Turn back to Acts chapter 28.
Acts chapter 28. You're going to now finish the
book of Acts. We've been in this now for a
few months. I don't know how many months, but we've been in
it for a few months. Tom Hardy is also going through
the book of Acts. He's in chapter 20. He said he
went through it 12 years ago, and it's taking him longer to
go through it now than he did then. So, maybe if we go through
it again down the road, I'm sure we'll pull more out of it. It
always happens that way. I titled the message, The Journey's
End. The Journey's End. Paul leaves
Malta. That's what it's called now.
Instead of Melita, it's called Malta. And he heads for Rome. And when I looked at this last
couple of days, I thought there was a lot of stops along the
way for Paul before he was able to get to Rome. A lot has happened between that
Damascus experience and now going to Rome. Look what all happened
between that time period. Our path to glory. has many stops
along the way. It's not just a straight path. There's a lot of stops along
the way. A lot of things happen. God has purposed to send the
gospel to different places by different people, different men
whom he's called to preach. And along that way, there's a
lot of different stops. We make our plans. And do we
ever. I've had to scrap my thing. Buy
you a big trash can. Make your plans and buy you a
can. There's your good advice. Just make your plan and buy you
a can because you're going to scrap most of them. A believer,
and I'm talking believers. We make our plans, but God, the
scripture teaches us what? Directs our steps. We make the
plans, but he directs our steps. His purpose is being fulfilled. Paul's imprisonment was purposed
by God. He told Paul that. He said, Bonds
and imprisonment await me in every city. And Paul spent about
five years in prison by the end of his time in Rome. He had spent
about a year in prison under Festus and then two years under
Felix and then two years here in Rome. So he spent about five
years in prison. Scripture says, with much tribulation
shall ye enter the kingdom of God. There is no such thing as
smooth sailing for a believer. I think Paul's trip on that ship
that was tore apart, that's some indication of a life of a believer,
going through this life, going through this world. Ups and downs,
ups and downs. That's this life. With much tribulation,
Shall you enter the kingdom of God? But in the midst of all
this trouble that Paul went through and the trouble we go through,
God always sends comfort to His people, doesn't He? He always
comforts. He always sends them some comfort in whatever the
situation is. They find some comfort. And while
Paul and them got on the ship that was from Alexandria going
to Rome, it says in verse 14, but not long after, Let me get
over to chapter 28. I've got chapter 27 in front
of me. He says in verse 14, we found brethren. They had came
to a port named Puccioli, and they found brethren. There's
nothing more comforting. And I think nothing more comforting,
especially in trouble. Troublesome times. than fellowship
of the brethren. That connection we have in Christ
to one another. These brethren came to Paul when
they heard of him, or Paul looked them up, I don't know which.
But either way, Providence brought them together. And they were
a great blessing to each other. And Paul was really encouraged.
And Paul encouraged them and preached Christ to them. And
they wanted him to stay longer. Isn't that the way it is? You
find somebody that preaches the gospel in the power of God's
Spirit, you want them to stay longer. There's been times I've
sat here and other places and heard a man preach and I thought,
man, keep on going. Just keep on preaching. I tell you, one of the greatest
blessings in trouble is to have fellowship with the brethren.
Paul and him leave that place and he says there in verse 15,
and so we went to Rome. He finally headed for Rome. Finally
got a straight course now for Rome. And when he got there,
the brethren heard of his presence. They heard that Paul was in town. And the brethren heard of Paul
and they went looking for him. You know, the Jews and the Christians
had been run out of Rome. But when they heard Paul was
there, they came looking for him. And they came from as far away
as Happy Eye Forum. And the three taverns, Appiah
was 50 miles from that place. Three taverns were 30 miles from
that place. There was no easy journey for them to get there.
They had to put forth a lot of effort to get there and hear
the sea and hear Paul preach the gospel. And they did. They put forth that effort. And
I thought Paul would rather have them than have his freedom. He
would rather have that day meeting with them and getting to know
them, because they had never met Paul up until this time. They had not met him. But it was worth the trouble.
