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Turn with me in your Bibles to 
Acts chapter 18 as we finish this particular chapter. Acts 
chapter 18, I'll begin reading in verse 18 to the end of the 
chapter, and we'll look at the ministry of Apollos in verses 
24 to 28. So beginning in Acts 18 at verse 
18, so Paul still remained a good while. Then he took leave of 
the brethren and sailed for Syria, and Priscilla and Aquila were 
with him. He had his hair cut off at Centuria, for he had taken 
a vow. And he came to Ephesus and left 
them there. But he himself entered the synagogue and reasoned with 
the Jews. When they asked him to stay a longer time with them, 
he did not consent, but took leave of them, saying, I must 
by all means keep this coming feast in Jerusalem, but I will 
return again to you, God willing. And he sailed from Ephesus. And 
when he had landed at Caesarea and gone up and greeted the church, 
he went down to Antioch. After he had spent some time 
there, he departed and went over the region of Galatia and Phrygia 
in order, strengthening all the disciples. And a certain Jew 
named Apollos, born at Alexandria, an eloquent man and mighty in 
the scriptures, came to Ephesus. This man had been instructed 
in the way of the Lord. And being fervent in spirit, 
he spoke and taught accurately the things of the Lord, though 
he knew only the baptism of John. So he began to speak boldly in 
the synagogue. When Aquila and Priscilla heard 
him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God 
more accurately. And when he desired to cross 
to Achaia, the brethren wrote, exhorting the disciples to receive 
him. And when he arrived, he greatly helped those who had 
belief through grace, for he vigorously refuted the Jews publicly, 
showing from the scriptures that Jesus is the Christ. Amen. Well, let us pray. Father, thank 
you for your Word. Thank you for the book of Acts 
and the great things it teaches us concerning the making of disciples 
and the planting of the churches and how it's an expression of 
the great commission that our Lord gave before his ascension. 
We ask God in heaven that such robust Christianity would be 
taking place today. in disciple-making and in planning 
of churches as well, in identifying men like Apollos that are mighty 
in the Scriptures, men that will be able to accurately and boldly 
proclaim your word of truth. Help us as a local church in 
this endeavor. Help us to pursue such things 
for the glory of God and for your honor. As well, Father, 
we ask that you would forgive us again for all sin and transgression, 
fill us with your Holy Spirit, illumine our minds and hearts, 
and edify and strengthen each one of your saints, and God save 
those who are still in their sin. And we ask in the name of 
the Lord Jesus, amen. Well, in Matthew's gospel in 
chapter 9, Jesus says that the harvest is plentiful, but the 
laborers are few. And so this morning, we have 
a snapshot of another man, sort of like Paul, that was very faithful 
in terms of gospel ministry. So we as a church need to understand 
it's our requirement, our necessity, our responsibility to pray for 
these sorts of men, that God would raise them up, that God 
would cause us to identify them, and that God would indeed give 
us the grace to install them so that they could be disciple-making, 
church-planting sorts of brothers in this particular world. And 
so I want to look at this section concerning Apollos under two 
heads. First, his identity, and then 
secondly, his ministry. Remember that we have the end 
of the second missionary journey, and the beginning of the third 
missionary journey in Paul in terms of the major focus in the 
book of Acts. But as I said, this is a brief 
snapshot of another minister that functions in Ephesus and 
then goes over to Corinth. So I want to look first at his 
identity. Notice what we have in verse 
24a. It says, Now a certain man named Apollos, born at Alexandria, 
He is referenced several times in the book of 1 Corinthians. 
In our studies in Titus, we saw him referred to in Titus 3 in 
verse 13. He was a Jew from Alexandria, 
which was a large city in Egypt, and it had a large Jewish population. He did make a significant impact 
on the church in Corinth. In fact, some expressing their 
sectarianism said, well, I'm of Paul, I'm of Cephas, or I'm 
of Apollos. But Paul never indicates that 
Apollos fed that. Apollos was not the sort of guy 
that was getting people to follow him or identify with him. No, 
Paul speaks very favorably of Apollos throughout his writing. And as well, it's interesting 
because Luther, Martin Luther, thought that Apollos was the 
one who wrote the book of Hebrews. I disagree with that, but that 
is an intriguing hypothesis in terms of the unnamed author of 
the book of Hebrews. Paul as having been the author 
of that great book. So that's his identity. But as 
well, and this is where Luke sort of focuses, it's upon his 
ability. And this is where we'll focus 
as well. There are six identifying marks of Apollos that ought to 
make their way into our prayer closet as we pray for, A, additional 
elders or Or B, I could die. I could be of that 2% in my age 
group that contracts the Wuhan virus and die. I could get hit 
by a car. I could choke on something and 
not come back tonight. That's just the reality. So my 
encouragement or my exhortation to you, brethren, is to find 
this man that is described in Acts chapter 18. In the first 
place, Apollos was a man of eloquence, mighty in the scriptures. Notice 
what the text tells us. He was an eloquent man and mighty 
in the scriptures. Matthew Poole says, an eloquent 
man, a rational, a prudent, a learned man. Some suggest that this is 
probably the meaning that is primary in Luke's usage. It means 
learn ed. But others suggest, no, at the 
time that Luke is writing, eloquent sort of captures it even better. But Poole goes on to say, with 
reference to him, He says, though the kingdom of God is not in 
any excellency of speech. And there he refers to 1 Corinthians 
2, 1 and 4, where Paul tells the Corinthians, I didn't come 
with excellency of speech. I came riddled with fears. I 
came trembling. But it was a manifestation or 
a demonstration of the spirit and power when I did preach. 
