ACTS CHAPTER 28:11-31, “In And
After Rome/Wrap-up”
By
Jim Bomkamp
1.
INTRO
1.1.
In our last study, we looked
at Paul and company after they have landed
shipwrecked upon the
1.1.1. We saw that the natives
received those upon the ship kindly after their shipwreck
1.1.2. We saw 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
1.1.2.1.Paul just shook the viper
off in the fire, and the Lord kept him from dying or suffering any effects from
the poison
1.1.2.2.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
1.1.2.3.Paul then ended up having a
tremendous healing ministry among the natives on the island
1.1.3. We looked at some lessons
that we can learn about spiritual warfare from this section of scripture
1.2.
In our study today we are going to look at Paul as he finally lands at
Rome, what we believe that he may have done after the ending of the book of
Acts, and finally we are going to give an overview wrap-up of the book of Acts
1.2.1. Paul finally lands at Rome
1.2.1.1.The brethren at the church
are glad to see him
1.2.1.2.He is able to avoid the
Roman prison and stay in his own lodging with his own guard
1.2.2. Where Paul may have gone and
what he might have done after the ending of the book of Acts
1.2.2.1.We will judge this based
upon
1.2.2.1.1.His own epistles which he
penned and their references
1.2.2.1.2.What the early church
fathers wrote about Paul
1.2.2.1.3.What tradition has handed
down to us
1.2.3. Wrap-up of the book of Acts
1.2.3.1.We will look at my
introductory remarks concerning the book of Acts and see how these have proven
to be true
1.2.3.2.We will get an overview of
what the church needs to learn from the book of Acts
1.2.3.3.We will get an overview of
what we can learn from Paul’s life and experiences from the book of Acts
2.
VS 28:11 - “11 And 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 three months they set
sail for
2.1.
Paul’s ministry
to the people of this island lasted the duration of three months.
2.2.
There was an
‘Alexandrian ship which had wintered at the island’ onto which they left the
island.
2.2.1. The ship had the image of the two twin gods (whoever
they may be), worshipped in
3.
VS 28:12 - “12 And after we put in at
3.1.
They sailed to
4.
VS 28:13-14 - “13 And from there we sailed around
and arrived at Rhegium, and a day later a south wind sprang up, and on the
second day we came to Puteoli. 14 There we found some brethren, and were
invited to stay with them for seven days; and thus we came to
4.1.
Luke records that
from
4.2.
At Puteoli, Paul
and his traveling companions, Luke and Aristarchus, found some Christian
brothers, from whom they accepted an invitation to stay for 7 days.
4.3.
After this they
came to
5.
VS 28:15 - “15 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.” - Christian
brethren came from far and wide to meet Paul
5.1.
Three years prior
to this point in time, Paul had sent the epistle to the Romans to the church(s)
in
5.1.1. Therefore, these brethren were very excited to meet
this man who was an apostle of Christ and such an elegant and prolific
writer. He was used by God to convey the
truth of the gospel to them.
5.2.
When the brethren
from the church(s) in
5.3.
When Paul saw the
Roman brethren who had come to meet him he was thankful to God for sending
them, and then he also had his courage swell for he knew that the Lord had a
ministry laid out for him amongst the church in
6.
VS 28:16 - “16 And when we entered
6.1.
During this first
imprisonment in
6.1.1. Knowing the state of the Roman prisons of that day,
this was a huge blessing for Paul that he was able to have private lodging.
6.2.
Paul’s Roman
guard would be changed every 6 hours.
God in His infinite wisdom orchestrated this, for in this way many Roman
soldiers were caused to hear the gospel message and read Paul’s letters
firsthand, and thus many must have come to salvation.
7.
VS
28:17-20 - “17 And it
happened that after three days he called together those who were the leading men
of the Jews, and when they had come together, he began saying to them,
“Brethren, though I had done nothing against our people, or the customs of our
fathers, yet I was delivered prisoner from Jerusalem into the hands of the
Romans. 18 “And when they had examined me, they were willing to release me
because there was no ground for putting me to death. 19 “But when the Jews
objected, I was forced to appeal to Caesar; not that I had any accusation
against my nation. 20 “For this reason therefore, I requested to see you and to
speak with you, for I am wearing this chain for the sake of the hope of
7.1.
