Turn with me to the book of Acts,
chapter 19. It's good to be home. Boy, I mean that. I leave and
now think about West Virginia. Acts 19. The Apostle Paul was used by God to perform. They were done by Paul. I understand that. But the Scripture
says in verse 11, and God brought special miracles by the hands
of Paul. Paul had no ability. of himself,
but there was a confirmation from God that this was God's
apostle. Paul was an apostle. There were
twelve apostles. Judas, being of the devil, the
Lord exposed him, exposed the purpose for which he was there. He hung himself. The apostles
got together the other eleven and was going to choose another
one. Matthias is who they chose. That
wasn't God's man. God raised up Paul. He was an
apostle. And the Lord used these apostles
to go into all the world and preach the gospel. and to confirm
that these men were of God. They wrought special miracles,
miracles, signs, wonders, confirming. Remember, there was no book of
Acts. This book of Acts was penned
by Luke after the fact. Galatians, Philippians, these
letters to these churches, but how did People know. There were a lot of folks out
there preaching. But how did they know that these
men were of God? Well, God wrought miracles, signs
and wonders. Now, all signs and wonders and
miracles that have happened after the time of the apostles, They
are lying wonders. They are deceiving wonders. You see, an apostle could lay
hands upon somebody else and transmit. Peter did to Cornelius. Cornelius spoke in other languages. These disciples here, the Scripture
says that Paul in verse 6, Paul laid hands on them. Paul was
the one that God used to go out into signs and wonders. Paul
laid hands on these, and they spake with tongues and prophesied,
but they couldn't transmit it." There was confirmation that these
men were converted truly. There was confirmation. The apostles
could lay hands. But after those, their hands
were laid on them. It went no farther. and the Scriptures
written down. Now we have a more sure testimony. Word of God. Well, after these
miracles were wrought by God through the Apostle Paul, the
Scripture says in verse 13, then certain of the vagabond Jews,
Gypsies is basically what they were, but the word vagabond means
strolling, strolling. They just went from town to town. They were kind of traveling,
traveling Jews. Exorcist took upon them to call
over them which had evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus, saying,
We assure you by Jesus whom Paul preaches. We know, according to Scripture,
that there are false prophets, religious hucksters. We know. Turn over to Jude. Jude. There's only one chapter in Jude,
so it's Jude 4. Jude 4. Jude 4 says, For there
are certain men crept in unawares
who were before of old ordained to this condemnation. Ungodly
men turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness and denying
the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ. These men, these are the most
treacherous of the enemies. The Scripture says there are
certain men that crept in unaware. Now these are men professing. They're professing people, professed
to believe the doctrines of God's free grace. But they're actually
tares sown by the enemy. That's what the Lord in that
parable that the Lord gave of the tares and the wheat. The
wheat is sown, but it says that the enemy came and sowed in,
the tares. So they're sown by Satan himself. But here's what Jude says about
them. They're crept in unaware, but
they were before of old ordained to this condemnation. I preached a message here when
we were in the book of Romans. It was talking about does the
potter have the right to make one vessel unto honor and another
unto dishonor. I started thinking about that
scripture. I went back to Genesis 1 when
the Lord said, let us make man in our image. I've mentioned
this to you before, but this bears bringing out again. It
helped me. That word there, make, let us make man in our image. You know that the image of God
is the Lord Jesus Christ, the express image of God. The word
make there means ordain, determine, consider. Let us ordain, let
us determine, let us consider, let us make man in our image. Meaning this, all men before
the foundation of the world are considered before Almighty God
in their relationship to the Lord Jesus Christ, either a vessel
unto honor or a vessel unto dishonor. Does the potter have the right
to make? Let us make man. Let us make
man in our image. Let us ordain. Almighty God,
before the foundation of the world, made the choice. Some He looked upon in mercy
and compassion. The Scripture says right here
that these men were before of old ordained to this condemnation. Now, let me ask you this. Does
that verse of Scripture say that God has the right to make one
vessel under honor and another under dishonor? Yes, it does.
