In the sermon 'Paul's Ministry In Rome,' delivered by David Green, the circumstances surrounding the Apostle Paul's arrival in Rome are detailed. Although Paul originally intended to visit Rome freely to preach the Gospel, he arrives under house arrest, a prisoner bound by chains yet undeterred in his mission. Paul calls upon the chief Jewish leaders in Rome within three days of his arrival, emphasizing his commitment to sharing the message of Jesus Christ. Despite being a prisoner, Paul's ministry flourishes as he expounds on the hope of Israel, pointing to the Messiah, Jesus, using the Old Testament scriptures. The sermon underscores the theme that life's detours should not deter Christians from their mission to spread the Gospel. Paul’s approach to teaching was patient and thorough, focusing on scripture and the message of salvation. The message concludes with an exhortation to live for Christ actively and to continue sharing the Gospel, likening the spread of sin to a cancer for which Jesus is the cure.

There we go. Alright so we're in Neptune Park today on St. Simons Island and if You have your Bibles you can go ahead and be turned into Acts chapter 28 Put a rib in there. That's where we'll be most of the time this evening So Acts chapter 28 Lord Willem will finish up the chapter and the book, actually. But if you will recall, Paul has been placed under house arrest in Rome and he's chained to a guard, one soldier.

This is definitely not the way that Paul had intended on getting to Rome, but he had that desire. And so this is where we're at. In fact, if you hold your place there and go to Romans chapter 1 quickly before we go into Acts 28, I just want to remind you what he wrote to the church at Rome. Romans chapter 1, beginning of verse 8. He said, First I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, that your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world.

For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing I make mention of you always in my prayers Making requests if by any means now at length I might have a prosperous journey By the will of God to come unto you for I long to see you that I may impart unto you some spiritual gift to the end you may be established. That is, that I may be comforted together with you by the mutual faith both of you and me. I would not have you ignorant brethren that oftentimes I purpose to come unto you but was let hither to, that I might have some fruit among you also, even as among other Gentiles. I am debtor both to the Greeks and to the barbarians, both to the wise and to the unwise. So as much as in me is, I'm ready to preach the gospel to you there at Rome also.

For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For herein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith as is written the just shall live by faith." And so we see that Paul had that great desire to be among the Romans. He had that great desire to carry the gospel to them, to tell them about Jesus. And so we're reminded of that. Well, when he wrote that letter, He was planning on making the trip there the same as what he went to Corinth or to Athens or anywhere else but as it turns out that's not the way it worked and indeed he was captured.

He was taken as prisoner to the, to, to, eventually he ended up in Roman hands and he appealed to Caesar even though he himself was innocent of all charges. In Acts chapter 23 and verse 11, when all these things were first starting to happen there, it says, in the night following the Lord stood by him and said, Be of good cheer, Paul, for as thou hast testified of me in Jerusalem, So must thou bear witness also at Rome." And so Jesus told him that he would indeed be going to Rome. He would live to tell the story, and he would be able to bear witness to him. And so I bring all that up here at the introduction just to point out that even though it was not in Paul's original plan to go there as a prisoner, he did end up in Rome, and as we read on down, we'll see he has a ministry there even though he was a prisoner. Paul never forgot of his desire to to tell people about Jesus And so I just want to point that out and say to you, you who are here and you who may be listening, watching later, that life oftentimes has detours, has drama that comes up, different things that happen that we don't plan for.

But if you keep Jesus in the forefront, if you stay on course, stick to the mission if you will, then God will bless that. And indeed we see that happening here in Acts chapter 28. So let's get over there and pick up where we left off. In Acts chapter 28, verse 17 says, And it came to pass that after three days Paul called the chief of the Jews together. When they were come together, he said unto them, Men and brethren, though I have committed nothing against the people or customs of our fathers, yet was I delivered prisoner from Jerusalem into the hands of the Romans, who when they had examined me would have let me go because there was no cause of death in me, but when the Jews spake against it, I was constrained to appeal unto Caesar, not that I had ought to accuse my nation of.

