With All Boldness
Acts • Sermon • Submitted
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· 5 viewsGod provides us with the strength to do His will. We are called to proclaim Him with all boldness.
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If you have your Bible, go ahead and grab it. Acts 28 is where we are at tonight and after 6 months, we have made it to the end of this incredible book. As I said last week, I hope this time in this book has been as good for you as it has been to me and we are going out strong tonight. What’s amazing is that many of the themes that we saw at the beginning of Acts, we see repeated here at the end of Acts. That’s not accidental, that’s intentional by Luke and the Holy Spirit. We see miracles, we see revival, we see Holy Spirit power both at the beginning and at the end of this amazing book. The Lord wants us to see that the very same Gospel that began at the beginning of Acts is the same Gospel that is proclaimed at the end of the book. The same Holy Spirit that drove the church along in its first days is the same Spirit that carries it to Acts 28 and beyond. With that in mind, there are going to be a lot of themes that we are going to talk about tonight that we have talked about over the last few weeks and months. We are going to once again see God’s providence, God’s guiding hand over all things, at play. There is no greater preacher of God’s providence than the Apostle Paul. We talked a few weeks ago about how the no’s and negatives that we receive in our lives are never by chance. God knows the no’s and He often uses those circumstances to guide us and point us to where He wants us to be. From our study we know that the place that God wanted Paul to reach was the great city of Rome and we know from the past few weeks that Paul didn’t book a trip on Southwest and fly into Rome but through a series of what many view as a series of unfortunate events, Paul arrived at Rome with great difficulty. Once he arrived there, he didn’t arrive as a free-man, he came as a prisoner as we are going to continue to see this evening. Let’s go ahead and dive into this final chapter. I’m going to summarize the first 12 verses and then we will start up at verse 13 but let’s first open up in prayer.
Summary of Verses 1-12
Summary of Verses 1-12
The last we heard of Paul and company, they were making their way to shore after spending several weeks in rough seas and storms. The ship that they were on, has busted to pieces and in God’s mercy, God allows all 267 people to survive this ordeal and they all either swim or float to shore. That’s what happened at the end of chapter 27. Here in the first few verses of chapter 28 we see that they reach an island called Malta and the native people there show them all a great deal of kindness and they start a fire for them and welcome them. That sounds great but poor Paul, as he is reaching for some sticks to add to the fire is bit by a viper but Paul just shakes it off like nothing happened and tosses it into the fire. The natives see this happen and they assume that Paul must have done something wrong because even though he escaped the sea, death has met him here with the snake but nothing happens to him. Paul’s group eventually meets the chief of the island, a man named Publius which is one of the funnest names in Scripture to say, and Publius’s father is sick with a fever and dysentery but Paul is able to heal him and after 3 months, they leave the island and head to Rome and with that, you are now caught up with what happens in the beginning of Acts 28. Let’s read Acts 28:13-31 and finish this great book
And from there we made a circuit and arrived at Rhegium. And after one day a south wind sprang up, and on the second day we came to Puteoli. There we found brothers and were invited to stay with them for seven days. And so we came to Rome. And the brothers there, when they heard about us, came as far as the Forum of Appius and Three Taverns to meet us. On seeing them, Paul thanked God and took courage. And when we came into Rome, Paul was allowed to stay by himself, with the soldier who guarded him.
After three days he called together the local leaders of the Jews, and when they had gathered, he said to them, “Brothers, though I had done nothing against our people or the customs of our fathers, yet I was delivered as a prisoner from Jerusalem into the hands of the Romans. When they had examined me, they wished to set me at liberty, because there was no reason for the death penalty in my case. But because the Jews objected, I was compelled to appeal to Caesar—though I had no charge to bring against my nation. For this reason, therefore, I have asked to see you and speak with you, since it is because of the hope of Israel that I am wearing this chain.” And they said to him, “We have received no letters from Judea about you, and none of the brothers coming here has reported or spoken any evil about you. But we desire to hear from you what your views are, for with regard to this sect we know that everywhere it is spoken against.”
When they had appointed a day for him, they came to him at his lodging in greater numbers. From morning till evening he expounded to them, testifying to the kingdom of God and trying to convince them about Jesus both from the Law of Moses and from the Prophets. And some were convinced by what he said, but others disbelieved. And disagreeing among themselves, they departed after Paul had made one statement: “The Holy Spirit was right in saying to your fathers through Isaiah the prophet:
“ ‘Go to this people, and say,
“You will indeed hear but never understand,
and you will indeed see but never perceive.”
For this people’s heart has grown dull,
and with their ears they can barely hear,
and their eyes they have closed;
lest they should see with their eyes
and hear with their ears
and understand with their heart
and turn, and I would heal them.’
Therefore let it be known to you that this salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles; they will listen.”
He lived there two whole years at his own expense, and welcomed all who came to him, proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness and without hindrance.
