Good evening, let's all stand
together. We'll sing hymn number 204. O soul, are you weary and troubled? No light in the darkness you
see. There's light for a look at the
Savior, and life more abundant and free. Turn your eyes upon
Jesus, look full in his wonderful face, and the things of earth
will grow strangely dim. In the light of His glory and
grace, Through death into life everlasting, He passed and we
follow Him there. Over us sin no more hath dominion,
For more than conquerors we are. Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look
full in his wonderful face, and the things of earth will grow
strangely dim. In the light of His glory and
grace, His word shall not fail you, He promised. Believe Him and all will be well. Then go to a world that is dying,
His perfect salvation to tell. Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look
full in His wonderful face, and the things of earth will grow
strangely dim. in the light of his glory and
grace. Thank you and be seated. Let's
sing hymn number 309. 309. Beneath the cross of Jesus I
fain would take my stand. The shadow of a mighty rock within
a weary land. A home within the wilderness,
a rest upon the way. From the burning of the noonday
heat and the burden of the day. Upon that cross of Jesus mine
eye at times can see, the very dying form of one who suffered
there for me. And from my smitten heart with
tears to wonders I confess. the wonders of his glorious love
and my own worthlessness. I take, O cross, thy shadow for
my abiding place. I ask no other sunshine than
the sunshine of his face. content to let the world go by,
to know no gain nor loss. My sinful self, my only shame,
my glory, all the cross. Acts chapter 19. Acts chapter 19. I'm gonna preach
down to verse 41, but I'm not gonna read all of them. It says in verse 20, Acts 19,
20, for so mightily grew the word
of God and prevailed. After these things were ended,
Paul purposed in the spirit when he had passed through Macedonia
and Achaia to go to Jerusalem, saying, after I have been there,
I must also see Rome. So he sent into Macedonia two
of them that ministered unto him, Timotheus and Erastus, but
he himself stayed in Asia for a season. And the same time there
arose no small stir about that way. For a certain man named
Demetrius, a silversmith which made silver shrines for Diana,
brought no small gain unto the craftsman. And whom he called
together with the workmen of like occupation, said, Sirs,
we know that by this craft we have our wealth. Moreover, we
see and hear that not alone at Ephesus, But almost throughout
all Asia, this Paul hath persuaded and turned away much people,
saying that they be no gods which are made with hands, so that
not only this our craft is in danger to be set at naught, but
also that the temple of the great goddess Diana should be despised,
and her magnificence should be destroyed, whom all Asia and
the world worshipeth. And when they heard these sayings,
they were full of wrath, and cried out, saying, Great is Diana
of the Ephesians. And the whole city was filled
with confusion. And having caught Gaius and Aristarchus,
men of Macedonia, Paul's companions in travel, they rushed with one
accord into the theater. And when Paul would have entered
under the people, the disciples suffered him not. And certain
of the chief of Asia, which were his friends, said unto him, desiring
him, that he should not adventure himself into the theater. And some therefore cried one
thing and some another, for the assembly was confused. The more
part knew not wherefore they were come together. Didn't know
what in the world they was there for. All right. Our blessed, blessed Lord Jesus
Christ, you're our great God and you're our savior. You're
God blessed over all. And the apostle said, Amen. Lord,
we know that there's salvation with you, mercy with
you, grace with you, healing with you, hearts touched and
comforted by you. You are strength. We don't want
you to just strengthen us for today, but you are strength. We have in your Our weaknesses,
and all we are is weak, is made perfect in your strength. And
Lord Jesus, we ask for you to meet with us tonight. Please
enable me to speak, enable the dear saints of God to hear. And
Lord, we pray for those who are not with us through providence,
through sickness, through affliction, through burdens. Lord, we ask
for your mercies to be upon them. Please pity them for Christ's
sake. Lord, remember that all of us are just dust. You know
us how frail we are. And Lord, we are indeed frail
creatures. And so we look to you to uphold
us, to strengthen us, to meet the needs of our hearts, to meet
the needs of our homes, to meet the needs of your people. As
they all meet together in different places tonight, we bless you
