Well, if you're a visitor this morning, you're coming in at the very last sermon after two years almost of preaching the book of Acts. Not quite that long, but two years of looking at the book of Acts, and today we're in chapter 28, chapter 28, 1193 in your Bibles as we conclude our study in this great book. Beginning at verse 17, we'll read to the end of the chapter. Paul has arrived in Rome. Paul has made it after the shipwreck and after the snakebite. And now we close out the book. 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. When they had examined me, they wished to set me at liberty because there was no reason for the death penalty in my case but because the jews objected i was compelled to appeal to caesar though i had no charge to bring against my nation for this reason therefore i have asked to see you and 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 about you, but we desire to hear from you what your views are, for with regard to this sect, we know that everywhere it is spoken against. When they had appointed a day for him, they came to him at his lodging in great numbers. From morning till 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, 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 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 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 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 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. There ends the reading of God's word and the end of the book of Acts. Well, we started our study in the book of Acts on August 20, 2017, so getting close to a couple of years after the summer here it would have been. The Spirit, of course, has helped us as we've looked at this book, the Holy Spirit, to understand, as He inspired these words, the purpose of the book of Acts. Helped us to understand what the mission of the church is and the heart of these servants, you'll notice here, and I say servants, to bring the gospel to the lost that they might hear the truth of their salvation, hear the truth of the forgiveness of sins and be saved from the wrath to come. be saved from the wrath to come. I said last time, when you come to an end of a book, any book in the Bible, there are certain things that are being impressed upon us, certain things that we should not miss, certain things that are being emphasized that the Lord wants to leave us with. Last impressions are important, aren't they? Not only are first impressions important, but how you leave is important. And the book of Acts is very important in that regard for it's really capturing and summarizing for us everything that we've learned and hitting us with it to remember certain things as we leave the study and as the church goes forward. It comes with this, of course, question that we have really looked at and sought to answer throughout the whole course of our study in the book of Acts. What do we do when everything is against us what happens when everything is against us how are we to go forward uh with the with the gospel and continuing and what we are called to do when it seems impossible when the task seems impossible this is important to consider for often the church has the danger of of you know reaching so far outside they forget the sheep but there's also the great danger of being so myopic and looking inward that we forget our mission and that's a great danger that we always have to be on guard that it's only a ministry for us it's only a ministry for us and and our people forgetting that the whole purpose of this is to advance the kingdom of god to the ends of the earth. The great words at the end of this book, isn't it remarkable, the last words there that you read, that the gospel basically went forward, notice it, without hindrance. That is meant to be impressed upon you. That in the midst of all of this, nothing could stop it. In the midst of all of this, nothing could prevent it. It would go, and it would go without hindrance. And that is meant for you to feel, that is meant for you to think about as the baton has been passed to us to continue this day that the gospel would continue to go. But what are the major encouragements that this book leaves us with? What are the major things that this book does as we move on from it? And as I looked at this this week and thought about it, there are three of them, lo and behold. You'll notice here, we're going to look at these three things that are said that we might take with us and then apply it as we go forward here in the Escondido URC. And it's meant for the whole church of Jesus Christ, wherever the gospel is preached and wherever there's a church with that witness in the name of Jesus. Last week, we studied the great opposition that Paul faced on the way to Rome. Everything was against Paul in getting there. You had the shipwreck, and then of course you had the snake bite. And as we looked at, all of this opposition, everything was rising up against the apostle that was really working to make it impossible for him to get there. And we considered that it wasn't just the wind, the snake, and the storm that Paul was really wrestling with. It showed that there are real demonic influences and opposition working through these things to prevent the coming of the kingdom. to prevent Jesus' reign from being announced to the ends of the earth. And the most profound words after all of this tribulation, after all of this hardship, was, and so we came to Rome. We got