"Hold Not Thy Peace...In This City" (Acts 18:9-10)

"Hold Not Thy Peace...In This City" from Acts 18:9-10 was preached by Dr. Mark McElreath at the City Baptist Church of Atlanta on April 5, 2026.

Find out more about the City Baptist Church of Atlanta at www.mycitybaptist.com.

Transcript

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Welcome to the City Pulpit. Bible messages from the pulpit ministry of the City Baptist Church in Atlanta. Please take your Bibles with me. Let's go to Acts chapter 18. Acts chapter 18. And we've taken a couple of verses from Acts chapter 18, and we're looking at in this city. Paul uses, or the Holy Spirit speaking to Paul, uses this phrase at the end of verse number 10. And there are some things that are pointed out that as this church and the laborers in this city are working and following the Lord, that they are supposed to be doing and supposed to be faithful in in the city of Corinth. And we're looking at several of those in order. Begin reading with me. Acts chapter 18, let's look at verse number one. The Bible says, After these things Paul departed from Athens and came to Corinth, 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. And because he was of the same craft, he abode with them and wrought, for by their occupation they were tent makers. And he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath, and persuaded the Jews and the Greeks, and when Silas and Timotheus were come from Macedonia, Paul was pressed in the spirit, and testified to the Jews that Jesus was Christ. And when they had 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. And he departed thence, and entered into a certain man's house named Justice, one that worshipped God, whose house joined hard to the synagogue. 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. 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. And he continued there a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them. We've taken that phrase at the end of verse 10, in this city, and we've taken the six things that are connected to it in verse 9 and 10, and we've been we've been working our way through them. It says at verse 9, Then spake the Lord to Paul in the night by vision, first of all, be not afraid. Then he says, but speak. Thirdly, he says, Hold not thy peace. So we're going to look at that in verse number 9 this evening. This third thing, hold not thy peace. Culturally, we understand that this means to be silent. He's saying, I don't want you to be silent in the city of Corinth. Many times we hear this used. I'm not sure if they do it at many weddings anymore, but they'll say, if any of you think that these two should not be wed, speak now or what? Forever hold thy peace, right? And he's saying here in Corinth, I don't want you to hold your peace. I don't want you to be quiet. You know, there are times when holding our peace, which very simply is being quiet or refraining from responding. The act often is closely connected to being at peace with God and what he's accomplishing in our lives. There are times when we should hold our peace. In fact, I want to show you an example. Hold your place here in Acts 18 and go all the way back to the second book of the Bible, the book of Exodus. Exodus chapter 14. In Exodus 14, the children of Israel have come out of Egypt. They have come all the way to the Red Sea. The Bible actually tells us when they come out of Egypt, they come out with a high hand. They've come out victoriously. And now they're looking at the Red Sea in front of them. Pharaoh's changed his mind. He doesn't want them to leave anymore. And now the Egyptian army is quickly coming after them. What are they going to do? Look at Exodus chapter 14 and go down to verse number 13. And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will show you today. For the Egyptians whom ye have seen today, ye shall see them again no more forever. He says, Now we have the Red Sea in front of us, we have the Egyptians behind us, but fear ye not, stand still, see the salvation of the Lord. Look at verse 14. The Lord shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace. Why? Because God is going to take care of exactly what's going on here, and we understand, we keep reading Exodus chapter 14, what happens? Moses raises his rod, the Lord perks the Red Sea, they walk across on dry land, and the Lord closes the Red Sea back over them. So there are times where we should hold our peace, where we should be silent. We also find that there are times, go back with me in Acts chapter 18, when the psalmist in the Psalms ask for God not to hold his peace. Psalm 109 and verse 1, it says, Hold not thy peace, O God, of my praise. For the mouth of the wicked, the mouth of the deceitful are opened against me, saying, Lord, will you do something about this? Psalm 39 and verse 12 says, Hear my prayer, O God, give ear unto my cry. Hold not thy peace at my tears. Lord, will you do something about this? So sometimes we should hold our peace. Sometimes we ask the Lord not to hold his peace, but here we find God says, I don't want you to hold your peace. Ecclesians, Ecclesiastes chapter 3 and verse 7, it says, There is a time to keep silence and a time to speak. And let me tell you what we're in now. I think we're in the same time it is in the church here at Corinth. It is a time to speak. And so in this city we do not hold our peace because, would you make note of some things? Number one, write this down. Because the world does not hold its peace. The world does not hold its peace. The world has no problem speaking about what it thinks