Turn with me to the book of Acts
chapter 28. Acts 28. Before we begin, let's have a
word of prayer. Our glorious Father, how wonderful
it is to know that You would allow us in the name of the Lord
Jesus Christ, Your only begotten Son, Your glorious, precious, righteous
Servant, He who stands for us, that we could in His name approach
You Lord, thank you that you'd allow us to speak, to talk, to
hear from you. We ask you this evening, would
you bless the Word to our understanding and our hearts? Help us. Lord, we admit our feeble, feebleness,
our utter need of constant, sustaining grace. Speak, we pray, through Your
Spirit. Cause our hearts to burn. Cause us to muse upon those things
that we hear this evening for Your glory and our good. Amen. This evening, we're beginning
the last chapter of this book. It's been a wonderful,
study in the early church of the Lord Jesus Christ. And we're
going to start this evening with the accomplishment of God's Word
to Paul. He told him, he said, you're
going to go to Rome, and to Rome before this chapter is out, he
will be. But they've been in a storm.
struggling. The Lord told him, He said, You
are going to be okay. No loss of life. And the Scripture
says, verse 1, And when they were escaped, when they knew
that the island was called Melita, when they were rescued through
danger, when they were preserved through destruction. They recognized
completely God's purpose. Going to put them
on a certain island, that's what He said. Acts 27, 26, how be
it? We must be cast upon a certain
island. It was necessary. It was right. It was commanded. It was ordained.
It was purposed. You've got to be there. Whatever
comes by the way of a believer, it's got to be. It's got to be. He works all things after the
counsel of his own will. If I could see the end from the
beginning, then I'd know, but I can't. Therefore, by faith,
I believe. Lord, this is the day you've
made, and we'll rejoice and we'll be
glad in it. The gospel is going to be preached
to these people. God's going to send a preacher.
Wherever his gospel must be heard, God's going to raise up. A faithful
preacher of the gospel. Will God have His preacher be
chained up by a Roman garrison to be sent to Rome? Would God
do that? Would God cause His preacher to go through a hurricane
and cause that hurricane to change the course of a ship? Would God do that? Would God destroy that ship to
save every soul that's on that ship to exhibit His will and
purpose in good pleasure? If He's pleased to do so, He
will. And you know a believer just
says, Lord, You've dealt well with me. Whatever has come our way today
in light of the indescribable mercy of God to call you out
of darkness, and to reveal in you Christ. Everything else just
doesn't matter. You said this, Brother Scott,
since you heard the good news. You hadn't heard any bad news.
What would you give in exchange for having heard His voice? Would God do these things? Isaiah
55 verse 8 says, For my thoughts are not your thoughts, Neither
are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens
are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your
ways, and my thoughts and your thoughts." Aren't you glad that
God Almighty orders all these things? Look how we've all gone
through this day today and how all of the things that we've
gone through and the places you've been and everything else, and
He still brought us right back. If we would have asked everybody
and gone down through the congregation tonight and just said, you know
what? Can you work it out? Can you
work it out? No, I've got too much going on.
I'm too busy. But for God's people, He works everything that they
went through today for one purpose, to bring honor to Himself. It's
going to be for their good, but He's going to bring honor to
Himself. Our God says that my counsel
shall stand. There's not going to be any loss
of life. So here's where they are. He said, Paul, you're going
to end up on a certain island. Here it is. Paul said, now we
figured out what it was. Melita. And the barbarous people,
verse 2, showed us no little kindness, for they kindled a
fire and received us, every one, because of the present rain and
because of the cold. 276 men, God preserved, brought every
one of them through a hurricane and took that ship and just rammed
that bow right into the shore and it just, it stuck fast and
the ship was torn up. 276 souls saved. glorious picture of God's purpose
and will and the accomplishment of the redemption and salvation
of His people. He told Paul, he said, there's
not going to be any loss of life. And Paul said, I believe God. This crew was cold and wet. And
here, another beautiful picture. 276
men, a perfect picture of God's elect. Preserved, kept, saved. The ship suffered. Christ did
suffer. These 276 men. And God sends, in the midst of
a present rain, a hurricane, I'm going to tell you something.