Yes, it does. These men were before of old
ordained, but they served the purpose of God. These men that
crept in. Unawares, before of old, ordained. They are ungodly men, but they
do serve the purpose of God. Proverbs 16, verse 4 says, The
Lord hath made all things for Himself. God is determined. God has ordained. God has set
forth. God has decreed. The Lord hath
made all things for Himself. Yes, yea, even the wicked for
the day of evil. See, a believer bows to that
and says, Lord, as You say, it is. It is. They bow to His sovereignty. And they thank Him that by the
grace of God they are what they are. Lord, thank You that You
didn't leave me to myself. Now, a man left to himself is
going to think this. Well, you're just a bully. You're
just a bully. That's not fair. You need to
let everybody have a chance to do everything they want. I'd
be fair to say, let everybody have a chance. Now, that's just
not right. But the Lord looked and saw that there was none good. And for God to leave all men
to themselves to make up their own mind, They would all say,
I'll not have this man rule over me. It is by the grace of God
that God called any Brother Scott out of darkness. Men hear of
the mercy of God. And let me tell you, they're
not mad at the judgment of God. They're not mad at the judgment
of God. But they're mad at the mercy
of God. Why would you show mercy How did you? These men, before
of old, ordained. And they turned, the Scripture
says, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness and denying
the only Lord God in our Lord Jesus Christ. Actually, what
they're doing is they abuse what they say they believe. Salvation
by grace, by their manner of living. Righteous living, lasciviousness,
uncleanness. evil, wicked living. They turn to grace of God. They say, we believe in salvation
by grace. But the way they live, they don't
believe that. Look in verse 10 of Jude. Jude 10. But these speak evil
of those things which they know not. But what they know naturally,
As brute beasts, in those things, they corrupt themselves. You
know, there are some things that can be known naturally by man,
naturally speaking. We've talked about this, Neal,
before. Men naturally know that God is angry. We went down to Mexico. They had this temple. They'd
have these sacrifices. They'd get these captives, these
warriors, these maidens. But they knew that God was angry. They knew that naturally. They
knew that blood had to be shed. They knew that naturally. They
knew that their God, the issue was the heart. They'd cut the
heart out and present that heart on that altar. They knew naturally
that there needed to be an atonement, a satisfaction. That's why they
were killing everybody. There's some things that all
men know naturally. God's angry. The difference is
they just don't know how God, the true God, true and living
God, is appeased. They don't know how peace is
truly made, Chuck, truly. They don't know that. But the
Scripture says what these men know Naturally, what they know
naturally as brute beasts in those things, they corrupt themselves.
Woe unto them, for they've gone in the way of Cain and ran greedily
after the era of Balaam for reward and perishing in the gainsaying
of Corrie. These are spots in your feast
of charity when they feast with you, feeding themselves without
fear. Clouds they are without water, carried about of winds,
trees whose fruit withereth without fruit, twice dead. plucked up
by the roots, raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own
shame, wandering stars to whom is reserved the blackness of
darkness forever." They're twice dead. Born in Adam, dead. And you have to be quick in who
were dead in trespasses and sins. And dead meaning under the judgment
of the second death. Remember when we were in that
Revelation 21, it's where that is, Revelation 21, 8, it says,
it talks about the second death, the second death. Actually, the
word interpreted second means of another kind. I said, we kind
of perceive, we look at someone in a casket and we say that person
is dead. There's nothing there. There's
no life there. It's a body. It's a corpse. There's
no life in it. We perceive that. But there's
a second death, a death of another kind, where men, women will go
through eternity under the judgment of God, aware, knowing, suffering,
where the worm dies not, the flames do not quench. There's
a death of another kind. Dead in trespasses. These men
are twice dead. Dead under being born in Adam
and then dead under the judgment of Almighty God. Well, back in
Acts. Acts 19. Certain of these vagabond
Jews, they took upon them to call over them which had evil
spirits. And they said, We assure you
by Jesus whom Paul preaches. These traveling men, what they
were actually doing. They had this thought that they
thought that actually the power to get things done was actually
in the words that they used. Now that's a real common thought
today. Some people, I've heard many
say this, now be careful, don't speak death. Don't say, if you
think you're getting sick, don't say that. Don't say that, you'll
get sick. That's words of death. You say, I don't know if I feel
good today. Don't say that. Don't say that.
That'll happen to you. Words, it's actually the words
is what they're saying. These men, they heard Paul the
Apostle that was preaching, and they heard him call upon the
name of the Lord. And they envied that. I want
you to turn with me to Philippians. I want to show you something
in Philippians. Philippians chapter 1. Philippians
1, verse 12. But I would, Philippians 1, 12,
you should understand, brethren, that the things which happened
unto me have fallen out rather unto the furtherance of the gospel. You know, I want to stop just
a second and say something. Boy, wouldn't it be wonderful
if we could remember that? Just think about that. Things that's happened to me
have happened for the furtherance of the gospel. All things work
together for good to them that love God, to them who are called
according to His purpose. God works all things after the
counsel of His own will. And whatever it is, If I, and
I do, I ask the Lord, Lord, cause me to remember that. Help me. I mean, it's like it just preaches
so easy when I'm standing here, but then it's when I'm out and
about and something happens, I just forget. It's like somehow
I'm separate from the actual application of this scripture.
and the preaching of it. Somehow I can preach it, and
it sounds right, and I say I believe it, and I do. I believe I believe
this. But then it comes up, something comes up, and I'm telling you,
I just kind of go all to pieces. I'm thinking, you know what?
