[MUSIC PLAYING] Welcome to Expound, a verse
by verse study of God's word. Our goal is to expand your
knowledge of the truth of God by explaining the word of God
in a way that is interactive, enjoyable, and congregational. Father, it's going
to be 30 weeks that we will have been in the
Book of Acts by next week. And we have seen how the
gospel has gone from, as Jesus said and promised,
Jerusalem, all Judea, Samaria, then to the utmost or
uttermost parts of the Earth, the ends of the earth. And the key to
that fulfillment is found in Paul's desire
to go to Rome, how he has longed for that. And now finally, that
desire he has always had nurturing in his
heart will be realized. And we'll get to see
it and, in a sense, though removed by two
millennia, rejoice with him. Because it is because
the gospel went to Rome that we really enjoy it today. And we're going to see that. And we thank you for it. In Jesus' name. Amen. So last time we
were together, Paul was in the midst
of a crazy storm at sea called in Greek,
[GREEK] or [GREEK],, as it's mentioned in our text. So they didn't do a whole
lot of translating from that. That's what it was called. It was this crazy
nor'easter wind that was not uncommon
in Mediterranean Sea in the sailing
of the Mediterranean Sea between autumn and winter. It didn't always come. But when it came, it
stirred things up. So it is like a typhoon
force wind, a gale, that rendered the ship
inoperative in terms of control. Paul was on this ship. 276 people are aboard. He is overseen by a guy named
Julius, a Roman centurion. There's the maritime
captain aboard this vessel. But he and all of his crew were
unable to control this ship, because of the storm. Now, I can't prove
it, but I'm guessing this was the same kind of
storm that a prophet named Jonah experienced several books
earlier in the Old Testament. It doesn't say that word. The word [GREEK] or [GREEK],, as
mentioned in our English text, only appears once
in all of scripture. It's a Greek word. But it says in the Book of
Jonah that he experienced and all those aboard the
ship that Jonah was on experienced a mighty tempest. And then Jonah was
thrown overboard and that tempest ceased. God was in control
of that storm, like he is in control of this
storm that Paul is a part of. Now, if you remember when
they were aboard this ship, they couldn't see
the stars for weeks. They couldn't read the skies. And navigation was done not
by compass, not by radar, not by sonar, not by computer,
not by your phone or GPS. It was done by looking at the
stars, plotting the course. So they were unable to
know where they were and where they were going. They had no point
of reference at all. That's the storm that
Paul was a part of. And while they were
taking this journey and that wind took them
from one place to the other, their biggest fear
was that they would be beached on the sands,
the shoals, of North Africa. They came close,
but they were afraid that the wind was
going to take him right there to North Africa. And there was an area that was
famous for these sandy shoals where ships would
often get stuck. But as God would have it, he
has a plan for another place. And that's the place
that they end up. So in the storm, they start
throwing things overboard. They throw the tackle overboard. They throw the grain
aboard the grain ship that was sailing from
Alexandria, Egypt to Rome. So all of its cargo
is thrown over. And, eventually, finally,
the boat shipwrecked. Now, Paul, as I said,
and as we have probably repeated almost weekly,
always wanted to go to Rome. But he probably
didn't picture this. We saw last week how difficult
it was verse after verse after verse sailing into the
wing, doing it with difficulty, getting pushback along the way. Still, he is in the will of God. And he knows it. He believes it. And it's confirmed
even during this storm. But it's not what
he anticipated. How many times have
you made plans, and God change your plans? So you even get to a point
where, like, you know, should I even make plans? Well, you should, but you should
always say, James counsels us, if the Lord wills. That's a good caveat. Well, I'll be there
tomorrow if the Lord wills. James said that that's how
we ought to live our lives. And so I have friends
who will always say that. You can count on it
if the Lord wills. In Isaiah 55, God through
the prophet in Verse 8 and 9 of that chapter said, "my
thoughts are not your thoughts, says the Lord, neither
are my ways your ways. For as the heavens are
higher than the Earth, so are my ways higher than
your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts." I don't know why this
storm happened like this and it took Paul so long to get
to Rome with such difficulty. I know partly why. And part is revealed
in the text that we read last week and the text
that we read this week. All I know is God is good
at changing our plans. I didn't plan on being a pastor. I would have been
upset if somebody would have prophesied over me,
you're going to be a pastor. Get out of here. You're a nut case. I wanted to be a photographer. I wanted to be a musician. I wanted to be in medicine. But God put this
on my radar screen. And even when I was planning
to go to medical school, my friend, my roommate, who
is a medical doctor said, don't do it. I've told you his story. And so the Lord had
different plans. The Lord had different plans
for this apostle in this storm. Also, he has great calm in
