Good morning. It's good to see
you here this morning. Take your Bibles and turn with me to Acts
chapter 19. Acts the 19th chapter. We'll be looking at verses 21
through 41 this morning. Acts chapter 19, verses 21 through
41. The title of the message this
morning, God's Sovereign Purpose in Chaos. God's Sovereign Purpose
in Chaos. Now, to save time, I will not
have the liberty to read through these verses this morning, but
I'm going to give us an overview of what is happening here in
these 20 verses. Now, here in these verses, we
have the history of the uproar or the seeming chaos of these
idolaters in Ephesus. We know that this man Demetrius
at this time was a wealthy man in Ephesus because he had sold
these idols to the goddess of Diana. And because of the spread
of Christianity, because of the spread of the Gospel, In that
previous verses, we read last week that the gospel prevailed. It prevailed and it spread like
wildfire throughout this city. And this man began to notice
that his pocketbooks were a little lighter. That people weren't
buying into this false God, because they had learned of the true
and living God. And they would not buy into these
things anymore. And he began to be upset. And so he gathered all the other
idol makers and he said, hey boys, we're losing money here.
This Christianity is costing us our wealth. And so what they
did is they began going through the city and making a noise,
crying out, great is the goddess Diana of the Ephesians. And you
can imagine, you've got a group of people running through the
streets, screaming out loud, Well, these people here, they
just did what anybody else does in our society. They just follow
the crowd. There's a crowd of people and
they say, wait, what's this? What is this? And they all turned
aside to see what this was. And pretty soon they had everybody
chanting in and pitching in to this screaming and yelling of
the greatness of this goddess. Can you not see this in these
modern protests? I mean, they get anybody. They don't have to actually even
have a cause. But if you get a group of people
and they start yelling and chanting, sooner or later you're going
to have a larger group of people just standing around watching
them, and it seems like the group is larger than it actually is.
Well, that's what this happened here. These people, the Scripture
says, there was much confusion. They didn't know what was going
on. But they said, hey, let's go join the crowd. And they did.
And so they were caught up in this. And most of the people,
when they heard this, they thought it was a cry of religion. They
thought it was a cause. They thought these men really
loved this goddess. And they were really zealous
for this deity. And so they joined in. They're
so gullible, they just join right in. But the root cause of this
was not religion, it was greed. This is why they did it. They
didn't do it because they loved this goddess. They did it because
that goddess made them rich. The sale of those idols made
them rich. The root of this was greed. And is this not true with
many false religions? There they are. They get this
big group of people together screaming, Hallelujah! Praise
Jesus! And all their hands go up, and
people see these people raising their hands, and what do they
do? They just raise their hands. They don't know why they're raising
their hands. I talked to a man the other day. He showed me a
video. He plays the guitar in this church, and he showed me
a video of him playing the guitar. And I see this man in front,
and he's got his hand up. And sure enough, as soon as he
puts his hand up, there goes somebody else putting their hand
up. And I asked the man, I said, why does he put his hand up?
He said, I don't know, he just always does. He just always does. You see, they just joined in
the crowd. And this is what happens in false
religion. They get a man singing songs and entertain them, and
people are just as confused in religion as ever. They're just
as confused as these people were in this uproar. And they don't
see that this false religion of our day is nothing different
from Demetrius because Demetrius did it for money and so does
false religion in our day. Churches in our day are nothing
more than a conglomeration or a business. And that's how they
raise them in the seminary to treat their congregation, as
a business. And so they took up, they got
this crowd so worked up, they took a couple of believers in
Christ, and no doubt their intention was to rev this crowd up so much
that they would kill these Christians so that people would think twice
about leaving that false religion. And so when the crowd began to
be in an uproar, they went into the theater. And there was a
man there named Alexander, and he would have made a defense.
Now, I don't know who this man Alexander was. Some believe he
was a false professor of faith, that he didn't really have faith,
that he was the coppersmith Alexander that caused Paul great trouble.
