Amir Tsarfati: I Have Many People in this City

Shalom from ancient Corinth,

a city about 50 miles south of Athens and about 2 miles south of the isthmus,

which is the land bridge connecting Peloponnesos (south) with mainland Greece (north).

We’re in an amazing city located here which enjoyed that specific geographical location for many different reasons.

But the main one is the fact that one side of the isthmus is actually facing the west, Rome.

While the other side of the isthmus is actually facing east: Asia Minor, Ephesus, and all the other major cities.

Basically, there used to be 2 major seaports on the 2 sides of the isthmus.

On one side the cargo was unloaded from the main ships and then it would be dragged.

If these were smaller boats, they would be dragged on a paved road to the other side to go back into seawater.

Yet if they were big ships, there was no other way but to unload from one ship and reload onto another one.

You are talking about 2 major seaports that attracted commerce from both sides of the ancient world at the time.

You are talking about an attraction for seamen, businessmen, travelers, and, of course,

attraction also for people coming to worship the different deities this particular city had temples for.

Behind me is actually the remains of the temple of Apollo.

Remember, Apollo is the god of sun, god of the light,

god of poetry, and the god of wisdom.

The son of Zeus was one of the 12 most important deities of the Greek mythology.

In some sources, they say that he was also the god of prophecy.

When Paul arrived in this area, this particular temple was already in ruins.

I believe it was used as a way for Paul to talk about the complete lack of worth of those gods, of those things.

Because at the time there was a gigantic, golden sculpture of Apollo that was standing inside that place.

The city of Corinth, its name was a synonym for corruption.

Not just corruption, but complete lack of morality and decency.

We know that the place itself attracted so many people, but for the wrong reasons.

Apart from the fact that Corinth hosted the Isthmian Games every 4 years,

and it attracted athletes and people that loved sports.

Corinth, also, attracted people under the guise of worshiping the goddess Aphrodite.

They traveled to the upper part of the Acropolis of Corinth, known as the Acrocorinth.

They came to visit a temple that had, hear me good, 2000 prostitutes.

We are talking about female prostitutes that basically gave sex services to people from all around the area.

The fees paid to those women were basically offerings to the goddess, Aphrodite, right here, in that particular temple.

In other words, going to the temple of Aphrodite and sleeping with a woman there, a prostitute, was for many a religious idea.

For many it was, we are coming to worship Aphrodite.

We are coming to contribute to Aphrodite’s Temple.

Now you may understand what Paul meant every time he wrote about sexual immorality regarding the people of Corinth.

Both in 1 Corinthians 6:9-20 and 2 Corinthians 12:20-21.

Paul talks about fornication, prostitution and sexual immorality

in complete conjunction with what was going on in the city at the time of Paul.

Excuse me.

We have to remember that the fame of Corinth in the Greek era was actually not at the time of Paul.

At the time of Paul the city was amazing. Don’t get me wrong.

But if you go back in history, you will find that the Greeks controlled this area.

They lived here under their own independence, as their own empire.

It was between the 11th and the 5th century BC that Corinth was so important.

That was the time that Apollo’s temple was erected.

That was the time that Apollo’s statue was still standing in this area.

What we know is that the city of Corinth was the capital of the Achaean region that rebelled against the Roman Empire.

Because of that, the Roman emperors once they made it to this place, leveled it to the ground, and built a brand new city in the 1st century BC.

When Paul came to Corinth, it was not the famous Corinth of the 5th, 6th, and 7th, century BC.

It was a Roman city that was situated right where the ancient Greek one had been standing.

Very few things are left to see today from the time of the ancient Greek ruling of Corinth, such as Apollo’s temple.

But there are other things from the Romans that are as impressive such as the marketplace, the Agora, which was larger than the one in Rome.

It was quite impressive.

Our story from the scriptures takes us all the way to Acts Chapter 18.

We know that Paul left the city of Athens.

He preached there for a while.

We know that he was shocked with the idolatry that was going on there.

We know he managed to convey the message of the one true God through speaking about the “unknown” God to the people of Athens.

Athens, if I may say, was known for the classic teaching of philosophy and poetry.

It was all about people coming to study.

Athens was the university of even the wealthy people of Rome at the time.

If Athens was all about education, Corinth was all about pleasure and money.

Corinth was almost, in a way, the world “in your face”.

After preaching in Athens, the Apostle Paul traveled to Corinth as the first 18 verses in chapter 18 describes.