the midst of this storm. And he has great calm
when he gets to land, as you're going to see. Some amazing things will
happen to Paul and the 275 other passengers. And Paul is calm
throughout all of it. And that's partly,
because not only did he know he
was in God's will, but he knew that
he would be safe. And all those aboard
the ship would be safe, because the Lord gave
him a vision one night. In Verse 23 of Chapter 27-- I'm going back to a
little bit for reference-- "Paul said to the
men aboard the ship, for there stood by me this
night an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I
serve saying, do not be afraid Paul. You must be brought
before Caesar." Well, if you're going to
be brought before Caesar, you're going to go to
Rome, because that's where Caesar lives. So if the angel
of the Lord said, you're going to talk
to Caesar, that means Paul knows he's going to Rome. So now, it's
confirmed in a vision that he's going to
appear before Caesar. "And God has granted,
this messenger says, you all, those who sail with
you, therefore take heart, Paul says. For I believe God that it
will be just as he told me." So it's difficult, but
he knows the end game. He can see the horizon. He knows this road that
he is on will end in Rome. The road ends in Rome. Paul's long road to Rome-- we did a series on
that a few years back. I've quoted before to
you Corrie ten Boom. I did it just a few Sundays
ago on a Sunday morning. Corrie ten Boom was Dutch,
lived in the Netherlands. Her father was a watchmaker. I visited his shop
and the old home that the ten Booms were in and
the special places in the wall and in the home where they
hid Jews during World War II from the Nazis. The family was
captured, incarcerated. Corrie and her sister were
sent to concentration camps. They survived two of them. And Corrie ten Boom had
a perspective on life and God's will and
suffering so clear that it rivals any other
treatise on suffering and the will of God. And she had a lot
of great sayings. And one of her sayings
was that if God sends you on stony paths, he
provides strong shoes. And she went on a stony
path finding herself in a Nazi concentration
camp and being persecuted and being hurt. Even though you're a believer
in God, you're wondering, God, why would you
let this happen to me. She saw how God
provided strong shoes. When God sends you
on rocky paths, he will also send strong shoes. We might also say,
given this narrative, when God sends you into a storm
at sea, he sends lifeboats. He provides a way of escape. And they will escape. Also, just to make
mention of this, though Paul did not go to
Rome the way he thought he was going to go
to Rome, he probably thought he was going to take
a fourth missionary journey. He had three. He thought he was
going to take a fourth. But I think you realize that
to take a boat around the world and travel to all the
places Paul traveled, that's expensive. That takes an enormous
amount of finance. And we know from
the New Testament that Paul was financed by
the generosity of churches. But the Lord allowed Paul to get
to Rome with all expenses paid by the Roman government. Now, what that shows
me, among other things is that not only is God,
as my friend Murray here says, working a trick
with the people on Malta, but God is interested
in economy. If you can get a good deal,
if you can get a better deal, get it. I remember when I was young
and I didn't have a car and my father
wouldn't buy me a car, my father said, get a bicycle. Go get a job. When you get enough
money, buy a motorcycle. When you get enough money
after that, buy a car. That's my advice. It's free. That's all I'll give you. Any extra, I'll charge
you for, but that's free. So I wanted a car. And I was a believer. I prayed for a car. Well, I ended up buying
my brother's '67 Plymouth. Now, today, it
would be a classic. It would be a collector's
item, but probably not his. They normally would be,
but probably not his. Because the car was all digging
up and filled with Bondo. And it was not a good Bondo job. So it was like half pink
Bondo and half primer gray, the entire car. It also lacked second gear. Second gear had busted. It was burned out. So I had reversed first
and third gear in this car. It cost me $37 from my brother. I rejoiced for a day. Every day after that,
I thought, Lord, this is not what I had in mind. But then I read this passage. And I thought, God is
interested in economy. And so mine was the '67
Plymouth Bondo gray. Paul's was a Roman ship,
an Alexandrian Egypt ship on the way to Rome
with grain as a prisoner. But he makes it. Now, if you remember
back in Verse 21, there was a change
in this storm. Can I just refresh your memory? Do you remember that Paul gave
counsel and said, don't go? And the Centurion listened to
Paul, because he liked Paul. But then the captain of the
ship said, don't listen to Paul. He's a prisoner. What does he know? I'm a captain. Let's go. Well, they went, and
they got into trouble. And when they got into
trouble, Paul in Verse 21 said, man, you should
have listened to me and not have sailed from Crete
in incurred this disaster and loss. And then he encouraged them. After saying you
should listen to me, he gave them encouragement
and gave them a promise that the Lord sent an
angel to appear to me. You're going to be safe. We're going to make it. Everybody on board, if
you stay on this ship, is going to make it fine. But what we see is that Paul
