Acts 28

God wants you to succeed… He wants no one to perish but all to have access to eternal life with Him through Jesus Christ.

There will always be those who question the authenticity of your faith but, out of your transparency in your sins, may the love and mercy of God shine forth so that all glory and honor are His alone. 

Only by the power of the Holy Spirit will His voice be heard through you.

At the beginning of the Book of Acts, Jesus’ followers appear confused and fearful. But by the end of the book they are well on their way to transforming the Roman world with the gospel.

Acts 28:21-22 and 30-31

²¹ 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. ²² But we desire to hear from you what you think; for concerning this sect, we know that it is spoken against everywhere.”

³⁰ Then Paul dwelt two whole years in his own rented house, and received all who came to him, ³¹ preaching the kingdom of God and teaching the things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ with all confidence, no one forbidding him.

³⁴ Then Simeon blessed them, and said to Mary His mother, “Behold, this Child is destined for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign which will be spoken against 

Luke 2:34

⁵ 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. 

Acts 24:5

¹⁴ 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 in the Prophets. 

Acts 24:14

³¹ And when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness. 

Acts 4:31

¹⁹ and for me, that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel, 

Ephesians 6:19

Philippians 1:9-11

God gives us wisdom to discern His ways through the still, small voice of our dear Holy Spirit. LISTEN closely.

discernment |dəˈsərnmənt|

noun

1 the ability to judge well

2 (in Christian contexts) perception in the absence of judgment with a view to obtaining spiritual direction and understanding

Discernment a Greek word means moral or ethical understanding based on both the intellect and the senses. The word implies perception or insight into social situations. The purpose of increasing in love, controlled by knowledge, is to be able to evaluate people and situations correctly. 

The goal ahead for the believer is the day of Christ in which the believer will stand for evaluation before the Savior, who is the faithful and true witness.

Philippians 1:9-11

⁹ And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment, ¹⁰ that you may approve the things that are excellent, that you may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ, ¹¹ being filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.

¹⁰ For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. 

Ephesians 2:10

⁶ which has come to you, as it has also in all the world, and is bringing forth fruit, as it is also among you since the day you heard and knew the grace of God in truth; 

Colossians 1:6

⁸ By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples. 

John 15:8

Mark 2:17

There is no man righteous but One Jesus Christ.It is through His righteousness, not ours, that we are saved.

Expositor's Greek Testament

Mark 2:17. καλέσαι: to call, suggestive of invitations to a feast (Fritzsche, Meyer, Holtz.), and making for the hypothesis that Jesus, not Matthew, was the real host at the social gathering: the whole plan His, and Matthew only His agent; vide notes on Mt. He called to that particular feast as to the feast of the kingdom, the one a means to the other as the end.—δικαίους, ἁμαρτωλούς: Jesus preferred the company of the sinful to that of the righteous, and sought disciples from among them by preference. The terms are not ironical. They simply describe two classes of society in current language, and indicate with which of the two His sympathies lay.

Mark 2:17

¹⁷ When Jesus heard it, He said to them,  “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.”

These words give a general view of mankind, in their different sentiments of themselves and of Christ; and of the usefulness of Christ to one sort, and not another. There are some that cry up the power of man's freewill, and plead for the strength and purity of human, nature, and extol its excellencies and abilities; and it is no wonder that these see no need of Christ, either for themselves or others: hence preachers of this complexion leave Christ out of their ministry for the most part; and generally speaking, lessen the glory and dignity of his person, depreciate his offices, reject his righteousness, and deny his satisfaction and atonement: and such reckon themselves the favourites of heaven, and are ready to say, whom shall God delight to honour, but us, who are so pure and holy? they therefore trust in their own righteousness, and despise others, and submit not to the righteousness of Christ; they make their own works their saviours, and so neglect the great salvation by Christ.

