 Amen. Acts chapter 27, so here we are. Paul is on his journey to Rome. He's being taken at his own request actually. He's actually under in custody of the Romans, but the Romans actually were the ones that saved him from the Jews in Jerusalem, and he just kept appealing to Rome, so they're taking him to Rome as he wanted to go. Now, of course, we talked about this last week, at the beginning part of chapter 27, where they left in the fall, or they left towards the winter when the weather was known to be bad. Paul warned them against this, but they decided to take the risk anyway. We talked about the risk that they took, the reason that they took, and reasons we should take risk in our life last week, but we're going to start out and look at what happens here. It's kind of an exciting story, a lot of action at this part in the chapter. We're going to start at verse number 16, where they didn't listen to Paul, and they decided to just go anyway, so they were on the island of Crete. They're on the south side of Crete. They lose from the island. What they were trying to do is they were trying to just get a little bit up the island, up to the, they were going to go southwest, and then northwest, up to a better place to stay. That's how they were able to sell it to the people that were on the ship, because there was a nicer city there, and what happened was they sailed to the southwest, and the wind turned on them, and they could not sail back up into the wind, though the Bible says we let her drive, meaning we're getting pushed by the wind. They're in a square sailed ship like this behind me, and they can't sail into the wind, so they're going where the wind is taking them at this point. And they turn, it just turns into quite a harrowing experience. I would not want to be in any kind of situation like that they, like they end up in at the end of Acts chapter 27. Look at verse 16. It says running, now they're just being taken by the wind. It says running under a certain island, which is called Clota. This is, if you look at a map, you can actually, it's pretty cool. You can actually see all these islands that they end up at, and this is an island that is just to the southwest of Crete, so they pass by this island. It says we had much work to come by the boat, so let me just kind of give you some terminology here. When they talk about the ship in this story, they're talking about, you know, the ship. Okay, when they talk about the boat, they're talking about the boat, the lifeboat. Okay, so they mentioned the lifeboat a couple times. I'm just going to tell you the details of everything that they're doing here. Not that there's any doctrinal significance to that, but it's interesting. It shows you the detail of the Bible. So it says we had much work to come by the boat, so they're working on the boat. Verse 17 explains a little bit better. It says when they had taken up, they used helps. So what it says is they took, they're being tossed around. Look, this isn't Paul's ship, but it's a nice little illustration. They took the lifeboat in and they tied it down, is what they're saying. You know, the lifeboat was hanging over the side. They're in this terrible storm and they don't want to lose the lifeboat. So they use helps and they tie down the lifeboat. And then it says undergirding the ship, fearing less they should fall into the quicksands. So this is another very real thing. To the southwest of Crete, there's known to be very shallow areas. Shoals is another word for what they're talking about, quicksands here. So they're worried that they're going to run aground. So what they do is they're in this heavy storm and they undergird the ship. Basically what that means is when you're in a heavy storm and the ship is under a lot of stress, especially if you think you might hit sand or hit ground, you're worried that the hull is going to break up and you'll sink. So what they did was they undergirded the ship, which basically means they wrap ropes or some kind of straps around the hull of the ship to hold it together, especially in storms. The mast of the ship itself is putting extreme stress on the wooden structure of the boat. So undergirding is kind of like just kind of like holding it all together. So that's what they're doing. They're preparing, they're trying to survive is what these people are doing. Then the next verse says they strike sail and so we're driven. Now to strike sail means they just, another word for this is I'm forgetting the word that modern sailors would use. It'll come to me in a minute. But basically they lowered their sails. They brought their sails to either, they brought all the sails down or most of the sails down. That's why this painting is so shocking because you're never going to sail through a storm with all your sails up because that would be a suicide mission. So what they're doing is they're lowering all their sails. They're striking the sails, they're striking the sails, and so we're reefing. That's the word that I'm looking for. So if you're going to reef the sails in a storm, it means that you're going to drop the sails to just be like, maybe like a fifth of what they would be that surface area of the sail and you could actually still sail through the storm. But you just don't want that extreme force on the mast and the ship itself. So what they're trying to do is keep the ship together and they're trying to not sink. Now, here's what's interesting. Just an interesting side note here. Whenever I study through these chapters that we look at, I've just kind of made it a habit of just looking at how the NIV talks about these stories and how the NIV will talk about these verses just to see if there's anything significant to bring up. It's very hard to preach just one sermon on everything that's wrong with the modern Bible version. So many times as I will do in sermons, I will bring up like a doctrinal problem with the NIV on this or whatever. But when you look at the NIV, I'll just read for you. So basically they took the lifeboat in, they did three things. They took the lifeboat in, they strapped it down, they undergirded the ship, putting the hull in a more stable situation and then they took the sails down. They took the sails down. Now in the NIV in verse 17, it says this, so the men hoisted it aboard, they passed ropes, you read through this in your head in verse 17 in your King James Bible. It says so the men hoisted it aboard, that would be the lifeboat. They passed ropes under the ship itself to hold it together, okay. Because they were afraid they would run aground on the sandbars of Sirtis, then it says they lowered the sea anchor and let the ship be driven along. There's a little note right above sea anchor. Now a sea anchor is a real thing. A sea anchor is a, you'll see, yeah I don't know how long ago they had sea anchors, but I'm sure many, many centuries ago they had sea anchors. But you can see sea anchors today is like a, on a modern ship today is like kind of like a big parachute or a big bag that they just throw out in the water and it literally just slows you down. It makes it so you don't go that fast. But the point is lowering the sails and putting out a sea anchor are two different things. They're not the same thing, okay. So there's a little note though, right above sea anchor in the NIV it's like little B. And then you go down to the B note in the NIV and it says or the sails. So it's basically saying, it basically says that they did something completely different and then it puts a little note, it says or the sails, all right. Now