We're back in chapter 18 tonight as we're continuing our study on Wednesday nights in the life of Paul and we're on his second missionary journey. It is interesting to me as I think about all this that the Holy Spirit gives us more information about Paul's second missionary journey than the other two journeys that he makes. Most people know more about Paul's second missionary journey than his first or his third journey. But he has gone through the region of Galatia, where he had been in his first journey, strengthened the churches there, then looks for an open door, and they're all closed until he comes to Troas, and he has a Macedonian vision, crosses over to Philippi, preaches the gospel there, he's beaten, imprisoned, and asked to leave town, which he does. He goes to Thessalonica and preaches the gospel there for about a month, and then the unbelieving Jews run him out of town. He goes to Berea, preaches the gospel there. We don't know exactly how long, but the unbelieving Jews from Thessalonica come to Berea and drive him out of town. He goes to Athens, and there he's ridiculed and rejected by and large, and then he comes to Corinth. We began looking at that last Wednesday evening. We noted Paul's condition as he came to Corinth and his craft as he came to Corinth, but his condition was he was sick and he was scared. He wrote that to the church at Corinth in his first letter. He tells them, you know, when I came to you, I was in weakness, which is a word for sickness, and in fear and trembling. Matter of fact, we note here in verses nine and 10 that the Lord actually had to give him a special word of encouragement to calm his fears. And it's interesting, we kind of touched on that last Wednesday evening, but literally, when the Lord says to him, be not afraid, literally, it says, stop being afraid. So in other words, Paul was afraid, and the Lord's saying, don't be afraid, stop giving in to your fear, and keep on speaking the word, speaking the truth, preaching the gospel, don't hold your peace, because I'm with you and no man will set on thee to hurt thee, for I have much people in this city. So Paul is sick, he's scared. And as he comes into Corinth, he joins the tent-making firm, if you will, of Aquila and Priscilla, and begins to preach the gospel. And so as we continue looking at this tonight, I want to just focus in on the opportunity that God gives Paul to preach the gospel at Corinth. And then Lord willing, next Wednesday night, we'll go on and finish out Paul's ministry in Corinth, looking at the opposition that he faced. We'll touch on the opposition some tonight, but we'll look at specific information that's given us about the latter opposition that Paul faced later that actually ended up being the means of his leaving Corinth. But as Paul comes to Corinth, he again joins forces with Aquila and Priscilla to make tents, and then he, verse four says, reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath and persuaded the Jews and the Greeks, the Greeks there would be the Gentiles who were worshiping God under the Old Testament system, under Judaism. And so he goes to the Jew first. As he comes to Corinth, as he did in every city that he went to where there was a synagogue or a meeting of Jewish people, even at Philippi, there was no synagogue, but there were Jewish women meeting by the riverside. And so that's where Paul went. He went to the Jew first because that was his heart. Paul had a great burden for his own people. He wrote to the church at Rome, I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost, that I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart, for I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brother and my kinsmen according to the flesh, who are Israelites. He said, I have this great burden and desire to see my own people, the Jewish people saved. He further writes in Romans 10, brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved. You know, as I've been thinking about this lately, in the New Testament, aside from the Gospels, in the epistles, the word elect occurs repeatedly, but it's always in reference to those who are already saved. They are called the elect of God in many cases, many places. Of course, the Bible affirms free will as well, and whosoever will may come. But there's one place where the word elect refers to people who are not saved. And I pondered that. It's in 2 Timothy chapter 2, and let me just read you the context. It's verse 10, but let me read the context just back up to verse 8. He says, Remember that Jesus Christ, of the seed of David, was raised from the dead according to my gospel. Wherein I suffer trouble as an evildoer, even unto bonds, but the word of God is not bound. Therefore I endure all things for the elect's sake, that they may also obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. He's using that term to refer to some people who are not already born again. And I thought it's interesting, but I think that Paul, when Paul uses that phrase in 2 Timothy 2 and verse 10, I think he is referring to the Jews. They are, in the