We know that (Corinth) was probably (considered), after Antioch, as the most important city that Paul visited, maybe with the exception of Ephesus.

Paul stayed here longer than any other city that we know of.

He stayed here, the Bible says for 18 months, amazingly a year and 1/2.

Paul stayed with Aquila and Priscilla.

Both of them were tentmakers that actually came from where? From Rome.

The Bible says that they fled from Rome.

We know that according to the Roman historian Suetonius that Claudius, the emperor,

expelled the Jews from Rome about 49 AD.

Because the Jews were in constant tumult at the instigation of one called “Christos”, Christ.

Very interesting.

So, although the golden age of Corinth was 5 centuries before Paul’s visit,

Corinth at the time enjoyed an amazing return to prominence during that 1st century.

But, remember, at the time it was a Roman city.

They had the biannual Isthmian games that brought a lot of people to this place.

Second in importance to the Olympic Games in Olympia, Greece.

We know these were held in honor of Poseidon, the god of the sea.

They, of course, relied on him being right by the sea where these games were held.

We discovered more places and more things that were starting gates where the races used to be.

We believe it’s possible Paul may have been present in one of those events.

Because Paul knew about running a race.

Paul knew about running tracks.

Paul also knew what the winner got when he made it to the finish line.

It’s interesting because from Greek sources, we know that it wasn’t a laurel wreath that the winner received in the Isthmian games.

It was actually wilted celery of all things.

The reason why it’s interesting is because Paul referred to the worldly crowns that people get as, what we call, “corruptible crowns”.

That is a corruptible crown.

That is in 1 Corinthians 9:24-27.

We know that Corinth also had a light industry of manufacturing highly prized bronze works.

It included polished mirrors and maybe that sheds a light on what 1 Corinthians 13:12 and 2 Corinthians 3:18 were about.

Corinth, as we know, is the place where Paul arrived.

We know the location, in the south of the isthmus, was an amazing thing.

Many people tried in history to cut or dig a canal to save the effort of having to unload and reload ships on the 2 sides.

We know that several people (Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, Caligula) considered making that canal through the isthmus.

We know that in 67 AD, right after the Jewish revolt in Jerusalem and Judea started, about 15 years after Paul visited this place.

Nero came to Corinth to turn over a spade full of soil in a groundbreaking ceremony for a canal.

We know that he brought with him Jewish slaves.

The idea was to have Jewish slaves digging that canal. But the whole project was abandoned.

The canal we see today, the famous Corinthian Canal, was dug by locals under the supervision of French engineers (1881-1893).

The city itself, as I said, we know it flourished.

At the time of Paul, it was a very significant place.

What kind of religion did Corinth have at the time?

We know that in Corinth one could find cults and gods of Egypt, Rome, and Greece.

But the temple of Aphrodite, on top of that mountain, right behind me, probably stood above all of them.

This was both physically and as well as in city life.

They say that 1000 cult prostitutes continued to sell their profession in the city below.

We can imagine that not only what was going on in the temple was immoral.

But the immorality spilled over even into the city itself.

We know that many of those women were actually sex slaves brought from other parts of the Empire.

We even know of one account where the winner of the Isthmian Games (1st prize)

sponsored 200 prostitutes for the temple of Aphrodite.

Women were almost like a product that people handed from one hand to another.

If anyone found a beautiful woman, and she was taken in captivity, that would be the destination.

For the men, Corinth was known as the place with the most beautiful women.

Of course, it was the easiest way to satisfy their desires.

Now you understand that it is in this context, that Paul arrived.

Paul is not naive to the culture of the Greeks and to idolatry.

Yet, still, it was too much for him.

Let’s dive into Acts Chapter 18 to understand what happened in this place.

“After these things Paul departed from Athens and went to Corinth: And found a certain Jew named Aquila born in Pontus,

who had recently come from Italy with his wife, Priscilla, (because Claudius had commanded all Jews to depart from Rome); and he came to them.

So, because he was of the same trade, he stayed with them and worked;

for by occupation they were tentmakers. And he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath, and persuaded both Jews and Greeks.

When Silas and Timothy had come from Macedonia, Paul was compelled by the spirit and testified to the Jews that Jesus is the Messiah.

But when they opposed him and blasphemed, he shook his garments and he said to them, ‘Your blood is upon your own heads. I am clean.

From now on, I will go to the Gentiles.’

And he departed from there and entered the house of a certain man named Justus,

one who worshiped God, whose house was next door to the synagogue.

