You remember what came from the rock, right? It was water. Here it's honey. So even better things, more satisfying things for God's people. We'll take our Bibles this morning and turn to the last chapter of the book of Acts, Acts 28. Let's seek his face in prayer as we read and hear his word this morning. Lord, our hearts are struck that you're the God of all grace. You're the God who has spoken in the prophets to the fathers in many times and in many ways, and in these last days has spoken through his son. And we pray that the Holy Spirit again this Lord's Day would give us ears to hear and eyes to see and hearts to warmly welcome the truth of God by faith. We confess that we can be distracted. We carry over burdens and cares into this day and we frustrate resting in Christ ourselves. And we pray that you'd have mercy on us and help us to concentrate, to focus, to open wide as it were. and to see that the occasion before us in hearing your word and receiving living bread, even Christ himself, through the means of the Lord's Supper, that these are, as it were, the finest of wheat. Lord, this is a great privilege and occasion, and we pray that you'd help us and make our hearts fit to receive And we ask then that these means of grace would be blessed to us this day and give your Holy Spirit as our helper, our comforter and bless us now as your word is read and preached that we might hear it and respond to it with living faith. In Jesus name and for his sake we pray, amen. Acts 28, this is God's word. When they had been brought safely through, then we found out that the island was called Malta. The natives showed us extraordinary kindness, for because of the rain that had set in and because of the cold, they kindled a fire and received us all. But when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks and laid them on the fire, a viper came out because of the heat and fastened itself on his hand. When the natives saw the creature hanging from his hand, they began saying to one another, undoubtedly this man is a murderer. And though he has been saved from the sea, justice has not allowed him to live. However, he shook the creature off into the fire and suffered no harm. But they were expecting that he was about to swell up or suddenly fall down dead. But after they had waited a long time and had seen nothing unusual happen to him, they changed their minds and began to say that he was a god. Now in the neighborhood of that place were lands belonging to the leading man of the island named Publius, who welcomed us and entertained us courteously three days. And it happened that the father of Publius was lying in bed afflicted with recurrent fever in dysentery, and Paul went in to see him, and after he had prayed, he laid his hands on him and healed him. After this had happened, the rest of the people on the island who had diseases were coming to him and getting cured. They also honored us with many marks of respect, and when we were setting sail, they supplied us with all we needed. At the end of three months, we set sail on an Alexandrian ship which had wintered at the island and which had the twin brothers for its figurehead. After we put in at Syracuse, we stayed there for three days. From there, we sailed around and arrived at Regium, and a day later, a south wind sprang up, and on the second day, we came to Puccioli. There, we found some brethren. and were invited to stay with them for seven days. And thus we came to Rome. And the brethren, when they heard about us, came from there as far as the market of Appius and three inns to meet us. And when Paul saw them, he thanked God and took courage. When we entered Rome, Paul was allowed to stay by himself with the soldier who was guarding him. We'll end our reading there, this word, the Lord bless it to us. One of the things that can be frustrating getting your news from the TV is that sometimes you don't hear how things go. It could be various reasons. Sometimes it's just that you don't hear. And some other times for whatever reasons, you may just miss it and you miss the news. But it can be a letdown sometimes when you follow a story or if you're interested in it, and then you never quite know how it ends, where the status of things are. It's in a similar way, but quite a different way that this happens with Paul. We never hear in the book of Acts how Paul's day in court went for him. We never hear. He had appealed to Caesar, and so to Caesar Paul went. The trip, as you know and remember, was near perilous for the 276 people. Paul made it, of course, as we see, but we don't know what happened with his trial. Was Paul acquitted or was he convicted? We never read how Paul's day in court went. But no matter, the implication of the last chapter of Acts shows us, I think, quite clear that God at least vindicated Paul even before his hearing with Caesar. And you can see that in the experiences that Paul had in two places. The first of them is his experiences