But nonetheless, this man made his case for the gospel. But the people began to cry for
two hours. Imagine this, a stadium full
of people, confused as all get out, and all they're doing is
just crying, great is the goddess Diana of the Ephesians. And it
took, finally, this little clerk. This clerk, obviously everyone
knew who this man was. He was a heathen just like every
one of the other ones. And it was him that finally quailed
this group down. He said, look, these guys that
you're accusing, they didn't do anything wrong. And if you
don't stop this, Caesar's coming in because we don't have an excuse
to be here. Caesar will come in and he'll
kill us. And so immediately, where did
they go? They dispersed. Now in this history,
I want us to see five things this morning. Five things that
should comfort us in the midst of seeming chaos. Many times in the believer's
life, it seems like we are in the midst of a storm and everything
is out of order. Many times we're caught up in
the middle of a storm in our life and we don't know why these
things are happening and we can't see our way out of it. We don't
know. It seems like chaos. It seems
like the world is crumbling underneath our feet And friends, it may
seem that way, but it's not. Don't trust what your eyes and
ears and hands and touch and taste can sense. Don't trust
these things. You know what you can trust in?
You can trust in God's Word. You have a rock by which you
can lean on and trust in to see that nothing that happens in
this world is chaos, but it's all order. Everything is in order. And five things I wanted to see
this morning. First of all, I wanted to see
that God is sovereign. This is an anchor for our souls,
friends, in the times of these chaos and these upheavals. This
uproar in Ephesus. did not occur by luck or chance. This uproar did not occur outside
of God's control. God did not see this uprising
and say, oh my, what am I going to do about that? God didn't
do that. You see, this uprising, it was
part of God's decree. It was what God had decreed and
determined before to happen because He is sovereign in all the affairs
of men. God is sovereign in creation,
isn't He? He spoke and all the worlds came into existence. He
created all things by the Word of His own power. He made them,
He shaped them, He molded them. Let me ask you this, which one
of us did God take counsel with to make anything? Did God ask
our opinion about what an ox should look like? Did He ask
our opinion as to what water should feel like or taste like? Did He ask our opinion that we
should breathe air or water? No. God determined all these
things by His own decree, by His own counsel, and He did not
ask any one of us our opinion. God is sovereign because He created
all things. Scripture says that all things
are created by Him and for Him. This uprising was for Him. Your chaos is for Him. Why? Because it's by Him. He's
God of creation. He can do with us as He pleases. God doesn't have to ask our permission
to do with us anything. He does with every man in this
world as He pleases. God is sovereign in providence.
All things are made by Him and for Him and nothing happens in
His creation without His knowledge or will. Psalm 115, verse 3 says,
"...but our God is in the heavens, and hath done whatsoever He hath
pleased." The false gods of this world are like those idols that
Demetrius made. They have a mouth, but they can't
speak. They have hands, but they can't move. They have feet, but
they can't go. They can only be moved where
their Creator moves them. Is that right? A man takes an
idol, he moves it over here, puts it on the shelf. You see,
that idol is subject to him because he's the Creator of it. Friends,
God is the Creator of all things. Are not all things subject to
Him? Absolutely. You and I are subject to God. And whatever God does with us,
He does of His own sovereign counsel, His own sovereign decrees. God does with us what He wants.
Number two, God is not only sovereign, God has a plan. God is sovereign, but God doesn't
make up things as He goes along. We do. We improvise, don't we? When things come in, we say,
oh, I've got to improvise. I've got to make it right. I've
got to fix it. I've got to do something. Why? Because we don't know what we're
doing. We don't know and we cannot control
the things around us. Friend God, before there was
time, before there was any creation, before there was anything, God
had already set in His eternal purpose everything that was to
happen. And you just picked up that blanket.
I tell you, God in eternity decreed what you would do. You were not outside of His will
or His determinate counsel, and neither is anything else. God
has determined all things and He's ordered all things after
the counsel of His own will. This uproar was not outside the
counsel of God's will. Now, do you think these believers
were scared? You bet they were. Are you scared? You bet we are. Do we doubt and fear what God
can and will do? Absolutely! We have no idea what
God will do. No idea. How many times we thought
God was sure to do something and He took a... We think God's
going to make a right here, I know it, and sure enough, He made
a U-turn. We always are getting it wrong,
but God has a plan. His plan and purpose is ordered
from eternity. And no doubt we become fearful,
but let us take heart and be encouraged that not one hair
falls from our head without His sovereign decree." Not one thing, not one creature
moves without His knowledge. And so when men attack you, when
men are against you, friends, Recognize it's God's plan. It's
God's purpose. He's determined all these things.
