Latest / Cumberland Trace Church of Christ (Formerly Lehman Ave Church of Christ) / "A Study of the book of Acts" by Hiram Kemp - Part 10

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"A Study of the book of Acts" by Hiram Kemp - Part 10 · Cumberland Trace Church of Christ (Formerly Lehman Ave Church of Christ)

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All right, good morning. If you got your Bible, go ahead and turn it to
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Acts 18. We're looking at challenges the church will always face,
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and today we're going to look at 4 challenges, hopefully. 2 from
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chapter 18, 1 from 19, and then 2
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in 20, so 4. They'll overlap though, but thanks for being
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in this class this quarter as we looked at various challenges the church will always
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face. Today we're going to deal with several. One of them, the first one,
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deals with a person and with a sort of personality issue. And let
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me just start by saying, sometimes we place what I call a halo effect
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on Bible characters, and we do this really to our own detriment. And so,
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the halo effect is basically where you look at a Bible character,
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somebody you know, you appreciate what they've done in the Bible— Esther,
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Ruth, Abraham, David— and you just kind of think everything
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they did was always right. They never had any problems. They never had
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any struggles, even though the Bible says the opposite, like Romans 3:23.
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All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Or 1
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Corinthians 10:13, the Bible says, there's no temptation that's overtaken
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you but that which is common to everybody. So everybody has sins and temptations,
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but everybody also just has regular human weaknesses.
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James 5:17, James says, Elijah was a man just
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like us. So the Bible is often trying to emphasize to us that the people
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we're reading about were very human. Just like we are in all
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of the ways. And when we put the halo effect on somebody, we dehumanize
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them and we even do it to our own detriment. In effect, we do this
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with a lot of people, but maybe nobody more than who?
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Paul. So much so we even give him a nickname. He's the Apostle Paul.
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We don't say that about anybody else, but if you listen to us preachers talk,
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it's like first name Apostle, last name Paul.
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And we just can't see Paul making any mistakes. So far as we're concerned,
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he was always daring, always bold, always courageous, always faithful
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after his conversion. But if you read the letters that Paul wrote and the book
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of Acts, what you find is he was daring, bold, courageous,
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but not always so. And one of the challenges we're going to talk about this,
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this morning affects Paul directly, and that is overcoming the
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challenge of fear. So if you got your Bible to Acts 18, let's just read
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the first 8 verses. This is Paul on the second missionary journey, and this
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is his work in Corinth. Acts 18:1-8. Starting in verse 1, it says,
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after this, Paul left Athens. He went to Corinth. He found
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a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, recently come from Italy
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with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius commanded all the Jews to leave
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Rome. And he went to see them. And because he was of the same
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trade, he stayed with them and worked with them, for they were tentmakers by trade.
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And he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath and tried to persuade the Jews
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and the Greeks. This is Paul's normal activity. Go to the synagogue, preach and teach,
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and try to convert folks. Let's look at his success or how the
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results of his ministry. Verses 5 through 8 says, when Silas and Timothy arrived from
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Macedonia, Paul was occupied with the word,
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testifying to the Jews that the Christ was Jesus. And when they opposed
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and reviled him, he shook out his garments and said to them, your blood be
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on your own heads. I'm innocent. From now on, I will go to the Gentiles.
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And he left there and went to the house of a man named Titius Justus,
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a worshiper of God. His house was next door to the synagogue,
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and Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue, believed in the Lord together with his entire
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household. And many of the Corinthians hearing Paul believed,
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and they were baptized. So Paul's results there are kind of typical for Paul.
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He goes there, he preaches, people believe, and they're baptized. But then notice Jesus's
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words of assurance and comfort to Paul. Acts 18:9-10,
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it says, and the Lord said to Paul one night in a vision, do not
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be afraid, but go on speaking and do not be silent, for I'm with
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you and no one will attack you to harm you, For I have many people
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in this city who are my people. So here's a question. Why would Jesus
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say this to Paul right after Paul has preached? Acts 18:8
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says, many of the Corinthians hearing Paul believed and were baptized. The next thing
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you read is that Jesus is saying to Paul, hey, don't be afraid.
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Keep speaking. Nobody's going to harm you. And I've got a lot of people in
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this city. Why would Jesus say those words to Paul?
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Evidently Paul was afraid. Roger, that's right. Evidently Paul had some
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fear. And as a result of this, Jesus is speaking to him to encourage him
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to overcome that. And so here's a question: why does Paul still
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experience fear at this point in his ministry? By this point, Paul's written several
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New Testament letters. He's already been on one missionary journey. And if
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you read about the first missionary journey, Paul had already been in several sticky situations.
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He had been stoned in Lystra, run out of town in Damascus and
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other places. Why would Paul at this point in his ministry still be dealing with
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trepidation and fear? So much so that Jesus has to do something he
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really hadn't done since the road to Damascus. Throughout the book of Acts,
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Jesus doesn't just make these physical appearances or
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these vision appearances, theophanic visions where he appears
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and speaks to anybody. Jesus hadn't done this with Paul since Acts 9 on the
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road to Damascus. Evidently the fear Paul's experiencing here is so acute
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that Jesus had to interrupt his travels and say, I want you to
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keep preaching here. And verse 11 says, Paul stayed for 18 months
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in Corinth as a result. How is it that Paul at this point in his
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ministry, a seasoned preacher, apostle, author of the New
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Testament, is still experiencing fear so much so that Jesus has to
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come along and encourage him? He's still just a human. So part of
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this is about being a human. Psalm 78:39,
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God says, he remembered that they were but flesh. So one of the issues is
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Paul's a human like anybody else. What else? Maybe at
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this place. Okay, so Mike says maybe Paul was not having as
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much success at this place. As you read through the book of Acts,
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and we can put success in quotes, as far as Luke describing
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conversions, the numeric value of those conversions starts to go
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down the deeper you get into the book of Acts. You no longer read of
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thousands of people obeying the gospel. You'll hear about some, you'll hear about many.
