The Book of Acts 18:18-28 Paul's 3rd missionary journey and return trip

There's three missionary journeys and acts here from the handouts right now. Thank you. Missionary journeys. This is actually the tail end today versus 18 through 28 is the tail end of the second missionary journey. And then we're actually in the very beginning of the third missionary journey. Actually, the third missionary journey, I actually haven't thought much about it, but I think it actually might. Actually, the third missionary journey, I hadn't actually realized that I started looking at it. It actually takes place primarily in Ephesus, almost the entire ministry. I had not really realized that until now. That's one of those things you kind of, as you get into it, you see the clear.

So we're going to see a lot about Ephesus today, because what's going to happen is Paul's on his way back. We're back to Athens. He's going to stop off in emphasis for a little bit. And then we're going to meet a new character here, a new person. So let's look at, so my overview, I have two bullets. You might argue, why did I even take the time to put two bullets here?

But actually it divides, this section of scripture divides into two parts. They said the first part is Paul's return trip to Antioch by Ephesus and he leaves some Corinth because that's what Jeremy taught last week. he leaves some corn and then he stops off at Ephesus and he on to Antioch via Jerusalem.

And then the second part of what we're going to read is this gentleman named Apollos and he becomes quite a We see him, and Paul mentions him several times in the epistles, the letters to the church, and we see him a lot. So this is the first introduction in scripture to Paulus, and he's a pretty amazing guy. You know, you think about a lot of times we read in scripture that there are not many mighty, you know, the Christian life and people who know Christ don't necessarily have to be super intellects. This gentleman seemed to be sort of like on a Paul stature. He was quite an intellect and quite well spoken, which is kind of unusual.

And scripture talks about that, that that's not a requirement. It's not like we find the brightest guy. Our culture says the guy with the most PhDs and writes the most things, he's the smartest guy who knows all things. Well, scripture takes a totally different view of that. It says the person that knows God is a man of true wisdom. And that totally differentiates.

Well, here we have a man in Apollos that not only is well-read and fluent, he also knows the Lord. So I think that's kind of neat. Okay, so here's kind of a bird's-eye view of what's going to happen here. But you know, the scripture, I think it's in Acts, says that Paul was all learned in the ways of the Greeks and the Jews. This was not an unintelligent guy. No, no, no, I said, I kind of mean, well, I'm not predicting it, but I'm just saying that Paul was totally involved in the ways of the world. Paul, you know, he was very well educated. So anyway, so here's the end of the second missionary. You have three little circles here.

We're going to start here in Corinth. He's going to go around to pronounce that name of that place. Sentient maybe. And we've got to see an interesting that happens right here at the travels from that's actually the seaport apparently for Corinth. He's going to travel over to Ephesus over there, which is in Asia. Then he's going to travel across down here to Caesarea, which is the seaport, one of the seaports for Isaac. Joppa is the other one for Jerusalem. Then he's going to go and land up in Antioch. That's what we're going to see today. I guess I'm going to read these 18 through 23.

So Paul still remained a good while, and then he took leave of the brethren and sailed for Syria. And Paseo and Aquila were with him, and had his hair cut off at Censure. And he had taken a vow that when he came to Ephesus and left them there, that he himself entered into the synagogue and reasoned with the Jews. And when they asked him to stay a longer time with them, he did not consent, but took leave of them, saying, I must by all means keep this coming feast to Jerusalem, but I will return again to you, God willing. And he sailed from Ephesus. And when he had landed at Caesarea, he had gone up and greeted the church, he went down to Antigone. And after he had spent some time there, he departed wherever the region of Galatia and Phrygia in order to strengthen all the disciples.

So as I mentioned here, we're going to see that the last, actually the very last verse kind of speaks of the start of the, what's called the third missionary journey. He gets back to Antioch and then this part, he kind of, even though it doesn't, it's, you know, if you look at how things flow in the next chapter, this is really his first venture leaving Antioch again, where he goes into Galatia and So that is what is considered the start of the third missionary journey. So this part is just going to tell about his return trip. There are some interesting things that occur in this section.

So he said Paul remained many days longer. He was at Corinth at that time. And some think it was another nine months. Many times you will see in scripture, you will see many a few, and you really don't know what that means to us. A few might be days. It could be months. He was there quite a while. What's interesting is we're going to see in contrast many times Paul would go to the synagogues.

