If you would remain standing now, and we're going to look at God's word. We're going to turn to Acts, Acts chapter 28 You know what that means. This is the last chapter of Acts 28.
Well, we're going to look at verses one through 16 this morning, Lord willing. If the Lord doesn't return, if there's not some catastrophe that would prevent us from gathering next week, we will finish the book of Acts. If you can believe it, actually hasn't been that long.
We started it last April, so a little over a year, we've been in Acts, but we have the privilege again of considering the word of God this morning.
Before we read, let's go again to the Lord in prayer. Let's pray.
Our heavenly Father, we thank you that you are not silent, Lord, we long for you to speak, and Lord, here you do it again.
You speak to us through your word, as you have said. We thank you that you are not a God that is in a distant land, but that you are here now by the power of your Spirit with your people.
Lord, we thank you that your word does not return void, and we pray that it would go out, and as the master physician would do, that you would cut out and sear anything from us that is not yet fit for heaven. Lord, use your word this morning to convict us of our sins, to show us the beauty and power of the Lord Jesus Christ. Convert our hearts, transform our hearts, renew our minds, that we might love Christ all the more. Be merciful to your people, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.
People of God, hear God's word for us this morning from Acts chapter 28 verses one through 16.
[1] After we were brought safely through, we then learned that the island was called Malta. [2] The native people showed us unusual kindness, for they kindled a fire and welcomed us all, because it had begun to rain and was cold. [3] When Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks and put them on the fire, a viper came out because of the heat and fastened on his hand.
[4] When the native people saw the creature hanging from his hand, they said to one another,“No doubt this man is a murderer. Though he has escaped from the sea, Justice has not allowed him to live.” [5] He, however, shook off the creature into the fire and suffered no harm. [6] They were waiting for him to swell up or suddenly fall down dead. But when they had waited a long time and saw no misfortune come to him, they changed their minds and said that he was a god. [7] Now in the neighborhood of that place were lands belonging to the chief man of the island, named Publius, who received us and entertained us hospitably for three days. [8] It happened that the father of Publius lay sick with fever and dysentery. And Paul visited him and prayed, and putting his hands on him, healed him. [9] And when this had taken place, the rest of the people on the island who had diseases also came and were cured. [10] They also honored us greatly, and when we were about to sail, they put on board whatever we needed.
Paul Arrives at Rome [11] After three months we set sail in a ship that had wintered in the island, a ship of Alexandria, with the twin gods as a figurehead. [12] Putting in at Syracuse, we stayed there for three days. [13] And from there we made a circuit and arrived at Rhegium. And after one day a south wind sprang up, and on the second day we came to Puteoli.
[14] There we found brothers and were invited to stay with them for seven days. And so we came to Rome. [15] And the brothers there, when they heard about us, came as far as the Forum of Appius and Three Taverns to meet us. On seeing them, Paul thanked God and took courage. [16] And when we came into Rome, Paul was allowed to stay by himself, with the soldier who guarded him. 1 He who has ears, let him hear the word of God. Please be seated. Have you ever felt in your life, if we can only get past, you know, the next couple days or the next couple weeks, things are surely to slow down.
I can finally get a little bit of breath, you know, it's the end of the school year, right?
If we can just get past however many days or weeks, and things are going to calm down, the activities will slow down, the sports will come to an end, and we can finally relax. I think that's all. Us, how you feel when you get to chapter 28 in the book of Acts. Paul has survived beatings, false accusations, riots, chains, trials before rulers, before governors, before kings, a violent hurricane, a shipwreck, and if we can just get through chapter 27 you might feel maybe things will finally slow down.
We can catch our breath after all. Acts 27 it ends with the line, and so it was. We were all brought safely to land, finally dry land, safety, calm. I'm sure Paul was longing for that, looking forward to that. And then we turn to chapter 28 and then it says immediately a venomous serpent bit Paul's hand, and you read 28 and you're almost like, come on, right?