at Malta. The second one, of course, as we read, are his experiences at Rome. The Lord vindicated Paul even before his hearing with Caesar. Why do these things matter? You might wonder. Because they have to do with God and the gospel. Does he support the gospel? Will God advance the gospel? Will he draw people through it? Will Jesus care for and will he use his preachers? Will he protect them? Will he defend them when persecuted, when maligned, when wrongly accused? Of course these things matter. Here with the final episodes of Paul, we see that in fact, yes, the Lord will vindicate He vindicated Paul even before his hearing, before his day in court with Caesar. The chapter hints just that, after Paul faced contrary winds of the Mediterranean Sea. It begins the chapter when they had been brought safely through. God has been vindicating Paul in the same way Paul would know this with his trial before Caesar for the gospel, safely through, vindicated. That's what Paul would be under God's hand. So let's look then at Paul's vindication in reference to his experiences at Malta. Literally, Malta is a place of refuge. That's what the word means. How fitting to arrive here after the storm that they faced. There, as Paul notes, they met the island's barbarians. These weren't lawless people. These weren't people who met them grunting, unclothed, ready to do mean things because they're barbarians. No, these are natives. That's what the term barbarian means. These were simply uncultured people that compared to the rest of the Greco-Roman world around them, literally, they as islanders lived more remote from developing civilization. They still stuck with their Phoenician language. They weren't speakers, at least as a first language, of Greek or Roman. They were barbaric in that sense of the word. But uncultured, these people had extraordinary kindness, Paul says at verse two. They were compassionate. What did they do but they welcomed these wet, cold, storm-driven, exhausted men. These were hospitable people. They then and there built them a fire on the shore. We can easily imagine them bringing food, clothing, other helps and supplies that were needed at the time. But the focal point becomes what happens to Paul in that scenario. God vindicates Paul. He vindicates him. Here he is helping out. He's gathering firewood. Among the pieces of firewood, he inadvertently picks up a snake. It seems that this snake is hibernating for winter. Paul doesn't notice the snake, but waking up, the snake notices Paul. And what does it do? We don't know if it bit him, but it at least hung on to his hand. Maybe it coiled around his wrist or around his finger. Maybe it both bit him while it was coiled around him. We don't really know. But it's here that we see the wheels turning in the minds of these native people. They interpret these events this way. He's escaped from the sea, but now justice finally has him. He must be a murderer. There's no way this man is going to live. Judgment is going to come upon this man. But Paul was vindicated by the Lord. What does Paul do? But he merely takes the snake over the fire, shakes off the snake, and it falls burning into the flames. God vindicated Paul. Ah, but give him some time, the barbarians might say. Let that poison work through his bloodstream. Let it go through his system, and he'll swell up, and he will die suddenly, and I bet it'll happen soon. And so they wait, and they wait, and they wait. And nothing happens to Paul, and so having waited, they then are forced to change their minds. And they go from calling Paul a murderer to now all of a sudden he's a god. To the worst possible thing you could be, to the very best thing that you could be. What is this but the Lord vindicating Paul? He was no murderer. The snake had no control over him. Paul was fine, just fine, who he was and as he was. Things were well and right for Paul. This is a wonderful portrait of what God does for the believer in Christ. All manner of accusations can be hurled against us. We can be misunderstood. We can be slandered, we could be thought ill of, we could be cast as being in the wrong, even worthy of death as Paul faced from the Jews. And yet in all of that, God vindicates. He vindicates by grace. He vindicates us even in time and space. Is there suddenly an enlivened snake that could bite us? It will drop easily then into the flame. Are there people who have misconceptions about us as Christians? Do they slander us? Well, it will be shown Otherwise, in Jesus Christ, we are a vindicated people. God himself, by the working of providence, all of which goes for us and not against us. God will vindicate us. His son came for us. He died for us. He rose for us. And now he intercedes for us such that we can say with the psalm that my God accomplishes everything for me. God let us remember by his word and spirit to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ that we may be saved. He led us in repentance. He