Seeking for the help of the Lord,
I direct your prayerful attention to Acts chapter 18 and reading
from our text, verse 27. Verse 27. And when he was disposed
to pass into Achaia, the brethren wrote, exhorting the disciples
to receive him, who, when he was come, help them much which
had believed through grace. Acts 18 verse 27, it's particularly
the latter part, upon my spirit, when he was come help them much
which had believed through grace. The subject is helping them which
have believed. Now our text is speaking of Apollos,
and how that he helped those in Achaia, Corinth being the
chief of that city, those that by the grace of God had believed. And what a lesson that this is
to us, that those that believe, they still need instructing,
they need to be established in the truth. And when we think
of the testimony of the Word of God. We have our Lord in John
8, having those that believed on him there. And the Lord said
to them, if ye continue in my word, then shall ye be my disciples
indeed. Ye shall know the truth, and
the truth shall make you free. And he implies that, yes, they
believed. They believed. the Lord Jesus
Christ, He was the Messiah, but many other doctrines and truths
they did not yet believe or perceive or understand, they had to be
taught. We have the same with those under
one Sermon of Peter in Acts 2, were brought from being those
that crucified the Lord Jesus Christ to being pricked in their
hearts, to believing that they had indeed crucified the Saviour,
they'd crucified the Son of God. And they received that word,
they fell under it, they believed, they were baptised. But again,
what instruction did they have in all of the truths of God,
the deep truths of God? Very, very little. We have the
same with the Philippian jailer, He was brought by the means of
Paul and Silas, singing and giving praise to God in the prison,
and then the earthquake, and then Paul preaching to him in
his house, brought to believe. And again, they were brought
to believe and to be baptised when there would have been many
truths, many things that they were ignorant of. We think of
this sermon, Philip preached to the eunuch one sermon going
from a passage that the eunuch didn't understand in Isaiah 53. Whom speaketh the prophet this
of himself or some other man? And speaking of the prophecy,
he was led as a lamb to the slaughter, as a sheep before her shearers
is dumb, so he opened not his mouth. Speaking of the sufferings
of the Lord, of the judgment and of his sufferings. And Philip, he began at the same
scripture and preached unto him Jesus. And the eunuch wanted
to be baptized. And Philip said, if thou believest
with all thine heart, thou mayest. He said, I believe that Jesus
is the Son of God and he is baptized on that, on that profession. And yet with him, There would
have been many things that he would not have known, he would
not have been able to clearly articulate why he believed or
even be able to contend with the Jews who were going opposite
and saying that Jesus of Nazareth was not the Christ. They were
not, no doubt, able to resist those that were opposing them. teaching, establishment and help. And here we have the same with
those here in Corinth. And so it is in this way I felt
drawn to this word here with Apollos, he helped them much
which had believed through grace. Those are sacred characters that
are used as a help. You know, we might say, well,
was he made a blessing to them? But in some ways, it's lovely
when it's put in this way. Does the word preached help us? Does the instruction and example
and teaching of brethren help us? And the implication here as well,
those that believed, even though they believed by God's grace,
they truly were partakers of grace, they needed helping. They needed instructing. You
don't have to have a theological degree to be baptized. You don't have to come up to
a certain standard before you can be baptized. the teaching
of this passage and right through the scripture. Those that received
the word gladly were baptized. Those that believed, those that
by the grace of God had their ears open to receive the word,
they were baptized. Baptism is the beginning, it's
not the end. It's not saying, well, when I
can, answer all the questions and understand all the scriptures,
then I'll be baptised. No. Those that first had the
light and joy and gladness and realised the truth and realised
the Lord Jesus Christ was the true Messiah and had that first
love and first joy and first light, that's when they were
baptised. And then they were taught. Well,
I want to look with the Lord's help this evening. Three points. Firstly, God preparing a helper
for believers. Apollos, in this passage, we
have told right from the very start of the passage to the end
here where our text is, how Apollos was prepared to help those which
had believed through grace. And then secondly, God preparing
a people to be helped. There are many that it would
be useless to try and help them, they don't want help. But he
