The Gospel Proclaimed Boldly and Without Hindrance

The Gospel Proclaimed Boldly and Without Hindrance Acts 28:16 -31

It’s a joy to bring the book of Acts to a close this morning. It’s been a very rich study for me and I hope you feel the same way.

This morning I’d like to do three things. First I’d like to look at the last sixteen verses of the book, second we’ll then spend some time looking back at some of the key themes that we’ve encountered as we’ve moved through the book of Acts and finally we’ll bring it all home with a little video clip entitled “The Book of Acts in Three minutes.”

If you were with us last Sunday, the apostle Paul and his companions barely survived a harrowing storm and shipwreck in Acts 27. I use the words ‘barely survived’ because that’s what it looked like from our perspective. We know that God had all the details worked out. In the mind and plan of God, Paul was completely ‘safe’ like you and I are completely safe in his loving arms as we walk through life.

Paul had resolved in his spirit to go to Rome way back in Acts 19.1 Four chapters later in Acts 23, the Lord Jesus stood by him in the Antonio fortress one night and told him, “As you have testified to the facts about me in Jerusalem, so you must testify also in Rome.” And so we know it was God’s good pleasure to bring Paul to Rome. And so after being arrested in Jerusalem, escaping a threatened assassination by the Jews, enduring several hearings, languishing through a two year imprisonment in Caesarea, surviving a harrowing storm and shipwreck in the Mediterranean only to be bit by a poisonous viper on a beach in Malta…lets’ take a breath.. Paul and his companions finally arrived in Rome.

This is a bit emblematic of your life and mine, isn’t it? The truth is we will be brought safely home. The end is as secure as the end can be but the details are left to be experienced. And as we go through life we experience something and we think to ourselves, “Didn’t see that one coming!”…

Follow with me as we get the entire passage before us… beginning in Acts 28:16…Acts 28:16

16 And when we came into Rome, Paul was allowed to stay by himself, with the soldier who guarded him. 17 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

1 Acts 19:21

1 or the customs of our fathers, yet I was delivered as a prisoner from Jerusalem into the hands of the Romans. 18 When they had examined me, they wished to set me at liberty, because there was no reason for the death penalty in my case. 19 But because the Jews objected, I was compelled to appeal to Caesar—though I had no charge to bring against my nation. 20 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.” 21 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. 22 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.” 23 When they had appointed a day for him, they came to him at his lodging in greater 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. 24 And some were convinced by what he said, but others disbelieved. 25 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: 26 “ ‘Go to this people, and say, “You will indeed hear but never understand, and you will indeed see but never perceive.” 27 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.’ 28 Therefore let it be known to you that this salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles; they will listen.” 30 He lived there two whole years at his own expense, and welcomed all who came to him, 31 proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness and without hindrance.

Now this somewhat “open ended” finale to the book of Acts is interesting and a bit intriguing.

It’s interesting because of its focus. Luke narrates one last interaction of Paul with Jewish leaders. And considering that three times previously2, Paul had arrived in an area and begun his ministry to the Jews in that area, and then decisively turned from the Jews to the Gentiles when he encountered opposition, why does Luke the author of Acts, leave us with that picture again? Of the Jewish leaders of Rome opposing the gospel and Paul turning to the Gentiles? Was this final turning of Paul to the Gentiles decisive? I ran across a couple of verses in Romans this past week that caused me to wonder if this ‘turning to Gentiles’ thing that Paul has repeatedly

2 In Pisidian Antioch, Acts 13:46, in Corinth, Acts 18:6, and in Ephesus, Acts 19:8-9

2 done –and this is the fourth time he does it-- was really just intended to make his people the Jews jealous. Listen to Romans 11:13-14 Now I am speaking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch then as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry in order somehow to make my fellow Jews jealous and thus save some.

So Paul admits to magnifying his ministry to Gentiles in order somehow to make his fellow Jews jealous and thus save some. I found myself wondering if that’s the reason we’ve encountered the ‘I’m ‘turning to the Gentiles’ theme so often in Acts? “Alright I’m done with you all. You’ve judged yourself unworthy of eternal life. I’m turning to the Gentiles!”… because Paul is secretly trying to make his fellow countrymen jealous so that some will get saved?

