Go back to Acts chapter 18. Acts
18. The gospel goes to Corinth. Last week we saw Paul preaching the gospel of Athens and what a fight he was in. with
the Jews, those Stoics, those Epicureans, they were coming
at it from all directions. And it says, over in the last
part of chapter 17, it says in verse 32, when they heard of
the resurrection of the dead, some mocked, and others said,
we will hear thee again of this matter. So Paul departed from
among them. Some of them claimed to him,
it said, they just held on to him. You know what that's like. You know what it's like when
some man stands in the pulpit and preaches the gospel under
the power of God. You hang on to me. I remember when I first came
down to 13th Street and heard Henry preaching. I heard him
on TV first. And I'll tell you, I was, and this I believe is
the power of God, I was mesmerized. Not a man, but I was just absolutely
mesmerized at the message and what I was hearing. It was just,
I was just, I can't even explain it. I can't even put it into
words, what it was like. But I can understand this, they
claimed to him. I told Vicki, I said, we've got
to move to Ashland. I quit my job, we packed the
kids up and moved to Ashland. claimed to him, claimed to the
gospel. That's what I was doing. That's
what I was doing. Holding on to that gospel. And I wanted
my children to be raised up under the gospel. I didn't want them
to visit. We were not visitors. Family. We moved to where the family
was at. And it says here they claimed
to Paul and they believed. Among which was Dionysius, the
Arapagite, and a woman named Damaris, and others with them. So Paul leaves them now. He leaves
that place. God's work has been done. The
gospel came through like a tidal wave. It just passed through.
And that's what it's really doing. The gospel right now is passing
through. Someday it will pass on through.
It's passing through. Paul leaves Athens and he goes
to Corinth and he finds a certain Jew named Aquila and his wife
Priscilla. And he mentions them over in
the latter part of 1 Corinthians when he's giving his greetings.
He talks about Aquila and Priscilla. But I want us to notice once
again the providence of God in saving his sheep. They were in
this place because Claudius Caesar had commanded all the Jews to
depart from Rome. He had gotten tired of all the
bickering and all the fighting between the Jews and the Christians.
They were all just battling back and forth and he said, get out
of the house. That's really what he said, just get out of my house.
So he kicked them out of Rome. He ran them off. So they departed
from Rome and they went to Italy for a while. Then they left Italy
and they came here to Corinth. And I'm sure they were under
some hardship. I thought about this a little bit. I know no
doubt they were under some hardship. They had to leave their home.
I don't know how long they lived there, but they had a home there.
They lived there. They had to leave friends. They were run
out of town. They had to leave friends. Of
course, they were tent makers, so they were able to take their
occupation with them. God will do, and it will do us
well to remember this, God will do what it takes to bring His
sheep under the gospel, to hear the gospel, to believe on Christ. He'll do what it takes. These
Aquila, these two people, Aquila and Priscilla, they were ran
out of town. They had to go to another place
and set up shop, then they left that place for whatever reason,
and they came to this place. And it may be they were asking,
why? You know, they believed themselves
to be the people of God. They were Jews. They believed
they were God's people. And no doubt, they were probably asking,
why? Why not? You know, that's really
the question we ought to ask. Why me? Why not me? Who am I? David said, who am I? What is
my house? But God's people, and Israel is a type of the church,
have always been persecuted. They've always been They've always
been that way. Look over in Jeremiah, chapter
12. This is the way God's people
have always been treated in this world. In Jeremiah, chapter 12. In verse 9, God says, My heritage is unto
me as a speckled bird. The birds round about are against
her. That's the way His people have
always been in this world. He says, they're like a speckled
bird. The birds round about are always against her. The believer
will suffer what others suffer, plus more. We suffer whatever
this world suffers. We suffer what sin brings along
in body and these things. We suffer these things, but we
also suffer more for Christ's sake. If you pay attention to
the Gospel, we suffer more for Christ's sake. But their hardship,
their hardship brought them into contact with the gospel. Now
wasn't that worth it? That's worth all the hardship
that God will ever bring our way. That's worth every loss
that I'll ever suffer in this world, in this life, is to be
brought under the gospel and God save me. That's worth it
all. It's worth every bit of it. Now
Paul and Aquila, it says, had the same occupation. They were
tent makers. Paul was not a moocher. He didn't
come into town and try to mooch off the people. You have to realize
there was no church established here, and the church was just
young all over the place. Everywhere Paul went, he was
establishing churches. So he didn't take advantage of them.