And after a little bit, after he was talking about the Lord Jesus Christ, he wasn't too welcome after a while. Well, in this case, it's the reverse. He's going to be very welcomed here, but he's going to say, you know, it's not the right time. That time's going to come in the future, but right now I'm going to have to leave. So we're going to see that kind of happening. He said he took leave of the brethren.

He put out to sea for Syria via Ephesus. and he had Priscilla and Aquila and some people, what's interesting is if you look back and if you have your Bibles open to chapter 18 of Acts look back at 18 like 1, 2 and 3 and it says in there that starting in verse 2 actually it says a certain Jew named Aquila a native of Parnas had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla because of Claudius had commanded all the Jews to leave Rome. He came to them because he was of the same trade he stayed with them and they were working They were working for the trade. By trade, they were tent makers. This gentleman, Aquila and his wife Priscilla, the fact that the lady's name is first, the order, some people would cut off and make all kinds of interesting things. Because the lady's first, they said, Was she teaching?

We're going to see that they're going to talk to Apollos. I don't know. I looked a little bit. I didn't spend a lot of time looking at that. But you'll see sometimes it will say Aquila in verse 2. Sometimes it will say Priscilla and Aquila. It varies depending on passages. Some people have made a big deal about that.

I didn't think it was that significant. What it showed me is that they both were together, and they both knew the Lord. I talked to Apollos here, and they knew Paul, and they supported his ministry, and they were together in that. Just like any couple, Bob and Margaret, I think of them as their one. That's what scripture talks about. That's what I take away from that.

Okay, so now we come to this part about in center and actually Jeremy covered this a little bit last week. It's a little bit of repeat here. So prior to selling the emphasis, he had his hair cut for he was keeping about. So, I don't know, I forgot, did you look at number 6 last week at all? I referenced it, we didn't get it. Well, let's take a look. I figured it was worth a little bit of a look.

Paul takes this vow, and this is another thing that people have made, they said, well, what's going on here? Vows, is that really what Christians should be doing, taking vows? So let's look at number 6 here. It appears to be a Nazirite vow. Because he had his hair cut at the end of that period. So can I get someone to read verses 1-6.

And the Lord spoke to Moses saying, Speak unto the children of Israel and say unto them, When either man or woman shall separate themselves to vow a vow of a Nazarite, to separate themselves unto the Lord. He shall separate himself from wine and strong drink, and shall drink no vinegar of strong drink, neither shall he drink any liquor of grapes. nor eat moist grapes or dry. All the days of his separation shall he eat nothing that is made of the vine tree, from the kernels even to the husk. All the days of the vow of this separation there shall be no razor come upon his head. Until the days be fulfilled in which he separate himself unto the Lord, he shall be holy and shall let the locks of hair of his head grow. all the days that he separated himself from the Lord, he shall come at no dead body.

Well, if you continue on in this passage, they also talk about what happens at the end of the vow. He's supposed to basically bring sacrifices and offerings. There's a long list of what he's to bring. Also, what's interesting is at the end of the vow, he has his hair shaved and he uses his hair after it's cut. That becomes an offering as well. So it's interesting that there's quite an elaborate process and also It doesn't exactly say it here, but from what I've been able to understand, it's a voluntary thing. This is not commanded.

A person would do this based upon, he might want to thank the Lord, a vow of thankfulness. He'd be thankful for something that happened to him. It could be for something he would, and this is where it gets a little bit law kind of like, does he want something from the Lord? Lord, I'll do this, and then you'll do that. probably under grace that doesn't exactly fit. It seems so interesting though because after he had admonished some of the disciples for going back to the law and not eating certain things, then for all of a sudden him to do this is pretty strange.

That's why there's been a lot of things written on this. You'll take this one little phrase here and it comes here after keeping a vow. That little phrase people have gone all over the map on that. So actually, that's my next question. So what do you think? Why do you think he did it? Well, I think because he's talking to people who maybe he's going to the synagogues. And the only thing I could think of is that maybe this gives him more credibility with the Jews to, you know, to talk about the Lord as he eventually does.

But I don't know. This is a pretty dramatic thing for him to do. I don't know. Actually I read different things and I had my own ideas. Remember when he had Timothy circumcised and he made a big deal about circumcision is not part. It seems like you could make an argument that he's not trying to going back under the law, he's basically showing that this is something that's voluntary, I'm willing to do that, if that's a hot button with you, I'm willing to do that, there's nothing wrong with doing this, under grace you can do this. with the right motivation.