look, you say what's the big deal? This isn't like doctrine. This isn't like they're taking away the deity of Christ by changing things here. But here's the point. It's just, it's irritating to me because things that are different are not the same. And you know, it just, it changes something like a detail in the story that's different. And look, I'm gonna tell you like you say, oh, what's the big deal? But here's the thing, it destroys confidence in the Bible is what it does. Because if you have a story that is in the Bible told this way and then in the Bible it's told this way, it's just, it's a different story. I mean, if you read one history book where it says, oh, they went and they had this big war and then they signed the treaty in London. And then, you know, you have another history book talking about the same event where it says, oh, they had this big war and then they signed the treaty in Paris. Well, you're just like, well, okay, the treaty was signed, but where was it signed? You know, it destroys your confidence in that historian. It destroys your confidence in the truth of whoever is telling that story. And look, that's the agenda here. The agenda is, and you will see people repeat this to you constantly when, if you become a soul winner, go out souling. People are like, how do you know which ones are, which Bible's right? They all say something different. It's true, I just showed you, they do say something different. It says something, it's not talking about doctrine here, but it says they did something completely different is when I'm trying to get you to understand. So like, these things are small attacks. You say, I mean, we are hanging, we are hanging everything, every truth on this book. We need to be confident that every word is correct. That's why if some little part is wrong, it's a huge deal. But that's what Satan is trying to get us to believe or get people in this world to believe. They're trying to get people to doubt the word of God today. And that's what you'll see. And that will stop many, many people from getting saved. You'll be out there preaching a very simple message, the gospel itself, and people will not be able to get saved just because they don't have confidence in the word of God. It's a big deal. See, anchor, sales. It was the sales, that's what the Bible says. So don't make it see anchor. And put a little note that says sales. I mean, things that are different are not the same. All right, so that's just a side note. Acts chapter 27, look at verse 18. So they're preparing the ship, they're getting ready to ride through this storm, look at verse 18. It says, we being exceedingly tossed with a tempest, the next day lightened the ship. Now they're throwing stuff off the ship, they're still worried they're gonna run aground. The third day we cast out with our own hands the tackling of the ship. This is how badly they're concerned about being too heavy and running aground. They're literally casting the tackling of the ship, meaning the blocks and the pulleys and all the things that are used to actually work the ship itself, they're throwing that stuff into the ocean. And when neither sun nor stars in many days appeared, so note in verse number 19 that they've been in this three days at this point. They've been in this storm for three days. I mean, I can't even imagine what this was like. Then neither sun nor stars in many days appeared. So after three days, many more days go by and no small tempest lay on us, all hope that we should be saved was taken away. Everyone's like, we're done. This is over for us. Look at verse number 21. So everyone's like, we're toast. We're not gonna make it. Look, I believe it. I believe it. I've been like, look, it is scary. It is scary when you're out in the middle of a large body of water. I don't even, it could be a big lake even. But you're in the middle of the ocean especially and you are in serious seas and being thrown around like this. It is scary. I mean, you're like, I can't imagine what this is like. These guys, I mean, you'll be in situations like this and boats will be, it would just be pounding, like someone's just beating on the outside of the boat with like a railroad tie or something. And you're just like, how could that, I can't imagine the sounds that they're dealing with here. They're like, how is the ship even gonna stay together? These are the thoughts that are going through these people's heads. They're just like, we're not gonna make it. And here's Paul, Mr. Encouraging. Look at verse 21. Mr. Encouraging, he stands up. He's like, after a long absence, Paul stood forth in the midst of them. They're all scared, they all think they're gonna die and said, sirs, you should have hearkened unto me. He stands up in the middle of these people that are just scared for their lives. And he's like, should I listen to me? And they're like, hey, thanks buddy. Look, nobody likes this guy, right? The guy that when things are going bad and things are going terrible and you've clearly made a wrong decision, the guy that comes up to you is like, told you so. That's basically what Paul just said here. But I'm gonna give you the difference between how Paul did it and how most people do it. So Paul stood up and he said, you should have hearkened unto me. He said, you should have listened unto me. That was true because he did give the advice. He did give the advice just a few days earlier that they should not go. Here's the guy you don't wanna be. The guy that said nothing and just went along with the group and then when everything goes bad, you say, shouldn't have done that. That was not Paul here. Paul told them what not to do. Everyone's smiling because everyone knows who this, everyone knows someone like this. That's like, that's just the constant critic. The constant, they don't have any ideas but as soon as you mess up, they're gonna point out what you did wrong but they have no ideas. They never had any ideas at the beginning and they don't have any ideas to go forward. That was not Paul. Paul told them at the beginning and now he's gonna tell them what to do to get out of it. So that's okay. So it's okay to criticize in that sense. Paul's criticism here is not that guy because what Paul is doing is he is trying to establish credibility so they listen to him going forward. Look at the last part of verse 21. He says, you should have harkened unto me and have not loosed from Crete and to have gained this harm and loss. So what he's doing is he's saying, look, I did tell you not to do this. He's trying to establish credibility. He's not just being this, this just criticize for his own pride but then look what he does, he offers a solution. All right, so look, if you're ever gonna criticize anything, you should probably think about whether you're gonna do it anyway but if you're ever gonna do it, you better follow it up with a solution, all right? A solution. You shouldn't criticize anything if you didn't have any ideas at the beginning. Number one, Paul had the right idea at the beginning and then he offers solutions going forward. Look at verse 22. He says, and now, this is why he said verse 21. He says, and now I exhort you to be of good cheer for there shall be no loss of any man's life among you but of the ship. He says, look, you're all gonna make it. He's like, the ship, we're gonna lose the ship. He's like, but you are all gonna survive and I guarantee you every single one of these people could care less about the ship at that point. They are worried about their lives at this point. Look at verse 23. Because