Now, as you remember from last Sunday,
Paul departed and went to Corinth and he found two folks there,
a husband and wife, Priscilla and Aquila, And they were of
the same mind in the gospel. They were believers. And also
they had the same trade as Paul and that was a tent maker. He
made tents on occasion. And so he stayed with them and
they worked their craft together as we saw in verse 3 of the 18th
chapter of Acts. And then, finally, Paul was joined
with Silas and Timotheus from Macedonia. And as the custom
and manner was of Paul and all who were with him during this
missionary journey, is that in verse 5, he was pressed in the
spirit and testified to the Jews that Jesus was Christ. And when they opposed themselves
in blaspheme, Paul shook his raiment, verse 6, and said unto
them your blood be upon your own hands I am clean from henceforth
I will go to the Gentiles and so that's kind of the coming
into where we are will be this morning and of course everywhere
Paul went he was opposed as the gospel is today and as God's
messengers are today they're usually opposed by somebody and
someone but we saw that four-fold comforting promise last Sunday
that in verse nine, then spake the Lord to Paul in the night
by vision. And he said, be not afraid, but
speak and hold not your peace. I am with you, no man shall set
on thee to hurt thee, and I have much people in this city." So
Paul has a comfort, a fourfold comfort given to him by the promise
of God that he is to stay there and to preach but not hold his
tongue. And then we closed in the 11th verse of the same chapter,
and Paul continued there a year and six months teaching the Word
of God among them. So, that's the situation. Also, there's this one in verse
8 called Crispus. He was the chief ruler of the
synagogue. He believed on the Lord. He believed on the Lord.
So, the Lord was still calling the Jews, and He's calling Gentiles. He's calling His elect from every
corner of the globe through the preaching of the gospel. And
we start this morning in verse 12, and when Galileo was the
deputy of Achaiai. The Jews made insurrection with
one accord against Paul and brought him to the judgment seat. Now
he's still in Corinth. He's still got the same promises.
Stay there and speak. He's gonna meet difficult face-to-face
with those who oppose Him. There's those, the Jews, of course,
the religious fanatics of the day who didn't understand the
gospel. They had all the law, they had the customs, they had
the outspeakings of God, they had the prophets. Christ came
among them and they didn't know who He was. Still the same this
day and it's still the same among our friends and family, as it
were, in this town. You know, everybody in this country
has a book, a Bible that sits in their home and sits in their
office, whatever, and they still don't know who this Christ is.
So this one, Galileo, was the deputy and he, there's an insurrection
made by the Jews. They brought Paul in the judgment
seat, and this is their accusation. They said, this fellow, Now,
the word fellow is in italics there, so it's not in the original,
because they despised Paul so much, they just said this, thing,
this, whatever you want to call it.
They hated him in the message so much. This persuades men,
look at what they said, to worship God contrary to the law. We'll
get back to that in a minute. And when Paul was now about to
open his mouth, Galileo said unto the Jews, If
it were a matter of wrong or wicked lewdness, O ye Jews, reason
would that I should bear with you. But if it be a question
of words and names and of your law, look ye to it, for I will
be no judge of such matters. Now there's some wisdom in there
and there's some ignorance in there. The wisdom is There's
your separation of church and state, and that's the way it
should be. Isn't that something? He was wise enough to realize
if it's going to be some civil offense, you talk to me about
it. But if it's manners and custom
or words about your law, you see to it. I'm not going to judge
such matters. But then, foolishly, he didn't
want to deal with it. He didn't want to deal with it.
He didn't want to make a stand, right or wrong. So he drove them from
the judgment seat. Then all the Greeks took Sothenes,
the chief ruler of the synagogue. Now, I'll just put that name
in the back of your head and what his position is. Sothenes,
the chief ruler of the synagogue, and beat him before the judgment
seat. And Galileo cared for none of those things. And Paul, after
this, tarried there yet a good while. He stayed there. They
wanted his neck. He stayed there, because God's
promise is greater than the threats of men. He stayed there yet a
good while, and then took his leave of the brethren, and sailed
thence to Syria, and with him Persil and Aquila, having shorn
his head in this particular place, for he had a vow. Now that's
specifically speaking of Aquila having shorn his head, for he
had a vow. And then he came to Ephesus,
and he left them there. Paul left Persil and Aquila there,
but he himself entered into the synagogue and reasoned with the
Jews. Such compassion the man had for
his kinsmen that he still was going to go into the synagogue
everywhere he went and preach Christ to them. When they desired
him to tarry longer with them, he consented not, but bade them
farewell, saying, I must by all means keep the feast that cometh
to Jerusalem, but I will return again unto you, if God will,
and he sailed from Ephesus. And we had landed at Caesarea. He'd gone up and saluted the
church, and he went down to Antioch. So we have a second missionary
journey. He's just going back, as he said, in the latter part
of chapter 17, I'm going to go around and strengthen the churches
and see how the brethren are. So this is kind of where he's
at historically, or what's being narrated here. And after he spent
some time there in Antioch, he departed and went over to all
the country of Galatia in order, strengthening all the disciples.
