May it please the Lord to bless
us together this evening as we continue our meditation on the
Acts of the Apostles. And we'll speak tonight on chapter
18 and from verse 7 to verse 11. The Acts of the Apostles,
chapter 18 and from verse 7 to 11. And he departed thence and
entered into a certain man's house named Justice. one that worshipped God, whose
house joined hard to the synagogue. And Crispus, the chief rudder
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 much people in this city.' And he continued there
a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them." Well, we are reminded that the
Apostle Paul was preaching and Silas and Timotheus and they
hadn't received the the word of God for the most part and
as we read he spoke and said your blood be upon your on your
own heads I am clean from henceforth I would go unto the Gentiles
and of course that was the commission that the Apostle Paul had, God
had given him to go to the Gentiles And so we read, and he departed.
Departed then and entered into a certain man's house named Justice,
one that was worshipped God, whose house joined hard to the
synagogue. Well, it was really a very sad
day for the Jewish people to realise that they had, for the
most part, rejected the Word of God, and rejected the Saviour,
rejected His words, rejected the Apostle's words, and had
turned away from the things of God, and followed those old ceremonial
laws, which they believed they could be saved by their works. And so we see the Apostle now
leaving them, and he departed, and initially it seemed he didn't
go very far, because he entered into this man's house called
Justice, who worshipped God, and whose house was hard to the
synagogue, joined hard to the synagogue. So it's good to realise
here that this man, and this man was probably a Jew, had heard
the word and he was one who had received it joyfully. And then
we also read, and, joining with him, and Crispus, the chief ruler
of the synagogue, believed on the Lord with all his house.
So we see the Lord is very gracious and very sovereign in those whom
he calls. And as the apostle, when he wrote
to the Corinthians, that epistle, he said, not many wise men, not
many mighty, But there were some, and here was one. Clearly a person,
the chief ruler of the synagogue, would have been well-versed in
all the ceremonial law and had been no doubt a careful follower
of it. But now we see the blessed Spirit
of God entering into this man's heart and producing that great
and glorious change. And what was the change? The
change was very simply He believed on the Lord. He believed on the
Lord. Believed on the Lord Jesus Christ. And how essential that is. For
anyone to be a true believer is to believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ. To realise their condition and
the need of a saviour. And so no doubt here this man
and his house, that's a great blessing isn't it? It's a wonderful
favour. have that, to know that he believed on the Lord with
all his house, and not only that. He goes on to say, and many of
the Corinthians, hearing, believed. And so there must be a time of
rejoicing here. The apostle had turned and had
gone to the Gentiles, And the Lord now was showing Paul his
favour and blessing. And it's important that we realise
that as the Apostle records these truths, that we realise what
happened. They believed and were baptised. So this was really the automatic,
we might say, outcome of those who believed. It wasn't that
they stood back and waited. No, the reaction was to believe
and to be baptised. And how many times in the New
Testament we read this, don't we? Diapentikos, they believed
and were baptised. The Philippian jailer believed
and was baptised. Lydia believed and was baptised. These people, Crispus and his
household and the Corinthians, believed and were baptised. we should realise the blessedness
of this ordinance, ordained by the Saviour himself. And surely
we desire to be a follower of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ,
and Jesus suffered himself to be baptized of John the Baptist
in Jordan, and to set that great example to us, and to indicate
the great importance, what it symbolized, to be buried with
Christ, and to rise up, coming up out of the water, to rise
again in that newness of life, that new nature, to be washed
in the blood of the Lamb. And so, there is a blessed significance
in this ordinance of baptism. And make you realise the favour
that it bestows. I believe no believer ever regrets
being baptised. I believe many people have regretted
not being baptised. And we read then, Then spake
the Lord to Paul in the night by a vision. Well, the Lord appeared
in this special way It would seem it wasn't a dream. There
are dreams, which of course are recorded in the Word of God.
