"CHRISTIANS - THE WORLD'S HOPE" (Pastor Tom Henry) ~ 5/19/26

“For there stood by me this night the angel of God, whose I am, and whom I serve, Saying, Fear not, Paul; thou, must be brought before Caesar: and, lo, God hath given thee all them that sail with thee.” (Acts 27:23, 24)

Paul was put into a ship, - into a ship among thieves and other criminals, - into a ship among sailors and soldiers, who were not known as the best of men in those days, but he was put there for their good. This we can lay down as a general theory, that there are many Christians who are in places very uncomfortable, and perhaps most unsuitable for them, who are put there for the good of others. In this they are like the Lord Himself. Why was Christ on earth at all but for the good of others? Why does He sit at the publican’s table, or break bread with a harlot, or permit an unclean woman to come and wash His feet? As for Himself, it went against His holy nature to come into contact with evil of any kind. But where would a physician be but among sick folks? As for us, we should not be surprised or consider it strange if God’s providence sometimes places us into company that we would not choose for ourselves, yet, into such company as we may do them good. Does this not rather explain why we are on earth at all?

Note the comfort that was given to the Apostle. He had been long out at sea, and with the rest, had suffered much. The comfort given him was, “Fear not Paul; thou must be brought to Ceasar.” This was not very great comfort, we might say. It seems no more comfort than if the angel had said, “Paul, you are not going to drown at sea, because you are going to be devoured by a lion.” Some such comfort the Christian martyr Bishop Ridley took to himself when being rowed up the river to be burned, a storm came up, and the men were afraid. He said, “Fear not, boatmen, the bishop that is doomed to be burned cannot be drowned.”

Yet, there was real comfort in the words of the angel, for it was the Apostle’s intense desire to preach Christ before Nero. He wished to proclaim the Gospel at Rome. He had great trouble of heart for those that had not seen his face in the flesh. Therefore, whether Nero was a lion or not, he was only too happy to beard him for Christ’s sake. And when a man sees that his purpose in life is to do good unto men for Christ’s sake, what would be a terror to another man becomes a comfort to him. It had been the subject of his prayer that he, being cheered with the prospect of himself prophesying at Rome, his comrade might arrive safe on the shore.

The Apostle Paul had given some very good advice to the mariners of the ship, that, had it been heeded, would have prevented the very danger in which they found themselves. They had thought fit to reject it. Now some of us are of such a temper that if our good advice should be rejected, we would be in a huff, and vow never to offer them any more wise counsel again. We might even take some sort of pleasure in seeing them suffer the consequences of their foolish rejection of our sage advice. Not so with the Apostle Paul. He had prudently abstained for some time from saying anything. There is a time to be silent. But he at length gave proof of his unabated affection to them by the good advice which he offered. Let us take a lesson from Him and let us overlook their lack of appreciation for us and our good counsel and persevere in our effort to do them good.

May our presence in the world be for the good of those in whose company we find ourselves. And may our association with them be to the salvation of “them that sail with us,” so that we may safely land on heaven’s shore together.