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Acts 28:1-9  PAUL ON THE ISLAND OF MELITA

Introduction:  

	In our previous text the ship on which the Apostle Paul was a prisoner 
wrecked in a storm.  In keeping with a promise that God had made to Paul he and 
all aboard the ship reached shore safely.  
	In our text today we see how God cared for Paul and how He used Paul 
during the three months that he stayed on the island.  

I.  Kindness from the people of the island

	V. 1, “And when they were escaped, then they knew that the island was 
called Melita.”  It was not until after they had reached the shore that they 
learned the name of the island.  It was an island called “Melita.”  This was a 
name which the Greeks had given the island when Alexander the Great had 
conquered it.  It still had that name in Paul’s day.  Today it is known as 
Malta.  This was an island used by the United States and her allies in World War 
II.  We had an air base and a submarine base there in that war.  The island was 
very heavily bombed by the Germans and Italians in that war.  
	It is likely that those from the ship learned the  name of  the island 
from people who lived on the island.  Someone who lived on the island apparently 
had observed the shipwreck and had summoned the natives of the island to come to 
the assistance the occupants of the ship as they came to shore.  Soon a larger 
group of natives were on the scene rendering assistance.  I am not certain 
whether or not any arrived in time to help some reach the shore, but they proved 
to be a great help after all had reached the shore.  
	V. 2, “And the barbarous people shewed us no little kindness...”  Luke 
called the natives “barbarous people.”  By this he did not mean that they were a 
savage like people.  Rather, he meant that they had a strange language and that 
it was difficult to communicate with them.  It is probable that their language 
was a mixture of the different people who had conquered and ruled the island.  
Thus, their language was probably a mixture of the Phoenician, the Greek, the 
Roman and perhaps other languages.  Yet it is likely that someone on board the 
ship would be able to converse with these people, because ships stopped at many 
ports and they had to be able to communicate with people of many languages in 
order to do business in those ports.  
	Luke says that the native people showed not little kindness to them.  
This, of course, means that they showed a great deal of kindness to them.  One 
of the kindnesses which must have seemed a very great kindness to those 
shipwrecked men was that the natives built a fire for them to warm by.  (V. 2), 
“...for they kindled a fire, and received us every one, because of the present 
rain, and because of the cold.  Those from the ship had no means by which to 
start a fire in the heavy rain that was falling.  It would require a lot effort 
even on the part of the natives to build a fire in that rain.  They would have 
to bring coals of fire from someone’s home.  They would keep those coals dry 
through a heavy downpour of rain.  They would have to bring in enough dry wood 
to get the fire burning well before wet wood could be burned.  They would have 
to have an extremely lot of wood to build enough fire for the 276 passengers of 
the ship plus themselves to warm by.  They would have to build the fire 
lengthwise for a considerable distance in order for 276 men plus themselves 
could get to the heat.      
	Luke does not tell us what else the natives did to help, but there must 
have been more, because he said that they showed them “no little kindness.”  
	Listen!  Isn’t God good?  God had a large number of warm hearted people 
ready to brave the cold wet weather in order to help Paul and those other 
shipwrecked men.  Does that ring a bell with you?  Have you not experienced 
times in your life when God moved upon the hearts of others to help you in a 
time of need?  Maybe you were not shipwrecked, but you were in need and God 
supplied your need.  Isn’t God good?