goes from captive on the ship to captain of the ship. He sort of takes charge. And now, everyone wants
to listen to Paul so much so that when Paul says, you guys
haven't eaten for two weeks, eat breakfast, they all ate. And he prayed publicly,
and he thanked God. Now, some of the men thought
that we'll take the skiff-- that's the little ship, the
dinghy aboard the big ship-- lower it into the sea,
and we'll escape at night. Paul said, no, you don't. You bring that
skiff back on board. Unless you stay in this
boat, you're going to die. God will get you to land, but
you have to stay in the boat. Stay on the ship. And I didn't have time last
week to just say, you know, that's good counsel for us. Those who wait on the Lord
will renew their strength. One of our hardest things to do
in life is to wait on the Lord. You know it's true. We hate to wait for the
Lord or to wait on the Lord. But let me encourage
you to do that. When things don't go our
way, we want to jump ship. The marriage isn't going our
way, I'm going to jump ship. The job isn't going our
way, I'm going to jump ship. Stay put a while. If you don't have a clear
green light from the Lord, then see it as a red
light for you now or at least a yellow light. Slow down. Slow your horses. Stop. Wait. And then when it turns
green and the Lord shows you this is where I want
you to go, then go. I have learned that
lesson painfully on so many different occasions. Don't jump ship. Stay aboard. So now to Verse
39 of Chapter 27, we'll just sort of take this
last part of the journey to Rome all in one swoop. "When it was day, they did
not recognize the land, but they observed
a bay with a beach onto which they planned to
run the ship if possible. And they let go the anchors
and left them in the sea. Meanwhile, loosing
the rudder ropes, and they hoisted the
main sail for the wind and made for shore. But striking a place
where two seas met, they ran the ship aground,
and the prow stuck fast and remained immovable. But the stern was
being broken up by the violence of the waves. And the soldier's plan
was to kill the prisoners, lest any of them should
swim away and escape. But the centurion--" remember,
Julius liked Paul the Apostle. "The centurion,
wanting to save Paul, kept them from their
purpose and commanded that those who could swim should
jump overboard first and get to land. And the rest, some on boards
and some on parts of the ship, so it was that they all
escaped to the land." Now, they're going
to a land that they have no idea it's identity. They don't know
which land it is. Paul said, we're going to run
aground on a certain island. They don't know
what island this is. Now, they will
discover, and we will discover what they discovered
in the very next Verse, Chapter 28 Verse 1, it's
the island of Malta. And Malta is an archipelago. It is a series of little
islands between Sicily and North Africa. And the biggest island, which is
considered the island of Malta in that archipelago,
is a small island. It's only 17 miles
long by 10 miles wide. Now, they would have
recognized had they gone to the main
port of that island, the main port being Valletta,
they would have recognized, oh, I know where I'm at. This is Malta. I recognize the port. We've been here many times. The crew members of the
boat would have recognized what island this was. But because they
were run aground where two seas meet and it was
a violent storm, it's raining, they have no idea
where they're at. But they are in Malta They're going to end up
spending their winter there. The next three months will be
spent on this island of Malta. And you're going to see that
God has a plan for this island. Now, by now, it's
early to mid-November. And in that part of
the world, that's when the rains start, sort of
a California style of weather pattern where the rains, the
winter rains, the early rains, can start in November. And when you have a
storm and you have rain and it's a torrential
downpour, those raindrops feel like darts, like bullets. So it's cold. They're in the sea. They're in the rain, full
exposure to the elements. And they go now to the shore. And they'll be there
for three months. Now, can't resist this. I'm going to read to you. If you don't want to turn
there, you don't have to. But I'm going to read a little
portion out of Psalm 107 where the Psalmist
says this in Psalm 107, and I'm beginning to
read it, Verse 23-- "those who go down
to the sea in ships, who do business
on great waters--" this is one of those ships. It is a cargo boat. "They see the works of the Lord
and his wonders in the deep. For he commands and raises
the stormy wind, which lifts up the waves of the sea. They mount up to the heavens. They go down to the depths." If you've ever been
in a storm on the sea, you know this reality. It's up high and down low. And you think with
each one, it's going to break the
boat and capsize. "Their soul melts,
because of trouble. They reel to and fro and
stagger like a drunken man and are at their wit's end. Then they cry out to the
Lord in their trouble, and he brings them out
of their distresses. He calms the storm, so
that the waves are still. Then they are glad,
because they are quiet. And so he guides them
to their desired haven. Oh, that men would give thanks
to the Lord for his goodness." Now, God is in this
storm of Acts 27 and 28. At the very least,
what he is doing is getting the attention