I don't know if you've ever been in a hurricane, but let me tell
you something, buddy. You ain't never seen rain like
this. Man, I'm telling you the truth. I was young, 1957. I remember sitting, looking out
the back door. Hurricane Audrey came through
central Louisiana. Man, it blew stuff all over the
place. It just, I mean, devastation on the southern part of Louisiana.
Came through central part of Louisiana and it was still. It
was just blowing roofs off and shingles just everywhere. And
I sat out there and I watched it rain. It was coming from the
front of the house going toward the back. So I could sit there.
I could see it. Man, it was raining. And here
it is in the present rain. These men, it's cold and soaked,
wet, and God sent them afire. The barbarous pre-people showed
us no little kinder than a kindle of fire and received us, every
one, because of the present rain, because of the cold. I think
to myself, what a beautiful picture. God is going to supply all of
your needs. according to His riches in glory
by Christ Jesus. You say, well, that's just a
fire. No, it's a beautiful picture of their need. Can God send a fire in the midst
of a wet, soaking rain? Can God do that? Well, let me
ask you this. Can God ignite a sacrifice when
twelve barrels of water is poured on the altar? Can God Almighty impart a new
heart in the being of a dead rebel and give that dead rebel
against Him a willingness and a love and an affection for Him?
Can God do that? Can Almighty God raise up and maintain a body of believers
In a little place called Katy, West Virginia. And keep them
and call for over 50 years. Call some. Every time they come
together and they sit there and their hearts are filled with
joy and they hear basically the same message. It's the same message
over and over and over for 50 plus years. And they hear it. with joy like
they've never heard it before. Can God do that? Can God call out His elect? What is it for God to send a
fire? They kindled a fire. They received
us. There was God's preacher. It was cold and it was wet. But
God was going to manifest Himself through this fire right here. Here was these barbarous people
and they didn't have any idea who they were entertaining. They didn't realize that they
were entertaining some angels. There were three of them, I know
for sure. There were three believers there, three messengers of God. It makes me wonder sometimes.
I stand around and I look and I see some you don't ever know. Here's some young fellow here,
here's Zach. How do I know that God won't
raise that man up right there? give him a new heart, call him
to preach. How do I know? I tell you what,
I'd never given myself any hope. Somebody would have looked at
me one time when I was a young fellow and said, you know what,
I believe God's going to raise you up and call you to preach.
And I would have looked at you like a calf looking at a new
gate. They didn't have any idea who
these men were. And here was God's servants. Well, the Scripture
says, in the midst of this great blessing, the Lord was going
to manifest Himself. When Paul, verse 3, had gathered
a bundle of sticks and laid them on the fire, there came a viper
out of the heat and fastened on his hand. And when the barbarians
saw the venomous beast hang on his hand, they said among themselves,
no doubt this man's a murderer. Whom though he hath escaped the
sea, yet vengeance suffereth not to live. And he shook off
the beast into the fire and felt no harm, howbeit they looked
when he should have swollen or fallen down dead suddenly. But after they had looked a great
while, they saw no harm come to him. They changed their minds
and said, He is a God." Three things we learn in that few verses
right there. Three things. There was a confirmation
of Paul's office in calling to the people of Malta. Yes, but
for everybody else, it was on that boat too. Mark 16, 17, 18
says, These signs shall follow them that believe. In my name
shall they cast out devils. They shall speak with new tongues.
They shall take up serpents. And if they drink any deadly
thing, it shall not hurt them. They shall lay hands on the sick
and they shall recover. And those signs of confirmation
were given to the apostles. To the apostles. You say, how
do you know? Well, the Scripture tells us
that they were. These signs were given to them that heard Him.
