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That's connectwithskip.com. Now let's get into today's teaching with Pastor Skip Heitzig. But when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks and laid them on the fire, a viper came out of the heat and fastened on his hand.
And this is getting good. So when the natives saw the creature hanging from his hand, they said to one another, no doubt this man is a murderer, whom though he has escaped the sea, yet justice does not allow to live. But he shook the creature off into the fire and he suffered no harm. Now I have a simple question. What's Paul doing gathering sticks? Man, he's an apostle. Not only that, but I mean you have a huge bonfire to warm 276 cold, wet souls. And Paul gets up and starts gathering sticks. Now there's an obvious reason for this, and that is any fire that is burning needs to be replenished with more fuel, more wood. And there was a brushwood on Malta that it was famous for, so he's gathering a brushwood, putting it into the fire.
That makes sense. But why Paul? Man, Paul made incredible promises because an angel of the Lord appeared to him.
He's the guy that got them to land safely without getting killed. They kind of owe Paul their lives. Paul could have just barked out orders and said, I'd like room service for you. I'd like room for and said, I'd like room service, please. I'd like you, you, and you to go get me more wood.
In fact, the centurion I saved here, why don't you go get wood? But he didn't do that. And here's just an insight into Paul's character. Paul, the apostle, the great leader, is picking up sticks. It's what leaders do. No job is too small for a true leader of God. A leader doesn't say, well, you know, it's not really in my job description. I'm the anointed of the Lord.
I don't pick up sticks. I preach to Caesar. For Paul, the apostle, little things like picking up sticks were just as important for him to do as preaching salvation to Caesar in Rome.
That's a leader. Jesus washed the disciples' feet. Paul said, let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. He emptied himself.
Let that mind be in you. Jesus said, the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life a ransom for many. So any leader who says, I'm too important to pick up sticks is really not all that important at all. I just love this about Paul. He's so practical. He sees that something needs to be done. He just does it. He sees trash that needs to be picked up. He picks it up. Something needs to be straightened up. He straightens it up.
I love this about Paul. I'm amazed. So he's putting these sticks, the bundle of sticks, putting them on the fire.
The only problem is one of the sticks is alive. Happens to be a viper. Interesting. History shows us that there are no more poisonous snakes on the island of Malta.
They've eradicated them all. Isn't that interesting? But back then it was a problem and I tend to think, and I'll show you in a minute why, it was a problem around the Mediterranean world in general. So the snake grabs a hold of Paul and all of the Maltese people and it probably spreads throughout the 276 others on board. Well, we know what this means.
This means that this guy's a bad guy. Now, this will give you insight into their theology and it's a very important insight for you to see because it's still an insight in many people's theology today. And notice that it says in verse 4, no doubt this man is a murderer whom though he has escaped the sea, yet, what's the next word? Justice. Justice does not allow to live. There's a problem in my Bible. Justice is not capitalized.
It should be. Because justice when used here is the word decay and decay was the goddess of justice. Lady Justice, the daughter of Zeus, one that they worshipped on Malta. So though it says just a small j as if to describe the attribute of justice, they were actually saying a description of the deity, the goddess decay, the daughter of Zeus whom they call Lady Justice.
Now we're not that astonished. We have in our country somebody called Lady Justice depicted in American art as a blindfold woman holding the scale. She's blindfold so she can't be partial to one party or the other. That's Lady Justice. That's a throwback to paganism and this belief in decay. So they say justice, they mean a capital J.
But they say justice does not allow him to live but he shakes it off. Now here's what I want you to see. These are unbelievers. They are pagan. They have a pagan worldview. But they have an interesting belief in right and wrong. They're not Christian.
They're not Jewish. But they believe in right and wrong. They have a sense of morality.
And I'm bringing this up because I'm questioning you. Where did they get this sense of morality from? This right and wrong. This saying, well this is wrong and wrong gets punished and this is right and right gets rewarded. Because that's what they believe. That's their worldview. That wrong will get punished either right now or eventually. We Christians believe that as well. That eventually wrong will all be dealt with by a loving, holy, just God and right will be rewarded.
