Acts 27:27-44 - Letting Go and Trusting God

I'm going to invite you together in a book of Acts. Chapter 27 is where we're going to be. Book of Acts chapter 27. And in light of just acknowledging the struggle of life and recognizing the frailty of who we are as human beings, and that the reality of death is, is a part of life. I think Acts chapter 27 fits nicely with encouraging us in really any season of life that we may go through, especially in adversity and even in the most extremes of adversity. And, and if you remember, this is that final section of the book of Acts where we've been journeying through this book together. I have no idea how long we've been in this book. We started like end of August last year, I think. And so we've almost been a year in the book of Acts and, and we're getting to the conclusion next week. And then the following week will be our last two sermons in the book of Acts. So chapter 28, we'll, we'll look at twice together. But as we come to this, this particular chapter, we're reminded, like the Book of Acts is a first century eyewitness account, really, of how the the Spirit of God worked in the people of God to accomplish the will of God. And within 30 years, the church is birthed in Jerusalem, and it travels throughout the known world from Jerusalem to Rome. The gospel's going forth everywhere, and it's. It's an encouragement to see this not only in the first century, but to realize it's the same God we follow in the 21st century, and that God has a plan for your life that's bigger than yourself.

And. And in that plan, you get the joy of coming to know the Lord and walking with him and becoming a blessing to those around you. And so what does it look like for us to honor God with our life? This is what the Book of Acts is all about. And in this particular section, as we're getting to the tail end of Acts, we recognize that Acts chapter 13 started for us the the three missionary journeys that the Apostle Paul would go on. And at the end of his third missionary journey, he would go back to Jerusalem. He was arrested, put on trial and imprisoned his imprisonment. He was put on trial multiple times, but his imprisonment lasted at least four years and he at first was imprisoned in Jerusalem, then in Caesarea, and from Caesarea they put him on a boat to set sail from Rome, because the apostle Paul recognized that in Caesarea. After two years of being imprisoned there, he wasn't going to get a fair trial. Even among his own people. His own people had such a hatred towards the apostle Paul, such a visceral response to him. They wanted to to kill him. And so finally, Paul appealed to Caesar for a fair trial.

Being a Roman citizen. And he's put on a boat during a time period where sailing was known to be unsafe, the apostle Paul tried to warn the centurion that was over the Roman soldiers of the. On the boat, with all the prisoners. They were responsible for the prisoners that were on board. And he tried to warn the sailors that that this wasn't going to go well if they boarded, that God had warned him. But they continued to do so anyway. And here in the middle of this story, this is where we're going to find that this is the final moments before they're shipwrecked. And so it's in this adversity that one of the things that we see about Paul's life juxtaposed against the soldiers and the sailors and the prisoners, that the apostle Paul, in the midst of the chaos, had incredible peace in the Lord, while everyone else was in the state of panic. And it's, you know, if you're ever in a moment where the sailors are panicking, that's a good moment to panic too, right? Like it's just if the experts, I feel like things are going to not go well, that's, that's when you need to really make sure your heart's right with Jesus, right? This is this is what's happening with them. But in the middle of all of that storm, Paul has such incredible peace. And, you know, we we talk about it this, this way that he's going physically, he's going through a storm, but proverbially, he's also facing a storm.

And yet he has this he has this peace that transcends his circumstance. Now, it doesn't mean that Paul is is just unwilling to recognize the the difficulty and the challenges of his moment. He's very much aware of what he's facing. But the Lord is giving him a peace that transcends that moment where we can look at the Apostle Paul as an example for our own life. What is it? What does it mean for me to find this kind of peace in the midst of the battles of life? And I looking at this particular story, it becomes easy to give it a kind of a cliché that Paul went from. He went not just from surviving, but to thriving. Right. Like, that's kind of a cheesy thing to say. So I'm like, rather than say something that obnoxious to, to everybody, well, how else could I describe this? And I wrote it down so I wouldn't forget. But looking at it, I would say this. Paul shows us how to endure a storm without being defined by it. Or Paul shows us how to remain steadfast when everything around him is falling apart. Or Paul shows us how to experience God's peace in the middle of life's adversity. And Paul doesn't just survive the troubles, he leads others through it. Now, in all of that. I'm not saying to do that. You have to become unhuman and you can't acknowledge, you know, difficulty you're going through.

