowards and selfish

people out of so many, but Paul whose prominence has been rising, you know, has shown himself

to be calm and courageous, working hard with everyone else, a man who listens to God

in the middle of the storm and doesn't just shout out for salvation from death, but

genuinely listens to God and sees what's going on.

He calls the Centurion.

Remember, his name is Julius and the key soldiers around him and he draws their attention

of what is going on, unless these men stay with the ship they're all going to die.

He seems to know, you know, as God sent his angel to talk to him, is he right?

By now, Paul's prominence has brought him a status that even in the extremity of the

storm, they don't question him.

The boat is already in the water and they cut the ropes.

The boat is now gone.

Now everything depends on whether Paul has actually heard from God or not.

Will the God of Paul save the lives of these people?

They're staking their lives on that.

The night wears on.

Will daylight ever come?

And when it does, what will it bring?

Will we die in the morning or will we be saved in the morning?

What do men do when faced with that kind of a crisis and truth be told?

None of us really knows what we do in those times.

Some men are cowards and others will trust in God.

Well, let's keep reading, Acts 27, verses 33 to 38.

As day was about to dawn, Paul urged them all to take some food, saying, today is the

14th day that you have continued in suspense and without food having taken nothing.

Therefore I urge you to take some food for it will give you strength for not a hair

is to perish from the head of any of you.

And when he had said these things, he took bread and giving thanks to God in the presence

of all.

He broke it and began to eat.

Then they all were encouraged and ate some food themselves.

We were in all 276 persons in the ship and when they had eaten enough, they lightened

the ship throwing out the weed into the sea.

You know, for those of us who love eating, it's hard to know what it's like to go 14 days

without food.

We know that Jesus fasted for 40 days.

These guys have been stressed to the point of death.

They're hardly able to sleep.

It's been a long time.

If you have to remind them that they've not eaten for two weeks, they might have been

surprised by that.

I think they just lost track of everything.

See, and I find it fascinating that Paul is completely aware of the passage of time.

He's aware that there is a lack of food among the crew and that they're consumed by

weariness.

It tells me he's been watching out for these men.

Remember, he's not only a prisoner.

Remember, in Paul's self-awareness, he is the Lord's prisoner.

He's not Rome's prisoner.

Christ has commissioned him to these chains.

He's there in the storm with these men because in the meticulous sovereignty of God, God

has willed for him to be there.

That understanding of his own life not only is he a prisoner, but he's on board a doomed

vessel.

That is his assignment from God and that awareness transforms the way he acts.

He's not a victim.

Instead, he knows who he is.

He's Christ representative.

He's an ambassador for Christ.

And having been sent by God, he knows he is to care for these men.

And he is about the Lord's business.

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It's a fascinating thing to watch someone who's completely aware of his or her calling

from God.

That person is never a victim, oh yeah.

That person will endure the same hardship as others, but that person will always be completely

aware of what Christ has called them to do.

There's a complete transformation about how that person acts in an emergency and Paul exemplifies

that.

He's been watching the passage of time.

He sees the men that are not eating.

He's watching the care, the stress, even the panic on their faces.

And given that no one has the stomach for eating at a time like this, Paul watches as the

men are getting weaker and ever more tired.

And he also knows that they are about to face a larger crisis than the one that they have

faced up to this point and they're going to face it at their weakest point.

So he gathers the men together.

Perhaps he's gone to the ship's galley and brought the food up himself.

It's time to eat, he says.

He explains the situation and why this is important.

Luke says he urges them to eat and the word that Luke uses here can also be translated

as encouraged them.

It can also be translated as consoled them.

It's time he says to think about caring for the needs of your body.

Then we can see how this consolation works.

Paul is an apostle who has a word for them from God.

No one's going to die in this storm.

God has determined to save every last one of you.

You're not facing death.

You're facing the salvation of God.

And when Paul says not a hair is to perish, he's expressing himself in a very Jewish way.

You might remember that even Jesus used that expression.

