Actes 18:9-11

Then spake the Lord to Paul in the night by a vision, Be not afraid, but speak.

Paul’s vision

speaks to us about three things.

I. The worker. Paul, at a time of sore discouragement and depression. The best of men are but men at the best. The strongest men, apart from a firm faith in the Lord God, are as weak as the weakest. Now if any working Christian feels weak and discouraged, let it rally him to know that no affliction has overtaken him but such as is common to men.

II. The worker’s master.

1. He knows us just then and there, in the midst of all our weakness and discouragement, and makes His first concern the individual worker. He is not simply concerned with the whole mass and movement of the spiritual campaign, like some great general who cannot be concerned with the individual soldier. Christ is concerned in the whole; but at the same time He says, “I see every man who is tugging and fighting, and feeling himself discouraged.” Have you noticed how the engine driver, when he stops, pays hardly any attention to the traffic? but he is out with the lubricator, pouring in a few drops in one place, and then in another, to cool and prevent friction, and to make everything sweet and easy in its working. So with Christ. You are an engine pulling away at some Bible class or Sabbath school, or tract distribution. You have hooked on to it, and do not mean to give it up; but you feel as if the wheels were barely turning, and that you are making nothing of it. Think of this: the Lord looks after the engine. Here He comes with oil, this comfort, and He is pouring it on to your overheated spirit.

2. The Lord’s comfort just comes straight to the sore place. Now, Paul’s greatest failing and fear, as suggested by the narrative, was: “It’s no use my preaching here. To the Greeks it is like the idle wind; and to the Jews it is like the red rag to the bull.” The Lord speaks straight to the point; and says, “Be not afraid”--pointing to the fact that he was afraid--“but speak, and hold not thy peace”--pointing to the fact that fear was belonging to muzzle his mouth. The word here used is worth noticing, for there is a lesson in it. In Athens they called Paul “spermologos,” a chattering sparrow, a seed picker, a man talking a kind of rant, with the suggestion that it is not his own; it was picked up somewhere else, and we can’t understand it. “Babble away, Paul. I will be with you, and to those who are saved the babbling will be the power of God and the wisdom of God.” And so He says today, “I have put my words into thy mouth; therefore let thy tongue wag My words.” You remember that, writing afterwards to these Corinthians, Paul told them he had determined to keep this simple speech. Said he virtually, “I rather refined the babble at Athens. So when I came to Corinth I determined to know nothing among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, lest the gospel of Christ should be of none effect.” We must take care that we let the Lord speak to us when we are depressed, and when we have fallen on times when the old gospel “won’t do,” when the spirit of the age demands something more scientific and philosophical.

3. The Lord gave him a word about personal safety--“No man shall set on thee to hurt thee.” Let us go on with the work for which we are here. I wish we would look to the Master. Paul was looking at himself and at the Corinthians; Christ said, “Look at Me! I am nearer to you than your fears.” “Lo, I am with thee alway, even to the end of the world.” What was said to Paul was not new. You will find these words in the Bible over and over again long before this. There is a vast mass of Bible words known in the mass, but we need them in our own heart, and for our own lives. When Bishop Fisher was being led out to martyrdom, the scaffold a little unnerved and depressed him. He took his New Testament and sent up a prayer: “O God, send me some particular word that will help me in this awful hour”; and he opened the book at these words, “This is life eternal to know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent.” He had seen that five hundred times before; but he closed his Testament now, saying, “Blessed be God, this will suffice for all eternity.” It is a different thing you see when the “fear nots” and “I ams” come home to you when you are dying a thousand deaths in fearing one. As a commander once said to his soldiers when they represented how great was the enemy and how few they were, “How many do you count me for?” Another general was said to be worth a whole battalion. And who shall enumerate what God is worth?

