I Have Many People In This City

Let me pray for the reading and preaching of God's word.

Heavenly Father, we confess that sometimes just a day-to-day grind

and the realities of this world push aside ultimate concerns

of eternity to the periphery.

And so we return again with a posture of humble submission

before you and your word that you might address us,

call us back to your purposes and priorities.

We pray this morning that you would comfort those who are fearful,

humble, embolden those who have been afraid or ashamed of the gospel.

Exalt the name of your son, Jesus.

Show us how precious he is.

Amaze us anew with the sacrifice he made for us on the cross

and his resurrection.

In Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.

Amen.

Acts chapter 18, verses 1 to 23.

Acts 18:1–23

After this, Paul left Athens and went to Corinth,

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,

Galileo said to the Jews,

If it were a matter of wrongdoing or a 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 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.

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 Santrea, 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 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 Phrygia,

strengthening all the disciples.

This is God's holy and authoritative word.

Since chapter 13,

we've been following the missionary efforts of Apostle Paul.

And it's easy as we're following his missionary journeys

to think that he was an untiring missionary,

unfazed by persecutions,

gladly enduring slander,

beating and stoning for the sake of Jesus Christ.

However, we also should remember that,

you know, even though that was true to an extent,

that Paul was still just another mortal man,

like the rest of us.

He did gladly endure persecution for the sake of Christ,

but that doesn't mean that the persecutions that he endured

in and of himself was pleasant.

Even the Apostle Paul was not immune to pain or fear in his ministry.

In his first letter to the Corinthians,

after saying that God chose what is weak in the world

to shame the strong,

Paul recalls in 1 Corinthians 2, 3,

regarding his time with them,

that I was with you in weakness

and in fear and much trembling.

That was what was happening to Apostle Paul

when he was ministering to the Corinthians.

And we see a glimpse here while he is in Corinth,

a glimpse of that weakness and fear and much trembling.

Move back.

Is that better?

Hopefully.

Yeah.

I wonder if the sound is bouncing up the screen.

No?

I don't know anything about these things.

Yes.

I don't know anything about these things.

I don't know anything about these things.

So despite all the weakness and fear and trembling

that Paul had while he was with them in Corinth,

Paul persevered in his proclamation of the gospel.

And this passage is really a clue,

key to how he was able to do that.

It teaches us that God's presence

and God's people appointed for salvation

spur us on to persevere in our proclamation of the gospel.

So first, we're going to talk about God's presence,

his promise, I am with you.

And second, we're going to talk about God's people

when he says, I have many people in this city.

Even though he was waiting for Silas and Timothy

to rejoin him in Athens,

it seems that Paul concluded that it was time for him

to leave Athens because he leaves

and he arrives in Corinth.

And after he's, when, at the time he arrived there,

Corinth was a Roman colony,

which was refounded by Julius Caesar at 44 BC

after having been destroyed by the Romans earlier.

And there in Corinth, Paul has an unexpected encounter

in verses two to three.

It says, 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.

So Aquila and his wife Priscilla

had recently departed Rome and arrived in Corinth.

This was because Emperor Claudius

had commanded all the Jews to leave Rome.

This is corroborated by other historical sources

that had happened in 49 AD.

And most scholars understand this reference

by Suetonius, a Roman historian.

He puts it this way,

since the Jews constantly made disturbances

at the instigation of Christus,

Claudius expelled them from Rome.

Most scholars understand that reference

Crestus to be a reference to Jesus,

to Christ,

which shows that Christian Jews

were bearing witness throughout Rome

and among the Jews

and making an impact all throughout the Roman Empire.

And that, and the resulting turmoil

within the Jewish community,

the upheaval there,

caused the emperor to expel the Jews.

Amen.

I keep hearing the ringing from behind me.

I'm sorry.

I'm sorry.

In God's sovereign providence,

the expulsion of the Jews from Rome

actually led to Paul meeting Aquila and Priscilla.

And this is amazing because Claudius would have never known,

the emperor Claudius would have never known

that Aquila and Priscilla,

whom he expelled from Rome,

were tent makers by trade,

the same trade as the apostle Paul,

and that they would be able to partner,

form a dynamic partnership,

and they'd be financially viable

while they are proclaiming the gospel all over the place.

Claudius would have never known

that Aquila and Priscilla would accompany

the great apostle to Ephesus,

as it says in verses 18 to 19,

and there serve as the hosts,

the home base for the Ephesian church.

