Vision Number Four – Acts 18:9-11

Most of you are either parents or children, so I think that you can relate to this:

Can’t you picture a couple of childish Christians talking about the privileges of the Apostle Paul?

“Paul is so LUCKY. God gives him EVERYTHING. He gets to be an apostle, and I’m just a nobody.”

Then another child says, “Not only that, look at all the visions he gets to have. God loves him better than He loves me.”

Isn’t it true that God has given Paul lots of visions?

Did Peter receive as many visions? Did Silas or Timothy get any at all? Paul was SO lucky.

His Christian life began with a vision of sorts, while he was on his way to persecute the saints in Damascus.

Then there was Paul’s stoning in Derbe and the vision described in II Corinthians 12, which most scholars think was connected to that stoning.

Would you be willing to endure a hail-storm, a maelstrom of stones, just to enjoy a vision of Heaven?

Maybe so!

Paul’s third vision was of man of Macedonia who invited the missionaries to come over to help his people.

And now there is another vision here in Acts 18.

Paul was SO lucky.

But wait a minute.

Haven’t we been given just about everything that Paul enjoyed, even if it hasn’t been in a night vision?

All, except for whatever is NOT described in II Corinthians 12, the Lord has shared Paul’s visions with us through the revelations of His Word.

In fact, if we only possessed those things which the Biblical saints received through visions, then we’d have very little knowledge of anything important.

We praise God for His visions, but we praise the Lord even more for the less spectacular revelations that we have within the pages of the Word of God.

We KNOW that all these scriptures are given to us by the inspiration of God.

But if tonight we had a vision upon our beds while we slept, we would have to seriously question whether it came from the Lord.

How do I know for sure that this came from God and not from the Devil or from the pizza?

I think that if the Lord gave us special revelations it would tend to confuse us rather than edify us.

And history proves that those who have claimed to have received visions from God have been more of a problem than a help to the work of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Nevertheless, we know that God visited Paul one night while he struggled there in Corinth.

We know about this because the infallible Word of God tells us so.

Tonight, let’s think about the CAUSE, the PURPOSE and REASON for Paul’s fourth vision from the Lord.

First up is the CAUSE behind this vision.

From what you know about Paul, would you say he was a common, mediocre, or great servant of God?

There should be no doubt that in this man we have one of the truly great men of God.

I think that he “was not a whit behind the very chiefest apostles” – II Corinthians 11:5.

“In nothing” was he “behind the very chiefest apostles” – II Corinthians 12:11.

But the best of men are but men at best.

He said, “I can do all things through Christ, which strengtheneth me,”

but if what he had been trying to say in Philippians 4:13 had warranted it,

he would have gone on to say, “but WITHOUT Christ I can do nothing.”

For a week now, my wife Judy, as been literally dragging herself through each day.

I can hardly get any work out of her.

She has stayed home from her job, but she hasn’t washed a single floor or window there at home.

She hasn’t used the nice weather to trim the roses or to rake the yard.

Between a bad cold, a cough which seems at times to be turning her inside out, and with a bout with asthma after years of respite, she has been as whimpy as a wet noodle.

Most of you know what I am talking about.

We can get that way PHYSICALLY; we can get that way EMOTIONALLY,

and we can even get way that SPIRITUALLY.

I think that Paul was battling a round of spiritual asthma.

Thessalonica and Berea had been like Mount Carmel to Elijah, but Athens had been his trip to Sinai.

His time in Athens was like the 3½ year famine that Elijah and Israel had suffered through.

Whether he fled from Athens or simply decided to move on to hopefully more fruitful fields, when he arrived in Corinth, cold and alone, he was no fire-brand or spiritual tornado.

Yes, he reasoned in the synagogue and persuaded the Jews and the Greeks, but it doesn’t appear to have been with the spiritual gusto that he had possessed in Macedonia.

“Paul was pressed in the spirit,” whatever that means.

“And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God.

For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified.

And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling.

And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom.”

In our struggles against the “old man,” and against Satan and his temptations;

In our efforts to more positively serve the Lord and to bring glory to His name,

We are only as strong as the strength that we derive from the Lord Himself.

With men, living the Christian life is impossible, but with God all things are possible.

Paul was in need of a spiritual transfusion; a shot of spiritual adrenalin; a dose of spiritual antibiotics.

And to whom could he turn?

Young Timothy wasn’t there, at least at the beginning of this work in Corinth.

Silas wasn’t there, and his old friend Barnabas wasn’t returning his phone calls.

Sure he had the Old Testament scriptures, but don’t we all.

He possessed the Holy Spirit, and he had the work of the Lord itself,

But he still needed something more.

So the Lord graciously visited him with a vision.

And what was it specifically that the Lord was intending to do?

What was the PURPOSE of this vision?

I’ve already answered that question – at least in part.

The Lord told Paul not to be afraid.

Doesn’t that suggest to you that Paul must have been afraid?

Aw, come on, how could Paul have possibly become afraid?

How could someone who walked through a hail-storm of stones unscathed be afraid?

How could someone who endured the Philippian beatings, stocks and earthquake be afraid?

I can’t tell you specifically what triggered it, but what else could the Lord’s words mean?

Was Paul afraid of the hatred of the Jews?

Was fear muzzling him?

Was it the power of the Roman government or the Greek culture?

Was he afraid, based on what happened or didn’t happen in Athens, that the Lord had withdrawn His hand from his ministry?

Had the faith of Paul been shaken in some way?

“Be not afraid, Paul. No man shall hurt thee.”

Doesn’t this sound a lot like the first couple of chapters in Joshua?