and praise you in our Lord Jesus' name. Amen. Hymn number 359. 359. My faith looks up to Thee, Thou
Lamb of Calvary, Savior divine. Now hear me when I pray, take
all my sin away. Oh, let me from this day be wholly
thine. May thy rich grace impart strength
to my fainting heart, my zeal inspire. As thou hast died for
me, O may my love to thee warm and changeless be a living
fire. While life's dark maze I tread,
and griefs around me spread, be thou my guide. Bid darkness turn to day, wipe
sorrow's tears away, nor let me ever stray from thee aside. When ends life's transient dream? When death's cold, sullen stream
Shall o'er me roll? Bless, Savior, then in love. Fear and distrust remove. Oh, bear me safe above a ransomed
soul. I want to get my subject out
of verse 23 here, the title of my message. And the same time
there arose no small stir, a stir about that way. They often referred
to the way that believers believed and the message that they believed,
they called it that way. You remember over here in verse
9 of chapter 19, When divers were hardened and believed not,
but spake evil of that way, of that way. They always talked
about that way. And they often referred to it
that way. And there's people that still
refer to it as that way. And you know, I like that way. They may not like it, but I like
that way, that way of God's word, that way of God's sovereignty,
that way of God's truth, that way of Christ being the only
savior and the only mediator, that way that the only hope we
have in this world is what Christ did for us. I love that way,
but these folks didn't like that way. They didn't like that way,
and that's what they called it. It was a derogatory statement,
that way, that way. Now Paul here in Ephesus, it
tells us that the Word of God grew and prevailed, and I mean
it changed men s hearts, it dramatically and radically changed men s heart. Look back up here with me in
verse 17. And this was known unto all the
Jews and Greeks dwelling at Ephesus, and FEAR fell on them all. And not only did fear fall on
all of them, but look what else it says, The name of the Lord
Jesus was magnified. Christ s name was honored above
everybody else s name because fear fell on these people. I
mean the fear of God fell on them. The gospel came to them,
and they magnified, honored, and glorified the name of the
Lord Jesus Christ. And this is what it done for
them. And many of that belief came, and they confessed. It's one thing to believe, say,
I believe, but not only did they believe, but they confessed.
They confessed. How'd they confess? By showing
their deeds. that our deeds were evil, our
deeds were awful, and listen to this, and many also them which
had books, used curious arts, witchcraft, and incantations,
and potions, and palm reading, and sorcery, and everything else
kind of books that they had, burned them, burned them, and
got rid of all of them. And I tell you, they got rid
of the witchcraft and their incantations. But there was also in Ephesus
a great, great opposition to the gospel. First of all, if
they called them, they said they were hard. They were hard. There's hardness, there's hardness. Then there was hypocrisy. When
those sons of Sceva, they tried to use the name of Paul and the
name of Christ, the Lord Jesus, to cast out demons, that's hypocrisy. And they used religion in the
name of the Lord Jesus to do an evil work, an evil work. And
then Paul, that's what they said, and then there was hatred. Look
down here in verse 28. And when they heard these things,
they were full of wrath. They were full of anger. They
were full of hatred. You know, and let me tell you
something. The gospel, for those that believe, is a saver of life.
You know, a savor is something that makes something taste good.
Salt, pepper, butter, it gives a good savor to it. Well, there's
a savor to the gospel. There's a flavor to the gospel.
There's a sweetness to the gospel. And there's a smell to the gospel.
For them that believe, it's a savor of life. It brings life to us.
It smells wonderful to us. And it's a blessed thing. But
also at the same time, it's a savor of death. it's a stinking thing,
it's a rotten thing, it's a corrupt thing to them that don't believe
the gospel. And here it says God hardened
in people's hearts and God sends a strong delusion that men should
believe a lie and be damned. And I tell you what, it's going
to be one or the other. I mean it's going to either give
you life or it's going to pronounce death on you, one or the other. And I tell you what, that's why
when we open this blessed book, that's what we're waiting for.
You know, The apostle talked about tasting the grace of God. Do you know how you taste the
grace of God? Because it's a saver to you, a sweet saver to you.