I think it's important to, to be honest with the challenges that we face and also the God that we follow. And so what does, what does that look like for us as a people that are called to have a greater hope that transcends the circumstances of life? Because everything that we go through in this world is temporal, but everything that we have in Jesus is eternal. And the Bible reminds us to continue to not put our hope where, where moth and rust doth corrupt. But in the Lord. And what does that mean for us as God's people? And I, I gave us maybe, maybe somewhat of a cheesy title in saying this. What does it look like to let go and to trust God, knowing that the things of this world will pass away. But what we have in the Lord endures forever. As we get ready to, to look at these four points I want to share with you. I want to start by asking you a question. We all have a certain tendency that when we face obstacles, we face challenges the storms of life. Sometimes we have this tendency to revert to this typical type of response, like my my emotional state or the way I often perceive those challenges initially. This is the way that I act. Let me ask it like this. And I just want you to be honest, not out loud, but internally answer this question.

When I am in a storm, I quickly get what not. And I'm not saying you get an object, but rather your emotional state. Where do you quickly go to emotionally? And some people might respond this way that I I'm filled with anxiety. Some might say I'm filled with despair. I feel vulnerable, isolated, lonely, maybe. Maybe scared or or concerned. Sometimes we might say, I get forgetful of God's promises, or I get forgetful of my position in the Lord. Or maybe you go the other extent. Maybe rather than respond in a way that might lack a little bit of faith, maybe you just jump right to your faith. Maybe. Maybe your you're focused on the Lord. You're you're filled with faith. You have, you have peace. Maybe you're hopeful, you're prayerful. Maybe you become selfless. Maybe maybe you're so stable in your relationship with the Lord that even though circumstances are hard, you're still able to think about the well-being of others and honor Jesus and the way you bless people in every season of life. Like maybe today's lesson becomes more of a, a reiteration for you of the truthfulness of the Lord. But regardless, can I just tell you that our response becomes revealing in what we truly believe? In fact, if I if I gave you point number one in your notes is this. Challenges expose the focus of my heart. Challenges expose the focus of my heart.

And maybe we could say it this way. There is what we claim to believe. And then there's how we behave. And sometimes what we proclaim doesn't directly correlate to how we live. And I would argue that our living is a reflection of what we truly believe. And if there's something about the way that we're living that we don't feel aligns with what we might proclaim to believe, we need to challenge our living to really examine what is it? What is it saying about my belief? Because what you believe will truly determine how you behave. Your actions become this outward profession of the foundational bedrock of what you hold to as a human being. Right? So, so what is it about my life that demonstrates about what I really believe and how, how can I align that better with the Lord? Now I want to acknowledge as fallen, broken people that we're not always consistent with our faith. And I think the Lord is can be gracious to us in that. And there's a place to, to connect with, with the Lord when we when we sin, when we fall, when, when we don't live up to what we think that we should. Right? But, but looking at our life, especially in adversity, it starts to draw out to us. It has this wonderful way of refining for us what we might really think about what is important in life.

Where do we go to a people of hopelessness or a people full of hope, a people of faithlessness, or a people full of faith? And so challenges have this, this way of, of helping us begin to examine that. And, and this is precisely what happens in, in the book of Acts in chapter 27. Why is that up already? There we go. Let's read this. I don't know how long that has been up, but Acts chapter 27, verse 27, it says this. When the fourth night had come, as we were being driven across the Adriatic Sea about midnight, the sailors suspected that they were nearing land. So they took a sounding and found 20 fathoms. A little further on. They took a sounding, and again found 15 fathoms, and fearing that we were. We might run on the rocks. They let down their four anchors from the stern and prayed for day to come. Now here it is, these these soldiers facing this challenge. And you see the sense of panic. This is where I tell you, when you're on a boat and the and the sailors are panicking. That is the time where everyone should panic. And you start to see the tension build and the circumstance and the challenges that they're facing, where they're just crying out for salvation, however they get it. I mean, you know what it's like in those circumstances where you feel like everything's being ripped away from you. You just come to this place where you dropped your knees and you're just begging to to mercy for whatever might step in and do something about it.