God told him, he says, for there stood me so he needed credibility, that's why he said verse 21 so they would believe him when he mentions verse 23. He says, for there stood by me this night the angel of God whose I am and whose whom I serve saying fear not, Paul, that must be brought before Caesar and lo, God hath given thee all them that sail with thee. So the angel tells Paul and he's telling them that, hey, you need to go to Caesar and by the way, I'm gonna save everyone that's with you. So all those people should better appreciate Paul at this point and look, they did. If you look at it, look at verse 25. Wherefore, sirs, be of good cheer for I believe God that it shall be even as it was told me. How be it, we must be cast upon a certain island. He's saying, however, how be it means, however, he's basically saying, we're gonna be shipwrecked, all right? Verse 27, now look at this, the 14th night. They've been in this for 14 days at this point. So I'm assuming that several days go by even after Paul gave this speech saying they're all gonna make it. We were driven up and down in Adria about midnight the shipment deemed that they drew near to some country. Look at verse 28. And sounded and found at 20 fathoms. When they had gone a little further, they sounded again and found at 15 fathoms. So what they're doing is they're checking the depth of the water, all right? So they feel like they're, they doesn't tell us how they thought that they were close to land, but what they were doing was they were sounding, meaning they took a rope with some sort of weight on it and they were dropping it down the water and when they hit the ground, when they hit the bottom of the sea, you can tell it hits the weight. If you've ever been fishing, you can tell when your line's on the bottom and then they measure at that point. A fathom is six feet. So they sounded and they found it to be 20 fathoms, which is 120 feet. And then just a few minutes later, they sounded again and they found it to be 90 feet. So what does that tell them? They found it to be 120 feet. They found it to be 90 feet. Now, let me tell you something. When you're 90 feet deep in the ocean, you are very close to land. When you're 120 feet and then you're getting up to 90 feet, you know you're approaching some sort of shoreline. So they're worried. I mean, when I'm saying 90 feet and if you're sailing in a ship and you're in 90 feet of water and you're sailing directly towards the shore, you're gonna hit in less than an hour. You're gonna be on the rock. So now they're really concerned that they're gonna be shipwrecked. So look at verse 29. Now they have another worry, right? They're not worried about the sandy shores. They're worried about crashing upon the rocks. It says, then fearing less, we should have fallen upon the rocks. They cast four anchors out of the stern and wished for the day. So they take four anchors and they throw them out the back of the ship. For what? Hoping that they'll grab them and it'll stop them from crashing into, you ever been on the California coast? You don't wanna crash into that coastline. It's just rocks everywhere. So this is what they're worried about. And many, there's shipwrecks all up and down the California coast. Jacob loves going to shipwrecks, but that's exactly what happened. People were really close to shore. They must've had engine trouble or whatever. And they got pushed into the rocks and they crashed into the rocks. Matter of fact, not to derail the sermon, but in the early 1900s, I think the 20s maybe, there was a Navy convoy that was going from Northern California to Southern California and they didn't have GPS and they didn't have all these things that we have today. They literally measured distance. They measured distance by timing and the RPM of the engine, if you think about that. So they measured how far they would go by how long they had been running at a certain RPM, meaning the turns of the literal propeller. And it was foggy and you had, it was, I don't know how many ships it was, it was over 10 ships. Big Navy destroyers and cruisers and it was around point conception, somewhere around that area. There's a little point there called Honda Point and the lead ship, they could see nothing except the ship in front of them. The lead ship said it's time, he timed his RPMs and his time and he's looking at his map and drawing his lines and navigating. He says it's time to take a left turn because if you see point conception, you have to take a hard left turn to get to Los Angeles, Southern California. California kind of has that bump that comes out and he was wrong. He was wrong and he turned about, I don't know if you look at a map, I think it's about 10 miles too early and he literally just turned straight into the rocks. It's called the Honda Point disaster. It was like seven, six, don't quote me on this, I don't have it in my notes, but it was several Navy cruisers and destroyers that were destroyed on the rocks. Many men lost their lives. The only ships that were saved were, I think three or four ships in the back. One of the commanders said, I don't believe this guy, I'm not following him. And they didn't make the turn and they did not crash. But there's a memorial there and everything. It's called the Honda Point disaster if you wanna look it up. But anyway, serious thing. I mean, it'll wreck even the toughest ship. You crash on the rocks, you're done. All right, look at verse 30. The shipment were about to flee out of the ship. So they were very concerned and they're getting ready to let what? The boat into the sea. This is the boat that they tied up under color as they would have cast anchors out of the four ship. Paul said now they were gonna cast out anchors out of the front of the boat as well. Paul said to the sentry, now Paul steps in to the sentry and to the soldiers, except he's a bite in the ship, they cannot be saved. He says, if they go in the lifeboat, they're gonna die is what Paul says. Then the soldiers, I mean, look what they do. Did they argue with Paul? Did they cause trouble and just have a big debate? No, they just, they cut the ropes of the lifeboat and let her fall off. They just listened to Paul right away and they just cut the boat off and let it fall off. We'll get verse 33. And while the day was coming up, Paul besought them to take meat saying, this day is the 14th day you've terried and continued fasting and have taken nothing. So they weren't eating, I'm sure they were fasting and praying at this time. And he's like, look, you gotta eat. He says, I pray take some meat for this is for your health. There shall not a hair fall from the head of any of you. So he's telling them, you're gonna survive, you're gonna live, stop fasting, eat. I'm sure they're very weak after 14 days of not eating. He's like, we need our strength, let's eat. And when he had thus spoken, he took bread and gave thanks to God in the presence of them all. And when he had broken it, he began to eat. I think Paul probably got a lot of people saved here. Not here, but I mean, during this time, I'm thinking that's a pretty good time to be soul winning actually during that time. Because I mean, people are gonna be, you know, you always think about that, you know, like if there's a plane crash or something, you know, you probably wouldn't have the time to give the gospel in a plane crash, right? I'm sorry if I'm wrecking anyone who's gonna travel on a plane soon. But I mean, the point is, like they've been in this storm, like life and death for like 14 days and people are literally