All right, let's go back to Acts
chapter 19. Acts 19, our message tonight
is the result of verse 11. Verse 11 says, and God wrought
special miracles. God wrought special miracles.
Everything that God has done is a special miracle. You know
that? Every single thing that he's done. There's an old song
that says, it took a miracle to put the stars in place. That took a miracle. It took
a miracle to hang the world in space. But when he saved my soul,
cleansed and made me whole, it took a miracle of love and grace. That was a miracle, wasn't it?
An absolute miracle. The fact that God chose you and
me. You and me. We know a lot of
people. I know a lot of people. We've
met a lot of people in this life, but God chose you and me. Isn't
that something? God chose you and me. The fact that he chose us, that's
a miracle. Why us? Why us? Well, it's because
we were better. No, we weren't. Why us? The fact that Christ died for
you and me, that is a miracle. It's so relieving. Christ died
for me. He died for me. I'm a sinner.
Christ came to save sinners. He's given me a belief of His
Word. He's given me a heart and a knee
to bow to His Son. and love His Son for all that
He is. And God has saved us. He chose us and Christ died for
us. And the fact that God's Holy
Spirit has now opened our eyes and given us this heart, this
new heart that absolutely hates sin. This flesh right here loves
it. But our Lord said, I'm going
to take out a stony heart and I'm going to give you a heart
of flesh. And that brand new heart, the heart of Christ, it
hates sin. And it loves Christ. It does. This flesh disguises it. But that heart loves Christ.
And the fact that we actually love the Lord Jesus Christ is
a miracle. It's an absolute miracle. When
it comes down to every detail, every piece, every work, of how
I was spared from an eternity in hell, and you were spared from an eternity
in hell. I heard of a person who left
the world yesterday, and I have no idea if that person knew the
true and living God. But every detail in the fact
that I have been spared and you have been spared an eternity
in hell. Sunday morning we kept saying
nothing else matters. Someone left the world yesterday.
A lot of people left the world yesterday. Someone close to home
yesterday. And the fact that God has saved us is the only
thing that matters. Nothing else matters. And God was the doer of it. It
says in verse 11, God wrought. He saved you and me and he did
it in mercy and he did it in love and it's a miracle. It's
an absolute miracle. Tonight, what I want us to see
is the result of His work in a sinner. I'm a sinner. You're
a sinner. He has wrought a work and it
produces a result. The result of His work in a sinner. Verse 11 says, And God wrought
special miracles by the hands of Paul, so that from his body
were brought unto the sick handkerchiefs or aprons And the diseases departed
from them, and the evil spirits went out of them. Now that last
line is key. It says the evil spirits went
out from them. Paul, he would work and wear
an apron, and he'd take that apron off, and somebody would
take it to their loved one. He'd take a handkerchief and
give it to somebody, and the diseases would depart, and the
evil spirits would leave them. All right, verse 13 says, Then
certain of the vagabond Jews, the word vagabond means travelers,
gypsies. They were vagabonds. Verse 13
says, exorcist. They went around casting demons
out of people and they were doing these miracles to get money. traveling, and that's how they
made their way. They would do these healings
to get money, just like Benny Hinn and those guys. Same thing. False prophets. That's what they
were. False prophets. Verse 13 says,
Then certain of the vagabond Jews, exorcists, took upon them
to call over them which had evil spirits the name of the Lord
Jesus, saying, We adjure you by Jesus, whom Paul preacheth. Now that tells us that they didn't
know who he was. They had no idea who Christ was. They said, we're commanding you
this by the one that Paul is preaching. Whoever he's preaching,
because we see what Paul is doing. He's handing out handkerchiefs
and he's handing out aprons. So we command you in the same
one that Paul is preaching. Verse 14, and there were seven
sons of one Siva, a Jew and chief of the priest which did so. This man Siva was the chief priest
and he had seven sons who were vagabond Jews, exorcists. And they said to an evil spirit
who was inside this man, they said, come out of him in the
name of Jesus, whom Paul is preaching. Verse 15 says, and the evil spirit
answered and said, Jesus, I know. And Paul, I know, but who are
you? Who are you? You're not God's
men. That's what this evil spirit
was telling these seven sons. You are not God's men. Jesus,
I know. Paul, I know. But who are you? You are not here on the authority
of God. There's no power in the words
that you're speaking. Those spirits, they didn't want
to leave when they were in a person. But they were forced to leave
when the Lord spoke, when the Lord's messenger spoke. They
were forced to leave. But this spirit told these seven
sons, there's no power in what you're saying. You're not God's
man. A man can make whatever decision he wants to about being
a preacher. Whatever decision he wants to.