Works is not a sweet saver. Free will is not a sweet saver. Works is not a sweet saver. Legalism
is not a sweet saver. Those are savers of death, savers
of death. And then look what it said here
in verse 21. We'll go down through here and
deal with these verses a few at a time. And after these things
were ended, after they'd thrown all their books away and confessed
Christ and magnified the name of Christ, after these things
were ended, Paul purposed in spirit when he had passed through
Macedonia and Achaia to go to Jerusalem saying, after I have
been there at Jerusalem, Macedonia and Achaia, I must also see Rome. Now here s a man purposed in
spirit. Here was a man who had an AIM,
who had a PURPOSE, who had a GOAL. He just didn t get up and say,
Well, I m going to. No, he LOOKED OUT towards going someplace and
preaching the gospel, and he had a PURPOSE, and that purpose
was to glorify God in the preaching of the gospel. bringing the glory
and honor to his blessed son. And not only that, but building
up the saints in their faith, establishing saints in their
faith, seeing the elect be brought to faith in Christ. And that's
what he purposed in spirit. And he had sent Timothy, it says,
look what it said in verse 22. So in verse 23, and this is where
my title is, no small stir, stir about that way. And so He has
sent Timothy and Erastus into Macedonia, in verse 22, that
He Himself stayed in Asia. And you know, He sent Timothy
and Erastus ahead of Him, and why He done it, and you'll find
it out in I Corinthians 16, is that He sent them ahead of time
to start taking up offerings for the poor saints that dwelt
in Jerusalem. There were poor people in Jerusalem.
The Jews hated Christians so much that they d starve them
to death. They wouldn t give them work, they wouldn t do anything,
so they s taken up an offering to take to the poor saints up
in Jerusalem. And Paul desired to go to Rome,
and he WOULD eventually go to Rome, but you know when he went
to Rome? He went there as a prisoner. He did not go there as a free
man. He did not go, he wanted to go to Rome, but God said,
the only way you're going to Rome is you're gonna go and stand
before Caesar. You're gonna go and stand before
a tribunal. And that cost him his life. That's
when he went to Rome, and that's where he died. That's where he
died. He went in there as a prisoner
of the Roman Empire. And oh my. And what was this
stir? He said, at the same time there
arose no small stir about this way. Well, there's a certain
man named Demetrius, a silversmith, and he made silver shrines for
Diana. You ever seen a shrine? You go
to Mexico, you go in some of these foreign countries, and
they have shrines. And they sit on the side of the
road, they're in these little things, and they put, you know,
some people, a lot of people's got them in their homes. They
got angels, and they got these little things, and they set these
idols inside there, and those shrines. In Mexico, it's Mary. It's one kind of a saint or another. It's a crucifix setting up somewhere,
and there's Buddha in some places, and they have all these shrines.
Well, that's what this fellow made his living at. He had this
idol that he made this woman, Diana. She is called a goddess,
and he had built these big pagoda-like things, and he'd make a shrine
and set that in there, and people would buy them things and take
them home with them. And that's what they worshiped at. That
was the place they found their worship. I was in a meeting, and we went
walking about, some of us went out walking, and we went by this
Free Will Baptist Church, and you'll never guess what they
had on their porch, on the porch going into that building. They had a statue, a statue. of an angel and Mary standing
there, because it was an idol, and they found some comfort in
it. And just like some folks told Billy R. Jeropoulos, when
he wanted to take the crosses out of that building that they
were in, said, no, no, you can't take them. We find too much comfort
in them. We find too much assurance in
them. We find peace in them. That's an idol. And that's why
these folks got stirred up. This man made a shrine out of
silver and made silver shrines for Diana. And it says he didn't
make no small gain. In other words, he made a good
living. That's what he's talking about. And under the craftsmen,
well, what happened? Oh my, you're talking about Zeus
over there, idols. He got all the workmen of like
occupation, everybody's a silversmith, and said, sirs, We know that
by this craft we have our wealth. Oh, by making these idols, by
making these people, these things for people to worship. Oh, they,
you see how zealous idol worshipers are, and they'll defend their
idols. And look what he says. verse 26, Moreover ye see and
hear that not alone at Ephesus, but almost throughout all Asia,
and look how they refer to Paul, THIS Paul. They call him Apostle,
THIS Paul, this sorry out, this sorry man named Paul. Everywhere
he goes, and listen to what he says now, he hath persuaded,
and turned away much people saying that there'd be no gods which
are made with hands. Now that upset them. That really
upset them. If there ain't no God's made
with hands, what are we gonna do now for a living? If there
ain't no God's made with my hands, I mean, we're gonna be in hurry.
