One phrase in that song just
made me stop and think. The phrase, the power of the
cross. The omnipotence of the cross. Never has such power been displayed
than in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. I've entitled the message for
tonight, I have much people in this city. This is about Paul's first visit
to Corinth, and evidently he was despondent at this time. As a matter of fact, by his own
testimony, he said, when I came into you, I came with weakness
and fear and much trembling. That is how he came into Corinth. Now, part of that, no doubt,
was his own grappling with his own weakness. Somebody says he
wasn't grappling with his own weakness. Well, do you grapple
with your own weakness? He did, too. And he was also
overcome with the responsibility, the fear of God, the fear of
not being able to preach as he ought to, and he was despondent. when he came into Corinth. And
the Lord gives him this encouragement, verse nine, then spake the Lord
to Paul in the night by a vision, be not afraid. Evidently he was for various
reasons, but speak. And hold not thy peace. Evidently, he was tempted to
draw back a little bit. For I am with thee, and no man
shall set on thee to hurt thee. Now Paul knew wherever he went,
he was either going to be imprisoned or beat. You know, every time
I think about that, I think, I wonder how I would respond
to something like that. He knew wherever he went, he was either
going to be thrown in jail or he was going to be whipped. And
I'm sure that he was thinking of this as he entered Corinth,
but the Lord gives this assurance. No man shall sit on thee to hurt
thee. And he gives this reason. And I love this reason for I,
have as my possession much people in this city. What a reason to go on. You know,
I've been told, and I know you have too, that election kills
missions. No, it doesn't. It inspires them.
That's why Paul was willing to go through all of this because
Christ appeared to him and said, I have much people in this city. Now, who are his people? Well,
they're described in Matthew 121, where the Lord, the angel
said to Mary, call his name Jesus, for he shall save, he shall save.
Don't miss that. HE SHALL SAVE HIS PEOPLE. THE ELECT. THOSE UNITED TO HIM
FROM THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD. THOSE GIVEN TO HIM FROM THE FOUNDATION
OF THE WORLD. THAT'S WHO HIS PEOPLE ARE. HE'S
GOT A PEOPLE. AND PAUL IS GIVEN THIS ASSURANCE
I have much people in this city. Now, this is about the founding
of the church at Corinth. And I think it's interesting
to note that more time is spent in Paul's epistles with the church
of Corinth by far than any of the other epistles. We learn
so much from these first and second epistles to the church
at Corinth. Now, Corinth was the largest
city in Greece. It was over twice the size of
Lexington. I read where there were about 750,000 people in
this city, and it was a Roman colony. This was not a Jewish
city. It was established by the Romans, and it was a very prosperous
commercial city. It had a big port, and it was
a way through land trade, and it was a very prosperous, very
large city. And it was known for two things.
I didn't know this until I researched into this. It was known for two
things. Number one, sports. You know, they had the Olympics
every four years, in Athens, but they had a very similar game
every two years in Corinth. It was known for its sports,
the Olympics. But the second thing that it
was mainly known for was its immorality. As a matter of fact,
there was a phrase about if a place became exceptionally debauched,
they'd say it's been Corinthianized. That is They had a temple there
to the goddess of love, and every night, 1,000 prostitutes would
go out to aid people in their worship of the goddess of love. This was a very immoral, very
debauched place. I dare say it was worse than
any of the places of our day. People say, it's worse now than
it's ever been. Not really. Uh, things like that
go in cycles and they had reached a low point at this time in Corinth. And it was a very terrible place. Now, when Paul first came to
Corinth, turn to first Corinthians chapter two, he tells us how
he came. First Corinthians chapter two. And I brethren verse one, when
I came to you and he's talking about this event in Acts chapter
18, how he came. When I came to you, I came not
with excellency of speech or wisdom. I wasn't trying to dazzle
you with my oratory and my knowledge. I didn't come with excellency
of speech or wisdom. Now, why Paul? Because he knew
all that was was a bunch of vanity. There wasn't any power to it,
there wasn't any substance to it, it was just hot air. And
I didn't come like that. Declaring unto you, he did do
this, I didn't come with excellence of speech or wisdom declaring
unto you the testimony of God. For I determined, I made this
my resolve when I came into Corinth, where we read in Acts chapter
18, for I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus
Christ and him crucified. Now he went into this town of
debauchery and he didn't emphasize how you all need to turn this
thing around. He didn't emphasize all the bad
stuff going on in Corinth. Oh, he addressed some things
at the church were continuing to do, but his message was Christ
and him crucified. He got up in that place and preached
Christ and him crucified, and he said, I'm not interested in
anything else. And I wonder if, I've been asking
