SUNDAY - October 18, 2026 "Wrecked" Acts 28:1-10

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Acts chapter 28, verses 1 through 10 is where we're going to be today.

Acts 28:1–10

As you turn there, I don't know if you know the story of Horatio Spafford.

If you do, then you can hear it again.

If you don't, then you'll learn something.

Horatio Spafford was an attorney and a real estate investor in Chicago in the 1800s.

He lost everything that he had in the Chicago fire of 1871.

Also, along about that time when he lost everything, his four-year-old son died of scarlet fever.

A couple of years later, dealing with the grief and mourning, he thought it would be a good idea if his family took a vacation to England.

So in 1873, he sent his wife and four daughters ahead of him to England.

They were going to take this trip, but he had some business that he had to take care of in Chicago first.

And so he sent his wife and daughters ahead of him as he took care of his urgent business, but his business came to an abrupt halt when he received a telegram from his wife that said, Saved alone, what shall I do?

What Spafford learned is that on their way to England, the ship that his family was on sank.

And 200 people, including his four daughters, died.

So he got on a boat as quickly as he could, crossing the Atlantic Ocean.

And as he, the captain of the ship that he was on, knowing his story, as the boat crossed over the place where his family's boat sank, the captain summoned him to the deck, and he as he was out on the deck pondering, contemplating, trying to figure out what was going on, and he pinned these words.

When peace like a river attendeth my way, when sorrows like sea billows roll, whatever my lot, thou hast taught me to say, it is well, it is well with my soul.

As we face difficult times, I can't imagine how you can be.

And then we ask the question, how God, when someone who endures such tragedy and such struggle, how can they say, it is well, it is well with my soul?

As we look at the life of Paul and where he is at this point, he has dealt with struggle, he has dealt with tragedy, he has dealt with trial after trial after trial.

Yet we have seen him continually turn to God and keep his focus there.

This morning we are in Acts chapter 28.

Acts 28 · chapter mention

I invite you, if you are able, to stand with me as we give honor to the reading of God's word, we will read the first ten verses.

After we were brought safely through, we then learned that the island was called Malta.

The native people showed us unusual kindness, for they kindled a fire and welcomed us all, because it had begun to rain and was cold.

When Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks and put them on the fire, a viper came out because of the heat and fastened to his hand.

When the native people saw the creature hanging from his hand, they said to one another, No doubt this man is a murderer, though he has escaped from the sea.

Justice has not allowed him to live.

He, however, shook off the creature into the fire and suffered no harm.

They were waiting for him to swell up or suddenly fall down dead, but when he had when they had waited a long time and saw no misfortune come to him, they changed their minds and said that he was a God.

Now in the neighborhood of that place where were lands belonging to the chief man of the island named Publius, who received us and entertained us hospitably for three days.

It happened that the father of Publius lay sick with fever and dysentery, and Paul visited him and prayed, and putting his hands on him healed him.

And when this had taken place, the rest of the people of the island who had diseases also came and were cured.

They also honored us greatly.

And when we were about to sail, they put on board whatever we needed.

Let's pray together.

God, we thank you.

We thank you for this opportunity to open your word and see you.

God, we pray that this morning you will open our eyes, open our hearts so we can see you and know you.

Jesus, it's in your name we pray.

Amen.

So what we find in our passage today that Paul, as he was uh found himself on Malta, God used him and God revealed himself to the people of Malta through Paul's life as he sought to glorify God.

Now listen, we we've we talk about this, how we've we we are not on, we're not shipwrecked, and we're not, we probably have never been shipwrecked.

We still go through hard times.

We still face trials like Paul did, and what I hope that we can see in this is that as we face those trials, as we face those times, we need to continue to seek to glorify God and how we live and what we do.

The challenge for us is pretty simple.

Glorify God.

Seek to bring him honor, seek to bring him praise, and we're gonna see in this passage as we explore how Paul honored and glorified God through his life.

The first thing I think we see here is God, or is Paul honored God in his service.

In his service.

Now, remember where they are and what's happened.

Paul and 276 other people are on this boat sailing, trying to go to Rome, and they faced a, again, I said this word however long ago it was, three, four weeks ago.

You probably don't remember it, but I do.

It's a great word.

Tempestuous.

They faced a tempestuous storm, which means it was crazy.

For 14 days they have faced this storm for 14 days, day and night, just up and down and around and seasick and all of the things that they faced, thinking they were going to die, all the troubles for 14 days.

Finally, they reached a point that they say, hey, there's there's some land right there.

Let's just run our ship aground.

Let's just run it up on the beach and get there.

So they last week what we saw them is they pointed their boat to the beach and they were running to the beach just trying to get there.

But here's what happened: they got stuck on a reef out from the beach.

