Fellowship with God

RIVERSIDE INDONESIAN FELLOWSHIP
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Fellowship with God

Riverside Indonesian Fellowship
Published by Stanley Pouw in 2017 · 25 June 2017

Now in Acts 18, the Apostle Paul is on his second missionary journey in the City of Corinth. And that city was the center of immorality of the world at that time. Now, as we saw in our study last week, Paul was going to face was not only the trouble of that kind of a city, but it was the trouble that he himself was experiencing in his own life. He was discouraged, tired and weary.

Corinth was a sin city, debauched at every level. Romans 1:24-32 is a catalog of the activity of the Corinthians. Romans 1:24 says, “Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves.” This describes not only of personal sexual activity, but also sexual relationships with animals.

Verse 25-27, “who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator who is blessed forever. Amen. 26 For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. 27 Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due.”

Verse 28-31, “And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting; 29 being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness; they are whisperers, 30 backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, 31 undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful.”

And here was Paul alone in this place and being somewhat fearful and hesitant and overwhelmed with the corruption there. But in 2 Corinthians 12:10 he said this, “Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” And before that in verse 9 he says, “My strength is made perfect in weakness.”

Do you know how corrupt the church itself was? Paul ministered in that church, perhaps for as long as two years. But what happened to that church? By the time he writes 1 Corinthians, they are corrupted beyond description. That says that the intensity of the corruptness of Corinth was irresistible. Turn to 1 Corinthians 5, to see what it did to the Church. And you can see the same thing in our cities today.

The society has a tremendous effect on the church. 1 Corinthians 5:1 says, “It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and such sexual immorality as is not even named among the Gentiles—that a man has his father’s wife!” Everybody is talking about your sexual sin.

And the worst of it is verse 2, “And you are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he who has done this deed might be taken away from among you.” But then Paul goes on to say, "Get that guy out of there. Don't you know that one rotten apple spoils the whole barrel? Verse 5, “deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.”

Look to verse 9, “I wrote to you in my epistle not to keep company with sexually immoral people.” Beloved, choose your friends wisely. Verse 11, “But now I have written to you not to keep company with anyone named a brother, who is sexually immoral, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or an extortioner—not even to eat with such a person.”

1 Corinthian 6:9-10 tells us, “Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, 10 nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God.” Listen verse 11, "And such what were some of you?" This is a typical cross-section of the culture of Corinth.

Listen to 1 Corinthians 7:2, “Nevertheless, because of sexual immorality, let each man have his own wife, and let each woman have her own husband.” They were just having sex and they weren't interested in getting married, just like what is happening today. Young people say, “I know that we have sexual relationships and we're not married, but we love each other." Well, in the bible that is still called fornication.

Now, Paul arrives in Athens alone, and he has a kind of formidable enemy. Before he can ever begin anything, God has to encourage him. When Jesus told the disciples that He was going to leave, He immediately knew their reaction, and He says to them, "Let not your heart be troubled.” Jesus is sensitive to the comfort of the saints always. God is a compassionate Lord.

Oh yes, there are discouraging times, but you are learning during those times, and you're just waiting for God’s encouragement. Isaiah and Jeremiah were two prophets in the Old Testament who got more discouraged than anybody else. God said to both of them, "I want you to spend your whole life being My prophet, but nobody will listen to anything you ever say." That is a rough calling, and yet they were still faithful as they carried out their entire ministry without much of a response except antagonism.

Jeremiah wrote a book about his weeping, it's called Lamentations. He was called the weeping prophet. And he wept from the beginning to the end over Israel. They never listened to him, and he knew that captivity was coming, and they never listened. Lamentations 3:15, “He's filled me with bitterness, and made me drink wormwood.” I have lost the peace. I've forgotten what used to be happy times.

God has a lot of names in the bible but one of my favorites is this one, the God of all comforts. That is His name: compassion, comfort and encouragement. Wait on Him and see. So there are four ways that God used to comfort Paul: companionship, apostleship, fellowship, and hardship. We talked last week about companionship, his friends. Aquilla was from Pontus and he had a wife named Priscilla who came from Rome.

So they moved to Corinth. They were plying their trade there, and the Apostle Paul came to them. Verse 3 says because he had the same trade. And so God had two choice people waiting for him. God encouraged him with friendship. He found a home to live in. He found beloved friends, saints in Christ, to nourish him and to cherish him, and to encourage him and to share fellowship with him.

Paul worked for sustenance, he needed to work. 2 Thessalonians 3:10 says, “If anyone will not work, neither shall he eat.” Paul worked because he never wanted pagans to think that Christianity was a commercial enterprise. In 1 Thessalonians 2:9, he says, “Remember, brethren, for laboring night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you, we preached to you the gospel of God.”

In 1 Corinthians 9:14, Paul says, “the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should live from the gospel.” But that certainly should be at the discretion of the people. Preachers who put a price tag on their ministry; have eliminated themselves from the liberty to let the Spirit do what He wants to do. If I go somewhere and speak and they give me some money, that's good. But I never demand anything, I just want to do what the Holy Spirit wants.

