Now, you turn in your Bible again
to the 28th chapter of the book of Acts. Acts chapter 28. And let's read verse 1 of Acts 28. And when they were
escaped, they escaped the raging storm, the raging sea. Some of these men couldn't swim.
The captain commanded those who could swim, swim to the shore.
Some could not swim. Some grabbed boards. That's what
I'd do. I'd grab a board and float it
or somehow they made it to shore. All of them made it to shore.
They escaped. They escaped safely to the shore
because God commanded that's exactly what would happen. And
when they were escaped, They knew that the island was called
Melita or Malta. Paul being shipwrecked on this
particular island, at this particular day, on this particular time,
is no small accident. In the universe of God, with
God's people, there is no accident with God. All things work for
good to them who are the called according to God's purpose."
All things, all things. God sent His wind by sovereign
purpose to put His servant on this island to preach the gospel
to His elect. He did this on purpose. Now let
me show you a couple of scriptures. Who controls the wind? Turn to
Psalm 135. Who controls the waves and the
winds, the hurricanes and the tornadoes? Well, if you listen
to some folks, they say, well, you know, Mother Nature did this,
or Mother Nature did that. But you know what? God controls
all the elements of the weather. Psalm 135. And He was in absolute
control of this wind, this fierce, tepestuous wind, blowing the
Apostle Paul right to this island to preach the gospel to these
people. Psalm 135, whatsoever the Lord please, that did He
in heaven, in earth, in the seas, in all deep places. He causes
the vapors, He causes the vapors to ascend from the ends of the
earth. He maketh lightnings for the rain. Next time you experience
a thunderstorm, you think about this. He maketh the lightnings
for the rain. He bringeth the wind, His wind, out of His treasure
house. He has a treasure house full
of wind. Sometimes he opens a door and the wind does blow. But God
controls all things. Find Ephesians chapter 1. All
things are of God. Ephesians chapter 1. Look at
verse 11. Ephesians 1, 11. And whom also we have obtained
an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him
that worketh most things. Now that's what it says, "...who
worketh all things after the counsel of His own will, that
we should be to the praise of His glory who first trusted Christ."
Just as the Lord had promised Paul that all 276 on board would
be safe and not a hair of their head would suffer harm, one hair
would fall from their head and none would be harmed, so it came
to pass. He said, I've spoken it, I've
purposed it, I will bring it to pass. All that our sovereign
Lord has promised to His people shall be fulfilled. Not one promise
of all that He has spoken, of His exceeding great and precious
promises, not one promise shall fail in God's purpose. He's able to bring to pass all
that He has promised. Believers are fully persuaded
of that. All that our God hath promised shall be fulfilled.
All that our God hath promised shall be applied. He will make
application of His promise and shall bring glory to His name. Now we read this scripture earlier
from Romans chapter 11. Don't turn. Let me just see if
I can get most of it. Of Him and through Him and to
Him are all things to whom be glory both now and forever. All things are of God. Now listen to this, Paul's visit
to this island had a lasting effect upon this native people
of this country. In remembrance of Paul's visit
and the preaching of Paul's gospel, there is a place on this island,
now check me out on this, I did a word search, I did a Google
search, some of you know what that is, a Google search on the
word Malta. and pulled up some of the history.
There is in this place, this island called Malta, a bay where
Paul landed that day. You know what it's called? Paul's
Bay. They named, they thought so much
of him and honored him so much and that gospel that he preached
had such a lasting effect upon that people, they named this
place after him. And the gospel of God's grace,
oh, it does have an impact. It does have a tremendous impact
on the people of God. Now, three things. Here's my
first point. When the Lord is pleased to sovereignly
save and call out His people by the grace of God, He sends
them by His own will and purpose a preacher of the gospel. a preacher
of the gospel. God has ordained the preaching
of the gospel to the calling out and to the salvation of His
people. It pleased God through preaching to call out His people. God saves sinners, calls them,
enlightens them, and quickens them. God saves His people, calls
them to Himself by the hearing and the believing of the gospel.