Hebrews 2.4, God also bearing them witness both with signs
and wonders and with divers miracles and gifts of the Holy Ghost according
to His own will. Now, there was a time when there
was no written New Testament. The Lord, before He ascended
back into heaven, told His apostles, you go into all the world and
preach the gospel. And these signs shall follow them that
believe, that believed Him. Miracles. Why? As a confirmation
that these men were of God. Now, this day, in this day, we
have some men that are standing up, and women, you know, same
thing. And they're saying that they're
working miracles. I think West Virginia, is that
the last state where they still let you handle snakes or something
like that? I heard that or something. You
know? Let me tell you something. Do
you know how you know that it's not of God? What is the one sign
that proves that they're not of God? All of these guys that
you see on television, they're miracle workers and they come
up and they slap them and they fall back and there's always
somebody there to catch them. They're not of God. How do you
know? I'll tell you by the Word of
God again. are all satanic workings, workings of
Satan, lying wonders. Here is the sign. Galatians 1.8,
Though we or an angel from heaven preach any other gospel unto
you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.
How do you know whether or not someone is of God? Listen to
what they say. What are they preaching? Are
they preaching the gospel of God's sovereign grace, electing
grace, predestinated grace, redemptive grace, quickening grace? What
are they preaching? The Apostle Paul was sent of
God. And this was the signs that were
going to follow those that God had sent. And we saw one of them. They'll handle serpents. Not
willingly. Paul wasn't looking for this
snake. I can tell you that right now. But Almighty God sent a
fire. And out of that fire, a snake
came. There was a confirmation of who
this man was. If you want to know what the
confirming sign is of God's preachers today, don't look for somebody
to come and lay hands on you. If God's willing, to heal a man,
He'll heal a man. But that's not a confirming word
or act anymore. The confirming act is what He
preaches. He pleased God through the foolishness of preaching.
Listen to what a man says. The second lesson we learn is
that this incident was an assurance to Paul of the Lord's faithfulness
to God's Word and God's promise. Paul was going to Rome. He was
going to preach to God's chosen sheep. And he wrote, had written
a letter. We just went through it here.
Romans. That was the church that he was
going to. And this snake came out and bit him. I wonder what went through Paul's
mind. Paul shook him off. He shook
him into the fire. And he felt no harm. And I don't
doubt for one second that when Paul saw that snake hanging on
his arm, his hand, you know, that's a venomous snake. But he believed God. You're going
to Rome. And Paul stood. They watched
Him. Isaiah 46, 9 and 10 says, Remember
the former things of old, for I am God and there is none else.
I am God and there is none like Me, declaring the end from the
beginning and from ancient times the things that are not yet done,
saying, My counsel shall stand, I will do My pleasure. You're
going to Rome. Heaven, I just got bit by a venomous
snake. You're going to Rome. I'm in the midst of a hurricane.
You're chained up. You're going to Rome. Here's
the third thing. Every man is born with the light
of creation, the light of nature, but that light will never be
to the salvation of a soul. These barbarous people saw Paul
get bitten by this viper. And they came to this conclusion
very quickly. That guy's a murderer. Snake bit him. You must be a murderer. Somebody
gets sick. You must have done something
really bad. If you'd have gotten sick like that, hmm, yeah, I
see what it is. That's how the natural man thinks.
He sees something happen and automatically assumes. You know,
they had in their conscience, they had a realization of right
and wrong. I want you to turn to Romans
2, verse 14, 15. This is what man by nature knows. Romans 2, 14, 15. For when the
Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things
contained in the law, these having not the law are a law unto themselves. which show the work of the law
written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness
in their thoughts, the mean while accusing or else excusing one
another." Now what did I just read? Here's what I said. Man
by nature knows that there's something called right and wrong.
Right and wrong. They see something that appears
wrong and they say, that's wrong. And they see something that appears
right and they say, you know what, that's fair. There is a
realization of right and wrong. False religion is aware of right
and wrong. They knew that evil deserved
punishment. They knew that obviously there
was a God, but they didn't know God. This man right here is a
murderer. A snake bit him. He got out of
the water, but vengeance will not allow him to go free. Well,
whenever they saw that Paul didn't die, the Scripture says in verse
6, they changed their minds and said, no, I don't think he is
a murderer. I think he's a God. Boy, you
talk about unstable. The carnal mind is unstable,
double-minded, unstable in all its ways. It sees something that
appears to it to be wrong, and they assume that deserves punishment. The wrath of God will be on that.
