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Guest (Male): We live in a wicked and sinful world that's getting darker and darker by the day. Yet rather than shining brighter in the darkness, we can become fearful, feeling overwhelmed and intimidated. But you'll be encouraged to know that even the Apostle Paul at times felt this way.

That comes to our attention on today's Study the Word. It's true, Acts chapter 18 records that even the Apostle Paul was fearful. But before we get to this and how the Lord encouraged Paul, Pastor Thom Keller begins with some important background.

Pastor Thom Keller: Acts 18, a fascinating chapter once again. We'll start with just the first verse to give some introduction to this. It says, "Then Paul left Athens and went to Corinth." For ships traveling in this region, it was a very dangerous journey. And so there's this isthmus, which is about four miles wide, that created a harbor on both sides. And that shipping vessels would actually carry their cargo across that four miles and save themselves a hundred-mile journey around a very, very dangerous Cape.

Paul had three missionary journeys, and this is the furthest point. Today, Corinth is the furthest point of his second missionary journey. After his stay in Corinth, he's now going to head back and he's going to end up in Antioch once again. After Corinth, he went to Ephesus, Caesarea, and Jerusalem all on his way back to Antioch. This area is 20 miles long and 4 miles wide at its narrowest points. It was one of the largest and richest and most important cities of the Roman Empire.

The Roman Empire had 120 million people. Now, again, you think about that. You know, the United States is what, 300 million people? I think we're 300 million now, aren't we? 120 million people in the Roman Empire already. That's an incredible number. Half of that million and a half were slaves. So 750,000 were free men, and 750,000 were slaves. And again, that's why they said there were so many slaves in the Roman Empire, especially in these larger regions.

Rome was the largest city with a population of 1.5 million. Alexandria had over a million Jews alone in the region. If you ever think that there weren't a whole lot of Jews during this time, that is not true. As I said, the region of Alexandria had over one million Jews just in that, outside of that city. Antioch was the third-largest city, which is again where the Christian Gentile church is now centered. And the fourth-largest city in the Roman Empire is Corinth. And Corinth has 400,000 people at this time.

To go around, you had to travel the Cape of Malea, which was a very dangerous journey. Greek sailors had a saying that said, "Let him who thinks of sailing around Malea make up his will." That's how dangerous it was. So in order to avoid the loss of their cargo, their lives, they would then come to this region, Corinth. It was a great commercial center where north and south and east and west trade all met at a crossroads. It was a melting pot of cultures and of people.

But what Corinth was most famous for was its sexual immorality. And again, if you've studied this at all, you know that the word Corinth is synonymous with sexual immorality. In fact, the word Corinth probably comes from the word *kora* and *antha*, which those two words mean "here come the girls," or taking it a little further to the real meaning, "here come the harlots." That's what Corinth means. "Here come the girls" or "here come the harlots."

In fact, the phrase "She is my Corinthian companion" automatically meant to the person hearing it that the woman that was with you was your prostitute. To say "She is my Corinthian companion" meant she's a prostitute. In the classical Greek, the phrase "to act like a Corinthian" meant to practice fornication. Aelian, a Greek writer, said that every time a Corinthian was displayed in a play, they always played the drunk. So that if somebody dressed, acted like a Corinthian, the people watching the play would know that this man was to portray a drunk. That's just the lifestyle, the understanding that went with Corinth and Corinthians.

Now this sexual immorality was practiced in Corinth through their worship of Aphrodite, who's also known as Venus, the goddess of fertility and sexuality. Now this temple was so rich, so wealthy, that it owned more than 1,000 temple slaves who were prostitutes, who had been dedicated to Aphrodite. The temple actually owned them as slave prostitutes. They were dedicated to Aphrodite, to the goddess of sexuality and fertility. And each evening, these prostitutes would descend down upon the city, soliciting in the streets for customers, the money of which then went back to the temple.