You know, this is the way we make our money. We make idols,
we make silver things. And oh my, and I say that there's
no, you know, they stirred up because they made their living
by idols. We have our wealth by these idols. And oh, listen, and what he said
was that these people that believed Paul preaching that there's no
gods made with hands, he said, you know what they're going to
do? They ain't going to buy our gold. They're not going to buy
our silver. They're not going to buy our statues. They're not
going to buy our shrines. They're not going to have nothing
to do with them. And I tell you, sooner or later, we'll be out
of work. I tell you what, they were stirred up. They were covetous. Oh my. And he know that those
who believed on Jesus Christ would not buy what they had.
Now look what he said in verse 27. Oh, they had their pomp. They
had their pomp. So that not only this, our craft
is in danger to be said at nothing. Oh my. Listen. We re going to amount to nothing.
We re going to be nobody. We ain t going to have nothing.
But look what he goes on to say, But also that the temple of the
great goddess Diana should be despised, and listen to this,
and her magnificence should be destroyed, whom all Asia and
the world worshipeth. Now, wait a minute. If they re
afraid of losing their will, and they re afraid of Paul and
what he preaches, Well, then they had this great temple, and
they had this goddess that's with all of her great magnificence
in this great temple. They said, oh my, whom all of
Asia and the whole world worships. Well, if he's convinced that
that's really what's happening, why in the world is Paul upsetting
him? Why in the world is he upset at all? If all of Asia worships
her, and the whole world worships her, there's no danger of them
going out of business. So you know, that's the thing
about people with their idols, they contradict themselves. They
say, we're pitched to be said and not, but we can't be said
and not because Asia and the whole world worships this woman.
Oh my. If this is true, why is their
craft in danger? And oh my. And I tell you what,
that's the thing about it. When Walter Gruber first went
to Mexico to preach, What he would do is he'd go out in these
little pueblos, and right outside there's a cathedral, an ever-pueblo,
and they had a great big area, big concrete area right out in
front. And what he'd do is he'd go in
these little and he'd set up a camera, and then he'd show
pictures. He'd show a little movie, and
then all everybody gather around in that square there, and then
all gather around, and then when he'd quit the movie, he'd start
preaching. He'd start preaching the gospel.
He'd start preaching to these people. And boy, I tell you what,
the Catholics got so mad, they got so upset, I mean, they sent
people to hurt him. They cut down trees in front
of him so he couldn't get home or he couldn't get to where he's
going. And one fella, he was cutting down a tree, and the
tree fell on him and killed him. So these fellas got scared to
death that this man, we better leave him alone. But he got in
so much trouble when he first went down there, the Catholics
were like these people right here. They are gonna, This fella
is, he's telling us that Mary can't be worshipped. He's telling
us that we don't need to go and get on our hands and knees and
crawl down the aisle. He's telling us that it's useless
for us to cross ourselves and do genuflections. He's telling
us that we don't, that the priest is not the only one supposed
to have a Bible, that all of you can have a Bible. talking
to a woman the other day, and she was leaving the Catholic
Church. Her husband stayed. She's leaving the Catholic Church.
She said, I started reading the Bible for myself, and I started
seeing things that's contrary to what you all teach. And that
priest said, oh, it's too dangerous. That priest told her, it's too
dangerous for you to read a Bible for yourself. You don't know
unless we tell you. She said, that's the whole point.
I know that what you're saying is wrong, and I'm going to read
my Bible, and I'll not be back here ever again. Oh, listen, when you get on a
fella's idol, how Barnard used to say, when you kill a man's
God, he's gonna fight you. He's gonna fight you. When you
attack a man's God, he's gonna get angry. He's gonna fight,
he's gonna put up both fists, and he is gonna fight tooth and
nail before he lets that thing go. He ain't gonna do it. Oh,
my. And oh, they had this pomp, this
great temple, and this great magnificence. Now look what happens. Oh, they hated that message.