It's found in Luke 21 verse 18 where he promises disciples not a hair of your head will perish.

Now where's that saying come from?

Well, it comes from the idea of Jesus taught that every hair of your head is counted

and known by God.

It indicates that there are no incidental details in your life.

God meticulously oversees everything.

That's the idea.

When this ship wrecks up against the rocks, God is so going to be watching over every individual.

He's even going to watch out for your hair.

That's the promise.

And by the way, I hope my dear listener that you believe that you will not die until the

day.

God has determined that your death should come until that moment.

You're pretty much indestructible.

Have courage.

Be confident.

You're not a hopeless victim being driven along by a storm.

God meticulously has placed you in that storm because in his infinite wisdom, he wants

you there.

Now after Paul has said these things, notice he took bread and then he did what God's

people have always done.

Before the bread enters his mouth, he gives thanks to God and he does so in the presence

of everyone.

They watch him giving thanks.

He's not going to eat until he is acknowledged that the care of his life and his body as well

as all the food that he eats has been provided by God.

He most every Christian does not and will not eat until they have bowed their head in

an act of worship and thankfulness to God who has provided food for them.

It's an acknowledgement of God's care.

You see, my friend, it matters not whether we are saved from drowning in the middle of

the storm or whether we are saved from starvation and notice it every time we sit down for

a meal.

It matters not.

All provision comes from God.

The roof over our heads, the clothing on our backs, the food that we eat, the friends

we enjoy that save us from loneliness.

The spouse that we share life with who allows us to experience the fullness of life in the

relationship with a person of the opposite sex to fulfill our lives.

The vehicle we drive, the job we hold down, the education that trains us to be productive

in life, the books that we read that expand our horizon and give us new understandings.

Well, I hope you are hearing all of this.

Every good thing is a gift from God.

And like the leper who returned to Jesus to give thanks, we do so as well.

But I notice also not only Paul is giving thanks for the food, but that he is not shy of

doing it in the presence of the men on that ship.

Many of them would have known nothing of Paul's God, but it doesn't matter to Paul.

He is never ashamed to make Christ known.

And might I suggest we learn that lesson from Paul.

When you're out in a restaurant with work colleagues or fellow students or anyone you

happen to be with, someone who doesn't know Christ, when you eat, don't hide the fact

that you always stop and give thanks before that food enters your mouth.

In fact, you can use the opportunity to explain that matter to others.

Just say it's my custom to thank God for the food I'm about to eat.

And you might even add, can I also thank God for a friendship or might also pray for

you.

Well, don't hide that you give thanks.

Be like Paul, give thanks as verse 35 says in the presence of all.

And then with 275 people watching him, Paul gives thanks and everyone eats.

And then he gets back to work, whatever wheat was left on board at that point in time,

that's thrown into the sea.

We're going to make this ship as light as it can be.

Let's continue to read verses 39 to 44.

Now when it was day, they did not recognize the land, but they noticed a bay with

a beach on which they planned if possible to run the ship ashore.

So they cast off the anchors and left them in the sea at the same time loosening the

ropes that tied the rudders, then hoisting the foresail to the wind.

They made for the beach, but striking a reef, they ran the vessel aground, the bow stuck

and remained immovable.

And the stern was being broken up by the surf.

The soldier's plan was to kill the prisoners, lest any would swim away and escape.

But the Centurion wishing to save Paul kept them from carrying out their plan.

He ordered those who could swim to jump overboard first and make for the land, and the rest

on planks or on pieces of the ship.

And so it was that all were brought safely to land.

Finally the long nights over, the sun comes up, the sailors now renewed energy are having

look around.

Yeah, they're right the night before they could hear breakers.

The soundings they had taken told them they were heading towards the shore.

How they need to find out exactly which shore they're on, and some of them no doubt were

quite seasoned, and they would have recognized all the major shorelines around.

And they would have been able to locate themselves quite quickly, when no one recognizes this

land, they are truly lost.