Some have said, actually let's look back to Acts 18. Some have said, and I thought this was kind of interesting, that it might be one of thankfulness for something the Lord did to him. If you look back on what Jeremy covered in Acts 18, 9 and 10. Can someone read verses 9 and 10 in Acts 18?

And the Lord said to Paul and I in a vision, Do not be afraid, but go on speaking, and do not be silent. For I am with you, and no one will attack you to harm you. For I have many in this city who are my people. Basically, in a vision at night, the Lord comes to him and tells him, don't be afraid, and says, you have an open door here, go right ahead, don't be afraid.

So some have argued, because it's in the same context, the same chapter, that maybe he's doing this as a vow of thankfulness. Once again, it doesn't say, and so it's conjecture. And then some have said, well, maybe he sinned. Maybe this is wrong. He shouldn't have done that. So that's the three that I found. Basically, he was trying to accommodate the Jews. He was basically a vow of thankfulness. And then the third one was, it was some simple action on his part. Jeremy?

I think, I like what the constable says about it, that the people that say, well he can't do that, that's the law, well they're making a law for him. By saying he can't do that, they're putting him under the law by saying this is wrong. So I think a good aspect of this is Christian liberty, is grace, that there may be, and he talked again with Timothy and the circumcision, under grace we're going to do a lot of things Outwardly, there's going to be a lot of things that look exactly like what you would do under the law. But, like you said, our motivation, the context in which I think we're doing it, is going to be much different.

That's good. Are we going to be a witness to the world? Right. Well, yeah, because we have Christ in us. We're motivated by the grace, rather than, I've got to go out and talk to 30 people this week about Christ. From the outside, it looks. I think, for me at least, the end result is who are we to judge?

It's just explaining he did this. I think trying to pick this apart, is he right? Is he wrong? Is he doing wrong? Well, he has the liberty to do this. We don't know why. And ultimately, it's not important. This is a very personal thing for Paul. And I think it just can help us realize that it's easy, I think it's easy for people who emphasize grace so much to put people under law by saying you can't do anything that looks like the law. And that's not grace either. We need to understand where we fit in grace and where that fits in our Christian liberty.

Maybe Paul, for whatever reason, did it, but the Holy Spirit used him to get him moving where he wanted him to be. Part of this is that he had to go back to Jerusalem for the sacrifices. Right, so maybe the Holy Spirit was like, okay, get him to Jerusalem and then get him This is not the only time that he did this either. In Acts chapter 21, which we'll get to, it does give us the reasons why he did that particular time.

In that particular time it was a testimony to the Jews, because we continually overlooked the fact that this was not only their religious law, but this was their cultural law. And so he had to, in that demonstration, show him that he was a Jew, and that he did respect the laws of the land, just like now, and in the New Testament we're told not to reject the laws of Caesar, of the government. And so he demonstrated it.

But as Jeremy pointed out, the freedom that he had to do these things did not in any sense... I believe that Christians ought to live separated holy lives. It demonstrated markedly different from the world. But that doesn't mean that we are doing that to maintain godliness. So in his case, it was a demonstration of I'm a Jew, I submit to the laws here, and I have no problem doing that because I know it's not wrong to do, but as Jeremy said, I know I'm doing it. And so that was the next 21 cases.

I think it's probably the most good of two. These are all great points. And the other thing, it extends into stumbling blocks, right? Right. I mean, we have a lot of freedom, but at times we choose not to do something because that freedom could be offensive to someone else. I mean, it enters into that whole sphere of behavior. Right. Spirit led and considers the circumstances.

Well, the other thing that strikes me, you know, Christianity developed entirely almost within the Jewish system. Think about it, and that's exactly your point. You're within the system, which is the foundation of who God is, but then you're telling the full revelation of what God has done, but you're still within that Jewish system. So you're very much, they go into the synagogue, they don't go to the, there's some house churches, and we see that here and there, but most times they're in the synagogues. I mean, they're right there within its, So if there's something that can allow them a little more freer access and doesn't violate their conscience and there's nothing wrong with giving thanks to the Lord, they do it. Well the early church was probably mostly Jewish. Exactly. They turned the world upside down but they had to have a lever and a whole army to be able to pull it and turn it over. That's not the logical anyway. All right. So basically. So basically. Now he leaves for Ephesus. They came to Ephesus. He left Priscilla and Nicola there. So they stayed in Ephesus.

