Good evening. Let's stand together.
We'll sing hymn number 337. 337. In the past, sometimes we've,
or usually we've added in some rests and held some stuff out.
I'm going to try to just Keep it flowing tonight, see if we
can all stay together. Still may not get it right, but
we'll try it. Teach me thy way, O Lord, teach
me thy way. Thy guiding grace, O Lord, teach
me to walk or ride, or by faith
blessed by sight, lead me with heavenly light, teach me thy
way. When I am sad at heart, teach
me thy way. When earth flees, depart, teach
me thy way. In hours of loneliness, in times
of dire distress, in failure or success, teach me thy way. When doubts and fears arise,
teach me thy way. When storms o'er spread. Shine through the cloud and rain,
through sorrow, toil, and pain. Make thou my pathway plain. Teach me thy way. Long as my life shall last, teach
me thy way. Be seated. We'll sing hymn number
511. I'll try to do it a little slower
next time. I couldn't keep my record. Hey,
we all stayed together though. We all stayed together, we did. Face to Face, Hymn number 511.
Face to face with Christ my Savior Face to face Wind with rapture I behold Him,
Jesus Christ who died for me. Face to face I shall behold Him,
far beyond the starry sky. Shall see him by and by. Only faintly now I see him, With
the darkling veil between. But a blessed day is coming When
His glory shall be seen Face to face I shall behold Far beyond the starry sky Face
to face in all his glory I shall see What rejoicing in His presence
When our bandaged grief and pain When the crooked ways are straightened
And the dark things shall be blamed Face to face I shall behold Him
Far beyond the starry sky Face to face in all His glory I shall
see Him by and by Face to face, O blissful moment
Face to face, to see and know Face to face with my Redeemer Far beyond the starry sky. Face to face in all His glory,
I shall see Acts chapter 19. Acts chapter
19. I'll read down to verse 12. And if I get farther than that,
we'll deal with it when we get there. Acts 19. And it came to pass that while
Apollos was at Corinth, Paul, having passed through the upper
coast, came to Ephesus and finding certain disciples. He said unto
them, have you received the Holy Ghost since you believed? And
they said unto him, we have not, so much as heard whether there
be any Holy Ghost. And he said unto them, then were
you baptized? And they said unto him, John's
baptism. Then said Paul, John verily baptized
with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people that they
should believe on him which should come after him, that is on Christ
Jesus. But when they heard, they were
baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. And when Paul laid his
hands upon them, the Holy Ghost came on them, and they spake
with tongues and prophesied. And all the men were about 12,
and he went into the synagogue and spake boldly for the space
of three months, disputing and persuading the things concerning
the kingdom of God. But when divers were hardened
and believed not, but spake evil of that way before the multitude,
he departed from them, separated the disciples, disputing daily
in the school of one Tyranus, And this continued by the space
of two years, so that all that dwelt in Asia heard the word
of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks. And God wrought special
miracles by the hand 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. Oh, our Father, our blessed,
blessed Father in heaven. You're glorious in your being.
Your ways are past finding out. But, oh, Lord, you gave us your
word. And, Lord, you're the only one that can give understanding
of it. You're the only one that can bless it. You're the only
one that can make it come home to the heart and the mind, the
understanding. And so we look to you to meet
with us. And bless your word tonight.
