Books of the Book: Acts

Acts to be Continued...

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

Program transcript

Participants: Jim & Mark Howard

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Series Code: ABOTB

Program Code: ABOTB00026B


00:01 Welcome back. We have been studying in the book of Acts and
00:05 right before our break we were looking at how Paul, on his way
00:08 to Rome, has been in a shipwreck with the rest of the prisoners
00:12 there and they actually came near land. They're in a storm,
00:15 they've been in a storm for 14 days. They haven't eaten
00:18 anything and they're looking for an opportunity to land the ship.
00:21 They realize they're probably going to lose the ship. But now
00:24 they're concerned about the ship breaking up on the rocks, so
00:26 they're waiting for daylight. Now the Bible says in verse 39
00:30 of Acts 27, When it was day they did not recognize the land, but
00:34 they observed a bay with a beach onto which they planned to run
00:37 the ship if possible. So it goes on to tell us they dropped
00:40 anchors. They ended up running the ship aground and it tells
00:44 us in verse 42, the soldiers plan was to kill the prisoners
00:47 lest any of them should swim away and escape. And you recall
00:51 from earlier in our study in the book of Acts that if the Roman
00:54 soldiers allowed the prisoners to escape it was at the peril of
00:57 their own life. So they were just going to go ahead and kill
01:00 the prisoners because they didn't know how they could
01:02 retain them. But it says here, verse 43, that the centurion
01:06 wanting to save Paul kept them from their purpose and commanded
01:09 that those who could swim should jump overboard first and get to
01:13 land. Others took pieces of the boat and what have you and the
01:17 Bible says they all escaped safely to land on the island of
01:21 Malta. Powerful. So I wonder if the
01:22 reason that they stopped was in part they were thankful to Paul
01:27 for the fact that his God had ultimately delivered them.
01:32 Well we go to chapter 28. We pick up there. It says, Now when
01:35 they had escaped they then found out that the island was called
01:39 Malta and the natives showed us unusual kindness for they
01:43 kindled a fire and made us all welcome because of the rain that
01:46 was falling and because of the cold. But when Paul had gathered
01:50 a bundle of sticks and laid them on the fire a viper came out
01:53 because of the head and fastened on his hand. Now this is
01:57 fascinating. A viper comes out and bites him on the hand but he
01:59 doesn't just bite him. In verse 4 it says, So when the natives
02:02 saw the creature hanging from his hand (so now it's holding on
02:06 to him) they said to one another Oh no doubt this man is a
02:09 murderer whom, though he has escaped the sea, yet justice
02:12 does not allow to live. They're thinking this is like bad karma
02:16 right? He's now going to receive his just due.
02:18 They're counting the steps to see when he's going to drop.
02:21 That's right. And in verse 5 it says, But he shook of the
02:24 creature into the fire and suffered no harm. However, they
02:26 were expecting that he would swell up or suddenly fall down
02:30 dead. But after they had looked for a long time (so they're
02:33 watching intently and nothing's happening) and saw no harm
02:36 come to him, they changed their minds and said that he was a
02:39 god. So that's interesting. They went from thinking that he was
02:41 the worst of criminals to a god because they simply didn't
02:45 understand the power of the true God.
02:47 You know, I kind of think, Jim, about the hand being in the
02:50 Bible often times as what we do things with and it's almost a
02:53 picture story here where the serpent, the old devil, bites
02:57 the hand of the church and tries to hinder the working of the
03:00 gospel. But you know what? The Lord Jesus promised his
03:03 disciples in Mark 16 that they'd be bitten by serpents and the
03:07 serpents wouldn't have power over them. Here we see that
03:10 promise being fulfilled. Well we see Paul going on here to
03:12 minister a little bit to the people of Malta. There was a
03:14 leading citizen named Publius and his father was sick and Paul
03:19 the Bible says, went in to him, in verse 8, laid his hands on
03:23 him and healed him and you can imaging the island now starts to
03:26 bring all their sick people to Paul and Paul heals them all as
03:30 they come and of course that gained a lot of influence there
03:33 for the Apostle Paul and an opportunity for him to share
03:36 with them. That's right. Well you come down
03:38 to verse 11 and it says, after three months (so this is three
03:43 months after the ship wreck) we sailed on an Alexandrian ship
03:47 whose figurehead was the Twin Brothers which had wintered at
03:50 the island and landing at Syracuse we stayed three days.