You wonder if some of the Jews who went away from Paul’s rented apartment here at the end of Acts were wondering to themselves, “I wonder if I may be missing out”

Well the open-ended conclusion to the book of Acts is intriguing also. And it’s intriguing because a host of questions are left unanswered. What happened to the apostle Paul? Was he tried in Rome, found guilty and executed? Did his Jewish accusers ever arrive from Jerusalem to prosecute their case? Was Paul acquitted and set free? Did he indeed finally stand before Caesar—who would have been the nefarious Nero—and give testimony of Jesus? Why didn’t Luke record any of this? Was it because he wrote the book of Acts at the end of Paul’s two year imprisonment and he himself didn’t know the answers?

Thank God for a bible that’s hard, huh? ______

Well let’s look at the passage in some detail beginning in verse 16.

It seems that in this first Roman imprisonment (we’ll try to complete the picture later in the message that there was probably a second Roman imprisonment) Paul was kept in a light form of military custody—he had a soldier who guarded him. We learn in verse 20 that Paul was wearing a chain. We learn in verse 23 that he could receive visitors and we learn in verse 30 that he actually rented his own quarters. Now don’t you imagine, that if that Roman guard was chained to Paul as some think, that he really got an earful? It’s believed that Paul wrote the books of Galatians, Ephesians, Colossians, and Philemon during this first imprisonment and I could just imagine Paul penning some famous line from one of those books… for example Col. 1:15-16a He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created… and then turning to the Roman soldier say… How does that sound to you?

3 Verse 17 tells us, that having been in Rome only three days, that Paul invited the local Jewish leaders for a meeting. Scholars have suggested that there may have been up to eleven synagogues in Rome at the time. 3 And so the presidents of these synagogues or leading elders may have joined Paul in his rented quarters.

Now why would Paul be interested in talking to the leaders of the Jewish congregations in Rome? Clearly he wanted to share the gospel with them. As we’ve emphasized, wasn’t that what he did when he arrived in a new place? But Paul also may have been thinking about his upcoming trial and trying to garner support from these leaders. 4

Well what did Paul say to these Jewish leaders in verses 17-20? He told them he was innocent of any crime against the Jews. He told them that the Romans had basically found him innocent but he was compelled to appeal to Caesar, even though, and we see this at the end of verse 19, that he had nothing to charge the Jews with. Well it’s in verse 20, he turns a corner, he whets their appetite, so to speak, by telling them why he really is in the spot he’s in--- because of the hope of Israel.

Now if you look for that phrase in the rest of the bible, it shows up only two other times in the scriptures, in the book of Jeremiah,5 and in those verses God himself is the ‘hope of Israel.’ And that’s easy for us to understand right, God clearly is the hope of Israel isn’t He?

But it would appear that Paul has more in mind here. Look at Acts 26:6-7 on the screen…

POWERPOINT Acts 26:6–8 (ESV)

6 And now I stand here on trial….this is Paul’s final hearing in Caesarea… because of my hope in the promise made by God to our fathers, 7 to which our twelve tribes hope to attain, …notice that…he’s saying that all of Israel is hoping to attain this promise, all twelve tribes… as they earnestly worship night and day. And for this hope I am accused by Jews, O king! 8 Why is it thought incredible by any of you that God raises the dead?

3 Bock, page 751

4 Schnabel, page 1067

5 Jeremiah 14:8 and Jeremiah 13:18

4 So what’s the hope of Israel? It’s the hope of resurrection in the last days. But I can’t help but wonder out loud if it’s the hope of resurrection and all the blessings that the last days bring with them.6 You see the resurrection is the evidence that the last days have arrived. And it’s this idea I think that helps us understand why the resurrection is really center stage in almost all of the sermons in the book of Acts. The death of Christ is emphasized big time in Luke. But the resurrection of Christ is emphasized big time in Acts because the apostles are convinced that the hope of Israel has arrived, the last days are here with all of the blessings attendant with them.

Well the Jewish leaders in Rome replied, verse 21, that they’d heard nothing about Paul and this issue. Either Paul’s accusers had given up trying to persecute Paul or, because of winter travel conditions, no one had yet arrived from Jerusalem. 80

Verse 22…22 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.”

Now that word ‘sect’ in verse 22 is not necessarily a bad word. In fact these Jewish leaders may be admitting that at least at this point they see Christianity as an internal sect within Judaism7 But they do acknowlede that it is everywhere spoken against.