scared thinking they're gonna die. I'm thinking pretty good soul winning time. So now he tells them to eat and they were all of good cheer. They also took some meat. And they're on all the ship, 203 score and 16 soul. So 203 score is 60 plus 16, 276 people are on the ship. So it's not like there's 20 people here. When they'd eaten enough, they lighten the ship, also shows you it's a large vessel, right? When they'd eaten enough, they lighten the ship and cast out the weed into the sea. So now they're even throwing the food. They know they're about to land somewhere. Look at verse 39. And then when it was day, they knew not the land. So now they can see the land. They just didn't know where they were, okay? But they discovered a certain creek with a shore in which they reminded if it were possible to thrust in the ship. So what do they see? And you can see this on a map too. But they see a bay. They see a bay with a creek coming out or a river, I guess you could call it a small river. And they see this and they're like, hey, that's what we're gonna do. We're gonna shoot for the river coming out into the bay and we're gonna jam the ship. We're gonna beach the ship is what they decide to do. And they'd taken up the anchors. They committed themselves under the sea and loosed the rudder bands and hoisted up the mainsail to the wind and made towards shore. So now they put the sails back up and they're just barreling towards the shore to just beach. They loosed the rudder bands so they can steer to some degree. And verse 41, falling into a place where the two seas met. What that means is, you know, I suppose if you're right at the outlet of that river, you got one sea and the other sea. So they're saying they hit the stream dead on, all right? They ran the ship aground and the four part stuck fast and remained unmovable, but the hinder part was broken with the violence of the waves. And this is another reason they didn't wanna get stuck on the shoals in the middle of the sea because as you're going with the waves, it's possible to survive. It's possible for the ship to survive. But if you're out in the middle of waves and you get stuck on a high spot and you're not moving but all the waves are still coming, it will break up the ship. And the soldiers council was to kill the prisoners lest any of them should swim out and escape. But the centurion willing to save Paul kept them from their purpose and commanded that they could swim, they that could swim could cast themselves first into the sea and get to land. So the centurion says no, let's not kill the prisoners. Paul's one of the prisoners and the rest, some on board, some on broken pieces of the ship. And so it came to pass that they all escaped or that they escaped all safe to land. Just as Paul had said. So they went through this harrowing experience and they finally made it through just as the angel actually told Paul. So you say what is the application of this story? I mean, it's a fantastic story. It's amazing that they made it through this situation, especially with how long that it was. It's amazing the ship survived. But of course we know that God was looking out for Paul. God was not done with Paul. God had a purpose for Paul going to Rome and the rest of the people were lucky that Paul was on the ship, basically, is what happened here. But the interesting thing and the one thing I wanna apply this evening is this idea that first they didn't listen to Paul and then they got into a bad situation. They got into a horrible storm and then they listened to everything. That's what I wanna point out tonight. The title of the sermon if I had one other than Acts chapter 27 would be three types of Christians. I wanna give you three types of Christians tonight applying this story to the types of Christians that I wanna talk about. Turn to James chapter one. Turn to James chapter one. So we see that you can listen at the beginning or you can not listen at the beginning. And then a storm comes and you can listen in the storm or you can not listen in the storm. These folks didn't listen to Paul at first. They didn't listen to the man of God. They didn't listen to what Paul said and they ended up in a storm but they're unique in the sense that after the storm started they listened to everything that he said. You won't find them arguing with anything after they were in the storm. Turn to James chapter one, verse number 22. And if you're a soul winner this is gonna be interesting for you especially type number one here. So type one Christian explains why we will go out soul winning and we will get people saved and we will preach the gospel and we'll get, I don't know, we'll get several people every week here saved. And you ask yourself, well, why don't we see a lot of these people in church? Why does somebody get saved at the door today and then not come to church tonight? Or not come to church ever? Because I don't know how many salvations we have. Dozens and dozens of salvations this year so far. You say why aren't all of these people coming to church? First of all, some of them do. But second of all, why aren't these people coming to church? Well, look at James chapter one and verse number 22. It's because they're the first type of Christian and they're the type of Christian that get saved but they just never listen. They never listen. They never listen to the word of God. The Bible says in James 1, 22 it warns us against being this type. Obviously, you're in church tonight. You're not this type of Christian but there are Christians out there that will just never listen to the word of God in their life. They're saved. They're not saved because they did something. They're not saved because they're great at something or they did some great works or whatever. They're saved just by trusting and believing on the Lord Jesus Christ but they will just never listen to the word of God. Maybe they don't even have a desire to understand what God has for them in their lives. They're happy to take their salvation and just live the way they wanna live. Look at verse 22 of James chapter one. The Bible warns against being this type of person. It says be doers of the words of the word and not hearers only deceiving your own selves. Turn to Psalm chapter 119. See, it's very possible and it's very common. It doesn't make me happy to report this that people get saved and then they have no desire for the things of God. I'm gonna explain why that is in just a minute but they will just never listen. Turn to Psalm chapter 119, verse number 10. Psalm chapter 119, the longest chapter in the Bible is just talking about the whole chapter is about David's love for God's word. It's like the opposite of this first type of person. It's somebody that just can't get enough of God's word in Psalm chapter 119. That just dwells on God's word. That just appreciates God's word. That just loves God's word and just can't get enough intake of God's word. Look at verse number 10 of Psalm chapter 119. This is David. He says, with my whole heart have I sought thee. That's what God says about David. This is God's, his biggest description of David is he's a man after my own heart. Before he was even king. He's like, I sought a man after my own heart and it's true in Psalm 119, verse 10. He says, with my whole heart I have sought thee. Oh, let me not wander from thy commandments. So David is the opposite of this first type of Christian that we're talking about. But here's the question. What if you don't, what if you do wander from the commandments? What if with your whole heart you don't