They didn't make it.

And as they were stuck on the weak reef, what it says, what it tells us is the waves, tempestuous waves, were still pounding the ship, tearing it apart.

The captain told people, hey, if you can swim, swim and try to get to the beach.

If you can't swim, there's plenty of wood in the water.

Grab some and make your way to the beach.

So here they go and they're swimming to the beach.

And what we know from Scripture is all of them make it because God had said they would all make it.

When God says it, it happens.

So they they all made it to the island.

But can you imagine?

Can you imagine the exhaustion?

Can you imagine how tired they must have been?

And listen, I remember as a kid, we would go visit my my mother's family, is from down south Mississippi in a town called Bay Springs, and I had one cousin who was a member of the Bay Springs Country Club, man, and I love to go visit Jeffrey and stay with Aunt Jean and Uncle Toby because here's why we would go swimming.

They had a cement pond.

And after going spending the morning swimming at the pool, and we would come home, man, and we would eat a ham sandwich or a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

And you know what we would do for the rest of the afternoon?

I think Aunt Jean had knew something that we didn't know.

We wouldn't do anything the rest of the afternoon.

Because swimming makes you tired.

We would be exhausted.

Now we were swimming in calm water.

Can you imagine the exhaustion of these people after 14 days of going through this storm and then swimming for their life through tempestuous waves?

How exhausted they must be.

I can't speak for them, but I tell you what I would probably do.

I would probably belly crawl up to this fire.

Thank goodness the people on the island were nice.

Built them a nice fire out on the beach.

I would probably belly crawl up to this beach and sit down and say, Y'all got anything to eat?

I am thirsty.

You got any water?

I can't do anything else.

I'm just gonna take a nap.

Peace.

That's probably what I would do.

But you see what Paul did?

You see where he was in verse 3?

In verse 3 of this thing, of this chapter, here's what it says.

When Paul, when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks and put them on the fire.

Listen, Paul has experienced everything that they had.

The storm, the swimming, everything.

Bound to be exhausted.

When he had gathered sticks, he put them on the fire.

And Paul is revealing to us a service like so often we don't want to recognize.

He is going above and beyond.

He is he is he is working even through tiredness, through exhaustion, through all the stuff that he's been through, he is still seeking to serve.

It reminds me of what Jesus tells his disciples back in Matthew chapter 20.

Matthew 20 · chapter mention

Matthew chapter 20, it's an interesting story.

Matthew 20 · chapter mention

If you start in verse 20, we'll pick it up.

Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came to him, that's Jesus, with her sons, kneeling before him.

She asked him for something.

He said to her, What do you want?

She said to him, Say to these two sons of mine are to sit, one on your right hand and one on your left hand in your kingdom.

Jesus answered, You don't know what you're asking.

Are you able to drink the cup that I am to drink?

They said to him, We are able.

He said, You will drink my cup.

But to sit at my right hand and my left hand is not mine to grant.

But it is for those for whom it has been prepared by my Father.

And when the ten heard it, they were indignant to the two brothers.

But Jesus called them to him and said, You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them.

It shall not be so among you.

But whoever would be great among you must be your servant.

And whoever would be first among you must be your slave.

Even as the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.

You see, the James and John, their mother, even the ten disciples hadn't picked up on this idea of service and what it means.

Let's see what Jesus is telling them here.

Here it is.

The Son of God, Jesus, came to this earth, lived a perfect life, a sinless life, went to a horrible death on the cross, was crucified, taking upon himself the wrath of God that you and I deserve, that they deserve, those very ones who are asking to sit at his right hand and left hand, the ten who are following, those very ones.

He died on the cross, taking upon himself the wrath of God that we all, they all deserved, was buried, rose three days later, and places on those who believe in him his righteousness.

He says, Listen, I didn't come to be served.

I came to serve and to give my life as a ransom for many.

When we grasp that, when we ponder and let that take effect in our lives, here's what happens it tears down every barrier to service that we can come up with.

There are no excuses.

There is no inconvenience.

There is nothing.

It tears all of those barriers away.

Jesus came to serve and gave Himself up for people who did not deserve it.

Paul is following the example of Christ.

And in our lives, even as we face hard times, difficult times, as we go through trials, as we go through tribulations, as we go through hard things, as we see, as we as we are experiencing those things and understand that Jesus went through those same things and died for me, it is those moments when we say, It is well with my soul.

Second thing I think we see here is not only do we see Paul showing us true service, but we see true justice.

So Paul bundled up these sticks and goes to throw them on the fire, and you see what he was given for doing that, right?

He bundles sticks, goes and throws them on the fire.

Apparently, in that bundle of sticks, there is a viper, a poisonous snake.

He goes and throws those sticks on the fire.