But look again at how verse 22 begins… But we desire to hear from you… Jewish leaders desiring to hear from Paul…this is the audience of Paul’s dreams. …Jewish leaders who desire to hear what he has to say… this is the audience Paul lived to preach to.

Indeed ‘hear’ is a key word in these final verses of Acts…

We’ll see it in verse 26 We’ll see it twice in verse 27 And then finally in verse 28

23 When they had appointed a day for him, they came to him at his lodging in greater numbers. From morning till evening he expounded to them “he set it forth, he laid it out for

6 Thompson, page 82, “As Paul’s final trial in Acts 26:6-8 and 22-23 makes clear, the resurrection is the essence of the hope of Israel and the scriptures. This ‘hope’ is the longed for ‘age to come’ of the last days characterized by resurrection, the blessings of that age, the Holy Spirit, and the return of and restoration to God of God’s people. It is this hope that Paul claims has been fulfilled and made available already in Jesus’ resurrection from the dead. And then this quote from the Bible Knowledge Commentary: “The hope of Israel was more than a resurrection; it meant fulfillment of the Old Testament promises to Israel (cf. 26:6–7). Paul firmly believed Jesus is the Messiah of Israel who will return someday and establish Himself as the King of Israel and Lord of the nations (cf. 1:6).”

7 Bock, Acts 5:17 the word ‘sect’ is used of Saduccess; Acts 24:5 the word ‘sect’ is used of Christians.

5 them with detail and care and he spent all day at it, “from morning till evening” 8, testifying to the kingdom of God …being a witness to the kingdom of God…and this is a book end with the key verse at the beginning of the book of Acts, Acts 1:8…you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth… here’s Paul at the end of the earth being a witness for Christ and trying to convince (he was trying to persuade ) them about Jesus both from the Law of Moses and from the Prophets.

What was Paul’s content that day with those Jewish leaders? The “kingdom of God” and “Jesus”

He sought to persuade them that Jesus stands at the center of God’s sovereign rule. He sought to persuade them that the kingdom of God had indeed arrived in its inaugural or initial form in the person of Jesus.

He sought to persuade them that the life, death, resurrection of Jesus was the start of something very important in God’s plan and they should give attention to it.

And we should be persuaded by Paul’s words in the same way. The kingdom of God in its inaugural form is present with us. It’s easy to look at our world going haywire and wonder out loud “Is the kingdom of God really in our midst?” It might not seem like it. It might not look like it. But we believe with eyes of faith that it is present. And each time the gospel is shared—that Christ through his death on the cross has won the favor of God for us---each time the gospel is shared and someone believes, and puts their trust in Jesus, and receives the forgiveness of their sins, the kingdom of God spreads a little bit further out. God’s kingdom is really different from any kingdom this world has to offer.

Well look at verse 24… 24 And some were convinced… more exactly, “some began to be persuaded”9 by what he said, but others disbelieved. Haven’t we seen that over and over in the book of Acts? Verse 25…25 And disagreeing among themselves, they departed after Paul had made one statement…

8 Robertson, A. T. (1933). Word Pictures in the New Testament (Ac 28:23). Nashville, TN: Broadman Press.

9 Robertson, A. T. (1933). Word Pictures in the New Testament (Ac 28:24). Nashville, TN: Broadman Press.

6 And that one statement is going to be the rest of verse 25 and then verse 26 and 27. And it’s a reference to some of the prophet Isaiah’s words to his contemporaries around 740 BC10

And in that one statement Paul is going to compare his listeners--the ones that have been hearing him from morning to evening--to their ancestors or fathers in Isaiah the prophet’s day. In other words what Isaiah said to his contemporaries in 740 BC is true of those who have been listening to him in his rented quarters that day in Rome.

“The Holy Spirit was right in saying to your fathers through Isaiah the prophet: And what’s coming is Isaiah 6:9-10…

26 “ ‘Go to this people, and say, “You will indeed hear but never understand, and you will indeed see but never perceive.” 27 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.’

Isaiah highlights three organs of perception--the eyes, the ears, and the heart. And in Hebrew thought the ‘heart’ is really the organ of understanding and will.

They hear but never understand. They see but never perceive. Why? Verse 27 because their heart has grown dull.