I'm sure it was worth the trouble, all the trouble that Paul went
through to meet these brethren. Whatever it took to bring them
together at that time, Paul would look back and say it was worth
it. All the imprisonment, all the trouble, all the heartaches,
it was worth it. And I tell you, his best epistles
came out of his prison experience. You go over and read Ephesians.
You don't read any of his complaining about him being in prison. You
don't hear him complaining about his sufferings. You don't hear
him complaining about how he's been treated off and on over
the years. No, he just praises God, doesn't
he? And those are his prison epistles. Several of those that
he wrote. Oh, it's worth a couple. If they
had only known what he had went through to get to this hour.
What God has brought that man through, what He has taught him
with this very hour. And I thought last night as I
was going over my notes, I thought everything we go through prepares
us for the next hour. Everything that comes our way
today is preparing us for tomorrow. And this is what happened with
Paul. Everything he went through prepared him for this hour. A
meeting with his brethren and then a meeting with his Jews
that he's going to preach to. And God had favor on Paul at this
time. He gave him a centurion that
really liked him. Here was a centurion soldier
that really liked Paul. God controls the hearts, doesn't
He? Scripture says, the heart of the king is in the hand of
the Lord like the rivers of water. He turns it with us however He
will. He controls the hearts of men. He controls the heart
of this centurion. God controls all hearts. Look
over in Exodus. Here's something over in Exodus.
Exodus chapter 11. God controls all things. In Exodus 11, let me see if I
can find the verse here. In verse 7. Let me read verse six. And there
shall be a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt, such as
there was none like it, nor shall be like it any more. But against
any of the children of Israel shall not a dog, a dog shall
not even move its tongue. A dog won't even bark against
them. He controls the hearts of men and the tongues of dogs.
He said a dog won't even bark against man or beast, that you
may know how that the Lord doth put a difference. between the
Egyptians and Israel. He said not even a dog will bark
against them. God controls the hearts of all
men. We don't need to lay down at night and worry about the
economy and worry about how things are going to come out in the
election. I know some people, I know people that profess to
believe the gospel that just tore up over this stuff. God's
on the throne. God's on the throne. And that's
how I lay down at night. God's on the clock. And it'll
be well. It'll all be well. Well, after
three days, Paul called the chief of the Jews. He never lost his
love for the brethren, did he? He never lost. As ill as they
treated him, they wanted to kill him. They laid wait and tried
to assassinate him. But when he came into town, He
met the brethren, rejoiced with them, but his heart never left
his people. He always loved his brethren,
the Jews, according to the flesh. After three days, he called the
chief of the Jews. He didn't try to avoid trouble.
He didn't say, well, if I call them, this thing is going to
really blow up in my face. Nero is now the emperor, and
he really hated the Jews and the Christians. He hated them
all. And called him to try to avoid trouble. Not at all. He
called the chief of the Jews. And he wanted to tell them that
he had done nothing against their customs, against the law. He
said, I've done you no wrong. I've done you no wrong. But for
this cause have I called you. Down here in verse 20. For this
cause, therefore, have I called you. And to see you. And to speak
with you. Because that for the hope of
Israel, I'm bound with this chain. Here's why I'm here. And here's
why I'm in trouble. Here's why I have these chains
on me. It's not because of some criminal act. It's not because
of something I have done against my own country or my own countrymen.
It's because of the gospel that I believe. In this note here,
he says, it's because of the hope of Israel. Who is Israel? When he says,
for the hope of Israel, who's he talking about? Most people
believe and only count Israel to be the descendants from Abraham. But I'm looking at Israel. I'm
truly looking at the Israel of God. Every believer is an Israelite. Spiritually, you're an Israelite.
Everyone. We know through the Scriptures, and we're in Romans,
it says, not all Israel are what? Not all Israel are Israel. That's
what they missed. They didn't understand that.
We know that most of the Israelites of that day are no different
than the religious professors of our day. There's not any difference
in them, really. There's not any difference. The
service had no real meaning to them, just as today. Most people
go through the motion. They just go through these motions.
It doesn't mean anything. Not at all. They did not reverence
God. They did not believe God. They
did believe God. They went through their ceremonies
with outward form, as most do today. They go through with outward
form. The Lord even said that. You
honor me with your lips, but your heart is far from me. They hated free grace, and they
hate it today. It hasn't changed. It has not
changed. They hate free grace today. They
were enemies of the truth. Look what they did to Christ.