III. The master’s verdict on the work--“I have much people in this city.” I almost knew what was coming. You will always find that while the Lord is comforting Elijah, and David, and Peter, and Paul, and you, and me, there is a smile on His face, as much as to say, “You are forgetting ‘I have much people in this city.’ If the work had been yours, that were another thing. But this gospel is Mine. I weighed this Corinthian pigsty in the scales of My eternal purposes, and from all eternity I marked out my own in Corinth, and I will get them. Go out and call them. They will come.” What a word that is to discouraged workers--“Much people in this city.” I believe that literally, at that time, there were more Christians there than Paul thought of, and I believe today that your influence and mine is far wider than in our discouraged moments we are giving either God or ourselves credit for. No word can return to Him void; and He comes and says, “Paul, you are working well, and the results are at least equal to the output. I have got one of the best grips on the paganism of this century.” Whatever department of social life you look at, if you look carefully through the Epistles to the Corinthians, you will find that there was a sample of Christ’s saving grace there. It went right into the midst of Corinthian worldliness and commercial activity, and laid hold of Erastus, the City Chamberlain, and held him out as a sample. Then, again, there was the household of Stephanas. He got the families there, and we will get them, and the old gospel will get nations. And if he would say again, “Lord, there are people here sunken in drunkenness and in lasciviousness.” Listen how the gospel told (1 Corinthiens 6:9). How it must have encouraged Paul, this look of things from the Master’s point of view. This is the doctrine of election in its practical shape. I like this election plan; it does not say that all will be saved--that is universalism, it is simply wind. Well, it is not so windy and does not make so large a show as other ways of putting it; but it infallibly says that somebody will come, and that is what I want. (J. McNeill.)

The fourth vision of Paul

I. The Saviour’s declaration--“I have much people in this city.” As if He said, “There are many people here dead in trespasses and sins, ignorant of Me, opposed to Me; these are to be enlightened, subjected to Me, and in time to come will constitute My people.” Notice--

1. The Saviour’s classification of men. Those who are the people of Christ, and those who are not. There are other distinctions, personal, social, educational, and civil; but all these affect only the external part of humanity, and that only for a time, but Christ’s classification will last forever. To be Christ’s means the subjugation of our nature, our mind, and reflective powers to Him.

2. Christ has a perfect knowledge of the human race. Paul was anxious to do good; he was soon to be discouraged. Jesus told him, “I have much people in this city.” I know the present position and future history of every individual.

3. Jesus appoints means for the salvation of man. One evidence of this is the fact that He continues the living ministry suitable to the wants of our spiritual nature.

II. The Saviour’s command. “Speak, hold not thy peace.” The authority assumed here by Christ should teach us that we are not to do just as we please; we must go where He commands.

1. He was to exercise the power of speech. One of the most wonderful endowments of man is that grand organ of communication between mind and mind, heart and heart. It is of no use to philosophise; God forbid that I should glory save in the Cross of Christ.

2. He was to banish fear. The apostle was not to be afraid of the intellectualism of the place. The debilitating effect of fear is known to every man; it divides, and distracts, and enfeebles the faculties of manhood. Be not afraid, the plan is fixed, success is certain--the government is Mine.

III. The Saviour’s promise. “For I am with thee.” The apostle felt the force of the guarantee ever after this, and spake the Word with authority.

1. In the production of miracles.

2. In turning the heart to God. (Caleb Morris.)

Paul’s vision

I. The Saviour’s declaration.

1. His knowledge of men.

2. His classification of men.

3. His provision for the salvation of men.

II. The Saviour’s command. Paul was--

1. To banish fear.

2. To exercise the power of speech.

III. The Saviour’s promise.

1. I am with thee.

2. No man shall hurt thee. (E. Norris.)

Paul’s vision at Corinth

It is clear from this that even he who was not a whit behind the chief of the apostles sometimes needed special comfort. But the Lord took care to visit His servant when he was in trouble. He came to him in the visions of the night. We do not expect to see Christ in visions now, for “we have a more sure word of prophecy”--the Word of God. A dream might be only a dream, even in those olden times, but this Word of the Lord is no delusion. The Lord did but appear to Paul during one night, for visions are short and few; but any night you like to wake and open the Scriptures, you shall hear Jesus speaking to you. Besides, visions and such like things belong to the infancy of the Church: now she needs not that the Invisible should be supplemented by signs and wonders. If you plant a tree in an orchard, it is very common to put a big stake by the side of it to keep it up. Nobody thinks of putting a post to support an apple tree which has been there for the last fifty years. The Church of God today is a tree that needs no support of miracle and vision. You have the Word of God, which is better than visions. Note here--

I. The tendency of our weakness. That tendency is revealed in the first word--“Be not afraid.” We feel when we newly find Christ that we must speak for Jesus, and we do sol but after awhile a foolish fear freezes many a tongue. Happily we are delivered from open persecution; but there are other things which evidently frighten a good many.