Then Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue, believed on the Lord with all his household.

And many of the Corinthians, hearing believed, and were baptized.”

You would think that this is a very interesting mix of opposition,

and acceptance of the gospel by the head of the synagogue.

Bear in mind, I have said that many times that

Paul was in the mindset that it was to the Jew first.

He had the mindset that the revelation he received regarding Yeshua, Jesus, being the Messiah,

was a revelation he must carry 1st to the Jewish people.

So he lands in the heart of the pagan world and in the most corrupt aspect of humanity.

Yet he goes 1st to the Jewish synagogue and preaches there on the Sabbath Day, several times.

It was all about convincing them and reasoning with them why Jesus is, indeed, the Messiah.

In a very interesting manner we know that, of course, many opposed.

But the head of the synagogue actually, and his entire household, accepted it.

Watch what happened,

“Now when the Lord spoke to Paul in the night by a vision,

‘Do not be afraid, but speak, and do not keep silent; for I am with you and no one will attack you to hurt you.

For I have many people in this city.'”

Wow! Isn’t that interesting?

Paul arrived to a city that was either religious or completely immoral.

There was really, almost, nothing in between here.

Paul arrived, most likely, to the most difficult mission field he could ever think of.

Can you imagine? People are here, either seeking their own righteousness, or seeking to somehow fulfill the desires of their flesh.

And it was all done under the religious facade of worshipping a female goddess known as Aphrodite.

Think about it.

Paul arrives in this place.

He is already exhausted from the events in Athens.

He comes to a place and he goes to the Jewish synagogue.

I believe that Paul is a human being.

Paul comes to a place where he experiences great opposition.

It’s not easy to go to a place and be attacked almost on a daily basis.

At some point, I believe, that Paul in the flesh said,

Enough is enough. I’m out of here.

Get me out of here.

Many times we find ourselves in a situation where we think, 1st of all, this is a filthy place.

I would never be here.

If that is the case, then we wouldn’t be able to preach the gospel anywhere around the world.

The 2nd is, so many times we think, I’ve done everything I could. Enough is enough.

I’m out of here. Isn’t that interesting.

We are thinking about a place that, at its peak , had hundreds of thousands of people.

Think about all those women who were locked up in places and were forced to sleep with strangers everyday.

Think about the immoral people that lived in that city.

One would think that God is so fed up with all of that.

There is always that image some have that God takes pleasure in destroying the sinner and destroying the wicked one.

But it is so far from the truth. In Ezekiel 33:11 he says the following thing,

“Say to them, ‘As I live, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked;

but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn, turn from your evil ways; for why should you die, O house of Israel?”

This was said to the people of Israel.

But we know that this is the heart of God for all people.

That no one should die or perish, but that all will live.

Eventually, it’s the choice of people to either believe in God, walk in his ways, understand their sinful nature, or reject Him.

But the heart of God is not for killing of the wicked.

The heart of God is that the wicked will come, and repent, and live. Choose life.

Moses said (through the Lord) in the Book of Deuteronomy, “Here I put before you today:

evil and good, death and life, choose life.”

That is what God wants for people.

That is what God also wanted for the city of Corinth, to choose life.

Paul had a bad day. Yeah, Yeah, I need to preach.

But I had a bad day. We all have bad days, don’t we?

In the next few minutes, we will look at what Paul did, and what was the heart of God for this city?

We understand Paul had a very, very bad day.

We understand that he just heard from God the most uplifting message of all, I am with you.

Nothing bad is going happen to you.

In fact, stay here, because you are here for a reason and for a season.

I have many people in this city.

I am thinking that Paul must have been on his knees, praying, and asking God,

Am I needed here? Is my job done here? Maybe I should just go away?

When we are having a bad day that is probably what is going on in our mind.

I cannot help but be reminded in Psalm 145 that says,

“The Lord upholds all who fall, and raises up all who are bowed down.”

Then it goes on and says later, “The Lord is righteous in all his ways,

The lord is near to all who call upon him,

to all who call upon him in truth.”

We see God was there as the uplifter and the encourager of Paul

when Paul needed that encouragement. We all have those moments.

Not only when we preach the Word, but even in our daily conduct of life.

But more so when we do the work of God.

Trust me, if you do the work of God, expect some major opposition.

We know that because Paul said in 2 Corinthians 4:8-9,

“We are hard pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair;

persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed;”

He acknowledged that there are difficulties. But it is not over.

In fact, he will move forward.