And then in closing, we have this certain Jew named Apollos. Born at Alexandria, an eloquent
man, and mighty in the Scripture, came to Ephesus. This man was
instructed in the way of the Lord, and being fervent in the
Spirit, he spake and taught diligently the things of the Lord, knowing
only the baptism of John. It hadn't been revealed to him,
nor had he been taught Pentecost, the Holy Spirit, the Day of Pentecost,
and the Resurrection, and those things, just the baptism of John.
And he began to speak boldly in the synagogue whom when Aquila
and Priscilla you remember them? Tit makers had heard they took
him in unto them Privately and expounded unto him the way of
God more perfectly. They told him hey There's there's
a few other things that have happened by way of inspiration,
by way of God dealing with men, et cetera, et cetera. And when
he was disposed to pass into Achaia, the brethren wrote, exhorting
the disciples to receive him, that is, Apollos, who, when he
was come, helped them much, which had believed through grace. For
he was mightily convinced, for he mightily convinced the Jews,
and that publicly, showing by the Scriptures, that Jesus was
Christ. So we've got, in some writers,
I was reading and looking this stuff over this week, some writers
actually have the thought that Apollos was used so mightily
by the Lord that, you know, Paul, when he was out in different
locations, the Lord was using Apollos to help the brethren
much, to set them down and to solidify those things of the
grace of God in their heart and their soul. Now, I've got just
a few things. We're going to start with verse
12. We're going to notice a few things, just a few points. The
first one, and there's more in here, obviously, but just look
at these with me. Verses 12 through 17, we see
once and again that opposition to the gospel and God's people,
it never changes. Opposition never changes. The gospel always had and always
will have opposition among men. You simply cannot preach the
simple message of Christ and Him crucified without someone
or somebody objecting to the pure, free grace of God in the
person and work of Jesus Christ. It can't be done. It can't be
done. Because everybody, first of all,
have preconceived notions of who God is. They don't fully
understand sin. They don't fully understand redemption.
They don't fully understand the glory of the gospel in the person
of Jesus Christ. And so, when you tell them that,
you know, that's not what mom told me. That's not what dad
told me. That's not what my, you know, whatever it might be. But
when you open this book and tell them the truth, just like with
Paul, there's going to be opposition. But look at the charge. Look
at the charge in verse 13. They said, this fellow persuades
men to worship God contrary to the law. God will be worshipped. He will
be worshipped by some. He's gonna be worshipped correctly.
And to correctly worship Jehovah, is to do so in spirit and in
truth as it is fulfilled by God's own Son as opposed to law. God will be worshipped and to
correctly worship Him must be revealed to us through this book
and it's contrary to law. You see, these pesky Jews wanted
Paul and every other preacher of religion, because they owned
up to that. Well, he's telling people to
worship God, so they owned up that Paul was a religious fellow.
But they wanted Paul and every other preacher of religion to
agree with them concerning law worship, legalistic teachings,
and works religion. And God will not be and cannot
be worshipped that way. He won't accept it. He won't
accept it. You see, what they were saying,
these Jews, they were saying, you must, as we've seen in this
book of Acts and our studies, you must keep the law of Moses
to be right with God, to be accepted. You've got to keep the law of
Moses. They also, the charge was in previous chapters, you
must be circumcised and keep the law. You must be catechized in our
traditions. You must either do this or not
do that in order for God to accept you. Whether it's legalism, whether
it's contrary law, however you want to phrase it, it's the same
thing. Because as we've seen years and
years and years from this place, there's only two kinds of religions,
that of Cain and that of Abel. Cain is either do this or don't
do that. It's either tradition, legalism
or works. But it's always something to
do with what you do or what you think or what you don't do or
what you don't think in order to gain acceptance with God instead
of like Abel. The sacrifice of someone else. Something else. In this case,
the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. Perfect, pure, innocent,
holy, harmless, undefiled, says Hebrews. Abel says, I cannot
approach God who is infinitely holy. He will not accept any
kind of worship. The only worship he accepts is
that based upon the substitute. the good for the wicked, the
holy for the unrighteous, the Lord Jesus Christ for his people. Turn with me to Colossians chapter
two. We looked at this the other last
week and week before in Bible class, but this is so pertinent. To what we're looking at here,
that these Jews brought insurrection against Paul and their accusation
was this thing Persuades men to worship God contrary to the
law and Paul understood this and said in Colossians chapter
2 And he warns the brethren he says verse 8 look at this Colossians
2 verse 8 because this is so subtle It just can creeps in
all the time everywhere. He Paul says beware and he's
writing to Colossians He says beware lest any man spoil you
and Spoil you. Deceive you. Make you feel good
about yourself. Make you feel good about what
you're doing for God. Spare the rod, spoil the child.
