Open your Bibles, if you would, to the book of Acts, chapter 18, and we will read three verses from this chapter, with verse 10 being the main verse. The name of the message is Many People. The context of these verses is Paul is in Corinth, and we will see that the Lord speaks to him, at night in a vision telling him not to be afraid. Now he's went through much persecution. Much persecution. And he tells him, don't be afraid. And he says to him, I have many people in this city. This is even before Paul's preached. So this shows us God's electing grace. He already has people in there. Paul's not met them. Paul's not preached to them. But the Lord says, you go and you preach the gospel, because I have many people here. Much, it's in the text, means many, many people.

Let's read Acts 18, verse 9 to 11. Then speak the Lord to Paul in the night by a vision. Be not afraid, but speak. Hold not thy peace. Preach the gospel. For I am with thee, this is the Lord God telling Paul, I'm with thee. And no man shall set on thee to hurt thee, for I have much people in this city. And he continued there a year and six months. Paul stayed there for over a half a year, or a year, a year and a half, he stayed there, teaching the word of God among them.

Now, the Lord Jesus Christ spoke these words to Paul while he was in Corinth, a city just fully entrenched, fully given over to idolatry. Like, I mean, it was a land, a city of utter immorality and utter idol worship and absolutely spiritually dead. spiritually dead, yet, look at this, this is astounding. Before Paul even preaches, and he's in this city full of idol worship, spiritually dead people all around him. And our Lord declares something absolutely astonishing. Look at this. He already had an elect people, a chosen people there, though they had not yet heard the gospel. They had not yet believed the gospel. And he tells Paul, for I am with thee, no man shall set on thee to hurt thee, for I have much people in this city. Don't hold your peace, Paul. Go and preach the gospel. I have much people in this city.

See, this is amazing because we gospel preachers look at this and we know from being taught this, but this is evidence of this, that in no way is people's salvation dependent upon us, but we are to faithfully proclaim the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm not supposed, I'm not to get up here and tell you how to do this and do that. But I'm here to point Christ, put Christ before you and point you to Christ, Jesus, the only Savior of sinners. The only Savior of sinners.

In the gospel preacher, what do we proclaim? We proclaim a perfect salvation in and through the Lord Jesus Christ. by his blood shed for us for our sins and his righteousness. So we're saved by the blood and righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ because he lived that perfect life that we never could. Oh my. And think of this too, this salvation that we proclaim. This gospel salvation of salvation in and through the Lord Jesus Christ alone brings forth that it is the Lord Jesus Christ who saves. He saves his people from all their sins. And this salvation that I preach to you is 100% of the Lord. He says he starts the work in us, we're born again, and he finishes the work. He takes us home and he does everything in between. Salvations of the Lord. Don't ever forget that. Don't ever forget that. Salvations of the Lord and him alone. We gospel preachers are simply mouthpieces. That's all we are. We're just mouthpieces trumpeting the great salvation, telling others the great things that the Lord has done for you. That's for all of us to do, isn't it? What is the one thing we can do as God's people? We can tell people the great things that God has done for me. He saved me, he saved my soul. He saved my soul. He did it by shedding his blood for all my sins at Calvary's cross and all who trust in him shall be saved. Oh my.

So let us look here at this text and we're gonna see the command of Jesus to Paul. This is a command to him. Paul had faced hostility. Oh, so much hostility. We've seen that in our study in the book of Acts. So much hostility, severe persecution. Why? For simply preaching the gospel of salvation through Christ alone, that Christ died, and that he rose again on the third day, and he's right now seated at the right hand of the Father, interceding for all his people.

Look at this wonderful statement we see here. This command from Jesus Christ, our Lord, to Paul. And what comfort we can get from this portion of scripture as God's born-again, blood-washed people. Look at this. For I am with thee. Now, we know as God's people, we've been taught this. It's been revealed to us by the Holy Spirit of God that Jesus Christ will never leave us nor forsake us. Look at this. Who is with us? The Lord God. This is the Lord God. This is Jesus Christ speaking to Paul. He says, for I am with thee. What comfort for the believer in Christ. God's with us. When? All the time.

