Let us remain standing for the reading of God's Word if you are able. Our passage this morning comes from Acts chapter 28. This is the final section of Acts and our final passage. Acts chapter 28, 11 through 31. After three months, we set sail in a ship that was wintered in the island. It's the island of Malta. A ship of Alexandria with the twin gods as a figurehead. Putting in at Syracuse, we stayed there for three days. And from there, we made a circuit and arrived at Regim. And after one day, a south wind sprang up. And on that second day, we came to Ptolemy. There we found brothers and were invited to stay with them for seven days. And so we came to Rome. And the brothers there, when they'd heard about us, came as far as the forum of Apis and the three taverns to meet us. And on seeing them, Paul thanked God and took courage. And when we came to Rome, Paul was allowed to stay by himself with the soldier who guarded him. And after three days, he called together the local leaders of the Jews. And when they had gathered, he said to them, brothers, though I had 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. And when they examined me, they wished to set me at liberty because there was no reason for the penalty of death in my case. But because the Jews objected, I was compelled to appeal to Caesar, and though I had no charge to bring against my nation. For this reason, therefore, I have asked to see you and to speak with you, since it is because of the hope of Israel that I am wearing this chain. And they said to him, we have received no letters from Judea about you, and none of the brothers coming here has reported or spoken any evil against you. But we desire to hear from you what your views are. For with regard to this sect, we know that everywhere it has spoken against. And when they had appointed a day for him, and they came to him in his lodging in great numbers, and from morning till evening, he expounded to them, testifying to the kingdom of God and trying to convince them about Jesus from both the law of Moses and from the prophets. And some were convinced by what he said, but others disbelieved. And disagreeing among themselves, they departed after Paul had made one statement. The Holy Spirit was right in saying to your fathers through the Isaiah, the prophet, go to this people and say, you will indeed hear, but never understand. You will indeed see, but never perceive. For this people's heart has grown dull and with their ears they barely hear and their eyes they have closed. Lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and turn and I would heal them. Therefore, let it be known to you that this salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles. They will listen. And he lived there two whole years at his own expense and welcomed all who came to him, proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness and without hindrance. It's the reading of God's word. You may be seated. I felt kind of sad this week coming to this last chapter, last section of Acts. We've been with Paul for a long time now, following along, watching him, observing him, learning from him. And now we come to the end of this account of Luke and Paul's life. And it's kind of sad. And you have to imagine what it must have been like for those who were with Paul to have to leave him behind. We remember the tears that were cried as Paul was on his way to Jerusalem by the members of the church who he said, you will never see me again. But anyway, it's kind of sad. To start with, I'd like to ask you all if you will, to reflect upon the events from last week's passage about the view of reality and the view of life which led the natives of Malta to mistake Paul for a god. And the discussion between Paul and them, which most certainly followed this mistaken view discussions which we have seen Paul and Barnabas had before in Lystria. They could not let this, this wasn't allowed to stand, this understanding or this view. It had to be corrected. So think of these discussions, that worldview, these discussions which Paul had, and he had no doubt to repeat many times over during the three months that he remained on this island, especially after the miraculous healing of the chief's father, in the ensuing flocking of other islanders to Paul in order to have themselves or their loved ones healed as well. You have to understand, Paul had to do a lot of teaching there, a lot of correcting. He was not a god. He was a man of like nature as them. And what he was able to do, God did through him. And they needed to understand that. And recall also the 275 souls from that ship that wrecked, 276 including Paul, among whom were Egyptians and all of their gods and Romans and all of their gods and various prisoners from across the entire empire who witnessed Paul's God save them, who also witnessed all of these things that they were seeing and hearing on the island of Malta. The message of the good news about Jesus Christ, which Paul was now explaining over and over again, that they should turn all of them from the vain things of their lives to the living God. That is, to the God to whom Paul belonged and worshipped. To the God who was present with them in the midst of life's apparent chaos. The God who spoke to Paul and through Paul to them and who was powerful and faithful to keep his promise. If you can imagine, put yourself in that experience, what it was like, what it must have been like to have experienced all these things and to have nothing to do for the next three months. You don't have a ship. You can't go anywhere. It's winter on the sea. To have the next three months to sit around and to think about all of these things waiting for winter to be over. And then three months later, while boarding another Egyptian grain vessel, a ship headed for Rome, and to take notice of a figurehead on the front of the ship. The twin gods, Castor and Pollux, whom all seamen at the time would have known