ACTS CHAPTER 28:1-10,
“Ministry To The People Of
By
Jim Bomkamp
1.
INTRO
1.1.
In our last study, we looked
at how the Lord rescued Paul and all
onboard the ship sailing to Rome as they encountered a huge storm and suffered
shipwreck on the island of Malta in the Mediterranean just south of the
peninsula of Italy
1.1.1. The angel of the Lord appeared
to Paul in the night and told him not to fear for he would appear before Caesar
Nero and that God had granted him everyone aboard the ship
1.1.2. Paul told the men on the
ship about the Lord’s appearing to him, and they were encouraged to hold
together and not fear
1.1.3. The Lord did not answer
their prayer for many days however as they continued in the midst of the huge
storm
1.1.4. Finally, in the fourteenth
day in the storm they were shipwrecked on the island of Malta and everyone was
saved alive, just as the Lord had told Paul
1.2.
In our study today, we are going to look at Paul and company after they
have landed shipwrecked upon the
1.2.1. We will see that the natives
received those upon the ship kindly after their shipwreck
1.2.2. We will see that no sooner
had they landed than the natives began to build a big fire, and when Paul was
helping to carry wood a viper came out of a pile of wood and fastened upon his
hand
1.2.2.1.Paul just shook the viper
off in the fire, and the Lord kept him from dying or suffering any effects from
the poison
1.2.2.2.When he was first bitten the
natives thought that Paul must have been a murderer and deserved to die, but then
after he didn’t die nor his hand swell up they began to think that he was a god
1.2.2.3.Paul then ended up having a
tremendous healing ministry among the natives on the island
1.2.3. We will look at some lessons
that we can learn about spiritual warfare from this section of scripture
2.
VS 28:1-2 - “28:1 And when they had been brought
safely through, then we found out that the island was called
2.1.
The island that
Paul and the crew crashed onto is modern day
2.2.
It is very interesting
that the terrible storm and trial at sea had caused Paul and his ship to
shipwreck on this island which was inhabited with these uncivilized, yet very
kind and giving natives.
2.2.1. This reveals that God is no respecter of persons, and
that He knows the heart of every man woman and child on the earth. He loves all men and will reveal Himself to
every soul who shall come to Him.
2.2.2. These people whom no one else of the civilized world
would have had much to do were precious in His eyes, so much so that the Lord
directed Paul away from his ministries to endure this storm at sea in order to
go to them and preach the gospel.
2.3.
The
natives with kindness showed much hospitality by receiving this ship and all
her crew. They had simply compassion on them since they were cold, and,
thus they built a big fire for all to warm up with.
2.3.1. We would do well to show hospitality, for we will have
God’s blessing in our lives and in doing so we might even end up entertaining
an angel, much as these natives ended up having the father of the island’s
chief man and many others healed of their diseases.
2.3.2. Spurgeon
once preached from this text about the blessings which come to us when we show
kindness to others, “We can never tell how God may make return to us for
acts of kindness which we may do to others, but just as it is said that curses,
like chickens, come home to roost, and that he who throws a stone into the air
will find it fall on his own head, so do good actions, deeds of kindness and
charity, come back to us in some shape or other, even as Christ said to his
disciples, “Give, and it shall be given unto you: good measure, pressed down,
and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with
the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again.” It is
the best way to bless ourselves to be earnest in blessing others. These
hospitable people were bringing dawn upon the
2.3.3. There are so many people in this world who are cold
and shivering as the crew of this ship were.
People have been through incredible storms and suffered shipwreck
because of their sin. Thiis world is a
very cold place, and thus we should take it as our responsibility to kindle a
fire to warm them up and receive them to us because of the cold, as many as
will come.
2.3.3.1.I am afraid however that many times we Christians
though we may be warm towards our pursuits in this world and the building up of
our personal concerns or even family, that many times we are very chilly
towards the things of the Lord and as a result very chilly towards those of
this world who are cold.
2.3.3.2.It is when we have seasons of prayer to God, that time
we spend in His Word since He says that His Word is like a fire, and time in
fellowship with the body of Christ, that warm our cold hearts and light the
flame of God in us which gives us zeal for the Lord and love for those who are
lost.
