Book of Acts - Ch. 18, Vs. 7-Ch. 19, Vs. 8 (05/25/2003)

Where does sanctification start? Where does it begin? What's the difference in sanctification and moral improvement? And he doesn't do sanctification to himself? Well, I had him there. Well, let me ask you this.

David, I'll ask you. Is the old man or new man subject to sanctification? Does sanctification in life affect all of the parts of a man equally? He departed thence and entered into a certain man's justice, one that worshipped God, whose house joined hard to the synagogue.

Greg, what does it mean, joined hard to the synagogue? I have the picture. He's left. He was invited next door. He departed thence and entered into a certain man's house named Justice. What a fitting name this is.

Now, he didn't change his lodging. By that I mean he didn't go from one city to the next as some of them had needed to. It would be much easier here since Paul was the apostle to which group, Greg? Paul was the apostle to the Gentiles.

So do you see how God's guiding him to the Gentiles? It would be a lot easier for him to reach the Gentiles here than it was in the tabernacle. Why was that, David? Yes.

Yes. All right. This was a Gentile home?

I don't think it is. We'll see. It would be easier and more accessible for him in this home than it was in the temple. And Crispus, the chief ruler of the synagogue, I meant synagogue when I said temple, believed on the Lord with all of his house.

And many of the Corinthians, hearing, believed and were baptized. Acts 18, right where we left off, Bob, 18 .8. Now, Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue. What does that phrase mean, Greg? All right. He himself and consequently his family believed in the Lord.

Now, the head of the synagogue. What is the synagogue, David? Was it not more like a school? They taught him the synagogue. They didn't teach him the temple. All right. Crispus himself believed on the Lord and consequently all of his house.

And many of the Corinthians, hearing, believed and were baptized. This is both Jew and Gentile. But it's more toward the Gentile. Now, the synagogue itself did not believe. Yet the head of the synagogue, Crispus, did believe.

Nine. Then spake the Lord to Paul in the night by a vision. And he said this, Be not afraid, but speak and hold and not thy peace. You suppose that Paul was a little bit afraid, David? That's right. Paul never mentioned that side, but he was human like you and I.

And he came in a vision by night. We would call it a dream, but it was more of a vision. And the first thing he said was, Don't be afraid, but speak, hold not thy peace. And we find that God does confirm and maintain the steadfastness of his servants.

Ministers of the gospel are at times liable to great fear and depression of spirits. At the best, they get discouraged. The pastor has never been discouraged. He hid it from me. But God is able to encourage, protect them.

He would have them remember that among their oppressors may be many who will be their warmest friends. That's hard to accept and to remember when the great multitude is oppressing me. It's easy to say, I didn't have a friend among them.

If we just persevere in preaching the gospel, they may be instrumental in preparing them for exceeding eternal weight of glory. Is it wise, Greg, that God hid the fact from us as to those that will be saved and those not saved?

It's wise for what reason? That's absolutely true, because I don't know who. Somebody that I might dislike for years turned out to be the greatest Christian alive. Well, when we do this, how do we know we're not tempting God, Bob?

Yes, when we persist, when we keep on preaching the word, teaching, how do we know that we're not tempting God? God's what? Okay, there is another way which involves that also. If you do it from a pure heart, more than likely it's not tempting God.

For I am with thee, the Lord speaking, and no man shall set on thee to hurt thee, for I have much people in this city. Now, David, here's the Lord in a vision talking to Paul, and it seems as though he's got a very little group in the great cities against him.

How is it that God can say, I have many people in this city that are mine? How can you say that? That's so true. From this, it would seem that these successes were stirring up the wrath of the unbelieving Jew, and probably the apostle feared being driven out by violence which he has just undergone.

And the other city is in Athens, you remember. He is reassured, however, from above in the declaration, I have many people in this city. The Lord called persons who were then unbelievers, perhaps idolaters.

He called these people his people, and they were yet an idolater. This would accord with the Bible's idea that God's people are a certain definite number who he has selected, many of whom are yet unconverted.

Can we say that today? That in the vast audience, maybe not in church's audience, but in Corsicana, there are many that are his that do not know it yet, and they're going their own pernicious way. Is that true?

