Finishing Well

Rodney Gehman – May 11, 2025 – Acts 28:17-31

[ 001 ] MOTHERS DAY

INTRO

Here’s my question for you today: [ 002 ]If you knew that Jesus was going to return in 5 years, how would you live your life between now and then? My wife and I were in Ohio last weekend for two graduations, and on the way there we were listening to a podcast where the host said he has good reason to believe that the Lord could return in the next 5-10 years. He agreed Jesus said no one knows the day or the hour, but didn’t say anything about the year. And I won’t go into his reasoning today – We may head into some of that later this Fall as we look into a series on the Lord’s return. But this host has good reason to believe the Lord is going to return in the next 5-10 years. But the question is, if he is right, how would you live these next couple of years?

Would you try to get to Europe one more time or for the first time? Would you try to get to Alaska or Hawaii? I know there’s the whole, “live like you were dying” thing. We know what Country music artist Tim McGraw would do – he went skydiving, climbed the Rocky Mountains, and did some bull riding. Would you pull all your money out of savings and try to get it used up or given away before then? Would you turn into a street evangelist, grab a megaphone and stand on the sidewalk begging people to follow Jesus? Would you call that person you’ve been praying for? Or would you kind of just go on with your life the way you are now?

We’ve been traveling with the apostle Paul for the last several months, and he doesn’t know it, but he has about 5 years to live. We’ll finish up the series next Sunday, and see how that all pans out, but I believe if you walked up to Paul here in chapter 28 and asked him what he would do differently if he knew that he only has 5 years left to live, I don’t think he would do anything differently. This man lives every day as if it’s his last. He’s always on mission. Never off duty.

And I don’t know about you, but I need to see this and be reminded of it often that procrastination is not a spiritual gift. I’ll say it again for the people who got here late this morning. Procrastination is not a spiritual gift, even if, like me, you are an expert at it. One of these days I’ll tell you more about how I got so good at procrastinating. I’ll worry about that later. Good intentions don’t save anyone. “Tomorrow” never comes, right? It’s always “today.” So if you knew exactly how many tomorrows you have, how would you live your life?

[ 003 ]As we finish out Acts 28 today, we’ll see how Paul approached these last years of his life and hopefully we can get some leverage on how we would answer that question for ourselves.

So, let’s pray and then we’ll dive in.

SETUP

Alright, if you have a copy of scripture, we’re in Acts 28, would love for you to turn there with me. [ 004 ] If you’re just joining us, what you need to know for our text today is that almost 3 years ago, the Apostle Paul was accused of being opposed to Jewish traditions and laws (even though he was a very devout Jew himself), and of defiling the temple by bringing a non-Jew into the inner courts where only Jewish men could go. The Jewish leaders believe the Law demands the death penalty for this. Paul should die.

Now, they didn’t have authority to carry out the death penalty, so they had to turn to the Romans for help, just like they did with Jesus 30 years earlier. Since the Romans weren’t in a hurry to kill Paul, due to all the red tape of him being a Roman citizen, the Jews tried to speed things up and kill him themselves. Twice they try to set an ambush for Paul, and twice the plot is uncovered and it doesn’t work.

So Paul realized obviously he’s not going to get much of a fair trial with the religious leaders – so he appealed to Caesar himself, took the case all the way to the Supreme Court, as it were, and that is how he ended up in Rome – a city he has been desperately trying to get to for much of the book of Acts. In last Sunday’s message, he made it to Rome, and Acts 28:16 says that he was allowed to live in a house, as opposed to a prison cell, even though he was probably chained or handcuffed to Roman soldiers who worked in shifts day and night.

But now that Paul is in Rome, what will he do? He’s been looking forward to this moment for a long time. What’s he going to do? Well, he’s going to do the same thing he always does. If you’ve been with us for the majority of the book of Acts, what was Paul’s first move any time he showed up in a new city? What’s the first thing he did every time? Visited the local synagogue. Started with the Jews, right?