Old Testament, they are called the chosen of God, the elect of God. And I think that's who he's referring to there when he says, I endure all things for the lexia, I endure all things for the sake of Israel. Those who do not know Christ, that they might have the opportunity to be saved. And he's using the Old Testament terminology that God uses for the nation of Israel, and said, who was it that always gave Paul problems? It almost always began with the Jewish people. He'd go into a city, preach the gospel in the synagogue to the Jews. A few of them would believe, many of them would not believe, and the unbelieving Jews were the ones that were always stirring up the trouble against him. And as he writes 2 Timothy, he's in prison and he's been suffering trouble as an evildoer, even under bonds. Well, who was it that stirred up the trouble that put him in jail? It was the Jewish people who had rejected Jesus Christ as their Savior. So I think when he refers to enduring all things for the likesake, I think he's talking about enduring them because he has this great burden for the nation of Israel to know Jesus Christ as their Savior. But everywhere he goes, he goes to the synagogue to preach to the Jews first. And in that, God is graciously allowing the Jewish people another opportunity to accept Jesus as their Messiah. I mean, even when you go back to Acts chapter two, the very ones that had rejected Christ and crucified him now are given another opportunity to accept him as Peter preaches the gospel to them and declares that Jesus is indeed the Messiah on the day of Pentecost and giving them another opportunity to believe. And many of them did, but not all of them. But God once again gave the Jewish people an opportunity and he's using Paul as he goes on his journey, though he is called to be the apostle to the Gentiles, he has this great burden for the Jewish people, and so he always goes there first to preach the gospel to them. And so he goes into the synagogue in Corinth, and like he did everywhere he went, the Bible says he reasoned with them, verse four. And of course, again, that word reason has the idea of a back and forth. Paul would have gone in, he would have gone through the Old Testament scriptures, just like Jesus did with the two on the Emmaus Road, or even with the disciples in the upper room, going through the Old Testament scriptures about Messiah and showing how the Old Testament scriptures indicated that Messiah must suffer and die and rise from the dead. And he declares that he goes through the scriptures and explains that and shows that. And there's opportunity. The word reason allows for a back and forth. So that they can ask questions and they can discuss it. And ultimately Paul points to the fact as he goes through those Old Testament scriptures and he says, and Jesus is the Messiah. Everything that the Old Testament scriptures prophesied about Messiah suffering, dying, rising from the dead, that happened to Jesus. He is the Messiah. But you notice it also says not only that he reasoned with them, but he's persuaded the Jews and the Greeks. He sought to persuade them. He didn't try to coerce them. He didn't try to twist their arm or put pressure on them to make a false decision. He's not trying to coerce them into outwardly professing an empty faith in Christ, but he is urging them to accept Christ. As he preaches that Jesus is the Christ, then he urges them to believe on him as Savior and as Messiah. Paul wrote to the Corinthian church in his first letter, he said, when I came, my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom. I wasn't trying to lure you in. I simply preach the gospel in demonstration of the spirit and of power that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God is not trying to coerce them into making some kind of empty profession. It's the same heart that Paul had, if you remember later on, and we'll come to this eventually, but he's standing before King Agrippa Festus is there and he has opportunity, shares his testimony again. And as he's doing that, and he's talking about how he saw Christ on the Damascus Road, and that Jesus is the Messiah, that he's risen from the dead, and remember Agrippa's a Jew. And Festus says with a loud voice, Paul, thou art beside thyself, much learning doth make thee mad. And he said, I'm not mad. but I'm speaking the words of truth and soberness. And he said, the King know what these things before whom I also speak freely for I am persuaded that none of these things are hidden from him for this thing was not done in a corner. And then he looks at King Agrippa and he says, King Agrippa, believe us thou the prophets, I know thou believest. And Agrippa said to Paul, almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian. There's that heart, that intensity that Paul demonstrates here as he persuades the Jews and the Greeks. It's the same heart, the same intensity that he has as he turns to Agrippa and says, Agrippa, I know you know the scriptures, surely you believe. And Agrippa says, Paul, you're trying to persuade me to be a Christian, a