WEBVTT 00:00:07.040 --> 00:00:12.800 This sermon was recorded at Faith Evangelical Free Church in Grand Forks, North Dakota. 00:00:22.480 --> 00:00:32.640 Next Sunday, we're going to begin a few weeks in 2 Corinthians through the month of September. 00:00:33.280 --> 00:00:37.600 But today we're going to finish in Acts chapter 28. 00:00:41.039 --> 00:00:58.560 Some of you, maybe many of you, remember radio personality Paul Harvey, who delivered his famous the rest of the story segment from about 1976 until he died in 2009. 00:01:00.479 --> 00:01:08.959 If you haven't become familiar with the rest of the story, just YouTube it and you'll become familiar very quickly and likely hooked on it. 00:01:09.439 --> 00:01:17.439 One of the most famous rest of the story bits was about Chicago publisher William Dixon Boyce. 00:01:18.959 --> 00:01:36.079 In late October of 1909, not 2009, 1909, William Boyce was in London for a business meeting, and he found himself lost in one of London's famous foggy days. 00:01:37.840 --> 00:01:47.760 As he was looking around him, trying to figure out through the fog where he was, a 12-year-old boy suddenly appeared in front of him holding an old lantern. 00:01:48.959 --> 00:01:54.480 That 12-year-old boy offered to help him find his destination, which he did. 00:01:54.640 --> 00:02:05.840 He went to his meeting, and when he came out of his meeting, William Boyce found the same 12-year-old boy waiting for him to lead him back to his place of lodging. 00:02:06.879 --> 00:02:19.840 William Boyce tried to give the young man a tip for helping him through the day, but the boy declined, saying that he was only doing a good thing because that is what scouts do. 00:02:21.680 --> 00:02:31.039 The rest of the story, as Paul Harvey would say, is that William Boyce returned home and founded the Boy Scouts of America. 00:02:33.120 --> 00:02:47.439 Paul Harvey had a unique ability to craft his stories around one unusual aspect that kept listeners hanging on until the very end. 00:02:49.039 --> 00:02:57.759 Some stories, from ancient times to modern times, don't have a clear ending. 00:03:02.159 --> 00:03:07.680 Some leave you hanging without any sense of closure. 00:03:08.319 --> 00:03:09.919 I hate those stories. 00:03:12.800 --> 00:03:32.400 Other open-ended stories don't leave the reader without an ending so much as they leave you in a place that you begin to imagine what the possible endings might be, even inviting you to consider your place in the story's ending. 00:03:33.439 --> 00:03:40.639 That's the kind of narrative written by my friend Luke, who wrote the Gospel of Luke in the book of Acts. 00:03:41.120 --> 00:03:52.560 Luke begins his account in the Gospel of Luke with the prophecy about the birth of John the Baptist, followed by the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ. 00:03:52.800 --> 00:04:06.080 But then Luke ties his story to the very beginning of creation by tracing Christ's genealogy all the way back to a man named Adam. 00:04:08.000 --> 00:04:18.399 Luke then takes his account from the beginning of time, tracing the fulfillment of God's promises in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. 00:04:19.199 --> 00:04:34.000 Then, through firsthand historical accounts and other witnesses and his own personal experiences, Luke traces the Lord's work through the first three decades of the early church. 00:04:34.480 --> 00:04:48.319 He very intricately follows the fulfillment of the Lord's promise to bring Paul all the way from Judea to Rome so that he might testify of Jesus in the city of Rome. 00:04:49.199 --> 00:04:56.639 And the story ends with Paul doing just that for two years. 00:04:57.439 --> 00:05:02.480 He's proclaiming the gospel of King Jesus in Caesar's city. 00:05:03.680 --> 00:05:12.000 And the story ends with the good news of salvation and the forgiveness of sins brought to the center of the world at that time. 00:05:14.399 --> 00:05:18.560 But that's just the beginning, not the end. 00:05:20.959 --> 00:05:24.160 Luke's story is unfinished. 00:05:24.639 --> 00:05:33.360 It doesn't exactly leave us hanging, but it does leave us imagining what Luke left unwritten. 00:05:34.079 --> 00:05:39.199 And he invites us to consider our place in the story's conclusion. 00:05:40.160 --> 00:05:56.560 When we think about Luke's ending in this way, we see that we become a part of God's unfinished story of building his kingdom through the witness of his people and the teaching of his word through the power of the Holy Spirit. 00:05:57.040 --> 00:06:06.160 Consider with me this morning four unfinished aspects of Luke's narrative before we see the full end of the story. 00:06:06.560 --> 00:06:12.480 First, we begin to see that the Apostle Paul's story is unfinished. 00:06:13.439 --> 00:06:21.199 Luke leaves us with Paul in verse 30 and 31 under house arrest for two years. 00:06:26.720 --> 00:06:34.720 We aren't exactly told why the Romans granted this kind of house arrest privilege to Paul, but it was very unusual. 