We know that the book of Romans is the Holy Spirit inspired explanation of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. In it we find God’s solution to the dilemma of how a holy God can pardon sinners and remain just in the process. It is here that we discover that there is one and only one way that God can extend His mercy without violating His Law and being unjust in the process. It is the high and holy doctrine of penal-substitution or you could say penalty-substitution. For God to pardon sinners and remain just in the process there would have to be a mutual agreement between Him and a willing sinless substitute who would live a sinless life; die a sacrificial death; and experience a supernatural resurrection on behalf of God and sinners. We know that this is exactly what God has accomplished through Jesus Christ His Son and that on this basis there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved other than Jesus Christ.
The implications of this truth are enormous and are explicitly taught in the Bible – unless people trust Christ based on His sinless life, sacrificial death, and supernatural resurrection, they cannot be saved because there is no other way for God to forgive and remain just in the process.
This is the Gospel; this is the message of truth that the church must know and guard because “he who does not enter by the door into the fold of the sheep, but climbs up some other way, he is a thief and a robber” (John 10:1). Jesus is the door of the sheep (John 10:7). No one comes to the Father except by faith in Christ and Christ alone (John 14:6).
So unless men hear the message about Christ and respond to Christ by trusting Him as Lord and Savior, they cannot and will not be saved. By this we know who the thieves and robbers are: the ones who say that there is another way or who tamper with the message about Christ in any form or fashion by adding to it or taking away from it. Those who would offer Christ as Savior only are libertine liars. Those who would say that you have to make Christ Lord are legalistic liars. Those who would say that God saves through Jesus and also has other ways to save are lunatic liars.
Only those who have trusted Christ for penal-substitionary atonement are saved and all others are climbing up some other way. Anyone who trusts Christ for penal-substitutionary atonement will love and obey Jesus as Savior and Lord and the two cannot be separated. Just as love and obedience cannot be separated neither can Savior and Lord be separated.
Those who have been justified on the basis of their faith in Christ will live in loving, loyal obedience to Christ and will be hated by the world because of it. It is this faith that is always tested by the enemies of Christ. Christians will be persecuted for desiring to live godly in Christ Jesus (2 Timothy 3:12). This brings us to our text, Romans 8:28, where we see that God promises to protect Christians in and through their suffering for the sake of their faith in Christ.
For we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God – how do we know? We know by the testimony of two witnesses.
First we know because of the testimony of Scripture. We can look at the Biblical record and see how God has always protected His people by protecting their faith. This means that the suffering that comes to the child of God only strengthens his faith rather than diminishing it. Remember Joseph! Remember Daniel! Remember the three Hebrews! Remember Job! Remember Jeremiah! Remember Jesus! Remember the apostles!
Second we know because of the testimony of the saints. We can speak with anyone whose faith is genuine and 100% will testify of the unfailing faithfulness of God. The resounding chorus that will come from the lips and heart of every genuine child of God is “Great is His faithfulness!”
To those who love God – the promise of God’s protection is only to the redeemed. God doesn’t cause all things to work together for good to everyone because not everyone has saving faith. God will never prove a false faith to be true for then He would be a liar. I’ll remind you of what Adrian Rogers used to say, “The faith that fizzles before the finish was faulty at the first.”
So who are those who love God? Those who love God are the saved. Anyone who does not love the Lord Jesus does not love God and anyone who does not love God does not love the Lord Jesus. That is why we read, “If anyone does not love the Lord, he is to be accursed” (1 Corinthians 16:22).
Those who love God do not do so in their own power and of their own accord. Those who love God love Him because He first loved us (1 John 4:19). No person who does not have saving faith loves God no matter how loudly he or she proclaims it. A person must come to know and believe (trust) the love which God has for us (1 John 4:16) and that love can only be known and believed by God’s demonstration of His love for us, in that while we were sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8).
Those who love God are those who obey. Jesus said, “If you love Me you will keep My commandments” (John 14:15). There is no love for the Lord when there is no obedience to His Word. The implication of this is that there is no love for the Lord when we will not trust and obey His Word. When we will not trust and obey His Word there is no faith and it is written that the righteous man shall live by faith (Romans 1:17).
