As the Lord may bless us together,
we'll continue our meditation in the Acts of the Apostles,
and chapter 18, and we'll read tonight from verse 18 to verse
23. Acts of the Apostles, chapter
18, from verse 18 to verse 23. And Paul, after this, tarried
there yet a good while, and then took his leave of the brethren. and sailed thence into Syria,
and with him Priscilla and Aquila, having shorn his head in Sencria,
for he had a vow. And he came to Ephesus and left
them there, but he himself entered into the synagogue and reasoned
with the Jews. When they desired him to tarry
longer time with them, he consented not. but bade them farewell,
saying, I must by all means keep this feast that cometh in Jerusalem,
and I will return again unto you, if God will. And he sailed
from Ephesus. And when he had landed at Caesarea
and gone up and saluted the church, he went down to Antioch. And
there, and after he had spent some time there, he departed. and went over all the country
of Galatia and Phrygia in order, strengthening all the disciples." What is so very clear in the
Apostle's life was his great desire to preach the gospel,
to spread the gospel, so that sinners might be converted and
come to know the Lord Jesus Christ. that one who the Apostle Paul
had spoken so much against and had derided that name until that
great time on the Damascus Road when the Lord appeared for him.
And then he was a changed person. And immediately he preached Christ. There was an amazing change in
the life of the Apostle. And no doubt, as he then looked
back upon his life, as we read, He recognized that he was the
chief of sinners. He was the least of all saints.
He could not claim to be anything great. He didn't claim to be
anything great. What he did claim was that the
Lord Jesus Christ was great. He was a great savior and he
deserved all the honor and all the glory. And so as we read
these journeys of the apostle, as he went about, we see how
The large journeys he went, and his great aim, of course, was
to proclaim the gospel so that sinners might hear and be blessed. Surely that has not changed.
Even today, maybe so today, there are great concern and desire
may be to preach Christ so that sinners may be blessed. The apostle was never weary in
well-doing. Whatever the cost, he didn't
consider it. He pressed on. No doubt wearied,
he pressed on. And so we have some little account
of the apostle in his going about. And so we pick up the account
once again where he says, and Paul after this, tarried there
yet a good while, and then took his leave of the brethren. and sailed thence into Syria,
and with him Priscilla and Aquila. Well, the Apostle had indeed
been blessed, and therefore he continued in this place a good
while, while indeed he felt the direction of God. And it's clear
that the Apostle was led and directed by the Lord God in the
journeys that he should make. And as we read later on, He said,
if the Lord will. He always desired to do God's
will. Although he naturally ordered
those journeys, yet he was always concerned that it might be the
Lord's will, and how necessary that is for us today to realize
the same concern, that we might not go anywhere which is not
in accordance with the will of our God. And so here, we find
Paul leaving and going into Syria with Priscilla and Aquila, having
shorn his head in Sancria for he had a vow. Now, of course,
we don't know exactly what that was and the reason for it, but
it may have been because he was once again visiting the Jewish
people, although he clearly testified that he was now sent to the Gentiles
and to the Gentiles he would go. Nevertheless, he still had
a concern for his own brethren. And whenever the opportunity
presented itself, he desired to preach the gospel to them.
So it may have been for that reason. However, that's really
conjecture and we're not actually told. And so we're told, and
he came to Ephesus. Ephesus was probably the largest
city in that part of the country at that time. And then he left
Priscilla and Aquila there, and left them there. But he himself
entered into the synagogue. How many times we read that Paul
went into the synagogue. He knew that in the synagogue
he would find his brethren. He knew he would find the Jews.
And therefore, he was so concerned that as they'd, for the most
part, turned their back upon the Lord Jesus Christ, and had
no concern to give up all their old testament ceremonial law. But now we see, whenever the
opportunity presented itself, the apostle went into the synagogue
and reasoned with the Jews. We surely can understand by this,
it was not just a question of saying a few words. He came there
and reasoned with them. He used his best endeavors. Now
we know that it's only the spirit of God that applies the word,
but nonetheless, we should be concerned to use our best endeavors,
that those that we meet with may come and hear the gospel,
hear the truth, that we may be able to reason with them. We
have many reasons to reason, many great words in the word
of God, the wonderful account God in the Word of God and the
wonderful accounts of the Savior and his crucifixion and his great
salvation. What reasons there are for us
today to reason with people and yet I suppose we tend to be rather
cowardly and we tend to pass by and not really have the concern
perhaps that we should have for those that are lost and those
who are going on in a downward road to eternal hell. Well, the apostle here, we read
these words and we're not to be passed over and reasoned with
the Jews. And when they desired him to
tarry, now we know that previously the people, when he preached
in Corinth, they didn't want him They wished him to go away
and therefore he did. But here we see an opposite.
So we don't know what will prosper this or that. We may have been
discouraged in one situation. We should not let that affect
us as we consider the lost soul. And here was the apostle then
leaving behind that perhaps we might think disappointment, although
of course he'd been serving the Lord He'd done that which God
had commanded him to do, and he could leave it in the Lord's
hands. And that's a great blessing. But nonetheless, he wasn't negligent. He did desire that God might
work mightily. And so then we read, they desired
him to tarry longer with them, but he consented not. We might
think again, well, surely now Paul is going to stop a bit longer
because they desired him. Well, no. The Lord was directing
him to move on. We know he did return to Ephesus. It wasn't as though he left them
altogether, but God had clearly directed him to move on. And so he bade them farewell,
saying, I must by all means keep this feast that cometh in Jerusalem. But I will return again unto
you, if God will, Again, you see he'd been, clearly his word
had been blessed there because they wanted him to stay. And
yet he didn't automatically assume that he would go back there.
It may have been that God had completed the work that Paul
had to do there. And therefore he graciously says,
if the Lord will. how needful it is for us and
so he says I must by all means keep this feast that cometh in
Jerusalem now again we don't know exactly what that feast
was it was probably the Passover we're not actually told but nonetheless
he he was determined to go up to Jerusalem and we will see
it was only for a short time we might think having traveled
that long journey from Ephesus right to Jerusalem it would have
been for some But it doesn't appear that at all. He says,
but I will return again unto you, if God will. And he sailed
from Ephesus. And when he had landed at Caesarea,
and Caesarea was really the nearest port to Jerusalem. Joppa perhaps was a bit nearer,
but Caesarea was a fairly recent port and it was a better port
and therefore no doubt the sailors desired to moor up in Caesarea. So he came to Caesarea. He journeyed, he sailed right
across the Mediterranean, a long way, perhaps some 400 miles.
Wasn't a short journey in those days and yet here he was in Caesarea
and gone up and saluted the church. And that's all we're told about
his visit to Jerusalem. He was concerned to be there,
he came there, and then we're just told this, and he'd gone
up and saluted the church. And having done that, he went
down to Antioch. So the Lord had no doubt a purpose
for him, to return to Jerusalem and to speak to the people there
and to salute them, But we're not told what the detail was. All we know is that the Lord
directed him to go there, and he went there. And then he left
there, and he went down to Antioch. And after he had spent some time
there, and you might remember this of course is not Antioch
in Pisidia, where he was blessed, this was the Antioch which was
north of Jerusalem. And he'd been there before, and
now he'd come down to Antioch again. He went down to Antioch. And then after he'd spent some
time there, and again we're not told how long it was, he departed
and went over all the country of Galatia and Phrygia in order,
strengthening all the disciples. Now if you look on a map, Galatia
is a big area. It's a big area. And here we're
told the Apostle went over all the country. You can imagine
how much he travelled, how much perhaps he was fatigued. But you see, he was serving the
Lord. He was doing that which God had commanded him. And he
had a great message to deliver. And he was wonderfully privileged
to preach the gospel, the gospel of his saviour, the Lord Jesus
Christ. And through this, he went in
order. What was the benefit? Strengthening
all the disciples. Now, what a blessing today when
we are strengthened, when we hear the Gospel preached, strengthened
to know the Word of God is true, strengthened to believe the Lord
Jesus Christ did come into this sinful world to save sinners. strengthened to believe that
we are among that number for whom the Lord Jesus Christ shed
his most precious blood upon that cross at Calvary, strengthened
by the evidence which is described to us of our own case so that
we have the understanding from the Spirit of God that we are
amongst those who are redeemed with the precious blood of Christ.
There's nothing more strengthening the saints of God to realize
they are one of those for whom Christ died. And this is brought
to pass so often through the foolishness of preaching. And
so we see the Apostle here laboring in this vast area and yet so
blessed so that he was able to record, or at least Luke was
able to record, this great truth of him that strengthened all
the disciples. Many people blessed as he laboured
and what a favour today. We have the same God, the same
almighty God who can bless greatly today and so may we not be weary
in well-doing but may we be blessed in declaring the gospel, declaring
the truth of God, so there might be that strengthening among the
Church of God, strengthening among the disciples of God for
His honour and for His glory. Amen.