Claudius would have never known

that Aquila and Priscilla would risk their necks for Paul's life,

as Paul says in Romans 16 verse 4,

Romans 16:4

so that all the churches of the Gentiles

who had benefited on Paul's ministry owe their thanks to Aquila and Priscilla.

Claudius would have never known

that Aquila and Priscilla would not only

offer indispensable help to the apostle Paul,

but that they would also enlighten Apollos,

who was already described in Acts

as eloquent, competent in the scriptures,

fervent in spirit, and accurate in teaching,

but then they helped Apollos

to understand the way of God more accurately

so that they would go on powerfully

to refute the Jews in public,

showing by the scriptures that the Christ was Jesus.

Claudius would have never known any of these things,

but that's the difference between man and God.

Unlike Claudius, God sees and knows all things.

God is able to do all things,

and God is present in all places.

And so even the seeming bad news

of getting kicked out of the center of the Roman Empire,

the center of influence,

played right into God's sovereign hands.

Even through these history-altering political upheaval,

God was with Aquila and Priscilla,

and he was with Paul.

And there in Corinth, Paul does what he always does

in every city he visits.

He says in verse four,

and he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath

and tried to persuade Jews and Greeks.

And verse five tells us that

when Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia,

Paul was occupied with the word,

testifying to the Jews that the Christ was Jesus.

The word occupied is the word that Luke uses

in various places to refer to being seized by something,

to be surrounded by something.

Paul was a man who was seized by,

captured by, surrounded by the word of Christ.

He was absorbed in proclaiming the word of Christ.

That was what was foremost on his mind,

that there are many things in life,

in our lives,

that we can occupy ourselves with,

that we do occupy ourselves with.

But we must take care to remember

that as God's people,

we are to be occupied with the word of Christ.

We are no longer just fishers of fish.

We are fishers of men.

Paul was so invested in the proclamation of this word

and so desirous of his Jewish compatriots

to repent and believe in Jesus,

that when they oppose and revile him,

it says 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.

Paul's strong reaction shows how deeply he cared

about his Jewish brethren.

In Romans 9 verses 1 to 3,

Romans 9:1–3

Paul says,

I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart,

for I could wish that I myself were accursed

and cut off from Christ

for the sake of my brothers,

my kinsmen according to the flesh.

That's how badly he wanted the Jews

to come to faith in Jesus.

And that's why he reacts so strongly

when he is rebuffed.

Paul says,

your blood be on your own heads.

I am innocent.

That's an expression that comes from Ezekiel chapter 33,

Ezekiel 33 · chapter mention

which says that when the watchman sees the enemy army approaching,

but then neglects to blow the trumpet to warn his people,

then when the city is destroyed,

God says,

their blood will be on the watchman's head.

However, if the watchman does blow the trumpet

to warn his city of the coming enemy,

and if they refuse to act,

they neglect to flee,

then their blood will be on their own heads.

Paul's washing his hands clean here.

I warned you.

I preached the gospel to you,

but you refused to listen,

so your blood be on your own heads.

I'm innocent.

Nowadays, many people in our society

are increasingly preoccupied with,

you know, ethical consumption.

We recognize that how we buy

and what we buy

and how we dispose of what we've used

all have implications.

We try to leave a smaller carbon footprint

by driving Priuses,

electric vehicles.

Lucy just got a Prius.

We recycle and try to avoid single-use products

for the sake of our environment.

We try to buy fair trade products

to make sure that farmers

and artisans and other laborers

who produce them

were paid fair wages

and not exploited.

Some of us even try to eat

ethically sourced foods,

looking for free-range eggs,

grass-fed beef, and so on.

Some of us are very concerned

about being unwittingly involved

in treating people,

even animals, unjustly.

In short,

we don't want blood on our hands.

But do we also think about

the urgency of evangelism

in this way?

God has already fixed a day

when he will judge the world

with righteousness

by the man he has appointed

and he's given proof of this

by raising him from the dead.

Judgment day is coming

and we Christians

are the watchmen.

Are we blowing the trumpet?

Are we sounding the alarm?

Are we sharing the gospel?

Are we innocent in this matter?

Or do we have blood on our hands?

Do we really believe

in the coming judgment?

Do we really believe

in heaven and hell?

If we really believe

that this is a matter

of life and death

and if we really believe

that people's eternal destiny

is at stake,

how can we not be occupied

with proclaiming Jesus

who alone can save them?

