This morning we're going to complete our study of the book of Acts. Acts chapter 28. Acts chapter 28 will be the text beginning in verse 17. And it came to pass after three days that Paul called the leaders of the Jews together. So when they had come together, he said to them, Men and brethren, though I have 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, who, when they had examined me, wanted to let me go, because there was no cause for putting me to death. But when the Jews spoke against it, I was compelled to appeal to Caesar, not that I had anything of which to accuse my nation. For this reason, therefore, I have called for you to see you and speak with you, because for the hope of Israel I am bound with this chain." Then they said to him, We have neither received letters from Judea concerning you, nor have any of the brethren who came reported or spoken any evil of you. But we desire to hear from you what you think, for concerning this sect we know that it is spoken against everywhere. So when they had appointed him a day, many came to him at his lodging, to whom he explained and solemnly testified of the kingdom of God, persuading them concerning Jesus from both the law of Moses and the prophets from morning till evening. And some were persuaded by the things which were spoken, and some disbelieved. Now verse 30, Then Paul dwelt two whole years in his own rented house, and received all who came to him, preaching the kingdom of God, and teaching the things concerning the Lord Jesus Christ with all confidence, no one forbidding him. Would you join me in prayer? Heavenly Father, we thank you for the faithful witness of the Apostle Paul. And I pray this morning we will be challenged by his faithfulness to be faithful to share our own witness with anyone and everyone that we have the opportunity to do so. Lord, I pray for any in this service who have not yet received Jesus as their Savior, that today would be the day they would do so. Enable me, Lord, as I preach, and I pray and ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. In this passage of Scripture, we find that the Apostle Paul has arrived in the city of Rome. By the way, did you know that I grew up in Rome? Rome, Georgia, but not quite the same. But he arrived in the city of Rome, of the Roman Empire, the capital of the Roman Empire. It was the most influential city of that day. It had a population of a million or more, and it had been beautified by the emperors of recent days, and Paul was certainly glad to be in the city. Now he wanted to go there as a free missionary, but instead he arrived in the city as a prisoner. But even though he was a prisoner, he knew that his calling was always to be a missionary of the gospel of Jesus Christ. And we see in this text of Scripture how he took advantage of the opportunity to share the gospel even from house arrest. And this morning we're going to see from his example how we too should be a witness in every circumstance and how we should be faithful to share the gospel. Now as Paul shared the gospel, many of the Jews would not believe the gospel. They walked away not having trusted Christ as Savior. And Paul quoted from Isaiah chapter 6. where God had told about the hardened hearts and the blinded eyes of their ancestors, and how they were repeating what their ancestors had done. Well, you know, I believe that just as the Jews became gospel-hardened, we might say, even so we live in a society that has become gospel-hardened. For 400 years now, the gospel has been proclaimed in the United States of America. And I'm afraid that a lot of people just think to themselves, well, I've heard that, and just don't truly respond to the gospel. And so this morning, I want to share a message about how to live in a gospel-hardened society. And the first truth that I see from our text of Scripture is this, that we need to be faithful to witness at every opportunity. I've already alluded to the fact that the Apostle Paul had gone to Rome not as a missionary, but as a prisoner. And yet, he understood that he was still to be a missionary in whatever circumstance he found himself in life. And so shortly after he arrived in Rome, after he was able to rent a place where he could live under house arrest awaiting his trial, He sent word to the leading Jews of the city and invited them to come to his house so that he could share the gospel with them. You know, Paul, everywhere he went, always shared the gospel with the Jews first. After all, Romans chapter 1 and verse 15 says that the gospel is for the Jew first and also for the Greek. And so we read in verse 23, So when they had appointed him a day, many came to him at his lodging, to whom he explained and solemnly testified of the kingdom of God, persuading them concerning the Lord Jesus, both from the law of Moses and the prophets, from morning until evening. Paul had a wonderful opportunity, even from prison, to preach and teach the gospel to many Jews that came to his home. And notice that he preached from morning until evening. Hey, that's a great idea. Y'all ready for that? I don't think so. You'll be getting hungry for too long. But I don't think it was all preaching. I think there was some question and answer, maybe even a little debate. But he used this opportunity to share the gospel with the leading Jews of that city. And so Paul was one that made the most of his circumstances. He made the most of his imprisonment. You know, I'm afraid that if we were in issues and we were in prison, we would just become reclusive. We would just be moping about, about how bad things are. But Paul made the best of his opportunities and continued to share the gospel even from house arrest. And notice we have another example of how he made the most of the opportunity in verses 30 to 31. It