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Paul's just coming off of the preaching in Athens. Wouldn't call it a
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failure, but not the monstrous results and numbers that we're used to. So maybe different
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circumstances, Paul could be discouraged at this point. What else that
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Jesus would have to speak to Paul and say, don't be afraid? What kind of
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place was Corinth that you know of?
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Sensual evil. Yeah, read 1 Corinthians 6:9-10.
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Paul talks about idolatry, adultery, homosexuality,
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drunkenness. So sometimes certain places make your
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work harder than it probably typically is, and I think Paul's dealing
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with some of that. At this point in Paul's life, he may also be physically
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fatigued. And sometimes fatigue will bring on doubt and struggles
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and fear where when a person's healthy and doing the best that they might
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not experience. One of the challenges the church is always going to face is overcoming
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fear. And this was not the only time that Paul faced this.
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It would be in other times in his life. Sorry about the font. Tried to
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get as much as we could on one screen. If you can't read it,
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I'll read it to you, okay? Look at 1 Corinthians 2. I just want to
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show you this is not a one-off. Throughout Paul's life and ministry,
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there are several times when Paul tells us things about his personality
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indirectly that maybe we don't see because we've placed the
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halo effect on Paul. In 1 Corinthians chapter 2 and in verse
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3, Paul, no doubt speaking back to this very occasion in Corinth
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in Acts 18, this is what he says in 1 Corinthians 2 and verse 3.
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In verses 1 and 2, I desire to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ
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and him crucified. And what does he say about his time in Corinth in verse
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3? And I was with you in meekness and weakness,
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excuse me, and in fear and in what? Much trembling.
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Paul wasn't just afraid. Whatever they were doing in Corinth, this wasn't everywhere that Paul
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went. Sometimes Paul would go to a place, be stoned. They say, Paul, don't go
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back in there. Paul says, nobody can stop me. I'm going back in.
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Whatever happened at Corinth, Paul was not only afraid, he was
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not only in distress or weakness, He was so
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afraid that he was literally trembling. He was terrified
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to the point of trembling. Paul was afraid. I don't know if that's in your
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vision or your view of the Apostle Paul, but that's what the Bible says
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that he experienced. That's how he describes his own life. Look at Ephesians 6.
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Ephesians 6, and look at the end of this in verses 18 through
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20. Paul's not going to mention fear explicitly, but he will say some things that
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tell us something about how he went about approaching ministry and why he needed
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prayers. Ephesians 6:18, Paul says,
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you should be praying at all times in the Spirit with all prayer and supplication.
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To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication
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for all the saints. So Paul says, pray for all the Christians. But then
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in verse 19, and also for me, that words may be given me in the
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opening of my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel for
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which I'm an ambassador in chains. That I may declare boldly as I— what?—
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ought to speak. Paul's saying, pray for me that I'll get an opportunity to preach,
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and when I do, that I might do it— how?— boldly.
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Why pray that I might do it boldly? Isn't that how Paul always operated?
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Evidently, there were occasionally temptations where Paul,
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without the prayer and support of others, might do what?
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He might shrink back. And so he says, pray for me. Colossians 4,
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we'll look at this last one. Colossians 4:10. 2 through 4,
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similar prayer requests from Paul to a church. Paul never been
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here. He had never been to Colossae, but here's what he requests of them.
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He says, continue steadfastly in prayer, Colossians 4:2,
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being watchful in it with thanksgiving. At the same time, pray also
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for us that God may open to us a door for the word to declare
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the mystery of Christ on which I— on account of which I'm in prison,
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that I may make it clear, which is how I ought to speak.
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And in 2 Thessalonians 3:1-3, Paul's going to pray there,
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hey, pray for me that I might be delivered from wicked and unreasonable people
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because not everybody possesses faith. What are some of the themes you see in
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these prayers, especially these prayer requests that Paul's making of
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other churches and of other Christians? What is this telling you about Paul? What is
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Paul typically praying about or wanting prayer— people to
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pray for him about? What are his typical requests surrounding?
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To be bold like he should be, which suggests that maybe he was on the
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verge of not being so. What else? What was Paul
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afraid about? Be bold in what regard?
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In soul-winning, in regards to evangelism. Is that what it says? Soul-winning? Yeah,
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evangelism. We tend to view this as Paul's natural reflex. Show of
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hands, anybody ever been nervous before about sharing the gospel with somebody?
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Ever been nervous? Paul too. Have you ever been so nervous though that
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you literally started shaking? See, Paul was that afraid
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in Corinth, and yet he still preached. What kinds of things are we
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afraid of just in general in life as it relates to our Christianity?
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What kinds of things are we afraid of? Because this is a challenge that Christians
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will always have to overcome. It's in the book of Acts with Paul. It'll always
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be a part of our lives. What kinds of things are we afraid of?
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Evangelism being turned down and soul winning. Okay, that's one. But even outside
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of evangelism, what other things grip us to the point of we're fearful or
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we're timid about these things in our lives? What kinds of things?
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It might change relationships. We'll talk more about that later. But yeah, sometimes evangelism
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will change relationships. Yep. Anything else?
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Don't be arrogant and haughty for sure.
