Well, good morning to everyone. Good to be back again. I keep having these brief hiatus here. I appreciate everybody's cards and thoughts and prayers about my mother. We had a good time in Indiana. About 1,000 people came to the funeral, and the gospel was preached, and we were blessed by that. So a lot of people I haven't seen in 20, 30 years, and they're getting old. A lot of those people, rough looking people, yeah. But anyway, that was good. So thank you for your thoughts and prayers and cards.

We're going to be in Acts 28 today, coming to the end of this long journey through the book of Acts and kind of consistent messages we've seen about God's provision, God's sovereignty, God's work in the life of Paul, coupled with his hardships as he traveled, as he was taken prisoner, as he worked through the legal system of Rome to get to that city. 

Well, it seems that we can almost feel the long, grueling nature of Paul's journey to Rome as we study along through the book of Acts and his life and ministry. We've seen just in this last phase of God's faithfulness to get Paul to Rome a long, arduous, treacherous journey and voyage for the apostle. He was so faithful and diligent to go and gather that gift of money from all those Gentile churches and bring it to the poor saints in Jerusalem. But you remember when he arrived there, the unbelieving Jews had other plans for Paul. And we saw that he was attacked. He was beaten with intent of death. And he was incarcerated, being snatched away by the hands of the Romans. 

And then Paul spent two years in the Roman prison system under Felix and Festus, witnessing the kings and rulers slowly making his way to Rome. And then the journey began recently in our studies as he was taken into custody by Julius and put on a ship. And this didn't work out so well for Paul either, as we've been studying in these recent chapters. It was a horrible couple of weeks tossed by the tempest, the great Nor'easter, that nearly cost all on board their lives. And remember it said for 14 days they did not even eat. And yet Paul believed God. He trusted in the promise to get him to Rome and to keep his word that no one would be lost on the ship. 

And we saw that promise come to pass as they broke up on the rocks and swam to shore on an island called Malta. And every man, all 276 passengers, were alive and well standing on dry ground in this place that God provided. And not only that, but we will see that God provided for Paul and the others by the hands of pagan people of Malta as well, as they showed extraordinary kindness to the shipwrecked, weary travelers. 

The text before us brings up some interesting questions and doctrinal issues. And we're going to study through these things together through the course of the message. But the underlying theme, the message that runs through our text again today, is the provision of God for his faithful servant Paul and his faithful fulfilling of his promise that Paul would make it to Rome. 

And this was Paul's great desire, my friends, to go to Rome. Listen to Paul's words in Romans 1. You remember this was a letter he wrote a couple of years prior to the events of Acts 28. In Romans 1:8, he says, "First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, that your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world. For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his son, that without ceasing I make mention of you always in my prayers, making a request if by some means, now at last, I may find a way in the will of God to come to you. For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift, so that you may be established. That is, that I may be encouraged together with you by the mutual faith, both of you and me. 

Now, I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that I often plan to come to you, but was hindered until now, that I might have some fruit among you, just as among the other Gentiles." Paul longed to see the believers there. He longed to teach them, to encourage them, to be mutually edified together in their like precious faith and their fellowship in Christ. And now that time had finally come. Paul was about to reach Rome and find the fulfillment of his great desire to go and minister to the brethren, preach the gospel to the lost in that great city, the center of the empire. 

So that brings us to our text in Acts 28 at verse 1, if you follow along with me. It says, "Now when they had escaped, they then found out that the island was called Malta. And the natives showed us unusual kindness. For they kindled a fire and made us all welcome because of the rain that was falling and because of the cold. But when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks and laid them on the fire, a viper came out because of the heat and fastened on his hand. So when the natives saw the creature hanging from his hand, they said to one another, 'No doubt this man is a murderer, whom though he has escaped the sea, yet justice does not allow him to live.' But he shook off the creature into the fire and suffered no harm. 

However, they were expecting that he would swell up or suddenly fall down dead. But after they had looked for a long time and saw no harm come to him, they changed their minds and said that he was a god. In that region, there was an estate of the leading citizen of the island whose name was Publius, who received us and entertained us courteously for three days. And it happened that the father of Publius lay sick of a fever and dysentery. Paul went into him and prayed, and he laid his hands on him and healed him. So when this was done, the rest of those on the island who had diseases also came and were healed. They also honored us in many ways, and when we departed, they provided such things as were necessary." 

