Safe at Malta

Good morning, and thank you, Laban, for reading to us Acts 28, 1 through 10. We're going to take a look at some spiritual principles once we just kind of recap here. The second ship that Paul and Dr. Luke and Aristarchus were on held these 276 people, plus the grain, and it was headed for Rome.

That ship met ill fate, as we saw in the last passage in the Book of Acts, and shipwrecked. However, with all 276 aboard surviving the shipwreck alive, which is really rather remarkable, And so as they shipwrecked, they hit near the shore, as was typical for a shipwreck case. They would hit near the shore, hit rocks, hit things that would break up the ship. But all 276 aboard survived that shipwreck.

You have on your handout on the top, page one, we've taken a portion of the overall map of Paul's journey from Jerusalem to Caesarea all the way to Rome. And so that's what's included. It includes specifically the trip from Crete, where they had left under what appeared to be good weather and then through a couple weeks, possibly more, of storm until they were shipwrecked as what was discovered on the shores of Malta.

We had presented previously the biblical principles of spiritual opportunity. We won't go over those, but just point them out to you because they still apply. And we have also pointed out there's always spiritual opportunity, but it doesn't look the same. And that we'll continue to take a look at here shortly. Some of the other spiritual truths we brought out, sometimes the most critical actions are to bring encouragement and to help people avoid doing selfish and short-sighted things.

Here's the Apostle Paul, and everybody was very discouraged. As a matter of fact, the way that Dr. Luke described it is they had gradually abandoned all hope. of surviving this wreck, but to encourage people and to help them avoid doing selfish and short-sighted things such as the sailors abandoning ship. Even though the centurion and others learned that Paul could be trusted, Paul always respected the earthly authority that was given to them by God. I think that's one of the things, especially having completed an election week midterm election week here, important for us to take a look at. As we look at the political environment that we've just seen somewhat of a change in, as we look at that, remember that the earthly authorities are to be respected, even if they don't deserve respect in the way they behave, perhaps. But nonetheless, the Apostle Paul always respected the earthly authority that was given to him by God. Then, additionally, as we look at our political situation, we must always remember, this earth will not be a great place to live until Jesus comes back. It won't. Give up on the idea that some candidate or proposition is going to change that. Not going to happen.

Only when Jesus comes back. Then, even though God had granted that all 276 people aboard would be preserved through this shipwreck, there were still critical decisions to be communicated and actions to be taken. The Apostle Paul still encouraged people. The Apostle Paul still pointed out to the centurion, if those sailors get off the ship, that's not going to turn out good. He also stopped the soldiers from killing all the prisoners.

That would not have been good as well. So there were still things to do just because the assurance of 267 on board being able to reach land didn't mean it was time to go brain dead. The other thing is God's assurances did not mean that people could be presumptuous or careless.

Part of the same principle. Selfish and short-sighted... short-sighted decisions could still bring a disastrous outcome. Here is, for example, a real Roman shipwreck. There are a number of them. Matter of fact, we could take up the rest of our time looking at pictures of Roman shipwrecks. It was highly possible that this thing could turn into a disaster.

It was by God's doing and intervention through Paul that it did not. even the most desperate of circumstances and most difficult of outcomes, even with that, it is still time to recognize God's mercy and God's grace and be thankful. And then, God is always preparing good works so we might walk in them, and working all things to the end that we may conform to the image of His Son, Jesus Christ.

Romans 8.28 and 29 says, what's predestined? God predestined so that everything turns out good?

Well, not quite. Turns out to the good that, for those who love Him and are called according to His purpose, we will be conformed to the image of His Son. That's what's predestined. Very important distinction. Absolutely nothing is going to happen, and we who believe cannot even blow it. Isn't that great? I really like that. That's assuring.

We who believe cannot even blow it so as to thwart what God has set in place and predestined to be the outcome. When the Bible says we've been predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, can I mess it up? I might mess things up here on planet Earth, but I won't mess up God's predestination that I be conformed to the image of His Son. So, we have a question here.

You remember back in Matthew 8, 18-37, and Mark, by the way, records something similar. Jesus calmed the Sea of Galilee. Remember that account? Jesus calmed the storm. The disciples, these were mostly fishermen, very experienced on the Sea of Galilee. What was their emotional mindset? They were terrified of this storm that came up. They thought, we're gonna die, right?