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Yep. We're afraid of rejection. Yes. But I mean fear in general
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doesn't have to deal with evangelism. Like you're a human being. What are you afraid
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of? Yes, but not— let's not think evangelism
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for a minute. Yes, they're not— when I have the right answers, that's true too.
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People are worried about that. But is that all that we're afraid of in life?
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You're just worried about evangelism all day? That's all you think about?
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Yeah. What else? What are you afraid of? Anybody afraid of death?
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You ever died before? A lot of people are afraid of that, right? Worried about,
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hey, how's it going to be when I transition to the other side? Sometimes we're
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afraid about death, even though Jesus says Hey, I'm the resurrection and the life.
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And those that believe in me, though they were dead, yet shall they live.
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The one who believes in me will never really die. And yet, if you're honest,
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and sometimes as you get closer to the front of that line,
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there is a fear about death and maybe not even about your eternal security,
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but about the process itself. I'm just telling you, that's a natural
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part of being a Christian. What else? Somebody said something. I didn't hear it.
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Kevin. Worldly expectations. Yeah, sometimes we're worried
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about our survival. Am I going to have enough resources to survive? That's a fear
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that people have. Am I going to have enough money? Am I going to have
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enough of what I need to make it from day to day? Kim?
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Yeah, public speaking. Yes, exactly. That's why
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there's not like a long line of people saying, Hiram, please let me do a
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devo next month. Yeah, that's right. Yeah, public speaking. Sometimes we're afraid
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of that. Um, I think we're afraid of some sometimes our own failure,
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and we're worried about whether or not we're going to be good enough and whether
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we're going to succeed. Paul was a human just like us, and he faced fear.
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Sometimes we talk about— and I think this makes Paul's words to Timothy,
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by the way, at the end of his life that much more powerful and potent.
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What does he tell Timothy? Timothy, God has not given us the
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spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of self-control. Fan into
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flame the gift of God which was given you by the laying on of my
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hands. Paul's not saying that in 2 Timothy 1:6-7 as a man who never
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experienced fear in his life. Timothy, you've been with me. You've literally
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seen me shaking and afraid and timid. But what does Paul
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do every time? He overcomes. He still engages and he
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does what needs to be done. And I think that's his encouragement to us.
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Go to Psalm 56 quickly and then we'll move on. I think sometimes we can
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paint a false dichotomy that in our lives it's either fear or faith.
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And if you got faith, you won't be afraid. But most times,
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It's not fear or faith. Sometimes it's
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fear with faith. And I think you'll see that David's another guy. You put a
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halo effect on David, wrote many of the Psalms, good, faithful,
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courageous man. But look at David in Psalm 56:3-4.
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He's talking about his enemies and being surrounded. Psalm 56:3,
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he says, when I'm afraid, I do what?
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I put my trust in you, in God whose word I praise. In God I
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trust. I will not be afraid. What can flesh do to me? When David's afraid,
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that's when he puts his trust. It's not, hey, now I'm no longer afraid.
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I don't have any struggles. David's working through his fear with his faith.
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And Paul says, I was with you in much fear and in much trembling.
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And even though Jesus spoke to Paul in Acts 18, he still was afraid and
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he still had to deal with it. Go back to Acts 18, and I
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want us to notice, and you tell me, how did Jesus address Paul's
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fear? What did Jesus do for Paul when Paul was afraid. Just look at this
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text. Look at Acts 18:9-10. What does
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Jesus provide for Paul when Paul's dealing with this fear
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in Corinth? What does he do for him? I'm with you. He reminds
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him of the divine presence. I'm with you. Does God say that to anybody else
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in the Bible? Is there anybody else in scripture you can think of who was
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dealing with fear and God's response was, you've got a great task ahead of
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you. Don't be afraid because I'm with you. Anybody else?
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Joshua. Who said Joshua chapter 1 and verse 9? Yeah, Miss Doris. Joshua 1:9.
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He says, Joshua, be strong and be courageous.
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Don't be afraid because I'm what? I'm with you. So the divine
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presence. He does that with Paul here. He says, don't be afraid.
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Go on speaking. Verse 10, I'm with you. The divine presence. What else?
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What else? Acts 18:9-10. Just pull them right out of the text. What else does
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he say? Harry.
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Mm-hmm. Yes, there's the— yeah, Harry's mentioning the bottom
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half of the Great Commission, Matthew 28:20. Lo, I'm with you always,
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even to the end of the age. So there's this regard for Paul. You've got
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to do evangelism, Paul. No, Jesus is saying we've got to do evangelism.
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I'm going with you. And he says, I'm going to be with you always to
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the end of the age. Yes.
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Yes. So he also includes other people. Look at the end of verse 10.
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He says, no one will attack you in this city, for I have— what in
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this city for Paul? I have many people. How does
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that encourage you when you're afraid? This idea of many people, what does that mean?
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It's not just you. Look at 1 Peter 5. Hold your hand in
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Acts 18. Go to 1 Peter 5. 1 Peter 5,
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and look at verse 8 and verse 9. You're not alone. This is a
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constant idea in Scripture. You remember Elijah? What did Elijah think
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in 1 Kings 19? He says, I'm the only one left and
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they seek my life to take it away. What does God tell Elijah?
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No, you're not. I have 7,000 prophets who haven't bowed the knee to Baal,
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1 Kings 19:18. And the same thing happens here. 1 Peter 5:8,
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be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary the devil walks about
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as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. We tend to think about that
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personally. The devil wants me, but look at verse 9, whom you resist steadfast
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in your faith, knowing that the same conflict is being accomplished by who?