Can't this guy catch a break at one thing after another? You can't almost.. you can't almost laugh at what's happening here to Paul. Seriously, something else.. I think when I turn to 28 that's how I feel, and I, you know, we come here to the last chapter of Acts. I think we're also being shown something else that is bigger, far bigger than Paul's simply facing another difficulty. I think what we're also seeing here as we turn to the last chapter of Acts is that there is absolutely nothing that can stop the advancement of Christ and His kingdom. There is no storm, there are no snakes, there are no chains, not even the Roman Emperor himself or Satan himself can stop the risen and reigning Lord Jesus Christ, the world, the flesh, the devil, all of it are powerless before Christ and His purposes. If you remember, Acts begins in the capital of the Jews, Jerusalem, with a small little band of scared disciples in an upper room, and now the book is ending in Rome, the capital of the known world, the capital of the Gentiles. It ends with the gospel advancing exactly as Christ said it would to the ends of the world. We're not there yet, but the final word in the book of Acts, you can look, is unhindered, is the gospel goes forth without hindrance, and that is really the theme of these first 16 verses of chapter 28 The gospel cannot be stopped, it's going forward, it's moving forward, Christ moves his kingdom forward exactly as he intends to do. It may appear that there are detours, unexpected storms, and delays, but it is all the perfect providence of God. And I'm sure you all know that word, providence, as you just said it in the Heidelberg, but God's ruling over all of it. This is all in God's plan, all in His will. Now the chapter begins, and Luke tells us that the island that Paul shipwrecked on was called Malta, and I think that's a very fitting name, because Malta means refuge. God had provided a refuge for Paul and these exhausted shipwrecked survivors, and you can just picture the scene: 276 men crawling out of the sea. They are all soaking wet, they are covered in sand and salt water and debris. They are cold, they are exhausted, they are weary.
Malta, we find out, is inhabited, but rather than the natives of Malta taking advantage of these men and their weakened positions, the islanders, we are told in verse two, show them unusual kindness, and remember it's not just four or five people, they are showing unusual kindness, all 276 men, the people of Malta take under their care, and you might notice Luke has highlighted now several times, and even further in this in our text too, the unexpected kindness that has been shown to Paul, remember Julius the Roman centurion shows unusual kindness to Paul. He doesn't want Paul to die. Remember, the ship was going down, and they were like, well, let's just kill all the prisoners, and Julius was like, no, let's not do that, because Julius wants to save Paul. He cared for Paul, the. People of Malta, here, that this unusual kindness, Publius, one of the people on, will open up his very home to Paul and have him over.
Believers traveling later on in the text become an encouragement to Paul as they've come to visit him, and here we see God caring for Paul through just very ordinary acts of kindness, I think that's how it usually happens in our lives too. God caring for us through very ordinary acts of people in a timely way, and time, a timely time. I don't know, that's bringing a meal, a friend showing up at the right time, the text with the encouraging verse. A church family who was gathered together to pray God's good providence often doesn't look like these big dramatic events, it just very looks like ordinary things, but God uses them to encourage and and strengthen his people, and here it looks like a fire on a cold beach. And notice also, Paul isn't standing over everyone barking out orders, you know, I'm the apostle, and you gotta do this and this. He's serving, he's helping, he goes, he joins the others and gathering sticks for the fire, and as Paul reaches down to pick up the sticks, a snake bites him, fastens on his hand. When the natives of Malta see this, will they interpret the unfortunate events as justice? Verse four.
No doubt this man is a murderer, though he has escaped from the sea. Justice has not allowed him to live. You see, the sea, it tried, it tried justice on Paul, but it didn't succeed. This is, this is them thinking, but it's finally caught up with him through the means of this poisonous snake. Now, we addressed it last week, but I'll just mention it here again, so I'll repeat it. Just because something bad occurs to you, it doesn't mean that God is against you or has abandoned you. That certainly is not the case here in Paul. In fact, it could be the very opposite. There's a verse in the Bible that says, Jacob I loved and Esau I hated.