You want an unruly congregation? You want unruly children? It's
all the same thing. Tickle their ears. If Paul says to the Colossians,
he says, beware lest any man spoil you. And he's a threefold
warning through philosophy, vain deceit. after the tradition of
men, secondly, and after the rudiments of the world, and not
after Christ." He didn't say you could do those things and
it would be okay. He specifically says, beware that any man, lest
any man spoil you through these things, philosophy, tradition
of men, and the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. So either you're in philosophy,
or tradition of men, or the rudiments of the world, or you're in Christ.
You see what he's saying there? He's not making it, it's, he's
not compromising and putting these things together and it's
okay to do these things. No, he says, beware. Now let me read you what a commentator
says on this. In these verses, in this verse,
verse 8, the air of false religion is dealt with under three headings.
one philosophy. Philosophy, that is, there is
nothing wrong with true philosophy, but the Word of God is never
to be subject to human reason. And human philosophy is never
to be introduced into the worship and service of God. Let God be
true and every man a liar. Romans chapter 3. The second
heir of false religion he deals with is tradition of men. Now,
this is very important. These are practices and rites
in the church that are done without the authority of the written
word, having no warrant but custom and human tradition. For instance,
infant baptism, mass, purgatory, prayers for the dead, the celebration
of religious holidays such as Christmas, Easter, and so forth. You know, if it's not Christ-centered,
and I'm talking about when we gather together. I'm not talking
about things that you do at your own home as far as if you want
to observe certain days or seasons or whatever like that, but when
you bring it in and try to use those to gain access to God or
favor with God or say this is what the Scripture teaches and
it doesn't. That is tradition of man. And
thirdly, the rudiments of the world. These are the mosaical
rites and ceremonies, circumcision, abstaining from certain meats,
the observance of Sabbath days, and so forth. Since Christ has
fulfilled all these, the practice of them is sinful. The way of
Christ will not mix with man's philosophy, traditions, or legal
obedience. I think that's about as clear
as I've... That's not me. I'm quoting from
somebody else, but I say amen. And that's what's going on in
Acts. Paul's preaching the gospel purely and simply. And they said,
this fellow persuades men to worship God contrary to the law.
If what I preach or Paul or anyone else teaches or preaches, if
it is not warranted by this book, which Christ himself said, These
scriptures, are they or they which testify of me? Then do
not follow them or continue in those ways. If I start adding
things, search the scriptures. It blesses me, you don't know
how much it blesses me that after a message, somebody comes up
and says, the Lord showed them something in a passage or whatever
it might be, because I learn as you're learning too. I don't
know everything and I don't claim to know everything. Plus, we're
preaching an infinite God that has infinite grace, and infinite
love, and infinite mercy, and we're finite. We begin in time. Not Christ, not our Lord, not
the Lord of glory. But Paul simply is standing there
and preaching the gospel, and they say, well, he's trying to
persuade people to worship God contrary to basically what we
want. What we want. And if anything
that is said and spoken and preached from here is not found and not
warranted in this book, we don't have to listen to it. Don't listen
to it. We won't go in depth now, but look at what Apollos is teaching.
He said, who when Apollos was come, verse 27, helped them much
which had believed through grace. Well, he's preaching grace. And
he says, for Apollos, verse 28, he mightily convinced the Jews
and they publicly show him by the Scriptures that Jesus was
Christ. That is what will do you and
I any real lasting good, is to know Jesus as Christ. Not when
the end time things this, not all these things. And I'm not
saying there's things in Scriptures that we don't need to look at. And
honestly, compare scriptures with scriptures, but if you don't
see the scarlet thread through this book, you've missed it.