I am the way, the truth, and the life. Look what they did
to him. Enemies of the truth. It's the same way today. You
stand in most pulpits preaching gospel and they run you off.
They hate it. But the true Israel of God that
Paul is speaking of here, when Paul says, for the hope of Israel. He's not talking about those
natural descendants of Abraham. He's talking about the true Israelites
of God, those who believe, the believer, from among Jews and
from among Gentiles. They are the true Israelites
of God. They are the ones who believe
God. They are the ones who are born
of God. The true Israelite is one who is born of God. He's
born of the Spirit of God. And those whose hope has always
been in the Lord. Always been. Who's always looked
to the Redeemer. Job said this, I know that my
Redeemer, what? Liveth. Not going to live. He doesn't say, I know my Redeemer
will live in the last days. He said, I know my Redeemer liveth.
And He'll stand upon this earth in the last day. He looked to
the same Redeemer that you and I are looking to. He looked to
the same Christ you and I are looking to. The only difference
is we know His name now because He's come. Jesus of Nazareth.
We know who He is. They looked to one who was coming.
We look to the one who's come. But we look to the same person,
the hope of Israel. We look to the same one. The Lord said, Abraham, Rejoice
to see my day." And he saw it and was glad. There are many
of us who saw it and see it and we're glad. Glad. The true Israelite God knows
that they need a Redeemer to redeem them. Now listen, from
the curse of the law, from sin and Satan. Not the Roman Empire. Not some man-made government. No, we need redemption from sin.
And the true Israel of God has always known that. But not all
Israel is Israel. And the hope, he says here, the
hope of Israel, I am bound with this chain. Well, that hope is
a person. It's Jesus Christ. It's Jesus of Nazareth. The hope
of this Messiah that was to come, He's come. And it's Christ. It's
the Lord Jesus Christ. We know who it is. He's the Redeemer,
and He's the hope of Israel. And Paul says, because of this
hope that our forefathers had, I have, and every believer who
ever will be in this world has, that's the reason I'm in these
chains. Because of the hope of Israel. Because of my faith and
hope in the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ is the hope of Israel.
Paul says in Timothy, when he writes to Timothy, he says, Christ
was our hope. That's our hope. Our hope is
built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. Our
hope is in Him. He's my hope. When I stand before
God, when you stand before God, the only hope that you and I
have of standing accepted is Him. That's as simple as I can
put it. It's Him. And that's as simple
as we need to put it to our children. It's Him. He's our hope. His
blood, His righteousness, His person, Him. He's our hope. And then Paul, after telling
them this, they said, well, we haven't received any letters.
We've not received any letters out of Judea concerning you.
God providentially overruled this. And the brethren, the Jews
that had came, they didn't say anything about Paul. Before this,
they were just blasting him everywhere he went. But when he went to
Rome, they said, well, we haven't received anything on you. But we desire to hear what you
think on this matter concerning this sect. This is what the Jews
thought of those who believed God. This sect. Might as well
call it this cult. This sect. And they said unto him, We neither
receive letters out of Judea concerning thee, neither any
of the brethren that came shall forsake any harm of thee. But
we desire to hear of thee what thou thinkest. There in verse
22. For as concerning this sect, we know that everywhere, everywhere
it's spoken against. Nobody likes it. Everywhere we
go it's spoken against. The most unpopular message in
our day is the message of grace. It's the message of God's glory
in Christ, His redemptive glory. That's the most unpopular message
there is. You tell the truth on it. You tell the truth. But as I read this, I thought,
well, Christianity, true Christianity, it's not new. It's not new. Really, it's not, is it? Isaac, Jacob, David. Were they
not true Christians? What is a Christian? A true one
is one that believes God and follows Christ. They were just as much as we
are. They followed the Lord through His Word and by His Spirit. Do
we not do that? I haven't seen Him. I take Him
at His Word. Think you manage well? They walk
by faith. Well, how do we walk? Same way. Same way. Here's the point. The Jews did not realize, in
speaking against this sect, they were speaking against their forefathers.