Israel’s problem is a heart that has grown dull. “The Greek word there in verse 27 underneath the word dull literally means “has grown fat” or “thick” and pictures a heart so full that it is unresponsive. Nothing can penetrate it to the core.”11

Their ears falter as well, since hearing has become difficult…and with their ears they can barely hear…the Greek word under ‘barely’ is heavy. ..“they hear with ears of heaviness”… “they have stopped up their ears.” The ears are pictured as tired and too weighed down to function.

But their eyes are also closed.

10 ESV Study Bible, Isaiah 6:1

11 Bock, page 755

7 “No sensory part of them is responding. The dullness of (their hearts) has prevented their being responsive and turning to God in healing. Turning to God is the response that is lacking. Such turning would heal them, but they refuse to do it.”12

28 Therefore let it be known to you that this salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles; they will listen.”

Are you following the movement of the passage? The Jewish leaders desired to hear Paul, verse 22. They came to hear Paul, verse 23, and he laid it out for them from morning to evening. When it was all said and done, some were convinced but others disbelieved. And Paul says it’s been that way since the time of Isaiah—because of dull, unresponsive hearts, the Jewish people will hear but never understand, they will see but never perceive. And then Paul closes his address to them in verse 28

28 Therefore let it be known to you that this salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles; they will listen.”

Is he trying to make them jealous?

One writer says this… “The Jewish rejection (of the good news of the gospel) was a reality and a riddle. To a great extent it remains so—how the gospel of God’s salvation which was foreshadowed in the Jewish Scriptures, fulfilled in a Jewish Messiah, and first proclaimed by Jewish heralds like Paul would ultimately be embraced not by the Jews but primarily by Gentiles.13

You’ll notice that some of our versions have a verse 29. The earliest manuscripts don’t have this verse.

30 He lived there two whole years at his own expense, and welcomed all who came to him, 31 proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness and without hindrance.

The last words of the book of Acts are ‘with all boldness (referring to Paul’s inner attitude) and without hindrance (referring to the freedom Paul had to witness about the kingdom of God and Jesus.)

The portrait of Paul under house arrest freely sharing the gospel in the capital city of the Roman empire, beautifully summarizes a theme we’ve seen over and over again in Acts—Nothing, not persecution, or opposition, or suffering hinders the spread of the gospel. “Though Paul’s hand

12 Bock, page 755

13 Polhill, J. B. (1995). Acts (Vol. 26, p. 544). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.

8 was still bound, his mouth was open for Jesus Christ. Though he was chained, the word of God was not.”14

“Preachers may be persecuted, imprisoned, and even killed, but the Word of God is not bound”15

One writer said it this way: “Luke’s story ends not on Paul but on the gospel, on the message of the kingdom. The word of God in Christ—not Peter, not Paul—is the real hero of Acts.”16

______

Well what is the rest of the story? What happened to Paul?

It’s believed that Paul was imprisoned under house arrest for at least the two years mentioned in our text. It’s believed that he wrote the books of Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians and Philemon during this imprisonment. And Ephesians, Philippians and Colossians are immeasurably precious in the canon of books that we have in our bible.

Listen to John Stott’s estimation of those three books, written by Paul in his first incarceration in Rome:

“So then (the Holy Spirit using his custody to clarify and enforce this truth), the three main prison epistles (Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians) set forth more powerfully than anywhere else the supreme, sovereign, undisputed and unrivaled lordship of Jesus Christ. (Isn’t that what’s in Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians? Think about what you know is in those books? Isn’t that what’s in them? the supreme, sovereign, undisputed and unrivaled lordship of Jesus Christ?) The person and work of Christ (in those epistles) are given cosmic proportions, for God created all things through Christ. The fullness of the Godhead, which dwelt in Christ, had also worked through him. Christ is the agent of all God’s work of creation and redemption. In addition, having humbled himself to the cross, God has highly exalted him. All three prison letters say so. God has given (Jesus) the name or rank above all others. All things have been put under his feet. It is God’s will that in all things he might have the supremacy. Was it not through (Paul’s) very confinement that his eyes were opened to see the victory of Christ and the fullness of life, power, freedom which is given to those who belong to Christ? Paul’s

14 Stott, page 400

15 Barrett, page 724

16 Polhill, J. B. (1995). Acts (Vol. 26, pp. 547–548). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.

9 perspective was adjusted, his horizon extended, his vision clarified and his witness enriched by his prison experience.”17

Early Christian tradition indicates that Paul was released and had another period of public ministry—reaching “the limits of the West” (1 Clement 5:5-7) some take this to mean Spain— before being re-arrested and being condemned to death by decapitation.