Settle down. Understand, the things which
happened unto me have fallen out rather unto the furtherance
of the gospel, so that my bonds in Christ are manifest in all
the palace and in all other places. And many of the brethren in the
Lord waxing confident by my bonds are much more bold to speak the
Word without fear." You know, when you witness a believer maintain
integrity in the midst of trials, and like David said, though He
slay me, I'm going to trust Him. Boy, you know, you think, oh,
I had so much honor to it, though he slayed me. Trust the Lord. Wait on the Lord. He says, many
of the brethren, they wax confident by my bonds. Now, listen to this,
verse 15. Now some indeed preach Christ,
even of envy and strife, and some also of goodwill. The one
preached Christ of contention not sincerely supposing to add
affliction to my bonds, but the other of love, knowing that I
am set for the defense of the gospel." Paul said, there are
some men, and he said, actually what they are doing, they are
preaching Christ of envy, strife, some of good will. You know,
a man that preaches Christ, and Paul was not saying that they
were just being religious. When he said they were preaching
Christ, he meant the gospel of free grace. If it was another
gospel, he'd have said it. He said they were preaching Christ
of contention, that is, desiring to put oneself forward. He said they were preaching Christ.
What were they doing? He said, well, they were not
preaching Him sincerely. They weren't preaching Him purely
or honestly. They were preaching Christ of
envy and strife. This is exactly what these vagabond
Jews were doing. They were preaching Christ of
envy and strife. What were they envying? Well,
first of all, they saw the respect that Paul got from those that
heard him. And they saw that attention was
brought to Paul. He laid hands on some men and
they spoke in languages which didn't. He was able to perform
some miracles that they wanted. Why? Wanted the glory out of
it. Maybe make a little money out
of it. Get a little prestige out of it. They were traveling
salesmen, is what they were. Vagabond Jews. And they were
preaching, he said, Jesus that Paul preaches. That's what they
said. We assure you back in 19, by
Jesus whom Paul preaches, Well, verse 14 says, There were
seven sons of one Sceva, a Jew, and a chief of the priest which
did so. Now, seven men, seven brothers,
seven sons of this man Sceva. Who was he? Well, he was a Jew.
He was a chief of the priest. He was one of the high-ups. And
these were religious boys. Their daddy was a priest, chief
priest. And they saw what was going on. They saw this exorcism. They saw laying on of hands.
They saw these miracles. And we're going to have part
of that. And so these seven boys revealed
something. What was it? Well, we know that
some, the Lord is pleased to call out of darkness. Now, sometimes
the Lord takes one out of a family. I told you before, my mother
is one out of an extremely large family. I've got a lot of aunts
and uncles and then cousins and on and on and on and on back
in Louisiana. As far as I know, My mother's
the only one I know out of her family, an extended family. She's
the only one that I know of that the Lord was pleased. One. Sometimes the Lord's pleased
to call out one. Sometimes whole families are
regenerated by the grace of God. I've told you before, I thank
the Lord and I'm convinced of this. I'm convinced. I truly
believe. I have four children. that I'm
convinced. If it wasn't so, I just wouldn't
say it. But I truly believe I have four children. The Lord is saved
by grace and four spouses by the Lord's grace. Well, you know, I know everybody's
religious and everybody thinks, you know, well, you know, but
I'm telling you to feel that you've got four children with
four spouses. I'm truly a blessed man. Thankful.
I don't know how to be thankful. Sometimes the Lord calls Old
family. But here, it appears that the
Lord left all of them in darkness. Their daddy was a chief priest. That's all we know about him.
