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Acts 28:23-29  Pauls Explanation of Christianity To The Jews at Rome

Introduction:  

	In this text the Apostle Paul speaks not only to the chief Jews at Rome, 
but to a great crowd of Jews who lived at Rome and explained to them what the 
new Christian religion is all about.  

I.  A review of Paul’s meeting with the chief Jews at Rome
	
	At the time of this text the Apostle Paul is at Rome awaiting his trial 
before the Roman Caesar.  He has been given exceptional liberty for a prisoner.  
He was not kept in a prison cell, but was allowed to rent a house in which he 
would live and would be able to have visitors.  He was kept in chains and kept 
under guard, of course, but he had privileges which the ordinary prisoner did 
not have.    
	In our previous text Paul sent for the chief Jews in the city of Rome to 
come to his house and meet with him.  In that meeting he explained to the Jewish 
leaders at Rome  that he had been brought to trial before the Roman authorities 
in Judea and that he had been found innocent by them.  He said that the Roman 
authorities would have set him free had it not been that Jewish leaders from 
Jerusalem had strongly insisted that he not be set free.  Rather, they insisted 
that he be put to death.  So in order to save his life he had to appeal his case 
to the Caesar at Rome.  Therefore, he was now in Rome awaiting his trial before 
the Caesar.  
	Paul knew that he needed the friendship or at least the neutrality of the 
Jews at Rome.  Therefore, he hoped in this meeting to put their mind at ease 
concerning his objective before the Roman Caesar.  He did not want them to think 
that he was trying to stir up trouble for them neither for the Jews back at 
Jerusalem.  All he was interested in doing was to persuaded the Caesar to set 
him free.  He was not trying to get somebody else in trouble.  	
	But when Paul had told the Jews at Rome these things they said, “We have 
heard nothing about this from the Jews at Jerusalem.  We have had no letters 
informing us of any accusations against you and the few brethren who have come 
here from Jerusalem said nothing about any accusations against you.”
	An in effect, they said, “We really do not care what accusations the folks 
at Jerusalem have made against you.  What we are interested in is having you to 
tell us more about the new Christian religion which has sprung up among the 
Jews.  We know that Jews everywhere speak against it.  This is all hear-say, but 
we would like to hear firsthand from somebody who is in Christianity.  We want 
to hear it from you.  We want to set a day when we can come and bring others and 
let you explain to us what Christianity is all about.”  Apparently they did not 
ask Paul to explain Christianity to them in that first meeting.  They wanted 
Paul to have plenty of time when he made his explanation to them about 
Christianity.  They did not want for Paul to get started in his explanation and 
then run out of time and not be able to finish.  Furthermore, they wanted to be 
able to invite other Jews to come and hear about Christianity.  