In the fourth century AD, the historian Eusebius (Hist. Eccl.2.22.1-7) summarized the tradition and wrote that ‘after defending himself the Apostle was again sent on the ministry of preaching, and coming a second time to the same city suffered martyrdom under Nero.”18

This would imply some sort of trial in about AD 62, but then release, presumably because of lack of evidence or a failure of the prosecutors to appear.

He was probably martyred sometime between 64 and 68 AD.

His final book was 2 Timothy written during his second Roman imprisonment and it’s to 2 Timothy that we turn next week.

______

Let’s briefly review some of the theological themes we’ve seen over and over in the book of Acts.

17 Stott, page 404

18 Peterson, page 721

10 1. The gospel is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

In almost every chapter of the book of Acts, the good news of the gospel is proclaimed and people’s lives are changed. Early on in Acts we chronicled the stunning growth of the church— In Acts 2, 3000 believers were added to the church, in Acts 4, the number of believers included 5000 men. Whenever and wherever the gospel was preached, lives were changed: Acts 8, Samaritans heard the gospel and their lives were changed and the Ethiopian Eunuch heard the gospel and his life was changed. The poster child of gospel transformation was Saul who was transformed from a persecutor to a preacher. Roman centurions and their families heard the gospel and their lives were changed. Gentiles in the city of Antioch heard the gospel and their lives were changed. Paul and his companions made three mission trips and in each place the gospel was shared, lives were changed.

The gospel is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

2. It’s the Spirit of God, given to us at conversion, which empowers us to be witnesses to the end of the earth.

Just a few examples…

Our key verse in the book of Acts… Acts 1:8… 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

The Holy Spirit was given to us for a host of reasons. In fact in our first sermon on the book of Acts we said that the Holy Spirit is a game changer in the plan of God. But a primary reason is that we would be witnesses. ..

Acts 2:4 --4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues

Acts 4:8 --8 Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them,

Acts 4:31--31 And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness.

11 Acts 6:10--10 But they could not withstand the wisdom and the Spirit with which he was speaking.

3. The work of God in the book of Acts is the continuation of God’s purpose in history.

Again just a few illustrative examples…

The events of Pentecost in Acts 2 were seen to be a fulfillment of a prophetic word of Joel The persecution in Acts 4 was interpreted as the continuing story of persecution against the Lord and his anointed in Psalm 2.

In Acts 15, James, seeing the unmistakable evidence that God had been moving among the Gentiles, found the inclusion of Gentiles in prophesies from several of the prophets.19

In each of the sermons preached to Jews in the book of Acts, the preachers reach back and chronicle the history of the Jewish people and then transition to Jesus and his life, death and resurrection.

The work of God in the book of Acts is the continuation of God’s purpose in history

4. The kingdom of God has been inaugurated in the person and work of Jesus

I don’t know if you remember, but in the first three verses of the book of Acts, the kingdom of God is a topic of discussion between Jesus and his disciples.

Turn to Acts 1 and let’s see that. Look at verses 1-3… Acts 1:1-3

19 Amos 9:11-12; Is. 43:7; Jer. 14:9; Dan. 9:19

12 In the first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach, 2 until the day when he was taken up, after he had given commands through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. 3 He presented himself alive to them after his suffering by many proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God.

So what do those verses say? That In the forty days that Jesus was present between his resurrection and ascension (and only the book of Acts actually tells us about the 40 day time period) Jesus did two things… he gave his disciples convincing proofs that he had indeed been resurrected and he spoke about the kingdom of God. So that’s the first 3 verses of chapter 1. And we saw in Acts 28, earlier in the message that the book of Acts ends with the preaching about Jesus and preaching about the kingdom of God.

