The One Gospel

I'm going to think about changes. If I think about change, there's many welcome changes, right? Many of you are in school, and so you're about to change grades, and it's exciting to go from one to the next. Or maybe you're graduating. You're going to be going on to a new adventure. Many changes we welcome. Some changes we don't really like. With getting old, there seems to be pains in knees and backs and shoulders and necks that are unwelcomed. Sometimes change is just confusing. Is it spring or summer or what is happening with our seasons here? I'm not quite sure. The important thing as we think about change is what we talked about earlier. We've actually sung is there's this one constant in the midst of all life changes. It's God. It's His love. It's His Word. And we're going to look at today the way in which, while many things are changing always around us, the Word of God is powerful to bring about always a welcome change. And really, I want us to get in the position to be regularly expecting God to be bringing about changes. Because we as Christians should be transformed in our minds. We, as Christians, are to be conformed more and more regularly to Christ. And so, as Christians, I want to say we should be expecting change, and welcoming change, and wanting change. This morning, we've got a long text. Patty only read not quite half of it. But we're going to see three different ways in which the Gospel changed people. The first one, we're going to see the Gospel changes Paul to persevere. The gospel of Jesus Christ changes Paul so that he stands firm and perseveres. The second, we're going to see the gospel, it instructs. It changes the information that Apollos and the other disciples of John the Baptist have, so that it instructs them. It changes what they understand, what they know. And then we're going to see the gospel, it transforms behavior, as you just heard read. The church praised God. The church praised Christ, and they repented of their magic. They repented of their sin. And it was public. It was costly. So this morning, we're thinking about the way the gospel changes. And we're on the second missionary journey of Paul. We had Athens last week, and that was just a very short trip. And something interesting, if you're new with us, we've been walking through the Book of Acts. I want you to kind of step back from Acts, maybe look at it later today, and it's interesting how Luke chooses where to show emphasis and spend his time writing. He was only in Athens for a very little while, but the words used for Athens are the equal amount of words he used for Corinth, and he was in Corinth for 18 months. He's not trying to give us an encyclopedia kind of chronological absolute history of everything that happened. He's choosing and picking to show how did the gospel continue to go forth? How did the gospel continue to prevail over against opposition? And here we see the gospel doing different things in different communities to resolve different kinds of problems. Because we all need different kinds of change. So this morning we're going to pray that the word of the Lord will prevail mightily among us to bring about a change. Let's first look at Acts 18. Our first section is 1 to 17. We're going to look at all of Corinth together. And here we see the gospel. It brings about a change to stand firm. Now that may not sound like some great significant change, but the ability to stand firm in the midst of tribulation, trial, persecution, that's a change the gospel does bring to us. Because we're by nature fearful. We're by nature self-protected. But here we see the gospel that Jesus Christ proclaims to Paul, it brings about the change for him to stand firm. Let me read to us this section in its entirety. After this, Paul left Athens, and he went to Corinth. And we were introduced to some new friends here. And he found a Jew named Aquila, 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, for they were tent 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 Titius, Justice, 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 hearing 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, Galio 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 to it yourselves. I refuse to be a judge of these things. And he drove them from the tribunal, and they seized Sassyntheus. These words. Thessalonians, I wrestled last week. The ruler of the synagogue and beat him in front of the tribunal and Galileo paid no attention to any of these. After this, Paul stayed many days longer, then took leave of the brothers and set sail for Syria. And within Priscilla and Aquila at Sancreia, 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'll return to you if God wills. And he set sail from Ephesus. So we see we've had Paul. He's in Corinth. He's also traveled to Ephesus. We'll come back to that. But here, he's there for 18 months. We're introduced to Priscilla and Aquila. That's going to be very important coming up, as we're going to be introduced to another man who's going to proclaim the Word of God, Apollos. They're tent makers. They're friends of Paul. And I want to focus here, verse 5. Paul is occupied with the Word. The word occupied, it actually means he's keeping it, he's holding fast, he's clinging to it, he's as close to it as he possibly can. He's holding fast to the Word. Testify. As you see this passage, it begins with Paul being occupied with the Word, and our passage ends with the Word of the Lord prevailing mightily. Paul trusts the Word of God, and he's teaching it, knowing that that is how God is going to bear the fruit That is the gospel