Eventually. They had this belief system. Where'd they get it from? God put it in their hearts. God put it in their hearts. That's where they got it from.
He puts it in the hearts of all men. It's called a conscience. It's that stamp of God and of sovereign, eternal God in the lives of every single human being. Started way back in the garden when they took of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Just a few chapters ahead in the book of Romans, it tells us this. This is Romans chapter 1.
I told you it's a different study. We're turning a lot tonight. Romans 1. That's easy to turn to.
You have no excuse for not turning there. Romans chapter 1 verse 18. For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness.
That presupposes they know the truth or they at least hold at one time to the truth. It was given to them. They had it. They held it. But they suppressed it.
And they did it in unrighteousness. Because what may be known of God is manifest in them for God has shown it to them. So God places that innate knowledge of right and wrong, good and evil. And even the pagans of Malta had that.
They're in error because they think that the gods immediately punish and immediately reward rather than the God, the only true God, Yahweh, will ultimately and eventually judge all mankind based on their faith in Jesus Christ or not. But at least they have that. And that was placed there by God. So Paul reaches in a viper, a poisonous viper. That's the word that is used, a deadly poisonous viper. Not a little garter snake, just like this.
Think a rattlesnake. They're thinking, he's going to die. They're kind of waiting for him to keel over. But it's funny, verse five, he just sort of shakes it off. You know, he just glances it off. He just throws it away. He's calm.
He can go, just shook it off and suffer no harm. However, they were expecting that he would swell up or suddenly fall down dead. Why would they believe that? Because they knew those snakes.
They knew their island. That's what has happened before. But after they looked for a long time and saw no harm come to him, they changed their minds and said he was a god.
So something interesting about their theology was very fickle. First of all, he's going to die. He's angered Lady Justice.
Not now. He's a god himself. He didn't swell up. He didn't die. Now Paul, flicking off this little serpent, is a fulfillment of prophecy.
That's probably why he was so calm. He's fulfilling a prophecy made by Jesus Christ. I'm going to share with you out of the Gospel of Luke, in Luke chapter 10. Now I pre-marked my Bible, so I'm not expecting you to turn there as quickly as I can. I have a little cheater tab.
See that little yellow tab? So Jesus sent out not just 12 around the city of Galilee, but 70 disciples, and they returned. They were all psyched because of their success. And the 70 returned, verse 17, Luke chapter 10, returned with joy saying, Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name. And he said to them, I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.
Of course they're subject to my name. I was there when Satan fell out of heaven. Behold, now watch this, I give you authority to trample on serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing by any means shall hurt you.
So evidently, serpents were a common problem in that era, because Jesus made that part of his promise package to his 12 and to his 70, expanded it to others. You're listening to Connect with Skip Heitzig. Before we return to Skip's teaching, we want to tell you about this month's resource titled The Holy Spirit Then and Now, which comes with two books by Chuck Smith. The Book of Acts commentary will help you understand how the Holy Spirit worked in the early church, and Power, a biblical balance on the person and work of the Holy Spirit, will help you see how he works in you. You'll be inspired as you discover that the same spirit who worked in Paul, Peter, and the early church is active and involved in your life today. We'll send you the Holy Spirit then and now as our thanks for your gift of $50 or more to reach more people with God's love through Connect with Skip Heitzig.
Go to connectwithskip.com slash offer or call 800-922-1888 and request your copy when you give. Now, let's get back to Skip for more of today's teaching. Not only that, but in Mark chapter 16, Jesus said to them, Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved, but he who does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will follow those who believe. In my name they will cast out demons, they will speak with new tongues, they will take up serpents, and if they drink anything deadly it will by no means hurt them, and they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover. So Paul has a viper grab his arm and go, Oh yeah, I remember what Jesus said. Didn't think anything of it because he knew this promise. Now, this promise does not mean that you can have a church service and bring snakes and pass them around, and if it bites you and you die that it shows that you had no faith.
