Please God to bless us together
for a few moments as we continue our meditation in the Acts of
the Apostles chapter 18 and from verse 24 to the end of that chapter. This is a short account in these
last few verses but it's very remarkable and it's very instructive. And we read about this certain
Jew who was called Apollos He was born in Egypt, a town, Alexandria. And we're told a little bit about
him. We're told he was an eloquent
man and mighty in the scriptures. And he came to Ephesus. Well, it's a wonderful thing
to have people who are not only eloquent, but are mighty in the
scriptures. And of course, it's a God that
gives eloquence. And God gives us ability to be
mighty in the scriptures, but it's surely something that all
of us should be concerned that we are mighty in the scriptures.
It should not just be the prerogative of those who preach the gospel.
Surely every true believer should have that desire to be mighty
in the scriptures. That really means to be a giant.
One who understands, and one who studies, and one who loves
the scriptures, and one who walks up and down in the scriptures.
And so we have this example here in this man Apollos. He was eloquent
and he was mighty in the scriptures. And he came to Ephesus. Well,
it's a good thing to know that God directs us in the places
we are to go to. And it was quite clear that the
Lord directed him to Ephesus so that he would come and meet
with Aquila and Priscilla. You see, the Lord knows what
we need in our spiritual lives and directs us into certain situations. Apollos would not have realized
that here in Ephesus he was going to be taught some important considerations. He may have thought that he was
adequate in his own ability and in his own knowledge. But no,
we see that the Lord's purpose was to increase that and to bless
him. And we're told that this man
was instructed in the way of the Lord. So he wasn't someone
who was not aware of the right way. The Lord himself had instructed
him. And again, that's very important
to know. He was instructed in the way
of the Lord. There is a right way. that way
is the way of the Lord. Every other way is a wrong way
and so it's a blessing if God instructs us in the way of the
Lord and the way of the Lord is shown to us in the Word of
God because the Lord Jesus sets before us a most gracious and
glorious example of what he did in his life and and how He prayed,
and how he walked, and how he went about doing good, and how
he spoke words of encouragement, and how he prayed to his father,
and how he desired to honour his father, and how he desired
to do his father's will. All these are great evidences
of the true believer, one who is walking near unto his God,
If we're walking far off, then such things are of little consequence
to us. We're not really too worried,
but if we're walking in the light, if God is with us, then surely
we will understand. What this word says, this man
was instructed in the way of the Lord. And how important for
us today to be instructed in the way of the Lord. I'll be
concerned about it. There's much instruction in the
world today. People covet knowledge in so many avenues. But my friends,
this is a great blessing and the Word of God tells us to covet
earnestly the best gifts and surely this is a wonderful favour
and a wonderful blessing to be found walking in this way. This
man was instructed in the way of the Lord. And then we move
on and we're told and being Fervent in the Spirit. Well, how needful,
what a blessing it is if we are found fervent in the Spirit,
fervent in the things of God, fervent in prayer. As I often
say, the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. I'll be concerned about being
fervent in the things of God. That really means putting the
things of God first. They occupy the pre-eminent place
in our minds, in our thoughts, in our lives, in our speech,
in our actions. Fervent in the things of the
Lord. So what a blessing to be found
here and being fervent in the Spirit. Well the Lord knows our
position. we stand before God, we live
really in a day which is very lukewarm and for the most part
Christians are very lukewarm. There's not this true fervency. Oh what a privilege it is, what
a blessing it is if God should come upon us and grant us this
real fervency in our spirit for the blessing of the Lord seek
him urgently to, as it were, besiege the throne of grace and
be found just like Jacob of old, when he wrestled with the angel,
when he said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me,
surely That was indeed a fervent spirit. And my friends, may we
be blessed today with that fervent spirit seeking the Lord that
he would indeed bless us each and bless us together and enlarge
our coast and grant great favors. And so here was Apollos described
like this and being fervent in spirit, he spake and taught diligently
the things of the Lord and gain another blessing, isn't it? To
be diligent in the things of God. It's easy sometimes to be
diligent in many other things in our lives. But oh, what a
blessing it is to be diligent in the things of God. That means
to work hard at them, to concentrate on them, to walk in them, and
to seek God's blessing in them. to be diligent. Well, here was
this description then of Apollos, diligent in the things of the Lord. You see, it wasn't in anything.