For this cause therefore have I called for you to see you and to speak with you, because that for the hope of Israel I am bound with this chain they said unto him we neither received letters out of Judea concerning thee neither any of the brethren that came showed or spake any harm of thee. But we desire to hear of thee what thou thinkest, for as concerning the sect, we know that everywhere it is spoken against." And so we see here that Paul obviously did not forget why he was there. He also did not forget what he wanted to, why he wanted to be in Rome in the first place. And so within three days of getting there, he got to work. No doubt, no doubt he was thinking about this the whole time, considering what way he may be able to witness to the people there.

And so he called together the chief of the Jews. He wasn't going to sit around and wait for another time. He didn't know how much time he had left for that matter. And so These were the leading men of the Jews there in Rome. That's who he called together.

He wasn't speaking to Christian Jews. These were unbelieving Jews that he met with. Met with. If you recall as we've gone through the the book of Acts you'll recall that he's given multiple defenses before the Jews and before the Romans. This is his sixth and final defense here in the book of Acts.

You can go back and you can read those again later, go back over the videos to see some of those other things. But as he rehearses these most recent events which led him coming to Rome, he's sure to tell them. It's there in your text in verse 20. He says, For this cause have I called you to see you and to speak with you, because that for the hope of Israel, I am bound with this chain. Right?

For the hope of Israel. What is the hope of Israel? What was the hope of Israel at that time? Well, it's the same hope that Israel has today. That is the hope of the Messiah.

The Old Testament prophesied of him, prophesied about Jesus coming, and Jesus did come, and it was for the hope of Israel. That's why that Paul was in trouble. This is why he was chained. This is why that he ended up where he was at And he wanted to make sure that he pointed them to Jesus. You know, you and I, we're on a similar mission in our lives.

We were not saved simply to sit on a pew somewhere for the rest of our lives. Although we should be in the pews, we should be at church, but that's not all there is. Jesus is not simply a fire escape. He has given us work to do and That work has not expired even though two thousand years have passed since since this time That work continues with every generation with every Group of people every continent the work of telling others about Jesus. We need to share that.

Imagine if you knew somebody who had cancer, and if you had the cure, it would be an awful shame to keep that cure to yourself. It would be a terrible thing to hide it and just rejoice in that cure, but never give it to anybody else. Well, something worse is going on in this world, and that is people are affected by sin. And it is like a cancer. It spreads.

And it is deadly. But we have the cure. We have the scriptures. We have Jesus. And we need to be like Paul, who was not ashamed of the Gospel.

For it is the power of God unto salvation to the Jew first, also to the Greek. We don't know how long we've got left on this earth any more than Paul knew. Thankfully we don't have the persecutions like what he had. We don't have the trouble like he had. But you know in a sense that gives us more of responsibility I would say.

He was hindered if you will, or people tried to hinder him with the persecutions and we don't have that. We have freedom. We can stand here in this park. People walk by and whatever, nobody is here to arrest us because we've got a Bible. But in those days, that would have been trouble for them.

And so, Paul was willing to... He had that desire that even though he was in trouble with the authorities for being a Christian, he still wanted to tell them, to tell them, He did not back away from it. So in his opening statements here he says that it was for the hope of Israel, of why He was there. By the time we get to verse 21 in our text here, the Jews told him, And so we never received letters out of Judea concerning you nor any of the brethren that came, showed, or spaked any harm of these. The Jews in Judea had not yet sent any letter to Rome about Paul.

Neither had they managed to get there in time to really give their case. It's kind of interesting that that didn't happen. Remember Paul had been shipwrecked, all sorts of things had happened. The Jews certainly had time to get there, but they didn't. And so there was no written communication nor were there any oral reports about Paul.

