Pastor asked me last week to do a song, and I kept thinking all week about trials and tribulations. I know that all of us go through that, myself included. My question to myself was: What do we put our hope in, and what do we put our faith in? This song is about all my hope being in Jesus. I think most of us, maybe all of us, know that, and it's such a reassurance.

In Romans chapter 5, it says, "And not only that, but we also glory in tribulation, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance, and perseverance character, and character hope. Now hope does not disappoint because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us." 

I've been held by the Savior, I felt love from above. I've been down to the river; I ain't the same. Prodigal return: all my hope is in Jesus. Thank God my yesterday is gone; all my sins are forgiven. I've been washed by the blood. I'm no stranger to prison; I've worn shackles and chains. I've been freed and forgiven, and I go back, and I'll never be the same. It's why I sing: all my hope is in Jesus. Thank God my yesterday is gone; all my sins are forgiven. I've been washed by the blood. 

There's a kind of thing that just breaks a man, breaks him down to his knees. God, I've been broken more than a time or two. You pick me up, show me what it means to be a man. Come on! All my hope is in Jesus. Thank God my yesterday is gone; all my sins are forgiven. I've been washed by the blood. All my hope is in Jesus. Thank God my yesterday is gone; all my sins are forgiven. I've been washed by the blood. 

Thanks, Doug, for that good song. I'm glad you could sing this morning and brought all these people out. It was nice. 

We're going to be finishing the book of Acts this morning, Acts 28. I was looking in my files to see when we began the book of Acts, and it was about 16 months ago. We spent nearly a year and a half, and this will be the 55th message working our way through this tremendous scripture. Today, we're going to finish that journey, so it's really a privilege. 

As I was thinking about this, I remember when we started the book of Acts, a young man came up to me on a Sunday after church. He was visiting our church, and he said, "I've been to a couple of churches where they've started the book of Acts, but I've never been in a church where they finished it." I was taken aback by this comment. At times, I could understand, I guess, as we were working through it, the historical narratives, chapter after chapter. But I guess I never thought about not finishing a book that you start unless you die in the middle. I mean, you just keep going to the next verses. It's all God's Word, and it's all profitable for teaching, for correction, that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. 

It's so important, my brothers and sisters, so vital to our growth and edification, our life and our ministry to work through the Word of God in a continual study, seeking to know what God says, taking out the meaning that He has put in, and to believe Him and to trust Him. This can only happen through true, consistent, continual expository preaching, verse by verse, chapter by chapter, and book by book. 

I have to tell you, it's a liberating thing for me as a preacher as well; it's a safety, it's a security. Because I don't sit at my desk with a legal pad trying to think about topics to preach on, searching the internet for illustrations, and then scrounging up a couple of verses to support my thesis. I just go to the next verses, observe the words, let the words form the meaning in their context, study, and invariably, I get excited about what God is saying and how it applies to our lives. I strive to simply say what God says in His Word. This is a privilege, and I'm thankful to preach and teach in a church that longs to hear the truth, the word without compromise and without apology. I'm grateful, and I'm excited to preach and teach Jesus Christ. 

I'm encouraged today to see that this is just what Paul did in his life and ministry. That's the message of our final text in Acts 28 today, as we see that this is precisely what Paul did, continuing even after Luke's record here in the book of Acts. 

Let's look at our text together in Acts 28, at verse 17. 

And it came to pass after three days that Paul called the leaders of the Jews together. So when they had come together, he said to them, "Men and brethren, though I have 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. Who, when they had examined me, wanted to let me go, because there was no cause for putting me to death. But when the Jews spoke against it, I was compelled to appeal to Caesar, not that I had anything of which to accuse my nation. For this reason, therefore, I have called for you to see you and speak with you because for the hope of Israel I am bound with this chain." 

Then they said to him, "We neither received letters from Judea concerning you, nor have any of the brethren who came reported or spoken any evil of you. But we desire to hear from you what you think, for concerning this sect, we know that it is spoken against everywhere." 

So when they had appointed a day, many came to him at his lodging, to whom he explained and solemnly testified of the kingdom of God, persuading them concerning Jesus from both the Law of Moses and the Prophets from morning till evening. And some were persuaded by the things which were spoken, and some disbelieved. 

So when they did not agree among themselves, they departed after Paul had said one word: "The Holy Spirit spoke rightly through Isaiah the prophet to our fathers, saying, ‘Go to this people and say: Hearing you will hear and shall not understand, and seeing you will see and not perceive. For the hearts of this people have grown dull; their ears are hard of hearing, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, so that I should heal them.’ Therefore let it be known to you that the salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles, and they will hear it." 