led us to believe. And God herein has credited our sin to Christ and his obedience to us. By trusting Jesus Christ, we're vindicated. No matter what people say, no matter what happens against us, God has vindicated us of all wrongs in his sight. And that's really what matters. It's not people's Verdicts. It's God's verdict. God vindicated Paul. Don't we learn that God vindicates his people here? And don't we see how people, touched by the effects of sin, having sin in their hearts, are often a fickle people? Ignorant, superstitious, even capricious, in their judgments. They don't have a sound, stable view of reality. They jump to conclusions way too quickly, impulsively and wrongly. Judging but misjudging, they themselves are judged in the end. Just look at these molten people. They misjudged Paul. The root of it was superstition, that because he got bit, therefore he was a murderer. And by an equally strange and bizarre logic, that because he withstood it, therefore he's a god. This is bizarre thinking. They erred as if a swinging pendulum in extreme ways. These are extreme people. They were extremely wrong. Could we say that they and not Paul are the extremists? That's a word that we use and see in our culture. And as Christians, we're branded as the extremists. Our worldview doesn't jive with a secular, lawless, sinful, and Christless worldview. But we're the extremists. We're in the wrong. We're the people who should be maligned and slandered. We're the people that we shouldn't have taken seriously. People are like that today. They've always been that way. The molten extremes. Even the disciples were that way. Remember when they came to the man who was born blind? And it's as though they can only fathom two options. This man is blind because A, either he sinned or B, his parents sinned. And you know what Jesus said, it was neither one of these, it was for the glory of God. It was for the works of God to be done that by a miracle, he would be healed and Christ would get the glory. But the disciples went to extremes. It was there with Job's counselors. They simply could not fathom that Job somehow, somewhere at some time had not sinned. I mean, come on, Job, we all do it. Just say it. Just tell us. What sin did you do, Job? You must have done something. But God showed that it was otherwise. Behind the scenes, there was something else. There was a reality that was not naked and laid bare to the eyes of men. And it was that God had done something to make the situation be and look quite different. Job, like Christ, like Paul, was vindicated by the Lord's doing. But the world calls us often extremists. Whether it's with God, whether it's the U.S. Constitution, whether it's culture as it used to be in better days, we're the extremists. We're misunderstood. But be that as it may, We don't need to be defensive. We don't need to contend for the right. We need only hold our bitten arm over the fire. Let it fall off. There's here with Paul's snake bite, if we could call it that, there's a wonderful display of the very essence of the gospel. I will put enmity, God says to the serpent, between you and the woman. And God said to the serpent, between your seed and her seed, he shall bruise you on the head and you shall bruise him on the heel. And where did that happen but in the combat at the cross. at the cross where Jesus struck the death blow against the serpent while the devil bit into Christ's heel, not because of the serpent, but because willingly Jesus took on sin and the curse and snakebite. But as we know, the way this worked is that he merely put his hand over the fire, as it were, and the snake dropped off. That's what's being displayed here. And thus Jesus could say to the disciples earlier in Luke's gospel, I saw Satan fall from heaven like lightning. And they returned from their missionary trip and he says the promises for all who believe in the next verse, behold, I have given you authority over all the power of the enemy and nothing will injure you again. The God of peace, Paul says to the Romans, shall soon put Satan under your feet. Vindicated. Paul was vindicated. Believers are vindicated because Christ was vindicated in his death and resurrection. But there's another scene at Malta. that shows Paul was vindicated by God. You see it in verses 7 through 10 as well. It seems that with the natives here heralding that Paul has divine status, that the Roman official of that island, quite understandably, has caught wind of it. And now this Roman official that's stationed there, his name was Publius, gets wind of it and he hosts Paul. We don't know if he was threatened. Maybe he felt that he was. Maybe it's sheer hospitality, as seems to be commendable by all the Maltans. But he's hospitable. He welcomes probably Paul and Luke and Aristarchus and Julius, the Roman centurion, entertains them three days. We can imagine meals, we can imagine conversations, maybe some entertainments to pass the