Turn to Acts chapter 18. Acts chapter 18. I titled this message, Believing Through Grace. You believe the gospel. You believe the gospel from your
heart. It's your life. It's everything to you. That's
the grace of God. That's all of grace. Not at any
time, not at any time is that of me, of my efforts, of my intelligence. It's all of grace. From Alpha
to Omega, our salvation is all of grace. And we'll look at this
in just a few minutes. But I want to finish this chapter
here in Acts 18. Now, we know that Paul is incarnate. He stayed there for a year and
a half. When persecution arose, this
time the Lord said, Paul, stay. We've been going through this
book. And when persecution would arise, he would go to the next
place, the next city, and preach the gospel, and that's how the
gospel was being spread. Persecution would come along,
and God would send Paul to another place. But this time, God said
to Paul in a vision in the night, he said, Paul, stay here. I have much people in this city. The Lord knoweth them that are
his. He knows every one of them. He
knows where every one of them is at. He knows what every one
of them is going through. He knows them. They're his. And he told him to stay there.
He said, you stay here for a while. I have much people in this city.
So he stayed there for a year and a half. After he stayed there
for a while, he, along with Priscilla and Aquila, They left that place
and they went to Ephesus. And I read you a portion of that
epistle earlier. What a letter. What a letter. That's one of my favorites. I
dare not say things like that, but that's one of my favorites.
And when it came time to leave there, they desired him to tarry
longer. I tell you, I told you this last
week. You get a man that preaches the gospel, under the power of
God, the power of God on him. Boy, you want him to tarry longer,
don't you? I don't know how many times I've
sat and I've listened to my pastor and I've thought, man, preach
longer. Keep on going. I can't believe it's gone by
that quickly. They want him to tarry long. Paul, tell us this gospel. Continue to teach us. Continue
to preach to us. I would rather have that than
somebody saying, I wish you'd hurry up and leave. I wish you'd
hurry up and sit down. You've preached long enough. I'd rather leave you wanting
more than wishing you'd be quiet. But when it came time to leave,
Paul left. When we are given work to do
for our Lord, we must not let others deter us from it, even
though they mean good. Even though they mean good by
it. Terry Longer, stay with us. No, there's other work to be
done. Other work to be done. But I'll tell you what Paul did.
He left Priscilla and Aquila at Ephesus. He said, you all
stay here with these people. And we will see the providence
of God in this later on. when Apollos comes into the picture.
You know, that's something we have been looking at as we go
through the book of Acts, is the providence of God in sending
the gospel and in saving His sheep. So Paul bids them farewell. He felt that he must keep this
feast, it says there in verse 21, at Jerusalem. Now, he's not
keeping this feast because it is attached to salvation. Paul
wants to keep this feast at Jerusalem, and all the ones that I've read
said it was the Passover. But he wanted to go up there
and keep this feast for the opportunity it presented in preaching the
gospel. We should take every opportunity
that God sends our way, every open door that He opens to preach
Christ. to tell men and women of the
Lord Jesus Christ, of the grace of God in the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, to take every opportunity
to tell them what God has done for my soul and your soul. And that's why He went up to
do this, I believe. And notice what He said to them. He said,
I'll return. I'll come back if God will. That's very important, if God
will. It takes a number of years, I
think, to learn this. It takes some disappointments.
It takes some knockdowns, I think, to learn this, if God will. It
takes some growing up, basically. We need to always remember this
and all we purpose to do. And if we mean it, if we mean
this, as Paul did, Paul meant this, if God will, if we mean
this, we will not be so disappointed when things change. If we mean it. I know this, and
this is subtle. My disappointments, my disappointments
have come when I put my will in front of God's I believe that's
when my disappointments have come. Our Lord said, not my will,
but thine be done. Not my, Lord, thy will be done.
If God will, we will do this to do that. That's our language.
That's the language of a believer, if God will. And so Paul in verses
21 through 23, he went through many of the regions where he
had established these churches. God had established through him
and strengthened the disciples. He went back and encouraged them
in the grace of God, in the gospel, in preaching Christ. We need
to encourage one another, don't we? I need it. That was encouraging
to hear you pray for me. You don't know how encouraging
that is to have someone pray for you. That's encouraging. We need to encourage. Was it
two men? Was it her and the helmet and
Moses' arms? Paul, we need to do that. Am
I my brother's keeper? You sure are. You sure are. Now Luke leaves Paul for a little
while. And we meet Apollos. This young
man named Apollos says he was a Jew born in Alexandria, that's
in Egypt. It was a city built by Alexander
the Great. It says he was an eloquent man.
Scripture says not many mighty, not many noble, not many wise
are called, but it does say not any, but not many. But here's
what he was. He was an eloquent man. And it
says mighty in the Scriptures. And we don't know much more about
Apollos than this, do we? He just kind of comes onto the
scene and then goes away. And I thought about this last
night when I was going back over this. Most of us would not be
written about in history. History will not write about
me. It won't write about me. And I thought, that's a good
thing. That's a good thing. He must increase. I must decrease. It'll be a good thing when I
die. That nothing's written about
me. But it's all about Him. It's all about the Lord Jesus
Christ. Here's a good epitaph that may be good to write on
my tombstone. If it could be written. He served
his generation and then fell asleep. David served his generation and
then fell asleep. Abraham served his generation
and then fell asleep. And that's what we're doing.
However, this does not mean that we are not very useful where
we are. You ever feel like you just don't have any talents?
Any gifts? Not useful? There's not a part
of my body that I would like to get rid
of. If you would ask me now, what part of your body would
you like for me to take away? I would say none. Absolutely. Not even a fingernail. I don't
even want to lose that. There's not a member in the body
of Christ that's not important. It's not important. You are important
where God has put you, in the body of Christ. Or the body would
not be complete. You could not say, I have a complete
body if my little finger was missing. It's not complete. I've got something missing. for any of us, anyone, to be
missing in the body of Christ? Every member is important. But
you know what the most important part is? The head. The head. That's the most important
part. The body, the whole purpose of
the body is to serve this head. It is. It's to serve the head.
And our whole purpose for existing is to serve the Lord Jesus Christ
in whatever capacity He puts us in. Now it says in verse 25, this
man was instructed in the way of the Lord. Being a Jew, he
was well taught in the Scriptures from his youth. They say he was
catechized. He was well taught. And being
converted, he was taught by the Lord. Although up to this time,
he only knew of the baptism of Job. which included the necessity
of repentance. John preached the baptism of
repentance. John preached, Behold the Lamb
of God, looking unto the Lord Jesus Christ. He preached that.
He preached that Christ is that prophet that shall come. He knew
this. He knew this, but there was a whole lot more he didn't
know. But I tell you what he did do.
He preached in the light he was given. That's what he did do. And what he preached. was right,
but not complete. Now he, it says here, it says
he preached fervent in spirit. You know what this means? It
means when he stood before the Jews and the people he preached
before, he preached with such fervency, it was like boiling
water. It was like boiling water. Like
Paul, he wanted those Jews, he wanted his brethren, according
to the flesh, he wanted them to hear the message, just like
you want your family to hear the message. I want you to hear
of this one, the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ, the one who
is promised of God is come. He knew that. He believed that.
And he took the scriptures, his mighty scriptures. He took the
Old Testament scriptures. This man was well educated. He
took those Old Testament scriptures and it says he diligently, that
means accurately. He accurately, he took those
scriptures and gave the right sense of them, that's what it
says. He gave the right sense, the proper sense of them concerning
the Messiah. He was able to say, take types
and pictures and point them to Christ. And he spoke boldly. This is this man's character. Now here comes in the providence
of God. Aquila and Priscilla hear him preach. They hear him
standing there, preaching, speaking. And they realize this young man,
this young man needs to learn some things. This young man needs
to learn a little more. And so what they did, they took
him home. They took him to their tent.
They were tent makers. They opened up their home to
this young man. And they expounded unto him the way of God, it says,
more perfectly. Here is an educated man, a young
man. Here is a man who is well versed
in the Scriptures. And these tent makers, think
about this, these tent makers take him into their home and
they say, now let us tell you something here. Let us tell you
some things we've learned from Paul. They didn't embarrass him. They did not embarrass him. They
gently handled this intelligent young man. And here is evidence
of grace. Let me show you an evidence of
grace here. This young, intelligent, eloquent man, well studied, sat
down and listened. He sat down and listened to someone
who was, now listen, educated in the gospel. That's the man I want to listen
to. The man I want to listen to is a man that has been educated
by God, taught of God, taught the gospel by God. And so he
sat down there and he listened to them. He received their instruction. This young man was given wisdom.
Not only was he given wisdom, he was given a humble spirit
to sit down and listen. It's hard to get young people
to sit and listen to you, isn't it? It really is, because they're
so energetic. So just listen. Just listen. You'll be surprised what you
learn when you listen. Then Apollos, he left that place.
He left that place after they had taught him. They sat there,
conversed over the Gospel, preached Christ to him and opened the
way to him. He left that place and he went
to Achaia and helped them. Helped them, it says. And he
helped them greatly. Helped them much which believed
through grace. Here's another mark of grace.
Here's another mark of the work of God in the heart of this young
man. He gave out himself to help him,
the brethren. He didn't. I don't see, I don't
get a sense that he held himself above anybody. He went down there. He was helped by Aquila and Priscilla. And he went down and became a
help. He became a help. Helping others, a burden for
others. Self-denial. Oh, that's a mark of grace. We
deny ourselves. Apollos knew and learned that
salvation was all of grace, for he experienced it. He experienced
that this matter of salvation, this matter of God saving sinners,
this matter of God saving him, was all of grace. His intelligence,
his eloquence, his background in teaching had nothing to do
with it. It was all of grace, saved by the grace of God. He
learned from Aquila and Priscilla that all are one in Christ. That we're all one. We're not
one above anybody. I don't care who this person
is. He could be the President of
the United States or he could be a street sweeper. In Christ,
if they're in Christ, they are one. They're on the same level. On the same level. And he learned
that. This young, intelligent, eloquent
man learned that he was no better than anyone he preached to because
it was all by the grace of God. He learned that in Christ we
are justified from all things from which you could not be justified
by the law of Moses. I know he learned something about
justification, cleared of all charges through the blood and
righteousness of Jesus Christ. And he went down and he communicated
that to those people in the camp. And that helped him. That helped
me when I learned it. That helped him. He learned that Christ was risen
again for our justification. That he ascended on high and
he's the high priest over the house of God. He learned this. He learned that Jesus Christ,
the Messiah, is God manifested in the flesh. He learned this and he communicated
it. He communicated it. Freely he was given and freely
he gave out. He learned that his blood cleanses
us from all sin. That we have an advocate with
the Father. We have an advocate. We saw that
here about a week or two ago. We have an advocate. We have
someone to stand before us, between us and God. Not everyone has that. There
are some who are going to stand before God with nobody between
them. And they're not going to stand
either. They're going to perish. We have an Advocate, one to plead
our case. His name is Jesus Christ the
Righteous. He's the propitiation for our
sins. Apollos, he's a propitiation for our sins and not for ours
only, but also for the world of Gentiles. Not for the Jew
only, but for us Gentiles also. And he's coming again. He's coming
again. You know when Aquila and Priscilla
sat down and talked to him, they talked about their Lord's return.
His coming back. They talked about his death.
