Journey’s End But the Gospel Goes On

Transcript

GR1638
4-22-12
Journey’s End But Gospel Goes On
Acts 28:11-31
Gil Rugh

We are in the book of Acts together and the 28th chapter. We come to the end of this history of the early church. Important as we come to the end of this book that we remember that the book of Acts is the history of the Holy Spirit continuing the ministry that Jesus Christ had when He was on earth and the purpose of that ministry in securing salvation, laying the foundation for the establishing of the coming kingdom with His death and resurrection.

The book of Acts is not primarily a biography of the Apostle Peter who is dominant in the first half of the book nor is it a biography of the Apostle Paul who is the dominant figure in the last part of the book, particularly picking up with chapter 13 in the beginning of his missionary journeys. So Luke selectively pulls out the material regarding Paul and there are many things left out about Paul. That is going to become clear even as we end the book. It is going to seem like we leave Paul without a resolution but Luke’s purpose, under the direction of the Holy Spirit, is to record the opening years of the church and the ministry of the Holy Spirit through key individuals in spreading the message of Jesus Christ and the building of the church I those early years.

This early history of the church shows God’s sovereign working in all situations. Sometimes there is the miraculous, sometimes there is just the normal, if you will, activities of life that would not be discerned as a manifestation of the hand of God, what we call the providence of God working through what are called natural situations, storms, ship wrecks, those kinds of things. There are the blessings of seeing people saved and become followers of Christ. There are difficulties, trials and tragedies, imprisonments, death, like Stephen in chapter 5 who was stoned to death for his testimony for Christ and yet in all of this, the hand of God is at work. Stephen is an example. Stephen is stoned to death for his testimony for Christ. Obviously God could have intervened to spare Stephen. He sent an angel to deliver Peter from prison so that he would not be executed but He does not intervene to spare Stephen’s life but the death of Stephen results in an expanding persecution of the early church and that results in believers being scattered out of Jerusalem and carrying the Gospel to Samaria and other regions even as Jesus told His followers in Acts 1, “You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in Judea, and Samaria and the uttermost parts of the earth.” So even in such a seeming tragedy as the death of Stephen and the persecution that made life so difficult for those early believers, the hand of God is at work in accomplishing His purposes.

Now as we come to the conclusion of the book of Acts, we continue the difficulties, if you will. Paul has been the object of continual opposition and persecution. He’s been arrested; he’s been two years in prison in Caesarea now he’s being transported to Rome. That will take the better part of a year then when the book of Acts closes he will have spent two more years so five years of his life as a prisoner and yet in it all, God’s purposes are being accomplished. God has intervened and reminded Paul in chapter 23 and in chapter 27, “You will go to Rome. You will testify for Me before Caesar.” So keep in mind the hand of God in all of this, the opposition, the plan to kill Paul, the storms that threaten to sink the ship and have the loss of all life on the ship, the wreck of the ship. None of this can frustrate God’s plan. We don’t understand why God chose to do it this way. Why have a storm? Why have two weeks of violent storm with the Apostle Paul caught up on a ship that is being tossed about in danger of sinking, misery day after day, concluding with ship wreck? If You Paul in Rome and You want him to go as a prisoner why not at least calm the way for him? God’s ways are always right. We are not given an explanation. We never find Paul having an explanation from an angel a vision at night. I want you to understand, Paul, why it was necessary for you to have such a tumultuous time on your travel to Rome. It is God’s hand. Paul has to accept that the sovereignty of God is working His purposes and He does not have to reveal all of those purposes. He has given Paul clarity, “You are going to Rome. You are going to testify before Caesar.”

Even being in the center of God’s will the center of God’s plan does not spare us from trial and difficulty and suffering and so on that is often part of God’s plan in bringing us to the point He would have us.

Now in all of this, nothing can frustrate God’s plan so when we end the book of Acts, Paul is where God said he would be in Rome. There will come a time when God will not spare Paul any longer. At a later imprisonment, Paul will write a letter to Timothy, the 2nd letter to Timothy and his last letter and then he will say, “I have finished my course and effect, my execution is impending.” The process has already begun that will culminate in my death, but why, because I finished the course. Until his work is done he cannot be stopped and when his work is done then it is time to be transported to glory.