Well, that’s what he’s going to do in Rome too, except this time, he is chained to a soldier under house arrest. So instead of going to the Jews, he calls them to come to him (Robertson)! [ 005 ]Acts 28:17 “After three days he called together the leaders of the Jews. Three days. He doesn’t mess around. He doesn’t procrastinate or waste time. He’s like, well, I have always wanted to preach the gospel in Rome, so best get after it. [ 005-2 ]When they had gathered he said to them, “Brothers, although I have done nothing against our people or the customs of our ancestors, [ 005-3 ]I was delivered as a prisoner from Jerusalem into the hands of the Romans.”

“I’ve done nothing against our people or the customs of our ancestors (Bock, 752), but I’m being treated as though I had. They thought I was worthy of the death penalty, so they handed me over to the Romans, who, verse 18, looked into my case and said there’s nothing here. They wanted to release me.

But, [ 006 ]verse 19, The Jews were still trying to take me out, so I was forced to appeal to Caesar if I didn’t want to be ambushed in my sleep, even though I had no charge to bring against my people.

In other words, I’ve appealed my case to Caesar, but not because I want to press charges against the Jews that got me here. I’m not pressing charges for what they did to me – trying to kill me twice, being punched in the face during one of the meetings, false accusations. I’m not here to get revenge.

You know what that’s called, right? You know what that’s called when you have every right to bring a charge or accusation against someone, but you refuse to? It’s called mercy. Grace. Compassion. Forgiveness.

The gospel says God the Father created people to worship him, and we’ve rebelled. But instead of holding the charges against us, his people, he took our charges and held them against Jesus, his Son. He didn’t just let them go, like Paul did, he took them on himself, so that he could extend grace and mercy and forgiveness to us. On one hand, Paul is modeling that right here.

But on the other hand, it’s Paul also being a wise and careful evangelist. If he throws the Jerusalem Jews under the bus, that could make these Roman Jews very nervous, and they might run far away from him and the message of Jesus. Instead he wants them to be open to hearing him out. That’s what he’s saying in [ 007 ]verse 20 – I’m not here to complain about the Jews in Jerusalem. That’s not why I called for you. I called for you because 20… it is for the hope of Israel that I’m wearing this chain.”

That phrase, “the hope of Israel” is used 3 other times in Acts, and it always refers to the resurrection of the dead. Most Jews believed in the resurrection at the end of the age. When Jesus was at the tomb of Lazarus, he said to Lazarus’ sisters – “Your brother will rise again” and they said, yeah, yeah, we know. In the last days he will rise again, but that doesn’t give us much comfort right now.

But the hope of Israel that Paul is referring to is not the general resurrection at the end of the age. Paul is referring to the belief that Jesus had been resurrected from the dead NOW, and that his resurrection gives us hope TODAY. To Paul, Jesus’ resurrection was everything. If it wasn’t true, he could have avoided a lot of this hardship. Two ambush attempts on his life. Two years in prison in Caesarea. Several weeks at sea, plus surviving a shipwreck, snakebite, now under house arrest handcuffed to a soldier. But Paul is saying, look I’m not enduring all of that just because I think someday everyone will rise from the dead. I’m enduring this because the resurrected Jesus IS the hope of Israel! He IS the Messiah we’ve been waiting for. He fulfills all the promises God had made to our nation! (cf Gangel, 5:466). Not he was the hope of Israel, HE IS!

The Jews said in [ 008 ]verse 21, well, the Jerusalem guys never wrote a letter or sent a messenger to us to say “hey, when this guy arrives, don’t listen to him or take him out.” [ 008-2 ] 22 But we want to hear what your views are, since we know that people everywhere are speaking against this sect.” So in [ 008-3 ]verse 23, they set up the appointment, and showed up at Paul’s house where from dawn to dusk he expounded and testified about the kingdom of God. [ 008-4 ] He tried to persuade them about Jesus from both the Law of Moses and the Prophets. All day he spoke to them about the kingdom of God, trying to persuade them, and when I see those two words there, expounded and testified, it makes me want to look into them a little closer to find out why Luke used those two words when he wrote this.