is right. The world has no problem speaking about what it believes is the truth. In fact, look at verse number five here in Acts chapter 18. It says, And when Silas and Timotheus were come from Macedonia, Paul was pressed in the Spirit and testified to the Jews that Jesus was Christ. Look at verse 6. Here's what the Bible says. And when they opposed themselves, they're all speaking in Corinth. All of the Corinthians, not the people in the church, but the people in the city of Corinth, they're speaking. In fact, they think what they're doing is helping. They think what they're doing is embittering everyone else. But the Bible says they're actually opposing themselves. The devil has devised a world system that destroys those inside of it today. Sadly, many people that are living their lives and they're going along with the flow and they're doing everything that the world is telling them to do. They're actually opposing themselves. They're actually working against what God wants them to do and the life that He desires for them to live. It may be concerning the family. It may be concerning sexuality. It may be concerning success. There is a way in which the world says we should live that opposes ourselves, that is against ourselves, that is ultimately against the truth and against the Bible. And here we find the same thing is happening here in the church of Corinth. They're opposing themselves, and then look what it says in verse 6. They oppose themselves and blasphemed. What is blasphemed? They're speaking ill or speaking against God or reverential things. Do we have a world today that speaks ill of reverential things? Do we have a world today that speaks ill of God and his church and the truth? I looked up some statistics. It's quite interesting. When you look at what people are saying, I thought, how many posts are made on social media every day, right? If people think they have something to say, well, you know, you've got to go to social media and say it, right? I began looking at some statistics. On Twitter, 500 million posts are made every day. That's roughly 5,800 per second. On Facebook, over 300 million photos are shared every day. You know, it didn't really happen if it's not online, right? YouTube has 720,000 hours of video uploaded daily. Instagram has over 95 million photos shared daily. TikTok has over 23 million posts daily. And on social media platforms across the world, every day, 1.1 billion pieces of content are published. That's about one per every eight people on the globe. So people are out there saying what they want to say. People are out there not holding their peace. People are out there thinking, well, I have something to say, I'm going to say it. Then why should God's people be silent? And why should God's people be quiet? If we believe we really have the truth, and we believe we're truly walking in the truth, then we should not hold our silence, keep our silence. We should be speaking. You say, does that mean I should put something up on social media? That's fine. But we should be going about our day, everywhere we go, speaking to people about the Lord, speaking the truth, speaking what's right and what's whole. Yesterday we were out in our community, we had a team of people going house by house, street by street, neighborhood by neighborhood, reaching people with the gospel, inviting people to church. We had a lady that got one of our flyers. She called, she said, Hey, I want to ride to church. We're going to go pick her up for church this coming Sunday. I left that and I went to a park cleanup right up here, not far from here in our neighborhood. And you know what I was doing? We were cleaning the park up, but we were talking to people about church. Me and Max went up there. We're talking to people about the Lord, telling people about what's going on here. Why? Because we have something to say. We've got to get it out. We will not hold our peace in this city because the world does not hold its peace. But would you make note of a second thing? Not only that, we will not hold our peace in this city because silence is not an option. Silence is not an option. The biblical example in Scripture is the example of a speaking church. Look with me at Acts chapter 18, verse number 9. We looked at this word last week, but it says, Then spake the Lord of Paul in the night by a vision, be not afraid, but what? Speak. I want you to say something. Silence is not an option. We find here when Paul goes out, verse number 4, it says he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath. Verse number 4 at the end it says that he persuaded the Jews and the Greeks. Verse 5 says that he was pressed in the Spirit and testified to the Jews that Jesus was Christ. What's going on? Paul's opening his mouth and he's speaking to people the truth, and he's speaking to people about the Lord, because silence is not an option. Our example is a speaking church. Would you hold your place here with me and go to the book of Matthew? Matthew chapter 28, and look with me, please, at verse 16. Matthew chapter 28, verse 16. We find in the New Testament, we find five portions of Scripture that we often refer to as the Great Commission. And there are five commands that are given to the church by the Lord Jesus Christ before his ascension, and he goes back to heaven after his earthly life and ministry. One of those is found in Matthew chapter 28, verse 16. The Bible says, Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee into a mountain where Jesus had appointed them. When they saw him, they worshipped him, but some doubted. And when they saw him, verse 18, and when Jesus spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. He says in verse 19, Go ye therefore, and what's the next word? Teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost. What's the first word of verse 20? Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you, and lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen. What are they doing? They're teaching something. How are we going to teach? You say, Well, you can teach by example. You can teach by a little example, but you're going to have to speak to somebody if you're going to teach them something. It is a vocal church. Go with me to Mark chapter 16 and verse number 15. Mark chapter 16 and verse 15. This is another part of the Great Commission. And it says in Mark chapter 16 and verse number 15, he said unto them, Go ye into all the world and do what? Preach the gospel to every creature. What is he saying here? I want you, church, to open your mouth. And maybe you think, well, Pastor, I'm not sure what to say. You open your mouth and you're walking with the Lord and you're right with the Lord, you're obeying him, you open your mouth. He'll feel it. He'll tell you what to say. I think he just wants us to be willing to speak and to talk about him. Would you go with me to Acts chapter 1? We could look at all five of these. We won't look at all five of these great commission passages. But Acts chapter 1, I want to look at this final one here. In Acts chapter 1, this is just moments before the Lord Jesus Christ is going to ascend, 40 days after his death, burial, and resurrection. And he says in Acts chapter 1 and verse number 8, he's speaking to his disciples, he says, But you shall receive power after the Holy Ghost has come upon you, and you shall be what? Witnesses unto me, both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and in Samaria and under the uttermost part of the earth. What does it mean to be a witness? He uses that word to put us in the in the uh in a trial, in the courtroom, and he says, You're going to be a witness. We're going to put you on the stand and you need to speak. What does a witness do? A witness just speaks the things they have seen. You know, a witness doesn't get on the witness stand and make things up. At least they shouldn't make things up. They get on the witness stand and they just say, Here's what I know to be the truth. And he says, I want you in Jerusalem, in Judea, in Samaria, and under the uttermost part of the earth, I want you to be a witness and I want you to speak the truth. Well, we have the truth. We have the Word of God. And He says, I want you to go and I want you to speak. In Jerusalem? Yes. In Judea, the region? Yes. In Samaria, you mean to the Samaritans? To those that we don't want to have anything to do with? That culturally it says we shouldn't do any business with the Samaritans? Yes, I want you to speak to the Samaritans. And just in case we left any part out unto the uttermost part of the earth, speak. Be a witness. Psalm 39 and verse number 3. It says, My heart was hot within me. While I was musing, the fire burned. Then spake I with my tongue. You know what the psalmist is saying here? There was something going on inside of me as I was thinking about the things of God. My heart began to burn within me, and then I spake. Now don't just open your mouth and say foolishness. Okay? I heard an old lady say one time, now don't go speaking the fool. So if you're going to speak and I'm going to speak, we shouldn't speak the fool. But if we're going to speak, we should have something to say. It reminded me when I looked up those social media statistics, I read 59% of all social media posts receive no engagement engagement. 59% receive no engagement. In fact, it said only 10% of social media posts receive more than 10 engagements on them. Likes or shares or whatever it is. You know why that is? Because a lot of people are speaking and they have nothing to say. Now God help us to just say things because we want to say things. Help us to say things that have meaning and truth and force and authority behind them because they come from the Word of God. So we will not be silent because we're not going to hold our peace because silence is not an option. Go back with me to the book of Acts and please go with me to Acts chapter 4. Acts chapter 4. We find here Acts chapter 4. It's early in the New Testament church. And in Acts chapter 4, Peter and John are preaching. And let's go to Acts chapter 4 and verse number 13. Acts chapter 4, verse number 13. The Bible says, Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marveled, and they took knowledge of them that they had been with Jesus. Now Peter and John have been out preaching, preaching in Jerusalem, and they're causing quite the stir. And it says here in verse 13 that they're characterized by boldness in their speaking. Now this is not a brashness, this is not arrogance. This is just understanding we have the truth and we can boldly stand and speak the truth. There is authority there. The boldness of Peter and John, and it says they perceived not just that they were bold, but they were unlearned and ignorant men. Now I'm not sure what characterized them as unlearned and ignorant. Maybe they had an accent. I preached in some places. I'm from Atlanta. But I preached in some places that were not near Atlanta, and people said, You're not from around here, are you? I've had people tell me I have a very heavy southern accent. I don't think that. I think they have a heavy non-southern accent. But maybe it's because these men, they were