"I Have Much People In This City" (Acts 18:10)

"I Have Much People In This City" from Acts 18:10 was preached by Dr. Mark McElreath at the City Baptist Church of Atlanta on May 24, 2026.

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

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:04

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, we're coming to a passage that we've been working through the last few weeks. And here in Acts chapter 18, we find Paul is in Corinth. He has seen this church started, and we find that the Lord comes to him and he speaks to him in verse number 9, and he tells him six things. We've looked at the first five things. We see in Acts chapter 18, verse 9, it says, 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. We've looked at those first five. The first one there, he says, Be not afraid in this city. The second thing he says is, speak in this city. He says, thirdly, here, hold not thy peace in this city. The fourth thing he says in verse number 10, for I am with thee in this city. I'm thankful for the promise of his presence. I am with thee. He says in verse number five, No man shall set on thee to hurt thee in this city. And then finally, here, this sixth one, if you want to mark it, we'll take it for the theme of the Bible message this morning. I have much people in this city. I have much people in this city. Now we understand the Lord is telling Paul that in Corinth he has much people. You may have looked at the congregation in Corinth and you would have thought, well, I don't know, there's not much here. This is early on in the life and ministry of this church. But the Lord says, Oh, but when you look at Corinth the way I look at Corinth, the Lord says, I've got much people here. And we may look at our city and we may think, I don't know, I don't know if there's much here that the Lord wants to do. I don't know if there's many people here that want to hear what we're preaching and what we're saying and what the Bible has to say. But I believe when the Lord looks at our city, he says, I have much people here. And as soon as a church forgets that the Lord has much people in this city, I think they're well nigh on their way to certain death as a church. And so let's take a look at some things. Would you mark some things and then write some things down? If you're taking notes this morning, would you write this down? First of all, when we think about I have much people in this city, would you write down number one, God's claim? God's claim. Look at those first two words in this phrase. He says, I have. God takes a claim to the city of Corinth and the souls inhabiting it, because honestly, they're rightfully his. They're made in the image of God. Every soul, every person, every person has dignity and worth because of that. And also should be sought with the gospel. Here at City Baptist Church, we give a free presentation of the gospel to all people. I believe that's what the Bible teaches. We need to make sure that we're out in the highways and hedges. We were out yesterday. You know, it's been raining for days. We went so long without rain, and now the spigot won't turn off. I mean, it just is raining and raining. It rained yesterday morning, and we go out at 10 o'clock on Saturday mornings to knock on doors and house by house, street by street, neighborhood by neighborhood. And at about 9 40, the rain stopped. And it held off for about two hours while we were out, and it didn't rain on us one drop when we were out. And then yesterday afternoon, once we got back in, what happened? The rain started again. And I said, you know, some people would say, well, that's just happenstance. I like to think the Lord wanted to make sure we got out. 130 doors yesterday, 130 doors in West Lake that got copies of the scripture and got an invitation to our church that otherwise wouldn't have if we didn't have a team of people out going door to door being a witness. Because the Lord has much people in this city. Because the Lord says, I have much people in this city. You know, what do we lay claim to? We make statements like, This is my family, or these are my people, or this is my church. And we we should, we should say things like that. We should feel a connection to the place where we worship and the people who we're with, and we should feel a connection to our family. But when we say things like that, it shows what we value and what we have worth in. And when the Lord says, I have people in this city, you know what he says? This city is worth fighting for. This city is worth going after the souls here. You know, we need to always make sure we never keep anyone back from coming and hearing the truth. Anyone who willingly wants to come and be in this church service and wants to hear the truth and wants to find out what the Bible says, there will always be a place here for them. In no way do we want to unnecessarily put someone in a box and say, well, you meet these criteria and then you can come. No, anyone from this city who wants to hear the truth can come to City Baptist Church and hear the truth in love. We find here, there's a wonderful old quote by a man named Alexander McLaren. Alexander McLaren pastored in Manchester, England about 150 years ago or more. He said this, he said, Jesus saw what Paul did not. I like to think of it that way. Paul may have looked at Corinth and thought, I don't know what can be done here. And the Lord said, Oh, but great things can be done here. Jesus saw what Paul did not. He goes on to say, the souls yet to be one for him. That loving eye gladly beholds his own sheep, though they be yet in danger of the wolves and fire from the shepherd. Them also he must bring, and his servants are wise, if in all their labors they cherish the courage that comes from the consciousness of his presence, the unquenchable hope which sees in the most degraded and alienated those whom