He will go on and he is drawing from the Lord, himself, his encouragement.

This is so important.

I don’t know where you are in your life right now?

You might be thinking to yourself, my family, they are all immoral.

That they are not all in the mindset of the gospel.

My friends are so not in the right mindset.

I don’t know what you have in mind or what you are surrounded by.

But trust me, none of you are surrounded by 1000s of seamen looking for prostitutes.

None of you are surrounded by people that, under the guise of worshipping some goddess,

are sleeping with prostitutes that are sex slaves in a big, prominent city.

Someone described Corinth, in those days, as Amsterdam on steroids.

You need to understand that if Paris was the culture and passion capital of the Renaissance, then this was the one of 2000 years ago.

This was way more than Athens and way more than Rome.

Rome was about power; Athens was about education.

This is about what?

Money and pleasure, mostly satisfying your flesh.

You cannot run away from understanding that this is where all flesh is exposed in the strongest way.

Yet, I believe, that even with all that opposition and spiritual warfare,

Paul understood that he needs to listen to the voice of God, not to the voice of man.

It is so important that we understand that men will never give us the best advice.

I am reminded of David running from Saul and hiding in the Cave at Ein Gedi.

King Saul was right there, took off his sandals and put his feet in the water.

David had the chance of his life to kill King Saul.

His people said to him, the Lord gave him to you.

Now. Today. This is it. Do it.

They even used what l call, “Christianese”,

“Thus says the Lord”. They tried to tell him, this is it.

David was not listening to men, even though they were his men. They were his best people.

They were his protectors and they were his guards, in a way.

David knew that he needed to listen to the Holy Spirit.

He never touched King Saul.

He never did anything wrong.

“Far be from me that I will raise my hand on the Lord’s anointed”.

That’s what he said.

That is why God loved David so much.

Because David did not rely on somebody else’s opinion.

He relied on God and on the Holy Spirit. He was on his knees.

He was praying. He was listening. The Spirit of God talked to David every day.

Go up, go down, turn left, turn right,

even in the most simple practical things.

So Paul in his bed, is thinking to himself,

I’m done with this place, and God says, No, you are not.

By the way, if you think that the “little, minor” incident in the synagogue was hard or dangerous,

wait until you hear what happened right after. Right after!

We know that in Acts Chapter 18, right after this story, it says in verse 12,

“When Gallio was the proconsul of Achaia (which is the greater area of this place)

the Jews with one accord rose up against Paul and brought him to the judgment seat.

The judgment seat, here, we found it.

The Bema Seat of Corinth, we found it.

That is the place where Paul was brought to, right before Gallio.

It’s interesting because they brought him to that place saying,

“This fellow persuaded men to worship God contrary to the law.”

Isn’t that interesting?

You’re thinking about all the other gods and they have no problem with their worship.

Think about it. If you’re a devout Jew, okay?

Judaism, by the way, was a religion that was permitted.

There is a term that the Romans coined for that, a permitted religion.

They allowed them to worship their God.

But the Jewish people, not even a single time, came to the others and said, Hey, Aphrodite doesn’t exist.

Hey, Apollo doesn’t exist. Hey, there is only one God.

Hey, you are all pagan worshipers.

No! But suddenly, out of the blue, comes the one who is a Jew.

He comes into their synagogue, preaches with their scriptures, and tells them that they are all wrong.

The Messiah had come.

He already came, and his name is Jesus, Yeshua.

He fulfilled all the prophecies and all the promises that God had for all of you.

It is for that they take him, and before whom?

Remember, that is why Paul said, “Don’t prosecute one another in front of worldly powers.”

Paul is convinced that for us, the believers, we need to settle our things between ourselves.

Yet you see that the Jewish people are taking Paul to stand for a trial.

Remember, God promised him something.

Don’t worry, I’m here.

Nothing wrong is going to be done to you.

You know that when God promises you something, you can take that to the bank.

This is it.

So here it is.

“And when Paul was about to open his mouth, Gallio said to the Jewish people (before Paul even talked),

If it were a matter of wrongdoing or wicked crimes O Jews, there would be reason why I should bear with you.

But if it is a question of words and names, and of your own law, look to it yourself; for I do not want to be the judge of such matters.

And he drove them from the judgment seat.

Then all the Greeks took Sosthenes, the ruler of the synagogue, and beat him before the judgment seat.

But Gallio took no notice of these things.

So Paul still remained a good while.

Then he took leave of the brethren and sailed to Syria, and Priscilla and Aquila were with him.”