was evidently a people that had been prepared to be helped. And then lastly, the help that
believers need. Who when he was come helped them
much which had believed through grace. And we can add the last
verse, therefore he mightily convinced the Jews and that publicly
shown by the scriptures that Jesus was Christ. But firstly, let us look at God
preparing a helper for believers. And I hope in looking through
this that we will see the wonderful providence of God, the steps
that God takes to prepare a helper. And I hope those of us in the
ministry, we can see the steps God has used for us. Many of our hearers maybe would
be ignorant of what our experience is or what steps or places we've
been in Providence that have brought us to be able to stand
before a people and to preach the word. How many of these Jews
here, how many of them of Corinth would have really appreciated
all that Apollos had gone through, that he could have been then
a help to them. He wasn't, as it were, born a
helper, he needed to be made a helper, and he was by God. And I want to trace with you,
there is seven steps throughout this chapter that God prepared
this helper for believers, Apollos. And it doesn't begin with Apollos. The beginning of the preparing
of Apollos, it begins with Priscilla and Aquila. We read of them in
verse two that A certain Jew named Aquila, born
in Pontus, latterly come from Italy with his wife Priscilla. And we are told why they came
there. It was because they had been
expelled from Rome. Now you think of what these people
have gone through. What if our government was to
make a decree and say we want all Christians to get out of
Kent or to get out of England. No, they had to leave Rome, they
left their country, they left Italy, they went into Greece,
into Athens. They had been through great trials
that moved them, moved them, in Providence to Corinth. And that really, not only were
they forced to leave Rome, but there was the Providence, why
did they choose Corinth? They could have gone anywhere,
but they went there. And we read that Paul was there,
And Paul stayed there for a year and six months, 18 months, and
he was preaching. And specifically what Paul was
preaching, in verse five, testified to the Jews that Jesus was Christ. So we have here Priscilla and Aquila and they
are being taught and they are being instructed in this truth, Jesus was the Christ. Then we read in verse 18 that
Paul, he tarried there a good while but then he left And he
sailed then, now the word says, into Syria. Now, he did go into
Syria, but in one sense, in this verse, in the narrative, he is
sailing unto Syria via Ephesus. Ephesus is Asia and Syria. You're going at the end of his
journey down to He went to Caesarea and he said, then go down to
Antioch. In my way of thinking, often
down is south and up is north. Well, actually, in Paul's journeys,
he went down to Caesarea and then he went up to, in the map,
to Antioch. But here in the account here
with him, is Priscilla and Aquila and he comes to Ephesus and Paul
leaves them there. He himself is going on in his
journey but he leaves Priscilla and Aquila there. Now that is very important that
they were left there at Ephesus. Because it is there at Ephesus
that Apollos comes. In verse 24, we have, and a certain
Jew named Apollos, born at Alexandria, an eloquent man, a might in the
scriptures, came to Ephesus. So here in God's providence,
we first have Priscilla and Aquila expelled from their country.
They choose to go to Corinth. At Corinth, they're really grounded
in the truth of the Lord Jesus Christ. Then they go to Ephesus,
and there Apollos comes to Ephesus, and those two are brought together. And we never think that meetings
come by chance, They are appointed. And here it certainly was appointed. Now we're told quite a bit about
Apollos, where he was born. We're told that he is an eloquent
man. He was able to speak very clearly. He was given very fluency in
being able to speak. And mighty in the scriptures.
He knew the Word of God. He knew the Scriptures. That's
the Old Testament Scriptures very well. No, it's a good thing to be well-grounded
in the Scriptures. There's a lesson to us here though
as well. We may be well-grounded or well
know the Scriptures very well, but we do need them interpreted. Those two in the way to Emmaus,
they were so downcast. They couldn't bring together
what had happened at Jerusalem with the Old Testament scriptures. And the Lord began at Moses,
in all the scriptures, the things concerning himself, ought not
Christ to have suffered these things and enter into his glory? Well, here is Apollos, well-grounded,
mighty in the Scriptures, he comes to Ephesus. This man was
instructed in the way of the Lord. In the way of the Lord. Now, you may view that in the
Old Testament Scriptures, in the way that God deals with his
people. in the types and the anti-types,
the way of salvation, and being fervent in spirit, one that was really believed
what he believed and was very fervent and active and urgent
in how that he preached and set forth that which he believed.