00:06:35.279 --> 00:06:43.360 Maybe it's because Festus and Agrippa from Judea had sent positive recommendations with the soldiers that accompanied him. 00:06:43.439 --> 00:06:44.079 We really don't know. 00:06:44.160 --> 00:06:45.600 It's all speculation. 00:06:46.000 --> 00:06:54.959 We do know that there were some very depraved prisons in the city of Rome. 00:06:55.519 --> 00:06:56.800 They were terrible places. 00:06:56.959 --> 00:06:59.920 One of them was specifically what we might call death row. 00:07:00.240 --> 00:07:11.920 It was a place where prisoners were actually executed before they were taken out of the prison and thrown down a series of steps in the city of Rome and then tossed into the river Tiber. 00:07:13.759 --> 00:07:15.839 But Paul isn't in those prisons. 00:07:16.160 --> 00:07:17.680 He is confined. 00:07:17.920 --> 00:07:19.199 We do see that. 00:07:21.120 --> 00:07:23.519 I don't know why my phone is talking to me. 00:07:24.879 --> 00:07:26.160 Paul is confined. 00:07:26.319 --> 00:07:28.560 He's changed to a Roman soldier. 00:07:29.120 --> 00:07:32.319 Not two of them, which was standard, but one. 00:07:33.120 --> 00:07:35.759 He's changed to a Roman guard at all times. 00:07:36.000 --> 00:07:43.360 But being in a rented place enables him to have sort of a house church in his place of confinement. 00:07:43.680 --> 00:07:46.160 Luke tells us people came to him. 00:07:46.560 --> 00:07:50.000 All kinds of people came to him in verse 30. 00:07:50.480 --> 00:07:54.720 Probably indicating both Jews and Gentiles, Jews and non-Jews. 00:07:54.879 --> 00:07:58.079 They came to him and he welcomed all who came to him. 00:07:58.639 --> 00:08:02.720 But don't get the idea that this is a cozy setup. 00:08:03.439 --> 00:08:09.279 First, rent in Rome was hideously expensive. 00:08:10.560 --> 00:08:18.079 Probably comparable in modern times to rent of an apartment in Los Angeles or New York City. 00:08:18.319 --> 00:08:27.360 Most comparable estimates tell us that the dingiest shack in Rome, rented for four times the amount as elsewhere in Italy. 00:08:28.079 --> 00:08:29.360 Was not cheap. 00:08:29.680 --> 00:08:41.039 And Paul's quarters were most likely not much better than a shack, unless he was allowed to be in the building of a wealthy patron from whom he rented a room. 00:08:41.679 --> 00:08:48.720 I say that because building codes were not very strict, and when they did exist, they were not followed. 00:08:49.279 --> 00:09:12.240 Many multi-story apartment complexes were constructed in flimsy ways, with each successive level shabbier than the one below it, so that the top level, instead of being the penthouse, was the cheapest and flimsiest and coldest or hottest place on the building. 00:09:13.200 --> 00:09:16.559 Dangers of fire and collapse were constant. 00:09:17.759 --> 00:09:26.480 In fact, many modern building codes had their origin in the ancient city of Rome because they learned by mistake. 00:09:36.159 --> 00:09:39.120 And Paul couldn't work as a prisoner. 00:09:39.360 --> 00:09:45.360 We're told that he was a tent maker, but he wouldn't have been allowed to have the tools of his trade. 00:09:45.679 --> 00:09:48.960 So he was dependent on others to support him. 00:09:49.679 --> 00:09:59.840 And then he used that financial support to pay the rent for what was probably a dingy one-floor apartment, maybe that he shared with others. 00:10:00.159 --> 00:10:11.200 He would have gathered with friends and people who came to hear him teach on the lowest level, which was open to everyone, and that was his situation for two years. 00:10:12.799 --> 00:10:15.279 But what comes after those two years? 00:10:16.960 --> 00:10:18.799 Luke doesn't tell us. 00:10:20.720 --> 00:10:23.600 This is likely around 60 AD. 00:10:24.559 --> 00:10:35.279 That means the two years of imprisonment takes us to around 62, maybe 63 at the latest, depending on when he arrived in Rome and when Luke's two years ends. 00:10:35.519 --> 00:10:37.039 Is it an exact two years? 00:10:37.200 --> 00:10:38.080 Is it an approximate? 00:10:38.240 --> 00:10:39.279 We don't know. 00:10:39.840 --> 00:10:45.039 And we also don't know precisely when Emperor Nero executed Paul. 00:10:46.159 --> 00:10:57.600 But we do know that Nero's anger at Christians and Jews didn't really begin until a massive fire broke out in Rome and burned most of the city in 64 A.D. 00:10:59.039 --> 00:11:14.639 So if Paul arrives in about 60 and he's in prison in his own house arrest for two years, until 62, but he's probably not executed until 64 or 65, what happens in those other two or three years? 00:11:16.399 --> 00:11:22.159 Luke seems to indicate that something happened at the conclusion of those two years mentioned in verse 30. 00:11:22.639 --> 00:11:24.639 But he doesn't say what it was. 00:11:26.320 --> 00:11:28.480 Two options are most likely. 00:11:29.120 --> 00:11:41.039 One is that Paul was either martyred at the end of those two years, and he didn't live any longer, or he was released from his house imprisonment for a short period of time. 00:11:41.360 --> 00:11:50.240 So some church traditions tell us that he was released, that he traveled to Spain, which is where he wanted to go after being in Rome. 00:11:50.480 --> 00:12:00.720 He returned back through the island of Crete and then came to Rome a second time, and it was then that he was arrested again and finally martyred. 