But in verse 22 it says, but we desire to hear of thee what thou thinkest For as concerning the sect we know that everywhere it is spoken against and so he Takes that and he says Or rather they said those Jews they said well we want to hear from you They didn't complain about the absence of information You know information traveled slow in those days anyway, they didn't have Facebook they didn't have Twitter they didn't have the US mail even. And so information came very, very slowly. But they were willing to hear Paul about this sect, as they called it. Remember, To them, Christianity seemed like just another sect, another group of Judaism. And so they wanted to hear it because everywhere they were getting complaints about it.

It's spoken against everywhere as they said. People did not like Christianity. They were not a fan of it. They did not like the churches. They did not like Paul.

They heard all sorts of things against it. But all that being said, you know, and everything, Paul put it this way when he wrote to the church of Corinth in 1st Corinthians chapter 1 verses 18 through 23 For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness, but unto us which are saved it is the power of God. For as written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. Where is the wise? Where is the scribe?

Where is the disputer of this world? Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For after that, in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God, by the foolishness of preaching, to save them to believe. For the Jews require sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom. But we preach Christ crucified under the Jews' stumbling block and under the Greeks foolishness." The people saw the preaching of the cross as being foolishness.

And that is the way it is today. Those who perish, they see that it's foolishness, it's ridiculous. They say, well how in the world can this be? You know, it is foolishness to those who are perishing, those who are dying, those who are dead. But, he says, unto us which are saved it is the power of God.

Isn't that the difference that being saved makes? Because Before you're saved, then preaching seems stupid. Preaching seems ridiculous. Coming to church or going to hear somebody preach for an hour or whatever, that just seems plum silly. But once you're saved, you start to enjoy those things and rejoice to hear about Jesus.

You know, the doctors in this world, they seem silly to someone who's healthy. Why do I need to go to the doctor? You know, but when you realize you've got a problem, you've got maybe a pain in your stomach or an issue with your arm, whatever it may be, Going to the doctor doesn't seem silly anymore. A lot of people perishing, they don't even realize it. They don't even know their need of Jesus.

But once you Understand the awful condition that you're in outside of Christ That without Jesus there's only an eternal hell then that's When you start to say hey, wait a minute. I really need Jesus, right? He's the one the only one that there is that can help me. Everywhere they said this sect is spoken against. Well, that may have been an exaggeration.

There were places, pockets, groups of people, even in those days, that were rejoicing in the things of Christ. In Acts chapter 28, back into our text there verses 23 through 29 and when they And when they had appointed him a day, there came many to him into his lodging, to whom he expounded and testified the kingdom of God, persuading them concerning Jesus, both out of the law of Moses and out of the prophets, and from morning till evening. And some believed the things which were spoken, and some believed not. And when they agreed not among themselves, they Departed after that Paul had spoken one word Well spake the Holy Ghost by Isaiah the prophet unto our fathers saying go unto this people and say hearing ye shall hear Shall not understand and seeing you shall see and not perceive. For the heart of this people is waxed gross, their ears are dull of hearing, their eyes have they closed, lest they should see with their eyes, hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.

Be it known therefore unto you that the salvation of God is sent unto the Gentiles that they will hear it. When he said these words the Jews departed and had great reasoning among themselves. Paul's defense was a biblical one. The Jews set a date for Paul and they came. Well, what did they get?

Well, they got a Bible study like none they'd never heard before. That's what they got. They may have been expecting for Paul just to talk about himself. They may have been thinking that maybe Paul would tell them stories about how that the mean Jews or the bad Romans had been, but no, no, the focus of his story, the focus of his speech was the Scriptures. It says in verse 23, when they had appointed him a day, there came many to him in his lodging, to whom he expounded and testified of the kingdom of God, persuading them concerning Jesus both out of the law of Moses, out of the prophets from morning till evening.