the good shepherd will yet find in the wilderness and bear back to the fold. McLaren says, Such a hope will quicken them for all service, and such a vision will embolden them in all peril. I like to think of it that way. We can't quite see what the Lord sees. But the Lord sees, I have much people in that city. Go with me to Luke chapter 15. Let me give you a New Testament example. Luke chapter 15. If you're in the book of Acts, the book of John is before the book of Acts, and the book of Luke is before the book of John, just two books back. Luke chapter 15. This is the earthly life and ministry of Jesus Christ. He's going to give, in Luke 15, he's going to give three parables. A parable is often defined as an earthly story with a heavenly meaning. These are stories that are easily understood because they're connected to earthly things that we understand. In Luke chapter 15 and verse number 2, we find here it says, the Pharisees and scribes murmured, saying, This man receiveth sinners and eateth with them. Jesus spent time with sinners. Not he did the things the sinners did, but they were welcome to come and hear the truth from him. In fact, the Bible tells us the common people heard him gladly. You know why? Because Jesus didn't put a hand up, Jesus put a hand out. And we find that he receives sinners, they come, and he tells three stories here. If you look at the opening verses here, it's going to tell the story of a lost sheep. If you look at the second story, he tells the story of lost silver. The third story tells the story of a lost son. But would you look at the first one, the lost sheep? It says in verse number four, what man of you having a hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness and go after that which is lost until he find it. You know what we find here in verse number four? We think about God's claim on a city. He says here, a man having a hundred sheep, what is that? That's speaking of possession there. He has the sheep. They're his. And if one of them runs off, he leaves the ninety and nine in the fold, and what does he do? It says in verse four, he goes after that which is lost. Why? Because it's his. The Lord goes on to give this parable of the lost silver. Look at verse number eight of Luke 15. It says, Either what woman having ten pieces of silver, okay? Having ten pieces of silver, she possesses these pieces of silver. And it says, if she lose one piece, doth not light a candle and sweep the house, and what does she do? She seeks diligently till she find it. She says, I know it's here, and I'm going to go after it until I find it. What if we got that idea about our city? There's one out lost out in the highways and hedges, we're going to go after them. There's that last that one piece of silver, and we're going to look around for it until we find it. Now, I'm not talking about that just a certain amount of people are going to be saved. Look, God knows who's going to be saved. We don't know who they are. So we've got to make sure we're reaching everybody we can. The Lord knows who they are, but we don't know who they are. That's why we've got to give an offer of the gospel to all people. Because then he says, there's a story here of a lost son. We see in verse number 11 of Luke 15, it says, A certain man had two sons. That's another statement of possession. He had two sons. We understand the story. If you know the story of the prodigal son, the one son says, Dad, I want my possession, my part of the inheritance now. In essence, he's saying, Dad, I wish you were dead so I could take what's mine now. He takes it, he goes into a far land, and he squanders it all and loses it. He wakes up one day and he's living in a pig pen, a literal pig pen. And he's eating the food that the pigs are eating. You know what the world did? The world took him, got everything out of him they could, and kicked him to the side, right? And he comes to himself and he says, My father's servants live better than this. I'll go back and be one of my father's servants. The Bible tells us, verse number 20, it says, He arose and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. What did he do? He went after him. How could he see him afar off? You know that thing happened? I think every morning as the sun was coming up, the father went out and he looked over the place where the son had walked off and he said, Lord, would you bring him back down this path back to me again? He never, he never lost a heart for the son that he had. And when he sees him coming a great way off, he runs to him and he embraces him and he brings him back into the family. And I think the Lord is showing us this same kind of diligence and love and compassion for an unlovely city. You can walk up and down these streets and you can see all the vice, all the sin, all the destruction that the devil has brought. And you can say, I don't want anything to do with this. I don't want to help you fill in the blank. But the Lord says, I've got people there. I have people that need to be reached, and I want my people to go after them. I have much people in this city. Whenever we drive in the city, there are certain places when you're coming into the city. There's certain places, if you're coming in on I-20, you're on the west side coming in, there's a certain place you hit that crest a hill, and the city opens up. The skyline opens up out in front of you. There's certain, come up the connector, come around the grady curve, and the skyline opens up next to you. And there's certain places it's amazing. And anytime we do that and we're in the car and the kids are there, we'll say, There's our city. There she is. Now, the city is more than buildings, and the city's more than skyscrapers and the skyline. We understand that. It's people. And you may think, you may read this, you say, oh, much people? Yeah, that is absolutely what Atlanta is. There's much people. I read, you