seek God after you get saved? Turn to Mark chapter four. You say, why would that be a Christian that gets saved? And why is it so common? I'm gonna explain it to you right now. Mark chapter four, verse number 19, explains why there are so many people like this. And if you're a soul winner, it's like this is valuable for you to understand this. It's valuable for you to understand why not everybody that gets saved is just gonna be this driven disciple, just living their life for the Lord. Look at Mark chapter four in verse number 19. This is talking about the parable of the sower and I'm not gonna talk through that whole parable, it's a good one, we'll do a sermon on that some other time. But it's talking about somebody that, this is talking about the thorns, the seed, the word of God that falls amongst the thorns. That's the type of people I'm talking about in type number one. But look at verse 19. Here's the problem with these people. It says the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches and the loss of other things entering in choke the word and it become unfruitful. It's somebody that they get saved, they get saved and then all these cares are in their life. But guess what? When you go and you knock on somebody's door and you show them the Bible and you show them the gospel and they believe it and they get saved. Guess what? You're talking to a worldly person. You're talking to someone who is very likely living a worldly life. I'm not saying everybody like that but you're talking to somebody who's very likely wrapped up in the cares of this world. They're wrapped up in the deceitfulness of riches. And you say, what else? The loss of other things. I mean, it pretty much covers everything there. Everything that is not spiritual, they can be wrapped up in. So look, they can get saved and not gonna have just this magical willpower to just separate from everything and get all this stuff out of their lives. Look, they're saved now but they're already into all those things that Mark 419 is talking about. And look, we need to look at this in our lives as well because all Christians are in some degree of this. This is Christian growth, Christian maturity here. You say, well, what chance do these people have? Well, look at us, look at you. Look at people who have grown in this Christian life. I mean, basically what you have to do the solution, the one solution to this is just what James chapter one of verse 22 says. You just have to, you say, I don't have the desire. You say, I got saved and I don't have the desire for the word of God or I know somebody that got saved and they don't seem to have the desire for the word of God. Well, they should at least start going through the motions and the mechanics of what they're supposed to do. And guess what? That desire will come after that. But they have to start with the mechanics of it. They can't just be like, I'm just gonna stay in the world. I'm just gonna stay with the deceitfulness of riches. I'm just gonna keep all these cares of all these other lusts, whatever that is. And I just think everything's gonna, to be fine, to fix the heart though. So go through the mechanics. Start learning the word of God. Start coming to church as the first step. Start hearing the word of God and start just going through the mechanics of it. This is how you begin traction in a Christian life, in a starting Christian life. Just be like, well, that's what the Bible says. It doesn't make sense to me. I don't really feel that way right now. But that's what the Bible says. So I'm gonna go through the mechanics of it. And guess what will follow? What will follow is the heart. What will follow is the heart. Look at verse, actually, the next thing that needs to happen after that is you need to start separating from those other things. That's why we talk about, you know, we're a King James, independent, fundamental, separated Baptist church. I mean, you hear me say that word all the time. You know, separate. Because once you start going through the mechanics, you have to get those things away that are choking the word. These are contradictory things. To come to church and to start reading your Bible and to start learning the Bible and then to keep all those other lusts in your life, you're canceling everything out. You're stopping your Christian growth. But the point of trying to get you to understand, this is why some people will never grow. They will never grow because they will never start the mechanics and they will never get rid of those things. That's all you have to do, folks. That's the answer to the Christian life right there. You get saved, you start just, I don't understand it, just do it. If the Bible said, this is the importance of the truth of the Bible. This is the importance of trusting every word, trusting every verse. That way I can read my King James Bible and I can say, man, I wasn't raised that way. Look, everything you've ever been taught and everything I've ever been taught is wrong. There's a good starting point for you right there. Just do what the Bible says. Just do the mechanics of it. Even if you don't feel it, even if you don't understand it, you will understand it. Then take that, those lusts of this world, those cares of this world and start separating from those things. And guess what? What will follow? Your heart will follow. You'll be the type of person that just, you can't wait to read your Bible. You can't wait to hear the Bible preached. You can't wait for Wednesday night. We started out the satellite ministry on Thursday nights. We started it out on Thursday nights and I'm not beating up anybody that has church on Thursday nights. I couldn't stand it. I couldn't stand it because I felt like it was an eternity to church. I told Pastor Man, can we move to Wednesday? Because it's in the middle of the week. It's like I need to be in church by Wednesday. And it was just a long time to wait until Thursday. Say, I don't have that desire. Go through the mechanics and then start separating from these things that are choking that desire. And look, it will come. There's nothing special about me. There's nothing special about somebody that would be in church on a Wednesday night other than the fact that they're not letting their spiritual life be choked and they're going through and they're becoming doers of the word. That's how this happens. So look, this is why you will see people as type number one that just never listen. Because yeah, they get saved, folks. They get saved. They have enough concern. Look, it doesn't take a lot of faith to get saved. It doesn't take a lot of faith to care about your own soul, not going to hell. So they get saved. They trust on Jesus. They just, I'm sorry, but they just don't have the character to understand that yeah, maybe I should now do what Jesus wants me to do. And start those mechanical steps which are gonna tell them, hey, this is gonna wreck your Christian life. Hey, this is gonna wreck your Christian life and be exhorted by other believers. That's why people don't even get started with their Christian life. It doesn't mean they're not saved. It just means that there's a lot of Christians who are gonna do nothing for the Lord. They're gonna be unfruitful in their lives. The second type of Christian from Acts 27. The second type of Christian is the people that we find in Acts chapter 27. And look, this is the one that is all of us to a degree. This is the one that's all of us to a degree. It's they don't listen. They don't listen a storm comes and then they listen. I don't care how