from Galilee, they were from the mountain area, and they spake with a heavy accent, and they thought, yeah, they're not from around Jerusalem. And maybe you think, I can't speak with boldness. I am among the unlearned and ignorant. Here's what it says in verse 13. And they took knowledge, not that they said they were bold and they were unlearned and ignorant men, but here's what it says at the end of verse 13. They took knowledge of them that they had been with Jesus. You know what makes the difference when we speak? If we've been in the presence of Jesus and we've been in his word and we've spent time with him, you know what starts happening when we hang around people? We start talking like them and acting like them. And the more we hang around Jesus, and the more we start listening to him speak to us, you know what we're going to start doing? We're going to start talking more and acting more like Jesus. And they could tell, these people have been with Jesus. Look what it says in verse 14. And beholding the man which was healed standing with them, they could say nothing against it. They've healed a man, and they say, Well, we can't speak anything against this. I mean, he was unhealed, and now he is healed. Look at verse 15. But when they had commanded them to go aside out of the council, they confirmed among themselves, saying, What shall we do to these men? For that indeed a notable miracle hath been done by them is manifest to all them that dwell in Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it. But that it spread no further among the people, let us straightly threaten them that they speak henceforth to no man in this name. So they say in verse 17, Let's tell them they can't talk to any other people about this Jesus. Now what do you think Peter and John are going to do when this council here says you can't talk about Jesus anymore? Look at verse 18. And they called them and commanded them not to speak at all, nor teach in the name of Jesus. They said, Now look, we see this miracle, we know what you're doing here in Jerusalem, but don't talk about Jesus anymore. Now how do they respond? You know what they're saying? Hold your peace. Be silent. That's enough. Verse 19. But Peter and John answered and said unto them, Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye. They say, Only the Lord knows if we should listen to you or listen to God, but we're going to listen to God. Here's what they say in verse 20. For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard. If you're here this evening and you know the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior, you're a born-again Christian, then you have seen some things in your life. You've seen the Lord change your life, you've seen the Lord do something. Just tell people about that. Just tell people the witness of your own testimony. Here's what God has done in my life. Here is a man that they touch. He was lame. They have a miracle happen here. He's not lame anymore. And they say, we cannot refute this miracle. And you know what? People cannot refute your own personal testimony. So don't hold your peace. Silence is not an option. Speak the truth. Now, some will say that we should use lifestyle evangelism. Some should say, they say, look, storytelling or acts of service, these can all take the place of speaking the truth. And there's a place for some of that. We can live the right kind of life, and if we're saying we're a Christian, we should live the right kind of life. That backs up what we say. But often we fail because we're silent when it comes time to speak. When God does give an opportunity to speak, we're not ready to speak. Sometimes we're just being nice. We're just trying to be socially acceptable. When the Bible tells us silence is not an option, we must open our mouth and we must speak the truth. So in this city, we do not hold our peace. Why? Because the world does not hold its peace. It has a message. Also, silence is not an option. Would you make note of a third thing here? Thirdly, in this city we will not hold our peace because we cannot hold our peace. We cannot hold our peace. There should be something inside of us. That the Lord is doing that we can't keep bottled up. Would you go with me to Acts chapter 17? Acts 17. This is just the chapter before, Acts chapter 18, where we were in Corinth. And before Paul comes to Corinth, he's in the city of Athens. The Bible tells us in Acts 17, would you look with me, please, at verse 16? Acts 17, verse 16. Now, when Paul waited for them at Athens, he's waiting for this missionary team to catch up, he's there for a little time. It says, his spirit was stirred in him when he saw the city wholly given to idolatry. He starts looking around in Athens and he says, This entire city is given over to the worship of idols, the worship of false pagan gods. And it so affects him, there's something stirred within him, that it says in verse number 17, therefore disputed he in the synagogue with the Jews and with devout persons and in the market daily with him that met with him. I mean, he's going everywhere. He's in the market speaking to people, he's in the synagogue speaking to people, he's here, he's there, doing all he can to open his mouth and speak the truth. I was speaking with a man recently. He does a lot of open-air preaching. Some people call it street preaching, open air evangelism. He's just outside of New York City. He's a friend of mine. I said, Boy, you've encouraged me. I said, we need to do more of that here. You know, we've got the FIFA World Cup coming. And we've got to get out. We've got