of the 276 passengers on board or 275 other ones to
at least now listen to Paul and respect him,
because he was right the first time and
right the second time. And now, they're going
to at least listen to this crazy preacher,
this man of God. God has their attention. God is in this storm. So back to our text
in Chapter 27 of Acts, I want you to just notice what
we read just a little bit. Notice it says in Verse 40
that they "let go the anchors and left them in the sea." Do you see where it reads that? Now, go back a few verses to
something we read last week, Verse 28. "And they took soundings, and
they found it to be 20 fathoms. And when they had
gone a little farther, they took soundings again,
and found it to be 15 fathoms. And then fearing lest we should
run aground on the rocks, they dropped four anchors from
the stern and prayed for a day to come." So they took soundings. That is, they put
a weight on a rope. The rope was marked. They threw it overboard. When it hit the bottom,
that could read the rope. They knew how far from
the bottom they were. So they were 120 feet,
then they were 90 feet. And they put the
anchors down at 90 feet. In the next section, they
just let the anchors go. They just cut the anchors. The boat was being
disintegrated. And they came to the land. If you were to go to the city--
or the island of Malta today, there's a couple of famous
churches built in homage of the shipwreck of Paul. One is called
Shipwreck Cathedral. It's in the main
part of Valletta, but there's another
smaller one in what's called St. Paul's Bay,
what most people believe to be the area where
the ship ran aground. In the 1960s, an old
sailor and an old diver along with the team was
diving off the coast of Malta. And they found from the
Roman era four anchors. Now, who knows what they are? But it's interesting,
because somebody was snooping around
Malta and asking about the biblical account. And this guy-- Ray Ciancio
I think was his name-- said, oh, I was part of the team
that found those four anchors or at least found four anchors. And he said he
described the place as a place where two seas meet
where there is a sandy beach and at the precise
depth of 90 feet. And then he showed them. They dove down to show him
where they found the anchors. Now, the anchors
have been exhumed. And they are presently-- the ones that are found,
the four Roman anchors, very basic anchors, probably
would fit the description being off of an
Alexandrian grain ship. They're currently in the
National Maritime Museum in Malta with no
special sign on them, just sort of in the corner. And the sign reads
four Roman anchors. Now, we don't know if
those are the four anchors, but it's interesting that people
day after day in this museum walk past these four
anchors completely oblivious to the tale that those
four anchors might have told. So some believe that these are
the anchors from the shipwreck that Paul was on. They certainly fit the
date archaeologically. They fit where they were found. And it's just interesting. Next time you're in
Malta, check it out. Now, we're in
Chapter 28 Verse 1. Now, "when they had
escaped, they then found out that the
island was called Malta. Now, I'm going to
guess something. I'm going to believe,
it's my conviction, that when Luke wrote
Verse 1 of Chapter 28, he was giving us
a play on words. The word Malta is
a Phoenician term. The Phoenicians were
the sea going group off of the northern coast
of the Mediterranean, north of Israel,
the area of Lebanon. And they conquered that
area, and they settled Malta. And their word for
escape is malta. The word malta means
escape or a refuge. So it's as if he's saying,
and when we had escaped, then we found out that the
island was called escape. Or when we found
refuge, we discovered the island we were
on was called refuge. That's what the
Phoenicians called it. So all 276 passengers escaped
to this little island of Malta. And the natives showed
us unusual kindness. For they kindled the fire
and made us all welcome, because of the rain
that was falling and because of the cold. I really liked this. You know, to be hospitable to
one or two people, that's nice. But being hospitable to
276 and a bunch of them are prisoners on
their way, perhaps, to be executed,
to show kindness? Not just kindness, but an
unusual kindness-- the Old King James, no little
kindness, which means a big kindness, a
whole lot of kindness. Did you know-- and by the
way-- these are unbelievers. These are pagans. They have a pagan worldview. You'll see it. Did you know that the
Bible places a high value on a character trait all
Christians should exhibit, and that is the
trait of hospitality? We should be given
to hospitality. It's required in church
leadership to be hospitable. But it should be exemplary
in all Christian's lives. The writer of
Hebrews in Hebrews 13 says that we are to
show hospitality or show love to one another and
to entertain strangers. For some, by doing that, have
actually entertained angels without knowing it. Let me drill down
just a little bit. Not only are we called
to be hospitable, but did you know that
unbelievers, unsaved, unchristian people, that
God will often treat them based on how hospitable or
not they are to God's people? And you know that's a principle
all the way through scripture. It's an interesting principle. It goes all the way
back to Genesis 12. I will bless those who bless