We see that right
to the last that Paul employed his method of going to the synagogues of the
Jews first in order to preach the gospel to his Jewish brethren, and then after
they rejected the message going to the Gentiles to preach the gospel.
7.2.
Paul called for
the ‘leading men of the Jews’ to come to his dwelling so that he could witness
to them concerning Christ.
7.2.1. Paul was wise in appealing to the synagogue leaders,
for he knew that if they converted to Christianity that they would lead most of
the rest of the Jews to Christ.
7.3.
The leading men
of
7.4.
We have seen
that, as he does here, Paul consistently contended in his ministry that he was
not a leader of any branched-off Jewish sect, but rather it was the Jews who
had rejected their God and Messiah, by whom he was simply a messenger of the
good news prophesied in the Old Testament.
7.5.
As Paul shared
with these leaders, in dramatic fashion he raised up the chains which bound him
to his Roman guard, and he declared that he wore those very chains because of
his declaration of that which was the very hope of the nation of Israel, the
Messiah, Jesus.
8.
VS
28:21-22 - “21 And
they said to him, “We have neither received letters from
8.1.
The Jews in Rome
remind me a bit of those who Paul met in Berea who were so noble as to search
the scriptures daily to see if the things which Paul was preaching matched up
with the Word of God.
8.2.
These Jews had
only heard bad things concerning the Christians, however they were still
willing to appoint a day in order that they might come together and hear what
the Christians believed.
9.
VS
28:23-24 - “23 And
when they had set a day for him, they came to him at his lodging in large
numbers; and he was explaining to them by solemnly testifying about the kingdom
of God, and trying to persuade them concerning Jesus, from both the Law of
Moses and from the Prophets, from morning until evening. 24 And some were being
persuaded by the things spoken, but others would not believe.” - Paul
preached the gospel concerning Christ to the leading men of the Jews in
9.1.
On the day that
the Jewish leaders in
9.2.
It has been said
that there are over 338 prophesies in the Old Testament which refer to the
Messiah, and most of these were fulfilled in Christ’s first coming to the
earth.
9.3.
Some of the Jews
were persuaded by the teaching and preaching of Paul, to become Christians, but
others in the crowed ‘refused’ to believe.
10.
VS
28:25-27 - “25 And
when they did not agree with one another, they began leaving after Paul had
spoken one parting word, “The Holy Spirit rightly spoke through Isaiah the
prophet to your fathers, 26 saying, ‘Go to this people and say, “You will keep
on hearing, but will not understand; And
you will keep on seeing, but will not perceive;
27 For the heart of this people has become dull, And with their ears
they scarcely hear, And they have closed their eyes; Lest they should see with their eyes, And hear with their ears, And understand with
their heart and return, And I should heal them.” ’” - Since the
Jews could not agree with each other about whether or not the things that Jesus
did were prophesied in the scriptures, they decided to leave, however Paul
rebuked them from their scripture
10.1. The Jews who had come together to hear Paul finally
got into a big argument, and when they could not agree with each other concerning
Paul’s teaching, they began to part from Paul.
As they were leaving, Paul quoted the words of God spoken through Isaiah
to the people’s Jewish ancestors concerning the fact that the Jews would reject
their God and His plan for their life.
10.1.1.Paul quoted Isaiah 6:9-10, “9 And He
said, “Go, and tell this people: ‘Keep on listening, but do not perceive; Keep on looking, but do not understand.’”
10.1.1.1.Isaiah wrote these verses about the Jews in his own
day, for when we study the book of Isaiah we see that when God called Isaiah
the Jews were going through a transition period where they were no longer
trusting in and looking with their whole hearts to the Lord. However, Paul speaking under the inspiration
of the Holy Spirit saw accurately that throughout their history this had always
been the situation with the Israelites.
They were constantly falling into sin and turning away from their God
only to come back much later after suffering the consequences of their sin.
10.1.2.In Col. 3:25, Paul wrote about how that if
anyone sins that he shall suffer the consequences of his sins, and this will
occur regardless of who you are, “25 For he who does wrong will receive
the consequences of the wrong which he has done, and that without partiality.”
10.1.2.1.The tragic consequence of not believing the truth from
God’s Word when one hears it is that it produces a blinding to truth.