So what did Jesus do? That very day, He calmed the storm. Now, wouldn't it have been a great thing for Paul to have done that? Don't you think? For Paul to have said, alright, you guys, I realize this storm is really nasty, but it's done right now. Wouldn't that have been great? So, did Paul not do it because he lacked faith? Did Paul not do it because he really couldn't pull it off? Why didn't Paul do that? Matter of fact, this would have been a time to say, oh, what would Jesus do? Right? Well, that would be real easy. That's what he did on the Sea of Galilee. So I can just do that here, right?

As a matter of fact, asking what would Jesus do might not even be the right question at all. In this case, We find, and we'll be taking a look at this, we find that it was exactly what God had in mind for Paul not to calm the storm, but for God to work in other ways through the storm. See that? God did not calm the storm because God intended to work through Paul in multiple other ways to take them through the storm and to have his purposes carried out because of that. This, by the way, was at least Paul's fourth shipwreck. This is getting almost boring, right? Well, maybe not so, anyway. Sometimes our Lord's purposes are served by calming the sea, but sometimes our Lord's purposes are served by letting the sea rage on. Very important for us to remember.

Here's Acts 28.1, and when they had been brought safely through, then he found out that the island was called Malta. And we'll take a look in a slightly larger scale at what the layout of these islands is here. But one of the things we see is all 276 people on board made it, just like Paul had said.

Can you imagine? What are the odds that that would be true in a shipwreck? Wouldn't you think, you know, we only lost 1%, a few people. Wouldn't you think that would be doing pretty good? No. All 276 aboard made it. That's amazing. That's astounding. Especially when it hadn't been too much earlier when pretty much everybody had given up hope. To have all of them, every single one, come through this was rather astounding.

It also, we can see here in this passage, it also took place on a part of the island that was not where the sailors had been before. when they got shipwrecked where they did, they didn't know where they were until they get on land and everybody survives and they start asking where are we, right? The sailors had not seen it before and it's because, as we'll see here, the ancient harbors were all found on the eastern end of the island. That's not where they landed.

So what you see is there's the main island of Malta, there's a much smaller island of Camino, and then there's Gozo, which is off in the northwest. Malta, which is the island where they landed, is about 17 miles in one direction and about 9 miles in the other. It's not that big. To give you an idea, The city of Denver and the city of Aurora are bigger by over 30 square miles than Malta. This is not a big island. It's big enough, isn't it? But it's not big.

It's not a huge place. and they landed in what has traditionally been, and I would say is very likely the case, St. Paul's Bay. The bay was named after him. Other than a very strong tradition, there is no archaeological evidence so far that that's where he landed, but the tradition is very strong and very long held. This is with high likelihood the place where they landed and it certainly wasn't at the eastern end where all the harbors were and the sailors would have known where they were located.

So here is the island of Malta. It's there today. It is today its own nation, although it's certainly, you've got to say it's small, when the nation, the large island is smaller than Denver or Aurora, right, to give you an idea. Here's the traditional St. Paul's Bay, and most of the time the weather's nice. This particular time it certainly was not. And people go on vacation there. It's so pleasant.

Acts 28.2, the native showed us extraordinary kindness. For because of the rain that had set in and because of the cold, they kindled a fire and received us all. So you imagine this was probably even more of a bonfire. You notice it wasn't multiple fires, but a big fire. And so you had all these people gathering around.

And one of the things you notice, the people who got in there, they were certainly one thing, wet. And also, it wasn't just wet because they'd just gotten out of the ocean, but what was the weather? It was raining still when they got there, and it was cold.

Typically, Malta has very mild weather, and even in October, it is very pleasant. it wasn't this time. And when the storms come in, it can get around 50, and when it's 50 degrees and rainy and wet, yeah, you'd probably welcome having a large fire together around. So, the ship had been at Fairhavens early in October, and then shipwrecked in the island of Malta here in the last part of October.

After a couple weeks or more of going through storms, the 267 shipwreck survivors were exhausted, hungry. They came through the shipwreck with basically nearly nothing. If they had grabbed hold of anything, it was most likely a beam or a plank, something like that. Other than the wet clothes on their back, they really came through with probably nothing, nothing much at all. Having survived the shipwreck, it is a very good thing that the natives were extraordinarily kind. That's exactly what they needed to pull through and to pull out of this rather shocking experience.

