Well, may God help us to continue
our meditation in the Acts of the Apostles, chapter 28, and
we'll read tonight from verse 17 to verse 22. The Acts of the
Apostles, chapter 28 from 17 to 22. And it came to pass, after
three days, Paul called the chief of the Jews together And when
they would come together, he said unto them, men and brethren,
though I have committed nothing against the people or customs
of our fathers yet, was I delivered prisoner from Jerusalem into
the hands of the Romans, who, when they had examined me, would
have let me go because there was no cause of death in me.
But when the Jews spake against it, I was constrained to appeal
unto Caesar. not that I had ought to accuse
my nation of. For this cause, therefore, have
I called for you to see you and to speak with you because that
for the hope of Israel I am bound with this chain. And they said
unto him, we neither receive letters out of Judea concerning
thee, neither any of the brethren that came showed or speak any
harm of thee, but we desire to hear of thee what thou thinkest. For as concerning this act, we
know that everywhere it is spoken against." Well, last week we discovered
that Paul had now arrived safely in Rome after that long and hazardous
journey, and that we read here now that it came to pass that
after three days, Paul called the chief of the Jews together,
and when they would come together, he said unto them, men and brethren,
though I have committed nothing against the people nor customs
of our fathers yet, was I delivered prisoner from Jerusalem into
the hands of the Romans. And we must observe that here
we see the Lord's gracious hand in being with Paul on that long
journey from Jerusalem when he had been apprehended for speaking
in the temple and only speaking the truth and only speaking the
things concerning the Lord God and yet they were against it.
Of course then he was taken out and then there was that ruction
and of course the Chief Captain Lysias then took control and
eventually he was sent to Caesarea and then of course he went on
that long and hazardous boat trip and eventually came to land
and then they went from there and came by land to Rome and
so the Lord had watched over Paul and had brought him to that
place that he told him he would come to He'd spoken to Paul and
said he would have to testify of himself in Rome. And so it
came to pass. And similarly, it comes to pass
in our lives. The things which the Lord has
spoken, they may seem to be far off perhaps. No doubt when he
was in that great storm in the Mediterranean, there was little
prospect. But, you see, the Lord had a
good purpose for him, and the Lord promised him, and the Lord
fulfilled that promise and brought him safely to Rome. So, perhaps
we might find hazardous things in our lives which may appear
to stop our journey, as it were, perhaps our spiritual journey.
It may not seem to me like any headway, but yet the Lord can
appear, and the Lord can deliver. And just don't forget that, of
course, The apostle was able to pray to his God on that boat
and the Lord heard his prayer. And so may we ever remember the
needs to pray in our little lives that the Lord would be with and
grant that deliverance and grant that safety. And so he'd come
here and now he was brought before, asked for these men and brethren
to come to him. When they had examined me, they would have
let me go because there was no cause of death in me. You see,
but again, the Lord's purpose was that he should still be a
prisoner. and in one sense it may have
been safer for him to be a prisoner, rather than have been at large,
gone on that long journey by himself. But when the Jews spoke
against it, I was constrained to appeal unto Caesar, not that
I had ought to accuse my nation of, he didn't have anything to
really accuse his nation of, it was just the the way that
he had been taken captive, and that he clearly thought he would
not have a fair trial, and so he desired that he might indeed
come to Caesar's judgment seat. For this cause, therefore, have
I called for you. He now comes to tell them the
reason he wanted them to come to him. Because he was in his
own house, but he hadn't apparently got that liberty wandering about
and it would seem from a further verses that he was in chains
even in this house and so for this cause therefore I have I
called for you to see you and to speak with you because that
for the hope of Israel I am bound with this chain well what was
the hope of Israel The hope of Israel was none other than the
Savior himself. The hope of Israel was indeed
the Messiah. And indeed, Jeremiah, in his
prophecy, he speaks about the hope of Israel. And it's good,
therefore, to see that the Lord ordained such wonderful statements
so many years previously, which were to be indeed worked out,
which indeed came to pass. And we read in the prophecy of
Jeremiah in the 14th chapter, and I think it's the 8th verse,
we read, O the hope of Israel, the Savior thereof in time of
trouble, why shouldst thou be as a stranger in the land and
as a wayfaring man that turneth aside to tarry for a night? Why
shouldst thou be as a man Astonished, as a mighty man that cannot save,
yet thou, O Lord, art in the midst of us, and we are called
by thy name, leave us not." Well, the hope of Israel. The Jews
were looking forward for the hope of Israel. That great and
glorious Messiah, who they believed would indeed come And now the
Apostle has come and he's spoken so many times to the Jews, to
the Romans and to others as he's journeyed about the hope of Israel. And so now he has brought these
learned people together, the chief people, the chief of the
Jews, who had of course at one time been prohibited from being
in Rome but they obviously gathered again although it was under the
rule of Nero and now he's called for them and now he has this
desire. I have called for you to see
you and to speak with you because that for the hope of Israel I
am bound with this chain. No doubt he would therefore be
able to explain to them who the hope of Israel was and how he
been prophesied on so many, many occasions in the Old Testament. It is surely to us tonight so
encouraging to know that the Apostle again and again refers
to this great truth of the Old Testament, portraying the wonderful
prophecy of the Saviour. And in that instance, we know,
and it came to pass. Many times we read in the Word
of God, and it came to pass. the prophecies of the Lord Jesus
Christ came to pass in that decreed time and in that decreed way,
in that prophesied way. And so how the apostle now has
called them together and he wants to speak to them about this,
the hope of Israel. And surely he was desiring that
as he expounded the Lord Jesus Christ to them, they might be
brought to that great and blessed knowledge of the Saviour And
surely it's just the same today. As we proclaim the great and
glorious gospel of the hope of Israel, it is that people might
have a good hope. They might know that good hope.
They might know the Lord Jesus Christ as the only way of salvation. And they may be found seeking
unto him and pleading for him and finding him. Whom to find,
whom to know is life. eternal. How necessary, how vital
it is for everyone to come to this great and blessed knowledge
of the hope of Israel. I am bound with this chain. The
apostle didn't have an easy time, did he? No, he was bound But
nonetheless, his great desire was to speak of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And they said unto him, we neither
receive letters out of due dear concerning thee, neither any
of the brethren that came showed or speak any harm of thee. Well, be that as it may, it would
seem strange that they hadn't heard because we know there were
those men who'd come from Jerusalem to meet Paul, hadn't they? at
API Forum they come to meet him, so clearly there were those in
Rome who were aware of the situation and did know that he was journeying
to them and what he would have to say, so these people who were
the leaders may be pretending that in fact they did not know.
certainly might be excused. Well of course that gave Paul
every opportunity to come and declare the great truths of the
gospel. But they did say, but we desire
to hear of thee what thou thinkest Whereas concerning this sect,
we know that everywhere it is spoken against. What a wonderful
opportunity the Apostle Paul had here and how we need to pray
in a day and age in which we have for opportunities so that
we may be invited to speak about the things of God, speak about
the things of the Lord Jesus. Here was a great and glorious
invitation and a great and glorious opportunity and surely we should
desire that in this day and age in which we live. It's a dark
day, but nonetheless, we do see the Lord still appearing. We
still see the Lord's work occurring, and we're still thankful to know
there is a God in Israel who hears and answers prayer. Well,
we'll leave it there this evening. May God bless his word. Amen.