00:12:00.960 --> 00:12:03.840 We don't know which of those two options it really is. 00:12:04.000 --> 00:12:06.000 Is church tradition correct? 00:12:06.240 --> 00:12:07.360 We don't know. 00:12:08.799 --> 00:12:11.759 It's an unfinished story. 00:12:12.720 --> 00:12:19.519 Luke doesn't want us to focus on what is left out of Paul's life story. 00:12:20.639 --> 00:12:27.360 He intentionally ends his account with Paul's life unfinished. 00:12:29.919 --> 00:12:32.799 This is not about Paul. 00:12:33.600 --> 00:12:36.559 We've been following Paul for many, many chapters. 00:12:36.879 --> 00:12:49.279 Very detailed instructions or conditions related to us, details about what happened to him, all kinds of situations that he went through and endured, but we don't have the end. 00:12:50.799 --> 00:12:54.320 That's to help us know this is not about Paul. 00:12:55.600 --> 00:13:00.399 Instead, the significance of this story is found in the very last word. 00:13:01.519 --> 00:13:04.559 Hopefully, it's the very last word in your translation. 00:13:05.679 --> 00:13:09.120 Without hindrance or unhindered. 00:13:10.720 --> 00:13:18.960 You see, Paul proclaimed the kingdom of God and taught about the Lord Jesus boldly and without hindrance. 00:13:21.039 --> 00:13:25.440 The gospel proclamation went out unhindered. 00:13:25.679 --> 00:13:29.440 We aren't meant to know the rest of Paul's story. 00:13:29.840 --> 00:13:33.200 We aren't meant to know what happened at the end of two years. 00:13:33.360 --> 00:13:40.080 We aren't meant to know if he went somewhere else or when he lost his life or even how he lost his life. 00:13:41.039 --> 00:13:55.120 The intention is that we see the fulfillment of Jesus' promise to take the good news of his death, burial, and resurrection and the proclamation of his kingship over his kingdom to the nations of the world. 00:13:56.159 --> 00:14:03.840 And Luke's story ends with Paul doing just that boldly and unhindered. 00:14:04.879 --> 00:14:07.200 Nothing standing in his way. 00:14:09.840 --> 00:14:18.399 He proclaims a new kingdom with a more glorious king in Caesar's backyard. 00:14:22.559 --> 00:14:26.559 Jesus is Lord, not Caesar. 00:14:28.399 --> 00:14:38.399 Paul labors to turn people from hoping in Lord Caesar for their eternal Roman peace to the Lord Jesus for their eternal saving peace. 00:14:39.440 --> 00:14:49.360 Turning from the one who is there and will die shortly to the one who died and rose again to bring everlasting peace with God. 00:14:49.759 --> 00:14:52.879 Right under Caesar's nose. 00:14:54.399 --> 00:14:58.639 So Paul's story ends, but it's ongoing. 00:14:59.039 --> 00:15:05.120 And that is to represent the ongoing message of the great king of our salvation. 00:15:06.639 --> 00:15:13.279 It's also there to help us remember that message that we need to hear again and again and again. 00:15:14.799 --> 00:15:16.960 It's not about me. 00:15:18.639 --> 00:15:19.759 It's not about you. 00:15:19.840 --> 00:15:21.120 It's not about us. 00:15:22.639 --> 00:15:29.200 It's about the message of the great King of our salvation, the Lord Jesus Christ. 00:15:30.639 --> 00:15:34.240 Paul's story is unfinished. 00:15:35.200 --> 00:15:37.840 But that's not the only unfinished story. 00:15:38.159 --> 00:15:41.519 Israel's story is left unfinished. 00:15:42.399 --> 00:15:50.399 The Apostle Paul's pattern, as we've walked through the book of Acts, is that every place that he goes, he goes first to the Jews. 00:15:50.559 --> 00:16:00.639 Most often, that meant he goes to a local synagogue, gathering with other Jewish people, where he has an opportunity to prove that Jesus is the Messiah. 00:16:01.279 --> 00:16:05.679 Sometimes he has a favorable reception, most often he's chased out of town. 00:16:06.559 --> 00:16:08.240 But that's his pattern. 00:16:09.519 --> 00:16:11.840 It began in Acts chapter 3. 00:16:12.639 --> 00:16:15.759 Not with Paul, but with Peter. 00:16:16.480 --> 00:16:34.000 In Acts chapter 3, beginning in verses 25 and 26, Peter explains to the Jews that were listening to him in Jerusalem that God's pattern began with Abraham, way back in the Old Testament, where God promised to bless all the families of the earth through Abraham. 00:16:34.720 --> 00:16:49.440 So Peter said that the fulfillment of that promise would begin in that time with the Jews, because he said God raised up his servant and sent him to you, the Jews, first. 00:16:53.440 --> 00:17:09.839 If your Bible begins Romans on the next page, you can look at Romans chapter 1 and verse 16, where the apostle Paul says he's not ashamed of the gospel because it's a power of God for salvation to everyone who believes. 00:17:10.079 --> 00:17:12.240 And then he qualifies that. 00:17:20.079 --> 00:17:31.279 So Paul calls on the Jews first in Rome, even though he's the apostle to the Gentiles in the heart of the Roman Empire. 