You've missed it. And this is not what Apollos
was preaching and what Paul was preaching. This is not deeper
theology or complicated doctrine. This is life and death, works
or grace, law or love. So then we go, that's the first
point, but look at the second point here. All that God does,
He does for His church, church's ultimate good and His own glory. Well, how do you see this in
there? Well, one, Paul, his life is being threatened, but the
Lord uses the civil magistrate to protect him. And I'm sure
that man didn't even know what he was doing, but God uses, he
uses the sheep and the goats. He uses, he sends rain on the
just and the unjust. He does all he does for his church,
for our good and for in God's own glory. And Paul was gonna
be able to get to Antioch and Galatia and all these different
places because God was gonna take care of his messenger and
his message. So that's for the good of the
church. But let me show you three things that God does in this
second part. He does for his church's ultimate
good and for his own glory. Look back at verse eight. There's
this one called Crispus. Okay. And Crispus, the chief
ruler of the synagogue, believed on the Lord with all his house.
Now, drop down with me to verse 17. Then all the Greeks took
Sothenes, the chief ruler of the synagogue. Guess what happened
to Crispus? You're either the chief ruler
of the synagogue or you're a believer. You see what I'm saying? He stepped
down because you can't be the chief ruler of the synagogue
and believe the gospel. Why? Because chief ruler of the
synagogue believes in the law. Crispus was chief ruler. He denounced
the old ways or he was put out of the synagogue. Either he was
excommunicated, which there's that lovely word that's only
found, the usage is only used by the Pharisees. I think that's
interesting. We've got some past experience
with that, don't we? Anyway, he was either put out
of the synagogue, probably, or he left and renounced it, perhaps. Either way, to believe the grace
of God purely, simply, and boldly is to renounce and denounce any
form or manner of works-type religion. You see that? He's
not the ruler of the synagogue anymore. What about you and I? Have we
come out completely? But there's no mixing works and
grace. Second thing, look at this second ruler of the synagogue. His name is, we don't know much
about him. Then all the Greeks took Sothenes,
the chief ruler of the synagogue, and beat him. All the Jews of
the synagogue came and made insurrection, and I'm sure Sothomes was part
of that or the head of it. So, he was gonna beat, have Paul
beat, and guess who got beat? Point A is God took care of Paul. Point B, God's gonna take care
of his people even if he brings them through difficult times.
Are you ready for this? Turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 1. I didn't see this. I saw this
last night. How about come unglued? 1 Corinthians
chapter 1, verse 1. Are you there with me? Paul called
to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God and Sothenes,
our brother. All that God does, He does for
His church's ultimate good and His glory. From wanting to beat Paul, to
being beaten himself, to being humbled, and to be a believer
and be called a brother. Isn't God's grace and God absolutely
amazing, wonderful, beautiful? Words cannot express how much
we owe to our God and to Lord Jesus Christ and His spirit of
supplication that reveals even these things unto us. The third
thing under this second point, all God does, He does for His
church's ultimate good and glory is Paul. Paul tarried, and we
saw that in verse 18, and Paul, after this, tarried there yet
a good while. Paul tarried in the midst of
trouble in Corinth, and travels and strengthens the early church
elsewhere, Ephesus, Caesarea, Antioch, Galatia, Pergaea. God
protected his servants, so His servants could help, comfort,
and grow His church. Sometimes we think we just have
everything figured out. We got the I's dotted, the T's
crossed, but... And then the Lord just knocks these things
down. We are not to put our confidence
in man. Any man. I thank God for you folks here. And I thank God for the brethren
that I've met and known throughout the years, but we're still men. But regardless, He's going to
use His people, His church, His bride, and He's going to help
and grow and protect and strengthen each individual sheep. And He's
going to do that. Lastly, let's look at this one
Apollos. And there's a lot here, but I
think there's one main, there's two main points here that I like.
This one, Apollos, in the latter part, and I won't reread it,
in verse 24 to the end of the chapter, this Apollos, who's
Greek, or excuse me, was a Jew, but he was born in Alexandria.
Eloquent man. He was well-educated. He knew,
at least up to the baptism of John, the Scriptures very well.
He obviously was a good orator. bold in presence, able to see
Christ in the text, but what I love is the fact that this
bold, eloquent, wise, and very well-educated
preacher was teachable. He learned about the resurrection,
the day of Pentecost, the workings of the Holy Spirit, In the kingdom
of grace, he learned it from these two tent makers, Priscilla
and Aquila. And another thing, I just thought
about this right now, iron sharpens iron. You don't think we need
one another? We need one another. Get to where you can get to be
amongst God's people. I just wish I could make that.