So he took the five books of Moses, he took the prophets, basically he took the Old Testament and he preached to them Jesus. He expounded to them Jesus. That means he explained. He took the Scriptures and He explained them. That's what we do in expositonal preaching.

We take the Scriptures and we explain them. Paul preached that way. He taught that way. That is the best way to do. Indeed, He took them through the scriptures from morning till evening.

That means He had great patience with them as He took them through the pages of the Old Testament. You all don't need to hear about the world, you don't need to hear about the culture, you don't need to hear about the news. I mean there's lots of stuff going on out there and some preachers take that and that's what they base their their sermons on But no no You need the Bible and you need Jesus and that's what That's what Paul brought that day in Rome. Some believed, it says in verse 24, the things which were spoken and some believed not. Some were persuaded, if you will.

As Paul reasoned with them and as he preached the scriptures, some believed and some did not. That's true of all Bible preaching. Remember in 1st Corinthians chapter 3. He says, and I brethren could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. I have fed you with milk, and not with meat.

For hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able. For ye are yet carnal, for whereas there is among you envy and strife and divisions, are ye not carnal when walk as men? For while one sayeth, I am of Paul, and another I am of Apollos, are ye not carnal? Who then is Paul? And who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believe, even as the LORD gave to every man?

I have planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase." So then, neither is he that planted anything, neither he that watereth, but God that giveth the increase. Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one, and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labor. For we are laborers together with God, you're God's husbandry, you're God's building." We are said to be God's fellow workers as we go out and preach and teach the Bible. But we don't save anybody, we don't convince anyone to turn to Jesus. We simply herald the message and God gives the increase.

Think of it like when you go out and you plant or have a garden. You don't just sow the seed. You have to water it and all that sort of thing. But doing all those things, doing all those things doesn't guarantee anything. God's the one who gives life to that seed.

God's the one who gives fruit to that plant. You'll never see any results unless you're out there working in the garden. And that's important to remember. God does give the increase, but he's given to us the responsibility to do some work too. We don't worry about the results that's all God's business and whatever he wants to do with it that's that's it so back to our text there in Acts 28 verse 25 through 27 it says And when they agreed not among themselves, they departed after the Paul had spoken one word.

What was his one word? Well, spake the Holy Ghost by Isaiah the prophet unto our fathers, saying, Go unto this people, and say, Hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand, and seeing ye shall see, and not perceive. For the heart of this people is wax gross, their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes have they closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears Understand with their heart it should be converted that I should heal them Be it known unto you that the salvation of God is sent unto the Gentiles, and that they will hear it." He brings up this passage in Isaiah, Isaiah chapter 6 and verse 9, you don't have to turn there, but that's what he's talking about. This passage is quoted a couple other times in the New Testament it's quoted in Matthew 13 14 and in John chapter 12 of verse 40 but understand what he's saying here They had hardened themselves against the preaching of God's Word that they would not hear. The heart of this people is wax gross, the King James says.

What's it say in the legacy standard there? I think it says that the heart of this people has become dull. Their heart has become dull. That's what that means. We often think of gross as being disgusting or whatever, but That's not the right way to think about this.

Their heart had waxed dull, much like Pharaoh, much like Pharaoh had gotten himself, hardened his heart against God. They're in the Old Testament. So it is with many today. They hardened themselves against the preaching of God's Word. They hardened themselves against the church.

They hardened themselves against even the very gospel that could save them. Their ears are dull of hearing and their eyes have they closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears understand with their heart and be converted that I should heal them and so it's almost as if you take the Bible you lay it in front of them and their eyes are shut they won't look at it You go and you preach to them and you try to witness to them and tell them about Jesus. They may not literally poke their fingers in their ears like this, but spiritually That's what's happened. They've shut out completely the truth of God's Word. Indeed, it is a terrible thing.

There are some even who may do so, even though they sit in the church, even though they're members of the church, they may be shutting the truth out of God's Word. Oh beloved, we all need Jesus. We all need more of God's Word. Let us not harden our hearts like those of the Old Testament. Let us not harden our hearts like the Jews did.