Here's Acts 28.3, when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks and laid them in the fire, a viper came out because of the heat and fastened itself on his hand.

And after a careful thought, I decided not to show pictures of vipers. Even one viper. There are folks for whom that's rather traumatic or unpleasant thought at least. So I decided not to do that and I'll show the fire instead. But it's interesting, today there are no vipers on Malta.

So it was a poisonous snake that was there at the time, but they've been eradicated. Imagine with an island that size, and it's an island nation, actually eradicating something like that's doable. And they apparently have done it. It fastened itself on his hand. Ordinarily, the vipers would not do that, so by reason of the cold, possibly, and the snake being cold-blooded, so by reason of the cold and or possibly from the fire, the snake behaved, you know, contrary to the usual and actually latched onto and stuck to his hand.

So here's Paul who's gathering firewood. Now, you might say, hey, Paul, just take a break here. You've had quite a time. And we sure appreciate your helping everybody get through this. But that's not what Paul's mindset was. He didn't look upon himself as a victim here. Instead, he looked upon, hey, I want to help with this process. And he pitched in and was gathering firewood. Now, so was he doing the wrong thing by gathering firewood and being punished for it? No, he was actually doing the right thing. The bite of the viper, is that a bad thing? Well, sort of, except that it's going to be God's prepared spiritual opportunity for Paul. And what's it going to do? It's going to prove that Paul is an apostle.

Here's Acts 28.4, When the natives saw the creature hanging from his hand, they began saying to one another, Undoubtedly, this man is a murderer, and though he has been saved from the sea, justice has not allowed him to live. Now, so what do they mean by that? The native religion of Malta at the time was the local form of the Greek pagan pantheon.

Now, I want to pronounce it correctly here. It's dike, it's not dyke. It's not decay. But Dike, that was the daughter of Zeus, the goddess of justice, was thought to bring her justice to mankind, especially in those instances where the human justice system has not been effective.

So they're looking and they're saying, okay, he got bit by this viper. Most certainly he's done something really awful, probably a murderer. And so he's likely to die from this, at very least be greatly stressed. So, seeing the viper on Paul's hand, they assumed that Dike was bringing justice to Paul, assumed to be a murderer at this point. They didn't know that rather, Paul was Christ's apostle, Christ's special messenger. And a very different outcome was going to come about.

So Acts 28.5, However, he shook the creature off into the fire and suffered No harm.

Just that's it. And no problem at all. Not even a swelling. Not even a slowing down or temporary or slight disability. Just that's it. Not a problem. Usually a bite from this viper would mean certain death at very least, no matter where the bite took place. People got bitten in the finger, in the hand, in the toe, any extremity. It didn't matter. You're at very least going to die. They would be surprised if you at least didn't have a great amount of swelling come about from this. So it was a real surprise that Paul was unharmed.

And in verses 17 and 18, it reads this way. These signs, Jesus said, will accompany those who have believed in my name. They will cast out demons, they will speak with new tongues, they will pick up serpents, and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them. They will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover. Now notice here, now some people look at it and say, those who believe in that, they'll apply it to all believers. But one of the things you notice, this describes things as they happen during the era and particularly among the apostles. And especially this one, they will pick up serpents and be unharmed.

This is the only instance we have of that. When I was over in Uganda, they had various people and a class that I was teaching, and there was somebody who said, well, wait a minute, doesn't this thing say that the believers will speak in tongues? I said, if you want to apply that to believers speaking in tongues, make sure that you give equal time to handling poisonous serpents and drinking poison as well. Make sure that you do that.

And that, of course, got their attention. Anyway, so this picking up serpents is an apostolic era. It's an apostles era phenomenon, not something that ought to be done or carried out or even expected to be carried out during our time. If you go pick up a rattlesnake, I very much expect that what's going to happen will not be good. And don't expect a miracle. That's not a good idea.

Acts 28.6, and they were expecting that he was about to swell up or suddenly fall down dead.

But after they had waited a long time and seen a little bit happen, no, seen nothing unusual happen to him, they changed their minds and began to say that he was a god. Oh, so we've got this pagan conclusion. Oh, D.K. is going to do him in as justice. No, since he didn't have anything Unusual happened to him. No, instead, oh, he's a god, right?