Those who love God are those who obey His Word and because we obey His Word the world hates us. This is why the true believer experiences suffering and persecution for the sake of righteousness – but it is in and through this that God has promised to work all things together for God to those who love God. True Christians will be kept from stumbling (John 15:18-21; 16:1).
Great is His faithfulness!
Showing posts with label faithfulness. Show all posts
Showing posts with label faithfulness. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Friday, November 21, 2008
The Contemporary Relevance of God's Word
Many in our day believe that the Bible, God's Word, has to be "made" relevant to today's cultures and societies. However, in the attempt to "make" God's Word relevant the final outcome is twisted Scripture, twisted meaning, and therefore twisted application. The great news is that God's ministers only need to be faithful in accurately handling the word of truth (2 Timothy 2:15) and it will be relevant because it is the eternal contemporary (1 Peter 1:23-25).
One example of just exactly what I am talking about is clearly seen in this blog which I read this morning and this blog which I posted last week which defines the characteristics of the heretic and apostate Ralph Waldo Emerson of the 19th century and still has perfect and piercing application to the heretics and apostates of the 21st century.
I'll give a few quotes from both blogs in order to show this wonderful truth about the accuracy and reliability of God's Word.
One example of just exactly what I am talking about is clearly seen in this blog which I read this morning and this blog which I posted last week which defines the characteristics of the heretic and apostate Ralph Waldo Emerson of the 19th century and still has perfect and piercing application to the heretics and apostates of the 21st century.
I'll give a few quotes from both blogs in order to show this wonderful truth about the accuracy and reliability of God's Word.
More to the point, Emerson had ignited an intellectual explosion the year
before, when he was asked to deliver the annual lecture to the Phi Beta Kappa
Society at Harvard. That address, "The American Scholar," was widely understood
to represent a declaration of independence for American intellectuals. No longer
should American thinkers be slavishly dependent upon European patterns, Emerson
declared. This was the time for the emergence of the American Scholar, a new and
advanced form of the human thinker; a scholar who would "plant himself
indomitably on his instincts" and refuse to be "timid, imitative, tame." A year later, Emerson rose to deliver his address to the Divinity School. Speaking to
young men studying for the ministry, Emerson repudiated Christianity and called
the young ministers to trust their own spiritual instincts and to free
themselves from the Bible, from belief in a divine Christ, and from any remnant of orthodox Christianity (source, emphasis mine).A fifth characteristic of these people is that they are instinctive in
their actions – “…and the things which they know by instinct, like unreasoning
animals…” (10b). These people are not motivated by the Word of God (inspiration) but by their instincts for accomplishing their agenda. These people operate by the flesh and not by faith. Their way seems right but it ends in death. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. They think that they are promoting themselves and that God is pleased with them forgetting that those who are in the flesh cannot please God. God is never pleased when people attempt to do His will their way. It is a dangerous thing to operate by instinct rather
than inspiration. These people are instinctive in their actions (source, emphasis mine).Do you see the relevance of God's Word without having to "make" it relevant?
Monday, November 3, 2008
A Good Soldier of Christ Jesus...Ordination Service for Johnny Johnson
Being ordained into the gospel ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ is both a great privilege and great responsibility. It is a great privilege in that the Lord Himself is the one who chooses and calls according to His own purpose and grace. It is a great responsibility in that the Lord requires certain character qualifications for a man to be considered eligible to hold the office of pastor or elder and the Lord Himself will hold each teacher of God’s holy Word to a higher standard of judgment.
I pity the man who has run to obtain this office but hasn’t been either called by God or sent by God. I also pity the man who thinks that being a pastor will be easy and that professed believers will automatically love him. Being a pastor entails many serious responsibilities. The pastor must feed God’s people, lead God’s people, discipline God’s people, and guard God’s people. The pastor is to be a good soldier of Christ Jesus especially as it pertains to his responsibilities of guarding the faith and guarding the flock, both of which require warring against the enemies of God’s people.
First and Second Timothy and Titus are pastoral letters. In other words they are God’s divinely inspired accounts of what He expects of pastors and therefore what His church is to expect of their pastors. In 2 Timothy 2:1-7 we see seven aspects of how God expects the pastor to be a good soldier of Christ Jesus.