follower of Christ. Yeah, absolutely. Paul said, I would to God that not only thou, but all that hear me this day were both almost and altogether such as I am, except these bonds. That's the heart of Paul. He's not just sharing the gospel and letting it lie. He doesn't want them to make a false profession, but he does urge them to believe on Christ. There's an earnestness. to his preaching. And then the Bible tells us in verse 5 of Acts 18 that when Silas and Timothy were come from Macedonia. All right, let's back up a minute. Macedonia includes what churches? Macedonia would be the church at Philippi, the church at Thessalonica and the church at Berea. So Silas and Timothy have been back in among those churches. We know Paul sent Timothy from Athens back, he had come to Paul at Athens. Paul had sent him back to Thessalonica, so Timothy had been there, maybe had been back to Philippi. We know the Philippian church often sent gifts to Paul even when he was at Thessalonica and as well as when he's in Achaia. But they come. And presumably, based on what the scripture says, they must have brought a financial gift from the churches there, because when it tells us that Paul was pressed in the spirit and testified to the Jews that Jesus was Christ or was Messiah, the idea there is that he gave up his tent making and gave himself fully to the preaching of the gospel and witnessing. He wrote to the Corinthian church again, 2 Corinthians 11 verse 9, He's probably at least referring to Silas and Timothy, maybe there were others that came with them with a gift. But he says, in all things, I've kept myself from being burdensome unto you. But Paul received these gifts from the Macedonian churches, and it enabled him to give up his tent making for a while and just focus on preaching the gospel. By the way, Silas and Timothy also preached. So initially it's Paul and probably Aquila and Priscilla to some degree as well. But when Silas and Timothy get there, they also preached and witnessed others. 2 Corinthians 1.19 tells us that. And the result of that was that some Jews accepted Jesus as the Messiah and their savior. We read in verse eight about a man named Crispus, the chief ruler of the synagogue who believed on the Lord with all his house, him and his entire household. In verse 17, we read about a man named Sosthenes. The Greeks took Sosthenes. We'll come to what's happening here, but he's called the chief ruler of the synagogue. He's a Jew. And in 1 Corinthians 1 and verse 1, as Paul is writing the first letter to the Corinthian church, he says it's from him and from Sosthenes. So evidently Sosthenes also believed on Christ as his savior. Stephanus and his household, Paul mentions them in 1 Corinthians 1.16. These are some of the notable Jewish converts. There obviously were others. It says that that some of them believed, and these are ones that did, but most of the Jews rejected the gospel. Verse six says, when they opposed themselves and blasphemed, they rejected the gospel, they blasphemed the name of Jesus, and when it says they opposed, they didn't just reject the gospel, but they actually tried to stop Paul from preaching the gospel. The word oppose means to become an enemy, to set yourself in in battle array against the gospel. It's not enough to reject the gospel. They tried to silence the preachers. As I was thinking about that, I'm just reminded it's been the same way down through history. When men reject the gospel, they want to silence the preachers of the gospel. Today in America, our nation is more and more rejecting the gospel, or at least among our leadership, and their desire would be to shut us down so that we can't preach the gospel, that we can't tell others about Christ. You know, they would say to us, why don't you just leave us alone and let us live our life in our sin and ungodliness? And we would say to them, why don't you just let us alone and let us preach the gospel? I mean, if you don't have to believe it, but why do you have to try and silence us? Why not let us freely preach it? Why do we have to be silenced? But they, obviously it's the devil that is behind it all. but it's not enough to them just to reject the gospel. They have to silence those that preach it. And so Paul, having preached the gospel for weeks, we don't know how long, but for weeks in the synagogue and persuading them, seeking to turn them to Christ, But when they set themselves against the gospel and blaspheme the name of Christ and Paul renounced them, he shook his raiment and said unto them, your blood be upon your own heads. I'm clean from henceforth I will go unto the Gentiles. Paul renounced the unbelieving Jews. He had fulfilled his responsibility for their souls by proclaiming the gospel of them. They had rejected it. And so Paul says, I'm no longer responsible. You are. It's the same thing that Jesus taught the disciples to do. when he had sent out the 70 to preach in Israel, when he was on earth, and when he sent out the 12 as well, he told them, into whatsoever city you enter and they receive you not, go your ways into