93 Acts 27:13-38 Who Commands the Waves and Wind Part 2

September 07, 2025

Christopher Freeman

Title: “Who Commands the Waves and Wind?” Part 2 Text: Acts 27:13-38 FCF: We often struggle with the paradox of God’s grace and man’s responsibility Prop: Because God’s grace alone through faith alone saves, we must trust the Lord. Scripture Intro: [Slide 1] Turn in your bible to Acts chapter 27. In a moment we’ll read from the Legacy Standard Bible starting from verse 1 and going through verse 38. You can follow along in the pew bible or whatever version you prefer. Our maritime adventure continues today. After leaving Paul, his companions, and an Alexandrian grain ship struggling to make progress to Italy, now they are docked in a place called Fair Havens. Paul attempted to convince the centurion to winter the ship in this port, but the pilot and captain of the ship have convinced him instead to try for Phoenix, a port 40 miles up the coast of Crete. The opposition of the wind and waves will continue to be an issue as we go forward, but in the midst of the tempest God gives grace and expects faith from all those aboard the ship. The rest of this story serves as a potent example of how God saves His people. Please stand with me to focus on and give honor to the Word of God as it is read. Invocation: Good and Gracious God. We are humbled that You would transcend to us and commune with us in Your worship. Yet You have promised that You are among us. I pray that You would allow Your Spirit to speak to us today. To illuminate the text of the scriptures and show us Your love. I pray that You might unveil difficult mysteries to our hearts to perceive truth. And I pray that You would open eyes and give new hearts so that if there are those among us who do not truly believe on You, that today would be the day of their salvation. I pray this in Jesus’ name, Amen. Transition: We have a LOT of text to cover. So, let’s get to it. I.) God’s sovereign grace alone saves, so we must trust the Lord. (13-29) a. [Slide 2] 13 - And when a moderate south wind came up, thinking that they had attained their purpose, they weighed anchor and began sailing along the shore of Crete. i. As they waited for the opportune moment to depart for Phoenix, it seemed that the wisdom of the sailors was superior to the words of the apostle. ii. At least at first. iii. A southern wind comes up from Africa allowing them to sail north west along the coast of Crete. iv. All seems to be going their way and Paul proves to be another ignorant religious nut. b. [Slide 3] 14 - But before very long there rushed down from the land a violent wind, called Euraquilo; 15 - and when the ship was caught in it and could not face the wind, we gave way to it and let ourselves be carried along. 16 - And running under the shelter of a small island called Clauda, we were scarcely able to get the ship’s boat under control. i. There are several things happening here that are shrouded in maritime understanding. ii. This violent wind called a Euraquilo, is what we might refer to as a Nor’easter. Eura is the Greek word for East wind and Aquilo is the Latin word for North wind. iii. Such winds on the Mediterranean were greatly feared by sailors. They could come up out of nowhere and usually had disastrous impacts leading to loss of cargo and life. iv. Luke tells how the ship was caught in the wind and could not face it. Meaning that though they lowered the sails and attempted to row their way back to shore while keeping the bow of the ship pointed into the wind, they were unable to do so. v. [Slide 4] This being the case, they stopped rowing and allowed the waves and wind to carry them out to sea. vi. They were driven down past a very small island called Clauda or Cauda and were, as Luke says, scarcely able to get the ship’s boat under control. vii. But what is the ship’s boat? viii. A large ship like this would require a smaller vessel to allow for maintenance to be done on the ship. It also would allow for the large ship to anchor in greater depths while a small complement would sail to the coast for supplies. ix. These boats were usually towed at the back of the boat during the voyage. x. Losing the ship’s boat would spell certain doom for the cargo and all those aboard. xi. So, using the shelter of the tiny island of Clauda, they were able to raise the boat to the deck. c. [Slide 5] 17 - After they had hoisted it up, they used supporting cables in undergirding the ship. Fearing that they might run aground on the shallows of Syrtis, they let down the sea anchor and in this way let themselves be carried along. i. Upon successfully rescuing the boat and hoisting it up to the deck, they wrapped cables under the ship’s hull. These cables would be tightened down to add even more stability to the ship’s hull, keeping it from breaking apart. ii. The shallows of Syrtis are a group of sandbars and shoals off the coast of Northern Africa. At this time, it was known as a ship’s graveyard having claimed many ships who had run aground. iii. Also, to keep themselves from being blown this far south, they