A good soldier of Christ Jesus is to be strong in grace (1) – “You therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.” Johnny, you are to be strengthened inwardly in order to accomplish the ministry that the Lord has called you to. He is not calling you to be popular but to be His spokesman and you will find your strength to do that in His grace. The ministry is no place for cowards who operate under the fear of man rather than the fear of God. You will be called on by the Lord to speak His truth no matter the consequences. God labors with you through His grace and His grace is sufficient. If everyone else deserts you He will stand with you and strengthen you. The ability to study, understand, and teach the Word of God is a gift of God’s grace. “Able to teach” is one of God’s requirements for the pastor (1Timothy 3:2) and in order to teach you must be able to learn and to be able to learn you must study God’s Word. It is through studying the Word of God that you learn the great doctrines of grace and guard against teaching and preaching some form of perversion of God’s grace. Be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.
A good soldier of Christ Jesus is to be sound in doctrine (2) – “The things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.” Paul had delivered the sound doctrine with which he was entrusted to Timothy and expected Timothy to guard and deliver sound doctrine to others who would be trustworthy in delivering it on to others. It is our responsibility to guard the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints and then invest it as a trust in the lives of others who will do the same with others. It is important as a pastor that you get what you preach from the Word of God and not from the ideas and philosophies of men. You are not to attempt to be relevant by speaking as from the world – this is a primary mark of the many false prophets – but you are to preach the Word because it is relevant to every generation in every culture and it is sufficient – it is enough! Be sound in doctrine!
A good soldier of Christ Jesus is to be shameless in suffering (3) – “Suffer hardship with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus.” Ours is a day of upside down theology. The false gospel of health, wealth, and prosperity has been so incorporated into modern theology until the man of God who suffers for the sake of righteousness is considered an ungodly heretic and ungodly heretics who are popular, powerful, rich, and highly influential are well spoken of. You will not be popular if you are God’s spokesman but you will be persecuted for it. However, you will find yourself in good company when this happens. This happened to the prophets, to the apostles, and even to our Lord Jesus Christ. Now you see why you are to be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. As you are sound in doctrine you will be persecuted and spoken evil of for the sake of righteousness but the Lord’s grace will allow you to be shameless in suffering. Paul told Timothy, “Do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord or of me His prisoner, but join with me in suffering for the gospel according to the power of God.” Be shameless in suffering!
A good soldier of Christ Jesus is to be separated in service (4a) – “No soldier in active service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life….” Johnny, the Lord is calling you into active service as His soldier. The worries of the world are not to be your concern but the war of the Lord is to be. You must not get distracted by that which is really insignificant. The Lord hasn’t called you to fight the world’s global giants and He hasn’t called you to be the prince of P.E.A.C.E. Curing AIDS or solving world hunger or educating the poor or any other socialist activity is not your calling. Men can receive these benefits and still die and go to hell without Christ as their King. Your calling is to stand against the schemes of the devil and battle against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. You are to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints and destroy speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God. Only the truth of the gospel is significant for it alone is the power of God unto salvation for everyone who believes. Leave the other stuff to men like Rick Warren – you preach the gospel and do not be entangled in the affairs of everyday life. Be separated in service!
A good soldier of Christ Jesus is to be singular in devotion (4b) – “…so that he may please the one who enlisted him as a soldier.” You are to please the Lord and not yourself or anyone else. What does it matter if you please yourself or everyone else and the Lord is not pleased? The Lord deserves your honor, your affection, and your obedience for all He has done for you. His own courage and singular devotion on the battlefield is unparalleled. He stayed the course and went before you to win your freedom and eternal life. Just as Jesus was singularly devoted to His Father’s will so you are to be singularly devoted to the will of Jesus Christ. Your greatest desire should be to hear your King say, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant.” And He will if you always seek to please Him and Him alone. Every time you preach you are to remember whose presence you are in and for whom you speak. Paul told Timothy, “I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom: preach the word” (2 Timothy 4:1-2). Wanting to please the Lord Jesus Christ will set you free from worrying about what others think of your or the message. Be singular in devotion!