And you can be sure most of them worshiped them, putting them on their boats even. The supposed offspring of the Greek god Zeus and Leda, the queen of Sparta, whom it was said Zeus seduced by taking the form of a swan. With the result that nine months later, Leda laid eggs from which these twin gods were hatched. and were assigned the responsibility of protecting seamen upon the seas. And all they had to do was look to the stars and see the constellation of Gemini and know that they were there. From our evolved, snobby perspective in history, it's easy to look down upon the past and smile and shake our heads at such absurdities, at least until we remember even in our day that our culture, the majority of it, is still taught and believes that people came or come from some mysterious combination of fate and animals. Not that far off, is it? And whatever Luke's purpose is, it's clear that the sight of these figureheads following this recent events made an impression upon him. And upon those he sailed with such that he felt the need to include it in his record. Perhaps, maybe just a mere cultural note, Luke is very historical. He has a very historical perspective. He's always tying things to history. Maybe that's all it is. Maybe it's a reflection upon his own conversion from a well-educated Gentile physician with a worldly perspective to a well-educated Gentile physician with a Christian perspective. The conversion fittingly described as a conversion from darkness to light, from death to life, from self-centered autonomy to the membership of the body of Christ, the church, the household of the living God. A change which Luke appears to further emphasize in verses 14 and 15, wherein after arriving at the port of Potoli in the region of Rome, Luke records that they not only sought out the brothers, but they found them. And more than that, they were invited to stay with them for seven days. That's the church. And all the more recording that as news of their arrival spread, the brothers were coming from as far as the form of Apis and the three taverns to meet them over a hundred miles away. News had spread and people were coming. The church was coming to see Paul and Luke and Aristarchus and any other brothers that were with them at that time, by that time. They were coming. Especially Paul, who up to that point in time they knew only by reputation and a letter which he had written to them from Corinth, if you recall, some seven years ago. The letter of Romans. And when they heard he was there, they came. This is a church. And though this was certainly not as timely, we can look at Romans and we know that this was not Paul's plan. This didn't happen as timely nor in the way that Paul expected or that he planned to visit the church in Rome when he first wrote to them seven years earlier. He was hoping to just go to Jerusalem, visit, drop off the gifts and head to Rome. Seven years later, right? And what Paul sees before him, when he sees this, the church coming to him, when he sees the faith, when he sees the fellowship, it leads him to give thanks to God. Thanks to God and to take courage. Irregardless of his circumstances, irregardless of how long it took and it didn't go the way he thought it should go. Irregardless of chains. He thanks God and takes courage when he sees the church. And once again, upon Paul's arrival in the city of Rome, though not as he would have preferred nor expected, He was allowed to stay by himself in his own rented lodging with only a single soldier guarding him. They couldn't go anywhere. But he was allowed to welcome anybody in apparently any number that wanted to come see him and visit with him. A tremendous mercy and a concession from the empire of Rome. Tremendous. Which all but enabled Paul to enter the city of Rome from day one with permission to go about, well not to go about, but to proclaim the coming of the kingdom of God and to teach about the Lord Jesus Christ. From day one. welcoming all and anybody who wished to come and see him with boldness and without hindrance from anyone. Ain't nobody going to touch Paul under Roman guard in Rome. That's suicide. And as we can consider all of these things which Paul has been through, all the delays, all the trials, all the struggles, all the fears, all the anxieties. Everything that Paul had experienced leading up to this entering of Jerusalem until now, not knowing what to expect, he confessed, I don't know what to expect. This is the Holy Spirit's just telling me persecution and imprisonment everywhere I go. I don't know what's going to happen when I go to Jerusalem. He doesn't know what to expect or when to expect it or how it would even be possible for God to do what He had promised. You forget they lost all hope of being saved on the scene. All of them. There's nothing we can do. Pray. Is it any wonder that near the end of this two-year imprisonment in Rome that Paul so confidently writes to the church in Philippi, I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low and how to abound in every circumstance. I have learned the secret of facing plenty. and hunger and abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me." Is it any wonder that he writes that? As one commentator has observed, it is enough for Paul to know that God knows. That God is sovereign and God knows and God understands and that God has a purpose for every single thing that has happened to Paul along the way. Everything that God has brought him through sovereignly. And that's all that matters for Paul. That's it. I don't know, God knows. I don't understand, God understands. God has a purpose, I know. It's His promise that He's working all things together for good. And He will finish the work that He started. Can you say the same? Can you search your heart? Can you say the same? If you belong to Him, you mustn't think it's strange when He disciplines you until you can say the same. Until it is also enough for you to