But if God does not call a man, and if God does not send a man
with his message, there is no power in it. There's absolutely
no power in it and nothing will come from it. Nothing will come
from it. A man could stand up and read
one of Spurgeon's messages word for word, word for word. I cannot stand to download Spurgeon's
messages on Sermon Audio. Have you ever tried that? It
is repulsive. And now from the Prince of Preachers. Give me a break. There's no power
in it. They're reading it word for word
and there's no power in it. A man could stand up and read
a message by any of God's preachers word for word and it will accomplish
nothing. Not if God didn't do it. Absolutely
nothing. I could, if I was not called
of God, I could I can stand up and read the word of God himself,
and if God is not in it, nothing will come from it. If a man could just stand up
and say, just trust Christ, and if a sinner could just say, okay,
and that was it, then God is not the sovereign author of salvation.
And he does not choose whom he will and he does not call whom
he will when he will. God does not use false prophets. He just does not use false prophets. In Jeremiah 23, God said, they
are repeating my words. They're repeating my words. But
he said, I didn't send them and I didn't command them. Therefore,
they shall not profit this people at all. Not at all. There's not one account in the
Word of God when God saved a man or a woman under a false prophet.
Not one account in the Word of God. There is also not one account
in the Word of God when God saved a man or a woman without a messenger. There's not one. There's not one, not without
one of God's messengers. That Ethiopian eunuch was sitting
there reading his Bible. He had Isaiah 53 opened. Why in the world did God send
Philip all the way across the desert? He had to travel a long
way to run into this one man. Why on this earth? It's because
that man needed a messenger. He needed a God called, God sent,
God wrought messenger. It pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. Verse 13 right here
in our text says, Then certain of the vagabond Jews, exorcists
took upon them to call over them which had evil spirits, the name
of the Lord Jesus, saying, We adjure you by Jesus, whom Paul
preacheth. And there were seven sons of
one Siva, a Jew, and chief of the priests, which did so. And
the evil spirit answered and said, Jesus, I know, and Paul,
I know, but who are you? And the man in whom the evil
spirit was leaped on them, and overcame them, and prevailed
against them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded. And 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." Why
was the Lord's name magnified? Why was the Lord's name magnified? It's because seven men could
not command this one evil spirit. Seven men could not do it. But
God's called apostle, all it took was a handkerchief that
touched his forehead. Or whether it touched his forehead
or not, all it took was a handkerchief that he touched that went out
from his body. And that evil spirit got out. They said, Jesus, we know, and
Paul, we know, and they obeyed. So 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.
And many that believed came and confessed and showed their deeds. Many of them also which used
curious arts brought their books together and burned them before
all men and they counted the price of them and found it 50,000
pieces of silver. So mightily grew the word of
God and prevailed. All their books of curious arts,
their sorceries and their superstitions and all those things, they didn't
sell them and get the money and use the money. They didn't sell
them, they destroyed them. They burned them. Even though
they were worth so much money, they counted up how much they'd
spend on all those books and it came to 50,000 pieces of silver. They spent on all that junk.
But what was that compared to the glory and honor of God? So they burned them. Now the
fact that they burned all their books, that leads us to the heart
of our message tonight. All right, here's the heart of
our message. Here is the result of God's work. God's work produces
a result. God does something in a sinner
and it produces a result. Verse 18 says, and many that
believed came and confessed and showed their deeds. We just established
that if a sinner believes, God did it. Right? If a sinner believes,
God did it. You know, that's the commandment.
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you'll be saved. You will
be saved. The problem is, is we're all
dead in trespasses and sins. And no man can believe. No man
can come. So if a man believes, God wrought
that. A sinner cannot believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ, and a sinner cannot believe His Word. That
is amazing to me, how you can show someone being black and
white, this is what God's Word says, and they cannot believe
it. Not unless God works. He must choose, He must quicken.
But verse 18 says, those that did believe, those that God moved
on, they experienced a result. of his doing. His action caused
a reaction. Verse 18 says, and many that
believed came. That's what happened. They came.