I've shared this once before,

but 20th century American pastor

Lee Rutten Scarborough

says this,

if we could only have

a five minute glimpse

into hell,

our evangelism

would be changed

for a lifetime.

People being tormented

in hell

for eternity

are not going to be impressed

that we were too busy

doing other important things.

They're not going to be thankful

that we were too polite

and considerate

to warn them

of this sobering reality.

This is why Paul faithfully

sounded the alarm

to his fellow Jews,

but because they rejected

the gospel,

Paul says,

from now on,

I will go to the Gentiles.

This doesn't mean

that Paul will never again

preach to the Jews.

He's just saying

that while he's in Corinth,

he is turning his attention

now to the Gentiles

and he's turning his attention

to the Gentiles.

In verse 7,

he goes to the house

of Titius Justice,

who was a Gentile God-fearer

who had apparently

listened to Paul

in the synagogue

and converted.

And as Paul leaves the Jews,

he shakes out his garment,

which is a similar gesture

as shaking off the dust

from your feet.

That's what Jesus taught

his disciples to do

when a town or city

rejects their message.

It was a common practice

among the Jews

to shake off the dust

from their feet

when they were leaving

Gentile territory.

It was their way

of shaking the uncleanness

off of their feet,

saying in effect

that they don't want

anything to do

with the Gentiles.

What's remarkable

about Jesus' teaching

was that he was sending

his disciples

to Jewish towns.

And he was saying,

if they reject you

as you're leaving

these Jewish towns,

you should wipe the dust

off of your feet.

That's a shocking message

because what he is saying is

it doesn't matter

if you are Jewish.

If you reject the Messiah,

if you reject Jesus,

you cannot be saved.

And so Paul here,

leaving the Jewish synagogue,

shakes his garment off.

That means it doesn't matter

what your ethnic

or racial background is.

Doesn't matter

what your ancestry

or spiritual pedigree is.

If you yourself

do not pledge

allegiance to Jesus,

you will not be saved.

The ground is level

at the foot of the cross.

And only those

who bow the knee

before King Jesus

enter into the kingdom of God.

Though most Corinthian Jews,

it seems,

rejected Christ,

not all of them did

because verse 8 tells us

that 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.

So now you can imagine

what's about to happen

if you've been with us

through this series

in the book of Acts.

The Jews have effectively

kicked Paul out of their synagogue,

preventing him

from teaching there

so that Paul had to get

a new venue.

But one of their own,

the ruler of the synagogue,

the person in charge

of their religious,

administrative,

and political affairs,

believed in the Lord.

This is remarkable.

It's also a cause

for deep shame

among the Jews.

They were making

a concerted effort

to oppose and revile Paul.

They were trying

to contradict his teaching

and they were impugning

Paul's motives.

They were maligning

his character,

trying to prove

that his teaching

that Jesus is the Messiah

is contrary

to the Old Testament Scriptures.

But as they are

effectively opposing Paul,

their most learned

and respected member

converts and joins Paul.

This significantly

undermines their effort

and it's embarrassing

for them.

And not only that,

not only Crispus,

but many of the Corinthians

hearing Paul

believed and were baptized.

And if you follow

the pattern

in the book of Acts,

fruitful ministry

for Paul

always spells

trouble for him.

It's followed

by suffering

and persecution.

When Paul was in

Pisidian Antioch

in chapter 13

verses 45 to 47

when the Jews

saw the crowds

that were gathering

around Paul

that he was popular

a lot of people

wanted to hear him.

He says they were filled

with jealousy

and began to contradict

what was spoken

by Paul reviling him.

And then they incited

the people

and they drove Paul

out of the city.

When Paul was in Iconium

in chapter 14

verses 2 to 7

similar things

the unbelieving Jews

stirred up the Gentiles

and poisoned their minds

against the brothers.

And they tried

to stone Paul.

In Lystra

in chapter 14

verse 19

the Jews came

and persecuted him

and they actually

stoned him

and left him for dead

even though he survived.

In Thessalonica

in chapter 17

verse 5

the Jews were again

he says jealous

and taking some wicked

men of the rabble

they formed a mob

and set the city

in an uproar

and attacked the house

of Jason

where Paul was staying.

And then these Jews

followed Paul

into Berea

and there agitated

and stirred up

the crowds again

so that he had to flee

once again.

he just can't

catch a break.

So imagine

being in his shoes.