In condemning this sect, they were condemning Abraham, Isaac,
and Jacob, and all those who believed God. And condemning believers, they
were condemning Abraham, who's the father, says, of what? The
faithful. He's the father of those who
believe. And then Paul, after he called
them, he says there in verse 23, when they had appointed him
a day, there came many to him into his lodging, to whom he
expounded And testified, he preached the kingdom of God. He preached
the kingdom of God. That it's a spiritual kingdom,
not a physical kingdom. Not an earthly kingdom. It's
a spiritual kingdom. The scripture says the kingdom
of God is in you. Spiritual kingdom. And Christ
is the king of that kingdom. This Jesus of Nazareth is the
king of God's kingdom. This kingdom of Israel. This
Israel of God. Christ is the king of it. The
one they crucified. The one they put to death. The
one that's risen. The one that ascended. The one
that's seated at God's right hand. He's the king. He's the ruler. And since he
preached to them out of the law of Moses and the prophets, and
no doubt he preached to them ruined by the fall, who wrote
the first five books of the Bible? Moses. Moses is the prophet. Moses was given the law. He gave
the law to them. But Moses was also called a prophet. And they
had Genesis. They read the same one we read.
They read about the thaw. They read about the seed of the
woman. They read those things. And I have no doubt Paul preached
to them that in Adam all died. In Adam there all, all died,
not just the Gentiles, but everyone. He represented
every human being that ever walked on this earth. See, they had
a problem. They went back to Abraham and
they stopped there, didn't they? They'd go to Abraham and they'd
stop. Abraham is our father. Well, you've got to go a little
further than that. Adam is the father of us all, earthly speaking. So he preached to them. They
were ruined by the fall. All, Jew and Gentile. None good
know not one. There's none who can stand just
before God by his own works. And then he preached to them
the necessity of redemption by the blood. They had the tabernacle,
because you read the oracles of God. They had the word of
God. They had the tabernacle. They had the tithe. They had
the Passover lamb. They had everything that pointed
to Christ, that spoke of Christ. They had it. And Paul, I have
no doubt, because it says he preached, listen, from morning
till evening. Morning till evening. Now, he
took the book of Genesis, and I believe Paul just went right
back to the book of Genesis on the fall, and he just pointed
out Christ chapter by chapter. He pointed Christ out in the
tabernacle. He pointed Christ out in the Passover lamb. He
pointed Christ out as the high priest. Everywhere through there,
he pointed out Christ. He preached Christ to them. And
then he preached to them regeneration by the Spirit, the necessity
of it. Just like our Lord said to Nicodemus, unless you be born
again, you can't understand what I'm saying. You cannot enter
the Kingdom of God. You can't see it. You can't understand
it. It's Greek to you. You can't understand it. I tell you, what he preached
was this. He preached the work of the Father,
the Son, and the Holy Spirit in salvation. all the way through
there. Horned it out. And then it says
in verse 24, And some believed and some believed not. Some believed the things which
were spoken. They believed the message. They
believed the gospel. And some believed not. Well,
who made the difference? Why is it some believe and some
believe not? Why is it some of you believe
and some believe not? Why is it you believe and some
in your family believe not? God. God made the difference. God chose you in Christ, loved
you in Christ, called you in Christ. And all you and I can
say is even so, Father, it's in good and right side. Because
I know, I've got brothers and sisters and aunts and uncles
and a pile of nieces and nephews. They don't believe the gospel.
What's the difference? Grace of God. I know there's
no difference. Fleshly, there's no difference.
Intellectually, there's no difference. The grace of God made the difference.
Some believe and some believe not. That's the way it is. Faith
comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. And when
this happens, it causes a division. It always does. The gospel separates the sheep
and the goats. It always does, and it always
will. It separates the sheep from the goats. Paul gives a reason here, though,
for some of those why they believe not. Now listen, and I'll wind
this down. And when they agreed not among
themselves, there were some who heard Paul, they heard him go
through the Old Testament and those types and those pictures,
and they said, You know that they said, I see it. And there
was others saying, that's not what that means. Paul, you're
twisting the Scriptures. And others said, I see it. I
see the Passover lamb. I see the high priest. I see
it. But there was others that did
not believe. And when they agreed not among themselves, they departed.