2.3.3.3.A man named Dr. Watts once wrote,
“Come, Holy Spirit, heavenly
Dove,
With all thy quickening powers,
Kindle a flame of sacred love,
In these cold hearts of
ours.
“Dear Lord! and shall we ever lie,
At this poor dying rate?
Our love so faint, so cold to
thee,
And thine to us so great?”
2.3.4. Do you love and reach out with the gospel to those
whom the world has passed by and whom it could care less about? Just as the Lord Jesus drew you to Himself in
His love, so you should draw others to yourself...
3.
VS 28:3-4 - “3 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 on his hand. 4 And 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.”” - A viper from the firewood bites and fastens
onto Paul’s hand
3.1.
We see
here in these verses the servant heart of Paul.
3.1.1. We might understand if having endured such a trial at
sea and now having been rescued he just wanted to lay back and relax and let
others minister to his needs. However,
after the tremendous physical, emotional, and spiritual trial at sea, Paul
immediately began to help out by carrying wood for the building a huge fire to
warm everyone.
3.1.2. It was never below Paul to lend a hand and help with
any work or need that he could meet.
3.2.
Paul was picking
up a stack of wood and when he laid it on the fire, one of the pieces of wood
turned out to be a deadly viper which ‘fastened on his hand’ and would have
caused his death within a couple of minutes were it not for the powerful hand
of the Lord to heal him.
3.2.1. The vipers in that day were very venomous, however
they were actually fairly small in size and looked like a piece of wood lying
on the ground.
3.3.
We can
only imagine what must have been going through Paul’s mind when after having been in an incredible trial at sea
which lasted for fourteen days and nights, in the midst of which they had lost
all hope of being saved, then to finally be saved alive after shipwrecking on
the
3.3.1. If God can deliver me through the storm I’ve been
through on the seas the past two weeks He surely can heal me from the bite of
just one poisonous snake.
3.3.1.1.One of the blessings we gain from our trials is that
afterwards our faith is not easily shaken.
3.3.2. God told me not to worry while at sea because He would
bring me to
3.3.3. He was surely considering strongly what Jesus said in Luke
10:18-20 to His disciples’ having authority to tread upon snakes, “18 And
He said to them, “I was watching Satan fall from heaven like lightning. 19
“Behold, I have given you authority to tread upon serpents and scorpions, and
over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall injure you. 20 “Nevertheless
do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that
your names are recorded in heaven.”
3.4.
Many times we
Christians can be caught off guard when spiritual attack comes into our lives. Perhaps when
we have gone through a huge trial, as Paul had just gone through at sea, and
having seen God’s deliverance in that trial, it would have been the natural
thing to do to be not expecting to have to also deal with a spiritual attack by
the devil. However, Satan is looking for
an opportunity to attack each of us, and being the insidious one that he is, he
waits to attack when we are vulnerable.
3.4.1. In 1 Peter 5:8-10, Peter warns us to beware
that our adversary the devil is roaming around looking for someone to devour, “8
Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls about
like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. 9 But resist him, firm in your
faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by
your brethren who are in the world. 10 And after you have suffered for a little
while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ,
will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you.”
3.4.2. New Christians are often caught off-guard and stumble
when Satan begins to attack so soon after their conversion. We should prepare them for Satan’s attack
since they will probably now be surprised to find out that they have such a
vicious enemy after them.
3.4.2.1.New Christians are sometimes surprised when they face
severe opposition to their trying to do something good. They naively can think that everyone is going
to encourage them as they are trying to do what the Lord wants them to do and
help out others.
3.4.2.2.It’s even harder sometimes for new believers when the
opposition they face comes from those who are in the church and supposedly
God’s people.
3.4.3. We Christians must never be so foolish then to put our
guard down and not be cautious about the devil wanting to set us up for a
fall. We must always be expecting an
attack by the enemy if we are serving Christ, for the devil is going to try to
resist our efforts.
3.5.
The natives
were probably very superstitious pagans
who believed that the gods had in vengeance caused Paul to suffer a fatal snake
bite since he was a murderer.
3.5.1. It is a very wrong to judge people by appearances when
we don’t even know all the facts concerning their situation. In fact, only God knows all of the facts
concerning anyone’s situation, and thus He alone can be a just judge.