They're going to show up later on again. This is where his ministry in the synagogue just seems to be without the Lord opening the door and there's no issues. He's telling them about the Lord Jesus. And basically they ask him for him to stay longer. Well, it's interesting. In many cases, this time he says he didn't consent. He takes leave of them, basically.

What we're going to see is he's going to come back to Ephesus. We're going to see that in chapter 19 in what's called the third missionary. He'll return to Ephesus again. So he'll come back to these people. But he says, right now, I'm just going to move on. So it is interesting. And then he basically says, you know, I will return again. I will return to you again if God wills. And he sails to Memphis. So this is actually. Yeah, OK, so here we kind of, let's see, I set it right here. OK, let's keep going. OK, so now he lands.

OK, when he landed at Caesarea, and that's one of the chief ports of Jerusalem, he went up and greeted the church. You know, when you see the phrase the church, especially in Acts, it's typically referring to the church in Jerusalem. They're like the mother church, if you will, even though Antioch becomes much more a focal point, as we see, as we've been seeing. So he greeted the church in Jerusalem, and then he went down to Antioch.

Remember, this is elevation kind of things, at least that's how I take it. Like we said, we're up at Vail, and we come down to Denver. So he's up in Jerusalem, and he goes down to Antioch. And Antioch's north. I know, and that hurts your head a little bit too. I'm trying to make sense of the up and down thing here. That makes sense. We go downtown. OK. He spent some time there in Antioch. Let's see what. Actually, this is. I'm not sure, once again, they don't give an exact time.

And then he went off, going through the regions of Galatia and Phrygia, and his purpose there was to strengthen the brethren. So I have a couple of verses that kind of spoke about strengthening the Acts. Let's look at They use the same word here, strengthening. You see other places where the desire in Acts many times is to strengthen the brethren where they have been.

So in Acts 14.22 So actually, I'll just read this again. I'll go back to Acts 14, 21, and 22. It says, After they had preached the gospel to the city and had made many disciples, they returned to Lystra, to Iconium, and to Antioch, strengthening the souls of the disciples and encouraging them to continue in faith and saying, Through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God. So basically, he basically went back to places he had been before, strengthening the brethren. And then he's going to eventually wind up going to Ephesus.

And like I said, this is the place where the third missionary journey starts. And I have a picture here. So this is the third missionary journey. So here we are, starting point again is Antioch. So here's Galatia and Phrygia. So he's going to take this path here, wind up in Ephesus. I haven't read too far ahead, I don't know how much time, he spends most of his time in Ephesus, I know that. He's been through Phrygia before. I know, he keeps going that way, that's why we say he strengthened the brother, he goes back and visits places he's been before.

Not untypical of what we might do today. All right, so now that kind of ends for the time being until we get to chapter 19. That kind of ends in this chapter here, a discussion about Paul. Now we're going to kind of switch gears and we're going to talk about a gentleman named Apollos. OK, could someone read these verses? Starting at 24? Yes. Thank you.

But Alexandria, an eloquent man and mighty in the Scriptures, came to Ephesus. This man was instructed in the way of the Lord, and being fervent in spirit, he spake and taught diligently the things of the Lord, knowing only the baptism of John. And he began to speak boldly in the synagogue, whom, when Aquila and Priscilla had heard, they took him unto them, and expounded unto him the way of God more perfectly. And when he was disposed to pass into Achaia, the brethren wrote, exhorting the disciples to receive him, who when he was come helped them much which he believed through grace. For he mightily convinced the Jews, and that publicly, showing by the scriptures that Jesus was Christ. Thanks James.

So this is the beginning of Paulist ministry. This is probably the biggest section and we are going to see him mentioned. Paul is going to mention him several times. And he is going to mention him as an equal. Because he is going to talk about Corinthians. Some people say I am following Paul. Some people say I am following Apollos. But we are to follow Christ. He says don't pick a man. Don't find your favorite so to speak, and follow him, you're following the Lord. So we see that this gentleman really becomes a significant influence, a significant minister of the gospel.