00:17:32.160 --> 00:17:40.559 Because the privilege of first response of the gospel of Jesus Christ goes first to the Jewish people. 00:17:41.759 --> 00:17:52.400 Not because of some ethnic priority or privilege, but because of God's promise to work through them. 00:17:53.759 --> 00:17:59.440 And the Apostle Paul's pattern of going to the Jew first is part of that fulfillment. 00:18:01.519 --> 00:18:04.799 Now when they come to him, Paul needs to explain his chains. 00:18:05.920 --> 00:18:07.119 Verse 20. 00:18:14.160 --> 00:18:22.480 Imagine, imagine calling a family meeting in your home and you're wearing shackles. 00:18:38.960 --> 00:18:40.400 That's what's happening here. 00:18:40.720 --> 00:18:48.400 The Apostle Paul has called a family meeting of all the Jews in the community, the Jewish leaders, and he's explaining why he's in chains. 00:18:48.559 --> 00:18:52.960 Those questions would be asked, and he's answering them, but it's interesting. 00:18:53.359 --> 00:18:58.000 It's interesting to note that Paul's accusers aren't there. 00:18:59.599 --> 00:19:01.680 Now we've followed Paul. 00:19:02.480 --> 00:19:17.119 On the ships from Jerusalem to Sidon, to around Crete, to another boat, and through shipwreck on the open sea, to stranding on the island of Malta, and then now up to Rome. 00:19:17.279 --> 00:19:21.519 We've followed him all along that journey, but his accusers are not yet in Rome. 00:19:21.680 --> 00:19:24.559 And apparently they haven't arrived for two years. 00:19:25.599 --> 00:19:29.599 Because the Jewish people haven't heard anything. 00:19:31.039 --> 00:19:36.079 They've not heard anything about Paul, they've not heard anything about any evil that he's done. 00:19:36.240 --> 00:19:41.519 No correspondence about his case has reached the Jews in Rome from the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem. 00:19:42.960 --> 00:19:45.920 So Paul has an open opportunity. 00:19:47.599 --> 00:19:50.640 But his message remains unchanged. 00:19:51.359 --> 00:19:58.799 His message is that he's in chains because of the hope of Israel. 00:19:59.519 --> 00:20:05.200 That hope we've learned before is hope of the resurrection of the dead. 00:20:07.599 --> 00:20:15.519 Hope initiated in Christ who rose from the dead as the kind of first fruits of that resurrection. 00:20:17.039 --> 00:20:18.799 He says, that's why I'm in chains. 00:20:18.880 --> 00:20:27.279 I'm in chains because I hope not in Caesar, who sits on the throne up on up on the hill. 00:20:28.240 --> 00:20:33.200 I'm in chains because I have hope in a man who rose from the dead. 00:20:34.480 --> 00:20:37.920 It's unchanged everywhere Paul goes. 00:20:38.559 --> 00:20:41.200 And that message remains unchanged today. 00:20:41.519 --> 00:20:47.599 Our hope is in the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. 00:20:47.920 --> 00:20:53.920 And Israel's hope is in Christ's resurrection from the dead. 00:21:02.319 --> 00:21:06.079 Which they call a sect of Judaism. 00:21:06.319 --> 00:21:23.039 That's an important point because it shows us that three decades into the history of the church, it was still viewed, Christianity, the way of Christ, was still viewed as an offshoot, a segment of Judaism. 00:21:24.799 --> 00:21:30.559 Because Jesus was a Jew, and they're trying to say this is the fulfillment of all that God promised. 00:21:31.920 --> 00:21:38.559 Nevertheless, the perspective within Judaism about Christianity and Christians was negative. 00:21:39.279 --> 00:21:43.839 They say, we haven't heard anything about you, Paul, but we've heard everything about you people. 00:21:44.400 --> 00:21:46.000 And it's all negative. 00:21:47.680 --> 00:21:49.519 We've not heard anything good. 00:21:51.839 --> 00:21:59.759 But maybe it's because these Roman Jews haven't had much experience with Christians that they're willing to give Paul a Pharisee. 00:22:00.160 --> 00:22:02.880 He turned Christian, a hearing. 00:22:04.480 --> 00:22:08.079 And the next day they come with even greater numbers. 00:22:10.000 --> 00:22:12.240 You have to imagine this scene. 00:22:12.799 --> 00:22:26.400 When is the last time a prisoner in chains, that is, literally chained to a Roman soldier, had people coming begging to hear him. 00:22:27.920 --> 00:22:33.680 And they're filling up the lower level of this probably multi-story apartment complex. 00:22:35.680 --> 00:22:38.960 Wanting to hear what he believes. 00:22:41.920 --> 00:22:44.480 Captive audience listening to a captive. 00:22:47.680 --> 00:22:55.359 So he tells them, seeking to prove that Jesus is the Messiah. 00:22:57.279 --> 00:23:03.359 Paul, it says, expounded the scriptures to them in verse 23 all day long. 00:23:05.039 --> 00:23:25.440 All day long they're sitting listening to Paul, going through his Old Testament, by memory, most likely, unless there was a synagogue there who was willing to bring a copy, a scroll of the Old Testament, the Torah, or any other part of the prophets, or the Psalms, the writings, and say, what show us. 00:23:26.720 --> 00:23:30.079 All day long he's expounding to them the scriptures. 