There are others that are sick, and are quite sick of themselves; they see the impurity of their nature, how unsound and unhealthful they are; that from the crown of the head to the sole of the foot, there is no soundness in them, nothing but wounds, bruises, and putrefying sores: their loins are filled with the loathsome disease of sin; they are sensible of their inability to cure themselves, and that no mere creature can help them; and that all besides Christ, are physicians of no value: and therefore they apply to him, whose blood is a balm for every wound, and a medicine for every sickness and disease, and which cleanses from all sin: and whereas such, and such only, see their need of Christ as a physician, these only does he attend under this character; Adding this as a reason,

I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.

These words explain, what is more obscurely and figuratively expressed in the former; it appears from hence, that by "the whole" are meant, "righteous" persons; not such who are made righteous, by the righteousness of Christ imputed to them, but such who were outwardly righteous before men, who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, depended on their own righteousness, and fancied themselves, with respect to the righteousness of the law, blameless; and so, in their own apprehensions, stood in no need of Christ and his righteousness: yea, even needed not repentance, according to their own thoughts of things, and therefore were not called to it, but were left to their own stupidity and blindness; these were the Scribes and Pharisees; and by the "sick", are meant "sinners"; such who are made sensible of sin, and so of their need of Christ as a Saviour; and who have evangelical repentance given them, and are called to the exercise and profession of it: and Christ's calling sinners to repentance, and bestowing that grace, together with the remission of sins, which goes along with it, is doing his work and office as a “physician".

John Gill’s Exposition of the Bible

¹³ But go and learn what this means: I desire mercy and not sacrifice.’ For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.” 

Matthew 9:13

¹⁰ for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.” 

Luke 19:10

Micah 2:7

There is power in the Blood of the Lamb. He gives His Holy Spirit, His power within you, to guide you in ALL things. He turns anything formed against you by the principalities of darkness into your good and the good of all of His Body, the Church. 

Christ within is our promised hope!

Micah calls the peoples of earth to come to hear the Lord’s case against Israel, for the nation had broken the covenant. The language recalls the language of the covenant or contract the Lord established with His people. The Lord was judging His people according to the terms of the covenant. But in the middle of the oracles of judgment, Micah reveals the Lord’s wonderful promises of a glorious future. There would be a time when the coming King would gather His people together, when He would establish peace, and when He would bring justice to the earth. Remarkably, Micah prophesies that this coming Messiah would be born in Bethlehem. The fulfillment of this prophecy in Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem gives us confidence that the prophecies of Jesus’ glorious future will also be fulfilled. Although the judgment of Jerusalem was postponed, it was finally realized in the destruction of the city by the Babylonians in 586 b.c.

From the time he verbalized God’s rebuke at the way the Jews were treating the poor until the time a poor carpenter and his fiancée arrived in Bethlehem, devout Jews knew that King David’s birthplace was where the Messiah would also be born.

Micah wrote the following about the town of Bethlehem seven hundred years before Jesus was born: “Though you are little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of you shall come forth to Me the One to be Ruler in Israel, whose goings forth are from of old, from everlasting”. And of that Ruler, he prophesied, “He will teach us His ways, and we shall walk in His paths.… Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore”.

The words of God bring good to the righteous even as they bring judgment against the wicked.

Micah 2:7

⁷ You who are named the house of Jacob:

“Is the Spirit of the Lord restricted?

Are these His doings?

Do not My words do good

To him who walks uprightly?

¹⁰ Be in pain, and labor to bring forth, O daughter of Zion, Like a woman in birth pangs. For now you shall go forth from the city, You shall dwell in the field, And to Babylon you shall go. There you shall be delivered; There the Lord will redeem you From the hand of your enemies. 

Micah 4:10

³ 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; 

2 Timothy 4:3

⁴ and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables. 

2 Timothy 4:4

Luke

For God so loved the WORLD that He gave us His only begotten Son to save us…it is up to us individually to accept His ultimate sacrifice,His gift of love.

Luke presents God’s grace as revealed in Jesus’ ministry on earth. He emphasizes that this grace is available to Gentiles, even though the promises relating to Jesus’ ministry stretch back into Israel’s history. For this reason Luke also concentrates on Jesus’ relationship to the nation and leaders of Israel. The rejection of Israel does not mean the failure of God’s plan. On the contrary, although they did not know it, their rejection was part of God’s plan from the beginning. In fact, persecution of the Christian community would be the means by which the church would spread the Good News throughout the world. Jesus Himself had predicted that this would happen.