So they're still interpreting everything according to their pagan viewpoint. They still have a pagan viewpoint at this point in time. They have some things to learn because there's no evidence that until this time that the gospel had gotten to Malta yet. So the natives of Malta, since they expected Paul to have a toxic, likely fatal reaction to the viper bite, were surprised that Paul did not have any reaction to the viper bite. As I read this, I was thinking about native religion, and a lot of people in our era will say, leave the people alone, you don't need to bring in their Christianity, and you don't need to send in missionaries, just let people have their own religion and don't mess with them.

Well, there was a particular story my grandmother used to tell. Just a reminder, she was a missionary to the cannibals of Fiji. Well, at Fiji, at Suva, they had, even in the capital city of Suva, this is World War I era, they had in the marketplace, you could buy cow meat and chicken meat and pork meat and people meat, right there in the capital city. And my grandmother tells this story that I'm sure one of the believers that she was associated with told.

There were two men walking down the sidewalk in Suva, the capital city, and these were white men who had been brought in and lived there in Suva. And the two men were walking down the sidewalk and they were saying, you know, these missionaries should not have come in and mess with these people's religion and brought in, you know, this different spiritual teaching.

They should have just left the people alone. Well, what those two men didn't know was that there was a very tall, barefooted Fijian man right behind them, listening. And after those men said that, the very tall, quiet, walking, barefooted Fijian man reached out, grabbed their shoulders, and stopped both of them. Both of the men, I understand, had a look of fear. And the Fijian man pulled himself up and looked right between them, very close, face to face, and said, if those missionaries hadn't come, I'd eat you.

So, I thought of that when I saw this here, because I thought, the native religion, no, it's not good. This is spiritual truth messed up. And they need to get it straight, and that is exactly what Paul was going to do. They needed to have a better understanding than the native religion. The missionaries should not leave these people alone. They changed their minds. What's that? They repented. But they didn't repent so as to believe the gospel, but they repented. They changed their minds from thinking that D.K. was going to kill Paul with a viper to thinking that Paul was one of the hundreds of pagan gods. And by the way, you didn't have to necessarily know the name of the pagan god to conclude that, right?

Acts 28.7, And now in the neighborhood of that place were lands belonging to the leading man the Protoss, as we'll point out, of the island, named Publius, who welcomed us and entertained us courteously three days.

One of the reasons I put that in there is because throughout the Roman Empire there was a wide variety, no uniformity whatsoever, not even a common practice of titling who was a governor, right? In the United States, the one who is head of each of the states is a governor, right? In the Roman Empire, they would have people who would be head of different islands and districts and things like that, but there was no uniformity as to the terms. And so every, in one place, you know, for example, in Israel, they had to have people called kings. In another place, it would be a prefect. In another place, they'd have another title. Guess what the title of the governor of Malta was called? Exactly. To the letter, he was called exactly what Dr. Luke called him. Dr. Luke nailed this.

Reason why would I tell you that is this is not just a Bible story. Yes, it does have action and it does have some how's this going to turn out and some danger and all those good things, but it's not just a story. This is actual history. It really happened. Just like if you had been there that day when Christ was crucified, you could have gone up and gotten a splinter from the cross. It was a real cross. And if you had tried to get Jesus off the cross, the Roman soldiers would have killed you, because they'd be killed otherwise. It was a real event in real time. And this was true.

Dr. Luke nails The titles, including this one, he uses exactly the same word that had been found in inscriptions on Malta, including one from this precise century. That's what they called the governor of Malta, the Protoss. To the word, to the letter, Dr. Luke nails it.

Acts 28.8, and it happened that the father of Publius was lying in bed afflicted with recurrent fever and dysentery, and Paul went in to see him, and after he had prayed, he laid his hands on him and healed him. So here's the father of Publius, the protos, who has a disease, not certainly, but possibly to probably, This is a form of brucellosis called Malta fever and also nicknamed Gibraltar fever, Mediterranean fever. But it's from the milk of a goat in that region.

And then Acts 28.9, after this had happened the rest of the people on the island who had diseases were coming to him and getting cured. So this healing which started off with the father of Publius, validated Paul's apostleship, even for those people who didn't understand that yet. Paul was shown to be an apostle of Jesus Christ, a special messenger. The healing was a mark of authenticity, validating what would be his message.

Now, what Dr. Luke does not record for us here, but I think is almost certainly the case, is that Paul also, alongside this, preached the gospel. Can you imagine Paul not doing that? And the historical evidence is that the people on this island, on Malta, were greatly spiritually impacted and affected. Church historians of ancient times have recorded that Publius became a believer, and many others did as well.

