Now we're looking at the last
chapter in the book of Acts, chapter 28, and I'm going to
use verse 9 as the title to the message. So when this was done,
that is when Paul healed the father of the governor, when
this was done, others also, boy the news got out, which had diseases. probably incurable diseases in
that day, they came and were healed. They were healed. It
wasn't a pretend or a play like, it was real miracle of God's
grace. So I'm taking the title from
the words found there in verse nine, those that had diseases
were healed. The Lord Jesus Christ came to
save people who are diseased with sin from head to foot with
a horrible terminal disease called S-I-N. You remember the description
from Isaiah chapter 1? We said the whole head is sick,
the whole heart is faint. From the top of my head to the
bottom of my feet, nothing but wounds and bruises and putrefying
sores which have not been treated, bound up, or mollified with ointment. We are sinners before God through
and through." Does that describe you? It does, it is. Sin is what
we are. Sin is what we are. In Adam,
all have sinned. In Adam, all are guilty. We are born in sin, shaped in
iniquity. Sin is what we are. I'm a sinner. Sins, plural, is what we do. We do what we do because of what
we are. If we say we have no sin, we
deceive ourselves, and the truth's not in us. If we say we've not
sinned, we make God a liar, and the truth's not in us. The good
news of the gospel is, if you know yourself to be a vile, wretched,
guilty sinner, the good news of the gospel is, the Lord Jesus
Christ came to save sinners. Those who are well don't need
a doctor, those who are sick. Our Lord said, go learn what
that means. I will have mercy, not sacrifice.
I'm not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. As
my pastor used to say all the time, if I can find the sinner,
I've got good news for him. The Lord Jesus Christ died for
the ungodly. As Paul said, this is a faithful
saying and worthy of all acceptation. The Lord Jesus Christ came to
save sinners. And then he adds, I'm the chief
one. I'm the chief one. Now, remember
from our last study, there were 276 men aboard this ship. and they were cast into a violent,
raging, stormy sea. Some could swim, some couldn't. Some just grabbed pieces of the
ship, some grabbed boards that were floating, but they all made
it safe to land. Do you remember why? The Apostle
Paul was told by God that not one hair of one person would
perish and no one would be harmed. All will come safe to land. You
remember verse 44 of Acts 27? Some on board, some on broken
pieces of the ship and so it came to pass. They all escaped
safe to land. It came to pass because God said
it would come to pass. All that he has promised, all
will come to pass. Now, Paul being shipwrecked on
this island, and when they were escaped, then they knew that
the island was called Melita. And this island was full of a
barbarous people. which showed us kindness, no
little kindness, that is great kindness. They kindled a fire.
They were all soaking wet. They were cold. They received
us, everyone, because of the rain and because of the cold. Now, just what these men needed
at the time, they needed to be warmed up and needed a fire. Now, Paul being shipwrecked on
this island was no accident. All this great mighty wind was
blowing all the time and sending the Apostle Paul to this exact
point, this exact place, to these people who were gathered there.
It was not an accident. It was not due to what some people
call lady luck, or some people would say mother nature controls
the weather. It wasn't due to lady luck, mother
nature, or misfortune. They were there at this time
and this place on this occasion because God purposed it for all
eternity. The absolute sovereign will and
purpose of God was being done. These people in this island,
they had no idea what was going on, did they? They didn't have
any idea who Paul was or the message that he had, but God
put right in their midst exactly what they needed, a gospel preacher. One of the greatest blessings
God can give any community or people is a God-sent, God-called
gospel preacher. That's what was sent to them.
God worketh all things after the counsel of his own will. God had some of his elect upon
this island of Melita. modern-day island is called Malta,
that must hear the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, who must
hear it, believe it, to the saving of their soul. And the Lord,
Paul spent three months there, and I know what he was doing
in those three months. We've seen his repeated pattern. Any
place he went, any town he went, any village he went, he always
lifted up Christ, always preaching the Lord Jesus Christ and him
crucified. The means that God has ordained
to call out his people is the preaching of the gospel. Couldn't
these people be saved without hearing the gospel of the Lord
Jesus Christ? No. That's why God sent him there. It pleased God through preaching
to call out his people. Faith comes by hearing and hearing
by the word of the Lord. Whenever the Lord is pleased
to call out and save one of his elect, God will somehow, someway,
put a gospel preacher in the path of the object of his mercy,
the object of his grace. The message will be preached,
the message will be heard, and the sinner will be saved. That's
the pattern we've seen all the way through the book of Acts,
is it not? We've seen this repeated story over and over and over
again. whether it's Peter, whether it's
Philip, or whether it's Paul, or another preacher. God sent
the gospel preacher, they preached the message, and the Lord called
out his people. You remember the story of Philip.
