05/10/2021 – Day 358 – Acts 27 – 28/ 1 of ? // 28:23: “Using the Law in Evangelism” – Paul’s example for us.
I would like to come back because there is much to comment on just on this death defying voyage sail to Rome. But let’s start with 28:23 and then I will follow my footnote the verse, a critical note on evangelism as we have seen quite frequently over the past year.
28:23: “So when they had appointed him a day, many came to him at his lodging, to whom he explained and solemnly testified to the kingdom of God, persuading them concerning Jesus from both the Law of Moses and the Prophets, from morning till evening.”
Now, the footnote commentary: “Notice that Paul used both prophecy and the Law in Moses in his evangelism. Prophecy appeals to a man’s intellect and creates faith in the Word of God. As he realizes that the Bible is no ordinary book — that it contains numerous indisputable prophecies that prove its supernatural origin — he begins to give Scripture credibility. However, the Law of Moses appeals to a man’s conscience and brings conviction of sin. A “decision” for Jesus purely in the realm of the intellect — with no knowledge of biblical sin, which comes only by the Law (Romans 7:7) — will almost certainly produce a false convert. See Romans 2:21 comment.
The Law’s part in tranformation is to make a person aware of his sin and of his need for divine forgiveness and redemption and to set the standard of acceptable morality.
Until a person acknowledges his basic sinfulness and inability to perfectly fulfill the demand’s of God’s Law, he will not come to repentence to seek salavation. Until he despairs of himself and his own sinfulness, he will not come in humble faith to be filled with Christ’s righteousness. A person who says he wants salvation but refuses to recognize and repent of his sin deceives himself.
Grace means nothing to a person who does not know he is sinful and that such sinfulness means he is separated from God and damned. It is therefore pointless to preach grace until the impossible demands of the Law and the reality of guilt before God are preached.” John MacArthur.
The concluding two verses of Acts tell us that Paul had “two whole years in his rented house”, after that time, he was martyrd by Nero, as was Peter in Rome.
Soli Deo Gloria!