So back to him. He says, though the kingdom of 
God is not in any excellency of speech, yet this Egyptian 
jewel may be used to adorn the tabernacle. I love that. This 
Egyptian jewel may be used to adorn the tabernacle. Does God 
always go after the eloquent man that preaches the gospel? 
No. But are there instances and are 
there times where there are eloquent men? Well, certainly so, and 
Apollos was one of them. Those of you who have read the 
sermons of C.H. Spurgeon, he certainly had an 
eloquence about him. He certainly had a learnedness 
about him. He was certainly mighty in the 
scriptures, and that is precisely how Luke sees the eloquence of 
speech. It's not that he just has the 
ability to frame nice sentences, but it's that eloquent speech 
by which the power of God's word comes. He is mighty in the scriptures, 
and if we look at that other shade of meaning, not only eloquence, 
but learned, it underscores something that we have considered before, 
the necessity of the church to take seriously the responsibility 
to train her men that are identified for public ministry. In other 
words, God can give the church a C.H. Spurgeon. Again, just 
using him for a particular example, he was 16 when he preached his 
first sermon. He was probably 17 or 18 when 
he pastored his first church. And in his early 20s, he was 
moved to the Metropolitan Tabernacle, and he had a massive sort of 
worldwide influence in terms of Christian ministry. But that's 
not the norm. It's not the case that God gives 
a Spurgeon to every generation. We need to train men. We need 
to make sure that they understand Christian doctrine. They need 
to understand the Bible, and they need to understand theology. 
And our confession of faith here is a great help. In 2 Timothy 
2, Paul tells Timothy, In other words, this isn't something that 
we might do if we think it wise, but it's something we must do 
because God commands us to do so. We need in the pulpit today men 
who are mighty in the scriptures, not mighty in storytelling, not 
mighty in therapy session, not mighty in sharing their experiences, 
not mighty in somehow amusing the masses, but men that are 
mighty from Genesis to Revelation, from Dan to Beersheba, men that 
know the scripture and men that don't mess it up. We need these 
sorts of jewels to adorn the tabernacle of God Most High. And the first thing that we ought 
to be looking for are men that are learned and men that are 
mighty in the scriptures of the Old and the New Testaments. Notice, 
secondly, he was instructed in the way of the Lord. He comes 
from Alexandria in Egypt. This is prior to the time that 
Paul had ever gone there or any of the other apostles that we 
know of. So Christianity took off early 
there in Egypt. He comes from that particular 
place, but he had been instructed in the way of the Lord. Notice 
the text. Verse 25, this man had been instructed in the way 
of the Lord, and we should understand that the way of the Lord Jesus. 
Remember Paul's custom. When he goes into the synagogues, 
he goes to the Old Testament. They wouldn't have called it 
that, but that's what we call it. He would have gone to the 
Old Testament and he would have shown them from Isaiah the prophet. 
from Daniel the prophet, he would have showed them from the Psalter, 
he would have showed them from the Law of Moses, he would have 
went back to Genesis chapter 3, he would have went to Genesis 
chapter 22, he would have went all throughout the Old Testament 
to show that the Christ, the Messiah of God, the Anointed 
One promised by God to come to save his people from their sins, 
that that Messiah must suffer and that he must be raised again 
from the dead. And so we see with reference 
to Apollos that he knew that. It wasn't the case that he was 
steeped in Judaism up to this point, and that it was Priscilla 
and Aquila who sorted him out. He already was instructed in 
the way of the Lord Jesus. His knowledge was incomplete, 
but his knowledge was not inaccurate. And so he was a Christian preacher. 
He was a man of God who preached Messiah to the Jews and he would 
preach Messiah to the Gentiles. Not only that it was prophesied 
in the Old Testament that he must suffer and be raised, but 
that this Jesus, this one from Nazareth is in fact the Messiah 
promised by the Old Testament. So he was instructed in the way 
of the Lord. Now notice thirdly, he was fervent 
in spirit. He was fervent in spirit. It's 
a beautiful statement. In the first place, the word 
means this. It means to be stirred up emotionally. It means to be enthusiastic. 