time, maybe to show Malta to Paul and his company. But during this time, somehow Paul learns of Publius' father. And this poor man, maybe an older man, is sick with not only fever, but dysentery. He has digestive troubles, diarrhea, bleeding. And so Paul, not only as a thankful guest, but as an apostle to the Gentiles, goes and visits Publius' father. Goes in, prays with him, he lays his hands on him, and of course he heals him. It's a vivid testimony to God's divine status. Not Paul's, because of the Maltans. The result is, is that like with Jesus, what happens when the man is healed, but people start, as it were, coming out of the woodwork. And all these people who have troubles and diseases, they come to a source of well-being. They come to Paul who can do miracles, and they want to be cured of their diseases. And so Paul, like Jesus, heals them all. Wouldn't you do the same if you were on the island of Malta, struck with diseases and such troubles? It all ends with a well-supplied send-off, it seems, 30 days later, so that Paul and his company can then go the next leg of the 500-mile trip to Rome. The result is that, like with Jesus, many came to Paul And there's something greater in this that's being hinted, and that is that God has vindicated Paul yet again, yet again. He's a prisoner on trial, and he's dining with a Roman official. Here's a man who almost died of hunger and tragedy, and yet he's making other people well by the Lord's doing. This is God, maybe ironically, showing that he's vindicating his servant. He did it through the natives. They judged him a murderer. Then he turned to God-like status. He did it now through Publius. He welcomed him, showered him with gifts. And now all of Malta is resounding in chorus, as it were, saying that Paul's our man. We love Publius, but Paul. People at Malta are seeing God's vindication. Whether we accept the controversial ending of Mark's gospel or not, there's something valuable in his word. They will pick up serpents. It will not hurt them. They will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover. That seems to be Mark's way of hinting at, if he wrote it before or afterward, the reality of what Luke records and acts. God vindicated Paul at Malta. God will vindicate you in some way wherever you go. But it leads us then to the second part of, the last part of the journey, and it's Paul's trip to Rome. As our reading went, Paul finally arrives at Rome. Now going back a little bit, at 54 AD, he told the Ephesians that he wanted to go there. We read that in Acts 19 verse 21. Four years later, at 56 AD, Paul told the Romans that he wanted to visit them. At about 59 AD, Jesus said to Paul that he would testify to Caesar at Rome. Here at 62 AD, and he arrives at Rome. Months previous, an angel reminded him that he's going to make it to Rome. What is that? Doing the math, that's eight years later. Have you ever waited for something? Wanted for something? And you eventually get it, but the route is a different route than you thought it would be. It took a longer time, but the Lord was faithful in providing. You can mark then the significance of what Luke has said here and the way he's said it at verse 14, thus we came to Rome. What began from chapters earlier, what we have is the whole contrary wind story of how they got there, dot, dot, dot, thus we came to Rome. They wound their way through the winds and waves of the Mediterranean. From Caesarea, where they started, they stopped at Sidon, 80 miles. From Sidon to Myra, 275 miles. From Myra to Canidas, 300 miles. From Canidas to Fair Havens, 200 miles. And then there's from Fair Havens to Malta, some 650 miles. And then they've come from Malta to Syracuse, 100 miles, from Syracuse to Regium, 80 miles, from Regium to Puccelli, 210 miles, and now from Puccelli to Rome, 110 miles. They connected all these dots under God's providence for some 2,000 miles. Dot, dot, dot, thus we came to Rome. You may be wondering, where is the Lord leading you in life? It seems that the course is unnavigable. It seems that maybe you're blown off course. But the Lord knows exactly where he's bringing you. Just as he's told you, though the route is circuitous at points, it's certainly windy and contrary, yet the Lord will make good on every promise, every word. that he said for your everlasting well-being. God vindicated Paul. He brought Paul. Have you ever had a trip that was just too long? And as a youngster, you've asked or complained, I'm not sure I know the difference, are we almost there yet? How long until we get there? Doesn't the psalmist himself say that often in his prayers? How long, Lord, have you ever endured delayed flights? You've endured canceled flights, rerouted flights, times maybe spent in the airport, late arrivals. Have you ever enjoyed finishing such a trip, arriving at the hotel, and simply dropping into bed? Maybe there's no better feeling, dot, dot, dot, thus we came to Rome. Sigh of relief, what