And something they see that appears to be right, and they say, that's
a God. They change their minds. When
I read that, I thought, you know, that's what repentance means,
to change the mind. Man can change his mind about
anything except how God can be just and justify a sinner. He can't change his mind about
that. It takes a new mind, a new heart. It takes Almighty God to show
mercy. I tell you, all of the analyzing
and compromising and free will decisions made by man apart from
the hearing of the gospel is going to come to nothing. And then lastly, in the healing
that we find in the last few verses, verses 7 to 10, it says,
In the same quarters were possessions of a chief man of the island
whose name was Publius. who received us and lodged us
three days courteously. It came to pass that the father
of Publius laid sick of a fever and of a bloody flux, to whom
Paul entered in and prayed and laid his hands on him and healed
him. So when this was done, others also which had diseases in the
island came and were healed, who also honored us with many
honors. And when we departed, they laid us with such things
as were necessary." Now, in these last few verses, we see the glorious
gospel. the healing. Consider the Apostle Paul in
this place as a type of Christ. Providentially placed in a certain
home, listen, in the same quarters were possessions of a chief man
of the island whose name was Publius who received us, lodged
us three days courteously. God had raised up a man made
him the chief man of the island, and that's where Paul and the
other guys were staying. I don't doubt that there were
many homes in that island, but here is where God was going to
execute mercy to this man named Publius. He placed it in this
man's heart to receive Paul and his friends, and he lodged them
there three days courteously. You consider the mercy of God
that would cause any man to cross paths with the Master. There's a lot of homes in this
town. There's a lot of homes in this
little community right here. Why would God show mercy to yours? Why would it be that Almighty
God would cause this preacher to cross paths with that man
right there. Why? Look around and stop and realize
what Almighty God has done for you. The indescribable mercy of God. Why did He show mercy to you,
Carl, and not your neighbor? Why? The Lord Jesus Christ, the Great
Physician, is the only hope for dying sinners. I want you to
turn to Mark 2. He's the only hope. Now listen,
here we are tonight. We're human beings. Frail creatures
of the dust. And you know this. that we were
conceived, we started dying. And we're going to leave this
world. But that Almighty God would give you a heart to realize
your need of Him, the Physician, the Great Physician. Look at
Mark 2, verse 15. It came to pass that as Jesus
said at meat in His house, many publicans and sinners said also
together with Jesus and His disciples, for there were many, and they
followed Him. And when the scribes and Pharisees saw Him eat with
publicans and sinners, they said unto His disciples, How is it
that He eateth and drinketh with publicans and sinners? And when
Jesus heard it, He saith unto them, They that are whole have
no need of the physician, but they that are sick. I came not
to call the righteous, but sinners to repent." If Almighty God has given you
a heart that truly realizes your need, your need of Him, you're
a blessed man, a blessed woman. You know why? Do you know why
there's no Universal crying out for mercy. You know why men are
so lax? You know why men are so frivolous? You know why they're so hit and
miss? You know why? They don't need Christ. They
don't need Him. That's why. They don't need Him. But there's some here that do. Paul was brought by the grace
of God to this place. And here is a beautiful picture
of God's mercy and grace. It says in verse 8, it came to
pass that the father of Publius lay sick of a fever and of a
bloody flux. Now you think about this. hearing
the words, it came to pass, indicates that God had purposed it. It
came to pass. This man's sickness was for the
glory of God. It came to pass. God had always
ordered it. There's going to come a time
when I'm going to raise up. I'm going to have a man. He's
going to be born. His name is going to be Saul.
He's going to be born in Tarsus. He's going to be raised up in
false religion. He's going to be a Pharisee.
And I'll call him out of darkness. But this man over here has got
to be born. Because this man is going to
be in Malta. Now Saul of Tarsus is going to
be over in Jerusalem. And I'll have this man in Malta.
