Deo Gloria
Sermon for June 20+23, 2024
Pastor Martin Bentz
Text: Acts 27:13-26
Theme: When All Hope is Gone, Find Hope in God’s Gracious Promises!
The plaque is mounted on a wall in a bathroom of the maritime museum in Grand Marais, MI. Apparently that bathroom used to be the radio room of a former coast guard station. The plaque indicates that that location was the last point of land contact had by the Edmunds Fitzgerald.
Perhaps some of you remember that storm back in 1975. It started out as a nice day, a beautiful day—warm and sunny, with a high in the 70s. But things changed rather dramatically. Cold, winter winds came sweeping off the Iron Range and crashing down on Lake Superior. The near hurricane force winds whipped up a terrific storm, a horrific storm with waves as high as 35 feet. Here is a picture of the signal light at the end of the pier in Grand Marais, MI. Residents say that the waves that day were not only going over the pier; they were going over the signal light. It wasn’t long after their contact with the radio operator in Grand Marais that the captain of the Edmunds Fitzgerald sent out a distress call, indicating that they were taking on water. It was probably only minutes after that the Edmunds Fitzgerald sank along with her entire load of iron ore and all 29 members of the crew.
The apostle Paul was caught in a storm like that as was Luke, who recorded this story in the book of Acts. The two of them were on a cargo ship bound for Rome. Paul, you may remember, was being sent to Rome to stand trial before Caesar, not because he had committed some terrible crime. No, the crime Paul was charged with was preaching the good news of forgiveness and eternal life in Jesus. It was already late in the sailing season. Earlier in the chapter Luke indicates that it was already past Yom Kippur, the Great Day of Atonement, which normally falls in late September or early October. Back in those days you didn’t do much sailing on the Mediterranean past the middle of September. It was too dangerous. Storms could come up so suddenly and many a sailor had lost his life. The captain knew they had no chance of making it to Rome at this point, but the harbor they were in was unsuitable for staying the winter. He hoped to make it to another harbor about 60 miles further west.
It started out as a nice day with a gentle wind blowing from the south, so they weighed anchor and set sail along the coast. But before long a fierce and sudden storm came crashing down from the mountains of Crete. They even had a name for storms like this: a “Northeaster.” They tried to turn the ship into the wind and sail back to the harbor they had just left. But the winds were too strong, so finally they gave up and allowed themselves to be driven along by the wind. They passed ropes under the ship to help hold it together and prevent it from being broken to pieces by the pounding of the waves. They lowered the sea anchor to slow their progress and hopefully prevent their running aground on some well-known sandbars off the coast of Africa. The storm was so violent and their ship took such a beating that they finally decided to throw the cargo overboard. The next day they even threw some of the ship’s tackle overboard. The sun didn’t come out for days, nor the stars at night, which also created problems. Back in those days they didn’t have GPS. They used the sun and the stars to navigate. By now almost two weeks had passed. The storm continued to rage, with no sign of letting up. They had no idea where they were. At any moment their ship could be swamped by some huge wave and sink or they might be shipped wrecked on some shoal or sandbar. But in either case they would all drown. As Luke notes at the end of v. 20, “we finally gave up all hope of being saved.”
But then, that night, an angel appeared to Paul with a tremendously comforting and encouraging message, a message he shared with the sailors and the rest of the crew the next day. The angel told Paul that he would indeed stand trial before Caesar in Rome. That’s why he and Luke had set out on this voyage in the first place. And the angel assured him that he would reach his destination and would appear before Caesar. He also assured Paul, who had been praying for himself and Luke and for everyone else on board, that God had heard his prayer and was going to give him the very thing he had asked. He and everyone with him on the ship would be spared. The ship would be lost, but not a single man on board would perish. As you might imagine, the angel’s message brought tremendous comfort and encouragement to Paul and Luke and everyone else on board. It renewed their hope that they would indeed be saved.