And he continued there a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them. He continued there a year and six months, quite a while for Paul. While here, besides his other labors, he wrote the two books of Thessalonians.

Now, Paul was kept busy, wasn't he? He worked six days at the tent manufacturing. He wrote the two epistles to Thessalonians, and the first of the grand series of letters, which from so precarious feature of the New Testament.

And when Galileo was the deputy of Acacia, the Jews made insurrection with one accord against Paul and brought him to the judgment seat. These Jews are masters at stirring up the crowd. They come in among them, and they just very quietly say what they intend to say, the message they intend to bring.

And that person tells another and another, saying, now this is what they were saying. This fellow persuaded men to worship God contrary to the law. Is that true? Was Paul doing that? And when Paul was now about to open his book, Galileo said unto the Jews, if it were a matter of wrong or wicked lewdness, O ye Jews, reason would that I should bear with you.

So he establishes right quick that it's not a matter of the civil law. But if it be a question of words and names and of your law, look ye to it, for I will be no judge of such matters. So the Jews fell flat on their face.

They brought Paul up and accused him of crimes concerning God. And Galileo said, I won't have anything to do with that. And he drove them from the judgment seat. He emptied the courtroom. Then all the Greeks took Sophones, the chief ruler of the synagogue, and beat him before the judgment seat, and Galileo cared for none of those things.

David explained to me why they beat up poor Sophones. They beat him right in front of the governor, and he didn't care anything about it. And Paul, after this, tarried there a good while, and then took his leave of the brethren, and sailed thence into Syria.

And with him Priscilla and Aquila, having shorn his head in Sinchia, for he had a vow. Now this is Paul. He had cut all the hair off his head because he had made a vow. We're not told yet about his vow.

In fact, he does not speak much about the vow. Greg, what is a vow, the old W, all right? Is it made voluntarily? So Paul made this vow voluntarily. If you voluntarily make a vow, does God hold you to that vow, Bob?

Yes. So be careful what you volunteer to God, because He will hold you to it. And he came to Ephesus and left them there, but he himself entered into the synagogue and reasoned with the Jews. David, doesn't it seem strange to you that this hold of the Jew has such a grasp on Saul?

He goes to the Jew first in every town that he can. He goes to the synagogue and reasons with the Jew. When he was made the disciple to the Gentile, he still has a longing in his heart for his fellow man, the Jew.

When they desired him to tarry a longer time with them, he consented not. Again, Luke's way of recording, he consented not. Why didn't he, Greg? It's true. You're wondering in what way, all right? All right.

There's something else pressing on his mind, and we'll see in just a moment. 21. But bade them farewell, saying, I must by all means keep this feast that cometh in Jerusalem, but I will return again unto you, if God will.

And he sailed from Ephesus. Now, here's what is driving him to not tarry wherever he is. He says, I have to get to Jerusalem for this feast. What feast, David? But he was not compelled because of the feast.

This was not from the apprehension that he was obliged in conscience to keep the Jewish feast. But to take the opportunity of meeting a great number of his countrymen, he might preach Christ. He saw an opportunity to preach Christ because all of the Jews had to come three times a year to Jerusalem under the law.

For whom he might further instruct or free from the prejudices that had been against him. And when he had landed at Caesarea and gone up and saluted the church, he went down to Antioch, not very far. And after he had spent some time there, he departed and went over all of the country of Galatia, Pergia, in order, strengthening all of the disciples.

We find Paul doing this quite often. Going back where a church had been established, reaffirming their beliefs, checking on their beliefs to see if any of them had strayed away from the belief. And a certain Jew named Apollos, born at Alexandria, an eloquent man, mighty in scriptures, came to Ephesus.

Now here's a man that just walks on stage, we haven't seen him before, named Apollos. This man was instructed in the way of the Lord, and being fervent in the spirit, he spake and taught diligently the things of the Lord, knowing only the baptism of John.

Now, he did not know the baptism that Paul knew, he knew only John's. That scripture knowledge is the choicest qualification and highest commendation of a gospel minister. I would hate to be in a church where my minister didn't know the gospel.