A good soldier of Christ Jesus is to be sensitive to the rules (5) – “Also if anyone competes as an athlete, he does not win the prize unless he competes according to the rules.” Regardless of what popular men may say you are not to discover the purpose of God and then strategize how to fulfill it. You do not have either the ability or the luxury of leaning on your own understanding when it comes to doing the will of God. The will of God has to be done the way of God or else you have violated the rules. The false prophets are marked by attempting to do God’s will their way instead of His way. Jesus will say to them on that day, “Depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness,” because they do not do the will of His Father who is in heaven. In Matthew 7 it is as clear as day that the false prophets attempted to do ministry in the name of the Lord Jesus but they were not sensitive to the rules. Rather, they leaned on their own understanding and took shortcuts. There are no shortcuts to doing the will of God. Shortcuts are not according to the rules. Even the Lord Jesus said that He did nothing on His own initiative – and you are not to do it either. God’s word is sufficient and He will show you His ways so that you can accomplish His will. Be sensitive to the rules!
A good soldier of Christ Jesus is to be steadfast in labor (6) – “The hard-working farmer ought to be the first to receive his share of the crops.” The word “hard-working” comes from a Greek word that means to toil intensely, to sweat and strain to the point of exhaustion. Let no man deceive you – the ministry isn’t a playground it is a battleground. The farmer knows that farming isn’t a playground but it is a battleground. A farmer has to work and he has to stay hard at it. If you leave a field to itself it will produce mostly weeds. If you leave the church unattended it will produce weeds that will eventually overtake the wheat. Without being steadfast in labor there will be no harvest of righteousness. Just like the farmer you must be patient, continually working and weeding, waiting for the harvest. The spiritual growth of the people of God takes time and hard-work. We live in a day of instant everything. Men want instant rewards without the hard-work. Do the hard-work – you will receive the reward – not only of seeing God’s children grow in grace but also of hearing the Lord say, “Well done!” Be steadfast in labor!
“Consider what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything” (7).
I pity the man who has run to obtain this office but hasn’t been either called by God or sent by God. I also pity the man who thinks that being a pastor will be easy and that professed believers will automatically love him. Being a pastor entails many serious responsibilities. The pastor must feed God’s people, lead God’s people, discipline God’s people, and guard God’s people. The pastor is to be a good soldier of Christ Jesus especially as it pertains to his responsibilities of guarding the faith and guarding the flock, both of which require warring against the enemies of God’s people.
First and Second Timothy and Titus are pastoral letters. In other words they are God’s divinely inspired accounts of what He expects of pastors and therefore what His church is to expect of their pastors. In 2 Timothy 2:1-7 we see seven aspects of how God expects the pastor to be a good soldier of Christ Jesus.
A good soldier of Christ Jesus is to be strong in grace (1) – “You therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.” Johnny, you are to be strengthened inwardly in order to accomplish the ministry that the Lord has called you to. He is not calling you to be popular but to be His spokesman and you will find your strength to do that in His grace. The ministry is no place for cowards who operate under the fear of man rather than the fear of God. You will be called on by the Lord to speak His truth no matter the consequences. God labors with you through His grace and His grace is sufficient. If everyone else deserts you He will stand with you and strengthen you. The ability to study, understand, and teach the Word of God is a gift of God’s grace. “Able to teach” is one of God’s requirements for the pastor (1Timothy 3:2) and in order to teach you must be able to learn and to be able to learn you must study God’s Word. It is through studying the Word of God that you learn the great doctrines of grace and guard against teaching and preaching some form of perversion of God’s grace. Be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.
A good soldier of Christ Jesus is to be sound in doctrine (2) – “The things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.” Paul had delivered the sound doctrine with which he was entrusted to Timothy and expected Timothy to guard and deliver sound doctrine to others who would be trustworthy in delivering it on to others. It is our responsibility to guard the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints and then invest it as a trust in the lives of others who will do the same with others. It is important as a pastor that you get what you preach from the Word of God and not from the ideas and philosophies of men. You are not to attempt to be relevant by speaking as from the world – this is a primary mark of the many false prophets – but you are to preach the Word because it is relevant to every generation in every culture and it is sufficient – it is enough! Be sound in doctrine!