He didn't come into town with them thinking that he was trying
to take advantage of them. So he, his occupation, was a
tent maker. And so he got with Aquila and
they started to make tents. And I'm sure Aquila would sell
them and he would give some of the proceeds to Paul. But I'm
sure during this time, Paul would sit down with Aquila and Priscilla
and talk about the Lord Jesus Christ. You know he did. What
a companion to have in business Paul Thacker did that with me.
We talked so much. Every time we got together to
talk about business, I'm telling you the truth, it didn't last
five minutes and we were talking about the gospel. That's the truth. It didn't last
five minutes. And I'm sure they had a lot of
conversations about the Lord Jesus Christ. Who He is. He talked to him about Him being
God. This man is God. That's why he talked to him about
God. You want to talk about God? Let's
talk about the Lord Jesus Christ. You can't talk about Christ and
not talk about God. You can't do it. He talked about
what he did when he went to the cross in substitution. He talked
to him about that. You know he did. He talked to
him about him being the substitute. He talked about him being the
high priest. He talked to him about being at the Father's right
hand now, the resurrection of the dead. This is what he got
in trouble for in Athens. He was talking about this. That's what he did. He spoke to him of all the tithes
and the pictures, and God saved him. I tell you what, God opened
Aquila and Priscilla's heart just like He did Lydia's. And
now they could look back, being run out of Rome, going to Italy,
then coming to Corinth, now they understood the journey. You usually
don't understand the journey until you get to the end of it,
do you? You don't understand it on the way. And so when they
got to this point, and they heard the gospel, they understood all
the journey that brought them to this place. And then Paul,
when he was in town there, looked around and said, where's the
synagogue at? Where's the synagogue? Knowing
he's going to get in trouble. Knowing there's going to be another fight.
But he went to the synagogue and it says every Sabbath day.
Now it says that Silas and Timothy came and they encouraged Paul.
No doubt. I mean, that's what they did
when they came. They encouraged Paul. And with that encouragement,
Paul being pressed in the spirit, his heart was like I said earlier,
his heart was like, these are my brothers and my sisters. I've
been where they are. I was in this ignorance. I was
in this darkness. I want them to know what I know.
I want them to know the one I know. I want them to know that the
one that we, the Jews, have been looking for is Jesus Christ,
is come, that the Messiah is come. I want them to know that.
He wanted him to know that so bad. And so he was pressed in
the Spirit, and he went and he preached that Jesus was Christ,
that he's the Messiah, he's the Savior, he's the anointed one.
He's the one we've been looking for. Look over in Luke chapter
2. Luke chapter 2. This is the one we are looking
for. Here he is. And he repeated this message
Every time he went to the synagogue, he repeated this message. You
know, that's why it says over in Philippians, for me to write
the same things to you, to me indeed is not grievous, but for
you it's safe. For me to preach the gospel and repeat these things
every time I stand here is the safest thing I can do for you.
And it's not grievous to me. It's not grievous. Now, I told
you to turn where? Luke chapter 2. Look in verse
36. 36 And there was one Anna, a prophetess,
the daughter of Penuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was of a
great age, and had lived with her husband seven years from
her virginity. And she was a widow of about
fourscore and four years, which departed not from the temple,
but served God with fastings and prayers night and day. She
coming in that instant gave thanks likewise unto the Lord and spake
of Him, spake of the Lord Jesus Christ to all them that looked
for redemption in Israel, in Jerusalem. She spoke of this
is the one. This is the one we've been looking
for. This is the one. This woman spoke that. She's
the one who did this. The Old Testament Paul, and I
have no doubt he said, the Old Testament here, Speaks of the
Messiah. Speaks of Him coming. The Old
Testament says someone's coming. He probably took them from Genesis
all the way up to Malachi. Pointing out the Lord Jesus Christ
and all these pictures and types and His coming. And says, He's
come. He's here. That's what He said
to those disciples that were following Him. John the Baptist
said to those disciples following Him, said, Behold the Lamb of
God which takes away the sin of the world. There He is. There
He is. He's come. And it says in verse 6, they
opposed themselves. They opposed themselves. To reject
the gospel, to make light of the gospel,
is to oppose yourself. Now, you're not going to do any
damage to God. I'm not going to do any damage
to God. God is in the heavens. I'm up on this earth. What are
we going to do to Him? To do anything against the gospel is
to do it against yourself. It's like, what's the old adage?