And after that, Paul had spoken one word. Paul said, before you
go, this is what he's saying, he's getting up to leave. It's
all getting ready to leave. He said, but before you go, I
have one last word to say to you. Well spake the Holy Ghost
by Isaiah. Now, he didn't say, well spake
Isaiah, did he? He said, well spake the Holy
Spirit of God, the Holy Ghost, through Isaiah, as a prophet
unto our fathers, saying, go to this people, and saying, hear
ye Hearing you shall hear, but you'll not understand." Why won't
they understand? Because the natural man receives
not the things of the Spirit of God, they are foolishness
to him. That's why they don't understand. I've witnessed the
gospel to people and they have this real blank look on their
face. And it's like, what are you talking about? and then get
off the subject or go on to another subject, they don't understand.
That's because they've never been born of God. All thy children
shall be taught of God. A man or woman has to be born
of God before you understand the gospel. It's not that I understand
the gospel and then I'm born of God. No, you have to be born
of God. There has to be life. There has
to be spiritual life in order to understand spiritual truth.
There has to be. And he says here, and seeing
you shall see and not perceive. For the heart of this people
is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their
eyes, listen now, their eyes have they closed. Here's responsibility. Every man, every woman that's
lost and perishes, it's their fault. Every man, woman that's
saved is by the grace of God. He doesn't owe it to us. He doesn't
owe it. He said, their eyes have they
closed. Well, your eyes has he opened. He doesn't owe it to people to
open their eyes. No, that's a grace. It wouldn't
be grace if he did owe it, would it? It'd be a debt. That'd be
a debt. No, they'll close it. The gospel
was preached and they didn't want it. The gospel was preached
and they despised it. Grace was preached and they hated
it. But some have fallen in love
with it because hearing they hear. Seeing the Lord gave them
sight. Lest they should see with their
eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart.
See, this is conversion, what he's speaking of here. Here's
conversion if it happens. Because if a man is converted,
his eyes will be opened, his ears will be opened, and his
heart will be changed. God will give him a new heart.
But if he's lost, all their eyes will be shut, and their ears
will be shut, and their understanding of their heart will be shut.
And he says here, and should be converted, and I should heal
them. If we're truly born of God, this
is all of God. The hearing ear, the seeing eye,
the believing heart, that's of God. But if He leaves the person
alone, He's just God unto Himself. And that man, he'll hear, but
he won't hear. He'll see, but he won't see. And he won't believe. He says, Be it known therefore
unto you that the salvation of God is sent unto the Gentiles. And they will hear it. They will
do the opposite of what he just said here. They will see. They
will hear. And they will believe. They will
hear. And when he had said these words,
the Jews departed and had great reasoning among themselves. If you believe God, that cuts
down that reasoning, doesn't it? It cuts a whole lot of that
down. And Paul dwelt two whole years
in his own hired house. Here's the providence now of
God again. We can see so plainly. Nero hated it. He hated the Jews. He hated Christians. He hated
those Christ followers. He hated them. But for two years,
God lulled that man to sleep and allowed Paul to preach the
gospel standing right there in Rome. And the man hated it. Nero was the one who had Paul
put to death, him and Peter. Nero did. It just amazes me, the control. When you look in the Word of
God, you look for these things. They're in that great Roman Empire. God just puts that man, his attention
is on something else. Something else is going on in
that empire. Probably a lot of politics and
a lot of stuff that's got his attention and he's not even paying
a bit of attention to what's going on over here. Paul's preaching
the gospel of Christ in his own hired house for two years. Preaching the kingdom of God
and teaching those things was concerned with the Lord Jesus
Christ. The Lord said, the gates of hell
shall not prevail against you. The gates of hell will not keep
out the gospel. That's what he's saying. The
gates of hell will not keep the gospel out. It's not that strong. It's not that strong. And Paul
did this with all confidence. No man forbidding him. No man shutting him up. No man
stopping him. In two years, right there in
the middle of that Roman Empire, Paul freely preached the gospel. Well, that's the journey's end.
That was the purpose of God. All this time bringing Paul to
Rome, all those places he stopped at, all those places he preached
the gospel, all those churches raised up, and now here he is.
He's finally come to Rome.