He has ordained the end But He has also ordained a means to
arrive at that end. And God, in His sovereign purpose,
has ordained the preaching of the gospel to the salvation of
His people, to the calling out of His people, to the quickening
of His people. I can make good on that by several scriptures.
Turn to Romans chapter 10. "...Of His own will begat He
us with the word of truth." Romans chapter 10. I'm saying this,
when God is pleased to call His people to Himself, He does that
through the irresistible call of the gospel and the gospel
message and gospel preaching. Romans chapter 10, you're familiar
with this verse. Verse 11, Romans 10 verse 11,
For the Scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be
ashamed, For there is no difference between Jew and Greek, were both
sinners lost in need of salvation. For the same Lord over all is
rich unto all that call upon Him. For whosoever," that's a
pretty wide word, isn't it? "...whosoever shall call upon
the name of the Lord, upon the Lord, shall be saved." Now that's
His promise. Look at verse 14. How then shall
they call on Him in whom they've not believed?" Those folks couldn't
believe the gospel having never heard it. How then shall they
call on Him in whom they've not believed? And how shall they
believe in Him of whom they've not heard? And how shall they
hear without a preacher? Now here's where we started.
Verse 15, Isaiah 52, 7, How shall they preach except they be sent
as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach
the gospel of peace, that bring glad tidings of good things,
that Isaiah said, Behold, God reigns. Bow to Him. Bow to Him. Now back in the book
of Acts, turn back over there, Acts 28. We've seen this repeated
over and over and over again through our study in the book
of Acts. Let me give you a few examples. We won't turn and read
these, but let me give you a few examples. God's servant was sent
down to preach to one eunuch in a desert land. Somehow he
had a record of Scripture, reading from Isaiah 53. And Philip drew
nigh to him and preached unto him what he was reading. He was
wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities. And
the eunuch said, well, who does this man speak of, of himself
or some other, the prophet? Who's that prophet talking about?
He took that same Scripture and preached unto him the Lord Jesus
Christ. How about Peter? Peter went down
to the house of Cornelius. God had done a preparatory work
of grace in the heart of Cornelius. And when Peter came, he said,
we're all here to hear. All things commanded thee of
God. And Peter preached Christ unto
him as the only way of salvation. How about Paul in Antioch? When
he went out preaching his first gospel message. He went out preaching
the resurrected, glorified Lordship of Jesus Christ, that salvation
is in Him. He said in Acts 13, 38, it's
recorded, by Him are we all justified. In Him and through Him we have
the forgiveness of sin. We're justified by the grace
of God through the redeeming blood of Jesus Christ, not by
the works of the law. I can give you other examples.
Paul, when he came to Philippi, and desiring a place to worship.
There was no synagogue there. He found a group of women down
by the creek bank who were seeking to worship God. And Paul went
down there and preached Christ unto them, and the heart of Lydia
was opened up, and God had mercy on that woman through the preaching
of the gospel. Again, when Paul, same place,
in Philippi was cast into prison, Was it Silas? Having been beaten,
having been jailed, and they sang praises to God that night,
and God sent an earthquake and shook the jail apart, and that
jailer got concerned about his soul, about his salvation, and
addressed Paul, what must I do to be saved? Remember what Paul
told him? He said, don't do anything, believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ. and thou shalt be saved." You
see, salvation is not received by doing, believing. Faith is a gift of God. You see,
all through the study in the book of Acts, we see the preaching
of the gospel, and through the preaching of that gospel, God
sent Paul to these different cities, to Corinth, Ephesus,
Thessalonica, Athens, that great city of Athens. He said, I perceive
you're all too religious. You're most superstitious." But
they didn't know God. They needed to hear a gospel
preacher, and Paul preached to them Christ and Him crucified. So that's my first point. Paul
was sent to these people to declare unto them the way of salvation
in Christ Jesus. And when God is pleased to save
His people, He will cross their path with the gospel of God,
saving sovereign grace in Christ Jesus. It's no accident. that
God called you one day with the gospel of His grace. Now here's
the second point in this message. Found in Acts 28 verse 2 down
through verse 5. These native people, they showed
us no little kindness. They kindled a fire and received
us because of the present rain. It was a storm. It was cold. They were wet. Paul gathered,
