All right. Mr. Donaldson, lead us in prayer.

In a meeting up at Brother Rawling’s church we had twelve saved. Six of them were adults. And they want to have me come back in the end of March for another three days, so we’ll be coming back up there again. Had about 800 Friday night, and about 900 Saturday night, and had 1200 Sunday night. So it’s been real good, and there was a blessing to see four of our young men in the full-time ministry up there.

18:1 After these things Paul departed from Athens, and came to Corinth;

2 And found a certain Jew named Aquila, born in Pontus, lately come from Italy, with his wife Priscilla; (because that Claudius had commanded all Jews to depart from Rome:) and came unto them.

3 And because he was of the same craft, he abode with them, and wrought: for by their occupation they were tentmakers.

4 And he reasoned in the synagogue every sabbath, and persuaded the Jews and the Greeks.

5 And when Silas and Timotheus were come from Macedonia, Paul was pressed in the spirit, and testified to the Jews that Jesus was Christ.

6 And when they opposed themselves, and blasphemed, he shook his raiment, and said unto them, Your blood be upon your own heads; I am clean: from henceforth I will go unto the Gentiles.

All right, Acts chapter 18, verse 1. Now, Paul’s in Greece, and he’s been in Athens, which is in southern Greece. And when he comes to Corinth, he’s going back through Greece towards the European mainland.

“After these things Paul departed from Athens, and came to Corinth.” He has a great ministry at Corinth. He’s there, and chapter 19 tells about what he did while he was there. In chapter 19, everything in chapter 19 from verse 1 to verse 20 takes place in Corinth.

And then here in chapter 18, everything in chapter 18, verse 1 to verse 18 takes place in Corinth. And the Corinthian Epistles, 1 and 2 Corinthians, are written to this church.

And along about this time, chapter 18, Paul probably does his first writing. And most of these fellows believe that 1 and 2 Thessalonians were written right here — about 53 and 54 a.d. Now, there’s some disagreement on it — you can’t prove it exactly — but it looks like, about Acts 18, he writes his first writings. And the first Pauline Epistles are 1 and 2 Thessalonians. And that’s important, because when you start a new convert reading the Bible, most people say, “Well, should I begin in the Old Testament or the New Testament?” And, really, the best place to begin is 1 Thessalonians. That’s the best place to begin.

And I know Romans is good, and John is good.

QUESTION: Are you making a reference to a new Christian?

Yeah. A new Christian, start him reading. Turn to 1 Thessalonians for a minute and let me show you why this is so. Notice 1 Thessalonians chapter 1 reviews the experience the new believer has just had. And, if you read 1 and 2 Thessalonians, and then go Romans, John, and then start Old Testament, you get a lot better grounded.

QUESTION: You’re talking about reading. Would that hold true as well as teaching?

You want to teach a book?

QUESTION: If you were starting out teaching a church, and you were taking a congregation that didn’t know anything, would you start with Thessalonians?

I don’t know. I don’t know. If I were to start teaching I’d probably take John, yeah, because the syllables are shorter and easier to understand.

All right, 1 Thessalonians 1. Now, look at this thing here in verse 5, talking about what they heard; verse 6, what they did; verse 7 and 8, their witness; and verse 9 and 10, which is exactly where to guide the new convert. Nine and 10 is to get him to turn from idols and serve God and wait for Christ, see? That thing is summed up in there. You won’t find that summed like that in Genesis or John or Romans. That’s 1 Thessalonians.

All right, Acts chapter 18:1: “After these things Paul departed from Athens, and came to Corinth; And found a certain Jew named Aquila, born in Pontus, —” that’s in Asia “— lately come from Italy, —” been in Rome “— with his wife Priscilla; (because that Claudius —” that’s the Caesar “— had commanded all Jews to depart from Rome.” That’s a persecution. Jewish persecution.

The Jews have been persecuted by every country in the world that ever was, except the United States. As far as I know, the United States is the only country that never persecuted the Jew. Russia hadn’t persecuted them until — oh, about the 20th century — but back in the days of the Czars, they’d have pogroms in Russia, with the Ukrainians cutting them up.

QUESTION: You mean a full-scale persecutionj?

Yeah, I mean a real persecution. Confiscating property, banishing, whipping, imprisonment, torture — that kind of thing. England ran them out under King Canut, and a couple others. Italy persecuted them, and Spain’s persecuted them, and France persecuted them. Germans killed them and burned them. Russia run them off. We’re the only ones that hadn’t so far.