good of a Christian you are. This is you to some degree. There is going to be something in your life where you don't listen and then a storm comes and if you're a mature Christian, you're gonna be like, whoa, I'm gonna listen now. And that's, look, but that's the point of what God, that's why God brings storms into our lives. That's why God has chastisement so we can respond in this way. Look, these folks in this chapter, at least they listened to Paul. They didn't listen the first time. You know, it's not the ideal case. It's not the ideal case to not listen and have a storm coming to your life. It's better to listen right away. It's better to listen right away. I think about that with the book of Proverbs. I think of that with Proverbs. I'm like, man, I wish I understood Proverbs when I was 11. You know what a family integrated church will do? You're gonna raise a bunch of kids that understand the book of Proverbs when they're 11. I wish I understood the book of Proverbs when I was 11. I wish I understood, you know, how to deal with every situation that I'll ever run into with interpersonal relationships, with marriage, and with all these different things, with friendships, and finances, and all these different things. I wish I understood that when I was 11 years old. But look, it's better to know right away, but it's better to know right away to avoid the storm. You know, some people, and it's all of us at one point in our Christian life, some people need a storm. And look, personally, I don't want God to send a storm my way. I don't wanna be the type of Christian that God has to send a storm to. So I'm always thinking about that. But you know why I always think about that? Because I have evaluated the storms that I have gone through. So this is super important for the Christian. You need to evaluate your storms. When you're at a storm in your life, need to evaluate the storm while you're in it, hopefully. But especially, it will be very clear once you're out of it why you were in that storm in the first place. While you're in that storm, you need to be like, hey, is there something I should be listening to? Is there something that I should be hearing? Is there something, go on. And then when you're out of that storm, you look back and you reflect on that storm, and you say, you know, hey, what was God doing there in my life? And look, it will be clear to you. Especially if you pray to God to tell you what he was doing there, he will just make it clear to you. Why? Because he wants you to know why you were in that storm. He wants you to know. You know, like I would like to, in my life, I would like to avoid personal, avoid future storms in my personal life. And I hope you would be the same. Turn to Matthew chapter 12. So we're all gonna go through those storms in our lives, but we need to be good at evaluating those storms. And once you realize why you're in the storm, why you were in the storm, then be like Acts chapter 27, and be like, hey, start listening. You know, start listening to what God has for you. Now, the third type is where we never wanna go as a Christian. You never want to be in this third type. Turn to Matthew chapter 12, Matthew chapter 12. The third type of Christian is this. And look, I don't like seeing it, but I've seen it more times than I can even count at this point. It's this, it's the Christian that doesn't listen. Well, let's just say they listen. Let's just say they listen. The Christian that listens, let's make it simpler. They stop listening, a storm comes, and then they stop listening even harder. This is where we never want to go as Christians. This is why you need to evaluate your storms in your life. Look at Matthew chapter 12 in verse number 43. This is a, this is a example of this type of Christian right here. It's somebody that listens in their life, but then they stop listening, a storm comes, and then they stop listening even harder in their life. Look at verse 43 of Matthew chapter 12. The Bible says, when the unclean spirit has gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest and findeth none. All right, so this is a very important verse right here. So here we see that, you know, it's kind of given an example of somebody who's got like a unclean spirit or a demon in them, but it's basically saying, it's getting an example of somebody that's cleaned up their life. Okay, so here's a person that has cleaned up their life. The spirits are gone out of them, walketh through dry places. He's like, they've cleaned up their life. They don't have unclean things in their life anymore. Things are good now. They're walking through dry places, seeking rest, but look at the last part of the verse. And then I want to just, I want to kind of segue just for a couple minutes on this, but it says, he's seeking rest and he findeth none. This is somebody that gets saved, gets right. They even get separated. They're walking through dry places. They're not into any of that stuff anymore, but you know what? Here's the key that you need to understand. He's seeking rest, but he's finding none. You must separate unto something. You must not just separate from all these things because here's what people will do. Here's what people will do. They'll be in the, I'll use my, I guess myself as an example where I used to live. They'll be out in the middle of nowhere. And they'll be like, oh man, I found something on the internet and this is right. And I'm saved now and I'm cleaning up my life now and they will separate from everything in their life and they're walking through dry places now, but guess what? They're alone. They're not finding any rest. It's just like they're alone. They're by themselves. You must separate unto something. This is the power of a Bible preaching church right here. This is the power of a good church because when you separate from all that stuff in the world, you got to separate to something. You can't just separate and then just sit in your house in a dark room or you're gonna be this guy. You must separate unto the Lord. You must separate unto God's people. You must separate unto, look, the whole thing with COVID and all this stuff that happened where everybody's lives completely changed and we're totally flipped upside down. Man, nothing changed for us. Nothing changed for us. I was like, this country's gone crazy. People are nuts. I couldn't believe that businesses were getting shut down and all this Nazi stuff was happening in the United States, but you know what? Ultimately, whatever, we're fine. You know what happens is when everybody else starts saying that that wall is red and you're the only one that knows it's white, that's maddening. That's this person. They separated unto nothing. They had nobody else there. A three-fold cord is not quickly broken. I mean, the Bible says that we are stronger together. We must separate unto God's people. We must separate unto the Bible. That is the key here. Separation must be unto the Lord. You know, get rid of all the lusts of the world. Get rid of all that junk, but separate unto the Lord. That's the key. That's the mistake, the main mistake because they didn't find any rest. They find it none. They find it none. Look, we've been saved and homeschooling by ourselves. It's very difficult. It's very painful. You know what though? We separated unto Verity Baptist Church of Sacramento. Super easy, fun even, exciting, completely different. We're just like, why in the world didn't we do this sooner? You must separate unto the Lord. This guy didn't do this. Look at verse 44. Now that just goes way