I wish I could stand from the top of this building and say,
whatever you're doing is not as important as gathering together
with God's people. I just you've seen it. I've seen it. We've been through
a lot of things together, and I'm telling you, the excuses
are rampant. This man, it's almost like he
didn't need anybody bold, eloquent. thundering, preaching, good orator,
bold, able to see Christ in the text. Yet two tent makers, Priscilla
and Aquila, pulled him aside. The woman and the man. And she's
not usurping authority, she's not preaching in the synagogue,
she's not doing this, she's not doing that, but she is one of
God's children. And all of God's children know
grace as it is in Christ Jesus and iron can sharpen iron. May
you see I'm saying look at what it says. They began to speak
boldly in the synagogue. Verse 26 and Aquila and Priscilla
had heard. They took him. Unto them and
expounded unto him the way of God more perfectly. Oh, what
a blessing it is. When iron sharpens iron, what
a blessing it is, a husband that loves the gospel
and helps his wife, and a wife that loves the gospel and helps
her husband. And if not, what a blessing it
is to have a place where you can gather together and encourage and help one another
in the ways of Christ. Because as soon as you leave
here, After we have our meal, everything and then you can go
home and then tomorrow morning, most of us going to go to work.
You're going to have fellow workers that can strengthen your hand
in the various craft that you have. It's not saying. It's not saying that started
in time, that job and your skills will end in time, but not the
grace of God in your soul. Invaluable, invaluable. Okay, so let's look at the second
important thing. I think that's very important
that he's teachable. Secondly, I think it's very important is what did
he proclaim? What did he proclaim? Well, we touched on this earlier.
And when he was disposed, verse 27, the last two verses, to pass
into Achaia, the brethren wrote, exhorting the disciples to receive
Apollos, who, when he was come, helped them much which had believed
through grace. He preached grace, not law, not
works, not legalism. What did he proclaim? He proclaimed
that everything that God has for sinners, apart from judgment,
but everything that God has for sinners in mercy and in wonder
is called grace. And it is in and through and
because of This one in the last of verse
28, he showed by the Scriptures that Jesus was Christ. Isn't that what Nathan read in
Luke? Was it Luke chapter 2? Jesus
was Christ, the Anointed One, the Holy One of God. There is
Balm in Iliad. Talk about the Ark. Christ was
that Ark. Noah's Ark? Well, it was just
a boat. No, it was a picture. It all points to Christ. Those
who were in that Ark were safe from the rain or the wrath of
God, and those outside it were drowned. What did He proclaim? He proclaimed that in order for
anybody to believe, Without faith, it's impossible to please God. Without believing and trusting
God, it's impossible to please Him. Oh, how do you believe?
How do you have faith? Through grace. It's not of yourself. It's not works. Look at how it's
worded again here in verse 27, which had believed through grace. People make believing a work.
No. People think faith is a work. No. It's the bona fide grace
of God to sinners like you and I. And he talks, secondly, Christ
from the scriptures, showing that Jesus was Christ, God's
Christ, God's man, Emmanuel, God with us. The wonderful counselor, mighty
God, the everlasting father, the prince of peace. Christ,
the foundation of everything necessary and needful in this
way we call Christianity. Why can't we get along with,
or why can't we see eye to eye with the Muslims? Because they
say Mohammed, we say Christ. You can't put them together.
I'm not saying you've got to be mean to people, I'm just saying, they're a religion, but Buddhists,
any of these, Christ, the foundation of everything necessary, I repeat,
and needful in this way we call Christianity. Why were they first
called Christians in Antioch? Because they followed Christ. It's people who are ashamed of
it in this country who, well, you know, we're going to, no. So you stand for the gospel,
and they might say, well, this fellow persuades men to worship
God contrary to law. I do. We do. Not cocky about
it, but we're unashamed of it because we're unashamed of our
Lord Jesus Christ. And in closing, incidentally,
if you and I do this, what? Preach that all is of grace and
that Jesus was the Christ and is the Christ. If we do that
one to another and to our neighbors and to our friends and coworkers, specifically to one another,
if you and I do this, look at what's gonna happen in
verse 27. They exhorted disciples to receive
Apollos, who when he was come, helped them much. Helped them
much. The church will be helped much. Isn't this what you want to do?
And I know this is what I want to do. There's a lot of junk,
there's a lot of nonsense, there's a lot of stuff that's preached
that shouldn't even be preached. But you preach Christ, and you
preach all of grace, And you're guaranteed to help God's people. And that's what I want to do.
And I know with you being here, that's what you want to do. May
God give us the grace to be bold like Apollos. Teachable like
Apollos. And just stand on our hind legs
and preach Christ like Paul. Because everything God does He
does for His people, is for our good, and for His glory. We can't ask for any more than
that. Be it a large number, or be it a small number. If He's
glorified, many of His people will be helped, and not a little.
Matt, would you close us please?