“Because that Claudius had commanded all Jews to depart from Rome.” I take it back. I don’t think Holland, I don’t think the Netherlands has ever persecuted them. But people in Holland are very peculiar people. Very liberal people, Dutch people. Your flag is a Dutch flag — red, white, and blue — that’s their colors. Holland people. And the people in Holland are Germanic — they’re Germans. And the Belgians are more French than the Hollands. The Hollands are more German than the Belgians are. The Belgians are more French.

And the Holland — their term “Dutch” is the word for German — “Deutsch.”

But they’re not like Germans. I guess, it’s being on the seaport or something — they’re much more liberal than Germans. Erasmus is a Hollander.

QUESTION: What about the Old Dutch Reformed Church? Is it pretty stable?

Yeah. Good church. Yeah, it was. And the Dutch people, they have a kind of a — I don’t know what it is — kind of a willingness, they’re more flexible, they have a willingness to compromise and get along and be cheerful — which the German people don’t have. The German people tend to be inflexible. Once they take a position, they seem to take it and just keep till everything breaks. And the Hollanders aren’t that way.

Two: “And came unto them. And because he was of the same craft, —” making a living “— he abode with them, and wrought: for by their occupation they were tentmakers.” Now, that tells you Paul’s craft, which you didn’t know until now. But in 18:3, Paul not only preaches, but he works for a living. And in other epistles, he says he works, not to supply what he needed, but for those with him. In another place, he told a Christian to work so he wouldn’t have need of anything, and so he could give to others.

So Paul is a tentmaker as well as an evangelist.

“By their occupation they were tentmakers. And he reasoned in the synagogue every sabbath.” Still dealing with the Jew.

“And persuaded the Jews and the Greeks.” And he’s going mildly. He’s persuading them the Bible’s the word of God and preparing them for the gospel, but he hasn’t dropped the boom on him.

But in verse 5, “When Silas and Timotheus were come from Macedonia, Paul was pressed in the spirit.” He gets under too big a burden, can’t keep his mouth shut. “And testified to the Jews that Jesus was Christ.” Comes right out and says it.

“And when they opposed themselves, and blasphemed, he shook his raiment, and said unto them, Your blood be upon your own heads; I am clean: from henceforth I will go unto the Gentiles.” Now, you read that back in chapter 13. And you read it again here, and then you read it again in Acts 28. And those are those three turning points. In Acts 7, the Lord’s all through with the Jews in Jerusalem. In Acts 13, He’s through with all the Jews in Asia Minor. And now Paul’s on the continent. Paul’s in Europe in Acts 18. Now, He’s through with the Jews in Europe.

In Acts 28, He’s through with the Jews worldwide — when Paul’s in Rome.

And that’s the gradual slacking off of God dealing with Israel, and that’s the olive tree with the branches getting busted off, and the Gentiles getting graft in.

But notice it’s a gradual thing — it isn’t like Stam and that bunch say at all. The Book of Acts is a transitional Book, and the dispensations are never marked — it isn’t just a mark here and a mark there. The things move slowly.

If you drew a picture of the Book of Acts, you’d have the Jew here and the Gentile here. And the Book of Acts goes like this. That’s the Book of Acts. And that Jew’s course in Acts 2 goes down to Acts 28, and the Gentile in Acts 2 comes up like this to Acts 28. And they cross somewhere around Acts 15.

But there’s no clearcut thing like the Body beginning in Acts 9 or beginning in Acts 28 and all that stuff. It’s a gradual thing.

18:7 And he departed thence, and entered into a certain man’s house, named Justus, one that worshipped God, whose house joined hard to the synagogue.

8 And Crispus, the chief ruler of the synagogue, believed on the Lord with all his house; and many of the Corinthians hearing believed, and were baptized.

9 Then spake the Lord to Paul in the night by a vision, Be not afraid, but speak, and hold not thy peace:

10 For I am with thee, and no man shall set on thee to hurt thee: for I have much people in this city.

11 And he continued there a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them.

Verse 7: “And he departed thence, and entered into a certain man’s house, named Justus, one that worshipped God, whose house joined hard to the synagogue.” So he’s a Jewish proselyte.