myself this question, I've been taught that. that nothing else
is important except the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ
and Him crucified. I was taught that from a little boy when I
went to hear Henry Mahan at 13th Street. I've heard that all my
life. My question is, do I really believe that? Or do I believe
it just because I've been taught that? Or do I really believe
it? Do I see nothing that can be compared with the message
of Jesus Christ and Him crucified? Paul said, I'm not even interested
in knowing anything else. Do you see such glory in the
cross that you're not really interested in anything else? And then he says in verse three,
and I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling. Now I think that this is a mixture
of the old and the new nature. The old nature, weakness and
fear and much trembling. The new nature, weakness and
fear and much trembling. This is speaking of both of those
natures as he came into Corinth. And he said in verse four, and
my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's
wisdom. but in demonstration of the Spirit
and of power. And here's why, that your faith
should not stand in the wisdom of men, where somebody's talked
into this, but in the power of God. Now, let's get back to Acts
chapter 18. This is the way he came into
this place. Verse one. And after these things, after
he departed Athens, after these things, Paul departed from Athens
and came to Corinth. And he found a certain Jew named
Aquila. Born in Pontus, lately come from
Italy with his wife, Priscilla, because Claudius had commanded
all Jews to depart from Rome. Now, the Romans despised the
Jews, and at this point, the emperor said, all the Jews, get
out of here. Priscilla and Aquila, this couple
that I think Paul already knew them. I think he was looking
for them. They were a very special couple.
They were greatly blessed of God. They're mentioned in several
of Paul's epistles. What a special, special couple. They're the one, as you go on
reading in this chapter 18, how they taught the way of God to
Apollos more perfectly. And they were some people that
God used greatly, and Paul went looking for them. They had been
thrown out of Rome and they ended up in Corinth. And I guess Paul
knew about it and he was looking for them and he came unto them,
verse three. Now here's what took place. And because he was of the same
craft, they were tent makers. Because he was of the same craft,
he abode with them and worked and wrought for by their occupation,
they were tent makers. Now, Paul had no support at this
time. He went into Corinth without a dime, and he came with him
and started making tents during the week, and he would go into
the synagogue on the Sabbath and preach. Now, obviously, it's
better if a pastor, a preacher, a missionary does not have to
work at a job the way everybody else does. That's obviously better. That way he can give himself
to prayer and to the ministry of the word, to the study of
the scriptures, to seeking to make Christ known. It's better,
as a matter of fact, it's very scriptural, to support the pastor. But where Paul went at this time,
he didn't have any support. And the Corinthians didn't support
him. As a matter of fact, look in 2 Corinthians 12. Look what he says to them in
this second letter. Verse 12, truly the signs of
an apostle were wrought among you in all patience and signs
and wonders and mighty deeds. You know, they were always calling
him into question. And he said, you have no reason to. He said,
for what is it wherein you were inferior to other churches, except
that I myself was not burdensome to you? You didn't support me.
Forgive me this wrong, he says, in your unwillingness to support
me. But here's the point I wanna
make. If somebody has to work, work. You know, I've seen preachers
who go into places where they couldn't be supported at the
time, get a job, work until you, uh, are able to not work. I mean, when we started this
church, I worked for seven years and I never thought, well, they
need to be support me. We didn't have enough people to do it.
It couldn't have been done. And he was working at tent making
in order to preach the gospel at this time. I admire him. Don't
you? I admire him. Here he is making these tents
and that wouldn't have been an easy work, you know, but at any
rate, Verse 4, here's what he did when he wasn't making tents.
And he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath and persuaded the
Jews and the Greeks. Look over back in chapter 17,
verse 2. And Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them, and three
Sabbath days reasoned with them out of the Scriptures. Now that
was in Thessalonica, but this was his manner. Now here in Corinth,
he was making tents, but on the Sabbath day, he would go in and
he would reason with them from the Scriptures. Now this is so
important. Our appeal is the word of God. It's the scriptures only. I was listening to a man preach
and he kept going back to the Heidelberg Catechism and all
this kind of stuff and I just, my eyes started glazing over
and I thought, who cares? I could care less what the Heidelberg
Catechism or any other kind of man-made document says. I don't
care about it, I really don't. What sayeth the scriptures? He
reasoned with them out of the Scriptures. Aren't you thankful
for the authority of the Scriptures that tell us who Christ is, what
He did, why He did it, what He accomplished and what He did?
