Keep on Keeping On
Acts Series
Chuck Sligh
July 16, 2018
NOTE: A PowerPoint presentation is available for this sermon by request at chucksligh@hotmail.com.
This sermon was adapted from a sermon by Rick Crandall titled Still Going Forward For God on SermonCentral.com.
TEXT: Please turn in your bibles to Acts 28.
INTRODUCTION
A. Today we’re going to wrap up our 4-year study through the book of Acts.
B. In Acts 28:11-16, Luke describes how they wintered in Malta for three months, and when the weather was suitable again for safe travel, they made their way up to Rome.
1. Though a prisoner, Paul was allowed some freedoms when he first came to Rome.
2. In verses 17-22, Paul met the Jewish leaders there and explained his situation.
3. Then later, Paul did what he always did when he could get a crowd—he evangelized!
C. John Phillips, describing Paul’s last words and actions in Acts, says this: “That is where Luke put down his pen. He gives us this final glimpse of Paul, living victoriously despite his bonds, seeking to engage the affections of all to the Lord Jesus Christ. What better place could there be to end the inspired written history of the Christian church — not just looking back but looking ahead!” (1)
D. When you think of all the trials and troubles Paul suffered, all the injustices he endured, all the slights he experienced, even from Christians, all the persecution he underwent, and some kind of physical problem he had, possibly an eye disease, and yet Paul is still looking ahead, still focused on His calling, still moving forward with his kingdom calling.
E. Illus. – I heard a sermon by a Southern preacher many years ago to a group of pastors, with his text from 1 Corinthians 15:58, “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.”
1. The title of his sermon was “Keep on keeping on.”
2. It’s the first time I had heard the phrase, but I’ve been challenged by it many times.
F. To “keep on keeping on” means to just keep on doing what you are called to do, no matter what the OBSTACLES, no matter what the BARRIERS, no matter what the HURDLES.
G. Acts 28 describes the very same things Paul did from the day he first started preaching Jesus.
H. Like the Energizer bunny, Paul just keeps on keeping on.
I. And I would suggest that we as a church and as individuals ought to follow Paul’s example and keep on keeping on with the things we see in this chapter.
J. Let’s talk about some things we should “keep on keeping on” with.
I. FIRST, GOD HELP US TO KEEP ON SPEAKING ABOUT JESUS. – Look what Paul did in verse 23 when people gathered to give him a hearing: “And when they had appointed him a day, there came many to him into his lodging; to whom he expounded and testified the kingdom of God, persuading them concerning Jesus, both out of the law of Moses, and out of the prophets, from morning till evening.”
A. We need to keep on keeping on speaking about Jesus.
B. Keep your place here in Acts 28 and turn in your Bibles to 1 Corinthians chapter 1.
1. Long before Paul went to Rome, he wrote a needed letter to the church at Corinth.
2. They had all kinds of problems, and Paul dealt with of these issues one-by-one.
3. But it’s revealing to see the focus Paul put on Jesus as he opened his letter.
4. Look at 1 Corinthians 1:1-10, and count the number of times you see the names Jesus, or Christ, or some combination of these two names: “Paul, called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God, and Sosthenes our brother, 2 Unto the church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours: 3 Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ. 4 I thank my God always on your behalf, for the grace of God which is given you by Jesus Christ; 5 That in everything ye are enriched by him, in all utterance, and in all knowledge; 6 Even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you: 7 So that ye come behind in no gift; waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ: 8 Who shall also confirm you unto the end, that ye may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord. 10 Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.”
C. Paul mentions Jesus 10 times here!
D. He always kept the focus on Jesus—and so should we!
E. Illus. – Marilyn Anderes tells the story of a believer named Cheryl Stephens, a young mom who struggled with cancer, but was determined to keep ministering to others.
1. She went home to be with the Lord in 2003 at age 44.
2. Her friends say she lived out Philippians 1:21, where Paul said, “For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.”
3. Listen to a poem Cheryl wrote in a few years before she began her bout with cancer:
Remember me not for who I was
But for who Jesus was in me.
Remember me not for the things I’ve done
But for the things Jesus did through me.
Remember me not as one who loved
Without remembering that “He first loved me.”
Remember me not as one who gave
But one to whom much was given.
Remember me not as one who spoke of God
But as one who knew God through His Son, Jesus.
Remember me not as one who prayed
But remember the One to whom I prayed.
Remember me not as one who was strong
But as one who cried out to God to be my strength.
Remember me not as one who died
But as one who lives forever because I have believed.
Remember not my life and death
For they will profit you nothing.
But please . . . remember the life and death of Jesus.
For He gave His life that we might live.
He died that we might never have to and He rose again
That we might have eternal life.