And then in 8: “Crispus, the chief ruler of the synagogue, —” there’s an orthodox Jew “— believed on the Lord with all his house; and many of the Corinthians hearing believed, and were baptized.” And notice here in this passage, these are Gentile believers — Corinthians — believing, and they’re getting baptized after they’re saved. And this was ‘way after Acts 15. Nobody here is preaching Acts 2:38. This is Paul preaching. He just told that Philippian jailer, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.” In Acts chapter 20, he told them he was preaching the gospel of the grace of God. These people are saved by the gospel of the grace of God are getting baptized!

Turn to Acts chapter 20. And that’s why everybody that follows Cornelius Stam eventually winds up throwing out the whole Book of Acts. You may begin by saying it begins in Acts 9, but when you get to Acts 18, you’ve got a problem. You’ve got to go beyond Acts 18. So what most of them do is wind up with Acts 28.

All right, Acts chapter 20. Now, notice Paul speaking about his ministry, not two chapters later, says this, verse 24: “None of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of...” what? “The grace of God.” That isn’t any post-Acts revelation he’s got there. He’s been preaching that ever since Acts chapter 10.

All right, so in 18:18 the converts are getting baptized, and they’re baptism has nothing to do with their salvation. That’s perfectly understood by all. There’s new Jewish sign to it.

All right, “And many of the Corinthians.” Not just the Jews, not just the chief ruler of the synagogue.

“Many of the Corinthians hearing believed, and were baptized.” Now in 1 Corinthians Paul mentions some of them. He said, “I don’t know how many of them I baptized.” So he baptized a few of them; he didn’t baptize all of them. Probably Timotheus and Silas did a bunch of baptizing.

And when Paul says, “The Lord sent me not to baptize but to preach the gospel,” these dispensations read much too much into it when they say that he had a different commission. Billy Graham was sent to preach the gospel, not to baptize. I don’t know many people Billy’s baptized. He may not have baptized any. Billy Sunday never baptized a man a day in his life. But he believed in it; was baptized himself. You’ve got to remember, Paul’s not a pastor.

That isn’t all. Up there in these churches I’m going through now, the pastor very rarely baptizes. I was at Greg Dixon’s church, and when the baptismal service came, one of the younger ministers baptized them.

In Rawling’s church, there were 15 or 16 baptized this Sunday; he didn’t baptize any of them. Two other ministers baptized them.

Verse 9: “Then spake the Lord to Paul in the night by a vision, Be not afraid, but speak, and hold not thy peace: For I am with thee, and no man shall set on thee to hurt thee: for I have much people in this city.” Now, verse 10 is a Calvinistic text. And hyper-Calvinists use that verse to prove that he had a lot of chosen elect there that hadn’t been saved yet, and they were going to be called out and saved, see.

But that “much people” is a reference to verse 8. “Many...believed.” It’s not a reference to the unsaved getting ready to get elected. When the Lord said “I got much people,” He’s talking people’ve believed; they’re saved.

“For I have much people in this city. And he continued there a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them.” Now you can’t beat that order. Verse 8: hearing, believing, getting baptized, and learning. You can’t beat that order. That is a divine order. In verse 8, they hear, and they believe, and they follow the Lord in baptism, and then, verse 11, they get the word of God taught to them.

And that order has never been changed, as far as I know, since Matthew 28. That is the order. And when you omit those things, you have something missing in your New Testament Christianity. You may never get a church that’s completely New Testament, or completely Scriptural, but as close to it as you can get.

And I travel around a good bit. I see many things. And the closest thing I’ve ever seen to a New Testament is an independent, Bible-believing Baptist church. That’s the closest thing I’ve ever seen to it. And I’ve seen all kinds of things. I’ve seen Brethren churches. And some of them are pretty good. Some of them support widows — which a lot of Baptist churches don’t. And some of them make a difference between the Eucharist and the Lord’s Supper — which is true in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John — and the Baptists don’t do that.

Now, I’ve been in some churches where they had four or five ordained elders in the same church — and some Baptist churches only have one ordained elder, and don’t tolerate any more, see. So the Baptists aren’t always exactly Scriptural. But, of those groups — the Brethren, by the same token, they foot-wash. Which is not an ordinance. And by the same token, when they baptize the guy, they put him under three times. And some of them baptize them face-forward. See? So you get all kinds of variations.