says, Then Paul dwelt two whole years in his own rented house, and received all who came to him, preaching the kingdom of God, and teaching the things concerning the Lord Jesus Christ with all confidence, or boldness, or freedom of speech, no one forbidding him. Over the next two years as he was awaiting trial, there would be times when his house would be full of people. That's why it says he was preaching to them. And we read that he spoke freely. No one forbidding him. He had tremendous opportunities to share the gospel with all who came to him there in his home. Now Luke doesn't tell us of something else that Paul did while he was under house arrest. According to the book of Philippians, he also witnessed to the soldiers who were chained to him. Every four hours a different soldier would come and take over guarding the prisoner. Now you are here of your own free will. No one made you be here and I commend you for that. But the soldiers had to do it because it was their job. Paul had a captive audience of a soldier every four hours and he told them about Jesus. He told them the gospel. And according to Philippians chapter 1 and verse 12, what happened to me has actually turned out for the furtherance of the gospel. And so there were a number in the praetorian guard, the elite praetorian guard, who became Christians because of the witness of the apostle Paul. And so Paul is a great example of someone who, regardless of his circumstances, always took advantage of the opportunity to talk about Jesus and share the gospel with people. And I see in this text of Scripture some reasons why he would always share the Gospel. And the first is this, because many are interested in spiritual truth. As he sent out the invitation, we read in verse 22 that many came to hear Him among the Jews. They were interested in hearing more about this so-called sect that we call Christianity. In spite of the fact that many spoke against it, especially among the Jewish people, they were interested in hearing what Paul had to say. And folks, you may think that people are interested in what you have to say about your faith, but if you think that, you are mistaken. People are interested in spiritual things. Tom Rayner and his research team a few years ago did a research project of the unchurched. and interviewed them, asked them questions. And one thing he discovered is that among the unchurched, they are interested in spiritual things. And they would be interested if you would share the gospel, your faith, with them. Some aren't, of course, but many are. And so, because of the fact that many are interested in spiritual truth, we should be willing to share the gospel. And also, at least some will believe. In verse 24, it says, And some were persuaded by the things which were spoken, and some disbelieved. Yes, though most evidently did not accept the gospel, at least some were persuaded and they became Christians and they were added to the church in Rome because of the witness of the Apostle Paul. And so we have clear Evidence of the fact that once again, if people will simply share the gospel, at least some will accept the gospel and be saved. You know, Jesus said, follow me and I will make you fishers of men. When I was a child and when I was a teenager on vacation, I enjoyed going fishing. I don't do that anymore, I chase a little white ball instead of going fishing. But one thing I learned about fishing is this, that if you go fishing, you almost always will catch something. I mean, it may be a little thing like that, but you're going to catch something if you at least try casting your line out there, putting the bait on it, you're going to catch at least some. And the same thing is true if you will be a fisher of men And if you will share your testimony, if you will share a witness with people, at least some will be saved, and that ought to be encouraging to us. And so the Apostle Paul was faithful to witness in every situation he found himself in, even in prison. And by the way, he made another opportunity in prison, and that was to write probably four of the prison epistles while he was in prison in Rome. What a blessing we would have missed from our Bible had he not been in prison and made the opportunity to write those letters that we read in our Bible. And so be faithful to witness at every opportunity. And then secondly, another principle I see here is this, you need to guard your testimony. We're talking today about being a witness for Jesus Christ. But you know, in the courtroom, a witness must have credibility in order to be believed, in order to influence the jury. And even so, if we are going to be a witness for Jesus Christ, we need to be credible. We need to be believable. We need to have a life that demonstrates that Christ does indeed change lives. And so, when Paul brought these Jewish leaders in, he was concerned about the fact that he was a prisoner. and that if he's a prisoner, they may view him as having done wrong, and that would adversely affect his witness for Christ. And so, as we read in our text in verses 17 and 18, He wanted to make it clear that he was not a prisoner because of any wrongdoing he had done. He said in verses 17 and 18, Men and brethren, though I have 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, who, when they had examined me, wanted to let me go because there was no cause for putting me to death. And then he went on to explain why he appealed to Caesar because it looked like the Jewish adversaries weren't going to be able to give him a fair trial and he used his Roman citizenship and that's why he's there in Rome to appeal unto Caesar. And so, what is he doing here? He's showing them that I'm a prisoner, but not because I have done wrong. He was concerned about his own credibility as a witness of the