helped him, he gathered some sticks together, laid them on
a fire, and there came out of this fire this viper, this snake,
bit him. And when these native people
saw the beast hanging, the snake hanging on his hand, they said
among themselves, no doubt this man is a murderer, whom though
he escaped the sea, yet vengeance suffers him not to live. Now,
here's my second thought on these verses here. All men, though
depraved, totally depraved, dead in sin. All men, though totally
depraved and guilty before God, are yet still religious. Are yet still pagans, but they
are religious. They're lost and they're in need
of Christ. I learned this by doing that
word search on Malta. Do you know the oldest freestanding
structure in the world The oldest freestanding structure in the
world, built in 3500 BC, that's a thousand years before God called
Abraham, is in Malta. It's in Malta, that little country,
that little island. The oldest freestanding structure
known to man in historical account is that structure. And you know
what it is? You got any guess? at the temple
to a pagan god. You see, these people were steeped
in religion. Even though they were guilty,
even though they were totally depraved, even though they were
guilty before God, yet they were most religious. Their religion
had been in their country a long time. Now, several things. They
were very kind. You see that in verse 2? They
showed us no little kindness. Paul often uses those words,
doesn't he? No small stir. That means there was a large
commotion. They showed us very great kindness. Oh, they were
generous people. They were very kind. They received
Paul. Not only Paul, but those 275 others that were with him.
They started a fire to warm them. They were nice people, but my
friend, they were still pagan and they were still lost. They
still needed the Savior, didn't they? And I've known some nice
people. Some nice people, decent folks.
Decent folks. But my friend, they're still
lost. They're still guilty. They still
need salvation. You see, salvation is not by
my good deeds. Salvation is by the grace of
God alone. Not by works of righteousness
we have done, but according to His mercy. Titus 3, 5. Salvation
is not by being nice. Now those who are saved by the
grace of God, the fruit of that is being a generous people. But
just being generous and nice and kind does not merit salvation. That would make salvation based
upon what I do, my works, my deeds. And we know that the Scriptures
teach that salvation is all of God's grace in Christ Jesus. Those without Christ are lost,
guilty. They need to hear the gospel
of God's grace. That's exactly why God sent this
apostle to this people, that they might hear the gospel and
be given faith to believe the gospel. Second thing we know,
every sinner has some awareness of the existence of God. Every
sinner, though depraved and guilty, they have some awareness of the
existence of God. It says down there in verse 4,
they said, no doubt this man's a murderer. They knew murder
was wrong. Even though they were a barbarous
people, in the sense that they were idolatrous, they knew that
murder was wrong. And they said, this, whom though
to see, he had escaped to see, yet vengeance is going to exact
on him. They knew that murder was wrong
and they knew that murder deserved punishment. They knew that much,
didn't they? Every sinner has some awareness of the existence
of God by the light of nature. Turn to Romans chapter 1. By
the light of nature, the heavens declare the glory of God. Look
at what it says in Romans 1 verse 20. For the invisible things
of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being
understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power
and Godhead, so that they are without excuse. They are without
excuse. They're responsible to answer
unto God, because that when they knew God, they glorified Him
not as God, neither were thankful, but became vain in their imagination,
and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise,
they became fools. Now read on, verse 23, Romans
1, and change the glory of the uncorruptible God into the image
made like the corruptible man, birds, four-footed beasts, creepy
things, idolatry. Wherefore God also gave them
up to the uncleanness through the lust of their own hearts
to dishonor their own bodies between themselves." Now look
at verse 25 carefully, "...who changed the truth of God into
a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator,
who is blessed forevermore." You see, by the light of nature,
they had some awareness of the existence of God. Turn to Romans
chapter 2. And by the light of conscience,
by the light of conscience, they knew that murder was wrong. Look
what it says in Romans 2, verse 14. For when the Gentiles, which
have not the law, that law of God that said, Thou shalt not
kill, they didn't have that written law, but that law was written
on their conscience and they knew it was wrong to murder.