He spake and taught diligently There's so many words to describe
this man, what he was, a fervent man, a diligent man, teaching
diligently the things of the Lord. But then we read this,
knowing only the baptism of John. Now John, of course, was the
last of the prophets. John, he preached repentance. John, he pointed to the Lord
Jesus Christ as the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the
world. But John, our Lord said, the
least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than John. Those that were after John never
saw our Lord crucified and slain. and risen. John never knew the
day of Pentecost with the pouring out of the Spirit. When we think
of the disciples, even when our Lord was ascended up into heaven,
they said, will thou this time restore the kingdom unto Israel? They did not know clearly the
plan of salvation as revealed when the Holy Spirit fell shone
upon all the Old Testament scriptures when it was then clearly opened
up and the Lord blessed especially the Apostle Paul, and we have
that in his writings, in his letters, the doctrines and truths
of salvation so clearly opened up. But Apollos did not know
this at all. He could preach the need of repentance. He could preach that the Lord
Jesus Christ was the Christ, was the Messiah. But he couldn't
go further. He only knew the baptism of John. And he began to speak boldly
in the synagogue. This is Apollos. Apollos, not yet in a position to be able
to be a help to those that are believed through grace, but God
brought him to be with Priscilla and Aquila. And you know that
man and his wife, They didn't look upon us and say, you're
preaching error. You don't know the truth. They
didn't condemn him. They didn't discourage him. But what we read they did. They took him unto them. and expounded unto him the way
of God more perfectly. They had been prepared by being
taught through Paul, and now they are teaching Apollos here
at Ephesus. You might say a teacher being
taught. We know really all of God's people. We read, they shall all be taught
of God. But God uses teachers. He uses
Paul to teach Priscilla and Aquila. He uses Priscilla and Aquila
to teach Apollos. And then we have Apollos in verse
27, our text. disposed to go to pass into Achaia,
which Corinth was the chief city. We don't read of his leadings,
we don't read of why, but he was disposed to go, he wanted
to go. So now he's going back where
Paul had been with Priscilla and Aquila, was it the case that
Priscilla and Aquila had said, God had said to Paul there was
much people in that city? They'd been there 18 months. They would have been able to
tell Apollos much of what had been there. But Apollos might
have thought, well, If you've come to me like this and Paul's
been there that long, they don't need a teacher, they don't need
to help. I've already been taught, I've already been instructed,
no need for me to go back there. But he was disposed to go. And
he went. And there was a letter that went
with him. The brethren wrote. exhorting
the disciples to receive him. What if the disciples at Corinth
had said, we don't want this man teaching us? Again, there's a need for a recommendation
of the brethren. And sadly, there's a solemn thing. Sometimes it happens. The minister
is sent out. And there's other brethren that
actually do the opposite. By phone calls or by letters,
they say, oh, don't have that man. He's a bit legal and he's
a bit wrong and he preaches things a bit wrong. What a solemn thing
to be in that position. Well, here, it was the other
way around. They exhorted the disciples to
receive him who had just been taught the way of God more perfectly,
who was a man that was fervent in spirit, a diligent teacher,
and now he is furnished with knowing the way of God more perfectly. And so then he comes, and he
comes to Corinth, he comes to Achaia, And we read then in our
text, who, when he was come, helped them much. It doesn't
just say help them. Helped them much. They did need
helping. They were helped. They were able
to speak of what a blessing, what a help he was to them. Helped them much, which had believed
through grace. So here we have God preparing
a helper for believers. How many steps in the chain? How many lessons that helper
needed to have and those that helped him or taught him had
to be taught as well? Takes away pride, doesn't it? When everyone that God uses realises
that they have also had to have been taught. How it would have
humbled Apollos when he come across believers at Corinth that
hadn't quite got it, that didn't fully understand. You'd think,
that was me. I didn't fully understand either.
He could come right where they are. And he could explain those
truths to them, and he did. And he much helped them. There's
a lot to meditate and think upon in this chapter. May we relate
it to our ministers and to those that teach us, remembering that
Priscilla and Aquila were husband and wife, they weren't ministers. And yet they were a vital link
in this chain. Individual Christians, a great help to the Church of
God when they can have the same spirit as Priscilla and Aquila. Even though they'd passed through
much tribulation and persecution, So then our first point, God
preparing a helper for believers. And in one sense it doubles the
blessing, doesn't it? If we come and we are blessed
under the preached word, or hearing the word, or being helped, and
then we realise all what God has done to bring that word,
to bring that preacher, just to bring the word to us. It doubles
that blessing. It makes it even more special
that the Lord has done all of this and we're at the end of
it receiving the benefit and the blessing of the teaching.