Luke

Colossians 4:10–14 seems to indicate that Luke was not “of the circumcision,” that is, not Jewish. If so, Luke would be the only Gentile author of a New Testament book. 

Colossians 4:10-15

¹⁰ Aristarchus my fellow prisoner greets you, with Mark the cousin of Barnabas (about whom you received instructions: if he comes to you, welcome him), ¹¹ and Jesus who is called Justus. These are my only fellow workers for the kingdom of God who are of the circumcision; they have proved to be a comfort to me.¹² Epaphras, who is one of you, a bondservant of Christ, greets you, always laboring fervently for you in prayers, that you may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God. ¹³ For I bear him witness that he has a great zeal for you, and those who are in Laodicea, and those in Hierapolis. ¹⁴ Luke the beloved physician and Demas greet you. ¹⁵ Greet the brethren who are in Laodicea, and Nymphas and the church that is in his house.

For Luke, Jesus is the promised Messiah (1:31–35), the Son of God (9:35), the Servant through whom God works (4:16–18), and the Lord who is called to sit at God’s right hand exerting His authority and giving the Spirit to those who believe (22:69 and Acts 2:30–36). Though aspects of God’s plan are fulfilled in Jesus’ First Coming, other parts of the plan remain to be fulfilled when Jesus returns (21:5–36; Acts 3:14–26).

Luke 1:31–35 

³¹ And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Jesus. ³² He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. ³³ And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end.”

Luke 9:35 

³⁵ And a voice came out of the cloud, saying, “This is My beloved Son. Hear Him!” 

Luke 4:16–18 

¹⁶ So He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read. ¹⁷ And He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written: ¹⁸ “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me To preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives And recovery of sight to the blind, To set at liberty those who are oppressed; 

Luke 22:69

 ⁶⁹ Hereafter the Son of Man will sit on the right hand of the power of God.” 

Acts 2:30–36 

³⁰ Therefore, being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that of the fruit of his body, according to the flesh, He would raise up the Christ to sit on his throne, ³¹ he, foreseeing this, spoke concerning the resurrection of the Christ, that His soul was not left in Hades, nor did His flesh see corruption. ³² This Jesus God has raised up, of which we are all witnesses. ³³ Therefore being exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He poured out this which you now see and hear. ³⁴ “For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he says himself: ‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at My right hand, ³⁵Till I make Your enemies Your footstool.” ’ ³⁶ “Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.” 

Luke 21:5–11 

⁵ Then, as some spoke of the temple, how it was adorned with beautiful stones and donations, He said, ⁶ “These things which you see—the days will come in which not one stone shall be left upon another that shall not be thrown down.” ⁷ So they asked Him, saying, “Teacher, but when will these things be? And what sign will there be when these things are about to take place?” And He said: “Take heed that you not be deceived. For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am He,’ and, ‘The time has drawn near.’ Therefore do not go after them. ⁹ But when you hear of wars and commotions, do not be terrified; for these things must come to pass first, but the end will not come immediately.” ¹⁰ Then He said to them, “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. ¹¹ And there will be great earthquakes in various places, and famines and pestilences; and there …

Acts 3:14–21 

¹⁴ But you denied the Holy One and the Just, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, ¹⁵ and killed the Prince of life, whom God raised from the dead, of which we are witnesses. ¹⁶ And His name, through faith in His name, has made this man strong, whom you see and know. Yes, the faith which comes through Him has given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all. ¹⁷ “Yet now, brethren, I know that you did it in ignorance, as did also your rulers. ¹⁸ But those things which God foretold by the mouth of all His prophets, that the Christ would suffer, He has thus fulfilled. ¹⁹ Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, ²⁰ and that He may send Jesus Christ, who was preached to you before, ²¹ whom heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things, which God has spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began.

Luke 24:46-48

It was too small a matter that the salvation of the Savior come into the world to save only the Jews. It was, from the beginning of man, always to offer God’s ultimate sacrifice to the world.