After three months, we sailed on an Alexandrian ship whose figurehead was the twin brothers, which had wintered at the island. And landing at Syracuse, we stayed three days. From there, we circled round and reached Regium. And after one day, the south wind blew. And the next day, we came to Puteoli, where we found brethren and were invited to stay with them seven days. And so we went toward Rome. And from there, when the brethren heard about us, they came to meet us as far as Appii Forum and Three Inns. When Paul saw them, he thanked God and took courage. 

Now, when we came to Rome, the centurion delivered the prisoners to the captain of the guard, but Paul was permitted to dwell by himself with the soldier who guarded him. 

I've given you three points on your outline this morning. We're going to take an extended tangent into relative human goodness. Then we're going to look at fickle faith, and finally, God's provision. As we've been studying through the Book of Acts, there's been a common theme, as we said, that runs through this chapter of God's provision of His sovereignty. And we've preached many messages and gone through that through the Book of Acts. And when I studied this text, that's clearly there again. 

And we're going to wrap up this message with that truth in these verses. But what struck me was the first several verses of this text. And I want to just spend some time, if you'll give me liberty, because I think it is important for us to understand some doctrinal issues. And what we see in these first several verses is we see an unusual kindness extended by these pagan people, these natives of Malta. We see unusual kindness extended by Publius, the ruler of this area. And we see that God was using these people, and these people were extending this kind of goodness. 

So the first truth we see in our text today is what I'll call relative human goodness. I remember when Christian men first came into my life and started witnessing to me, and I started to consider the claims of the Bible. One of the very most difficult truths for me to grasp was the universal nature of sin, that every man is a sinner by nature, in kind, if not in degree. This was commonly explained to me in this way. A sin is a sin, which I totally did not understand. What was meant was that all sin, any sin before a holy God, made me a sinner, made me deserving of the wrath of God to come, separated me from fellowship with God. 

But this was very hard for me to understand, that Jeffrey Dahmer was the same in kind as Mother Teresa. That was a hard sell to a religious, self-righteous man like I was. And the reason this was such a hard truth to swallow is because my frame of understanding, my way of thinking, was one of working, earning my way to heaven, striving to be good enough, to do good enough in the way of religious rites, and rituals, and sacraments, and good works to make my way into God's heaven. The system that I ascribe to as all religious men of the world was one of relative righteousness. 

In other words, God grades on the curve. No one is perfect, and therefore there must be some high mark that gets you in, that puts you over the rest of the pack, being good enough in God's eyes to make it. This is usually a good outweighing bad mentality. So even though we have all sinned, even though we have all fallen short of the glory of God, if we do enough good, we can overcome the bad and be accepted by God. The only problem with all of this is that it's a big, fat lie. There is no relative righteousness. Isaiah said that before God, all of his righteousness was as filthy rags. The very point of the gospel and the word of God is that no one is righteous. All are sinners who deserve wrath, and there's no amount of good works that can change the fact that God's law demands perfection for righteousness. 

And this leaves every man in a position of need before God. And this need can only be met, this sin can only be atoned for by the work of Christ on the cross, his one-time death in my place, paying the full debt for all of my sins, his subsequent burial, his glorious resurrection from the dead to the third day, showing that God was fully satisfied with his payment. My friends, there's no such thing as relative righteousness, human righteousness. Religion has it all wrong. We are all the same in kind, sinners. 

And we all, absent the grace of God and Christ, would receive the wages of our sin, which is eternal death in the lake of fire. There's no such thing as relative righteousness, but there is such a thing as relative human good. We are all the same in kind, but we are not all the same in degree. All men are not as bad as they could be. Even carnal men show goodness, kindness in their acts toward one another. 

I've explained that several times by the illustration of going up to Black River Harbor. And if we all parked in the parking lot, and we were going to run down that boat ramp and out onto that rock wall, and we were going to jump all the way to Michigan Island, the standard is jumping and landing on Michigan Island. That's perfection. That's righteousness. That's keeping the law. Now, some of us would fall down in the parking lot, and some of us would trip on the rocks, and some may even jump 20 feet out into that lake. But we would all fall way short of Michigan Island. 