For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, due by nature
to things contained in the law, These, having not the law, are
a law unto themselves, which show the work of the law written
on their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their
thoughts the meanwhile accusing or else excusing one another. And in the day when God shall
judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel."
Even though they were sinners, They had awareness of the existence
of God by the light of nature, by the light of conscience. They
knew that murder was wrong. They knew that God must punish
this sin. Vengeance, it says, look back
to the text, vengeance suffereth him not to live. Now, one of
the commentators said this, some say that the name of their pagan
god was Vengeance, and justice is going to exact its toll on
this murderer. Justice pursued this murder,
even though he escaped the sea. Our God of vengeance is going
to exact punishment, penalty on him. Now here's the third
thing. We soon learn their religion had serious problems, serious
error. Look what it says in verse 6.
When Paul was bitten and he shook that snake off into the fire,
it says in verse 5, and felt no harm, no harm came to him. They looked when they should
have swollen up. You know how when you get a little
bit of a poison in your body from a wasp or a bee, boy, you
swell up, don't you? Well, if you get bit by a snake,
you really swell up. But he didn't have any problem.
He felt no harm. He didn't swell up, nor did he
fall down dead. After they had looked a great
while, they saw no harm come to him, they changed their mind
right away. And they said, well, he's not
a murderer. They changed their mind. They said, he is a god. Well, you see, they had serious
error, didn't they? Serious error. We soon learned
that their pagan religion had serious error. There's a way
that seems right on demand, but the end of that way is death.
They tried to make Paul into one of their gods. Now, we've
seen this before. Turn to Acts 14. You remember this? When he
was in Lystra. And there was an impotent man
there who was healed in Acts chapter 14, or Lystra rather,
Acts 14, verse 8. And there said a certain man
at Lystra, impotent in his feet, being a cripple from his mother's
womb, who never had walked. The same heard Paul speak, who
steadfastly beholding and perceiving that he had faith to be healed.
Where did he get that faith? God-given. said with a loud voice,
Stand up on thy feet. And he leaped, and he walked.
And the people saw what Paul had done. Now had Paul done that?
God had done that. They lifted up their voice, saying
in the speech of the Lyconian, The gods are come down to us
in the likeness of man. They called Barnabas Jupiter
and Paul Mercurius, because he was the chief speaker. And then
they started to do sacrifice unto them. Look at verse 15,
saying, Sir, Paul, When he heard these things, Paul and Barnabas,
they rent their clothes and ran in among the people crying, Sirs,
why do you do these things? We also are men of like passion
with you and preach unto you that you should turn from these
vanities unto the living God, which made heaven and earth and
the sea and all things that are therein. You see, they said,
Don't worship me, I'm a man just like you. You turn to the living
and the true God. He turned their attention away
from Him and pointed them to the Lord Jesus Christ, the true
and the living God. The same thing that Paul is going
to do here, back in our text. They changed their mind and said
He was a God. Now listen to me carefully here.
Men may be nice, Men may be aware that there is a God. They may be sincere in their
idolatry and their paganism, but they still need Christ. They still need salvation. This
is why the gospel needs to be plainly declared. You see, our
thoughts are all wrong. God said, My thoughts are not
your thoughts. My ways are not your ways. You see, all our thoughts
about God are wrong. Now mark it down. Left to ourselves,
our own thinking, all of our thoughts about God are wrong,
so much so that the psalmist writes in Psalm 50, and God says
to him, you thought that I was altogether such a one as you. They worship and serve the creature
rather than the Creator. All our thoughts about God are
wrong. What one word would you use to describe the God of Holy
Scripture? God is holy in all that He does. All our thoughts about God are
wrong. All our thoughts about sin are
wrong. You see, they change their mind. My friend, all our thinking
about God, about sin, is wrong. We think, by nature, left to
ourselves, because we compare ourselves with others, we think
that we're pretty good folks. Now, this is what all of us think
by nature. We think, you know, I'm not like that guy over there. I work hard, I pay my bills.