You cut your nose off, spite your face. That's what they did. They cut their nose off, spite
their face. It's to hang yourself. It's to put the noose around
yourself and hang yourself. That's what it is. It's to do
eternal harm to yourself. The Scriptures are correct here.
They opposed themselves when they opposed the Gospel. Never take lightly, and I say this to myself, never
take lightly hearing the Gospel of God's glory. The Gospel concerning God's Son,
never hear that lightly. Look over in Matthew Chapter
4. Yes, Matthew Chapter 4. In verse 24. Let me see if I wrote that down right. Matthew 4, 24. No, I wrote down the wrong scripture. Not sure I'm in the right book. Well, at least I wrote it down.
I learned to do that. I write it down. And I went back
last night and looked at it again, and I had, Take heed how you
hear. That's not what it says. I thought, wait a minute, when
I wrote that down, that's not what that's saying. I'd go back
and look it up. It says, Take heed what you hear. What I'm saying, take heed to
it. Take heed what you hear, with what measure you meet it
with, it shall be measured to you again. That's what it says there in
Matthew, somewhere. I don't have it written down
right. Paul says this in 2 Corinthians 2.16, that the gospel is a savor
of life unto life to some, for those whom God saves, and it's
a savor of death unto death to some. It actually adds to their
condemnation. That's what Paul says there in
2 Corinthians 2.16. I believe I wrote that one down
right. But it adds to one's condemnation. Now when they opposed themselves
and they blasphemed, Paul shook his right hand as a gesture,
just shook his right hand. That's what he did. And said
to them, your blood, your blood be upon your own heads. I'm clean. I'm clean. From henceforth, I'm going to
go to the Gentiles. Look over in Ezekiel chapter 3. Here's
what Paul says. Ezekiel 3, look in verse 18. Son of man, I have made thee
a watchman unto the house of Israel. Therefore, hear the word
at my mouth, and give them warning from me. When I say unto the
wicked, thou shalt surely die, and thou givest him not warning,
nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save
his life. The same wicked man shall die
in his iniquity, but his blood will I require thine hand. Yet
if thou warn the wicked, and he turn not from his wickedness,
nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity, but thou
hast delivered thy soul. Again, he says, when a righteous
man doth turn from his righteousness and commit iniquity, and I lay
a stumbling block before him, he shall die, because thou hast
not given him warning. He shall die in his sins, and
his righteousness which he hath done shall not be remitted, but
his blood will I require thine hand. Nevertheless, if thou warn
the righteous man that the righteous sin not, and he doth not sin,
he shall surely die." He's going to die anyway, and we've all
got to die, right? There's a poor young man who
wants to die. He'll die. He says here, and he does not
sin, he shall surely die, because he is warned also, or he says
he shall surely live, but we all are going to die, because
he is warned also thou hast delivered thy soul. Thou hast delivered
thy soul. That's what Paul is saying here.
He says, I'm clear. I've warned, I've preached the
gospel to you. I have preached the truth of
God to you. He says over here in the book of Acts, I have not
shunned to declare the whole counsel of God. standing in the
face of those Jews with them hating him and wanting to take
his life, he said, I have not shunned to tell the truth, even
if it costs my life. He never shunned to tell the
truth. There's a time, and this is serious, there's a time when God will
remove the Gospel. There's a time when He'll remove
the Gospel and leave the people to reprobation who despise and
reject the Gospel. There's a time he'll do that.