4.
VS 28:5 - “5 However he shook the creature off
into the fire and suffered no harm.” - The snake’s venom was
counteracted supernaturally by the Lord so that Paul suffered no harm from it
4.1.
Knowing that the
Lord’s Word is faithful and true, and able to fulfill all of His promises, Paul
realized that what He had spoken to Paul would come true, that that He would be
faithful to bring him to Rome to preach to Caesar. Therefore with great confidence and faith in
God, Paul simply ‘shook the creature off into the fire’, and continued on
placing firewood onto the fire as if nothing had happened.
4.2.
We Christians must learn some lessons concerning
“spiritual warfare” from this chapter:
4.2.1. We need to learn to not be too concerned about the
spiritual warfare that we are going through, and do as Paul did here and just
shake it off. We can do this for several
reasons:
4.2.1.1.I have at times seen Christians paralyzed because of
spiritual warfare, however we not that happen in our case. We must realize that Satan cannot do whatever
he wants to do to us when he attacks us.
As happened with Job in the Old Testament, the devil must first get
permission before he can touch a hair of our head.
4.2.1.2.Satan is not in control of this world, and he is not
all-powerful. Only God is
all-powerful.
4.2.1.3.Satan is not the opposite of God, he is a created
being, a fallen angel, limited in power, and able to be in only one place at a
time.
4.2.1.4.William Gurnall once wrote that Satan is really God’s
messenger boy, for the Lord has a chain around his ankle and only allows him to
disrupt God’s people when the Lord is going to work as a result of that. We see here that had it not been for Paul’s
being bitten by the snake and then just shaking it off into the fire that the
Lord would not have opened up this dynamic healing ministry among the natives
here at Malta.
4.2.1.5.We must be encouraged in that fact that Satan is only
trying to hinder us because he knows that the Lord is intending to bless us and
use us greatly in peoples’ lives.
4.2.1.5.1.I believe that the extent that we suffer spiritual
warfare is also the extent to which God is planning to use our lives mightily
for His kingdom.
4.2.1.6.We must not allow Satan to win his objective in trying
to discourage us, for that would be to allow him to get victory and
satisfaction and cause further wickedness to occur.
4.2.2. We Christians are going to suffer severe trials and
testings of our faith, and we must not let the attacks of Satan hinder us from
fulfilling the work that the Lord has for us to do.
4.2.3. Often in the midst of the stormy trials of life, we
will also suffer the attack of Satan that hits us in order to discourage us.
4.2.4. Often the attack of Satan comes through people who are
in our life, and we must not fall to the temptation to harbor bitterness and
unforgiveness towards the ones from whom that attack has come. If we will forgive freely in a Christ-like
manner, then we will pass the test of the Lord and be used in an even greater
way by Him.
4.2.4.1.Paul wrote about how we must be so very careful not to
allow bitterness to gain a hold in our life in Heb. 12:15, “15 See to it
that no one comes short of the grace of God; that no root of bitterness
springing up causes trouble, and by it many be defiled”
4.2.5. In this story, God allowed the snake to bit Paul so
that He could then heal Paul from this snake’s bite and as a result open up a
tremendous healing and gospel preaching ministry for Paul.
4.2.5.1.When the attacks of Satan occur in our life, we often
do not initially understand why it is that the Lord has allowed this painful
trial to happen to us, and none of us like to go through those trials that
severely test our faith. However, as we
can see from this verse, the Lord has a good reason for everything that He
allows to come into our life. He allows
Satan to do what he does in our life through these trials, but only because He
is going to do a great work in someone’s life as a result.
4.2.6. The Bible reveals that the Lord allows His people to
go through trials in order that He might discipline and train them in
righteousness through them. Paul wrote
about this in Heb. 12:5-13.
5.
VS
28:6 - “6 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.”
- Seeing that Paul did not fall down and
die from the snake bite the natives began to say he was a god
5.1.
This action
by this native tribe of thinking Paul was a god was just as wrong as the
previous one of thinking that Paul was being judged by the gods for being
bitten by this viper. Now, they were
wanting to worship Paul.
5.2.