Oh, thank God for the Word of God. All Scripture is given by
inspiration of God. And that's our only appeal. He
reasoned with them from the Scriptures, showing how that Jesus is the
Christ. But it wasn't simply an academic
lecture. Now, if a professor gets up and
gives what he has been taught concerning some particular subject,
he's not persuading anybody. He's saying, here it is. But
Paul was not only reasoning from the scripture, he was persuading
them. Now, in true preaching, this
is going on. Yes, there's reasoning from the scriptures, but there's
persuasion. I'm persuading you to believe the gospel. Believe
the gospel. I want for you to believe the
gospel. I want for you to see the power
and the glory of Jesus Christ. I want you to have something
of the rest and the joy and the peace of believing the gospel,
knowing that everything God requires of you, he looks to his son for.
Doesn't that give you peace? to know that all he requires
of you. He doesn't look for a thing out
of you. He looks to his son only, Jesus Christ and him crucified. Yes, there's reason. I'm showing
you how that is found from the scriptures. That's my appeal.
That's the authority, not some documents, not some denominational
distinctive, but the word of God. And there is persuasion
going on. I want you to believe the gospel. I want everybody in this room
to trust the Lord Jesus Christ is everything in their salvation.
There's some persuading going on. Verse five, and when Silas and Timotheus
were come from Macedonia, Evidently Paul was there by himself at
first and finally Silas and Timotheus show up and the scripture says
Paul was pressed in the Spirit. Now that word pressed is he was
pressed upon. He was pressed upon by the Spirit
of God. He was pressed in the Spirit
and testified to the Jews that Jesus was Christ. Notice that that and was are
both in italics. That's important. He did more
than testify that Jesus was Christ. He testified Jesus Christ. Now that's the preaching of the
gospel. He testified Jesus Christ. He was very much like Philip.
Remember when Philip went into Samaria and preached Christ unto
them? Do you remember how, when he
talked to that Ethiopian eunuch, he opened his mouth at that same
scripture and preached unto him Jesus? They ceased not, speaking
of the apostles, they ceased not to preach and to teach. Jesus Christ. Now this is what
he was pressed upon. Our gospel is the person of Christ. We're not preaching... I would
never, I would never speak of doctrine in any negative way. It's the doctrine of Christ.
Doctrine is always a good thing in the scriptures. Doctrines
are not. Doctrines always refer to false doctrines, but the doctrine
of Christ. But understand this, when we
preach the gospel, yes, we're preaching the doctrine of Christ,
but we're preaching a person, Jesus Christ, who he is. He's the God man. He's the creator
of the universe. He's the sovereign controller
of all things. When I'm talking about Jesus
Christ, I'm talking about somebody who has you and me in His hand,
and He can do with us whatever He's pleased to do. That's who
He is. What did He do? Well, He came
in obedience to His Father to represent His elect in the flesh. God was manifest in the flesh.
He kept God's law perfectly. He glorified His Father perfectly. He died and put away sin, made
it to be no more. He was raised again for our justification. Why did He do this? Because God
purposed it. Why did God raise him from the
dead? Because God was completely satisfied with what he did. Where
is he now? He's seated at the right hand
of the Father in absolute control of everything and everybody. He was pressed in the Spirit,
preaching unto them Jesus Christ. I think of what the Lord said
about himself. You search the scriptures. In
them, you think you have eternal life. And they are they which
testify, same thing Paul was testifying of, of me. Every single one of them. And you will not come to me that
you might have life. Well, here was their response,
verse six. And when they opposed themselves, and blasphemed. They heard this message of Paul
and they didn't like it. They opposed, they resisted,
they were against what he said. But notice it says they opposed
themselves. You know, when you oppose the
gospel, if I oppose the gospel, I tell you the person I'm hurting
myself. When they opposed themselves, look what Paul did. 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."
Now, what Paul is saying, this shaking of his raiment says,
I'm done with you. I'm done with you. Now, was Paul being harsh? No, he wasn't being harsh. He
loved these people and wanted their salvation, but when they
rejected the gospel, when they blasphemed, he said, I'm done
with you. Your blood's on your own head.