And they won't even realize it. They will not even know it. They
will go on in their religious services. You know, after Christ
died, they still went on. Those Jews, they still went on
with all those religious services. Still did those offerings. They
still did those things. And they'll do that until they
die and they meet God in judgment. And they won't even realize it. When God's man is rejected, Christ
is rejected. He that receives you, our Lord
said, receives me. He that rejects you, rejects
me. Now Paul said he's going to turn to the Gentiles. Israel's
going to be turned over to judicial blindness, as they are to this
day. To this very day, they are this
way. He said, seeing they see not, and hearing they hear not.
And he departs from them, and the gospel walks right out the
door. But let me show you the heart
of Paul. Here in verse 8, And Crispus, the chief ruler of the
synagogue, believed on the Lord, and followed his house. Well,
no, go back to verse 7. And he departed thence, and he
entered into a certain man's house, named Justice, one that
worshipped God. whose house joined hard to the
synagogue right beside of it. They kicked him out of the house.
He went right beside the house. Paul didn't get mad, go down
the street, so I'm not going to have anything to do with you.
Paul said, I'm going to go to the Gentiles. When he walked
out the door, he still loved those people so much, he went
right next door. He said, I'm going to preach
the gospel right here beside the house if I can't preach it
in the house. I want you to hear the gospel. I can just feel this
cry. I want you to hear the gospel.
He never gave up on them. Just like this. You never give
up on your children, do you? You don't give up on your children.
If your children say, I don't want to hear it. Well, you go
to the next room and play it then. And they're going to hear
it. You're not going to give up on
what I'm saying. You're not going to give up on it. And that's
what Paul says. I'm just not going to give up on it. And here's
the effects of Paul's preaching. Crispus, the chief ruler, the
chief ruler of the synagogue. This is one everyone thought
so highly of. This is one everyone listened
to. They put him in his place here. You know, he's the chief
ruler of the synagogue, so they had held this man in high esteem.
And he believed on the Lord Jesus Christ with all his house, and
many of the Corinthians believed. And they were baptized. They
identified with the Lord Jesus Christ publicly. Even this man
here, the chief, you realize what it took for him to do this?
Publicly, he said, I confess Christ. I tell you what, I bet
you instantly he became an enemy. They counted him as an enemy.
Those Jews in that synagogue left in there, I'm sure they
said, well, he's lost his mind. He's lost his mind. No, he found the gospel. He found
his mind. Really, you found your mind when
you find Christ. Really. That's when you're really
sane. That's when you're really sane.
It's when you're brought to a true saving knowledge of the Lord
Jesus Christ. God quickens you. The gospel came in power and
many believed and showed it by being baptized. publicly confessing
the Lord Jesus Christ as He commanded. And then the Lord speaks to Paul
by vision. At night, I'm sure Paul was depressed because there
was so much persecution, so much going on, so much rejecting,
so much trouble. Do you ever think, is this the
right thing? Am I doing the right thing? Do
you ever do that? I know you have. You think, am
I doing the right thing? And I'm sure Paul was laying
there I don't know that he's thinking, am I doing the right
thing? But he's laying there discouraged. And the Lord gives him a vision
at night. He's lying on his bed meditating.
I have no doubt he's probably meditating and thinking. And
he tells him, he says, Paul, I have much people in this city. It doesn't look like it does.
Paul, I have much people in this city here. You hang around a while. You're
not going to leave for a while, Paul. You're going to stay here
for a while. The Lord knoweth them that are His, doesn't He?
He knows. Paul didn't know who they were.
I don't know who they are. Do you know who they are? There's
no mark stamped on the forehead. There's no outward indication
who they are. In fact, look over in 1 Corinthians.
Could you tell by looking at this at these people and say,
now these are the people of God. Over in 1 Corinthians 6. Look in verse 9. Now you know 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 with
mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers,
nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God." None of
them, he said, shall inherit the kingdom of God. Now could
you tell by looking at this group of people that they belong to
God? And such were some of you. He covered all the bases here,
didn't he? And such were some of you. But you're washed. You're not this way anymore.
You're washed. You are sanctified. You are justified in the name
of the Lord Jesus by the Spirit of our God. Paul, I have much people in this
city. And it could have been said,
I have much people in Ashland. You'd never know it by looking
at them, would you? And such were some of you. Such were some
of you. And the gospel stayed there.