Joseph had dreams, as we know, and others had dreams. But here,
it seems, was a more special occasion for the Apostle. And the Lord spoke to Paul in
the night by vision. And what did he say? Be not afraid. Be not afraid, Paul. Fear not. Now the Apostle had already passed
through some very difficult scenes. Scenes of great opposition. And
naturally, perhaps, he was fearful. Sometimes we're fearful of the
future. We're fearful of the unknown
way. We wonder perhaps what it holds. We might see difficulties. We
might see opposition. we might see persecution, and
we might see the devil, as it were, standing in the way, just
like Christian did. But you see, my friends, he cannot
be the victor. And so the apostle was encouraged
by the Lord himself, be not afraid, but speak. He wasn't to be silent. Again, we live in a day and age,
don't we, where if Satan had his way, every Christian would
be silent. There would be no speaking of
the things that God has done for their souls. There wouldn't
be any lifting up of the Saviour. And yet how important it is to
realise that, as the Apostle wrote to the Romans, It is by
speaking that we honour and glorify our God. And that, of course,
is in a broad way with regard to our own personal experience,
our own personal testimony, and also speaking about the things
of God. Now the apostle was called to
preach the unsearchable riches of Christ, and we know that that
was offensive to so many people, as it is still today, and it
is very much so in other countries, as we know. Great opposition
to those who preach the gospel. But here was this encouraging
word, encouraging to Paul, may it be encouraging to us today.
Be not afraid, but speak, and hold not thy peace. Hold not
thy peace. See, God is not glorified in
peace, is he? When people say nothing, there's
no glorifying his great and holy name. But you see, when he gives
grace to speak, and what is that which is spoken? That which is
for his honour and for his glory. The real motive must be for his
honour and glory, but you see the Apostle had been greatly
blessed and he loved to preach the gospel and I believe God's
people love to speak of the things he's done for their soul that
his great name may be honoured and glorified and so here was
this vision specifically to Paul that he might declare these things
and be encouraged and also that Luke would record them for us
in this way but he says be not afraid But speak, and hold thy
peace. And he tells them, tells him
then, for I am with thee. I am with thee. Now, what a blessing that is.
Surely we can need no greater encouragement to know that the
Lord is with us. Joshua knew it, didn't he? And
Moses knew it. And when the Lord told him, my
presence shall go with thee. How encouraging it is when we
hear a word like that spoken into our hearts. And here was
the word spoken by the Lord to the Apostle. For I am with thee,
and no man shall set on thee to hurt thee. Now, he had been
hurt. He'd been grievously hurt. He'd
been stoned. And here he was in Corinth, in
a difficult environment. There was much evil in Corinth.
and no doubt he may have been fearful and yet you see God stood
by him and strengthened him and told him for I am with thee and
no man shall set on thee to hurt thee and he gives them the wonderful
reason for I have much people in this city now it may not have
been apparent at that time But there were many people. And of
course there were many people who needed the Lords to come
and to speak to them. And the Apostle, when he wrote
this epistle to the Corinthians, he reminded them of the situation. And he told them what many of
them were of course like. And he said, know ye not that
The unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God, be not deceived,
neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate,
nor abusers of themselves and mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous,
nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit
the kingdom of God." When he was speaking, of course, we might
say in a very physical way. I know we can apply it today
in a very spiritual way to our own hearts. But no doubt here
he was speaking in a very physical way. And then what did he say?
And such were some of you. They couldn't say, well, we're
clean. And such were some of you. But,
he says, ye are washed. But ye are sanctified. But ye are justified. How? In the name of the Lord
Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God." So the Apostle spoke,
was encouraged to speak very forthrightly and very powerfully
to these people. And to be blessed with this encouraging
word, for I am with thee and no man, no man, no man. See, if God before us, who can
be against us? We may think, well, people will
speak against us. Well, their mouth can be shut. No man says, the Lord's too poor. No man shall speak and hold not
thy peace, for I am 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, teaching the word of God among
them. Well it was perhaps the longest
place that the Apostle preached at consecutively for a year and
a half in his missionary journeys in this great city of Corinth
and we believe and know there was much blessing as the Apostle
would have gone from here and there and no doubt in houses
and in the streets and in every opportunity to declare the whole
counsel of God, the great truth of the gospel which was to be
made a great blessing to the living Church of God. Amen.