There are 3 things that I want to draw you attention to as we end this series. The first is the providence of God. The second is the response that we all must make to this Gospel. Then finally, the third thing I want us to look at is what our place is in a post Acts 28 world.
The Providence of God
The Providence of God
One thing that I hate doing is sounding like a broken record. One of the reasons that we play so many different songs on Wednesday nights is because I get tired of saying the same things over and over again. One of the great benefits of preaching the Bible verse by verse is that you are forced to not sound like a broken record. You don’t get to just preach the things you like, you come face to face with all that God has to offer in His Word. Now saying all that, you might be wondering why I want to talk about the providence and sovereignty of God again because we have done that quite a lot this series. The reason that I want to is because we so often forget it. In the past week, I am sure for all of us that there have been things that have popped up that made it feel like our lives were spiraling out of control but let me reassure you, our lives are never out of control. Even when it seems like all around is is darkness and decay, we can still comfortably rest our heads on the pillow of God’s providence. David recognized this in Psalm 139:7-12
Where shall I go from your Spirit?
Or where shall I flee from your presence?
If I ascend to heaven, you are there!
If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!
If I take the wings of the morning
and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
even there your hand shall lead me,
and your right hand shall hold me.
If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me,
and the light about me be night,”
even the darkness is not dark to you;
the night is bright as the day,
for darkness is as light with you.
There was nowhere he could go to be out of God’s sight. Even if he were to be dead in the center of the earth, God would still be there. From the beginning of your life to the end, God has it in His hands. What’s wonderful about God’s providence, His power, His knowledge, His might, His very person is that there is a personal aspect behind it that drives each and every Christian. Derek Kidner in his commentary on the Psalms noted, “The divine knowledge is not merely comprehensive, like that of some receptor that misses nothing, capturing everything alike. It is personal and active: discerning us; searching us; knowing our minds more closely than we know them ourselves; surrounding us, and handling us.” Why bring this up with Acts 28 in mind? Because this is what Paul saw for himself and this is what we need to see in our own lives today! Paul reached Rome by God’s great providence. Paul desired to reach Rome with the Gospel because that was what was at the heart of God Himself! When you become a Christian, your allegiances and your desires shift. The longer you walk this Christian life, the more you want what your Heavenly Father wants. Nothing in heaven, earth, or under the earth was going to move Paul away from Rome and that was because God Himself desired Paul to make it to Rome! God knew the man! God knew the heart of Paul and God knew what would be for the greatest good of the Church. Praise God for providence! Thomas Watson said, “Providence is the hand that turns all the wheels in the universe; it is the pilot who steers the ship of the creation. Providences are sometimes dark—often difficult to decipher: God often writes in shorthand—his providences are often secret, but always wise.” Whether Paul was in the jail cell, in the hands of crowds and robbers, before royalty, in the depths of the sea, in the midst of the storm, lost in the dark, the darkness was never so deep that God could not see Him. He was never so off course that God was not directing His course and this very well may be true in your life now. You may be having closed door after closed door, misstep after misstep, rejection after rejection, shipwreck after shipwreck, but God is not done with you. God in His providence, God in His knowledge of what is best for you, God in His perfect understanding of what is best for the Kingdom of God, always brings us exactly where we need to be. Even though we may walk through the valley of the shadow of death, as Paul has done time and time again, we can fear no evil because God in His perfect providence is with us and comforts us. God knows the beginning of your life and He knows the end of your life and He knows everything in between. Now this obviously doesn’t mean that you just live however you want, sin however much you want, party hard and leave a pretty corpse. What this does mean is that if you feel like you are caught in a great storm, hold on to the God who is there. Nothing in your life has taken God by surprise and nothing ever will. Trust the Lord and His timing. It took decades for Abraham to see the son that God promised. It took 7 days walking around Jericho before those walls fell down. It took David years to become king. It took Paul years to get to Rome. God works according to His time and His timing has been and will always be perfect. Soldier on. Keep fighting the good fight and finish your race. R.C. Sproul said, “This is our Father’s world, and we are his children; He has appointed for every one of us a final point, and He will bring us there. In the midst of storm, shipwreck, beatings, and pain, when we start to lose courage and give up hope and think that the invisible hand of God has let us go, we need only remember His servant Paul, who took courage when his feet landed safely on Roman soil. That is the God we worship, who has each one of His people in the hollow of His hand.” Look at the Saints throughout history who have gone before you, see what they endured on their way to glory. Did God abandon them? Never once! And He will never abandon the one that He paid so high a price to obtain. If Christ would leave Heaven for us that we might be united to Him, why would He leave us now that He has purchased us with His blood? Now we come to the second point: How do we respond to the Gospel message? What do we do with what we have learned from this book?
How do we respond?
How do we respond?
