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You can turn with me in your 
Bibles to the book of Acts. We're in Acts chapter 18. Coming 
to an end of the second missionary journey, Paul, in his final stop, 
comes to the city of Corinth. So I'll read the chapter, but 
our focus will be on the first section in chapter 18, verses 
1 to 11, but I'll begin at verse 1 and read to the end of the 
chapter. After these things, Paul departed from Athens and 
went to Corinth, and he found a certain Jew named Aquila, born 
in Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, 
because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to depart from Rome. 
and he came to them. So because he was of the same 
trade, he stayed with them and worked, for by occupation they 
were tent makers. And he reasoned in the synagogue 
every Sabbath and persuaded both Jews and Greeks. When Silas and 
Timothy had come from Macedonia, Paul was compelled by the Spirit 
and testified to the Jews that Jesus is the Christ. But when 
they opposed him and blasphemed, he shook his garments and said 
to them, your blood be upon your own heads. I am clean. From now on, I will go to the 
Gentiles. And he departed from there and entered the house of 
a certain man named Justice, one who worshiped God, whose 
house was next door to the synagogue. Then Crispus, the ruler of the 
synagogue, believed on the Lord with all his household. And many 
of the Corinthians, hearing, believed and were baptized. Now 
the Lord spoke to Paul in the night by a vision. Do not be 
afraid, but speak, and do not keep silent. For I am with you, 
and no one will attack you to hurt you. For I have many people 
in this city. And he continued there a year 
and six months, teaching the word of God among them. When 
Galileo was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews with one accord rose 
up against Paul and brought him to the judgment seat, saying, 
This fellow persuades men to worship God contrary to the law. 
And when Paul was about to open his mouth, Galileo said to the 
Jews, If it were a matter of wrongdoing or wicked crimes, 
O Jews, there would be reason why I should bear with you. But if it is a question of words 
and names and your own law, look to it yourselves, for I do not 
want to be a judge of such matters.' And he drove them from the judgment 
seat. Then all the Greeks took Sosthenes, 
the ruler of the synagogue, and beat him before the judgment 
seat. But Galileo took no notice of these things. 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 Santeria, 
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. Now 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 
believed through grace. For he vigorously refuted the 
Jews publicly, showing from the scriptures that Jesus is the 
Christ. Amen. Let us pray. Father, thank 
you for the word of God. Thank you for the book of Acts 
and the power of the gospel displayed herein. We thank you that you 
took a band of a few men and sent them out, gave them that 
commission to go and make disciples of all the nations, to baptize, 
to teach, and to realize that the Lord would be with them even 
to the end of the age. We give praise to you that these 
few men turned the world upside down. We give praise to you for 
the power of the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. We give praise 
to you that you've made us partakers of that. that You have shown 
us its majesty, its glory, its excellence. You have shown us 
the person and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. You have indeed 
forgiven us of our sins. You have given us a righteousness 
by which we may stand accepted in Your sight. So God, we pray 
that even now You would bless this time as we look at this 
section of Scripture, that You would encourage our hearts, that 
You would strengthen us. And Father, again, save those 
who are unsaved and send forth Your Spirit to work in both believer 
and unbeliever. illuminate our minds and our 
hearts, and give us the grace to receive, with thankfulness, 
these words. And we pray through Jesus Christ 
our Lord. Amen. Well, as I said, the Apostle 
is bringing to a conclusion that second missionary journey, and 
here we find him in Corinth. We're very familiar with Corinth 
because there are two epistles in the New Testament named after 
that city, 1 and 2 Corinthians. Well, this is the founding of 
that particular church by the Apostle. So, as I said, I want 
to look at the ministry in Corinth in verses 1 to 11 under a couple 
of heads. his arrival in Corinth in verses 
1 to 4, and then secondly, the ministry in Corinth in verses 
5 to 11. But with reference to his arrival, 
notice in verse 1 of 18, it says, after these things, Paul departed 
from Athens and went to Corinth. So it's helpful for us to know 
a little bit about the city of Corinth. And I want to just read 
a few things. It was originally a leading city-state 
whose name first appears in Homer's Iliad. It was destroyed by the 
Romans in 146 BC, because Corinth had joined that league that tried 
to resist the Romans from taking over. And it was decimated, it 
was obliterated, it was rebuilt in 44 BC by Julius Caesar. And it was located in a very 
strategic place on the Isthmus of Corinth, and it joined the 
mainland of Greece to the Peloponnesian Peninsula. And the population 
was probably about 200,000 people. So it was a very significant 
city, and some suggest that it was even a challenger for Athens 
itself. With reference to its strategic 
location, John Stott says with reference to Paul, he must have 
seen its strategic importance. If trade could radiate from Corinth 
in all directions, which it in fact did, Paul would have concluded 
so could the gospel. So Paul was wise. He would go 
to these largely populated cities. There he would preach the gospel. 
There he would make disciples in the hopes and with the desired 
effect that that would then spill out to the regions around. That 
doesn't mean he wouldn't go to smaller places. That doesn't 
mean that he neglected the smaller works. It didn't mean that he 
was a celebrity preacher and he had to have his face sort 
of out there for everybody to see. Rather, he was a strategic 
man in terms of planting churches, making disciples and planting 
churches. In terms of the ethics of the city, the ethics of the 
city is a different story. One has well said, if the intellect 
or sins of the intellect was the problem in Athens, in Corinth 
it was the sins of the flesh. It was a filthy and a very derelict 
place. Plato used the term Corinthian 
girl as a synonym for prostitute. To play the Corinthian from the 
5th century BC onward simply meant to engage in fornication. There was a temple there to Venus 
or Aphrodite and there were temple prostitutes. Remember, this comes 
up in Paul's writing to the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians 5 and then 1 
Corinthians 6. They had problems with sexual 
immorality. Why? because the city was rife 
with sexual immorality. About a thousand prostitutes 
a night would go out and work the city streets. So it was a 
very foul and a very polluted place. John Gill makes the observation, 
and as the gospel was to be preached to the worst of sinners, among 
whom God's chosen ones lay, the apostle was directed to come 
hither. In other words, we don't look 
at a particular community or a particular people group and 
conclude that they're too far gone. They are beyond the pale. There is no hope for them. That 
is absolutely contrary to what we find in the second missionary 
journey. If ever there was a place a minister 
could conclude that this is a reprobate land, There's not going to be 
any positive effect from a ministry. I would rather go over here. 