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Your brotherhood throughout the world. It's everybody. It's not just you.
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And Jesus tells Paul, I've got a lot of people in Corinth.
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Now Paul's walking through Corinth and there's all kinds of things there. There's idol
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temples, there's brothels, there's idolatry. And it may look like
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there's more of them than there are of me. And Paul is told by Jesus,
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Hey, don't be afraid. I've got a lot of people in this city. And if
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I'm with them, Paul, I'm also going to be with you. So, so far we
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found Jesus told him, I'm with you. There's other people. What else?
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Nobody's going to hurt you. Wouldn't it be nice if you knew ahead of time
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about all the things you're afraid of? Death, finances,
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health. If you could hear directly from heaven, Jesus saying,
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hey, none of it's going to hurt you. I think if we knew
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that ahead of time, and that's most of the struggle with our fear, we're afraid
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of the unknown. And if we just knew how it was going to end,
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right? One time I had a friend
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going through a terrible hardship and there was an elder that told him, he was
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trying to explain to him, hey, you're going to get through this. You'll make it
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through on the other side. And he said, I know what this feels like.
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You know, you're going to get punched. You just don't know when to flinch.
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Like, you know, this is coming. And if you knew when it was coming,
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if you could just tell me the conclusion ahead of time, I could make it
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through. He tells Paul, nobody's going to harm you. How would your life
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work if you knew ahead of time, hey, whatever I'm going through, whatever it is,
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It's going to be bumpy and rocky, but I'm going to see it through to
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the other side. Most people can handle that. Most people can ride the waves.
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Our fear is what? It's going to hurt me.
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And more than hurt me, it's going to do what? It's going to destroy me.
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What if you had divine assurance nothing's going to hurt you?
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What if you do? Jesus says, fear not those that can destroy the body,
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but after that they have what? Nothing else they can do. Just think
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about that part of the phrase. After that, there's nothing else they can do.
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Fear not those that can destroy the body, but after that, there's nothing else they
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can do. There's some things that will sting in this life, but they all
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have a stopping point. And after that, there's nothing else that they can
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do. Paul says, I'm persuaded nothing can separate you from the love of God.
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So take your greatest fear, play it all the way out, and then just realize
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when this world has done its worst, God has a stopping point
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and there's nothing else that it can do. The same assurance that Paul had,
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we had in proximity. Just because Jesus spoke to Paul in the vision,
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Proximity makes no difference concerning the potency of his words. It's just
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as powerful even though he's not whispering it to us in our bedroom. The things
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you're worried about, listen to Jesus. Ultimately, I mean, in the deepest
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ways where it really matters, they won't hurt you. You run out
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of money, so be it. Your health fails you, so be it.
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Something comes up, you lose your job, in a sense, so be it. Yes,
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those are waves we've got to ride in this life, but ultimately Jesus
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says, I promise you those things won't hurt you. And what he does for Paul
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is he neutralizes the fear. He says, hey, you're so worried about this,
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but in the end, these people won't hurt you. Now, Paul, he rode with Luke,
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he had a doctor, but I imagine Paul was a pretty beat up dude.
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They didn't have like modern chiropractors and Paul had been stoned and all sorts
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of things. And you hear Jesus saying, this isn't going to hurt you. Well,
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Paul had a lot of other things that were going to happen to him in
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life. So what does Jesus mean none of these things are going to hurt you?
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Not in the ultimate sense. And we need to live our lives more
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thinking about the ultimate sense. Romans 8:18,
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Paul says, I'm convinced that the sufferings of this present time,
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not worth comparing with the glory that shall be revealed in us.
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So I'm going to be with you. There's other people. None of this is going
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to hurt you. Anything else in Acts 18? Keep speaking.
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Yeah, Miss Tara, keep speaking and don't be silent.
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You don't have to wait till you're past your fear to get
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active and busy for the Lord. And I think sometimes we're waiting for the coast
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to be clear. Sometimes the coast doesn't get clear. Sometimes you've just got to keep
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on moving along and doing what he wants you to do. Paul, you keep speaking.
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Don't be silent. How's Paul going to work through his fear? Keep doing what God
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wants him to do. You just have got to keep showing up and keep doing.
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If you wait until all is well, that's all the devil's got to
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do. If you're just waiting for fair weather conditions, and then once
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I get rid of my fears, I'll get busy for the Lord. You'll never get
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busy because there'll even be hypothetical fears that'll keep you frozen.
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He says, you keep speaking and don't let anybody stop you. And then the last
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thing I would say is just in verse 9, the direct command, don't do this,
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Paul. Do not be afraid. Don't let fear run your life. Just choose
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not to be afraid. And this is what he tells Paul, and this is what
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he says to all of us. All right, last thing before we move on to
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number 2. I think there are some things we talked about, individual aspects
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of this as Christians, but And you won't be able to see this good,
21:17
but there are some things I think churches are afraid of. Like, as far
21:20
as our congregation in a wider sense than just you and me as
21:24
individuals, sometimes I think churches face the challenge of fear concerning the
21:28
budget. What does Paul say in Philippians 4:19? My God will supply what?
21:33
How many of them? All your needs according to his riches and glory in Christ.
21:37
Sometimes I think churches are worried about members leaving. There's a fear.