the streets of the same and say, even the very dust of your city, which cleaveth on us, we do wipe off against you. Notwithstanding, be sure of this, that the kingdom of God has come nigh unto you. I say unto you, it shall be more tolerable in that day for Sodom than for that city. And Paul is saying to these Jews, you have heard the gospel, the kingdom of God has come nigh unto you and you have rejected it. And though he doesn't use the terminology, Jesus said it will be more tolerable for the city of Sodom in the day of judgment than for those who have heard and understood that Jesus is the Messiah and have rejected him. And of course, what does that say for America? For so many in America who have had the gospel all their life, have heard it and yet rejected it, And they were given a count on the day of judgment for having rejected that which was true and which they had access to. Nehemiah did the same thing when there were those in his day who had been Jews who had been oppressing other Jews. They had borrowed money. And the lenders, the Jewish lenders, were charging exorbitant interest, and the people were having to end up selling everything they had, and some of them even selling their children into slavery. And Nehemiah said, this is not right. You guys need to fix this. You need to repent of this. You need to make it right. And they made a promise to do that. And in Nehemiah, it says, Nehemiah said, I shook my lap and said, so God shake out every man from his house and from his labor that performeth not this promise. And even thus be he shaken out and empty. That's what Paul is essentially saying. You have rejected Christ, so you are being rejected. And so Paul then turns to the Gentiles. So it says that he departed thence, he entered into a certain man's house named Justice, one that worshiped God, whose house joined hard to the synagogue, right next door to the synagogue. And Crispus, the chief ruler of the synagogue, believed on the Lord of all his house, but many of the Corinthians, hearing, believed and were baptized. Some of the Jews believed, And then many of the Corinthians also believe that's a reference to those who are not Jews. They listened intently, they heard the gospel, they listened intently to the preaching of the gospel, and they believed on Jesus Christ as their savior, and were baptized in the name of Jesus. And again, we read about some of those Gentiles, some significant one, Justice, who's mentioned in verse seven, in 1 Corinthians 16, verse seven, Paul mentions a man named Fortunatus, an Achaicus, And in Romans 16.23 and Acts 19.22, a man named Erastus, who incidentally was a city treasurer. And Paul went into Corinth and preached the gospel, and the Jews by and large rejected it, though some believe. But when he turned to the Gentiles and preached it faithfully to them, even one of the city officials believed. You see the widespread of the gospel as Paul goes into these areas. And these people are getting saved. By the way, it's interesting to note, too, that Paul only baptized a few of those converts, lest it be said he was seeking converts to himself and not to Christ. But they believed and they were baptized. But probably Timothy and Silas and some of the others actually did most of the baptizing. Most of these Gentiles that got saved were poor and uneducated. Because Paul would write to them, 1 Corinthians 1.26, you see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called. Again, there were some of the upper class. Paul said not many wise men, not many mighty, not many noble. I think it was Queen Victoria that said she thanked God for the M. And she was a professing believer. As Queen of England, she was thankful that God didn't say not any noble. Erasmus, Erastus, I'm sorry, the city treasurer gets saved. He's one of the noble in Corinth. When we read about in 1 Corinthians chapter 11 about the issue at the Lord's table, there was not a unity when they came to the Lord's table. And part of the problem was that the wealthy, when they had the Lord's table, they brought a meal, they had a meal together, and the wealthy, would bring their food and they'd go off by themselves and eat and leave the poor people to either do without or eat what little bit they brought with them and there was no coming together and Paul rebuked them for that. So evidently there were some in the church who were well off even though there was a lot of them that were just middle or lower class people, even slaves. But you know, the interesting thing is Paul writes to them again, he tells us, and again, it's interesting to me that the Holy Spirit reveals so much about Paul's ministry on this second journey, and particularly in Corinth, because he tells us about these people that got saved, 1 Corinthians 6, Verses nine through 11, and Paul writes to them. He says, no, you're not that the unrighteous should not inherit the kingdom of God. Be not deceived, neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners shall inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you're washed, you're sanctified, you're justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the spirit of our God. As Paul went into this, again, Corinth was known for its sensuality, for its immorality. It was maybe the most immoral city in the old Roman Empire. And yet Paul preached the gospel to those wicked, immoral people. Even the homosexuals and the the prostitutes and the drunkards and the drug addicts and and the thieves and all of those heard the gospel and many of them came to Christ. There is there is no one beyond the power of God to save. And he says such were some of you that that was what you were. That was your life, but it's not any longer. You've been washed, you've been cleansed. We saying, have you been washed in the blood of the lamb? That's what Paul's saying to them. You were washed clean. Through the blood of Christ, their sin had made them dirty and polluted, but the blood of Christ cleansed them and they were clean. They had no need to have a guilty conscience. They could stand pure and holy before God because they had been washed of their sins and they had been sanctified, set apart to God. Paul writes to the Corinthian church and he calls them saints. even though it was the most carnal church that he had to deal with, which is not surprising, given the nature of the society in which it was formed, that it would be one of the most troublesome churches, one of the most carnal churches that there was, because these people, these are new believers, they don't have a history of being taught the word of God, they're newly coming out of a life of godlessness and immorality and selfishness and all of that, And the Holy Spirit is changing them, but it's taking time. Paul has to continue to work with him, writes these letters and he visits them a number of times and trying to, as he says, form Christ in them to help them to overcome the flesh that they're still struggling against. And he says, you know, not only were they washed and sanctified, but justified. When God would look at them, he would see them as righteous and treat them as righteous, as if they had not done all those things that they are guilty of doing. And so God did a wonderful work in Corinth in saving not only some of the Jews, but many of the Godless, immoral, idolatrous Corinthians. And a church was established. And for at least 18 months, Paul had freedom to preach the gospel. Again, the Lord said, you know, as Paul is even being successful, if we can refer to it that way, in Corinth, God is, he's fearful, and God has to come to him and encourage him, stop being afraid, keep on speaking the truth, don't hold your peace. And the Bible says in verse 11 that he continued there a year and six months teaching the word of God among them. Paul was able to stay there long term. And when it tells us in verse eight that many of the Corinthians hearing believed in the original, the idea is they kept this kept on going for 18 months. Paul's continually preaching the gospel. The Gentiles are hearing it. And every maybe every day, at least every week, people are getting saved out of this, these ungodly lifestyles and coming into the church. By the way, Paul wrote 1 and 2 Thessalonians, and we believe he wrote Romans from Corinth during this missionary journey. And so thinking about that, this is the first time on this journey that he's had any time to settle down. Everywhere he went, he wasn't there long enough, he got run out of town. Now he's there for 18 months, so now he has time. to actually address Him. He can't go back to Thessalonica. He's been trying to go back, and the door is closed. So he writes the letters to help establish them in the faith. But he's got the time and opportunity to do that, being there for an extended period of time. And so for 18 months, he has freedom to preach the Gospel in Corinth. And though many rejected it, many came to Christ, and a church was established. And I was reminded of what Jesus said, I will build my church. and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. No matter how much Paul was opposed, as he preached the gospel, churches were established everywhere he went because Christ was establishing his church. And as Paul preached the gospel in Corinth, not only was Corinth evangelized, but the surrounding region as well. In 2 Corinthians 11, verse 10, he speaks of the regions of Achaia, as Paul is there for 18 months, that not only is Corinth evangelized, but the gospel spreads out to the outlying areas around Corinth. And even in Romans 16.1, we read about a woman named Phoebe, who's a servant of the church at Cenchrea. Cenchrea was one of the port cities for Corinth. If you remember, Corinth is on that little neck of land that ties the isthmus, I'm sorry, the peninsula of southern Greece to the mainland, and Corinth is right there, and there's a, sorry, I don't have the map to show you this again, but there's a port on each side of that isthmus, that neck of land where Corinth is, so trade coming either way passes through Corinth, but at least in one of those port cities, there's a church established as well because of Paul mentions