In Acts
14:8-15, we studied that when Paul was at Lystra and the Lord used him in
performing a mighty healing that the people thought that he was a god, and we
read that he did everything that he could to keep them from worshipping him in
any way or thinking that he should take credit for this healing, “8 And
at Lystra there was sitting a certain man, without strength in his feet, lame
from his mother’s womb, who had never walked. 9 This man was listening to Paul
as he spoke, who, when he had fixed his gaze upon him, and had seen that he had
faith to be made well, 10 said with a loud voice, “Stand upright on your feet.”
And he leaped up and began to walk. 11 And when the multitudes saw what Paul
had done, they raised their voice, saying in the Lycaonian language, “The gods
have become like men and have come down to us.” 12 And they began calling
Barnabas, Zeus, and Paul, Hermes, because he was the chief speaker. 13 And the
priest of Zeus, whose temple was just outside the city, brought oxen and
garlands to the gates, and wanted to offer sacrifice with the crowds. 14 But
when the apostles, Barnabas and Paul, heard of it, they tore their robes and
rushed out into the crowd, crying out 15 and saying, “Men, why are you doing
these things? We are also men of the same nature as you, and preach the gospel
to you in order that you should turn from these vain things to a living God,
who made the heaven and the earth and the sea, and all that is in them.”
5.2.1. Though in our text in chapter 28 of Acts there is
nothing written saying that Paul did a similar thing as in Lystra when the
natives on Malta thought he was a god because of being used in this healing, we
must believe that he sought in some way to defer credit for this healing from
himself to God.
5.2.2. It is a horrible thing however when church leaders
today (some even in the mainstream church) are willing to be looked up to as
being like a super-saint or a prophet of some kind with powers and abilities
beyond what God can or will give to others.
These men are taking the credit and glory for what God has done.
5.3.
One of the
things that I want to bring out here is that when God works through our life as
a Christian through the gifts of the Spirit, there is a carnal tendency in
people to look at the person instead of the Lord. People make the very wrong conclusion that
you must be some really great man of God because God used you in this way. However, you may be struggling mightily as a
Christian and God still choose to work mightily through your life. Works of the Holy Spirit performed through a
Christian’s life are so far beyond their ability to even conceive or perform
that only the Lord could do these kind of things.
5.3.1. I think though that there is a tendency for Christians
and Christian leaders after God has worked in a great way through their life to
think that they must have had something to do with how God worked, or that
perhaps God really knew what He was doing when He chose me.
5.3.1.1.This kind of pride if left unchecked always comes
before a fall however.
5.3.1.2.I think that the Lord would like to do so much more
through our lives if we could handle it.
If we would just humble ourselves and determine that if anything great
happens spiritually that we’re going to put all of the focus on God not
ourselves or any other person that God would use us greatly in people’s lives
in this world.
6.
VS
28:7-9 - “7 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. 8 And it came about that the father of Publius was lying in bed afflicted
with recurrent fever and dysentery; and Paul went in to see him and after he
had prayed, he laid his hands on him and healed him. 9 And after this had
happened, the rest of the people on the island who had diseases were coming to
him and getting cured.” - Paul heals Publius and all who came to him
with diseases
6.1.
The leading
man of the island, a man named Publius, welcomed Paul and those from the ship,
and entertained them for 3 days. Some
may have actually stayed with him.
6.2.
Then, it came
about that Publius’ father was sick in bed ‘with recurrent fever and
dysentery’, and the Lord worked through Paul in order to bring healing to the
man.
6.3.
After seeing
these two great miracles which had occurred in the life of Paul, all of the
rest of the people on the island who were sick and had diseases began to come
to Paul, and they were being healed.
6.4.
It does not
say it here, however knowing the heart of Paul for the lost, we can be sure
that Paul used every opportunity afforded to him to do evangelism.
7.
VS
28:10 - “10 And they also honored us with many
marks of respect; and when we were setting sail, they supplied us with all we
needed.” - The natives honor Paul and company with many
marks of respect and plenty of supplies
7.1.
After having
a tremendous healing ministry amongst this uncivilized native tribe, the people
we so grateful for all that Paul had done that they honored them ‘with many
marks of respect’, and then when they were getting ready to leave the island the
natives supplied them with all that they might need for the trip.
7.2.
Wherever the
gospel goes the good deeds of the natives on this