Jesus summarized the mission of the disciples as preaching repentance, calling people to turn from their own selfish ways to Christ, the One who had died for them.Forgiveness and blessing come only through the work of the risen Jesus. The message of Jesus’ salvation can go to all nations, to Jews and Gentiles alike. 

Luke

Early Christian writings, from the works of Justin Martyr to Tertullian, identify the author as Luke, an identification that was firmly in place by the third century a.d. Luke was an educated man by ancient standards. He was capable of writing in high Greek style, and Colossians 4:10–14 seems to indicate that Luke was not “of the circumcision,” that is, not Jewish. If so, Luke would be the only Gentile author of a New Testament book. Tradition says that after accompanying Paul on some of his missionary journeys, Luke settled in Philippi, investing his life in the ministry of the Philippian church.

The book ends with Jesus telling the disciples to wait for the coming of the Spirit. By now, they should have realized that everything that had taken place in Jesus’ life was promised in the Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms. Jesus is the promised Messiah. Forgiveness of sin can be obtained only through Him. The disciples were witnesses to this fact; their mission was to share this Good News with all nations, not merely the Jews. Jesus gave them this task, but He also provided them with the power to carry it out. 

Thus it is clear that Luke’s Gospel centers on God’s plan to provide salvation to the world.

Luke 24:46-48

⁴⁶ Then He said to them, “Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, ⁴⁷ and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. ⁴⁸ And you are witnesses of these things.

² After two days He will revive us; On the third day He will raise us up, That we may live in His sight. 

Hosea 6:2

²⁷ All the ends of the world Shall remember and turn to the Lord, And all the families of the nations Shall worship before You. 

Psalm 22:27

³⁴ No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.” 

Jeremiah 31:34

² Many nations shall come and say, “Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, To the house of the God of Jacob; He will teach us His ways, And we shall walk in His paths.” For out of Zion the law shall go forth, And the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. 

Micah 4:2

Matthew 22:41-44

In order to be a child of God you must believe that He exists and that He sent His only Son to die for your sins and the sins of the world. Faith is a gift, as is salvation, and it alone pleases the Father. Our faith is increased by reading the Word of God and applying its teachings to every aspect of our lives.

Matthew’s Gospel serves several purposes beyond presenting a mere biography of Jesus. One purpose is to prove to Jewish readers that Jesus is their Messiah and promised King. The genealogy in chapter 1 points to Christ as the One who inherited God’s promises to David of an eternal dynasty. Jesus’ use of a familiar messianic psalm in Matthew 22:41–44 would have clearly implied to any Jew that He was the heir of the Davidic throne.

Also unique to Matthew is the expression, “that it might be fulfilled” which was spoken by various prophets. By footnoting familiar passages the Jews accepted as God’s inspired Word, Matthew builds his case for Christ with the precision of a former tax collector. Examine for yourself how he substantiates the prophecies that pointed to Jesus’ miraculous and obscure birth, His birthplace, His exile to Egypt and return to Israel, and His rejection and suffering.

Matthew 22:41–44

⁴¹ While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, ⁴² saying, “What do you think about the Christ? Whose Son is He?”

They said to Him, “The Son of David.”

⁴³ He said to them, “How then does David in the Spirit call Him ‘Lord,’ saying:

⁴⁴ ‘The Lord said to my Lord,

“Sit at My right hand,

Till I make Your enemies Your footstool” ’?

Matthew 1:22-23 

²² So all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying: ²³ “Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which is translated, “God with us.” 

Matthew 2:6 

⁶ ‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, Are not the least among the rulers of Judah; For out of you shall come a Ruler Who will shepherd My people Israel.’ ” 

Matthew 21:5 

⁵ “Tell the daughter of Zion, ‘Behold, your King is coming to you, Lowly, and sitting on a donkey, A colt, the foal of a donkey.’ ” 

Psalm 110:1 

¹The Lord said to my Lord,“Sit at My right hand, Till I make Your enemies Your footstool.” 

Acts 12:20-24

God hates pride and arrogance especially from those who lead.