And this man is going to have to be a certain age. And he's
going to have to grow up. And this fellow right here, Publius
right here, And he's going to have a dad. His dad is going
to be there with him and his dad's going to get sick. And
I'm going to send the sickness. And I'll get Paul there. I'm
going to send Paul to Rome. That's my eternal counsel. And
it's going to stand. And it came to pass. that the father of Publius lay
sick of a fever and of a bloody flux. And Paul entered in and prayed,
laid his hands on him and healed him." Paul. Beautiful picture of Christ. He entered in. We don't read anywhere where
Publis dad called for Paul. Paul entered in. You never find,
when God shows mercy to a sinner, that the source of the inquiry
started with the sinner. Paul entered in and prayed, laid
his hands on him, healed him. The Lord Jesus Christ, to show
mercy to this sinner right here, intervened, entered into my situation. When did He enter in? Before
the foundation of the world. Prayed for him. That's what the
Lord said He did for His people. I pray not for the world, but
for those that you've given me out of the world. Paul laid his
hands on that man. Oh, when he laid his hands on
me, the hands of his power. He said he laid his hands on
him. It's personal. And he said he
healed him by his stripes were healed. So when this was done, verse
9, others also which had diseases in the island came and were healed.
You know the thing that's beautiful about that? The only ones that
came were those that were sick. That's the ones that come to
Christ. Those that are sick. Those that are needy. Look at
John 9 while we close. John 9. John 9.39, Jesus said,
for judgment I am coming to this world that they which see not
might see, and that they which see might be made blind. Or let me say it like this, I
am coming to this world that those that realize I don't have
eyes to see apart from Him, He said, Those are the ones who
are going to see. And those that say, We see. I'm not a sinner. They might
be made blind. Some of the Pharisees which were
with Him heard these words and said unto Him, Are we blind also? And Jesus said unto them, If
you were blind, you should have no more sin. But now you say,
We see. Therefore your sin remaineth. You know, those last few words
right there, therefore, your sin remaineth. For a believer,
that's got to be the most fearful words that you could read. Therefore,
your sin remaineth. Therefore, you're still chargeable. There were many that came. Those
that were sick. Those that had diseases. And the scripture says, last
verse, who also honored us with many honors when we departed,
they laid us with such things as were necessary. These people
were thankful. God's people are too. Thankful
for the mercy of God that's been shown them. Thankful to the father
for his electing grace, thankful to the Lord Jesus Christ for
redeeming grace, thankful that he was made sin, came into this
world, a righteous servant, made sin. I continue to be taken back,
just even thinking about last Sunday when I was going over
that scripture. I was telling Gary a few minutes
ago the wonder Adam was confronted with sin. And when sin confronted Adam,
he did one thing. He disobeyed. And he died. And I did too. But there was a second Adam.
And that second Adam came into this world And I had two needs,
two desperate needs. I'd already fallen in the first
Adam, so my sin was going to have to be a paid judgment. The wages of sin is death. There's
no way around that. And that second Adam made sin,
took what I am, And he bore in his own body,
Scripture says, the wrath of Almighty God. His
soul was made an offering for sin. And that man took, he was
made sin, and paid my debt. And in being made sin, that man
right there, was still obedient. Adam wasn't. I failed in Adam. But this second man, he could
be made sin as he was. And made sin, he was still obedient. My righteous servant made sin and obedient Only God can do that. That's
right. Now that's the wonder of substitution. And that righteousness that He
wrought out truly from His birth, and He lived perfectly before
God. That's right. But I'll tell you
this, where it says, He hath made Him sin. who knew no sin,
that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him? Let me tell you
this. He bore in His own body the guilt,
the shame of all of His elect, and He did it in absolute obedience
as a man. As a man. And that man, That
righteousness that He wrought, that obedience that He wrought
at Calvary, being made sin, obedient even to the death of the cross,
the Scripture says. Even to the death of the cross
He was obedient. And that righteousness was charged
to me that I was obedient. Only God could do that. They honored us with many honors
and laded us with such things as were necessary. What was necessary for me, I
had to have my sin paid for. And I had to be obedient before
God. I had to be obedient even unto
the death of the cross in Christ. Only God can save a sinner. Our Father, we thank You this
evening for the indescribable mercy of Almighty God, that God
Almighty would come into this world and
take upon Himself the form of sinful flesh, be
made like unto His brethren, yet without sin. Lord Jesus,
we do not know how to say thank You for what You've done. But
Lord, thank You. We see through a glass darkly,
but we see. We prophesy in part what we prophesy. We preach you. And Lord, thank
you. Thank you for being here tonight.
And thank you for letting us meet in your presence. For Christ's
sake, Amen. Gary, let's sing a little.