They came. I thank God that he's made me
believe. Aren't you so grateful you believe?
Aren't you so grateful you believe every word? This word of God
is so harsh on sinners. And this word of God says, I
am a sinner and I believe it. I believe it. And I'm so glad.
I am so glad. And those that God causes to
believe come. They all came. Where did they
come to? Where did they go? They all came to Christ. They
all came straight to Jesus Christ. God in mercy sent his messenger,
he sent Paul. God called a man and he gave
that man a message and he sent that man with his message and
then he declared the message and he sent his spirit and he
blessed it. He opened eyes, he opened a heart,
he caused sinners to believe and then they all came. They
all came. You don't have to convince sinners
to come to Christ. When He calls, they come. That's why we don't give an altar
call at the end. They've already come. If they believe, they came
right here. They came to Christ. They came
to His messenger who had His message. They came to the place
where His people were gathered. You don't have to convince people
to come show up to worship. When God works, there's a result. You know what that result is?
God's sheep want to gather with God's sheep. God's sheep want
to come where the shepherd is. They came to the place where
his people were gathered, the place where he's truly chosen
to put his name there. They believed and they came,
every one of them. It could not be said about one
of them. Oh, he believes, he's just not
interested in coming. That couldn't be said about one
of them. Oh yeah, he believes. Yeah, they believe. He's just
not interested in coming. Every one of them that believed
came. Why did they come? The Father
drew them. The Father was drawing them.
And not one of them was proud of the fact that they came. We're
not proud of the fact that we're here, are we? I'm not proud of
the fact that I'm standing here with a message. How do we know? They all came
and they knew God drew them to this place. And how do we know
that they weren't proud of what they'd done? Verse 18 says, many
that believed came and confessed. They all confessed. What did
they confess? Their sins. They confessed their
sins. That's what sinners do. They confess their sins. That's
one of the greatest evidence that a sinner has truly seen
Christ in all of his holiness. One of the greatest evidence,
religion is the anti-confession. That's
what it is. There's no true confession of
what I am. We put up a front for what I
am. But if a sinner ever sees Christ,
if a sinner ever sees Christ in all of his holiness, in all
of his If a sinner ever sees all of
that sacrifice, if a sinner ever sees everything he did, the first
thing he'll say is, I truly am a sinner. I truly am a sinner. I confess that he is so much
higher than I ever dreamed. That's what a sinner will say.
He is so much higher than I ever dreamed. And I confess that I'm
so much lower than I ever imagined. So much lower. Turn over to Isaiah
6 with me. Isaiah 6 verse 1 says, In the
year that King Uzziah died, Isaiah was looking to him, he was his
object, his idol, his distraction, just like we all have in this
flesh, the world. But in the year that King Uzziah
died, I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted
up, and his train filled the temple. Above it stood the seraphims. Each one had six wings. Now these are beings in heaven. These are beings in a place where
there is no sin. But each one of these seraphims
had six wings. With two of them he covered his
face. Can't even look on God. With
two of them he covered his feet and with twain he did fly. And
one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord
of hosts. The whole earth is full of his
glory. And the post of the door moved
at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with
smoke. Then said I, Woe is me. Woe is me, for I am undone. I'm
a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean
lips, for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts. Woe is me. Every soul that truly
believes will say the exact same thing. I'm a sinner. I'm undone. We're all undone. Every one of
us, we're all undone. But go over to 1 John chapter
1 with me. 1 John chapter 1 verse 9 says, if we confess our sins, if we confess our sins, and I'll
tell you that many people have confessed sins. There are a few
people in prison who will admit, yes, I did it. Yeah, I did it. And there are a few people all
over this place that will say, yes, I am a sinner. But that's
not what this is talking about. If we confess that from the crown
of our head to the sole of our foot, 100% inside and out, we're nothing
but wounds, bruises, putrefying sores. I am nothing but sin. Sin is all I can do because sin
is all that I am. If we confess our sins, He is
faithful. He's faithful. If we confess
our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and
to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. You know why He's faithful to
do that? Because only He could show us that we're that kind
of sinner in the first place. That was his work in the first
place. If God has wrought faith in us, caused us to come, if
we evidence his work in this confession, then it means he
is faithful. That's what it means. He's faithful.
It means he's already forgiven our sins. That's what it means.