Paul basically left Ephesus. He had a Greek name, but he was Jewish. He was from Alexandria, which is the capital of Egypt there by birth. He was an eloquent man, skilled in literature and arts. I came across this, Chester Macaulay kind of mentioned this, in the Greek thinking, a person, I was kind of thinking about this, have college professors. Have you ever come across a college professor that his credentials are outstanding.

And this guy, but he doesn't communicate very well. Either he has a problem with the language or whatever. Or to the Greek way of thinking. But in the Greek thinking, if a person couldn't express himself That was the completion of his education. You had to be well learned in the things of the world and you had to be able to express it well. It says he was an eloquent man. He not only was very well versed, but he could speak very well and communicate very well. That was kind of interesting. He was a cultured man. Is that a requirement for the gospel? No. In fact, interestingly, in the first part of Acts we see they were amazed at Peter, how Peter could expound the things of the Lord.

Where is he? He's a fisherman? He doesn't have any credentials. He hasn't been trained by so and so and so. Hasn't been to University X, Y and Z. So anyway, so this man, he was, like I said, I think I see him on a par with Paul in education and his ability to communicate.

Let's see, did I have a verse for that one? So he came to Ephesus. He was mighty and powerful in the scriptures. And what we're going to see here is, I have two verses I chose. Scripture talks about this ability to communicate God's word. And many times, remember with the Lord Jesus, they said, this Jesus, he's not like the Pharisees. He really tells us things about God. He communicates things that wrote, he has the ability, God has given him the ability to expound on what is God's word. So we see this phrase here, mightily or powerfully expounded in the scripture.

It's kind of used in Moses in Acts 7.22. It describes Moses as a man who could do that. 7.22 says, here, and Moses was educated in all the learning of the Egyptians, and he was a man powerful in word and deed. And then, of course, it talks about the Lord Jesus in Luke 24, 19. I guess what I'm trying to get across here is that the phraseology that describes Apollos also describes our Lord Jesus and Moses as well.

It puts him in good company. This is on the road to Emmaus basically and it says The Lord is describing himself here talking to them. And he said to them, what things? And they said to him, the things about Jesus of Nazarene, I guess they said that, who was a prophet, mighty in deeds and word in the sight of God and all the people. So Paulus was a man who could mightily declare the word of God, and also was all the rest of these things. So let's go on. He had been instructed in the way of the Lord.

So we're going to look at that in just a second. Instructed is the idea to teach orally. And it has two components. One is by repetition. You spend time in teaching, and it's orally. And it's interesting, that word kind of focused on orally. And you see that in our day and age, orally is good, but writing is also good. And they did have the papyruses, and they had things written. But orally was very.

And actually, this word in the original is a word for catechism. We get our word catechism from that. So it's something that, you know, you think of something that people will memorize typically. Anyway, so I'm just trying to come across it. So now, and then I actually, in those, what did I have there I wanted to say? Those kind of, I think we'll skip over those right now.

Those verses just talk about the other uses of that word instructed. But let's kind of just get right to the chase here. So what is the, without looking at those verses, what is the way of the word? This gentleman, he expounded the way of the Lord. So what was he telling them? About Jesus.

Okay. His work. His life. Okay. But we are going to see some qualifiers here. Did he have the full revelation? No, I mean I find this person challenging and very interesting. Exactly. So the question is who taught him? Ultimately, what's this you knew only the baptism of John?

You're going there. I'm going there. I'm not sure I have all the answers. Go ahead, James. The prophecy of Elijah that John preached when he was on the earth was make straight the way of the Lord, prepare his path. I think that's key. That's my two verses. Here's all the Gospels. Let's look at Matthew.

I think it is key to recognize that when they say the way of the Lord, it seems that this is referring back to that prophecy from Isaiah that is quoted in Matthew 3.13. So let me just read one through three.

Now in those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea saying, Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. For this is the one referred to by Isaiah the prophet. the voice of one crying in the wilderness, make ready the way of the Lord, make his path straight." And it describes John. So what we see here, that seems to make a direct connection, and we see that same thing repeated, that passage from Isaiah is repeated in each of the Gospels. The way of the Lord was a description that there was going to be a forerunner to the Lord Jesus Christ.

So he knew that, and he knew it accurately. And we're going to see that key here. He not only knew it accurately, but he was zealous for it. It's the idea of being zealous or hot or he was on fire for this. And he was correct. There was nothing wrong with what he was saying. He's absolutely correct. He just didn't have the full revelation yet.