He was down in Samaria holding a great revival, and God took
him out of that meeting and sent him way down to a desert country
to one sinner. the eunuch who was traveling
from Ethiopia to Jerusalem and headed back home reading Isaiah
53 and Philip took that scripture and preached unto him the Lord
Jesus Christ and God saved him and he confessed the Lord Jesus
Christ right out there in the desert. when he was baptized,
the apostle Paul. Again, we see the apostle Peter
sent to the house of a Gentile soldier named Cornelius and Paul
preached to him the gospel. And Cornelius said, we're all
here to hear all things commanded thee of God. and Paul and Peter
both preached the gospel. Peter to the house of Cornelius
and Paul to others. But they heard the message and
God blessed it to the salvation of their soul. That's the pattern
God uses. Paul was in Philippi. And there
was a group of women down by the riverside. Usually he went
to a synagogue, to a Jewish synagogue, because there were so few people.
There's just a bunch of Jewish women down by the riverside meeting
and attempting to worship God. And Paul went there and preached
Christ unto them. You remember what it said? God
opened Lydia's heart. And then word got out there in
Philippi and he was terribly mistreated and beaten and imprisoned
and put in prison. Paul and Silas were singing praises
to God, and the jailer heard them. God sent an earthquake,
and that jailer asked the apostle Paul, what must I do to be saved? He said, believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. Sinners are saved by
the grace of God, hearing the gospel truth, and believing it,
being granted and given faith. and regenerated by the Spirit
of God and granted faith to believe the gospel. It is true God elected
the people unto salvation from the beginning. God had blessed
us with all spiritual blessings in the heavenly places in Christ
according as he had chosen us in him before the foundation
of the world and adopted us to be sons of God. It is true God
elected the people from all eternity gave them to the Lord Jesus Christ.
It is also true that the Lord Jesus Christ died for the elect,
his sheep upon the cursed tree, completely putting away their
sin and accomplished their salvation, right? He appeared once in the
end of the age to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.
It is also true that God the Holy Spirit will take the word
of truth, convict and convince of sin, and regenerate sinners
by his almighty power. It is true. God the Holy Spirit
quickens sinners. He quickens whom he will. Of
his own will beget he us with the word of truth. This is also
true. Let us never forget that God,
in his sovereign love and electing grace, is also the God of ordained
means to call out his people. That is why God sent Paul to
Melita on his way to Rome. These people must hear the gospel. and God granted them faith in
him. Paul spent in Christ. Paul spent
three months there on the island preaching the gospel of the Lord
Jesus Christ. As he said, I'm determined not
to know anything among you save Jesus Christ and him crucified. This is the pattern that God
uses. Turn over here to the book of
Romans. You have it right there handy. Romans chapter 10. Remember
it says in verse 13, Romans 10, 13, whosoever shall call upon
the name of the Lord shall be saved. Well, that's true. Whosoever
shall call upon the name of the Lord now, how then shall they
call on him in whom they've not heard, excuse me, in whom they've
not believed? And how shall they believe in
him of whom they've not heard? And how shall they hear without
a preacher? How shall they preach except
they be sent as it is written? How beautiful are the feet of
them that preach the gospel of peace and bring glad tidings
of good things. But they've not all obeyed the
gospel. For Isaiah said, who hath believed? Lord, who hath believed our report?
So then faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word or the
command of God. God, the command of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Now, we've all experienced this
fact in our own personal lives. It's no accident you heard the
gospel from a servant of the Lord. That's not an accident. You just didn't bump into the
gospel. It's no accident that you heard
the gospel from a servant of the Lord, whether it be Pastor
Mahan, Pastor Fortner, or Pastor Harding. God was pleased to send
you a gospel preacher, and you heard the message, and God gave
you life. God gave you faith in the Lord
Jesus Christ. Now, we don't make much of the
servants of the Lord. He's just an earthen vessel with
the treasure of the gospel, but we do make much of the means
that God has ordained. We make much of preaching. We
don't make much of the preacher, but we make much of the means
that God has ordained, that is the preaching of the gospel.