And it's again why this temple was so wealthy, why Corinth really was so wealthy. It's kind of like what is it that draws people to some cities, to Las Vegas? I was in Las Vegas for a meeting and they brag about being Sin City. You know, the t-shirts say Sin City, billboards Sin City. They brag about that. They promote that. You know, the Bible says that we're proud of what we should be ashamed of. And that certainly was the case here, certainly was the case here. Each night, these thousand women would descend down upon the city.

And it was no small part because of these prostitutes that people flocked, crowded into Corinth, and why Corinth became rich. If you started seeing billboards in Las Vegas that said the Bible study capital of the world, things would change, wouldn't they? Things would change. It's what draws people. It's what drew them. Now, again, if you kind of enjoy math, you know the ratio of 400,000 people in Corinth, 1,000 prostitutes. That's a ratio of 1 to 400. If you assume that in those days there might have been four children in a family, a husband, a wife, and four children, that means there would have been one prostitute for every 70 men.

To make a comparison, I looked up the population of Philadelphia. It's about 1.6 million. The same ratio in Philadelphia would mean that every night in Philadelphia, 4,000 prostitutes descend upon the city. 4,000. But it didn't last. Thankfully, following the Roman period, the temple became a Christian church, followed by a Muslim mosque, and then eventually fell into ruin. And that's why there really is no remnant at all of her temple on top of the mountain.

One ancient writer described Corinth as a city where only the tough could survive. And it's into this city that little Paul ventures, as we'll see. He's by himself, he's no traveling companions with him at this point, and he goes into this city by himself. Verse 2: there he became, when he went into Corinth, there he became acquainted with a Jew named Aquila, born in Pontus, who had recently arrived from Italy with his wife Priscilla. They had been expelled from Italy as a result of Claudius Caesar's order to deport all Jews from Rome. Paul lived and worked with them, for they were tentmakers just as he was.

Now it says that Aquila and Priscilla were there because they had been deported, they had been expelled from Rome. All the Jews had been. Claudius was the fifth emperor of Rome. And one historian lets us know why he expelled the Jews. This historian says that Claudius, quote, "expelled the Jews from Rome because they were continually making tumults or disturbances, distractions, being moved to do so by one Chrestus."

The understanding is that when the gospel came to Rome and Christians began witnessing in Rome, it created such anger among the Jews that they were constantly in a state of being in upheaval and being disturbed by this new Christian faith they were battling, that Claudius actually commanded all the Jews to leave because he was tired of all of this uprising because of this Christian faith that the Jews were trying to do battle against.

Also in verse 3, it tells us that Paul and Aquila and Priscilla were tentmakers. And literally, the word means leatherworkers. They would make leather panels out of the hair or leather or skins of various animals. They would sew them together. That's why the phrase "under the skins" in this era meant to live in tents. Just like we say someone is under the covers, they went under the covers, we know that means that they're in bed. In those days, if you said they're under the skins, it meant that they were living in tents. So these leather panels were made for, then sewn together for tents. Also, they would make shades for sun and tapestries for hanging.

So Paul is a tentmaker. And people may ask why did Paul learn this trade? I thought he's an evangelist, he's on the road, why does he have a trade? He was a rabbi, he was taught by Gamaliel. Why does he have a trade? And according to Jewish practice, every rabbi was to have a trade. Remember Jesus was a carpenter. Every rabbi was to have a trade, for a rabbi was not to take money for teaching. They had a saying, quote, "excellent is the study of the law along with a worldly trade." In fact, one of the commentaries says that a teacher apart from occupation in the world can become blinded to sin.

So that's why today, whenever a ministry supports itself, whenever a missionary supports himself or herself, it's called a tentmaking ministry. That's where that phrase comes from, if you've heard that. He's a tentmaker, or it's a tentmaking ministry. It means they're self-supporting. They work in order to support their ministry. Verse 4: it then says each Sabbath found Paul at the synagogue trying to convince the Jews and Greeks alike. After Silas and Timothy came down from Macedonia, Paul spent his full time preaching and testifying to the Jews, telling them the Messiah you're looking for is Jesus.