When he had said these words, the Jews departed and had a great dispute among themselves. Then Paul dwelt two whole years in his own rented house and received all who came to him, preaching the kingdom of God and teaching the things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ with all confidence, no one forbidding him. 

I've given you four points on your outline this morning. First, we're going to see the hope of Israel. Second, this sect. Third, a willingness to believe. And fourth, preaching and teaching Jesus. 

Well, as Paul makes it to Rome and is in his house arrest, we see the first point of our text this morning: the hope of Israel. If you look at verse 17, it says, "And it came to pass after three days that Paul called the leaders of the Jews together." 

So when they had come together, he said to them, "Men and brethren, though I have 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 examined me, wanted to let me go, because there was no cause for putting me to death, but when the Jews spoke against it, I was compelled to appeal to Caesar, not that I had anything of which to accuse my nation. For this reason, therefore, I have called for you to see you and speak with you because for the hope of Israel I am bound with this chain." 

Well, we've seen Paul use these words several times throughout the book of Acts, especially in his defenses, in his witnessing before the rulers of Israel, as well as of Rome They refer to the resurrection from the dead, but more accurately to the Savior, Messiah of Israel and His resurrection from the dead. Remember back in Acts 23, before the Sanhedrin, he said, "But when Paul perceived that one part were Sadducees and the other Pharisees, he cried out in the council: Men and brethren, I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee. Concerning the hope and resurrection of the dead, I am being judged." 

In Acts 26, speaking before Agrippa, Paul says, "And now I stand and am being judged for the hope of the promise made to our fathers. To this promise, our twelve tribes earnestly serving God night and day hope to attain. For this hope’s sake, King Agrippa, I am accused by the Jews. Why should it be thought incredible by you that God raises the dead?" 

The hope of Israel was the resurrection of the dead. We saw that before when we looked back in the book of Job and Isaiah in several places, but they did not understand that this hope was bound up in the Lord, in Jesus, and He being the first, the captain, the forerunner of their salvation, having risen from the dead. 

Jeremiah, way back in Jeremiah 17:13 says, "O Lord, the hope of Israel, all who forsake You shall be ashamed; those who depart from Me shall be written in the earth, because they have forsaken the Lord, the fountain of living waters." 

When Paul calls the leaders of the Jews in Rome together and preaches to them from morning until night, his message is the resurrection. The hope of Israel is the reason he is detained because he preached Jesus Christ and Him risen from the dead. The Messiah, the Lord, the hope of Israel. And this very truth is the explanation of the faith of what the Jews called this sect.

It's interesting what we see next in our text. They have not heard from anyone in Judea about Paul, nor have they received any letters or correspondence about him. But notice what they say: they have heard about this sect. And notice what they have to say about Christianity this way: this sect is spoken against everywhere. 

Verse 21 says, "Then they said to him, ‘We neither received letters from Judea concerning you nor any of the brethren who came reported or spoken any evil of you, but we desire to hear from you what you think, for concerning this sect we know that it is spoken against everywhere.’" 

What an amazing statement about Christianity! True Bible-based preaching and teaching about Jesus. We saw the same thing back in Acts 24. The Jews accusing Paul said, "For we have found this man a plague, a creator of dissension among all the Jews throughout the world, and a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes." 

"But this I confess to you that according to the way which they call a sect, so I worship the God of my fathers, believing all things which are written in the Law and the Prophets." 

It's the same today, my friends. The truth: the exclusivity of salvation by faith in Jesus Christ alone and what He accomplished in His death, burial, and resurrection is spoken against everywhere. Religion is fine. God is fine. Spirituality is fine. Even a general, generic, denominational Christianity is fine for the most part. But if you speak the truth, if you preach the gospel, if you teach Christ according to the Scriptures, you will have a problem in this world. 

That is what we see from the disdain of these Jews in Rome. "No, Paul, we haven't heard anything bad about you, no evil reports, but we'd like to hear from your defense concerning this sect because we've heard nothing bad; it's spoken against everywhere." 

And this is precisely the opportunity that Paul wanted, the very reason that he called them together. Look at verse 23. It says: "So when they had appointed him a day, many came to him at his lodging, to whom he explained and solemnly testified of the kingdom of God, persuading them concerning Jesus both from the Law of Moses and the Prophets from morning till evening." 

A crowd came to Paul's house to hear him. He couldn't go out into town to preach; he couldn't go to the synagogue; he was chained to that Roman soldier. But people would come to him, and they did. They were coming in crowds. Here were the Jewish people of Rome gathered together before Paul to hear what he had to say about Jesus of Nazareth and the sect called Christianity. 

