May the Lord bless us together
this evening as we continue our meditation in the Acts of the
Apostles. This evening we'll speak from chapter 28 and verse
11 to 16. The Acts of the Apostles, chapter
28, from verse 11 to 16. We'll just read these verses.
And after three months we departed in a ship of Alexandria which
had wintered in the isle whose sign was Castor and Pollux. and
landing at Saracruz we tarried there three days and from thence
we fetched a compass and came to Regium and after one day the
south wind blew and we came the next day to Putelei where we
found brethren and were desired to tarry with them seven days
and so we went toward Rome and from thence When the brethren
heard of us, they came to meet us as far as Appii Forum and
the three taverns, whom when Paul saw, he thanked God and
took courage. And when we came to Rome, the
centurion delivered the prisoners to the captain of the guard,
but Paul was suffered to dwell by himself with a soldier that
kept him. And so we find that Paul has
at last arrived at Rome. And it's been a long journey
which we followed through a number, I think it's five or six chapters,
and we've seen the journeys he had, the difficult journeys he's
had, the many hardships, but as he'd had that word from the
Lord that he would be brought to Rome, so it came to pass. And may we all be encouraged
to realize that what the Lord says does come to pass comes
to pass in his way and in his time because as Paul set out
on his journey and of course he was a prisoner when he set
out he'd been apprehended because of he'd been preaching the gospel
and hadn't liked what he said and from that position he'd been
a prisoner all this time yet the Lord was with him And so
we find, coming down to this 11th verse, and after three months,
you see he'd been in what we know now as Malta, and with those
barbarians, and they'd now looked after them for three months. Quite amazing really to think
of that. Anyway, there he was with all the prisoners, 260 odd,
I think it was, or 270, and after three months, We departed in
a ship of Alexandria, which had wintered in the isle, whose sign
was Castor and Pollux. Now, this ship had obviously
arrived there safely to winter there for that time, whereas
Paul's ship had not arrived there safely. And of course, as we
know, it was totally destroyed. And yet, the Lord is a sovereign
in all these things. And here was this ship of Alexandria,
and its sign was Castor and Pollux. And you may think, well, what
does that mean? Well, it was the Castor and Pollux were the
twins, and they were so-called in the facts of the Greek mythology
or Roman mythology, and they really meant they were the patrons
of sailors. And that's why the superstition
was to have these signs of Castor and Pollux probably either side
of the ship at the forefront and they felt the people who
obviously owned the ship that this would give them some good
sailing. Well how vain of course was such
a thought. Anyway they left Malta after
these three months and they came and they landed at Sao Cruz and
they tarried there three days. Well we're not told particularly
what happened, but at least they were there for three days, perhaps
unloading their goods and perhaps loading other goods. And then
from thence they fetched a compass and came to Regium. And after
one day, they were only at that place just for one day. And of
course in both those places, we're not told whether the apostle
actually got off the ship and whether he preached the gospel.
But we know that whenever he had an opportunity, he would
have preached the gospel. And there they were there for
that one day. And after one day, the south wind blew And we came
the next day to Peutoli. So just another day's journey
on the ocean. And at that place where we found
brethren. Well, what a wonderful thing
this was. The other places I hadn't found brethren. And it would
seem the gospel hadn't reached those places. But here, as I
came to this place where we found brethren. and would desire to
tarry with them seven days. And so we went toward Rome. It
would seem, therefore, that this was the end of the sea journey.
He'd now come on land and the brethren and asked him to tarry
seven days. And clearly, seven days would
have encompassed the Sabbath and the Lord's Day. And on that
occasion, no doubt, the apostle would have been able to preach
the gospel. He probably preached it other
times. But clearly his brethren desired that he would tarry with
them. They didn't want him to just come and go. They no doubt
heard much about him. They were probably very pleased
to have him with them. And therefore he did tarry there for those
seven days. And what a blessing it must have
been to have met with brethren. You think of the long journeys
he'd been, and all those times on the sea. And now he was blessed
with this great privilege of being found with brethren. And
it is a blessing, isn't it? As we may travel around and travel
in the world to find other Christians, other nationalities, and yet
people who speak the same spiritual language, where there is that
true bond in the Gospel, it's a blessing, isn't it, to realise
there's only one true Church of God. And the Apostle clearly
realised that, and here he found his brethren and rejoiced in
that scene and was able to stay with them those seven days. And
from thence, when the brethren heard of us, they came to meet
us as far as Appia Forum and the three taverns. And these
places were probably, one was 30 miles away and one was 50
miles away from Rome. And yet you see these people,
they'd heard that the apostle was coming And they were so keen
to hear him. Remember, of course, that he'd
written to the church at Rome, the epistle that we read a little
bit of this evening. And they therefore had a good
understanding of the glorious truths of the gospel. As we know,
the epistle of Paul to the Romans is a wonderful epistle and how
foot it is of teaching. instruction and of course it
does direct us so very clearly to the Lord Jesus Christ and
here were these early Christians now residing in Rome and they'd
heard that the Apostle was coming and therefore they traveled to
meet him and of course it wasn't a short journey it was quite
a long journey probably on foot and so they'd come to meet the
Apostle Paul and when Paul saw them He thanked God and took
courage. Now, we may just ponder for a
moment, first of all, to think that in Rome, of course, was
the Emperor Nero, who was a most objectionable person, a most
evil man. And perhaps Paul was fearful
of having to now arrive at Rome, knowing what he might encounter
there. But now how encouraged he was,
as these three sorry, as these people came to meet him. And
what did he do? Well, he thanked God. And again,
it's a good example for us, isn't it? In our lives, as we may meet
encouragement to immediately thank God that the Lord put it
into their hearts to bring them to meet Paul. They could have
stayed and waited in Rome, couldn't they? But what a mercy it was
that the Lord gave them that desire to come and they journeyed.