1. Some are afraid to speak for Jesus because of the defects of their education. We should endeavour to do our Lord’s work in the best possible manner, but if we cannot overcome early disadvantages we ought not therefore to hold back. Was not Moses slow of utterance? Was he silent? Did not Isaiah own that his lips were unfit to deliver the message? Was he therefore idle?

2. Others are fearful because they have not educated people to listen to them, but are surrounded by a rough lot, whose manners and habits distress them. Oh, be content to take a little of the rough with the smooth for your Master’s sake. Sometimes their aversion may only be a secondary means of enabling the gospel to get at them the better; and, if it be so, why should we be afraid?

3. There are those who tremble at the slightest degree of publicity. I would not harshly condemn all, for certain minds are timid, and must be allowed to do good by stealth. But some are blameably deficient in courage. The soldier who was so very modest that he retired before the battle was shot. What a shameful thing to be bold about everything else yet cowardly about Christ.

4. Still I hear you say, “I am afraid to speak out for religion because I should bring down upon myself a world of opposition at home.” That is painful, but it is part of the cost which you reckoned upon when you took up the cross to follow Jesus--that “a man’s foes shall be they of his own household.”

II. The calling of our faith. “Be not afraid, but speak, and hold not thy peace.” It is the vocation of faith to be a speaker. When the heart believeth the mouth makes confession. Faith made Noah a preacher, and caused it to be said of Abel, “he being dead yet speaketh.” “I believed,” said David, “therefore have I spoken.” A dumb faith is a questionable grace. Faith first speaks to Christ, then for Christ. It hears His voice, and then acts as an echo by repeating it. Those that believe in Christ ought to speak for Him, because--

1. We are debtors; we are put in trust with the gospel for other people; let us not be false to our trusteeship. Let us take care that the light be not hid under a bushel, and that the talent be not wrapped in a napkin. We have the bread of life in our houses; let it not be hoarded. Who can tell what we owe to Christ? He seems to say, “Pay it back to My brethren.”

2. We were saved by the testimony of other people. I owe a great deal of my being brought to Christ to my parents; and as a parent I am to repay that obligation by teaching my own children. I owe very much to a very excellent teacher. I did try to pay back my teacher by teaching others. I owed still more to such men as Baxter and Bunyan, who left their books for me to read. I have tried to write earnest books to repay that loan. Most of all I owe my decision, under God, to a man I never knew, who preached Christ crucified to me; and I would be always preaching Christ crucified to others, as the best way of making some sort of return.

3. How are we to expect the gospel to be kept alive in this world if we do not hand it on to the next generation as the former handed it down to us? It is from one lip to another that the Word of God is passed, with a kind of living flame which books are not likely to communicate. Common humanity calls upon every Christian to seek the salvation of others. They are perishing! If we love God, we must love our brother also.

III. The encouragement of our service.

1. God’s presence--“I am with thee.” When a man speaks for God, God speaks in him. We never go a warfare for God at our own charges. If God be with thee, who can be against thee? Does He not say, “My grace is sufficient for thee”?

2. God’s protection--“No man shall set on thee to hurt thee.” The Jews dragged Paul before the judgment seat of Gallio, and Paul must have been amazed when he saw the persecutors themselves beaten. When men meddle with one of God’s lights they will sooner or later burn their own fingers.

3. God’s predestination--“I have much people in this city;” i.e., many who belonged to Christ, though they were as yet heathens. I learn from this that the doctrine of God’s predestination is no check to labour. “If there are so many that will be saved,” says one, “then why do you preach?” That is why we do preach. If there are so many fish to be taken in the net, I will go and catch some of them.

