Open your Bibles, if you would,
to Acts chapter 18. We'll continue our study in this
wonderful book that we've been going through. We've been journeying
through the book of Acts. It's been amazing to see the
unfolding of God's eternal will and purpose through the pages
of Scripture. We'll be in chapter 18. We've
been journeying with Paul and Silas and Timothy through the
preceding chapters. because the Holy Spirit has given
us a record of their missionary journeys, and that, of course,
is for our learning. Scriptures are for our learning,
aren't they? They'll teach us the things of Christ. It's absolutely
wonderful, and those of you who were at Sunday school will see
how much this message will tie in also with the Sunday school
message. I'll give you a little brief
thing of that, where Paul is comparing the Christian life
Like what Travis said, the Christian life is running a race. And he's saying, don't let our
past sins hinder us and weigh us down, because it can, can't
it? But for the believer, he says,
I press forward, remembering that all my sins are forgiven.
They're all forgiven. And he presses on to the high
calling of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now remember, too, that it's
God who's sustaining us and giving us the grace and strength to
run the race. Because we can't do it on our
own. It's the grace of God in Christ,
the Holy Spirit working in us, strengthening us, giving us grace
to make it through each and every day. Last week, we looked at
Paul having entered Corinth. Where'd he go? Right to the synagogue,
didn't he? Right to the synagogue in the
city. And what did he preach? Well,
he preached that Jesus Christ is the risen Messiah, that he's
the Messiah sent by God, the long-awaited Messiah. Well, we
saw that some of the Jews rejected that preaching. They mocked Paul.
My. They mocked him, but not all.
The Lord saved the chief ruler of the synagogue, a man named
Crispus, who was one of the Lord's lost sheep. We see that in verse
8. Look at Acts chapter 18, verse
8. And Crispus, the chief ruler of the synagogue, believed on
the Lord. Look at that. And not just himself,
but it says, with all his house. And then it says, and many of
the Corinthians herring believed and were baptized. Look at that.
Notice the, because baptism doesn't save, do you notice the order? They believed and they were baptized. Gotta believe before you can
be baptized. Ah, that's amazing. That's what the scripture says.
So marvel that we're seeing here. What we are seeing here is the
birth of the Corinthian church. This is the birth of the Corinthian
church who Paul wrote two letters to. This is the birth of that
church. It's absolutely incredible. Let's read verses, let's stand
up and we'll read verses five to 11 together. Acts 18, 5-11,
we'll stand up and read this wonderful text. And when Silas and Timothy were
come from Macedonia, Paul was pressed in the spirit and testified
to the Jews that Jesus was Christ. And when they opposed themselves
in blasphemy, he shook his raiment and said unto them, Your blood
be upon your own heads. I am clean, from henceforth I
will go unto the Gentiles. And he departed thence, and entered
into a certain man's house, named Justice, one that worshipped
God, and whose house was joined hard to the synagogue. And Crispus,
the chief ruler of the synagogue, believed on the Lord with all
his house, and many of the Corinthians hearing believed and were baptized. Then spake the Lord to Paul in
the night by vision, be not afraid, but speak and hold not thy peace,
for I am with thee, and no man shall set on thee to hurt thee,
for I have, what, much people, that's many in the Greek, in
this city. And he continued there a year and six months, teaching
the word of God among them. Now the name of the message is
many people. Where it says much people, in
the Greek that's many. Many people. The Lord had a bunch
of lost sheep there. They have to hear the gospel,
right? Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God.
And God, the Holy Spirit, takes the preaching of the Word, and
He regenerates His lost sheep. They're born again. As the Lord
said, you must be born again. They're born again. They're given
faith to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and they're given
repentance. So both faith and repentance
are gifts from God. And then we never stop looking
to Christ, do we? And we never stop repenting.
We keep confessing to Christ our sinfulness and His gloriousness. It's wonderful. It's absolutely
wonderful. Now, our sovereign God before
time appointed the time and deliverance of His chosen people. This is
a fact. Because look at this, Paul, now
Paul's preached, and Crispus and many other Corinthians have
been saved, but the Lord says, don't leave this city, I got
many more. He hadn't even preached the gospel to them. That's called election, beloved.