So then in the second place, God preparing a people to be
helped. We read in our text, not just
that Apollos helped some people, but helped them much which had
believed through grace. We read of Paul's epistle to
the Ephesians in chapter two, that It is through grace, for
by grace i.e. save, through faith, and that
not of yourselves it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any
man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created
in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained
that we should walk in them. the grace of God, the free unmerited
favour of God, that God takes a sinner dead in trespasses and
sins and passes by them while they are in their blood and bids
them live. The gift of life, the new birth,
is God's sovereign work to give new ears and new eyes and a new
heart, bring them to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and
bring them to be teachable. Very evident that for these that
had believed through grace to receive much help through Apollos,
they were teachable by an ear Hath he opened? How teachable
are we? Priscilla and Aquila had been
taught through Paul. They'd been teachable. Paulus, he hadn't said, well,
I'm already mighty in the scriptures. I probably know the scriptures
more than you, Priscilla and Aquila. No, he was teachable. And He comes to a people as well
that are teachable. Any teacher in our primary schools,
secondary schools, will know how hard it is to teach a class
that doesn't want to be taught. And how hard it is to teach someone
who is a know-it-all and thinks that they know it all and don't
need teaching. But God made a people prepared,
a people to be helped. And the way he prepared it was
by calling them by grace or bringing them to believe through grace. They had not believed through
the arguments of men. They had not believed as a schoolboy
learnt his task. But by the grace of God, God
had opened their hearts like he did to Lydia. whose heart
the Lord opened. It is Christ that makes a believer
and gives him his crown. It is God's work. This is the
work of God, our Lord said, that ye believe in him whom God hath
sent. What a picture we have of really
what the work of grace is in this text. We mentioned at the
outset that one does not need a theological degree to prove
that they are called by grace. You can see here those that were
called, they believed, but they needed instructing and teaching. The vital thing is that there
is life He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it unto
the day of Jesus Christ. And in these believers here,
the way he was continuing to perform it was working these
wonderful providences in bringing a person that was so suited to
them, Apollos, to be able to preach and speak to them. God knows how to suit a pastor
to a people, a preacher to a people, to enter into their path and
to be able to be a help to them. But we have the picture here
that really separates off knowledge or understanding from the grace itself, from life
itself. but it makes a person prepared
to be helped and to be taught. What a mark of grace. Were those that were around the
Lord when He was being crucified, crying, crucify Him, crucify
Him, away with Him, were they teachable then? No. But on the day of Pentecost,
when the Holy Spirit fell, and under Peter's preaching, they
were teachable. They fell under the Word, they
heard the Word, they gladly received the Word, they were baptized. Who made the difference? God
made the difference. Tarry at Jerusalem until ye be
endued with power from on high. The Lord calling by grace through
the ministry, through the word, but that be, as it were, separate
from the teaching and instructing. The word came unto you, not in
word only, this is what was said of the Thessalonians, but in
demonstration of the Spirit and of power. Every child of God. needs that
work that God begins, and that grace that He gives, the free
and sovereign gift of eternal life. Our Lord says, I give unto
them eternal life. They shall never perish, neither
shall any man pluck them out of my hands. These that Apollos
was sent to had eternal life, but they needed helping. But
God prepared them to be a people that were willing to be helped.
And the other way of preparing here was in receiving the letter
from the brethren. They were ready to receive the
apostles. You think of how the word first
came to the Gentiles, the Spirit fell upon them, Cornelius' household. Cornelius had to be made willing
to have Peter come and speak to them. Peter had to be made
willing to go to the Gentiles and speak to them. And God saw
to it that both were prepared to be brought together, preacher
and hearer, and then the Spirit fell and blessed them. God is a preparing, God. And may we never pass over that
blessing if the Lord has made us teachable, made us tender,
opened our ear, made us ready to hear the Word of God. That
itself is a mark of grace. I know in my case and many of
the Lord's dear people we can Look back to days of our unregeneracy,
that we sat on the pew. We never heard anything said,
anything preached. Our mind was on other things.
We didn't feel our own need. We didn't want to be taught.