dropped their sea anchor. iv. Unlike other anchors which are designed to hold a ship in place as it is catches on the ground under water… a Sea anchor is used to stabilize a boat’s movements adding drag in deep water which allowed them to keep the bow of the ship pointed into the coming waves or winds, effectively preventing the ship from being blown over and capsizing and giving them some control over how far they were pushed by the waves. v. With the sea anchor down, the sails would remain down and as Luke says, they were carried to wherever the waves would take them. d. [Slide 6] 18 - And the next day as we were being violently storm-tossed, they began to jettison the cargo; 19 - and on the third day they cast the ship’s tackle overboard with their own hands. 20 - And since neither sun nor stars appeared for many days, and no small storm was assailing us, from then on all hope of our being saved was gradually abandoned. i. This Nor’easter continued for 3 days dragging them along. ii. What is the danger they face? iii. They face two dangers. 1. The first is running aground on some rocks or sandbar with no land in sight. 2. The second is the waves and wind themselves. Which would constantly be blowing the ship around and filling the ship with water. iv. So how do they mitigate both of these dangers? Make the ship lighter. If the ship is lighter it will sit in the water higher. If it sits in the water higher it can travel through shallower waters and go over waves much easier. v. So that is what they do. They jettison the cargo. As we said before, this was a grain ship. By cargo, Luke probably does not mean the grain. At least not yet. vi. Cargo here means anything that is not absolutely essential. They also toss the tackle overboard. The tackle would be anything used to move and lift cargo as well as sailing and mooring equipment. vii. This would be a desperate move to be sure. To spare their lives, they must even risk being without sailing and mooring equipment. If they make it out of the storm alive, they would have to row their way to a port. viii. But their chances of finding their heading were very low. Because they had neither seen sun, nor stars for many days. This is how they navigated on the sea. By the sun and the stars and their positions. ix. Not only were they without sailing capabilities – they were also without navigation. They were blind and set adrift. x. No wonder Luke says that their hope was fading. Yes, even Luke himself is giving up hope that he would make it out alive. Beacuse as far as Luke was concerned, God could rescue Paul without saving him. xi. Once again, the voyage faces great peril and difficulty from “nature.” And once again, Paul has some words of advice for all of those on this voyage. e. [Slide 7] 21 - And when they had gone a long time without food, then Paul stood up in their midst and said, “Men, you ought to have followed my advice to not set sail from Crete and to avoid this damage and loss. 22 - “And now I advise you to be cheerful, for there will be no loss of life among you, but only of the ship. 23 - “For this very night an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve stood before me, 24 - saying, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul; you must stand before Caesar; and behold, God has granted you all those who are sailing with you.’ 25 - “Therefore, be cheerful, men, for I believe God that it will turn out exactly as I have been told. 26 - “But we must run aground on some island.” i. No doubt they were not eating because of the inevitable sea sickness that would have overtaken most of the passengers aboard. ii. Nothing kills hunger like nausea. iii. Tired, sick, drenched, and afraid, Paul addresses these men with a message of hope. iv. First, he points out that his advice was to stay in Crete at Fair Havens and that advice being disregarded has led them down this path of destruction and loss. v. I don’t think Paul says this as an “I told you so” but rather to motivate them to take his next piece of advice. vi. He advises that they be cheerful because just as he rightly predicted the destruction and loss, he now predicts that although the ship and all its cargo will be lost, not one member of the ship would lose their lives. vii. But how does Paul know this? viii. He explains how God’s messenger, an angel, told him not to be afraid because he will surely stand before Caesar and that God has given or granted to Paul all that are sailing with him. ix. Contextually we know that this doesn’t mean that all of these men will convert to Christ… but rather that all of their earthly lives will be spared from this storm. x. So, Paul reasserts his advice. They must rejoice because God will do what He has promised… xi. But then he reveals a terrifying prospect. They must abandon the hope of saving the ship and its cargo. Why? xii. He revels exactly how the ship will be lost. It will be run aground on an island. Paul was not told which one specifically. f. [Slide 8] 27 - But when the fourteenth night came, as we were being carried about in the Adriatic Sea, about midnight the sailors began to suspect that some land was approaching them. 28 - And when they took soundings, they found it to be twenty fathoms; and a little farther on they took another sounding and found it to be fifteen fathoms. 