But when the Jews opposed him and insulted him, Paul shook the dust from his robe and said, "Your blood be upon your own heads. I'm innocent. From now on, I will go to the Gentiles." Back in the beginning here, verse 5, it says that after Silas and Timothy came down from Macedonia. Macedonia is up to the north in the area where Athens was, is. And so now they come down, which is interesting because if you go back to chapter 17, verse 15, this is the- if you remember they escorted Paul down into Athens. It says 17:15, "Those escorting Paul went with him to Athens, then they returned to Berea with a message for Silas and Timothy to hurry and join him."

So Silas and Timothy had not joined him. They are only now joining him now that he's in Corinth, which means Silas and Timothy never joined him in Athens. Although he sent for them when he first got to Athens, he said, "Tell them to hurry and come." But they never did. Because we see here that they- it says in verse 5, "And after Silas and Timothy came down from Macedonia," which was to the north. Now they come down. Also, they found this lintel and it said "the synagogue of Corinth." It's a very heavy stone, but that's what it says, the synagogue in Corinth. And because it's so heavy, they think that where they found it, in all probability, was close to where the synagogue was.

And the synagogue was close to the agora. And the agora in Greek is the region, is the area where people kind of meet for local commerce and trade. It would kind of be the marketplace. And so this synagogue, there's a very good chance it was near the marketplace, which was near the place where Paul would have been doing his tentmaking. He preaches the gospel in the synagogue. And again, we said before, if a community had 10 male Jews, they had a synagogue. That's why when Paul went to a city, if it said that he taught down by the river typically, if there wasn't a synagogue, the people would meet down by the river to worship God on their Sabbath, which again was the Saturday.

But where there was a synagogue, they met where there were 10 male adult Jews, they met in a synagogue to worship. So he's teaching there. They reject him, they oppose him, they insult him. Paul shakes the dust from his robe literally, shakes the dust from his robe, and said, "Your blood be upon your own heads. I'm innocent. From now on, I will go to the Gentiles." Does this sound familiar to you? "I'm innocent of the blood of this man." Again, it's what Pilate said when he washed his hands in the bowl, when the Jews continued to call for Jesus's death.

He washed his hands in a bowl and he said, "I'm innocent of the blood of this man, this good man. I'm innocent of the blood of this good man." And the people cried back and said, "His blood be on us and on those of our family." And it's the same statement that Paul makes and it's the same response. Now verse- going to verse 7: so now he's preaching to the Gentiles. It says after that he stayed with Titius Justus, a Gentile who worshipped God and lived next door to the synagogue. And the Greek here really implies that it had a common wall with the synagogue.

So he was not only next door, he could have knocked through the wall and gone into the synagogue. He stayed with Titius Justus, a Gentile who worshipped God and lived next door to the synagogue. Crispus, the leader of the synagogue, and all his household believed in the Lord. Do you think that created a little bit of a problem for the Jews? The head of the synagogue, the president of the synagogue, which is what his title really was, he becomes a believer in the Lord. Many others in Corinth also became believers and were baptized. Crispus, as you're going to see, is replaced as the leader of the synagogue by another man.

Verse 9: it says one night the Lord spoke to Paul in a vision and said, "Don't be afraid. Speak out. Don't be silent, for I am with you and no one will harm you because many people here in this city belong to me." Do you think that was surprising? That a city of 400,000 with a thousand prostitutes, just at the crossroads of commerce and trade, the most cutting-edge city, that he would say, "Many in this city belong to me"? And there's a lesson there. Again, there're many people in this city that belong to the Lord.

There're many people in Las Vegas, there're many people in Amsterdam, there're many people in New Orleans that belong to the Lord, places where there's a lot of darkness. There're many people that belong to the Lord. So Paul stayed there for the next year and a half teaching the word of God. Not preaching, teaching. And we said this before, preaching is for the unregenerate, for the lost, for those that need to be redeemed. Teaching is for the church. It's every place you find it, you find them teaching to the believers.

