The Gospel for All People - Pastor Tom Loghry Rockland Community Church Download

Paul's story ends unfinished because the gospel mission he carried—God bringing salvation to all nations, Jew and Gentile alike—didn't end with him. It continues today through us, as the Holy Spirit empowers Christ's people to boldly carry the good news of forgiveness and new life to the whole world until Christ returns.

Transcript:

The story of America is bigger than any one single person. Of course, it, it's very difficult for us to imagine us getting very far if our president, our first president, wasn't George Washington-- he was a great man of virtue and leadership. But we know that there was others besides him. We think of Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, and all sorts of other political and military leaders who were the midwives of this nation. But however brilliant and courageous they might be, it could not have gotten very far without the common men and women that are too often forgotten.

Our nation is one that has been built by masses of people whose stories go untold. In those early days, people from so many different Western European nations, African men, women, and children brought to these shores against their will, and Native Americans who wrestled to find their place in an increasingly crowded land. All of them Americans-- Americans who built this country and made it what it is today. And with each decade, with each generation, more and more are added from every corner of the globe, building a nation bound not by blood but by creed-- bound by the belief that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, a nation like ours is a product, is an effect of the Christian faith. There is no America if there is no Jesus Christ. This country is a mere shadow of a better vision yet. In Jesus, we are given a vision of a kingdom filled with people of every nation, tribe, and tongue. Many peoples who are made one in Jesus Christ, a body formed not merely by a common creed, but by his shed blood-- a holy nation set apart for God, rebels redeemed to become the sons and daughters of God. The story of God's saving work, the story of redemption begins with Israel, it begins with the Jewish people, but it goes further yet. All of Paul's ministry, as we've been shown it here in the Book of Acts, has been attesting to this reality and now, in closing, Luke reminds us of God's worldwide saving purpose by giving us an account of Paul's encounter with the Jewish leaders in Rome. Paul is under house arrest, he's awaiting trial before the emperor, but Luke believes this is the final episode that we need to hear before he closes his account.

So we pick up in Acts 28 and verse 17. Luke tells us, "Three days later he called together the local Jewish leaders. When they had assembled, Paul said to them: 'My brothers, although I have done nothing against our people or against the customs of our ancestors, I was arrested in Jerusalem and handed over to the Romans. They examined me and wanted to release me, because I was not guilty of any crime deserving death. The Jews objected, so I was compelled to make an appeal to Caesar. I certainly did not intend to bring any charge against my own people. For this reason I have asked to see you and talk with you. It is because of the hope of Israel that I am bound with these chains.'

They replied, 'We have not received any letters from Judea concerning you, and none of our people who have come from there have reported, has reported or said anything bad about you. But we want to hear what your views are, for we know that people everywhere are talking against this sect.'"

So in verses 17 through 20, Paul explains to these Jewish leaders that he's innocent, that they haven't been able to make any charges stick against him. But because of continued objections by the Jewish leaders in Israel, he was compelled to appeal to Caesar. Now, his purpose in appealing to Caesar wasn't to bring counter-charges, wasn't in order to make trouble for his own people, 'cause Paul is a Jew himself. It was only so that he could clear his name. It was only so that he would not fall into their hands, 'cause they were designing to actually kill him. Now, in coming together with these Jewish leaders, his purpose is that he wants to kind of clear the air with them. He wants them to understand the reason why he's actually been imprisoned is because of his faith, which is in continuity with the Jewish faith.

Jesus is actually the fulfillment of, of Jewish hope. He says, "Because of the hope of the, it's because of the hope of Israel that I am bound with this chain." Now, when we look to the Old Testament, we could look to a variety of passages, but we see the indication of this being the hope of Israel. In Isaiah 26:19, it is foretold, "But your dead will live, Lord; their bodies will rise." And it says, "The earth will give birth to her dead." And then we see in Isaiah 53:11 how, of the suffering servant, it says that he's gonna suffer, he is gonna die, but it says after he has suffered, he will see the light of life. All this points to Jesus, the one who suffered and died on the cross, and yet saw the light of life, revealing the hope of resurrection to the world.

Now in response, the Jewish leaders say, "Well, we haven't actually heard anything bad about you. We haven't gotten any letters from Judea saying watch out for this guy, nor have any of the people that have come back from Judea to Rome had anything bad to say against you." That being said, they have heard about this sect, this group of Christians, and they know that there's been some, some rumors that they're a bad, they're a bad sort. And so they, they wanna hear more about what Paul has to say for himself and for the Christians. They're open-minded enough to hear what Paul has to say. And so Luke tells us in verse 23, "They arranged to meet Paul on a certain day, and came in even larger numbers to the place where he was staying. He witnessed to them from morning till evening, explaining about the Kingdom of God, and from the Law of Moses and from the prophets he tried to persuade them about Jesus. Some were convinced by what he said, but others would not believe.

They disagreed among themselves and began to leave after Paul had made this final statement: 'The Holy Spirit spoke the truth to your ancestors when he said through Isaiah the prophet: "Go to this people and say, you will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving." For this people's heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise, they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.' Therefore I want you to know that God's salvation has been sent to the Gentiles, and they will listen!"

And then in verse 29, you'll find a note in some of your Bibles that some manuscripts include here, "After he had said this, the Jews left, arguing vigorously among themselves." Newer translations leave out this verse because it's not, it, it doesn't appear in the earliest manuscripts. And it says, "For two whole years Paul stayed there in his own rented house and welcomed all who came to see him. He proclaimed the Kingdom of God and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ-- with all boldness and without hindrance!"

So going back to verses 23 and 24, the Jewish leaders and more of the Jews come and meet with Paul on a certain day in his house where he's staying, and Paul spends the entire day, morning to evening, explaining the Kingdom of God to them, explaining how Jesus is the Messiah, how he fulfills the promises that have been revealed in the law and the prophets. Imagine spending a whole day going through the scriptures with the Apostle Paul.

He's very desirous that these leaders, that his people would embrace their Messiah. Now we can imagine that, in reasoning with them, that he may have used some of the passages I, I referred to earlier, Isaiah 53, Isaiah 26. But I wanted to walk you through a couple passages that perhaps he would've used so that you're able to kind of understand the case that is set before us based on the Old Testament testimony that Jesus is in fact the promised Messiah, that he is in fact the Son of God sent to us.

And so, many of you got handouts when you came in, but if you didn't get one, you might wanna write down these, these passages so you can kinda have a little stepping stone here. There's many more stones yet that point to Christ, but these are some helpful stepping stones that demonstrate the truth of who Christ is.

So we look at, for instance, let's start in, i...