It means to be excited. It means to be on fire. You know, 
there's a book by Douglas Kelly on preachers from the 1800s in 
the US, and one of the preachers, he calls logic on fire. I think 
it was James Henley Thornwell. Logic on fire. It was a man who 
knew Bible, it was a man who knew theology, but it wasn't 
like he was a stuffed shirt. It wasn't like it was just some 
cold pedantic exercise for him, but rather he was fired up with 
this knowledge. So the accurate definition of 
the word is highlighted in this section. There's a parallel passage 
in Romans chapter 12 that we ought to tend to. It says, not 
lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord. 
That's just not for preachers, that's for all the people of 
God. There should be this fervency of spirit that marks the people 
of God when it comes to their Christian faith. But there is 
also a necessary qualification that we should point out. There 
are instances, specifically in Paul, in Romans chapter 10, and 
then in Galatians chapter four, where he uses this fervency or 
this zealousness in a negative sort of way. And we need to temper 
this knowledge, or temper rather, this fervency of spirit. The 
text in Romans chapter 10, he says, they, the Jews, have a 
zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. So zeal, fervency 
in spirit, that kind of on-fire-ness, if it isn't tempered by the truth 
of God's holy word, is going to be abusive. It is going to 
be wretched. I don't doubt that Charles Taze 
Russell was fervent in spirit. I don't doubt that Joseph Smith 
was fervent in spirit. I don't doubt that the popes 
of Rome have been fervent in spirit. But if they're not accurately 
teaching the word of truth, that fervency of spirit will come 
to kill rather than to be a means to help the people of God Almighty. Calvin makes this excellent observation 
at this point. He says, that doctrine shall 
be unsavory which is not joined with zeal. That's a good point. That doctrine shall be unsavory 
that is not joined with zeal. One man said, if religion means 
anything, it means everything. And those of us conquered by 
sovereign grace, why do we walk around at times as if we haven't 
been? and especially preachers proclaiming 
the everlasting gospel of Jesus Christ our Lord. How do you not 
cry aloud? How do you not spare? How do 
you, or spare not, how do you not make known the sins of a 
people so that the remedy of the gospel can be brought to 
bear? And so Calvin's observation at 
this point is good, but he goes on. So that doctrine shall be 
unsavory, which is not joined with zeal, but let us remember 
that Luke puts the knowledge of the scripture in the first 
place. Don't miss that. Please don't miss that. Fervent 
men that are wrong are going to do you no good. That's a bad 
thing. He may shout, he may hoot, he 
may holler, he may throw his hands up and be absolutely positively 
wrong. And all the fervor, all the zeal, 
all the heat, all the warmth, all the fire is actually going 
to be calculated to burn down and destroy. So he says, Luke 
puts the knowledge of the scripture in the first place, which must 
be the moderation of zeal. For we know that many are fervent 
without consideration, as the Jews did rage against the gospel 
by reason of a perverse affection which they did bear toward the 
law. And even at this day, we see what the papists be. who 
are carried along with furious violence, being pricked forward 
with an opinion unadvisedly conceived. Therefore, and listen to this, 
let knowledge be present that it may govern zeal." So zeal 
without knowledge is a horrific thing. Knowledge without zeal 
isn't probably as horrific, but it's pretty horrific. Because 
if a man takes this into his bosom, how can he not speak it 
out with great earnestness and joy and thanksgiving at the grace 
of God Almighty in the salvation wrought by our Lord Jesus Christ? Now notice, fourthly, he was 
an accurate teacher. He was an accurate teacher, and 
that's what the text tells us. He was fervent in spirit. He 
spoke and taught accurately the things of the Lord. And then 
it goes on to make this curious statement, though he knew only 
the baptism of John. Let's deal with this accuracy 
in the first place. That's the job of the preacher. 
Now pastors do a whole lot of things. They have to do administration, 
they have to do politics, they have to do a whole lot of things 
in the context of the church. But the job, the main function, 
the main purpose is to preach the word. This is Paul's emphasis 
in 2 Timothy chapter 4, the last corporate command that Paul gives 
to the church. He'll give commands later in 
2 Timothy chapter 4 to Timothy, particularly in terms of some 
personal situations that affected both of them. But the last official 
command is, preach the word. Be ready in season and out of 
season. Convince, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and teaching. 
Why, Paul? Because the time's going to come 
when men will not endure sound doctrine. So you keep preaching 
sound doctrine. Seems paradoxical. Today, we 
say, well, they don't want sound doctrine. Let's entertain them. 
Let's have puppets. Let's have whatever it is that 
we can captivate the masses with. No, when they won't endure sound 
doctrine, that just further underscores their need for sound doctrine. 