Remember not me, but do remember Jesus. (2)
F. That’s the attitude God wants us to have!
G. As you live your life—reflect Jesus in your life and keep on speaking of Jesus.
II. SECOND, MAY WE, LIKE PAUL, KEEP STUDYING THE SCRIPTURES. – Verse 23b tells us that Paul kept “persuading them concerning Jesus, both out of the law of Moses, and out of the prophets, from morning till evening.”
A. In this passage, Paul showed a deep knowledge and understanding of the Scriptures.
B. In our post-Easter resurrection series titled, Close Encounters with the Risen Lord, we saw in Luke 24 that Jesus did the very same thing Paul did here in Acts 28.
1. Luke 24:27 says this about Jesus who met the disciples on the road to Emmaus: “And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.”
2. Later, when Jesus appeared to the eleven, He ate with them and then we read, “And he said unto them, ‘These are the words…I spoke to you, while I was [still] with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me. 45 Then he opened their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures.” (Luke 24:44-45)
C. God wants us to understand the Scriptures—the Old Testament and the New.
D. And one of the things God wants us to see in Paul’s preaching in verse 23 is that we can certainly find Jesus Christ all throughout the Old Testament.
1. First, we see Him in the prophecies.
a. There were hundreds of Old Testament prophecies fulfilled by Jesus.
b. For instance, to give one of many, are the prophecies about Jesus’ suffering for our sins in Isaiah 53:4-6 – “Surely he [has] borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we…esteem[ed] him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. 5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. 6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD [has] laid on him the iniquity [or “sin”] of us all.”
2. Besides prophecies, there are the many pre-New Testament appearances of Jesus.
a. The Bible teaches that God is a spirit, and thus has no body and is invisible.
b. Yet there are many instances in the Old Testament that speaks of God appearing in visible form.
c. Bible scholars say these are actually pre-incarnate appearances of Jesus Christ.
3. Finally, there are Old Testament pictures of Jesus, which theologians call “types.”
a. For example, in Genesis 3:21 after Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden, an animal was killed and its blood was shed to provide covering for their nakedness, a picture of how the Messiah, the Lamb of God, would later come to cover our spiritual nakedness of goodness before God.
b. In Genesis 7, we have a picture of Christ in Noah’s ark.
1) There was only one way of salvation, in the ark
2) Noah and his family were safe in the Ark, as we are safe in Jesus.
c. In Genesis 22, we have the picture of Abraham and Isaac, where God commanded Abraham to do what our heavenly Father would do one day—allow His only Son to be sacrificed. – There on Mount Moriah, God provided a ram for Abraham to sacrifice as a substitute for his son just as God provided His Son as the Lamb of God as a substitute for our sin on Mount Calvary.
d. Of course, the Passover lamb was a picture of Jesus with no broken bones, and his blood spread on the door posts of the homes. – They were protected by the blood of the lamb, and so are we protected by the Lamb of God.
E. All that’s just in the first book of the Bible.
F. Someone compiled this list how the various Old Testament books point time and time again to Jesus Christ, the Messiah, in the New Testament:
1. In Genesis He is the Seed of the Woman.
2. In Exodus He is the Passover Lamb.
3. In Leviticus He is our High Priest.
4. In Numbers He’s Bronze Serpent to heal all who looked upon Him.
5. In Deuteronomy He is the Prophet prophesied would be greater than Moses.
6. In Joshua He is the Captain of our Salvation.
7. In Judges He is the Deliverer.
8. In Ruth He is our Kinsman Redeemer.
9. In Ezra He is depicted as our the “Lord of our Fathers.”
10. In Esther He is our Mordecai, interceding for God’s people.
11. In Job He that coming redeemer Job predicts would come.
12. In Psalms He is the Lord our Shepherd.
13. In Proverbs and Ecclesiastes He is our Wisdom.
14. In the Song of Solomon He is our Lover & the Bridegroom.
15. In Isaiah He is the Prince of Peace.
16. In Jeremiah He is the Righteous Branch.
17. In Lamentations He is the Weeping Prophet.
18. In Ezekiel He is the one who assures that dry, dead bones will come alive again.
19. In Daniel He is the Fourth Man in the burning fiery furnace.
20. In Hosea He’s the Faithful Husband to a sinning wife.
21. In Joel He is the Baptizer with the Holy Spirit and Fire.
22. In Amos He is our Burden-bearer.
23. In Obadiah He is the Mighty to Save.
24. In Jonah He is our Great Foreign Missionary.
25. In Micah He is the Messenger of Beautiful Feet carrying the Gospel.
26. In Zephaniah He is the Savior.
27. In Haggai He is the Restorer of God’s Lost Heritage.
28. In Zechariah He is the Fountain Opened for sin.
29. And in Malachi He’s the Sun of Righteousness, rising with healing in His wings.
G. Everywhere in the Bible, if you look carefully, Jesus is found from cover to cover.
H. And of course, ALL the New Testament is about Christ and what it means to live in Christ.
I. But not only do we see Jesus.
1. We see how to live the Christian life, how to rear our children, how to handle our money, how to live peaceably in society, how to have right priorities in life, how to treat our fellow man, how to treat the poor and needy, and how to cope with suffering and trials and betrayal and disappointment, and not just cope, but how to flourish.
2. And we learn how a church can function as a God intended it to function, what our responsibilities are to our church and what God wants us to get from it.
J. Brethren, how can we “keep on keeping on?”—By continuing to study and know and obey the Scriptures.
III. THIRD, WE NEED TO KEEP BELIEVING THAT SOME WILL BELIEVE. – Look with me at verses 24-28 of our text: “And some believed the things which were spoken, and some believed not. 25 And when they agreed not among themselves, they departed, after..Paul had spoken one [statement], “Well spoke the Holy Spirit by Isaiah the prophet [to] our fathers,” and then Paul quoted a prophecy from the book of Isaiah.
A. Luke says that many turned away after Paul quoted Isaiah’s prophecy and the implication that now God was bringing salvation to all.
B. The fact is that most people will reject Christ just as in Paul’s day, but some will believe, just as some did in verse 24!
C. If I can quote John Phillips again, he says in his commentary: “Thus the gospel always divides.…Whenever it is preached the Holy Spirit drives His plowshare through the audience. Some believe, some do not; and between the two henceforth is a great divide, a great gulf fixed. Every time the gospel is preached, heaven and hell are in the balance, eternal issues are at stake.” (3)
D. We see this drama played out every day.
E. Illus. – Remember when you were unsaved and without Christ?
1. You had no real interest in the Lord, lived happily in your sin, and were not seeking God.
2. But one day you heard the Gospel or something about the Bible that stirred your heart, and a little seed was planted in you.
3. You mentioned it to friends or loved ones and they thought you were crazy.
4. The majority of your friends were not bothered by sin, cared not a whit to pursue the Lord, and were indifferent or even hostile to Jesus Christ.
5. You took one road and they took another.
F. Someone has said that “The same sun that softens wax also hardens clay.”
1. Think about it: The same message that softened your heart to be receptive to the Gospel may have hardened some of your friends.
2. What made the difference?—You turned towards Christ; the others turned away.
G. And so it is in our community—Some will be receptive to the Gospel and some will turn away.
H. We must keep trying to reach those who will listen, regardless of the many who reject the Gospel, just like they did here in Acts 28.
I. Illus. – I remember doing cold-door evangelism with my pastor, Bob Cook, when I was a young preacher.
1. We would knock and be turned away time and time and time again.
2. At the end of the night we went back to the car and I turned to my pastor and said, “Brother Bob, sometimes I wonder, What’s the use?”
3. He said to me, “Suppose you were standing next to the ocean, and you saw thousands of people drowning, and you had a lifebuoy in your hand. What would you do? Would you give up and say, ‘What’s the use?’ Or would you try to save as many of them as you possibly could?”
J. God help us to take the lifebuoy of God’s Word and try to reach as many people as we possibly can!
1. God’s not finished saving people yet; the fields are still white unto harvest!
2. Be encouraged and be faithful—Some will be saved!
IV. FINALLY, BOLDLY KEEP STRIVING TO SERVE THE LORD. – Verses 30-31 close out the Book of Acts by saying, “And Paul dwelt two whole years in his own hired house, and received all that came in unto him, 31 Preaching the kingdom of God, and teaching those things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ, with all confidence, no man forbidding him.”
A. Paul is serving till the end—steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord!
B. Be like Paul—Serve God to the end; do your best; make every effort; find a place of service in this church and KEEP ON SERVING—in good times and bad; in sadness and in joyfulness; on the mountain and in the valley; in victory and in defeat.
C. SERVE GOD! Keep on keeping on! Keep advancing the kingdome of God.
CONCLUSION
A. Well, we’ve finished the book of Acts!
B. Here’s a pretty good summary of the book: The Savior went up; the Spirit came down; the church went out; and the lost came in.
C. The church is still to go out, and the lost will still come in.
D. Brethren, the story of Acts is not over yet—we’re still living it!
E. Let’s keep on keeping on for our Lord and let’s SACRIFICE financially to advance the kingdom of God and let’s SERVE Him in His church, the only institution on earth he established and sanctioned to do His work and let’s WORSHIP HIM in Spirit and in truth and with passion and love; and let’s LOVE ONE ANOTHER in the body.
(1) Rick Crandall, titled Still Going Forward For God on SermonCentral.com.
(2) “If Only For This Life” by Marilyn Anderes, Good News, March/April 2004, p. 44. (Found in sermon “A Gratitude Adjustment” by Billy Strayhorn Luke 17:11-19 - Oct 10, 2004).
(3) Phillips, 524-525.
