The Way To The Lord

The Way of the Lord

Acts 18:1-27

Introduction:

One of the fun things that kids like to do is to hide from their friends and their parents. They like to hide behind the curtains, or the couch, or the door. Sometimes they like to build those little tents, with a sheet and a couple of chairs so that they can hide from the outside.

Why do you think that we have this innate, or in-born desire to hide? Because we are all sinners, and our sin-nature desires that we hide our actions from others.

God does not desire to hide Himself from you. He desires the way to Him to be simple and easy to follow. God does not desire to hide His purpose for your life. He desires the way to be simple and easy to follow.

God’s way’s are:

I. For His Purpose (vv. 1-6)

II. For His People (vv. 7-11)

III. For His Reasons (vv. 12-17)

IV. For His Gospel (18-23)

V. For His Knowledge (24-28)

Conclusion: For His Glory

I. For His Purpose (1-6)

18:1 After this, Paul left Athens and went to Corinth. 2 There he met a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had ordered all the Jews to leave Rome. Paul went to see them, 3 and because he was a tentmaker as they were, he stayed and worked with them. 4 Every Sabbath he reasoned in the synagogue, trying to persuade Jews and Greeks. 5 When Silas and Timothy came from Macedonia, Paul devoted himself exclusively to preaching, testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Christ. 6 But when the Jews opposed Paul and became abusive, he shook out his clothes in protest and said to them, "Your blood be on your own heads! I am clear of my responsibility. From now on I will go to the Gentiles."

After his small success in Athens, Paul traveled to Corinth. Corinth was a very prominent port city for hundreds of years, until it was destroyed for rebelling against the Roman government in 146 B.C. A hundred years later, Caesar declared Corinth a Roman colony and the city was rebuilt and repopulated with freed slaves and poor people from all over the known Roman world. The city regained its popularity and became the capital city of Achaia and grew to enormous proportions.

Corinth, with its past history of refugees, was the place to go when Claudius began expelling Jews from Rome. Thus, we see the that Aquila and Priscilla were there.

Without this history of Corinth, and, without Claudius expelling the Jews from Rome, Aquila and Priscilla would never have met Paul! God knew beforehand how He would arrange to have Aquila and Priscilla meet Paul. Romans 8:28 tells us,

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

God can use every event, every circumstance to His advantage. At just the right moment, He’ll step in with the Spirit and use a circumstance to give someone the opportunity to come to know Him. Many Jewish people came to know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior because Claudius expelled the Jews from Rome.

If God can bring these three people together by working in time and history, what can He do for you and your life?

Jeremiah 29:11 tells us,

““For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.””

Do you believe that? Do you believe that God has a plan for you? Do you believe that God has a future for you? Again, let’s call on James, chapter 1:5-8,

5 If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. 6 But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. 7 That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; 8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does.

Paul expressly believed that everything he said and did had its basis in Christ Jesus. Can you say that? Why do I say that about Paul? Because he had a solid assurance that Jesus Christ and Christianity were real. We need to have that same assurance, or, we will be tossed back and forth with every little thing that comes along.

We may not have had the same conversion experience that Paul had, but we can experience through the Word the same conversion experience that Paul had. In Acts, chapter nine: