Welcome to Connect with Skip Heitzig. We're glad you've joined us for today's program. Connect with Skip Heitzig exists to connect you to God's never-changing truth in ever-changing times through verse-by-verse teaching of His Word. That's why we make messages like this one today available to you and others on air and online. Before we begin the program, we want to let you know that you can keep in touch and in the know about what's happening with Connect with Skip Heitzig when you sign up for email updates. When you do, receive Skip's weekly devotional email to instruct and inspire you in God's Word each week. So sign up today at connectwithskip.com.
That's connectwithskip.com. Now let's get into today's teaching from Pastor Skip Heitzig. You that know your your Greek history a little bit will recognize the name Seneca. Seneca was a Greek stoic philosopher, very famous. Seneca was the brother of Galileo. And he writes about his brother. Seneca writes of his brother that no one was good to one like Galileo was to all. That he was kind-hearted and very fair, very favorable in his disposition. So that's a part of history that plays into Galileo, the brother of Seneca who's now the proconsul at the city of Corinth.
Now I mentioned that the Jews scheme backfired and I want you to see why. Go back to verse 8 and you'll notice something. It says, then Crispus, and what is he called in verse 8?
The what? The ruler of the synagogue. But then if you go to verse 17, then all the Greeks took Sosthenes, what? Yeah, the ruler of the synagogue.
What goes on? Well, Crispus was the ruler of the synagogue when Paul came to the town of Corinth. Now a synagogue had a ruler. What that meant was the Greek word is arche sunagogos, that was his Greek title. And an arche sunagogos or a ruler of a synagogue was somebody appointed by the elders, the Jewish elders in that synagogue to oversee and upkeep the local synagogue. So Crispus was the arche sunagogos, Jewish, served the God of Israel, not a believer until Paul comes to town. Crispus gets converted, Paul baptizes him, we discover in 1 Corinthians chapter 1. So they want to replace him and who do they replace him with? Sosthenes. So they want to kind of manipulate Roman justice saying this guy ought to be arrested and instead they take the ruler of the synagogue, the new guy, and they beat him.
So they're thinking twice about this, but the best part is still yet to come. In 1 Corinthians chapter 1, Paul begins. Paul called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God and listen, Sosthenes, our brother. So the first ruler of the synagogue gets saved and baptized by Paul. The second ruler of the synagogue first gets beaten, but eventually believes. So both of them are now messianic Jews, believers in Jesus Christ.
The plans and schemes of these people against Paul didn't work, backfired against them, and their case was thrown out of court. So verse 18, Paul remained a good while. He's been there 18 months, he remains a little longer.
We don't know how long, days, maybe weeks, maybe longer. So Paul still remained a good while. Then he took leave of the brethren and sailed for Syria and Priscilla and Aquila.
We're with him. He had his hair cut off at Sentrea where he had taken a bow. Okay, I want to just go through this quickly and then dispense of it so we can get to the meat of this. Sentrea isn't far from Corinth. So there's that little neck of land, that Isthmus it is called, that little neck of land, three and a half miles. On one side is Sentrea, on the other side is Corinth.
So they're close to each other, few miles away. Paul goes to another synagogue in that port town of Sentrea. And he cuts his hair off, he has taken a vow. What vow has he taken? We're not sure, but some believe it was the vow of a Nazarite.
Now without filling all of that in, it's found in Numbers chapter six. In Numbers chapter six, the Old Testament allowed Jewish men to take a vow called a vow of a Nazarite. Which means during this period of time that I'm under this vow, there's certain things I can and can't do. I can't drink any wine, which is a celebratory kind of a drink to them. So I'm kind of diminishing my modes of celebration.
I drink no wine, no fruit of the vine. Also, you'd let your hair grow out during the time of your vow. At the end of it, you'd shave your head and take it to a synagogue and they would burn the hair. You'd just thank the Lord for something He's done in your life. You take this vow.
You don't have to do it, but you can do it. Now, here's the interesting thing. Paul, who's not under the law, and keeps preaching in the synagogue that Jesus Christ can justify people for things the law could never justify them. And that we're not under the Old Testament law, we're not under all those regulations, we're free. He was a champion of grace, not of the law. Question is, why is Paul taking a vow under Jewish law, Nazarite or other?
And because of that, people have faulted Paul. Some said he did this when he was unsaved. This is before his conversion.
That doesn't fit the text. Some believe he's backslidden and he's going backwards into Judaism. I don't think that fits the motif or the character of Paul.
But I think they make a bigger deal of it than you should really make a deal of it. He took a vow. So what?
It's not wrong to do it. Where is he going? He's on the way to Jerusalem. Jerusalem is Judaism's capital. It's Judaism 101. It's the center of everything Jewish.
He's on the way to Jerusalem. And Paul said to the Jews, I become a Jew. To the Greeks, I become a Greek. I become all things to all men.
If by all means, I may save some. So in order to open a door with Jewish people in order to share with them, he took a vow. Did he have to? No. Did he want to? Yeah. Can't fault him for that.
Any more than you can fault a Christian today if Christian says, you know, I'd like to celebrate Passover with my family. Okay, go ahead. No problem. Have fun. Enjoy it. Understand the meaning. Enrich your life as you see Christ fulfilled in the Passover.
Or if you say, you know, I was in Israel and I've come back and I really like the way they do Friday night and Saturday, their celebration of Shabbat, the Sabbath. I'm going to do that with my family. Great.
Have at it. You don't have to. But if you want to, great. Now, the problem is, if you start going around telling other New Testament believers, you need to keep the Passover. You need to keep the Sabbath.
No, you don't. You're not under the Jewish covenant. You're a Gentile.
You're free in God's grace. So under grace, Paul could take the vow. Under grace, Paul could not take the vow.
Guess what? He wanted to take the vow. And when somebody comes along and say, shame on Paul. Paul shouldn't have taken that vow. What they're doing is doing what they're accused of. They're refusing Paul of doing. They've now made a law that Paul violated.
Right? So it's a logical fallacy. Anytime you say, I have a law, you shouldn't keep the law. We're not talking with you because what you said just doesn't make sense. So he's under grace.
He can do whatever he wants. Oh, let me just throw the whole wrench in the machinery while I'm at it. You can chase this down on your own, but I'm doing this just to stir up the pot. In your future, and I take it literally, I believe that there is going to be in the future, after the tribulation period on the earth of seven years, when Jesus returns, there's going to be a thousand year reign of Christ on the earth. I believe that. I believe literally in a Millennial Kingdom. Well, what's interesting about the Millennial Kingdom is the last part of the Book of Ezekiel, chapters 40 through 48. Talk about the building of a temple. Unlike anything that has ever been built there ever before, it has never been fulfilled. The specifications of this temple, Jerusalem has never in its history seen.
It's enormous. And it is the temple that will be built for Messiah, from which he will reign for a thousand years on the earth. What's interesting about that is sacrifices will be conducted in the Millennial Temple. Animal sacrifices, Jewish sacrifices. In fact, it says people from all over the world, the nations of the world, will converge at Jerusalem once a year for the Feast of Tabernacles.
Not just Ezekiel, but Zechariah says that. Now, one wonders why God would do something like that. Why, if Jesus ended the sacrifices, why would they have sacrifices? Well, just as the Old Testament sacrifices were prospective, that is, they looked forward to their fulfillment in Christ Jesus on Calvary, the Millennial sacrifices will be retrospective, looking backwards, and enjoyed by the Jewish nation principally.
You say, retrospectively, looking back, why? Well, it's very similar to what we're about to do in a few minutes with communion. We're taking elements that represent flesh and blood, originally from the Passover, and Jesus said, do this often and look back retrospectively, enjoy this, do this often in remembrance of me. So, you can have a little fun with that and chase that down on your own, but I just wanted to throw that in with Paul having this vow. Verse 19, and he came to Ephesus. Now, he had to do that by boat. It was on the main trade route.
It was probably easier to find a boat from Corinth to Ephesus than just about anywhere else in the Roman Empire, because these are the two capital cities of two provinces, and they're on the direct trade route. So, he came to Ephesus, and he left them there. That is, he left there in Ephesus, Aquila, and Priscilla who were traveling with him, but he himself entered the synagogue, little wonder, and reasoned with the Jews, little wonder. When they asked him to stay longer with them, he did not consent. Now, this is wild, because usually he goes into synagogues and shares with them, and they don't want to hear him anymore. Get him out. Throw him out of town. Go to the next town if he's going there, and don't let him go there either.
Beat him up, stone him, throw him in jail. He never had a welcome audience typically in the synagogue except from non-Jews. Gentiles, God-fearers would listen and go, we want to hear more. This gospel of grace for non-Jewish people, we want to hear more.
You're listening to Connect with Skip Heitzig. Before we get back to Skip's teaching, we want to help you understand what real peace looks like so you can experience it in your own life. That's why we want to send you a copy of Unleashing Peace, Experiencing God's Shalom in Your Pursuit of Happiness by Jeremiah J. Johnston. This resource is our thanks for your gift of at least $50 today to help share solid biblical teaching with more people around the world through Connect with Skip Heitzig.
Go to connectwithskip.com slash offer or call 800-922-1888 and request your copy when you give at least $50 today to reach people around the world through Connect with Skip Heitzig. Let's continue with today's teaching with Pastor Skip. Now he goes into the synagogue at Ephesus, they want to hear more, and he goes, sorry, what? You spent a year and a half in Corinth and you can't stay and tell us we want to hear more of the gospel?
Sorry, I'm not, I'm, bye. Well, he'll be back. He'll spend three and a half years. That'll be his third journey.
You'll see this right away in this chapter. He'll be back. But also he wants to go to Jerusalem. He has taken a bow. He's on the way to Jerusalem. So that's in his mind. That's where he's going unless the Lord stops him.
So he doesn't consent. But he took leave of them saying, I must, by all means, keep this coming feast in Jerusalem, but I will return again to you, God willing. I love that he said that, and I love it when believers say that. That's what James taught us to say. In James chapter four, James said, go to now you who say we're going to do this and that tomorrow and go into that city and buy and sell and get gain. He said, you don't even know what tomorrow is going to bring. Your life is a vapor. What you ought to say, wrote James, is if the Lord wills.
And you shouldn't just say that. It should be your disposition, your outlook in life that you subordinate your plans to the will of God. You can make plans, but always realize there's a contingency.
There's a little writer with it. Your plans are subject to change. God's the script writer.
He has editing rights over your plans. So go ahead and make your plans, but God can change them. So I'll be there, Lord willing. Now, this has become quite a famous saying. Ancient Jews and modern Jews all over the Middle East will say this, God willing, God willing, God willing.
Even Arab cultures. In Arab cultures, if they're going to say something, they're going to do something, they always say inshallah, God willing. And so James instructed us, we should say that here. Paul says that to them.
I'm coming back, God willing. And he sailed from Ephesus. And when he had landed at Caesarea, Caesarea is the coastal town in Israel, and he had gone up. When you read that, it means he's gone up to Jerusalem. If you wanted to immigrate to Israel today, you would use a term that literally means I'm going up. It's the Hebrew word aliyah. Aliyah means to go up. So when you tell a Jew, I'm going up, what that means to him is you're leaving your country and going to Israel.
You're moving to Israel. You're going up to Jerusalem originally for a couple of reasons. First of all, Jerusalem itself is about 2,600 feet above sea level, and usually from any of the environments around Jerusalem, you have to ascend to get to it. You are climbing the hill you are ascending. Hence, in the Old Testament, there were the Psalms of ascents. If you've read that in the Psalms, Psalms of ascents are Psalms written as you climb up the hill toward Jerusalem, you ascend upwards. So you are literally ascending. You are going up to Jerusalem. But more than that, the Jewish person will tell you, whenever you go to Jerusalem, you're always moving up in life, spiritually speaking, generally speaking, emotionally speaking. You're going up.
You're improving your life. So when you see these words gone up, they're synonymous to he went to Jerusalem. He went to Caesarea because he wants to make it to the feast in Jerusalem.
So and he had gone up, that is, he's made it to Jerusalem and greeted the church in Jerusalem. But then he went to Antioch. I've always been fascinated with the fact that though Paul did go to Jerusalem, didn't really hang out much there. It wasn't that important to him, even though it is of prime importance to any Jewish person to go to visit, to be in Jerusalem. He was a Pharisee, studied under Gamaliel in Jerusalem. But, you know, he's had some hard times in Jerusalem. You know, he himself stoned people there like Stephen and others.
So there's bad blood going around. Plus, he's hated in Jerusalem. And I also think he felt more of a kinship with the leadership in Antioch in Syria rather than the boys down in Jerusalem.
Just a different style, different flavor. Antioch was the missionary church, the church that sent him on his missionary journey. So leaving Ephesus, he sails across the Mediterranean, makes it to Caesarea, climbs up to Jerusalem, is there for the feast, goes up to Antioch in Syria where he started his second missionary journey. Now the second missionary journey is over. Now begins his third missionary journey in verse 23. After he spent some time there in Antioch, he departed, and he went over the region of Galatia and Phrygia, those two areas that he was visiting on his first and second trip, in order, strengthening all of the disciples. Now, verse 24 takes us back to Ephesus for just a little, a little pericope, just a little segment of verses that highlight. Meanwhile, over in Ephesus, this is what's happening. So there is Paul, he has started his missionary journey, meanwhile in Ephesus.
So the camera now pans, right? It says, Now a certain Jew named Apollos, born at Alexandria, an eloquent man and mighty in the Scriptures, came to Ephesus. This man had been instructed in the way of the Lord and being fervent in spirit, very zealous. He spoke and taught accurately the things of the Lord, though he knew only the baptism of John, meaning John the Baptist.
So he began to speak boldly in the synagogue. When Aquila and Priscilla heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately. Interesting cat, Apollos. His full name would be Apollonios, which means the follower of Apollo. Apollo, the Greek god, the son of Zeus, if you know your mythology. So he's Jewish with a very pagan name, Greek name, Apollonios, nickname Apollos. He's a Hellenistic Jew, that is, he's a Jew with a Greek influence. He's from Alexandria, Egypt. Now Alexandria, Egypt, was the second largest city in the Roman Empire in New Testament times, massive. And a third of its population, about 250,000 of them, were Jewish.
Very significant. Alexandria was founded by, guess who, because the name sounds a lot like the guy who founded it. Alexander the Great, 332 BC, Alexander the Great founded the city. It was a very progressive Greek city, but it had a large Jewish enclave. So large that people would take refuge. Jewish people found refuge there. Jesus lived there, right?
Mary and Joseph took Jesus in fleeing from Herod to Egypt, right? In the formative years of his life, where did they go in Egypt? Had to be Alexandria, that was where the Jewish enclaves were. Synagogues in every part of the ancient city. So Alexandria, Egypt, a very famous place, a very populated place, I mentioned second largest in the Roman Empire. It was also a place of great intellectual wealth. The largest library in ancient world was located in Alexandria.
Guess how many volumes? 700,000 volumes in the library at Alexandria, Egypt, we are told by ancient historians. Tragically, Julius Caesar attacked the city in 48 and it burned, they say, accidentally. But all of that great wealth of intellect and study was lost. It was also the area from which a guy named Philo, P-H-I-L-O was from. Now Philo was Jewish, very revered in Judaism, a scholar scholar, but one who allegorized the biblical text. Philo, what he tried to do is conflate and harmonize a Greek mythology with the biblical Old Testament text.
So that's how weird he got. But he was brilliant nonetheless, he was influential nonetheless, and probably this guy, Apollonius Apollos, sat under, gleaned under, learned from much of Philo of Alexandria. So he shows up in Ephesus. Now he's an interesting mix of guy, because he's Jewish with a pagan name, but he's Messianic Jew, sort of, part way. He believes in the Messiah, believes Jesus is the Messiah, but he knows nothing about the crucifixion and resurrection. He only knows about the baptism of John, not the baptism of the Holy Spirit, not anything that happened after John. He just believes that when John came and said, this guy is the Messiah, and many people were converted, including Jews, that he himself believed that. So here he is, this weird guy, with this brilliant intellect from a city of intellectual wealth and prosperity, shows up in Ephesus and preaches Jesus, but doesn't know anything about the fact that he died on a cross and rose from the dead.
But he's pretty persuasive. So Aquila and Priscilla teach him the way of God more accurately. It's like, you know, this guy's good, you know, he can preach. If he only knew the truth, he'd be a better preacher. So they disciple him, they take him under their wing and they train him up, and he becomes mighty and becomes eloquent in Scripture, and he understands both sides of the cross. And when he desired to cross Achaea to Achaea, that's where Corinth is, the brethren wrote, exhorting the disciples to receive him, and when he arrived, he greatly helped those who had believed through grace, for he vigorously refuted the Jews publicly, showing from the Scriptures that Jesus is the Christ.
In a very short period of time, this guy grew, grew strong, and goes to Corinth, where Paul had been for 18 months, to refute in the synagogues accurately what he had learned. His story is amazing, and I've got some, I have some interesting things about him to share. Trouble is, we'll do that next time. Thanks for listening to Connect with Skip Heitzig. We hope you've been strengthened in your walk with Jesus by today's program. Before we let you go, we want to remind you about this month's resource that will help you experience God's Shalom in life's busiest seasons. Unleashing Peace by Jeremiah Johnston is our thanks for your support of Connect with Skip Heitzig today. Request your copy when you give $50 or more.
Call 800-922-1888, that's 800-922-1888, or visit connectwithskip.com slash donate. And did you know that you can find full message series and libraries of content from Skip Heitzig on YouTube? Simply visit the Connect with Skip Heitzig channel on YouTube, and be sure to subscribe to the channel so you never miss any new content. Come back next time for more verse-by-verse teaching of God's Word here on Connect with Skip Heitzig. Make a connection, make a connection at the foot of the cross and cast your burdens on His word. Make a connection, connection. Connect with Skip Heitzig is a presentation of Connection Communications, connecting you to God's never-changing truth in ever-changing times.