conversions. Paul goes to the synagogue. Again, this is his normal practice. They reject him. He shakes off his garments and makes it very clear that I'm innocent. I have proclaimed to you and you've rejected. But then he continues to preach. We see there is fruit. And what I want to focus on for much of our time here is verse nine. The Lord said to Paul one night in a vision. So Paul here, he's having a fruitful ministry among some, not all. The synagogues rejected him. Jews and Gentiles are coming to Christ. And because another trial, another persecution is going to happen, Jesus speaks to him very directly. And there's three basic parts to what Jesus says to Paul. There's a command, a promise, and a purpose. There's a command, a promise, and a purpose. The command is, do not fear, keep on speaking. The promise is, I'm with you, no harm will come upon you. The purpose is, I have many in the city. Paul is told, like many visions in the Old Testament and in the New, when an angel of the Lord or when God himself speaks, the first thing he says is, do not fear. But by nature, when we as humans come into contact with the Almighty God or with the angels, one of the first things is fear. And so there's a putting down of that fear. Do not fear, Paul. And specifically, keep on speaking. Keep on speaking. Keep being occupied with the Word of God. Keep making Christ known. Keep proclaiming my gospel. And here's where the promise is so important. I am with you. This is what God has said to every Old Testament prophet whenever he sends them out. I'm with you. That's the basis of not having fear in the midst of tribulation. This is the basis of making sure that we can have a powerful ministrative of living on the Word and trusting the Word and proclaiming the Word. It's that Christ has said, I'm with you. This is one of those promises that he's also made to us, and it's extremely important for us to understand Christ is with us. We have nothing to fear. The one awesome, all-powerful God who created all things, sustains all things, and is sovereign of all things, He's with us. The one God who saw us in our sin and our death, He's with us. He's conquered sin. We're free from that temptation. We're free from the fear of death. We can now resist sin, especially fear and anxiety. The God who is in control, He's with us. Christ is with us. We can proclaim Him with confidence. And we're not confident in our ability to convince anybody of the truth of the Gospel. We're not even confident that they're going to respond and they're rational enough to understand the truth of the gospel. We're confident that if Christ has purchased them, he's going to bring them to himself. Our job is simply to proclaim it. And the purpose is very important. And notice what Christ is saying. I have people in that city. There are people that I've purchased with my precious blood. That's why you must keep speaking whenever there's tribulation. Do not fear. I will not let harm come upon you. Now, if you remember, Paul has been beaten almost to death and dragged into a city previously. He is going to be a martyr. He has been hard, but here in Corinth, Christ is saying, keep persevering. The change that the Gospel brings about in Paul is one that he's going to stand firm. He has been changed from a man who once persecuted Christians to now standing firm in the midst of persecution. The final event is that persecution, and it's interesting how God intervened. We know from other texts that He holds kings in His hands. Nothing happens in a government without God being in absolute control of what's taking place. We can trust that no matter what we see happening in our own government, in the world government, in the midst of war, kings are in his hands. He's in control. And so we see this man, he dismisses the charges. You're coming to me about things of names and your own law. There's no vicious crime here. He dismisses it. And we see here Christ keeping His promise as He is sovereign over Galileo. Now, if we just backed out, I wonder how much of us would say, I would be more faithful. I would be more bold if Jesus Christ showed to me like He did with Paul in verse 9 and said, Bill, you know, don't fear. Keep on speaking. If Christ showed up and gave me this kind of vision, I would be very bold and very clear. And let me warn you about that. Paul gets these kinds of visions because of the kind of work he is being set apart for. He has this kind of clarity and vision in gospel work because he's going to have to suffer greatly. That is one of the great themes of Paul. He's being called out for a unique work among the Gentiles, and he will have a unique suffering for the name of Christ. And I also want to say, Christ has already spoken to you as directly as He possibly could. Telling you this exact same truth. If you turn to the Great Commission, Christ isn't saying hardly anything different to Paul than He is saying to us in the Great Commission. What does He say in the Great Commission? All authority is mine. Go and make disciples, teaching them to observe all that I've commanded you. I am with you always. That's for all of us. That's not just something for an apostle. That is for all of us. The great Christ who has called us into salvation, he has promised he is with us to go as we speak, making disciples. So you see here that the gospel, it brings about a great perseverance for Paul as he has a fruitful work. The second thing I want us to see in our passage is that the gospel brings about instruction. It changes the way we understand Christ and ourselves. Look at chapter 18, verse 22. When Paul 