Jesus in His Church - Paul..

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com. That's cornerstonerbc.com. This is the word of the Lord, Acts 18. After this, Paul left Athens and went to Corinth, and he found a Jew named Tequila, a native of Pontus, recently come from Italy with his wife, Priscilla, because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to leave Rome.

And he went to see them, and because he was of the same trade, he stayed with them and worked. They were ten makers by trade. And he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath and tried to persuade Jews and Greeks. When Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia, Paul was occupied with the Word, testifying to the Jews that the Christ was Jesus. And when they opposed and reviled him, he shook out his garments and said to them, Your blood be on your own heads.

I am innocent. From now on, I will go to the Gentiles. And he left there and went to the house of a man named Titus Justus, a worshiper of God. His house was next door to the synagogue. Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue, believed in the Lord together with his entire household.

And many of the Corinthians here in Paul believed and were baptized. And the Lord said to Paul one night in a vision, Do not be afraid, but go on speaking, and do not be silent, for I am with you, and no one will attack you to harm you, for I have many in this city who are my people. And he stayed a year and six months teaching the word of God among them. But when Galileo was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews made a united attack on Paul and brought him before the tribunal, saying, This man is persuading people to worship God contrary to the law. But when Paul was about to open his mouth, Galileo said to the Jews, If it were a matter of wrongdoing or vicious crime, O Jews, I would have reason to accept your complaint.

But since it is a matter of questions about words and names and your own law, see it to yourselves. I refuse to be a judge of these things." And he dropped them from the tribunal. And they all see Sosthenes, the ruler of the synagogue, and beat him in front of the tribunal. But Gadio paid no attention to any of this.

After this, Paul stayed many days longer and then took leave of the brothers and set sail for Syria. And with him Priscilla and Aquila. At Zincrae, he had cut his hair, for he was under a vow. And they came to Ephesus, and he left them there. But he himself went into the synagogue and reasoned with the Jews.

When they asked him to stay for a longer period, he declined. But on taking leave of them, he said, I will return to you if God wills. And he set sail from Ephesus. When he had landed at Caesarea, he went up and greeted the church and then went down to Antioch. After spending some time there, he departed and went from one place to the next through the region of Galatia and Thurgia, strengthening all the disciples.

Now a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus. He was an eloquent man, competent in the Scriptures. He had been instructed in the way of the Lord and been fervent in spirit. He spoke and taught accurately the things concerning Jesus, though he knew only the baptism of John. He began to speak boldly in the synagogue, but when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately.

And when he wished to cross to Achaia, the brothers encouraged him and wrote to the disciples to welcome him. When he arrived, he greatly helped those who through grace had believed. For he powerfully refuted the Jews in public, showing by the Scriptures that Christ was Jesus. Amen. The Word of our Lord.

Very good, brothers and sisters, beloved of Christ. We continue now with our study through this book of Acts. And in this chapter 18, we are going to conclude the second missionary journey of the Apostle Paul, and indeed we're going to start just in a verse, the third missionary journey of the Apostle. If you go to verse 22 and 23, that is the end of the missionary, the second missionary journey of the Apostle. There in verse 22 we're told, when he had landed at Caesarea, he went up and greeted the church, and then went down to Antioch.

We know the Antioch is his home church. So that is the end of the second missionary journey. And then Luke is not one to wait anything, but in verse 23 is going to tell us that after spending some time there, that is Antioch, He departed and he went on to his third missionary journey. So what we have in Acts chapter 18, beloved of Christ, as I said, is just the end of this second missionary journey. Just remember the importance of the mission of these journeys, of these missionary journeys given to the church and primarily to those who will go and preach the gospel, bringing the news, the good news of salvation to the uttermost parts of the earth.

So, in this second missionary journey, we have covered already the initial stage of that second missionary journey. If you remember, and even we have the same word in here for the third missionary journey, is that the Apostle Paul was trying to strengthen the churches, the same churches that he had visited in the first missionary journey. Now, on this second one, he's strengthening those churches. And something that I said last week is very important that now this second time he's coming to encourage those churches, but with the letter or with the ordinances, if you want, or with the instructions given by the apostles from Acts chapter 15. I said that last week.

Now, from this first stage of strengthening the churches, then you remember that he was going to go through Asia and through Bithynia, but then the Spirit of God prevented him to go through those areas. So he ends up going to Macedonia through this vision that he receives, going to Macedonia. In Macedonia, he's in Philippi and then he goes on to Thessalonica, which is what we discussed last week. And then from there, he's going to go from Macedonia, he's gonna go into Achaia. Last week we addressed Athens.

Now we remain in Achaia, it's just like a province or a region, right? Like if I was speaking about Queensland, that is a state, like a region, and then the different cities in that region will be, in this case, Athens, and now we're dealing with Corinth. So that means that we are still in Achaia and we are in the second half of this second missionary trip going back to Antioch. And we found ourselves or we have found better the apostle at Corinth. Now, this city is a very important city, right?

It's not only the capital, a very important city for Achaia, the province there, but also biblically speaking, which is more important. It's a very important city. Why? Because there are going to be a number of letters that are written to this church there at Corinth, right? How many letters are written to the church at Corinth?

So we have two letters that are a scripture that we have given to the church at Corinth. So the church at Corinth is going to be a very important church, biblically speaking, because here the apostle is going to establish that church at Corinth. And we know that from the teachings and from the writings of the apostle to the church at Corinth, we derive much doctrine and much practice. What we're going to see here, beloved of Christ, the time that the Apostle is going to spend here at Corinth is going to be both very similar to what he had done in other cities, but also very different. So I think it's important just for us just to have a small perspective, biblical perspective, of what Corinth is as a church so that we will understand a little bit the purpose and the intentions of the Apostle there.

So if you go to 1 Corinthians, we will see some of these characteristics of the church at Corinth. As you said, there are two letters that were written by the Apostle, by the Spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ, through the Apostle Paul for these two churches. So we know, first of all, that this church at Corinth is a church that was enriched, the ESV says, that had everything that they needed. It says in verse 4 of chapter 1 of the first letter to the Corinthians, in chapter 4, this Apostle Paul, who is now at Corinth, will say, I give thanks to my God always for you, this is the Corinthians, because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus, that in every way you were enriched in Him, in all speech and all knowledge, even as the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you, so that you are not lacking in any gift as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ. This was a church that was enriched with all knowledge and even with all gifts.

This is the first Corinthians where we get the teaching of the spiritual gifts, practical spiritual gifts given to the church. And we know that this was a church that was enriched. They had everything that they needed in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, waiting for the arrival, the blessed hope of the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. A church that had everything that they needed. But this church that had everything that they needed was also a church that was in much trouble and much difficulties.