There's a relative human goodness in the world, and I think it's important for us to understand that, especially in witnessing to people who are religious, like I was, and who really were having a hard time with the idea that we're all the same. We're all the same in kind, but not in degree. And this is what we see in an amazing way in the first few verses of our text today. In Acts 28:1, it says, "Now, when they had escaped, they then found out that the island was called Malta. And the natives showed us unusual kindness, for they kindled a fire and made us all welcome because of the rain that was falling and because of the cold." 

But when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks and laid them on the fire, a viper came out because of the heat and fastened on his hand. So when the natives saw the creature hanging from his hand, they said to one another, "No doubt this man is a murderer, whom though he has escaped the sea, yet justice does not allow him to live." But he shook off the creature into the fire and suffered no harm. 

However, they were expecting that he would swell up or suddenly fall down dead. But after they had looked for a long time and saw no harm come to him, they changed their minds and said that he was a god. In that region, there was an estate of the leading citizen of the island, whose name was Publius, who received us and entertained us courteously for three days. 

Now, it seems to me that the Holy Spirit's making heavy weight of this kindness shown, not only by the natives there, but also by the leader. Luke says that the natives showed unusual kindness. The word means extraordinary, over-the-top, an unusual kindness or affection toward the men on this ship, including Paul and his companions. 

How do we understand this? How do we understand the goodness of many unbelieving people that we have known in our lives? In fact, it seems that some, just by personality, are much more kind and gentle than many Christians we know. How do we explain relative human goodness, and how does it help us to understand salvation? 

Well, certainly we see in our text that these people exhibited an unusual kindness toward Paul and the others, and Publius showed great kindness in putting up 276 men and feeding them for three days. Where does this come from? I'd like for you to turn to Romans 2, verse 14, with me, please. Romans 2:14, it says, "For when Gentiles who do not have the law by nature do the things in the law, these, although not having the law, are a law to themselves, who show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and between themselves their thoughts accusing or else excusing them in the day when God will judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel." 

Paul says that the Gentiles, those who have never received the law of God, who know nothing of the Ten Commandments, even they know what is right and what is wrong. And they show the truth of the law of God. God has written on their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness. There is a God-given inherent knowledge of right and wrong, and we see this throughout history, in every culture, in every place in the world, from pagan tribes to sophisticated societies. Men have basically the same moral code that generally conforms to the law of God. 

Now turn over to Acts 17, Acts 17 at verse 22. This is Paul witnessing to the men of Athens. It says, "Then Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus and said, 'Men of Athens, I perceive that in all things you are very religious. For as I was passing through and considering the objects of your worship, I even found an altar with this inscription, To the unknown God. Therefore the one whom you worship without knowing, him I proclaim to you. God who made the world and everything in it, since he is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands, nor is he worshiped with men's hands, as though he needed anything, since he gives to all life, breath, and all things. And he has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their pre-appointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings, so that they should seek the Lord, and hope that they might grope for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us.'" 

Paul preaches to these philosophers, much different people than the natives of Malta, but yet so similar in many ways. Paul explains to them that God is creator, that he made all men, that he is a sustainer, a provider, that he is sovereign, that he has a desire for men to seek after him. God has given to men a conscience. He has written his law on their hearts. He has revealed himself to men through creation as well. And men know that he is, and can see even his eternal power and Godhead through this revelation. And God wants men to take that revelation that they have, and to seek him, to search for him and grope for him, Paul says, that they might find him, for he is not far from each one of us. 

And so we see a common goodness in men, a relative human goodness, and this is evident often in many ways among unbelievers, even as we see here on the island of Malta. But men most often do not seek after God, but rather they suppress the truth in this revelation of God. They sear their conscience, as with a hot iron, and create their own religious systems and gods. And this was true for these natives as well. 

This is the most interesting facet of our text as we see the fickle faith of these unbelievers. When Paul bundled the sticks and he laid them on the fire and the viper came out and attached to his hand, it made me think of one night when I preached in India in this village and I got there and a young man was holding a viper and they just killed it, we killed the viper for you. That was a little different. 

But the viper got a hold of Paul's hand and they all thought, wow, they knew the snake, they knew what it was. Some commentators say, oh, this wasn't a point, well, they knew what it was. And they expected him to drop dead. But Paul just shook it off, no harm, and they watched him. And what they said was, this man is surely a murderer. That's kind of amazing. They were good, kind people in a relative way, but they were superstitious in their pagan religion as well. 