And Paul worked all week and then preached on the Sabbath. First God encouraged him with companionship. His friends first were new friends, Aquilla and Priscilla. But then came old friends. Verse 5, “When Silas and Timothy had come from Macedonia" and that thrilled his heart. Listen friendship is very important. Secondly with apostleship. He was encouraged first with his friends, next it was with his converts.

Verse 5 continues, "Paul was compelled by the Spirit, and testified the Jews that Jesus was Christ." A later manuscript evidence says that the phrase "compelled by the spirit" is better translated, "He began devoting himself completely to the Word." In other words, when Silas brought the money from the Philippian church, Paul was freed from making tents, so he could give himself entirely to his preaching.

Paul was testifying to the Jews that Jesus was Messiah. Verse 6, “But when they opposed him and blasphemed, he shook his garments and said to them, “Your blood be upon your own heads; I am clean. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.” To blaspheme is to ridicule the person of Christ. To blaspheme against the Holy Spirit in Matthew 12 was to attribute the works of Christ to Satan.

Paul was so infuriated at the blasphemy, that he says to those Jews, “I'm finished with you. I have exercised my responsibility. I have given you opportunity. You blaspheme Jesus Christ. I'm shaking the dust off my clothes. The blood is on your head. I'm going to the Gentiles.” And we discussed last week that he just marched out of that synagogue, turning his back on Israel. And we found he just went next door.

Verse 7 says, “And he departed from there and entered the house of a certain man named Justus, one who worshiped God, whose house was next door to the synagogue.” He goes into this house, and this guy comes to Christ. So God begins to encourage him with a convert. Verse 8, “Then Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue, believed on the Lord with all his household. And many of the Corinthians, hearing, believed and were baptized.”

Thirdly, God encouraged them with fellowship. God comes to him personally, because when those people got saved in verse 8, the persecution didn't stop, right? But the persecution just got more intense all the time, and so it was a rough thing. And so God says, "Well, his friends are good, and his converts are good. But now I will go down and talk to him Myself."

God reserves special times of intervention. At least five times in the book of Acts when Paul comes against a crisis where there's no way to go and no clear direction, God Himself intervenes. And so now comes God. Verse 9, “Now the Lord spoke to Paul in the night by a vision, “Do not be afraid, but speak, and do not keep silent.” Paul, don't stop preaching. Now this implies that Paul was getting tentative about preaching.

Verse 10, “for I am with you, and no one will attack you to hurt you; for I have many people in this city.” We, as Christians, are given the same promise. Jesus said in Matthew 28:20, “I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Jesus' name in Matthew 1:23 is Emmanuel, which means “God with us.” Isaiah 41:10 says, “Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, Yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.”

Secondly God says, “Don't stop, no one will attack you to hurt you." God said the same thing in Isaiah 54:17, “No weapon formed against you shall prosper, and every tongue which rises against you in judgment you shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is from Me,” Says the Lord.

What does that verse mean, "I have many people in this city?" Does God choose who will be saved? Ephesians 1:4 says, “He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love.” Are we chosen to be saved before the foundation of the world? Yes, because the bible says that. Listen to Revelations 13:8, “All who dwell on the earth will worship the devil, whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.”

Well, what about human responsibility? Oh, I believe that too. Look at verse 6, "Your blood be upon your own heads.” Listen; if you come to Jesus Christ, you came to Him because you were chosen before the world began. If you reject Jesus Christ, it's your own responsibility. You say, "Those two don't go together." Right. But you must allow in the Scripture for the paradox of sovereignty and responsibility.

Realize that we have little brains, and God is bigger than the universe. So we are not rattled because we can't justify sovereignty with responsibility. We just let the two exist, because that paradox exists in every other major doctrine. Who wrote the book of Acts? You say Luke and I say the Holy Spirit. And yet it wasn't Luke and the Holy Spirit working together. No, every word was chosen by the Holy Spirit, and yet Luke himself had all those words in his own vocabulary. This is a paradox.

Who lives a Christian life? I do, but Jesus says in John 15:5, “Without me, you can do nothing.” He does. Well, it's a paradox. What was Jesus Christ; God or man? Both. That's a paradox. You see, in every major biblical doctrine where God reduces Himself to human terms, there is a paradox. The bible says, "If he goes to heaven, it is because he was chosen before the foundation of the world." Then the bible closes with these words, "Whosoever will, let him come and take of the water of life freely."(Revelation 22:17)

Listen; if you want to come to Jesus, you come. How God fits that into His sovereignty is His problem. He will do it, and you don't need to worry about it. If I understood God, I would be God. No one understands God fully except Jesus. And so God here encourages Paul, first with His power, "I am with you." Then with His preservation, "no man shall ever hurt you." Thirdly with his promise, "I have many people in this city." God says, I have ordained you that you should bring forth fruit. Let us pray.



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