03:54 From there we circled around and reached Rhegium and after
03:57 one day the south wind blew and the next day we came to Puteoli
04:02 where we found brethren and were invited to stay with them seven
04:05 days. So this is interesting. They come to this little island
04:09 near to Rome and there are brethren there. So you can only
04:14 imagine that perhaps from Pentecost and all the people
04:18 came from so many different places or somehow the word had
04:22 spread. That had to be encouraging.
04:24 Yeah, that's what I'm thinking. And they've got to be thinking
04:27 wow this word is spreading. It's going to places that Paul
04:30 himself has not been. And that's the way that the gospel moved
04:34 in the days of the early church. So it says in the next part, We
04:38 found brethren (and were invited to stay seven days) and so we
04:42 went toward Rome. Verse 15 says, And from there when the brethren
04:45 heard about us they came to meet us as far as Appii Forum and
04:49 Three Inns. When Paul saw them he thanked God and took courage.
04:52 So now the brethren from Rome have come to meet Paul so now
04:55 he's getting close. He's there speaking to some of the
04:58 believers in Christ from Rome. And in verse 16 it says, they
05:02 came to Rome, the centurion delivered the prisoners to the
05:05 captain of the guard. Paul was permitted to dwell there. Now in
05:08 verse 17 it begins to talk about Paul ministering to some of the
05:12 Jews in Rome. It says, And it came to pass after three days
05:15 that Paul called the leaders of the Jews together. This is
05:19 fascinating. Paul didn't just talk to those believers there,
05:23 those who believed in Christ, but he had an opportunity here
05:26 and wanted to meet with the Jews so that he could have a chance
05:30 to share Christ with them even though he was still in one sense
05:33 or another bound or a prisoner. It says, Paul called the leaders
05:37 of the Jews together and so when they had come together he
05:40 said to them. Men and brethren, though I have done nothing
05:43 against our people or the customs of our fathers, yet I
05:46 was delivered as a prisoner from Jerusalem into the hands of the
05:49 Romans who, when they had examined me, wanted to let me go
05:52 because there was no cause for putting me to death. But when
05:55 the Jews spoke against it, I was compelled to appeal to Caesar,
05:58 not that I had anything of which to accuse my nation. For this
06:01 reason, therefore, I have called for you to see you and speak
06:04 with you because for the hope of Israel I am bound with this
06:07 chain. The hope of Israel, the hope of the Messiah. Then they
06:11 said to him, we neither received letters from Judea concerning
06:14 you nor have any of the brethren who came reported or spoken any
06:18 evil of you. So apparently you can imagine that as difficult
06:22 as it was for Paul to get to Rome that there was no other
06:25 report that had come to Rome yet and we don't really see any
06:28 evidence that there was a report that ever came to Rome warning
06:32 the Jews there and so they had a certain sense of openness.
06:35 It says in verse 22, But we desire to hear from you.
06:39 That's a wonderful thing when somebody says that when you want
06:42 to share the gospel with them. To hear from you what you think
06:45 for concerning this sect, we know that it is spoken against
06:49 everywhere. Now it's interesting. They had
06:51 not heard of Paul like you said but they certainly heard about
06:53 this sect, The Way. You know what it makes me think
06:57 is sometimes as a Seventh-day Adventist I recognize that you
07:03 can't totally remove people's prejudices when they hear
07:06 hear certain things that they don't understand about your
07:09 faith and your beliefs. And sometimes we get worried about
07:12 that, but you know what they had that in the Christian
07:14 church. Everywhere they went there was prejudice against
07:17 their message. So we need to understand...
07:20 You would expect there would be because the enemy hates the
07:23 truth. Exactly. We understand that
07:25 God's in charge and that God ultimately will use the power of
07:28 the truth to convict people's hearts even when he has to work
07:32 past prejudice. That's right. Well Paul had the
07:34 opportunity. Evidently he was able to entertain guests.
07:39 It says in verse 23, When they had appointed him a day many
07:43 came to him at his lodging to whom he explained and solemnly
07:46 testified of the kingdom of God persuading them concerning Jesus
07:50 from both the law of Moses and the prophets from
07:53 morning till evening (we've seen that before) reasoning from the
07:56 scriptures. And it says ultimately some were persuaded
07:59 and some disbelieved, in verse 24. And then Paul leaves these
08:03 words with the Jews.