That verse that's quoted there in Romans 10, I read a moment
ago, in Isaiah 52 it says this, that's where that comes from,
Isaiah 52, Thy God reigneth. Thy God reigns. Grace is sovereign grace. God
reigns through righteousness unto eternal life. Grace reigns
through righteousness unto eternal life. So that's the first point. God had an elect there who must
hear the gospel, must be granted faith in the Lord Jesus Christ,
and that's exactly what happened. Now here's the second thing I
want us to see is this. Even though all men are guilty
and totally depraved before God, they still can be very religious
and lost. and need to be called out of
pagan darkness to true light in Christ." Now, these people,
they were very religious. Our Lord said this, that he's
the true light. He said, I'm the light of the
world. He that follows me shall not walk in darkness, but shall
have the light of life. God must command the light to
shine in our hearts, that we might see the glory of God in
the face of Jesus Christ. These people on this island of
Melita were very, very religious, but they were lost. I read somewhere the oldest freestanding
building structure that's found in the world today is on the
island of Malita or Malta, 3500 BC. One of the oldest standing
built structures. Now I say that to tell you this,
you know what it's built around and to? It's a pagan temple to
their idol gods. These people had religion all
their lives, yet they were lost and dead in sin and needed to
hear the message of salvation in Christ Jesus. Now notice some
things about them, verse 2. It says that they were barbarians,
Gentile sinners, pagans, but they showed us no little kindness. I mean, they didn't just find
these men who swam out of the ocean and tie them up and butcher
them. No, they showed them kindness.
They even built a fire and probably cooked some food, and they received
us because of the present rain and because of the cold. They
were kind to these men and to the others. They were kind and
generous, but yet they had a problem. Being kind and generous is not
salvation. They had a sin problem. They
could not put away their sin by their kind deeds. Now, I've
known some religious people over the years very, very religious,
kind people. They were nice folks, decent
people. But by nature, they're dead in
sin. By nature, they need salvation. You see, you can be a kind and
decent person, but yet that is not salvation. Salvation is in
Christ. Salvation is being one with the
Lord Jesus Christ. All have sin to come short of
the glory of God. The wages of sin is death. The gift of God is eternal life.
So these people were kind and generous, but yet Religious and
yet dead. Notice the second thing. These
people even had an awareness of the existence of God and the
justice of God. When Paul had gathered a bundle
of sticks, verse 3, and laid them on the fire, there came
out this snake out of the heat and fastened on him. And these
people, when they saw this snake hang on his hand, they said among
themselves, no doubt this man's a murderer. whom though he escaped
the sea, yet vengeance suffereth them not to live." They're saying
the vengeance of their God, this man escaped the raging waves
of the sea, but now this snake is taking vengeance of our God. You see, They had a sense of
justice, didn't they? By the light of nature, sinners
have an awareness that there is a God. Turn to Romans, just
one page over, Romans chapter 1. Verse 20 says, the invisible
things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen,
being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal
power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse. By the light
of nature, they had some awareness of the existence and justice
of God. The second thing, they had the
law of God written upon their conscience. They knew that murder
was wrong, didn't they? Now, how'd they know that? They
had the law of God written upon their conscience. Look at Romans
chapter 2, verse 14. For when the Gentiles, which
have not the law, do by nature the thing contained in the law,
these having not the law are law unto themselves, which show
the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience
also bearing witness, and their thoughts, the meanwhile, accusing
or excusing one another in the day when God shall judge the
secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel. Men by
nature know what's wrong to steal, to murder, to lie. Why do they
know that? How do they know that? The law
of God is written upon their conscience. They know it's wrong.
These people knew that murder was wrong and they had a sense
of justice. This man deserves to die because
he's a murderer. The third thing I see is this.
The religion of the natural man is always perverted and wrong.