you, God said to Abraham. And I will curse
those who curse you. You are my people. You are going to be the
progenitor of my people, the Jewish people. I'm going to bless those
who bless you, curse those who curse you. I just think that's interesting. And I'm going to show
you that in the text. In Matthew Chapter 10
of your New Testament-- and, again, you don't
have to turn to these. I can just tell
you where they are, and you can write it
down and go back later. This is Matthew Chapter
10 in Verse 40, Jesus talking to the 12 disciples
whom he sends out on a mission says, "he who receives
you receives me. And he who receives me
receives him who sent me. And he receives the prophet
in the name of a prophet shall receive a
prophet's reward. And he who receives
a righteous man in the name of a righteous man
shall receive a righteous man's reward. And whoever gives one
of these little ones a cup of cold water in the
name of a disciple, assuredly I say to you, he shall by
no means lose his reward." Isn't that interesting? Furthermore, Luke tells us in
the same chronology of Jesus sending out the 12 disciples,
he just expands on it and includes the detail. Matthew doesn't. Jesus said, "when you
go into a village, if they, the unbelievers,
don't receive you, when you leave their territory,
shake the dust off of your feet as a testimony against them. It will be more tolerable
for Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment
than for them." Kind of a radical
thought, isn't it? So be nice to Christians, right? So they showed us
an unusual kindness. They kindled a fire. It's a big fire to
warm 276 people. That's quite a fire. That's a bonfire. "They made us all
welcome, because of the rain that was falling
and because of the cold. But when Paul had gathered
a bundle of sticks and laid them on the fire,
a viper came out of the heat and fastened on his hand." And this is getting good. "So when the natives saw the
creature hanging from his hand, they said to one
another, no doubt this man is a murderer, whom
though he has escaped the sea, yet justice does
not allow to live. But he shook the creature
off into the fire. And he suffered no harm." Now, I have a simple question. What's Paul doing
gathering sticks? He's an apostle. And not only that,
but, I mean, you have a huge bonfire to
warm 276 cold wet souls. And Paul gets up and he just
starts gathering sticks. Now, there's an obvious
reason for this. And that is any fire
that is burning needs to be replenished with
more fuel, more wood. And there was a brushwood on
Malta that it was famous for. So he's gathering a brush
wood, putting it into the fire. That makes sense. But why Paul? Man, Paul made
incredible promises, because an angel of the
Lord appeared to him. He's the guy that got
them to land safely without getting killed. They kind of owe
Paul their lives. Paul could have just
barked out orders and said, I'd like room service, please. I'd like you, you, and you
to go get me more wood. And, in fact, the centurion,
I saved your life. Why don't you go get wood? But he doesn't do that. And here's just an insight
into Paul's character. Paul the Apostle, the great
leader, is picking up sticks. It's what leaders do. No job is too small for
a true leader of God. A leader doesn't
say, well, you know, it's not really in
my job description. I'm the anointed of the Lord. I don't pick up sticks. I preach to Caesar. For Paul the Apostle, little
things like picking up sticks were just as
important for him to do as preaching
salvation to Caesar in Rome. That's a leader. Jesus washed the
disciple's feet. Paul said, let
this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus. He emptied himself. Let that mind be in you. Jesus said, the
son of man did not come to be served, but
to serve and to give his life a ransom for many. So any leader who says, I'm too
important to pick up sticks, is really not all
that important at all. I just love this about Paul. He's so practical. He sees that something needs to
be done, and he just does it. He sees trash that needs to
be picked up, he picks it up. Something needs to
be straightened up, he straightens it up. I love this about Paul. I'm amazed. So he's putting these
sticks, the bundle of sticks, putting them on the fire. The only problem is one
of the sticks is alive, happens to be a viper. Interesting-- history
shows us that there are no more poisonous snakes
on the island of Malta. They've eradicated them all. Isn't that interesting? But back then, it was a problem. And I tend to think, and
I'll show you in a minute why, it was a problem around the
Mediterranean world in general. So this snake grabs
a hold of Paul. And all of the
Maltese people, and it probably spreads throughout
the 276 others on board, just, well, we know
what this means. This means that this
guy's a bad guy. Now, this will give you
insight into their theology. And it's a very important
insight for you to see, because it's still an insight
in many people's theology today. And notice that it
says in Verse 4, "no doubt this man
is a murderer whom, though he has escaped the sea,
yet--" what's the next word? Justice. Justice-- justice does
not allow to live. There's a problem in my Bible. Justice is not capitalized. It should be. Because justice, when used
here, is the word dike. And Dike was the
Goddess of Justice, Lady Justice, the
daughter of Zeus, one that they
worshipped on Malta. So though it says