And look at this. And no man shall set on thee to hurt thee. He tells Paul, there isn't gonna be, no man's gonna hurt you. And when God says, shall, he shall save his people from their sins. And he did it, didn't he? Praise his mighty name. And then he says, for I am with thee, and no man shall set on thee to hurt thee, for I have much people in this city. Go and preach. Don't be silent. Go and preach, because I have much people. He's talking about his lost sheep. He's talking about some of the sheep. He's talking about some of the sheep that the Father gave him for maternity. He's talking about some of those lost sheep who he redeemed at Calvary's Cross by the shedding of his precious blood. Isn't this wonderful?

So the Lord Jesus Christ is telling Paul, don't be afraid. I'm with you. The Lord God said that. God incarnated in the flesh. He's now risen. He tells Paul, I'm with thee. And we see from this text that God is with us too. Because we know in Hebrews chapter 13, it tells us that Christ said, I'll never leave you nor forsake you to his people. My, it's wonderful. So he's telling Paul, don't be afraid. Keep on speaking. Do not be silent. Oh my.

in the faithful proclamation of the gospel. And you know what, for the gospel preacher, I'll tell you this, for the gospel preacher, the proclamation of salvation through Christ alone, by Christ alone, from his word alone, is never an option. We must do it. We must. I remember several preachers through my life, and I haven't, I've only been a preacher for for about 18 to 20 years, somewhere in that range. But I'm thankful that faithful preachers told me, just keep being faithful and preach the gospel. That's all we're called to do, preach the gospel. Love the brethren, preach the gospel. Oh my.

So Jesus calls his people to speak boldly, his truth boldly and lovingly, even when the culture despises both the message and the messenger. Now our culture despises the message of Christ, but in love, we proclaim it. We proclaim it. My oh my.

Next, we see the assurance of Jesus. Again, he says, I'm with you. That's God himself telling Paul that. I'm with you. And think of this, the Lord's presence for every believer is our strength. Because we are weak. And the scripture says, in our weakness, he's strong. He's strong. So his presence is the believer's strength.

Though the world rages against us, and though Satan opposes the gospel of Christ, we see that Jesus stands with his people, sustaining us. How? By His omnipotent power, by His omnipotent grace, by His omnipotent mercy. This is something we can grab ahold of, beloved. God says, I'm with you. I'm with you. Oh, it's wonderful.

Next, we see the promise of Jesus. Oh, this is, I love this. The promise of Jesus here, look at this. I have much people in this city, before Paul's even preached the gospel to them. The Lord Jesus Christ says, I have much people. This is a city given over to immorality, given over to the worst debauchery, given over to idol worship. And the Lord says, oh, remember he says such as some of you? I can see this. I can relate to this, can you? Oh, we were dead in trespasses and sins, just like these people were. And we either thought worse things, or we may have even did worse things. But we had the same intents as them, beloved, in our hearts before the Lord saved us.

Oh, lest we look at them and go, oh, look, they're so wicked. No, we're all wicked. I was talking to some guys today, and I said, there's none righteous. No, not one. There's none that understand it. There's none that seek it after God. Oh my, and this one guy said, well, what about exercising our will? I said, there's none that seeketh after God. That means that you're not willing to come to God. But praise God. I told him, in Psalm 110.3, it says, thy people shall be made willing in the day of his power. Oh, he has a people, you see here? He has a people given to him by the Father. Oh my.

So what is the Lord doing here too? He's grounding Paul's confidence, not in human response, right? But in divine election, as Jesus Christ's sheep will hear his voice, and they will come to God by the power of God, the Holy Spirit. They'll be born again. They'll be given faith to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. and they flee to him. My, oh my.

The father has given his chosen people to the Lord Jesus Christ in eternity. Jesus Christ, our Lord, he redeemed his people 2,000 years ago with his precious blood. And the spirit affectionately calls them with an invincible calling, beloved. with an invincible calling, how? Through the preaching of the gospel, through the preaching of salvation through Christ alone, through his blood and righteousness.