21:41
If we stand up and preach this, if we say this, if we challenge in
21:44
this way, what about the people leaving? Or what about young people in the next
21:48
generation? And for every one of those fears, Jesus says the same
21:51
thing to us that he said to Paul. I'm with you. Other people are dealing
21:55
with this very same thing. You just keep doing my will and above
21:59
all, don't be afraid. And it's not always faith or fear. Sometimes it's
22:03
faith with fear. And the longer we walk and do that, the fear starts
22:07
to fade and the faith starts to rise. And that's what you see happen
22:11
with Paul. Last thing in Acts 18, look at what the result was in verse
22:14
11. What does Paul do after Jesus says this to him in verse 11?
22:20
How long? Up to this point in Paul's life, this was the
22:24
longest he stayed anywhere. Now he'll be in Ephesus for 3 years, but up to
22:27
this point, it's the longest Paul stayed. Paul probably had a ticket booked to leave
22:30
the next day, but after he spoke with Jesus, he said, I can do 18
22:33
months here. I can stay. If Jesus is going to stay with me, I can,
22:36
I can ride this out. And that's how we ought to view our troubles and
22:39
our fears. If Jesus is with me, I can ride this out. If Jesus isn't
22:44
with me, then it doesn't matter what I'm going through. I want to go through
22:47
it with Jesus. Overcoming the challenge of fear. Churches are going to always have to
22:51
deal with this. We will as individual Christians. And Paul teaches us how to
22:54
overcome it. All right. Here's the second challenge. We got 4. Correcting mistaken ideas
22:58
about salvation. All right. All of the challenges we've talked about so far this quarter
23:02
are applicable. I think they apply. This may be the one that you probably
23:05
could end up dealing with this week. I think this is a challenge.
23:08
Correcting mistaken views about when a person's saved and how the gospel
23:13
plan of salvation works is a ready challenge that every one of us is going
23:16
to face. And what we're going to see in Acts 18:24 down through the
23:20
end of the chapter, and then in Acts 19:1-7, is several
23:23
things: how the early church handled this when they ran up against people that
23:27
thought they were saved that weren't, or that taught things about salvation
23:31
that were inaccurate. And I think it'll help us when we deal with this.
23:34
So look at Acts 18, and I'm going to read 24 down through the end.
23:38
Now a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to
23:41
Ephesus. He was an eloquent man. He was competent in the Scriptures.
23:45
He had been instructed in the way of the Lord, and being fervent in spirit,
23:48
he spoke and taught accurately the things concerning Jesus, though he
23:52
only knew the baptism of John. He began to speak boldly in the synagogue,
23:56
but when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained
24:00
to him the way of God more accurately. And when he wished to cross into
24:03
Achaia, the brothers encouraged him and wrote to the disciples to welcome him.
24:06
And when he arrived, they greatly helped those who through grace had believed, for he
24:10
powerfully refuted the Jews in public, showing by the Scriptures that the Christ
24:14
was Jesus. So, okay, there's 2 different groups here. Here's the first group.
24:18
These individuals, they come to Apollos.
24:21
Apollos is preaching. What do we know about Apollos in Acts 18? What does Luke
24:25
tell us about him? What kind of preacher is he?
24:29
Mighty, eloquent, bold. But what's his problem?
24:33
He only knows what? Look at verse 25. He only knows about what? The baptism
24:37
of John. That's right. So as a result, Priscilla and Aquila, they hear him preaching,
24:41
they come, they take him aside, and they say, hey, there's something in your preaching
24:44
you left out. They explained to him the word of God more accurately. If you
24:47
write in your Bible, you might underline verse 25.
24:51
He spoke and taught accurately. And then look at verse 26,
24:55
it's the same word. They teach him more accurately the word. So he
24:59
was teaching what he knew accurately up to a point, but he didn't have the
25:02
whole truth. They take him aside and they say, hey, there's more. How does Apollos
25:05
respond? He receives the correction, and as a result,
25:09
he goes on preaching. Now look at the second episode, Acts 19:1-7.
25:13
Similar thing happens right after this with Paul. It happened
25:17
while Apollos was at Corinth. Paul passed through the inland country.
25:20
He came to Ephesus. There he found some disciples.
25:23
He said to them, did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed? They said,
25:27
no, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit. And he said,
25:29
into what then were you baptized? They said, into John's baptism.
25:33
And Paul said, John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling people
25:37
to believe in the one who was to come after him, that is, Jesus.
25:40
On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. And when
25:43
Paul laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them and they began
25:46
speaking in tongues and prophesying And there were about 12 men in all.
25:50
So Paul finds these men, 12 guys. He says, hey, have you received the
25:54
Holy Spirit since you believed? We don't know anything about that. Into what then were
25:57
you baptized? You couldn't have gotten New Testament Great Commission baptism.
26:01
You don't even know about the Holy Spirit. Paul explains the differences
26:05
between Jesus' baptism and John, and these 12
26:09
men, what happens to them? They're baptized, this time biblically
26:12
for the right reason. And as a result, Paul lays his hands on them.
26:15
They receive miraculous ability. He goes his way. This challenge
26:19
of trying to teach people the truth about when you become
26:23
a Christian and how this operates, it may be the most pressing challenge,
26:27
especially where we live in, as you talk to people about the Bible on a
26:30
regular basis. Don't fast forward to modern time yet. Just stay with Acts 18
26:33
and 19. I've got a question. What made John the Baptist's baptism
26:38
such a challenge for people? Like, why is this a challenge trying to show people
26:42
in Ephesus the difference and Apollos the difference between Jesus'
26:46
baptism and John. What would have made this a challenge as Priscilla
26:51
and Aquila faced it with Apollos and as Paul faces it with these 12 men?
26:54
Just stick with the baptism of John. Why would this have been difficult?
26:59
It was for the forgiveness of sins. Jesus, if you get baptized into
27:03
Christ, what does Peter say in Acts 2:38? Repent and be baptized every one
27:06
of you in the name of Jesus Christ for what? Cool, but why
27:11
was John baptizing people? Mark 1:4 says, John also was baptizing
27:15
people for the forgiveness of sins. I think the greatest challenge
27:19
with the baptism of John is this: it was so similar to
27:23
New Testament baptism. It was for the forgiveness of sins. It was preparing
27:26
people for the kingdom. It was commanded and commissioned by God.
27:30
John was baptizing people because Jesus told him to. God told
27:34
him, baptize people and prepare them. But when Jesus died and rose from the dead,
27:38
John's baptism was no longer in effect. And everybody that got that
27:42
baptism after the fact, if you got John's baptism after
27:46
Jesus told his disciples to go out and preach the good news, then that baptism
27:50
was no longer valid. But I imagine based on what we read in Acts 18
27:54
and 19, this was such a challenge because it was so similar to New Testament
27:58
baptism. That's right. That's right.
28:03
And this is why they don't know about the Holy Spirit. Correct. But I'm saying
28:06
it was a challenge initially, Chuck, and you're right. John's baptism was going to reach
28:09
a stopping point because of Jesus's words. But initially it
28:13
would've been challenging because these people are saying, hey, John baptized and John was commissioned
28:17
by God, but it wasn't the whole deal. So here's my question for us.
28:21
Why is this challenging for us? Talking to people about baptism
28:26
for the forgiveness of sins and when people become Christians, why is this
28:29
also a challenge that we're going to face? In what way is it a challenge?
28:33
Anybody ever tried to do this? Talk to somebody about how to become a Christian
28:37
and face the challenge. Shake or nod. Blink, wink an eye. Let me see you're
28:40
alive. Okay, Kim, go ahead.
28:45
Sorry.
28:50
Yeah, I wasn't there, but here's what I know. Here's what I do know.
28:54
I wasn't there, but here's what the Bible tells us. Here's what I think is
28:57
impressive. First off, and we'll talk about this. Well, we'll just do it now.
29:00
Um, I think it's important that the Holy Spirit had Luke praise
29:03
the good of Apollos first. See, his whole— everything he believed didn't
29:07
have to be tamed. He believed accurately. I mean, if you would have heard Apollos
29:11
on Isaiah, it probably would have been the most amazing sermon you ever heard.
29:14
If he was doing an exposition on Genesis 1, probably nobody better.
29:17
But once you started talking about salvation, he was off. It appears he was
29:21
humble enough to let 2 tentmakers teach him. A man from Alexandria,
29:25
the greatest library in the ancient world, mighty eloquent.
29:29
This is like a professor from Harvard just letting somebody who's a construction
29:32
worker come up and say, Hey, I know you know all this stuff, but you're
29:35
wrong about this. And he was evidently humble enough and kind enough to receive
29:39
the teaching, and he received it and he was corrected. I don't know about the
29:43
conversation, but I know he didn't put up much resistance, and as
29:47
a result, he went on teaching what was accurate and what was true. Can we
29:50
at least talk about how the heck— I mean, there's conflict in this world.
29:54
Yeah, but I mean conflict. Yeah, let's— we'll talk about that in a
29:57
minute. We'll talk about that in a minute. But first, why is this a challenge?
30:00
But yes, Kim, remind me if we don't get to it. It's on here.
30:03
Yes, Dawn, go ahead. We've already been baptized.
30:08
I've already received that. Yeah, some people have already received baptism.
30:11
It may not be exactly what the New Testament says, but it's kind
30:15
of like y'all's. I mean, I went underwater, you went underwater. I said some things
30:18
about Jesus before I got baptized. You said— you see, they had the same problem.
30:22
So before we think like this is just so foreign to us, I just want
30:25
you to see in the New Testament times, people dealt with the same thing.
30:28
One reason why it's a challenge, sometimes a person says, I don't need to do
30:31
that. I've already been baptized. What else?
30:36
Yeah, I'm already a Christian. I believe. I put my faith. John 3:16.
30:40
I believe in God. I'm already set. And since I'm a Christian, there's no
30:44
need. I mean, I might be baptized. I view it as like spiritual icing,
30:47
right? I can put it on the cake if I want. But as Levi said,
30:50
I don't have to do that. I'm already set. What else?
30:56
Tradition. Yeah, couldn't possibly be wrong with what I've been taught. Here's some of the
31:00
things— anybody else? I don't want to overlook anybody. Chuck, go ahead, go ahead.
31:05
Mm-hmm.
31:09
Yeah, and we'll talk about— and we'll talk about some practical
31:13
ways in a minute about how to address it. You're right, that's not the whole,
31:16
but Yeah, and we'll talk about how to do it,
31:20
but here's why I think it's a challenge, and some of this y'all have already
31:23
said, and Chuck, I agree about faith only. I think family and friends
31:26
just misunderstand baptism sometimes.
31:29
Nicodemus did. Nicodemus asked Jesus, are you saying I've got to enter
31:32
my mother's womb a second time and be born? In John 3:4.
31:36
He was a learned man and he was confused on what Jesus meant by being
31:39
born again. Sometimes people misunderstand. Here's the second thing. Sometimes people
31:44
perform baptism unbiblically. I've already been baptized. I didn't do it for the forgiveness of
31:48
sins, but I've already been baptized. Now, question: if a person has not been baptized
31:52
the way Jesus says for the forgiveness of sins, are they a Christian?
31:56
Is it right to call people a Christian who haven't done
31:59
what Jesus says the way Jesus said it ought to be done?
32:02
Is a person saved in that position? They couldn't be.