Phoebe, who's a servant of that church at St. Prias. So God did a wonderful work, not only in Corinth itself, but in the whole outlying area as Paul preached the gospel. And so let me let me challenge us as as we close tonight, let me let me challenge us this way. You know, when Paul went into Corinth, he's scared, he's sick and he's having to work to provide his living. But none of that stopped him from preaching the gospel. How easily we are sidetracked from our responsibility to share the gospel with others. Well, I'm working, I'm busy. Paul was busy too. Paul had to make his own living. Well, you know, I'm tired, I don't feel good. Paul often didn't feel good. Well, you know, I'm scared. What are people going to say? Or, you know, maybe even I'll run across that guy who doesn't just reject me, but actually would physically harm me. I'm scared. Well, none of those things stopped Paul. They were all true of Paul. None of them stopped him from preaching the gospel. And God did a wonderful thing because the power is in the gospel as the Holy Spirit takes the word of God and applies it to the hearts of sinful men, then the work for God is done. Paul said, again, I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. It is the power of God unto salvation. Paul's weakness, his weariness, his fear, even though he had to battle all that in preaching the gospel, the gospel made a difference because the spirit of God empowered the preaching of the word and people got saved. And I would submit to you tonight, if we would faithfully preach the gospel, and not let things deter us as we do, people will get saved. We may not see the kind of results of Paul saw at Corinth or at Ephesus or some of the other places that he went, but if we would faithfully witness to others as God gives us opportunity, sharing with them the gospel, people will get saved because It is not us, it is the word of God and the spirit of God empowering that word that makes a difference in men's lives. Let me note one other thing and then I'll close. When Paul shook the dust, shook out his raiment, again he said to them, your blood be upon your own heads, I am clean. Remember the Lord made a statement to Ezekiel one day and he said this in Ezekiel three and he repeats it, I think it's in Ezekiel 18, but he says to Ezekiel, son of man, I have made thee a watchman under the house of Israel. Therefore, hear the word at my mouth and give them warning from me. When I say unto the wicked, thou shalt surely die, and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way to save his life. The same wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but his blood will I require at thine hand. Yet if thou warn the wicked, and he turn not from his wickedness nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity, but thou hast delivered thy soul. Paul had a responsibility. At one point he said, I'm debtor to preach the gospel. God told Ezekiel, you have an obligation to warn the wicked to turn from their wickedness. And if you don't do it, their blood is on your hands. You're guilty. We're not responsible to witness to everybody that we meet. Paul didn't. There were cities Paul went through, evidently passed right through, never stopped to preach the gospel. He followed the call of God and the leading of the spirit of God into even to where he preached the gospel. We're not responsible to witness to everybody we meet, but we are responsible to make use of every opportunity that God gives us to be his witness. How many at the Great White Throne Judgment will look at us, will look at you, look at me, and ask, why didn't you tell me? Why didn't you tell me? I don't know if that'll actually happen, but it might. It could. There will be people there, we've all been guilty of this, people that we, The Holy Spirit said, share the Gospel with them, and we said, nope. And they may wind up in hell. And though we are not completely responsible, we are responsible for the fact that we didn't do what the Holy Spirit told us to do. But the Word of God is powerful. If we would just share it, people will get saved. Well, let's stand for prayer. Our Father, we thank you for the instruction that you give us and the account of Paul's various ministries and his journeys in taking the gospel into new territory and both the encouragement and the challenges that are set before us as we study his life and we see how he struggled and yet how he persevered and How in your strength and through your power and by your Holy Spirit and the faithful proclamation of the word, churches were established, souls were saved. And Lord, you have never promised us it would be easy. You never promised us it wouldn't be a battle to be the witness that you have called us to be. And Lord, we are all guilty of failing you so often. Lord, stir our hearts. Make us fishers of men. Give us the boldness that we need to open our mouths and speak for you. And then, Lord, show us the opportunities that you had set before us and help us not to say no when the Spirit urges us to speak for you. We ask in Jesus' name, amen.