there. We made it. We prevailed. In the end, after all of the fire and going through all the water, passing through all the hardship of life, after all the things that we've been through, we made it. That's the sense of it and what we should have felt from a little room at the beginning of Acts chapter 1 where those disciples met and couldn't go anywhere until the Holy Spirit had come. Here we are with one of the apostles standing before Caesar, Nero himself, preaching the gospel in the center, at least as it would have been viewed at that time, of the world in the greatest and most powerful empire to that point that the world had ever seen or known. That's the kingdom breaking through. That's the power of God being shown. And so this is where we are and this is where we left off last time that Paul is on house arrest. There is a soldier there in his own little house. You'll notice verse 15 tells us that Paul had an open door for people were coming great distances to hear him and he was speaking about certain things that we'll explore here. So we pick up in verse 17 this morning, that 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. What Paul is doing here is assessing what they have heard about him. He wants to know what has been said. Remember, there was that plot of 40 men who said they would not eat until paul was dead that conspiracy that we studied there were people traveling major distances to come and try to bring paul to judgment and to trial and of course to death so paul knows all this and the question is is has it reached rome has all of this news about the apostle paul reached rome now what we're finding here is that it was hard enough for paul just to get there through the winter months the letters didn't make it but they do want to know why he's in chains so in verse 18 paul presents his case and explains it to them when they examined me back in caesarea they wished to set me at liberty but because there was no reason for the death penalty in my case but because the jews objected i was compelled to appeal to Caesar though I had no charge to bring against my nation for this cause therefore I have asked to see you and to speak with you since it is because notice again what he says it is because of the hope of Israel that I'm wearing this chain hope Paul was always so concerned about making known hope in this sad world I'm wearing chains for hope this is what everyone wants right now We've looked at this. This is what everyone's after right now. All the sorrow, all the misery, all the politicians seeking for answers, there's no hope anyone has. But I wear chains for this hope. Now we've looked at this. And here's the surprising encouragement here this morning. They said to him, we've received no letters from Judea about you. And none of the brothers coming here has reported or spoken any evil about you. But, notice this, we desire to hear what your views are. For with regard to this sect, we know that it is everywhere spoken again. I found that to be a remarkable response. I really did. Did you notice how the gospel had so spread? This is a crucial point here. The gospel had, the message had so spread, it had already been to Rome. But nothing about the apostle had. I think you should think about that. I spent some time with that. I think that's a remarkable point. What it's telling you is the Christian message, the Christian faith has never been simply around one of the messengers. Every other sect has. The Christian faith is all about the name of Jesus, and that name had already reached Rome. That name had already reached Rome. It's a message that had already spread, not the reputation of Paul. And I think the first thing to notice here is that we are a part of something that is always much bigger than us. And aren't you glad? Something much bigger than us. That's an important point, as I said earlier, because we tend to become myopic and we tend to think that everything revolves around us and we tend to think that it revolves around us and our ministries and our names and everything that we're doing. The issue is they want to understand why and what the views are that this sect, as they see it, is being spoken against everywhere. Now I stop and I thought, do you see the opportunity in that? Do you see the opportunity in that? Here's something we have to understand. We are a part of something that has and always will be spoken against everywhere. It was in the first century, and it is to this day. We have always been a part of something that is spoken against everywhere. That was the context of the first century when they're advancing the truth of the gospel. Now that may not seem like an important point, but I think it's a point that the church has often refused to accept. I think it's a point that the church has fought against the whole time. So we don't know what to do with the fact that we are hated. We don't know what to do with the fact that we're spoken against everywhere. What does that tell you? Well, it tells you we're viewed as a weird bunch, doesn't it? We are a weird bunch. I want you to know you're odd. Of course, I'm odd too. We're not the norm. Never have been, never will be. We'll never be popular in the world. We'll never be accepted by the world. Anything that rises up quickly and is accepted by the world should always be a red flag. we are part of, is always spoken against. That's exactly what John said, of course. All the biblical writers said it. Do not be