“There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life: as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee: I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.

Be strong and of a good courage: for unto this people shalt thou divide for an inheritance the land, which I sware unto their fathers to give them.

Only be thou strong and very courageous,

Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the LORD thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.”

Like Paul, Joshua was one of the finest men in the Word of God, but there were times when even he needed a little boost from the Lord.

Then the Lord said, “Paul, speak, and hold not thy peace.”

Even though the Apostle had not been silent, he may have become a little tentative or soft-spoken.

Oh, how I know this feeling myself.

Why was it so important that Paul open his mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the gospel?

Because that is the God-ordained method of saving the elect.

“For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?

And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!”

I was thrilled with some news that I received this week.

Once or twice year I hear from my old boss from my job at the mall.

A few weeks ago I heard that he had moved from Salem, Oregon to Bellingham, Washington to manage the big shopping mall there, so I sent an e-mailing, hoping that it would reach him.

About two weeks later I got a reply, and we shuffled a couple of messages back and forth.

In one of them, he told me that his son, whom I knew as a bratty little elementary-school kid, was finishing his senior year at high-school with plans of becoming a Baptist preacher.

Dennis told me that every once in a while he holds up a picture of me, and tells his son Cameron, “You could end up like this.”

I fear that he’s not going to get the theological training that he needs,

but it thrilled my heart anyway to know that in some small way,

I might have had something to do with this young man going into the ministry.

How shall they hear and believe without a preacher?

Young people, this world desperately needs gospel preachers.

You may say that you’re not qualified, and I agree with you, just as I thought of myself years ago.

But the Lord can qualify any Christian young man, when that is God’s will and calling.

If God can use me in some small way, then he can use you to accomplish great things.

Make yourself available to the Lord; submit yourself to Him.

This morning, in the course of my message, I made a passing comment:

I said that God, like an army General, gave commands to Israel, and He expected them to be obeyed.

In many ways, the Lord is like a military commander,

but in some ways that is not an appropriate illustration.

I heard an interview with Stormin’ Norman Schwarzkopf, the U.S. commander in the Gulf War.

He said that one of the problems of commanding a modern army is trying to stay mentally ahead of the troops.

Today’s military moves so fast, that it is very hard for the commanders to know what direction to take and what orders to issue.

The perfect model of a modern major general has to think in terms of the big picture, rather than of the needs and problems of the individual soldier.

In that way, the Lord is NOT like a military commander.

The Lord was, and still is, interested in the problems of the Apostle Paul – and you and me.

He cares if we are wounded;

He cares if we get depressed; He cares whether or not we are advancing or retreating.

Paul, are you feeling down, are you sick, are you worried, are you homesick?

“Cast your care upon the Lord, for he careth for you.” Yes He does.

One of the things that we can learn from this vision is that when we get depressed, we need to let the Lord speak.

Open up the Word of the Lord and read, brother; read Acts, read Psalms, read the victorious words of the prophets.

And even though depression fights against it, pray and, let the Lord speak to your heart as you pray.

Yes, don’t forsake your work, but without the unction of the Lord, the work is going to be done in vain.

Elijah, the Lord cares about you, and about your work; listen to him.

Paul, the Lord cares about what you are doing there in Corinth.

The Lord spoke to Paul, because He is concerned about His work.

And that brings us to the REASON for the vision.

“For I have much people in this city.”

This is such a tremendous and important statement that it demands that I look at it fully and specifically.

And it is my intention to preach from this verse next Sunday morning.

Suffice it to say at this point, that Aquila, Priscilla, Justus, and Crispus were only the first few drops portending the showers of souls that were going to be saved in Corinth through Paul’s ministry.

My last statement, I suppose could be uttered by anyone who calls himself an evangelical.

But this Biblical statement of the Lord Jesus is pregnant with theology which most evangelicals wouldn’t touch with a ten-foot pole.

It says that not all the people of the bustling metropolis of Corinth were the people of God.

It’s politically correct today to say, “We’re all God’s people.”

That may be politically correct, but it is theologically and Biblically incorrect.

Secondly, that statement suggests that even though there were as yet very few believers in Christ in Corinth, the Lord nevertheless had many of his own people there who were not yet saved.

I believe that those who would believe on Christ and would be saved, were at that time children of wrath and children of the Devil.

But as far as the plan and purpose of God was concerned they were going to repent and believe

and they were as much the people of the Lord as Paul himself.

This is one of the many, many statements in the Word of God which declares and teaches that God has an elect people.

These people, chosen before the foundation of the world are all, each and every one, going to willingly and whole-heartedly come to the Saviour.

But first they must hear of Christ, they must repent of their sin before God and they must believe on Christ.

And therefore, Paul, “be not afraid, but speak, and hold not thy peace.”

As I say we’ll look more thoroughly at this verse and this statement later.

And for those of you who can’t be here, you may read that message on our web-site,

or you can get a cassette tape of the message.

But going back to Paul’s fourth vision:

Yes, it was a blessing and a privilege to be visited by the Lord in this way.

Yes, it had special significance for the struggling Apostle Paul.

But if you stop and think about it, it wasn’t just for Paul.

We have been given, through inspiration, the gist of what Paul received through special revelation.

He didn’t get much more than what you and I have been given,

except for the assurance that the Lord has much people in that particular city.

There may be more of God’s people here in our valley than there ultimately was in Corinth,

then again, maybe not.

None of us can say for sure.

But the lesson of the vision remains the same:

“Be not afraid, but speak, and hold not thy peace, for I am with thee,

and no man shall set on thee to hurt thee; for I have much people in this city.”