Sermon Tone Analysis

ROME AT LAST       ACTS 28:1-16

 

            If you will take your Bibles and turn to the last chapter of the book of Acts and follow along as I read the first 16 verses.

We have two sermons left in this study, this morning and next Sunday morning.

I went back and counted around sixty sermons that I have preached from this book.

I hope that you have enjoyed this series as much as I have in preaching this series.

This is the final lap for Paul the prisoner before he arrives in Rome.

Since chapter 21, Paul has been an ambassador in chains for the gospel.

He was arrested in Jerusalem before an angry mob who was about to kill him.

He has made five defenses for his preaching of the resurrection and has one final defense in this book.

And this morning, we see Paul arriving in Rome.

One thing that stands out to me about the Apostle Paul is his unconquerable spirit.

Another I can think of stands out with an unconquerable spirit, Joni Eareckson Tada.

On a hot summer day in 1967 Joni dove into the Chesapeake Bay and lost touch with her body forever—in this life anyway.

The story of her battle for life and an even greater battle for her soul is well-known today, as is her indomitable, buoyant spirit.

Seeing her speak, sing, and charm a live audience only serves to confirm what her first book, /Joni/, so beautifully affirms—she possess one of the unconquerable spirits of our time, because of her strong faith in Jesus Christ.

Her positive example has both shamed and lured us toward a more courageous, faith-filled outlook on life.

Well, I must admit that Paul has done the same for me.

He has shamed me and lured me to a more courageous, faith-filled outlook on life.

In these verses, I want to give you four attributes of God and a response to these attributes.

First,

 

GOD’S PROVIDENCE – 1-2

            Someone once said, “Providence is the hand behind the headlines.”

And this was definitely the case in the life of the Apostle Paul.

God had promised that Paul would testify in Rome and by God’s providence God was getting him there in his timing.

It had been close to two and a half to three years of Paul getting to Rome.

And the last time we were in Acts, Paul and this crew of 275 men were in a storm.

They had been on this journey from Jerusalem to Rome now for two months.

And the trip was not a joy ride.

It was turbulent almost the whole way.

They found themselves traveling against contrary winds.

They ended up in a little harbor called Fair Haven where Paul warned the centurion not to set sail till winter was over because of the dangers at sea due to severe storms.

But the centurion listened to the pilot of the boat instead.

Well, this got them into trouble because a northeaster (Euroclydon or Euraquilo) came from the land.

The crew did everything in their might to save their lives from securing the dinghy, tying a rope around the hull of the ship, and jettisoning some of the cargo.

In fact, Luke says they saw neither sun nor stars for fourteen days and they had no idea where they were at sea.

But some sensed they were nearing land and sent out a sounding to see how far they were from land.

God’s providence had allowed them to drift some 600 miles from that port in Fair Haven to where their boat shipwrecked.

As the bow of the boat ran aground, some of the guards wanted to kill the prisoners on board lest they should escape.

But the centurion wanted to keep Paul safe and would not allow the soldiers to carry out their plans.

Those that could swim to shore did so, while those who could not swim grabbed a plank or a piece of the boat to get to shore.

Again, we see the providence of God in keeping Paul safe from the plans of the guards.

Once they were safe on shore, they learned that the island was called Malta.

This small island was 60 miles south of Sicily.

This island was given its name by the ancient Phoenicians, who lived on the coastline of Palestine.

They were great mariners, who chartered the courses of the Mediterranean.

Malta is a Phoenician word which means escape or refuge.

Luke may have used a play on words.

When we escaped the great storm we came to the land of escape.

Or we have found refuge from the island of refuge.

In verse 2, we learn that these pagan natives were quite hospitable because they kindled a fire and welcomed us all.

Some translations read “barbarous people” which is not intended to be a derogatory remark.

It was a way in which Greeks would specify people who did not speak Greek.

So these natives show great hospitality to Paul and the other men with him.

Again, we see the providence of God in the life of the Apostle.

Charles Spurgeon said, “We believe in the providence of God, but we do not believe half enough in it.”

The first attribute in these verses is God’s providence, next

 

GOD’S PROTECTION – 3-6

            Now you need to know that it is mid-November.

They had just been in a terrible storm and the rain was beating upon them and they were cold.

So they gathered about a fire which the natives built for them.

But I want you to notice something about Paul in verse 3.

He was gathering sticks to put on the fire.

Now Paul could have thought to himself I do not need to do this work because after all I just saved their lives.

He could have barked orders of what needed to be done.

Yet, Paul was a servant leader who was willing to role up his sleeves and get busy with the people.

One rainy day, a man accompanied by two women arrived at Northfield, hoping to enroll his daughter in D.L. Moody’s school for young women.

The three needed help in getting their luggage from the railway depot to the hotel, so the visitor “drafted” a rather common-looking man with a horse and wagon, assuming he was a local cabby.

The “cabby” said he was waiting for students, but the visitor ordered him to take them to the hotel.

The visitor was shocked when the “cabby” did not charge him, and was even more shocked to discover that the “cabby” was D.L. Moody himself!

Moody was a leader because he knew how to be a servant.

While he gathered the sticks and was ready to put them on the fire, a viper came out because of the heat and fastened on his hand.

In cold weather some snakes can look like twigs until the fire stirs them.

So this poisonous snake fastens on Paul’s hand injecting his venom.

It is interesting that today there are no such snakes on the island of Malta, but in Paul’s day they may have been there in quantity.

In fact, in verse 4, the natives saw the creature (venomous) hanging on to Paul’s hand.

And they began to speak in the crowd that Paul must have been a murdered and even though he escaped the storm at sea, Justice has not allowed him to live.

So this verse gives us their theology.

There is no doubt that this man is a murderer.

He may have escaped once, but finally Justice has caught up with him.

This was the goddess that was personified as Justice.

In fact the goddess Dike was the daughter of Zeus.

You always see Zeus, you know, a great god, you know, I think he's the one with all the darts in his hand and the arrows in his hand, and war and the wife‑Zeus and his wife Themis.

The daughter of Zeus and Themis and of course this is all mythology, was supposedly Dike, the goddess personified as justice.

And they say, ‑ A ha, the goddess is not so baffled, she may have been faked out at sea but that poisonous snake is going to bring justice on this evil She found a new way to punish the murderer.

In verse 5, Paul shakes the snake off and does not suffer any harm.

Wouldn’t it had been tragic for God to bring Paul through all these events to have him die at the hand of a snake bite.

Yet, we see God’s protection come into play in verse 6.

They waited for him to swell up and die, but he didn’t so they changed their minds about him.

Instead they said that Paul was a god.

This is the second time in the book of Acts that Paul was called a god.

Remember Acts 14, Paul and Barnabas came into Lystra and there was a man who could not use his feet.

And Paul healed the man and some of the people assumed that Paul and Barnabas were some type of gods and they were coming with the priests of Zeus to offer sacrifices to them.

And when Paul realized what they were doing, he reminded them that they were men just like they were.

And right after that fickle crowd was convinced by some Jews from Antioch and Iconium to stone Paul.

Here in these verses depict what Paul wrote in Romans 1.

They were idolaters.

They have knowledge of goodness.

They have knowledge of evil and its punishment.

And they have knowledge of God which they pervert into idolatry.

And so they called him a god.