Well, that's fine. If you compare one worm to another
worm, we can come out equal. But my friend, we have the wrong
idea about who we are. You see, my friend, our thoughts
about ourselves are all wrong in this sense. It's not what
I do. That's my problem. It's what
I am before God. What I do is a result of what
I am. I am a sinner. Through and through. Born in
sin. Shaped in iniquity. Come forth
from the womb. Before I could learn to speak,
I was crying a lie unto my parents. That's right. And those little
ones that you have, they're the same way. You see, all of our
thoughts about ourself are wrong. If a man says he has no sin,
no sin nature, no sin principle within him, he's deceived. You see, God needs to change
our thinking. I'm a sinner saved by the grace
of God. I'm a sinner. Never graduate
above that, my friend. A sinner saved by the grace of
God. And all of our thoughts about salvation are wrong. God
needs to change our thinking. We think we're saved on the basis
left to ourselves now. We think that salvation is always
by what we do or don't do. Have I done enough? Salvation
is always, as it's taught in the Word of God, is determined,
dependent, and accomplished totally by another, not me. Salvation
is totally by the grace of God alone. It's by His performance,
His death, His life. The songwriter said, upon a life
I did not live, upon a death I did not die, another's life,
another's death, I rest my hope eternally upon the merit of Jesus
Christ, upon the shedding of His blood to put away my sin,
upon the righteousness that He freely gives in the gospel, the
righteousness of God that justifies me before God. You see, by nature,
left to myself, I'm always going about to establish a righteousness
of my own, rather than submitting unto the Lord Jesus Christ, who
is my righteousness." He is the Lord our righteousness. You see, they went from saying,
oh, he's a murderer, now he's a God. Now listen to this. All error in theology. In theology,
I mean by that the study of God. All error in theology comes from
attempts at making God less than He is or making attempts at making
man to be more than he is. Is that right? That's right. That's exactly right. It says over here, they change
the truth of God into a lie and worship and serve the creature
More than the Creator who was blessed forevermore. They wanted
to worship Paul and make him a God. Now listen to me. Listen to me carefully. That's
exactly what works religion has done in our day. They have made
the creature to be a God. They say things like this, well
God's done all He can do. God is trying to save all men,
but somebody, you won't let Him. God wants to have His way, but
somehow the puny will of the creature is elevated to be equal
with God, and my friend, it's not. There is but one God. You see the subtlety of Satan
slipping in the leaven? They have made the creature to
be equal with God. Just like these folks wanted
to make Paul a God. Those who say that God's done
all He can do and the rest is up to you, that the blood of
Christ doesn't avail unless you make it apply to yourself, they've
turned the truth into a lie and worship and serve the creature
more than the Creator. Now, my friend, I'm telling you
the truth. As God's servant, we worship the true and living
God and we are nothing. We are nothing. Man individually,
man collectively, man in his best state. What's the record
of Scripture? Man in his best state, all together, zero. Vanity. All of my righteousnesses
are as filthy rags in God's sight. You see, we worship and serve
the true and living God. that saves us by His sovereign
grace. Alone. Grace alone. Faith alone to the glory of God. Alone. Well, here's my third
point. In verses 7 down through verse
10. God uses Paul to preach the gospel
and to heal many. It says down here in verse 11,
After three months, we departed. Paul spent three months there,
preaching the gospel. Three days in the house of Poblais,
preaching the gospel. I can hardly imagine that Paul
would spend three months there and not preach the gospel every
day. God certainly got the native people's attention by the episode
of the snake. He got their attention. And they
listened to the apostle Paul preach. Now look at verse 8,
it came to pass that the father of Poblais, he was a governor,
the Roman governor, that his father was sick. Poblais received
us, it says in verse 7, and lodged us three days courteously. I'm
sure that Paul preached to him. And I think this man embraced
Christ and embraced the gospel because when his father fell
sick, who did he call for? Not the local witch doctor, not
the pagan priest. He called for the apostle. You
come to my house, my father's sick. He's dying. He's got a
fever. He's got a raging fever. He's infected. He's got dysentery. He has a bloody flutch. He's