And Paul's labor will not be in vain because God, look at this, how do we know Paul's labor won't be in vain? Because the Lord said, I have much people in this city. And then people aren't gonna come to Christ based upon Paul's doing, no. He's an instrument to preach the gospel, just like a surgeon uses a scalpel, just a tool. The quicker we learn that we're just tools in the hands of the Lord, my oh my, the better it'll be, because we'll give him all the glory and honor and praise. He must have all the preeminence, beloved.

So Paul's labor will not be in vain. God's word will not return to God void, no. It'll accomplish something. Oh yeah, because God, but here Paul's labor and his preaching won't be in vain because God had already decreed salvation for many within Corinth. Isn't that amazing? Man, they're called the elect of God. And so the preaching of the gospel is effectual to the elect of God and it's guaranteed It's guaranteed success by the power of God. Because God the Father already chose the people in Christ. Christ redeemed them. And then I stand in front of you and preach Christ, and God moves in a sinner's heart and saves his soul, and it's all Him. It's all Him, 100%. Salvation's of the Lord, in and through the Lord Jesus Christ.

And what do these truths do? These truths destroy pride, beloved. They destroy the pride of man. And you know what they do? Contrary to what people most say, they fuel evangelism. They fuel it, beloved. Because we know, I don't know who God's elect are, so I'm preaching, I'll preach to everyone. Someone asked me the other day, would you go anywhere to preach? Absolutely. If I had the chance just to preach the gospel. Oh yeah, I'll let it fly. And watch what God does with it. I might not see any results right away, but I'll tell you what, that word's gonna go forth with power. Not because of me, but because of the Holy Spirit taking his truth and making it effectual. Oh, it's wonderful. It's wonderful.

So it fuels evangelism, contrary to what people say. And it strengthens weary believers. When we hear the gospel, it strengthens us. Because we realize that the results of evangelism are never dependent upon human eloquency or strategy. We can rejoice, beloved of God, because evangelism, the results of evangelism, totally depend upon the Lord, just like preaching. Totally, 100% depends upon the Lord, salvations of the Lord. Oh my, it's all Him.

And we believers today, we live in a world just as wicked as Corinth. Do you know that? There's nothing new under the sun. People say, well, it was so bad back then. It's bad now. Wherever there's sinners, they're going to, and we're all a bunch of sinners, there's going to be trouble. There's going to be wickedness. So we live in a world just as wicked as Corinth, yet Yet, you know what? Jesus still has the people. How do we know that? Because he hasn't come back yet. Oh, my. My, oh, my. He still has many people in the world, in every place, men and women, whom he will save. He will save through the faithful, unflinching proclamation of salvation through Christ alone, his gospel, God's gospel.

In the hostility of a culture, the apparent futility of our own efforts or the resistance of lost sinners cannot nullify God's saving power. Isn't that wonderful? That's wonderful. The Lord Jesus Christ will not allow those whom he has chosen to be his people, the ransom by his bloody purchase of the shedding of his blood upon the tree to remain slaves of sin and Satan. They are His, given to Him by the Father and purchased by the Lord Jesus Christ through His precious, precious blood. They are His. He bought them. They are His. Their names are written on His hands and engraved on His side. All of His sheep will listen to His voice. They'll hear His voice one day. All of His sheep. My. And they'll follow Him. And He will give them eternal life. eternal life, and not one of them, not one of them, not one of them shall perish. Oh my. Do not be afraid. Keep on speaking about Christ. Do not be silent, because Christ is ever with his people, ever with his people, and he will gather them to himself through the preaching of his gospel.

My, oh my. John 10, 16 says this, and other sheep I have, that's the Gentiles, which are not of this fold, that's the Jews, them also I must bring. I must bring out by his power. And they shall, oh, hear my voice. And there shall be one fold and one shepherd.

I'll read that again. "'And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold, "'them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice, "'and there shall be one fold and one shepherd.'"

What a wonderful Savior is Jesus Christ, our Lord.

And what happened when the Gentiles heard this? In Acts 13, 48, we're told when the Gentiles heard this wonderful gospel, it says this. When the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and honored the word of the Lord, and all who were appointed for eternal life believed.

All who are ordained to eternal life, they believed. They believed.

What a wonderful Savior is Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen and amen.