He was a Jew. And he had seven boys. And these seven boys were
the ones that said, all united to say, we assure you, we command
you, according to Jesus, that Paul preaches. But after being
powerlessly commanded to come out of that man, the Scripture
says in verse 15, And the evil spirit answered and said, Jesus
I know, and Paul I know, but who are ye? Who are you? These actual these spirits, these
evil spirits. Scripture says, spoke out of
this man. And they said, Jesus, I know. Paul, I know. Who are you? Now, there's times
when we look at some words. The Scripture that I thought
about, when it says, Jesus, I know. Paul, I know. I thought about
that Scripture, Brother Scott. It says, this is life eternal,
that they may know Thee. Well, in my mind, I thought,
I'll go to that passage because these guys are saying that they
know Jesus. They know Paul. And I wanted
to go back in John 17, verse 3. It's the word said, this is
life eternal. that they may know Thee, the
only true God in Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent." And I looked,
and to my amazement, the words were the same. Same word. Well, that caused me to kind
of back up, you know, in my chair for a second. They said, Jesus
we know and Paul we know. Who are you? This is life eternal
that they may know. The word meant to take in knowledge. To take in knowledge, that's
what it means. And concerning these demons, knowing the Lord
and Paul, it meant that they were aware of their being. They
took in knowledge. They had knowledge. They knew
the power of the Lord. to speak to them because there
were some that the Lord had spoke to in that demoniac when they
said, Have you come to torment us before our time? We know who
you are. Jesus thou Son of God. You're the Son of God. We know
who you are. They knew Paul. They recognized that Paul was
the one that the Lord had used to command and to perform these
miracles by God. They knew Paul. So they knew. They had taken in some knowledge.
But in the case of John 17, 3, and I have to deal with this
now because now we've got the words out there. Now we've got
to know what does it mean. These demons took in knowledge. They had some knowledge of who
the Lord was and who Paul was. But in the case of John 17, 3,
when it says, This is life eternal that they may know Thee, the
only true God. There is a taking in of knowledge. There's no doubt about that.
Faith cometh by hearing, hearing by the Word of God. So there
is a taking in of knowledge. But there is absolutely, by faith,
something that's there that these demons don't have. It is the
possession of knowing our relationship to him. I want you to turn to
Galatians 1.5. There's a taking in of knowledge.
There can be a taking in of knowledge without true faith. These demons had it. They knew
who he was. Galatians 1.15 and 16. But when it pleased God, who
separated me from my mother's womb and called me by His grace
to reveal His Son in me." To reveal His Son in me. There
was more than a taking in of just knowledge of who the Lord
Jesus Christ was to me. Paul says there is a difference.
Almighty God revealed His Son in me, that I might preach Him
among the heathen. Immediately I conferred not with
flesh and blood." Turn over to Colossians. Colossians 1.27. Colossians 1.27. There is a nominal knowledge. The demons know that there is
a God. But there's something that a
believer knows also. There's a knowledge that the
believer has. Colossians 1.27, "...to whom
God would make known..." There's a knowledge here. "...what is
the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which
is Christ in you, the hope of glory." Remember, we looked at
the difference between faith and hope Faith is that grace
given that a believer possesses to see his hope. Faith sees hope. Christ is the hope, the object
of faith. A believer has a knowledge of
Christ in him. The object of his faith, the
object of the glory of Almighty God, that's what he knows. There's
a nominal knowledge. Jesus I know, Paul I know, but
who are you? You know, I know all of you here.
You know who I am. Marvin Stoniker, that's my name.
You know me. But do you know my children know
me in a way that you don't? You know, they know a whole lot
more about me than you do. They know, they see me They've
seen me, you know, while they were growing up and they've seen
my weaknesses and I try to hide that from you. You know, I try
to try to shield myself. I'd rather you not know some
of the things that my kids know. My kids know how quickly I get,
you know, I just go fast, you know, get upset and stuff. There's a difference in the relationship. You know me, they know me, but
there's a difference. Devils know Jesus. That's what
they said. Paul, we know. But for a believer,
there's a taking in of knowledge. But I'm telling you, there's
a giving of the knowledge of the presence of God in you. Faith. Faith. Jesus, we know. Paul,
we know. But who are you? Verse 16 says, And the man in
whom the evil spirit was leaped on him. and overcame them and
prevailed against them so that they fled out of that house,
naked and wounded." Now here, what I saw in that was the actual,
I'm convinced that that's what happened to those seven boys. That's exactly what happened
to them. But also there is in that, there's a picture, it's
a type of what actually happens spiritually. to all left to themselves who are trying to approach God
on their own merit, trying to perform the works of God in their
own ability and whatever you want to say. This evil spirit
leaped on them, sprang on them like a panther. Sin leaped on
them. Overcame them. Overcame them.