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 one place to the next, to the region of Galatia, Phrygia, strengthening all the disciples. He's continuing to preach, to speak, to teach. And now we're introduced to another figure, verse 24. And now a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, he came to Ephesus. And it's interesting, Paul has come to Ephesus, he's left, he's going to come back. While Paul is away, it appears this is when Apollos is present in Ephesus. He was an eloquent man, competent in the scriptures. He had been instructed in the way of the Lord. That is a reference to the gospel of Jesus Christ. And being 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 Persua and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately. And when he wished to cross 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 the Christ was Jesus. Now, the Gospel instructs here, let's just focus here a moment on Apollos. We know about him, not only from this passage, but Paul's letter to the Corinthians. Paul has left, Apollos has come, and he's an eloquent man. He's competent in Scriptures. He is a Jewish man who knows the Word of God, and he's instructing people according to Christ. He was teaching accurately the things concerning Jesus Christ. We know that Apollos was a very influential preacher because there actually was a church division in Corinth. Remember, Paul has to correct them. Some of you say I'm of Paul, and some of you say I'm of Apollos, and some of you say I'm of Peter. Well, no, we're all of one Christ. We're all of the one Savior. One will sow, one will water, and one will bear fruit. Paul wants to make it very clear, and I think Luke is making it very clear, these are two different men with the same kind of commission, the same message, the same gospel. So Paul is here, he's come, he's competent, but notice he still needs to be taught. For Silouan Aquila, they still need to pull him aside and teach him something. He's a believer. He knows that Jesus Christ is. We're not quite sure how he hasn't heard about the baptism of Jesus, but what Luke tells us, he's only heard the baptism of John. Now, as we're going to see that next section, that Paul himself has trept. some other disciples who have only heard of the baptism of John, who have not yet received the Spirit. I believe Luke has connected these two together intentionally. Paul is a believer, he's teaching of Christ, but the baptism of John, that's one of merely repentance. If we remember John, he came to prepare the way. John came as a baptism of repentance to turn away from sin. The baptism of Jesus is very different. A baptism in the name of Jesus Christ is different in that you're identifying with Christ in His death and His resurrection. When you're baptized in the name of Jesus, you're immediately identified as a child of God, because His death has washed away your sins, and His new life has been given to you. Now, that is ours by faith. But here it appears that Apollos, he hasn't actually realized that there's a new teaching on baptism. He hasn't heard that yet, even though he's heard the gospel of Jesus Christ. And so, it's interesting, Priscilla and Aquila, they hear him teaching, they hear him teaching the gospel faithfully, but they realize there's something still wrong. Notice they didn't stop him mid-sentence in the middle of the synagogue. They pulled him aside. They tried to care for him and then he received that instruction. And we see here the gospel, it continues to instruct. I'm greatly encouraged by Apollos and Priscilla and Aquila here because it's what it's showing is the gospel continues to instruct us. This man who is confident in scripture, he's eloquent, he still needs to be taught more accurately. And so it is with all disciples. Next we see What happened while Apollos was in Corinth? Paul passed through the inland country and came to Ephesus. This is the section we've already heard. He found some disciples and he asked them, did you receive the Holy Spirit? And they said, no. We've not heard that there's a Holy Spirit. Then were you baptized? We were baptized in a John's baptism. These may be disciples of Apollos. We're not quite sure, but it looks that way because of the way Luke has connected them. So Paul tells him about Jesus Christ. John was a Baptist of repentance, telling people to believe in the one who was to come after him, that is, Jesus. Now I wanna pause here and make it very clear, the history of God is so important. What God, we're having all kinds of microphone problems today. The history of God is very important. God has said promises. And he's fulfilled promises. The sequence of events for God's timeline are very important, so let's just give a very brief overview. Abraham was given promises. Moses was given a law. The prophets were told, here's a correction to give to a king, and here's an encouragement for the people. John the Baptist, he was the last prophet to come and say, the Messiah is coming, and he's the one prophet who got to say, here he is, he's come. Jesus Christ comes after Abraham. He's the fulfillment of every promise. Jesus Christ comes after Moses. He is the one who actually fulfilled the law. Jesus Christ comes after all the prophets, fulfilling every prophecy and promise that they received. And then the Holy Spirit comes after Jesus. In John 16, he says, it's to your advantage if I go away, because after me, the Holy Spirit will come. These men that Paul is talking to, they are called disciples. They've heard the gospel, they believe the gospel. We're not quite sure what's taking place here, but they have not yet received the Holy