[ 009 ]Expounded – this means explaining with clarity. This would be Paul pointing out specific scriptures from both the Law of Moses (that’s the first 5 books of the Bible) and the Prophets (Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel, Ezekiel, Amos, and so on), and how Jesus fulfilled them. Paul expounds on the word of God, teaching, proving, explaining – it’s what I’m doing right now.

[ 009-2 ]Testified – this means giving firsthand evidence, or personal experience. This would be him telling his own story, telling of how he’s seen Jesus working through the Holy Spirit, telling stories of people being healed, set free from demons, and people coming to faith. He saw Jesus himself on the road to Damascus! He’s had visions of the Lord, heard his voice – all of this after Jesus had been crucified – so Paul is giving witness to the reality of Christ’s resurrection by sharing his story.

Some of you may be aware that Jodi and I own a few buildings here on main street in Riverside – one of which currently serves as the home for Imagine Therapies across the street from La Chiva. And I remember very well 2 years ago this Spring, having 3 or 4 tiers of scaffolding set up so I could paint the building. And when it came to the front of the building, man, I was on the top rung of the scaffold, reaching as far as I could reach with the paint roller, and feeling that whole scaffolding just shaking back and forth. I was hugging the building, hanging on for dear life, trying to keep my balance all the way at the top.

That’s what the life of the church looks like if our Community Groups and Discipleship Groups and gatherings all revolve around only our experiences, how we feel, what we sense, or say things like “I don’t know what the Bible says about this, but this is my experience.” When we don’t take the time to expound or study the scriptures, and only talk about our dreams, or what we think we heard God say to us, or say things like, “Well, this is what that scripture means to me”, we end up on the top level of some very shaky scaffolding where we decide if church or Community Group was good or not based on how it made us feel.

And on the other hand, if our CG and DG and gatherings all revolved around only expounding – just one Bible study after another, one doctrine after another, one confessional statement after another, and there’s no emotional involvement or feelings at all, we all end up being like ChatGPT which can quote any verse of the Bible in a nanosecond, but doesn’t know God. If all we do is study and expound, we can end up like the Pharisees of Jesus’ day who know a lot about God, but never knew him personally. .

So in the life of River City, it’s important that we have both biblical doctrine and knowledge AND we know firsthand the experience of God's presence. It’s important that we study the truth, AND hear about how people are experiencing and living out those truths in their own stories, which we will hear more of in two weeks.

But I think, man, I want to know the Bible like the back of my hand, and expound it, explain it, teach it – but only because it points me to the Triune God of grace who knows me by name. It points me to the Father who loves me and knows how many hairs are on my head and knows exactly how many days he’s planned out for my life. The Father who gave his Son for me. The God who has rescued me from the powers of evil, and transferred me into his kingdom and has personally taken up residence in those who believe. I want to know the Bible like the back of my hand, but only because it points me to the PERSON who has saved me. God’s word doesn’t save you. The Person of Jesus who lived, died, and rose again is the hope of Israel, and he’s the hope of the whole world.

[ 010 ]24 Some were persuaded by what he said, but others did not believe. The actual grammar of this sentence in the original language is that some “began to believe” while others “continued in unbelief.” Some changed their minds about Jesus, others stayed where they were.

And I think, oh my goodness – if the apostle Paul, the guy who wrote 2/3 of the NT, with all of his doctrinal precision and his incredible conversion story, if that guy didn’t bat 1.000%, maybe I should take the pressure off myself to get it right every time. Maybe I shouldn’t worry so much about nailing the presentation, but just open my mouth. Jesus said the road to hell is wide with a lot of people on it. He also said it’s a narrow road that leads to life and few find it. So we’re probably going to get unbelief more than we get belief. Paul has incredible doctrine, an incredible testimony, and most people still went, meh. Whatever. I’ll take my chances.

And for those Jews here in Rome, after they started arguing with each other about whether or not what Paul said was correct, in [ 011 ]verse 25 Paul reached back into the Old Testament book of Isaiah, and said…“The Holy Spirit was right… 26 when he said… You will always be listening, but never understanding; and you will always be looking, but never perceiving.