That’s the closest thing I ever seen to it. I guess the closest thing I’ve ever seen to a New Testament church is Brother Harold Sightler’s church up in Greenville, South Carolina. That’d be one. And Garland Cofield’s church in Holland, Michigan — when he was there. And Brother Bob Gray’s got a pretty good New Testament situation. I got a letter from one of his students today. It’s — I’ll read it for you in Manuscript Evidence, one of these classes Wednesday night — the guy’s singing the blues. “Dear Brother Ruckman, All of our teachers are from Bob Jones. They’re cutting down the King James Bible in the class. Brother Gray is standing up for it, and Brother Weniger will stand up for it. But in our classroom we’re getting this dirty work done, and Brother Gray isn’t aware of what the faculty’s doing.”

{Dr. Ruckman yawns.}

That’s how it goes. That’s how it’s going in every school this country has ever had so far.

QUESTION: How important is it to have a church as close as possible to the New Testament model?

Well, if God has called you to be a pastor of a local church, it’s very important. If God hasn’t called you to be a pastor, it’s not of a great deal of importance. But if God called you to be a pastor, it’s very important, because you need to know what to do.

All right, verse 11: “And he continued there a year and six months.” And we need — as far as importance goes — we need local churches that’ll stand, because the local church is the only thing that’s left right now — really — from keeping this country from just going ——PTUUUUAAHHHH — like that. I mean, the family unit used to hold together. But the family — there were more divorces in L.A. last year than there were marriages. See? Now, the national average in L.A. was one divorce out of three, ten years ago — that’s the national average now. Which means that Hollywood is converting the country. So if Hollywood had more divorces last year than they did marriages, then in ten more years that’ll be the national average.

You get a thing where the husband is working and the wife is working and then the kids are going in relays to buses at different times, and the government taking care of them, and the kids being taught in school the parent doesn’t have any sense — you get stuff going like that — and then they’re sent out in the world, working on like that — the family unit just gets shattered, see. And it’s all over this country.

And if you don’t have set down in a community a testimony that people knows stands for something, the whole community just rots. And the only thing left is the local assembly. That’s all that’s left. And if Bob Jones University got rid of all its students who belonged to local churches, there wouldn’t be any Bob Jones University left. Now, if any one of you, before you came down here — I’ve met every one of you — and if ninety percent of every one of you who came down here were a member of some local church. Let me see your hand if you were somewhere. See what I mean? That means ninety percent of the student body.

And the local church has all kinds of faults, and all kinds of things wrong with it, and has all kinds of troubles. But that’s the Lord’s way, and that’s the way it’s going to have to be done.

I’ll tell them up North, I tell them down here, I tell them anywhere, I appreciate these big churches, and I enjoy preaching in them, and praise the Lord, and all this and that. But, like I told Brother Rawlings night before last, I said this town you’re in ought to have five churches the size of your church. Five of them. Cincinnati? Cincinnati, man — what you talking about? And you get one church there in Cincinnati — Brother Rawlings — and one church in Hammond, Indiana, one church in Lynchburg, one church in Canton, one church in Akron, one church in L.A. — won’t do, won’t do.

Los Angeles needs ten independent churches running 10,000 in Sunday school. Needs ten of them — running 10,000.

And all that stuff around, “What a great work we’re doing, these big works,” well, that’s fine for the guy that’s doing it. Thank God for him. But the need is appalling, man! You get in a plane and you fly over Los Angeles, you can fly that plane for twenty minutes and see nothing below you but houses. I mean, twenty minutes at 400 miles an hour, man! And you look down — people, people, people, people, people, people, people.

You get down there, you got — in Los Angeles, I think you have six independent Baptist churches. And you’ve got some Southern Baptist and Northern Baptist.

But a good premillennial, soul-winning — see, when you say “Baptist,” that doesn’t do it. I believe a hundred years ago it did. But when you say “Baptist” any more it don’t mean much. A guy says “Baptist” — what does that mean? A Hardshell Baptist? Or Primitive Baptist? Or Northern Baptist? Southern Baptist? Is it Conservative Baptist? Or Two-Seed-in-One Baptist? Seventh-day Baptist?

I mean, an independent, premillenial, Bible-believing, soul-winning, aggressive, militant, hell-raising work. When I say “hell-raising,” I speak sarcastically — but that’s what the world’s going to call it, see. You’re not going out to raise hell, but the world will think that.

And what this — I’ll get back here — no, we’ve got to get through the Book some time tonight. But, I’ll tell you what I’d like to see. I’d like to see, in every town in this country, every town in this country with 5,000 people in it, I’d like to see one work in that town of 5,000 people that runs 400 in Sunday school and keeps that town tore up morning, noon and night — now, it just keeps them in a panic, man — just keeps them in a panic.

You get in the word of God — have you ever noticed how cultured Pensacola is getting lately? It goes revival, education, culture, see. You get out there and just plow that word — that witness goes blam, blam, blam, blam — you know what happens? Every hypocrite in town has to make an adjustment to stay under cover. And every religious person who isn’t right has to make some kind of movement to camouflage himself.

I don’t know many — you guys preached down the street down there for seventeen years — I don’t know how many people in this town join churches because of street preaching. Only God knows, man! You get on that radio there and say, “The trouble is you — you’re going to hell!” And — blam! blam! — run down and join the Baptist church. And then you’ve got to have books for them; here come the bookstores; and you’ve got to educate them; here come the college.

Did you ever stop to think about what a strange town Pensacola is? Look at these books and colleges, all this culture and art, and symphony and ballet and pottery and ceramics and art — what’s going on here? you know.

Well, all that’s happening is that word of God is just going there, over the radio, over the TV, over the tracts, you guys witnessing where you live, and those tracts and that street preaching just grind, grind, grind, grind, grind, grind — and all these people have to, they’ve got to run; they’ve got to move, boy! That’s the way a town ought to be. Keep it tore up.

18:12 And when Gallio was the deputy of Achaia, the Jews made insurrection with one accord against Paul, and brought him to the judgment seat,

13 Saying, This fellow persuadeth men to worship God contrary to the law.

14 And when Paul was now about to open his mouth, Gallio said unto the Jews, If it were a matter of wrong or wicked lewdness, O ye Jews, reason would that I should bear with you:

15 But if it be a question of words and names, and of your law, look ye to it; for I will be no judge of such matters.

16 And he drave them from the judgment seat.

17 Then all the Greeks took Sosthenes, the chief ruler of the synagogue, and beat him before the judgment seat. And Gallio cared for none of those things.

All right, Acts chapter 18, verse 12: “And when Gallio was the deputy of Achaia, the Jews made insurrection.” That’s a rebellion.

“With one accord against Paul, and brought him to the judgment seat.” Took him to court.

“Saying, This fellow persuadeth men to worship God contrary to the law.” That isn’t true. That’s slander.

And Paul was just about to open his mouth and make a defense when the judge says: “If it were a matter of wrong or wicked lewdness, O ye Jews, reason would that I should bear with you.” You know, something wrong, you know, DWI or something, you know, or rape or bestiality or incest or breaking or entering or mugging, I’d listen to you.

“But if it be a question of words and names, and of your law, look ye to it; for I will be no judge of such matters. And he drave them from the judgment seat.” That’s a good judge! That’s a good judge. The guy is probably an atheist, but he’s a good one.

And when it comes to rulers of a land, circuit court judges and probate judges and those kind of people, and supreme court judges, what you need for freedom are judges like that. You don’t need a religious judge. A religious judge will be prejudiced. He’s working with some priest behind him someplace, working on him, see.

But, you get a guy like that that’s unprejudiced, he don’t care. And gets up there, “Now, if the fellow committed a crime, I’d judge of it. But if you’re just going to argue about religion, get out.” And run them out. That’s a good judge.

If every judge in every county were like that, you wouldn’t have any trouble preaching on the street at all. You wouldn’t have any trouble. Just jump in and preach your fool head off as long as you didn’t congest traffic, see. As long as you didn’t block traffic. They couldn’t say anything. Just fire away, and let you fire.

COMMENT: A guy went to preaching out on the street, and a guy went out there, a sergeant, and said, “I’ll give you some advice. Don’t preach at night. You can preach in the daytime. So, everytime I’ve been going there, at least once a week, I’ve been preaching in the daytime. Every time I go street preaching on that corner, I see at least one or two police cars go by there, but this time they don’t stop me. They just keep on going.

Yep. They’ll do that. We got stopped down here one time about two years ago. You probably saw the picture. And they got out there, you know, and hassled with them, and talking. “We’re just doing our duty, preacher.”