A good soldier of Christ Jesus is to be shameless in suffering (3) – “Suffer hardship with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus.” Ours is a day of upside down theology. The false gospel of health, wealth, and prosperity has been so incorporated into modern theology until the man of God who suffers for the sake of righteousness is considered an ungodly heretic and ungodly heretics who are popular, powerful, rich, and highly influential are well spoken of. You will not be popular if you are God’s spokesman but you will be persecuted for it. However, you will find yourself in good company when this happens. This happened to the prophets, to the apostles, and even to our Lord Jesus Christ. Now you see why you are to be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. As you are sound in doctrine you will be persecuted and spoken evil of for the sake of righteousness but the Lord’s grace will allow you to be shameless in suffering. Paul told Timothy, “Do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord or of me His prisoner, but join with me in suffering for the gospel according to the power of God.” Be shameless in suffering!
A good soldier of Christ Jesus is to be separated in service (4a) – “No soldier in active service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life….” Johnny, the Lord is calling you into active service as His soldier. The worries of the world are not to be your concern but the war of the Lord is to be. You must not get distracted by that which is really insignificant. The Lord hasn’t called you to fight the world’s global giants and He hasn’t called you to be the prince of P.E.A.C.E. Curing AIDS or solving world hunger or educating the poor or any other socialist activity is not your calling. Men can receive these benefits and still die and go to hell without Christ as their King. Your calling is to stand against the schemes of the devil and battle against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. You are to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints and destroy speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God. Only the truth of the gospel is significant for it alone is the power of God unto salvation for everyone who believes. Leave the other stuff to men like Rick Warren – you preach the gospel and do not be entangled in the affairs of everyday life. Be separated in service!
A good soldier of Christ Jesus is to be singular in devotion (4b) – “…so that he may please the one who enlisted him as a soldier.” You are to please the Lord and not yourself or anyone else. What does it matter if you please yourself or everyone else and the Lord is not pleased? The Lord deserves your honor, your affection, and your obedience for all He has done for you. His own courage and singular devotion on the battlefield is unparalleled. He stayed the course and went before you to win your freedom and eternal life. Just as Jesus was singularly devoted to His Father’s will so you are to be singularly devoted to the will of Jesus Christ. Your greatest desire should be to hear your King say, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant.” And He will if you always seek to please Him and Him alone. Every time you preach you are to remember whose presence you are in and for whom you speak. Paul told Timothy, “I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom: preach the word” (2 Timothy 4:1-2). Wanting to please the Lord Jesus Christ will set you free from worrying about what others think of your or the message. Be singular in devotion!
A good soldier of Christ Jesus is to be sensitive to the rules (5) – “Also if anyone competes as an athlete, he does not win the prize unless he competes according to the rules.” Regardless of what popular men may say you are not to discover the purpose of God and then strategize how to fulfill it. You do not have either the ability or the luxury of leaning on your own understanding when it comes to doing the will of God. The will of God has to be done the way of God or else you have violated the rules. The false prophets are marked by attempting to do God’s will their way instead of His way. Jesus will say to them on that day, “Depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness,” because they do not do the will of His Father who is in heaven. In Matthew 7 it is as clear as day that the false prophets attempted to do ministry in the name of the Lord Jesus but they were not sensitive to the rules. Rather, they leaned on their own understanding and took shortcuts. There are no shortcuts to doing the will of God. Shortcuts are not according to the rules. Even the Lord Jesus said that He did nothing on His own initiative – and you are not to do it either. God’s word is sufficient and He will show you His ways so that you can accomplish His will. Be sensitive to the rules!
A good soldier of Christ Jesus is to be steadfast in labor (6) – “The hard-working farmer ought to be the first to receive his share of the crops.” The word “hard-working” comes from a Greek word that means to toil intensely, to sweat and strain to the point of exhaustion. Let no man deceive you – the ministry isn’t a playground it is a battleground. The farmer knows that farming isn’t a playground but it is a battleground. A farmer has to work and he has to stay hard at it. If you leave a field to itself it will produce mostly weeds. If you leave the church unattended it will produce weeds that will eventually overtake the wheat. Without being steadfast in labor there will be no harvest of righteousness. Just like the farmer you must be patient, continually working and weeding, waiting for the harvest. The spiritual growth of the people of God takes time and hard-work. We live in a day of instant everything. Men want instant rewards without the hard-work. Do the hard-work – you will receive the reward – not only of seeing God’s children grow in grace but also of hearing the Lord say, “Well done!” Be steadfast in labor!