We didn't listen as one that wanted to learn. But that changed. In my case, immediately, the
Lord gave Spiritual life gave conviction of my ignorance and
sin and need of a saviour. May we clearly see where God
has given grace and prepared then from that time on the preaching
will profit that soul, will help that soul. is where we can tell
really when we're in the right place, when we're hearing the
right minister, when we can truly say that the word profits us. We read one solemn word, the
word did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them
that heard it. Those here that had believed
through grace, they had faith. Because we read there in Ephesians,
by grace ye are saved, through faith. And that not of yourselves,
it is the gift of God. Faith is the gift of God. And
so the Word then profited them. Where do we come? Are we prepared
to receive the Word? Are we teachable? Do we drink
in the truths of God? Do we feel our ignorance, our
lack, our want, Our need of instruction and teaching. These are the marks
of those here that by grace were ready then to receive the word
through Apollos. Well thirdly then, what was it,
the help that believers need? We read the verse that follows. For he mightily convinced the
Jews, and that publicly, showing by the Scriptures, that Jesus
was Christ. And you might say, well, wasn't
that what they believed? But isn't it a hell? when we
hear, perhaps from the pulpit, hear a sermon and say, well,
he never told me anything new, but he did confirm me. You know, the apostle says to
Timothy, I will that thou affirm constantly that they which hath
professed faith maintain good works. It wasn't just to be said
once, but again and again. We have the word that is in 1
John chapter 5 and verse 13. These things have I written unto
you that believe on the name of the Son of God, that ye may
know that ye have eternal life and that ye may believe on the
name of the Son of God. You say, John, why did you bother
writing to those that believe on the name of the Son of God with this aim in view that they
might believe on the name of the Son of God? They already
do. What a lesson it is to us that
even those that have the true grace of God in their hearts
will have, shall we say, niggling doubts, uncertainties, or even
if they believe in their hearts, if someone came to them and said,
why do you believe that? You show me from the scriptures,
or perhaps Maybe you might come across the Jehovah's Witnesses
and they say, well the Lord Jesus Christ is not the eternal son
of God, he's a created angel, he's not really God. And if we're
not well grounded in the scriptures, if we do not know those very
clear declarations that he is God, in this very chapter in
john we have in verse 20 and we know that the son of god is
come and hath given us an understanding that we may know him that is
true and we are in him that is true even in his son jesus christ
this is the true god and eternal life but we need to have that
instruction from the word so that we be not tossed to and
fro on every wind of doctrine, that we be established in the
present truth. Part of the ministry is that,
to establish a people in the truth so they don't only believe
but they know why they believe. Not just in one point, but all
of the points and aspects of the faith. the exhortations,
so often in the word we think of in Jude, how Jude says in
verse 3, Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you
of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto
you and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith
which was once delivered unto the saints. Why? For there are
certain men crept in unawares who were before of old ordained
to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our
God into lasciviousness and denying the only Lord God and our Saviour
and our Lord Jesus Christ. And so the work that was being
done here with Apollos was to well ground and strengthen these
believers in this very truth, showing by the scriptures that
Jesus was Christ. A great blessing then to be confirmed
and strengthened in the faith, not to undo not to undo what God has already
shown us, but to build upon it, to strengthen our faith, to give
us that to feed upon, and to know more and more the precious
truths of the Gospel, that it is by God's grace we are saved,
that it is through Christ's sacrificial death at Calvary that sin is
put away, That's where he put away the sin of his people. That's
where he finished the work. That's where he bore the wrath
of God. That's where he satisfied the
justice of God, where the law was fulfilled. That's where the
sacrifice was accepted, the tomb empty after three days, raised
from the dead and God giving assurance unto all men. The truth of God centres in the
Lord Jesus Christ. I am the way, the truth and the
life. No man cometh unto the Father
but by me. There is none other name given
among men whereby we must be saved. There is only one perfect
spotless man, the righteous one. And he it is that laid down his
life to take it again. And it's by faith in Him and
what He has done on our behalf, suffering on our behalf, that we have life, that we believe
in Christ's finished work. All those that do not fully believe
it will say, well, we've got to add our bit. We must do our
good works to add somehow to what Christ has done. Your salvation
and mine depends nothing on what we add to the Lord Jesus Christ's
work. His work was a finished work. The atonement which he wrought
out was perfect. He paid everything that was needed. But where that true belief and
grace of God is, it will result in fruits, it will result in
works, of a believer that desires to walk and do all in the fear
of God and to the honour and glory of God, to love God and
to hate evil. But he doesn't trust in his hatred
of evil or his love of God as his hope of heaven. He trusts
in what Christ has done and out of love he walks in a path of
obedience. in Christ's obedience clothes
as emrita, and wash me in his blood, so shall I lift my head
with joy among the sons of God. The Apostle Paul was very clear
in strengthening the disciples, and no doubt the Apollos was
the same in this way, that it is by grace you are saved. not
of works, lest any man should boast. The letters to the Galatians,
they had those teaching that except they were circumcised
and kept the whole law, then they couldn't be saved. The apostle
had to clearly refute that. Many things there were that were
rising up to put these new believers in bondage. and it was only the
truth of God clearly set forth by such as Apollos and Paul and
Priscilla and Aquila that released these new believers from these
false ways, these things that would bring them into bondage
and give them liberty and joy in their belief in the Lord. Have we been helped? Helped much
through the word preached, through those that God has raised up.
Come in perhaps the house of God, perplexed and tried and
troubled. And the Lord has answered it
in the text that has been given out. And has sent help from the
sanctuary and strengthened us out of Zion. Or may we be encouraged
through this word. May we be in the text, either
as like Apollos or we be like those who have believed through
grace. That though we may feel so ignorant
and poor in need of teaching, be encouraged that we are teachable
and desire to be taught and the Lord has provided those. that
help us, and he teaches us through them. May the Lord add his blessing. Amen.