Don't you think

you'd be just

a little bit afraid?

A little bit afraid

of your own

ministry success?

It's not that Paul

was unwilling

to suffer for Christ's sake.

He says later

in chapter 21

verse 13

I'm ready not only

to be imprisoned

but even to die

for the name

of the Lord Jesus.

He was a Christian

soldier who was ready

to lay down his life

in the battlefield

but that did not

make the violent

persecution

that he endured

pleasant.

And Paul was weary

and apprehensive.

His missionary journeys

have been long

and arduous

and he had many

battle scars

to show for it

and we know

that Paul

was afraid

of being attacked

and harmed

because the Lord

appears to him

in a vision

to reassure him

in verses 9 to 10

to 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.

Verse 9 contains

two commands

and verse 10

supplies the two grounds

the reasons

the basis

for those two commands.

The first command

is the first half

of verse 9

do not be afraid

and the reason

for this

is in the first half

of verse 10

for I am with you

and no one

will attack you

to harm you.

Paul is commanded

not to be afraid

because of God's

protective presence.

God has personally

guaranteed his safety

in Corinth

from the attack.

The second command

is in the second half

of verse 9

but go on speaking

and do not be silent

and the reason

for that

is given

in the second half

of verse 10

for I have many

in this city

who are my people.

Paul is to continue

proclaiming the gospel

because there are many

in that city

whom God has appointed

for salvation.

We'll look at these promises

in turn

but first let's look

at the promise

of God's presence.

Do not be afraid

for I am with you

and no one

will attack you

to harm you.

This is an amazing

kindness of God

if you think about it.

God didn't owe Paul

anything.

Paul was a rebel

who was persecuting

the church of God

but he was saved

by God's mercy

and grace alone

from the fires of hell.

Paul often describes

himself in his letters

as a slave of Christ,

a servant

who is completely disposed

to the will

of his master.

God could have

had Paul endure

another round

of beatings

and stonings

in Corinth.

It would have been

totally

within God's rights

as Paul's Lord

to do so.

But God doesn't do that.

Instead,

the Lord

personally appears

to Paul in a vision.

He doesn't send

a messenger.

He doesn't send

an angel.

He comes himself

to Paul.

The Lord himself

says,

do not be afraid

for I am with you

and no one

will attack you

to harm you.

What kindness

of God.

this is the kind

of gentle

and patient

Lord

that we serve.

There have been

many times

I've been

discouraged

in my old ministry

and yet

in those times

my Lord

has never

been harsh

with me.

Never.

He's never

said,

Sean,

just put your act

together.

Stop being

such a wimp.

He's always

patient,

gentle,

kind.

And that's

how he is.

He's a master

who knows

when his servant

is weary.

He's a general

who knows

when his soldier

is fearful.

He's a father

who knows

when his child

needs his comfort.

And so in this

moment of Paul's

weakness,

in the moment

of fear

and much

trembling,

the Lord

comes with

assurance

and encouragement

and consolation.

Do you know

that God

is not a rigid

taskmaster

over you?

That he knows

your weaknesses

and he sympathizes

with you?

That you can

draw near

to his throne

of grace

with confidence

because he is

such a gracious

and compassionate

Lord?

As a father

shows compassion

to his children,

so the Lord

shows compassion

to those

who fear him

for he knows

our frame.

He remembers

that we are dust,

it says in Psalm 103.

In the same way

that earthly parents

show grace

to their children,

we often find

parents find

themselves saying,

they're just kids.

Give them a break.

They're just

four years old,

seven years old.

They're children.

In the same way

our father

knows our frame,

he remembers

that we are dust.

He says,

often,

oh,

they are but dust.

They are weak.

And he shows us

compassion.

And when God

is with us,

we have nothing

to fear.

In Exodus 3,

when God commands

Moses to go

to Egypt

and free his people

from slavery,

Moses responds,

who am I

that I should go

to Pharaoh

and bring

the children of Israel

out of Egypt?

This is a very

sensible objection

from a human

point of view.

Moses

is no king.

He has no army

at his service.

He's a nobody.

And who is he

to go to Pharaoh,

one of the most

powerful kings

in the ancient world

and demand

that he free

all of his labors?

But God's response

to him

is quite simple.

I will be with you.

Similarly,

in Jeremiah chapter 1,

Jeremiah 1 · chapter mention

when God commissions

Jeremiah

to be a prophet

to the nations,

Jeremiah responds,

oh,

Lord God,

behold,

I do not know

how to speak

for I am only

a youth.