to get out of this building. We've got to get out where people are speaking to them about the gospel and knowing that they've been born again and knowing that they know the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior. We've got to get out, we've got to do that. Sadly, many times we've seen it done not very well, and we've seen it done in almost a belligerent manner, and so some people don't like that. But it can be done right, it can be done well, and we can speak the truth, and we can speak the truth in love. Look, we cannot hold our peace. You know why? Because the Bible has given us a clear message to speak. He's given us a clear message to speak because all through his word, there's a scarlet cord that runs all through the Bible. In fact, I heard an old Bible preacher say one time, he didn't mean this literally, it was figurative, he said, anywhere you cut the Bible, it bleeds. And what he meant was it's speaking of the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what we're teaching and preaching today on Resurrection Sunday, this Easter Sunday, speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ. Why would Jesus come to this earth, live a perfect life, and go to a cross and die on a cross? Well, it's because we're all sinners. The Bible tells us we've all come short of the glory of God. No one is perfect. No one else has lived a perfect life like Jesus Christ. The Bible tells us that because of that sin, we owe a debt. In fact, Romans chapter 6 tells us that that debt is death. Jesus went to the cross and he didn't deserve to go to the cross. We deserve a cross for our own sin. Our sin has separated us from God. But Jesus came to be the perfect sacrifice for our sin, to pay the debt for our sins, so that as it says in Romans chapter 10, verse 13, that whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Whoever calls on the Lord, call out to him, you can be saved, have your sins forgiven. That's the simple message we have. In fact, when Paul is preaching here, he's preaching the same message 2,000 years ago in Athens and the same message 2,000 years ago in Corinth that we're preaching today. That people have, they're sinners, they're separated from God, and Jesus has made a way for you to be made restored and made right with God Himself. And it's through the person of Jesus Christ alone. You know the Old Testament prophets preach this? Jeremiah 4 19, Jeremiah said, My heart maketh a noise in me, I cannot hold my peace. Jeremiah said later in Jeremiah 20 and verse 9, he said, I will not make mention of him nor speak any more in his name, but his word was in my heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones. I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay. He said, It's just like I tried to keep a fire inside of me. I couldn't do it. It had to get out. Isaiah 62, Isaiah says, I have set a watchman upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, which shall never hold their peace day or night. Something had to be done. In fact, the word is used in Mark chapter 10, Jesus in his earthly life and ministry. He's heading through Jericho. And when he goes through Jericho, there's a man there called blind Bartimaeus. And the Bible says that blind Bartimaeus, he sat every day by the roadside begging. But when he heard that Jesus was coming through, you know what he started doing? He started crying out, Son of God, come and heal me. And it says in verse 48 that many charged him that he should hold his peace. Hey, be quiet, blind Bartimaeus. Jesus is coming through here. But you know what it says? But he cried the more a great deal, Thou son of David, have mercy on me. You know why? He couldn't hold it back. He couldn't keep it in. God help us to be a church that has the truth and can't keep it in. We've got to get it out. Paul said this way in 1 Corinthians chapter 9, verse 16, he said, For though I preach the gospel, I have nothing to glory of, for necessity is laid upon me. Yea, woe is unto me if I preach not the gospel. He said, Necessity is laid upon me. It is necessary. I can't go without preaching the gospel and giving the truth. Can that be said about each and every one of our lives? Or have we decided I'm going to go through my life? I'm saved. I know I'm on my way to heaven, but I am going to be a hold my peace Christian. I'm going to be a silent Christian. May I give you a final example, an Old Testament example. In the book of 2 Kings, the book of 2 Kings, back in our Old Testament, if you turn with me there to 2 Kings chapter 7. In 2 Kings chapter 7, it's a dire time for the people of God. In fact, here in 2 Kings 7, the Syrian army is besieging the northern kingdom of Samaria. And in 2 Kings chapter 7, verse number 1, here's what it says. 2 Kings 7, verse 1. Then Elisha said, Hear ye the word of the Lord, thus saith the Lord. Tomorrow about this time shall a measure of fine flour be sold for a shekel, and two measures of barley for a shekel in the gate of Samaria. Now what's going on here is, because the Assyrian army is besieging the city of Samaria, they can't get supplies in and out. Food prices have skyrocketed. The price of everything is skyrocketed. In fact, they're beginning, it's a very dire time. They're beginning to eat children because they don't have food to eat. It's terrible. And here we find in verse 2 of 2 Kings 7, it says, Then a Lord on whose hand the king leaned answered the man of God and said, Behold, if the Lord would make windows in heaven, might this thing be? And he said, Behold, thou shalt see it with thine eyes, but thou shalt not eat