The fire somehow arouses the viper and poop, pops him on the hand.

Doesn't just strike him, hangs on here on his hand.

The people around him who saw that, the natives, the natives to the island, because the people on the boat, they've seen Paul at work.

Okay?

The people on the island, they hadn't.

They see him.

Look what it tells us in verse 4 here.

When the native people saw the creature hanging from his hand, they said to one another, No doubt this man is a murderer.

Though he has escaped from the sea, justice has not allowed him to live.

Justice has not allowed him to live.

That word that is used there for justice, I don't know if you're in your translation, in my translation, it's a capital J.

The New Testament word that Paul uses here could be, could be making a reference to the Roman goddess of justice.

Now we know that Luke, who wrote this book, did not believe in the Roman goddess of justice.

Honestly, we don't even know if the people on the island of Malta knew about the Roman goddess of justice, but here's what we do know: they had a sense of justice.

They had it because when that viper struck Paul's hand, they said, Look, he must be a bad dude.

I mean, he escaped the sea, good for him, but he didn't get far.

He's gonna die.

And they they they were waiting on him to swell up, or they're waiting on him to fall over, yet he never did.

I love what John Pohill, one of the commentators that I read and study using this, I love what he says about this.

He writes, Justice was not catching up with Paul.

Providence was preserving him.

Justice wasn't catching up with Paul, Providence was preserving him.

So the people they they see and they're they're expecting some kind of justice, but he never falls over.

And so all of a sudden, instead of thinking he's gonna die, they begin to proclaim, hey, he must be a God.

We've seen this happen to in Paul's life, even in the book of Acts.

In Acts chapter 14, Paul is proclaiming in the city of Lystra, he is preaching about Christ, and he sees a man who is lame, and in the middle of the sermon, he just looks up and says, Hey, get up.

Acts 14 · chapter mention

Now, see, I know y'all don't understand that.

Let me let me tell you, I see you.

That's why I wear my glasses, by the way, when I'm preaching, I can see you on the back row.

If I take them off, I can't.

Paul sees him.

He sees this man and just kind of stops and says, Hey, and God heals this man in the middle of the sermon.

And the people who see it, the people in Lystra, they see this and they go crazy and they want to start making sacrifices for Paul, to making sacrifices to Paul and to Barnabas.

But Paul and Barnabas, when they hear it, they they stop them.

In Acts chapter 14, if we start reading in verse 14 and pick up the story, here's what it says.

Acts 14 · chapter mention

And when the apostles, Barnabas and Paul, heard of it, they tore their garments and rushed out into the crowd, crying out, Men, why are you doing these things?

We also are men of like nature with you, and we bring you good news that you should turn from these vain things to a living God who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them.

In past generations, he allowed all the nations to walk in their own ways, yet he did not leave himself without a witness, for he did good by giving you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, satisfying your hearts with food and gladness.

What Paul and Barnabas recognize in Acts chapter 14 is they begin to they want to worship them as gods, and they said, No, there is one true God.

Acts 14 · chapter mention

You need to worship him.

As you come back to Acts chapter 28, that they begin to call Paul God.

Acts 28 · chapter mention

Now we don't know, it doesn't tell us that Paul began to proclaim to them, but we know Paul's attitude towards this.

And we know that, and we know that Paul did this because he knows true justice.

Just like the people on Malta, we have a sense of justice.

Because we are created in the image of God.

Here's the problem with our justice it is skewed by sin.

We are sinners.

And what Paul is showing us is is justice, is true justice is this.

True justice is that we all deserve to die.

We have all sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

And the wages of that sin is death.

It is eternal separation from God.

But God loved us so much that He sent His Son Jesus.

I've already talked about it.

I'm gonna say it again.

Not gonna say it enough.

Jesus came, lived a perfect life, died on the cross, taking upon himself the righteous justice from the only just God.

Jesus took that upon himself, was buried, arose, placed his righteousness on us, justifying us.

He made us holy, he justified us.

See, we all deserve death.

We all deserve separation from God.

But God loved us, and he sent his son to justify us.

Paul in Acts chapter 14 pointed people to that God.

Acts 14 · chapter mention

Finally, this morning, what we see, we've seen true service and we've seen true justice, but we see true grace.

The head of the island, Publius, has Paul.

We don't know who all else, but we know at least Paul invites Paul to his house and shows him hospitality and entertains him, gives him food for three days.

During that time, Paul finds out that his father, that Publius' father is sick.

So he he goes in and God heals the dad through Paul.

There's a couple things I want us to see in this.

One is that Publius' dad did not ask to be healed.

Nor did Publius ask Paul to heal him.

Yet God healed him through Paul.

Why?

Because God is a gracious God.

The very word grace means unmerited favor.