justice, small J, as if to describe the
attribute of justice, they were actually
saying a description of the deity, that Goddess
Dike, the daughter of Zeus, whom they call Lady Justice. Now, we're not that astonished. We have in our country
somebody called Lady Justice depicted in American
art as a blindfold woman holding the scale. She's blindfold, so she
can't be partial to one party or the other. That's Lady Justice. That's a throwback to paganism
and this belief in Dike. So they say Justice,
they mean capital J. But they say, justice does
not allow him to live. But he shakes it off. Now, here's what
I want you to see. These are unbelievers. They are pagan. They have a pagan worldview. But they have an interesting
belief in right and wrong. They're not Christian. They're not Jewish. But they believe
in right and wrong. They have a sense of morality. And I'm bringing this up,
because I'm questioning you. Where did they get
this sense of morality from, this right and
wrong, saying, well, this is wrong and wrong
gets punished, and this is right and
right gets rewarded? Because that's
what they believe. That's their worldview, that
wrong will get punished either right now or eventually. We Christians believe that as
well, that eventually wrong will all be dealt with by
a loving holy just God. And right will be
rewarded, eventually. They had this belief system. Where'd they get it from? God put it in their hearts. That's where they got it from. He puts it in the
hearts of all men. It's called a conscience. It's that stamp of God and
of sovereign eternal God in the lives of every
single human being. It started way
back in the garden when they took of the tree of
knowledge of good and evil. And just a few chapters
ahead in the book of Romans, it tells us this. This is Romans Chapter 1. I told you. It's a different study. We're turning a lot tonight. Romans 1, that's
easy to turn to. You have no excuse
for not turning there. Romans Chapter 1 Verse
18, "for the wrath of God is revealed from Heaven
against all the ungodliness and unrighteousness
of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness." That presupposes they know
the truth or they, at least, hold at one time to the truth. It was given to them. They had it. They held it, but
they suppressed it. And they did it in
unrighteousness, because "what may be known
of God is manifest in them. For God has shown it to them." So God places that innate
knowledge of right and wrong, good and evil. And even the pagans
of Malta had that. They're in error, because they
think that the gods immediately punish and immediately reward
rather than the God, the only true God, Yahweh, will
ultimately and eventually judge all mankind based on their
faith in Jesus Christ or not. But at least they have that. And that was placed
there by God. So Paul reaches in. A viper, a poisonous
viper-- that's the word that is used,
a deadly poison viper. Not a little garter
snake, just like this-- think a rattlesnake. They're thinking,
he's going to die. They're kind of waiting
for him to keel over. But it's funny. Verse 5, he just sort
of shakes it off. You know, he just
glances it off. He just throws it away. He's calm. He doesn't go, ah-- just shook it off
and suffered no harm. However, they were expecting
that he would swell up or suddenly fall down dead. Why would they believe that? Because they knew those snakes. They knew their island. That's what has happened before. But after they looked
for a long time and saw no harm come to him,
they changed their minds and said he was a god. So something interesting
about their theology, it was very fickle. First of all, he's going to die. He's angered Lady Justice. Not now. He's a God himself. He didn't swell up. He didn't die. Now, Paul, flicking off
this little serpent, is a fulfillment of prophecy. That's probably
why he was so calm. He's fulfilling a prophecy
made by Jesus Christ. I'm going to share with you
out of the Gospel of Luke. In Luke Chapter 10-- now,
I pre-marked my Bible. So I'm not expecting you to
turn there as quickly as I can. I have a little cheater tab. See that little yellow tab? So Jesus sent out not just
12 around the Sea of Galilee, but 70 disciples. And they returned,
they were all psyched, because of their success. "And the 70 returned--"
Verse 17, Luke Chapter 10-- "with joy saying, Lord, even
the demons are subject to us in your name. And He said to them, I saw
Satan fall like lightning from Heaven." Of course, they're
subject to my name. I was there when Satan
fell out of Heaven. "Behold--" now watch this-- "I give you authority to trample
on serpents and scorpions and overall the
power of the enemy. And nothing by any
means shall hurt you." So, evidently, serpents
were a common problem in that era, because Jesus
made that part of his promise package to his 12 and to his
70, expanded it to others. Not only that, but
in Mark Chapter 16, Jesus said to them,
"go into all the world and preach the gospel
to every creature. He who believes and is
baptized will be saved. But he does not believe
will be condemned. And these signs will
follow those who believe. In my name, they
will cast out demons. They will speak
with new tongues. They will take up serpents. And if they drink anything
deadly, it will by no means hurt them. And they will lay
hands on the sick. And they will recover." So Paul has a
viper grab his arm. And you go, oh yeah, I