surprised, brothers, that the world hates you. I know you're struggling with that. I know you're surprised about that. But that's exactly what you've signed up for. Taken from Jesus' mouth and Himself. If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belong to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you don't belong to the world because I have chosen you out of the world, Jesus. That's why the world hates you. I think at times we want acceptance so bad with the world and because of that, we fall into the mistake of thinking that something is wrong if we are regarded as a sect or we are regarded as hated. That's exactly what's starting to happen now in strange ways. So the question is, what do you do with it? How do you handle it? What we tend to do is try to mellow this whole thing out. We try to find a way to gain acceptance. And I want you to think about this challenge just for a moment because I think Acts is pressing down upon us something as we walk away from the study to always remember about the church and remember what you're a part of. What does it mean to belong to Jesus in this world? If we're fighting against that truth and we don't accept that truth and refuse to accept that truth, wanting to be liked, wanting always to be heard by everyone, and never offending anyone, having our message received, there's a great danger in this that happens to our witness and the church. We slowly begin to strip Christianity of anything that brings offense. Forgetting that it was Jesus himself who was a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense to people. Then Christianity no longer becomes Christianity. I said this before, one of my great challenges up north in environments where everything is Christian was you had the coffee shop was Christian, you had all the Christian schools, you had hymns played as you walked downtown. It was absolutely taboo in that environment to tell anyone in the midst of all of that that anything was wrong. Why? Because you don't want offense. And so what you created was a Christianity of the lowest common denominator, a Christianity that stood for nothing, a Christianity that no longer had particulars, a Christianity that was bare-bones Christianity, and what you created was not Christianity. You created a form of it. that could easily deny its power. Everyone looking good on the outside. No one with any substance or conviction. Club 101. A Christianity where nothing was really Christian. You can have your programs. You can have your dinners. You can have club meetings. Nothing that ever gives any offense to anyone. That kind of Christianity is like saying to Jesus, we want the name being a Christian without you. Christianity that can compromise on moral issues. Christianity that becomes the club. Christianity that is only now about social engagement because that's how we reach the peoples. Minus anything that would be seen as negative. That's what we're faced with. These are the challenges in a changing culture. Many Christian groups are now changing their positions due to great pressure because the world doesn't want it. And the encouragement here is you need to know it's always been like this. It will never change. It will never change in this life. Notice here, they were spoken against everywhere. Serious question. Do you accept that? Do you accept that you're a part of that? That the gospel is absolutely offensive. In no way does that encourage us to be jerks. You know that. We do this in love. But it is what it is. It's a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense who we belong to. And if you don't accept that, You'll never really accept what the mission of the church is. You'll never really accept why the gospel is so offensive. Nor will you be committed to the project. You'll be committed to the club, but not the project. You'll be working, as a lot of people are, to redesign the focus of the ministry to pacify the world. Our beliefs are not popular. But Paul saw that as an opportunity. That's where I want to go with this for a minute. He was so committed to the message, no matter what Christ's mission for the church and what the content of the message was, that again, as I've tried to work through this book and show you this over and over, these guys were so focused and priorities were so right, they stayed with it in the midst of this opposition. Notice verse 23. When they had appointed a day for him, they came to him at his lodging in great numbers. From morning till evening. Now that's one long sermon, let me tell you. From morning until evening, he expounded to them how to fix all the evils of Rome. No, no, I didn't do that. How to stop all the abuses of Rome. No. How to overcome Caesar. and His kingdom. Not really. Testifying. Testifying to the kingdom of God and trying to convince them about Jesus, both from the law of Moses and from the prophets. So there you go. End of book leaves impressions. Notice the end of the book. testifying about the kingdom of God coming. And how is that shown? Through the preaching of Jesus by the law and the prophets. Through the law and the prophets. That's the mission of the church. That's what we've looked at. And that's a crucial distinction. So here is Paul in chains. He is on house arrest. A guard is there. And I thought to myself, this was a guy who had the ability to do a lot of miracles in Rome. This was a guy who had the power to do a lot of healings and have a lot of people brought to him