00:23:30.160 --> 00:23:33.359 That's a term that describes carefully explaining. 00:23:33.839 --> 00:23:40.559 Explaining what the scriptures say, explaining what they meant, and explaining how that is fulfilled in Jesus Christ. 00:23:40.720 --> 00:23:50.880 And this exposition is coupled with a witness to the truth of Scripture and an effort to persuade them about Jesus from their Old Testament. 00:23:53.200 --> 00:24:05.039 Friends, never lay aside your Old Testament because it's there that you find the first elements of God's statements about your Lord. 00:24:09.359 --> 00:24:15.440 Jesus is the fulfillment of all the Jewish scriptures. 00:24:15.680 --> 00:24:26.319 And those early disciples and apostles sought to convince other Jews first of that truth before they went to Gentile, non-Jew people. 00:24:30.160 --> 00:24:40.160 We tend in our day to elevate the Apostle Paul as sort of that pinnacle of Christianity, the example that needs to be followed. 00:24:40.240 --> 00:24:43.519 He's the example of all examples right below Christ. 00:24:44.240 --> 00:24:57.839 But even though he was so well versed in Scripture, even though he could try to persuade people, this greatest of Christian evangelists still couldn't convince some of these Jewish people. 00:25:00.000 --> 00:25:07.359 Some believed, we are told, verse 24, but others disbelieved. 00:25:09.359 --> 00:25:12.000 And Luke emphasizes those who didn't. 00:25:14.079 --> 00:25:21.279 The fact that some didn't believe caused Paul to see a fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecy beginning in verse 25. 00:25:23.119 --> 00:25:24.960 And notice how he does it. 00:25:26.880 --> 00:25:33.839 This is the fullest quotation, by the way, of Isaiah chapter 6, verses 9 and 10 in the book of Acts. 00:25:34.000 --> 00:25:38.880 We see snippets of it all throughout the book, but here it's in its entirety. 00:25:39.519 --> 00:25:43.200 Sort of to encapsulate everything that's been happening. 00:25:45.200 --> 00:25:50.720 He says, the Holy Spirit was right when he said, Now wait a minute, I thought God said that. 00:25:50.799 --> 00:25:51.119 Yeah. 00:25:52.319 --> 00:26:02.640 Telling us the Holy Spirit spoke to Isaiah in the Old Testament about a situation in which people would not believe. 00:26:03.200 --> 00:26:08.880 Verse 26, go to this people and say, You will indeed hear. 00:26:10.240 --> 00:26:14.319 That is, you will have physical ears to hear, but you will never understand. 00:26:14.559 --> 00:26:17.359 You will indeed see, but never perceive. 00:26:17.519 --> 00:26:21.200 Notice that that is a statement of fact. 00:26:21.920 --> 00:26:24.079 It's a statement of condemnation. 00:26:24.319 --> 00:26:28.799 You've got ears to hear and eyes to see, but nothing ever comes of it. 00:26:30.160 --> 00:26:35.519 Verse 27 gives us the reasoning behind it, which comes from Isaiah 6, 9 and 10. 00:26:35.680 --> 00:26:38.079 For this people's heart has grown dull. 00:26:38.559 --> 00:26:49.680 And with their ears they can barely hear, and with their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and turn, and I would heal them. 00:26:52.319 --> 00:26:59.920 God told Isaiah to speak those words to the Jews of his day, around 650 BC. 00:27:01.440 --> 00:27:09.440 God said the people that he had called his own people had shut their eyes and their ears to anything of God. 00:27:10.559 --> 00:27:17.519 Oh, yes, they could hear the prophets speak, they could see what God was doing, but there was no real comprehension going on. 00:27:17.759 --> 00:27:26.000 And under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Paul sees another applicable fulfillment in the Roman Jews of his day. 00:27:26.319 --> 00:27:29.920 It's both a condemnation and a judgment. 00:27:30.880 --> 00:27:34.400 It's God's word condemning the unbelief. 00:27:34.640 --> 00:27:36.400 You refuse to believe. 00:27:36.720 --> 00:27:42.319 And it's a judgment of hardening of their hearts to God's good news. 00:27:44.720 --> 00:27:50.160 And friends, that's a good time for us to hear the warning ourselves. 00:27:50.640 --> 00:27:57.359 Because those who are blessed with a history of God's word, that is, you've grown up with it. 00:27:57.440 --> 00:27:58.640 It's been infused into you. 00:27:58.720 --> 00:28:00.400 You've heard it again and again and again. 00:28:00.640 --> 00:28:08.160 Those who are blessed with the history of God's word are held to a higher account of hearing, of believing, and of following it. 00:28:10.160 --> 00:28:18.240 For Paul, it signals another turning from the Jews in another city to the Gentiles. 00:28:19.039 --> 00:28:23.759 A people group whom he says will have open hearts and open ears. 00:28:25.279 --> 00:28:30.960 Now some think this is the end of God's work with ethnic Israel. 00:28:31.200 --> 00:28:37.920 Because the book of Acts ends with this sort of hideous gravity. 00:28:38.480 --> 00:28:39.839 You refuse to believe. 00:28:40.000 --> 00:28:41.279 And that's the end. 00:28:43.680 --> 00:28:46.720 It's even been used to support antisemitism. 00:28:47.440 --> 00:28:49.440 But we must not go that far. 00:28:50.000 --> 00:28:52.559 First, this is not the first time we've seen this reaction. 