bleeding to death. Could you help him? You see,
he had been introduced to God who is God through the preaching
of Paul. So when he was in need, he said,
Paul, you come and pray for my father. Well, Paul entered in
and prayed, laid his hands. The apostles were given the authority
and power to do this. Any man that tries to do this
today is a fool. Those signs were given, those
credentials were given for a special time to a special group of men. to verify and to identify them
as God's servant because they didn't have the completed Word
of God. I have the completed Word of God. I don't need to
pick up a snake to try and impress you. I hope he'd run out of here
if I did. We're not going to have any snake
handling services here. We're going to lift up the brazen
serpent As Moses did. And that's a picture of lifting
up Christ and point you to Him. And all those that were bitten
with sin looked to Christ and they were healed. I'm going to
lift Him up. Lift up the Lord Jesus. Paul
entered and prayed for Him. And look what it says in verse
9. And He healed him. And when this was done, the Word
got out. The Word got out. Then they which had diseases,
all the others in that island that had diseases, they came
and they were healed. They were healed. All who had
need of healing, they came and were healed. Now turn to Luke
9. All that needed healing came and were healed. Do you need
healing? Are you in need of mercy? Look
what it says here in Luke chapter 9. I want Luke 9, verse 11. Luke 9, 11. When the apostles
came back from being sent out, preaching the gospel and healing,
they came back and they, verse Luke, this is Luke 9, verse 10. And the apostles, when they had
returned, told him all that they had done. And he took them and
went aside privately into a desert place belonging to the city Bethsaida. And the people, when they knew
it, followed him. He received them and spake unto
them of the kingdom of God, healed them that had need of healing."
Do you have need of forgiveness of sin? Do you have need of a
justifying righteousness? Well, call upon the Lord. He healed all them that had need
of healing. Our Lord didn't come to call
the righteous sinners. Sinners! To repent. Those who are well don't need
a doctor. He said He came to save sinners. Those who were
in need. And He's able to meet all our
need according to His riches in glory through Christ Jesus. Well, let me give you this and
I'll let you go. Verse 10. Those who were brought to Christ
through Paul's ministry as they left, as Paul left them, they
honored Him, supplied Him for His journey, it says in verse
10, who also honored us with many honors, and when we departed,
they laded us with such things as were necessary. Those who
were brought to Christ through Paul's preaching, as he left
them, they honored him. They supplied him for the journey.
Grace makes people gracious. If any man be in Christ, he's
a new creature. Old things are passed away. Behold,
all things are become new. Now, last scripture, turn to
Matthew 10. Who also honored us with many
honors, turn to Matthew 10, look at this. Matthew 10. To receive God's message. And I mean by that the gospel
of Jesus Christ. To receive it, believe it, and
love it, and to bow to Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ. To receive
that message preached by God's servant is to receive Christ
Himself. To receive that message from
God's servant is to receive Christ. Because He is the Gospel. Look
what it says here in Matthew 10, verse 40. He that receiveth
you. He sent out His disciples to
preach the Gospel. And he gave them these instructions,
verse 40, He that receiveth you, receiveth me. He that receiveth
me, receiveth him that sent me. He that receiveth a prophet,
in the name of a prophet, shall receive a prophet's reward. What
is that? Salvation in Christ. He that
receiveth a righteous man, in the name of a righteous man.
He that receiveth a righteous man, in the name of a righteous
man, shall receive a righteous man's reward. What is that? Christ. He is the
Lord, our righteousness. You see, the Scriptures say,
He that is of God, heareth us. Our Lord said, My sheep hear
My voice, I know them, and they do follow Me. Who also honored
us with many honors. They honored Him by believing
Him and receiving that message. The Scripture said, Those who
honor Those who honor the gospel by believing it, those who honor
the Son, believe Him, rest in Him, God will honor them. Well, I pray the Lord will bless
that. We'll pick up there next week as Paul continues his journey
on to Rome and we find out that he meets up with those religious
Jews once again. And again, he preaches to them
the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.