Think of the crucifixion of Christ. Acts 2.23 says, He, Christ, being
delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of
God, ye have taken Him by wicked hands, crucified Him. The death
of Jesus Christ was determined before of God to be the sin offering. And so then it was God delivered
him up, yet it was the hands of wicked men that slain him.
How could wicked men get their hands on the eternal Son of God
had God not decreed it? Had God not given him into their
hands? How many times the Lord say,
My hour has not yet come. And then when it was come, what
happened? He says, It's come. I'm being delivered over into
the hands of wicked men. To do what? God's plan. God's
purpose. His plan is eternal. Acts 15,
verse 8 says, "...known unto God are all His works from the
beginning of the world. Therefore, nothing will ever
take Him by surprise, nothing will ever happen that has not
already been decreed. His plan is immutable because
He is holy and without any error." How many times have we had to
go back and redo something? Because it's imperfect. How many
things do we look back and we say, I regret that. I think that
I should have did that differently. I know I was wrong. I know I
had sinned. I know I hate my sin. I regret
what I've done. God never regrets anything He
does. Never. He never regrets anything
because His counsel is immutable, it's unchangeable. His plan is
perfect. His plan is perfect. Number three,
His purpose is always for the good of His people. His purpose,
His plan is always for the good of His people. Romans 8, 28,
flip over there. Romans 8, 28, read it with me
again. I can't read this enough. Romans 8 and verse 28. It says, "...we know that all
things work together for good to them that love God, to them
who are called according to His purpose. For whom He did foreknow,
He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His
Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover,
whom He did predestinate, them He also called. And whom He called,
them He also justified. And whom He justified, He also
glorified." This is the reason for all the
providence of God in the world. This is it. Why is this happening
to me? If you are a believer, it is
because it's for your good. It's because God is using all
things to call His people to Himself. Why? Because He decreed
it. Did you notice that every one
of those are past tense? In eternity, He purposed to save,
He called, He justified, and He glorified in eternity. In His purpose. In His purpose. Take it in, believer, that God
in eternity predestinated us to be conformed to the image
of His Son. And by His eternal purpose, He called us, justified
us, and glorified us. And now everything is moving
toward that end. Is there anything that will stop
it? Is there anything that can get
in the way of this? Do you suppose this uproar had
any ill effect on the church of God? No. No. Nothing God does will ever
have an ill effect on His church. Nothing. Now to you and me, it may seem
ill, but it really doesn't matter what we think about it, does
it? It matters what God says. God has a purpose, and His purpose
is this, for I know the thoughts that I think towards you. Do
you know the thoughts that God thinks towards you? God does. He says, I know my
thoughts. I know my thoughts towards you,
saith the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you
an expected end. This empty religious world takes
that passage and uses it, misuses it. They think that when you
become a Christian that all should be lemon drops and gum drops.
Everything should be just fine and dandy. Now I'm a Christian.
Everything should be good. God should want everything that's
good for me. He should want me to have a good
marriage. He should want me to have a nice bank account. He
should want me to have a nice car. He should want me to have
all these things. Friends, that's not what that
Scripture is teaching us. God's thoughts toward us are
thoughts of peace with Himself. His thoughts toward us is that
we would have a sure end. You know, it really doesn't matter
how we die, does it? Does it really matter how we
die? What really matters is the end. What really matters is your
end sure. It is if you're in Christ. I
have a sure end and I don't even have to guess. I don't have to
speculate about this. God says, I know my thoughts
toward you and I know your end because I appointed it. My end
is heaven. My end is eternal life. My end
is peace with God. Why? Because God purposed it. And so nothing will stop it. Flip over to Job chapter 40.
Flip over to Job chapter 40. Now we know this man of Job was
allowed to suffer much, wasn't he? He was allowed to suffer
much in this world. He lost all of his money. He
lost all of his family. He lost everything he had. Who did that? Who was the first cause behind
this? Now, we know that Satan was the
instrument, but who was the first cause? Who allowed this to happen?
God did. God took everything He had. God
killed His children. Was it that Job was bad? God
says, have you noticed my servant Job, that he's upright? That
he's blameless? Have you noticed my servant Job?
