Why Did the Centurion Want To Save Paul?

Tom:

This is our Understanding the Scriptures segment, we are in the Book of Acts Chapter 27, and I’ll pick up with Verse 38.“And when they had eaten enough, they lightened the ship, and cast out the wheat into the sea.”Now prior to that, Paul has instructed those aboard the ship, which were going through a really heavy storm, it was about to break up.They had put soundings out, trying to find out how close to land they were, and they were getting close.Paul had them all enjoy a meal, amazingly, and Dave, they were, you know you don’t think about this, at least I didn’t think about it, they are 276 souls on this ship, quite a few.But God had told Paul that he was going to protect them all if they obeyed his instructions.

Dave:

Right.

Tom:

So again, Verse 38:“And when they had eaten enough, they lightened the ship, and cast out the wheat into the sea.”Obviously, the lighter the ship, the closer to shore it was going to be able to carry.“And when it was day, they knew not the land:but they discovered a certain creek with a shore, into the which they were minded, if it were possible, to thrust in the ship.”I assume this means that they found a place in which the ship could get closer to the land.Verse 40:“And when they had taken up the anchors, they committed themselves unto the sea, and loosed the rudder bands, and hoisted up the mainsail to the wind, and made toward shore.”Verse 41:And falling into a place where two seas met, they ran the ship aground; and the forepart stuck fast, and remained unmovable, but the hinder part was broken with the violence of the waves.”Now Dave, my wife and I used to have a sailboat before we had kids, it was a pretty good size, 35 feet, so we’ve been in some big seas, but this is scary stuff.We’ve never run aground or been stuck in the rocks, but I can imagine what it was like, pretty frightening.

Dave:

Yeah, and I don’t know that all of them can swim, but if they will follow instructions—

Tom:

As they were told, instructed by Paul.

Dave:

—everyone will be saved.

Tom:

And Dave, not just the weather and their situation, but there was more danger involved.Verse 42:“And the soldiers’ counsel was to kill the prisoners, lest any of them should swim out, and escape.”

Dave:

You know, it’s a big responsibility to take a group of prisoners all the way to Rome.And I think in those days you were accountable.

Tom:

Right, with your own life, just like the Philippian jailer

Dave:

Right, right.No point in him waiting for Rome to kill to him, might as well take his own life because obviously the prisoners had fled, but they had not.And the soldiers, can they take a chance?Everything Paul has said has come to pass.Yes, but this could be our heads, let’s kill these prisoners so none of them can escape.

Tom:

Verse 43:“But the centurion, willing to save Paul, kept them from their purpose; and commanded that they which could swim should cast themselves first into the sea, and get to land:And the rest, some on boards, and some on broken pieces of the ship.And so it came to pass, that they escaped all safe to land.”

Dave:

Exactly as God had said and now are they going to run away, these prisoners?It seems to me enough soldiers there to keep them in a little herd that they are guarding.I don’t know where they would go.They don’t know what island this is, how far it is from some other land.

Tom:

But I’m sure they are pretty exhausted.

Dave:

And they hadn’t had much to eat; they had just eaten after fasting for many days.So, it came to pass, they escaped all safe to land.Let me just take a quick look here, because this is only one account.Listen to what Paul says, he’s telling what he has suffered for the sake of Christ.

Tom:

Where is this?

Dave:

This is 2 Corinthians Chapter 11, and he’s talking about false prophets and false apostles.They are leading people astray, and then he says Satan transforms himself into an angel of light.And his ministers pretend to be ministers of righteousness, so this is related to what we were talking about.There was an enemy who wants to deceive, and the contemplative movement and the EmergingChurch is putting Christians right in harms way.It’s making it possible for Satan to do that.But then Paul says you know these guys are bragging, they are great apostles, and so forth, and he says:“Are they Hebrews?So am I.Are they Israelites?So am I.Are they the seed of Abraham?So am I.Are they the ministers of Christ?He says, I speak as a fool, I am more; in labors more abundant, in stripes (that is, with a cat o’ nine tails being scourged) above measure.”He says, “I can’t even count them, I can’t even remember how many, maybe hundreds, above measure.In prisons more frequent.”He says, “I’ve been to prison more than any of these guys, in deaths oft.”Well, he faced death, and of course, he was stoned at one time, they took him up for dead.“Of the Jews give times received I forty stripes save one.”He’s got 39 stripes five times, and supposedly, 40 would kill you.“Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned,”—and now this is what I was thinking of—thrice I suffered shipwreck.He’s only telling us of one, but he was shipwrecked 3 times, the apostle Paul.And then, he says, “A night and a day I have been in the deep, nothing under me, I just had to swim for it for an entire night and a day until I was rescued.”

Tom:

Can you imagine the conversation he has with the Lord?Lord, what am I doing here?Forgive me for that, but the thought does come to me.But knowing Paul, from reading, I’m sure his communion with the Lord was—it wasn’t just, Lord, help me, help me, help me!I’m sure he had wonderful communion with the Lord.

Dave:

He rejoiced, and if we went to Philippians, which we don’t have time for, but there he says—well, he’s writing to them from prison, and he says:“My God shall supply all your needs.”And here’s a man—well, he talks about he learned to be abased and how to abound, how to be full, to be empty, how to be hungry, and then he comforts them.“My God shall supply all your needs, through his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.”And we’re certainly seeing evidence of this, I mean, what a life Paul lived, what a man of God he was, and he was given the privilege of passing on most of the New Testament to us.Well, the gospels are quite lengthy, but most of the epistles, most of the teaching came from Paul, which he says he received directly from the risen Lord Jesus Christ, and this is one of the great proofs of the resurrection.Paul was one of the great proofs, because there is no way to explain how he knew what the apostles knew because they had been with Christ.He never had, he was not even at the Last Supper.And Paul writes in 1 Corinthians:11:23For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, That the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread:
See All...:“For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, That the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread:” and so forth.And he tells what happened the Last Supper, he wasn’t there! Now how are you going to explain that?There is no other explanation except he must have met Jesus Christ, the resurrected Lord because he specifically says, I did not go up to those who were apostles before me and say, Hey guys, I think I’ve become a Christian, I’d like to be able to preach this gospel but I could make some mistakes—Peter, help me out!James, help me, give me a quick course in Christianity.He knew more than they knew, and he had never sat down with Christ during his lifetime along with them, one of the great proofs of the resurrection!