29 - And fearing that we might run aground somewhere on the rocks, they cast four anchors from the stern and were praying for daybreak. i. We don’t know exactly how long it was since Paul gave this advice, but on the 14th day of the storm, they were still being carried about by the Adriatic Sea. ii. Today, the Adriatic Sea is what we would call the sea between the Apennine Peninsula and the Balkan Peninsula. In the first century this would have been known as the Gulf of Adria and the Adriatic Sea would refer to central portion of the Mediterranean Sea. iii. About midnight the sailors began suspecting that they were approaching land. They no doubt began hearing the crashing of waves against something in the distance. iv. So, they began to take soundings to measure the depths. Their first measurement came in at 120 feet or 20 fathoms. Their next measurement was 90 feet. v. Knowing now that the land below them was rising, they fearfully took measures to anchor the ship in place to prevent it being dashed to pieces on the rocks. vi. They cast four anchors from the back of the ship. And they began to pray – to various gods no doubt – for daybreak to come so they could get their bearings. vii. So once again we see the cycle repeat. viii. Things are going well, things start going bad, Paul gives advice, they do not heed it, and things get worse. ix. They have tried everything in their own power to save the ship and prevent financial ruin. When all has failed, they finally beg the gods, any who might hear them, to bring them through the storm. x. In contrast, Paul told them that a God they did not serve, and never sought, had already informed him that although the ship would be lost by being run aground, not one single life aboard the ship would be lost. xi. This is the contrast of works and grace. This is the contrast of false gods and the only true God. Yahweh alone is full of grace and love. g. [Slide 9] Summary of the Point: Luke’s primary point of teaching is found within the second piece of advice given by Paul. I call it advice by Paul, but really it is a Word from the Lord. God has told Paul that he will go before Caesar and that all the people aboard the ship will make it through this storm with their lives. God does this, not because these passengers aboard believe on Him, not because they have sought His face, not because they have prayed to Him, not because they are His faithful people. Indeed, God does not need to save all those on board in order to bring Paul to Caesar. But by the Word of His Sovereign grace, God chooses freely to save and preserve the life of all 276 people aboard the ship. Such a God deserves our exclusive trust and devotion. And that is exactly what Paul does. Paul is convinced that God will do as He has promised. We too must trust what God has said and reorient our lives around everything He says as truth. This is what saving faith is. Transition: [Slide 10 (blank)] Well, the situation is dire. Paul has given two pieces of advice and both have been disregarded by the passengers on board. Things continue to get worse and worse for them. And what usually happens when a group of people are in a desperate situation? Things start to get ugly as people start to get selfish. II.) It is by God’s sovereign grace through faith that we are saved, so we must trust the Lord. (30-38) a. [Slide 11] 30 - But as the sailors were trying to escape from the ship and had let down the ship’s boat into the sea, on the pretense of intending to lay out anchors from the bow, i. In this Maritime adventure the pattern has remained consistent. 1. Things are going well. 2. Things start NOT going well 3. Paul gives advice. 4. No one heeds his advice. ii. That cycle repeated itself twice. iii. Most recently, they were still trying to save the ship and the cargo along with the lives of the sailors even though Paul clearly said that the ship would be lost. iv. But now we omit step 1. Things don’t go well again. In fact, things get worse. v. The sailors, pretending to go to tie anchors to the bow, began to take the boat of the ship for themselves and abandon everyone else and the cargo to the waves and the wind. vi. Again, we see the natural sinful and selfish nature of man. Rather than believing Paul’s words and risking being shipwrecked on some island, they intended to leave those untrained at sailing to their fate. vii. But Paul speaks yet again with a warning. b. [Slide 12] 31 - Paul said to the centurion and to the soldiers, “Unless these men remain in the ship, you yourselves cannot be saved.” i. But wait a second. God already promised them that not one life would be lost. ii. Does it matter if these sailors leave? iii. Remember, this isn’t all God said. He also said the ship must run aground and be lost. iv. This forms the first of two examples demonstrating the paradoxical tension between God’s sovereign grace and man’s responsibility. 