32:06
If, if they could, then you've got to be asking, why did Paul rebaptize these
32:09
individuals in Acts 19? And sometimes we can fall into this.
32:13
We think, well, I don't want to say who's in and who's out. But Paul
32:16
says, hey, if you didn't do what Jesus said, then I want to make sure
32:19
that you do. Sometimes people perform baptisms, but it's not for the biblical reason.
32:23
Some view obedience as legalistic and unloving. If you insist
32:27
on baptism for the forgiveness of sins in connection with what Jesus taught, a person
32:31
may think, ah, you don't really love people. And then I think it's a
32:35
challenge because truth is narrow. Jesus says this in Matthew 7:13-14.
32:39
It's a challenge, but you can't be a Christian if you haven't
32:43
done what Christ said you have to do to become a Christian. And Paul and
32:47
Priscilla and Aquila, they faced this challenge and we're going to face the same
32:51
thing. So let's kind of get practical. How can we help those who misunderstand
32:55
or disbelieve what the Bible teaches here on this subject? How can we
32:59
help them? So this is what Kim's question was, and maybe we can try to
33:02
figure out how to help her. So Chuck mentioned something about faith only and all
33:05
of that. Let me say something about that for a minute though.
33:08
People that insist that like all you have to do is believe, like faith only.
33:12
Again, I think we learned something here in Acts 18. What should we
33:16
do? We should praise and acknowledge and emphasize the
33:19
importance of faith. We should talk about what faith does, but let's not
33:22
belittle belief. And I don't think Chuck was doing that. Let's not belittle belief,
33:26
but let's also walk through what else the Bible says a person has to do.
33:30
But y'all help me. How can we help people who misunderstand Just
33:33
like Paul did and just like Priscilla and Aquila did. And Kim had this question,
33:36
so let's kind of briefly talk it through. How do we help people with
33:40
what the Bible says on this subject when they might've done something
33:44
very similar, but not exactly what the Bible teaches here,
33:47
or may have a different understanding on it? The church had to face this and
33:50
they walked through it. This is a challenge. If you talk to people,
33:54
you will face. And here's the thing, as the world is more secular,
33:57
you might be tempted to think like, man, these people believe in Jesus. They go
34:01
to church. They're just like us. They believe similarly to what the Bible says.
34:05
Does it really make a difference? Like maybe in the end, God's just going to
34:08
save some people arbitrarily, even if they didn't get all the I's dotted and T's
34:12
crossed. Maybe they just— but Paul doesn't do that. So we've got to figure out
34:15
how do we help people in this circumstance? What do we do? What do you
34:18
think? Study with them. Okay. Yeah, we do need
34:21
to sit down and study with them. I think opening the Bible is a great
34:25
way to begin. What else? Acknowledge what they do have
34:28
correct and right. That's what Paul— that's what Priscilla and Aquila
34:32
did with Apollos. Acknowledge what you believe in belief, me too. You believe repentance
34:36
is necessary, I do too. You even believe baptism is a part of what God
34:40
wants us to do, I do as well. Now let's talk about what the Bible
34:43
actually says baptism accomplishes. Here's some of the things. Acknowledge the good.
34:47
I think that's important. Second thing, what do Priscilla and Aquila do with
34:50
Apollos? They take him what? What does the Bible say?
34:53
They took him aside. You think that's important?
34:57
Taking a person aside? Why do you think they took him aside? Why not just
35:01
stand up in the synagogue and just straighten them in front of everybody?
35:05
Robert, you said what? You don't want to call them out.
35:08
Most people will listen to us if they don't feel like we're trying to belittle
35:12
and embarrass them. Even if they don't go all the way, if they feel like,
35:14
hey, this person really cares about me, they're really not trying to one-up me.
35:18
If you don't embarrass people, at least you give yourself an opportunity for a fair
35:22
hearing. It says, look at this, they taught him the way of God,
35:25
or the way of the Lord, more accurately. I think that's important.
35:29
This isn't the Church of Christ way. I don't want to teach you that.
35:31
I don't want to teach you Church of Christ anything. I want to teach you
35:34
New Testament Christianity, what the Bible says, the way of the Lord more accurately.
35:37
It's not like I want to teach you my church's way. I think that's important.
35:40
You should never say, my preacher teaches, the Church of Christ teaches this, the church—
35:45
no, you should say, hey, look, in your own Bible, here's Here's what the
35:49
Bible says. I want you to follow what the scriptures teach. I want you to
35:52
do it because they taught him the way of the Lord. This wasn't the Priscilla
35:55
and Aquila way. This wasn't the Pauline way, even though they were good friends with
35:58
the Apostle Paul. They were trying to teach him, hey,
36:02
this is what the Bible says. And if you love Jesus, and I know you
36:05
do, I think you'll get in line with this.
36:09
Yeah, that's right. That's right.
36:13
I think that's right, Chuck. And I don't want to undermine that except to say,
36:17
As much as I agree with that, I wouldn't— and I think you're right and
36:20
the Bible teaches that, but they think they've got the gospel too.
36:23
Like whittling it down simply to let's just teach them the gospel doesn't
36:28
completely solve the problem. And this is why we're talking through this and what Paul
36:31
did, because just think about it. Apollos thought he was
36:34
teaching the gospel too. Right,
36:37
right, right. Yeah, for sure.