God chose the people in Christ. We don't know who they are, Paul
didn't know who they are, so he preached to everyone, didn't
he? Preach the gospel, and preach this. Preach this fact, that
Christ came into the world to save sinners. Ain't that wonderful? That's wonderful news, isn't
it, Brother Tom? We're sinners, saved by grace.
That's wonderful news. I'm a sinner, saved by grace.
That's wonderful. It's still wonderful news to
our ears, isn't it? Even though we're saved. It's like, wow,
this is wonderful. My, my, oh my. We say, this is
incredible. Christ saves sinners? And who
is Christ? God in the flesh. Sent by the
Father to save sinners. Scripture says, He was sent by
the Father, thou shalt call His name Jesus, for He shall save
His people from their sins. It's amazing. And so for a preacher,
we know that the whole reason the church exists is for the
furtherance of the gospel. We proclaim the word. We proclaim
salvation in Christ alone, that Christ came to save sinners.
He redeems us with his precious blood. And God, leave it in God's hands.
Leave it in God's hands. Because he's the only one who
can save us, right? You know he can save us without us moving
a muscle? Because it's regeneration. You
must be born again. Oh my. So our sovereign God,
he has a people in this city who he's appointed before time.
He's chosen them in Christ before time began. He's chosen the time
of their deliverance from the bondage of sin. And he's chosen
the instrument that he'll use to have them hear the gospel,
which is Paul. And now we know from last week,
Timothy and Silas are with him. They're preaching the same gospel,
aren't they? Salvation through Christ alone, that Christ is
the Messiah. He rose from the grave. God's
satisfied with the sacrifice of Christ in the room and place
of his people. So think of this as we've been
seeing the unfolding of God's sovereign will and purpose. Paul
left Berea. He leaves Berea. He goes to Thessalonica too. He leaves that place. Then he
goes from Berea to Athens. Now he's come to Corinth. Because our Lord has appointed
a time for those many people to hear the gospel. And how shall
they hear without a preacher? Well, God sends them a preacher. Oh my, it is wonderful, isn't
it? It's wonderful. I remember an old preacher saying
to me one time, he says, you know, we're fishing in a stock
pond. You ever think of that? My dad
and I, when I was younger, we used to go to this stock pond.
We used to do creek runs. We used to go fishing along the
creeks, right? And he knew all the holes. He could find them
just like that. I was amazed. But then as he got older, he
didn't want to walk through all those woods, right? He says,
let's go to the stock ponds. So we go to the stock ponds.
You're almost guaranteed to catch a fish in those things. because
there's so many of them and they didn't feed these ones. And so
you just toss a line in and bam, you get hit right away. See,
all the preacher does is just cast the line, sow the seed. And what does God do? He gives
the increase, doesn't he? Oh my, it's amazing. I don't know who the Lord's people
are, but he knows. And I rejoice, don't you? Don't
you rejoice after the Lord saves us that He chose us in Christ
because we never would have chosen Him? My, what a Savior! What a Redeemer is Jesus Christ
our Lord! It's absolutely incredible. So
Paul has to leave Berea, he has to go to Athens, and now he has
to come to Corinth. All by the will and purpose of God. God's
guiding him, isn't He? right to where he wants to be.
Now, where God wants him to be. And at the exact appointed time,
he will preach the gospel, and the Lord will open the hearts
of those people. Remember Lydia? Lydia's just down having a prayer
meeting with a bunch of other ladies. Lord opens, she attains
to the things of the Lord, and the Lord opens her heart just
like that. Absolutely amazing. Oh my. So marvel, beloved of
God, as our appointed time, it's the appointed time for Paul to
be there in Corinth, for him to go to each place that he's
preached, and these wonderful truths even apply to the salvation
of all of God's elect. Brother Eric, we were in the
exact place that God wanted us to be, and we heard the gospel. How many times did we hear the
gospel and it just fell on deaf ears? Now, we may not even be
able to pinpoint a date, but we know now we're alive,
don't we? We know now we're born again. I'm always suspect sometimes
of those fellows. We were talking about that, Eric.
These fellows got all these dates. Oh, this is the exact date. Well. I just know this. I'm born again
by the Holy Spirit of God. I can't give you an exact date,
but I'll tell you I'm saved. I'm redeemed. And I know this.