1. Who is going to save these men from dying in this storm? Certainly, God is. That is what the Angel said. “God has granted you all those who are sailing with you.” 2. But God’s sovereign grace in that promise is not without men’s responsibility to act in ways that pursue that salvation. 3. God’s sovereign grace to spare these men included their participation in using their skills to run the ship aground in a controlled way so that they could all abandon the ship together and get to shore safely. 4. So, using their skills becomes an exercise of faith. 5. God ultimately doesn’t need their skills to do this – but certainly abandoning the ship is done in disbelief that running aground and all of their lives being spared somehow both will be true like God said. 6. As James endeavors to demonstrate, faith that saves is woven to works. Not that faith and works save. They do not. But there is more than one kind of faith. The faith that saves is a faith that produces action. Belief without pursuit of what is believed in… is not belief at all. 7. Saying you believe zip lines are completely safe, but never going on one… means you have no idea what you are talking about. v. Paul’s point is, that ultimately these sailors must act in faith that the ship will run aground and all the lives will be spared. There is no reason to try to save your own life before the ship is run aground. This is not faith in God’s word. vi. This is the third time Paul has given advice in this maritime adventure. And the first two times, no one listened to him. And things have only gotten worse. vii. So, what will happen now? Have they learned their lesson? c. [Slide 13] 32 - Then the soldiers cut away the ropes of the ship’s boat and let it fall away. i. For the first time, someone is listening to Paul’s advice. ii. The Roman soldiers, in a sense, force a response of everyone aboard the ship. They cut away the boat preventing anyone from trying to escape. iii. In doing this, they ensure that the ship runs aground, not on the beach, but in some way that the ship will not survive; just as God said. d. [Slide 14] 33 - Until the day was about to dawn, Paul was encouraging them all to take some food, saying, “Today is the fourteenth day that you have been constantly watching and going without eating, having taken nothing. 34 - Therefore, I encourage you to take some food, for this is for your salvation, for not a hair from the head of any of you will perish.” 35 - And having said these things, he took bread and gave thanks to God in the presence of all. And he broke it and began to eat. i. The first thing we see Paul do after they listen to his latest piece of advice, is to reiterate his previous advice. ii. Now that they are beginning to believe God – yes, they are that desperate that they will believe Paul’s God… iii. Paul now reiterates his previous advice. iv. They should be cheerful; they should take food for themselves. v. And this is the second example in this point where the sovereign grace of God is paradoxically linked with the responsibility of men. 1. Once again, we ask, who is going to save these men from dying in this storm? Certainly, God is. 2. But here, Paul encourages them to eat. And he says “for this is for your salvation, for not a hair from the head of any of you will perish.” 3. Well, is food saving them or is God saving them? 4. God is the ultimate actor in the salvation of their present lives, but just as the sailors must execute their duties as an act of faith that the ship would be lost but all the lives saved, so also everyone aboard must eat food as an act of faith in the same promise. a. Will they really believe that the ship and all its cargo will be lost, as God has said? b. Will they really believe that their lives will be spared by God? c. How would we know? d. Taking food to sustain their bodies is an act of faith. How so? i. Eating food is a confession of faith that God will save their life. ii. Eating food is an act that comes with the expectation that by taking this, they will live on the energy this food provides for many more days. iii. Eating food is a confession that these supplies will be lost soon anyway, so they might as well use them while they still have them. iv. Eating food is an act of faith in that they believe they must have strength to swim to shore, since they will run aground and they don’t have a boat. v. Eating food breaks a fast to recognize that the answer has been given and they need not seek another. e. Is eating some great act of merit? Does eating require great effort on their part? No. f. Is the food they eat something that is theirs or has it been granted to them? It has been given to them, as all things have by God. g. There is deep symbolism here of the work of salvation. Luke intends for us to see the correlation between God saving these men and how God saves us. h. Christ is our spiritual food and drink. He is the bread and the water and the wine. He is the vine. We must eat and drink and live by Him… but doing so is all given to us by God. 5. God has provided their salvation and the means He uses to communicate their salvation to them is their faith in His words. 