And they held the same view that I did when I was religious, that good deeds resulted in the favor of God and bad deeds would bring the wrath of God. And the more good that I did, the more I gained a favor of God. Look at verse 4, "No doubt this man is a murderer, whom though he has escaped the sea, yet justice does not allow to live." This is interesting because the word translated justice here is actually a proper name. We still have this goddess around today. We call her Lady Justice. She has the blindfold and the scales in her hand. 

Lady Justice originates from the personification of justice, an ancient Roman goddess known as Lustitia, or Justitia. The origin of Lady Justice was Lustitia, the goddess of justice within Roman theology. So what they were saying here is that Paul was clearly a murderer because though he escaped from the sea, the goddess was now getting him, exacting justice on Paul by means of a viper. So because a bad thing happened to him, he must have done bad things, you see? 

My mom used to say, boy, you'll go to hell for lying. She used to say, God will get you. That's a little different, isn't it? This sentiment, you see, is that when you do bad, God is mad. But when you do good, God is pleased, and thus our relationship with God is premised by our level of goodness or badness. We see this further illustrated in the fickle faith and notice in verse 6, it says, "However, when they were expecting that he would swell up or suddenly fall down dead, after they looked for a long time and saw no harm come to him, they changed their minds and said he was a god." 

Religion says that man does bad, he does bad, he does bad, and then he becomes bad. So the answer for this, according to religion, is that man should do good and do good and do good in order that he might become good. These people had no basis of truth. This is where I'm going with this message, if you're wondering. The application we're going to get to for us is our need for absolute truth, our need for the Word of God. 

They had no truth. The viper bit him, God's mad at him. The viper didn't hurt him, he must be a god. Just all kinds of back and forth and toss to and fro. But the answer for religion is to do good so we can become good, but this is not what the Bible says. Turn over to Romans 5 with me, please. 

In Romans chapter 5, Paul's been making a contrast between Adam and Christ, the man in Adam and the man in Christ, particularly. I want you to look at his conclusion in verse 18. It says, "Therefore, as through one man's offense, judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation. Even so, through one man's righteous act, the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life. For as by one man's disobedience, many were made sinners, so also by one man's obedience, many will be made righteous." 

Every man born in Adam is born a sinner by nature, it's who he is in Adam. So the issue is not that he does bad, this is simply a manifestation of who he is. It is what is in man, that which comes out of man that defiles him, Jesus said. The fact is that man is bad. He is in his very nature because of the sin in Adam, an inheritor of the curse of sin indwelling him. 

So Paul's tremendously clear teaching here is that the only cure for being bad, for the sin that dwells in us and manifests itself out through us, the only cure for being in Adam is to be placed in Christ and receive His righteousness through faith. We are not righteous. We are sinners. We must be made righteous by the one-time act of Jesus on the cross and only by faith in Him. Turn over to Romans 4 with me, please, I want you to look at these words. 

These words amaze me now as much as they did the first time I read them. What Paul says in Romans 4 is amazingly clear and sits in distinction, contradiction to all religion of man. Look at verse 2, "For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the Scripture say? Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness. Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt. But to him who does not work, but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness." 

God imputes His righteousness to us when we believe Jesus, when our heart turns to Him. You can ask religious men, who goes to heaven? What are they going to tell you? Good people. Good people go to heaven. What's the Bible say? God justifies the ungodly, those who realize they're ungodly, who realize their need and turn to Him in faith. Man cannot become righteous in the eyes of God except by grace through faith in Jesus Christ and His one-time act on the cross. 

There's no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. But we see that there is a relative human goodness, there is a manifestation of men of their conscience of God's law written on their hearts. Nevertheless, this is an incomplete understanding. Merely a light of revelation for them to seek after and to come to a full knowledge of Jesus Christ and the gospel through faith in Him alone, and thus we see confusion in our world. 

We see fickle faith as men place their faith in all kinds of things and change their gods and their religion at their own whim. First they were convinced that Paul was a murderer because a viper bit him. Then when he did not swell up or fall over dead, they assumed he was a god. That's quite a switch. 

I want to take this example as a teaching moment for us, for believers in Jesus Christ in 2019 in Winchester, Wisconsin in these United States. When we look around our country, our culture, our world, it can be very disconcerting, discouraging, downright infuriating at times. There are a lot of voices speaking to us, a lot of men that are saying they're purveyors of truth. 