And the gospel will stay here until all the Lord's sheep are
saved. until he saves every last one of them and takes them home. Whenever this is, whenever this
time will come, unless he just comes back now, the gospel will
leave. It will go to another place.
You just look at history. You look at history. It proves
it out. And then trouble follows Paul.
Trouble always follows the gospel. Paul there in verse 11, he continued
there, a year and a half, a year and six months, teaching the
word of God among them. And when Galileo was the deputy
of Achaia, the Jews made insurrection with one accord against Paul
and brought him to the judgment seat. They accused him, now listen,
verse 13, saying, This fellow persuadeth men to worship God
contrary to the law. Any worship of God outside of
Christ is contrary to the law. Any worship of God outside of
Christ is contrary to the law. Look in Romans 3. Look at a few
verses here in Romans chapter 3. In Romans chapter 3, look
in verse 31. Do we then make void the law
through faith? Are we contrary to the law? He
says, God forbid. Listen, we established the law. No, he says, we don't worship
contrary to the law. We established the law. Look
in Romans chapter 7. Romans 7 verse 22. For I delight in the law of God
after the inward man." I delight in it. I'm not contrary to it.
I delight in the law of God after the inward man. In the Word of
God, sometimes the law stands for the whole Word. He said,
I delight in that which God has set up. Look in Romans 8. Over here in Romans 8, 3 and
4. What the law could not do in
that it was weak through the flesh, God sent in his own Son
in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, condemning sin in
the flesh, that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled
in us." The righteousness of the law in Christ and through
Christ is fulfilled, he says, in us who walk not after the
flesh but after the Spirit. They were the ones worshipping
God contrary to the law. And they accused Paul of what
they were guilty of. They accused him of it. Worshipping God contrary to the
law. No, in Christ we worship God and we establish the law. I had no doubt they were probably
talking about their ceremonies, which were done away with, which
was contrary for them to hold on to. Here's what I think was
going on. Paul said to that high priest,
If he doesn't say it in exact words, they knew what he was
saying. He said to that high priest,
go on home, we don't need you now. He said to that high priest,
we don't need to offer those bullocks and those lambs. We
don't need to do it anymore. We don't need to do this anymore.
All this religious stuff that's going on, he said we don't need
it anymore. And they said, well, you're telling
us now to worship God contrary to the law. No, I'm telling you
to worship God in Christ who fulfilled the law. That's what
I'm telling you. That's what I'm telling you.
It was always the Jews in that day, in that day. It was always
the Jews which represent the religion of that day. They represented
religion. It was always the Jews who caused
trouble. Always. False religion always
causes trouble. Ishmael will always persecute
Isaac. He'll always persecute Isaac.
They were in the same family, but he always persecuted Isaac.
The flesh will always lust against the spirit, always. Paul said,
when I would do good, evil is always, not sometimes, always
present with me. Always. Then over here, let's turn back
here to Acts. Back here to Acts 18. They said
you're worshiping God contrary to the law. Then when Paul was
about to open his mouth and defend himself, Galileo said to the Jews, If
it were a matter of wicked lewdness you're talking about here, something
this man did out here in the public and to the community,
he said, but oh, you Jews. Pain in the neck, people. This
is why you got run out of Rome. Oh, you Jews. Reason one, I'll
bear with you. I'd put up with you if he did
something lewd and wicked. But if it's a question of words
and names, And of your law, what they call their law, you take
care of the matter. I'm not going to be a judge in
such matters. And he drove them out of the judgment seat. Then
the Greeks took Sosthenes, chief ruler of the synagogue, another
one, may God save him, and beat him before the judgment seat. Old Gallio, he says, it says
there, Cared for none of these things. Y'all just do what you
want to do. Don't bother me. Don't bother me. Let me close
by reading Matthew chapter 5. Matthew chapter 5. Look in verse Let's see, Matthew 5, 11. 11 through 12. Listen, and I'll
close with this. Blessed are ye when men shall
revile you and persecute you and shall say all manner of evil
against you for my sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad. For great is your reward in heaven.
For so persecuted they, the prophets which were before you." God's
people have always been persecuted. They've always had to suffer
because of the Gospel. But He says you rejoice. Rejoice. Rejoice that you're counted worthy
to suffer for Christ's sake.