Think of this. Somebody asks you, well, when
were you saved? Well, I was saved in time and space here, but actually
in eternity. Because Christ is the lamb slain
from before the foundation of the world. So in God's mind,
we were chosen in Christ. But again, like we've talked
about many times, that which God purposed and planned had
to come to pass in time and space. So God invents time and space,
invents this world we live in, creates it out of nothing, puts
time in space. We're constrained by time, God's
not. He lives outside of time and
space. Christ comes into time and space in this world, redeems
us with His precious blood, goes back outside of time and space,
and is now seated at the right hand of the Father, interceding
for us. And we are redeemed. He obtained
what? Eternal life for us by the shedding
of His blood. That's glorious, isn't it? That's
glorious. And again, as I said, all the
false gods of Rome and Greece and even today, you always have
to do something to please them. It's transactional. There's no
transaction in Christianity. Christ has done it all. And we're simply receivers of
the grace and mercy of God. My, oh my. Someone says, that's
too good to be true. No, it ain't. It's the truth. It's the truth. God is satisfied
with the sacrifice of Christ in the room and place of his
people. So much so that he says, your sins and iniquities will
I remember no more. And Paul tells us, as we looked
at in Sunday School, he says, don't let those sins of ours
from the past weigh us down. What did an old preacher friend
of mine say? Some guy called him, I told you
guys many times, I'm going to repeat it again. Young preacher
calls up this older preacher of ours, says, oh, I've sinned
so bad, I've just, and he says, repent and move on. Don't let it hinder the race
that you're running. Don't let it hinder you in the
race of life. Because we all have a past, don't
we? Every one of us has got a past. And there's things in our past
that could haunt us. Beloved, when I see the blood,
God tells us, I'll pass over you. I was reading
one commentator this week. He said, our sins have been drowned
in the blood of Christ. Isn't that amazing? Never to rear their ugly head
again. What liberty and freedom we have
in Christ, beloved. And Christ came to save sinners,
and I'm here to tell you I'm a sinner saved by grace, are
you? And I'll tell you this, he's never turned away anyone
who comes to him by faith. And that's God-given faith, too.
We can't even muster that up. For by grace he is saved through
faith, and that not of yourselves. It's a gift of God, not of works,
lest any man should boast. It's grace from beginning to
end, beloved, and everything in between. It's absolutely amazing. Let's read verses 9 to 11. This
will be our text today. Then spake the Lord to Paul in
the night by a vision. Be not afraid, but speak and
hold not thy peace, for I am with thee. And no man shall sit
on thee to hurt thee, for I have much people in this city. And
he continued there a year and six months, teaching the word
of God among them. Now I had planned on preaching
further down in this text until I looked into these three verses
and thought, I can't go any further. I gotta stop at these three verses.
I have to. Now, our Lord probably spoke
to Paul in a dream, or while he was sleeping, or it was a
vision when he was awake. We don't know. We don't know. It happened at night. We know
that. And he came to him, and it was
a vision from the Lord. And his word clearly states that
to be true. Look at verse 9. Then spake the
Lord to Paul at night by a vision. Now we've looked at, in our past
studies, Paul was bold in speaking the gospel, wasn't he? He was
bold in speaking the gospel to the unbelieving Jews. And telling them, in verse six,
that their blood was upon them, their own heads. Now, this was
interesting. Several commentators believe,
and after studying the text, I think it's true too, because
let us remember, Paul is just like us. Paul's not a super Christian. Let us not put these Bible characters
and think that they're super Christians. Because that's what
we have a tendency of doing, right? We vault these fellas
up. They're just like us. They're men of like passions,
just like us. And we see here, And we know this because the
Lord says, don't be afraid. Paul was fearing. Something had
made Paul afraid. And I think it's verse six. I think he might have been afraid
what these Jews might do to him. Because what had happened in
other places? He got beaten. Remember, they stoned him? They
thought he was dead! They stoned him! Left him for
dead! Well, I don't know about you,
but I think that would shake some of us up, wouldn't it? And it's only by the grace of
God. I love what Paul did. He's laying there, half dead,
and this is the grace of God at work. He gets up, and he goes
right back in the city. That's the grace of God. Because
in our nature, we go the other way, beloved. Is it not true? I'd be running after you, Eric.
And we'd have a whole bunch of us running after us. Right? We would. It's just in our nature.
But by the grace of God. You know what God gives us in
a time of need? Fortitude. He gives us grace and fortitude
to just say, no, this is wrong. To stand up and say, this is
wrong. Look at verse 6. So a lot of commentators believe
that he was fearful for his life. He was fearful for his life.