“Consider what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything” (7).
Monday, September 15, 2008
Divine Pit Stops and God's Faithfulness!
Acts 28:1-10 shows us the sovereignty of God in His guidance to getting us to where He wants us to be. Here we see that there may be some pit stops along the way and those pit stops are divine appointments on the journey. For instance, the gospels tell us of Jesus, after His baptism in the Jordan River and after John the Baptist was taken into custody that Jesus withdrew and came into Galilee. However, there was a pit stop, a divine appointment along the way. We read in John’s Gospel concerning this same incident, “Therefore when the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John (although Jesus Himself was not baptizing, but His disciples were), He left Judea and went away again into Galilee. And He had to pass through Samaria” (John 4:1-4). The KJV says in verse four, “And He must needs go through Samaria.” Now here is what I want you to understand – as we read this in our language it may appear that the Bible is saying that the way from Judea to Galilee is through Samaria only. However, normally the Jews avoided Samaria by crossing to the East of the Jordan to travel from Judea to Galilee. And in the original language the word for either “had to pass through” or “must needs go through” is dei, and it means of divine necessity. In other words, Samaria was a divine pit stop on the way to Galilee from Judea for the Lord. Why? Because God has it rigged! Everything was happening on God’s timetable – the circumstances of John the Baptist’s arrest which prompted the Lord to withdraw to Galilee, with the divine necessity based on His Father’s plan to go through Samaria, and at the right time of the day both the Lord and His disciples came to Jacob’s well along with the Samaritan woman whom God was going to save and use to bring others to faith in Christ. What a coincidence!
Malta was a divine pit stop for the apostle Paul on his journey to Rome. God used the circumstances of the unheeded advice by Paul and the dangerous storm to shipwreck His apostle on the Island of Malta. This was indeed a coincidence because God who is sovereign and in control caused all the circumstances to coincide according to His perfect, pleasing and good will.
So here in Acts 28:1-10 we see some important elements of this divine pit stop at Malta which reveals the Lord's wisdom, power, and love and makes us proclaim, "Great is Thy faithfulness!"
Extraordinary virtue found among pagans (1-2)
Malta (1) means a place of refuge and its citizens lived up to its name. The natives didn’t speak Greek and were therefore considered barbarians. However, they showed extraordinary kindness – these natives of Malta would have seen the Roman soldiers and their prisoners and still because of the rain that had set in and because of the cold, they kindled a fire and Luke said, “They received us all.” Many wrongly assume that because of some extraordinary kindness shown by some pagans that the doctrine of the depravity of man is disproved. However it doesn’t disprove that doctrine at all. After all, the Lord Jesus said, “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him!” (Matthew 7:11).
So extraordinary kindness from lost people doesn’t negate the doctrine of the depravity of man but actually establishes another doctrine that is true about all men – the work of God's Law written in their hearts. Although the specifics may vary, every culture holds some things to be right and other things to be wrong – “For when Gentiles who do not have the Law do instinctively the things of the Law, these, not having the Law, are a law to themselves, in that they show the work of the Law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness and their thoughts alternately accusing or else defending them” (Romans 2:14-15). And therefore, “that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse” (Romans 1:19-20). These natives of Malta were exhibiting extraordinary kindness because of this biblical doctrine!
Expected vengeance based on false assumptions (3-4).
While humbly serving others, Paul ended up being bitten by a poisonous snake (3). The natives saw the creature hanging from Paul’s hand and thought him to be a murderer whom Justice was not going to allow to live (4). Little did they know that Paul was an apostle of Christ and that the Lord had promised his apostles that “they shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover” (Mark 16:18).
Exalting vindication based on faulty expectations (5-6).
Bitten by a poisonous snake, Paul suffered no harm (5). Their faulty expectations caused them to believe that Paul would soon swell up or either suddenly fall down dead (6a). However, after they waited and watched for a long time, they changed their minds and began to say that he was a god (6b). Paul went from being considered a murderer to being considered a god - a title which he never accepted anywhere.
Exacting verification of a faithful apostle (7-9).