And a couple of words that really show that here. I want to kind of point that out. So are what you're saying is that he really didn't know that Christ had already come? Is that a possibility? People instructed him and he looked at the prophecy. We don't have those words said there but it says that he understood accurately the baptism of John and the significance of what that meant.

That baptism is a forerunner to Christ. He was speaking accurately, diligently, exactly, and we're going to see that, and I'll just kind of jump ahead, we're going to see it says accurately here, then down in later verse it says more accurately. We're going to see it's kind of accurately to more accurately. So it says, just like you have the beginning of this, And then you get the completed part. You've completed the message of the Lord.

That's kind of like an oxymoron. Sterile and more sterile. What is that? Well, Bob, I think it's key to say he wasn't in error with what he was teaching. It's not true. As somebody said, a colleague said this, he said he was 25 years behind. It would be like you talking about something that happened in your field 25 years ago. If I say it that way, he had the correct information, it was that there was going to be a forerunner of the Lord Jesus Christ, but he didn't have the full revelation. We kind of see that.

Let's look at Acts 19, the next chapter, because it talks about some other people who had kind of the same problem as a policy. And here's what Paul said to them, which I think we're going to talk about that next week. But in Acts 19. And could someone read Acts 19? It came to pass that while Apollos was at Corinth, all having passed through the upper coast came to Ephesus and finding certain disciples.

He said unto them, Have you received the Holy Ghost since you believed? And they said unto him, Not so much as her whether there be any Holy Ghost. And he said unto them, Unto what then were you baptized? And they said, Unto John's baptism. Then said Paul, John was early baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people that they should believe on him who should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus. When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, and the Holy Ghost came upon them, they spoke with tongues and prophesied.

So I think this is a good explanation of what's going on here. Paul is in the same category. He didn't have the full revelation. And once it was explained to him, he said, hey, I agree. He believed that John was a baptism of repentance, not the Christian baptism, the spirit of God in terms of the Holy Spirit.

So I think that really kind of nails it down there. It's interesting for you to draw the immediate connection between these two. These folk were in Ephesus. That's where Apollos had just been preaching mightily the scriptures. I would say the direct connection is these men were disciples of Apollos, basically converted under his ministry. And then he left. He left them knowing only the things that he knew. And then at that point when he left, learned more. And they were still there, as Paul came along saying. Right. Because we're going to see, Apollos wants to leave.

He wants to go back to Achaia. Help me out, Achaia is, that's Corinth. The Roman name for the Greek province, they didn't even want the name Greece used. Okay, I couldn't, I don't know, what is Achaia, I was trying to find that, never mind. Yeah, Greece. He went back to Corinth as well. Yeah, he went back to Corinth, that's what I thought. Okay, so you're right, so here they are, they maybe heard his ministry, and then Paul comes along and says, you know, what's this, what are you hearing? I just came through here, you guys are like, wait a minute. You're 25 years behind.

Well, you know, if anybody has ever spent any time in a foreign country, and I think about this from my own experience and from others, and Joy tells a lot, where she came from. that all of the outfits that she had were completely out of date. And she was the oddball looking student in the class because her outfits were ones that they had worn 10 or 15 years earlier.

And that's just the translation of cultures from here over to the South Pacific. And so her parents took her out and they bought her all new clothes, whatever else, so she would fit in a little bit better. And from my own experience, from others, that's what happens.

And so Apollos was separated geographically. And so who knows what other changes were going on in that time that he missed out. Obviously, perhaps knew that there was somebody that claimed to be God or so forth. Knew that there was this Jesus that was crucified, whatever, but was never given the connection to draw those two together.

So let's go on here. He began speaking boldly in the synagogues. So here's what's going to happen. We're going to see an exact picture of what Paul did with those gentlemen. So Priscilla and Aquila, once again, ladies name first and people go, whatever they do, took him aside. It includes this privately, it wasn't in public, they did it privately, which is always good. This time, rather than saying the way of the Lord, it says the way of God.

Here's what kind of struck me. It's accurately from verse 25 to more accurately. So I know it drives me crazy, but it's a full revelation. I think I'll take it. It's a better time. I'm going with it. Scripture says accurately. There's more. Sorry about that. Oh, by the way, the New King James puts Aquila first. So you can deal with that however you want. Well, that's interesting. OK. I don't know. It has repeatedly. So anyway, that's interesting. I just look at that. You know, we're chauvinistic. Well, you know, you have to look, you know, if you want to go to the original. Well, I can't go. You don't want me to go. You want to. I'm just saying I would take that as being.