Look again at Acts 28:23-24. “When they had appointed a day for him, they came to him at his lodging in greater numbers. From morning till evening he expounded to them, testifying to the kingdom of God and trying to convince them about Jesus both from the Law of Moses and from the Prophets. And some were convinced by what he said, but others disbelieved.” We’ll quickly break this down into 2 perspectives: the 2 ways to that the world responds and then how we as Christians respond to the new lives that we have through the Gospel. To make it simple, there are 2 ways that the world responds: Either in belief or unbelief. They are either convinced or they continue in disbelief. When it comes to the Gospel, you must ask yourself where you stand on this. You are either believe that this is the Word of God or you don’t. You either believe that Jesus is the Son of God, slain for sin, risen on the 3rd day or you don’t. You have faith or you don’t. You don’t get to decide to live for Christ today, live for yourself tomorrow, back to Christ next weekend, back to the world to start the Spring, do you believe here and now? Has Jesus Christ changed the trajectory of your life? Because if you have not been changed within and without by the Gospel of Jesus Christ, hell is your home. No sin and pleasure now will ever make up for eternity lost. There is a stark line between Heaven and Hell and it is seen at the cross. Where do you stand with Jesus Christ? Are you His or do you belong to another? Don’t walk away from an eternity from Christ because you don’t like what you are hearing. That’s exactly what several of the Jews did to Paul here in chapter 28 and throughout the entire book of Acts. Come to Christ and you will see that God will give you the joy to do what He commands. Those are the 2 perspectives: belief and unbelief. Now we must ask, how do we as Christians respond to this change in our lives? How do we live out the faith that we have? We live with a newfound boldness and without hindrance and it is with that same attitude that we proclaim the truths of the Gospel. God does not save us so that we can go hide under the covers. God saves us that we might proclaim Him. Peter says in 1 Peter 2:9-10 “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.” We are a people of His own possession so that we may proclaim the excellencies of Him that called us. It doesn’t matter where you find yourself in your life, you can do this from wherever you are. Look at Paul! He’s in Rome under house arrest and yet it is here where he has some of the most productive years of his ministry. People are flocking to him to hear what he has to say. It would be during this arrest where he would write his letters to the Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and Philemon. While the man of God may be chained, the Gospel never is. The Word of God will prevail with or without us but we need to be faithful to the call. Will you be bold in your proclamation of the Kingdom of God? You should because God has not given us a spirit of fear but a spirit of power, love, and self-control. The world cannot conquer the unconquerable. The world will try its best to slow the spread of the Gospel but notice that to this day, Christ has continue to shine forth. If you are a Christian, understand that you are on the winning side. If you knew you could not fail, I’m pretty sure you would feel emboldened to do whatever task lied before you. Christ has never failed you, He will never fail you, even if the world takes our life, they are only hastening our reign with Christ. Remember, the worst thing the world can do is kill you and the second that your physical life is lost, you wake up before the presence of perfection. What would you do for the Gospel if you knew you could not fail? That leads us to our final point in this study: What is our place in a post Acts 28 world?
An Acts 29 World
An Acts 29 World
You may have noticed how the book of Acts ends with a pretty open ending. There’s no grand trial before Nero, there’s no freedom for Paul, there’s no return of Christ, or even what looks to be an unprecedented revival in the heart of Rome or Jerusalem. It just sort of ends. Luke was one of the greatest historians of his time, so we can naturally assume that he didn’t run out of material. Acts ends when it does with a very intentional message. The Kingdom of God is advancing. Christ has not yet returned, therefore, there is still work for us to do. Every generation of Christians comes across this as they read this book. 21 centuries of Christians have gotten to Acts 28 and realized, there is still much to be done. John Stott said, “The Acts of the Apostles have long ago finished. But the acts of the followers of Jesus will continue until the end of the world, and their words will spread to the ends of the earth.” That is why Acts ends as it does. This book ends the way it does with the reminder that God’s work is not finished. As long as you and I are breathing, we have work to do and just as Luke said in chapter 1, this is Christ’s work and just as Christ began the work, the day is coming when Christ will finish His work and all who have longed for His returning will rejoice in the completion of that day. So, here we are. We’re in what you could call an Acts 29 world. Christ has not yet put the final period at the sentence of history but we know the day is coming. How are we going to live in this world? We live in this world on a God-given mission. It’s a mission that shall be accomplished and as we are going to see in the next few weeks and months as we go through 1-2 Thessalonians, the time is coming soon when God will close the book on history and we as Christians will be able to see that our labor was not in vain. Are you willing to be like Paul, to be like Peter, to be like Stephen, and all these great saints that we have read about in this book and live and work for Christ until the work is finished or He calls you home? Your life is a life of mission. If you are a Christian, God has laid claim to your life and we must all embrace the mission that He has for us. It’s a mission that will never fail and it’s a mission that He sees to the success of. You and I are called to proclaim this Gospel with all boldness and without hindrance. Our final question then is this: Will you? Will you be faithful in these things? Let’s conclude our study with one last quote from James Montgomery Boice: “The Word is not hindered. We are its messengers. Will we take the Gospel to the ends of the earth beginning with our Jerusalem, as we have been instructed to do? If we will, God will bless it to the praise of the glory of His great grace.” Let’s pray.