He's a man of like passions, like us. It's only by the grace of God
that we have the grace to be able to not run when we're talking
to someone and they're threatening us. I used to do street evangelism
and you get that all the time. People, they look at you and
tell you they want to kill you. Okay. It's just words. It's just people flexing. One time I was out with a group
of guys and this fella picked this one guy up, smallest one
of us, and he started going like this, like he was gonna throw
him out in the road in front of the cars. And the guy just put his Bible
in his arm and he says, you're not gonna do that. The guy put
him down and they took off. Lord gave that man fortitude,
didn't he? My. Because what would have happened
if one of us got put down? Whoa, right? And by nature, right? But see, God quells us. We're to be as harmless as doves,
but as wise as serpents. Oh, my. I'm not saying we're
to go and put ourselves in dangerous situations either. But isn't
this amazing? The Lord says to Paul, be not
afraid to speak. Don't be afraid. Do not be afraid. This is amazing.
Our Lord knows what's in our hearts, beloved. He knows us
better than ourselves. He knows our thoughts. So he
knew Paul was having fearful thoughts. He knew this. If it
wasn't true, he wouldn't have said to Paul, be not afraid. Right? So Paul's just like us. And remember,
you know what this is like, Brother Tom. Tom was a soldier in the
battlefield. Paul's in the battlefield here. We Christians are in a warfare,
beloved. We wrestle not against flesh
and blood, but against princes and principalities, spiritual
wickedness in high places. Look at this, let's read verse
nine again. Then spake the Lord, that's the Lord Jesus Christ,
to Paul in the night by vision. Be not afraid, but speak and
hold not thy peace. Now listen to this in the Greek
literal Bible. Now the Lord said to Paul through
a vision in the night, do not fear, but continue speaking and
do not be silent. In the Greek there, hold not
thy peace is one word. Don't be mute. Don't be silent. The Greek word for afraid means
to put in fear, to terrify, to frighten, to cause, to run away. Paul was afraid. We're not told
what he was afraid of. Again, I think it was from the
Jews, but that's just speculation on my part, and we shouldn't
speculate, should we, when it comes to the scriptures? So marvel, beloved, Paul is just
like us. Paul's just like us. There are
times that he's bold, and there are times when he's
afraid. There's times when he's full
of courage, and there's times he's fearful. There's been times when he's
wanted to run away from persecution. But mark these comforting words. Mark these comforting words.
Be not afraid, and hold not thy peace. Now, hold not thy peace, again,
is one word in the Greek. It means silent stillness, to
be silent, mute. So the Lord's saying, don't close
your mouth. Don't stop preaching the gospel. Don't be afraid, and don't stop
preaching. So what he's telling them is,
don't have the fear of man. And we preachers, we're not supposed
to fear man. We're not hirelings. Now, I know what I preach sometimes
offends people. In no way do we want to be offensive,
but the gospel's offensive. Because it strips men down to
nothing and shows us our desperate need for Christ, shows us we
can't save ourselves, and the only way we can be saved is by
the Lord Jesus Christ and Him alone. But no preacher, we don't seek
to offend people, not at all. But preaching the gospel will
offend. It will. And so Paul is told, don't be
silent. Don't be mute. Preach the gospel. What comforting words that would
be for Paul, right? Especially since he's being fearful.
He's afraid. And this would give him assurance
as he goes forth. And there'd be even more, we're
going to see in the next few verses, even more encouragement to go forward. To go forward
and preach the gospel. Several commentators think that
Paul was thinking about leaving Corinth. Yet even though he had enough
to encourage him with Crispus' conversion and the Corinthians, what we see in our text, he's
afraid. Because otherwise, if he wasn't afraid, the Lord wouldn't
have even mentioned it. You ever been afraid? You ever been afraid talking to someone
about Christ? You ever been afraid when someone
says something back to you about Christ? Be not afraid. You know why? Because the Lord's with us. Now, we may endure mocking. We
may endure that. Yeah. But remember, it's Christ
that they're mocking. It's Christ in you, the hope
of glory that they hate. That's what it is. Marvel not
that the world hate you, the Lord said. It hated me first. My oh my. So this is where Paul's at. And
because of that vision, Paul knew what was before him, and
so do we. Because it was recorded for our
learning. This is recorded for our learning, beloved. And the
Lord said to Paul, speak and hold not thy peace. Don't hold back. Don't hold back. Do you think
Paul ever softened the gospel? Nope. Not at all. You think Paul ever watered down
the gospel? Just read Galatians. You get
your answer real fast. He never did. No. People say, oh, don't judge things
nowadays. Don't do this. Do you know we
make judgment calls every day in our life? Every day. Why are we not to
examine what someone's preaching, which we are if we're Bereans,
right? That's all. Paul commended the Bereans because
they actually checked out what he was preaching. We are to listen to what a man
preaches and say, who gets the glory? Does God get all the glory? Does Christ get all the glory?
