Acts chapter 18 and verse 1. After these things Paul departed
from Athens and came to Corinth, and found a certain Jew named
Aquila born in Pontus, lately come from Italy with his wife
Priscilla, because that Claudius had commanded all the Jews to
depart from Rome, and came unto them. And because he was of the same
craft, he abode with them and wrought, for by their occupation
they were tentmakers. And he reasoned in the synagogue
every Sabbath and persuaded the Jews and the Greeks. And when
Silas and Timotheus were come from Macedonia, Paul was pressed
in the spirit and testified to the Jews that Jesus was Christ. And when they opposed themselves
and blasphemed, he shook his raiment and said unto them, Your
blood be upon your own heads. I am clean, from henceforth I
will go unto the Gentiles. 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 ruler of the synagogue, believed on the Lord with all
his house, and many of the Corinthians, hearing, believed and were baptised. Then spake the Lord to Paul in
the night by a 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. Amen. May God bless to us this
reading from his word. So Paul left Athens and he came
to another powerful city of its day, and he came to the city
of Corinth. He is still in Europe, he is
still in Greece, Macedonia as it was then called, or Greece
as we now call it. and there in Greece he had visited
a number of very significant cities and we know that he had
by his presence there in preaching the gospel established a number
of churches and gathered a number of the Lord's elect. He had been
in Philippi where he had met Lydia and the Philippian jailer
had been converted. He had been in Thessalonica and
from there he had travelled to Berea and to Athens and now he
goes to Corinth where he is to spend the next 18 months preaching
the gospel. Do you see how busy the apostle
was? Do you see how committed he was
to his labours? How engaged he is in the gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ? He was a dedicated man as to
his service, but it also appears that the Apostle had taken another
initiative at this stage, which is not immediately obvious from
the text as we read it. because it seems as if the apostle
had purposefully began to spread the energies of the little group
of missionaries that were traveling with them. Because here we discover
in verse 5, that there is a reference to Silas and Timotheus coming
from Macedonia. Now, that doesn't mean that they
had come from where they were. Remember, the apostle was separated
from them when he went to Athens. because they came to Athens and
met him there. We learned that at the end of
the previous chapter. And it seems as if Paul then
divided the group and he personally went to Corinth and he sent Silas
and Timothy back to the churches, or at least some of them that
they had previously visited. We learn in the letter to Thessalonica
that Timothy, at least, and perhaps Silas with him, although he's
not mentioned, had been sent back at that stage to Thessalonica,
perhaps just to convey a message or to take some information or
to see how the believers were doing there. And again, that
shows us the way in which the apostle was thinking strategically
about the work upon which he was embarked. There's a lesson
there, a lesson for the church and a lesson for the people of
God in the way in which we go about the service of our Saviour. Corinth the Apostle meets a couple
who just appear on the scene. We don't know where they come
from really, there's not been a mention of them before. We
know that they come from Pontus at least, which is where Aquila
was born. And we know also that they had
travelled from Rome because there had been a little bit of a blowback
in Rome it appears because of the Jews. The Jews appear to
have been a cantankerous bunch wherever they went and it seems
as if there had been trouble in Rome partly because of the
Jews and the Caesar at that time had rid Rome of the Jews and
consequently here we discover Aquila and Priscilla arriving
in Corinth and setting up shop in Corinth where they were tent
makers and presumably as Jews attending the synagogue also.
And Paul meets them and he joins with them. He becomes self-supporting
during his stay in Corinth by returning to a craft that he
had as a tent maker and that shows again how even in those
days there was an awareness that while he was an extremely accomplished
theologian and had been taught as a Pharisee and had committed
to him the wisdom of the Jewish religion and was regarded highly
as a teacher and respected insofar as he had been given an ear in
every synagogue that he had entered into It didn't last for long
in many cases, but he had at least that weightiness of character
as he preached to those people. Nevertheless, he was also capable
of maintaining himself in a relatively low esteem job where he could
earn for himself and for his companions sufficient to get
by. And so he began to tent make.
