Series: Acts
Title: Commit Thy Way Unto the Lord
Text: Acts 27: 1-8
Date: August 12, 2010
Place: SGBC, New Jersey
Read Acts 27: 1-8. Notice, they left Caesarea and "the next day" came to Sidon which was 70 miles away. They had to have a fair wind. Once at Sidon, Julius had a heart to let Paul go to his friends--brethren--and be refreshed. But the next day, "the winds were contrary" and they had to take an alternate route under Cyprus.
When it came to the good of Paul and those brethren in Sidon, God gave a fair wind. When it came to the determination, the "meaning to" of the sailors, the "wind was contrary."
Who was contrary to these sailors? Who suffered them not to go in the way they willed to go? Who made it hard for them? God did. Brethren, who controls the wind? Remember when the water was raging against the Lord's disciples.
Luke 8: 24: Then he arose, and rebuked the wind and the raging of the water: and they ceased, and there was a calm. [they marveled] 25:…What manner of man is this! for he commandeth even the winds and water, and they obey him.
Proposition: Man "determines" and we set sail "meaning to" arrive by our will our way--but God DOES as he will! The very best thing for you and I to do is this:
Psalm 37:5: Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass.
I. COMMIT THY ETERNAL SALVATION UNTO THE LORD.
Salvation comes to God's children through the wind of the Holy Spirit.
John 3: 7: Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. 8: The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.
John 1: 13: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
God would not allow Adam to take of the tree of life by his fallen, corrupt Adamic will because then salvation would not be by grace, through faith, but it would have been by Adam's own work, the will of Adam, the will of man and Adam would have had room to boast.
A new man has got to be born of God. A new nature which is of God has to be formed in the sinner. That new man is made a partaker of the divine nature. That inner man of God's creating is commanded to partake of Christ and the will of the inner man delights to do the will of God and lays hold of Christ by faith.
Application: It is not any will that is of us, by our doing, that guarantees we are delivered from our sin into the safe haven of Christ Jesus our Lord, any more than the will of these sailors could land them on the shores they willed to go to--it is God's will. The sinner who is made willing in the day of God's power, no longer boasts of his will, but submits to God and boasts of God's will. Declaring with Paul, "So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy" (Romans 9:16.)
II. COMMIT THY WAY DAILY UNTO THE LORD.
In our daily lives, even in the most minute details and plans, commit thy way unto the Lord. Will worship goes much deeper than a doctrine concerning how we initially come to Christ. Will worship is what God saves his children from in our daily lives.
How many there are who profess to believe on Christ, whose daily plans--like these sailors--revolves around the will of the flesh. Some have bought their piece of ground and must go see about it, others have their oxen, others have taken a wife. These are metaphors for treasures in the earth rather than Christ in glory, for being married to this world, rather than to Christ (Luke 14)
Luke 14: 25: And there went great multitudes with him: and he turned, and said unto them, 26: If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. 27: And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple….33: So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple.
The Pharisee's were so concerned with being the straightest--with yoking and correcting--but like the rich young ruler, they had never submitted themselves to the will and authority of the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ was not their treasure--not their refuge--their religion and the world, they manifest it by insisting on having their will be done.
In our text, there was storm coming--the storm of God. This is the God we are dealing with:
Nahum 1: 2: God is jealous, and the LORD revengeth; the LORD revengeth, and is furious; the LORD will take vengeance on his adversaries, and he reserveth wrath for his enemies. 3: The LORD is slow to anger, and great in power, and will not at all acquit the wicked: the LORD hath his way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet.
But by his power and his will, God has made the believer to delight in his will and Christ is our Refuge!
Isaiah 4:6: And there shall be a tabernacle for a shadow in the daytime from the heat, and for a place of refuge, and for a covert from storm and from rain….32:2 And a man shall be as an hiding place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest; as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land.---"commit thy way unto the LORD"
· Christ is our Tabernacle for a shadow from the heat
· Christ is our Refuge, our Covert from storm and from rain
· Christ is our Hiding Place from the wind of oppression in this world
· Christ is our Covert from the Tempest
· Christ is to us the Rivers of Water in a dry place
· Christ is the Shadow of a Great Rock in a weary land
Those who have been made to glory in God's will are made willing to be where Christ is because it is God's will!
Luke 5: 28: And [Levi] left all, rose up, and followed him.
John 6: 68: Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life.
2 Timothy 1:12: For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.
Wherever Christ was his disciples wanted to be. They hung on his every word. Wherever he told them to go and wait for him, they desired to be where he promised to meet with them. They desired to be with his brethren.
Opposite to this: the Pharisees and the religious multitudes were always coming and going and always tossed by every wind of doctrine. Never anchored! Never safe in the covert! MOST OF WHAT IS RECORDED FOR US WHICH CHRIST TAUGHT, THEY MISSED BECAUSE THEY WERE DOING THEIR WILL INSTEAD OF SUBMITTING TO CHRIST.
James 4: 13: Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain: 14: Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. 15: For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that. 16: But now ye rejoice in your boastings: all such rejoicing is evil.
Application:
Brethen, we were like those sailors-- determining and meaning to sail according to our will our way-- And God winked at this for a time. But Jesus shall save his people from their sins. The Spirit of God blew contrary to us and gave us a straight course to Christ Jesus. Now, by his will, Christ is our safety and security, our covert. Our desire is to be under the care of his holy arm continually.
Psalm 110:3: Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power, in the beauties of holiness from the womb of the morning: thou hast the dew of thy youth.
Matthew 23:37: O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! 38: Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.
Illustration: Paul Mahan's hen and her chicks!
In all salvation and in all our daily affairs.
Psalm 37:5: Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass. 6: And he shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light, and thy judgment as the noonday.
Amen!