Back up again in verse 26. They said, this Paul hath persuaded
much people, saying, there be no gods made with hands. Well,
you keep Acts 19. Look with me over Acts, I mean,
Psalm 115 with me. And you know, it says the same
thing in Ezekiel. I mean, excuse me, in Isaiah. Go with me to Psalm 115. But
in Isaiah 46, it says the same thing. It said, men will go out
and cut him down a tree. And he'll make him a god out
of that, he'll whittle him a god out of that tree. He'll set that
thing up and take it into his house and he'll set it up. And
oh, he said, this is the most wonderful thing. And then they
don't have sense enough to know that they take the rest of it
and build a fire with it to heat themselves and cook with the
wood that's left over. So they made out of an idol that
everything they use out of that idol is nothing fit but to keep
themselves warm and to cook up a meal. But they still got a
wooden idol. He said, God said, look at these
fools. God called them fools. He said,
this is the most ridiculous. You know, look at these people,
and they don't know. Really, they don't know. A man
that's got an idol don't know. A man that's got a crucifix,
he don't know. A man that's worshiped Mary,
he don't know. How's he ever gonna find out?
Somebody's gotta tell him if you ever get an opportunity.
But look what it said here in Psalm 115. not unto us, O LORD,
not unto us, but unto thy name give glory, for thy mercy, and
thy truth's sake. Wherefore should the heathen
say, Where is now their God? And that's what these fellows
are saying right there about Paul. Said, We've got our goddess,
and he says, We ain't got none, because you can't make them with
hands. And oh my, but our God is in the heaven, and he hath
done whatsoever he pleased. Now look at the difference. Our
God's in the heavens, does whatever he please. But now listen to
this. He says, now where's their God at? Their idols are silver
and gold, the works of men's hands. They have mouths, they
put mouths on them, put lips on them. but they don't speak. They take eyes and whittle eyes
out in the top of their head, and they can't see. They have
ears, but they don't hear nothing. They put ears on the side of
them. They don't hear. They even put a nose on their
face, and they can't smell. They have hands. They put hands
on these things, but they handle not. They put feet on them, but
they can't walk, neither speak. They threw their throat. And
listen to this, they that make them are just like them, so is
everyone that trusts in them. Oh my. Trust, and that's what
these fellas did. Back over in our text. You know,
that's why Paul, that's why it said one of the evidence of the
election of the Thessalonians was that they turned from their
idols to serve the true and living God. Oh my, they hated that message. And then look what it says here
in verse 28. And when they heard these sayings,
they heard this man doing all the talking, Demetrius doing
all the talking. And when they heard these sayings, they were
full of wrath. They got so angry. They hated
this message and cried out saying, great is Diana of the Ephesians. Oh my. Men believe what they
hear. They heard these things and became
full of wrath. And they began to cry up their
goddess. They began to cry up their idol. And look what happened when they
started doing this. In verse 29, they start talking
about, oh, how great Diana of Ephesians is. And the whole city
was filled with confusion. That's all false religion can
do, confuses you, confuses you. And these folks were confused. And listen to this, having caught
Gaius and Aristarchus, men of Macedonia, Paul's companion in
travel, they rushed with one accord. And I tell you, it produced
confusion. And somebody's gonna have to
answer, look what death says down in verse 32 about confusion.
Some there cried one thing, and some another. For the assembly
was confused, and listen to this, the more part knew not wherefore
they were even come together. They all got together, somebody
started making a bunch of noise, and they just started following
them. Well, something's going on around here. Let's follow
this mob, see what this is about. And they got up there, and most
of them didn't even know what they were there for. Just follow the leader. Our Lord
said, if the blind lead the blind, you know where they both gonna
end up? In the ditch. It produced confusion. And they didn't even know what
in the world was going on. And you know, you ask, you ask
us, you ask two people, ask two people, what their hope is, and
most of the time, they'll give you two different answers. And
then when you get in a, it's like a preacher asked one time,
said, what does your preacher believe? He said, well, he believes
what I believe. Well, what do you believe? I
believe what my preacher believes. And well, what's that? He said,
we both believe the same. And that's the way it is in religion,
ain't it? You know, up here in this one,
there's a place by home, I just tell you, this is how ridiculous
people are. A man says, if you're hot, if you're hot and the heat's
getting to you, come here, cause we're prayer conditioned. We're
prayer conditioned. And God answers, knee mail. And then we're gonna have a splash
bash. That's what I'm telling you.