It wasn't in things which were of no consequence. People often
want to be diligent in the knowledge of this and that, and diligent
in certain things, but Apollos had the right attitude. He had
a God-given attitude, and it was this, to be diligent in the
things of the Lord. But then we're told, knowing
only the baptism of John. That means only knowing the truths
that John the Baptist declared and preached. And it would seem,
therefore, that he was ignorant of many of the things concerning
the Lord Jesus Christ. No doubt he had heard of Jesus,
but there was this situation that he was spoken of as knowing
only the baptism of John. But nonetheless, he came into
Ephesus and he came into the synagogue And as we've noted,
how often Paul himself, when he came to any location, if there
was a synagogue there, he went into the synagogue and reasoned
with the people in the synagogue of the things of God. And so
here we have Apollos following this situation and to speak boldly
in the synagogue. He wasn't afraid of what people
thought. was influenced by the Holy Spirit
of God and therefore he came and he spoke boldly in the synagogue. It's a good thing when we are
given that grace to speak boldly, the truth of God's Word. Now we're told whom when Aquila
and Priscilla had heard they took him unto them and expounded
unto him the way of God more perfectly. Now we see here a
lovely Christian principle in two counts. First of all we see
that here was Aquila and Priscilla and we know that the Apostle
Paul met with them and carried on tent making with them so they
probably weren't particularly academic people themselves, But
nonetheless, here we see that Aquila and Priscilla were there,
not particularly would appear learning people naturally, but
what did they do? They heard him and they took
him unto them and expounded unto him the way of God more perfectly. Now they didn't make a great
stir. They didn't say in the synagogue,
hey Apollos, you're not speaking these things rightly. They didn't
despise him. They didn't give the people a
wrong impression of him. They took him aside, quietly,
and expanded unto him the way of God. It was a Christian way,
wasn't it? Yes, they didn't want to show
up Apollos. They didn't want people to think
badly of him. So they just very kindly took
him aside and expounded unto him the way of God more perfectly. So that's on the one side. We
see that God brought Aquila and Priscilla to speak these things
to Apollos. And we see what was Apollos'
reaction Did he kind of think, well I know what I'm speaking
about, I'm not going to listen to what you say, you're only
tent makers anyway. No. And he obviously listened to
those things which they said to him. None of us should be
above listening to kind and sound advice from other people. We should be grateful if the
Lord does enable people to perhaps Give us words of wisdom, words
of encouragement, perhaps words of correction. We should realize
that the truth is that in the sight of God, we are workers
together with God. And we should not be above listening
to what other people have to say. And we should not be above
giving advice to those who appear to need some advice. But do remember,
it must be in a right spirit And that spirit is a spirit of
humbleness, a spirit of gentleness. We don't see here a quitter and
presitter making themselves out to be someone important. No,
they just took this good man aside and spoke to him, expounded
unto him. It means it gave him a greater
understanding of the truth of God, in particular, with regard
to the Lord Jesus Christ. You see they've been blessed,
these two people, with spending time with the Apostle Paul. And
the Apostle Paul had been gloriously grounded in the truth of God. The Spirit had taught him so
wonderfully and he had been able to write all those letters, all
those epistles, And no doubt he'd expounded these great truths
to Aquila and Priscilla. And they were therefore now passing
on their understanding. So it's a blessing, isn't it?
If God has taught us things, we don't want to keep it all
hushed up to ourselves, do we? We need to desire that we might
expound it to one another. Not for our glory, but for the
honour and glory of our God. And so we have this wonderful
little picture here, don't we, of Brasilia and Aquila expanding
to Apollos, in love to his soul, and for the honour and glory
of God, and Apollos receiving and accepting it. It's a good
example for us today in our lives and the life of the Church of
God. And so we're then told, and when
he was disposed to pass into Achaia, the brethren wrote, exhorting
the disciples to receive him. You know, that's a good example,
isn't it? To write and to say, this person is a servant of God,
receive him, receive him in the name of the Lord. Receive him
because he is called by God, he preaches the truth. And so
this was the testimony we have here, recorded for our encouragement. So they wrote, exhorting the
disciples to receive him, who, when he was come, helped them
much, which had believed through grace. Yes, the Apollos was used,
used of God. We see the lovely working together,
don't we here, in this little account, the beautiful unity
and the desire of the honor and glory of Almighty God. And surely
that should be all of our concern in our lives to be found workers
together, that Christ might be exalted, sinners blessed, and
the name of our God honored and glorified. And so we then read,
for he mightily convinced the Jews. And from that expression,
it would seem that it wasn't just a mere saying a few words. It would seem that he would have
argued with them, Perhaps he used all the persuasive powers
that he could so that he came to this position and he mightily
convinced the Jews. And that publicly. Now he was
able to declare these great truths of God, those truths that he
had been taught himself, those truths which President Aquila
had given him to understand. And so now by the grace of God,
this eloquent man is now better equipped. And what does he do?
He mightily convinces the Jews, and that publicly. And what did
he show? Showing by the Scriptures that
Jesus was Christ. Well, surely that's the whole
aim. That's the whole desire for us
to be able, by God's grace, to prove that Jesus is Christ, the
Son of God, the true Messiah, the one who's come into the world
to save sinners, the one who has come to redeem his people
from their sins, the one who's come to give his life a sacrifice
that it might be acceptable unto God so that all our sins are
forever washed away. Is it not in a few verses here
a very beautiful description and a beautiful thing to meditate
upon and a wonderful example for us today to consider and
to realize the wonderful outcome of these blessings, for he mightily
convinced the Jews, and that publicly showing by the scriptures,
that Jesus was Christ. Amen.