10.1.2.2.The Jews who ‘refused’ to believe would now be blinded
from believing the truth about Christ.
10.1.3.When a person chooses to harden his heart against the
Lord, the Lord hardens that man’s heart, and confirms his choice to reject Him.
10.1.4.Jesus quoted these same verses from Isaiah to the Jews
when He was trying to teach His parables to them, and they could not and were
not willing to understand Him.
10.1.5.We Christians ought to consider closely the
consequences we will face if we harden our heart to the Lord when He is trying
to reveal His will for our lives. We
ought to ask Him to have mercy on us and begin to soften our hard heart.
10.1.6.Non-Christians should also look at the severe
consequences which they shall face as a result of hardening of their hearts to
the Word of God when it is preached to them.
God Himself will confirm their choice and they will soon lose the
ability to hear the voice of God in their hearts and consciences, and then one
day they will wake up in hell and realize how foolish they were to have
hardened their hearts to the Lord and His messengers.
10.2. What the Lord said through Isaiah was that the Jewish
people would lose the ability understand spiritual truth due to their hardening
of their heart. The Jews would keep
trying to understand the message, however they would not be able to understand
spiritual truth any more, and they would become blind and dull in their
understanding of God and His ways and truth.
10.2.1.Having rejected their Messiah, the Jews are still that
same state of blindness and dullness spiritually today, and they don’t even
understand the simple prophesies concerning the coming of their Messiah.
11.
VS
28:28-29 - “28 “Let
it be known to you therefore, that this salvation of God has been sent to the
Gentiles; they will also listen.” 29 [And when he had spoken these words, the
Jews departed, having a great dispute among themselves.]” - Paul told
these leading men of the Jews who were leaving not being in agreement with each
other concerning the preaching of Paul, that God would now send the gospel to
the Gentiles and that they would receive it
11.1. In their parting, Paul told these Jewish brethren who
were turning their back on the Lord and His Christ that as a result of the Jews
rejecting their God and His Christ that the way of salvation was being opened
up to the Gentiles.
11.2. Paul attempts to make these Jews jealous.
11.2.1.In Romans 11:11, Paul wrote about how when
Gentiles come to Christ that God uses it in the lives of the Jews to produce
jealousy, a jealousy which with many Jews will lead them to Christ, “11 I
say then, they did not stumble so as to fall, did they? May it never be! But by
their transgression salvation has come to the Gentiles, to make them jealous.”
11.2.2.You see we also must make Jews jealous. We can for instance thank them for giving us
their Messiah!
12.
VS
28:30-31 - “30 And he
stayed two full years in his own rented quarters, and was welcoming all who
came to him, 31 preaching the kingdom of God, and teaching concerning the Lord
Jesus Christ with all openness, unhindered.” - Paul stayed
in his rented quarters chained to a Roman soldier for two years as he was able
from there to preach the gospel to all who visited him
12.1. For the next two years Paul stayed at this rented
quarters where he was imprisoned chained to a Roman guard which was changed
every 6 hours, and, he welcomed all who would come to him, as he took
opportunity to preach the gospel.
12.1.1.Obviously, many of the Roman guards became Christians
as they heard Paul preach the gospel to others, and as he wrote the
scriptures. God created a prison
ministry for Paul.
12.1.2.During these two years in
12.1.2.1.He also met and led to the Lord Onesimus, the runaway
slave of Philemon.
12.2. Paul’s message was concerning the ‘
12.3. Luke records Paul’s ministry during these two years as
being one of openness of sharing the truth, and that he was unhindered, i.e.
that he suffered no persecution or hindrance from the unbelieving Jews or
pagans in his preaching. God gave Paul
his own Roman soldier for a body guard.
13.
Now we want to
discuss what Paul probably did after the end of the book of Acts:
13.1. Calvary Chapel pastor Bill Richie who pastors in
13.2. Tradition records that after 2 years of imprisonment
in
13.2.1.Paul was acquitted of all the charges against him by
Nero in approx. 62 A.D.
13.2.1.1.Bill Richie believes that Nero released Paul on a
whim.
13.2.2.Paul was now in his middle 60’s.