Now, Apollos is an eloquent man, and mighty in the scriptures. Without this, he can never truly and savingly make known the discovery of Jesus Christ. Why is that? To know the scriptures, and not know the baptism of Christ.

That's right. Without this, he can never rightly divide the word of truth. David, unless you know Christ personally, you can never rightly divide the word of truth. Is that right? That's right. Without this, he can never convince gainsayers, either gainsayers in opinion or gainsayers in practice.

What does gainsaying mean, David? Without this, he can never instruct the people fully in their duty, or declare to them the whole counsel of God, without the knowledge of Christ. And he began to speak boldly in the synagogue, whom when Aquila and Priscilla had heard, they took him unto them, and expounded unto him the way of God more perfectly.

And he was disposed to pass unto Acacia the brethren, wrote exhorting the disciples to receive him, whom when he was come, helped them much which had believed through grace. We're hearing the word disciple quite often.

This is a group in another city that, well, what is a disciple? What's the difference between a disciple and an apostle? Who was an apostle? And who was the disciple here? And the disciples were unknown to him, yet there were several.

For he mightily convinced the Jews, and that publicly, showing by the scriptures that Jesus was Christ. Apollos mightily convinced the Jews in Acacia, whereas Paul's convert had been mostly among the Gentiles.

This was no doubt owing to the peculiarity of his endowments, giving him access to some minds which were unaccessible to Paul. A variety of talents and equipment among the preachers is still necessary to the success of the gospel among the immense variety of minds and characters which make up the human society.

There has to be a variety because there is a variety among us. All right, any questions on chapter 18? Well, moving into chapter 19. And it came to pass, what's that mean, David? That while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul having passed through the upper coast came to Ephesus and finding certain disciples.

Here we go again. The latter end of the foregoing chapter informed us how Apollos was employed at Corinth, the beginning of this acquaintance and how Paul spent his time at Ephesus. He finds there twelve disciples.

He interrogates them, lays his hand upon them, and God confers the gift of the Holy Ghost. Second verse. He said unto them, Have ye received the Holy Ghost, since ye believed? They said unto him, We have not so much as heard whether there be a Holy Ghost.

Now, David, were these people saved?

They were very, very glad to be saved of the Holy Ghost. That's right.

It was the common privilege of the disciples of Christ to receive not only the ordinary graces but also the extraordinary gifts of the Holy Spirit. And thus the disciples of Christ differed from those of John.

John's disciples knew only his baptism. John baptized with water, Jesus baptized with the Holy Spirit. They said to Paul, We have not so much as heard whether there be a Holy Spirit. That is, they had not heard that there were particular gifts and graces of the Holy Spirit to be received.

They hadn't heard anything about the Holy Spirit. Now, it's hard for us, Greg, to imagine that, but it's true. If we had been in their place, we would have thought the same thing. Such miraculous gifts are long since ceased, the cause of them and the occasion for them being long since ceased.

They're not necessary. They disappeared with the apostles. And he said unto them, Unto what then were you baptized? And they said unto him, Unto John's baptism. Then said Saul, John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people that they should believe on him which should come after him, that is, Christ.

When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Ghost came on them, and they spake with tongues and prophesied. Now, I know that perhaps forever we'll be explaining Paul laying his hands on them and they are speaking with tongues.

David, can you, in a few words, explain how it is that Paul laid his hands on them and how they spoke with tongues?

God dealt with me in the first season of the prophecy. In the Old Testament, Paul's spirit was imparted by the Lamb of God. But from the prophecy to the prophecy, the system of the young animals, that ain't nothing but prophecy.

Hold right there just a moment.

Did they have to lay their hands, was it by the laying on of hands that this was communicated physically to them?

Let me break in a moment.

It would keep them from laying the hands and giving the power to this one or this one or this one. But what would keep them from conferring the power to an unbeliever? And all of the synagogues, and believe not, but spake evil of that way before the multitude.

He departed from them and separated the disciples. Now look up Tyrannus for next week and we'll start with verse 9. What is the school of Tyrannus? Is there anything somebody would like to add or subtract?