know that God knows, that God understands, and that He has a purpose for you in Christ in every circumstance that He sovereignly brings you through. And that's all that matters. Having been brought through such trials, Paul knew this. And he knew his purpose in Christ. And with such a privileged concession from the empire, he wasted no time in pursuing it. Within three days, Luke says, three days upon arriving there. He's called together already the local leadership of the Jews, first to ensure them that whatever they may be hearing, whatever slander, whatever lies, whatever they hear, his purpose in appealing to Caesar was not to speak anything against his people. That's not why I'm here. Or to speak anything against the customs of their fathers. But on the contrary, Paul says, my purpose in these chains here to speak, to stand before Caesar is to speak with him about our hope, the hope of Israel, the same hope he wants to share with them. The same hope he has shared with Jews everywhere he's went and with Gentiles as well. To be honest, he says, the true reason this is the true reason I've called you here to see you face to face and to speak with you face to face about Jesus Christ, the fulfillment of the hope of Israel. the Christ, the Messiah. And when they had appointed a day for him, they came to him at his lodging in great numbers. From morning until evening, he expounded to them, testifying to the kingdom of God and trying to convince them about Jesus, both from the law of Moses and from the prophets. And some were convinced by what he said. and others disbelieve. Luke describes no less than three verbs to Paul's effort, stressing with them that Paul was continually involved in these actions of expounding, testifying, and persuading, and even stamping it with a time stamp. Morning until evening, Paul was continually doing these things. and pulling all from the law of Moses and the prophets. The Old Testament, you understand. As Jesus had earlier explained to a couple of the disciples along the Emmaus road, beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them in all the scriptures, the things concerning himself. That's the Old Testament. And so Paul here explains the Jews in Rome. Moses, the law of Moses and the prophets is all about Jesus. It all points to him. The Old Testament points to Jesus. And yet the sober result for Paul. In this instance was that some were convinced by what he said. and others disbelieved. Question 20 of our Heidelberg Catechism asks the question, are all men saved by Christ as they have been perished in Adam? And it answers no, but only those who by true faith are engrafted into him and receive his benefits. As we might expect, question 21 continues by asking, well, what then is true faith? Answering true faith is not only a sure knowledge whereby I hold for true all that God has revealed in his word, but also a hearty trust, which the Holy Spirit works in me by the gospel. Not only to others, but also to me, forgiveness of sins, everlasting righteousness and salvation are freely given of God, merely of grace and only for the sake of Christ Jesus. Paul knew his purpose in Christ. He was a witness of Jesus Christ. He was to expound To testify, to persuade others of the truth about Jesus Christ and the kingdom of God. And yet Paul knew that mere knowledge of scripture wasn't going to convince anyone to accept Jesus Christ. To accept Jesus as Christ. For he knew all too well that even with the sure knowledge of scripture, one could be a violent persecutor of the church. In order to accept Jesus as Christ, one needed faith, a true faith, which only the Holy Spirit works in us by the gospel. There's no other way. As our Lord Himself explained to Nicodemus, unless one is born again of water and the Spirit, you cannot enter the kingdom of God. And so Paul would explain to the church in Ephesus, by grace, you have been saved through faith. This is not of your own doing. It is a gift from God. And apart from this inward work of the Holy Spirit by the gospel, faith comes through hearing, hearing through the words of Christ. Without this inward work of the Holy Spirit, no one ever truly believes in Jesus Christ. No one. Paul knew this. He knew about the absolute sovereignty of God in salvation. And yet, from morning till evening, he expounded to them, testifying to the kingdom of God, trying to convince them about Jesus, both from the law of Moses and the prophets, all of the Old Testament scripture. And some believed, and some didn't. This wasn't on account of any shortcoming in the Apostle Paul. I don't think any man could have could have tried harder. Some believe because the Holy Spirit had given them the gift of faith and some disbelieve because the Holy Spirit withheld the gift of faith. And no amount of expounding, testifying, or persuading is ever going to convince those people to accept Christ, those with whom the Holy Spirit withholds the gift of faith. And after expounding, testifying and trying to persuade them from morning till evening, Paul acknowledges the same. The Holy Spirit, he says, was right in saying to your fathers through Isaiah the prophet, go to this people and say this. Thus says God, you will indeed hear but never understand. You will indeed see, but never perceive. For this people's heart has grown dull, and with their ears they can barely hear, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them. Therefore, let it be known to you all that this salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles. They will listen. You see, Isaiah was sent by God with a message to King Ahaz and the people of Judah, a message that they were never going to believe. In fact, they were only going to be the worse off for hearing it. Even more hardened, even more blinded. Like Paul, Isaiah longed for his people to repent. He longed for it, but it was not to be. As someone has said, Isaiah was called to faithfulness, not fruitfulness. You could say the same of Jeremiah and many of the other prophets. Paul was called to the same. And only God knows why. We don't know. We don't understand. But we know God has a purpose. We know. That's OK. That's all we need to know. For he alone is sovereign in the working out of his eternal decree, working all things together for good for those who love him or called according to his purpose, even decreeing opportunities and occasions for sin. Sometimes to test with the goal of strengthening and affirming, and sometimes to harden and to punish. Only God knows why. And that's enough. In Isaiah's day, God hardened and blinded Judah. And He raised up Assyria to lay waste to Israel. 