There's nobody like him. And yet he suffered much. Why? So that he might grow in faith. You see, God meant his end for
good, even though it was trouble in the middle. God meant it for
good. He meant that he might see more
of God's sovereign purpose, that he might see more of God. And
so when Job's finished with his suffering, and he says, woe is
me! Woe is me! Oh, everything is
against me! Everything is bad! Everything
is so ill! Would to God I'd been shut up
in my mother's womb! Oh! And what does God say? He
says, who is this that darkens counsel without knowledge? Who
are you to sit there and whine? He said, gird your loins up like
a man! He said, you tell me where you
were when I created this world. Where were you when I laid its
foundations? And who are you to tell me what to do with my
own? I'll do with them as I please.
And you know what Job said? Job said in verse 4, chapter
40, Behold, I am vile. What shall I answer thee? I will
lay my hand upon my mouth once I have spoken, but I will not
answer ye twice. I will proceed no further." And
in Job 42, verse 2, he says this again. He said, I know that thou
canst do everything, and that no thought can be withholden
from thee. Who is he that hideth counsel without knowledge? Therefore,
I have uttered that I understood not. things too wonderful for
me." You see, his chaos was wonderful. He didn't realize it until he
saw God in his sovereignty. Number four, the cause of the
gospel in Jesus Christ. God's eternal sovereign purpose
is for the furtherance of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Go back to your text and look
at Acts chapter 19 verse 23. Acts chapter 19 verse 23 says,
At the same time there rose no small stir about that way. If you remember, before they
were called Christians, they were called people of the way.
They were different. Christians were different because
they believed that there was only one way to God. You see,
the false religion had many gods. They had many ways to God. But we believed We believe that
there is only one way to God, and that is by Jesus Christ and
Him crucified, apart from will and works. We believe salvation is of the
Lord Jesus Christ and Him alone, that we can add nothing to His
finished work. But friends, when this message
is heard by the wicked, it will always cause an uproar. You can
be sure of this, because they hate God, they will hate you
if you're faithful to declare this Word. If you're faithful
to declare that there's only one way to God, they will hate you for this message.
I was talking to my friend yesterday who's lost. I pray for him constantly. And the Lord's given us opportunity
to talk together. He's listening. He's listening. And I told him, I said, if you
ever really truly hear what I'm saying, you'll either hate me
or you'll love me. I said, right now, you don't
understand what I'm saying. But if you ever get it, you'll
either hate me or you'll love me. This gospel is strict, friends.
There is no other way to God. If you desire some other way,
go at it. But you will never find God. There is only one way. Jesus
said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to
the Father but by Me. Acts 4.12, Neither is there salvation
in any other, for there is none other name given among men whereby
we must be saved. Jesus Christ and Him crucified
is the only way to God. And if this message is truly
preached, as we have seen over and over and over in the book
of Acts, every time men heard this gospel, they hated it. If
they didn't believe it, they hated it. But friends, God's sovereign
purpose is to deliver His gospel to His people. God's plan and
purpose is to do His people good and He will get His gospel to
His people, no matter where they are. No matter where they are. And lastly, number five, God's
purpose overrules the wicked. These men had a design, had a
purpose to damage the gospel. But will you notice that God
did not even use His preachers to dismiss this group? God used
even one of the heathen of their own kind to dismiss this group. Oh, the condemnation of God to
this group that He would not even allow His Gospel to be preached
in this place. How many times did the Apostle
Paul, when there was an uprising, did he not come in and preach
the Gospel? And yet here he was restrained.
God held him back as well as this other man, Alexander. Friends,
God rules over all things, even the wicked. Even the wicked. Hath He not made them for the
day of destruction? Yes, He has. And He, as their
Creator and Sovereign, will move them as He will. Now, they think
they're doing their will, don't they? They think that they're
doing their own will, but actually whose will are they doing? God's
will. So take heart. Take comfort. God is sovereign. He has a plan. He is right now fulfilling that
plan for the good of His people, even though His gospel is hated,
and God will overrule all the wicked. That should give us comfort,
that should give us peace, for He is sovereign in the midst
of seeming chaos. I pray God will bless this to
our hearts.