Sermon Tone Analysis

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God is faithful, we have weak faith

Introduction

Acts 28:11

Paul has finally made it to Rome

Paul has finally made it to Rome

Paul has finally made it to Rome

He had expressed a personal desire to go to Rome in

Jesus promised he would go to Rome when he appeared to Paul in , just after facing the Jewish council and before he was sent to Felix - ““Take courage, for as you have testified to the facts about me in Jerusalem, so you must testify also in Rome.”

Jesus said they would be his witnesses to the ends of the earth - Rome was the beginning of that

If we had to describe the events that have lead to this point - “Progress Despite Pain”

1. Progress Despite Pain

Paul is all about progress

He has been proactive in taking up Jesus’ call to be His witness

and Jesus call to his own life

He’s embarked on 3 mission trips

Deliberately entered every synagogue in every city

Preached, taught, equipped and discipled

He’s engaged in discussions of theological truth and doctrinal accuracy

Now he’s progressed to the next season - Rome

Not without difficulty or pain

Arrested and beaten many times

Spent years in prison

Had to defend himself against the Jews before the Roman rulers 3 times - Felix, Festus and Agrippa

Felix couldn’t find fault, but kept him in prison hoping for a bribe

Festus couldn’t find fault, but kept him in prison hoping not to upset the Jews

Agrippa couldn’t find fault, but found an escape by permitting Paul’s appeal to Caesar

But that’s not all...

Ch27, gets onto a boat, and it doesn’t get any better

Recording the events of the journey to Rome, Luke lists their hardships...

He uses certain phrases repeatedly, like “with great difficulty” and “the winds were against us”

V4 - Leaving Sidon, they had to sail close to the shore of Cyprus because the winds were against them

V7-8 - “We sailed slowly for a number of days and arrived with difficulty off Cnidus, and as the wind did not allow us to go farther, we sailed under the lee of Crete off Salmone.

Coasting along it with difficulty, we came to a place called Fair Havens, near which was the city of Lasea.”

Luke then goes on to say that the journey had become quite dangerous

Paul even stands up and says in V10: “Sirs, I perceive that the voyage will be with injury and much loss, not only of the cargo and the ship, but also of our lives.”

But the centurion and owner of the ship decided that the harbour wasn’t suitable to spend the winter in, so they took their chances back out on the open sea

Then just as the wind started to push them along nicely, a strong wind drove them off course

Luke mentions time and again that their going was difficult

and eventually the storm was so severe that they started to throw their cargo overboard to try and get the ship to float higher on the surface of the water

In verse 20 Luke captures the mood of the ship.

Acts 27:20

For many days, they were stuck in that storm, hadn’t seen sun or stars, had no food, and all hope of being saved was abandoned

Then Paul had a visit from an angel, and Paul described to the men on the boat that the message given to him was that there would in fact be no loss of life, and that he would make it to Rome, but they would lose the ship

Had no food

Sure enough, having endured 14 days without food, the ship struck a reef and they had to swim for shore.

But that's not all

Most of the occupants of the ship were prisoners - including Paul

and the soldiers wanted to kill them all to prevent them swimming away and escaping

Fortunately the centurion in charge wanted to save Paul, so he prevented them from doing so

But that’s not all

Acts 27

Now in chapter 28, we see that Paul had landed on an island called Malta

While gathering wood for the fire, a snake latched onto Paul’s hand and he shook it off into the fire

It must have been a venomous one, because when he survived, the locals thought he must be a god

This was a fulfillment of Jesus promise to the disciples in : “And these signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up serpents with their hands; and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover.”

But that’s not all.

in verse 11, we learn that Paul was stranded on the island another 3 months before they finally set sail and came to Rome

And so, finally, through months of hardship and suffering, Paul progressed to his next destination - to Rome.

He had suffered much pain, but in spite of all resistance, the gospel had progressed to Rome

2. Spirit-Empowered Life in the Church

Even before arrival in Rome we see the unifying power of the Holy Spirit in the life of the Church

In Puteoli Paul found brothers - other Christians, who let Paul and his companions stay with them for 7 days

And when Paul came into Rome, more brothers came from far to meet him

And when Paul met them, Luke says he thanked God and took courage

This is testament to the unifying power of the Holy Spirit in the Church -

that Christians who have never met and who lived miles and miles apart from each other, would have this kind of love for one another and be willing to show such hospitality

But there’s more to it than even that

When Paul saw them, he thanked God and took courage

The closeness that we have in the Church is a gift from God.

We are a gift to each other, given to each other to build each other up and to encourage one another through the hardships and pain

Every one of us can remember times when we have gone through the storms of life, but had support and encouragement from our church family or even Christians on the other side of the world that gave us the strength to push on

But again, there’s even more to it than that.

Having just gone through such a terrible ordeal -

weeks of hunger, months of difficulty and suffering at sea,

escaping being killed by nature, snakes and soldiers,

and then still more months of toil and ministry on an island...

You would expect Paul to be thoroughly exhausted

But just 3 days after arriving in Rome, what do we see him doing?

Calling together the local leaders of the Jews, telling his story, preaching the gospel.

This can only be described as supernatural strength, and a Spirit-empowered compassion for the lost

Its quite incredible that after all that Paul has been through - not just over the recent months, but years - years spent in prison because of the accusations of the Jews, - after all that is why he is in Rome...

commitment to the proclamation of the gospel and compassion

that he would again engage the Jews with the very same gospel that got him in trouble with them in the first place

He doesn’t even take an easy approach - but look at the message he preaches to them

He doesn’t give them some soft, ear tickling message that he thinks will make them like him - he loves them too much for that.

He challenges them with the Scriptures and allows the Holy Spirit to do His work of convicting people of their sin, and drawing the elect to Christ

He preached the gospel

He preached Jesus

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.

“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.”

As with every time the gospel is preached in Acts, we see some believe and some reject

To those who walked away, Paul quotes from and applies it directly to the Jews

He quotes from and applies it directly to the Jews

“ ‘Go to this people, and say, “You will indeed hear but never understand, and you will indeed see but never perceive.”