00:28:52.640 --> 00:28:57.039 We've seen it again and again and again in different cities of the Roman Empire. 00:28:58.000 --> 00:29:07.039 It may be the pinnacle of Jewish rejection in the book of Acts, but it's only because we we see it now for the last time and the book ends. 00:29:08.799 --> 00:29:14.799 But Luke has been showing us this kind of rejection for some time, building to the end of his story. 00:29:14.960 --> 00:29:24.720 But we must also not go there because Paul himself shows us that this rejection in Rome by the Jewish people is not the end for ethnic Israel. 00:29:24.880 --> 00:29:27.359 Their story is unfinished. 00:29:28.880 --> 00:29:35.440 You just have to flip over a few pages to Romans chapter 11 to see that God is not done with ethnic Israel. 00:29:36.480 --> 00:29:41.359 He always has a remnant of Jewish people who are genuine believers. 00:29:42.000 --> 00:29:58.000 But he tells us in the book of Romans that a kind of partial hardening currently exists in large part over the Jewish people, while God brings in every Gentile person that he has chosen for his son. 00:29:59.359 --> 00:30:04.240 So the story of Israel, ethnic Israel, is not finished. 00:30:04.559 --> 00:30:09.599 It feels like it at the end of Acts, but it's not finished. 00:30:09.920 --> 00:30:13.920 What Luke is recorded here isn't the end of their story. 00:30:14.400 --> 00:30:17.599 It displays, rather, the current situation. 00:30:18.400 --> 00:30:22.000 Some believe, but many do not. 00:30:23.519 --> 00:30:29.920 But one day their story will be brought to completion when God saves every Jewish person alive at that time. 00:30:32.720 --> 00:30:40.799 But there is a third unfinished story that we see here, and that is the church's story. 00:30:44.079 --> 00:30:49.440 Believers already existed in Rome before Paul arrived as a prisoner. 00:30:49.680 --> 00:30:51.359 There were already Christians there. 00:30:51.519 --> 00:31:01.839 Some of them came out of Rome south along the path from Putioli north to Rome to greet him, to meet him before he got there. 00:31:02.480 --> 00:31:09.680 And the book of Romans, the letter to the Church of Rome, was written before Paul went on this journey to get to Rome. 00:31:10.000 --> 00:31:13.920 So there were already Christians there for some time. 00:31:14.640 --> 00:31:23.440 It's also clear that Paul seems to have continued to lead a kind of house church during his two years of imprisonment. 00:31:23.759 --> 00:31:27.119 He welcomed all, whether Jew or Gentile. 00:31:28.880 --> 00:31:42.559 That general Jewish rejection of Jesus then becomes the means for the gospel of God's salvation to expand its reach beyond the Jewish centers in each community to all of the people. 00:31:45.039 --> 00:31:51.519 The end of Paul's imprisonment is not the end of the story, because the church in Rome continued. 00:31:51.920 --> 00:31:58.400 The church continues to expand everywhere because Christ is still at work from his place in heaven. 00:31:58.559 --> 00:32:03.599 We saw in Acts chapter 1 that it's about Jesus working. 00:32:04.960 --> 00:32:08.559 Because it's about Jesus, it's an unfinished story. 00:32:09.200 --> 00:32:18.880 The church's story is unfinished because he will continue that work until he returns in the same way that the disciples saw him go into heaven. 00:32:19.039 --> 00:32:34.640 You can see that in Acts chapter 1, at the very beginning of this story, where Jesus is gathered together with his disciples, and it says that he was lifted up from them, and a cloud took him out of their sight. 00:32:34.799 --> 00:32:36.400 Acts chapter 1, verse 9. 00:32:36.480 --> 00:32:43.680 And while they were looking into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes and said, Why are you looking up into heaven? 00:32:44.400 --> 00:32:50.400 This Jesus who was taken up from you will come in the same way as you saw him go. 00:32:52.960 --> 00:32:55.839 In other words, stop standing around. 00:32:56.319 --> 00:33:02.640 Get busy being a witness for Jesus until he returns in the same way. 00:33:05.599 --> 00:33:18.640 We also know that the church's story continues beyond Luke's ending of Acts because the letters that we know as the prison letters, prison epistles, were written during these next two years. 00:33:18.799 --> 00:33:22.160 That's Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and Philemon. 00:33:23.920 --> 00:33:27.359 Those were written during this time period while Paul's in prison. 00:33:27.839 --> 00:33:34.720 We know that the church's story continues because John's letters and the book of Revelation were written after the book of Acts. 00:33:35.200 --> 00:33:39.119 Acts doesn't complete the story of the church. 00:33:39.599 --> 00:33:46.559 Instead, it leaves it open-ended so that the story can keep on going because Jesus continues to work. 00:33:47.039 --> 00:33:50.799 And he continues to work because he has not returned. 