Now, this is so important. We believe in the absolute sovereignty
of God. What's that mean? He's the first
cause of everything, without exception. He's absolutely sovereign
over all things, or He's not sovereign at all. We believe
in the absolute sovereignty of God in creation. Creation came
as an act of His will. Providence, everything that takes
place, He's in control of. Salvation, if you're saved, it's
because He willed your salvation. That's why you're saved. You
believe that? The absolute sovereignty of God. But you know what else
we believe? We believe in the complete responsibility of men. He said, your blood's on your
own hand. Now, if you're saved, it's all God's fault, isn't it?
Every bit of it. It's all God's fault. If you're
lost, whose fault is it? It's your fault. He said, him that cometh to me,
I will in no wise cast out. But he didn't say him that cometh
to me, I'll in no wise cast out except for. You can't say that.
Well, I came to him and he wouldn't. No, him that cometh to me. The door of mercy is wide open
to anybody who comes. It kills me the way people say,
well, if you believe that Christ only died for the elect, you
can't throw out the doors open for everybody. Yeah, you can.
If you come, you'll be saved. You'll be received. Everybody
who comes, everybody he seeks will find, everybody who knocks,
it shall be opened. And he says to these people,
your blood's on your own hand. Your own hand. And you know,
I'm sure he was, he loved Christ. He loved this one he was preaching.
And when they opposed and blasphemed against him, he shook his raiment
and said, I'm leaving you guys. And I'm your blood is on your
own head. Now let's go on reading verse
seven. He said, I'm going into the Gentiles
and he departed thence. and entered into a certain man's
house named Justice. Now that's a Latin name, or Roman,
this was a Gentile. It was not a Jew. And Paul went
to his house, but look where it happened to be. This man Justice,
one that worshiped God, whose house joined hard to the synagogue.
He lived right by the synagogue. This same place where Paul had
gone and preached the gospel, and they rejected him, and they
rejected his preaching, and he said, I'm leaving you. The Lord had other plans. Plans,
that's not a good word. Sorry, I shouldn't, the Lord
doesn't plan anything, he only purposes things. The Lord had
another purpose. Paul was mad, he left. He goes to his buddy Justice's
house. Justice lived right by the synagogue. And the same people
who had rejected the gospel, look what happened in verse eight.
And Crispus, the chief ruler of the synagogue, this one who
had previously rejected Paul's words, now when he goes to justice's
house right by the synagogue. I don't have any doubt that he
was preaching to the people still. And the chief ruler of the synagogue
believed. Isn't that glorious? The chief
ruler, the last person you'd think would believe, believed.
And Crispus, the chief ruler of the synagogue, believed on
the Lord with all his house. Everybody in his household believed. Now, I know that somebody says,
does that mean that if you believe, your whole household will believe?
Well, sometimes that happens, and that's a desirable thing.
Don't you want your whole household to believe? You want every one
of your kids to believe. Sometimes it happens. Sometimes
only one in a household believes. Many times nobody in a household
believes. But with Crispus, everybody in
his household believed. And what'd they do? And many
of the Corinthians hearing believed and were baptized. Now here we
have the divine order. Many of the Corinthians, remember
the Lord told Paul, I have much people in this city. Now how
big was the church of Corinth? I have no idea. I googled it,
and I was kind of surprised with the answer they gave. They said
anywhere between 40 and 150 people. How they knew, I wouldn't know.
I would have thought it would have been a whole lot bigger than
that. But at any rate, the Lord said, much people. And many of
the Corinthians, here's the divine order, hearing. You can't believe
what you've never heard, any more than you can come back from
a place where you've never been. Faith cometh by hearing. They heard
the gospel. And they believed. They believed. And what do believers
do? They were baptized. They heard, they believed, and
they were baptized. That's the divine order. Somebody says, well, do you have
to be baptized in order to be saved? Was the thief on the cross baptized?
That answers that question. That answers that question. But
you know the thief on the cross had a pretty good reason not
to be baptized, didn't he? He was nailed to a cross. It
would have been hard for him to be baptized. They heard, they believed, and
they were baptized. Then, verse nine, then spake
the Lord to Paul in the night by vision. Evidently, even after all this
activity, Paul was still somewhat despondent, afraid, not knowing
what to do. Then spake the Lord to Paul in
the night by vision, don't be 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. Now, here's the question I want
to close with. Who are these people? I have
much people. You know, that's equivalent to
people has God for them. If God be for us, who can be
against us? Now, I want you to think about
this. If you're a believer, God's for you. He's for you. And nothing can be against you.