Hopefully, you know, as people that might claim to follow the Lord, that that that person to you is Jesus. I believe you seek what's true and. And you seek the Lord himself. But in in those particular moments, we're just crying out. And you're starting to discover in the midst of that crying out, you know, what, what you're looking to for that foundation. And I would argue these sailors at this particular moment are just looking to anything like, teach me something. Give me some sort of direction. And the Apostle Paul has been divinely put in this particular moment to see the hand of the Lord, not only working in his own life, but but graciously working to, to spare the lives of others. But it's beginning to, to rise up for, for them, this place of exposing the condition and need in their own lives. Now, I want you to know, as we read this story, they're going to talk on and on about different aspects of sailing, of which I find incredibly irrelevant for us because, well, we live in a desert, right? So who cares about those particular details? But but we want to get to what? What then is the response of their life in light of their circumstance? Because for us, while maybe one day you might become a sailor, you need to move.

If that's the case, if that's your dreams. But, but we're starting to see how they're being refined in these moments. And Paul teaches them something critical here in Acts chapter 27, verse 30, it says, and the sailors were seeking to escape from the ship, and he lowered the ship's boat into the sea, under pretense of laying out anchors from the bow. Paul said to the centurion and the soldiers, unless these men stay in the ship, you cannot be saved. Then the soldiers cut away the ropes of the ship's boat and let it go. It's interesting, Paul's statement here, and especially in light of what we read together in the beginning of Acts chapter 27. If you remember, as we read this passage together when Paul was on the ship and they initially encountered the storm. What God said to Paul in the beginning of this storm versus what Paul is saying to these individuals now that they're there well into the storm, almost seems like they're they're statements that are juxtaposed against one another. We are acknowledging here is like Paul is saying, look soldiers, unless you respond by trying to keep the sailors on board this is not going to go well for us because the people that are going to be able to navigate this moment for us are the sailors. We desperately need the sailors. Some people have looked at this throughout the centuries and joked, this is, this is where the battle between the Army and Navy began.

And it's, it's been that way ever since, right? They just warring against one another here in the midst of this, the soldiers now trying to get the sailors to say, well, the ship's going down and Paul's saying, these sailors are important to us. But if you just back up just a few verses previous to this. In verse 23, there was a moment where God appeared to Paul in the middle of the storm, and he said it like this for this very night there stood before me an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I worship. And he said, do not be afraid, Paul. You must stand before Caesar. And behold, God has granted you all those who sail with you. But we must run aground on some island. And when you look at those two verses or two passages, we could ask ourselves like, which is it? Is it that God is going to spare the people, or is it that the sailors are going to spare the people? I mean, God said he's going to handle it, so let God handle it. Why would Paul then go to the sailors and say, the sailors need to handle this? I mean, which is it? Did God say this to Paul or didn't he? Is it the sailors are going to save, or is it God? God going to save? And the answer to this is yes.

And this has been a theological, I will say, challenge in some ways throughout the centuries that theologians have come to passages like this and have asked the question like, what is ultimately in control? And which one of these thoughts are right? Is it is it that that people have responsibility? Or is it that God is ultimately in control? And the answer to both of those is yes. In fact, Charles Spurgeon has said it like this, as people have tried to reconcile those things which which is true, is that God is ultimately in control in everything. Is that his sovereign hand that dictates all things, or is it is it man's responsibility? And Charles Spurgeon has historically said it this way I don't put friends at war with one another. And thinking of the free will of man and the sovereignty of God. And I want you to know this morning, I'm not going to I can't even begin to reconcile how to fully conceive both of those things in our mind because, well, I'm not God. And I think to fully understand that, you would have to have the mind of God. But truth be told, the way that Scripture shares with us is that both of those things are true, that that God has predestined and he has decreed in all things will work together for his glory according to the way that he has decreed.

And as human beings, you're responsible for the decisions that you make. God holds responsibility upon you. And when you think about how those things work together, if I gave you a passage this morning and I won't put it on the screen, but one of the passages we've already read is several weeks ago was in Acts chapter two, verse 23, in Acts chapter two, verse 23. It takes both of those thoughts and it puts it puts it together for us in, in one, one passage of the Bible. And in that particular passage reads this way, this Jesus delivered us a. Delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God. So it's saying, before time began, God had already determined how he would spare your soul by giving his life in your place. This is important for all of us to think about, because when humanity was faced with the reality of death, when the consequence of our sin was the wrath of God, the Lord didn't look at that and be like, oh my gosh, what am I going to do? Right. He's not surprised by this. In fact, he had already determined the extent that he was willing to go for your soul and mine. That's critical for us because this is primarily dealing with the sovereignty of God. I'll get to that in a moment. But I want you to know there is the foreknowledge of the Lord and predestining his people.

