Disclaimer:
Due to the large amount of sermons and topics that appear on this site I feel it is necessary to post this disclaimer on all sermons posted. These sermons are original to the author and the leading of the Holy Spirit. While ideas and illustrations are often gleaned from many sources including those at Sermoncentral.com, any similarities and wording including sermon title, that may appear to be the same as any other sermon are purely coincidental. In instances where other minister’s wording is used, due recognition will be given. These sermons are not copyrighted and may be used or preached freely. May God richly bless you as you read these words. It is my sincere desire that all who read them may be enriched. All scriptures quoted in these sermons are copies and quoted from the Authorized King James Version of the Holy Bible.
Pastor James May
Sail On!
Life is but a journey on which we are all travelers to an eternal destination. There are none here who will remain here forever in this present world for one day this world and all that is in it shall pass away and God shall make all things new. We must never forget that this world is not our final destination so that when we sail out upon the waters of life, we must make sure that we are on the right ship. Not every ship arrives at the same destination. There are several stories from the secular world and a number of instances in Scripture where ships are mentioned and I want to examine a few of these to determine which ship each of us is on today.
In this journey of life we may discover that we will begin our journey on one ship and then transfer to another in order to switch course and change our destiny. One occasion that quickly comes to mind is that of the Titanic. The people who began that voyage so many years ago had no thought of their impending doom. They were convinced that their ship was the perfect ship and that it would never sink. How sad it is to read the accounts of their last hours upon the earth and to think of how many of those passengers never reached their intended destination but instead wound up facing their eternal destination.
I wonder how many of those people, who were out for a luxurious and self-gratifying life are now in the presence of the Lord in Heaven and how many are facing the eternal flames of Hell? Not one of them dreamed that they would never reach their port in America. Life seemed so promising.
The Apostle Paul wrote these words in his letter to Timothy found in 1 Timothy 1:19, “Holding faith, and a good conscience; which some having put away concerning faith have made shipwreck:”
This is the description of so many people who have sailed their ship of faith into the rocks as they ignored every warning sign that God could bring in front of them.
Paul instructed Timothy, who also became a great preacher of the Gospel, that even those who love God and are attempting to serve God and preach to others the truth of God’s word and the message of Salvation are not immune to crashing upon the rocks of failure.
It is so easy for our human spirit to become enamored with the praise and recognition of the position that God has elevated us into. Rather than keeping our eyes upon Jesus and remembering that He is the only real source of our ministry, we get our eyes on self, thinking that we can do it without Him at times. It doesn’t take long until we realize that the Scripture is in, John 15:5, "I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing."
The number of those who have once lived for God and ministered to the people of God that have since fallen by the wayside and have made shipwreck of their faith is almost without number. We must keep our eyes upon Jesus and have integrity in all that we do so that we can maintain a clear conscience or our ship of ministry will surely be destroyed.
Paul talked of this very thing in Acts 24:16, "And herein do I exercise myself, to have always a conscience void of offence toward God, and toward men." He again spoke of keeping his conscience clear before all in 2 Corinthians 1:12, "For our rejoicing is this, the testimony of our conscience, that in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, we have had our conversation in the world, and more abundantly to you-ward."
Minister, you must preach what God has given and not what man wants to hear. Man dwells in the world of the flesh and the words of life coming from the leading of God’s Holy Spirit will very often grate upon the pride and selfishness of people. The message you must deliver is not often easy to deliver but if you don’t deliver it; who will?
Any sermon or lesson taught that didn’t come from the leading of the Holy Spirit isn’t worth preaching anyway, because its not the words of your magnificent message that will change people’s lives, it’s the power of God behind those words that make the difference.
As people sail on in life, they ignore God’s warning signs. When troubles come and circumstance turns against us, we should always take a look at what is happening in our live. Are these troubles coming as a test to help build our faith in God or is God trying to get our attention to let us know that we have been blown off course by some wind of doctrine or wrong thinking. Is God trying to get us back on course? If we fail to heed these warnings we will surely be wrecked upon the rocks of sin.
Do you miss gathering with the people of God and then face discouragement and fear? God is warning you that you need the strength that comes through associating with His People.
Are you running into trouble in your body with your health? Maybe God is trying to get you to realize that you are sailing the wrong direction in your treatment of your body and that you aren’t keeping yourself Holy unto Him as the Temple of God where He can dwell.
Are you having trouble in your relationship with your spouse? Perhaps God is putting up the warning signs that we are not treating one another as we are instructed to do in the Scriptures when Jesus says for husbands to love their wives as Christ loves the church and for wives to honor their husbands as the head of the family. If we go against God’s teachings how can we expect Him to bless our homes and families?
These instances bring to mind the story found in Jonah 1:3, "But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD, and went down to Joppa; and he found a ship going to Tarshish: so he paid the fare thereof, and went down into it, to go with them unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD."
Jonah was instructed by God to preach repentance and judgment to the people of Nineveh but Jonah refused to obey God. He went against his own conscience, disobeyed God, boarded a ship, and sailed out onto the seas of life, leaving his faith behind. God had to resort to some pretty drastic measures to turn Jonah around.
You may never be swallowed by a fish, but how many of you can tell me about the number of times in life when you felt as though you were swallowed by the circumstances of life when you ran from God’s plan for your life in rebellion. I wonder how many of you will confess with me that those circumstances of life stank just as bad as the inside of that fish where Jonah lived for three days? I wonder how many of you felt like Jonah did when the fish finally vomited him up upon the shore after he repented?
Those circumstances, troubles, tests and trials that God must send our way as warning signs often leave us feeling terrible and the stench of our sin against God must be washed away by the Blood of the Lamb in repentance before God.