Why don’t you put the map up and just remind ourselves of Paul’s travel and where we are. He started out over here in Jerusalem, the riot there and the Jews plotting to kill him so the commander, remember, had him transported to Caesarea which is the Roman center of operations and Paul would be secure there. In Jerusalem, a Jewish city, there is always the threat of a plot that could bring out but you move him to Caesarea where the Roman headquarters for the area would be. He spends two years there then he begins to do the journey to Rome but the storm catches them, they are driven about, remember and tossed and all the sea here. Ship wrecked and come up on the Island of Malta and so that is where we are in the middle, through the first ten verses of Acts chapter 28.

They have to stay on the Island of Malta for three months to wait for it being safe to go to sea again. Now they don’t have a long way to go but still you have to travel open waters. I don’t know how far it is over here. Some of my commentators said its 60 miles, some said 90 miles and none of them explained why they differed with one another although they often referred to another one who said 60 but we hold 90 but the other, at any rate, somewhere between 60 and 90 miles. In a ship, dependent upon the wind, you get caught in a storm here who knows where you are going to be blown to next so they winter and it is into February before they would make a journey like this. The open sea out here does not open till March for shipping but for this going up the coast they could begin that in February so we have some idea of the time that here we are with Paul as he is ready to begin the last leg of the journey to Rome.

So verse 11 of Acts 28 says: “At the end of three months we set sail on an Alexandrian ship which had wintered at the island, and which had the Twin Brothers for its figurehead.” So you see here’s another Alexandrian ship. It would have been a grain ship like Paul had been traveling on earlier and was destroyed in the storm. Everyone was saved when they made it to the Island of Malta. There was a ship here at Malta who had put in there for the winter so the Roman commander makes arrangements and they will transport Paul on this ship. Interesting the little picture Luke gives us, it has the Twin Brothers for its figurehead and this was a common figurehead for ships at the time. These are two gods supposedly the Twin Brothers, the sons of Zeus and Lada and so they were viewed as the protectors of seamen so it was common to put these two brothers. You have seen sailing ships in movies and that with the figure they put on the front. Well here they had the two brothers that were supposedly gods and they were viewed as they would be the protectors of seaman, those who were travelling the seas.

So they leave from Malta. Verse 12: “After we put in at Syracuse, we stayed there for three days.” So they have crossed over and just come up now along Sicily and here’s Syracuse. They are going to come up to Rhegium and then they will be coming up to Puteoli form of Appius, Three Taverns and into Rome. The last part of the journey when they get up here will be by foot. They will travel by ship up and through and over here to Puteoli. Puteoli is a major commercial center. The ship puts in there, stops. They have been at Syracuse, Rhegium they are going up to Puteoli. That is where they will spend some time. They spend three days he records it here at Syracuse. Then we sailed around and arrived at Rhegium. When he said “sails around” you get the idea and the way this is put that it is still not smooth sailing but they are not out on open sea but they are still dependent upon the weather and the weather not being totally conducive. Luke’s language here would seem to indicate that it’s just not an easy sail up but “we sailed around and arrived at Rhegium, and a day later a south wind sprang up, and on the second day we came to Puteoli. There we found some brethren, and were invited to stay with them for seven days; and thus we came to Rome.” Now he summarizes it there but then he is going to fill in in the next verse. So we’ve gotten up here to Puteoli. From here on it will be a walk to Rome. Now in Puteoli they found some brethren, fellow believers. We are not told how they became believers, anything about them. There are believers now spread in a variety of places. We know there is a church in Rome because Paul, a few years earlier had written a letter to the Romans so there are believers in this part of the world. There are believers here.

They spend seven days. Now how they spend seven days we are not told. It wasn’t that Paul found believers and decided to spend a week here because remember, he’s a prisoner. Evidently something like the Roman commander may have had business here that he was required to carry out and so everybody stays so with these brethren here Paul has the opportunity for fellowship. He’s allowed to stay with them. Remember the commander is favorable toward Paul and has confidence in him. Paul would have probably, obviously had a Roman soldier with him but normally he would have been chained to this Roman soldier but the fact that he would stay in his own quarters, fine. You know, you don’t go and rent a motel and bring the prisoners in and that so this is fine. So it would have been an encouraging time for Paul I am sure.