You remember those two brothers, and God keeps interjecting into Jacob's life keeps giving Jacob difficulty, not giving Jacob what he wants, because God is molding Jacob and directing Jacob more and more to let go of this world, and directing him more and more to him to rely on him, but Esau actually gets the desire of his heart, he kind of gets left alone, and if you're just looking at their lives, you might think, well, God is against Jacob, but that was the opposite, God was for Jacob, and God loves Jacob, so it could be the very fact that difficulty is God showing his lovingly fatherly care, direction, and discipline to guide you and turn you to ebb you further and closer to him. Now Paul has this snake fixed to his hand, and he simply walks over and shakes it off in the fire, and the islanders are just waiting for Paul to swell up like a balloon and then fall over and die, but it doesn't happen, and then they immediately change their mind.
Well, he must be a god. And again, it's almost comical. It's also very telling how fickle human opinion is, right? I mean, we see this now, we have this now in our day, the cancel culture. This, this person, they are, they are awesome. You know, every single word they say, what they said, what burn about the steak, you know. We so quickly change opinion, and here, here, they go from condemning this man to die to let's worship him. We cannot put our identity in what man thinks of us. We cannot rest in what people say. You cannot rest in what people say about you. We must rest in what God says about us. Remember, what's your only comfort in life and in death? Well, it's what the people of Malta think. All my friends on Facebook, all those notes. If only I could find comfort. No, what's your only comfort in life and in death?
That you are not your own, but you belong, body and soul, in life and in death, to your faithful Lord Jesus Christ.
Remember that. Remember that.
Remember that, that is your identity, that is your hope, that's your encouragement. Now, I also think there again is a deeper picture here for us in the scene throughout the scripture. The sea is often pictured as something that represents chaos, represents something that is an. Position to God, the serpent in the Old Testament certainly is also again a picture of evil, of curse, and Satan himself. And yet here in our text, neither of them have been able to stop Christ and his purposes. Back in Acts chapter 26 God told Paul, I'm sending you to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and in a place among those whom are sanctified by faith in me.
The world is in bondage to sin and Satan, and the gospel here is going forward into the world to set men spiritually free, to rescue men from spiritual shipwreck, and to deliver them from the deadly poison of sin and Satan. What we see happening here, as the text continues, is there's a ministry now happening in Malta. Paul is preaching, and the miracles are occurring.
People are being healed, and remember, all the healings are representative of internal realities. That's why the miracles were there? Is it was one to affirm the authority of the apostles, but also even when Jesus was doing it as well, it's all picturing the internal realities that the man who is lame and unable to walk, picturing that, you know, our hearts, we are crippled, we are not able to walk, and so here we see these miracles occurring, all also picturing the spiritual realities of giving life to the people here in Malta, and what looked like this inconvenient delay to Rome in landing in Malta ends up becoming this three month mission trip. Now we might ask, Why do the people in Malta need the gospel? They seem really kind. They seem really hospitable. They seem like really nice people. I mean, isn't that what most people assume? You hear that question, if you were to die today and you were to stand before God, and God said, why should I let you into heaven? What a lot of people say, and maybe there's even you, is I've been pretty good, I'm not that bad. Isn't that what we find here? You know, these people multiply their kind, they're trying to be helpful, but the scriptures also remind us that kindness cannot reconcile sinners to a holy God.
The scriptures remind us that for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. You can go to the remotest places in the world, you can go to the island of Malta, and you can know one thing, that there are sinners there who need to be reconciled to God in Christ.
Jesus did not merely die for cruel and unkind people, he, he died for nice, helpful people.
Galatians three tells us, as Paul will write to that church, for all, for all who rely on the works of the law are under a curse. What Paul was telling them, if you are relying on your kindness, on your goodness, on your obedience to the law, you are under a curse. You are cursed, for it is written,'Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the book of the law and do them.