wrong. We're talking about somebody that listened, that got right, and then stopped. A storm came and then they stopped listening even harder. Then he said, what? He said, what? I'll return into my house from once I came out. And when he has come, he findeth it empty, swept and garnished. Then goeth he and taketh himself seven other spirits, more wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there, and the last state of that man is worse than the first. Even so shall it be unto this wicked generation. What this is giving you, this is giving you an analogy of somebody that gets saved and gets right. This is not talking about losing your salvation, anything like that. This is talking about somebody that gets right, doesn't separate unto God's people, doesn't get in church. Maybe they get in church for a little while and then they get backslidden and get out of church or whatever it is. But then it's saying that when they go back and they backslide out of that, it'll be worse than it was before they even got into it. Seen it, I can't tell you how many times. You're like, how does that even make any sense? A saved believer that gets backslidden and just goes back and just gets worse than they ever were happens all the time. That's what the Bible is telling us here. What should we take from this? You're like, that's never gonna be me. Don't ever get backslidden. I mean, backsliding should scare the daylights out of you. Backsliding is a terrible thing. It's like, look, this verse right here in Matthew chapter 12 and verse 43 and on is a complete Christian disaster is what it is. Someone gets saved, gets right, they backslide. Turn to 1 Corinthians chapter five, this example of it in 1 Corinthians chapter five. And guess what? It seems that the harder they backslide, you know, the harder they backslide, God forbid they even fight against God's people. But the harder they backslide, the worse this is. It's like a law of motion. Like every action, there's an equal and opposite reaction. The worst the latter part is. It's just like the guy in 1 Corinthians chapter five, verse number five, you know, who's in fornication and Paul says you gotta put them out of the church. Verse number five, it says, why should we put them out of the church? It says because he needs to go through a storm is what Paul was saying here. He needs to be put into a storm. We can't have sin in the church because it'll spread throughout the church but this individual needs to go through a storm. It says to deliver such and one unto Satan. What, to go to hell? No, for the destruction of the flesh. He needs to go through some chastisement in this physical life is what the Bible is saying here. That the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. But it's somebody that goes out into that, into that storm, that chastisement of God, that chastisement of their flesh and they just, they're just like, they go into more fornication and they're just like, no, more drugs, more alcohol. Worse than, the Bible is saying if they do that and they don't listen, even when they're in situation, it's gonna be worse for them than when they were in it in the first place. Because let's be real folks, they always go back to what they were doing before they got saved anyway. Which is another good advantage for the family integrated church because I hope that we raise kids here, they have no idea what it's like to drink a glass of alcohol or to even think about doing drugs. I mean, my kids laugh about it. It's a joke because it's just, it's something they wouldn't even fathom doing. Why, because they know what the Bible says. I mean, these are the type of people that go out and are chastised by God, they're in this storm and they just don't listen harder. They just don't listen harder. They just don't listen harder. These are people that you will see other Christians get in this debate. Get in this debate about these types of people. Look, there's a lot of them folks and the longer you're in this Christian life, you're gonna see more and more of these type of people. I'm just warning you so when you see it, you're just like, but these are the other Christians will debate, like are they even saved? And maybe one Christian will say, I think they are saved and maybe another Christian will say, maybe they're not saved or whatever. But here's the thing you gotta understand. You're like, how bad can a saved Christian be? Well, since they weren't saved by their works at all, the answer is pretty bad. Really bad. They can fall into some really bad things and people that fall into this always get angry. They're always angry saying, oh yeah, these people are all saying that I'm not saved. When what they should be saying, because look, to people who are backslidden, look folks, if you're saved, you're the only one that knows you're saved. But if you're a backslidden Christian and you're this person that's just being beaten by God and you're just deciding, hey, I'm backslidden. I'm gonna backslide harder and get beaten harder. And you're like, and you just get all angry that people think you're not saved or somebody said you probably weren't saved or whatever. Maybe your first concern should be like, why do people think I'm not saved? What am I doing where people think that I'm not even saved? But they never think that way. But look, saved believers can be pretty bad. Can do some wicked things. Just look at the Bible. Look at Saul. But look, the lesson to take away there is that the chastisement of God, the storms that God can bring are nothing to sneeze at. And as people bounce back further and stop listening even more, look, I pray this is none of us ever in this church. It's just gonna get worse and worse and worse. Even worse than you were before you even got saved, the Bible's saying. Your life, your actions, you're still saved. But look, chastisement of God can come up to your physical death. It can get up to that point. Does it get much more, it doesn't get any more serious than that for the saved believer. That's what happened to Saul. God literally killed him. God's like, you're done. Going to heaven, but you're done tomorrow. I'm taking you off this earth. Turn to Luke chapter 12. Turn to Luke chapter 12. Look, I wish this case, I wish this case didn't exist. Luke chapter 12, Luke chapter 12. Look at verse 47 of Luke chapter 12. See, now here's the irony though. And the reason Luke chapter 12 verse 47 is talking about somebody that this is why the worse you get backslidden, the worse the storm is gonna be. And then the worse you stop, the more you stop listening, it's just gonna get exponentially worse for you. If you get in that storm and you just burr up against the Lord, this is why it's gonna be so bad for that person. Look at verse 47. It says, And that servant which knew his Lord's will and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will shall be beaten with many stripes. See, that's the person that got everything cleaned up in Matthew chapter 12. This person, they knew everything that was wrong and they cleaned it all out. They got rid of it all and then they went back to it. That person, God says, is gonna, they're gonna be beaten hard. The storm's gonna be hard for them. It's the Christian that never cleans it up and never even starts. That it's gonna be beaten with few stripes in the first verse. But he that knew not and did commit things worthy of stripes shall be beaten with few stripes. Yeah, the person that gets saved at the door and just continues living a selfish life, you know, yeah, they're gonna be