in Rome. In Malta, he did do some of that. But isn't it interesting, when he gets to Rome, what the focus is and where the book leaves us? Imagine how he could have won the crowds of that day with all of the healing power that the apostles had. Imagine what he could have accomplished if he gave them something a little bit more to see with the kingdom. Imagine if he showed himself in a great way there. A wonder worker. You know, the ancient church fathers picked up on this. It was interesting to survey some of them and listen to how they read Paul at the end. And Chrysostom said, who wasn't so far removed from this, golden mouth Chrysostom, one of the great preachers of the early church. He said, see again how not by miracles, but by the law and the prophets, did He put them to silence. And how we always find Him doing this. Yet He might have also done many signs. But then, it would no longer have been a matter of faith. What does Acts show us Paul was doing when he finally reached, at least from their perspective, the ends of the earth. Preaching. Preaching. Preaching Jesus. Preaching the kingdom. Two things. From morning until evening, he's expounding to them. That sounds familiar, doesn't it? He's expounding to them, testifying about the kingdom of God and trying to convince them about Jesus through the law and the prophets. This is exactly what Luke recorded in, think of the Gospel of Luke, when Jesus was raised from the dead and he's on the Emmaus road and there are the disciples confused about the kingdom, confused about the death, how he could have died, and of course he's risen, and what did he say? What was Jesus' entire focus on the road to Emmaus? He said something very powerful. He preached the kingdom, didn't he? O foolish ones and slow to believe, what did he say? All that the prophets have spoken. Ought not the Christ to have suffered? He goes on to explain, and entered into His glory. Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter into His glory? And beginning with Moses and all the prophets, He explained to them what was said in the Scriptures concerning himself. You want to meet Jesus? You want to see the kingdom of God? Here you go. Right in the middle of Rome. Right not on Caesar's palace. Not out in the Grand Colosseum where the gladiator fights were. Man, that would have been something. Those gladiator fights were awesome to watch. But violent. Not there. Not at the theater. No, but in chains, on house arrest, in rags, soldiers, people coming, there was the kingdom of God as Jesus was being heralded out of the door of a prison cell, if you will. There was the reign of Jesus breaking into the empire. And Paul did that from morning until evening. Wow. You want to see Jesus, you want to meet Jesus. You want to be saved, you better get to where he's preached. You better get to where he's preached. So we have really some main takeaways here so far. First takeaway is this, what you're part of will never be popular with the world. Second, we are called to be faithful to make Jesus known to the world. We are called to be faithful to make Jesus known to the world. See, I've already come to two points, haven't I? What happened here? What happened as Jesus in the kingdom was preached by Christianity's most able preacher? What was the response? Some were, verse 24, convinced by what he said, but others disbelieved. That is such an important verse at the end of the book, isn't it? Right there, there will be in this place, there will be as it was on the doorsteps as the kingdom of God was breaking into Rome. And there will be in the church of Jesus today, there will be right here, some who believe unto eternal life and some who don't. I of course pray that everyone who's here will believe the gospel. every single person will hear it with great joy and love to hear Jesus proclaim to them. But the church needs to remember that we're called to judge the faithfulness of the ministry not on the responses. Not on the fruitfulness of how people hear. We're called to be faithful in what He called us to do. Where Jesus is preached, There will be those who do not believe and there will be those who believe. Now what I want you to notice here, something important that happens at this point. It reminds the church that it has always been this way. When Paul gave the call, we read that they disagreed, right? Many of them. In verse 25, In disagreeing among themselves, they departed. after Paul had made one statement. The Holy Spirit was right in saying to your fathers through 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. They're just dull to the preaching of Jesus. They're dull to it. And with their ears, they can barely hear. 