gospel. Now I want to ask you this morning, let's say everyone in here is a Christian. And if you're a Christian, and yet you end up in jail because you've been driving drunk, or you end up in jail because you're taking illegal drugs, or you're in jail because you embezzle funds, How is that going to affect your witness for Jesus Christ? You can believe for sure it's going to adversely affect your witness as a Christian. And so we need to guard our testimony. We need to make sure that what we say or what we do, or where we go, does not adversely affect the credibility of our witness for Jesus Christ. Guard your testimony. And let me tell you this, that once your testimony is damaged by something you've said or done, It takes a good while to restore the credibility of your testimony. And so, live the way God would have you to live, speak the way God would have you to speak, and protect and guard your testimony. And then the third principle is this, keep on telling the gospel message. You know, Paul preached to the Jews for over ten years. And yet in every city, he found that most of the Jews did not accept the gospel. He found some success, more success among the Gentiles. And so some might say to Paul, well Paul, if the preaching of the cross is a stumbling block to the Jew, then you need to leave that out of your message. You need to change your message in order to help you be more effective as a preacher. And yet we see at the very end of the book of Acts, the Apostle Paul is committed to preaching the same gospel that he preached at the very beginning. He never stopped preaching the gospel. He never changed. the gospel message. And so look at verse 23. So when they had appointed Him a day, many came to Him at His lodging, to whom He explained and solemnly testified of the kingdom of God, persuading them concerning Jesus, both from the law of Moses and the prophets, from morning until evening. Yes, he continued to proclaim the gospel, for he said in Romans 1.16, I am not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes, both to the Jew first and also to the Greek. And you know the way Luke concludes the book of Acts, it has the feel of being unfinished, but yet it concludes with an emphasis upon Paul sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ, and we are to continue to share the gospel of Jesus Christ. Now I want you to note two elements of the Gospel that are mentioned right here in this text of Scripture. Not only verse 23, but also verse 31. First of all, the gospel includes the kingdom of God, proclaiming the kingdom of God. Verse 23, Paul testified of the kingdom of God. I want to ask you, if you've ever shared the gospel, if you've ever witnessed, when was the last time you talked about the kingdom of God as part of your gospel witness? I was thinking about that and in those terms probably not very often in my own life and yet Paul talked about the kingdom of God. And you know John the Baptist when he came preaching he preached about repent for the kingdom of God is at hand. Jesus came preaching repent for the kingdom of God is at hand. The gospel includes the fact that God is the Creator, Jesus is the promised King, and that we must repent of our sins and yield our lives to the Lord Jesus Christ in order to be saved. Romans 10.9 says that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. And so, in order to be saved, we must accept the fact that Jesus is now our King, Jesus is now our Lord. You know, speaking of the Kingdom of God, See, there are two aspects of the kingdom of God. First of all, the kingdom is established in the hearts of individuals. In this age, the kingdom of God is in the hearts of believers. The kingdom of God is where believers gather in a place or a group called a church. And Jesus is our Lord. This is the kingdom of God now. But the gospel also includes the fact that someday Jesus is coming as King of kings and Lord of lords, and He will establish His kingdom upon this world. Folks, we look forward to that wonderful day. That's the good news of the Gospel. Have you entered the Kingdom of God by repentance in yielding your life to Jesus as Lord? But notice he also preached concerning Jesus. who is the Messiah, the promised Messiah, the hope of Israel, as he made reference to earlier in this text. You see, there is no gospel apart from Jesus. Jesus is the Savior that was promised in the Old Testament. And as He shared the gospel, He shared prophecy after prophecy after prophecy, pointing to Jesus Christ who fulfilled those prophecies. I'm sure He preached or shared about Isaiah 53, the suffering servant of the Lord who died for our sins. I'm sure he talked about Psalm 22, a picture of the crucifixion a thousand years before Christ died. I'm sure he shared some prophecies of the resurrection of Christ and showed how all these prophecies were fulfilled in Jesus Christ. And so, the gospel is about Jesus. Folks, the hope of fallen humanity is not in political reform. It is not in social reform. It is not in economic reform. The hope of fallen humanity is none other than Jesus Christ, the one and only Savior. Listen, you can witness about morality, you can talk about religion, But if you don't talk about Jesus, you have not shared the Gospel. Acts 4.12 says, "...neither is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved." And so he talked about Jesus. That's the Gospel. The Gospel is centered on Jesus. We must share Jesus with people. Well finally this morning, as we talk about being a witness in a Gospel-hardened society, the last truth I see from our text is this, that we need to warn people to believe the Gospel while they can. Now we see in verse 24, that though some were persuaded by the witness of Paul, others disbelieved. Or it can be translated, they refused to be