And it would have been because the apostle Paul had shared the gospel. And so these healings were a mark of authenticity that would get their attention and would say, yes, this Paul is in fact an apostle, a special messenger of Jesus Christ. So just as Paul had survived the viper bite, Paul's healing of diseases starting with the father of Publius, was a continuing validation of his apostleship as Christ's special messenger.

By the way, that's what the word apostle means, a special messenger. The word for messenger, just plain messenger, is angelos. This is a special messenger. What does that mean? He has a specific delegation and assignment and authority. And included in that was healing.

Acts 28.10, they also honored us with many marks of respect, and when we were setting sail, they supplied us with all we needed. In the biblical world, the word honor is often used as a figure of speech, a euphemism if you will, for monetary and material support and donations and things of that sort. We find examples in Romans and 1 Timothy. So it was often used for that, and if you think about it, it's a good thing, because how much did the people who were shipwrecked have?

Pretty much nothing. Most of them got away with wet clothes on their back, full of sea salt, and a plank or a piece of beam. That's it. Most of them, that's all they came away with. So the next time They set travel to go up and eventually reach Rome. They needed something to make the trip, right? Something to survive by.

The great treatment and the favorable response from the people of Malta was likely because of, and we list four things. One, Paul was unharmed by the viper, and they saw that and noticed that, and I'm sure that got around. God empowered Paul to heal Publius' father, and certainly that got around. Many others of Malta were healed. You imagine these guys, you're on Malta.

Anybody with any injury or disease or condition that medical science could not resolve, and in those days that meant a lot of things. Any with those conditions who would hear about this, and if you've ever been in a small situation, you know, circumstance, small town, anything like that, word gets around fast. Really fast. Word travels, it seems, faster than electricity, right? Just really fast. So many others heard about this quickly. This guy, Paul, he did this and he can, you know, word travels fast, and I'm sure it did.

Many others were healed. And finally, Paul's gospel message. Dr. Luke does not describe the gospel message here. However, the impact, certainly it's to be assumed that Paul would not pass up an opportunity to share the gospel. Further, the solid historical record that we have was that Paul did in fact share the gospel, and that Publius on down to many others became believers as a result of their visit. And this was the first time, so far as we have any record, that the gospel was brought to Malta. There had been no Christian believers prior to that point. So this account was brief.

However, Paul's life had been spared from a few life-threatening situations since he had left Caesarea. And, of course, in this last bout, you know, one was just, is this ship going to shipwreck? Are the soldiers going to kill all the prisoners, right? And are the sailors going to bail here? And then, finally, the last one that the people on, at least some on Malta saw, and that was Paul was bitten by a viper that they knew, you get bit by this thing, you're a goner.

And nothing happened. And that was further testimony. He had survived a number of these circumstances. God provided some means of preserving Paul's life in each circumstance. Dr. Luke didn't present a recording of Paul presenting the gospel, but it is hard to imagine that Paul wouldn't. That's part one. And part two, the historical record is that he did present the gospel to evangelize the people of Malta when he was there. So one of the things we would share, again, in a different context, there's always spiritual opportunity. It doesn't always look the same.

In Caesarea, did God provide spiritual opportunity for Paul? Yes. It was, you're in prison, Paul, and now I want you to go speak in front of hundreds of people and present the Gospel in front of all those people in a very calm, safe circumstance. Okay, Paul, that's great.

Now, I want you to go on to this other circumstance where you've got 267 people on board, and they all think they're going to die, and I want you to get them through the other side of this whole thing. and to have them realize that you received revelation that everyone would be preserved. And also, even in the most desperate of circumstances and the most difficult of outcomes, that's still a time to recognize God's mercy and God's grace and be thankful. And by the way, if you're still alive, you've got something to be thankful for.

Right? Let's pray. Lord, in the midst of this, we see spiritual truths being lived out, being acted out, being carried out. We thank you for the authenticity of this record. The fact that it is an historical record, it actually occurred. It's not just a Bible story, but we see again and again how your preparation of opportunity You're preparing good works that we might walk in them is certainly what you do. It just doesn't look always the same. Give us eyes that see and recognize the opportunity that you have put before us. We thank you, Heavenly Father, for blessing us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.