This does disservice to this passage. Corinth was messed up. So God dispatches Paul because, 
as I said earlier, the only thing that helps a messed up culture, 
it's not more messed up government intervention. It's not more messed 
up do-gooders trying to put their paws on everything, but rather 
it's the gospel of Jesus Christ our Lord. That gospel in which 
is revealed the righteousness of God from faith to faith. That 
is what desperately needed to happen. here in Corinth, and 
so Paul is the servant. So that's the city. Secondly, 
notice the companions under the arrival in Corinth. There is 
this Christian couple named Aquila and Priscilla, and they are mentioned 
elsewhere in the New Testament. We see them in Romans 16. Paul 
says they risked their own lives for him. We see them mentioned 
in 1 Corinthians chapter 16, and then again 2 Timothy 4. You'll 
see her called Prisca there. It's the same woman, Prisca or 
Priscilla. Priscilla is the diminutive form. And nevertheless, they were companions 
of Paul. And this shows us, because they 
came to Rome, that Paul was not the founder of the church at 
Rome. I don't think it was Peter either, but we see that there 
was already a Christian presence in Rome. Claudius expels the 
Jews, and at that particular time Aquila, who was a Jew, leaves 
and comes to Corinth. Now why did Claudius get rid 
of the Jews in the city of Rome? There are many speculations as 
to that. I think Alexander explains it 
the best. He says, Suetonius, who was a Roman historian, relates 
that Claudius expelled the Jews because they were continually 
making a disturbance under the influence or at the instance 
of one Christus, which some regard as the proper name of a person 
now unknown, but others as a mistake for Christus. And so the idea 
is that within the city of Rome, as the Christians were meeting, 
as the Christians were maintaining Christ as Israel's Messiah, it 
was stirring up the opposition by the Jews. That shouldn't surprise 
us, because that happens everywhere Paul goes and preaches in a synagogue 
of the Jews. Well, Claudius didn't want that 
sort of thing in his place. He didn't want that kind of tension 
and that kind of a threat to the stability of the civil order. So he expels the Jews from Rome 
at that particular time. So that's the rationale as to 
why Aquila and Priscilla are now in Rome. And then notice 
in verse 3 it says, so because he was of the same trade. Paul 
was a tent maker, or perhaps we could translate it as a leather 
worker, as was Aquila. And we might ask the question, 
well, why did the Apostle Paul need to have a side gig? Well, 
Matthew Poole says the most learned amongst the Jews did always learn 
some handicraft. And it was one of those things 
which they held a father was bound to do for his child, namely 
to teach him some trade. And one of the rabbi's sayings 
is that whosoever does not teach his child a trade does as bad 
as if he did teach him to play the thief. I think that's a good 
custom that the Jews had at that particular time that one ought 
to obtain in this day and age. We ought to teach our sons to 
go out and to work, to have some sort of a trade, to have some 
sort of a skill, to have some sort of an ability to make money. 
Well, that's how Paul's parents raised him. So Paul, by trade, 
was a tent maker or a leather maker. And so they found camaraderie, 
him and Aquila. Now, Paul stays with Aquila and 
with Priscilla. Even when we get to verse 7, 
it says he goes to Justice's house. He's probably still lodging 
with Aquila and Priscilla. He simply goes to Justice's house 
in order to continue to preach the gospel. But back to our text, 
notice what Paul then does according to his custom. Verse 4, and he 
reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath and persuaded both Jews 
and Greeks. We have seen that custom as we 
trace through the first missionary journey and as we are concluding 
the second missionary journey. Paul would go to the synagogues 
because there was an audience there, an audience skilled or 
were supposed to be skilled in the Old Testament scriptures. 
So Paul from those scriptures would testify that their Messiah 
had to suffer and that he had to be raised again from the dead. 
And then he would testify to them that this Jesus whom I preach 
to you is the Christ. But Paul also knew that in these 
synagogues of the Jews, there would be God-fearing Gentiles. 
Those were Gentiles that were enamored with or interested in 
the God of Israel. So they would come on Sabbath 
to the synagogue in order to hear the teaching and the lectures 
from the Old Testament. They obviously didn't call it 
the Old Testament, just like Jews today don't call it the 
Old Testament because they deny or reject the New Testament. 
For them, it's the Bible. For them, it's the Tanakh, which 
is simply the law, the prophets, and the writings. So Paul's custom 
holds in this particular instance, he goes to Corinth. Now that 
brings us secondly to consider this ministry in Corinth. First, 
he testifies, as we've seen, in the synagogue, but specifically 
here in verse 5, we notice that Silas and Timothy had come from 
Macedonia. Remember, those were his traveling 
companions on this second missionary journey. So Paul, for a time, 
was alone in Athens. He dispatched these men back 
to Macedonia so that they could further minister the Word of 
God there. and now they meet up again when they're in Corinth. But it says that Paul was compelled 
by the Spirit. Now, there's a variant reading 
here. The New King James reads he was compelled by the Spirit. 
The ESV tells us he was occupied with the Word. The NIV says that 
Paul devoted himself exclusively to preaching. Which is it? I'm 
not sure, but this much I do know. For some reason, the coming 
of Timothy and Silas energized the apostle. Not that he didn't 
have energy prior, but his friends, his companions, his ministerial 
compadres helped buoy him up. And so now he's got this earnestness. 
Again, not that it was lacking or absent before, but we need 
to remember Paul was a man. Paul prayed, or asked the Ephesians 
to pray for him, that he would be given boldness to speak the 
gospel as he ought, which indicates, and we'll see in a few moments, 
that he had a native fear. They had a native trembling. 
Why does Jesus in verse 9 come to Paul and say, do not be afraid? Jesus isn't just willy-nilly 
throwing around little words of encouragement, but rather 
he must have surmised, well, Jesus surmises everything, to 
be sure, because he's Jesus. Well, he comes and he encourages 
Paul at this particular juncture on the third missionary journey. 
So Paul is enlivened, Paul is energized, Paul is compelled 
by the Spirit, and here we find the sum and substance of his 
preaching, and testify to the Jews that Jesus is the Christ. 