persuaded. Do you know why most people do not become Christians? Why most people do not accept the gospel when they hear it? It's because they don't want to accept the gospel. It's not that it's not credible. It's not that it's not believable. It's simply they don't want to yield their lives to the Lord. They want to hold on control of their lives. They don't want to repent. They don't want to believe. That's why most people do not believe. And so, you need to be prepared for the fact that if you do witness for Christ, if you do share the Gospel, It's always going to be true that most people will not believe. Most people will not be persuaded. And as they were walking away in unbelief, Paul issued a warning beginning in verse 25. So when they did not agree among themselves, they departed after Paul had said one word. Paul had the last word as a preacher often does. At your funeral I'll get the last word, you know, if at no other time. But he had one last word for them. The Holy Spirit spoke rightly through Isaiah the prophet to our fathers, saying, Go to this people and say, Hearing you will hear and shall not understand. seeing you will see and not perceive. For the hearts of this people have grown dull, their ears are hard of hearing, and their eyes they have closed. Lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, lest they should understand with their hearts in turn, so that I should heal them. Now folks, that is an unexpected, strange Scripture to a lot of people. Because God is saying here, lest I heal them. I thought God wants people to be saved. I thought God wants people to be healed of their sin sickness. And yet, here we read where God is hardening their hearts, blinding their eyes, What's all that about? Well, God loves people and He wants people to be saved, but He is also a God of righteousness and justice, and He does judge sin and unbelief. You see, the fact is, if you hear the gospel and harden your heart and are unwilling to yield to the Lord Jesus and believe in Him, then you run the danger of being hardened by the Lord as a judgment by God. Now we don't like to think about that, but it's the truth. You remember the story of Pharaoh. Moses came and He said, thus says the Lord, let my people go. And Pharaoh thought of all the economic benefit of that slave nation, and Pharaoh hardened his heart and would not let them go. The Bible says that Pharaoh first hardened his own heart. It was then and only then that later we read that the Lord hardened His heart. In fact, His heart was so hardened that by the tenth plague, which was a threat to take the firstborn of Pharaoh and everyone else not covered by the blood of the Lamb, His heart was so hard that He risked the life of His own firstborn son. and lost His Son in that plague. Yes, it is a dangerous thing to hear the Gospel and to harden your heart and not receive the Gospel and trust in Jesus as your Savior. And so if there's anyone here today who has not yet given your heart to Jesus, not yet repented and surrendered to the Lordship of Jesus, May you heed the warning and be saved today while you have that opportunity. But you know, we see another lesson here. And that is, what are we to do when we talk to people and they harden their hearts and they refuse to believe? Look at verse 28. Therefore let it be known to you that the salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles and they will hear it. If you're talking to someone who keeps hardening their heart against believing in Jesus, then what you need to do is move on and share the gospel with someone who will hear and someone who will believe. That's the lesson that we see here. Now we've been talking about how the Jewish nation hardened themselves against the gospel and by and large would not believe the gospel. But what about America? America has been hearing the gospel for 400 years. America is in the midst of a moral and spiritual decline into apostasy and moral degradation. We're not seeing scores and hundreds and thousands of people turning to Christ anymore. What has happened to America? I'm afraid that America has become gospel hardened. And all we can do is pray that God will break the hardness of their hearts so that it's not too late. But if America continues in the direction that we're going, we are going to end up like Israel. Paul spoke to these Jewish leaders around 60-62 AD. Do you know what happened in 70 AD, 8-10 years later? The Jewish nation was destroyed. Many lost all opportunity to be saved once they died at the hands of the Romans. May God help us to have a tender heart to believe the Gospel while we have opportunity. And may God help us to be faithful in spite of the response to the same gospel and to keep sharing the gospel. You know, Drew mentioned about the class that will train you to learn and share the gospel. I encourage you to consider that. Next month we have Vacation Bible School. We'll have opportunity to share the Gospel with children. You can volunteer to help with Vacation Bible School. May each of us be recommitted to sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ while we still have opportunity. Would you bow with me in prayer? Heavenly Father, thank You for the faithfulness of the Apostle Paul. And I pray, Lord, that we will be faithful like Paul. Lord, if we have grown cold and slack about sharing the gospel, Lord, renew us, we pray. And Lord, I pray if there's anyone here that has not yet surrendered their life to Jesus as Savior and Lord, Lord, help them to do so today. And I pray and ask this in Jesus' name, Amen. Let's stand as we sing our hymn of invitation. Turn your eyes upon Jesus and if you're willing to be saved or recommit your life to the Lord or join this church, I'd be happy to talk with you and pray with you as we stand in