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. Jesus used that verse often in the face of unbelief. Remember in John 6, when he had preached to the 5,000, you remember one of his disciples, some of the disciples hearing Jesus preach, said this is a hard saying, who can understand it? Aware that his disciples were grumbling about this, Jesus said, does this offend you? Have I offended you with my preaching? Then what if you see the Son of Man ascend where He was before? The Spirit gives life, the flesh counts for nothing. These words that I've spoken to you, they're full of the Spirit in life. Do you know what you're rejecting? Yet there are many of you that do not believe. For Jesus had known from the beginning which of them did not believe and who would betray Him. He went on to say, this is why I told you that no one can come to Me unless the Father has enabled Him. No one can come unless the Father changes that heart and drags them to me. From this time forward, many of His disciples turned back and no longer followed Him. You don't want to leave me, do you? said Jesus to the rest of them. Simon Peter said, Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God. And I think the important point to say is unbelief should never derail or surprise us. There's always going to be hardening hearts and people who don't want to hear the message. But Luke encourages us in this way. When he says, Therefore, let it be known to you that this salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles. They will listen. today you are the fulfillment of this i want you to hear this good news you are the fulfillment of this um god always will have a people who respond to his gospel and the takeaway is the results in the church and the christian ministry are most certainly his but i want you to be encouraged today too that your response to the gospel your love for coming up to the house of the lord and hearing the truth of jesus that you know what that says it says that you've received the kingdom that you've entered that kingdom that where jesus is heard and his good news is announced you believing it is a work of his wonderful grace in your life and that means that you are part of the family of god and nothing can change that but be careful in looking at the church today with wrong eyes we evaluate the church all by results the size the money the externals but where the gospel is preached there will be a division so the end of this book reads that paul 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. I think that's a remarkable thing. Did he die? Did Paul die? Well, tradition says, history says he was beheaded as a martyr in Rome. That's what everyone wants to talk about at the end of the book of Acts. But I think what's remarkable is that it's one of those books that just, it doesn't end on that note, does it? It doesn't leave us with that thought on purpose. I think that would have been the most discouraging ending, and so Paul was beheaded in Rome. Don't you think? It almost has the feel of to be continued, doesn't it? As you read it, it doesn't feel like the book stopped. The gospel's going without hindrance to the ends of the earth. He proclaimed it without hindrance. What is that telling you? The mission's open-ended. It's continuing. And it's encouraging us to say, listen, the baton has been handed to us. Are we committed to doing the very same things that the apostles were committed to do? There is a deposit of the faith once for all delivered to the saints that's you it was delivered to them and it's been handed to you and if you were standing that day in acts and listening to the message it would have been the very same message that you just heard right now jesus the kingdom paul has handed it to us it's a remarkable thing we're still doing this 2,000 years later because this book's ending is not about death is it the ending is about one who's been raised to life the ending is about a victory the ending is that jesus died and rose again it is jesus behold who lives forever he's coming again he's coming back in the way that he left but his name in the interim must go out to the ends of the earth and then the end will come these are the sort of realistic things that we have to remember along the way that keeps our sanity in the changing and hard times in which we're trying to do ministry in this environment it won't be popular we won't be loved by the world seems like so basic but It's something we always have to remember. We have a message that we must continue to give about the kingdom of God, the rule of God breaking into this present time through Christ and His preaching and His name and that He's reigning over all. And that the responses, the fruit of all this is the Lord's. Those are three basic takeaways from the end of this. But Jesus' name will go to the ends of the earth. This is what the book of Acts has been all about. And I know that I look out at a church, I believe, who's committed to that. So stay with it. I encouraged you last time, be a part of it. Love the preaching of the gospel. Show your neighbor that you love to come and love to be in the place where the kingdom is brought in. It will make a difference in this world. I believe that. Because the power is the Lord's. Let's be confident in what we've learned from the book of Acts. The ends of all the earth shall fear and they will come here and they will come to the Lord in fear. Let's praise Him this morning in prayer. Gracious Heavenly Father, thank you for your word and thank you for helping us through this book and thank you for continuing the project to the ends of the earth, advancing the name of your Son. May we not be perplexed by the things that happen and the responses, but may Lord we remember that it's always been this way, but you won't lose one of your sheep. Every last one will be brought into the kingdom. Every last one of your sheep will hear and they will respond with believing hearts. May we all believe here this day, this gospel, and rejoice that we are members of the kingdom of God, broken in to this present time and present realm through the preaching of Jesus. Help us, O Lord, to be faithful to this calling. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Thank you.