The Word Made Plain

Announcer: Welcome to The Word Made Plain with Senior Pastor Tony Clark of Calvary Chapel Newport News in Virginia. Currently, Pastor Tony is teaching a study in the book of Acts. Please open your Bible to Acts Chapter 18, verses 11 through 18.

Tony Clark: All right, let's dive into the Word of God together. Turn with me in your Bibles to the book of Acts, chapter 18. We're going to be looking at verses 11 through 18a. That's how I'm going to put it, through 18a. We're going to save the second part of verse 18 until God's will next week.

Father, thank You so much, Lord, for this tremendous opportunity and honor we can sit at Your feet and learn from You. Speak into our hearts, Lord, the truths of Your Word. Lord, give us ears to hear what You have to say to us today. Lord, reveal the secrets of our hearts, Lord, that we can leave here saying, "Truly God was in this place," because, Lord, our hearts were revealed. Dear God, I pray that I may speak as the oracles of God, in Jesus' name. Amen.

Acts chapter 18, looking at verses 11 through 18, as we continue our verse-by-verse study of the book of Acts on Sunday mornings. You know we're in the Old Testament on Wednesdays; we're in the book of 1 Samuel. Here in Acts 18, verses 11 through 18, the title of this message is "Beat Down." Beat Down.

Now, for many of you, when you heard this title, it brought back negative or painful memories of spankings growing up, or of being beat down or abused physically. This is not what I am talking about. Did you know that there can be a positive side of a beatdown? This is the subject of these verses. I say this because in Romans 8:28 it says, "And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God and to those who are the called according to His purpose."

With this in mind, we will see how a beatdown can have a positive side to it. By way of background, we just saw how the Lord had to come to Paul in verses 9 and 10 and encourage him. Perhaps wanting to quit the ministry, the Lord tells him, "Do not be afraid, but speak, and do not keep silent; for I am with you, and no one will attack you to hurt you; for I have many people in this city." God comforted Paul the same way that He will comfort us by giving us two wonderful gifts. Number one, His presence. He said, "I am with you." Number two, His promise. "No one will attack you to hurt you."

With this in mind, Paul continued in the ministry. Let's pick it up in verse 11. "And he continued there a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them." As a result of God's assurance in his life, Paul spent 18 months in the city of Corinth, teaching the word of God to them. He also wrote two letters to the believers in the city of Thessalonica, which we know in our Bibles as 1st and 2nd Thessalonians.

I can spend the entire time on what I am about to say because it is a passion of mine. But the fact remains, the greatest need in the church today and in our homes is not group confession sessions, nor family interventions, nor bingo. Our greatest need is to be taught the scriptures. Paul stayed in Corinth for 18 months teaching them the truths of the scriptures.

Paul told Timothy, who was the pastor of the church of Ephesus, in 1 Timothy 4:13, "Till I come, give attention to reading, to exhortation, and to doctrine or teaching." In other words, Timothy, read the text to the people, explain the text to the people, and apply the text to the lives of the people in the church.

How much of the Bible should we teach? Paul told Timothy again, this time in 2 Timothy 3:16-17, "All scripture is given by inspiration of God." That word "inspiration," the Greek word is where we get "God-breathed." All scripture is God-breathed, it's inspiration of God and it's profitable for doctrine, which is teaching, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. Why, Paul? Verse 17: "That the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work."

It is all of the scriptures that not just equip us, but thoroughly equip us for every good work that God has for us. Paul understood that the new Corinthian believers needed to be taught the word of God, and so do we today. These other scriptures I'm about to quote you are not on the screen for you note-takers. Matthew 28:18-20, Jesus, in a very familiar passage of scripture, says, "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things I've said unto you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age."

God told Moses in Exodus 24:12, "Go and teach these commandments to the people." Teaching is the greatest need in the church today. Before first service, the Lord reminded me of Nehemiah 8:8. Listen to what it says. "So they read distinctly from the book in the Law of God; and they gave them the sense, and helped them understand the reading," or they taught them.

The greatest need in the church is teaching. If I had a penny every time I heard this... many of you have been preached to death. Because you've been preached to death, you flood into church here. I've heard you say that you have been here for a month and you have learned more in a month than you have in 30, 40, 50, 60, or 70 years of being preached at at a church.

The Lord showed me very early on, before I even started this church 25 years ago, the Lord very clearly spoke to my heart and said, "Look, many of My people are not walking with Me because they never been taught how." This is the greatest need in the church. You can go wherever. They can preach at you, they can entertain you, and they can run around and tell a good story and all that kind of stuff, and you can leave out there emotionally charged, feeling good. But you still won't know how to walk with God. You got to be taught how.