God has always loved a humble, contrite heart and He never changes. Everything, every little thing, is under His control and He will allow circumstances to come into our life to strengthen our faith or to bring us back to Him. He is faithful to forgive us and to restore our relationship with Him when we humble ourselves, repent and change. He wants our love for Him to mold us into obedient servants who learn to abide in His peace even in times of trial. 

change |CHānj|

noun

1 the act or instance of making or becoming different

• the substitution of one thing for another
• an alteration or modification
• a new or refreshingly different experience

Every lesson that He allows us to learn through discipline turns out for our eternal good.

The Book of Acts begins in Jerusalem with the disciples huddled in a room on the Day of Pentecost. Then the Holy Spirit came upon them and authorized them to be His witnesses. The rest of Acts describes the ripple effect of that great event. Jesus’ followers first witnessed to the Jews in Jerusalem, with Peter at the center of the movement. Then persecution broke out, scattering believers into Samaria and the rest of the known world. Saul of Tarsus, once a leader of the persecution, became a leader of the persecuted. In chapter 11, the focus of the Book of Acts moves from Peter’s ministry to the Jews to Saul’s ministry to the Gentiles.

The Jewish historian Josephus also provides an account of this display, informing us that in an attempted appeasement of the king the people confessed that he was “more than a mortal.” Herod, instead of rebuking the address of deity, enjoyed the adulation—until he discovered the consequence of such blasphemy.

Acts 12:20-24

²⁰ Now Herod had been very angry with the people of Tyre and Sidon; but they came to him with one accord, and having made Blastus the king’s personal aide their friend, they asked for peace, because their country was supplied with food by the king’s country.

²¹ So on a set day Herod, arrayed in royal apparel, sat on his throne and gave an oration to them. ²² And the people kept shouting, “The voice of a god and not of a man!” ²³ Then immediately an angel of the Lord struck him, because he did not give glory to God. And he was eaten by worms and died.

²⁴ But the word of God grew and multiplied.

³⁸ Then it happened, after about ten days, that the Lord struck Nabal, and he died. 

1 Samuel 25:38

¹⁷ Then David spoke to the Lord when he saw the angel who was striking the people, and said, “Surely I have sinned, and I have done wickedly; but these sheep, what have they done? Let Your hand, I pray, be against me and against my father’s house.” 

2 Samuel 24:17

¹ Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, But to Your name give glory, Because of Your mercy, Because of Your truth. 

Psalm 115:1

⁷ Then the word of God spread, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests were obedient to the faith. 

Acts 6:7

Ezekiel 13:13-14

God will break down any barriers between you and His will for your life as a member of the Body of Christ. He will remove any person, place or thing that stands in His way. We may not understand but we need to trust Him to accomplish His will for our life. Satan wants nothing more than to destroy God’s people with false promises to lull them into complacency.

He is the Lord over all and His truth alone will stand.

The Book of Ezekiel reveals that the prophet was married and had a house. Overall, he enjoyed a large measure of freedom in captivity. The Babylonians had not captured the Jews in order to make them slaves in Babylon; instead they wanted to displace the population of Israel, especially its leadership and nobility, and settle their own citizens and other foreigners in the land. As for his personality and abilities, Ezekiel appears to have been articulate, intelligent, and dramatic. He was a person that could withstand great opposition in order to obey the demands God placed on His life.

The preaching of a false peace had prompted people to build for a “certain” future; but only the opposite was certain. The false prophets had deceived the people with false hopes of comfort and prosperity. Their deception placed them not only at odds with God’s truth, but also with God Himself. Their destruction was certain.

Ezekiel 13:13-14

¹³ Therefore thus says the Lord God: “I will cause a stormy wind to break forth in My fury; and there shall be a flooding rain in My anger, and great hailstones in fury to consume it. ¹⁴ So I will break down the wall you have plastered with untempered mortar, and bring it down to the ground, so that its foundation will be uncovered; it will fall, and you shall be consumed in the midst of it. Then you shall know that I am the Lord.

¹⁰ “Because, indeed, because they have seduced My people, saying, ‘Peace!’ when there is no peace—and one builds a wall, and they plaster it with untempered mortar—

Ezekiel 13:10