remember what Jesus said. Didn't think anything of it,
because he knew this promise. Now, this promise
does not mean that you can have a church service and
bring snakes and pass them around and, if it
bites you and you die, that it shows that
you had no faith. That is ludicrous, but it
happens in the southern states in some churches. Jesus was making a promise that,
as the gospel is being spread, there will also come with
the spreading of the gospel protection. And Paul knew that. Paul knows, look, it'd be
stupid for me to die here. Because I was just
aboard a ship, and God preserved me on that boat. Plus, he told me I'm going
to make it to Caesar. And I don't see Caesar
walking toward me right now as the snake
is holding on to my arm. So I'm guessing I'm not
going to die from this. So-- shook it off. He knew the promise of the Lord. Verse 7-- let's see
if we can make it all the way down to
our end text, Verse 16. That's where we
want to end tonight. If not, we'll finish
the book next week. "In that region, there was an
estate of the leading citizen of the island." That phrase could be
translated the Roman governor of the island. That's who this guy was,
the leading citizen, the Roman governor of Malta
whose name was Publius, who received us and entertained
us courteously for three days." You know, you might
want to be hospitable. And I do, too. I have friends that
come out of town. And I'll often say,
stay at my house. But I usually
check with my wife. Say, hey, there's a guy
or there's a couple. They're going to spend
a few days at our house. But to bring 276 people
home for three days, can I just say you've got
to have a big house, right? It shows us the kind
of estate Publius must have had to be able
to house 276 people. And he did. He entertained them courteously. Now, they're going to
spend three months there. But the first few days, this
guy's taking care of them. And it happened that
the father of Publius lay sick of a fever
and dysentery. Paul went into him and prayed
and laid his hands on him and healed him. This fever was a gastric fever. That's what most
scholars believe it was. And the word fever is put
in the plural, fevers. So it was a fever that came
back and back and back. It recurred. Now, there was a goat on Malta. The milk of Maltese
goats carried a microbe that brought
a gastric fever that lasted between four months
and up two to three years. So this guy has a gastric
fever, plus dysentery. That's a disease. It's an intestinal disease. I had a friend who
suffered from it. I took him to India. He got dysentery
while he was there. Lack of sanitation
can breed dysentery. So you just got a
picture of this guy for at least months
suffering with recurrent gastric
gastroenterological issues, right? Paul comes in, does two things-- prays for him,
lays hands on him. Why does he pray for him? Because Paul doesn't
heal anybody. Because God is
the one who heals. He's addressing the
source of all power. That's why he prayed. Now, he laid hands on him,
not because Paul's hands were special. We lay hands on people, not
because our hands are special. Anything our hands
have are germs. And Paul had germs. Paul's hands weren't glowing. It wasn't like Paul
said, watch this, oh! The reason he laid
hands after he prayed was to show them that this
man, Paul, was the instrument through which God healed. And once this man
is healed, do you think everybody is going
to be listening to Paul and what he has to say? Absolutely. Here's a guy who shook off a
snake, and he's still alive. And he prays for people,
and they get healed. Let's listen to
what he has to say. So when this was done,
Verse 9, the rest of those on the island
who had diseases also came and were healed. This is not unlike
Jesus in Capernaum. He heals a couple of people,
and the whole countryside finds out about it. And people swarm him. "They also honored
us in many ways." Let me just stop there
before we finish this out. It doesn't say that Paul
preached the gospel after he healed them, though
I am absolutely certain he did for one reason. I've read the rest of the Bible. I see what Paul does everywhere. And the reason
it's not mentioned is because I think Luke imply-- it's like it's so obvious. Do we really need
to say it again? And so I'm certain he did. Because the Lord used
this as a confirming sign to preach the gospel-- the serpent that didn't kill
him, the laying on of hands. Just like Mark said,
just like Jesus said in the Gospel
of Mark, it happened. So with that came the
preaching of the gospel. Now, many believe that a church
was established then and there. I wouldn't doubt it. And some even believe that
the pastor of that church was none other than Publius. We don't know if that's true. When you get to Heaven, check
the Lamb's Book of Life. See if his name is there,
and you'll know for certain. "They honored us, though--"
Verse 10-- "in many ways. And when we departed,
they provided such things as were necessary." They loaded them into the
boat for their travel. So hospitality
ranks high in Malta. "After three months, we sailed
in an Alexandrian ship--" which is what they had
gotten shipwrecked on, this is another one-- "who's figurehead was
the twin brothers--" which had wintered
on the island. The twin brothers are Castor and
Pollux, the twin sons of Zeus. It was believed they
were like the patron idols of the ancient world. And sailors, they believed
that these twin gods protected sailors. So they would often