08:04 He actually quotes from Isaiah and he says in verse 26, Go to
08:07 to this people and say, Hearing you will hear and shall not
08:10 understand, and seeing you will see and not perceive, for the
08:13 hearts of this people have grown dull. Their ears are hard
08:16 of hearing and their eyes they have closed lest they should see
08:20 with their eyes and hear with their ears, lest they should
08:24 understand with their hearts and turn so that I should heal them.
08:28 Wow! What a powerful testimony. And he says, Therefore, let it
08:33 be known to you that the salvation of God has been sent
08:36 to the Gentiles and they will hear it. And it goes on to tell
08:40 us there as the book closes, When he had said these words
08:43 the Jews departed and had a great dispute. Then Paul dwelt
08:46 two whole years in his own rented house and received all
08:48 who came to him preaching the kingdom of God and teaching the
08:51 things which concerned the Lord Jesus Christ with all confidence
08:54 no one forbidding him. Now it's interesting here that we know
08:58 the Apostle Paul died as a martyr under Nero. So did Peter
09:01 but Luke doesn't see fit to record it. He leaves the ending
09:04 open. That's right. I mean I almost
09:06 fell like I need to turn the page and look at chapter 29 and
09:09 it's not there. There's nothing left after that. It seems to end
09:13 abruptly or not end. Yeah, or maybe it's an open ending.
09:18 It makes me think back to our beginning actually when we first
09:22 spoke about our introduction to the book of Acts and we talked
09:26 about at the end of Luke the commission that the Lord Jesus
09:30 gave, those motivating factors that he gave to the church.
09:34 He opened the scriptures to them and gave them the clear evidence
09:37 of faith in the scripture and then he gave them the great
09:40 commission. And he said, you need to take this scripture
09:44 this message that I've entrusted to you and you need to take it
09:48 to the whole world. As I think about that, I think WOW. What's
09:53 really happening here is this is a mission that doesn't end
09:57 because as long as life lasts the book of Acts is still being
10:01 written. I think back to that statement from the book The
10:04 Great Controversy that we were talking about in that very first
10:09 program that we had when it says that at the end of time before
10:13 the final judgments of God fall upon the earth, there will be
10:17 a revival of such primitive godliness as has not been seen
10:22 since apostolic times; that has not been seen since the book of
10:26 Acts. We understand that there will be another continuance of
10:31 the book of Acts in our day.
10:33 That's right and it makes me think, Jim, have you ever run a
10:36 relay race where you've got that baton and one person hands it
10:40 to the next person and hands it to the next person. And when
10:43 that person who runs to you hands you the baton, that baton
10:46 is in your hands, I can't help but think to myself of the
10:49 faithful men and women in the book of Acts. All the trial, all
10:53 the suffering, everything they risked for the gospel and then
10:56 we come to the end of the book and they hand that baton to you
11:00 and me. I wonder to myself, what would the Apostle Paul say today
11:04 if he were to look at the church who's received the baton and
11:08 what we're doing with it. I can't help but think at least
11:11 in part that we have not done everything that we could be
11:13 doing with the gospel message. That we need to be stirred with
11:17 that spirit of revival to carry the gospel forward.
11:20 You know, the book of Acts is entitled Acts, but in most of
11:25 our Bibles it says the Acts of the Apostles. But you know I
11:30 wonder as we look at that title if we shouldn't be renaming it.
11:34 Our viewers may want to put their name there. Maybe I should
11:39 be asking myself, What are the Acts of Jim Howard? What are the
11:43 Acts of Mark Howard. Really the Holy Spirit, while he was active
11:48 in the book of Acts the needful component that made the book
11:53 of Acts possible was willing hearts and willing messengers.
11:57 And we found that in the early apostles. They showed us what
12:01 it means to sacrifice. They showed us what it means to have
12:07 boldness. They were not in any way afraid of the opposition
12:11 they received in their day. Nothing whether it was beatings
12:15 or scourgings or anything would keep them from carrying out the
12:19 mission. But how do we feel about the mission that Christ
12:22 has given us? Are we as serious about carrying it to the world
12:26 as they were in the book of Acts? I want to invite you today
12:30 to accept the challenge of rewriting, or should I say,
12:34 writing the last chapter of the book of Acts. Thank you for
12:38 joining us on Books of the Book.


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Revised 2014-12-17