So Timothy preached that word. So that's the primary function 
in terms of the preacher. It's to preach accurately the 
word of the Lord. That's it. That's the defining 
thing. Could you imagine going to a 
doctor that was friendly and kind and nice, but didn't know 
what a scalpel was? You'd say, Doc, I want nothing 
to do with you. Or you go to your lawyer, and 
you see him checking Google about certain things that he should 
be telling you in terms of legal counsel. You want somebody that 
knows what they're doing, right? We want to take our car to a 
good mechanic. We don't want to take them to 
the hack that's got the Google open. I mean, we could do that. 
I mean, we fixed our fridge and our stove by watching YouTube 
videos. I'd like to think that a skilled 
mechanic is a little bit further beyond in that way. But yet people 
flock to churches where men don't preach accurately the word. I 
can't explain it. I don't understand it. It makes 
absolutely no sense to me why you would ever find yourself 
in a church where this primary emphasis relative to the preacher 
is missing. It's vacant. It's absent. Oh, 
but he's a nice guy. Oh, but he's got a warm spirit. 
Oh, but he's fervent. Oh, but he's kind. Great! Those 
are all wonderful things, and I hope and pray that every pastor 
manifests that. But with reference to Apollos 
and the men that we ought to be praying for, they teach accurately 
the way of God. This is most necessary. And then it says, though he knew 
only the baptism of John. So he hadn't heard about what 
happened in Acts chapter 2. This doesn't mean he didn't know 
about Jesus. This doesn't mean he didn't know 
about the Messiah that John the Baptist preached, but he only 
knew about the baptism administered by John the Baptist. Perhaps 
in Alexandria, Egypt, they hadn't heard what had happened in Acts 
chapter 2. Remember on that day. Peter preaches 
the gospel to those Jerusalem sinners, and then he tells them, 
repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of 
Jesus Christ for the remission of sins. And for us, it's like, 
well, how wouldn't he have known that? Brethren, I'm conscious 
of the fact in teaching at times, or preaching, perhaps, certainly 
I see it in the Saturday morning thing, where if I make a name 
reference, guys will start looking on their phones. You have immediate 
access right now to sort of check anything, anywhere, at any time. Well, you'll have to forgive 
Apollos, he didn't have an internet connection at that particular 
point. He couldn't follow Paul's tweets to see what was happening 
in Jerusalem. He wasn't on that Facebook group 
about the baptism that Jesus initiated and that was expressed 
there in the city of Jerusalem. So again, his knowledge was not 
inaccurate. It may have been incomplete, 
but it was certainly on the right track. In fact, J. A. Alexander 
makes that observation. The meaning cannot be that Apollos 
did not know that the Messiah had actually come or who he was, 
for John had identified him and baptized him before the close 
of his own ministry. So knowing the ministry of John, 
knowing the baptism of John, that's where it stood for Apollos. 
Now that's introduced a whole lot of questions in terms of 
this text, which we're not going to pursue. Did they baptize him? Did Apollos get baptized? We 
don't know. The text is silent at this particular point. But 
in terms of the baptism preached by Peter in Acts chapter 2, relative 
to the people in Jerusalem, Apollos was ignorant about that particular 
fact. Now that brings us to the fifth 
point, and it's one that we should obviously appreciate. Verse 26, 
so he began to speak boldly in the synagogue. He was a man who 
knew the truth, he was mighty in the scriptures, he was fervent 
in spirit, so that when he goes to preach now in the synagogue, 
does he do it in a sort of mumbling way? Does he do it in sort of 
a fearful way? Does he do it in sort of an apologetic 
way? No, he speaks boldly the truth 
of God Almighty. There are presentations of our 
beloved gospel at times where it's almost like the person presenting 
is apologizing for it. Well, you know, I don't want 
to offend you and tell you things like you're in sin, but I have 
to. And then I'm going to tell you 
about the Lord Jesus. Brethren, this deserves to be 
boldly proclaimed. The earth is Yahweh's and the 
fullness thereof. I don't know why we are so fearful, 
why we are so anemic, and why we are so weak in our Christianity 
at this particular juncture in world history. We don't have 
to apologize about our Lord Jesus. We don't have to defend in the 
sense of, well, I'm going to give you 25 reasons why you should 
actually listen to what I have to say. Paul doesn't do that 
in Athens. Paul appeals to their religious 
ignorance, and then he says, him whom you worship without 
knowing, I declare to you. And then he says, God who made 
the world and everything in it doesn't need you. That God sustains 
you. That God is going to redeem those 
who come to him through his son. And that God is going to judge 
those who reject and rebel. He doesn't go there apologetically 
or feebly or in some sort of a defensive posture. In other 
words, we ought to see the church take the offense in our generation. When Jesus makes that statement 
in Matthew chapter 16, a statement that I think is still grossly 
misunderstood. He says, I will build my church 
and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. We get 
the imagery exactly backward. We totally invert what Christ 
says. We have this concept that the 
church is sort of holed up, surrounding herself with the wagons, while 
the devil and his hosts are assaulting us. But Jesus says, the gates 
of Hades shall not prevail against it. In other words, it's the 
church that's advancing. It's the church that's going 
forward. It's the Lord Christ that's wielding his scepter. 
This is what Paul says in Colossians 1, when he speaks of the Father 
having transferred us from the kingdom of darkness into the 
kingdom of the Son of His love. That is a perfect illustration 
of the gates of Hades not prevailing against the Church of Christ. 
So it's the gates of Hades that is the defensive position. It 
is Satan's kingdom that is being plundered. And that's the same 
imagery that Christ uses in the gospel records. The strong man 
comes to plunder the ungodly man, and that's Christ and His 
kingdom. So this brother was a bold preacher, 
and he found himself in good company. Listen to what God said 
to Isaiah the prophet. He said, cry aloud, spare not, 
lift up your voice like a trumpet, tell my people their transgression 
and the house of Jacob their sins. So I'm reading that about 
trumpet. I'm thinking about that little 
wretched instrument they send home with your kid when he's 
like fourth grade. So what is that called? It makes 
that horrific sound and they play, you know, Mary had a little 
lamb on it. Oh, what is it? A recorder. That's it, the recorder. He doesn't say, lift up your 
voice like a recorder. Lift up your voice like a trumpet. Don't apologize to people for 
preaching to them that which they desperately need to hear. 
It's an amazing thing. Well, you know, they absolutely 
positively need what I have, and yet I'm going to apologize 
to them, or I'm going to be, you know, just sniveling about 
it, or I'm going to be cowardice in my approach. We need men of 
the caliber of King David. When David, prior to his kingship, 
comes to the children, or comes to that battle scene in the Valley 
of Elah, he sees Saul and the armies of Israel hiding in fear. And what does David say? He says, 
who is this uncircumcised Philistine who taunts the armies of the 
living God? In other words, David says, let 
me have a crack at him. I'll take care of business. Do 
you have any experience? Well, yeah. I've killed bears 
with my bare hands, and I've killed lions with my bare hands. 
That sounds good enough to us. Go on out there in the field 
of battle and take care of business. And that's precisely what he 
does. We have the gospel of Jesus Christ our Lord. Will we mumble 
it out? Will we pathetically speak of 
it? Or will we own our Christ? There's times we go into a restaurant 
and we're a little embarrassed to pray. Why? God owns the earth. They ought to be embarrassed 
for not having prayed. They ought to be embarrassed 
for eating his food, and drinking his water, and enjoying his gifts, 
and all the while resisting and rejecting him. When we come into 
a restaurant, we won't even boldly profess our thankfulness for 
that good food that God's put on our plate. Brethren, we need 
to take heed. Christianity, in terms of the 
church, at least the old boys used to refer to the church in 
two aspects. You had the church militant, 
and then you had the church triumphant. The church triumphant envisages 
what we find in the book of Revelation. where all men, every redeemed 
man, woman, boy, and girl from every tribe, tongue, people, 
and nation are assembled before the throne and they confess that 
salvation belongs to our God and to the Lamb who sits upon 
the throne. That's the church triumphant. The church militant 
is where we find ourselves as pilgrims in this world. By militancy, 
they didn't mean go get guns and as church, go gun down your 
enemies. No, that's not what they meant. 
They meant to underscore the primacy of the spirituality of 
our weaponry. They're mighty for the pulling 
down of strongholds. They are prayer and they are 
preaching. And we need to take up arms, 
again, spiritually speaking, we need to take up arms in a 
manner that is consistent with Christian courage and do what 
God's called us to do. Philippians chapter two, he tells 
the people of God to shine as lights in a crooked and perverse 
generation. and to hold forth the word of 
truth. Jesus, when he talks about good 
works in the Sermon on the Mount, says, so that they may see your 
good works and do what? Give glory to God. Peter says 
the same thing in 1 Peter 2. We are the church militant. heading 
to that expression of the church triumphant. But if we're not 
militant, and again, I want to qualify it so persons don't start 
gunning down Muslims on the street. But if we are not militant, we 
are not living consistent with what God has called us to in 
the scriptures. So this man spoke boldly the 
truth of God's holy word. Paul in Ephesians chapter six 
asks for prayer for himself. He says, and pray for me that 
utterance may be given to me that I may open my mouth boldly 
to make known the mystery of the gospel for which I am an 
ambassador in chains that in it I may speak boldly. And then 
he says this, as I ought to speak. So it's not just Jim that's sort 
of encouraging us in this particular path. It's Paul. Paul says, when 
you pray for me, pray that I'll be given utterance. Pray that 
I'll be given boldness, which indicates that by nature he didn't 
have those gifts. He wasn't possessed by those 
things. And so he prayed. He fetched it from God, and he 
manifested it when he would preach. And here he says, as I ought 
to preach, as I ought to speak. So this Apollos was a bold preacher. We read at the outset of worship, 
the voice of Yahweh is over the waters. The God of glory thunders. 
The Lord is over many waters. The voice of the Lord is powerful. 
The voice of the Lord is full of majesty. And shall his ministers 
speak as if they were apologizing on his behalf? Or should they 
cry aloud, spare not, lift up their voices like trumpets, and 
make known the sins of rebels against the true and living God, 
such that they can then bring in that glorious truth of Jesus 
Christ and Him crucified. And then the last aspect that 
we ought to look for in Apollos is that he was a humble learner. 
Notice what our text says. Verse 26. So he began to speak 
boldly in the synagogue. When Aquila and Priscilla heard 
him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God 
more accurately. So they had been in Ephesus. We already know that. If you 
go back to verse 18, it says, Paul still remained a good while. That's in Corinth. Then he took 
leave of the brethren and sailed for Syria. And Priscilla and 
Aquila were with him. He had his hair cut off at Centria, 
for he had taken a vow. And he came to Ephesus and left 
them there." That's Priscilla and Aquila. Now notice how Priscilla 
and Aquila operate. They take him aside. There's 
an old adage in corporate America, praise in public and reprove 
in private. And Priscilla and Aquila exhibit 
that maxa. They don't raise their hand in 
the midst of the synagogue and say, what, you don't know about 
the baptism that occurred in Acts chapter? They don't do that. 
They see some incompleteness in Apollos' ministry, so they 
take him aside to instruct him. And to Apollos' credit, he doesn't 
say, well, how dare you try to correct me? He's open to correction. He's open to reproof. He's open 
to further information. He doesn't think he has a handle 
on everything that the scripture says, on everything that the 
confessions of faith say, that he has a handle on every jot 
and tittle of system. No, he sees that and he understands 
that. So Aquila and Priscilla take 
him aside. So they're in Ephesus. In fact, 
the church, according to Paul in 1 Corinthians 16, is in their 
house. They were persons of some note. 
He was a tent maker by trade, certainly had done well. because 
they're able to house the church in their own house. So they understand 
that he has limited knowledge. Again, not inaccurate, but incomplete. The seasoned couple take him 
aside, a private meeting for instruction, not a public chastening 
because he didn't know something. And then as well, they graciously 
explain the way of the Lord to him more accurately. Now, in 
this, Priscilla is not violating the maxim of 1 Timothy 2. She 
is not teaching or exercising authority over a man in the context 
of public worship. She is, alongside of her husband, 
as one knowledgeable in the school of Christ, explains these things 
to Apollos, so there's no compromise in terms of women and ministry. 
Rather, she is the wife of Aquila. She understands, and they both 
together help this brother to fill in any holes that he may 
have had in his biblical and theological understanding. He 
receives it happily. He's the better man for it. And 
as a result, now, we notice his ministry in verses 27 and 28. It says he desired to cross to 
Achaia, and the primary city there is Corinth. Now, it's probably 
the case that he might have gone, well, probably and might have. 
It could have been the case that Priscilla and Aquila thought 
it would be good for him to go to Corinth. When Paul speaks 
favorably about Apollos in 1 Corinthians chapter 3, Paul says that he 
planted an Apollos water. So Paul had planted the church 
in Corinth. We've already seen that at the 
first part in chapter 18. The church is there and planted. But now Paul is going to go to 
Ephesus to spend time there. So the collective wisdom is, 
let's send Apollos over to Corinth so that he can continue the watering 
of that particular local church for their betterment, for their 
health, and for their strength. So that's probably the strategy 
that's in the text there, in the white space of the text. 
But it says, he desired to cross to Achaia, and the brethren wrote, 
exhorting the disciples to receive him. See, early on there was 
this intra-church communion or intra-church fellowship. They 
wrote to the other church and said, Apollos is a good man, 
receive him. So I think at times we think 
that it's the 21st century where we have all of these things and 
we have all of these skills and we have all of these strategies 
and we're much further along. than these sort of antiquated 
believers back then. They were strategizing. They 
were thinking through things. They were communicating with 
other churches. They were facilitating the movement of God's men so 
that the gospel could canvas the known world at that particular 
time. So the church endorses him, and 
then he goes to Achaia, the chief city of which is Corinth, and 
then notice what happens. According to the middle of verse 
27, and when he arrived, he greatly helped those who had believed 
through grace, for he vigorously refuted the Jews publicly, showing 
from the scriptures that Jesus is the Christ. So he helps those 
who believe through grace. Some have said that Luke was 
a doctor, to be sure. We know he was the beloved physician. 
He was certainly a historian because he wrote Luke and he 
wrote Acts. But some say he wasn't, you know, necessarily a theologian. 
Oh, yes, he was. Look at the Ordo Salutis with 
reference to Luke. They believed through grace. 
It was God's grace that preceded their belief in Christ. It was 
God's grace that came to dead sinners to make them alive. It 
was God's grace that gave them the gifts of faith and repentance 
so that they may close with Jesus Christ. The order is conspicuous. The emphasis is clear. Luke understands 
why and how people come into the sphere of salvation. So he 
helps those who had believed through grace, and then he refuted 
the Jews publicly. He vigorously refuted the Jews 
publicly. Again, we've seen that emphasis. 
We see it in Stephen in Acts chapter 6. He doesn't, again, 
apologetically or feebly go out there. He throws down with these 
people such that they cannot confute him because he's speaking 
the truth, so they concoct false charges and turn him over to 
the Sanhedrin that ultimately has him executed. You see, those 
were the kinds of men that God raised up and sent into the fray. Paul's the same. We see him reason, 
we see him demonstrate, we see him preach and proclaim the truth 
of God with great boldness. In other words, it isn't going 
to be sleepy preachers that awaken sleepy sinners. We need to thunder 
forth the truth of God's holy word with all of the encroaching 
heresies in the professing church today, with all of the false 
religions, with all of the movements of men, with all of the academia 
out there and the intellectualism. We need to have Paul stand up 
at the Areopagus facing the Stoic and the Epicurean philosophers 
and bringing to bear the Christian worldview upon those who detract. He refutes the Jews publicly 
by showing from the scriptures that Jesus is the Christ. Well, 
in conclusion, in the first place, some observation. The preaching 
of Apollos They didn't cut corners in the early church. They didn't 
say, well, this guy can say Jesus, so let's welcome him into Christian 
ministry. No, they're trained men. They're 
men that were educated in the truth of Holy Scripture. They 
are men who are educated in the truth of good, sound theology. 
They weren't hacks. They were rather men ready for 
the job. As well, we ought to be encouraged 
that it wasn't just Paul. There was an Apollos. There was 
a Peter. There was a John. There was a 
rest of the apostles. There were those that were trained 
by their Lord that were sent out into the mission field and 
they proclaimed excellently the way of the Lord Most High. As 
well, we see the division of labor. Paul couldn't do it all. Paul couldn't canvass the known 
world in his own strength or in his own ability. There has 
to be a division of labor. There has to be more men to cover 
the work that is given to the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. 
And in terms of the means, we need to pray first to the Lord 
of the harvest. That's Jesus' emphasis in Matthew 
chapter 9. The harvest is plentiful, but 
the laborers are few. Therefore, do what? Whine, snivel, 
cry, complain, pray to the Lord of the harvest to raise up laborers. In the second place, we need 
to train men to serve in the harvest. 2 Timothy 2, verse 2. 
There's a few different ways we can pursue this, but the bottom 
line is that men must be trained, they must be educated, they must 
know the Scriptures, they must know that system of theology 
that we call the Reformed faith. Thirdly, the need to test men 
in order to confirm their qualifications to serve in the harvest. In other 
words, Paul gave us 1 Timothy 3, not just so we can put it 
in a trophy case and say, oh, that's the way they used to do 
it back then. No, there's a list of qualifications for the elders. There is an emphasis on testing 
these men to see if they are fit relative to those qualifications, 
and then using those men in the context of the harvest field. 
That is the emphasis that we should have in our New Testaments 
relative to men for ministry. So that's the preaching of Apollos, 
again, by way of concluding thought. Secondly, we need to think of 
the practice of the church in Corinth. I kind of touched on 
this a little bit last week, but think about this. He is in 
Ephesus, he boldly preaches there in the synagogue, I'm sure he 
did that in Ephesus, but he goes to Corinth, and he there helps 
those who had believed through grace, and then he goes to the 
synagogue and he refutes the Jews publicly, vigorously, showing 
that Jesus is the Christ. So Corinth was a benefactor of 
two good men. Paul planted the church, and 
Apollos waters what Paul had started. Think about that. Who 
started, who founded your church? Well, the apostle Paul, and then 
this fellow called Apollos. Wow, they were stacked. I think 
it was Manton and and another Puritan divine, I mean, of the 
caliber of Manton that worked in the same church or ministered 
in the same church together. I mean, there were giants in 
the land in those days, and one church had two of them in their 
own ranks. But anyway, so the church at 
Corinth had benefited greatly from the labors of two godly, 
good, and faithful men. Turn to 1 Corinthians 1 for a 
moment. I just want to draw out one concluding 
thought in terms of the church. or the practice of the church 
in Corinth. Notice how Paul writes to them 
in 1 Corinthians 1, 4. Well, 2, beginning in verse 2, 
to the church of God, which is at Corinth, to those who are 
sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all who in 
every place call on the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both 
theirs and ours. Grace to you and peace from God 
our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. I thank my God always 
concerning you for the grace of God, which was given to you 
by Christ Jesus. that you are enriched in everything 
by Him in all utterance and all knowledge, even as the testimony 
of Christ was confirmed in you, so that you come short in no 
gift, eagerly waiting for the revelation of our Lord Jesus 
Christ, who will also confirm you to the end, that you may 
be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, 
by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus 
Christ our Lord." I simply highlight that to highlight this. They 
were a church, but like every other church ever, they had issues. They had problems. Now, had they 
given more of their ear and more of their attention and more of 
their obedience to the teaching ministry of the apostle Paul 
and to this chief stone in the tabernacle of Christ, Apollos, 
it may have prevented some of the things that later happens 
that Paul deals with In this letter, 1 Corinthians, there 
was the problem of sectarianism. 1 Corinthians 1, 1 Corinthians 
3. I'm of Paul. I'm of Cephas. I'm of Jesus. That is wretched 
sectarianism. We're all of Christ. We are all 
under one head. We're all under one king. They 
needed to listen better to the teaching ministry of the Word. 
As well, the sin of sexual immorality. You get to 1 Corinthians chapter 
5, and it's actually reported among them that one of their 
own had his father's wife. It was incest by affinity. And then in chapter 6, the people 
of God, the professing people of God, need to be cautioned 
about going into prostitutes. They should have listened a bit 
more diligently to Paul and to Apollos. You've got the problem 
of suing one another in civil court, according to 1 Corinthians 
chapter 6. See why I read that first opening 
section? Paul doesn't de-church them. 
Paul doesn't dis-church them. Paul treats and deals with their 
issues to be sure, but he doesn't say, well, that's it, you're 
done, it's over. No, he seeks to correct. As well, they had 
an abuse of Christian liberty. Chapters 8 to 10 deal with that 
particular situation, owing specifically to eating meat offered up to 
idols and such things as that. You had the problem of women 
leading in worship, according to 1 Corinthians 11, verses 1 
to 16. Continuing on in 1 Corinthians 
11, you had abuse at the Lord's Supper, such that the Apostle 
says, whatever it is you think you are doing, it isn't the Lord's 
table. As well, they had the problem 
or the abuse of spiritual gifts. 1 Corinthians chapters 12 to 
14. And then in chapter 15, that 
great chapter on the resurrection, there were actually Christians 
in the church at Corinth that denied the prospect of a future 
bodily resurrection. So you have all these issues 
that are riddled in the context of the local church. So last 
week I said, and I want to say it again, we not only need a 
faithful preaching ministry, we need a faithful obedience 
ministry. We need to respond to the Word 
of God. We need to put it into practice. 
We need to see where we fall short. We need to repent of our 
sin. We need to own it before God and those against whom we've 
sinned. And we need, by grace, to press onward to do what the 
Lord has called us. Now, if you compare how Paul 
addresses the church in Corinth, to how he addresses the church 
in Galatia, or the churches in Galatia, in chapter 1. Very brief, 
Galatians 1, very brief greeting, and then this pronouncement of 
anathema on anybody that would distort the gospel of our Lord 
Jesus. What's the difference? Well, 
here in Corinth, they had sanctification problems. They had some big issues. 
In the churches at Galatia, the gospel was going to be compromised. The gospel was going to be lost. 
The gospel was going to be gone. And that explains the difference 
as to how he comes out of the gate relative to the church in 
Corinth versus the churches of Galatia. But the point is, brethren, 
if Spurgeon fell out of heaven and occupied, you know, simultaneously 
every pulpit on the face of the earth, but we're not listening, 
and we're not paying attention, and we're not present, and we 
don't care, and we don't receive, and we don't obey, it's going 
to be to no good. It's not only a good preaching 
ministry we should pray for, it's a good hearing ministry. And for those of you who have 
not come to our Lord Jesus Christ, it is justification by faith 
alone. Romans 3, 28, and here in Acts 
chapter 18. Grace, faith in Christ. That is justification, not Jesus 
plus what you do, what you do apart from Jesus, but Jesus alone. That righteousness is what we 
desperately need. And the way of approach is by 
God's grace, looking to Jesus in faith and receiving with that 
hand of faith, the gift that God gives in terms of forgiveness 
and in terms of a righteousness that avails with him. Well, let 
us pray. Our Father, we thank You for 
Your Word, and we pray that You would raise up men for the harvest. 
We know there are a multitude, as Jesus said, and we know that 
there is a great need, not only here in Chilliwack or in the 
Lower Mainland or in Canada, But all throughout the earth, 
Lord God, we continue to read prayer letters and we continue 
to read reports concerning the persecuted church, and they are 
being killed, they are being slaughtered. And certainly, Lord, 
we pray that you would raise up men to take their spots and 
to continue to glorify you in the proclamation of the truth 
of Christ and Him crucified. And we ask, God, that you would 
just bless our church, help us, Lord God, to be obedient to scripture 
and to bring honor and praise unto you. And we ask in Jesus' 
holy name, amen.