Already cleansed us from all unrighteousness. Now back in
our text, Acts 19, Verse 18 says, And many that believed came and
confessed and showed their deeds. They showed their deeds. When
I read that, it reminded me of what the Holy Ghost inspired
James to write. This is telling us the result
of God's work. May this be an exhortation to
us. This is the result of God's work, but may this be an exhortation
to us. They believed, they came, they
confessed, and they showed their deeds. They all burned their
books. They brought these books and they burned them. God wrought
a change in them. He wrought a change in them.
When the Lord works, when He moves, He gets a result. He always gets a result. He wrought
a change in him. Go with me over to James chapter
1. This is what James is talking about. Now James is not preaching works. In the book of James, he is not
preaching works. James 1 verse 18, he wrote, Of
his own will begat he us with the word of truth that we should
be a kind of first fruits of his creatures. So he's not preaching works.
What he's saying is God wrought this. Of his own will begat he
us. God did this. We were saved through
faith, but that faith is a gift of God. But he says in chapter
2, verse 14, what doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say
he hath faith and have not works? Can faith save him? Can faith save him? I think that's
a wonderful question. Ephesians 2 verse 8 does not
say, by faith are you saved through grace. It says, by grace are
you saved through faith. And he says, can faith save him?
What he's asking is, are we going to look to and trust in our faith? Or are we going to look to and
trust in Christ? Which one? Are we going to come
to our faith? Or are we going to come to Christ?
Do I belong to Christ? Do I belong to Jesus Christ?
Yes. How do I know? I just know. I
just know. I just believe it. Well, don't
you want to go hear the Word of God? Nah, I'm good. Can faith save him? Are we going
to look to our faith or are we going to look to Christ? Are
we going to come to faith or are we going to come to Christ?
And then are we going to come to Him and hear Him and follow
Him and be His disciple by not obeying what He says or by obeying
what He says? Which one shows more faith in
Him, heeding what He says or not heeding what He says? Which
one proves that a work has been wrought? That's the question.
Which one proves that he's put faith in us and given life to
us, doing his commandments? We're not doing his commandments.
For the longest time, I didn't think I believed in works. And then one day the Lord revealed
to me, I do believe in works. And I preach them too. I preach
works. Just not for salvation. Just not for salvation. But may this be an exhortation
to me. Has God saved me? Has He opened
my eyes? Do I believe Him? Well then,
Gabe Stoniker, obey Him. Obey Him. Chapter 2 here in James verse
17 says, Even so, faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being
alone. It don't matter what you do.
If God chose you, it don't matter what you do. Well, even so, faith, if it has not
works, is dead, being alone. Yea, a man may say, Thou hast
faith, and I have works. Show me thy faith without thy
works, and I will show thee my faith by my works. Thou believest
that there is one God, thou doest well. The devils also believe
and tremble. But wilt thou know, O vain man,
that faith without works is dead? Was not Abraham our father justified
by works when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar?
Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works
was faith made perfect? So it does matter then. We are
saved by works. No? We're saved by the works that
God wrought. Verse 22, Seest thou how faith
wrought with works, and by works was faith made perfect? The scripture
was fulfilled, which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed
unto him for righteousness. And he was called the friend
of God. You see then how by works a man is justified and not by
faith only. Likewise also was not Rahab the
harlot justified by works when she had received the messengers
and had sent them out another way? For as the body without
the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also. Faith without works is dead also.
If a man says that he has faith, but he does not possess any of
the works that support that faith, it's not of God. It's just not
of God. A man may say, I believe, but
if he won't come, it's not of God. The works of God are never, never
in vain. Some men can explain this away. We can try to explain this away,
but that's what it says. That's just what it says. Lord,
make us disciples. That's my prayer. Make us disciples.
Make us followers. Make us servants. Create something
in me. Create something in me. Do the
same thing for us that you did for the Ephesians. Do the same
thing for us that you did for them. Look back one more time
in our text, Acts chapter 19. Verse 18 says, Many that believed
came and confessed and showed their deeds. Verse 20 says, So
mightily grew the Word of God and prevailed. Mightily grew
the Word of God and prevailed. The Lord sent His Word. The Lord
blessed His Word. The Lord planted his word and
he made it grow. And that's what I pray the Lord
will do for us. Do for me and do for us. Lord,
plant this word in our hearts and cause it to grow for Christ's
sake. All right, let's stand together.