6. In a similar way, God has provided salvation to us by grace but uses His gift of ongoing faith in Christ to sustain us to the day of our salvation. vi. So, Paul breaks bread and gives thanks to God and gives an example of faith by eating. While the language here is similar to the Lord’s Supper, I do not think that is what is happening here. I think Luke would make it more obvious if this was the case. vii. But we do see this at very least as a picture of that picture. This is a meal of faith to be sure. They eat while they still can, preparing to be shipwrecked and so sustain their lives and strengthen their bodies believing God that they will run aground but live through this storm. e. [Slide 15] 36 - And all of them became cheerful and they themselves also took food. 37 - And all of us in the ship were 276 persons. 38 - And when they had eaten enough, they began to lighten the ship by throwing out the wheat into the sea. i. And here we see, after faith, the last vestige of hope in their previous endeavor dies. ii. They finally lighten the ship with throwing out… probably millions of dollars’ worth of wheat. iii. Just as the rich young ruler was told to sell all he had to follow Jesus… These people had a choice to make. iv. Will they believe God to the extent that they abandon hope in any other outcome than what God has said? v. Will they stay on the ship until it runs aground? vi. Will they eat enough to give them strength to swim to shore and fight for their life? vii. Will they abandon all hopes of getting their payday? viii. They believe. They eat… and they throw the wheat into the sea. ix. This is akin to crucifying yourself and following Christ. They give the wheat and their hopes at making money, and potentially even their future careers as sailors, to the depths of the earth… so that they can save what is more precious… Their lives. x. This seems a lot like the parable of Jesus. Jesus said that the gospel was like a man who found a treasure in a field and sold all he owned to purchase the field to acquire the treasure knowing that the treasure was more precious than all his riches. xi. All 276 persons aboard the ship trust what Paul’s God has said. xii. We’ll have to wait until next week to see what happens to them. f. [Slide 16] Summary of the Point: It is interesting to see the correlation between God saving these passenger’s lives from the storm and how God saves us from sin. Sin is a raging storm tossing us about. We are all born as slaves of sin and of our father the devil. We are by nature the offspring of the serpent. Children of wrath like the rest. And just as God freely chose to save the lives of the people on board this ship, so God has freely chosen to save the souls of His elect. What God has determined to do by His Sovereign grace, will be done. But that, as we see here, includes men’s response. Even though these people were told that God would spare their lives, it is clear that God would communicate that deliverance through their active faith. True and genuine belief that God would destroy the ship but save their lives, meant that they would use their skills, energy, and strength to both abandon hope in anything else and hope in His promise. In a similar way, God saves us by grace through faith. It is all of Him. He gives us new hearts to receive gifts of repentance and faith… but these gifts when received will produce action. Belief that produces action is what saving faith looks like. Conclusion: So CBC, what have we learned today and how does that inform or correct our belief and guide our lifestyles? Basics of Faith and Practice: [Slide 17] Today we have seen that great paradox, that tension of God’s sovereign grace and man’s responsibility. God told Paul that He would spare the lives of everyone aboard the ship but that the ship would run aground on an island and be lost. If everyone aboard did not believe it would God have still saved them? I think we can answer that question with a yes. Why? Because God doesn’t lie. But… Paul makes it clear that without the sailor’s skill in navigating the boat safely to run aground, and without the passengers eating to sustain their life and give themselves energy and strength to swim to shore, then they cannot be saved. In this we see that part of God’s grace included a means of getting them safely to an island. It included them believing God. And so, we see Ephesians 2:8-9 demonstrated for us. God saved them by His grace. He did not allow them to earn this salvation. But to be saved they must believe His word, to the extent that they live as if it were true. In a similar way God, by grace, gives new hearts to His people. Hearts now capable of receiving and responding with His gifts of repentance and faith. God removes all other responses as desirable. We see Him doing the same in this maritime adventure. All other options are unavailable and undesirable. By the end, the only option any of them had was to trust God and live in such a way that what He said would be. But even if you got completely lost in all the discussion of God’s grace and man’s responsibility… the good news is that all you really have to understand is that because you can’t save yourself, God sent His Son to pay the ransom for many. And if you are hearing this news and wanting it and believing it, it is because one of those people whom He paid that ransom for… was you! So, trust Him! Trust what He has said and trust what He has done. Trust it so much that your entire life will now be lived in its truth. But let me get a little more specific this morning. 