People will, I've said this before, and a man told a bunch of young
preachers in a place where preachers went to school, and they said
this, he told them this, he said, young gentlemen, be careful what
you preach, because somebody's gonna believe what you say. Now
ain't that right? Be careful of what you say. Somebody's
going to believe it. Now, it's impossible apart from
a revelation of God and the regeneration for a man to know his sinfulness. A freewheeler don't know his
sinfulness. An Armenian don't know his sinfulness.
A church of God don't know his sinfulness. A Catholic don't
know his sinfulness. A Pentecostal don't know his
sinfulness. The only person who knows their sinfulness is people
that God taught it to. And when you find out how sinful
you are, then you know then and there that you've got to have
somebody else do something for you. And when somebody tells
you the only person can do for you is the Lord Jesus Christ,
then you say, Lord, please have mercy on me. And you never stop
that. These folks were not that way.
They were angry. They were angry. And oh my. And they hated that, and look
what it says, God s not made, you can t make gods. And then
it says there in verse 29, They caught Gaius and Aristarchus. And you find both of these men
mentioned later in the Scripture, especially in Romans and especially
in Colossians. Gaius, the Scriptures
tells us, Paul baptized him, and he had a church in his house,
Gaius had a church in his house. Artarchus was a prisoner with
Paul when he was in jail, and I tell you, Paul wasn t afraid.
Look what it says in verse 30, And when Paul would have entered
in unto the people, because they all went into the theater, there
s a big theater there, And I mean, you know, where people could
come and be entertained or preached or get people's attention. But anyway, when Paul would have
entered in under the people, the disciples, please don't do
that. They suffered him, wouldn't allow him to do it. And certain
of the chief of Asia, which were his friends, sent unto him, desiring
him that he would not adventure himself into the theater. Because
he know that don't tell him what would happen to him. And oh my! And so these Jews, these people
here, they didn't know what in the world was going on, most
of them didn't, that's the way false religion is, they just
follow the law, not having a clue. Well, the Jews, they didn't want
to be identified with Paul, they didn't want to be identified
with his Gospel. And so what happened, they drew Alexander
out of the multitude, he's a Jew, putting him up forward in front
of all this palling mob that didn't know what they was doing,
beckoned with the hand and would have made his defense unto the
people. Now, he didn't want to be identified.
He wanted to have a defense. He wanted to defend the Jewish
people. But when they knew that he was a Jew, all with one voice
about the space of two hours, cried out, Great is Diana of
the Ephesians. Oh, my. Oh my, when he started
to try to defend the Jewish position and that we're not identified
with this man, Paul, they cried out for two solid hours, screamed
for two hours, great is God, Diana, the goddess, great goddess
Diana. And that's kind of reminds me
of those false prophets of Baal. You remember when Elijah set
up those altars and he says, now you call on your God, And
you call on Him, and the God that answers by fire, that's
the true God. Well, them fellas, I mean, there's
450 of them. One preacher, one prophet. and there's 450 of them, and
they jumped and danced and jumped on the altar, and they cried,
and they'd get so upset that they started cutting themselves,
started bleeding all over them sacrifices. I mean, they was,
and Paul said, I mean, Elijah said, holler a little louder. Maybe your God's going on a journey,
and he can't hear you. Call out longer and louder. And they cried out and cried
out and cried out and cried out. Finally, they got wore out. Elijah
prayed 67 words. Fire fell. The God that answers by fire,
that's a God. And that's what's happened here.
The God that answers with fire. And oh my, they two hours, they
was like these false prophets, they just could not stand it.