Maybe you’ve never been caught in a storm like that with ferocious, hurricane force winds and gigantic, pounding waves that threatened to swamp your boat or pound it to pieces and send you and it to the bottom of the sea. On the other hand, maybe you have. In fact, maybe you’re in such a storm right now. No, it’s not a physical storm. Maybe it’s a storm of illness, a storm of suffering, a storm of pain. You got the test results back and the news couldn’t have been much worse. Your cancer has spread, to your lungs, to your colon, to your back. The doctor wants to start treatment right away—both chemo and radiation, 12 weeks of one, 16 weeks of the other. You’re going to lose your hair and lose your taste and lose your appetite. You’re going to feel awful more often than not. And there’s no guarantee it will stop or eliminate the cancer. Your head is just swimming and your heart is just aching.
Or maybe the storm has come in the form of a family crisis. Your sister called the other day. She told you that she and her husband are getting a divorce. She just can’t deal with his drinking anymore and the verbal abuse. And on top of that, it seems he blew most of their money on drinking and gambling and wasn’t paying the bills, so now they’re going to lose the house. They have three kids. She asked if they could come and stay with you for a while. You said, “Sure.” I mean, what were going to say? This is your sister. She’s in desperate need. You can’t tell her no. But you have three kids too and you only have four bedrooms. Your head is spinning. Your heart is hurting. How are you going to make this work?
Or maybe the storm has come in the loss of someone near and dear to you. Just last week we found out that a friend of ours at the church we served in Crete, IL passed away very suddenly and expectedly. Her husband had died very suddenly two years ago from a heart attack. Their daughter was planning to get married in July. Their housekeeper found her lying on the kitchen floor when she came to clean on Monday morning. I can’t imagine what their daughter must be going through—the waves of grief that overwhelm her at times, the winds of heartache that pound against the walls of her heart. Maybe you can, because you’ve been there too.
And then there’s the storm we’re all caught in, a storm of temptation and guilt and sin. How often haven’t the winds of temptation come crashing down on our hearts and blown us far off course, leading us to do and say hurtful things, harmful things, things we wish we had never done or said, things that still bother us today? How often haven’t the waves of guilt and shame over our sins threatened to swamp our hearts in a sea of despair and drag our souls to depths of hell? And we know there isn’t a thing we can do to make things better. There isn’t a thing we can do to make up for our sins, to pay for them and regain God’s favor. There isn’t a thing we can do to save ourselves from the death we deserve, from drowning in the depths of hell.
So where do you find hope at times like that? Where do you find hope and courage and peace in the storms of life? We can find it in the same place Paul did: in the gracious promises of our loving God. No, maybe God didn’t send an angel to you as he did to Paul, to assure you that you would make it Rome and you would stand trial before Caesar and you and everyone else on board would be saved. But let’s look at the promises he has given you.
For starters he assures you in his word that you are not alone, but that he is always with you, especially in the storms of life. Isn’t this what David says in the 23rd Psalm? “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me: your rod and your staff, they comfort me”(v. 4). And isn’t this what Jesus himself says in Matthew ch. 28? “Surely I will be with you always, to the very end of the age”(v. 20). And then there’s that gracious promise he gives us in Isaiah ch. 43:
But now, this is what the LORD says—he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name; you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze. For I am the LORD, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior”(vv. 1-3).
In addition, there are those comforting and reassuring words found in Romans ch. 8: “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose”(v. 28). And how can we forget that gracious promise he gives us in Jeremiah ch. 29? “’For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future’”(v. 11).
And when it comes to our sins and our guilt, God has given us so many comforting and reassuring promises, like this one in Psalm 103: “For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us”(vv. 11+12) or this one in Micah ch. 7: “Who is a God like you, who pardons sin and forgives the transgression of the remnant of his inheritance? You do not stay angry forever but delight to show mercy. You will again have compassion on us; you will tread our sins underfoot and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea”(vv. 18+19). That’s right. Instead of God hurling you into the depths of the sea; because of what Jesus did for you on the cross, he takes all your sins and all your guilt and hurls them into the depths of the sea and declares that you are forgiven.
Here is hope when the storms of life come crashing down on our hearts and our lives. Here is hope when the winds are howling and the waves are pounding and our heads are spinning and our hope is failing. Here is where we can find comfort and peace and courage and strength, something that will renew our hearts and renew our hope. Look to our gracious God and the gracious promises he has given us in his word. When all hope is gone, find hope in God’s gracious promises! Amen.