Or is that man bragging on himself? And if that man's bragging on
himself, he's not preaching the gospel. If he's telling you a
bunch of stories, trying to tickle your ears, he's not preaching
the gospel. We preach Christ and Him crucified. We preach Christ, the only Saviour
of sinners. We preach Christ, who by His
perfect sin-atoning work redeemed His people with His precious
blood. We preach Christ came to save
sinners, and every person who is born again, I'm chief. You know, that was a difference
when the Lord saved me out of religion. Because in religion,
it was always, well, you're a sinner, you're a sinner. In grace, it's
I'm a sinner. God, be merciful to me, the sinner. And I'm here to tell you, I'm
one sinner who's received mercy and grace through the Lord Jesus
Christ and Him alone. Not by works of righteousness,
which we have done, but according to His mercy, He saved us. It's wonderful. It's wonderful. So Paul said, the Lord says to
Paul, don't hold back. Keep on preaching the gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Don't be silent. And just the assurance of God
being with him was encouraging enough for Paul to continue to
preach the gospel at Corinth, knowing that no man would be
allowed to impose any kind of harmful pain on him. would have removed any fear that
Paul might have had of those unbelieving Jews. Listen to verses
nine and 10. I was looking at Wiest, who's
a Greek fella who does Greek translation. Listen to how he
interprets in the Greek, verses nine and 10. And the Lord said
to Paul during the night through a vision, stop being afraid. but continue to be speaking and
do not begin to be silent, because as for myself, I am with you. And not even one person will
assault you to do you harm, for I have a large group of people
in this city. Oh my. Now let's read verse 10,
look at this. Now what comfort here for every
believer in Christ. No matter what circumstance we
find ourselves in, God is with us. And remember this, God is
for us. He's not up there beating us. God loves his people with an
everlasting love in Christ. He loves us so much that he sent
his son, the word of God, to redeem us from all our sins.
The Lord Jesus Christ, God in the flesh, Look at this in verse
10. This is God telling Paul this.
For I am with thee. I could preach a thousand sermons
right there. God says that, brother Jim, to
Paul. I'm with you. My. And no man, look at this. Now,
not only is he with them, but he tells Paul that while he's
in Corinth, this is amazing, no man shall set on thee to hurt
thee. This is God's sovereign providence
at work, beloved. See, our God, we believe in a
sovereign God, don't we? And he says to Paul, Brother
Charlie, he says, not one man is going to hurt you. Not one man, not one person in
this city is gonna hurt you. Now, if I said that or you said
that to Paul, doesn't mean anything, does it? But God, the sovereign
God of the universe says to Paul, I'm with you and no one's gonna
hurt you. What comfort that is for us too
as believers, right? The same holds true for us, right? At the time of our appointment
of death, we shall die, but not a second before. I just love this. As a preacher,
and I know just as a believer, I look at this and go, this is
marvelous, because God tells Paul, I'm with you, and that's
true of every believer. For I am with thee. Oh Lord, burn that in my heart.
Burn that in this old sinner's heart. You're with me. You will never leave me nor forsake
me. And then he says to Paul, no
man shall sit on thee to hurt thee. For I have much people,
many people in the Greek, in this city. Or as Weiss brought
forth, I have a large group of people in this city. Oh my. So what do we see in verse 10
too? We see the restraining hand of God, don't we? We see that
God is sovereign. When God says to Paul, no one's
gonna touch you, you know what? Thomasia, no one's gonna touch
him, is he? No one! If we say that to each other,
well, no one's gonna touch you in Elmon. I can't guarantee that,
could you? But this is God saying this to
Paul. Oh, how that must... Could you
imagine that fear just melting away? God's for me. And he could tell
himself, he could wake up in the morning and say, God's for
me, God's with me, and no one's gonna touch me while I'm in this
city. I bet you he reminded himself
this. Just like we can wake up in the
morning and be, Lord, you saved my soul by shedding your precious
blood for me, a sinner. My, what grace we've received.