So he is getting near Rome now. They have travelled here, I don’t know, 180 miles to get up, I believer. Now he’s got 130 to 150 miles to Rome and so you are here. You have about 150 miles, 130 to 150 and you are going to be walking. So it is a little bit of a trip.

Verse 15: “And the brethren when they heard about us, came from there [from Rome and the brethren are going to meet them so he is backing up. He summarized, thus we came to Rome but now, before we get to Rome, the brethren came from Rome.] They met us as far as the Market of Appius and Three Inns to meet us.” So it is going to be about a five day walk up here so believers come out from the church at Rome and meet Paul. The Market of Appius was 43 miles from Rome and Three Inns is 33 miles from Rome so along the way here. You have some believers in one place, some believers in another and you note the end of verse 15: “When Paul saw them, he thanked God and took courage.”

Just a reminder; you know, you see all Paul goes through and you read him and you say, “He is just different.” I mean, but he’s not different. He’s a human being, just like James says about the prophet Elijah. He was a man of like passions. Paul is a normal human being but he has an unshakeable commitment to serving Jesus Christ and trusting Him but here come believers and how refreshing it would be that they have come from Rome and they are going to walk back in with him, just an encouragement. Here I am coming to the capital of the world, Rome and coming as a prisoner, having to appear before the court of Caesar, having had a difficult trip all along the way. He not only had to contend with enemies but he had to contend with the weather, the storms and all that that comes with. Now to have believers come from Rome and then when I get to Rome there will be fellow believers to encourage me. He knew there were believers there of course he wrote the letter to the church at Rome earlier but nothing like personal contact here. “So when he saw them, he thanked God and took courage.”

We were talking about in our earlier study today when we function in accord with God’s grace it causes thanks to be given to God. Here these believers come out and meet Paul. Well Paul’s thanks isn’t first directed to them, it’s directed to God for the blessing of having these believers come and encourage him and I’m sure he expressed his gratitude probably to them as well.

Paul is going to fulfill a long standing desire. Just turn over a page or so to Romans chapter 1 just after Acts where Paul had expressed this desire. He wrote the letter to the Romans about three years earlier when he was on his third missionary journey. He wrote to the Romans, pick up with verse 9: “For God, whom I serve in my spirit in the preaching of the Gospel of His Son, is my witness as to how unceasingly I make mention of you, always in my prayers making request, if perhaps now at last by the will of God I may succeed in coming to you.” Paul had been praying for the opportunity to come and visit the believers in Rome. “I long to see you so that I may impart some spiritual gift to you that you may be established; that is, that I may be encouraged together with you while among you, each of us by the other’s faith, both yours and mine. I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that I often have planned to come to you and have been prevented so far so that I may obtain some fruit among you also, even as among the rest of the Gentiles.” So the longing of Paul’s heart has been fulfilled. Not the way that he had been anticipating. He anticipated coming as a free man carrying the Gospel on his way to Spain, passing through Rome being refreshed and perhaps receiving some support from the church at Rome so he could carry the Gospel to further regions. But at last he is coming to Rome in the plan of God but he is coming as a prisoner. But it is all a part of the plan of God and a fulfillment of the desire of Paul’s heart.

You know, it’s interesting – you have the mighty letter to the Romans and yet what we just read in Acts is the only mention of the believers in Rome. Come to the end of the book of Romans if you will. I just referred to the verses in chapter 15, verse 22: “I have often been prevented from coming to you; but now with no further place for me in these regions, and since I have had for many years a longing to come to you whenever I go to Spain – for I hope to see you in passing, and to be helped on my way there by you, when I have first enjoyed your company for a while – but now, I am going to Jerusalem serving the saints. For Macedonia and Achaia have been pleased to make a contribution for the poor among the saints in Jerusalem.”

So we know what happened when Paul at the end of that third missionary journey went back to Jerusalem to deliver the offering that is when all the trouble broke out, the Jews opposed him, the unbelieving Jews, he is arrested to preserve his life by the Romans and that begins this extended imprisonment and the journey to Rome.