That is ludicrous, but it happens in the southern states in some churches. Jesus was making a promise that as the gospel is being spread, there will also come with the spreading of the gospel protection. And Paul knew that. Paul knows, look, it'd be stupid for me to die here because I was just aboard a ship and God preserved me on that boat. Plus he told me I'm going to make it to Caesar, and I don't see Caesar walking toward me right now as this snake is holding onto my arm.
So I'm guessing I'm not going to die from this. So he shook it off. He knew the promise of the Lord. In that region, verse 7, let's see if we can make it all the way down to our end text, verse 16. That's where we want to end tonight.
If not, we'll finish the book next week. In that region, there was an estate of the leading citizen of the island. That phrase could be translated the Roman governor of the island.
That's who this guy was, the leading citizen, the Roman governor of Malta, whose name was Publius, who received the throne, who received us, and entertained us courteously for three days. You know, you might want to be hospitable, and I do too. I have friends that come out of town, and I'll often say, stay at my house. But I usually check with my wife.
Say, hey, there's a guy or there's a couple. They're going to spend a few days at our house. But to bring 276 people home in a few days, can I just say, you've got to have a big house, right? It shows us the kind of estate Publius must have had to be able to house 276 people. And he did. He entertained them courteously.
Now, they're going to spend three months there, but the first few days, this guy's taken care of. And it happened that the father of Publius lay sick of a fever and dysentery. Paul went into him and prayed and laid his hands on him and healed him. This fever was a gastric fever. That's what most scholars believe it was. And the word fever is put in the plural, fevers. So it was a fever that came back and back and back.
It recurred. Now, there was a goat on Malta. The Maltese goat, the milk of Maltese goats carried a microbe that brought a gastric fever that lasted between four months and up to two to three years. So this guy has a gastric fever plus dysentery. That's a disease. It's an intestinal disease. I had a friend who suffered from it. I took him to India. He got dysentery while he was there.
Lack of sanitation can breed dysentery. So you just got to picture this guy for at least months suffering with recurrent gastric, gastroenterological issues, right? Paul comes in, does two things. Prays for him, lays hands on him. Why does he pray for him? Because Paul doesn't heal anybody. Because God is the one who heals.
He's addressing the source of all power. That's why he prayed. Now, he laid hands on him, not because Paul's hands were special. We lay hands on people, not because our hands are special.
The only thing our hands have are germs. And Paul had germs. Paul's hands weren't glowing.
It wasn't like Paul said, watch this. The reason he laid hands after he prayed was to show them that this man, Paul, was the instrument through which God healed. And once this man is healed, do you think everybody's going to be listening to Paul and what he has to say? Absolutely. Here's a guy who shook off a snake and he's still alive and he prays for people and they get healed.
Let's listen to what he has to say. So when this was done, verse 9, the rest of those on the island who had diseases also came and were healed. This is not unlike Jesus in Capernaum. He heals a couple people and the whole country side finds out about it and people swarm him. They also honored us in many ways.
Let me just stop there before we finish this out. It doesn't say that Paul preached the gospel after he healed them, though I am absolutely certain he did. For one reason, I've read the rest of the Bible. I see what Paul does everywhere. And the reason it's not mentioned is because I think Luke implies it's so obvious.
Do we really need to say it again? And so I'm certain he did because the Lord used this as a confirming sign to preach the gospel. The serpent that didn't kill him, the laying out of hands and healing, just like Mark said, just like Jesus said in the gospel of Mark, it happened. So with that came the preaching of the gospel. Now, many believe that a church was established then and there. I wouldn't doubt it. And some even believe that the pastor of that church was none other than Publius. We don't know if that's true.
When you get to heaven, check the Lamb's Book of Life, see if his name is there, and you'll know for certain. They honored us, though, verse 10, in many ways. And when we departed, they provided such things as were necessary. They loaded them into the boat for their travel.
So hospitality ranks high in Malta. After three months, we sailed in an Alexandrian ship, which is what they had gotten shipwrecked on. This is another one, whose figurehead was the twin brothers, which had wintered on the island. The twin brothers were Castor and Pollux, the twin sons of Zeus. It was believed they were like the patron idols of the ancient world. And sailors, they believed that these twin gods protected sailors, so they would often carry an emblem of them or a figurehead on the front of the ship so as to please those gods to ask for protection.