After being bitten by a serpent with no harm, Paul then prayed and laid hands on Publius' father and healed him (7-8). After that the rest of the people came to Paul and were cured (9). These were the signs the Lord promised to his apostles as verifying or authenticating signs for the preaching of the Gospel.
Exciting validation of God’s faithfulness (10).
During his two years in Rome, Paul wrote Philippians, Ephesians, Colossians, and Philemon. It was to the Philippians that Paul wrote to while in Rome which would have been after his shipwreck on Malta, “And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:19) – “and when we were setting sail, they supplied us with all we needed”(10b). Also the honor and love that was shown by the natives of Malta may very well indicate that many were receptive to the preaching of the Gospel. According to tradition, the church on Malta dates from the time of Paul’s shipwreck there, with Publius as its first pastor.
May we never forget that God may have some divine pit stops along our journey and they will be opportunities for the faithfulness, mercy, and glory of the Lord to be displayed!
Malta was a divine pit stop for the apostle Paul on his journey to Rome. God used the circumstances of the unheeded advice by Paul and the dangerous storm to shipwreck His apostle on the Island of Malta. This was indeed a coincidence because God who is sovereign and in control caused all the circumstances to coincide according to His perfect, pleasing and good will.
So here in Acts 28:1-10 we see some important elements of this divine pit stop at Malta which reveals the Lord's wisdom, power, and love and makes us proclaim, "Great is Thy faithfulness!"
Extraordinary virtue found among pagans (1-2)
Malta (1) means a place of refuge and its citizens lived up to its name. The natives didn’t speak Greek and were therefore considered barbarians. However, they showed extraordinary kindness – these natives of Malta would have seen the Roman soldiers and their prisoners and still because of the rain that had set in and because of the cold, they kindled a fire and Luke said, “They received us all.” Many wrongly assume that because of some extraordinary kindness shown by some pagans that the doctrine of the depravity of man is disproved. However it doesn’t disprove that doctrine at all. After all, the Lord Jesus said, “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him!” (Matthew 7:11).
So extraordinary kindness from lost people doesn’t negate the doctrine of the depravity of man but actually establishes another doctrine that is true about all men – the work of God's Law written in their hearts. Although the specifics may vary, every culture holds some things to be right and other things to be wrong – “For when Gentiles who do not have the Law do instinctively the things of the Law, these, not having the Law, are a law to themselves, in that they show the work of the Law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness and their thoughts alternately accusing or else defending them” (Romans 2:14-15). And therefore, “that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse” (Romans 1:19-20). These natives of Malta were exhibiting extraordinary kindness because of this biblical doctrine!
Expected vengeance based on false assumptions (3-4).
While humbly serving others, Paul ended up being bitten by a poisonous snake (3). The natives saw the creature hanging from Paul’s hand and thought him to be a murderer whom Justice was not going to allow to live (4). Little did they know that Paul was an apostle of Christ and that the Lord had promised his apostles that “they shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover” (Mark 16:18).
Exalting vindication based on faulty expectations (5-6).
Bitten by a poisonous snake, Paul suffered no harm (5). Their faulty expectations caused them to believe that Paul would soon swell up or either suddenly fall down dead (6a). However, after they waited and watched for a long time, they changed their minds and began to say that he was a god (6b). Paul went from being considered a murderer to being considered a god - a title which he never accepted anywhere.
Exacting verification of a faithful apostle (7-9).
After being bitten by a serpent with no harm, Paul then prayed and laid hands on Publius' father and healed him (7-8). After that the rest of the people came to Paul and were cured (9). These were the signs the Lord promised to his apostles as verifying or authenticating signs for the preaching of the Gospel.
Exciting validation of God’s faithfulness (10).
During his two years in Rome, Paul wrote Philippians, Ephesians, Colossians, and Philemon. It was to the Philippians that Paul wrote to while in Rome which would have been after his shipwreck on Malta, “And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:19) – “and when we were setting sail, they supplied us with all we needed”(10b). Also the honor and love that was shown by the natives of Malta may very well indicate that many were receptive to the preaching of the Gospel. According to tradition, the church on Malta dates from the time of Paul’s shipwreck there, with Publius as its first pastor.
May we never forget that God may have some divine pit stops along our journey and they will be opportunities for the faithfulness, mercy, and glory of the Lord to be displayed!
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