36:42
Exactly, exactly. I'm just telling you, when you get into these conversations with people,
36:45
when we do this, We just have got to acknowledge they think they've
36:49
got— everybody that's teaching something religiously is teaching it because they think it's
36:53
right too. And so if you say, I'm going to teach them the gospel,
36:56
well, newsflash, they think they're teaching the gospel too, or they wouldn't be teaching
37:00
it. We got to get to where Chuck's saying, we've got to get there,
37:03
but we just have got to acknowledge here's some of the practical things we've got
37:06
to do to get to that table to teach them the gospel. Russell, go ahead.
37:10
And then Denver. Away from opinion.
37:13
You have to put them by what it means. Yeah, you can't tell them.
37:17
That's right. And their opinion is your opinion. That's right.
37:22
And I think that goes with the teaching them the way of the Lord,
37:24
showing them the way of the Lord. Yeah, you have to put it in God.
37:27
Yeah, it's his way or no way. I think that's right.
37:30
Denver, go ahead.
37:32
Uh, yeah.
37:37
Yeah, I think that's right. Sometimes people do have to unlearn things. Here's the
37:41
last one up there that I think is also important. Ask some good
37:44
questions. Paul didn't run up on the guys in Ephesus and say, hey, I know
37:48
you're not saved. You only got John's baptism. That's old. He said, hey,
37:51
did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed? Now, some people think Paul had
37:55
a way of figuring this out. Whether he knew it or not, he let them
37:57
speak for themselves. Instead of saying, hey, you know this doesn't save you,
38:01
faith only, sinner's prayer, why don't we just say, hey, What did
38:05
you do? Tell me about your conversion. When did you believe you were saved?
38:08
What do you think the Bible says about baptism? Not because Russell's right, opinions don't
38:12
mean everything, but we want to know what this person thinks and
38:16
not assume and not say, well, everybody in this group thinks this way.
38:19
And you don't want people to do that to you. I think one of the
38:22
skillful things we can do in evangelism is ask people questions
38:25
and then actually listen for the response so that we can respond
38:30
properly. Once Paul heard them tell him, We don't even know about a Holy Spirit.
38:34
Then Paul was able to say, okay, well, here's the difference between John's baptism and
38:38
Jesus. And he made great inroads. And we'll do the same thing if
38:41
we actually listen. Don't come guns loaded, just ready to
38:45
blast. Come ready to listen. And then we can help people. The best soul
38:49
winners are people that just listen carefully to what people are telling you and then
38:52
ask them good questions. And as Russell said, put it between them and the
38:55
Bible and let Jesus show them where they need to go. And what direction they
38:59
need to take. One more thing. Yes, go ahead.
39:10
Well, I think— and this is what I was saying earlier, let me just make
39:13
this clear. I don't know if you heard what Miss Doris said, but I
39:17
don't really think it's about necessarily this group or that group. I just
39:21
think we should open the Bible with people and say, now listen, here's what Jesus
39:24
says a person has to to be saved, regardless of background, regardless of church tradition.
39:27
Like, tradition is strong, but truth is stronger.
39:31
It doesn't really matter which church you went to, what you were taught, and all
39:33
of this. We should just open up the Bible, and if a person's done what
39:36
Jesus has said, require no more of them than Jesus Christ.
39:40
If they haven't done what they've said, it's not, well, you're this, you're Church of
39:43
Christ, I'm Baptist, you're Catholic. Hey, Jesus wants everybody to do this.
39:47
Jesus loves everybody just the same and wants you to be saved. And until you
39:51
do this, you're not saved according to Jesus. When you do this,
39:55
you're saved and you're in the right with Jesus regardless. And what I want to
39:58
end with is, what are some unhelpful behaviors? And I think we saw some
40:02
of this already, but I'll just mention a few things that are unhelpful in
40:05
these discussions with people. Some of this Chuck mentioned earlier too.
40:09
Talking down and demeaning. I don't think that's going to help us.
40:14
Oh, I can't believe you believe that crazy sinner's prayer. All you got to do
40:16
is believe. That's not going to help you. It's not going to help us.
40:20
Calling names, all of the insert whoever in the blank. I think
40:23
sometimes you have to use a name to be descriptive in one-on-one conversations
40:27
when you're discussing, but saying things about other groups,
40:30
challenging people's sincerity, you don't know the hearts of men. I wouldn't say
40:34
all of the insert whoever in the blank, all of them, they just think like
40:38
this. That's not going to help us. Paul didn't do that. Paul didn't say all
40:41
these John the Baptizers. He says, hey guys, I know you received a certain baptism.
40:45
Here's what the New Testament says. Belittling people, that's not going to help us.
40:48
And being silent. Priscilla and Aquila could have went home and talked
40:52
about Apollos, but instead they talked to Apollos. And that may be our greatest challenge.
40:56
I don't really want to ruffle any feathers. This guy's skilled. He's educated.
40:59
I don't really want anybody to get mad at me. But one of the challenges
41:03
to overcome in this regard is to say, I love you. I care about you.
41:07
I don't think I'm better than you. I don't want you to leave your denomination
41:10
and come to mine. I'm saying let's run for dear life out of all denominations
41:14
and run to Jesus for refuge and be saved by him. And I love
41:18
you enough and I want to say something. And that takes courage to say something,
41:20
not knowing how they're going to receive it. You do it lovingly, speak the truth
41:24
in love, Ephesians 4:15, and then you leave the results with God.
41:28
Correcting mistaken ideas about salvation is always going to
41:32
be a challenge the church has to overcome. And there'll be trial and there'll be
41:34
error with this. But we've got to engage in doing it because Jesus
41:37
wants us to. And when we do it, we may get the same results they
41:40
got in the first century. Thanks for a good Bible class. Thanks for a good
41:44
discussion, and hopefully it was helpful. Appreciate it.