You must abide by all of them, all of them, all of them. Jesus said, you therefore must be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect. Well, no one's perfect. Well, who can be saved?
And isn't that what we find at the rich young ruler? Here we have another nice young man. He hasn't committed adultery, we're told. He hasn't murdered anyone, he hasn't stolen, he hasn't lied, and he even loves his father and mother. He's a good, nice guy. But Jesus says one
thing you lack: sow all that you have, and give it to the poor, and come follow me. He loved the world more than he loved Jesus.
thing you lack: He had an idolatrous heart, and the disciples are even at that point. Well, who can be saved if it's not this nice young rich guy? If it's not the people of Malta, who are very kind and hospitable to these strangers, who can be saved, Jesus would even then say, well, what is impossible with men is possible with God. And then Paul will go on to say, now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for the righteous shall live by faith.
thing you lack: Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us. Us who then can be saved, all who call upon the name of the Lord, who went to the cross, who took your curse, so that by faith in Him you might have life, and in fact it could be your very kindness, your very hospitality could be what is preventing you from trusting in Christ, because you think that you are good enough to get to heaven, and you are not, and you never will be. Your only hope is to be found resting in Christ alone. Why Malta here?
thing you lack: Why the delay? Why this shipwreck? Because God has people here in Malta that He wants to save, and if you lived in Malta and you come to know Christ through this ministry, this three month mission trip, wouldn't you thank God. Thanks for the storm, God, for bringing them here that we might hear the gospel. And this is a reminder that God sometimes takes you places that you never would have chosen, but he intends you to use you there. What looked like another interruption to the mission was the mission Malta.
thing you lack: Was the mission, Malta becomes an outpost for the gospel. Now, after three months, they finally leave Malta. They get on this African ship sailing from Alexandria, the figure head of the boat that had twin gods, that is Gemini, Greek mythology.
thing you lack: Good luck for sailors. Again, just note Luke's level of detail, very careful detail, reminding that this is history, this is real places, real people. They arrive at Syracuse, they stay there for three days, and they set sail for Regium, which is on the toe of Italy.
thing you lack: They dock for a day, waiting for better weather. Then they travel up to Put Tolly, which is near the Bay of Naples, and then that's where they disembark.
thing you lack: Luke just given us all this detail, and when they disembark, something very encouraging happens. In verse 14, there we found brothers and were invited to stay with them for seven days. We aren't told who all stayed, why they were able to stay, or even what they did when they stay, but what is meaningful here and why it's recorded is as Paul arrives now, finally in Italy, Paul's heart is not captured by the amazing architecture in Italy, not by famous landmarks, not by the greatness of the empire. The thing that captures Paul's heart is Christian fellowship. The gathering and encouragement of believers greatly mattered to Paul. We live in an age where the church and assembly of the saints is very treated very casually, optional, even disposable. But throughout this entire book of Acts, you can probably recall, if you've been here for some time, believers are just longing to be together, longing to spend time together, longing to come together, to pray, to fellowship, to worship God together, and I think this is a convicting question for us, and even one you can discuss at lunch, is do I desire the gathering of the saints, do I desire this fellowship, is that what gets me excited, you know, we, we have deployed people in our congregation, often in the military, and when they come back, it's very exciting, and we celebrate with them. But imagine, you know, there's a family member who isn't excited, and they're not celebrating.
thing you lack: Wouldn't you, wouldn't you ask, like, well, what's wrong? Why aren't you celebrating? Why aren't you gathering? Well, in a sense, when we get to gather together again each Sunday to worship our Father, who has promised to be here with our His people, but yet someone isn't really wanting to be there, you might think, well, where's your affection? What's wrong? Where do you desire to be? I think there's a similar connection.
thing you lack: There is it, you know, there's something I just have to do, or is it I get to be there and fellowship and get to see fellow brothers and sisters in Christ.