And therefore he thanked God and also he was encouraged. He took courage. Sometimes we
do need to be encouraged, don't we, in the way when there's potential
opposition and difficulty. And of course he didn't actually
know what was going to happen when he reached Rome with regards
to appearing before Caesar. But now we read, and he thanked
God and took courage. Well, may we, in our little lives,
as we come and meet again the children of God, the people of
God, and here you see again with these brethren. You've never
met them before, complete strangers in the flesh, you've never been
to Rome before, but there was that bond, that bond in the Gospel,
that drawing power of Christ in the hearts of these people,
such that they desired to see this man of God, that one who
the Lord had called to declare the unsearchable riches of Christ
and to write to them such a long and beautiful letter, and now
they come. And so Paul was encouraged to
meet them. And we read then, and when he
came to Rome, the centurion, the one who was in charge of
the prisoners, delivered the prisoners to the captain of the
guard, But Paul was suffered to dwell by himself with a soldier
that kept him. He was granted really wonderful
liberty, wasn't he? You see, the other prisoners
were delivered to the captain of the guard. They weren't given
their freedom, but here was the Apostle Paul granted this. He
was able to go and dwell obviously, probably with some of these friends
that had come to meet him, those brethren. No doubt they were
very pleased to be able to entertain him. And no doubt the guard was
very reasonable in his guarding, knowing that Paul was an honourable
man. And so Paul was able to dwell by himself with these people
and again to no doubt speak and to preach and to open up the
Word of God to so many people who obviously lived in this place
of Rome. So as we recognize now the Apostles
arrived there after that long journey and to realize that he
was there now for a divine purpose. The divine purpose was indeed
to be able to declare the riches and the truth concerning the
Savior to these people in Rome. These people who of course were
not naturally, they weren't Jews naturally and yet here they were
desiring to meet with Paul and to look after him and to hear
the word from his mouth. Well we can look back can't we
then? And thank God that we have such an account to realize that
we have the same God today. The same God that leads his people
today. Perhaps not quite in such an
extraordinary way that the Apostle Paul was, but nonetheless, he
was led and he was directed. He would never have been able
to plan this journey, but because the Lord planned it, there were
those places where he stopped, there were those places he was
able to declare the Gospel. There was that time when the
boat wasn't there, when he was able to declare to all on the
boat that God had stood by him. God has spoken to him and therefore
what God has spoken was true and they could rely upon it and
so it came to pass. Well what a blessing isn't it
in our little lives and might be so in our little lives that
we are useful and the Lord does lead and direct us. The Lord
does give us these opportunities like he gave to the Apostle Paul
and so he was able then to write to these had written to these
Romans previously with these great important words. He says,
for I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. It's very easy to
become ashamed of the gospel of Christ. What a blessing when
the Lord enables us to say humbly, truthfully, I'm not ashamed of
the gospel of Christ. He tells us why. For it is the
power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth. the
Jew first and also to the Gentiles. Well, it would be a blessing
tonight if we know something of the power of God under salvation
in our souls, because if we are a true believer in measure, we
will know something of that. And what it means is very simply
this. It's that which God does for us, which we could not have
done for ourselves. The Lord comes to us. The Lord
touches our heart. The Lord speaks to us through
His Word, through His servants. That which is so applicable and
so appropriate, perhaps we weren't looking for it, we weren't expecting
it. The Lord knows when to speak. The Lord knows when to direct.
The Lord has perfect timing. And you and I will acknowledge,
as for God, His way is perfect. Well the Apostle would have had
to have done that and therefore he's able to declare these great
truths and may we indeed thank God tonight for the goodness
of God in having it revealed in his word of the safe journey
that the Apostle had brought safely to that which he'd been
told he would come to. May we therefore be encouraged
in our lives to realize we come and worship the same Almighty
God. Amen.