And he spends a year and a half there. That's the longest time Paul spends in any city where he founded a church. He spends two years in Ephesus, but he didn't found that church. But he spends a year and a half because of this encouraging word: "There are many in this city belonging to me." He stayed. Verse 12: it says, "But when Gallio became governor of Achaia, some Jews rose in concerted action against Paul and brought him before the governor for judgment." So now there's a new governor in town and the Jews think this is our chance. Let's get this Paul, let's get charges against him, let's bring him before the court and let's nail him.

Verse 13: they accused Paul of persuading people to worship God in ways that are contrary to the law. And as we said last week, you will see this over and over through the book of Acts, that the Jews try to get the governor to do their bidding for them. They did it with Jesus, eventually, it happens with Paul, and we'll get into that in later chapters. They accused Paul of persuading people to worship God in ways that are contrary to the law. But just as Paul started to make his defense- so picture that, they make their charges, it's just Paul.

Maybe Timothy and Silas with him, maybe there're some other believers. But all these Jews, they're before this man. In fact, can you put up the one that says Bema seat? This is probably the spot where this happened, actually, because this is known to be the Bema seat in Corinth. And this is it. And when there would be a visiting dignitary, this was the base of course, but it had columns on top and he would stand and address the people from this area. This was outside of the agora, again the public area.

And this is where they brought Paul to this area where Gallio was standing. So all these Jews around, making their accusations. Picture them down here, Paul up here, Gallio up here. And as Paul just begins to make his defense, Gallio turns to Paul's accusers and said, "Listen, you Jews, if this were a case involving some wrongdoing or serious crime, I would be obliged to listen to you. But since it's merely a question of words and names and your Jewish laws, you take care of it. I refuse to judge such matters."

And he drove them out of the courtroom. The mob had grabbed Sosthenes, the leader of the synagogue, and Sosthenes now is the one that replaced Crispus because Crispus became a believer. The mob grabbed Sosthenes. I can't for the life of me figure out why they would have grabbed him. Sosthenes is the leader of the Jews now. He's a head of the synagogue. The crowd are Jews and they grab Sosthenes and beat him. Unless it was the Greeks that beat him, but it's just interesting to me. The mob grabbed Sosthenes, the leader of the synagogue, and had beaten him right there in the courtroom, but Gallio paid no attention.

Now again, this Gallio was the ruler of this region. And he gets criticized by many because of his callousness. You know, they bring Paul in and he could have come to Paul's defense. He could have defended him and said, "Paul free," and done the right thing. Well, it's interesting, we know a fair amount about Gallio because his brother was the famous philosopher Seneca. And Seneca, who was well respected and a man of calm temperament, said this of his brother Gallio. He said, quote, "No man was ever as sweet to one as Gallio is to all."

Guest (Male): This is Study the Word. Pastor Thom Keller is leading us through Acts at the present time. You can hear this message again as well as what you may have missed in the series online at ccleb.com. You can also call and request a CD copy at 717-507-7862. That's 717-507-7862. We've picked out a resource we believe can lead you to live the life of an overcomer. It's called Your Victory in Jesus.

This excellent book by D.L. Moody shows you how to walk by faith and have victorious results. Experience the joy of the Lord as you read Your Victory in Jesus. We'll send this your way for a gift of any amount to Study the Word this month. Here's where to write: Study the Word, 740 Willow Street, Lebanon, Pennsylvania 17046. Or call 717-507-7862.

We'd love to have you visit us here at Calvary Chapel Lebanon. See when and where we meet as you visit us at ccleb.com. And download our free Android app; search Calvary Chapel Lebanon in the Google Play Store. Calvary Chapel Lebanon is pleased to present Study the Word with Pastor Thom Keller on this station and many others like it. Come back next time when we'll resume our series in Acts.