4. The certainty of success. That is why the Lord said to Paul, “I have much people in this city.”

5. The sufficiency of old means and methods. Our Lord did not say, “Paul, be not afraid, but deliver a Sunday afternoon lecture with a nonsensical title and little or no gospel in it.” God’s way of saving souls is the best way, after all. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

Encouragement

It is often the experience of the servants of God to meet with discouragements and disappointments in the work of the Lord. Such depressing effects are frequently due to the absence of personal sympathy in the work, the want of an outward shield to protect from untoward external circumstances, and the absence of visible or tangible tokens of what men call “success.” St. Paul had a very bitter experience of this kind at Corinth; and it was there--when cast down in spirit by such experience, which had to some extent broken down his energies and darkened his hopes of future success--that God appeared to him in a night vision with the words of encouragement. Now, there are three sources of encouragement here suggested to the apostle. First of all, there is the doctrine of God’s Divine presence with His own servants, “I am with thee”; secondly, there is the doctrine of His Divine providence, exercised in behalf of His servants, “No man shall set on thee, to hurt thee”; and thirdly, the doctrine of the Divine purpose to save sinners through the instrumentality of the Word preached and taught by the efforts of His servants. These were great encouragements to continue the work of the ministry in faith and hope, in spite of felt weakness and depression, opposition experienced, and dangers feared, and the absence of visible fruits of his labour. And they are as open to God’s faithful labourers today as they were to His servants of old.

I. God is most surely present with His faithful servants in their work for Him: “I am with thee.” Happy they who hear that loving whistler, whether it come to them through the written Word, or through providential events--for God does so speak to His own, bidding them look away from themselves and their human weaknesses and above their adverse earthly surroundings, unto Him in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom, and knowledge, and strength; whose guardian care of them never relaxes, whose guiding eye never slumbers nor sleeps. Oh, what pathos there is in the aloneness of individual life on the great sea of universal being! Who can bear it, and not be crushed by it, if they let it come home to them? Blessed are those who can realise the Divine companionship which was the apostle’s source of courage and strength. Every humble believer can claim it--can rejoice in the possession of it; and then, however human sympathy may be withheld, the aloneness of individual life is done away with: the intolerable burden of it is borne by One who is able to bear it; Divine sympathy and love flow into and flood the soul of the believer, in Jesus Christ, who is emphatically our “Emmanuel--God with us.” This, then, is the grand secret of the Christian’s strength and courage--“I am with thee!” This is the fountain of the Christian’s hope and confidence, the support of his energy and of his zeal--“I am with thee!” We must all die alone--speaking after the manner of men--and alone indeed must the departing soul be which cannot say as it enters “the valley of the shadow,” “I will fear no evil; for Thou art with me.” Oh, for that perfect union with Christ, here below, which will enable us at all times, and in every circumstance of life, to realise the ever-abiding blessedness of the fact that God in Christ is with us! This is the antidote to the tremblings and heart failings of our frail nature: this is the Divine cordial that will sustain every faithful worker for God, through the burden and heat of life’s day!

II. Notice the doctrine of Divine providence. God exercises a providential care--an unfailing guardianship, over His believing people: “No man shall set on thee to hurt thee.” Now, in a certain sense, many did set upon St. Paul, and did hurt him. From the hour that he began to preach the gospel at Damascus, he was never free from trials. Amid his varied successes, adversaries invariably rose up and pursued him from city to city. What then? Was God therefore unfaithful to His own promise? By no means. For mark the form of it. God did not say that Paul was to be exempt from all opposition--trial--ill-treatment at the hands of unworthy men. No! He says, “No man shall set on thee to hurt thee.” And when we look into the face of St. Paul do we not see how true God was to His word? Can we say that anything he was called upon to endure in the work and service of God was really hurtful to his true life? It was by means of his imprisonments that the gospel penetrated to regions from which it would otherwise have been excluded; and not one trial did he undergo which was not overruled of God for His own glory, end the highest good of His faithful apostle. And doubt not, beloved, that the same upholding and preserving providence will be exercised as surely today as in the days of St. Paul’s earthly career, over you and me, if only we serve God in the same spirit as he did, and with the same unassailable faith and confidence in His all-sufficient grace.

III. Notice the doctrine of the Divine purpose to save sinners through the instrumentality of God’s servants. “Be not afraid,” says the Lord to St. Paul, “but speak, and hold not thy peace;…for I have much people in this city.” This is what gives the crowning force to the following two-fold assurance, “I am with thee,” and “No man shall set on thee to hurt thee.” God’s great purpose of mercy, in Christ Jesus, is the grand foundation rock on which we are encouraged to rest all our hopes of eternal salvation. It is the fountainhead of all our encouragement to come to God, and to work for Him, and with Him. Observe that it is for those within the range of, and working with, the great purpose of God, that this two-fold assurance is alone available. Do we recognise this purpose in ourselves and for others? If we do, we shall be very humble in ourselves, but we shall also be very courageous in pursuing the work of God committed to us. And oh, what wonders might we not be permitted to do in God’s service if our faith were stronger in God’s service if our faith were stronger in God’s presence with us, His providence over us, His purpose of love concerning us. As we look around upon the state of personal religion in this our day, our finite minds may be tempted to despond, and to give up all hope of better things prevailing. But there are thousands upon thousands of God’s hidden ones in the world whom we indeed may know nothing of, but He “knoweth them that are His,” and that is enough. May He shed abroad His love in all our hearts, leading us to fuller trust in Him, to firmer reliance on the promises of His Word, and to greater earnestness in His service. (James Mackie, M. A.)

The light of God’s presence

They tell you of the Davy safety lamp. The true safety lamp that no gust of earthly winds can ever put out, that no wind from hell can touch, is the lamp of God’s presence. The poor heathens, when their friends get sick, flee from the stricken ones. Heathenism has no doctrine of abiding with you in the time of trouble. The father will leave his son’s presence. The son will flee from his stricken father. But it is different with those in Jesus. It is when I am sick that most of all the soft hand of Jesus is put on my brow. It is when I am downhearted that I see Him most clearly. It is when the mists of time come close round me that somehow, through the rift of the cloud, I get a view of my Saviour’s face. You are better for that sorrow. It has put a softness into your step, bereaved father, that you would never have had. Mother, because of that little empty chair by the fireside, there is a holy dew on that cheek of thine that no May dew or Scotch breeze could give you. In Edinburgh, coming late at night from tutor duty, there was always a building ablaze with light at all hours, as I stepped it across the meadows to my lonely lodgings. Be it midnight or three o’clock in the morning, be it darkness or light, this building was ablaze. The other lights had gone out in the city, to save gas; the very street lamps had been put out in that quarter; the moon was in the sky alone, for we are very economical in Scotland; but, whatever the night, this building was ablaze. Ah! it was the building where there was suffering. Christian feeling and Christian kindness, these have always the lights in, in the Edinburgh Hospital. There is always light there. Thank God that our poor sick ones never have added to their sufferings the darkness of forgetfulness. It preached a sermon to me as, night by night, I saw the hospital ablaze with light. I said, “That is like the Church of God. That is like my own heart. Give God a grip where suffering is, give God a heart where sorrow has lighted, give God a tried soul, and He will keep the lamp alight till the day dawn. God never withdraws His light.” (John Robertson.)

God’s presence a defence

A man, on Saturday, in New York, stands in his store, and says, “How shall I meet these obligations? How can I endure this new disaster?” He goes home, Sabbath finds him in the house of God. Through the song, the sermon, and prayer, Jesus says to that man, “O man! I have watched thee; seen all thy struggles. It is enough: I will see thee through; I will stand between thee and thy creditors. I will make up in heavenly treasures what you have lost in earthly treasures. Courage, man! courage! Angels of God, I command you to clear the track for that man; put your wings over his head; with your golden sceptres strike for his defence; throw around him all the defences of eternity!” (T. De Witt Talmage.)

I have much people in this city.