Perhaps you know this. If you go to verse 11 of that first chapter, we are told that it has been reported to the apostle Paul, for it has been reported to me by Cloy's people that there is quarreling among you, my brothers. So a church that was enriched in everything that they needed, with the scriptures, and the Apostle had planted even this church, but they were a church that were with much conflict and difficulty, contentious spirit in the midst of the Corinthian church, and even divisions there. Also, if you turn your page and you go to chapter 5, you will see that this church, that it was divided, also is a church that were having difficult issues with sexual immorality. In chapter 5 we're told, it is actually reported.

You see this word? The apostle is asking for a report, or he receives a report from this church. Chapter 5, it says, it is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you. and of a kind that is not tolerated even among pagans. For a man has his father's wife, and you are arrogant.

Ought you not rather to mourn? Let him who has done this be removed from among you." It was a church that was reaching everything that they had, everything that they needed, but it was a church that was also divided and also that were having certain type of conflicts, in this case, with sexual immorality. If you turn your page and you go to chapter 7, we get a little bit of a deeper insight also in the relationship of this church with the apostle. In chapter 7, we are told, now concerning the matters about which you wrought.

So that means that the church at Corinth had written a letter asking certain questions to the apostle, right? Of course, this letter was much later from the time that the Apostle arrived, but here we have an insight into this church. So we are told here in chapter 7 that this church, the church at Corinth, had written a letter to the Apostle asking him certain questions. And in this case of chapter 7 are questions in relation to marriage and sexual relationship. It says, It is good for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman, and then it will come a beautiful teaching on marriage and singleness and things like that in chapter 7.

So this is something that the church at Corinth had asked the apostle. If you go and move quickly just to chapter 8, we will see that now the Apostle will continue to answer certain questions that the church at Corinth had asked the Apostle. So, in chapter 8 of this book, it says, Now concerning food offered to idols, we know that all of us possess knowledge. And it will come a teaching there about eating food that had been given to idols. What is the word?

sacrifice to idols and it will come this teaching there in chapter 8. So we see here that is a very important church. The mission of the apostle at Corinth is a very important mission. Every single mission in every single city will bring fruit to the salvation of believers. and the judgment for those who reject.

But the church at Corinth will be a very important church. We derive much doctrine and much principles and teachings from this book. Now, the thing is that we also know that from the writings of the Apostle Paul to the church here at Corinth, not only 1 Corinthians, but 2 Corinthians, we know that as the Apostle progresses in his missionary endeavors, and as he travels, and as he goes from one place to another, and as he faces tribulation and difficulties and persecution, he almost died. You remember, right? He was stoned, all of those things.

you will see that as he progresses in his ministry, the biggest causes of sadness, or the biggest or the most important cause of being broken in the spirit, it will be not so much the stones that are thrown at him by the unbeliever, or the accusations from the Jew that he is rejecting the gospel, or the persecutions of those who are moved by Satan, But the pain of the apostle will be through the things that come and happen in the church. You see, the church will be the reason of the many sufferings of the apostle in the spirit. You remember what he says in Galatians, right? That he is in his desire that people will be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ. He's having so much anguish that he compares that to what type of pain?

birth pain. He compares his anguish and his desire that believers will be conformed to the Lord Jesus Christ, not only in Galatia, but all believers, that the anguish that he has is compared with birth pains. The church, brothers and sisters, is going to become the source of most of the difficulties and trials and the sadness and the brokenness in the spirit of the apostle. And the Lord providentially has ordained all of these things for that to be the case. He was called to suffer.

That is the calling of the Apostle Paul in Acts chapter 9. I will show you how much you have to suffer for the sake of my name. You will be an instrument, a vessel in my hands, and I will show you how much you have to suffer. Not only sufferings that will come from the unbeliever, but also sufferings that will come through the church. Now, this thought is incredible, brothers and sisters, right?

Because a man of God and a Christian, a genuine Christian, is willing and able to go through all of these types of pains and sufferings, throw a stone at me and kill me and take my life. But the sufferings that come through the church and the shortcomings of the church and the lack of conformity to Christ is that which breaks the spirit and the heart of the Apostle Paul. that we may have a little bit of it. Because if you're broken, if you're broken so much by the shortcomings and the failures of the church, that means that you love the church so much, that you love the saints so much, that they are not only the source in the fountain of God giving love to you, but also they are the source of your brokenness and your sadness and your difficulties in the Spirit. Now, why is this important?

This is important because providentially, beloved of Christ, the church is not only the source, or the means, or the instrument of the deepest sorrows of the soul of the man of God, but it's also by the hand of the Lord, the source of the greatest of the joys. So the Lord is going to give consolation to Paul through the church. And this is the glorious thing that we have in Acts chapter 18. If you return to Acts chapter 18, here, beloved of Christ, remember that we have an apostle that has traveled so long distances. that he has been persecuted, that he has suffered so much.

Remember now that he's on his own, right? Timothy and Silas, they were left in Macedonia. There is a chance that they might have met him in Athens, but they went back to Macedonia. They are still on his own. But then in all of these difficulties and trials and sadness and difficulties of the apostle and brokenness, when he arrives at Corinth, the Lord is going to confort and give consolation to the soul of these men of sorrows, just as the Lord Jesus Christ was a man of sorrows.

He was also a man of persecution and difficulties, just as the prophets in the Old Testament were persecuted and were through much sorrow, these men. who was given his life for the mission of the gospel, is now going to be comforted by the Lord with a glorious way of consolation, and that is through the life of brothers and sisters. We are told that when he arrived at Corinth, he found a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, and the reason why they have departed from Rome is because Claudius, the emperor, had commanded that all the Jews will depart and they will leave. Now, providentially, they are now arriving to the presence of the Apostle Paul. Now, I don't have sufficient words to communicate what I, at least I can see here.

But brothers and sisters, imagine that the presence of a brother and a sister is going to be the means of encouragement for these men. How do we know? We know this because the Apostle is going to say in Romans chapter 16, that these Aquila and Priscilla in the first three verses, that they were helpers. Read it with your own eyes. Go to Acts chapter 6, Romans 16, that they were helpers of the Apostle and that they even laid down their lives for the Apostle.

In Romans chapter 16, in verse 3, you will have there in your ESV the other name of Priscila. It's Prisca or it is the same Priscila. In chapter 16, verse 3, it says, Great Priscila or Prisca and Aquila, my fellow workers in Christ, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus, who risked their necks for my life, To whom not only I give thanks, but all the churches of the Gentiles give thanks as well. Greet also the church in their house. These Aquila and Priscilla, these people that he is now going to meet there at Corinth, beloved of Christ, are going to become helpers in the Lord Jesus Christ to the Apostle Paul.

Sometimes we tend to exalt the mission of the apostles and the mission of the prophets of the New Testament, but brothers and sisters, There were hundreds of people that were scattered because of the persecutions and there are hundreds of people who labored for the Lord and for the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, whose names we do not know, that were of much support and help, not only to the apostles, but to the extending of the gospel and the proclamation of the message of salvation. This is Aquila and Priscilla, and when the Apostle arrives, leaving behind Silas and Timothy, he is now going to be providentially comforted in his heart with the presence of Aquila and Priscilla. They are going to be very important, couple, husband and wife, very important, not only in the ministry of the Apostle, being helpers in Christ Jesus, but as we read in Romans 16, they also had a church in their house. They are going to have also an important role when it comes to Apollos in the end of this chapter. We can see the importance of each one of the members of the body of the church of the Lord Jesus Christ.

and how they are not only servants of a message, but they are a servant of each other. Now here the apostle is not only going to be comforted with the presence of Aquila and Priscilla and also supported by their help in the ministry, but also we are told that provision for the ministry of the apostle will come through the labors that he will do with Aquila and Priscilla because they were tent makers, right? They were tent makers. He was in need of funds in order to preach the gospel and to continue to travel and to do all of the things that he had to do. The same apostle that is going to teach us in 1 Corinthians 9 that the man who preaches the gospel has the right to live from the gospel, this apostle is taking here the duty of working and providing for himself together with Aquila and Priscilla so that he will be able to continue to preach the gospel.

We are told in 2 Corinthians and in 1 Corinthians also that the reason why the apostle does this is that he will not put a burden to the believers at Corinth. That he does not want to put this burden for them to support him financially so that he works there and he's now working with Aquila and Priscilla. This is, brothers and sisters, the dedication of the Apostle, the concern of the Apostle to the mission of preaching the gospel, that he's going to provide for what he needs and he's going to continue to preach the gospel. That's what we are told in verse 4, that he reasoned or he continued to reason in the synagogue every Sabbath and try to persuade the Jews and the Greeks. But I don't want to continue without just calling your attention to this thought.

These men pulled under the old covenant away from Christ. This was a man of high reputation. This was a man who had been trained at the feet of Gamaliel. This was a Hebrew of Hebrews of the tribe of Benjamin. This was a man who knew the law.

This was a man of high reputation. When he was a persecutor of the church, he went to the high priest to have some letters so that he will go to Damascus to persecute these people. This was a man of high reputation, yet he comes when he's now in Christ and now he's laboring away from his previous life. He's going to come to provide for himself with making tents or something in leather, working just as Aquila and Priscilla, providing in a very meek and humble way for the needs, his food and what he needed to have in order to continue preaching the gospel. He continues to do so, as we said there in verse 4.

He reasons just in the same way that he had done it in Thessalonica, arguing or discussing or having this dialogue in love and in patience with the Jews. He continues to do that with the Jews there in Corinth or at Corinth. Now we are told that the Lord is going to give him even a greater comfort to the soul of the apostle because he's going to send beloved Silas and Timothy. Oh brothers and sisters, you cannot see the comfort of these people arriving if you don't understand the importance of love between brothers and sisters. Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia.

The shining glory of Christ in the faces of these two young men are just coming towards Paul. So his spirit is encouraged with the love of the brothers to continue in the labor that he was commanded. Now we are told also in 2nd Corinthians chapter 9, chapter 11 better, that these brothers brought an offering. They brought an offering from Macedonia, okay? So the apostle didn't want to burden the church there or the people there at Corinth, but these brothers that were coming from Macedonia and perhaps from Philippi, from the church of the Philippians, they bring better an offering to Paul.

And this is very important because now this is going to relieve the Apostle Paul from all of this other work. Perhaps, this is very likely that would have happened. Because we are told then that after Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia, Paul was occupied with the Word. Namely, that he was able to give himself more to the Word. In other translation, it would say it in a more spiritual way, like his spirit was pressed in the Word.

So it was a necessity upon him that he will give himself entirely to the preaching and the teaching of the Word. That would have happened, of course, or perhaps more than likely with the offering that Silas and Timothy would have brought from Macedonia. Now, brothers and sisters, if your hearts are dull or indifferent to what I'm saying, then you don't see the importance of the relationship between brothers and sisters. People in Macedonia knew the importance of the ministry of the Apostle and therefore they came together to send an offering to the Apostle so that he will continue in this mission of proclaiming the gospel. Men will take and give their lives to bring this to this other place so that this man who is preaching the gospel commanded by Jesus Christ will continue to do it with much power.

This is the apostle, he is given up, pressed in the spirit, he will continue to testify to the Jews and to the Greeks that Jesus Christ, or that Jesus better, is the Christ. This is the comfort of God to the men of God through the church herself. The life of the saints, the provision, even physical, financial provision given to the men of God by the love of the brethren. Everything can happen to the men of God when it comes to persecutions and attacks from the world. That we can have the confidence, uncertainty that our souls are kept in His hand and that we're going to be alive until He finishes and completes the work that He has, not only for our lives here in this time, but also from our mission and our service to the church.

He was confident of all of that. it will come the usual or the traditional just pattern of the apostle that he will just simply go and preach the gospel in the synagogue or to the Jews and then there will be rejection. But now we're told something very interesting now in verse 6, Beloved of Christ. And that is that those people, the Jews, the unbelieving Jews, they are going to oppose and revile Him. That is that they are going to reject the message that Paul was preaching.

In another translation, we'll say that they will blaspheme. The message that Paul was preaching, the reaction, the response of those people at Corinth, it was that they opposed and they reviled the message that he was preaching. And the answer of the apostle to that is going to be terrifying. He says to them, now your blood... He's gonna shake out his garments and he says to them, your blood be on your heads.

I am innocent. that it is that the judgment that you deserve because you have rejected the gospel and the message that I have, you actually deserve. The judgment that is coming upon you, the wrath that you have treasured upon you because of the rejection of this message, you deserve. So now the eternal destiny of your soul is on you. I have come to you to preach the message of salvation and you have rejected it.

You see, brothers and sisters, there is a judgment for the person who dies in their sins and they do not know the Lord Jesus Christ. But there is a greater judgment for those who have received the message of salvation, the message of the gospel, and knowing Christ, knowing the Scriptures, they do not only reject the message, but they also oppose it, blaspheme it, and they also revile the message of salvation. Greater condemnation. The gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ always accomplishes something. Every time that the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ is preached, every time that there is an utterance of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, always there is an accomplishment.

Either the salvation of the person who by grace through faith receives the gospel and is saved, or there is the treasuring up, or the accumulation of wrath for the one who does not receive the message. It is fragrant aroma for the one who is saved, but it's also an aroma of death unto death for the one that rejects it. The message of the gospel is the power of God unto salvation. It is foolishness for the one who rejects it, but it's power for the one who is saved. The gospel proclamation always has an effect and the source of encouragement for those who proclaim the gospel is not so much in the outcome of it, but rather in the faithful proclamation of it.

Now pay attention to this because you're saying yes, but this is very important. The reason why the apostle had the clear conscience, even if you say in the statement that he says, he says, I am innocent, right? He says, I am innocent. The reason why the apostle was able to bring a genuine accusation and eternal charge to these people, it was because he had absolute certainty that the message that he had proclaimed was the gospel according to the scriptures. That is, that the condemnation that he was speaking unto these people was only valid because he was absolutely sure that the message that he had preached to them was the genuine gospel of salvation.

That it is, that the words of God had come out of the mouth of Paul. He was absolutely sure that when he visited them, he came on behalf of the Lord, and thus says the Lord. So just as with Samuel in 1 Samuel chapter 7 or 8, that the Lord says, Israel has not rejected you, but they have rejected me. When a person preaches the gospel and that gospel is rejected, the person is not rejecting the person, but is rejecting God. Now, the responsibility of the preacher of the gospel is, therefore, to preach the gospel.

That is to preach the words of God. Not to preach the systems of men, not to preach the ideas of men, not to preach the systems of men, not to preach the theology of men, but to preach the words of God. Because faith comes by hearing, right? And hearing what? The Word of God.

That is, that if a person is going to be saved through the preaching of the gospel, it's because that person can hear. And that person in the flesh cannot hear. So that person needs the power of the Holy Spirit. That person is revived, and then that person is able to hear the words of Christ by faith, and that person is vitally united to the Lord Jesus Christ. The duty of the preacher, therefore, is to speak the words of God.

Your words, your system, your intellect, all of your investigation and research cannot convince a person, nor can save a person. Salvation is not understanding intellectually a message. Salvation is not coming to a syllogism of A, B, and therefore C. Salvation is a spiritual transformation of the soul of a person that can only happen through the preaching of the Word of God. The glorious Word of the Lord that pierces the soul, that separates the marrow from the bones, that leaves everything naked and exposed.

Your words cannot accomplish that. That means that the mission of the proclaimer of the gospel is fill the mouth and the heart and the mind with the words of God and not with the systems of the words of men. Woe to the one who preaches a message that does not come from God. Woe to the one that comes with the intellect and with the system of men to try to convince others of religion that brings people to hell. Woe to those people.

It is the message of the gospel, the one that saves. And I'm making emphasis on these, brothers and sisters, because now the Lord has blessed us with a desire to share the gospel and to go to the streets. Faithfulness, when we open our mouth, it is found in speaking the words of the Lord, speaking and proclaiming salvation through the gospel of Jesus Christ. That means that the equipping of the saints should not be with, I'm going to analyze and investigate all of this evidence so I will be able to give an answer. That is not what the Bible says.

That is that the hope that is within us has to be nourished by the Spirit of Christ with His words so that when they open their mouth and they bring an accusation against us, that which our mouth speaks is the words of the Lord Jesus Christ. So then you can see in the eyes of the one that is receiving the words that they are being pierced. that they are being pierced by the words that you're proclaiming because you're bringing a scripture to bear a witness of their condemnation, not our systems of intellect. So the apostle can say with conscience, as just he says in 1 Thessalonians, as God as my witness, I'm innocent of the blood. I'm innocent of your condemnation, because the message that I have brought to you is now the message of salvation, and you have rejected that.

You have rejected the words of God. And that's a second time now in this book, and there's going to be a third time. There might be another one, but I have not seen that in the book yet. But at least this is the second time in which the apostle is going to say, I'm now going to the Gentiles. And I don't know how to defend the apostle here, because he has said it already.

And he continued to go to the Jews. And he's going to say it now here. And he's continued to go to the Jews. Of course, he's going to focus more into the Gentiles. But the love that he has for his people will take him to preach the gospel to the Jews, even until the end of the book.

In chapter 28, he will say, now I will go to the Gentiles. They will listen. Right? They will listen. But the apostle is here bringing a special type of judgment on these people there at Corinth that rejected that message.

Now, brothers and sisters, I just want you to see the picture and the illustration portrayed for us here of this judgment that comes upon the Jews and now they're going to the Gentiles. Because we have the Apostle Paul, the one who has the words of the glory of the God of Israel coming into a synagogue, which is the place that is, or at least in the congregation where people, the Jews, were supposed to have the words of God, and he's leaving them behind, and he's going to the house of a Gentile that is next door to the synagogue, and then he's going to preach the gospel there. Ichabod, the glory of God has departed from where he is supposed to be and now he's gone. The veil has been turned into you and the glory of the Lord now is arriving and reaching the nations to the Gentiles. But not only that, imagine the offense given to us there by the spirit that the ruler of the synagogue, the ruler of the synagogue, the ones that rejected all of these people, but the ruler of the synagogue believes his name is I think, Crispus, he believes all his household and many of the Corinthians.

We are told there in verse eight, Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue, believed in the Lord together with his entire household. And many of the Corinthians here in Poole believed and were baptized. What mighty workings, what mighty workings of the Lord. Brothers and sisters, imagine this. seeing a person that is saved in front of us, or seeing a multitude of people that are just saved, that you open your mouth, that you speak this glorious message of salvation, and that tears come through their faces of just repentance, and they are saved.

We are to desire these things every time that we share the gospel, to see the one that receives, to be actually saved. The biggest or the most beautiful miracle that can happen to a soul, salvation, that we might be the witnesses of that. Paul, as an apostle, was granted the privilege to see not only the enemies of the gospel being saved, but multitudes being saved. Now, up until this point, verse 8, all the same pattern of what happened in previous cities continues. So he comes, he preaches in the synagogue and to the Jews, and many will believe and there will be fruit.

And now we are told something different in verse 9. This is very particular of what happens at Corinth, because now the Lord is going to speak through a vision to Paul. now and he's going to say two things do not be afraid and do not be silent right do not be say it says Do not be afraid, but go on speaking and do not be silent. He says, do not be afraid and do not be silent. The Lord would say those things only if they were true of Paul, right?

So that means that Paul was afraid and that means that Paul was also silent. And this makes complete sense because he had already experienced in all previous cities that every time that he came to that city, he goes to the synagogue, he preaches the gospel, there is salvation. And then after that, there will always come opposition from the Jews and always this opposition from the Jews will be persecution and sometimes even afflicting to the flesh or to the body of the apostle. So he was expecting here, when is this stone going to come? What is going to happen now to me?

But now providentially here we have a communication of the Lord in which the Lord is going to say, do not be afraid. Do not be afraid and do not be silent. And the reason why you should not be afraid and you should not be silent is because I am with you. And there are people here, many of them who are with me now or who are my people better. Now, the interesting thing about this verse here, beloved of Christ, is if you see in verse in verse 10, which is the reason why the reason that the Lord is going to give Paul of not for not being afraid or not being silent is for I am with you.

and no one will attack you to harm you for I have many in this city who are my people now the thing is that the I am with you is one statement and the no one will harm you for I have many people or many of my people is another statement that it is that He, the Lord, is with him. But the reason why he's to be there and to preach the gospel for the many people, the reason why he's not going to be attacked or harmed is because there are many people in Corinth that are the people of God. So in other and simpler words, and perhaps a better explanation, it is that, Paul, I am with you. Your body, your soul, your life is going to be preserved. And the reason why it's going to be preserved is because there are many people here who are my people.

It does not mean that when Paul is not attacked, that means that God is with him. Because we know that he was stoned, he was persecuted, and God was still with him. God was still in every persecution and tribulation. But it is more, I am with you and you're going to be kept. You're not going to be harmed.

Your life is going to be respected or preserved because I have many of my people here. Wow brothers and sisters I was just writing this on my whiteboard you know like this point here and I was like that the Golgotha may be a city in which there are many people of the Lord, right? That Brisbane may be a city in which we know that there are many people that are the people of the Lord, that we may have the confidence to go and give ourselves to preach the message of salvation, edify souls, edify the church to be an Antioch to this place because the Lord is with us. What a great encouragement to the apostle who was afraid and who was in silence, who was with this fear that they are going to do something to me. The voice of the Lord came to him through a vision saying, Do not be afraid, nor be silent.

I am with you. Now, the result of it is what we have now in verse 11, that the confirmation of the Lord to the apostle that he was with him and that there were many people of the Lord in Corinth is that he is staying out there for a long period of time. In the previous cities, he was just going from one place to another. He was persecuted, stoned, and he had to depart to flee for his life. But now at Corinth, the result of the confirmation of the Lord is to stay here for many days.

And he stays there for 18 months, one year and six months, teaching the Word of God among them. The life of Peter, the life of Paul, providentially by the hand of the Lord, was kept and protected so that he will continue not only to preach the gospel, but to teach the word among them. You see why? this important church was established there, the Apostle will stay there for a while. But now, this is the contradictory thing, that the Apostle, the one that is the carrier of truth, and the one that has an answer for every single thing of life, of Christian life, that was there for a long time, establishes this church, and then when we go and read the life of the church, we can see so many difficulties happening and going in the church at Corinth.

That is the providence and that it is the desire, at least how the Lord has certain things to happen. Now, then in verse 12 up to verse 17, Beloved of Christ, we have what I think it is a very strange story. A very, very, very strange story because now the Apostle Paul has been there for many days, many days, a very long time. He's been there for a long time at Corinth. He's been preaching and teaching the Word and encouraging believers.

And now there are many Corinthians who have been saved. But now we're told of an opposition of the Jews. We're told in verse 12 that when Galileo was pre-consul of Achaia, the Jews, that is the unbelieving Jews, made a united attack on Paul and brought him before the judgment seat of the tribunal. Now we have here the normal opposition against Paul. Paul is moved by the spirit of God to proclaim truth and to edify the church.

The unbelieving Jews are moved by the spirit of Satan in them and they end up doing the same thing that the Jews at Thessalonica had done and the Jews in the other many cities had done. Coming together in the satanic spirit of persecution against a message and against salvation to attack them. But the thing is that we have a very interesting, perhaps a little bit of a strange outcome here, because the outcome of this accusation that the Jews will bring against Paul, and this is before Galileo, who was a proconsul, let's say the governor of that particular region, is going to end up, if you go to verse 17, the result of it is that Galileo, first of all, is not going to do anything about it, so he doesn't care about what they have said. And the result of it is that they all were told in verse 17, these are all the Jews, perhaps the Greeks, And they all seized Sosthenes, the ruler of the synagogue, and beat him in front of the tribunal. But Galileo paid no attention to any of this."

Now, just think about this. This is in plain reading. This is very strange that the Jews are coming all united. It says that they're coming in a united attack on Paul. And of course, if they are coming as united, the ruler of the synagogue would have been with them, right?

Because they're coming united. These are the Jews that are opposing. Now, Crispus, who was the ruler of the synagogue, had been captured already by the Spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ, saved. Now he was removed from all of that. But now we have this Sosthenes, who is also going to be saved.

But we have this Sosthenes, who is now the ruler of the synagogue, And the result of this accusation of the Jews against Paul is going to end up in the beating of one of his leaders. Now this is very strange. This is very strange and I'm just going to try to give you my understanding of it. So you will see how I come to that conclusion. First of all, Pay attention to the very silly, very silly accusation that is brought to the proconsul.

It's a very silly accusation. So we are told in verse 13, this man is persuading people to worship God contrary to the law. You see the silliness of that accusation? Now, they are bringing a spiritual accusation to a magistrate. It's like if we had a problem in the church and we had to execute or not execute, better perhaps just do church discipline, and then we will go to the mayor or we will go to the prime minister to bring something to them.

So here we have the Jews bringing a spiritual matter or a spiritual thing to Galio, who was the pre-consul of Achaia. Of course, the response of Gallio is what he follows in verse 14. He says, but when Paul was about to open his mouth, that is, that Paul was going to defend himself from the accusation that they were bringing to Gallio, that is, Gallio said to the Jews, if it were a matter of wrongdoing or vicious crime, oh Jews, I would have a reason to accept your complaint. But since it is a matter of questions about words and names and your own law, see it to yourselves. I refuse to be a judge of these things.

Of course, there would have been implicitly a right or something that he could have done to bring solution to this particular matter. But he is just simply saying something that is true. This is a matter that is to be solved and resolved among you because this pertains to your religion activity and to your law and all of your traditions. This is something that is yours. It's not a crime.

And therefore, I refuse to bring any type of judgment or decision upon this thing. Now, I believe that perhaps simply just the Jews either Sosthenes or the leaders of the synagogue would have brought this charge to Gallius and they would have not been happy with it, but also they would have beaten Sosthenes, the ruler of the synagogue, to show Gallius the greatness of the decision that he was not willing to make. That is, you don't want to deal with something that is of great importance and because you're not dealing with it, this is bringing discomfort and disorder to the city. So that's why we're told that Bergaglio paid no attention to any of this. independently of the reason of what that is.

To be honest, I'm not a hundred percent sure that this is the reason. But, beloved of Christ, the only thing that I can see at least here, spiritually speaking, is imagine how wicked a person and how lost a person has to be to bring an accusation against another person and then to decide to beat the leader of the religious system that they profess to have. They are now taking the ruler of the synagogue and beating him publicly with an evil intention. Anyway, the result of it is that Paul was not accused of anything, but rather providentially he was able to remain there at Corinth for a longer period of time. So we're told in verse 18, after this Paul stayed many days longer.

And that's pretty much everything that the apostle is going to do at Corinth. Imagine this glorious ministry of the apostle. He's ministering now with Aquila and Priscilla, brother and sister in the Lord. He's encouraged in the soul to proclaim the gospel, to continue to edify. He's received a vision from the Lord, strengthening him to continue to preach the gospel.

There are people that are being saved. Even the ruler of the synagogue was saved and his household and many other Corinthians added to the church. The church has been empowered and is growing in numbers. What a glorious ministry there at Corinth. Now, the apostle knows that his time is coming to an end, so he is going to depart Corinth.

And he decides to go back to Assyria. Remember that in Assyria, it is where Antioch is, right? Antioch in Assyria. He's deciding now to return to his home church. But now we are going to be told that Priscilla and Aquila will come to him, but they are going to stop, first of all, at St.

Croix, and then they are going to stop at Ephesus. Now, we're going to be told something very interesting there in verse 18. And that is that the apostle Paul is observing a vow. Right. So we're told after this, this is the ministry at Corinth.

Paul stayed many days longer and then took leave of the brothers and sisters and set sail for Syria. So he's now on the way to Syria, to Antioch. And with him Priscilla and Aquila. At St. Croix he had cut his hair, for he was under a vow.

And they came to Ephesus. So they departed from St. Croix, which is a city close to Corinth. So they could sail and they went to Ephesus. And when they came to Ephesus, he left them there.

There is Aquila and Priscilla. But now we need to solve the issue there of verse 18. And that is that we have the apostle to the Gentiles, who is going to write many letters, right? Saying that we should not or that we are not in obligation to observe the things of the law. Right?

Now we have him here observing or keeping, or as the ESV says, under a vow. An Old Testament vow. Now, how are we going to understand this, right? Because one thing is to debate a particular matter and write about a particular matter of should we keep the things of the law or should we not keep the things of the law. Another thing is that one who says that we should not keep the things of the law for salvation or for righteousness is keeping something that pertains to the law of the Old Testament.

I don't know if you can see the discomfort of the whole situation, right? That we have an apostle who writes that the things of the law should not be kept unto righteousness, that is now keeping a vow with himself under a vow that he's cut his hair. And the nature of the vow is not so important now. I think the most important thing is addressed. Why would Paul keep a vow that belonged to the Old Testament?

Now, the reason, I'm going to try just to present the answer and then justify it from Scripture. The reason why Paul is keeping a vow of the Old Testament is because his conscience is in obligation to do it. It's because he has to do it. It's because he has to keep this vow. And I'm just, I know that there might be a little bit of discomfort inside of you, but the apostle has to keep this vow.

And because he has to keep this vow, he's in need, let's say, even in obligation to keep his vow. Let me just show you how we can just see from the text that he's indeed in obligation to keep this vow. So if you read carefully, we are told, if you follow the narrative, it says, after this, Paul stayed many days longer and then took leave of the brothers and sisters and set sail for Syria. And with him Priscilla and Aquila. At St.

Croix he had cut his hair, for he was under a vow." We know that. He's departing, he's under a vow. Now, he's under this vow, and now they're going to Ephesus, right? In verse 19.

And they came to Ephesus, and he left them there, but he himself went into the synagogue and reasoned with the Jews. So he went to Ephesus, and Priscilla and Aquila, they stayed there, but he continued to do the normal thing that he would do in every city that he goes to, right? He goes to the synagogue to reason with the Jews. But now, verse 20, we are told, When they asked him, that is Paul, to stay for a longer period, he declined. Now, he's doing something very different to what he had done.

Now he's arriving to Ephesus, and now he has people that are asking him to stay. And perhaps these are the Jews that are asking him to stay longer. And now he declined to stay, and he decides actually to leave. And in verse 21, it says, But on taking leave from them, he said, I will return to you if God wills. If you have the King James, you will have further information there that will show the necessity of the apostle to keep the vow.

It says something like, But on taking leave of them, he said, I must go by all means to keep the festival that comes in Jerusalem. So that is that the apostle had to go and the reason why he had to go is seen in the fact that he does not stay with the people at Ephesus, that he had to go. But now, how are we going to understand? that the apostle was in need or obligation to keep the vow. Now, I actually had better words for this, but I've forgotten the words that I had.

And sadly, I just have this obligation of bondage word in my mouth. I have a much better word in my mind for this. Brothers and sisters, the fact that he had to do this, shows actually the freedom that he had in the Lord Jesus Christ. Again, the fact that he had to keep this particular vow, which is an Old Testament thing, is going to be a proof of the freedom that the apostle had in the Lord Jesus Christ. Think of scriptures that will prove the point that I'm just saying in your minds.

The fact that he had to do this, or that he put himself in the need of actually doing something of the Old Testament, proves actually that he had freedom in the Lord Jesus Christ. So, go with me to Romans chapter 14, because in Romans chapter 14, the apostle is going to explain the freedom that the Christian has from the things of the Old Testament. The freedom, the glorious freedom that the Christian has from the things of the Old Testament. Let's just read carefully chapter 14. Pay attention to this because this is a very important teaching to us on how we are supposed to make decisions and how we are supposed to live, basically.

Chapter 14. As for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions. One person believes he may eat anything, while the weak person eats only vegetables. Let not the one who eats despise the one who abstains, and let not the one who abstains pass judgment on the one who eats, for God has welcomed him. Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another?

The servant of another? It is before his own master that he stands or falls. and he will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make him stand." Please, brothers and sisters, pay attention to what we're reading here. One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike.

What is he talking about? What days are esteemed higher or better than any other days? The Sabbath. So one person esteems one day as better than other, while another esteems all days alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind.

The one who observes the day, that is, let's say the one that observes the Sabbath, then the Christian would say, should not observe the Sabbath because we are not under the law anymore. But he says, the one who observes the Sabbath observes it in honor of the Lord. The one who eats, that is food of the Old Testament and regulations of the Old Testament, the one who eats, eats in honor of the Lord, since he gives thanks to God. While the one who abstains, abstains in honor of the Lord and gives thanks to God. For none of us lives to himself.

That is, none of us makes decisions for our own or for ourselves. And none of us dies to himself. For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord's. For to this end Christ died and lived again, that he may be Lord both of the dead and of the living.

Why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or you, why do you despise your brother? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God. For it is written, as I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me and every tongue shall confess to God. So then each of us will give an account of himself to God.

Now go to verse 20. He will continue just elaborating there, but perhaps what it pertains to us, it will be found in the last part of the chapter. Verse 20. So he has implicitly now just be with me, brothers and sisters. So implicitly, the apostle has mentioned the keeping of days of the observing of days or the eating of food.

And he has basically said that the one that observes a day does it unto the Lord, and the one that does not observe a day is meant to do it unto the Lord. That the one that eats or who eats a particular food is supposed to do it unto the Lord, and the one that does not eat or abstains from a certain food is supposed to do it unto the Lord. That they are to give an account, not even to themselves or to others, but they're to give an account to the Master who bought them, that is the Master, the Lord Jesus Christ. Verse 20. Do not, for the sake of food, destroy the work of God.

Everything is indeed clean, but it is wrong for anyone to make another stumble by what he eats. The Lord had made every single food clean, right? So then the Christians could eat any type of food. Verse 21. It is good not to eat meat or drink wine or do anything that causes your brother to stumble.

The faith that you have, keep between yourself and God. Now pay attention to what follows. Blessed is the one who has no reason to pass judgment on himself for what he approves. And then he continues. But whoever has doubt is condemned if he eats because the eating is not from faith.

And then the apostle gives the rule for everything that the Christian is to do or the way how the Christian is to do everything. He says, for whatever does not proceed from faith is sin. Now, brothers and sisters, The apostle is basically saying that the faith that we have is that which defines the actions as sinful or not sinful. He says that that which does not proceed from faith is sin. Even if what you do is externally accepted and valuable and precious, and it is accepted even by the people of God, if that which we do is not out of faith before the Lord, then it's sinful.

If I am preaching here and this is not in faith before my Lord, it does not matter what I say, it is sin to me. Whatever thing that the Christian does, even if he has the label of Christian, of righteous and good, if it's not done in faith, it becomes sin to that person. Now, the thing is that the source of faith is the Word of God. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing comes by the Word of God. And the life that we live after we have been saved, the Apostle Paul says in Galatians that we live by, Faith, I am crucified with Christ.

Nevertheless, I live. Yet not I, but Christ who lives in me. Right? And the life that now I live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. Faith is that which saves us, but faith is also the source of everything that we do.

So that means that the conscience of the Christian is defined by faith. Believing and doing the things, in other words, in the Lord, for Him, unto Him. And that faith, which is in the conscience of the person in the heart, is fed by the Word of God. Now, brothers and sisters, of course, I am not saying that a Christian can decide between keeping the Sabbath and not keeping the Sabbath or eating food or not eating food and having a vow or not a vow. Why?

Because the apostle was living in completely different times and he was under a completely different experience in his faith. You see, the apostle was living in times in which even though, spiritually speaking, the old covenant had been obsolete because of the new covenant that had been established by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, the religious practices of the old covenant were still in place. And that's why there was controversy among the brothers and sisters in the church, because many of them had grown up and They had been raised by doing this particular thing and doing that particular thing and living in a particular way that they found in Scripture. So then when they came and they said, this is not necessary for you and to salvation, there was confusion in their mind. It would be very arrogant of us to think that they are silly.

It would be very arrogant of us just to think, how come you did not see that you could leave all of these things behind and they just continue just to live a life completely different to the life that you had lived. It would be very arrogant and narrow-minded. They were living in times in which their minds and their consciences were fed by a particular religious system that was informed by the practices that were given in Scripture. The difference of the Christian was, in that particular time, what Paul says here. that in that time when the external manifestations of the Mosaic Covenant were still in place, where the Jew culture was still happening, that a Jew believer could, in good conscience, keep the Sabbath unto the Lord.

Now, this is very offensive for the flesh, especially for Christians now, because we cannot do that. I think we cannot do that. There are people that say that they can do it, but I don't think that we can do it, simply because we have different instructions given to us. But there, brothers and sisters, there were people that could eat or not eat, or observe or not to observe, and still do it unto the Lord. Why?

Because the source of their action was not the doing or not doing, but their faith. Now, the most important thing here, brothers and sisters, is that the actions of the Christian, independently of where he is in redemption history, are to be regulated by faith and not by works. So that means that the apostle actually could observe a vow of gratitude to the Lord out of faith, and when he found himself in the necessity of keeping this vow of necessity before the Lord, he will have to keep the vow. Just as when you promise something, and when you don't fulfill that thing that you promised, there is guilt in your mind. When you say, oh, I'm going to do this and then you don't do it, then there is guilt in your mind.

The Bible does not say that you should do this or that you should do that. Yet when you say that you're going to do something and you don't do it, you are convicted in your mind. of sin because you said i'm going to do something and you don't do it for any particular reason and then you are convicted of sin because sin is defined by faith that is if that thing that you do is not proceeding from faith then it becomes a sin that's why james also will say that for the one who knows what to do and they do not do it then for them is sin. So then that means that my actions, my doings and my don'ts are defined by my knowing the things that I'm supposed to do. And that's why the more light, that is, the more that you know, the greater the judgment or the greater, the greater the justice upon the person that knows because our actions are defined by that.

I hope that you can see that you can ask me any other questions afterwards if you don't. But what I want you to see, brothers and sisters, is that In Christ, whatever we do, if we do it by faith, then the obligation to do that particular thing is actually a manifestation of our freedom. that we don't have to do it unto righteousness, but we can actually do it in faith. So that coming to church is not something that is done because we have to do it, but if it's in faith, it's a manifestation of the freedom that we have in the Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, the urgency of the Apostle in Acts chapter 18, to actually go and accomplish what he was doing, the vow that he was under.

And then he's going to go to Ephesus, As he's moving and approaching to Jerusalem, we're told in verse 19, he's going to Ephesus and he left them there. But he himself went to the synagogue and reasoned with the Jews. When they asked him to stay for a longer period, as we read, He declined, but then he says to them that he will come back if God wills. God will for him to return, and he will. So he set sail from Ephesus, and this is going to be the end, brothers and sisters, of this missionary journey of the apostle in verse 22.

He's going to go to Caesarea, and then we have this terminology, and he went up and greeted the church. So that is a confirmation that he actually goes to Jerusalem. He goes to Jerusalem, he went up and greeted the church and then went down to Antioch, that is, went to the church. That is the end of this long missionary trip and all of these many things that the Apostle had accomplished on behalf of the Spirit of Christ. And we're told in verse 23 that this is going to be the beginning of the third missionary journey.

But now let me just finish because now I'm going to learn. We have there, before the third missionary journey starts, which we are going to be given more detail in chapter 19, we are introduced to this character here, Apollos. And we have this man, Apollos, a native of Alexandria, we're told. And this man, Apollos, we're also told that he's an eloquent man, that this is a man that is filled with words, that he's a man of eloquence. That means that he's a man of quick thinking, that preaches the Word, mighty in the Scriptures, or better in the ESV, competent in the Scriptures, that he's powerful in the Scriptures, that every time that he opened his mouth, he was mighty in using, competent in using the Scriptures.

These men had been instructed in the way of the Lord and been fervent in spirit. It was not only a man who knew the scriptures and that was able to use the scriptures to speak from them, but he was fervent in spirit. The spirit was in him. Now, he spoke and taught accurately the things concerning Jesus. Now, there is a way in which I can do this very quick and another way in which I can do this very long.

But let's just try to do it very quick. Now, he says, he spoke and taught accurately the things concerning Jesus, though he knew only the baptism of John. He knew only the baptism of John. Then in verse 26, he began to speak boldly in the synagogue, and he was speaking accurately the things concerning Jesus, But when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately. I love how the ESV translated it, actually, because he says accurate and then he says more accurately.

And actually, the word is something like filled, completely filled. And the other one is more completely filled. The thing is that if you have something that is completely filled, you cannot more completely filled. but it says here and more accurately and when he wished to cross to Achaia Or better, Priscilla and Aquila explain to him the way of the Lord more accurately. And then he's going to go and depart from there.

Now, what is going on? Why are we told that he knew the things of the Lord accurately? And then Aquila and Priscilla are going to hear what he says, and then they're going to come to explain to him the way of the Lord more accurately. And why we are told simply that he knew only the baptism of John. Now, actually, this is the glory and the power of the Word of the Lord.

And that is that the Word of the Lord is sufficient. Okay? The Word of the Lord is sufficient at every single point of redemptive history. The Word of the Lord is sufficient to accomplish what the Word of the Lord wanted. And here we have a man who is a saint, if you want, or a redeemed person of the Old Testament who had heard of this Jesus Christ and who had accepted that this Jesus Christ whom John the Baptist preached was actually the Messiah he had believed.

that this Jesus Christ was the Messiah that John the Baptist preached. So he was, in a sense, a saint of the Old Testament dispensation. The information of the words of God proclaimed through the Old Testament was sufficient for him to know the things concerning the Lord Jesus Christ accurately. But just as a glass, when it grows, glasses do not grow, but let's just imagine that just as a glass increases inside, it is required more water to be filled. Also, the light of the gospel brings more fulfillment to the mind and to the soul of a person.

So then Aquila and Priscilla heard that he only knew the way of the baptism of John, and they spoke to him better. the way of the Lord more accurately. So then he understood all of these other things of the New Testament dispensation, if you want, in a greater level. So he was a saint, if you want, a person, a saint of the Old Testament, according to the message that John the Baptist had preached. Now, independently of that, I want to point your attention to a couple of things.

First of all, What a humility of Aipolos, right? So now we have Aquila and Priscilla. He's mighty in the scriptures, right? He's mighty in the scriptures. He's eloquent.

He's fervent in the spirit. And usually men who are like that in the flesh are always right. are always right and their pride is pinched when they are wrong. And you can see their countenance falling when they are wrong. Right?

But this man was a fervent spirit in the spirit of Christ. So then this Aquila and Priscila come to him to explain better the way of God more accurately. He receives a greater instruction. Here we can see the very important role of Aquila and Priscila. and brothers and sisters.

Here we can see also the important role of houses being churches. Here we have Aquila and Priscila that were leading a house there. And also here we have the role the temporal role of women in the church. Now, that's why I said that this could be very long, and I probably shouldn't have said that, but let me just simply elaborate here on this. Brothers and sisters, the understanding of the Apostle, especially the Apostle Paul, as he progresses through the first century, increases.

It's not that when he was saved, he understood how the church should operate, and what were deacons, and then he just wrote 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, Titus, 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, and he wrote everything in the first week when he was saved. We can see the progressive understanding or the progressive knowledge increasing for the Apostle Peter in Acts, and we can see it also for the Apostle Paul. And also we can see the non-normative operations of the Church in the first century. in which there were women who will prophesy. You know that, right?

There were women who will prophesy. There were women in the congregation who were going to prophesy. So there were rules for the women who would prophesy in the church. There were women who would pray and teach. There were also women that were told to be quiet.

The woman who would prophesy will need to open her mouth. And opening their mouth was an instruction. It was a temporal, non-normative situation of the church. And as the apostle grows in understanding, he starts to give particular instructions to the church on how they should operate. Because if a person was going to deny the role of Priscilla, just because holding to a particular system of doctrine now, they will be doing violence to what Scripture says.

Because indeed, Priscilla and Aquila were very important helpers in Jesus Christ to the Apostle. Phoebe was a servant to the Church. They were people that were very important in the non-normative stages of the Church. Even this overlapping of Old Testament saints with saints that are purely in the New Testament is a non-normative situation that happens only in the early stages of the Church. This receiving of the baptism of the Lord is a temporal non-normative situation of the early Church.

And proper hermeneutics requires that we identify which are the things that are overlapping Old Testament, New Testament, and therefore non-normative for the church as the church progresses. As we have said it many times with the apostles, with the prophets, with revelatory gifts, as we have taught extensively in the past about these particular matters. The church was growing. was growing in understanding and all of these things. But here we have this man.

Now, many people conclude this chapter here in verse 28, and I'm finishing now. It says, For he powerfully refuted the Jews in public. This is Apollos, this man, mighty in the words, almighty in the scriptures, eloquent man, powerfully refuted the Jews in public, showing by the scriptures that the Christ was Jesus. He had now gone to He is going to Corinth, as we were told in chapter 19. Now, this is the time in which the preachers should say, this is the type of men that we need these days in the church, men mighty in the scriptures, men who are eloquent in the word, fervent in spirit, but brothers and sisters, actually, the charge that we should have to the congregation is that this is the type of people that we need in the church today.

Because this church at Corinth is going to have not only Paul, who is an apostle, but it's also going to have Apollos, who is a mighty man in the Scripture, serving the congregation, teaching them, edifying the church. And then some of them will say, I am of Paul, I am of Apollos. then these churches that are receiving this mighty teaching that is coming from an apostle and these men of God, then these churches are going to end up in division and in contentions and in problems. Why? Because the church does not only need mighty men of God in the scripture.

The church requires every member to be mighty in the words, to be knowing and growing in understanding of the things of the Word, so that the unity that will exist in the church will not be the result of only preaching, but also of the unity that will come from the saints, one with the other, because of the Word. And I will finish there, okay? Amen.