When you come down into chapter 16 when Paul wrote this letter even though he has never been to Rome he knows a lot of people there. For example, verse 3: “Greet Prisca and Aquila my fellow-workers in Christ Jesus.” “Greet the church that is in their house” in verse 5. “Greet Epaenetus my beloved, who is the first convert to Christ from Asia. Greet Mary, Greet Andronicus and Junias,” verse 8, “Greet Ampliatus, greet Urbanus,” verse 9. “Stachys, Apelles” and on down this list goes all the way down through verse 15. Paul knows a lot of people so yet all the reference we have in the end of the book of Acts is he comes to Rome, the place he has desired to come, the church that three years earlier he wrote the mighty letter to the Romans. You know, perhaps the greatest theological treatise that we have, a mighty, powerful letter. So many people he knows there yet all we are told is that some of the brethren came out to meet him and would have journeyed back to Rome. No talk about finally meeting with the church and the believers and all that went on, none of that.

Now we are going to move on and verse 16 tells us from Acts 28: “When we entered Rome, Paul was allowed to stay by himself, with the soldier who was guarding him.” At the end of verse 20 he remarks: “I am wearing this chain for the sake of the hope of Israel.” Normal procedure for a Roman prisoner to be chained to his Roman guard because that guard would die before he would let the prisoner escape because he would give his life if that prisoner got away.

So we need to know that Paul has freedom; it’s freedom within bounds. So he has a soldier guarding him but he is allowed to stay in his own quarters and assume that the church at Rome might have provided this. Perhaps somebody in the church at Rome had the place that Paul could stay and the rented quarters that we are going to find out here at the end, they probably provided the finances for it. Paul had been a prisoner for some time. He would be dependent on contributions but Paul is allowed to stay in his own quarters.

Verse 17: “After three days he called together those who were the leading men of the Jews,” not believing Jews but leaders in the Jewish congregations, synagogues in Rome. Interesting, you think wow, after all he’s been through and the intense desire he had to come to Rome and meet the believers there and fellowship and some of those that he spoke so highly of at the end of the letter to the Romans those are the ones you want to see, they are not mentioned at all.

What Paul had was a burning, fixed commitment to the ministry that God had called him to. Turn back over to Romans chapter 1, verse 15: “So for my part, I am eager to preach the Gospel to you also who are in Tome. For I am not ashamed of the Gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.” As we have seen through Paul’s ministry beginning in chapter 13 we followed his travels. That is his plan. What does he do? First of all, he goes to the synagogue in the cities he goes to. Why? I carry the Gospel to the Jews first. He is the apostle to the Gentiles, he knows that. He tells others that but he still gives a priority in offering the Gospel to the Jews. He comes to Rome. We don’t hear about the ministry he had in the church at Rome. We are told about the ministry of the Gospel to unbelieving Jews. Why? Because this is not the biography of Paul and all that he did. This is the unfolding of the history of the spreading of the Gospel and you see what is happening as the church began in Acts chapter 2. It began with the preaching to the Jews. As the book of Acts concludes it concludes with the preaching of the Gospel to the Jews as we have in the early history of the church so we have at this later history of the church. It is the record of the rejection of the Gospel by the Jews and so the ministry will focus on the Gentiles. You will see the church will include Jews but the church will primarily be a Gentile church. That has been true down through its history.

So after three days Paul called together those who were the leading men of the Jews. When they came together he began saying to them, “Brethren,” because he is a fellow Jew. Paul didn’t give up his Jewishness when he became a believer so he can identify with the Jews. I am a fellow Jew. It’s like if you went to a foreign country and met with a group of Americans. You might say, “Brothers, it’s good to see you,” meaning I am a fellow American. So he can identify and begin his ministry here in this way.