I got to move on to get these other verses in, though I could spend the whole time talking about the teaching of the word of God. This is why we teach the word chapter by chapter, verse by verse, book by book from Genesis to Revelation. If all scripture thoroughly equips us for every good work, you need to be taught it all. This is my job. This is what I get paid to do: to teach you so you can be thoroughly equipped for every good work God has for you.

Many people are not serving God because they haven't been thoroughly equipped on how to serve God. They come and they sit in the church and don't do anything. Let me tell you something: the teaching of the word of God will feed your soul. As your soul is fed, God's going to begin to speak to you of what He has called you and created for you to do for His kingdom. You're going to go from being a "pew potato," as we used to say 30 years ago, to an equipped soldier for the Lord.

Look at verses 12 and 13. "When Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews with one accord rose up against Paul and brought him to the judgment seat, saying, 'This fellow persuades men to worship God contrary to the law.'" Now, God told Paul in verse 10 that no one would attack him personally, but it didn't mean that his ministry wouldn't be attacked. So the Jews there in the area of Achaia rose up against Paul and brought him to the judgment seat.

A man named Gallio was presiding over the court proceeding. He was proconsul of Achaia from July AD 51 to June AD 52. He was the brother of Seneca, the famed Roman philosopher and tutor of Caesar Nero. The Jews tried to capitalize on Gallio's inexperience in these matters. They rose up to try to get Paul in trouble with Rome. They wanted Gallio to condemn this new Christian religion in which Paul was the leader. This is why they said in verse 13, "This fellow persuades men to worship God contrary to the law," referring to the Roman law.

Look at verses 14 through 16. "And when Paul was about to open his mouth, Gallio said to the Jews, 'If it were a matter of wrongdoing or wicked crimes, O Jews, there would be reason why I should bear with you. But if it is a question of words and names and your own law, look to it yourselves; for I do not want to be a judge of such matters.' And he drove them from the judgment seat."

This is what we have to see. As Paul was about to open his mouth to defend himself, Gallio interrupts him. He tells the Jews that if this were a matter of wrongdoing or wicked crimes, there would be reason to bear with them. If this was a question dealing with civil law, he would hear the case out.

"But if it is a question of words and names and your own law, look to it yourselves; for I do not want to be a judge of such matters." In other words, Gallio was saying this is not about civil law. This is about religious points and theological issues. He didn't know about this mess and he didn't want to know about it. He told them to handle it themselves and threw the case out of the court. We know he did because verse 16 said he drove them from the judgment seat.

How did the people respond to this? Look at verse 17. "Then all the Greeks took Sosthenes, the ruler of the synagogue, and beat him before the judgment seat; but Gallio took no notice of these things." There has been much discussion about whether the Greeks beat up Sosthenes or whether the angry Jews who brought the case to Gallio beat him up.

There are good arguments for both. The angry Jews may have beat up Sosthenes, who had become the new ruler of the synagogue after Crispus, the former ruler, converted to Christianity. There's evidence from 1 Corinthians 1:1 that this beatdown of Sosthenes brought him to Christ because Paul called him a brother. Like Sosthenes, oftentimes people are brought to salvation when they get beat up. I'm not talking about necessarily physically, but beat up by life's bullies, by the hard times and hardships that life brings. The worst thing that we can do is try to protect them from it when God is using this beatdown to bring them to salvation.

We as parents can fall into this trap when our children get older and they have strayed from the faith we brought them up believing. They get in trouble, and we are posting bail, we're putting up the house to get lawyers, or taking out personal loans. But God could be using this beatdown to draw them back to Christ, and we very much could be interfering in this process. This is something to think about and to pray through.

I say this because Hebrews 12:5-11 says that God disciplines those He loves. So often, God uses hardships, heartache, trials, and tribulations as the instruments of discipline. So often parents, especially moms, you get in the way of that process. I talked about it first service, so you're going to get it too. I've seen this so often. Moms, God bless you. I know how much you love your children.

But I'm telling you, God uses hardships, heartaches, trials, and tribulations as instruments to discipline. He disciplines those He loves. You love your children, but God loves them more. He wants to see them either come to Christ or come back. You could be getting in the way and interfering in that process.

This is where us fathers come in. This is why we are so needed. This is why this is the "father-void" generation, because our input is so valuable. We're like, "No, no, let them stay hungry a couple more days." That's what fathers bring to the table. I know when my youngest son was in school, he was struggling. His belly button needed to touch his back a few times. He needed to understand what a good meal was.

I know my wife was sneaking some money behind my back, but there are times by which my son was hungry and struggling, and that built some good fortitude in him. I know that my son is going to be the head of a household one day. They have to know how to provide for their family and do all they can without having Mommy bail them out all the time. They need to learn that as part of manhood.