know, there's memes that go around that say, if you're thinking of moving to Atlanta, we full. Okay? There's no more space, right? We've got enough people, enough housing, enough cars, right? And maybe you say, yes, it's enough. But whenever you see brake lights, you know what I want you to think of? Souls. Whenever you see another housing development going up or another high rise going up, you know what I want you to think of? The souls of people that will live there, and the souls of people that will come to this city, and the souls of people that will reside near us and work around us and come here for school and need to be reached, because the Lord says, I have much people in this city. So God's claim upon the city as a prize. Would you make note of a second thing? He says here, I have, in these next two words, he says, much people. Would you write down a second thing? There's not only God's claim, but there's a generous count. Much people. What if we saw the city from God's perspective and we saw the harvest the way he saw the harvest? That there are much people to be reached. Sometimes we get the idea that, well, there's just going to be, we're just going to get a little work done before Jesus comes. Why? Why can't we get a lot of work done until Jesus comes? Why can't we give ourselves in a great enterprise to see much people reached with the gospel? What do we think can happen in this city? I read a quote years ago and it stuck with me. Henry Ford said, whether you think you can or you think you can't, you're probably right. You know what he said? In essence, it's a self-fulfilling prophecy. I get that. But he says, if you don't think anything can be done in Atlanta, and you don't think anyone can be reached in Atlanta, and you don't think anyone wants to hear the message that we have, then you're probably right. But if you think something can be done in our city, and there are much people that can be reached in our city, and there is a work worth giving ourselves to, then you're probably right. Would you go with me? Hold your place here with me. Go to the book of John. Go to the book of John. If you're in Acts, John is just before the book of Acts. John chapter 4. In John chapter 4, we often think of this passage as Jesus and the woman at the well. Jesus stops outside the city of Sikar and he speaks with a woman at the well in the hottest part of the day, the noontime. We find she's a woman that is living with a man that's not her husband. She's had five husbands before him. She's an immoral woman. She's the kind of woman that would have to go out in the middle of the day because no one else would want to have anything to do with her. But that's the woman Jesus stops and begins to witness to her. He says, Now, you're going to dip this water out of this well and you're going to thirst again, but I am the true living water, and if you drink from me, you'll never thirst again. He's also breaking down not just religious barriers but cultural barriers because he's a Jew and she's a Samaritan. Samaritans are half Jews, half Jew, half Gentile, and we're often looked down upon. In fact, she even says, Why are you talking to me? Because Jews and Samaritans don't have anything to do with one another. We come to find she accepts Christ. She goes back in and she starts telling everybody in town what Jesus has done for her. And then Jesus says this, go down with me, John 4, toward the end of the story. Look at verse 31. Because the disciples have gone into town to get food. They're coming back out to bring Jesus some lunch. Verse 31 it says, In the meantime, while his disciples prayed him, saying, Master, eat. Jesus, won't you eat something? Verse 32, he said unto them, I have meat to eat that you know not of. Therefore said the disciples one to another, Hath any man brought him aught to eat? Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me and to finish his work. Now look at verse 35. Here's what he says. Say not ye, there are yet four months, and then cometh harvest. Behold, I say unto you, lift up your eyes and look on the fields, for they are white already to harvest. Now he is kind of saying two things here. He says, You say, There are four months, and then cometh harvest. That's future. And he's saying that's incorrect. The harvest is not coming in the future. The harvest is not something out ahead of us. The harvest is not something out we're looking ahead at and we're going to wait on. He says, Look on the fields, for they are white already to harvest. He's saying it's not a future thing. This is a present thing. They are ready for harvest. And when he's saying, look out on the fields, he's not talking about the grain that would have grown around that area. He's saying, would you look at all these people? Because by that point the woman's already gone into town and she's told everybody about what Jesus did for her. And you know what they're doing? They're all coming out to hear from Jesus. And you know what he's saying? Here's the harvest people. Here they are. They're all here. And they all need to hear the truth. And they all need to hear the gospel. Now is the time of harvest. And if we're not careful, we'll think something will be done one day. Or I'll do something someday out ahead of us. And Jesus says, don't think that way. Think, what can I do now? Who can I reach now? We may have the idea, one day City Baptist Church will do something. No. Now City Baptist Church will do something. Now we will reach people with the gospel. Why would we plan FIFA World Cup events, eight World Cup events coming down here? Why would we? Churches are going to come in, we're going to open up the fellowship hall. People are going to come and they're going to be here all day, and it's going to take time and effort and planning, and we're going to drive shuttle buses down and drop people off so you don't have to park. And we've got scriptures