The point of all this is that if we will but Hold on to the truth of the Gospel and your faith in God and maintain a clear conscience in your conversation and dealings with both God and Man and your ship will never be destroyed on the rocks of sin and pride.
Just as God instructed Noah to build an ark for the safety and deliverance of Noah and his family, God has prepared a ship for each of us to sail in.
If we will learn to build our lives under the direction of the Holy Spirit and make sure to seal all the cracks with prayer and study of God’s Word, we won’t have to worry about crashing upon the rocks. Just as God told Noah to get on board and then God Himself shut up the door of the ark, God also does the same for you and I if we will but enter into the ark of safety in Jesus Christ and allow God to keep the door shut to the world so that it cannot enter our heart.
Jesus said in John 10:29, "My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand."
That tells me that unless we open the door to let Satan and temptation have an entrance that the door is closed and God will not allow those things to enter our heart. God locks the door and seals it tight but He then gives us the key to lock and unlock it.
Another ship that I want to make note of is the ship on which Paul sailed on his final trip to Rome where he was to witness before Caesar and then be imprisoned before he was beheaded some time later.
As Christians, we need not think that this voyage of life is going to be all smooth sailing. Even in the best of journeys there are storms that must come for God has pre-ordained them to help us learn trust and faith in Him.
We find the story of this ship in Acts chapter 27. Let’s read the 9th through 22nd verses:
Acts 27:9-22, "Now when much time was spent, and when sailing was now dangerous, because the fast was now already past, Paul admonished them, And said unto them, Sirs, I perceive that this voyage will be with hurt and much damage, not only of the lading and ship, but also of our lives. Nevertheless the centurion believed the master and the owner of the ship, more than those things, which were spoken by Paul. And because the haven was not commodious to winter in, the more part advised to depart thence also, if by any means they might attain to Phenice, and there to winter; which is an haven of Crete, and lieth toward the south west and north west. And when the south wind blew softly, supposing that they had obtained their purpose, loosing thence, they sailed close by Crete. But not long after there arose against it a tempestuous wind, called Euroclydon. And when the ship was caught, and could not bear up into the wind, we let her drive. And running under a certain island which is called Clauda, we had much work to come by the boat: Which when they had taken up, they used helps, under girding the ship; and, fearing lest they should fall into the quick sands, strake sail, and so were driven. And we being exceedingly tossed with a tempest, the next day they lightened the ship; and the third day we cast out with our own hands the tackling of the ship. And when neither sun nor stars in many days appeared, and no small tempest lay on us, all hope that we should be saved was then taken away. But after long abstinence Paul stood forth in the midst of them, and said, Sirs, ye should have hearkened unto me, and not have loosed from Crete, and to have gained this harm and loss. 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."
Like Paul many of us are sailing on to a destination that is determined by God. Our course of life is laid out before us and there is no doubt that the journey of life that we have embarked upon is exactly in God’s perfect will and in His perfect timing. Yet, we have the Euroclydons of life to come upon us.
Has God called you to do a ministry for Him and yet not made the performance of that ministry easy? Will there be times of discouragement, times of thinking that you have failed, times when you wonder if the problem is you, or wonder if it was really God speaking in the first place? If not, then praise God for you are an exception to the rule. I personally have never known anyone who accomplished anything for the Lord or did anything in life that was worthwhile who didn’t face those very same thoughts.
Paul was delivered from the tempest and because of his faithfulness to God; everyone on the ship with him was saved. God didn’t deliver Paul out of the storm; He delivered Paul through the storm. God will do the same for you.
Even though your ship is battered and torn, though your sails are ripped, and it seems that your whole life is tied together with bailing wire and duct tape, remember, God is still in control. As long as we sail on through the storms and set our goal on the portals of Heaven we will never be shipwrecked. God’s lighthouse of the gospel and the direction of the Holy Spirit within operates as a Spiritual gyroscope to bring us safely into the arms of Jesus on that distant shore, so SAIL ON, and don’t abandon ship when you feel like its going down.
The last ship I want to talk about is not found in the Scripture in name but it is found there in a sense and that is the OLD GOSPEL SHIP!
Throughout the Christian world, life has been compared to a ship on its voyage. Many gospel songs have been written that speak of this very thing.
Rusty Goodman had a song that many have since recorded called “The Lighthouse”.
A few of the old hymns like “Let the Lower Lights be Burning”, “Throw out the Lifeline: and “The Old Ship of Zion” are a few more.
My personal favorite is “The Old Gospel Ship”:
I’m gonna take a trip in the good old Gospel Ship
I’m going far beyond the sky
I’m gonna shout and sing until the heavens’ ring
When I’m bidding this world goodbye.
There are other verses but this is the best in my mind because it brings to life the hope of the Rapture of the church and the resurrection of the dead in Christ.
I want to be on that old Gospel Ship and the old Ship of Zion. I want to sail on into eternity with the Lord Jesus Christ at the helm.
The Gospel Ship is sailing on today and it won’t wait on anyone. Anybody can get a ticket because they are free of charge. This journey through life on board the Gospel Ship has been paid in full by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Isaiah 55:1, "Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price."
Its time to get on board right now for this ship is sailing on. I can’t help buy believe that this journey upon earth will soon be over and the Church, the Bride of Christ, will soon be taken into Glory for the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. Get on board now and just SAIL ON!
The shores of Heaven are almost visible. We can see the Euroclydon of Tribulation beginning to take shape and soon there will be a storm to strike this world like none other. Get on board that Gospel Ship, set your eyes upon Jesus and just SAIL ON!
