Believe the Promises

Acts 27:27-32 On the fourteenth night we were still being driven across the Adriatic Sea, when about midnight the sailors sensed they were approaching land. 28 They took soundings and found that the water was a hundred and twenty feet deep. A short time later they took soundings again and found it was ninety feet deep. 29 Fearing that we would be dashed against the rocks, they dropped four anchors from the stern and prayed for daylight. 30 In an attempt to escape from the ship, the sailors let the lifeboat down into the sea, pretending they were going to lower some anchors from the bow. 31 Then Paul said to the centurion and the soldiers, “Unless these men stay with the ship, you cannot be saved.” 32 So the soldiers cut the ropes that held the lifeboat and let it fall away.
 
SOME sailors did not believe God’s promise they would all survive the storm, even as the ship would be destroyed. They believed they had a better plan. A few unbelievers will affect the safety and welfare of all. That’s why God sends messengers to teach us the way to safety.
   Paul became God’s representative on the boat. The apostle has assumed all authority on the boat. Do  you think Roman soldiers would respond to a prisoner’s warning? But they did. God had granted the soldiers understanding to listen and respond, so all lives would survive.
   We can see this as a picture of God’s progressive redemptive work over the world. Because of sin, all creation is caught up in an endless storm. Paul describe this in Romans 8:22 We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Trouble rages against our lives, and the waves of opposition come from every direction.
   Then God sent a Messenger. His name is Jesus. He promises, “The Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.” (Luke 19:10) We believe his authority when we understand what he has done to save us from sin’s raging storm. He has died on a horrible cross. Jesus has been buried. He risen, and has ascended to heaven. The Holy God has promised his death is the end of sin’s deadly storm.
   Because Jesus has sought us, you can trust his authority to save us, “I tell you unless you repent, you too will all perish. (Luke 13:3)
   Consider this. God could have used the storm to destroy all who opposed Paul. Paul could have been free! But God’s purpose in the storm, as it is in the world, is to exalt his name among all his creation. Some on that boat would be saved into eternal life.
   As the world suffers the storm, God is revealing his promises. Those who do not believe will look for their own lifeboat, but they will perish. Those who believe will listen to the Author of Life. They will be saved. It’s as simple as that.