When Paul shook that viper off his hand, he felt no harm. I guess that's where some people
think that they can take up serpents and show off. Paul was not trying
to show off. He was not saying, you know,
I'm somebody special and this snake biting me. He's not trying
to show off. He was just gathering some sticks
to put it on the fire. But God protected him in a special
way and protected his health. And when he suffered no harm,
it got their attention. and Paul was able to preach the
gospel to them. The religion of the natural man
is always perverted, how be it when they looked at him when
he should have swollen up and fallen down dead suddenly, and
after a while, a great while, looked upon him and they saw
no harm, they changed their mind and said, oh, he's not a murderer,
he's a god. You see how perverted they were
in their religious thinking? There is a way that seemed right
unto men. The end of that way, what is
the end of that way? Death. Most men who were bitten
by this serpent died quickly without exception. But when Paul
simply shook off the snake and went about his business, right
away they changed their mind and said, well, he's a god. Now
we've seen this before in the book of Acts. Turn back to Acts
14 when Paul healed that cripple there at Lystra, the impotent
man, in Acts chapter 14. When Paul said in verse 10, stand
up on thy feet, and he leaped and walked. And when the people
saw what Paul had done, they lifted up their voices saying,
in the speech of the Lycanian, the gods are come down to us
in the likeness of men. They called Barnabas Jupiter,
and they called Paul Mercurius because he was the chief speaker. Then the priest of Jupiter, which
was before the city, brought oxen and garlands under the gate
and would have done sacrifice. And Paul said, don't worship
me, I'm just a man. We're all men of like passion
and preached to you that you should turn from these vanities
unto the living God, verse 15, which made heaven and earth a
sea and all things therein. So, you see how perverted men
are by nature. They can be very religious and
be very perverted and wrong in their thinking. We've seen that. Now here's the thought. All our
thoughts left to ourselves about God are always wrong. Left to ourselves. All of our
thoughts about the true and living God are always wrong. Our Lord said, you thought I
was altogether such a one as yourself. Left to ourselves,
our thoughts about God are all wrong. God is not who we think
he is. He's who he is as he's revealed
in the Word. Left to ourselves, all our thoughts
about the Lord Jesus Christ are wrong. He's not just a son of
God. He's God the Son. With all authority
and all power, the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. Without
controversy, great is the mystery of Godliness. God was manifest
in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached
unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, and received up
to glory. Left to ourselves, all of our
thoughts about God are wrong. All of our thoughts about the
Lord Jesus Christ are totally wrong. He's not a weak, impotent,
frustrated savior. He's the almighty conquering
king. And left to ourselves, all of
our thoughts are wrong about who we are. We think too highly
of ourselves. We think high thoughts of self
and low thoughts about God. left to ourselves now. I'm telling
you, I'm telling you right. All of our thoughts about ourselves
are wrong and all of our thoughts about how God saved sinners are
wrong too. We're justified freely by his
grace through the redemption that is in the Lord Jesus Christ. My pastor of many years said
this, all error in theology comes from making Almighty God less
than he is and making man more than he is. All error in theology
comes from making Almighty God less than he is. If he's not
the absolute sovereign, That's Aaron theology. Theology is the
study of God. It comes from making God less than
he is revealed in the Word of God and making man more. than
he is a sinner saved by grace. Free will works religion has
made man God and our Lord our God less than he is. Free will works religion is a
religion of all lost pagans because they deny that God is God. They
deny the absolute sovereign will of God who will have mercy on
whom he will. That's so. God said it's not
of him that willeth nor of him that runneth, but of God that
shows mercy. Now here's the last point. Verse
7 down through verse 10. God used Paul to preach the gospel
to these people for three months he spent with them. Verse 11.
After three months we departed. Many were healed and many were
saved on this island of Melita. Malta. As we've seen in all of
Paul's travels, the Lord Jesus Christ always opened the door
for him to preach the gospel, and that's the very reason that
he's here on this island, ministering to these people here. And the ministry that Paul had
there for those three months had a lasting effect upon the
people there. I looked this up to make sure.
I had this in a note and I wanted to make sure. But if you go to
Google Map, or Google Earth or whatever it, either one. If you look at the modern day
Malta, there is a bay on that island. You know what it's called?
St. Paul Bay. Had a lasting effect
upon these people here. They named this bay where Paul
was shipwrecked after him. Now this man, Publis, verse, Verse 7, in the same quarters
were possessions of the chief man of the island, whose name
was Publis, who received us and lodged us three days. This man
was the governor of this island, a Roman governor. And it came
to pass that his father, the father of Publis, lay sick of
a fever. He had an infection. He had a
bloody flux. They say this is a dysentery
where you're bleeding through the bowel. To whom Paul entered
in, he prayed, he prayed unto God, giving thanks, he laid his
hands on this sick man, and he was healed. And he was healed. Now, many think that Publis heard
Paul preach the gospel and was given faith to believe the gospel. With God, all things are possible.