It seemed to me, I'm just looking at the difference between the King James and the ESV. And it seems that that might be a textual thing. Is that right? From because those are two different major texts and the one might be equivalent facility. Right. OK. And that could be part of it, too. Anyway, whatever. Whatever. I don't know. We need to spend a lot of time on it. Don't make no. Never mind. It's my baseball. Yeah. OK. forget that.

This idea from accurately to more accurately, it kind of reminded me, let's look at Hebrews. God describes a process where he He progressively reveals his truth. And it talks about that in the early part of Hebrews. Hebrews chapter 1 and verses 1 and 2. It says, God, after he spoke long ago to the fathers and the prophets in many portions and many ways in these last days, has spoken to us in his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom also he made the world.

So God progressively reveals, and that kind of fits I think with him. They didn't have the full revelation. Once they heard it, they rejoiced. That kind of helped me from the accurately to more accurately. So it says that what he had before was accurate. It just wasn't complete. It wasn't updated.

So he went across to to you and what you do with it because at this point he was incomplete and then became complete right but at the point he heard the truth if he chose to reject that now he has all this true but now it's a lie it's wrong because he continues in what he knows to be false and that's why we say that teach we need to stay underneath the mosaic law. Particularly the SDA religion which teaches you need to obey these different aspects of the law.

That's been revealed, it's been complete. So now that you continue in that, knowing that there's a fulfillment of it, that's where you go into the false teaching. That's good. Your response to the truth from beginning to end is always the key part. Do you respond to it by faith? Do you say, That's true. God has revealed that. That's true. Do you accept it? Or do you say no?

I'm going to keep this part back here. I like this part back here. I'm comfortable with this. This part here, not so much. Okay, so at this point, and this is kind of to James' point, basically Apollos is going to leave. He wants to go back and minister. Maybe he probably felt, I need to tell them the full truth. Imagine you've been someplace, you say, I only told them part of the truth. I've got to get back there and tell them the full, what really is true. You're afraid for those, you care for those people. So it seems like he had a strong desire to go back to Corinth.

The brethren encouraged him. They wrote for the disciples to welcome them. And this verse just talks about, you know, it's common practice in those days to write a letter of introduction. And in fact, actually, some body of believers, you know, like the brethren, for example, the old brethren, they would, if you went to a new assembly, you'd have to have a letter of introduction. Jeremy? I think it's interesting because it says, in the last verses there.

When he arrived, he greatly helped those who through grace had belief. For he powerfully refuted the Jews in public, showing by the scriptures that Christ was Jesus. So, I wonder if he went back, because remember at Corinth, Paul had basically given up at the synagogue. That's a good point. He had said, you guys aren't listening to me, so he's going to move on to the Gentiles. I wonder if it's one of the reasons why he wanted to go, because Paul had a great ministry in Corinth. Was it a year and a half that he was there?

Yeah, something like that. So maybe Apollos went back specifically to try and reach the Jews there who had rejected Paul. Maybe he felt, I have, I don't know, maybe he felt, and I mean, we don't have the whole story, but there might have been something particular about him that he felt, you know, he hadn't seen all that Paul did. So maybe there's something else. I don't know. That's just I found that interesting. Yeah. He refuted the Jews. Right. We're coming back to this. OK. When he arrived, he greatly helped him. Yeah. OK. Yeah.

Actually, let's look at First Corinthians three six. And this is kind of a picture that Paul will paint in. about how we have many ministers of the Lord and they each have different functions. 1 Corinthians 3.6 kind of talks about that.

1 Corinthians 3.6, and he mentions here, let's start at 3.5, actually let's go back to 3.4, excuse me.

1 Corinthians 3.4.3.6. It says, 411 says, I am of Paul. Another says, I am of Apollos. Are you not mere men?

What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, even as the Lord gave opportunity to each one. I planted, Apollos watered, but God caused the growth. So basically realizing that Apollos is part of God's plan. Paul has come back and he adds something additional. That's all within God's purview. To follow one man is not what God would have. He has a purpose for each person that is talking to the people about the Lord Jesus. Those who have believed through grace.