Again, this illustrates what I said before. What was the problem 
or a prevailing problem in the city of Corinth? Whoredom, going 
into other people that were not married to you, engaging in the 
sorts of activities condemned by God in the seventh commandment. But Paul doesn't directly say, 
okay, you shouldn't do this and you shouldn't do that. He preaches 
Christ and Him crucified. What's Paul's logic? Paul knows 
that when sinners hear Christ and Him crucified, and when sinners 
believe on Christ and Him crucified, sinners stop sinning in the way 
that they used to. Maybe not perfectly, maybe not 
consistently, maybe not holistically, but that's the conjunction that 
we find in Scripture. Because you have been saved by 
grace, now live in this particular matter. We have seen it in our 
last Sunday night sermon. A couple Sunday nights there 
in Titus chapter 2, Titus chapter 3. Be this kind of an old man, 
be this kind of an old woman, be this kind of a young woman, 
be this kind of a young man. Why? because Christ gave himself 
for you to purify for himself a special people zealous for 
good deeds. So Christianity isn't stop engaging 
in whoredom and then God will save you. Christianity is believe 
on the gospel. God saves sinners by Jesus Christ 
by cleansing them in his precious blood and giving them a righteousness 
that avails with God. And at that point, as a consequence 
or fruit of that, you will stop engaging in the sorts of sins 
that were common prior to your conversion. So when Paul goes 
to this city, Undone, this city that has been well described 
as both a Las Vegas and a San Francisco in the ancient world, 
when Paul goes there, what does Paul do? He preaches Christ and 
Him crucified. Brethren, this is our message 
to the world. This is our message in any situation 
or in any circumstance. The state, the government, has 
the prerogative to punish evildoers in the context of the civil state. 
God hasn't armed the church with the sword. Rather, God has armed 
the church with the truth of God's gospel. He has given us 
the healing instrument in the conduct and affairs of the world. 
We preach gospel for the salvation of sinners. We administer the 
sacraments for the benefit of saints. That's our function and 
role. We're not to renege, we're not 
to stop, we're not to kowtow, and we're certainly not supposed 
to lie down and pretend like everything is hunky-dory and 
we're gonna just do our own little thing. No, we have the message 
that sinners desperately need, the way that Paul did in Corinth, 
and that message is Christ and Him crucified, Christ and Him 
resurrected, Christ and Him glorified, and Christ as accessible to sinners 
by faith. Now notice, secondly, in terms 
of the ministry in Corinth, the opposition of the Jews. Can you 
detect a pattern here? Paul goes to the synagogue, Paul 
preaches Jesus is the Christ, and then the Jews lose their 
collective minds. They flip out on him. They go 
nuts on him. Again, there is no true freedom 
of speech if persons can't say something without the threat 
of being persecuted, without the threat of being in prison, 
without the threat of losing their heads. Well, the apostle 
understood that, and the apostle nevertheless raised up his voice 
in the name of Jesus. But notice what we see. The Jews 
oppose the apostle Paul. Verse 6. but when they opposed 
him and blasphemed." Now the word blaspheme there can apply 
to men. It can be a word that's used 
horizontally. I could blaspheme somebody here. 
That means speak evil of them. It means possibly slander them. 
It means to misrepresent them. But I think the fact is, is that 
they opposed Paul, but they blasphemed God. The way of blasphemy, according 
to Luke, when we compare what he says here and what we see 
in Pisidian Antioch in 1345, to deny or reject Jesus Christ 
on the part of the Jews is to blaspheme God Almighty. See, 
there's this thought out there that the Jews are just like us. 
No, they're not. They deny the God of Israel. They deny the triune Lord. They deny Father, Son, and Holy 
Spirit. They stand in need of the same 
gospel that everybody else does. Now, if you think that sounds 
harsh or anti-Semitic, I'm sorry, but that's what we find in Scripture. The Apostle Paul raised up his 
voice, he spared not, he cried aloud and told the Jews that 
Jesus is the Christ. Again, they lose their collective 
minds and they want him gone. They oppose Paul and they blaspheme 
Jesus. Now, notice what Paul does in 
terms of the third point under the ministry in Corinth, his 
response. First of all, he rejects them. 
Verse six says, but when they opposed him in blaspheme, he 
shook his garments and said to them, your blood be upon your 
own heads. I am clean. From now on, I will 
go to the Gentiles. He does the same sort of thing 
in chapter 13, verse 51 at Pisidian Antioch. In fact, you can turn 
there and look at that particular statement. It reflects what Jesus 
teaches in the gospels. In 1351, it says, they shook 
off the dust from their feet against them and came to Iconium. The only difference here is that 
Paul took off or shook rather his garments at this particular 
juncture. Again, it reflects Jesus teaching. 
Matthew 10, Mark 6, Luke 9, and then again in Luke 10. If they 
reject you, if they refuse you, if they resist you, then shake 
off the dust from your feet. Johnson describes it this way, 
the long-suffering and non-violent gentleness of Jesus' servants 
should not be mistaken for a lack of divine authority. Their message 
cannot be scorned with impunity. Rather, their dust-shaking ceremony 
previewed the day when God Himself will make an utter separation 
between those who have fled to Him for refuge and those who 
have fled from Him in rebellion. In a terrifying prelude to the 
final division, Jesus instructed his emissaries to give certain 
cities what they wanted, to withdraw the indicting and saving word 
of God from them. Now, that's a big difference 
than just saying, well, there's a lot of bad people there. I'm 
not going to go there. No, Paul went there, and Paul stayed there, 
and they continued to refuse, they continued to reject, they 
continued to rebel. Jesus does not teach that you 
need to just stand there faithful while that is obtaining, or while 
that is occurring. If they persecute you in this 
city, then flee to the next city, Matthew 10, 23. Now, there may 
be good reasons for you to stand fast and to stay your course 
and die in that particular city. But for those who do take Jesus' 
word seriously, and if there is hot persecution in one place, 
and they flee to the next city, not simply to save their own 
bacon, but that they can promote the gospel of free and sovereign 
grace to another group of people, that's the motive, that's the 
reason, that's the rationale, and that is perfectly acceptable. 
So his rejection of them is signified by this shaking of his garment. 
But then notice his word to them. He says in the middle of verse 
6, your blood be upon your own heads. I am clean. Turn to Acts 20 for just a moment, 
where he uses a similar convention in the pastor's conference in 
Ephesus. Acts 20 at verse 25 and indeed 
now I know that you all among whom I have gone preaching the 
kingdom of God will see my face no more Therefore I testify to 
you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all men For I 
have not shunned to declare to you the whole counsel of God 
So you see he does that with these pastors there at Ephesus 
in chapter 20 He does that with these Jews who are who are in 
opposition here in Acts chapter 18 in Corinth The backdrop or 
the background, as you might imagine, is the Old Testament. 
The prophet Ezekiel was called by God to be a watchman. In fact, 
God says to Ezekiel, warn the nation. If they heed you, then 
that's great. I'm paraphrasing. If they don't 
heed you, I won't hold you responsible, I will hold them responsible. 
In fact, the section is in Ezekiel 33, 1 to 5, I'll just read verse 
4. Then whoever hears the sound of the trumpet and does not take 
warning, if the sword comes and takes him away, his blood shall 
be on his own head. Now, what's the point here? Paul 
is doing something that is so contrary and so revolutionary 
when we consider our own era, both within the church and outside 
of the church. He is telling persons, individuals, 
image bearers, that they are responsible to God. Now, that 
doesn't always happen in the church vis-a-vis hyper-Calvinism. We so amplify sovereignty that 
we neglect responsibility. And sinners are never being told, 
never being exhorted, never being yelled at and shouted at that 
they are responsible for their continual rebellion against God, 
for their continual rejection against the Son of God. We try 
to hide behind divine sovereignty. Or rather, sinners, if you give 
them that opportunity, will hide there every time. Oh, well, God's 
predestined. God's elect. God's sovereignty. I just don't 
know if I'm... Don't let them do that, brethren. 
To reject Jesus Christ means that you are responsible for 
what you have done. Now, when we extrapolate this 
principle into the larger world, I think that this is fundamentally 
an issue today. Every problem everybody has is 
everybody else's fault. Not according to the Apostle 
Paul. You made your bed, now lay in it. If you are rejecting 
the Lord God Most High, whether it be gospel or whether it be 
some other area of your life, trying to portray everybody else 
as the reason why you're in dire straits, that ultimately is going 
to come back to bite you. So may I encourage all of us, 
with the nicest gym face I can, to accept your responsibility 
before a holy God. He is the moral governor of the 
universe, and we do not have the right to try to hide, to 
try to evade, or to try to blame everybody else. Well, Paul, you 
weren't clear enough. Well, Paul, you were a bit forceful. 
Paul, you said things that I didn't really care about. That's not 
supposed to happen. Own it. If you're a rebel sinner 
this morning, if you are not a believer in Jesus Christ, there 
is one person in this room you can blame. It ain't me. It's 
you. If you are the kind of person 
that always tries to evade responsibility by pointing the spotlight at 
others, may I again encourage you to knock it off. The Most 
High God is not to be trifled with. The Most High God saw Adam 
and Eve when they covered themselves and they hid among the trees. 
The Most High God knows the sorts of games that you are playing. 
The Most High God knows the sorts of ways that you are trying to 
evade your responsibility. Again, may I encourage you, lay 
down your arms. Lay down your weapons. Lay down 
all those things that you use to rebel against God Almighty. 
Wave the white flag and surrender to Him. Not any man, not any 
person, not bow the knee to other people, but bow it to King Jesus 
Christ, confessing Him as Lord and Savior. This was David's 
exhortation to the nations around Israel, to the pagan nations 
around Israel. Did David say, well, you know, 
they're on their own. They've got their Moloch, they've got 
their Baal, they've got all these other things. Do you understand, 
that's why Paul can tell you, when you're eating at somebody's 
house, you don't have to ask them, was this steak offered 
up to an idol? You don't have to do that. Why? 
Because there's really no bail. There's really no Moloch. These 
are figments of man's imagination. And so David doesn't reason, 
well, the nations around us, they have their own gods. No, 
no. He says to the judges, he says 
to the kings of the earth, he says to the civil authority that 
were parallel to him, him in Israel, them elsewhere in the 
pagan world. And he tells them to kiss the 
sun, lest he be angry and you perish in his way when his wrath 
is kindled but a little. He ends that second Psalm on 
a beatitude, blessed are all those who put their trust in 
Him. This is absolutely imperative. If you are a sinner here this 
morning, not picking on you, I'm a sinner too. I wasn't one 
who grew up and, oh boy, I'm just going to decide to follow 
Jesus. That ain't my story whatsoever. But I am appealing to you today, 
if you are not saved, please don't blame your parents. Please 
don't blame your pastors. Please don't blame some experience 
you had in the third grade. Blame yourself and listen to 
the reality. God the Lord addresses the nations 
in the prophet Isaiah. He says, look unto me, all ye 
ends of the earth, for I am God and there is no other. Christ 
says to weary, heavy-laden sinners, come to me, all you who are weary 
and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. What is that invitation 
in Isaiah the prophet at chapter 55? Oh, everyone who thirsts, 
let him come. You who have no money, you have 
no wages or whatever, come and buy and eat. Take the refreshing 
water of the gospel, the nourishing milk of the gospel, the exhilarating 
wine of the gospel. It's all yours without any payment. 
It's because of grace. It's because of kindness. It's 
because of mercy. It's because of who our God is. 
So don't blame anyone. Rather, to the Lord Jesus and 
find that mercy, find that grace, find that peace with God that 
surpasses all understanding. It is most blessed and most excellent. So he rejects them, he then speaks 
to them, and then he says that he's gonna turn to the Gentiles. 
Again, that makes them typically lose their minds, because here 
he is, a Jewish rabbi, the Apostle Paul, he describes himself in 
Philippians 3, prior to his conversion, as a Pharisee among the Pharisees. He was a very skilled rabbi. He sat under the feet of Gamaliel. 
They know this, and now they think that he is compromising. 
He is preaching this Nazarene, this man from Nazareth, as the 
Messiah, our scriptures foretold. Of course they lose their minds, 
just like they did with Jesus. Does it surprise you, the animosity 
of the religious leaders with reference to Jesus? Again, we're 
not justifying it. It was horrific, it was vile, 
and it was wretched. But when Jesus says to the religious 
leaders of his time, before Abraham was, I am, Does it surprise you 
they pick up stones to throw at him? This Nazarene, this carpenter, 
this one who nobody really even cares about. He has no visage, 
no faith, no appearance that we should long for. There's nothing 
about him that attracts men. They lost it. And they lost it 
with the apostle Paul, just like in this particular instance. 
So Paul now departs from them. When he says he's gonna turn 
to the Gentiles, it's not exclusive. In the third missionary journey, 
when he goes to various cities, guess where he starts? The synagogue. He doesn't mean, I'm done with 
you Jews forever. The book of Acts ends with Paul in prison 
and Jews coming to talk to him and Paul telling them Isaiah 
6 and applying it to them. You have ears to hear, but you 
don't hear. You have eyes to see, but you don't see. Again, 
they don't receive that with happiness and joy and say, what 
a great guy he is. It really upsets them. But nevertheless, 
he turns to the Gentiles, and as I said, verse 7 says, he departed 
from there and entered the house of a certain man named Justice, 
one who worshipped God, whose house was next door to the synagogue. 
Some versions, in fact, the New King James margin says Titus 
Justice, and some suspect that this is the Titus of Titus, the 
book. I don't know. Persons don't know. 
It's a speculation at best. We do suspect that this was a 
Gentile because he's described as one who worshiped God. Again, 
every Jew would have been characterized that way. In Luke's usage, God 
worshipers is typically a reference to Gentiles. But whoever this 
justice was, again, I don't think that Paul stopped staying with 
Aquila and Priscilla, but rather he goes to Justice's house, which 
is conveniently located right next to the synagogue, where 
Paul then teaches that Jesus is the Christ. So that's sort 
of the framework that we ought to appreciate relative to the 
movement of the apostle in this instance. That brings us fourthly 
to consider, by way of the ministry in Corinth, the effects of the 
ministry. At verse 8, then Crispus, the 
ruler of the synagogue, believed on the Lord with all his household. Paul refers to this Crispus in 
1 Corinthians 1.14. He refers to his having baptized 
Crispus. He also refers to a man by the 
name of Gaius. Some suspect that this Gaius 
is perhaps as well this Justice or Titus Justice. Again, it can 
be a bit confusing, but we do the same sort of thing. I'm James, 
Peter, you're whoever, whatever. You've got two names and then 
there's a surname. Well, the same thing held at 
this particular juncture. So we're not really sure exactly, 
but Gaius could have been this Justice from Acts 18.7. But in 
1 Corinthians 1.14, Paul says, I thank God that I baptized none 
of you except Crispus and Gaius. Now don't mistake Paul. He's 
not an anti-baptist. He's not the sort of guy that, 
you know, he's not a forerunner of the Salvation Army. which 
teaches no more sacraments. That's not Paul. He's talking 
about the reality that he was a preacher. That was his primary 
emphasis, was to preach the word. And when he baptized, there were 
certainly people to baptize, but companions, other ministerial 
associates, would be the ones that actually engaged in the 
baptism. So in terms of Corinth, he baptizes Crispus and Gaius. 
But there is this general statement concerning Corinth at the end 
of verse 8. It says, in many of the Corinthians, 
Beautiful, isn't it? In Acts 17 in Athens, there wasn't 
that same sort of a response. What do we conclude there? That 
Paul's preaching was better in Corinth? No, we conclude that 
God's sovereign. That's how we conclude relative 
to the effects of gospel preaching. In other words, when we preach 
the gospel, God is glorified in the declaration of the truth. 
We typically only associate God's glory in the salvation of sinners. 
Now, God is glorified, hold on for it, in the damnation of sinners 
as well. The apostle tells us that in 
Romans 9. In 2 Corinthians, the apostle 
says that the preaching of God's word comes like a great aroma 
or a fragrance into the very nostrils of God himself. That's 
an anthropomorphism, because God is spirit and doesn't have 
nostrils. But Paul says, to the one, it's 
the aroma of life unto life. To the other, it's the aroma 
of death unto death. But in either event, God is glorified. We need to get out of this modern 
mindset that God's only glorified if, you know, a hundred sinners 
say the prayer and get saved. No, when God's Word is preached 
accurately, God is there, God is glorified, God is magnified. So the difference between the 
effects in Athens versus the effects in Corinth isn't attributable 
to what Paul did, but rather it's attributable to what God 
does in the salvation of sinners. God has his purposes, God's prerogative, 
God's good pleasure is what is at stake. But with reference 
to this statement at the end of verse 8, many of the Corinthians 
hearing, believed, and were baptized. There's your conspicuous pattern. They heard the word, they believed 
the word, and they were baptized, as John Gill says. This is a 
plain instance of believer's baptism. First, they heard the 
word of God, then they believed this word coming with power to 
them, and upon their believing, they are baptized. It's a beautiful 
display of God's grace to many Corinthians. Should we ever give 
up on a Las Vegas? Should we ever give up on a San 
Francisco? Should we ever give up on a Chilliwack? 
Should we ever give up on those places where God says there are 
image bearers that stand in need of the gospel, who desperately 
need to hear the truth, to believe the truth, and then to be baptized 
according to that truth? No, we shouldn't give up. God 
had many people in the city of Corinth. They had many prostitutes, 
as I said, but God had many of His elect. And we can praise 
God for that. And that brings us to the fifth 
observation relative to the ministry in Corinth, this vision of Christ. Paul gets a few visions, one 
in chapter 16, that Macedonian call. He'll get another one in 
chapter 23, and then on the ship in Acts chapter 27. But if we 
look at this, it is most glorious. Verse nine. Now the Lord spoke 
to Paul in the night by a vision. And the first thing he says is, 
do not be afraid, but speak. Do not be afraid, but speak. 
Don't keep silent. Turn for a moment to First Corinthians 
two. First Corinthians two. Paul reveals 
his mindset when he's in Corinth. First Corinthians one is amazing. 
Essentially, Paul is paralleling the so-called wisdom of the world 
with the wisdom of God. Paul is showing that wisdom of 
God as it comes vis-a-vis the gospel, chapter 1, verses 18 
and following. That power of God is revealed 
vis-a-vis in the recipients of the gospel, the Corinthians, 
not many wise, not many noble. And then he shows the power of 
God revealed vis-a-vis the preacher himself. Paul wasn't this powerhouse. Paul wasn't this orator. People 
didn't wear t-shirts that said, Paul is my homeboy. They didn't 
have coffee cups with Paul's mug on their mugs. He wasn't 
the celebrity preacher that had the $800 sneakers. I have learned 
this recently. There is an Instagram account 
called Preachers in Sneakers, and persons take pictures of 
celebrity preachers and put them on the Instagram account and 
tell you how much their wardrobe cost. Brethren, if you ever see 
me on Preachers with Sneakers, take me out. Take me out. That wasn't Paul. I don't think 
pastors or churches today would hire Paul personally, not just 
because he had this great knack of alienating everybody who disagreed 
with him, but his personal appearance, his manner. We want in the church 
today the guys that have it all, The $800 sneakers, the big 18-inch 
guns, the bulging pecs, the whole spiel. If you think I'm making 
this up, brethren, you are not paying attention to what's happening 
in evangelicalism today. You are just not paying attention, 
because this is the reality. Paul wasn't that. Paul was the 
sort of guy that was like Jesus. You wouldn't give him a second 
look on the street. That's what the prophet Isaiah 
says with reference to Jesus. He had no appearance. There was 
nothing about him that would draw the eye and say, what manner 
of man is that? In fact, when persons heard of 
his notoriety, Who? You mean the son of the carpenter? Joseph's son? Are you kidding? 
This is the Messiah? That's how they responded to 
the Lord Jesus. That's how I suspect persons 
would have responded to Paul. Except churches that were looking 
to hire. They wouldn't hire Paul because 
he was unimpressive. He didn't have that alpha dog 
sort of presence that we demand in the church today. Notice in 
2.1. And I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellence 
of speech or of wisdom, declaring to you the testimony of God. 
We'll get back to verse 2 later. Skip it with me. Verse 3, I was 
with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling. Oh, you 
can't work here. We don't want that kind of a 
preacher. We want the guns. We want the 
sneakers. We want the guy that's able to 
lead the flock into whatever area of social justice warriorism 
that is dictated or necessitated by the day. Paul, you're just 
not up to the task. Well, this is his mindset that 
we have in Acts 18. Paul is telling us, I'm not the 
macho man. I'm not the guy, you know, with 
the bandoleros and the guns blazing. I'm not the spiritual equivalent 
of Clint Eastwood or John Wayne. I'm not the sort of guy that 
would have ever thought I'd be in this particular position. 
That's what we have with the apostle. So in verse three, he 
says, I was with you in weakness, in fear and in much trembling. So go back to Acts chapter 18 
and appreciate, if you will, the glory, the kindness and the 
mercy of our Lord Jesus. Paul, you have a task. Paul, 
you have a job. Paul, you have a mission. Paul, 
you have a ministry. So Jesus comes to him to reveal 
this to him, to encourage and exhort him and to send him back 
into the fray. That is the grace and mercy of 
our loving Christ. So the mindset is weakness, fear, 
much trembling. So what does Jesus say? Verse 
nine, chapter 18, do not be afraid. If you're familiar with the Old 
Testament, you know this is a refrain. God to his prophets, God to his 
people. Do not be afraid. It's a message 
we desperately need to hear today. Do not be afraid. Why? Because 
God's Lord. God's sovereign. God's got this. We don't have to fret. We don't 
have to worry. What happens when we're fearful? 
What happens when we're fretful? We are paralyzed. There is a 
direct connection between our fear and paralysis. I don't mean 
physically. It's not the case that one will, 
well, even physically. If I walk around a corner and 
I see a bear, there is a physiological reaction. That fear indicates 
I may just freeze up. Well, with reference to the spiritual 
realm, fear paralyzes the servants of God. Fear sends them running, 
hiding, and cowering. Fear does not bring the gospel 
to the Corinthians and spend a year and a half there. Christ 
knows this, so Christ comes to encourage His servant Paul. He 
says, don't be afraid. He says to him, but speak, and 
do not keep silent. Matthew Pool says, the fierceness 
of the enemies of God and His truth should kindle a greater 
fervor in His servants for His glory. Should Satan have better 
servants than God? Should they dare for their master 
beyond what the servants of God are willing to do or suffer for 
Him? No, the enemies of Satan shouldn't be outgunning the enemies 
of Christ should not be outgunning, spiritually speaking, the friends 
of Christ. So Christ's words are absolutely 
appropriate at this particular juncture. He's got fear. He's 
got trembling. He's got this weakness. So Jesus 
comes, reveals himself to him and says, don't be afraid. Continue 
to speak. Don't be silent, Paul. You have 
much to say to these Corinthian wretches. This was an abiding 
lesson for the apostle. It made a lasting impact upon 
the apostle. The last letter that he writes 
in the New Testament is 2 Timothy. And in 2 Timothy 1-7, here's 
how he encourages Timothy. For God has not given us a spirit 
of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. How 
could he do that? Because Christ came to him here 
in Corinth and said, don't be afraid. Praise God Almighty for 
the Lord Jesus. There are times, brethren, when 
it seems that men are all alone in the service of Christ, and 
yet Christ never, ever leaves or forsakes. It's a beautiful 
thing, too, that this is consistent with what we find in Matthew 
28. Look at what Jesus goes on to 
say. Do not be afraid, but speak, and do not keep silent, for I 
am with you. Isn't that the underscoring or 
the underpinning, the overarching sort of framework of that great 
commission? Go therefore, make disciples 
of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father 
and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe 
all things that I have commanded you. And lo, I am with you always, 
even to the end of the age. You know who else God says this 
to? It's Joshua. General Joshua, who was the man 
charged with taking the Israelites into the land of Canaan and destroying 
Canaanites. Destroying the people, destroying 
their idols, destroying their religious shrines, destroying 
it all. So for Joshua, he needed that encouragement as well. He 
needed that presence of God as well. Yes, he needed to meditate 
upon that law of God day and night. He needed to imbibe the 
truth as it is in Jesus, but he needed that blessed, benefiting 
promise of God that he would be with him in that endeavor. 
And so Christ brings that same encouragement to the apostle 
in this instance. And notice again, verse 10, I 
am with you and no one will attack you to hurt you. Now, at this 
point, you're going to say, well, you know, it doesn't seem like 
those Jews were going to attack him. When we drop down, there's 
a fellow by the name of Sosthenes that they beat. In 1 Corinthians 
1.1, Paul writes to the Corinthians, he and Sosthenes. Oh, there was violence fomenting 
in the city of Corinth. There was aggression in the minds 
of the people. They were going to try and mop 
the ground with the Apostle Paul if they could, but Christ says, 
don't fear because I'm going to protect you. I will make sure 
that no one attacks you. This is the reason why at the 
outset of worship, we read Psalm 105. God says to Israel in verses 
13 to 15, when they went from one nation to another, from one 
kingdom to another people, He permitted no one to do them wrong. 
Yes, He rebuked kings for their sake saying, do not touch my 
anointed ones and do my prophets no harm. Now, we do error if 
we universalize this principle and say, well, therefore, no 
Christian will ever be slaughtered the way we're reading every single 
Sunday. That's not the point. For Paul in Corinth at this juncture 
in redemptive history, He needed to spend this year and six months 
there preaching the word. He needed as well this assurance 
in a city of 200,000 people, where there were a lot of opponents, 
and they've already, or will demonstrate not too far from 
this point, that they're going to beat Sosthenes right in front 
of the civil ruler. Did you get that? Galileo doesn't 
want anything to do with this whatsoever. They beat Sosthenes 
right in front of him, and he doesn't do anything. Sounds just 
like what we read every Sunday with reference to Voice of the 
Martyrs. People of God are targeted for destruction. People of God 
are beaten. People of God are killed. The 
people of God that are connected to those people of God go to 
the civil authority. The civil authority arrests them. How do you explain that? We don't 
wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities and 
powers. There are dark forces at work 
behind the physical beings that you and I face each and every 
day. The devil was a murderer and a liar from the beginning. 
His representatives on earth continue to carry the torch. 
That's the only explanation or rationale you can provide why 
innocent people, watching the abuse and death of their innocent 
people, go to civil authority and end up either being arrested 
or fined. We read of a girl this morning 
in Laos that fought off her attacker. He was trying to rape her. She 
has now been in prison for six months. She has been fined $11,000 
US and being forced to renounce Jesus Christ. You know what I 
say? Praise God, He gave her the wherewithal 
and the ability to defend herself. The God of love is a God of justice, 
the God of love is a God of righteousness, and the God of love authorizes 
self-defense. But, you know, in many places 
that's just so contrary because gentle Jesus meek and mild. Gentle 
Jesus meek and mild is the one in Revelation chapter 6 that 
everybody flees from. Everybody would rather have mountains 
and rocks fall on them and crush them rather than meet the wrath 
of the Lamb. That's your gentle Jesus, meek 
and mild, brethren. He is that, but he's also righteous. He's the rider on the white horse. He is the one who goes forth 
conquering and to conquer. He is ruler over the kings of 
the earth. He is most high. He is most glorious. He is most wondrous. back to 
our text. He promises his presence, that 
promise ensures protection, and then this great encouragement 
concerning Paul's ministry. For I am with you, and no one 
will attack you to hurt you. Notice the last thing Jesus says, 
for I have many people in this city. I have many people in this 
city. How could Jesus say that apart 
from the doctrine of predestination? How could Jesus say that apart 
from the doctrine of election? How could Jesus say that apart 
from God's absolute and comprehensive sovereignty? He couldn't. He 
could hope. He could pray. He would like 
to see many of those people with their free will acting upon themselves 
coming to him. Paul, I'd like to think there 
are many. No, I have many people in this city. That doesn't mean 
presently. It didn't mean that, you know, 
100,000 out of those 200,000 confessed Christ. It was an argument 
from Christ as to why Paul was to remain in Corinth. I've got 
many people. There are sinners to be called 
out of darkness into marvelous light. There's whoremongers. 
There's whores. There's people that are abusers 
of drugs. There are people that are engaged 
in witchcraft. There are murderers. There are 
homosexuals. But the bottom line is, according 
to Jesus, I have many people there. Now you might say, Butler, 
how do you surmise all those sorts of people were there? Because 
Paul tells us. 1 Corinthians 6, verse 9. Do you not know that the unrighteous 
will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither 
fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, 
nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor 
revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. That's 
a settled principle of our religion. We all affirm that. We all know 
that. We all confess that. But notice verse 11. He says, 
and such were some of you. You see why I often say that 
the gospel, that Jesus is a real savior for real sinners. We don't need to go find people 
out there who've cleaned up their act. We don't need to go find 
people out there that are engaged in the act of moral reform and 
then preach to them. No, Jesus is in the business 
of cleansing filthy sinners. And it's not just in Corinth, 
it's in Chilliwack too. This is said of us also, and 
such were some of you. We all had our issues. We all 
have our issues. We all transgress God's law. 
We all lack conformity unto it. He says, and such were some of 
you, but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you 
were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit 
of our God. And verse 11 ends with a summary 
statement concerning Paul in Corinth prior to them bringing 
him before Galileo. And it says, he continued there 
a year and six months teaching the Word of God among them. That 
vision of Christ was instrumental. That vision of Christ was most 
helpful. That vision of Christ steadied 
the Apostle Paul. Now brethren, we're not going 
to get visions of Christ. I know our charismatic friends 
and Pentecostal friends might suggest otherwise, but we're 
not. But we have the written word and we walk by faith, not 
by sight. And the Christ of Matthew 28 
20 is our Christ today. And lo, I am with you always, 
even to the end of the age. So he stays there. And I just 
did a brief geography. There were four primary or main 
provinces in the world at that time. in the Oikumene, the inhabited 
earth, the Roman Empire. There was Galatia, Macedonia, 
Achaia, and Asia. Corinth was foremost in Achaia. 
Paul spends a year and a half there. Ephesus is foremost in 
Asia. He's going to spend two years 
there in Acts chapter 19 in the third missionary journey. Again, 
I think that's owing to the fact that he would find these large 
population bases, and he would preach the gospel there, he would 
make disciples there, with the understanding that those disciples 
would then go to other parts of the empire to proclaim the 
truth as it is in Jesus, to make disciples and plant other churches. 
Again, we shouldn't understand this as Paul wouldn't be in a 
little village, Paul wouldn't go to just a handful of people. 
I've heard that about some celebrity preachers. They won't come to 
Canada because they won't get enough of an audience. How terrible. I'm sorry, brethren. We have turned, or they have 
turned, or somebody has turned the ministry into something that 
isn't Pauline. It's not Pauline. It's different. 
It's a different species that we're witnessing. I want to close 
with a few thoughts and then we're done. First, the preaching 
of the gospel. That is the primary activity of the missionaries. 
When we started out in Acts 13, the very first missionary journey, 
we saw that church is instrumental in the sending out of missionaries. 
There we gave the working definition of missionary. It's a lot broader. 
There's a lot more elastic today. It's a lot more comprehensive. 
But missionary, as we find it in the New Testament, which word, 
by the way, isn't there, but the concept of missionaries, 
men leaving one place and going to another. When we talk about 
missionaries, strictly defined or narrowly defined, we're talking 
about men, qualified according to 1 Timothy 3, Titus chapter 
1, men fit and recognized by the church to function as elders 
or pastors, being then sent out by their churches to go make 
disciples and plant further churches. If we use a broader definition, 
that's fine, but we need to understand that narrowly defined, a missionary 
is a church-planting man, because the church, not all these other 
agencies, is ultimately the apple of Jesus' eye. Secondly, the 
persecution of the church. Makes sense, right? If these 
missionaries go out and preach another king, even Jesus, what 
does that do to Satan's hosts? What does that do to the enemies 
of God? They respond in the only way 
they seem to know how. I mean, again, free speech, dialogue. interaction, discourse, disagreement, 
and not killing each other? Why is that lost on us? We bear 
the image of God. I'd like to think that we can 
sit down with one another, and even if we disagree, not kill 
each other. I mean, talking about an abuse 
of the Sixth Commandment, you mean you don't like what they 
said, so you burn them? You murder them? You cut their 
heads off because you disagree with their God? That's just unholy, 
unrighteous, ungodly, and it's rampant today. For those of you 
who never come to a prayer meeting, you should come sometime, and 
you should hear the sorts of... I mean, we had extra today. It 
was like a, you know, stack of paper we got from various countries, 
various persons, various sufferers. Why? Because they believe the 
gospel of Jesus Christ our Lord. That's their crime. That's their 
horrific offense against the state is when they preach another 
king, even Jesus. Well, we see it here in the book 
of Acts. Thirdly, we ought to walk by faith in the promise 
of Christ. He is with the church when she 
is engaged in the great commission. He protects his servants in order 
to advance the kingdom. Again, Paul ends up dead. He's 
not somewhere now. He's not in California. Thankfully, 
he's not in New York or somewhere in Canada. He was murdered. He was executed. History tells 
us it was under Nero, that beast. Paul lost his head. He was executed 
by the civil state, again, for the crime of being a missionary 
of the gospel. As well, Jesus has his people 
in this world. Revelation 5 and 7 is most encouraging. Revelation 5 and 7 tells us that 
there is a great multitude that no man can number. There are 
persons from every tribe, every tongue, every people, every nation 
gathered before the throne of God. And before the throne of 
God, they say salvation belongs to our God and to the Lamb who 
sits on the throne. Brethren, God wins. God achieves 
his purposes in this world. Christ shall see the travail 
of his soul and be satisfied. The dominion of Christ will be 
from sea to sea. There are times, and perhaps 
those times are upon us, where it's not always easy to appreciate 
that. May God make us like an Abraham. 
God told Abraham, look, you're going to father a multitude. 
You're going to have so many descendants, you won't even be 
able to number them. In fact, Abraham, look up at 
the stars. Abraham, you're going to have 
more descendants than the stars. Abraham, I want you to look at 
the sand on the seashore. You're going to have more descendants 
than that sand on the seashore. Now, for those of you who know 
the Abraham story, he was 100 when he got this promise. Physiology 
was the same then as it is now. A hundred-year-old man didn't 
typically sire a whole bunch of children. That just wasn't 
the way it was. You know what Paul tells us in 
Romans 4 concerning the faith of Abraham? He says, who, contrary 
to hope, in hope believed. I think that's very instructive 
for us today as we walk by faith, not by sight, understanding that 
Christ is with his people, understanding that Christ does have people 
in this world and that Christ calls us to be faithful. And 
I wanna end with this last point of illustration or rather application, 
the prayer of the church. We need to pray for men like 
Paul. We need men, first, who can preach, 
including the ability to reason, demonstrate, and testify. There 
has to be the ability in the men of God to be able to meet 
the opposition with biblical argument, with sound, proven, 
tried theology, and not their own personal experiences, not 
their own personal anecdotes, not their own personal life story 
or journey. We need men who can preach, men 
who can testify, men who can demonstrate, and men who can 
reason. That is just, to me, one of the 
first things we ought to be praying. Secondly, we need men who can 
stand up to the opposition. Stand up to the opposition. Oh, 
but Jimmy said he was weak and fearful. He didn't run. He didn't 
hide. He didn't cower. He didn't go 
cry. And maybe he did cry. I don't 
know. Paul was a man of tears. There's nothing wrong with being 
a man of tears. But he stood up to the opposition. He doesn't 
cower. He doesn't say, well, there's 
problems here. I'm going to run. I'm going to hide. Thirdly, we 
need men who can persevere in doing what is right. They don't 
let bullies dictate. They don't let the opposition 
stop them. They don't kowtow to the prevailing 
winds of change that culture has. Well, now, science has told 
us this. Brethren, I have never been more 
suspect of science than I have been in the last three months, 
to be quite candid with you. If this is science, then I don't 
want it, because it's bizarro in my mind. We need men who do 
not kowtow to the prevailing opposition. We need men, fourthly, 
who resist their native fears. He had it. He was struggling. He had weakness. He was a trembler. 
He tells the Ephesians in Ephesians 6, pray that I will be given 
boldness to speak the truth as I ought to speak. Doesn't mean 
you're a bad guy if you have fear. It means you're a bad guy 
if you're paralyzed by that fear and you don't do what God's called 
you to. That's the job. Fifth, men who 
believe the promise that Christ is present, even when their eyes 
suggest otherwise. Again, we walk by faith, not 
by sight. The best illustration in my mind 
is John G. Payton. You know, some of you 
have read the autobiography of John G. Payton, that minute missionary 
to the New Hebrides or Vanuatu. There were times when he's literally 
running through the jungle with cannibals chasing after him, 
and he says, and I was looking up into heaven to see the Lord 
Jesus Christ ruling and reigning, not physically, it wasn't that 
he got a vision, but as these cannibals are nipping at his 
heel, no pun intended, he nevertheless encourages his heart that Christ 
is over the cannibals. That's the kind of man the church 
needs. We need as well men who obey 
Christ and do what they're supposed to. Again, wow, look at verse 
11. He continued there a year and 
six months teaching the word of God among them. Go back to 
1 Corinthians 2. I said there was a passage we 
skipped. We now need to revisit and we'll end here. We need men 
who make it their determination not to know anything among you 
except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Brethren, if you have a mind 
to pray for pastors, you have a mind to pray for missionaries, 
you have a mind to pray for potential laborers in Christ's field, take 
Paul as an example and pray for that kind of man. The chapter 
ends with another high note of a man by the name of Apollos. 
Apollos was a man mighty in the scriptures. Sounds like Apollos 
was a Jew, perhaps a rabbi, perhaps a lawyer. We're going to see 
him tonight in Titus chapter 3. This Apollos with this man 
called Zenos, the lawyer. Most likely they were Jewish 
lawyers. They were experts in the law 
of Moses. That's probably what Apollos' 
deal was, but he didn't know the gospel, or he didn't know, 
rather, Jesus. He knew the baptism of John, 
but he's humble enough to listen to both Aquila and his wife, 
Priscilla, to teach him the more excellent way. And so what does 
he do armed with that information? He goes out and he's a useful 
servant to Jesus Christ the Lord. In song, we need useful servants 
to Jesus Christ the Lord. Let us pray. Father, thank you 
for your word and thank you for these missionary journeys and 
the great instruction that they give us in the church today. 
I pray that you would raise up men among us, that you would 
raise up men throughout the world to be the kind of man that we 
see here in Acts 18. And we pray that you would indeed 
send them forth to proclaim the truth as it is in Jesus Christ, 
to determine to know nothing among men except Christ and Him 
crucified. For this is the most important 
calling for a minister of the gospel. And Lord, do this for 
your glory. Do this for the advancement of 
the kingdom of Christ on earth. Do this, Lord God, for the good 
of men and women created in your image. And we ask this through 
Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.