That too

is a very

sensible objection.

Jeremiah

is no Cicero

or Demosthenes.

He's no Abraham Lincoln

or Frederick Douglass.

He's not eloquent.

He knows it.

And he's only

a youth.

He's inexperienced.

But again,

God's response

to him

is very simple.

Do not be afraid

of them

for I

am

with you.

God tells Paul

the exact same thing here.

Do not

be afraid

for I

am

with you.

If God

is for us,

who can be

against us,

brothers and sisters?

Even though

I walk

through the valley

of the shadow

of death,

I will fear

no evil.

Why?

Because

you are

with me.

Paul believes

God's promise.

And so in verse 11,

it tells us that he stayed

a year and six months.

That's a long time

for Paul.

He teaches

the word of God

among them.

And as Paul

anticipated,

the jealous Jews

do make a united

attack on Paul

starting in verse 12.

When Galileo

was proconsul

of Achaia,

this is around

51-52 AD,

you know,

from inscriptions.

Sometime

in that window,

verse 13,

it says,

this man is persuading

people to worship

God contrary to the law.

They bring this charge

to the proconsul.

So since this charge

is being made

to a Roman proconsul,

this is not about

the Jewish law.

They're saying

that he's violating

Roman law.

It's possible

that the accusation

is similar

to the charge

of the Thessalonians

in chapter 17,

that he was acting

against the decrees

of Caesar

by saying

that there's

another king,

Jesus,

undermining

the worship

of Caesar,

the cult

of the emperor,

or perhaps

teaching a religion

that was not

sanctioned by the emperor.

they're trying

to get

Paul

expelled,

Christianity

stamped out.

But look at

what the proconsul

says

in verses 14

to 15.

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.

In essence,

Galileo's verdict

is that no serious

crime has been

committed.

That the matter

at hand is not

an infringement

of the Roman law,

but that it's

actually a discussion,

a debate

within the Jewish law.

So he says,

go discuss it

among yourselves.

He's kind of,

he seems like

he's a little bit

impatient with them.

He summarily dismisses

them and he says

that he drove them

out of the synagogue.

Not synagogue,

sorry,

drove them out of court.

This is shocking,

actually.

It has huge implications

for the fledgling church

because this is

the first time

that a Roman official

issues a legal verdict

concerning Christians.

And he has essentially

said,

Christians have

every right,

every bit of right

to worship

as you,

the Jews.

He has said

they have legal right

to gather.

He can continue

to proclaim the gospel

with impunity.

You could tell,

I mean,

you could imagine

why the Jews

were infuriated.

They wanted Christians

forbidden from

practicing their religion,

but instead the Jews

ended up tying

their own hands

behind their back

with this,

with this legal decree

from Galio.

And so,

because they were so mad,

look at what happens

in verse 17.

They all seized

Sosthenes,

the ruler of the synagogue,

and beat him

in front of the tribunal.

But Galio paid

no attention

to any of this.

Remember in verse 8

that Crispus,

the ruler of the synagogue,

believed in the Lord.

So,

it seems that

becoming a Christian

was not acceptable

from the perspective

of the Jews,

so either he resigned

or he was forced

to leave his position,

so they appointed

someone else.

So Sosthenes

is a new ruler

of the synagogue

and he's new

to this position

and he's been thrust

with this responsibility

of bringing this legal charge

against the Christians

and he's doing his part

but then he loses the case

and this poor Sosthenes

gets beaten up

by his own fellow Jews.

God has said to Paul,

do not be afraid

for I am with you

for no one

will attack you

to harm you.

Isn't that amazing?

He fulfills that promise

in a spectacular way.

Paul didn't,

look at it,

Paul didn't even have

to utter a word in court.

Before Paul even opened

his mouth,

Galileo summarily

dismissed this case.

Before he did anything,

God defended Paul

and no one could touch him.

And the second command

and the promise

that God,

that the company

did in verses 9 to 10

is also fulfilled.

The Lord said to Paul

in the vision,

go on speaking

and do not be silent

for I have many

in this city

who are my people.

Paul was seeing

this reality

in verse 8

when Crispus

and his entire household

came to faith

and it says

many of the Corinthians

hearing Paul

believed and were baptized.

It's similar

to what Acts 13

Acts 13:48

verse 48 says.