The Jewish people in Paul’s day knew the stories of their history so well – Abraham almost sacrificing his son Isaac; The Passover meal; the Red Sea, manna in the wilderness, the Promised Land; Joseph’s transition from the pit to the palace; David the shepherd King; Jonah in the fish for 3 days – they listened to those stories over and over, but now, when Paul shows up and expounds to them – Jesus is the son who was sacrificed, but he’s now alive! Jesus is the sacrificial lamb whose blood saves us from death AND he’s the living water, the bread of life that came down from heaven; Jesus is the one who was treated like a criminal by his own brothers, and then was given the throne of heaven and the name above every name like Joseph; Jesus is the true Shepherd King; Jesus was buried for 3 days like Jonah, and resurrected, and then Paul could say look at me – I used to approve of murdering Christians, and now here I am trying to persuade you to be one – and yet you don’t get it! You refuse to listen to me, and the Holy Spirit told Isaiah this would happen, and he told him why:

[ 012 ]Verse 27, the hearts of these people have grown callous… The original word means their hearts have grown fat or thick. It’s the picture of a heart that is bloated and unresponsive. No blood moves through it (Bock, 755). …their ears are hard of hearing, and they have shut their eyes;

Notice those are progressive statements. Have grown callous. It didn’t start out that way. They have shut their eyes. Their eyes didn’t start out that way. It was a gradual process. It’s not that the proof wasn’t available to them. It’s not that the argument wasn’t convincing. It’s not that it didn’t make sense. It’s that they didn’t want to see it. They didn’t want to hear it. They didn’t want to understand and be changed. “If anybody should have possessed spiritual understanding, it was these Jewish leaders, but their hearts were dull and hard (Wiersbe, 1:511).

So maybe that pricks you, and you’re sitting here going, wait, have I let my heart become callous? Are my ears hard of hearing? Have I been closing my eyes? How do I know if I have? Well first of all, if your heart was hard, you wouldn’t be asking the question. You wouldn’t care. So there’s that. But if you’re on the way to a calloused heart, you’re sitting here right now going, you know who needs to hear this? It’s her. I need to send the recording of this sermon to this guy, he needs to hear this, not me. If I’m sitting here today going, I don’t have one single thing in my heart or in my life that I can think of that needs to be confronted by the loving presence and conviction of the Holy Spirit, I am in dangerous territory. Jesus said it’s pretty much like scattering apple seeds on the sidewalk and expecting it to grow and produce apples.

Instead of producing fruit, Jesus said, the seeds get snatched up by the devil. In other words, when a person hardens their heart enough times, it becomes a place for the devil to start getting involved.

But the evidence of a soft heart is right there in the rest of the [ 012-2 ]verse…otherwise (If their hearts were soft and weren’t so callous) they might see with their eyes and hear with their ears, understand with their heart and turn (repent), and I would heal them.

Heal them from what? From their diseases? Heal them from their emotional wounds? Heal them from their broken past? Heal them from what? Here’s where you have to let the context interpret for you. Because what you’re healed from is right there in the next verse. [ 013 ]28 Therefore, (Because many of the Jewish leaders here in Rome had hardened hearts toward the gospel, refusing to turn and receive healing) let it be known to you that this salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles; they will listen.”

A person with a broken arm doesn’t need to just believe the right things about medical care. They need to be healed. A child with leukemia doesn’t need to learn more about how the doctor got her degree, they need to be healed. The greatest disease a human can have is not cancer, it’s not Parkinson’s, or heart disease: the greatest sickness a human being can have is the disease of sin. It infects every part of us, the diagnosis is eternal separation from God, and we need to be healed of it.

So the greatest miracle of healing a person can ever experience is the healing of salvation, and the gift of turning – the gift of repentance. Sometimes we’re afraid of repentance, like it’s a bad thing. Like it’s punishment. No way. 2 Timothy 2:25 says repentance is a gift of God, something he grants to us because he loves us and wants to heal us. He doesn’t want anyone to miss out on this.

