as we continue in the Acts of
the Apostles, and this evening from the last chapter, chapter
28, and we'll read the first six verses. The first six verses
in the 28th chapter of the Acts of the Apostles. And when they
were escaped, then they knew that the island was called Melita.
And the barbarous people 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. And when Paul 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 is a murderer, whom though he had escaped the
sea, yet vengeance suffereth not his 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 and saw no harm come to
him, they changed their minds and said that he was a God. And so as we read at the end
of the last chapter, And all these soldiers and the prisoners
and the crew had all escaped safe to land. But they'd come
to a land that they were not aware of. And no doubt they would
have heard of it. It's a land which we now, of
course, call Malta in the Mediterranean. And we are now told, and when
they were escaped, they'd escaped from the sea and they hadn't
drowned. And although they lost the ship,
they were all brought safely to land upon this island, which
was called Malita. Well, it was a place where there
were, we're told here, barbarous people. That means they, generally
speaking, were not expected to have been friendly people. Indeed,
they wouldn't have spoken the language that Paul was familiar
with, or the other people, I expect, that were with him. And so there
would have been difficulty in this. But we see how wonderfully
the Lord goes before. The Lord so clearly has gone
before Paul in all his journeys, right up to the present time.
And now they come onto this unknown island, unknown to them, and
the people were barbarous. And yet, what did they do? They
showed kindness. kindness to the people. Remember,
there were some 276 people from this ship. A big crowd, wasn't
it? And they showed kindness to them.
And what did they do? They kindled a fire and received
us, everyone, because of the present rain and because of the
cold. It couldn't have been very easy for all that crew of prisoners,
et cetera, when you think they'd been in this a typhoon for 14
days and nights, and no doubt there'd been very much heavy
rain during that time. They now got out of the boat,
they had to swim or get to shore, they would've all been soaking
wet, and they would've all been pretty cold and miserable, naturally. And so these people, they did
what was right, and which was very kind, to kindle a fire. They were doing that which was
kind to the people. They didn't know them, They had
no reason to do them, but we see again the Lord inclining
them to do this. And especially, as we will read
on later in this chapter, how the Apostle Paul was able to
come and to declare the great truths of the gospel. It's wonderful
when we think of it, how these people had the privilege of meeting
the Apostle Paul on this occasion, and we think of the journey that
the Lord had ordained that Paul should arrive at this place.
I'm sure Paul could never have planned it himself, but it was
in accordance with God's will and purpose, and it was ultimately,
of course, for his honour and for his glory. And we should
always be concerned about that in our little lives, to realise
that when we come into perhaps unusual situations, perhaps difficult
circumstances, to be able to discern that God is in it, and
that God is leading, and God is directing, and God is over
all, and God is bringing honour and glory to his great and holy
name. That's what it was here. And
so we find then, these people lighting this fire, kindling
a fire, and received us. Every one, all those people,
276 of them, they were all received. and because of the present rain
and because of the cold. And then we see Paul going out
and gathering a bundle of sticks. Again, we should notice, as we
have done through the Acts of the Apostles, how the Apostle
Paul was an industrious person. He grasped every opportunity
to preach the gospel, but in many places he came to, he also
worked with his hands. He wasn't idle, he didn't just
sit down and expect everything to happen. But no, here we see
him joining with his people and gathering a bundle of sticks
and laid them on the fire, doing what he could and what he should
do to alleviate the present difficulty in the situation. And then there
came a viper out of the heat and fastened on his hand. Now
then, It's important to realize that this viper was clearly amongst
those sticks that the Apostle had gathered, and it's quite
surprising that he hadn't been disturbed before. And obviously
he was well camouflaged as the Apostle collected those sticks. But in God's providence, it was
that the Apostle Paul should be the person that gathered these
sticks. There were all those others who
no doubt were also helping to gather sticks. But no, the Lord
had ordained that the Apostle Paul should be the one that should
gather the sticks on which was this viper. And the viper came
out of the heat and fastened on his hand. Now, apparently
in the original, this was a very venomous snake, that if it had
bitten the Apostle Paul, naturally speaking, he would have quite
quickly died. But instead of attacking Paul,
the viper, the snake, just wound itself round the Apostle's hand. Well, the barbarians were very
much aware of what this meant. This meant this was a very venomous
snake and they expected Paul to die through it. because they
saw this venomous snake hang on his hand, they said among
themselves, no doubt this man is a murderer, whom though he
had escaped the sea, yet vengeance suffereth not to live. Now it's
interesting to notice that here clearly these were barbarous
people, they weren't godly people, they weren't Christian people,
but they had a recollection of what was right and what was wrong. You see, God has given everyone
a conscience as to what is right and what is wrong. And therefore,
when they saw this occurring, they drew the conclusion that
Paul must have been a bad man. And why? Well, they must have
felt, therefore, that as they said, he must have been a murderer.
And clearly, murder was not an acceptable thing to do. It was
a sin. It was evil, and they were clearly
aware of what this was. And so, we see these people,
not Christians, not brought up in a godly way at all, what one
would think, and here was this evidence given to them that they
saw this man, the snake was on his wrist, and no doubt it was
because there was that judgment which was to come on him. We're
told here they thought it was vengeance. that there was vengeance
against him because wrong things that he had done. He hath escaped
the sea, yet vengeance suffereth not to live. Well that was their
view and they thought therefore the snake had come out of the
fire and was on the Apostle's wrist and no doubt he would die. But the Apostle shook off the
beast into the fire and felt no harm. Well in itself I suppose
we should recognize that this was really a miracle of the Lord
to have done this because he was therefore this snake would
have been in a state of frenzy wouldn't it have been come out
of the fire and we would have thought automatically he would
have bitten Paul but no he didn't how be it they looked when he
should have swollen or fallen down dead suddenly but after
they had looked a great while and saw no harm come to him,
they changed their minds and said that he was a god. Again
we see the influence that they realised between good and evil,
expecting therefore that it as the snake had come onto his hand,
that he was someone who was evil. And then they saw this snake
fall up into the fire, and a greater wonder that Paul didn't actually
swerve or fall down suddenly, but he was just healthy and well,
as though nothing had happened, which of course it hadn't. And
so therefore, instead of thinking him as an evil person, Now they
reverse their thoughts and thought of him as a God, somebody who
had power over such things as this viper. What is instructive
to us to just recognize here that the Lord is over all things
and the Lord ordains situations for his will and for his purpose
because no doubt this had a big effect upon these people. They now viewed the Apostle Paul
in a very different way to what they might have done had he been
bitten and of course had he fallen down and died. But now they had
some consciousness that perhaps he wasn't a bad man, in actual
fact he was a very good man, in actual fact he was a God. And so now we see God's purposes
in our lives, no doubt not in the same way of course, but to
see how the Lord goes before us and brings what we might think
to be difficult situations, unlooked for situations, bad situations,
and we might prove that they are working together for good. All these things were working
together for the Apostle Paul's good and also for many that he
came in contact with as he journeyed across the sea and indeed in
many places in the land, God was with him, directing him and
blessing him. And so we leave it here this
evening, recognising that the Lord was over all things, so
that his name might be honoured and glorified. Amen.