It says in Ephesians 2.8, for by grace you have been saved through faith.

This is a very similar statement, talking about the fact that belief, it kind of has grace and faith, kind of flipped around a little bit, but basically grace is the operating system, so to speak, and faith is the means by which we come, we believe in the facts. And the facts are going to be basically, he's demonstrating that the scriptures talk about that Jesus was the Christ. That's a focal point of our faith. Our faith isn't just faith in faith, our faith is in a person. So Paul says Jesus was the Christ, he was the Messiah.

And then we see, if you look back on what Jeremy covered last week in Acts 18.5, that's the same message that Paul said, very similar words. 18.5 says, 18.5, but when Silas and Timothy came down from Macedonia, Paul began devoting himself completely to the word, solemnly testifying to the Jews that Jesus was a Christ. So we see both Paul. So once again, we see that both Paul and the Pauls have the same message, the same focus.

And it's by faith. It says faith through grace or Ephesians has it flipped around a little bit. It's the same point. Faith is a mechanism which you access your relationship with God. Ephesians 2 is not that different though. By faith you're saved through grace. Say that again. It's through grace you're saved, by faith. By grace you are safe through faith. By grace through faith. So by grace through grace you are safe. The vehicle is faith. The vehicle is faith. The road is paved, that is grace.

But here also is a contrast between Apollos, who is preaching to these Gentiles in Corinth, and this Jew, who obviously as a Jew was instructed in the Jewish way, and then was instructed, we see, in the way of the Lord. So he was trained, he was taught, he was discipled, and groomed, you might say, as a schoolmaster to bring him to Christ when that revelation came. And here are these Corinthians, and even Jews in 28, that They were foreign to this instruction that he had, the preparation that he had. So the salvation that they had was through the grace of God instructing their spirit.

And so to see As an illustration for us, there's folks that we see that we call miraculously saved, even though everybody's saved the same. Because their lifestyle is so so different. And yet we cannot draw it, the scripture draws the exact parallel. Here's a person that was groomed to Christ, who came to Christ in the exact same way as these folks that the scripture indicates did not have that same instruction. And yet by grace, They're both saved through faith.

And God's grace is seen, I mean, the entire legal system is God's grace. Because God doesn't have to have anybody approach Him. And yet He says, I'm going to allow you a system by which you can attain Christlikeness, or you can attain Godliness. And so that is, of course, by grace. But the meaning of salvation by grace in the New Testament is, as you mentioned, an entire different operating system to become like Christ. One, I demonstrate godliness through the works of the law. The other, I demonstrate godliness through the empowerment of the Holy Spirit working in and through me.

And I just think it's an interesting parallel to see this man that we might say Yeah, I know, I know. That's the kind of thing the world says, well this guy was groomed from his childhood and he came to the Lord and he was planned this and that. Well, in other people, they're the quote, scum of the earth and they come to know the Lord. And I just think it's interesting to hear in the same passage it shows both and says, These are brothers.

Their relationship with God is in the same standing before God. So for us, to think of my own salvation, God loved me more, God prepared me more. There's no pride in that. God destroys all pride. Or to say, who am I going to share the gospel with? How am I going to present the gospel? It's God working in a person's heart. God prepared his heart. God prepared the Corinthians' heart. And so I have the responsibility to share Christ with whomever I come in contact with.

It also kind of sounds like prodigal son, too. I mean, when he comes back, if the older brother who never left, who was kind of groomed and always had it, and if he's like, hey, how come he gets all the attention? Because, you know, he went away and I've been here the whole time. You know, so there's even a chance for the person who has been groomed their whole life to be resentful, you know, so it's not like just because you are groomed that you're going to have a guaranteed easy path, I guess.

Just to build on that very simplistically, I mean, I look at the cross as the great equalizer of all time. Every man and woman is the same at the foot of the cross. and all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. And the cross, there's no prejudice there. Rich or poor, beautiful, ugly, whatever, thin, overweight. The point is the cross is the great equalizer. And we're all the same at the foot of the cross. Let's close.

Dear Father, we thank you so much for this day. We thank you for your message about your marvelous salvation by grace through faith. We trust you Lord for your carrying that out. We are thankful that we can share that message. Allow us as your children to share a message that is life changing. A message that every person on this earth needs to hear. Thank you for that. In Christ's name, Amen.