It says there

that when Paul

and Barnabas

preached the gospel

to the Gentiles,

quote,

as many as were

appointed to eternal life

believed.

God's sovereign

prior appointment,

his divine election

is what is in view

in this verse.

And God commands Paul

to proclaim

this gospel

not in spite

of his election

but because

of his election.

But because

there are many

in Corinth

whom he has chosen

for himself.

It may seem

somewhat counterintuitive

to some of you

but according

to this verse

knowing that God

has preordained

some people

for salvation

does not make

us complacent

evangelism.

It actually

provides a reason

to go on

speaking

and not

be silent.

Because God

has sovereignly

ordained

to broadcast

his saving news

through his people

the fact that

God chooses

some for salvation

from before

the foundation

of the world

does not obviate

our evangelistic

efforts.

Instead

knowing that

there are people

that God

has already

predestined

for salvation

and knowing

for that reason

that they

will respond

to our proclamation

of the gospel

with repentance

and faith

that actually

motivates us

to keep

on speaking

about Jesus.

Because we know

that our proclamation

will not be in vain.

there are many

in the city

of Corinth

that God

had chosen

to be his people.

In 1 Corinthians

1, 14-16

he mentions

Crispus and Gaius

and the household

of Stephanus.

And get this

in 1 Corinthians

1 Corinthians 1:1

chapter 1

verse 1

Paul mentions

as one of his

co-workers

who is

sending this

letter with him

our brother

Sosthenes.

you wonder

if

Paul names

him specifically

and Luke

mentions

Sosthenes

the ruler

of the synagogue

specifically

because it's

the same

Sosthenes

that the

believers knew.

Even he

maybe

came to

faith in

Jesus Christ.

That's not

reason to go

in.

treat people

in that way.

The many

in Corinth

where God's

people came

to faith

and for that

reason in

verse 18

it says

Paul stayed

many days

longer in

Corinth

to continue

to speak

of Christ.

Notice

Paul doesn't

say

well

since God

has chosen

many people

in Corinth

to be saved

and they

will be

saved

with or

without me

so I guess

there's no

need for me

to stay

here after

all.

No that

line of

reasoning is

totally alien

to the

scriptures.

It would

have been

totally

foreign to

Paul's

mind.

Paul stays

and proclaims

the gospel

for many

days longer

precisely because

God has

said I

have many

people in

this city

who are

my people

because they

need to hear

the gospel

because they've

been appointed

for salvation

because they

will respond

to the

gospel.

Even of

Cambridge and

Boston I

believe God

says I

have many

in this

city who

are my

people.

Remember

Jesus said

the harvest

is plentiful

but the

laborers are

few.

What we

lack in

our city

is not

people who

are willing

to believe

what we

lack is

people who

are willing

to share

the gospel.

And that's

a strange

thing because

everyone loves

being a

herald of the

good news.

I don't

know if

you remember

last year

at the

beginning of

the pandemic

at the

end of

March 2020

for about

two month

time actor

John Krasinski

hosted a

home YouTube

channel entitled

Some Good

News.

You guys

remember that?

Obviously it's

all good news

that he thinks

is good but

the people

like him he

concluded that

other people

like him were

all desperate

for some

good news

because there's

so much bad

news in the

world.

And so he

created a

news channel

entirely

dedicated to

good news.

Everyone loves

hearing good

news.

Everyone likes

telling people

good news.

Why not

should we

herald far

and wide

the best

news of all?

Every single

human being

in this world

has sinned

against God

and is destined

for bloodshed,

for death.

eternal

damnation.

As Romans

6.23 says

the wages

of sin

is death.

Hebrews 9.22

says without

the shedding

of blood

there is no

forgiveness

of sin.

Someone's

blood had

to be shed

and it was

going to be

ours.

Except that

Jesus

interposed

his own

blood.

That we

might be

forgiven.

That we

might be

reconciled to

God and

have eternal

life.

some people

it's true

in this world

want nothing

to do with

that good

news.

But there

are many

in this

city who

are God's

people.

They are

longing.

They are

waiting.

Let's pray.

God

show us

how good

the gospel

is.

Help us

to not

merely believe

it, know

it in our

heads, but

to believe it

with all of

our hearts.

Help us

to know

in the

marrow of

our bones.

How good

your good

news of

salvation is.

How kind

and gracious

you are.

So that we

would not

hesitate.

So that we

would not

be ashamed

of the

gospel.

In Jesus

name we

pray.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.