Now, my daughter... that's where I struggle. That's the only girl I have. But my boys? No. Later on, now that he's out of school and doing his own thing, my son tells us those stories. Sometimes he only had a Now and Later, and he'd eat it and put it back in the packet for dessert later. I would just be sitting there smiling, listening to those stories. He needed to know what it is to struggle and see God provide for him. Sometimes, moms, you get in the way of that.

God is trying to use that to teach them some things. You are putting up loans while creditors are calling because you are hocking stuff to try to bail someone out. Get out of the way of that, Mom. You are only hampering him and keeping him a little baby dependent upon you when God is trying to use that toughness. First service, I told the moms to walk by me and shake their heads if that was them. So many of them were walking by me.

As dads, we know what we bring to the table. We say, "Whoa, let him feel those cuffs behind his back and sit in the back of that squad car." Let him see what that's all about so he knows never to have those cuffs behind his back again. That is what we provide. We bring a balance to you.

God uses these hardships and tough times as instruments of discipline. He disciplines those He loves. You love your kids, but God loves them more. He would rather see them come to faith or come back to the faith. So often your love for them can be a hindrance and get in the way of the little spanking God is trying to give them. Just shake your head when you see me and say, "Yeah, that was for me."

One lady said, "God knew just what I needed to hear today." Yes! On the other hand, if you know the Lord and you feel like you're being beat down by the trials and tribulations that life brings, take heart. Blessings will follow you if, like Sosthenes, you allow the beatings to draw you closer to Jesus. What are the beatings of life doing to you? Are they drawing you closer to Jesus or further away from Him?

Let's allow the beatings that life brings to draw us to Christ. I am not talking about anything physical. Physical beatings should draw you to the police and not to Christ. I'm talking about the spiritual beatings that trials and tribulations bring our way. This is why it could have been the angry Jews who beat Sosthenes, or it could have been the Greeks who beat him up because they brought a bogus case to the court.

Either way, the end of verse 17 says Gallio took no notice of these things. To me, that leans toward the angry Jews being the ones who beat Sosthenes while Gallio turned his head, as if to say, "I'm not dealing with these religious matters. I told you look to it yourselves, and by the looks of things, you're handling your business. Let me just get out of the way."

Look what it says in verse 18. "So Paul still remained a good while; then he took leave of the brethren and sailed to Syria, and Priscilla and Aquila were with him. He had his hair cut off at Cenchrea, for he had taken a vow." Gallio's favorable ruling allowed Paul to stay in Corinth for many more days. However, Paul felt the need to get back to Jerusalem.

He left Corinth and took along with him Aquila and Priscilla, whom he became friends with in verse 2. They left the church in Corinth in the good hands of Sosthenes, Crispus, Gaius, and even Stephanas, whom Paul talks about in 1 Corinthians 1. Arriving in Cenchrea, which was a city on the eastern part of Corinth, Paul had his hair cut off because he was taking a vow.

Why would Paul do this? What kind of vow was he taking that it would require for him to cut off his hair? You have to wait until next week. I didn't want to rush through that. I'm going to spend the entire time talking about how God looks at vows when we say, "God, I promise You, if You get me out of this, I'll do..." Nine times out of ten we are just blowing smoke until God gets us out and then we go back to doing what we were doing. What does God have to say about vows? We're going to spend the entire time in verse 18 next week.

Let me conclude with this. In this message, we saw the positive side of getting a beatdown. It's when the beatdown brings us to salvation, or if we're already a Christian, when it brings us closer to Jesus. What are the beatings of life doing to you? Remember, I am not talking about anything physical. If physical beatings are taking place, leave that situation and report it. Ladies, you hear me?

Nowadays, I have to say this as well: men, do you hear me? There are some women giving some hands to some men. I remember seeing a Lifetime movie years ago where a lady became all of a sudden abusive. Because you have men who are brought up in homes where they are told you don't hit a woman, this woman would beat him only where his shirt would cover the bruises. She was laying into him.

I have to say today, men as well: if there is anything physical going on, you don't go to Christ, you go to the police and you report it. God didn't put "welcome" on your forehead for somebody to wipe their feet on you. You report it. Don't come telling us, because we're going to report it. You tell us, we're reporting it. Confidential nothing; we're reporting it.

We might feel a certain way because we might want to lay some hands on them for doing it, and I'm not talking about with prayer. Report it. You're not a punching bag. He promised he won't do it again? How many times has he said that? If you are with a person with anger problems, they need serious help. You don't stay in a situation like that. He is a coward for hitting a woman. I don't understand that kind of mindset. It is happening, and somebody needs to get some help.

If that's you in here and you like to lay hands on folks, and not in prayer, you need to get some help. God is speaking to somebody. Go get you some serious help.

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