The people for Christ

This is a typical statement, and holds good of all large centres. Of London, Paris, New York, Christ still says to stimulate and comfort His servants, “I have much people in this city.” It is noteworthy that the main Christian attack in early times was on great cities--

1. Because they were Satan’s strongholds--these captured, the rest would be a matter of detail.

2. Because Christianity appealed to and wanted to consecrate to its service the thought, activity, enterprise, and freedom which they fostered.

3. Because with the constant flow in and out of their populations, and their commercial and other influence on surrounding towns and countries, Christianity could reach the widest circle.

4. Because Christianity takes the whole human family in charge, and therefore it is natural that she should regard the centres where that family most congregates as her special sphere. Not that the villages are to be neglected: on the contrary, the villages are likely to be more efficiently evangelised when the towns are won. Paul, in his “fear and much trembling,” arising partly out of his experience of city work, and partly out of the gigantic problems presented by the voluptuousness, polish, scepticism, and commercial activity of Corinth, may have been tempted to turn aside to some quieter scene of labour. If so, he was sharply aroused by the declaration of the text. Note--

I. That the people belong to Christ.

1. This is often hard to believe. Often the opposite seems nearer the truth. Lust, drunkenness, frivolity, selfishness, ambition, infidelity, say, “We have much people in this city,” and offer ample evidence in support of it. But it is untrue. They have captivated and enslaved the people, but they are usurpers. No one has a right to the people but Christ, because--

2. They are His--

(1) By creative right. “All souls are Mine.”

(2) By the Father’s gift. “Ask of Me and I shall give Thee,” etc.

(3) By redemptive purchase. “Ye are bought with a price.” This is true of all--good and bad alike. But, thank God, many of the people are Christ’s.

(4) By loving conquest on His part; and--

(5) Glad surrender and consecration on theirs.

II. That Christ claims the people.

I. All the people. This universal claim is based on universal right, and embraces all--

(1) Nations. “Go ye into all the world,” etc.

(2) Sexes. “In Christ there is neither male nor female.” The true rights of women have their basis in the claims of Christ.

(3) Ages. Childhood, manhood, old age.

(4) Ranks and classes. The claims of capital and labour will never be adjusted till the claims of Christ are settled.

(5) Distinctions of culture--the ignorant and the educated.

(6) Moral distinctions--the virtuous and the depraved. The true democracy will be established when “One is your Master, even Christ, and all ye are brethren.”

2. All that the people are and have.

(1) Their intellect, for Christ’s is a reasonable service.

(2) Their heart, for He will accept nothing but from love.

(3) Their physical faculties, for each is titled for His work.

(4) Their wealth, for He has given them the power to get it.

(5) Their influence.

III. That Christ’s servants should fearlessly urge Christ’s claims upon the people.

1. What have they to fear? Rejection, persecution, death? The best of Christ’s servants and the Master Himself endured all this. Should, then, any shrink when the utmost they have to contend with is a sense of personal weakness, nervous timidity, or trifling self-sacrifice?

2. On what have they to rely.

(1) A conviction of the truth. Once let the principle be finally settled that the people belong to Christ, and to a consecrated soul the work is half done.

(2) A consciousness of the Master’s presence and help. What an inspiration “I am with thee” is from a general, a teacher, a leader, to soldiers, scholars, parties. Much more should it be when it is Christ’s word to His followers.

(3) The assurance of success. If Christ has much people we cannot utterly fail, for the cause is His, not ours. (J. W. Burn.)

The possibilities of humanity

Michael Angelo, the wonderful artist, walking with some friends one day through an obscure street in Florence, saw a block of marble, rough, shapeless, stained, lying amid a heap of rubbish. Others had passed by it carelessly, but his keen eye saw that it was a treasure, and he fell to cleansing away the filth that obscured it. “What are you doing with that worthless rock?” asked one of his friends. “Oh,” says Angelo, “there is an angel in that block, and I must get it out.” So God saw in sinful humanity, stained, defiled, and wretched, the possibility of angels and saints redeemed. It is this possibility that made it worth while for Christ to die for men. It is this which should incite us to labour with long patience that men may be saved.