I have much people in this city. Well, I've already said these
are the people, the same people of that group where it was said
of the Lord, He shall save His people from their sins. And when Jesus Christ came, He
didn't come to save everybody. If He did, He would have failed
because there's a lot of folks who aren't saved, and we can't
even think of the Lord in any way in that light. He came to
save His people, and He, I love that scripture, He shall save
His people from their sins. They are the people who are eternally
united to the Lord Jesus Christ. And this is one of those things
we just believe. I can't explain this. I can state
what the scripture says and say, I believe it and I love it, but
God's elect have always been eternally united to Jesus Christ. Ephesians 1.4, according as he
has chosen us in him before. before the foundation of the
world, before I formed thee in the belly, I knew thee. Not I knew you would be, I knew
you. The Lord said, I am the vine,
you are the branches. And I love to think about this.
The same stem that's in the vine goes through the branches, doesn't
it? There's not a connecting point. There's not a time when
they're joined together. The same stein, this is talking
about union with the Lord Jesus Christ, the eternal union of
the elect with him. Well, how can that be? I don't
know, but it's so. Before I formed thee in the belly,
I knew thee. I loved you. You were mine. Now, these people that Paul is
told by the Lord Jesus Christ, I have much people in this city,
they're the elect. They're the elect. 2 Thessalonians 2, 13, Paul said,
we're bound to thank God always for you, brethren, beloved of
the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you unto
salvation. through sanctification of the
spirit and belief of the truth. Who are these people? They're
the sheep Christ died for. He said, I lay down my life for
the sheep. There's a people called his sheep
that he came to save. And you know, in our preaching
of the gospel, we're preaching the gospel to every creature,
but we're on the trail of the sheep, aren't we? That's who
we're looking to preach to, his sheep, because we know his sheep
will hear his voice. These people designated, I have
much people in this city. These were included by the Lord
in John chapter 17, verse nine, when he said, I pray for them. I pray not for the world, but
for them, which you have given me, for they are These people
are the people who are born of God. You see, everyone that the
Father elected, everyone that the Son redeemed, they're going
to be birthed of God. This is the work of the Holy
Spirit. They're going to be born again. They're going to be born
from above. They're going to have the life
of God in their souls, spiritual life, eternal life, born of God,
except a man be born again, born from above. He cannot enter the
kingdom of God. These are the people who believe.
You know, a scripture that I find so simple and so refreshing and
so powerful, as many as were ordained to eternal life believed. Acts chapter 13, verse 48. I
know this. As many as are ordained to eternal life, they will believe
the gospel. They will rest in Jesus Christ. They will find their all in Christ. Who are these people? They're
the people God justified. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect, it's God that justifies. You see, if I'm
justified, there's one reason. because God justified me. He
declared me to be without guilt, perfect in His sight because
of what Christ did in my behalf. Now here's my favorite description
of these people. I've called them the elect, the people Christ
died for, the people Christ prays for, the people who are born
of God, the people who believe, and the people who are justified.
I like that, but here's something I like better. Who are these
people? This is the one that I can identify
with the most. They're sinners. They're sinners. I'm not talking about ex-sinners
either. I'm an ex-this, I'm an ex-that. No, these people are
sinners. Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners, of whom I am the chief. And these people are
all, without exception, poor in spirit. They mourn over their
sin. They're meek before God. Whatever
he does is right. You know, somebody that's always
murmuring against God's providence, that's not meekness. God is right. They all hunger and thirst after
righteousness because they know they don't have any of their
own. They're merciful people having experienced God's mercy. They're pure in heart. They've
been given a new heart. They're peacemakers. They are
persecuted for righteousness sake. These people are the elect. I have much people in this city. Now, the enemies of free grace
say election destroys missions. Well, what did it do with Paul?
Look in verse 11. He continued there a year and
six months, teaching the word of God among men. Because God
had much people in this city. Now, somewhere along the line
during this service, I guess it was John who was praying.
He said, we want to love you, but even more than that, we want
to be loved by you. I want to be one of his people. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you for your word. And Lord, we confess we are sinners. by nature, by choice, by practice. And Lord, we can't claim anything
above that in and of ourselves, but how we thank you for the
promise that your son came into the world to save sinners. All your people are sinners and
you save all your people. And for that, we give thanks
from the depths of our heart. Bless your Word, for Christ's
sake, in His name we pray.