Many of them still, even to this day, have hardened their hearts to the preaching of the gospel. He said, he said, be it known therefore unto you that salvation of God is sent unto the Gentiles and that they will hear it. Isn't it something when we look at the ministry of Paul, He always went to the synagogues first. He always went among the Jewish people. But his primary focus was to the Gentiles.

And so, and as we've seen, many, many Gentile churches were started. Many Gentiles were saved. And as we go out over 2, 000 years of church history, is it not the case that the Lord's churches have primarily been Gentiles. Well, in verse 28, be it known unto you that the salvation of God is sent unto Gentiles and that they will hear it. This is the conclusion of Paul's final words spoken in the book of Acts.

No more is he heard again from, and in fact we've just got two more verses to go, but this is the last spoken words recorded by Luke in the book of Acts. Sorry we have three verses. Verse 29 it says, and when he had said these words the Jews departed they had great reasoning among themselves. They had a great reasoning or a great dispute among themselves when he spoke these words. Maybe they were arguing about what it meant.

Maybe they were blaming others or blaming each other, whatever the case may be, they departed having a great dispute among themselves. If one thing about the preaching of God's Word, It is contentious enough just in how it is. You and I need to make sure that we don't make it more contentious. We don't need to be jerks for Jesus, so to speak. People already hate the message of the Bible enough.

We don't need to add fuel to the fire. Let it not be because of something that we've done. We don't want to go and purposely pick on a group or purposely try to antagonize them with insults. No, no. We just need to focus on the preaching of God's Word.

You know, I think about how Paul sometimes got the Jews mad at him. Other times it was the Romans, the barbarians, different groups, different times. Sometimes the Pharisees were upset with him, sometimes the Sadducees. You and I, we are in a world in which there's different groups of people it is it is pride month coming up in in june and we need to make a clear case that marriage is between a man and a woman We need to make a clear case that marriage is between a man and a woman. We need to make a clear case that the Bible is true and that everyone needs Jesus.

But let us not insult them or make fun of them and that sort of thing. They need the Lord same as what we do. And so in verses 13 and 31 it says, And Paul dwelt two whole years in his own hired house received all that came in unto him. Preaching the kingdom of God and teaching those things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ with all confidence, no man forbidding him. So Paul rented a house in Rome.

He was under house arrest. But God opened up the door, as it were, to allow him to be able to witness to people. He couldn't get out to make any more missionary journeys while he was there for those two years. But God opened up the door for people to come to him. Why?

Why were people coming to him? Because of his fame. Because he was willing to live for the Lord such that when it came time for him to be in prison, the people were willing to go and seek him out. You see, There's a lot of people who say they're willing to die for the cause of Christ. But before we get to that point, we need to be willing to live for Him.

And that's the example that we have in Paul. He was well known in the Roman Empire. Why? Because of the hard work that he did for Christ. He was preaching and teaching from the scriptures to anyone who would come.

He could have been sitting in his rented house there, and he could have been complaining about his lot in life. He could have been cursing the Romans, or being upset with the Jews, but he didn't. There's some things that are out of our control. We need to learn to focus on those things and really focus on what matters most, and that is Jesus. And so this ends the book of Acts.

Now tradition has it, because why I say tradition is because It's not written in the in the Bible And it's been 2, 000 years but Tradition has it that Paul was released from this time when he was under house arrest? That would make sense wouldn't it because he was sent to Caesar without any real charges. He had been declared innocent by Felix and Festus. He was no doubt released from this time. His evangelism worked as God blessed his preaching.

Go with me to Philippians chapter 4. Philippians Chapter 4. Philippians was written, I remind you, while he was under arrest in Rome. In fact, in the beginning of the letter, in Philippians 1 and verse 7, he says, even as it is meet for me to think this of you all, because I have you in my heart, inasmuch as both in my bonds and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel ye are all partakers of my grace." And so he said, well I'm here in chains. He said, I'm thinking about you, you know, and I have you in my heart for the defense of the gospel, for the defense and confirmation of the gospel.