coming in this week that we're going to use. Why would we go through all that work? Because there's a harvest coming. Because there are nations that will be here that you and I, with a U.S. passport, or you and I, we certainly couldn't get in as missionaries. We couldn't get in as Americans. But they're going to come here. They're going to be on our doorstep. There'll be people from Uzbekistan and Spain and Morocco and Haiti and nine different nations. Plus, that doesn't even include the three of the final games that'll be played here. We don't even know who's playing in them. Because there is a harvest already to harvest. It is ready. If we will just, you know what he said? Look what he said in verse 35. Look on the fields. You know what we often do? We look at our feet instead of looking on the fields. What is right in front of me that I've got to do right now? What is concerning me that I need to do when Jesus says, pick your head up and look out on everything I'm doing in this city. Look at everything I'm doing in the harvest I want to bring in. He says, I'm at work here if you will just see it and get in on it. I want to read a verse from Matthew chapter 9. Matthew chapter 9, if you want to turn there. This is one of my favorite verses, passages in all the Bible. In Matthew 9, verse 35, it says, Jesus went about all the cities and villages. Matthew 9, verse 35. And he says, Teaching in their synagogues and preaching the gospel of the kingdom and healing every sickness and every disease among the people. And then he says in verse 36, When he saw the multitudes, that's a lot of people. He was moved with compassion on them because they fainted and were scattered abroad as sheep having no shepherd. When he sees the multitudes, when we see the multitudes, we're moved to lots of different emotions, aren't we? The least of which is usually compassion. We see the multitudes, and we may be moved to anger. We see the multitudes, we may be moved to disgust. We see the multitudes, we may be moved to frustration. But when Jesus sees the multitudes, he's moved with compassion on them because they fainted, were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd. He says this in verse 37. Then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest truly is what? Plenteous. Now, if you are a farmer and you have a plenteous harvest, is that a good thing or a bad thing? That's a good thing. I mean, if you're planting corn and you see the corn coming in, and it is a plenteous harvest of corn, you'd say, oh man, that's good. If you're a wheat, you're growing wheat, you go out, you see the wheat, the wheat's growing up, white ready to harvest, you say, Oh, that's a good thing. And Jesus says, That's a good thing. But, look at verse 37. The harvest truly is plenteous, but the laborers are few. You know what the greatest need of our church is? It's actually not money. The greatest need of our church is not more time. The greatest need of our church is laborers. Those who will put a hand to the grindstone and will enter into what the Lord is doing. And he says here the harvest is plentious, but the labors are few. But you know what it is about the harvest? The harvest isn't going to always be there. You know, if the harvest is in The fields, there's, I'm not a farmer, but I've talked to some farmers, and there's just a window of opportunity to bring that harvest in. If it sits there too long, it'll start over-ripening and spoiling in the fields. If it sits there too long, and if it's certain harvest and it rains on it, it can spoil the harvest. If it sits there too long, the pests and the animals may run through and eat it all up before you can get it in. There's just a window of time, and he's saying here, we need the laborers to come and help us bring in the harvest. So what do we do? Verse 38, pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he'll send forth labors into his harvest. He doesn't say, pray the Lord of the harvest, he'll send more money. Look, we need money. We can do a lot of things with money. We need it. He doesn't say, pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest that he'll send forth more buildings. We could use buildings, we can use space. He says, pray the Lord of the harvest, he'll send forth laborers. That's flesh and blood people that are entered into the work of the Lord. His work, a part of his church, into his harvest field. There's a third thing, if you'll make note of this. We find God's claim, he says, I have. We find a generous count. He says, much people. In this last phrase, we write this down, there is geography's call. Geography's call. He says, in this city. And we have people here this morning that have come from all over our city. We have people that come from around the Metro Atlanta area. It's an amazing thing. I think it's wonderful. It's great. But every church functions in a geographical context. Every church functions in a place. In fact, I was looking, thinking about this. In the New Testament, when the letters are written in the New Testament, the book of Romans, chapter 1, Paul says, to all that be in Rome. In 1 and 2 Corinthians, he writes in chapter 1, he says, unto the church of God, which is at Corinth, which is the city we're talking about in Acts 18. In the book of Galatians, he says, unto the churches of Galatia. Galatia is not a city, but Galatia is a region. He says, there's churches serving and laboring in this region of Galatia. I'm writing to them. In Ephesians, he says to the saints, which are at Ephesus. Philippians to the saints, which are at Philippi. Colossians, he says, to the saints and faithful brethren in Christ, which are at Colossae. 