And this is this is true, that God, God will work all things together for good to those who love God, who are called according to his purpose. You need a sovereign God, right? And then on the other hand, it goes on in that same verse and that verse, it concludes this way. Acts chapter two, verse 23, it says, The God whom you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. So God, orchestrated by his divine decree through the the autonomy of man who chose to crucify Jesus, that he would bring about our salvation. Which is incredible because it's saying to us and even the worst of circumstances, God can continue to move things forward for his glory and your good. We need to understand both the sovereignty of God and the free will of man. The sovereignty of God is critical to lean into, because when we think about our own frailty, when we're we're faced with the storms of life, we need to know there is one who is far greater, one who is not dependent, one who transcends all things and holds all things in his hands. Look, you need more than anything a God who does not change, a God who is not growing, but a God who is already sovereign. And can I tell you, if you bow down to a God that you believe is inadequate in any way, changing, growing at some point that God will disappoint you.

You should not worship him. But the fact that your God is sovereign over all things for us as people should give us hope. Because not only is he sovereign, he's also good. He's gracious. In fact, Acts chapter two, verse 23, that's the reason I highlight that for you is because not only do we see this foreknowledge of God orchestrating salvation for our souls, but we see the compassion of that God in the midst of his sovereignty. So it's critical for us to see the sovereign hand of the Lord and know we belong to him and at the same time understand that God holds us accountable. And so learning that God has me in a place to live for his glory, for the benefit of those around me, it's not just left up to, well, God will just do whatever he wants. And I'm not ultimately in control because he's already predetermined everything that's going to happen. I mean, some people lean into the sovereignty of God in a way that's unhealthy. Now, I don't think it's wrong to heavily depend on the sovereignty of God. I think that is important. But there's sometimes people just go so far with the sovereignty of God as if everything's been dictated. And therefore, in that sense, no one is ultimately responsible because how could you do anything more than what's already been determined that you would do? And if you ever meet someone like that, what you do is you walk up to them and say, and you punch him in the nose and you say, I'm sorry, you can't hold that against me.

It's already been determined that I would hit you in the face. You have what's been determined by the sovereign hand of God orchestrating his salvation for you and for me. And our responsibility in that and the circumstances of life bring to the surface. Where? Where is my heart trusting? Or what is my heart trusting in? As I look to the. The greatness of who God is. Which brings me then to. To point number two in our notes is this. Challenges should be faced with faith. Challenges should be faced with faith and Paul starts to help the soldiers understand not only how that looks, but then how it's lived. But he starts with this idea of faith in verse 33. As day was about to dawn, Paul urged them all to take some food, saying, today is the 14th day that you've continued in suspense and without food, having taken nothing. Therefore I urge you to take some food, for it will be given. It will give you strength for. For not a hair is to perish from the head of any of you. And when he had said these things, he took bread, and giving thanks to God in the presence of all. He broke it and began to eat. Then they were all encouraged and ate some food themselves.

We were in in all 276 persons in the ship, and when they had eaten enough, they lightened the ship, throwing out the wheat into the sea. I love this you think the apostle Paul, he he knows his identity in the midst of the storm. And through that he's able to lead these soldiers that are. And sailors and prisoners, everyone on board through these this challenging season. And he describes it this way, right? And when when Luke describes this passage, it's rather interesting. The the way that Luke phrases this section of the Bible, right? Because the type of vernacular that Luke's using here is to describe this almost like they're partaking of communion. And so, in fact, some some commentaries have even asked that question is, is, is Luke saying what Paul did in this moment is, is broke bread to, to have communion with the individuals on the boat. Now, I will tell you, I don't think that that's the case. And the reason for that is because I don't really think that the boat is full of believers. But I think Luke is choosing this type of terminology to, to, to remind us exactly who Paul is pointing the people toward, because we recognize that the liturgy that's used when when communion is celebrated is that in the night when Jesus was betrayed, he, he took bread and broke it and said, this is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.

And. And then they also partake of communion in the same way. This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me. And what Paul is doing in this moment is he's using his circumstances to remind them of the significance of Christ and why it's critical for the soul to trust in Jesus, because we all have frailty and we all need salvation in him. We might live under under the the false pretense that we have the strength to endure forever in life. But when reality hits the fan, we all need Jesus. And so Paul is using this moment to, to help them root themselves in a faith that sustains something that they can depend on when life is falling apart. I would tell you like this in the book of Malachi chapter three, verse six, it tells us, for the Lord does not change. Therefore you sons of Jacob are not consumed. In fact, it really says it like this I am the Lord. I change not. Therefore you sons of Jacob are not consumed. And we might look at that and think, you know, the first half of that verse is great, but why would God want to consume the sons of Jacob? And the reason is simple it's because they mess up. They're constantly failing over and over again. And we as people in the struggle of sinfulness know what that's like.