It was not because he didn't heal the dad because Publius had been nice to him.

He didn't heal the dad because they had asked to be healed.

He didn't heal the dad because they were people of great faith.

He healed the dad because he's God, he's good, and he's gracious.

He had done nothing to earn it, nothing to deserve it.

He healed him because he's gracious.

He's a gracious God.

The second thing I want us to see here is we've talked about miracles a lot through the book of Acts.

We talk about them being performed and what they mean.

And I'm going to tell you again my thoughts on this.

One is, I'm not going to stand here and tell you what God can and can't do.

I'm not God.

It's a good thing that I'm not him.

He is way bigger than me.

I'm not going to tell you what he can and can't do.

I'm not even going to tell you what he will and won't do.

I'm not God.

But I can tell you what I believe right here.

It seems like throughout the book of Acts and throughout the Gospels, when Jesus healed, he was demonstrating something.

He was showing something.

He was showing that God was at work.

He was revealing God's working among the people.

Now, today, while God can do any miracle he wants to, and he may, it seems to me that he doesn't need miracles to reveal himself to us because he has given us his written word.

He has revealed to us himself through this.

The disciples didn't have that.

The people in Acts didn't have the complete written word of God.

They needed revelation.

We have the revelation.

So here's here's what this would be my encouragement of you.

God's word is a gracious gift to us.

So instead of out being out looking for a sign from God, wondering if he's God or not, let's look at how he has already revealed himself to us through his word.

This is a gracious gift.

Let's look for him here.

Let's start here and see what he's doing.

He is a gracious God.

But can I tell you about a miracle that we see all the time?

And sometimes overlook is a miracle.

In the book of Ephesians, chapter 2.

Ephesians 2 · chapter mention

If we start reading in verse 4, we hear not only a miracle, the greatest miracle, aside from the resurrection.

Here's what he says.

But God, being rich in mercy because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together.

Made us alive together with Christ.

By grace you have been saved.

And he raised us up and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace and kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

Here's a great miracle.

We were dead in our trespasses and sins.

We were dead.

Believers, we were dead in our trespasses and sins.

But God, he reached down into the grave which we were buried, and he pulled us out, making us alive together.

And he didn't just pull us out and say, hey, there you go, have fun.

No, he pulled us out and he set us with him in the heavenly places, not because we deserved it, not because we earned it, not because of anything that we have done.

He did it because we are saved by grace.

It was his grace that reached into our grave and pulled us out and seats us with him in the heavenly places.

He is a gracious God, a miracle-working God, because he saves us and seats us with him in heavenly places.

Thank God.

So listen, when we see this and we understand this, and here's what happens when we recognize the graciousness of God, that he saves us, that he justifies us, that he justifies us because he died in our place and places on us his righteousness.

It causes us to serve him.

And it causes us to glorify him.

I think of the other verses of it as well.

We know the first, but and we sing the other verses so often, but if you ever just stopped and not sung them, sometimes sometimes when we sing, we're we're worried about the rhythm, not me, because I don't have any, but we're worried about the rhythm and we're worried about the melody and we're worried about all of these things and we miss the words.

But can I read to you the other verses?

Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come.

Let this blessed assurance control that Christ has regarded my helpless estate and hath shed his own blood for my soul.

My sin.

Oh, the bliss of this wonderful, this wonderful, this glorious thought, my sin, not in part, but the whole is nailed to the cross and I bear it no more.

Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, oh my soul.

And Lord, haste the day when my faith shall be sight, and the clouds be rolled back as a scroll.

The trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend, even so.

It is well with my soul.

Listen, I don't know where you are today.

You may be in a place where it is not well with your soul.

And you can't sing these words because you have never trusted in Christ as your Savior.

Oh, I pray that today will be the day of salvation.

We're gonna stand and sing a hymn of invitation as we sing.

We're gonna invite you to come.

People will take you and counsel with you and share with you how you can trust Christ.

If you have trusted in him, but maybe you're just living in a place and you're you you you you've forgotten the magnitude of what Christ has done for us, and you're not serving, and you're not doing those things.

Listen, maybe this morning you need to repent.

We invite you to come and kneel at this altar.

We would come to us, we'd love to pray for you, or just do that at your chair.

Maybe this morning you're looking for a church home.

In just a moment, as we stand and sing this hymn of invitation, we invite you to come.

God, thank you.

Thank you for how you love us and thank you for all you've done for us.

God, thank you for an opportunity that we have now to respond to your message, to respond to your working.

To respond to the grace that you have poured out on us.

God help us now.

Give us the faith that we need to respond as we need to.

Jesus, it's in your name that we pray.

Amen.

Thanks for listening to this week's sermon.

If you have any questions for our pastor, feel free to reach out at DeSotoHills.com.