1 and 2 Thessalonians, he says, unto the church of the Thessalonians, he connects the work they're doing to a physical place. And we've got to think, what is the city Baptist Church doing to affect our locality, our geography, the place where we are? Even if you've driven in from somewhere today, you have a heart for 425 10th Street Northwest. We understand the church is not the address, the church is not the building, but we are functioning in this locality, in this place, and we've got to have a heart for where we're reaching. Paul, even in the book of Titus, Titus is called a personal epistle because Paul is writing to his this young pastor that he's working with, Titus, and he says, For this cause left I thee in Crete. Crete was an island in the Mediterranean. Crete was a place the Cretans were terrible people. They were liars, they were lazy, and yet he says, That's where I'm going to put you, Titus, because something's got to be done among the Cretans. That was a geographical location. And we find here, go with me, in Acts 18, look a few verses before this passage, we find, look at verse number 7. Because there are some people there in Corinth that start getting saved. In fact, it says in verse 7, he departed thence and entered into a certain man's house named Justice. One that worship God, whose house joined hard to the synagogue. Now, there are others that are mentioned in the New Testament as worshiping God, but they're not saved. They're God seekers. They know there's a God. They're praying to something, they're seeking something, and they need someone to come and point them to Jesus Christ, who this God is, what he's taught. He's given us his Bible, he's given us his word. He's reaching justice here. Look at verse 8. It says, and Crispus, the chief ruler of the synagogue, he's leading the Jewish synagogue. He's a Jew. He's a leader among the Jews. And it says, He believed on the Lord with all his house. Crispus gets saved. His whole family gets saved. It says they believed on the Lord with all his house, and many of the Corinthians, look at this, hearing, believed, and were baptized. You know what? I'd love to fill in there and say, and many of the Atlantis hearing, believed, and were baptized. You know what happened before they believed? Somebody had to bring the truth to them. They had to hear the truth. They had to hear. And that could have been through a gospel tract, it could have been through a copy of Scripture. We've got many of you here. You've been saved and reached through different ways. Really one way. By grace through faith, we understand that. But the truth got to you in some different ways. And they heard and they believed, and then they were baptized. What do we find here? Here in this place, God is at work, and people are being saved. And there's a church that says, we're going to drive a tent stake down right here, and we're going to change our city for Christ. And as long as we believe that can be done. Why? Because City Baptist Church is great? No. But because the God of the City Baptist Church is great. You realize we're a part of the greatest work we could ever be a part of. This is the most exciting thing I think anyone can be a part of. Is reaching a city for Christ. Just claiming it. You say, is that prosperity gospel pastor? Is that name it and claim it? No. I'm just saying this is where we are. This is where we're going to be, and we're going to claim this city for Christ. Let me give you one example, one Old Testament example in the book of Nehemiah. Book of Nehemiah chapter 2. Nehemiah is a Jew, but he's never been to Jerusalem. He's born in Babylonian captivity, grows up in Babylonian captivity. But he hears about his city, the city of his fathers, Jerusalem. And he gets a heart to go back and to do something there. The walls have been knocked down. He has a heart to go back and rebuild the walls. We're skipping ahead in the story a little bit, but we find that he's granted permission of Artaxerxes the king to leave and to go to the city of Jerusalem. And we'll skip down in Nehemiah chapter 2 in verse 11. It says, So I came to Jerusalem and was there three days. And then he says in verse 12, And I arose in the night, I and some few men with me, and neither told I any man what my God had put in my heart to do at Jerusalem. I've marked that phrase in my Bible, what my God had put in my heart to do at, and then the way my Bible is just laid out, at ends the line, and Jerusalem is on the next line. And so what I did in my Bible, I wrote next to it what my God had put in my heart to do at, and I put a little line out next to it in the margin, and I said, fill in the blank. What my God has put in my heart to do at 425 10th Street Northwest, Atlanta, Georgia, 30318. But anyone can fill in anything there. What my God has put in my heart to do at, put your street in there. Put your campus in there. Put your neighborhood in there. Put your circle of friends' names in there. What my God has put in my heart to do at that place. And Nehemiah said, We're going to do something here. We're going to drive a tent stake down. We're going to see that something's done in Jerusalem. And you know what we're going to do here at City Baptist Church? We'll drive a tent stake down. And we're going to say, by God's grace and with his help, there will be spiritual change that will come to the city of Atlanta because this church is reaching it with the gospel. I have much people in this city. That's a claim. God says, I've got people there. I need somebody to go after them. He says it's much people. Praise the Lord. Let's go find the much people. They're out there. We're not going to find them staying in this building. We're going to find them when we get outside this building. The much people are not going to come to us. We've got to go to the much people. And then he says it's in this city. That's a geographical connection that a church functions in. This is our place, and we claim it for Jesus Christ. Thank you for listening to the City Pulpit. For more information about the City Baptist Church of Atlanta, please visit www.mycitybaptist.com.