00:33:52.000 --> 00:33:54.960 And it continues in much the same way. 00:33:55.599 --> 00:34:04.480 The good news of Christ the King is proclaimed everywhere so that the story can continue because Jesus keeps on working. 00:34:04.799 --> 00:34:11.599 The good news of Christ the King and forgiveness of sins in him is proclaimed by those who follow him. 00:34:14.400 --> 00:34:18.400 Friends, that means that we are testifiers of God's grace in Christ. 00:34:19.760 --> 00:34:24.400 We become Paul in our time. 00:34:26.400 --> 00:34:36.159 Testifying of Christ, seeking to prove that He is the Messiah from the Scriptures, proclaiming the Scriptures. 00:34:36.960 --> 00:34:43.360 And some will receive that good news with joy and faith, others have ears to hear and do not believe. 00:34:43.679 --> 00:34:51.679 But keep on proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness and without hindrance. 00:34:52.960 --> 00:34:54.960 But don't get the wrong idea. 00:34:55.840 --> 00:35:00.480 Without hindrance doesn't mean without opposition. 00:35:03.599 --> 00:35:08.800 Very likely that some of these Jewish leaders who didn't believe never came back. 00:35:10.480 --> 00:35:19.039 And we know from the rest of the book of Acts that as more and more people became Christians, the opposition to them increased. 00:35:21.199 --> 00:35:28.719 We also know that within at least three years of this point, the city of Rome burns, and Nero blames it on the Christians. 00:35:32.320 --> 00:35:35.440 Doesn't mean there isn't opposition when we say without hindrance. 00:35:35.519 --> 00:35:38.880 It means that above all Jesus will accomplish his purpose. 00:35:40.320 --> 00:35:42.800 It means that he is building his kingdom. 00:35:43.039 --> 00:35:55.599 It means that he is taking it to the gates of hell, to the family of Caesars, of kings, of governors, of soldiers, of business people, of all sorts of people, from the smallest to the greatest. 00:35:56.000 --> 00:36:09.039 Families of all nations and all languages who will sing the praises of the true king, who will worship the king, who rose from the dead to fulfill his purposes and bring ultimate hope. 00:36:09.360 --> 00:36:14.719 The church's story is unfinished because the king has not yet returned. 00:36:17.920 --> 00:36:22.960 Finally, that means that our story is unfinished. 00:36:25.039 --> 00:36:29.679 Acts ends without wrapping up Paul's life. 00:36:30.159 --> 00:36:32.480 It doesn't wrap up Luke's life. 00:36:33.039 --> 00:36:36.719 It doesn't wrap up any of the people in the book of Acts' life. 00:36:38.639 --> 00:36:43.440 Luke likely wrote his narrative shortly before Paul's death. 00:36:43.679 --> 00:36:45.440 We can't be certain about that. 00:36:48.800 --> 00:36:53.360 But we can be certain that great persecutions were coming. 00:36:54.559 --> 00:36:59.440 The city of Jerusalem would be invaded by the Roman armies. 00:37:01.280 --> 00:37:05.840 And the glorious temple of Herod would be leveled. 00:37:07.599 --> 00:37:12.800 But the true temple would live on because Christ now dwells in his people. 00:37:16.000 --> 00:37:18.159 So much remained unfinished. 00:37:18.960 --> 00:37:22.960 We can piece together some of the details of what happened after Acts. 00:37:23.920 --> 00:37:32.880 But much of it is bits and pieces from church tradition handed down through the ages, and maybe some of it's true, maybe some of it's not. 00:37:32.960 --> 00:37:34.480 We can't be sure. 00:37:36.639 --> 00:37:41.519 Because you see, the story is supposed to remain unfinished. 00:37:43.199 --> 00:37:46.000 Your story is unfinished. 00:37:46.559 --> 00:37:49.280 My story is unfinished. 00:37:49.519 --> 00:37:55.519 And it's unfinished because our calling is to remain faithful, not to finish something. 00:37:57.679 --> 00:38:00.800 Only Christ will finish the work. 00:38:01.519 --> 00:38:05.119 Because he is the one in the book of Acts who is at work. 00:38:06.239 --> 00:38:10.480 He uses us, his people, to accomplish his purposes. 00:38:10.719 --> 00:38:19.679 So wherever we are, wherever he takes us, whatever we're called to endure, we are simply called to be faithful because Christ is at work. 00:38:21.920 --> 00:38:26.880 He fills us with his spirit to empower us to fulfill his purpose. 00:38:27.760 --> 00:38:32.320 And our story doesn't end in the middle. 00:38:36.880 --> 00:38:39.599 Your story doesn't even end when you die. 00:38:41.840 --> 00:38:51.519 Because you, as a follower of Christ, are a part of his story, and so your story doesn't end until his story is complete. 00:38:53.360 --> 00:39:05.280 Our story ends at the same place in the same time that Paul's story ends, that Luke's story ends, with the return of the Lord Jesus Christ to set all things right. 00:39:06.159 --> 00:39:12.639 Until then the story of salvation in Christ going to the world continues through us. 00:39:15.199 --> 00:39:20.960 The story will remain unfinished until the Lord Jesus returns. 00:39:21.599 --> 00:39:30.400 Until then, each one of us picks up where Paul and Luke and all the others who've gone before us left off. 00:39:33.039 --> 00:39:37.599 And others may pick up where we leave off. 00:39:39.199 --> 00:39:44.880 Which incidentally means that our story is not finished until the Lord Jesus comes back. 00:39:46.800 --> 00:39:48.559 Because we're all part of the same story. 