722 BC. And later, He raised up Babylon, just like Isaiah prophesied. and laid waste to Judah in 586 BC. And likewise, Paul recognized that no matter what he said, no matter how hard he tried, it was God who was hardening and blinding his kinsmen and that judgment would soon follow. And it did in AD 70. as Rome came and wiped out, laid waste to Jerusalem and the temple. And yet, in all of these instances, every single one of them, though most did not believe, some did. Some did. And even after God's judgment had passed, a remnant always remained. The discipline of the Lord doesn't mean God is done with anyone. Even a wild Gentile branch can be grafted into the vine of Christ through the inward work of the Holy Spirit. They can be blessed such that they will listen. As can a Jew who has been cut off from Christ as well. Nothing's impossible for God. Which is why both Isaiah and Paul were obligated to proclaim the gospel to the Jew first and also speaking to the Gentile. Isaiah prophesied of the Gentiles coming to God. God is fulfilling that in the preaching of Paul. And true, some would not believe. And there was nothing either Isaiah or Paul could do about it. But they also knew that some would believe. and that they would need to be brought into the church. They needed to hear the gospel. They needed to be brought into the church. They needed to be strengthened and encouraged by the preaching of the gospel, the right use of the sacraments, and yes, discipline. They had to have it. They needed it. Yes, God is sovereign. But His people need this. And this was Isaiah's purpose in Christ. It was Paul's purpose in Christ. And it is the purpose of all who are in Christ. To faithfully witness to Jesus Christ from the scriptures that those who will listen would be brought into the church, strengthened and encouraged by the preaching of the gospel, the right use of the sacraments and church discipline. And here at the end of Luke's record of acts, the Lord, by the pouring out of his spirit, has achieved what he had promised through his apostles 28 chapters ago. Their witness to him, which had began in Jerusalem, had gone throughout all of Judea, Samaria, and now to Rome. Some people say, well, that was considered the end of the world at that time. But it's not the end of the world. It's not. It's not the ends of the earth. And it's telling as how Luke ends this, even if we put together his two books, that the ending of these 49 chapters of Luke's two books of the gospel of Acts, the gospel and acts that he concludes here with Paul's imprisonment in Rome for two whole years at this own expense and welcoming all who came to him, proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ with boldness and without hindrance. That's where it ends. Paul was continuing to fulfill his purpose in Christ. But the work of reaching the ends of the earth was unfinished. Yes, his apostles will bear witness to the ends of the earth. We have them right here. But the work is not finished. And many believe Luke ended this way. That others might be spurred to pick up where Paul left, where Paul leaves off, where he leaves Paul. That this was intentional by Luke. I believe, I believe they're right. Our purpose in Christ isn't about us. It's much bigger. It's about God. It's about God's grace. It's about his son's finished work upon the cross. It's about the Spirit's transforming work through the faithful proclamation of the gospel, of the good news about Jesus Christ. That's what it's about. That's what life is about for Christians. That's our calling. Yes, God is sovereign, but that's our calling. And the work isn't finished yet. And though the opportunities might come to us at times that are not the times we would choose. They may come to us in ways that we haven't planned for them to come. Our purpose in Christ remains the same, irregardless. God knows, God understands, God has a purpose, and that's enough for us. Our purpose in Christ remains the same. explaining, testifying, persuading from the scriptures about the kingdom of God and the Lord Jesus Christ. Thankful. For all those who will listen. And prayerful for all those who will not. May God help us to pick up where Paul left off. and continue to take the gospel to the ends of the earth. Amen. Let us pray. Almighty God and Heavenly Father, we do marvel at your word. We marvel at how you work out your decrees, your grace in and through the means of this life. We marvel at your wisdom. We marvel at your grace, how you do these things. We can't understand. It surpasses our understanding. Yet you give us peace. Peace to step out and do all that you've called us to do. While we trust in you. Trust in your promise. Lord, we ask you to help us to do this more and more in our lives. Help us to achieve our purpose in Christ. Help us to glorify you. Help us to rejoice over the wonder of your grace, the transformation that comes from the work of your spirit in the hearts of your people. And help us to not lose hope for those in whom you have yet chosen not to give your grace. Father, we know that you know. We know that you understand. We know that you have a purpose and a good reason for all that you do. Father, let it be enough. For us. We ask this in Christ's name, amen.