Actually it means lorded over them. Man by nature is captive
to the power of sin. Captive. Can't shake it. Captive. And prevailed against them. Had
power to overcome and ability to do its pleasure. Led at just
the whim of their own dictates by their own nature. Do what
they do. Man, by nature, does what he
does because that's what he wants to do. Well, I tell you how comforting
it is to know that we are kept by the power of God. The Lord
said in 1 Samuel 2 verse 9, He will keep the feet, the walk
of His saints, and the wicked shall be silent in darkness,
for by strength shall no man prevail. The Scripture says they fled
out of that house, naked, wounded, overcome. They said, We assure
you by the Jesus that Paul preaches. Just looked at those guys and
said, Who are you? Jesus, we know. Paul, we know.
Who are you? I tell you this, they were not
victorious as the saints of God are in Christ. We are more than
conquerors through Him who loved us. Scripture says they fled
out of that room, no clothes on to hide their shame. But the
saints are clothed in the imputed righteousness of Christ. They were wounded, wounded themselves
Wounded by this is demons Wounded man is wounded by sin bruised
Unlike the elect Who has a substitute that was wounded for them? These
men were wounded in themselves We were bruised in our substitute
And verse 17 says, This was known to all the Jews and Greeks also
dwelling at Ephesus. And fear fell on them all, and
the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified. You know, isn't it
amazing how the Lord sovereignly overrules evil for His glory,
for His good? All things. And scriptures that
set forth His absolute sovereignty and authority. Believers read
these passages of Scripture and they love these passages. Listen
to this, Psalm 115, 3. Our God is in the heavens. He hath done
whatsoever He hath pleased. And you just think, well, a believer
reads that and says, I like that. He's in the heavens. Ephesians 1, 11, In whom also
we have obtained an inheritance being predestinated according
to the purpose of Him who worketh all things after the counsel
of His own will. What's the Lord going to do?
Whatsoever He's pleased to do. That's what He's going to do.
And He's going to do it for His glory and He's going to do it
for the saints' good. And they're going to rejoice
in it. There's times, I know, I know,
I know this by experience, There's times when we first see things
that come our way. They take us back, and because
of the frailty of our flesh, and we're weak, and we're perplexed,
and we doubt, and I'm telling you, but you watch and see. Before the last shot's fired,
God settles that person down. He settles them down. It's the Lord. That's what Eli
said. when his two boys were killed.
It's the Lord. Paul had been preaching the gospel
of free grace, and the Lord showed his approval of that preacher
by miracles and wonders and signs, and his disapproval of the sons
of Sceva by allowing the demon to have his way with those liars. And having heard The gospel preached,
the Spirit of God blessed it to their heart. The Scripture
says, fear fell on all and the name of the Lord was magnified.
Fear fell on them all. Two meanings to that word fear.
Number one, it means alarm or fright or it means reverence. Same one. And do you know the
difference that you'll have or I'll have concerning that word?
Either alarm or fright or reverence for the Lord. Do you know the
difference? The grace of God. These people,
all people, they saw what happened. Those demons ran those guys and
ran them out. Ran them out. No clothes on. Write them out. Fear fell on
all of them. There was an effect on everybody
that heard or knew about that event. Now to some, there was no blessing
by the Spirit of God for them to see the glory of God in that. And they were scared. They were
scared. It was either the word means
alarm or fright or it means reverence. Some of them saw it, and they
were scared to death. And the others saw it by the
grace of God, and they revered the Lord. They recognized Almighty
God. But I will say this. It says,
Fear fell on them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified. I'm going to stop with this.
The name. The authority. The character. of the Lord Jesus
was magnified. They saw the glory of God in
it. He was either magnified as the Savior or He's magnified
as the Judge, but He's magnified the fear of the Lord. And verse
18 is where we're going to pick up, Lord willing, next time.
And many that believed came and confessed and showed their deeds. I'm going to stop right here
for tonight because that 18th verse, we need to stay there
for a little while, shows the effect. But these men, these
vagabonds, you know, men think that they're impressing people. They're hucksters. It's a trade
to them. It's a means by which they can
make a living. Make a good living, most of them.
Good living. And they travel well. But some, they preach because of the love
that they have for the Lord Jesus Christ. The love for His glory. The love for His honor. The love
for His people. They're not trying to get to
you. They love you and tell you the
truth, but they tell you the truth for the glory of God. I
pray that the Lord might be pleased just to teach us something out
of this scripture right here concerning His honor and our
good by being found and His mercy and grace and compassion.