carry an emblem of them or a figurehead on
the front of the ship, so as to please those gods
to ask for protection, not unlike people
will superstitiously place a statue of Mary
or a Saint on a dashboard and think this is going
to protect my car. My mom used to do that. And I remember sitting
there thinking, mom, you have Mary
kind of like facing us. Shouldn't you turn
her around, so she can see where we're going? Maybe the problem we
would get in wrecks is because she's
turned the wrong way. You know, that's
how a kid thinks. [LAUGHTER] "And so they leave the
island," Verse 11 and 12. And I can almost be
certain that they didn't leave that bay of St. Paul. They left the capital
port Valletta, still the capital port of the island. Because that is where
cargo was loaded. And they would embark and
disembark from that port. So they left that main port. And landing at
Syracuse, which is on the east of that island
of Sicily-- you know, how Italy looks like a
boot kicking a football? So that football, on the
eastern part of that island, was Syracuse. "We stayed there three days." Tradition says, during
those three days, Paul started another church. Can't prove it, but
I wouldn't doubt it. Paul worked fast. And Verse 13-- "and from there
we circled around and reached Rhegium, which is the
tip of the toe or tip of the boot of Italy. And after one day,
the south wind blew. So the next day,
we came to Puteoli, which is the Bay of Naples. "And while we were there, the
brethren were invited to stay-- where we found brethren
and were invited to stay with them
for seven days. And so we went toward Rome." Quick FYI-- as Paul was
walking on the journey now to Rome where he's
going to end up-- we're going to see that in
just a few verses. He ends there. And we'll see next week
what he does there. He would have passed
between Puteoli and Neapolis a very famous tomb
on the Appian Way, the tomb of Virgil the Roman poet. And why that is
important is that Virgil, in one of his poems, anticipated
a savior, the need for a savior to come and save
the world and save Rome in one of his writings. And it's interesting
that the one who announced that God
had indeed sent the savior is going to be
walking past his tomb in just a little while, just an
interesting twist of history. He would have walked past that
tomb from Puteoli to Neapolis. So we found brethren. We stayed with them
a week, seven days. Now, we get to the
climactic part of this book. "And from there, when the
brethren heard about us, they came to meet us as far
as Appii forum and Three Inns. When Paul saw them, he thanked
God, and he took courage. This indicates that Paul may
have been, at this point, discouraged. I don't know why. He could have been sick. It's taken him a long time. "And when we came to Rome--"
ah, just take a breath in, just feel that. Finally, he came to where
he always longed to be, the imperial city of Rome. "The centurion
delivering the prisoners to the captain of
the guard-- but Paul was permitted to dwell by
himself with the soldier who guarded him." We're going to stop here. We're going to finish
the book next week and do justice to Paul in
Rome in the last study. Paul goes to Rome. He wanted to go there. It's an ungodly city. Seneca, the historian said,
it's a cesspool of iniquity. So you might be wondering why
does Paul want to go there. Easy answer-- light always
shines in the darkest places. It's always more prominent
the darker it is. You know, there's an old saying. And I'll say it, and
you'll finish it. All roads lead to-- Rome. Rome. That's an ancient saying
from way back then. All roads lead to Rome. Paul knew that all
roads lead to Rome. Now, if all roads lead to
Rome, then all the roads lead from Rome. So to get the gospel in Rome and
to get Christianity established at the center of
the empire would mean it can now flow around
the world, around the world. And the reason we got the
gospel here in America, the uttermost
parts of the Earth, is because Paul knew God
put it in his heart for him to go to Rome and get
the gospel to Rome. That's the theme of this book. But we'll take one last study. It might be a short
study next week. But we'll end it in
praise and worship, maybe even if we have
time do Q&A. Let's pray. Father, we want to thank You
for this incredible human being. Frankly, I'm glad that
there's men like Peter that we can relate to
and other apostles who failed that we can relate to. Because we look at
a guy like Paul, and he's just head and
shoulders above so many. This incredible man
who is unafraid, through whom you
did miracles, but he wasn't too important to pick
up sticks, he was the servant. He didn't see himself as being
in a more important position, a glamorous position. He was a slave of Jesus. And if a slave of Jesus needs
to help keep the fire warm, that's what he did. And if a slave of Jesus
needs to talk to Caesar, that's what he does. Lord, I pray that
we as Your people would see every opportunity
of being around unbelievers as an opportunity
to shine Christ by some word, some act,
some prayer, some deed. Use our lives, Lord. We love that thought, that
the treasure of the gospel is in clay pots-- foolish things, weak
things, imperfect people. But you get the greater
glory, because of it. And we thank you for
that in Jesus' name. Amen. [MUSIC PLAYING] For more resources from Calvary
Albuquerque and Skip Heitzig, visit calvaryabq.org.