Spirit in a way that manifests and enlightens their hearts. The Holy Spirit comes after Christ. They're baptized, not in the baptism of John, but in the baptism of Jesus Christ. And the Holy Spirit comes. They are corrected. They're taught something new that helps them understand what God is doing in the history of redemption. They're taught something new that means they have to obey and be baptized. This is somewhat, and it should be very encouraging to us in that, I wanna challenge us, we should always be learning. If someone thinks they have their whole head wrapped around the entirety of God's word, that person knows very little about God's word. It is rich, it is full, it is deep. The sign of a good education is that you actually learn how little you know. That the more we pursue God and his scriptures, the more we realize there's so much more to know. The encouraging thing I see here with these disciples is that, well, one, they're teachable, but the gospel continues to instruct. This should be the posture of every Christian to want to and to desire to know more of God. And that means doctrine. What are the teachings? What are the truths that God would have me to believe so that I might obey? Now, something that has always confused me is that there's a sentiment among Christians that doctrine is bad. And I hear the argument, I understand what you're saying. Some will say, well, doctrine's bad because it makes people prideful. Or doctrine's bad because it divides churches. No, pride makes people prideful. And pride also probably divides churches. Doctrine doesn't do either. Doctrine actually humbles. Doctrine helps us to see the glory of the great and mighty God, and see who we are in light of that, and see the humility we have in receiving blessings, not earning them. Doctrine unites a church. And so as we study this, it's encouraging to see how these men learned, how the gospel continues to teach. I pray we will not be fearful of the deep waters, but pursue God in his word. Our final section in the gospel transforms. It's interesting what Luke includes in his story. If I were to give a history of Jefferson Park up to this point, I would want to talk about the different conversions and walk through the ways in which we've walked through very particular discipleship and show how God has been praised for new life and the praises. Luke's story doesn't really focus on that that often. We have very few long stories about conversion. We have many long stories about weird things. And one of them is right here. Luke seems to focus in on the controversies, the divisions, the confusion, and this is just an odd way in which, I believe, Satan is attacking the fruitful work of God. We see there that Paul, he's speaking boldly, and the kingdom of God is being taught, and the way is being presented. People are coming. It's so powerful that Paul's handkerchiefs are being used to perform miracles. This is an unusual pouring out of a revival. God is at work. It's unusual. And whenever God is at work in an unusual way, in a powerful way, the evil one wants to try to imitate it. To make, to bring about confusion. To bring about something that maybe people think, this isn't just about Christ. It's very much like when Moses went to Pharaoh and his staff turned into a serpent. What happened next? The magicians that were with Pharaoh, their status also turned into serpents. There's always a phony miracle. There's always something there to try to confuse the people of God about what is the true work of God. And this story, it's fairly bizarre. I actually think it's supposed to be fairly humorous. So people are being saved. His handkerchiefs and aprons were being touched and carried away to heal people. And so what happens? Well, the false religion, the false priests, they decide they're going to mimic. Look at verse 13. And some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists undertook to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, I adjure you by Jesus whom Paul proclaims. There were seven sons of a Jewish high priest. He's a false high priest. One, he's not in Jerusalem. He's a leader of his own new religion. Seven sons of a Jewish high priest named Sceva. They were doing this. So there's seven sons. They go into a house. There's a man who's clearly possessed by a demon. And they say, we adjure you by the name of Jesus, who Paul proclaims. Notice what the evil spirit says back. Who are you? That's somewhat demoralizing. It's an embarrassing response. They're trying to come, and these are the kind of exorcists, they would try to use any name of any God they could possibly think of to try to bring about a miracle to get people to follow them. And so they come to this man, and they say, by the name of Jesus, whom Paul proclaims. The spirit answers, we know who Jesus is. He's almighty God, creator and savior of sinners. We know who he is. We know who Paul is. He's been given great power by that great savior, but who are you? The man in whom the evil spirit leaped on them. One man, seven sons. One man with the evil spirit leaps on them mastered all of them Overpowered them so they flooded the house naked and wounded Now these men are trying to remove the demon in the name of Christ and it's teaching us the name of Christ Is it some cheap trick? It's a true name with true power that is made to be used for his glory. That's not what they're doing But what God does is he demonstrates to the city who he truly is by letting these men be beaten. They leave the house exposed as the frauds they are. They don't have the kind of power that can truly heal like Paul in the