I don't know how many of you have been following the recent laws passed in New York State and proposed in Virginia, as well as several other states concerning abortion. I struggle to even articulate what's going on in our culture. The state government of New York passed laws allowing the killing of a child all the way up to birth. They included in the law the ability of non-physicians to perform abortions, and they removed any protection from babies born alive when an abortion fails. 

In Virginia, the bill proposed and supported by the governor even went further, calling for the ability to murder an infant even after it's born. As I heard the governor explain in an interview, fortunately, the bill did not see a vote. But you know, when they passed that law in New York a couple weeks ago, and Governor Cuomo signed it, he had large buildings and bridges lit up in pink to celebrate and even hosted a gala, a party, to revel in their accomplishment. How do we get here, my friends? 

How do we come to a point when there is no fear of God, when there is no moral compass, when men celebrate and exalt that which is utterly and totally inherently evil? The woman who sponsored the bill in Virginia submitted another bill the same day. Her first bill advocated for infanticide. Her second bill protected the lives of canker worms, caterpillars. How does a man go from the kindness of the natives of Malta, exhibiting the law of God written in their hearts, to the insanity that we see in our world today? 

And the answer is Romans 1, a passage that you're familiar with. God has revealed Himself to men with a desire that men might come to Him in faith, but men have rejected God, suppressed the overwhelming evidence all around them and in them, and they've created their own gods and their own religion, they've professed themselves to be wise, to have knowledge and wisdom, yet they are fools, the Greek says, morons. 

They can no longer think, they can no longer function, because God has given them over to their sin, given them over to a debased mind in judgment, has given them over to that which is not fitting or right to do, to the point that they declare that there is no God and that man himself is God. And now our faith has moved from absolute truth as revealed in the Word of God, our faith has moved from foundational truth and morality from God Himself to man, to man's wisdom and to man's institutions. 

Bobbie's been teaching school for a long time, it's amazing to see how the children change. And this year she asked them a question about what they would do in some sort of emergency, and almost all the children said, the government will save us, the government will take care of us. Our faiths become now in man's wisdom, in man's institutions, and the result of rejecting God and declaring ourselves to be God is that we have become lost, drifting, fickle, unable to exercise any restraint and are driven by simple animal-like lusts, indwelling sin that has consumed our hearts and minds as a culture, as a society, as a world. 

So what is the lesson for us in these last days, my brothers and sisters in Christ? What great practical application can we take from these things? I want you to turn to 1 Timothy 4 with me, please. 1 Timothy 4, verse 9, Paul gave this instruction to Timothy. He said, "This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance. For to this end we both labor and suffer reproach because we trust in the living God who is the Savior of all men, especially of those who believe. These things command and teach. Let no one despise your youth, but be an example to the believers in word and conduct and love and spirit and faith and purity. Look at this, give attention to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine. 

Do not neglect the gift that is in you which was given to you by prophecy with the laying on of hands of the eldership. Meditate on these things. Give yourself entirely to them that your progress may be evident to all. Take heed to yourself and to the doctrine. Continue in them for in doing this you will save both yourself and those who hear you." 

I look at 2nd Timothy 3, please, 2nd Timothy 3:10. Paul says, "But you have carefully followed my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, long-suffering, love, perseverance, persecutions, afflictions, which happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra. What persecutions I endured, and out of them all the Lord delivered me. Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution, but evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived. But you must continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them. And that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith, which is in Christ Jesus. 

All Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work. I charge you, therefore, before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead, it is appearing in his kingdom, preach the word. Be ready in season and out of season, convince, rebuke, exhort with all long suffering and teaching, for the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine. But according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers, and they will turn their ears away from the truth and be turned aside to fables." 

But you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry." There's a mood that has enveloped the evangelical church today, my friends, a heresy that says that doctrine divides, that doctrine does not matter. I can't think of a time when doctrine mattered more. Take heed to the things you have learned, give yourself entirely to them, preach the word. 

The answer for us, the application for believers at Living Hope Church today and all around the world is to set our minds and hearts on Jesus, on the truths of who he is, what he has done is found only in the Word of God. The answer for all of the confusion, for the carnage of our culture, for all the injustices and iniquities of all that goes on around us every day is to think on these things, to think on what is good and pure and noble, to preach the gospel to ourselves every day, to have the Word of God renew our minds, form our thinking, and transform our living. 