I said, “I know it. I appreciate you guys. I know you’re doing what you’re supposed to do. We’re with the cops.” I said, “We’re with the fuzz all the way.”

And they said, “Yeah, but, preacher, it would look bad on your record to be booked for disturbing the peace.”

I said, “It wouldn’t bother me a bit. It wouldn’t hurt my record a bit.”

And I said, “I’ve been disturbing the peace all my life. If you want to take me down there, if you want to take me there and book me, it would be the best thing that had ever happened to me, and I’ll say I’ll be very proud of it and be very happy for it.”

But I said, “We’re not gonna quit.”

And they said, “We’ll have to take you in.”

And I said, “All right, then, that’s the way it’ll have to be.”

And had the trucks out there, and a bunch of boys preaching. And I said, “Now, if you arrest anybody, you arrest me.” I said, “These guys who are going to school, this is part of their homework.”

And I said, “They can’t graduate from this school, unless they do this. And I’m telling them to do it, so I’m to blame. I’m responsible for them. And I’m telling them to do it, and they’re to obey my orders. So, they don’t get booked. You book me.”

And about that time, Brother Lince was out there there. And, of course, you know, he was fiery. So Brother Lince come up and said, “You want to have me to go ahead and preach, Brother Ruckman?”

I said, “Climb up and preach.”

Up he went and preached.

Those fellows went off and got in a squad car and sat, one side, one side on the other, about fifteen minutes, and after awhile they drove off — and we went right on with it.

All right, verse 17: “Then all the Greeks took Sosthenes, the chief ruler of the synagogue, and beat him before the judgment seat” — they’re mad at this guy for taking care of him.

And this fellow here in 1 Corinthians 1:1 got saved. I often wonder if that wasn’t the means of his salvation. But in 1 Corinthians 1:1 that guy got, he got baptized there, so he got saved, and maybe the Greeks had something to do with it.

And the Jews are making an insurrection; the Jews are behind this thing, verse 12. So Sosthenes must have been with them, and when it doesn’t work out right, then the Greeks get mad at him and beat him up.

“And Gallio cared for none of those things.” So he’s referring to the care — he sits up there on the judgment seat and watches them knock the guy back and bruise him and says, “Ho hum, well that teaches that bunch” — he don’t care! The way he figured, if you’re going to get your nose bloodied in a religious argument, it’s good enough for you.

18:18 And Paul after this tarried there yet a good while, and then took his leave of the brethren, and sailed thence into Syria, and with him Priscilla and Aquila; having shorn his head in Cenchrea: for he had a vow.

19 And he came to Ephesus, and left them there: but he himself entered into the synagogue, and reasoned with the Jews.

20 When they desired him to tarry longer time with them, he consented not;

21 But bade them farewell, saying, I must by all means keep this feast that cometh in Jerusalem: but I will return again unto you, if God will. And he sailed from Ephesus.

22 And when he had landed at Caesarea, and gone up, and saluted the church, he went down to Antioch.

23 And after he had spent some time there, he departed, and went over all the country of Galatia and Phrygia in order, strengthening all the disciples.

“And Paul after this tarried there yet a good while, and then took his leave of the brethren, and sailed thence into Syria.” That’s coming back on the Asiatic mainland.

“And with him Priscilla and Aquila.” And then a very peculiar statement: “Having shorn his head in Cenchrea: for he had a vow.” Now, he’s going back to Jerusalem. And he’s going back to Jerusalem. What he’s done, he’s done evidently as a testimony to the Jews where he’s been preaching. Notice in verse 4, “reasoned in the synagogues” there. And notice in verse 19, “And he came to Ephesus, and left them there: but he himself entered into the synagogue, and reasoned with the Jews.” That’s what Paul meant in Corinthians when he said, “I am all things to all men, that by all means I might save some. To the Jew I am become as a Jew, to those under the law as under the law, that I might win those under the law.”

Now, you know that Paul don’t care anything about a shorn head! That doesn’t mean nothing to him. Must have meant something to the Jews he talked to, though.