And what did Paul say to them? What did he preach? He preached Jesus. It says he persuaded them concerning Jesus. And how did he do that? From the Scriptures, it says. He taught them from both the Law of Moses and the Prophets from morning until evening. He wasn't concerned about the clock. 

Reminds me of when I was in India; I couldn't get over that. I remember Philip Samuel came to me when I preached at one event, and he said, "I want you to keep it about 30 minutes. You know, 30 minutes is good." So I preached for 30 minutes. He wasn't supposed to say anything; he got up and spoke for two hours! They aren't concerned about the clock. He taught all day long from the Word of God. 

In John 5:39, Jesus said, "You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life, and these are they which testify of Me." The whole of the Bible is about Jesus, about our Savior God. And Paul started, as he was called to do, as was his custom. He started with the Law and the Prophets and the Old Testament Scriptures, persuading, showing, pointing the way to Jesus. 

In Romans 1:1, it says, "Paul, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated to the gospel of God, which He promised before through His prophets in the Holy Scriptures, concerning His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who was born according to the seed of David, according to the flesh, and declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of holiness by the resurrection from the dead." 

Paul says, "Through Him, we have received grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith among all nations for His name." God called Paul; He separated him to the gospel, this gospel that concerned His Son, Jesus Christ, which the prophets and the Holy Scriptures and the Law of Moses pointed to, concerning His Son, who was shown to be the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead. 

Do you notice a consistency in Paul's message? This is the very thing he was called by God to do, and this is the very thing that he did continually throughout his ministry right to the end of Luke's record in our text, and all the way to the end when he was delivered by martyrdom to be with the Lord. 

In 1 Corinthians 1:22, it says, "For Jews request a sign and Greeks seek after wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God." 

Paul was quite clear about why he was here, what he was to be pursuing, and what God had called him and sent him to do, and this was his continual passion, his purpose, his focus. And that's a lesson for us, as we've seen over and over and over throughout the book of Acts: Paul's example to us. 

And as always, when Christ is preached, we see a mixed reaction. Some believe and some are hostile. Look at verse 24: "And some were persuaded by the things which were spoken, and some disbelieved." 

So when they did not agree among themselves, they departed after Paul had said one word: "The Holy Spirit spoke rightly through Isaiah the prophet to our fathers, saying, ‘Go to this people and say: Hearing you will hear and shall not understand, and seeing you will see and not perceive. For the hearts of this people have grown dull; their ears are hard of hearing, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, so that I should heal them.’" 

And he makes this amazing statement in verse 28: "Therefore let it be known to you that the salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles, and they will hear it." 

When he'd said these words, the Jews departed and had a great dispute among themselves. The Jews, as a nation, had turned from God, had rejected Jesus, and would not believe. It was not an issue of an unclear message. Paul had persuaded them from their own Scripture, showing that Jesus is the Christ, that the Messiah must suffer and die and rise again. 

It was not an issue of God's unwillingness. All day long, He said, "I've stretched out My arms to a disobedient and stiff-necked people." God desires that every man come to the knowledge of the truth, that each man would turn to Jesus in faith and be saved. 

Jesus said in Matthew 23, "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her, how often I wanted to gather your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings. But you were not willing." 

Clearly, if we just study the Scriptures, if we just look at the Word of God, then the issue is always the willingness of man to believe. Even the rejection by Israel, the nation, is not a final rejection. Turn over to Romans 11 with me, please. 

Romans 11 at verse 19. This section is about the nation of Israel and Paul's desire for them to be saved and the truth that God will keep His promises to Israel. Romans 11:19, Paul says, "You will say then, ‘Branches were broken off that I might be grafted in.’ Well said. Because of unbelief, they were broken off, and you stand by faith. Do not be haughty, but fear. For if God did not spare the natural branches, He may not spare you either." 

Therefore, consider the goodness and severity of God: on those who fell, severity; but towards you, goodness, if you continue in His goodness; otherwise, you also will be cut off. 

And they also, if they do not continue in unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. It's clear that this section, all of Romans 9 to 11, that Paul's talking about national Israel. If he's merely talking about individuals here, then we have several problems, not the least of which is that you may be cut off. 

But the truth is that he's talking about national Israel and Gentiles. And the clear issue at hand is belief and unbelief. Israel was cut off because of unbelief. Gentiles will be cut off when they do not believe. Israel will be grafted back in when they believe. 

Look at verse 25: "For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: The Deliverer will come out of Zion, and he will turn away ungodliness from Jacob, for this is My covenant with them when I take away their sins." 

When Israel turns to Jesus in faith, then they will be saved. When the fullness of the Gentiles has come in, when the church age ends, then God will turn to Jacob and fulfill His covenant with them. 

It's so important to understand, my brothers and sisters, that the issue is belief or unbelief, a willingness or lack thereof to believe Jesus Christ. And that is precisely what we see in our text. Again and again, Paul had gone to the Jews first, then to the Gentiles. We see this right to the end of the record. And again and again, the Jews, by and large, rejected Jesus, and the Gentiles, by and large, believed Jesus. 

And thus, Paul says, "The gospel will now go to the Gentiles, and they will hear it." They are willing to hear the truth about Jesus and believe. Thus, in this time, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in, God has temporarily set aside Israel and is now bringing the gospel primarily to Gentiles. He has a remnant in this age. Remember, Paul in Romans 9 said, "I'm one of the remnant." 

The blindness is partial, and the blindness is temporary. The time's coming when He will turn back to Jacob. And when Jesus comes, all Israel will be saved. 

So we see in our text the hope of Israel. We see this sect. We see a willingness to believe. And finally, we see preaching and teaching Jesus. Look at verse 30: "Then Paul dwelt two whole years in his own rented house and received all who came to him, preaching the kingdom of God and teaching the things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ with all confidence, no one forbidding him." 

Paul's example to us, my friends, from beginning to end, from the scales falling from his eyes in Damascus to his death in Rome, was preaching and teaching Jesus. Luke ends the record here, but this is not the end. 

It seems most likely that Paul was released from his imprisonment and went on to minister for a time before he was arrested again and was then held in the dungeon called Mamertine, where he was taken from and beheaded. We know that the two years here in Acts 28 were a house arrest situation for Paul. 

And we read in Philippians 2 that Paul intended to come to them, to the Philippian believers, and was expected to be released to do so. In Philemon, he also wrote during this period, asking Philemon to prepare his house, to prepare a lodging for Paul when he came to Colossae. 

In 1 Timothy, we read that Paul is in Macedonia. And in Titus 3, Paul writes that he is in Nicopolis, where he intended to winter. These letters were written after his imprisonment in Rome. It seems quite clear that Paul was released at the end of this two-year imprisonment. 

I read that there was a statute of limitations of two years for a trial in Rome, and it's likely that the Jews would not travel to Rome to accuse Paul, seeing that they had no real case against him, and that could have gotten them into a serious amount of trouble with Caesar. So, I think we can conclude that Paul was released for a time after this house arrest period and was able to minister again to the saints in Philippi and Colossae. 

And sometime after this, he was arrested and held in that Mamertine prison. And it was there at the very end when he wrote 2 Timothy. There was a much different tone in his writings. Listen to 2 Timothy 4:6. Paul says, "For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought the good fight. I have finished the race; I have kept the faith. Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that day, and not to me only, but also to all who have loved His appearing." 

Even then, his admonition to Timothy was so strong, so clear. He said, "Remember the doctrine. Give yourself entirely to teaching Jesus. Meditate on these things and speak the truth. Remember the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation. Preach the Word." 

My brothers and sisters, Paul was thoroughly convinced, convicted that the call that he had was to preach Jesus from the Word of God. To preach the Word in season and out of season. When they would not hear, when they stoned him, the message was the same. 

The message was the method. This is what we must learn and know and understand and believe and practice. Because the wisdom of men, the way of the world, pulls so strongly at the church. It seems that we feel that we must employ new methods and slick ways of reaching men, but the truth is that God has chosen that by the foolishness of the message preached, He will save those who believe. 

And that's the lesson we learn from Paul. And this is what Paul did. He preached and taught Jesus. He dwelt two whole years in a rented house, and he received all who came to him, preaching the kingdom of God and teaching those things concerning Jesus Christ. 

We've been studying a couple of texts in our Bible studies that I wanted to touch on as we close, just to drive home the example, the lesson of Paul to us in this amazing book of the Acts of the Apostles. 

In Philippians, a letter Paul wrote during his house arrest, Paul explains to the worried believers in Philippi that his imprisonment has actually turned out for the furtherance of the gospel. They had thought being arrested and chained to a Roman soldier would be the end of Paul's fruitful ministry. But Paul explains to them that God was working through the situation and producing tremendous fruit, encouraging believers, witnessing to the Jews, and perhaps most amazing was the conversion of several in Caesar's household. 

Paul's message to them is that if our life and our focus in Jesus Christ is the furtherance of the gospel, then our circumstances are irrelevant. You know, that's a hard lesson for us to learn. Our circumstances are irrelevant. But it's true. Circumstances in the cause of Christ are irrelevant. God is sovereign over circumstances. He can work through us even if we're chained to a Roman soldier. 