So the idea of the kingdom of God kind of “frames” the book of Acts.20 In fact I think that Luke tells us in the book of Acts that the kingdom of God has in fact been inaugurated; it has come in a spiritual form, “it’s now” but it’s also ‘not yet.’ And that fits our experience of life doesn’t it? We know that Jesus reigns in some way and yet we’re pretty sure that His reign only goes so far. In other words there will be a future time, when Jesus comes again, when the kingdom will be present with power. I would say that that will be the millennium. But in the mean time the kingdom of God in its spiritual form is spreading as the word of God is shared and people put their faith in King Jesus.

5. Suffering, persecution, and opposition attend but will not thwart the spread of the gospel.

More than just a few times in the book of Acts, difficulty and opposition and the spread of the Word are immediately juxtaposed.

Acts 4:3-4-3 And they arrested them and put them in custody until the next day, for it was already evening. 4 But many of those who had heard the word believed, and the number of the men came to about five thousand.

Similarly in Acts 5:18 all the apostles are arrested and put in jail. But listen to verses 19-20… 19 But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the prison doors and brought them out, and said, 20 “Go and stand in the temple and speak to the people all the words of this Life.”

One more… Acts 5:40…

40 and when they had called in the apostles, they beat them and charged them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go. 41 Then they left the presence of the council, rejoicing

20 The phrase “kingdom of God” is present in Acts 1:3; 8:12; 14:22; 19:8; 28:23, 31. The phrase ‘the kingdom’ is present in Acts 1:6 and Acts 20:25

13 that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name. 42 And every day, in the temple and from house to house, they did not cease teaching and preaching that the Christ is Jesus.

Again this happens many times in Acts.21 I think the final portrait of Paul imprisoned in house arrest but sharing the word boldly and without hindrance is a beautiful picture of this theme.

Teri Comroe at Missionary Tech created this for me…

6. The resurrection age, the last days, have arrived.

We know from 1 Corinthians 15 that Jesus’ resurrection is the first fruits of a host of resurrections to follow. But it’s also the resurrection of Jesus that signals that the blessings of the last days have come. It’s because of the resurrection of Jesus that the blessings of the last

21 See Thompson, page 56-57

14 days are here. And that’s why the resurrection of Jesus is the center stage for almost all of the sermons that the disciples preach in Acts.

Acts 23:6 Brothers…Paul said.. it is with respect to the hope and the resurrection of the dead that I am on trial

Acts 24:14–15 (I) believe everything laid down by the Law and written in the Prophets, 15 having a hope in God, which these men themselves accept, that there will be a resurrection of both the just and the unjust.

Acts 26:6–8 6 And now I stand here on trial because of my hope in the promise made by God to our fathers, 7 to which our twelve tribes hope to attain, as they earnestly worship night and day. And for this hope I am accused by Jews, O king! 8 Why is it thought incredible by any of you that God raises the dead?

And then from our passage today, Paul is in prison for the ‘hope of Israel’ –the resurrection of Jesus and the end time blessings for all those who belong to Him.

Finally 7. Jesus, reigning from heaven, is building his church.

In Matthew 16:18 Jesus promised that He would build his church and in Acts we see that begin.

If you remember we suggested early on that a proper title for the book of Acts would be the “The Acts of the Risen Lord Jesus” because Jesus is the one who ultimately builds the church. In fact we commented that the first verse of the book of Acts could even seem to contribute to that idea… In the first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach…we wondered out loud if that was maybe a hint that the book of Acts is about what Jesus continues to do…

In the middle of Acts 1, Jesus makes his bodily ascent into heaven. At the end of chapter 1, the disciples pray to Him about a successor to Judas. In Acts 2, in Peter’s sermon to the gathered crowd, Peter tells the crowd that it is the exalted Jesus sitting at the right hand of God who poured out the gift of the Holy Spirit that they just experienced. Later in Acts 2, we read that the Lord added to the number (in the church) day by day those who were being saved. In Acts 5, it’s Jesus himself, exalted in heaven, who grants repentance and forgiveness. In Acts 11-12, the Lord Jesus is highlighted as the one responsible for the growth of the church. In Acts 16, the Lord opens Lydia’s heart. We could go on and on…

15 It’s the Lord who is building the church today. And you and I can be confident that He’s hard at work everywhere around us is building his church. As one author recently said, “He’s not directing the angel chorus. He’s not attending to the planets full time, His attention is given over to the building of the church”. And the gates of hell, the gates of death shall not prevail against it.

Let’s pray….Close with… The Book of Acts in Three Minutes.