13.3. Bill Richie believes that Paul probably went to
13.4. He then probably went and preached the gospel in
13.4.1.Clement the early church father wrote that Paul went
to
13.5. Paul may have gone to other outermost parts of the
world, and may have even entered
13.6.
13.7. Paul probably went back to
13.7.1.When Paul got there however his worst fears, as
recorded in Acts 20:28-31, had been fulfilled, “28 “Be on guard
for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you
overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own
blood.29 “I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you,
not sparing the flock;30 and from among your own selves men will arise,
speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them.31 “Therefore
be on the alert, remembering that night and day for a period of three years I
did not cease to admonish each one with tears.”
13.7.2.The elders were pastors of house fellowships in
13.7.3.The people were carnal and following after tangents
instead of truth, and there was disunity.
13.7.4.Instead of deal with the church directly himself, he
left pastor Timothy in charge of the church in
13.7.5.After leaving Paul wrote 1 Timothy to Timothy instructing
him how to deal with the problems in
13.8. Next, Paul left
13.8.1.Paul left Titus in charge of the church at
13.8.2.After leaving Paul went to
13.9. Finally, Paul went back to
13.9.1.Things were much different in
13.9.2.Living in fear of persecution the Christians met in
the underground catacombs (tombs). The
Roman soldiers were too afraid to venture down into the catacombs and persecute
the church.
13.9.3.Paul again encouraged the brethren.
13.9.4.Finally, Paul was again imprisoned, only this time he
was charged with a crime and received a death sentence. Some believe that Paul was charged with
setting the fire that burned down
13.9.5.During this time the church in
13.9.6.The news which Paul did receive about the churches
brought him depression.
13.9.6.1.In 66A.D. as he was awaiting his execution, Paul wrote
2 Timothy to pastor Timothy to help him deal with the continuing difficult
problems in
13.9.7.In 67AD on a beautiful day, at Caesar Nero’s command
Paul was taken out of the pit, taken to a block where he was forced to get on
his knees and hang his head on the block.
He was then beheaded.
13.9.7.1.Paul saw the Lord face to face.
14.
An overview of
what we can learn from Paul’s life and experiences from the book of Acts
14.1.
At the beginning of our study of the book of Acts I made several
statements about why the I believe that the study of the book of Acts is so
important. I believe that this study has
proven those points. Here are some
quotes from my introductory study:
14.1.1.“We in the Calvary Chapel movement
believe that the first generation church was really the only church to see what
the Spirit of God wants to and can do through the church, for that early church
was pure from doctrinal error and the plans and schemes of man, and it was also
the only generation of the church to turn the world upside down, and in its own
generation reach all of its inhabited world with the gospel.”
14.1.1.1.However, I
mentioned that this is not at all where the mainstream church today is looking
to model the church.
14.1.1.2.“The
mainstream church in the large has for many many years now looked to the wisdom
of man for its ideas and philosophies of church growth, etc., and to show you
how deeply these ideas have taken root, last year the number one book sold in
the Christian bookstores was a book titled, “Marketing The Church”… This book teaches
that church growth is all about demographics, modern marketing techniques, and
salesmanship.”
14.1.1.3.“Those in
the church today who could be described as more of what we call the
‘Pentecostal’ vein, have I believe actually moved away from the model of the first
century church because they have often emphasized the Holy Spirit to the
expense of emphasizing Jesus and the preaching of the gospel, and they have
also gone the extra-Biblical route seeking experiences not described anywhere
in the Bible, and not seeking to verify so-called ‘spiritual’ experiences
through God’s Word.”
14.1.2.“What I believe the mainstream church
really needs to do at this point is to consider their marketing philosophies
against what what the book of Acts reveals concerning the church, and against
the rest of the counsel of God’s Word, and, to consider what Paul wrote to the
Galatians in Gal. 3:3, “3 Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are
you now being perfected by the flesh?””
14.1.3.“What the church needs today is the
genuine moving of the Holy Spirit in the lives of men and women who realize
that in and of themselves they do not have the ability to do anything of value
for the Lord.”
14.1.4.“In the mainstream church today, men
and women have looked to their own worldly and fleshly resources to build the
church, yet in Matt. 16:18, Jesus said to Peter that the church was His church,
and that He would build it, “18 “And I also say to you that you are Peter, and
upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades shall not
overpower it.””