If my foremost passion is for some temporal thing in this world, then circumstances can be a tremendous problem: weather, economies, catastrophe, people, politics, power. Circumstances can really mess things up for me. But if my passion, my purpose, is to further the cause of Christ, circumstances are no problem for God. 

And Paul could testify that for him to live is Christ and to die is gain. I was thinking about that as we've been working through those scriptures. How would the believers in Rome reach the Praetorian Guard? How would they reach those 15,000 hardened soldiers in Caesar's household? It would be impossible. They had no access. But God knew what to do. He just had Paul arrested and chained to him. 

What can man do to me? We do well to fear the one who can kill the body, to not fear the one who can kill the body, but the one who can cast body and soul into hell. That's what Jesus said. 

I also want to consider Romans 1 and what Paul wrote there. And we briefly looked at this passage earlier, but first turn to Romans 8 with me, please. 

Let's look at a passage in Romans 8. In this section, all the way back to Romans 7, Paul has been contrasting the believer with the unbeliever concerning living under the letter, the law versus living by the Spirit. He's been contrasting those who walk according to the flesh with those who walk according to the Spirit. 

And in verse 12 of chapter 8, he writes, "Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh, you will die. But if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the spirit of adoption, by whom we cry out: Abba, Father. The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. And if children, then heirs, heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together." 

Paul says, based on who we are in Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit living in us and our new relationship with God, our Papa, our Daddy, we are debtors to live according not to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. 

As he says later in chapter 12, it's our reasonable service; it's our spiritual act of worship to live in consistency with who we now are. It's our obligation, but it's also our rational, logical way of living in light of who we are because of what God has done in us in salvation. 

This is an interesting concept that Paul brings up, that of being a debtor, a debtor to live a new life in Christ. It's not the first time he's used the term. Go back to Romans 1 with me as well. 

We saw before in the first part of the chapter that Paul explains his calling from God, that he's a bond slave of Jesus, that he was separated to the gospel, the gospel promised in the Law and the Prophets, the gospel concerning his Son, the one who rose again. He explains that he's been sent to preach the gospel for obedience to the faith for all nations. 

Now down in verse 13, Paul says this: "Now I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that I often planned to come to you, but was hindered until now, that I might have some fruit among you, just as among the other Gentiles. Now look at verse 14: I am a debtor both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to wise and to unwise. So as much as is in me, I am ready to preach the gospel to you who are in Rome also." 

"For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. For in it, in the gospel, the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith, as it is written, ‘The just shall live by faith.’" 

My friends, this is how Paul saw his life. He was a debtor to all men. Yes, a debtor to God. But this was manifest in his call to preach the gospel to men, to build up believers for the same purpose, and to live a life worthy of his calling. You see, Paul felt that this obligation, his life of thankful service to God, was fulfilled in serving not only God but by worship and living to bring glory to Him, but in serving all men. 

Either in teaching and preaching Jesus to build up the brethren, equipping them to go out and do the work of ministry, or in doing the work of an evangelist himself, as a debtor to lost men to tell them the truth, to persuade them to come in faith to Jesus. This was his life. This is what he meant when he said, "For to me to live is Christ." 

Circumstances were not the issue. He had a clear call, a commission. He was sent. He had a clear message, the gospel of Jesus Christ. He had a clear method, preaching and teaching, persuading from the Word of God. He never varied in this; he never wavered. He never bought into the latest marketing scheme, the newest fad, or some confirmation to modern methods. 

He preached Jesus in the natural course of his life. He was faithful every day, whether he was making tents, whether he was preaching in the synagogues to the Jews, whether he was feasting with Gentiles, whether he was picking himself up from a stoning or beating, or climbing to shore from a shipwreck, or if he was chained to a soldier sitting in one spot for two years. 

No matter what was going on, where he was, what his circumstances were, his mission never changed, his message never changed, and his method never changed. Paul believed in the simplicity of Christ, the foolishness of the message preached, a life of abiding one day at a time and seizing opportunities as God made way. 

In 1 Corinthians 11, Paul wrote this: "Imitate me just as I imitate Christ." That’s the message we can take home today from our text, from the book of Acts, my brothers and sisters, and the message we can hold on to each and every day, no matter what comes, just as Paul has taught us by word and by his tremendous example to us. 

Let's close in prayer. 

Father, we're so thankful for Your Word, Your truth, and we're thankful for those people in Your Word that You have preserved their example to us in their lives, in their ministries, in the difficulties, in the triumphs. Thank You for showing us what You've done through faithful witnesses. And thank You for the truth that if we're faithful witnesses, You can work through us for Your glory as well. In Jesus' name, amen.