“Brethren, though I had done nothing against our people, or the customs of our fathers, yet I was delivered prisoner from Jerusalem into the hands of the Romans.” So he starts out giving his defense. “I come as a prisoner and I am a prisoner of Rome at the instigation of fellow Jews but I had done nothing against the Jews, our people or the customs of our fathers, yet I was delivered as a prisoner from Jerusalem into the hands of the Romans. And when they had examined me, they were willing to release me because there was no ground for putting me to death.” And we’ve had that repeatedly. Roman authorities, Herod Agrippa, I mean the all acknowledge, yes, he hasn’t done anything wrong. We can’t find anything. The Roman governor had Herod listen to Paul because he didn’t even know what to write what the charges would be when he sends him to Rome. So “They examine him. They couldn’t find any ground for putting him to death but when the Jews objected, I was forced to appeal to Caesar.” Going back to the early stage, remember when he was asked, “Well will you return to Jerusalem for the trial? Well, no. When the new governor came to Caesarea because Paul knew the plot against him was there. So I was forced to appeal to Caesar. Not that I had any accusation against my nation. There’s no bitterness here on Paul against the Jews. Keep that in mind because he is going to say some harsh things to the Jews here in a little bit but he makes clear, I wasn’t trying to do things to go contrary to the Jews, their beliefs, their practices. “For this reason, therefore, I requested to see you and to speak with you, for I am wearing this chain for the sake of the hope of Israel.” I love just the way Paul smoothly and quickly moves right to the issue. “I am wearing this chain for the sake of the hope of Israel.” I mean, I haven’t violated what the Old Testament taught, what the Jews had believed and hoped for. It’s because I believe and proclaim that hope that I am now a prisoner as the Jews opposed it. The Messiah would come and suffer and die and be resurrected to make possible all that Israel hopes for and their coming resurrection, the coming restoration of the kingdom to Israel, the ruling of the Messiah, the hope of Israel. Interesting, they said to him, verse 21: “We have neither received letters from Judea concerning you nor have any of the brethren come here and reported or spoken anything bad about you.” We don’t know anything about your situation. Nobody has come here to report about it. We haven’t received any letters. No Jews from Jerusalem have come and talked to us about you. Right now there is nothing. Three years have gone by since Paul was arrested. That doesn’t mean the Jews animosity in Jerusalem toward him is…but there is nobody has come and it’s not been that they have come ahead and stirred it up and so on. So we haven’t heard anything bad about you but, verse 22: “We desire to hear from you what your views are; for concerning this sect, [the Christians, The Way we have been called] is it known to us that it is spoken against everywhere.” We don’t know about the charges against you but we know about this sect, this group that everyone speaks against it. Interestingly, when you read the letter to the church at Rome that is a strong church. When you read the believers in the church at Rome that Paul knew without being there plus the other believers that have been there, a pretty strong church but in the metropolis of Rome it has not impacted the Jews so they have heard about Christianity, they have heard about this teaching primarily from the negative side that everybody is opposed to what this group believes but we don’t understand and know enough about the details so we would like to hear it from you. What an opportunity so they set up a time. “When they had set a day for Paul, they came to him at his lodging in large numbers.” And Paul would have been in a lodging that he had, that had been arrange for him by the believers in Rome, evidently. There are large numbers here. What is he doing? He is explaining to them by “solemnly testifying about the kingdom of God, trying to persuade them concerning Jesus from both the Law of Moses and from the prophets, from morning until evening.” I mean it doesn’t take long for Paul to be into the thick of it again, does it? I mean I think I come to Rome maybe I lay low for a while. Fellowship with the believers, enjoy some refreshing time with them as he had written in his letter, “I’ll encourage you in your faith, you encourage me,” but remember Paul had written, “I can’t wait to get to Rome to preach the Gospel to you in Rome also.”

Paul never forgets what his mission is. So here he is, not setting in a comfortable environment with all the believers from the church in Rome gathered with him. You’ve got a household full of unbelieving Jews. He’s going to explain to them about the kingdom of God. This is how the book of Acts started, remember followers of Christ asking him, “Will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” He said, “It’s not for you to know the times or seasons but you will be My witnesses after the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will witness for Me from Jerusalem to the uttermost parts of the world.” Paul is explaining to them about the kingdom of God, trying to persuade them concerning Jesus from both the Law of Moses and the prophets, all day long.

Come back to Acts 2. We don’t have time to read the Sermon of Peter but just to remind you Luke doesn’t go into the details because he has recorded some of these sermons already. The Sermon of Peter, Paul would have used a similar kind of thing because we have another sermon of Paul where he does use similar material. “On the day of Pentecost, Peter argued and presented to the Jews the reasons from the Old Testament why Jesus is the Messiah, the fulfillment.” Verse 22 is quoted from the book of Joel, Peter’s sermon began in verse 14 but in verse 22: “Men of Israel, listen to these words. Jesus the Nazarene attested by miracles, this man was delivered over in the plan of God. You nailed him to a cross, using godless men, the Romans. God raised Him up again. It was impossible for Him to be held in the power of death.” Why? Well, here’s what David says and then he quotes from the Old Testament that the Messiah will not undergo decay in the grave.