Not unlike people who will superstitiously place a statue of Mary or a saint on a dashboard and think, this is going to protect my car. My mom used to do that. And I remember sitting there thinking, Mom, you have Mary kind of like facing us. Shouldn't you turn her around so she can see where we're going? Maybe the problem we get in wrecks is because she's turned the wrong way.
You know, that's how a kid thinks. And so they leave the island, verse 11 and 12. And I can almost be certain that they didn't leave that Bay of Saint Paul. They left the capital port, Valletta, still the capital port of the island, because that is where cargo was loaded. They would embark and disembark from that port. So they left that main port and landing at Syracuse, which is on the east of that island of Sicily.
You know how Italy looks like a boot kicking a football? So that football on the eastern part of that island was Syracuse. We stayed there three days. Tradition says during those three days, Paul started another church.
Can't prove it, but I wouldn't doubt it. Paul worked fast. And verse 13, and from there we circled around and reached Regium, which is the tip of the toe, the tip of the boot of Italy. And after one day, the south wind blew. So the next day we came to Puteoli, which is the Bay of Naples. And while we were there, the brethren were invited to stay, where we found brethren, and were invited to stay with them for seven days. And so we went toward Rome.
Quick FYI. As Paul was walking on the journey now to Rome, where he's going to end up, we're going to see that in just a few verses. He ends there, and we'll see next week what he does there. He would have passed between Puteoli and Neapolis, a very famous tomb on the Appian Way, the tomb of Virgil, the Roman poet. And why that is important is that Virgil, in one of his poems, anticipated a savior, the need for a savior to come and save the world and save Rome in one of his writings. And it's interesting that the one who announced that God had indeed sent the savior is going to be walking past his tomb in just a little while. Just an interesting thing to say. It's an interesting twist of history.
He would have walked past that tomb from Puteoli to Neapolis. So we found brethren. We stayed with them a week, seven days. Now we get to the climactic part of this book. And from there, when the brethren heard about us, they came to meet us as far as they could, and they were happy for them.
And three ends. When Paul saw them, he thanked God, and he took courage. This indicates that Paul may have been, at this point, discouraged.
Don't know why. He could have been sick. It's taken him a long time. And when we came to Rome, he came to where he always longed to be, the imperial city of Rome, the centurion delivering the prisoners to the captain of the guard. But Paul was permitted to dwell by himself with the soldier who guarded him. We're going to stop there. We're going to finish the book next week and do justice to Paul in Rome in the last study. Paul goes to Rome. He wanted to go there. It's an ungodly city. Seneca, the historian, said it's a cesspool of iniquity. So you might be wondering, why does Paul want to go there?
Easy answer. Light always shines in the darkest places. It's always more prominent the darker it is. You know, there's an old saying, and I'll say it, and you'll finish it, all roads lead to Rome. That's an ancient saying from way back then, all roads leading to Rome. Paul knew that all roads lead to Rome. Now, if all roads lead to Rome, then all the roads lead from Rome. So to get the gospel in Rome and to get Christianity established at the center of the empire would mean it can now flow around the world, around the world. And the reason we got the gospel here in America, the uttermost parts of the earth, is because Paul knew God put it in his heart for him to go to Rome and get the gospel to Rome.
That's the theme of this book. We're glad you joined us today. Before you go, remember that when you give $50 or more to help reach more people with the gospel through Connect with Skip Heitzig, we'll send you The Holy Spirit Then and Now, featuring two books by Chuck Smith to help you understand how God's spirit worked in the early church and how he's active in you today. To request your copy, call 800-922-1888.
That's 800-922-1888. Or visit connectwithskip.com slash donate. For more from Skip, be sure to download the Connect with Skip Heitzig app where you can access messages and more content right at your fingertips. Come back next time for more verse-by-verse teaching of God's word here on Connect with Skip Heitzig. Connect with Skip Heitzig is a presentation of connection, communications, connecting you to God's never changing truth in ever-changing times.