memories along the way, what events along the way, what hazards along the way, and yet what helps too along the way. What a story God has told in all of that. But Caesar didn't meet them on the shores. There was no welcoming committee. For Paul there, when they put in at Syracuse, or at the shores of Regium. But notice who did meet them at Pecoli, this is some 50 miles outside of Rome. There we found some brethren, verse 14, and were invited to stay with them for seven days, and thus we came to Rome. The world will not welcome you, but the church will. Those who believe on Jesus Christ should be some of the most hospitable, welcoming people that exist. You'll have no greater welcome on earth than from your brothers and sisters in the Lord Jesus Christ. At least that's the way it should be. At least that's the way we should give ourselves and incline ourselves as we come to the Lord's day. This is the way that we should have our heart geared, is to welcome our brothers and sisters. God gave Paul here a royal welcome in the church. And thus it seems that brethren from various places came to meet Paul. As we read, when Paul saw them, he thanked God and took courage. Do you see what God can make you to be as a hospitable, believing people? He can make you to show his hand of providence, and he can make you to be a means of encouragement, of emboldening somebody who's been through a storm-tossed trip as they arrive here at Pacholi. That's what the Lord makes us to be every Lord's Day that we gather. What words these are? You can see the smile in all of them. You can see Paul's heart just filled with joy. And you can see all of the stress and the pressures just melting away as if the tide going out there at Pecoli. That's what's happening for Paul. There's been a progression to Paul's trip. There was a quasi acceptance at the island of Malta initially. There was an even warmer receptance with Publius. But now as he comes here to the brethren, there's a grand welcome for Paul. It's as though it went from cool to warmer, now it's hot. This is a welcome committee that God has sent. God gave Paul a royal welcome in the church. Just think about this. Even as he comes there, Julius, this Roman centurion who's charged with overseeing Paul, Julius allowed Paul, a prisoner, to stay with friends that he had never met at Pecoli, a place he had never been. What kind of vindication is that when the centurion allows you to go, what was it, for seven days? This is like a week vacation for Paul as he's coming to be on trial before Caesar. Why this special treatment? It's because God vindicated Paul. The one thing God always wants to do for you, his people, is to vindicate you. He wants to show you that he accepts you. He has his favor on you. And again, verse 16, Paul was allowed to stay with Julius guarding him. No prison cell with the other prisoners. Paul stayed under the care of Julius. Now it may have been for Paul's protection. That's possible. But remember that Roman officials had to this time been in essence vindicating Paul. We find nothing worthy of death or imprisonment in this man. And the only reason he's going to Caesar is because he's appealed to Caesar. And the only reason he's really appealed to Caesar is because the Jews weren't interested in justice and the Romans were ignorant and Jesus meant for him to preach to Caesar. God has vindicated Paul. He's had clear passage all the way. And so Julius, I think, sensing that Paul, this man who gave good counsel to the navigating crew on the ship, which they rejected, this man who encouraged the crew to eat and prayed for them, this man who had an interest in prisoners fleeing and saying, you're not going to be saved unless you stay with the ship. This man, Paul, who shook off a snake, this man, Paul, who healed half the island of Malta, it seems. I find nothing wrong with this guy. Paul, you want to go to Pocholi? You want to go visit your friends? Okay. Paul, you want to stay with me in prison? Sure. God vindicated Paul at every leg of the trip. Paul is free again, even though he's not free. God vindicated him. But I think there's something else in terms of just some applications for us in closing. One of the applications is that we have to think of vindication then in terms of ourselves. We've seen it with Paul, but we have to think of vindication in terms of ourselves. When we think of it, we have to think of vindication over against what? Sin. We have to think of it over against wrongdoing. Otherwise, what is your vindication from? Why do you have it? Why do you need it? It's because of sin. And you can have sin without vindication. Many people have that today. You can have vindication without sin. Others have this as well. They go into a court of law, and whether there's a trial or not, they're cleared of accusations, they're cleared of the charges, they're either dropped or unproven, and therefore he's considered innocent, he's vindicated, the public