What mercy we found in Christ. So we see here God's sovereign
restraining hand on those ungodly Jews in Corinth. Oh, now think of this too. He
could have done that any time, right? He could have done that
when Paul was in Lystia and he got stoned. He could have done
it before when the Thessalonians chased the Jews in Thessalonica,
chased them out of Thessalonica. He could have restrained them,
but it wasn't his purpose. He's having Paul stay in this
place, in this place, Look at verse 11, and he continued there,
a year and six months. It's God's purpose that he was
gonna be in that city for a year and six months, because he must
preach the gospel, and God's got many people in that city.
And he said, the whole time you're in this city, no one's gonna
touch you. He had a year and six months
of reprieve. What joy must have filled his
heart. What joy must have filled his heart. So what can we conclude
that the Lord restrained the ungodly Jews at this time and
the ungodly people who would come against Paul for harm. And then in other situations,
he allowed Paul to go through a trial. Well, we can conclude that those
painful trials that Paul experienced were purposed by God, as well
as any other part of Paul's life. And Paul had learned that that
truth applies to all of us as well. What Paul had learned,
that truth applies to us all too. Think of all the trials
we've gone through. I think of Colin and your daughter,
what they went through. But there was a purpose in that.
We don't know what it is, but look at, man, he's preaching,
he's getting built up again. There's a purpose. Right? When I came here, some
folks left, remember? There was a purpose in that 10
years ago, and here we are now. We don't know why. But there's
a purpose in those things. The trials we go through as individuals,
the trials we go through as a church, it's all purposed by God. Some
things he takes care of right away, right? Other things he
lets us go through. But always remember this, for I am with thee. Even through
those painful trials we go through, the Lord is with us, beloved.
He'll never leave us nor forsake us. my in marvel what we see here in
verse 10 we see that god has many people
in this city god has chosen a great multitude
of humanity that he will save by the preaching of his gospel.
Again, we don't know who they are, so we preach the gospel
to everyone, and God does the saving. Can you save yourself? I can't
save myself. No, not at all. But I can tell
you about someone who can save anyone who comes to him, and
his name is the Lord Jesus Christ. Right? How do I know that? Because he saved my soul. I can't, Tom, I can't tell you
about my hometown because you've never been there. But I can tell
you I've been there. I grew up there. Same with you
with your hometown. We can't speak what we don't
know. Oh, my. My, oh, my. So we see in verse nine that
the fear of man must never stop the mouths of God's servants.
Never. And the Lord encouraged Paul
in a vision to faithfully continue preaching the gospel. Here are
three wonderful truths brought out of verse 10. Look at this.
Three wonderful truths brought out of verse 10. The first is
the presence of God with his born-again, blood-washed children.
First point. the presence of God, for I am
with thee. We can all grab a hold of that.
God is with us. Isn't that wonderful? Three precious
truths. The second precious truth is
that Paul has promised the protection of God. No man shall set on thee
to hurt thee. Fear not he who could destroy
the body, But fear he who can destroy both body and soul in
hell. God protects his people until
the day he takes us home. And then we're delivered from
this present evil world, aren't we? all because of the wondrous
works of the Lord Jesus Christ in saving our souls. And then
we see in our text that God reveals the purpose. He reveals to Paul
the purpose of him staying in that city. I have much people
in this city. Do you know the whole reason
why we're here as a church? It's for the furtherance of the
gospel. We're here as a local group of
believers. We gather together. We're family. We love each other.
It's wonderful. What we have here is so special.
Eric's even said, Eric and Sandy, the different places you guys
visit. This is wonderful what we have here. It's absolutely
incredible. It's all the Holy Spirit's doing.
It's all God's doing, beloved. It's all His doing. Let us never
forget that. It's all His doing. And let us
remember that he's for us, not against us. If God be for us,
who can be against us? It's God that justifies. Isn't
that wonderful? So, we're here for the furtherance
of the gospel. Number one for us in here. And
then we send the message out into the world through Sermon
Audio. And we've already seen the explosion going on there
by the grace and glory of God. It's all Him. He gets the glory. But that's why we're here, beloved.
Isn't that wonderful? And we get the benefits of being
together, fellow sinners struggling through this race of life. And we get the joy of sharing
the love that we have, the love of God spread abroad in our hearts
for each other too. It's absolutely amazing. Can
we imagine how much these words in verse 10, for I am with thee
and no man shall sit on thee to hurt thee, for I have much
people in the city. Could you imagine how much this
would encourage Paul? It encourages me as a believer.
Does it encourage you? Mine. Just reading this, I get
encouraged. His word will not return on him
void, will it? Not at all. So let us marvel
at these wonderful truths set before us. Turn, if you would,
to 1 Peter, 1 Peter 1. Let us marvel at the fact that all who were chosen in Christ
in eternity, all who were redeemed by the precious blood of the
Lord Jesus Christ, must be called through the preaching of the
gospel at God's appointed time. God says, you're gonna stay in
that city, because I got much people, they need to hear the
gospel, and they're gonna hear it at the appointed time, and
I'm gonna regenerate them and save them. Salvation's of the
Lord, right? Jonah 2, 9. It's all Him. And
how does He do it? Well, here, call Him. Through
the voice of a gospel preacher and by the power of God the Holy
Spirit. See, we're just mouthpieces.
We preachers, we're just blowing a trumpet. Somewhere between my mouth and
your hearts, God the Holy Spirit gets all those words and blesses
your soul, just like He blessed mine when I'm studying. Isn't
that amazing? Look at this, 1 Peter, look at
this, chapter one, verses 23 to 25, being born again, not
of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible by the word of God, which liveth
and abideth forever. So that's the preaching of the
gospel of God's free and sovereign grace in Christ, not by works
of righteousness, which we have done, but according to his mercy,
he saved us. We're either saved by Christ
alone through his perfect work, or we're not saved at all. You
add a pinprick of man's works, and you're not saved. Oh my. And I can confidently say that,
because I was in workspace religion. So were some of you. For all flesh is as grass, and
all the glory of man is the flower of grass. The grass withereth,
and the flower thereof falleth away. But the word of the Lord
endureth forever. And this is the word by which
the gospel is preached unto you." My, it's incredible. Born again.
not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible by the Word
of God, which liveth and abideth forever." So God, the Holy Spirit,
regenerates us through the preaching of His Word, gives us faith to
believe, and we trust Christ. We look to Christ. It's amazing. So Paul had learned that our
great God sends his preachers where there's sheep. The whole
reason I was sent from Oregon to here is because there's sheep
here. Right? It's true. My. And marvel how encouraged Paul
would be after the Lord Jesus Christ told him that he had much
people in the city, much more that Paul had to preach to. That's incredible. You talk about,
you talk about get the coals warm and fire and get them hot.
Oh my. He'd be, he'd be waking up going
ready to preach. Oh my, it's wonderful. Wonderful,
wonderful, wonderful. And he continued to preach no
matter how strong the opposition might be. We need to ponder these
holy words from the Lord Jesus Christ. I have many people in
this city. The Lord has lost sheep out there,
doesn't he? We put the gospel out and leave it in his hands. And how do we know God says?
We're proof. We're proof, aren't we? We're living proof that God says
we who are the redeemed of the Lord and marvel at how this would
perfectly harmonize with the doctrine of God's electing grace,
right? God chose a people. People get all worked up about,
well, maybe I'm not one of the elect. Whenever someone asks
me that, well, what if I'm not one of the elect? Do you believe
on Christ? Are you trusting Christ? Then you're one of the elect.
Stop worrying about it. Well, my faith goes like this
and I get down. It's not dependent on our faith.