As the world dumps all reality, all truth, all sanity, we must cling that much tighter to the truth, to the written Word of God and to Jesus, the Living Word. This is our hope, this is our compass, our guide, our assurance and comfort, Christ is our life. And we need, as Paul and his life in ministry, regardless of the circumstances, the hardships, the struggles, even persecutions, to know that it is God who provides for the accomplishment of His will in our lives. 

I often think about how Paul must have wondered so many times, think about what he endured, think about the time that passed. He wanted to go to Rome, he longed to go to Rome. He wanted to go and see them. God told him he would stand before Caesar. But how many times he must have wondered over those years, how many times he must have wondered when he was being beaten, when he sat alone in a Roman cell, when these pompous men would pull them before him to talk to them about his defense. But Paul didn't get discouraged, he told him about Jesus. His faith never wavered, even in a shipwreck. He knew that it was God who provides for the accomplishment of His will in our lives. 

And that's what really matters. Look at verse 7 in our text. "In that region there was an estate of the leading citizen of the island, whose name was Publius, who received us and entertained us courteously for three days. And it happened that the father of Publius lay sick of a fever and dysentery. Paul went into him and prayed, and he laid his hands on him and healed him. So when this was done, the rest of those on the island who had diseases also came and were healed. They also honored us in many ways, and when we departed they provided such things as were necessary." 

After three months, we sailed on an Alexandrian ship whose figurehead was the twin brothers, which had wintered at the island. And landing at Syracuse, we stayed three days. From there, we circled round and reached Regium. And after one day, the south wind blew, and the next day we came to Puteoli, where we found brethren and were invited to stay with them seven days. And so we went toward Rome. And from there, when the brethren heard about us, they came to meet us as far as Appii Forum and Three Inns. When Paul saw them, he thanked God and took courage. 

And when we came to Rome, the centurion delivered the prisoners to the captain of the guard, but Paul was permitted to dwell by himself with the soldier who guarded him. You know, from a human perspective, this has been a rough go for Paul. Attacked, beaten, arrested, injustice, persecution, shipwrecked, snake-bitten, still incarcerated in Rome, chained to a soldier. From human wisdom, we would have to say with the natives of Malta, this guy is a bad guy because look at what God is doing to him. But from a Christian perspective, from the wisdom of the Word of God, we can see throughout the life and ministry of Paul the provision of God. 

God fulfilled his promise that Paul would live through the shipwreck. God sustained Paul and gave him people to minister to him with the warmth of the fire, protected him from the viper. He allowed him to heal the sick as Publius showed great kindness in lodging and feeding them. God gave Paul safe passage to Rome and we see that he gets encouragement from the brethren, a church that he never knew of along the way. And the ultimate encouragement when the brothers from Rome came out 43 miles to meet Paul at Three Inns. 

And God even provided Paul his own house for his arrest and the freedom to meet with believers and to preach and teach and encourage and to preach the gospel to the lost in that city, the thing he'd longed to do. God is faithful, my brothers and sisters. He's working all things together for our good and accomplishing his will in our lives as we trust him and believe him one day at a time. 

And we may not experience health and wealth and prosperity in this world. It may not look like things are going well for us or even feel that way sometimes. But the truth is that God is providing, he's protecting, he's proving his faithfulness to us again and again. And we need to learn to trust him, to believe him, to hold fast to his word, his truth. We can't be like those natives, tossed to and fro with no direction. What happens when we reject the revelation of God, when we suppress the truth? We see it all around us. 

But we know the truth. We have the truth. We have to know the truth. We have to believe it. We have to reckon it in our lives and we have to yield to his power. So in all these things, whatever's going on in our lives, learn to trust him. Learn to be content in him and let him handle all these details that we don't know what to do with. As this world waxes worse and worse and we move toward the end of all things and the consummation of God's plan and purpose in Christ, we have to stand on the promises so that we might be faithful to bear fruit for his glory. That's why we're here.

Let's close in prayer. Father, we thank you for the lessons of your Word, the things that teach us and apply so directly to our lives and we thank you for explaining and illustrating these things so many times in the life and ministry of Paul. And Father, we just as we come to the end of this book want to see the heart of Paul for evangelism, for building up the brethren and to take that and to follow him as he follows Christ. We pray that you'd strengthen us, that you keep our minds clear, renew us with your truth, help us to trust you and depend on you as we go through this world. In Jesus' name.