Acts 28:23 - Homilies By R.a. Redford

The Christian advocate putting forth his pleas.

"Persuading them concerning Jesus." Importance of the crisis. Jerusalem. Rome. A few years, and Jerusalem destroyed. Judaism brought Paul in fetters to Rome. The old Jerusalem and the new Jerusalem struggling together. Brief notice of Paul's labors at Rome, and then the book closes. Significant of the fact that the new dispensation was inaugurated. Peculiar population of Rome, representative of the cosmopolitan Roman empire, a fitting ground for the gospel to be sown in.

I. THE MATTER OF THE MESSAGE . "Concerning Jesus." (Compare the Epistles to the Romans and Hebrews.)

1. The righteousness of God set forth, instead of man's righteousness.

2. The priestly office of Christ abolishing ritualism, and opening the gates of the spiritual temple.

3. Jesus the promised King, the Lifter-up of the fallen people, the Desire of all nations, the Renovator of the world. Compare with such a setting forth of Jesus, the state of the Jews and Romans, in faith, worship, and hope, both in the individual and in society, both for time and for eternity.

II. THE METHOD ADOPTED by the messenger. Persuasion.

1. The written Word of God the basis. The Old and the New Testaments harmonized. Faith is an outcome of faith: "Ye believe in God, believe also in me."

2. Personal testimony. "I am a Christian; be such as I am." True persuasion is personal. We must aim at the heart, and not merely at the intellect; and the heart must direct the aim.

3. Those that would persuade must be prepared to use none but spiritual means. Neither sensational excitement, nor ritualistic seductions, nor corrupt appeals to lower natures, are permissible to the Christian advocate. Let truth win its victory.—R.