It's dependent on what Christ has done. All of our faith goes
like this, doesn't it? Down and up and down and up. But Christ is constant. I am
with thee. God saved us, beloved, not just
a mere man. God saved us. Jesus Christ is
God in the flesh, sent from heaven by the Father. This is the most
glorious news sinners can hear. Christ came into the world to
save sinners. The question is, are you a sinner? Because not everybody thinks
that they're sinners. But if God ever shows you that
you're a sinner, you'll run to Christ. You'll run to Christ. And I mean a real sinner. I mean
a bona fide sinner. I don't mean like, oh, I did
this wrong. No, I mean someone who's on the
slave block of sin, right? Oh, my. My, so how this would encourage
Paul. Then look at verse 11. And he
continued there, a year and six months, teaching the word of
God among them. A year and six months. Paul stayed in the city of Corinth
for 18 months after the Lord spoke to him in
that vision. And he wasn't idle, he was preaching the gospel,
wasn't he? He was out preaching the gospel. He continued to preach
and teach the Word of God the whole time he was there. What
did he preach? Oh, he preached the complete,
finished, sin-atoning work of the Lord Jesus Christ in the
room and place of sinners, in the room and place of his people.
And Christ saved us from our sins. He saved his people from
our sins. And the Lord Jesus Christ, by
his perfect work, bought in everlasting righteousness, so that we can
be in the presence of God, clothed in his perfect spotless righteousness,
and not be found in our own righteousness, which is nothing. And by his
life of submission and obedience to the law of God, as our substitute,
as a man, The God-man, the Son of God, established righteousness
in this earth. Perfect righteousness. Perfect
righteousness. And this righteousness was performed
by Christ and Christ alone, our representative before God. And
it is this perfect righteousness performed by Christ which God
imputes to his people, clothes us like a garment. You know what
that white garment is in Revelation? That's the righteousness of Christ,
beloved. Oh, my. Marvel, we who are the redeemed
of the Lord, as God the Father declares us righteous by the
virtue of Christ's righteousness. We have no righteousness of our
own, but we are made righteous before God in Christ. Praise
his mighty name. What a saviour is Jesus Christ
our Lord. Paul preached that Christ satisfied
the justice of God. When he was there for that 18
months, he preached all these things, that Christ satisfied
the justice of God as our substitute. God demands the death of every
transgressor. The soul that sinned, it must
die. Christ, the great substitute, the perfect lamb, dies in the
room and place of his people. My, and God's wrath for our sins,
for the sins of his people, fell upon Christ. Fell upon him, and he bore it
all, beloved. He extinguished the wrath of
God that was against us. That's good news, isn't it, for
sinners? Oh my. Like Scott said, since I heard
the good news, I ain't heard no bad news. Oh my. Oh. And he satisfied the claims of
God's justice and law. How do we know? Because he was
raised from the dead for our justification. And he's seated
at the right hand of the Father right now, ruling and reigning
the King Supreme. Oh! Jesus Christ, our Savior,
has put away the sins of His people by the sacrifice of Himself. He took our sins upon them. They
were reputed to Him. He's perfect. He's spotless.
He's the Lamb of God in life and in death. Insofar as the law and justice
of God are concerned, our sins, the sins of all who believe,
are gone. They no longer exist. Really? Yeah. As far as the East is from the
West, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. Do you
know if you go East, you'll never stop going East. East will never
meet West. And if you go West, West will
never meet East. They're gone, beloved. God's people are bought and paid
for by the blood of Christ. What a Savior. So rejoice, beloved
of God. Christ put away our sins. As
I said earlier, He drowned them in His precious blood. So far as the law and justice
of God are concerned, they're gone. Romans, Paul wrote this,
quoting David, Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not
impute sin. Why? Because when I see the blood,
I'll pass over you. Oh my. By His perfect sinless
life and by His perfect sinless death, the Lord Jesus Christ
secured and guaranteed the eternal salvation of His people. It's
all Him. It's not based on anything we
do. It's all based on what Christ has done. Now that, that brings
us peace. I'm just looking to Christ. Are
you? By God-given faith, we're just
looking to Christ, aren't we? I stopped looking to myself. We look to Christ. We look to
the one who finished the work. And we're going to be looking
at, we're looking, we're looking at Him even before our feet and
our bodies get there. It's what Paul says when he's
running the race. He's looking at the finish line. Christ. Who are we going to see when
we enter into glory? Christ. Who are we going to worship when
we get to heaven? Christ. Who are the angels and all the
saints currently singing to? Christ. Worthy is the lamb that was slain
to receive glory and honor and power and blessings, beloved.
And we're going to join one day We're gonna join that great choir
singing that song, We Who Are God's People, and it'll be absolutely
amazing. Praise be to God for his wondrous
gift of salvation in and through the Lord Jesus Christ. Brother
Neil, can you close us in prayer?