We know that God told him, don’t worry, everything is going be okay

and there are many people in this city.

We know that Paul decided to stay and stayed in the city for about 1 year and 6 months.

All of that is why? Because he listened to the voice of God and not to the voice of men.

“In all your ways, acknowledge God and he shall direct your paths.

Do not be wise in your own eyes.”

That is the message Paul had in his mind.

I don’t need to rely on my own wisdom.

I need to rely on God’s wisdom.

So we understand something very important.

A city full of wicked people, full of adulterous people, full of prostitution, full of all types of vices, is right here.

God is telling Paul, stay here.

I have many people in this city.

I am thinking to myself.

Isn’t that just like the heart of God?

By sending Jesus to this world to begin with?

God loves the whole world.

God does not need you to be perfect before he decides if he loves or not.

Because he loved us first, we love him.

Not the opposite.

The Bible says in 2 Peter Chapter 3:8-9,

“But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is 1000 years and 1000 years as one day.

The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, (To what? To take us out of here) as some count slackness,

but is long suffering towards us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.”

“All” means all.

The famous words in John 3:16 continues,

“For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life.

For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved.”

Paul did not come to this city to preach condemnation. But to preach salvation.

Of course, if you reject the message of salvation, then you bring upon yourself condemnation.

But for these people who never had heard that message, it wasn’t about condemnation that Paul needed to preach.

It was about salvation.

God loves them.

He wants them.

“He who believes in him is not condemned;

but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten son of God.

And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light,

because their deeds were evil.

For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, unless his deed should be exposed.

But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen and that they have been done in God.”

He’s trying to tell these people, repent.

God loves you.

He sent his only begotten son.

He wants you.

He wants to redeem you.

He wants to save you.

He wants your attention. Paul stayed right here.

He knew that I must dare to share. Dare to share.

It is something that I really love.

You never know. I want to tell you something. You never know.

You come to a person. You put your hand on him and you give him a good word.

You just don’t know what is going on in his life or what is going through his mind right then.

Maybe he’s thinking my life is worth nothing. Nobody loves me.

Maybe he needs to be reminded of the love of God.

Maybe he needs to know because he never heard of such a thing.

Maybe he is waiting for such an encouragement, and you’re the one you.

You just never know. The Bible says in 2 Timothy 4:1-5,

“I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at his appearing and his Kingdom.

Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all long suffering and teaching.

For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires,

because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to fables.

But you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.”

Isn’t that amazing?

We are called, men and women, young or old, to tell the great story of the one who brought us from darkness into his marvelous light.

We are not to keep our mouth shut.

We are not to hide.

People think about how Peter denied Jesus when he said, I do not know the man.

But I am telling that you don’t have to say, I don’t know him, to deny him.

You just don’t have to say that you know him.

And you already denied him.

This is the sad story.

I want to encourage all of you, wherever you are, in your workplace, in your family,

(that’s the family God gave you), in school, wherever you are.

You are there for a reason and for a season.

Just as Paul was here for a reason and a season.

Do you know what? God never really asked Paul.

Hey, Paul, what about staying?

Or how about leaving? No, God told him, you should stay.

As long as you do what you need to do, I will take care of you.

It is not going be easy sometimes,

but you will do my work.

You are here for a reason and for a season.

Preaching the word of God is not for preachers only.

Preachers, I always say, have the easy work.

They preach the Word to those people who already know the Word.

The most noble thing is if you sit with someone and tell him one on one how come you became a believer.

Your own testimony is more powerful than anything else.

It’s interesting because Paul considered not preaching.

Run the race in vain.

He says in Galatians 2:2, “And I went up by revelation and communicated to them that gospel which I preach among the Gentiles,

but privately, to those who were of reputation lest by any means I might run or had run in vain.”

He was afraid to run this race in vain.

This life will be meaningless if I don’t share the gospel.

I want to conclude this message with one thing.

Do not ever underestimate the power of sharing even with one person.

He might turn out to be the greatest evangelist of all people and lead many to Christ.

You just don’t know.

All I know is one thing.

The people that God puts in the path of your life are people that your meant to see, be with, talk to, and encourage.

Opposition is part of the deal.

Remember, Psalm 145 talks about how the Lord is the one who encourages and lifts you up.

Remember, turn to God and he will guide you. He will be there for you.

He will lift you up. He will be there to encourage you, not men.

But God.

I want to remind you, even in your city,

God has many people.