II.  Paul’s second meeting with the Jews and his message to them

	V. 23, “And when they had appointed him a day, there came many to him into 
[his] lodging...”  The Jewish leaders set a date on which they could meet with 
Paul and then they went out into the Jewish settlement in Rome and encouraged 
others to come with them to hear the noted leader among the Christians explain 
what Christianity is about.  Luke tells us that many came.  It was not only  the 
chief Jews who came, but many came.  Luke says that they went into Paul’s place 
of lodging.  Therefore, it must have been a rather large house and the house 
must have been packed.  Paul must have been thrilled.  It is a thrill even now 
for one of God’s preachers to get to speak to a packed house and to explain what 
Christ and Christianity is all about.  
	(V. 23), “...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.”  Luke says that it took Paul all day to 
present his message to them concerning Christianity.  He must have spent much 
time in study and prayer in preparation for this meeting.  I think that Paul 
must have been excited.  He could hardly wait for the day to come when his 
guests would arrive to hear his message.  He studied hard and prayed earnestly 
for Almighty God to help him to deliver his message to these people.  .  
	 In this verse Luke gives us a skeleton outline of Paul’s message.  The 
first thing that he would be talking about is the kingdom of God.  That is, he 
spoke about God’s many promises to send a coming King who would Redeem His 
people from their sin.  The prophets of old had foretold the coming of King who 
would be the Redeemer.  The promised King would be born through the lineage King 
Davis and it was promised that he would inherit David’s throne.  There are many 
Old Testament Scriptures which Paul may have used to show these Jews that God 
had most positively promised that a King would come.  He may have quoted from 
the writings of Daniel who pinpointed the time of His coming.  He almost 
certainly quoted from the Book of Micah which foretold the very city in which 
the Messiah King would be born.  There are many many other Scriptures to which 
Paul must have referred to show beyond any reasonable doubt that God had indeed 
promised the coming of a Messiah King.  The word, Messiah, is the Hebrew word 
for the New Testament Greek word, Christ.  I have not made any effort to list 
for you all of the Scriptures which Paul may have used to confirm to his 
audience that God had promised the coming of Christ, the Messiah King.  I think 
it possible that Paul had requested of the chief Jews that they bring from the 
Jewish synagogue scrolls which would contain copies of the numerous verses which 
he would want to use and that he had those verses read in the hearing of all who 
were present.  As I suggested earlier, it is probable that Paul spoke on this 
subject for the entire morning and then took a break for lunch.  Regardless of 
when the break came, Paul spoke at great length on this subject.  
	Then Paul set in to speak about Jesus and sought to persuade his audience 
that Jesus is the Christ.  The Old Testament law books would certainly provide 
his plenty of evidence that in order for the sins of men to be forgiven it was 
necessary for innocent blood to be shed.  In the animal sacrifices which were 
made at the temple of God in Jerusalem each time an animal was slain, it 
pictured the fact that in order for the sin of the guilty person to be forgiven 
of his sins one who was not guilty of sin must die.  It was also very obvious 
that the blood of the animals was only a type or picture of the blood which 
could take away sin and save the soul of the guilty sinner.  If the blood of one 
animal could take away one’s sin and save his soul, then it would not be 
necessary for the blood of any other animal to be slain.  	
	The prophet Isaiah made it clear that the Messiah King must be sacrificed 
and that it was by the shedding of his blood that a guilty sinner can be 
cleansed of his sin and be acceptable in the sight of God.  Isaiah prophesied 
that the coming Christ, the Messiah King would be rejected by the people to whom 
He would come.  He would not only be rejected by them, but He would be beaten 
and put to death.  Listen to Isaiah 53:3-10.  The beloved Psalmist David wrote a 
hymn which the listeners of Paul frequently sang in their services at the 
synagogue.  In that hymn David prophecied of the resurrection of the Christ.  In 
the hymn the Christ says to God the Father, “For thou wilt not leave my soul in 
hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.”  Psalm 16:10.  
I am quite confident that Paul spoke of many other Scriptures to convince the 
Jews to whom he was speaking that Old Testament Scripture prophesied of the 
death of and resurrection of the Christ.  His members of his audience were all 
familiar with the life and the death of Jesus.  They even knew that the follower 
of Jesus proclaimed that they had seen Jesus after He had been crucified.  
	I am quite confident that Paul added to this his own personal testimony 
about his conversion and the fact that he had personally seen Jesus as he 
traveled to Damascus, Syria to arrest and imprison Christians and bring to trial 
every Christian that he could find.  But as he traveled on the road to Damascus 
he had been knocked to the ground by a great light and that he had seen someone 
in heaven who asked him, “Saul, Saul why persecutest thou me?”  And when Paul 
asked that person who He was, that person said, “I am Jesus of Nazareth whom 
thou persecutest.”  Paul could testify to his audience that from that moment on, 
he knew beyond any doubt whatsoever that Jesus is the Christ, the promised 
Messiah King, the future Ruler of all the nation of Israel and Jesus Christ 
would rule the entire world during the millennium.  
.     		
III.  The reaction of the Jews to Paul’s message
 
	V. 24, “And some believed the things which were spoken, and some believed 
not.”  Some believed what the Apostle preached and asked Jesus to save them and 
they got saved.  Those people are in heaven rejoicing today.  However, some of 
them did not believe what Paul preached about Jesus and they did not call on 
Jesus and ask Him to save them.  Unless they trusted Him before they died, they 
are in hell weeping and wailing right now today.  
	Judging from what the Apostle Paul quoted from the prophet Isaiah in the 
next three verses, I gather that only a relatively few trusted Jesus and got 
saved that day and the big majority of them failed to trust Jesus that day and 
remained lost.  As I said earlier, unless some of them got saved later, they are 
all still unsaved today.  They are still burning in the fires of hell today and 
they will suffer in fire forever and ever.  
	Listen in those next three verses to what Paul said about them those who 
did not believe.  V. 25-27, “And when they agreed not among themselves, they 
departed, after that Paul had spoken one word, Well spake the Holy Ghost by 
Esaias the prophet unto our fathers,   Saying, Go unto this people, and say, 
Hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and 
not perceive:  For the heart of this people is waxed gross, and their ears are 
dull of hearing, and their eyes have they closed; lest they should see with 
[their] eyes, and hear with [their] ears, and understand with [their] heart, and 
should be converted, and I should heal them.”
	Listen to what else Paul said to those who did not believe.  V. 29, “Be it 
known therefore unto you, that the salvation of God is sent unto the Gentiles, 
and [that] they will hear it.”  Listen!  If one just will not receive the word 
of God and trust Jesus Christ the Son of God and be saved, then God has no 
choice but to leave that person to his terrible destiny and deal with those who 
are willing to hear the gospel.  It is a dangerous thing to put off being saved.  
You just might not get another chance.  
	V. 29, “And when he had said these words, the Jews departed, and had great 
reasoning among themselves.”  I hope that some of them repented and trusted 
Jesus before it was too late.  But I strongly suspect that the most of them 
never never ever got saved.  

Conclusion:

	Which group are you in right now?  Are you in the group who has trusted 
Jesus Christ to save your soul or are you in the group that has not trusted 
Jesus to save you and keep you out of hell?  
	If you are in the wrong group (and you know which group that is) change 
groups right now.  Come right now and call on Jesus and ask Him to save your 
soul