He talked about his burial, his resurrection, his ascension,
and he's coming back. He's coming back. If there's anything for sure,
this is for sure, as he came the first time, he's coming the
second time. And he's coming to get you and take you home. He said that where I am, there
you may be also. I have no doubt he learned and
he communicated that Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, who takes away
the sin of the world, is Lord of all. King of kings and Lord
of lords. And he communicated that to those
people down in Achaia. And his kingdom is an everlasting
kingdom and much more. He learned so much more. He gave
them what he was given. And that's all we're doing. All
I'm doing is giving you what I've been given. If I give you
anything else, we're in trouble. And it was a great help to them
who had believed, listen, it says, through grace. They had
believed through grace. Electing grace. I read that to
you in Ephesians. He hath chosen us in Christ before
the foundation of the world. I'm not embarrassed or backward
to tell anyone that God chose me in Christ. That God chose
a multitude of sinners in Christ before the foundation of the
world. I've said this on the radio. I don't know how many
times. We've been on there now about
four or five months. I've said this I don't know how
many times. I have not yet heard anyone else say it. And that's supposed to be. Well,
it's a religious station. It is a religious station. But
I've not heard anyone else say that. God chose a people. He chose a multitude of sinners
by grace. By grace. Not one of us impressed
Him. Not one of us impressed God and moved God to choose us
because of anything else. The whole cause is found in God
Himself. And then it was distinguishing grace. He chose you. He chose you. He wasn't any meany-miny-moe. No, He chose you. He made you. He loved you. That's very personable. That's very distinguishing. He
loved you. Then it was efficaciousness. Got the job done, didn't it?
Here you sit. Come after you. On the tail of
His sheep. As I said, He knows. He said,
I have much grace on a lot of people in this city. They're
going to experience and know my grace. It is effectual. It
gets the job done. And it's sufficient. Have you not found the grace
of God to be sufficient? Paul did. He said that over 2
Corinthians 12. It's sufficient. He helped those who believe through
grace. You know that's the only ones
you can help? The only people that you can
truly help are those who believe through grace. You can't counsel
a lost man. You can't do it. What are you
going to work with? You're working with a dead man.
You're working with a spiritually dead man. So what do you have
to work with? That's why these psychiatrists
are so rich, because they keep coming back. It didn't work the
first time, or the second, or the third, and they have to keep
coming back. But you can take the Word of
God, and really this is the only counsel you can give, this is
the only counsel God's people need. It's what comes right out
of here. You don't need my clever cliches, as if I have one, but
you don't need them. No, we just need the Word of
God. He helped those much who believed through grace. And he
mightily, he said mightily, convinced the Jews. He shut them up. They
would bring up something and he would just take the Word of
God and turn it over to his portion of scriptures and just prove,
preach. Christ to them. And listen, he
did that publicly. Publicly. You know, Christianity
has always been publicly. Look where the gospel started.
Jerusalem. Right in the heart of all of
it. Jerusalem. Then it goes to Antioch and Athens
and Corinth and Berea and Ephesus. You know, these are all the places,
all these places are the places of learning. As far as back in
that era, those were the places of learning and intellect, worldly
wisdom, and the gospel right in their face. It was not done
in a corner. We do not preach the gospel in
a corner. Not at all. It did not start in an obscure
place, but the Lord sent it out publicly. He's not trying to
sneak up on anybody. God does not need to sneak up
on anyone. When He purposes to save a people like here in Corinth,
He's going to come in and He's going to tear this town apart. We've been going through Acts.
Is that not what happened every time Paul went somewhere to preach?
Did he not tear that place up? God went in and messed up their
little game. Messed up their religious game.
Called His sheep out of it. And then like the tidal wave,
It's like, you know, you take a pebble, a rock, throw it in
the water. How long does the hole stay there?
It doesn't stay very long, does it? What the Lord does, He comes
in and pulls His sheep out, and the lost religion and all that
just goes right back in together. Just goes right back, doesn't
it? It's the same old, same old. But He saved His sheep by His grace. By His grace. And his message, Apollos' message, this time has a title to it.
Did you notice that? This time, Apollos' message has
a title to it. For he mightily convinced the
Jews, and that publicly, shown by the Scriptures, that Jesus
was Christ, or Jesus is the Christ. He has a title to that message
now. He has a title to it. Christ
is his message. He's the Messiah. He's God in
human flesh. He's God incarnate. He's our
righteousness. He's our justification. He's
our all in all. And it's all by his grace. All
by his grace.