Verse 29: “David underwent decay.” David wasn’t talking about himself but the Holy Spirit was using him to speak about His Son, the coming Messiah. Verse 31: “David looked ahead and spoke of the resurrection of Christ.” Verse 32: “This Jesus God raised up and exalted Him.” Then he quotes again from the Old Testament, verse 34 and 35 concluding this Jesus, He is Lord and Christ, the Messiah, the One you crucified and they are pierced to the heart and we have that believing group that will form the nucleus of the church, the beginning of the church in Acts 2.

Come over to Acts 13, Paul’s 1st missionary journey and here we have an extensive sermon of Paul. It begins in verse 16 and really runs down through verse 41 so we are not going to read the whole thing but Paul stands up and he’s at the synagogue in the city of Antioch. Verse 16: “Men of Israel, you who fear God, listen, the God of this people Israel chose our fathers.” He tells about them going to Egypt, being delivered out of Egypt, being brought into the land of Canaan, the establishing of the kingship with Saul and then David being appointed by God.

Verse 23: “From the descendants of this man, David, according to the promise God brought to Israel a Savior, Jesus.” Then John the Baptist had introduced Him to the nation. John said, “I am not even worthy to untie the sandals on His feet.”

Verse 26: “Brethren, sons of Abraham’s family, those among you who fear God, to us the message of this salvation has been sent.” What has happened? They crucified Him.

Verse 28: “They asked Pilate that He be executed. They carried out all that was written concerning Him [in the Old Testament Scriptures] they took Him down from the cross and laid Him in a tomb. But God raised Him from the dead; and He appeared to witnesses” and chose in verse 33, 34, 35, this is a fulfillment of Old Testament Scriptures, some of those that were used by Peter. So you get an idea of how the reasoning with the Jews and the arguing with the Jews went.

Verse 36 sounds like Peter’s sermon. David fell asleep. His body remained in the grave, decaying but verse 37: “He whom God raised did not undergo decay.” So forgiveness of sins is proclaimed through Him. Then a word of warning and this is where Paul is going at the end of Acts. Be careful that the warning of the prophets doesn’t come upon you, judgment for refusal to believe.

The result, the next Sabbath they come to hear him again. There is a division among the Jews and Paul says, “I am going to turn to the Gentiles.” So you have this pattern of explaining from the Old Testament Scriptures that Jesus is the fulfillment of those Scriptures. You crucified Him, God raised Him from the dead. You must believe in Him or the judgment announced by your own prophets will come upon you.

So, when you come back to Acts chapter 28 when it says that he was testifying about the kingdom of God, some commentators lose their way here. They are saying well this is obviously here the kingdom of God is present. No, in Acts chapter 1 the disciples are still anticipating the prophesied kingdom. Jesus didn’t say no it’s already here now. He tells them you don’t need to know when it will be established but you can explain for the establishing of that kingdom you have to have first what? The crucifixion and resurrection of the Messiah and the turning to that Savior, Messiah for the forgiveness of sins so you can be part of the kingdom when He establishes it. So he spends all day, a reminder why Paul was effective. He knew the Scriptures. They quoted the Scriptures, they explained from the Scriptures the truth.

Verse 24: “Some were being persuaded by the things spoken, others would not believe.” They are divided in their response. We don’t have time to go back, Acts 13, 14, 17, 18, and 19. You get this same kind of division when the Gospel is presented. Some believe among the Jews but the majority do not. The majority do not and that is going to become clear here. “Some were being persuaded by the things spoken, others would not believe. When they did not agree with one another, they began leaving after Paul had spoken one parting word.” And it is a stinging word of rebuke. “The Holy Spirit rightly spoke through Isaiah the prophet to your fathers, saying…” Isaiah chapter 6, the great prophet Isaiah. Knowing Paul again goes back to the Old Testament Scriptures and even your actions were prophesied by the prophet.