00:39:56.719 --> 00:40:02.480 Let me demonstrate what that looks like from the pages of Scripture. 00:40:02.880 --> 00:40:30.880 Peter in Acts chapter 3, beginning in verse 19, told the people to repent and to turn back so that their sins would be blotted out, that times of refreshing would come from the presence of the Lord, and that he would send the Christ appointed for them, Jesus, whom heaven must receive until the time for restoring all things about which God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets long ago. 00:40:32.000 --> 00:40:36.559 Never forget that it's the little words that sometimes matter the most. 00:40:47.440 --> 00:40:53.119 And that little word until helps us see the story is unfinished. 00:40:54.800 --> 00:41:00.159 And as we are part of Christ's story, our story is unfinished. 00:41:00.880 --> 00:41:06.000 Consider what Paul would later say to the church at Philippi, Philippians chapter 3. 00:41:06.159 --> 00:41:16.559 He reminds them that their citizenship is not in the Roman Empire, not in a free city of the Empire, not of the United States of America or some other country in this world. 00:41:16.719 --> 00:41:21.119 Our citizenship for those who belong to Christ is in heaven because it's whose story? 00:41:21.760 --> 00:41:23.039 His story. 00:41:26.239 --> 00:41:37.199 From which we await Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly bodies to be like his glorious body. 00:41:39.760 --> 00:41:44.559 From it we await. 00:41:52.159 --> 00:41:58.239 Until, as Colossians chapter 3 says, Christ, who is our life, appears. 00:41:59.840 --> 00:42:01.599 And we also will appear with him in glory. 00:42:01.679 --> 00:42:02.800 But don't miss that little word. 00:42:03.119 --> 00:42:07.519 Then you will appear with him. 00:42:07.840 --> 00:42:10.559 And then your story will be finished. 00:42:10.800 --> 00:42:13.599 Then my story will be finished. 00:42:15.039 --> 00:42:34.159 The book of Acts, if nothing else, shows us that Jesus Christ is at work building his kingdom, calling people to himself, using those people to accomplish his purpose, to bring others into his kingdom until he appears, and then our story will be finished because his story will be finished. 00:42:37.280 --> 00:42:38.880 So what do we do in the meantime? 00:42:39.119 --> 00:42:40.480 Glad you asked. 00:42:43.599 --> 00:42:44.960 Paul writes to Titus. 00:42:45.840 --> 00:42:56.400 Bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in this present age. 00:42:56.480 --> 00:42:58.559 That's what we are to be doing. 00:42:59.039 --> 00:43:02.480 Waiting for the blessed hope. 00:43:02.639 --> 00:43:04.320 What is the blessed hope? 00:43:04.639 --> 00:43:11.119 The appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ. 00:43:12.880 --> 00:43:26.000 The one who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works. 00:43:30.000 --> 00:43:35.119 He trains us to live a certain way while we wait. 00:43:36.239 --> 00:43:37.519 Why are we waiting? 00:43:38.880 --> 00:43:41.360 The story is unfinished. 00:43:43.360 --> 00:43:53.679 So we see then that we are part of God's unfinished story of the building of his kingdom through the witness of his people and the teaching of his word through the power of the Spirit. 00:43:56.239 --> 00:44:05.760 So it's good for us as we finish the book of Acts to remember what Paul would say to the Romans before he ever got there. 00:44:07.280 --> 00:44:12.800 He said, Whatever is written in former days is written for our instruction. 00:44:13.840 --> 00:44:20.639 So that through endurance and through the encouragement of the scriptures, we might have hope. 00:44:22.159 --> 00:44:23.280 Let's pray together. 00:44:23.599 --> 00:44:24.880 Lord Jesus. 00:44:27.119 --> 00:44:29.920 By your Spirit, give us hope. 00:44:30.639 --> 00:44:39.119 Give us hope that we might live as you have called us to live in these last days before you return. 00:44:40.159 --> 00:44:45.840 Give us perseverance and endurance to keep our eyes focused on heaven looking for your return. 00:44:48.480 --> 00:44:59.119 And at the same time, we rest in your words that it is finished, even though it's, in a sense, unfinished. 00:45:00.639 --> 00:45:06.800 Give us endurance and hope to wait patiently and to endure. 00:45:07.519 --> 00:45:21.519 Fill us with your spirit in unique and wonderful and powerful ways to keep on proclaiming the good news of Jesus Christ crucified, buried, and risen again, which is the hope of all people. 00:45:24.159 --> 00:45:36.400 Keep our eyes focused on you as we rest in the words at the end of your great book, where we say, even so come, Lord Jesus. 00:45:36.719 --> 00:45:39.679 That concludes this sermon from Faith Evangelical Free Church. 00:45:40.480 --> 00:45:47.119 Our mission is to declare the Word of God and disciple believers into mature, devoted followers of Jesus. 00:45:47.360 --> 00:45:51.440 You can learn more by visiting our website at faithfree.com.