14.1.5.“In the book of Acts, we see that the
building of the church revealed a sovereign working of God, and that there was
a realization that what the church needed was simply to be in synch with the
Lord, hear His voice, and follow where He led, and the rest would be His
responsibility. We see this especially
in Acts 13:48, when it is written that God added to their number those who were
‘appointed’ unto salvation, “ 48 And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing
and glorifying the word of the Lord; and as many as had been appointed to
eternal life believed.””
14.1.6.“The Psalmist said in 127:1, “Unless the LORD builds
the house, They labor in vain who build it;”.
However, if we will let the Lord build the church, and do the things
that the church did in the book of Acts, then we will see the Lord work as He
did in the book of Acts.”
14.2. Here at the end of the book of Acts, it was approx. 30
years since Paul had initially been saved, and the whole world had been turned
upside-down by Paul and those who had gone into all of the world and preached
the gospel.
14.2.1.I have read estimates of the number of Christians at
this time, being ‘many millions’.
14.2.2.The book of Acts reveals to us what the Holy Spirit is
able to do to a people who are willing to yield themselves totally at His
dispense.
14.2.2.1.It was not by might and not by power, but by God’s
Spirit that the church was built and the gospel spread.
14.3. The apostles and the mother church in Jerusalem do not
appear to have held fast to their Great Commission (Matt. 28:18-19) to go to all the world and preach
the gospel making disciples and teaching them to observe all that Christ had
commanded them.
14.3.1.At the beginning of the book we saw the beginning of
the functionality of the early church, and the tremendous response people made
to the preaching of the gospel.
14.3.2.The church in
14.3.3.However, for many years the apostles did not continue
on in the mission that they had been called to, namely being Jesus witnesses
first in Jerusalem, then Judea, Samaria, and to the remotest parts of the
earth.
14.3.4.We also saw that it was through persecution that the
Lord dispersed His people to the various nations, and the gospel began to be
preached by those who were not apostles, but just regular disciples.
14.4. The apostle Paul was the central focus of the Jewish
persecution in
14.4.1.As we should do, Paul ever kept before him the Great
Commission of Jesus in Matt. 28:18-20 , “18 And Jesus came up and spoke
to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19
“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name
of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all
that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
14.4.2.May God give us the burden for those who are lost
without Christ which Paul had…
14.5. As our example to follow when suffering for Christ,
Paul had suffered so greatly in the ministry as he reveals in the book of 2
Cor., yet it did not daunt him a bit from continuing the mission that the Lord
had given to him. Thus, he said the following to the Ephesian
elders in Acts 20:22-24, “22 “And now, behold, bound in spirit, I am on
my way to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there, 23 except that
the Holy Spirit solemnly testifies to me in every city, saying that bonds and
afflictions await me. 24 “But I do not consider my life of any account as dear
to myself, in order that I may finish my course, and the ministry which I
received from the Lord Jesus, to testify solemnly of the gospel of the grace of
God”.
14.5.1.May we not hold onto our own life as if it were our
own possession, but instead may we be undaunted in fulfilling that which we
know to be our own calling from Christ…
14.6. We can be encouraged in our failings and weaknesses
for the book of Acts also reveals the humanity of Paul, for he was not a
perfect man but rather just one who tried to be an obedient and faithful
brother in Christ
14.6.1.He had a falling out with Barnabas at the beginning of
the second missionary journey, a contention that revealed that both men acted
in the flesh. They refused to go to the
mission field together but instead broke fellowship and headed off in separate
directions.
14.6.2.Twice the Lord had to appear to Paul to assure him
that he would go to
14.6.2.1.Both times the Lord told Paul not to fear, indicating
that he was being controlled by his fear.
14.6.3.Out at sea in the midst of a huge storm, Paul had lost
all hope of being saved. This was after
the first time that Christ had told Paul that he was sending him to
14.7.
This the last
page of the book of Acts, but it is the last page of the first chapter. The
book of Acts, which when I began, has been called the “Acts of the Holy
Spirit”, has continued to be written since chapter 28 of the book. Now, it is for us in this generation to take
up the torch, and take the gospel to all creation, making disciples. And, we must remember that as we do this the
Lord has promised us that He will be with us in this commission, “even to the
end of the age”.