Isaiah told: “Go to this people and say, ‘you will keep on hearing, but will not understand; you will keep on seeing, but will not perceive; for the heart of this people has become dull and with their ears they scarcely hear, and they have closed their eyes, otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their heart, return and I would heal them. Therefore, let it be known to you that this salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles; they will also listen.’” And there is a greater response among Gentiles than Jews. That continues down to this day. Evangelistic outreach particularly directed to the Jews but the church remains primarily a Gentile church. Israel is under the judgment of God here for their unbelief.

The organs of perception are dealt with here, their eyes, their ears and their heart and in Hebrew understanding, Hebrew thinking, the heart was the place of understanding, your will. We use a mixture today. It’s the center of emotions as we might use it but it was the place of understanding. So with their eyes, their ears and their thought processes they are shut down. They are hearing the truth but they don’t understand it. They have seen the evident but they won’t believe it. Their heart has become dull, their ears hardly hear. They have closed their eyes so it’s like they’ve got their fingers in their ears, their eyes closed and as we would say, “they have a closed mind.” They are not open to listen. They are not open to hear. If they would, they would turn and God would heal them. There would be a restoration. There would be a cleansing. They would experience what the prophets prophesied, Jeremiah, the new covenant, and the circumcision of the heart. But they will not, with all the evidence.

This is a powerful passage. All four Gospel writers record Jesus using this passage from Isaiah. Interestingly over in Romans chapter 11. You turn over there, just after Acts. When Paul talks about the Gentiles being grafted in to the place of favor in God’s working of salvation he also refers to this passage. The judgment of God, God hasn’t rejected Israel, the chapter opens up: “Has God rejected His people? May it never be.” God can’t reject Israel in the sense of a final rejecting them because He made promises to them. He chose them so there is a remnant according to God’s grace. There are some Jews, Paul was part of that remnant there are other Jewish believers in the New Testament and down through today but God has brought judgment on them for their unbelief.

When you come down to verse 17: “But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive, were grated in among them and became partaker with them of the rich root of the olive tree,” The plan of God. The Gentiles have been grafted in. Israel was in the place that it is not grafted into Israel because we are talking about Israel being broken off. The olive tree is the place of God’s favor and blessing in salvation. Israel has been broken off in that for now, not completely because there are some Jews being saved but as a nation God is not dealing with them as the focal point of His saving work in the world. He has not since their rejection of their Messiah and the establishing of the church but now the Gentiles are grafted into that place, the place of God’s favor and plan of salvation so when Paul says back in Acts 28:28: “Let it be known to you therefore, that this salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles; they will also listen.” Not only would it be sent to them they will respond in a way you haven’t.

So an indication here that when verse 24 said: “Some were being persuaded,” that was a small number. The majority of the Jews here walk away unbelieving so Paul tells them of the judgment of God on them as has become clear through the pattern. Paul knows this and that is why he repeatedly says, “Therefore, I take it to the Gentiles.” But, he gave the Jews the opportunity, gave the Jews the opportunity and this is where the book of Acts is going to end with demonstrating the rejection of the Jews to their Messiah and the reception of the Gentiles for the Jewish Messiah. So what Jesus said, “You will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, in Judea and Samaria, to the uttermost part of the world” carrying it out to the Gentiles and that continues down to today.

Verse 29 does not appear in most of the manuscripts so that is why you have it in a box here: “When he had spoken these words the Jews departed having a great dispute among themselves.” Even though it doesn’t appear in most of the manuscripts there is nothing unbiblical here because the evidence in the context is most of the Jews. That is why, when they are leaving, Paul pronounces the judgment of Isaiah. “Rightly did Isaiah speak of God’s judgment on you for your unbelief.” He wouldn’t have said if they were just a few who didn’t believe, most of them did and why he says that salvation is being carried to the Gentiles. Now they are placed, grafted into the place of God’s favor. But as Romans 11 says, there will come a time when God will place the rightful branches back into the focal point and He will bring Israel to Himself.