1.) [Slide 18] Mind Transformation: “What truth must we believe from this text?” or “What might we not naturally believe that we must believe because of what this text has said?” We must affirm that God acts alone in saving His people. This is what grace is. a. There is one truth stated clearly by Paul and rescued by the reformers coming out of the reformation. b. The capstone of reformation theology is that God saves us by His grace alone. c. Grace is God’s favor granted according to His counsel and His purposes and His will. d. It, by definition, cannot be granted based on anything a person is or does. e. God promised to save all 276 people aboard this ship. He did this without asking their permission, without seeking their input, and without considering who they worshipped. f. A great example of this is the twins Jacob and Esau. g. God says, plainly, that despite the fact that neither of them had ever done anything good or evil, having not yet been born, God chose to love Jacob. He chose to love Jacob so much that by comparison He chose to hate Esau. h. God did not look into the future to see who Jacob and Esau would be and then chose to love Jacob. i. Instead, God’s love for Jacob formed who Jacob was. God’s lack of love for Esau allowed Esau to carve his own wicked path. j. God’s favor… changes the trajectory of a person’s life. So much so that when God’s grace is given, the recipient of that grace will not and indeed cannot fail in the purposes for which God has given them favor. k. And the scriptures teach us that it is by grace that God saves His people. l. Not an ineffectual grace given to every person that may or may not accomplish what He gave it to do. m. But an effectual grace which will produce the result God desires. n. If we conclude otherwise than passages that speak of God’s grace being something we all need and hope in, prove to be… in a word… useless. o. If God’s grace has a possibility of not working… and the reason it doesn’t work is because of me… then there is literally no difference between me doing something with or without God’s grace. p. But if God’s grace ALWAYS produces the result God gave it for… than we can rest that when the bible says that we are saved by God’s grace… that it is not only sure but also… empty of us. It doesn’t depend on us at all. q. God’s grace alone saves and all who are given God’s saving grace will be saved. This is how it must be. There is no other real alternative if we are to give God’s grace the definition the New Testament writers do. r. But… 2.) [Slide 19] Mind Transformation: “What truth must we believe from this text?” or “What might we not naturally believe that we must believe because of what this text has said?” We must affirm that man has a responsibility to act upon God’s gifts of repentance and faith. a. God does not merely give favor… to anyone… ever… and expect them to do NOTHING with it. b. In fact, I can’t think of a single example where God empowers someone to do… nothing. I can’t think of a single example where God favors someone and then ends up doing everything while they do nothing. c. This is what Paul points out on the ship. God has promised to favor these men and spare their lives. But that is not without the expectation that they would believe His word to the extent that they act in such a way to live out everything He has said. Even that they exert themselves using their skills, strength and energy to make it safely to shore. d. In the scriptures we note that repentance and faith, the message that Jesus preached, are both gifts of God. They are given to men after God has communicated saving grace to them. e. Meaning that God’s favor, his power, his ability is granted so that men can receive the things He gives them… namely the reception of truth that they are wicked sinners and that Jesus is a marvelous savior. f. Upon truly receiving these gifts, which God’s grace enables them to do, this person does what? g. They live as though it is true. h. How might one live if God has convinced you by grace through faith that you are a wicked sinner in need of a Savior and that Jesus is that savior? i. Would you trust the One who saved you? Would you desire to obey the God who rescued you? Would you seek to know more and more about Him? j. Indeed… k. But these responses are baked into God’s grace. They are a necessary and sure response every time God gives saving grace to someone. l. That is why the 1689 confession calls faith… a grace. God gives