And someone points out a bay, not just a rocky shore, an actual beach, amazing, very good.

If they can pick up some speed and aim the boats straight for the beach, they might run

it right up onto the shoreline.

You can jump out if not straight onto the land, at least in shallow water and simply

way to shore.

I mean, that's really hardening, all hands on deck, everyone, do your job, let's get

this done, loosen the ropes from the anchors, and the ropes that hold the rudder fast, take

up the sail, whatever sail is left after the storm, and head inland with all speed.

But things are never that easy, but then they strike a reef long before they hit the

shore.

They're stuck.

There's no way forward or back.

The waves are now still quite strong, they're smashing against the stern of the ship.

The boards of the ship are now starting to splinter, and so here it is, instead of getting

off on the shore, they're getting down into the ocean.

The moment of crisis is now upon them, fascinating to me, that the soldiers already have a plan,

kill the prisoner before the ship breaks up, and that's because Roman soldiers knew that

if they lost prisoners, their lives would be demanded of them.

Seems cruel to us, but in those days, that was a part of Roman discipline.

Calvin in his commentary on this passage remarks that the engratitude towards Paul and their

wanton cruelty, that's on full display here, because they're going to kill Paul as well.

No doubt, they're grateful that they're being saved and that it's by God, but that doesn't

change their essential natures, you see.

They're still ruthless men.

They know the business of meeting out death.

They have no conscience problems about this.

It's their job, and they're going to do it in the same way that anyone else does his

or her job.

Do it.

And that would have been the end of the story, but Julius the Centurion who commands these

ruthless troops has been watching Paul's life.

This is not going to happen under his charge, and if there's something these troops fear,

it's disobeying the orders of a commanding officer, Roman kill him all for that.

So everyone stops, no one is going to get murdered this day.

And as an aside, I have no doubt that Paul would have been under no illusions about these

men they had never been his friends.

But Julius takes charge, all those who can swim jump now, swim as hard as you can in these

conditions and try to make it for the shore.

And those of you can't swim, you're going to have to wait until the ship starts to break

apart, and you see chunks of the ship in the water jump and hang on to that.

And then the gracious, the compassionate, and the saving hand of God reaching down from

heaven, in spite of the sin of each man, in spite of the fact that each man there deserves

death.

That saves all of them, 276 men, not a person lost his life, each man alive steps onto

the shore.

Did they shout?

Did they hug each other?

Or were their faces as grim as they had been on the ship?

Well, Luke doesn't tell us the reaction.

Only that God had in his saving purposes taken the men, while the men that are ascribed

in Psalm 107, and saved him from the death in the ocean.

I am in this account overwhelmed by what many theologians have called common grace.

Did God and mercy sustains both sinner and the righteous?

That God rescues those who don't deserve it.

Psalm 107 says they should give thanks to God, indeed they should.

I don't know how many did.

And if that's so, that we should all give thanks to God, how much more for us, who know

Christ.

We need to remember all the times that God has saved us.

We need to write it down and mark it down so that we can give thanks to God and worship

him for his saving activity in our lives.

Thanks John.

You know, if we look at the terms saved as suggesting rescued, is Jesus in the business

of rescuing those who aren't saved?

Yeah, I so yeah, so yeah, Jesus saving the unsaved.

Well certainly he is, there is, again, this common grace issue, right?

So God is good to all.

And you know, there's never been a time that the unbeliever who hasn't maybe even called

on the Lord, and somehow they, you know, trouble overcame them and then they were rescued

out of their trouble, you know, this is why Psalm 107 speaks so much to me.

I mean, God does that all of the time so that every single unbeliever, they ought to offer

to God prayers of gratitude for the many times that God has rescued them.

So yeah, I guess my point had been that, you know, we as believers should try to help

unbelievers understand how good God has been to them, how marvelously merciful and how

many times he has been the one that has lifted them.

And so maybe the time has come for them to truly acknowledge and be grateful to him.

Thanks John.

And remember to join us again next week as we continue our series.

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