Abraham petitioned God multiple times over regarding Sodom before its destruction, that if any righteous men be found in the city, God would spare it for their sakes. Alas, though Abraham haggled from fifty down to ten, the number was not met and Sodom and Gomorrah met a fiery fate.

Yet later, when Paul is concerned about preaching in Corinth, God exhorted Paul not to be afraid or silent, because, He related, “I have many people in this city” (Acts 18:10). Notice God’s phrasing: “I have…” They belong to Him, as do we! We are His!

Believer, never doubt that you are God’s possession, purchased with His own blood (Acts 20:28), by His choice (Eph. 1:4) according to His will (Eph. 1:5). You are no longer a slave to sin, for the Truth (Jesus) has set you free (Jn. 8:34-36). Therefore, we are to be separate, not like this world, but transformed (Rom. 12:2).

God calls us His people, saying, “I will dwell in them and walk among them; and I will be their god, and they shall be my people” (2 Cor. 6:16). Let us live as those who belong to Him, those who are slaves to righteousness (Rom. 6:19), enslaved to God (Rom. 6:22), not having fellowship with darkness nor idols, that He may be a father to us, and we may be His children (2 Cor. 6:14-18).

And let us not fear to preach His gospel, as He exhorted Paul, for God has many people in “this city.”

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Spurgeon’s Morning and Evening Devotions

Morning, December 4

"I have much people in this city." Acts 18:10

This should be a great encouragement to try to do good, since God has among the vilest of the vile, the most reprobate, the most debauched and drunken, an elect people who must be saved. When you take the Word to them, you do so because God has ordained you to be the messenger of life to their souls, and they must receive it, for so the decree of predestination runs. They are as much redeemed by blood as the saints before the eternal throne. They are Christ's property, and yet perhaps they are lovers of the ale-house, and haters of holiness; but if Jesus Christ purchased them He will have them. God is not unfaithful to forget the price which His Son has paid. He will not suffer His substitution to be in any case an ineffectual, dead thing. Tens of thousands of redeemed ones are not regenerated yet, but regenerated they must be; and this is our comfort when we go forth to them with the quickening Word of God.

Nay, more, these ungodly ones are prayed for by Christ before the throne. "Neither pray I for these alone," saith the great Intercessor, "but for them also which shall believe on Me through their word." Poor, ignorant souls, they know nothing about prayer for themselves, but Jesus prays for them. Their names are on His breastplate, and ere long they must bow their stubborn knee, breathing the penitential sigh before the throne of grace. "The time of figs is not yet." The predestinated moment has not struck; but, when it comes, they shall obey, for God will have His own; they must, for the Spirit is not to be withstood when He cometh forth with fulness of power- they must become the willing servants of the living God. "My people shall be willing in the day of my power." "He shall justify many." "He shall see of the travail of His soul." "I will divide him a portion with the great, and He shall divide the spoil with the strong."