I mean, we might even say to ourselves, this morning I came to church today because I got so sick of myself, like, I'm just tired of me. And so, Lord, I'm going to just give it all to you, right? But, but if you've ever done that in your life, and I hope you have, if you've ever done that in your life, you realize like, no matter how many times you might come to the Lord and say, Lord, I'm done with me. I'm giving it all to you. I'm not messing up anymore. This is my life for you. You're like, that took about five minutes. Five minutes before I was out the door and I was tripping up again. And it was the same dang thing that brought me here. Like it was the same sin. And you might even come to God and say, God, I don't know how you're putting up with me. I'm sick of me. How in the world could you possibly put up with me? That's why Malachi three six is in the Bible I am the Lord, I change not. Therefore you sons of Jacob are not consumed. It's saying, when you get so sick of you, when you're faithless, God is always faithful. He never changes. That's why you have a bedrock to your faith that gives you a hope that endures beyond the challenges of life. Because not of who you are, but because of who he is.

His consistency, his promises, his sovereignty, and his grace discovered in all of that. If I gave you maybe a New Testament word, I would say or verse in Hebrews chapter 13, verse eight, it tells you Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. The God that you follow, that you put your hope in, it's, it's his consistency. So challenges should be faced with faith. And then the next point. Number three in your notes is this challenges should not deter my faithfulness. So it's one thing to believe, but but it's another thing then to live it out. And so and this, this particular section, Paul he's, he's encouraging the, the. All those on board in the midst of what they're finding themselves through to. To be faithful to, to what God has said to them. And it goes on in the next verse, as it says. Now when it was day, they did not recognize the land, but they. They noticed a bay with a beach on which they planned, if possible, to run the ship ashore. So they cast off the anchors and and left them in the sea as the same time loosening the ropes that tied the rudders, then hoisting the four cells to the wind. They were made for the beach. But but striking a reef, they ran the vessel aground. The the bow stuck and remained immovable, and the stern was being broken up by the surf.

So here they are, sharing with desert people selling things. I don't I don't get that. I can tell you, I feel so sad when I read a verse like this with all the details related to sailing. I'm like, in Utah, we don't even know what a river is, man. Like people. When I moved from the east, out here, out west and I drive over our rivers that most of the time are so dry that there's nothing even in them. And they call those rivers. I'm like, they're not even they wouldn't even qualify as creeks where people that with water live. Right? Like, but but here we are with our great rivers and our, our three inch lakes. At least in this valley anyway, but, but, but here's what's important. When you get to the end of this, I want you to see the response of the soldiers in verse 42, the soldiers that says plan. The plan was to kill the prisoners, lest any should swim away and escape. Now, in the first century, this would have made complete sense for a few reasons, right? If you're a soldier and you're responsible for a prisoner, if you lost that prisoner, you're often punished for losing that prisoner, sometimes even executed Often, whatever, whatever the sentence was against the prisoner could be put against you as a soldier for losing that prisoner. So rather than take that punishment upon them, the soldiers think to themselves, ship's going down.

I don't want I don't want to be responsible for these guys. Let's go ahead and kill them. On top of that, if all of a sudden they were all to jump off the ship and the soldiers were to make it or excuse me, the prisoners were to make it to the island. And you, being a soldier, has have been responsible for that prisoner. Some of those some of those prisoners could have been murderers. And now all of a sudden they're running free upon the island. And being murderers, they could easily turn against other people. And if you want to think about one of the prime targets they might point themselves to, it would have been the prisoners that held them in the shackles. And so because of the preservation of their own life, they're like, we should kill him because we don't want to be responsible for him to be punished anyway. But also they might kill us. Seems completely logical for that first century for them to have that kind of that kind of determination. But then Paul reminds them of what God said, and his plan in these moments is to spare all of their lives. And so Paul begins to, to point them to the to the promises of the Lord and the midst of the circumstances. And what God says. And my wife, she has this tendency of like in moments where you're not stable, like especially for these soldiers, they're, they're starting to learn about the Lord in the midst of this, the chaos that's going on around them.