Now remember, Paul is speaking to first century Jews. Like he always does in a new city, he speaks to the Jews first, and here it’s to the religious leaders who claim to know Yahweh. He’s not talking to Satan worshipers, or cult leaders going, hey guys, if you soften your hearts God will save you. Paul is talking to religious leaders – people who read and pray 3x a day, gather in the synagogues every weekend, memorize the scriptures since they were young. People who observed and taught the Laws of Moses. People who were so close to salvation already. All they had to do was acknowledge that the greatest corruption of all was not the government or “those people” who believed this or that – but the sin in our own hearts. All they had to do was acknowledge Jesus as the Messiah they’d been reading about and praying for.

They’d been listening! They’d been seeing it on the pages of scripture! All they had to do was acknowledge that they’d been headed the wrong way, looking for a political Savior to rescue them from Rome, when the real occupation they should have been worried about was the sin occupying their religious hearts.

And when it came right down to decision time, they refused the medicine that would heal their souls. And Paul let them know, you’re following right in the footsteps of the people Isaiah was sent to who did the same thing. You’re following the footsteps of the people Jesus spoke in parables to who did the same thing. You honor me with your lips – you sing all the songs, you know what to say, your prayers sound brilliant – but your hearts are far from me.

So Paul told the Jews, in verse 28, Because of your refusal, God is giving the gift of salvation to the Gentiles, those whose ears are still open to the possibility that they don’t have all the answers; those whose ears are still open to the fact that they might have a disease they can’t heal with religion. Because they have soft hearts, they will understand their need for the gospel; receive the gift of repentance and be healed, saved, forgiven of their sin!

[ 014 ]Verse 30 Paul stayed two whole years in his own rented house. And he welcomed all who visited him, (no doubt both Jews and Gentiles) [ 014-2 ]31 proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness and without hindrance.

And the book of Acts stops sort of open-ended, because the next chapter of Acts now swings over to whomever is reading it.

First and foremost: Will we harden our hearts and say “eh, I know a lot about God – that’s good enough”, or will we come to Jesus in humility, repent and be healed? Will we proclaim the kingdom of God and teach about the Lord Jesus Christ with boldness, or will we make excuses?

[ 015 ]I think if we went around the room and asked, if you knew that Jesus was coming back in June of 2030 – 5 years from now – I’d bet no matter what our answers are, we could sum it all up by saying “We would live with a little more urgency.” Whether that urgency was to go visit all the places you have always wanted to go, or that urgency was calling every unbeliever you can think of, or making things right with everyone you know, we would live with a little more urgency.

For Paul, the urgency was to get the gospel to anyone who would listen so that some would listen and be saved. He was so enraptured by Jesus, that he couldn’t help it. You know he had days where no one came to visit. You know that poor soldier handcuffed to him heard all about Jesus over and over, right? And when someone else showed up to visit, that soldier heard it all again as Paul welcomed people in, expounding and testifying to the power and the presence of the resurrected Jesus.

I guarantee you Paul is not as perfect as we often make him out to be. The point of Acts isn’t “be more like Paul.” But I think Acts 28 argues once again that this guy Paul lives every day as if it’s his last. He’s always on mission. Never off duty. He lives with urgency. He's finishing his race well by practicing forgiveness and compassion. He’s got a soldier handcuffed to his wrist day and night, and he’s still practicing hospitality, still proclaiming and teaching with boldness – because Jesus is alive, he’s doing quite well, and he wants everyone to come to repentance.

RESPOND

First of all, the most important question is, do you know Jesus? Have you experienced his presence? God didn’t create us to be robots who are emotionless – he created people who feel, and he wants our hearts. Does he have your heart? Are you ready to meet him if he shows up in 5 years?

If not, right now is the perfect time to call out to him. It’s the perfect time to say, Jesus I’m broken, and I need you to heal me.

Scale of 1-10, how urgent do I live? Am I living on mission, or am I just procrastinating?

SOURCES

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

Darrell L Bock, Acts, Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2007)

Warren W. Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary, (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1996)

Kenneth O. Gangel, Acts, Holman New Testament Commentary, (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1998)

Albert Barnes, Notes on the New Testament: Matthew & Mark, ed. Robert Frew, (London: Blackie & Son, 1884–1885)