Acts 18:24-19:7 Complete the Incomplete

 

Good morning! Turn with me in your Bibles to Acts 18:24, page 927 in the pew Bibles.

This morning we are going to examine what might appear at first to be two separate accounts divided by a chapter division. We are going to ignore the big number nineteen and look at them both together because they address the same issue, the issue of incomplete faith.

We often make the mistake of thinking that the devil doesn’t want us to go to church, that he wants us all to be out there living it up with no regrets and no remorse. But I’ve heard it said that he would rather us be in church, being nice and polite, and kind to our neighbors, even talking about Jesus, provided we never hear anything about our sin, or sinfulness, or repentance, or forgiveness, or the wrath of God, or dying to ourselves in order to live for Christ.

There are many groups meeting today that fit this description. Lots of nice people who love each other and serve their neighbors and never hear about their desperate need for a Savior, or that they need saving from anything.

Our text for this morning addresses this very problem.

²⁴ Now a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus. He was an eloquent man, competent in the Scriptures. ²⁵ He had been instructed in the way of the Lord. And being fervent in spirit, he spoke and taught accurately the things concerning Jesus, though he knew only the baptism of John. ²⁶ He began to speak boldly in the synagogue, but when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately. ²⁷ And when he wished to cross to Achaia, the brothers encouraged him and wrote to the disciples to welcome him. When he arrived, he greatly helped those who through grace had believed, ²⁸ for he powerfully refuted the Jews in public, showing by the Scriptures that the Christ was Jesus.

19 And it happened that while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul passed through the inland country and came to Ephesus. There he found some disciples. ² And he said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” And they said, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.” ³ And he said, “Into what then were you baptized?” They said, “Into John’s baptism.” ⁴ And Paul said, “John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him, that is, Jesus.” ⁵ On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. ⁶ And when Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they began speaking in tongues and prophesying. ⁷ There were about twelve men in all.

Let’s pray.

Long before GPS was invented we had these paper things called maps. Where I grew up the Maine Gazetteer was standard equipment in every vehicle. I remember getting caught without mine one night trying to get home from LL Bean in Freeport and ending up in Bowdoinham, which was about an hour in the wrong direction from home. I had to call my Dad in the middle of the night to get directions home. I also had to find a payphone to make that call.

One thing that could be a problem sometimes even when you had a map was that the roads changed. A bypass was put in and the route changed. Even in the early days of GPS you had to update the little box from time to time.

Try using a GPS to navigate New York City, the directions of the streets change all the time. What once was a two-way street is now a one-way street and that way is usually the wrong direction.

Oddly, this is exactly where Apollos was when he met Priscilla and Acquilla in Ephesus.

Apollos was a well-educated, well-spoken, Jewish man from the Egyptian city of Alexandria.

Verse 24 says, He was an eloquent man, competent in the Scriptures. ²⁵ He had been instructed in the way of the Lord. And being fervent in spirit, he spoke and taught accurately the things concerning Jesus, though he knew only the baptism of John.

Now we have to remember that the New Testament hadn’t been written yet, so when Luke records that Apollos was competent in the Scriptures, he means the Old Testament.

Apollos eagerly and accurately taught the things concerning Jesus from the Old Testament, he saw Jesus on every page. He showed from the three to four hundred prophecies that the long-awaited Messiah was Jesus of Nazareth.

This is all good. But where he fell short was that he only knew the baptism of John. His GPS needed updating and his course needed correcting.

²⁶ He began to speak boldly in the synagogue, but when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately. ²⁷ And when he wished to cross to Achaia, the brothers encouraged him and wrote to the disciples to welcome him.

 

Apollos was a gifted, well-respected guy whose understanding was incomplete, and so, the gospel that he preached was incomplete. In love, Priscilla and Acquilla took him aside, privately, and explained the gospel more fully. And he clearly accepted the correction because he was endorsed by the church family there in Ephesus to go over to Achaia, modern-day Greece, to preach the whole gospel there.

Verse 27 says, When he arrived, he greatly helped those who through grace had believed, ²⁸ for he powerfully refuted the Jews in public, showing by the Scriptures that the Christ was Jesus.

So what was it about Apollos’ understanding and teaching that was off, what was missing? It doesn’t say exactly other than he only knew the baptism of John.

The good thing is, that we ignored the big number nineteen and kept right on reading. Paul discovered the error in Apollos’ understanding and teaching when he arrived in Ephesus.

19 And it happened that while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul passed through the inland country and came to Ephesus. There he found some disciples. ² And he said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” And they said, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.” ³ And he said, “Into what then were you baptized?” They said, “Into John’s baptism.” ⁴ And Paul said, “John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him, that is, Jesus.” ⁵ On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. ⁶ And when Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they began speaking in tongues and prophesying. ⁷ There were about twelve men in all.

Warren Wiersbe said, “Paul explained to them that John’s baptism was a baptism of repentance that looked forward to the coming of the promised Messiah, while Christian baptism is a baptism that looks back to the finished work of Christ on the cross and His victorious resurrection. John’s baptism was on ‘the other side’ of Calvary and Pentecost. It was correct for its day, but now that day was ended.”

When John the Baptist baptized, it was a baptism of repentance, a change of mind, turning from self to God.

When a Christian is baptized, we are baptized into Jesus, into His death and resurrection, in the Name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

We are baptized in the Name of the Father because we have been adopted as His children.

We are baptized in the Name of the Son because we have been redeemed by His blood.

We are baptized in the Name of the Holy Spirit because we have been sealed and filled and empowered to fulfill our mission.

John’s baptism represented a new way of thinking, but baptism in the Name of Jesus represents a whole new life!

These twelve men that Paul met in Ephesus had an incomplete faith, just like Apollos did before the Way was explained to him more accurately. These men were the fruit of that incomplete gospel preaching.

When Paul picked up that something was off he asked them outright, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” And what did they say? No! We didn’t even know the Holy Spirit was given!

And what does that tell us? They didn’t truly believe in Jesus, or, what they were told about Jesus was inaccurate, or in this case more likely, incomplete.

Ephesians 1:13-14 says, ¹³ In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, ¹⁴ who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.

When a person hears the gospel and believes in Jesus they receive the Holy Spirit in that moment.

Apollos and these twelve guys in Ephesus were missing the part about the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus, because that’s what Christian baptism represents. It is a reminder of the work of Jesus on our behalf, what was necessary to purchase our forgiveness.

If we miss the part about Jesus needing to die to pay the penalty for our sin so the Holy and Just Father would not see sin when He looks at us, if we miss that part we miss everything!

Colossians 2:6-15 says,

⁶ Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, ⁷ rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.

⁸ See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. ⁹ For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, ¹⁰ and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority. ¹¹ In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, ¹² having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead. ¹³ And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, ¹⁴ by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. ¹⁵ He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.

Amen.

 

 

 

If you find yourself this morning feeling short, as if maybe your faith is incomplete, please come talk to me after the service, or if not me another believer that you trust.

And if you are a believer in Jesus but haven’t yet been baptized in His Name, please come see me after so we can talk about that as well.

Let’s pray.