proclamation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ has. It's meant to be a humorous story to show how ridiculous these men are thinking they can just use the name of Jesus at their own will for their own purpose. And then notice what happened to the church. This became known to all the residents of Ephesus. Both Jews and Greeks, and fear fell upon them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was extolled. Also, many of those who were now believers came, confessing and divulging their practices. And a number of those who had practiced magic arts brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all, and they counted the value of them and found it came to 50,000 pieces of silver. See, when God worked, it was clear. His name is extolled. The false teachers, they were revealed as false. The true declaration of the gospel was revealed, and fear came upon all. And they repented. And two things about this repentance is, one, it's public. The public repentance, it encouraged the church. They brought all the things they were doing that were evil, they brought them out, and they repented publicly together. The second thing we see is it was costly. They counted the cost of the burning of books worth 50,000 pieces of silver, worth the cost of following Christ in obedience. Luke records the fruit of the faithful work of Paul, the fruit of the church seeing the false work of these men. The church was transformed. Now, there were Christians practicing magic. Think about that for a moment. There were Christians who were practicing magic. One of the beautiful things about the gospel of Jesus Christ is you do not have to be perfectly cleaned up before He saves you. He saves you while you're still a sinner and more sinful than you could possibly imagine. You don't have to be repentant of every possible thing you've ever done before you come to Christ. You simply just say, I know I need a Savior because I'm so filthy, I can't get cleaned up. That's what happens at a conversion. That's what happens with the gospel. That's the real kind of transformation that takes place, is that we look at our sin and we realize that if when we face a holy and just God, we will be under His wrath. Until we look at Christ and we see that He died under the wrath of God in our place. So we place our faith in Him. His righteousness is counted towards us. Our sin is counted towards Him. And we are declared free and innocent. We're washed. That's the beauty of the gospel. Yes, God then takes us in his way to bring us to repentance of our sins. And here, they were not going to be allowed to continue in their magic, but they didn't have to repent of their magic before they became Christians. Becoming a Christian is simply recognizing you need a savior and that you're willing to repent when he points out your sin. As we conclude, I want us to reflect on the fact that this section of Luke, it began with Paul being occupied with the Word, and it ends with the Word of God prevailing. This is not a coincidence. Paul, who our story is focused on, he's clinging to the Word of God. He's trusting the Word of God. Christ has told him, persevere. He's continued to proclaim. He's seen the work. It's changed people's minds and their actions. We just need to be challenged to hold firm to the Word of God. It's what changes us. It changes our thoughts, our desires. It should change the way we talk. It changes us from being people who are complainers to praisers. It changes people from being liars to truth-tellers. It complains people from being angry to loving. The Word of God changes us. That is the beauty of when we cling to it, when we trust it. We see change in ourselves. And then when we proclaim it, we see change in others. I also want you to see something that God uses each of us to bring about change in others. Priscilla and Aquila were needed to bring about a change in Apollos. Paul was needed to bring about a change in those 12 disciples. Well, what God's beautiful plan is is that his word is powerful, and then he empowers each of us to be truth proclaimers to one another. We're not just here to live our lives by ourselves with the word of God, but we're actually called to be part of a community that's being shaped and built up as we actually proclaim it to one another. This happens when we stop being preoccupied with our individual agendas, and we become occupied with the Word of God. God's normal work is to use Christians to speak to other Christians. God's normal work is to speak through Christians so that others will become Christians. Our commitment has to be, are we going to be occupied with the Word of God? Is it something we're going to trust, and obey, and proclaim? I want to encourage you, church. I believe we have a high calling. We have a high standard. We have the grace of God so that we can look to the Word of God and understand it. We have the grace of God so that we can believe it. We have the grace of God so we can obey it. The beauty of the Gospel work is it's simply trusting God and keeping His commandments. I pray we would do this and we would see the great fruit of conversion and change among us. Will you pray with me? Father, we praise and we thank you for your kindness, that we can hear you, we can know you, we can know your love and love you. Father, I pray you would bless us as we pursue living that life that you've called us to. I pray you would bless us as we proclaim you to our neighbors, coworkers, and friends, and family. Father, we pray that we would be able to make Christ known in His glory and His grace. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.