approves. But here's the gospel. You can have vindication even with sin. You can't have that in a court of law. It's one or the other. In other words, God, by the gospel, because of his mercy and his grace, makes it that even the sinner can be vindicated. Even a sinner can be justified. In fact, that is the glory of the gospel, that God justifies the ungodly. Romans 4, verse 5. In our courts, that's shameful. You don't justify the guilty. You justify the innocent. But God justifies the ungodly. Why is that? It's because Jesus bore sin at the cross. And they're taking our guilt on himself. If we should confess Jesus as a savior, that his blood was shed for our forgiveness, then our sin, as it were, is imputed to him. And his obedience, as well as forgiveness, is credited to us. And what he took being what we deserve, what we get is from him something that we don't deserve. Our sins to Him, His mercy to us. It's not only as if you never sinned, it is as if you always obeyed. That's vindication. That's what the gospel brings to us through Jesus' righteousness. Do we not need to see it then this way? Only that will give us a clear conscience as we go forth in life. If Jesus vindicates us, it doesn't matter what people think. It only matters what God's verdict is toward me. Which leads then to a second application, that if you've believed on Jesus Christ, then everywhere you go, anywhere you should go, you go with God's vindication. You go clear. When the acquitted criminal leaves the courtroom, how does he go? He's considered righteous. He's cleared, vindicated of all charges, accusations, where shall he go? Go wherever he'd like. You're free to go, is the way the saying is. He's free, he's vindicated. He doesn't have restricted access to society. Paul went here. And there, it seemed that Paul went everywhere. And everywhere he went, he went as a vindicated man. Jews couldn't bring a case against him. Rome, it seems, wouldn't even be able to bring a case against him. And if you are justified through faith in Jesus Christ, you're vindicated everywhere you go. You're free to go and you're free as you go. It's a constant assurance to us that even though we go in the direction of contrary winds, God assures us all the way to our arrival point. God having vindicated will vindicate. He'll clear you as you walk with him. You can go home today vindicated. Tomorrow you can go to work vindicated. You can go about your life with a clear conscience. You can go into temptation vindicated. You can come out of temptation vindicated, even should you sin. The death of Christ is that powerful for repenting, believing people. You can even go to the Lord's table vindicated. There may be a contrary wind that's blowing against you today. And it's saying you're not worthy. You've done the same sins again. Do you really think that God is going to just keep forgiving your sins? And you know that those promises and pledges you make to keep covenant with God, you're going to be back again doing the same thing. But the fact of the matter is, You're vindicated. Jesus has justified you. If God has justified us, then who is there who condemns us? Christ died. Yea, Christ intercedes for us. Sometimes we never hear, as I began, how things go for something. But God has made us known here how things go. This is good news. And when you face those contrary winds, whether here, the moment we observe, or as you leave from here, you have to remember that the one who is with us in our trip rises to the occasion whenever it may rise, and his speaking to the matter goes like this, hush, be still, let us go to the other side. That's the good news. of the gospel of Jesus Christ. So if we don't know how things go for something, we saw how it goes with Paul. We know then, by faith, how it will go for us. We go because of the gospel of Jesus Christ, a vindicated and justified people. So with us who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, Paul's and our Savior, we go to Malta We go to Rome, we go everywhere, we go anywhere, vindicated in Jesus' grace. Let us pray together. O Lord, our God, these are strong, prevailing words, that you, the judge of all the earth, in whose hands the very soul and destiny of men sits, that you, O Lord, our Father, would be our judge but in Jesus Christ. We thank you that we have full and lasting forgiveness of our sins. We're thankful for the righteousness and the obedience of Christ that has been gifted to us through faith alone. Thank you, Lord Jesus, for enduring in your body the pain that we deserve for our sins, everlasting fury and torment, not merely of hell, but of the Father's justice, holy justice. Lord, thank you that we're a vindicated people. May that make such a difference in where and how we go, that we would go with assurance and conviction of your love for us. Lord, we celebrate it. We give you thanks. We pray that you'd bless us in our worship as we sit and feed together. In Jesus' name, amen.