it in His grace as a gift to be received and acted upon. m. So what must we do with the grace of faith if it has been gifted to us? 3.) [Slide 20] Exhortation: “What actions should we take?” or “What is this passage specifically commanding us to do that we don’t naturally do or aren’t currently doing?” We must trust the Lord. a. Very simply… for everyone in this room… whether you are a follower of Christ or not… b. Here is the challenge of this passage. c. Will you believe God? d. Will you trust what God has said… to the fullest degree. So much so that your entire life reorients around His Word being true. e. This is the testimony of one of your Elders. He came to faith in Christ after beginning to assume that everything in the bible was true. It wasn’t long before God captured His heart. f. And this is the testimony of every flailing Christian who can’t seem to make progress. g. Well Christian… do you really believe that everything God says is true… h. So much so that your entire life is lived as if it is? i. My guess is… probably not. j. Let me illustrate simply by the example of prayer. k. If God is the creator and most high God, ruler of the universe, as He says He is. If God is Holy and awesome and causes instant fear to all who approach, as He says He is and does. If Christ has suffered violent death to provide access to God’s throne and purification through His blood to stand before this God as His child… as He says… l. Then why do we rarely pray? m. Ah. n. You see, all our sins… all our failures… they are a faith problem not an obedience problem. Faith and works go hand in hand remember? If we are not obeying – it is because we are not believing. o. So, we must trust the Lord. p. But let me provide some comfort to you… 4.) [Slide 21] Comfort: “What comfort can we find here?” or “What peace does the Lord promise us in light of this passage of scripture?” All the believing ones will be saved. a. My friends, do not cheapen what John 3:16 says. b. Do not turn it into a formula for “getting saved.” c. Jesus does NOT tell Nicodemus this to explain how someone gets saved. d. Let me give you the Chris paraphrase of this verse… Ready? e. God’s love for all the people groups of the world is so immense, so great, that He took His unique Son, whom He ordained since the foundation of the world to be THE substitute and Savior, and He gave Him to fulfill that purpose so that all the ones who are believing on Him would not believe in vain and suffer eternal death, but would eventually be saved and granted eternal life. f. John 3:16 is not a formula for how to get saved… it is a promise to those who continue to trust God. g. Your faith… will be counted to you as righteousness. h. It is a promise predicated on God’s great love for all the peoples of the world. i. What a comfort to us who are believers. j. But it is a terrifying thought for those who are not believing. k. So, what do you do? 5.) [Slide 22] Evangelism: “What about this text points us to Jesus Christ, the gospel, and how we are restored?” Though natural man is unable to understand and receive the gospel, God’s grace enables men to see the truth and receive the gifts of repentance and faith. So, repent and believe the gospel. a. My friends. If you are here today… and you have seen clearly now that God is holy and will not allow even 1 sin to go unpunished. b. If you hear my voice and understand what I am saying that your sin has done nothing for you but carve your way to hell and wrath. c. If you have heard today of the grace of God and His gifts of faith and repentance and the assurances He has provided by trusting fully on Jesus as your LORD and your SAVIOR… d. Then it is reasonable for you to assume that God is calling you. e. It is reasonable to assume that God is giving you gifts of repentance and faith. f. So I implore you to use them. Turn from your sin. Trust Him enough to hate what He hates and flee what He says to flee. And believe on His Son who has paid your ransom price. Believe on Him so much that you will, from now on, endeavor to do all that He has commanded. g. Believe on Him so much that your allegiance has shifted from yourself, your will, your ways… to His. h. Become one who believes and keeps on believing on Jesus Christ alone… i. Then and only then can you inherit the promise of John 3:16. Then and only then will you know life and not death. [Slide 23 (end)] Let me close with a prayer by the Puritan Richard Alleine Lord, you are God, and your words are true, and you have promised goodness to your servants. You have left us nothing to ask from your hands but what you have already freely granted. Establish forever the word which you have spoken concerning your servants. Do as you have said, and let your name be magnified forever, saying, "The Lord of armies, he is the God of Israel." In Jesus’ name we pray… Amen. Hallelujah. Benediction: The God who sent His Son to save, From guilt and darkness and the grave, be gracious to you and bless you And cause His face to shine upon you. Until we gather again tonight for the Lord’s Supper, go in peace.