But believers are vindicated. The believers, God's people,
are vindicated. Gaius and Paul and Aristarchus,
they're all vindicated. In verse 35, and when the town
clerk, had appeased the people. Now, I don t know how he appeased
the people, but he got their attention. He got them to calm
down, and he said, You men of Ephesus, and he ve indicated
these people, and he appeased these people, and he made four
points. What man is there that knoweth
not how the city of Ephesians is a worshipper of the great
goddess Diana? That's the first thing, pointing
him over. Everybody in Ephesus knows that the great goddess
Diana, everybody here worships her. And you know why we worship
her? Because her image fell down from Jupiter. Oh, they found something. Boy, I tell you, you can't make
it up. I mean, you know, when you see these people like this.
And oh, my. And everyone knows the image
fell from heaven. And then he says, And then he
said in verse 6, Nobody can deny these things, these things then
which cannot be spoken against. You ought to be quiet about it.
Nobody can say anything against this, because everybody knows
it s right. And then he goes on to say here,
now look what he vindicates the Lord s people. For you have brought
here these men, they re not robbers, they re not robbers, of churches,
they don't steal from churches, they don't go in there and steal
your silver, they don't go steal your idols, nor yet blasphemers
of your goddess. You brought these men and they've
done none of the things you've accused them of." And oh my,
listen, he goes on to say, he said, and the third thing he
said is this, Verse 38, Wherefore, if Demetrius and the craftsmen,
which are with him, have a matter against any man, whether it's
Paul, Gaius, or Arstokas, whoever it is, have a matter against
any man, the laws open. And that means, beloved, that
they had laws on the books, civil laws, things that you could pay
attention to. And there are deputies, there's
people, magistrates that'll set up and let them come up and then
plead one another. Oh my, if you have a charge against
them, against the law, and that's what he goes on to say. And if
you inquire concerning any other matters, it shall be determined
in the lawful assembly. So I tell you what, he said,
why in the world are you bothering these men? They ain't bothered
you. They ain't bothered you. They
ain't hurt you no way. And then he's this one, here's
the fourth point he made. For we are in danger. to be called
in question for this day's uproar. Who's gonna call them in question?
The Roman government. Why was there this uproar? Why
was this confusion? Why is this mob running wild
in here? What's this all about? All this
trying to hurt people. What's this about? We are in
danger to be called in question for this day's, and that's what
he called it, an uproar, just an uproar. There being no cause,
there was no cause for us to do this. whereby we may give
an account of this concourse. There's no reason that we can't
not explain why this happened to the government, if they decide
to come here and do something to us. And I tell you what, he
dismissed them. We dismissed them. But I tell
you, there are still people who have hardness, hardness of heart. There's still hypocrisy. They're still sons of Sceva,
using Christ's name and the apostle's name as a cloak for their evil. They're still men like Demetrius,
covetous, greedy, full of deception and selfishness. And this Alexander
that stood up, you know what Paul said about him? Alexander
the coppersmith did me much evil, the Lord reward him. The Lord
reward him, and that's just Alexander here. And there's still Alexanders
who do evil against God's elect. Well, what are we gonna do? We're
gonna keep on preaching the gospel, like Paul did. We're gonna say,
I'm crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ
liveth in me. And the life that I now live
in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved
me and gave himself for me. That's how we're gonna live,
by him. Our Father, thank you for allowing
us another evening, another time to open your word. We covered
a lot of territory, covered a lot of ground. And Lord, we see the
absurdity of man's false religion. And one time I was in that absurdity. I know what it's like to be bound
by false religion, be bound by legalism and works and never
have any peace. But, oh, I bless you that one
day you crossed my path with the gospel and, Lord, you subdued
my heart, subdued my will, tore down my images, tore down my
false refuges. You know, tore down my bed that
I couldn't cover myself up in. I thank you, Lord, that you did
that one day. And oh, Lord, I bless you for
that day. Oh, God, the day that you crossed my path with the
gospel of the grace of God. Oh, for salvation being of the
Lord, I thank you. God bless you, dear saints here
tonight. Lord, please be with those who are not with us. And
bless those who are watching, listening, and can't be here
through your providence. In Christ's name, I pray. Amen. Amen. Every hour of every day, every
moment and in every way, I'M LEANING ON JESUS HE'S THE ROCK
OF MY SOUL I'M SINGING HIS PRAISE WHEREVER I GO I thought I'd better
try something new. Good night and God bless you.
See you Sunday, Lord willing.