And they're beginning to put their, their faith. They're seeing Paul leading valiantly. They've been encouraged by what Paul said as he's he's told them to eat, and he's pointing them to God and being able to spare them in this moment. Like they're starting to see that this guy is incredibly confident when we're not. I mean, he's got to have something, something unique about him. And they're starting to see that wanting to put their faith in that. My, my wife refers to this as having baby deer legs. If you know you ever watch an animal being born in the wilderness like you know that that animal has but a few moments to start to learn to walk. Otherwise it'll become a victim to a predator. And when you watch that animal take steps for the first time, it's it's much different than us as, as human beings, it seems like it takes us several months before we learn to walk. But for an animal in especially in the wild, it's, it's a live or die moment. And it becomes critical for them to, to learn to, to be stable and to be able to move forward. And if we're being honest with that picture, that's a lot of us in our faith right now, learning what it means to not only put faith in the Lord, but to be faithful to him, to continue to trust what he said and let let that determine our our steps, like some of us when maybe we've we've gone on a journey where we've been lied to, our.

Our trust has been broken. We. The experience that we've had. We don't want to fall victim to that again. And we're we're less likely to want to entrust ourselves to anything. But then we start to see the, the greatness of, of who Jesus is. Can I just encourage you? And just one thought. That when it comes to putting faith in the Lord. It's not about the size of your faith. But the greatness of your God. God's not looking to be impressed with your faith. Rather, God's looking to impress you with who he is. And no matter how weak you feel like your faith may be, if it's put in a great God, if it's put in truth the foundation of who you are, it strengthens you and you realize God doesn't invite us to come to him with this incredible faith anyway. I just invites us to come to him with empty hands, with whatever faith we have, and just trust him and watch the the sweetness of Jesus grow that in his presence. For the apostle Paul, he's he's certainly encouraging him in this. And Paul reminds us of this, that while the sailors are going back and forth, it then says this.

But the centurion wishing to save Paul, kept them from carrying out their plan. He ordered those who could swim to jump overboard first and make for the land. And the rest of the planks are on a piece of the ship. And so it was that all were brought safely to the land. So here it is. The centurion stands up enough. And I mean, the reason the centurion has done this is the centurion has this has had this close connection with Paul. In Acts chapter 27, verse three, we're reminded there was a in that verse that Paul wasn't feeling well. He gave. While Paul was even a prisoner, he gave Paul the freedom to go on land, to seek treatment with his friends. Incredible trust put into the Apostle Paul. I mean, this guy has seen the wisdom of Paul as he's warned them not to sail during the season because it's going to lead into a shipwreck. And he's seen the piece in Paul's heart coming out, exuding itself among the people while everyone else was panicking. Paul was moving forward and he was leading. And so watching the faith of the Apostle Paul and his his closeness to the Lord is what compels the centurion to take a step of faith in the preservation of the people to. To say to the sailors, they can't kill the the prisoners because of the way he's seeing God move through the Apostle Paul's life. And we all have the tendency of really responding and challenging seasons.

And one of three ways we we have this sense of flight where we'll run away, we'll have this sense of fight, or we feel like it's up to us and we'll try to do something about it, or this place of faith and trusting it in the Lord and what he desires to do. You know, as believers, the Bible calls us and I got to drive this home quickly, but the Bible calls us to this one thought I think is critical for all of us. And in Matthew chapter 16, where if you remember the story, Jesus takes his disciples on a field trip to Caesarea Philippi, he asks that important question, who do people say that I am? And they start to describe all the thoughts related to, to, to Jesus. And then but Jesus then asks the most important question, but who do you say that I am? And they say, you're the Christ. And Jesus says, exactly. And upon that profession of who I am, I will build my church. That's the rock. The pillar and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. And then he gives us the call. What does it look like then, to embrace that completely? And in Acts chapter 16, verse 24, Jesus told his disciples this if anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me forever would lose his life, or whoever would save his life will lose it.

But whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. Jesus is saying, when you just try to live in this self preservation, You don't have the ability to overcome. Maybe for a moment, maybe in a circumstance, but not ultimately. And if you try to live your life that way, you're going to lose it. But if you give your life to me, then true life is found. And he describes this utter sacrifice of who you are. If anyone wishes to follow after me, he says, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. Denying yourself as a personal decision to say, Lord, rather rather than me, sit on the throne as Lord of my life, your Lord of my life. And he takes it a step further, and he says, take up your cross. And you think about what. Take up your cross is for. For Jesus. It was this place of public shame, mock beaten, insulted, spit upon. In fact, by dying through the cross. This is often what prisoners experience. People would go beside them. They would hurl insults. They would throw things at them. They would spit upon them. They would revile them. Right? So this is saying, Jesus, I believe so much in who you are and my identity in you that the world can throw whatever it wants at me. But at the end of the day, I know who I am because I belong to you.