II.  Paul, bitten by a snake

	V. 3, “And when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks, and laid [them] on 
the fire, there came a viper out of the heat, and fastened on his hand.”   You 
will note that Paul had a willingness to work.  He set a good example for us to 
fellow.  He was not one to sit or stand idly by and watch others work without 
pitching in to do what he could to help.  He must have warmed by the fire for a 
little while, but then he left the fire and went out and gathered up sticks to 
put on the fire.  He was not aware that among the sticks there was a very 
poisonous snake.  The snake, chilled by the cold rain was inactive at the time 
and made no effort to bit him.  But when Paul placed the sticks on the fire, 
that fire livened up that snake very quickly.  That snake struck out and 
fastened to his hand.  
	The natives saw the snake fastened to Paul’s hand and immediately reached 
a wrong conclusion.  V. 4, “And when the barbarians saw the [venomous] beast 
hang on his hand, they said among themselves, No doubt this man is a murderer, 
whom, though he hath escaped the sea, yet vengeance suffereth not to live.”  The 
natives were quick to judge Paul.  They immediately judged that he must be a 
murderer.  The reason they concluded this is because even though Paul did not 
drown in the waters following the shipwreck, it appeared to them that Paul had 
done some terrible crime worthy of death and that the gods of justice were still 
after him by sending a snake to bite him.  So they expected Paul to very quickly 
to get deathly sick.  They thought he would groan from extreme pain, that he 
would start urping up his toenails and within a matter of minutes he would fall 
over dead.  
	The natives were too quick to jump to a conclusion and they had reached 
the wrong conclusion about Paul.  Does that ring a bell?   Has that ever 
happened to you?  Have you ever had somebody to jump to a wrong conclusion about 
you and your intentions or your conduct?  Have you ever had someone to misjudge 
you so that in their mind you were guilty of some terrible deed even though in 
fact you were not guilty?  It happens to most everybody sooner or later.  If you 
have not yet been misjudged --- just wait you will be.  
	Worse yet, have you been too quick to jump to a conclusion about somebody 
else.  If they misjudged you then they are the ones who are guilty of wrong 
doing.  But if you misjudge someone, then you are guilty of wrong doing.  Let me 
say that we, ourselves, should be careful not to misjudge.  We should be very 
careful.  
	V. 5, “And he shook off the beast into the fire, and felt no harm.”   Paul 
did not get alarmed.  He just calmly shook the snake off into the fire where it 
would perish instantly.  The wording of the text indicates that he felt no ill 
effect.  There was no severe pain in his hand nor arm.  There was no nausea.  
There was no fever nor swelling.  There was no shortness of breath.  There were 
no convulsions.  There was not even any swelling.  There was no ill effects at 
all.  The natives knew that a snake had bitten Paul.  They knew that the snake 
was very poisonous.  They knew that by that time he should have fallen down 
dead.  But he wasn’t dead.  In fact he was not hurt at all.
	V. 6, “Howbeit they looked when he should have swollen, or fallen down 
dead suddenly: but after they had looked a great while, and saw no harm come to 
him, they changed their minds, and said that he was a god.”  So what did they 
do?  They jumped to another wrong conclusion.  They concluded that Paul was a 
god.  They believed in the existence of many gods and they thought that Paul was 
one of the gods.  They thought that he had to be.  Otherwise, he ought to be 
dead.  They were, of course, wrong again.  

III.  Paul’s stay on the island of Melita 

  	V. 7, “In the same quarters were possessions of the chief man of the 
island, whose name was Publius...”  God had arranged for the ship to wreck at a 
spot where the chief man of the island had possessions.  I gather that he had a 
plantation there and that his dwelling place was there on his plantation.  Luke 
tells us that his name was “Publius.”  This is a Roman name.  It appears, then, 
that Publius was a Roman who had been appointed by the Roman government to 
govern the Island of Mellita.  
	(V. 7).  “...who received us, and lodged us three days courteously.”  Some 
suppose that Luke meant by the term “us” that Publius lodged only Paul and the 
fellow Christians who accompanied him.  This is highly unlikely.  It is very 
unlikely that a Roman governor would welcome a prisoner into his home in 
preference over a fellow Roman officer.  It is almost certain that the Roman 
centurion and his soldiers were among the guests at the governors place.  In all 
probability not all of the soldiers were housed in the building, but it is 
almost certain that they were all guests of the governor.  It is very likely 
that all 276 people who had been aboard the ship were guests of the governor for 
the three day period.  Luke does not tell where they would all stay after the 
three day period was over, but the governor must have made some kind of 
arrangements for them to be provided for until passage could be arranged for 
them on another ship.  That would not be until winter was over.  