And he goes on the... Sabbath day into the synagogue
and there he reasons about the Lord Jesus Christ and he reasons
both to Jews and proselytites, that's the reference to the Greeks
there. And obviously some were persuaded
and we discovered that there was a number in verse 4 who believed
the gospel. And we can see how again the
apostles technique, the apostles plan in going into these places
often bore fruit as he was able to preach the gospel and tell
these Jews and Jewish converts that the one that they were waiting
for, the Messiah that they were looking for and anticipating
had indeed come and that it was the Lord Jesus Christ. Teaching
them from the Old Testament scriptures that this one Jesus was indeed
the Messiah. And when the friends reunited
here in Corinth, Timothy and Silas came back, it seems as
if the apostle reintensified his preaching there in the city. And he spoke powerfully of Christ. And then it seems the Jews started
to react more aggressively against him. And from this time, it seems
that perhaps a split had took place or had taken place. And
Paul no longer goes to the synagogue. It may well be that he had been
ejected. It may well be that there had
been a disagreement within the synagogue itself. And he leaves
and he enters into a house beside the synagogue. He seems even
to have moved out of the home of Aquila and Priscilla at this
time and moved into this house with a man called Justice. It's just an interesting observation
and I don't know whether there's any absolute support for it,
but there is a suggestion that this man Justice may actually
have been Titus, whom the Apostle later sends out as a preacher. But that is just a conjecture,
but there is some support for it, it appears. And so here we
see that the apostle is being more isolated and alienated there
in the city and pressures are beginning to rise and we'll discover
a little bit more about that on another occasion because he
is taken again before the magistrates in the town. But the two things
that I want to leave with you from this passage this morning
are these. In verses 9 and 10, very important
verses and very significant verses, because while there were many,
including in verse 8, we discover Crispus and his family, who was
indeed the ruler of the synagogue. So there was a big disruption
in that synagogue in Corinth. And the ruler believed and it
seems as if at this stage, at this juncture, there was about
to be some serious violence perpetrated. And the Lord spake to Paul in
the night by a vision, and said, 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 here are the two things.
One is this. that the Lord knows exactly what is happening in
every situation. And here the Lord drew close
to Paul. At that moment when he may well
have been thinking, my work here is over, my time here is done,
as has been the pattern in these other Greek Macedonian cities. Now they are starting to rise
violently. For the sake of the community,
for the sake of the testimony, for the sake of the believers
here, it's now time for me to move on. But the Lord had another
plan. He said, no Paul, This time you
stay. This time, for the next 18 months,
I want you to preach boldly in this city. And so the Lord was
aware of the circumstances and the Lord personally came in a
vision. He didn't send an angel. He didn't
send another preacher. He didn't lay an impression on
the minds of Titus and Silas and they said, look, let's take
a vote and you're beaten two to one. No, the Lord came and
spoke to him. And there's a loveliness about
that, about the personal fellowship and interaction there with the
Lord and the Apostle. That that impression was so laid
upon him in the vision that the Lord said to him, Paul, you stay
put and you preach boldly. And here's the second point,
for I have much people in this city. You see, again, the Lord's
business is our business. And the Lord had people in Corinth
that he was going to call. And why should it take 18 months
to do that, Lord? Because this is my plan and this
is my purpose. Why can't they all come now?
Why can't they all believe the first time they hear the gospel?
Because this is how it's to be. And so we are servants of the
Lord and we take upon ourselves to do the will of our God. And the Lord was preserving men
and women perhaps who'd never heard the gospel, men and women
who had never heard about Jesus. And yet there they were, living
in that city. It was a debauched city. It was
a wicked city. It was a sensuous city. It was
full of idolatry and it was full of physical wickedness of every
kind. And yet there the Lord had his
little ones. And it's a lovely thought to
realise that the Lord has his people. And where he sets up
a preacher, and where he sets up a testimony, it is to the
end that he gathers his people in. Remember that. That's why
we're here. That's why there is a Sovereign
Grace Church here in town when there isn't in so many other
places, because the Lord has his people in this city. I believe
that. And as we continue to preach
and maintain that testimony, the Lord will gather to himself
such as should be saved. May the Lord bless these thoughts
to us.