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Book: Acts
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Acts 18:9,10 The Answer for Fear
I. The city of Corinth
A. It is located at the narrow isthmus where the Aegean Sea almost
touches the Adriatic. Greece is almost separated in two parts.
The isthmus is less than five miles wide.
1. In those days most of the goods from East to West
passed through Corinth.
2. The cargo would be brought from the East over the
Aegean to Corinth, there it would be unloaded and
transported over land to the Adriatic where it was then
loaded onto ships going to Rome.
3. They were thus able to save traveling hundreds of extra
miles around the dangerous cape Malea and back up to
Rome.
B. The morals of Corinth were the lowest.
1. In the dramas, if ever a Corinthian was shown, he was
shown drunk.
2. When they sought to describe a man who was given over
to utter debauchery they would say, "He lives like a
Corinthian."
3. On the Acropolis above the city to the present day
there are the remains of the once great Temple to
Aphrodite, the goddess of sensual pleasure.
4. Each night the thousand priestesses of Aphrodite would
come down into Corinth and by prostitution earn money
for the upkeep of the temple.
C. It is not a likely spot to consider for evangelism. Yet we find
Paul each Sabbath day in the synagog testifying to the people
that Jesus was the Messiah.
1. As in every place where Paul carried the gospel,
trouble was stirred up against him by the unbelieving
Jews.
2. Paul had been beaten, imprisoned, and forced to leave
Philippi, They had to sneak him out of Thessolonica at
night. He was driven out of Berea, now all of these
were all fairly civil towns.
3. Now he is here in Corinth, a rough and wicked city and
he no doubt wondered about his fate at the hands of the
Jews who had risen up against him.
II. Paul's vision in the night.
A. The Lord spoke to Paul by a vision in the night.
1. This is one of the many recorded night visions where
the Lord spoke to Paul.
a. His call to go to Macedonia was in a night
vision.
b. Once again when he was in jail in Jerusalem.
c. Again when he was on the ship going to Rome in
a fierce storm, and all hope for survival was
given up.
2. The vision was intended to comfort Paul. "Be not
afraid."
a. You don't tell a person "Don't be afraid."
unless they are afraid.
b. Paul had good cause to be afraid. As we have
said, his reception in Europe had not been the
most friendly and Corinth was one tough city.
3. Two of the other times when Jesus spoke to Paul in the
night visions were to encourage him.
a. When he was in prison in Jerusalem after the
great disappointment of having his witness
rejected.
b. When they had been at sea in a storm for
fourteen days and had despaired of their lives.
There again the Lord said fear not.
4. When we read of the great exploits of Paul in preaching
the gospel, we are prone to think of him in super human
terms, but he was one with emotions just like us. He
had his fears also.
B. "Speak and hold not your peace."
1. Is it possible that Paul was considering leaving
Corinth?
a. Again the Jews were stirring up trouble.
b. In a heavy confrontation with them he turned
from them in a dramatic fashion and declared
his intention to bring the message to the
Gentiles.
c. I can understand if Paul is getting a little
gun shy at this point.
2. You remember the prophet Jeremiah who after his
imprisonment for sharing the word from God with the
people, declared that he was determined to not speak
for the Lord again. But the word of the Lord was like
fire in his bones and he became weary of trying to hold
it back.
3. When Paul wrote to the Corinthians he declared that it
was the love of God constrained him to preach, for he
reasoned that if one died for all, then all were dead
who lived in their sins, but He died for us that we
should no longer live for ourselves but should live for
Him.
III. The cure for Paul's fears. "I am with you."
A. What great comfort it is to know that the Lord is with us.
1. Writing to the Romans Paul said, "If God be for us, who
can be against us?"
2. Jesus Christ the Son of God, the creator of the
universe, the One who came to earth and died for our
sins is there at night encouraging Paul not to fear, to
speak out boldly, for He was not alone, the Lord Jesus
Christ was with him.
3. God spoke through the prophet Isaiah, "Fear not, for I
am with you, be not dismayed, for I am your God, I will
strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with
the right hand of My righteousness."
B. Are you going through uncertain times right now? Has fear
entered in?
1. As you seek the Lord, and commit your life and your
circumstances to Him, you can hear Him say to you,
"Don't be afraid."
2. You can say with David, "The Lord is on my side, I will
not fear. What can man do to me?"
3. You as David can confidently face the giants of this
world and declare, "You come against me with a sword
and shield, but I come against you in the name of the
living God."
C. The Lord assured Paul that no man would set on him to hurt him.
1. The Lord promised to protect Paul from hurt in Corinth.
2. Paul had already been stoned in Lystra, and beaten in
Philippi, but here the Lord said that no man would hurt
him.
a. Why would the Lord allow men to hurt him in
other places, yet protect him here in Corinth?
b. It is one of those many times when we must
trust ourselves to the wisdom of the Lord, we
do not know.
c. Paul had to escape from the other places, he is
to remain here for a long period of time.
D. The Lord told Paul that He had many people in this city.
1. This pagan idolatrous city had many people who needed
the Lord.
2. We, using our natural wisdom, would probably have never
considered preaching the gospel in Corinth.
a. Had the experts in church growth gone into
Corinth to make a demographic study of the
community to determine if a church should be
planted there they would probably concluded
that you would have greater success in Athens.
b. This would be the last place that you would
expect to see a healthy thriving church.
3. Jesus is the Lord of the harvest, He knows the fields
that are ripe and ready for reaping.
4. We would have looked upon it as a wicked hopeless city,
filled with drunks and sexual licentiousness. The Lord
saw the many people that were looking for a better
life.
5. As a result, Paul stayed there for 18 months and reaped
a great harvest for the kingdom of God.
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