That's why I'm here. Well, you get down to the end of the epistle in Philippians 4 and verse 22. Look what it says here. And this ought to bring a smile to your face when you think about what we've read what we've studied in Acts look here all the saints salute you chiefly they that are of Caesar's household and so what a what a joy it is to think that there were people who were saved, even in Caesar's household, there in that terrible situation he was in, right? But God used it, God blessed the preaching there.

And it seems as though he looked, he expected to be released in the book of Philemon chapter, or verse 22, Philemon in verse 22, he says, but withal prepare me also a lodging, for I trust that through your prayers I shall be given unto you. And so he trusted that he would be released from that house arrest. Then later, later Paul writes in a very different tone. Different tone. 2nd Timothy chapter 4.

2nd Timothy chapter 4. Look at how he writes here. He says, I charge thee therefore before God, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing in his kingdom. Preach the word, Be instant in season, out of season, reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long suffering and doctrine. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but after their own lust shall they heap to themselves teachers having inching ears.

They shall turn away their ears from the truth and shall be turned into fables. But watch thou in all things endure afflictions, do the work of evangelists, make full proof of thy ministry." Now watch this He says, for I am ready now to be offered. And the time of my departure is at hand. He says, I'm ready to be offered like a drink offering. I'm ready for that.

I'm ready for that. The time of my departure is a hand I fought a good fight. I have finished my course. I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, should give me at that day, and not to me only, but unto all them that love his appearing.

Do thy diligence to come shortly unto me, for Demas hath forsaken me. Having loved this present world, then is departed unto Thessalonica, Cretians to Galatia, Titus to Dalmatia. Only Luke is with me. Take Mark and bring him with thee, for he is profitable to me for the ministry. In Tychicus have I sent to Ephesus the cloak that I left at Troas with Carpus.

When thou comest, bring it with thee in the books, but especially the parchments. Alexander the coppersmith did me much evil. The Lord reward him according to his works, of whom be thou aware also, for he hath greatly withstood our words. And my first answer, no man stood with me, but all men forsook me. I pray God that it may not be laid to their charge notwithstanding the Lord stood with me and strengthened me that by me the preaching might be fully known and that all the Gentiles might hear and I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion said I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion.

Some maybe take that spiritually, but I believe he's talking physically, for real. In the Roman Empire, they would take the prisoners oftentimes and put them in the arena with the lions. He said God delivered me from that from the mouth of the lion. The Lord shall deliver me from every evil work and will preserve me unto his heavenly kingdom to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.

Salute Prisca and Aquila, and the household of Onesiphus. Erastus abode at Corinth, but Trophimus have I left at Miletum sick. Do thy diligence to come before winter ubelous greed of thee and pudins and Linus and Claudia all the brethren Lord Jesus Christ be with thy spirit grace be with you amen You see he had quite a different tone in this writing. Why is that? Well, according to what is recorded in tradition, it's been passed down, was eventually beheaded for the cause of Christ in Rome.

And this is how he ended his ministry. The Book of Acts, as we've gone through it, has many lessons, many patterns, many things we can glean from it. But while we think about Paul in his ministry we rejoice that that he did and was able to do what he did. Remember some say that Luke even wrote the book of Acts along with the Gospel of Luke as a defense for Paul. And so that may be what it was written for, as far as from a human standpoint.

Now we know from God's standpoint, this was all recorded for our admonition and our learning and our growth. But whatever the case may be, we rejoice that God sent that missionary, that apostle, to the Gentiles. And so we'll go ahead and end there. Lord willing, we'll start another series, this time in Galatians, probably next time. So let's dismiss in prayer and I'll ask Isaiah to please pray for us.