And the reason most of the writers think that is because when this
man's father was grievously ill, probably on his deathbed, probably
had tried all the other physicians and witch doctors and everybody
else and grew worse each day, He said, Paul, would you come
and pray for my father? I believe this man believed the
gospel. He called for Paul and the Lord
through Paul healed this man, and that got their attention
too, didn't it? These apostles had special God-given
gifts to demonstrate they were sent of God with the gospel.
When the apostle was bitten by the deadly serpent and did not
die, it got their attention. When Paul was blessed and God,
through his ministry, healed this man, It got their attention,
didn't it? God also bearing them witnessed
both with signs and wonders and divers, miracles and gifts of
the Holy Ghost according to his will. These apostles were given
special gift and credentials to show they were sent of God,
that they had God's gospel, God's message. Now, am I going to take
up deadly serpents to prove to you that I'm a preacher of the
gospel? I hope not. Let's hope not. We don't need these special gifts
today. because God has given us the
completed Word of the Lord. All we do is turn and read and
repeat what God's already said. These men didn't have the completed
record of God. We don't need the special gift
today because we have God's Word. We're commanded to go preach
the gospel. We preach the gospel of the Lord
Jesus Christ, that's the power of God unto salvation, and God
the Holy Spirit takes the Word preached to the hearts of his
people and quickens them and calls them out of darkness to
God's marvelous light. Now notice what else happened,
verse 9. So when this was done, so when this was done, others
also heard the good news. Theirs a remedy for the diseases
in the island. They came and you know what happened? God healed them too. With God,
all things are possible. Anything too hard for the Lord?
We read in Luke chapter 9, when the people followed the Lord
Jesus, he received them and spake unto them of the kingdom of God,
and he healed them that had need of healing. Do you have a need? Our God is able to meet all our
need according to his riches in glory through the Lord Jesus
Christ. The Lord didn't come to call The righteous, those who are
well, don't need a physician. He didn't come to call the righteous,
but sinners to repentance. The Lord came to seek and to
save the lost. Thank be unto God that sinners
who are blessed to look to the Lord Jesus Christ, they're healed. There's life in the look with
the Savior. You remember there's a story
in the book of Numbers, Numbers 21. when the Israelites were
wandering through the wilderness for those 40 years and God sent
fiery serpents among them because they complained against God and
everyone who was bitten with that fiery serpent, it was a
fatal bite. unless they look to the brazen
serpent lifted up." That brazen serpent lifted up. Remember God
told Moses to take a brazen serpent, likened to the bitten, likened
to the serpent, and raise it up on a pole, and he told the
people, you look and you'll live. Look and live. John chapter 3,
the Lord Jesus Christ refers to that very story, and here's
what he says. I'm going to read it to you.
You're familiar with this scripture. John chapter 3. As Moses lifted
up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be
lifted up, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but
have eternal life. Look, our Lord said, I'm the
only just God and Savior. Look unto me and be ye saved. Look unto the Lord Jesus Christ.
Look to him. Salvation is in the Lord Jesus
Christ. Would you look anywhere else? Neither is there salvation in
any other. Look to the object of faith,
that is the Lord Jesus Christ. Look to him and to him alone. They were healed. Boy, salvation's
a healing. It's God doing a work for us
and God doing a work in us, making us new creatures in Christ. With
his stripes, With his stripes, you remember Isaiah 53, with
his stripes we are healed. Healed. I thought of this one
other scripture, I'll read this and let you go. I was thinking
of this point after I'd studied the message this morning, early,
and this scripture came to my mind. Psalm 103 says, Bless the
Lord, verse 1, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless
his holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and
forget not all his benefits, who forgiveth all thine iniquities,
who healeth all thy diseases. He heals our soul by putting
away our sin, who redeemeth thy life from destruction, who crowneth
thee with loving kindness and tender mercies, who satisfies
thy mouth with good things, so that thy youth is renewed like
the eagles. As far he hath not dealt with
us after our sin, nor rewarded us according to our iniquity,
As far as the heaven, as the heaven is high above the earth,
so great is his mercy toward them that fear him. As far as
the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgression
from us. Like as a father pities his children,
so the Lord pities them that fear him, for he knows our frame. He knows that we are but dust.
You need healing. You need salvation. I do. Look
to Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ.