Acts 18:1-22 - For I Am with You

Introduction

[READING - Acts 18:1-17]

Acts 18:1–17 NASB95

After these things he left Athens and went to Corinth. And he found a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, having recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to leave Rome. He came to them, and because he was of the same trade, he stayed with them and they were working, for by trade they were tent-makers. And he was reasoning in the synagogue every Sabbath and trying to persuade Jews and Greeks. But when Silas and Timothy came down from Macedonia, Paul began devoting himself completely to the word, solemnly testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Christ. But when they resisted and blasphemed, he shook out his garments and said to them, “Your blood be on your own heads! I am clean. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.” Then he left there and went to the house of a man named Titius Justus, a worshiper of God, whose house was next to the synagogue. Crispus, the leader of the synagogue, believed in the Lord with all his household, and many of the Corinthians when they heard were believing and being baptized. And the Lord said to Paul in the night by a vision, “Do not be afraid any longer, but go on speaking and do not be silent; for I am with you, and no man will attack you in order to harm you, for I have many people in this city.” And he settled there a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them. But while Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews with one accord rose up against Paul and brought him before the judgment seat, saying, “This man persuades men to worship God contrary to the law.” But when Paul was about to open his mouth, Gallio said to the Jews, “If it were a matter of wrong or of vicious crime, O Jews, it would be reasonable for me to put up with you; but if there are questions about words and names and your own law, look after it yourselves; I am unwilling to be a judge of these matters.” And he drove them away from the judgment seat. And they all took hold of Sosthenes, the leader of the synagogue, and began beating him in front of the judgment seat. But Gallio was not concerned about any of these things.

[VIDEO] To introduce you to the city of Corinth in Paul’s day, please enjoy this video.

[CONTEXT] Corinth was indeed Paul’s toughest congregation. It may surprise us to read 1 and 2 Corinthians in our New Testaments and recall that Paul is actually writing to Christians.

However, it should not surprise us that Paul experienced trouble in the city of Corinth when he first preached the Gospel there.

It seems he experienced trouble in almost every city where he preached!

And when he experienced trouble in one place, he went to the next and kept preaching.

That’s a pattern we’ve seen during Paul’s first missionary journey and his second missionary journey up to this point.

When Paul preached and encountered trouble Pisidian Antioch, he went on to Iconium.

When trouble came in Iconium, he went on to Lystra.

When it came in Lystra, he went to Derbe.

After leaving Derbe and eventually returning home to Syrian Antioch, Paul began his second missionary journey passing back through Derbe, Lystra, and Iconium.

However, when Paul was led by the Holy Spirit to preach in in the Macedonian city of Philippi, trouble came, and Paul went on to Thessalonica.

When trouble came in Thessalonica, Paul went to Berea.

When trouble came in Berea, Paul went to Athens.

And from Athens, Paul came to Corinth.

In Corinth, Paul preached and Paul experienced trouble.

He preached Jesus as the Christ—Jesus as the Christ, crucified as the sacrifice for sin and raised as the righteousness of God.

The Jews in the Corinthian synagogue listened for awhile. Crispus, the synagogue leader, even believed in Jesus as the Christ along with his whole household!

But some didn’t like Paul’s message of a crucified Messiah. They put him and all who trusted in Jesus out of the synagogue.

Paul just moved to a house next to the synagogue and kept preaching, but he knew more trouble was coming. He had experienced it before. He later wrote to the Corinthians, “I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling,” (1 Cor. 2:3).

Perhaps Paul was already thinking about moving on to the next place. Jesus did say, “You will be hated by all because of My name… whenever they persecute you in one city, flee to the next...” (Matt. 10:22-23).

But look again at Acts 18:11…

Acts 18:11 NASB95

And he settled there a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them.

Although, he was with them in weakness and in fear and in trembling; although he had already experienced trouble in that city, he spent 18 months among them teaching the Word of God!

[INTER] How does that happen? How did Paul find the courage? Why did he stay when he usually left?

The answer is in the words of Jesus in Acts 18:9-10.

Acts 18:9–10 NASB95

And the Lord said to Paul in the night by a vision, “Do not be afraid any longer, but go on speaking and do not be silent; for I am with you, and no man will attack you in order to harm you, for I have many people in this city.”

[CIT] In these verses Jesus commanded Paul to keep preaching and promised to be with Paul because Jesus had many more people to save in that city.

[PROP] As we’ll see, this command, this promise, and this reason is also our motivation to keep speaking of Jesus in our city.

[TS] Let’s focus on each of those things…

Major Ideas

#1: The Command (v. 9)

“DO NOT BE AFRAID ANY LONGER, BUT GO ON SPEAKING AND DO NOT BE SILENT…”

[EXP] Jesus knew that Paul had been afraid, but now Paul was commanded to be afraid no longer; Paul was to go on preaching Jesus Christ crucified and resurrected.

The weight of a command is determined by the authority of the one who issues the command.

If someone with no authority tries to issue a command, that command will likely be ignored.

However, if someone with great authority issues a command, that command will likely be obeyed.

As the God-man who died and rose again, Jesus has been given all authority in heaven and on earth, so He has supreme authority.

Therefore, the weight of this command couldn’t have been heavier.

Paul had no choice but to stay in Corinth and keep preaching.

[ILLUS] One of my friends was once spending time with his little two-year-old nephew. He was trying to get him to eat his beans or something, and so he issued a command, “Nephew, eat your beans.”

“I don’t want ‘em.”

“You need to eat ‘em.”

“No.”

“Eat. Your. Beans.”

“You don’t tell me ‘dat.”

And that was pretty much the end of the conversation.

You see, my friend’s nephew thought the command to eat beans had no weight because he thought his uncle had no authority, and it turned out that he was right!

[APP] But here’s the question for us: Does Jesus have enough authority to command us?

Of course, he does! He has all authority in heaven and on earth!

Here’s another question for us: Does Jesus issue the same command to us that issued to Paul?

And the answer is, absolutely!

We see His authority and in this command given to all Christians in the Great Commission!

Matthew 28:19–20 NASB95

“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

We could look at several other verses where Jesus commands His disciples (that’s us!) to go on preaching and teaching and sharing and telling the Gospel (Matt. 10:26-27; Matt. 13:52; Acts 1:8), but its clear from the Great Commission that this is something we are all commanded to do.

So then, here’s the next question: Will we obey this command?

Just as Paul was commanded to keep making disciples in Corinth, we’ve been commanded to keep making disciples of all nations!

But why would we not obey this command?

Perhaps we would’ve said, “I didn’t know it was commanded.”

Well, you know it now.

Will you obey His command?

Someone might say, “I wouldn’t know what to say someone if I tried to tell them about Jesus.”

Well, learn what to say.

Will you obey His command?

Someone else might say, “Well, I don’t know who needs to hear?”

Well, ask God to show you who needs to hear.

Will you obey His command?

Many would say, “I haven’t lived a perfect life…”

Well, Jesus has! Tell them about Jesus, not about you!

Will you obey His command?

Perhaps one would even say, “I’m afraid they’ll think I’m dumb or make fun of me.”

They might. But Christ died for you. Can’t you speak for Him?

Will you obey His command?

What if you don’t?

Well, you are more afraid of the world than you are of God.

You love this world more than you love Jesus.

You will be denied before the Father in Heaven, because with your silence you denied Jesus before men here on earth.

What if you do?

Then you have the courage of one who is truly saved, and you will be confessed by the Father in Heaven because confessed Jesus Christ here on earth.

It is much to our advantage to obey this command of Jesus.

[TS] That’s the Command. Now, notice the Promise…

#2: The Promise (v. 10a)

“…FOR I AM WITH YOU, AND NO MAN WILL ATTACK YOU IN ORDER TO HARM YOU…”

[EXP] Jesus was not only present with Paul in Corinth, He also promised to be a shield around Paul while he was in Corinth.

Similar to a command, the reliability of a promise depends of the credibility of the promise-maker.

If the one making the promise isn’t very credible, then the promise isn’t very reliable.

However, if the one making the promise is very credible, then the promise is very reliable.

It’s almost certain to come true.

Jesus is perfectly credible. His word never fails.

When He called Paul as an Apostle, He told him that he would suffer much for the name of Jesus. That promise proved reliable as Paul suffered much from one city to the next.

This promise of protection in Corinth would prove just as reliable. No one would harm him while he was there.

The promise was, however, put to the text sometime later when Paul was brought before the bema, the judgment seat.

Paul was accused by the Jews, drug before the Gentile authorities, and was about to defend himself, when the judge dismissed his case saying it was an internal matter among the Jews.

Usually Paul was accused, questioned, beaten, and then released, but this time Paul wasn’t beaten; the new synagogue leader was.

The promise of Jesus had proven reliable.

No one harmed Paul while he was in Corinth.

[ILLUS] When I was a scrawny 9th grader, a senior girl in our church told some of us that she was a little scared to go home because no one had been home all day and her parents wouldn’t be home until a little later. She said, “What if someone is in the house waiting for me when I get home?”

Weighing in at 120 pounds, I decided that I’d be the hero and walk through her house to make sure there were no bad guys.

Later, a friend asked me, “What would you have done if you found someone in the house?”

I probably said something like, “Handle it,” but the truth was I probably would’ve died!

You see, my promise of protection would’t have been very reliable because I wasn’t a very credible shield as a scrawny ninth grader.

Jesus, however, is a very credible shield. Not even death could defeat Him!

As a result, Paul could rest assured of his safety in Corinth.

[APP] Is this promise of presence and safety from Jesus made to us? Partially.

In the Great Commission, Jesus said, “…and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

But Jesus never promised that we would be safe everywhere we went. Paul wasn’t safe everywhere he went.

Jesus did, however, promised to always care for us as suffered in serving Him. In Matthew 10:27-31, He said…

Matthew 10:27–31 NASB95

“What I tell you in the darkness, speak in the light; and what you hear whispered in your ear, proclaim upon the housetops. “Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. “Are not two sparrows sold for a cent? And yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. “But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. “So do not fear; you are more valuable than many sparrows.

He hasn’t promised us safety as we serve Him, but He has promised to care for us.

Why might we not believe this promise?

We may not believe this promise because we mistakenly equate His care with our safety.

Jesus actually said that we would be hated by all because of Him.

Jesus actually said that in this world we would be beaten and mocked and drug before authorities.

He never promised us safety in general.

But He did promise to care for us and to save us

Matthew 10:32–33 NASB95

“Therefore everyone who confesses Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father who is in heaven. “But whoever denies Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father who is in heaven.

We may not believe this promise because we mistakenly equate our feeling with His promise.

We may not always feel His care for us.

Perhaps Paul had a hard time feeling His care when he was being beaten or stoned, but the promise was true no matter how Paul felt.

The promise of His care is true for us no matter how we feel in our suffering.

We can believe this promise of care because Jesus made it, and His promises cannot fail.

We can believe His promise because the Word of God declares it, and God’s Word cannot fail.

We can believe His promise because the Spirit of God confirms, and the Spirit of Truth cannot lie.

We who speak for Jesus may not always be safe here on earth, but we will always be cared for and will be ultimately safe in eternity to come.

[TS] We’ve looked at the Command and the Promise…

#3: The Reason (v. 10b)

“…FOR I HAVE MANY PEOPLE IN THIS CITY.”

[ILLUS] Perhaps you saw the news story recently where a school bus driver in Atlanta wouldn’t let any of the children off the bus after a disagreement with some parents.

Some parents told their children to get out by crawling out of the windows. Other parents were screaming for the bus driver to open the door.

But those parents weren’t leaving without their children.

[EXP] I think when Jesus looked at Corinth, He felt something similar.

He saw people trapped in the darkness of Corinthian pride.

He saw people trapped in the evil of Corinthian immorality.

He saw people trapped in the wickedness of Corinthian idolatry.

He wasn’t going to leave until those He loved were set free, so He told Paul to say.

He still had many people in that city.

[APP] Is this true of our city? Surely it is.

We are a city of about 200,000 people.

We have people trapped in pride, immorality, idolatry, and all sorts of sin—sin that leads to death.

There are people in this city who have yet to make Christ their treasure, so Jesus has us here.

Why should we care about the lost people of our city?

We should care because they are created in the image of God.

We should care because their praise would glorify our King!

We should care because Hell is real, and Jesus really lived and died and rose again to get His people off that bus speeding toward destruction.

Just as Paul was His man in Corinth, we are His people in this city.

Will we obey the command to speak up for Jesus?

Will we trust His promises as we do?

I believe, He has many people still to save in this city.

[TS]…

Conclusion

[PRAYER]