thing you lack: The world is beautiful, but it is not more beautiful than what we have together in Christ. When the Roman believers hear Paul is arriving, they travel miles from all around to fellowship with him. On seeing them, we're told Paul thanked God and was encouraged. And here we have Paul, the very apostle, one who stood before governors and kings, one who has endured much, but yet he still needed to be encouraged. Jesus himself needed to be encouraged. He even told his disciples, "Pray, pray for me. And so do we. We aren't designed to walk this life alone. We need the. Strengthen and encourage each other. We need to remind each other of the promises of God and His faithfulness. And here we have these Christians, they show up and they are ready to stand with Paul as he heads into the heart of Rome. It's not just Luke, it's not just Aristarchus anymore, but others. They are joining him, rallying around him to offer help, support, and prayer, and maybe you remember a time when you have come to church, even you feel weary, exhausted, discouraged, and maybe I, you know, I'm here, that then you hear the saints sing, then you hear the prayers, then you hear the word, then you share your burden in the fellowship, and God uses that to encourage you and strengthen your soul. Again, those are just ordinary means that God is using to preserve and to persevere His people. The fellowship of believers. Luke then gives this simple statement, understated statement, and so we came to Rome. This has been building for years. Back in Acts 19, Paul desired to go to Rome. Acts 23 Christ promised Paul he was going to Rome, and now Rome, and what is remarkable is that all along the way it might have seemed as though nothing was happening except hardship for Paul, prisons, delays, storms, snake bites, chains, but it's not the route Paul would have planned. It wasn't comfortable.
thing you lack: It didn't happen quickly. It didn't happen without suffering, but the whole time Christ was advancing his kingdom as he said he would. Paul will write in Philippians, the gospel eventually is being spread throughout the entire imperial guard because of Paul's chains.
thing you lack: It probably went through Julius, and now the whole imperial guard is hearing and believing the gospel. We'll look at this next week, but the very chains meant to silence Paul becomes the very means that God uses to bring Paul into Caesar's household, that the gospel then begins to spread. Christ is building his kingdom, and no one and nothing can stop it. And by the end of Acts, again we mentioned Luke's final words will be unhindered, and again, that's the point.
thing you lack: Christ reigns, his kingdom advances, the gospel goes forward, and just like Paul, there's going to be interruptions in your life when you thought there would be calm, there's something else that's going to happen when you think the struggles are all finished.
thing you lack: Something else arises. There are going to be detours in your life you would never have chosen, delays in your life you don't understand. And yet, God is directing your very steps. He is strengthening your faith, he is going to use you to encourage others. He's going to use you to be his witness. You are going to advance his kingdom. Remember, the Christian life is not one that is lived on cruise ships, I think I said this even last week. The Christian life is not one on cruise ships. Our goal in life is not tourism of just checking out different comforts, experiences, and temporary treasures. Our Christian life is one on the battleship. We are pilgrims passing through, who belong to Christ, and our mission, as Christ has given it to us, is to be his witnesses, advancing his kingdom, while ever moving closer to our heavenly home. Christ is ruling it all. You know what is man's chief end? What is our purpose?
thing you lack: To glorify God and to enjoy Him forever. He's doing that in our life, even through unexpected means, and so in our life and all that it is, just as Paul, we can trust Him to guide us and to use us. Let's go now to the Lord in prayer.
thing you lack: Our heavenly Father, we thank you for giving us your word. We thank you that you are sovereign, that you have perfect providence over all things that happen in our life. Pray that you'll strengthen us in that, Lord. We do forget, we get afraid, become afraid. Lord, let us look again to Christ. Let us remember your promises, that you are directing us, that you are guiding us. Also, remembering too that there is nothing in all of creation that can separate us from your love and your sovereign hand. Lord, strengthen your people, use us. For the building of your kingdom, and it's in Jesus's name we pray.
thing you lack: Amen.