beaten but with few stripes. It's the person that gets right and gets it all cleaned up and knows what the word of God says. I remember right before we moved telling my wife this. I was telling my wife that it was just, I was going through the details of the move and everything what it was gonna take to move. And it was just like, it was really stressing me out with everything. And I always came back to this point where I told my, I remember telling my wife on a walk one night, I was like, yeah, but you know, I was just kind of telling her all the things I was stressed about, the logistics of everything. It was a really big deal. And I just told my wife, I was like, yeah, but you know what? It always comes down to this. You can't unknow the truth. And that's really the curse for those people in Matthew chapter 12 that fight against God even throughout the storm. They get back slidden and they're like, no, I'm gonna backslide harder. And then God beats me. I'm gonna backslide harder. It's like, they still know the truth. And it will vex them till the day they die. But here's the irony of it. Anyone can get right. Anyone can get right. I don't understand it. You see people doing that to themselves as Christians is this third type of Christian. And you're like, anyone can get right. I mean, that's what the Bible teaches. If you're saved, you can get right. So look, those are the three types of Christians that I wanna apply this chapter to. What's the conclusion? The conclusion is this. Number one, it's better to listen up front. It's better to listen up front. They would have been better off not getting into the storm in the first place. And then from there, you know, that's why Paul said to them in verse 21, he should have listened. He was just kind of giving a little Bible study there saying like, look, next time listen the first time. However, then he gave solutions. The second point I want you to take away tonight is this and I'll wrap up here in just a minute. Evaluate your own storms. Don't be person three, but evaluate your own storms because we're all gonna go through storms in our lives. You're not a perfect Christian and neither am I. We're all gonna go through storms in our lives. Evaluate your own storms. I look back on some storms and I say, yeah, I know what God was doing there in my life. Better had I listened right away. I'll get it next time. That's how I look at my Christian. My storms helped me going forward. My storms in my life that I've gone through, they helped me so I can hopefully avoid future storms. This is something that only you can do, by the way. We're not a bunch of Job's friends here. You know, we're not gonna be coming up to each other at church and I'm not gonna be going up to Brother Edwin and being like, hey, Brother Edwin, you know that thing that's been going on with you? You know, I think you're all messed up in this and that and whatever. And you know, we don't wanna be our brothers having, you know, just criticize. We're not a bunch of Job's friends. You must evaluate your own storms. That was kind of a bad example. You can always ask me advice on things, okay? But anyway, the point I'm trying to get at is, it's best for you to evaluate your own storms, all right? And do that and you'll avoid future storms. And the last one is this. Turn to 2nd Corinthians chapter seven and we'll end here. 2nd Corinthians chapter number seven. 2nd Corinthians chapter number seven. 2nd Corinthians chapter number seven and I will shoot this. I will shoot this last three minutes of this sermon into the wind because people don't seem to get this. And I don't know why because the Bible is super clear on this, but the third thing I want you to take away tonight is whenever you see that third type of Christian, whenever you see that third type of person that's just backslidden and they're just like, no, I'm gonna backslide harder. And they know what the word of God says. They know what the Bible says. Maybe they've been sitting in church for years. I know people like this. They sat in church for years. They cleaned it up for years. I mean, it blows you away, but it's just, if the Bible didn't say it, you wouldn't believe it. You know what I'm saying? These things are so shocking to just our human reasoning. If the Bible didn't call it out, we wouldn't believe it. But the last point is this, to that person, who none of you are, but to that person, it's never too late to get right. If you're saved, no one's ever gonna make you not saved. A bunch of people thinking you're not saved is not gonna make you not saved. I can't make you not saved. Did you know that? I can't stand up here and say, I can't be that pastor and there's plenty of pastors like this, none that I'm friends with, that'll stand up and say, you better listen to me, listen to this sermon, or are you even saved if you don't even like this sermon? I can't make you not saved. That's the Catholic church. You gotta come here to get saved. You gotta come to me and get baptized by me and confess your sins to me to go to heaven. That is not what the Bible says. There's nothing, I want you to follow the Bible. I want you to listen to me. I don't spend hours every week studying the Bible and writing sermons. You can just go and just mess it all up anyway, but I can't make you unsaved. I have no power over that. Nobody does. If you're saved, you're saved. But it's never too late to get right. Look at 2 Corinthians chapter seven in verse number 11. This is what needs to happen. 2 Corinthians chapter seven in verse number 11. For that third Christian, it says, for behold, the self same thing that you sorrowed after a godly sort. They must get to a point where they have godly sorrow for what they have done. What carefulness it brought in you. Yay, what clearing of yourselves. Yay, now this is how you know somebody's about to get right and is ready to get right. When they look at the backsliding that they did, they look at what they brought back into their house. They look at how they messed everything back up and they became unclean again with the things that they're doing. It says they just had indignation towards it. You're just like, I can't believe that I went into that. They had anger about it. That's where that person needs to be. Yay, what fear. They should be afraid that it could happen again. They should get right and they should separate from those things and they should be like a thousand miles away from those things. If those things are drugs or alcohol or whatever it is, they should never go anywhere near all those things. What vehement desire. What zeal. They have to want to get right. They have to want to get back. Yay, what revenge. They should just, it just shows the emotion and the anger that they should have over what has happened to them. But the point I'm trying to get you to understand is people that have gone way back down that road, it seems impossible, but the Bible is saying that it is possible. It is possible if they can get their heart right and have that godly sorrow. It's never too light to get right for the saved believer. It's better not to go into the storm in the first place. But we're all gonna go into storms if we're real about our lives. And just remember when we get in those storms, evaluate those storms and just listen to what God has for you. Just like these people in Acts chapter 27. After verse 21, they listened to every single thing that Paul said. And you know what, they were physically saved. Their lives were saved because of it. Let's bow our heads and have a word of praise.