“When they desired him to tarry longer time with them, he consented not; But bade them farewell, saying, I must by all means keep this feast that cometh in Jerusalem: but I will return again unto you, if God will. And he sailed from Ephesus. And when he had landed at Caesarea, —” now he’s back near Jerusalem “— and gone up, and saluted the church, he went down to Antioch.” Now, we don’t know exactly what happened in there, where it says, “and gone up.” But if he’s set on trying to keep the feast — verse 21 at Jerusalem — and then it says he went to Caesarea, and then had “gone up.” The indication is, he went up to Jerusalem — and then met with the elders there, and then went back down to Antioch.

So Paul made one visit to Jerusalem here before that last visit where he got arrested. And, you’ve got Paul going back to Jerusalem four times. Paul is taken to Jerusalem and introduced to the brethren by Barnabas in Acts chapter 9. Then, many years later, he comes back to Jerusalem in Acts chapter 15 at the council of Jerusalem — there’s that visit there.

Then, here, he takes a visit up there, and a little bit later, when he talks about it, he said he was kneeling in the Temple praying, and the Lord told him to get out, get away from there, the Jew wouldn’t accept his testimony. Those are those three visits.

And then there’s evidently a fourth visit we don’t know too much about, when he went and saw Simon Peter for two weeks. It’s mentioned in Galatians chapter 1. Those four visits.

And then, of course, in the last one, the fifth visit, he’s arrested and imprisoned.

And 23: “And after he had spent some time there, he departed, and went over all the country of Galatia and Phrygia in order, strengthening all the disciples.” That’s his last missionary trip. First missionary trip is back there in 14 — 13, 14, and 15. The second trip is 16, 17, 18. And the third one is in 18:23. And goes from 18:23 to 19:21. Eighteen:23 to 19:21 — that’s the third missionary trip.

18:24 And a certain Jew named Apollos, born at Alexandria, an eloquent man, and mighty in the scriptures, came to Ephesus.

25 This man was instructed in the way of the Lord; and being fervent in the spirit, he spake and taught diligently the things of the Lord, knowing only the baptism of John.

26 And he began to speak boldly in the synagogue: whom when Aquila and Priscilla had heard, they took him unto them, and expounded unto him the way of God more perfectly.

27 And when he was disposed to pass into Achaia, the brethren wrote, exhorting the disciples to receive him: who, when he was come, helped them much which had believed through grace:

28 For he mightily convinced the Jews, and that publickly, shewing by the scriptures that Jesus was Christ.

All right, verse 24. Now we have an interlude, and this interlude accounts for the confusion of the charismatic movement.

Verse 24: “A certain Jew.” You notice that, first of all.

“Named Apollos, born at Alexandria.” A scholar.

“An eloquent man.” An eloquent man is a man who can speak well. “Eloqution,” they call it. “Loquatious” — a lot of words. “Eloquent man.”

“And mighty in the scriptures, came to Ephesus.” So he’s a Bible scholar.

But then he said, “This man was instructed in the way of the Lord; and being fervent in the spirit, he spake and taught diligently the things of the Lord, knowing only the baptism of John.” Then all that guy knew was Genesis to Matthew 3 — that’s all he knew. Now, what he knew, he taught. And what he knew he believed, and was good at it. But he only had partial revelation.

And in that passage is a good outline for a preacher, if you want to spiritualize the passage. A preacher should be eloquent; he should be mighty in the scripture; he should be instructed in the way of the Lord; he should be fervent in spirit; and he should speak and teach diligently. Those things right there. Good qualifications for a preacher.

And 26: “And he began to speak boldly —” all those things.

“He began to speak boldly in the synagogue: whom when Aquila and Priscilla had heard, they took him unto them, and expounded unto him the way of God more perfectly.” Now there’s a woman instructing a man in that case right there because it’s a woman and her husband.

Aquila and Priscilla heard of it, take him aside, and said, “Lookie here, you did fine as far as you got, but let me tell you what happened after Matthew 3.”

“And when he was disposed to pass into Achaia, the brethren wrote, exhorting the disciples to receive him: who, when he was come, —” next qualification: “helped them much which had believed through...” what? “Grace.” There’s no Pauline ministry starting after Acts 28, man. It’s all through the Book of Acts.

“Which had believed through grace: For he mightily convinced the Jews, and that publickly, shewing by the scriptures that Jesus was Christ.” That’s a fellow using the Old Testament. He’s standing up there and giving them Psalm 22; Psalm 110; Isaiah 53; Exodus chapter 12; and Genesis chapter 22; you see, putting it on them. Showing types of Christ, and mightily convincing them.