And the sovereignty of your power and your grace is the definition by which I discover me. This is where I go from baby deer legs to something greater. For us to define. Find that. I think it becomes critical to answer this question what do you think God thinks about you? What are God's thoughts towards you? And let me let me just say this for a minute. I need to separate between what you do and who you are, because there are things all of us have done in this room that we're not proud of. And in fact, like gods not proud of. But there is a distinction between what you do and who you are. Now, what you do might be determined by what you believe, but can I just tell you, every human being in this world, regardless of the decisions they have or have not made, everyone has intrinsic value because everyone is made in the image of God. So we have incredible worth. And even more than that, when you see the extent of which Jesus was willing to go while you were a sinner giving his life for you. I mean, it should help us to understand that there may be what I do, and God might not be proud of that. But because of who he is, it gives me the opportunity to bring that to him and just say, Lord, forgive me and thank you for, for, for the value you've placed on me by not only making me in your image, but giving your life on the cross so that I can see my worth, not in my behavior, but in you and everything that you've done for me and not my behavior.

But but, but your identity gives me confidence in my identity because of what you've done for me. And the reason I move forward tomorrow is not because. Not because I'm impressed with the things I might accomplish. It's because my life has been impressed with the greatness of your glory. So that whether I'm being successful right now or I'm failing, it doesn't matter. I can constantly come to you and just say, Lord, forgive me. Lord help me, Lord, give me my. Give me strength. Even when I feel like I'm sick of me, God, it's about you. So for the Apostle Paul, can I just give you this last point? Challenges must be met with truth. Paul tells us in this story one one defining word or one defining thought that really gave precedent to everything that he did moving forward. This was the bedrock to his strength where he discovered peace. It says it like this for this very night. Paul says it's right in the middle of this chapter. This very night, there stood before me an angel of God, to whom I belong and whom I worship. You want to know what defined Paul and the chaos that God, to whom I belong and whom I worship? He knew who he was because of who the Lord was.

I need to end with this. There was a man during World War Two. He lived well beyond World War Two, but his name is Viktor Frankl. And Viktor Frankl was taken to multiple concentration camps during World War Two. And so was his mother, his father, his brother and his wife. And during that time, he lost everything precious to him. He lost all of his earthly possessions. He lost his parents, he lost his brother, he lost his wife. And he wasn't fully aware that all of them had passed in concentration camps until the war was over. But while he was in a concentration camp, he became obsessed with what led some people to survive and some people to pass away. And he actually wrote a book on it called Man's Search for meaning. And he said this in the book, those who have a why to live can bear almost any how. The prisoner who had lost faith in the future. His future was doomed. Sometimes I'll phrase it this way as people, we can endure incredible adversity if we have one thing. And that is hope. And Viktor Frankl, even though he's not a believer, he recognized that. And he talked about in this book one time, there was a moment where he was even walking through the snow and he, he was coming to that place where he was starting to despair.

But the thing that compelled him to move forward was to think about his wife seeing her again. And he wrote this about that moment. He said, the salvation of man is through love and in love. He's talking about love, compelling the heart. Recently, I listened to Tim Keller give a talk on heaven and he said this. You know, it's interesting when most people talk about heaven, the one thing they often look forward to is peace, that there will be no more trouble, there will be peace. And he says, that's important. But the thing that's most important for us is not peace, he says. In our faith, it talks about three, three aspects to our faith, faith, hope and love. But the Bible says in first Corinthians that the greatest of these is love. He said, you know what makes heaven heaven more than anything? It's the presence of relationship. It's love. It's community. God made us for that more than anything. As human beings, we want to know that we matter, and we want to know everything's going to work out in the hands of a sovereign God. That is the promise of Scripture. I know to whom I belong, and I know whom I worship. At the end of the day, in the storms of life, it is that truth and the grace of God that carries us through.

This message has been brought to you by Alpine Bible Church in Lehi, Utah. If you'd like more information, please visit us online at Alpine bible.com.