IV. The healing of the father of Publius and others on the island

	V. 8, “And it came to pass, that the father of Publius lay sick of a fever 
and of a bloody flux: to whom Paul entered in, and prayed, and laid his hands on 
him, and healed him.”  It is worthy of note that only Luke, the physician, goes 
into such detain to describe the illnesses of those who were miraculously 
healed.  The father of Publius was sick with dysentery, in inflammation of the 
intestinal track.  The Apostle Paul prayed for him, laid his hands on him and 
through Paul God miraculously healed him.  
	How convenient it was that God had arranged for Paul and the other 
Christians who were with him to be shipwrecked at a place where they would be 
cared for by a warm hearted man of high authority.  Isn’t God good?  Can you not 
remember times when hardships came, but God made special arrangements for you to 
be provided for and take care of?  Isn’t God good?
	It was good of Publius to show such great kindness to those who were 
shipwrecked.  It was especially good that he showed kindness to the Apostle 
Paul, to Luke and to the other Christians, if there were any other.  But I would 
say that Publius was well repaid for the kindness that he had shown.  His sick 
father was miraculously healed.  It is not that no one else had tried to help 
his father.  We can be sure that Publius had already called for the very best 
physicians on the island to see and treat his father, but to no avail.  He was 
still gravely sick when Paul arrived.  But God had blessed him by sending the 
Apostle Paul his way and God, through Paul, miraculously healed his father.  
	Of course, it did not take long for this news to spread over the whole 
island of Melita.  V. 9, “So when this was done, others also, which had diseases 
in the island, came, and were healed.”  Not only was Publius and his father 
blessed by the presence of Paul and the other Christians, but the whole island 
was blessed by their presence.  They were blessed by having someone through whom 
God would work to heal their sick.  
	Let me say that there are many islands, many cities, and many countries 
today which are blessed by the presence of Christians.  Christians visit there 
and that is a blessing.  Christians live there and that is a blessing.  The 
unsaved may never know just how many great blessings come to them because of the 
Christians who are there.  Isn’t God good?  He is good even to unsaved people.  
God is good to the whole world.  
	According to verse 11, which we will not study today, Paul and the entire 
group who had been aboard the ship before it wrecked stayed on the Island of 
Melita throughout the winter.  They had to.  There were no ships traveling 
during those winter months.  Luke does not tell us whether or not Paul 
established a church while he was there on the island, but the evidence seems to 
indicate that he did.  Note the following facts.  First of all, we note that 
Paul was well received by all.  For a spell they thought he was a god.  We can 
be sure that Paul set them straight on this matter.  We can also be sure that he 
told them about the true God and about God sending Jesus to the world to be the 
Savior of men.  It is almost certain that under such favorable circumstances 
many people got saved.  
	For another thing, Paul and his fellow Christians were there for a full 
three months time,  (V. 11).  On some of Paul’s earlier missionary stops he had 
organized a church in an extremely brief period of time.  If a Paul did organize 
a church on the Island of Melita then it would be needful that some other 
Christian take over the task of teaching and training the young church in the 
ways of the Lord.

V.  Some lessons for us today

	We have already noted some of the lessons from this passage.  Let me 
mention one of them again.  Isn’t God good?  God had been good to the people of 
fhis old world just by not destroying the world again.  The world got so bad 
during the days of Noah that He did destroy the world.  He destroyed the world 
by water.  But this old word has gotten bad again  I did not live back in the 
days of Noah, but from what I read in the Bible and when I compare that with 
what I see in the world, it seems to me that the world is just about as bad as 
it was back in the days of Noah.  God has been good to this old world and to the 
people of the world not to destroy the whole world again.  I am afraid that if I 
were in God’s place and had God’s power and the world treated me the way that it 
has treated me, I am afraid that the world would be in grave danger of being 
destroyed.  But as good as God is, even God can take so much.  The world is in 
grave danger of being destroyed.  Only this time it will not be destroyed by 
water so as to be repopulated again by sinful man.  It will be destroyed by fire 
and will never be repopulated again by anyone who still has the sin nature 
inherited from Adam.  
	God has been good to this world by giving us the Bible.  It is so 
wonderful of God to warn men about the everlasting fires of hell and about the 
torment that men will experience who go to that terrible place.  It is so 
wonderful that God has provided a plan whereby lost sinners can be saved and 
have every sin forgiven.  It is so wonderful that God through the Bible had told 
us just exactly what we must do to get saved and to have our sins forgiven.  God 
tells us that a sinner must repent of his sin in order to get saved.  God tells 
us in the Bible that we must trust His Son Jesus Christ in order to be saved.  
We have a God-given book that tells the people of the world about the wonderful 
love 
	God has been so good to send someone to us to tell us about the Bible, 
about the Lord Jesus Christ and about His wonderful saving grace.  In other 
words, one of the best things that ever happened to me was when someone informed 
me that God loved me and wanted to save my soul and keep me out of hell.  One of 
the best things that ever happened to me was when I came to understand that I 
could call upon Jesus and ask Him to save my soul and take me to heaven when I 
die.  
	The very best thing that ever happened to me was when I called on Jesus 
and asked Him to have mercy upon my unworthy soul and to save my soul and keep 
me out of hell.  Many years have gone by since I called upon Jesus and asked Him 
to be my Savior.  But that is a night which I will remember as long as I live.  
It was the best thing that has ever happened to me.  
	
Conclusion:

	My Christian friend, let me ask you once again:  Isn’t God so good?  Was 
it not good of Him to save our souls?  Let us remember that every day and live 
our lives in a way that will please Him and in a way that will bring honor to 
His Holy name.  
	My unsaved friend, let me ask you also:  Isn’t God good?   Is it not good 
of Him to give even one opportunity you an opportunity to get saved?  Was it not 
good that God had given you many opportunities in your life to get saved?  Is it 
not good of God to give you at least this one more opportunity tonight to call 
upon Jesus Christ and ask Him to save your soul?