So he stayed two years, two full years, verse 30 in his own rented quarters and was welcoming all who came to him. Again, since Paul couldn’t work, he’s a prisoner, he stays in his own rented quarters, assumed that the believers in Rome would have gladly provided for the expenses here. It gave Paul freedom and opportunity for ministry. What did he do? He was welcoming all who come to him so you see he is a prisoner. He can’t just leave and go to Spain or wherever he might like to go, but he is free to have guests, visitors come. He can share the Gospel with them. He can present the truth of God to them. What is he going? He is “welcoming all who came to him, preaching the kingdom of God and teaching concerning the Lord Jesus Christ with all openness, unhindered, unhindered.”

There is a coming kingdom. Remember he had said earlier in his ministry “through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom.” Understand this is part. The Messiah had to suffer and die so He could come again to rule and reign so you must believe in Him to experience forgiveness and be part of the kingdom that He will establish. That is where it is left, two years in Rome so a total of about five years. Why does Luke stop here? I mean don’t we want to know what did he say before he went before Caesar? How was the final verdict given? But Luke is not writing the biography of Paul. Luke is writing the history of the spread of the Gospel and in that important to have clarity on the continual rejection of God’s grace as it’s offered to them time after time after time in showing the necessity of God’s judgment on them for their unbelief. They thought as Jews they would be excluded from judgment. They didn’t believe their own prophets like Isaiah but the ministry of the Gospel goes on and it’s left there in effect so the history could be picked up wherever it goes.

Now from other evidence that we are not going to be looking into, most are agreed that Paul would have been released from this imprisonment. During this two year imprisonment he wrote his prison letters, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, Philemon. We call them the prison letters as they were written during his Roman imprisonment.

Isn’t it amazing in his last imprisonment the evidence is that Paul was released here and had about five years of freedom and then was rearrested under the persecutions of Nero and would have been executed about 68 A.D. There is a year variation depending on who you look at whether you are in 62 or 63 A.D. when Paul will be released and then 67, 68 A.D. when he is in prison the second time.

He writes 2 Timothy from his second imprisonment awaiting execution. You are familiar with prison letters like Philippians. He expresses a confidence that he is going to be released there. When he writes 2 Timothy he is sure he won’t be released so you see a difference in the tenor of the letters but the purpose of Luke is not to carry on. Paul has been the key figure from chapter 13 on to this point but because he is the key figure in God spreading the Gospel out he was chosen by God for that purpose, to carry the Gospel before kings and rulers, before the Jews but before the Gentiles and so with the book of Acts ending with an open ending here it’s what is going on. We are doing today, we are telling people about the crucified and resurrected Messiah who is coming again to establish a kingdom on this earth and you must turn from your sin and believe in Him to have forgiveness of sins and be ready to meet the One Who is the judge of all. 2000 years have gone by and we are going the same thing. We have people who are going out through the week what? Carrying the Gospel to tell those who haven’t heard, here is the truth of a Messiah, of a Savior. You share it with family and friends; wherever you are, co-workers and the ministry goes on. So exciting to see how the Spirit directed Luke to end the book by not ending. It’s not well, I’m going to carry it through and tell you about the rest of Paul and no, that’s not what we are talking about. We are talking about as he started out in Acts 1. I wrote the book of book, Theophilus to tell you all that Jesus began to do and teach and now we have the continuing story following His death and resurrection and that is far as I go because it is not done. The last chapter for the church will be on earth when God, Christ comes in the air, calls us to meet Him and then He resumes that program with Israel in their final devastating earthly punishments to bring them to salvation through faith in the Messiah and then we can have the Second Coming and the establishing of the kingdom, let’s pray together.

Thank you Lord, for the faithfulness of Your servants in the early church; men like Peter, Paul, other apostles, other faithful people. Lord, above all, we thank You for the ministry of Your Spirit and Your faithfulness the Gospel being carried in a variety of ways to a variety of people through difficulties, through trials, through hardship, sometimes with the blessing of good response, sometime with the sadness of rejection but it’s all within Your plan. Lord how privileged we are today to be carrying on the ministry of the church, be privileged to be recipients of Your salvation, Your saving grace, to be entrusted with the truth of the Gospel to carry it and spread it to others, to tell them wherever we are, in whatever situation we are having been placed there by Your sovereign purpose and plan to be a light in the darkness that they might hear the truth of the Savior and by Your grace have opportunity to believe. Use us in the days of the week before us to share this truth with others we pray in Christ’s name, amen.