thereof. Look at verse 3. And there were four leprous men at the entering in of the gate. So at the gate of Samaria, there's four men with leprosy. They can't be around anybody, because they have this contagious disease. And they say one to another, verse three, Why sit we here till we die? They say, Look, we're just going to sit here, we're all going to waste away. Everybody inside the city is dying. If we sit here, we're going to die. He says in verse number four, if we say we will enter into the city where the famine is in the city, then we shall die there. And if we sit still here, we die also. Now therefore, come, let us fall into the host, unto the host of the Syrians, and if they save us alive, we shall live, and if they kill us, we shall but die. They say, look, it's a lose-lose situation. We go in the city, they're dying in there. If we sit here at the gate, we're going to die here. If we go to the Syrians, and they don't want anything to do with us, they'll kill us, and then we'll die there. What do we have to lose? Look at verse 5. And they rose up in the twilight to go into the camp of the Syrians. And when they were come to the uttermost part of the camp of Syria, behold, there was no man there. So they're walking to the Syrian army, thousands, a encampment of thousands of Syrians, and they say, Where are the guards? Where are the scouts? There's nobody here. Look at verse six. For the Lord had made the host of the Syrians to hear a noise of chariots and a noise of horses, even the noise of a great host. And they said one to another, Lo, the king of Israel hath hired against us kings of the Hittites and the kings of the Egyptians to come upon us. Wherefore they arose and fled in the twilight, and left their tents and their horses and their asses and their camp as it was, and fled for their life. So God stirs up these Syrians, they think there's an army coming against them, and they all leave. They leave everything behind, all of their store, all of their cattle, all their horses, all their goods left behind, right there for the taking. Verse 8. And when these lepers came to the uttermost part of the camp, they went into one tent, into one tent, and did eat and drink, and carried thence silver and gold and raiment, and went and hid it. And came again and entered into another tent and carried thence also and went and hid it. They say, Well, look, let's go in this tent, ate to their fill, took all the silver, all the gold, everything they wanted, went and hit it. And they said, Well, let's go in the next tent. Well, look at this. It's full of the same stuff. And they ate to their fill, took everything they wanted, went and hit it, and they just kept doing it over and over and over and over again. Look at verse 9. Then they said one to another, We do not well. This day is a day of good tidings, and we hold our peace. If we tarry till the morning light, some mischief will come upon us, and therefore come that we may go and tell the king's household. You know what they said? We have all of this abundance before us, and we could eat until we are content. I mean, we could eat until we're slap silly here. But if we hold our peace and we're quiet about this, we do not well. Look, we live in a land of spiritual abundance. We're in a church of spiritual abundance. We have a word of God that is full of spiritual abundance. And you know what we're surrounded by? We're surrounded by, much like this city of Samaria that's in famine. We're surrounded by people that do not have the truth. They are dying for want. They're in a famine of truth. And yet we have all the abundance in the world that we could possibly want. And if we hold our peace, in the words of the leprous men, we do not well. So what are we going to do? You know what we often do? We just go from tent to tent that the Syrians left behind, and we eat all we want and take all the goods we want and go hide them for ourselves. Well, you know what we should be doing? We should be saying, Everything you need is here. City of Samaria. In fact, they're going to go back. It says in verse 10, so they came and called the porter of the city, and when they told them, said, We came to the camp of the Syrians. Behold, there was no man there neither the voice of men, but horses tied and asses tied, and the ends as they were. And he called the porters, and they told it to the king's house within. You know what they go and they go tell the king and all the people of the city, come out, and they find all the material, all the things, all the food, all the provision that they need is right out there. God put it for them. We have a world that's dying of spiritual famine, and yet we have everything they need. Everything they need to be content. Everything they need to find in the Lord. We have it. We've just got to get it to them. We cannot just consume it upon ourselves. Otherwise, we do not well. We're in a city. And we're not going to hold our peace. You know why? Because the world doesn't hold its peace. The world and its system is out there lighting its hair on fire to get their message out. We're not going to hold our peace because silence is not an option. The example in the New Testament church is a speaking church. And also, we don't hold our peace in this city because we cannot hold our peace. It's just got to get out of us. Necessity is laid upon us. We've got to do something to get the truth out. God help us to be this kind of church in our city. Thank you for listening to the City Pulpit. For more information about the City Baptist Church of Atlanta, please visit www.mycitybaptist.com.