Bless not only me to speak it, but them to hear it. And Lord,
give us faith to believe what you say. Give us faith to rejoice
in our Lord Jesus Christ. Lord, we know that all things
come of you. And so we wait on you, trust
you. And we pray for those who are
not with us this evening because of your providence or because
of sickness. or afflictions in their bodies,
we pray for your abundant grace to be given to them, that you'd
uphold them by your wondrous mercy, and that you'd bless them
by the Holy Spirit, and they could listen to the gospel or
watch it. And Lord, we pray for our families. Every one of us
in this building have children, grandchildren, a mother, a father,
a brother or sister that's not saved, that they don't know Christ. And Lord, you're the only one,
you're the one that has to convince them of their need. And Lord,
we ask, please, for Christ's sake, go, go, go, if it would
please you to convince them of their need of Christ. And Lord,
if they're ever, ever brought to the end of themselves, they'll
come gladly, gladly. to hear the gospel. So we look
unto you for all things. Meet with us tonight. We ask
these things in the blessed name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Amen. Hymn number 252. 252. Come every soul by sin oppressed,
There's mercy with the Lord, And He will surely give you rest
By trusting in His Word. Only trust Him, only trust Him,
only trust Him now. He will save you, He will save
you, He will save you now. seems to be stored. Plunge now into the crimson flood
that washes white as snow. Only trust Him, only trust Him,
only trust Him now. He will save you, He will save
you, He will save you now. It is Jesus, it is the truth,
the way that leads you into rest. Believe in Him without delaying,
you are fully blessed. Only trust Him, only trust Him,
only trust Him now. He will save you, He will save
you, He will save you now. I was looking at these verses
today and looking at my notes and I thought, boy, I hope I
can get to, I wanna go through verse 20 if I can. But if I can't,
it's better to be, give you just a little and then give you too
much. But I wanna get my text out of
verse 20 where it says, So mildly grew the word of God, and it
prevailed. So mildly grew the word of God,
and it prevailed. You know, it says so many places
in the book of Acts where the word of God prevailed, that the Word of God
was multiplied, the Word of God was received, it was received
with gladness, it was received with power. And so many times
that it does, and one thing about God's Word, it prevails. It may
not look like it does, but it always prevails. In fact, God
said that He magnified His Word above His own name. And the reason
He did that is He can make another world. He can make a dozen worlds.
He can make a hundred worlds if He chooses to. He can make
all kinds of worlds and inhabit them with whoever He wants to.
But one thing He'll never do, He'll never give another word,
because if He gave another word, then you couldn't trust the word
He gave us now. And that's why He said He magnified
His word above His own name. He can do anything, but I'll
tell you what, what He cannot do is He cannot lie. He cannot
change His Word, and He will not change. We go through changes.
Ain't you thankful that God does not change? His Word does not
change? I'm very thankful for that. Well,
let me get into it. Apollos, you remember we dealt
with him last week, and he went to Corinth and started to build
on Paul's foundation. It says there in verse 28 of
chapter 18, For he mildly convinced the Jews,
and that publicly, showing by the Scriptures, that Jesus was
the Christ. And it came to pass that while
Apollos was in Corinth, that's where he was, Paul said, there's
no other foundation that can be laid other than the foundation
of Christ, which I laid. And then it says, and Paul, having
passed through the upper coast, came to Ephesus, finding certain
disciples. You remember last week He came
through Ephesus, they asked Him to stay, and He told them He
couldn't. In verse 21 of chapter 18 is
what He said. He said, but I will, last part
of verse 21, but I will return again unto you if God willed,
and He sailed from Ephesus. So evidently it was God's will
for Him to go back to Ephesus. So He goes back to Ephesus, and
He said He would. God was using Apollos, but there
was no jealousy, no competition between these preachers. One
was a seed sower and the other was a water boy. It didn't make
any difference. It was God that gave the increase. Now look what it says here in
verse 1. And Paul, having passed through the upper coast, came
to Ephesus, finding certain disciples. certain disciples. Well, who
were these men? He calls them disciples. He calls
them disciples. And then, you know, and who were
these disciples men of? Who were they? Were they disciples
of Christ? Were they disciples of John?
Which one was it? And so when he found these certain
disciples, he said unto them, Have you received the Holy Ghost
since you believed? And oh my, they believed as far
as I can tell, and they were believers in a Christ that was
come, like Apollos was, like Apollos was. But he asked them,
said, have you received the Holy Ghost since you believed? And
oh my, and you know what, they says, no, we've not even heard
so much as there be a Holy Ghost. So how in the world can anybody
know Christ without a revelation? How can anybody know who Jesus
Christ is without a revelation? And he asked them, Have you received
the Holy Ghost since you believed? They were ignorant. They were
absolutely ignorant. They were ignorant. The only
thing they knew was John telling about somebody coming after them,
and that's what they were baptized into, and they were ignorant,
and they said unto him, we don't know so much as heard. Nobody's
ever told us about the Holy Ghost. And this is what our Lord Jesus
said, or John the Baptist said. He said, indeed, I baptize you
with water unto repentance, but there's coming one after me,
He'll baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire, and the
Holy Ghost never come on the believers until our Lord ascended
back to heaven, and when He went back to heaven, the Holy Ghost
came on them on the day of Pentecost in a special and miraculous way. And that's how everybody knowed
that God had come upon these people because they spake with
another language, and the Holy Ghost come on them, and these
fellows said, We're ignorant! We don't know anything about
this! And this is the thing about, I'm gonna tell you people, people
that really, you know, preach the Holy Ghost instead of preaching
Christ. They preach the gifts of the
Holy Ghost. They preach the power and the miracle working power
of the Holy Ghost. How that God will heal people
through it. And that the only evidence you can have you being
saved is by speaking in tongues. Only way you can have any evidence
you know God is by speaking in tongues. Well, These fellows
was ignorant of it, and I tell you, people that preach it like
that, THEYRE ignorant of the Holy Ghost! THEYRE ignorant of
the Scriptures! The Scriptures tells us EXACTLY
who we re to believe. He said, and then Paul went on
to say this, How could they believe Christ without the Holy Ghost
revelation, without being TAUGHT And that's what our Lord said,
when He, the Spirit, His truth has come, He'll take the things
of mine and show them unto you. That's what He'll do. He'll take
things that belong to me, and He'll teach you the things that
belong to me. So evidently, these men were not disciples of Christ.
They were not disciples of Christ. A man can't believe on Christ
without the Holy Spirit. He can't do it. It's an impossibility. Let me show you something, 1
Corinthians 1, 9. Look over here in 1 Corinthians 1, verse 9,
or chapter 2, excuse me, chapter 2 and verse 9. Look what he says here. He said, but as it is written,
I hath not seen nor ear heard, neither have entered into the
heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that
love him. But the next verse tells us something
else. But God hath revealed them us
what things? THE THINGS THAT I NEVER SEEN,
EAR NEVER HEARD, NEVER EXPERIENCED AND ENTERED THE HEART OF MAN,
BUT GOD REVEALED THEM. THEY NEVER ENTERED OUR HEARTS
AND NEVER ENTERED OUR EARS, WHAT GOD HAD PREPARED FOR US FROM
THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD, BUT GOD HATH REVEALED THEM UNTO
US BY SPIRIT. WELL, HOW DO WE KNOW? WE DIDN'T
HEAR THESE THINGS, BUT BY THE SPIRIT. WE DIDN'T SEE THESE THINGS,
BUT BY THE SPIRIT. We never had these things entered
into our heart until God taught us by the Spirit. And look what
he says, the Spirit searcheth. He goes into the scriptures.
He goes into the Word of God. He goes into men's hearts. And
he searches all things, yea, even the deep things of God,
what God did for us in Christ. And so that's what he's talking
about. Then he asked him a question. First question, have you received
the Holy Ghost since you believed? We don't know there's such a
thing. Now he asked him a second question in verse three. And
he said unto them, what then were you baptized? Unto what
then were you baptized? If you were baptized and I, you
know, and they said unto John's baptism, John's baptism. Oh my,
now listen. John had been gone. Remember,
he was beheaded early in our Lord's ministry. John the Baptist
was beheaded, so it wasn't John that baptized these people. It
wasn't John, it was one of John's disciples. John had been gone
for a long time. Christ had already sent him back
to glory. Christ was sitting on the throne.
So when these fellas talk about being baptized, it had to be
under John's baptism, had to be one of John's disciples. And
they come and told them what John said about someone coming
after him. But they didn't know him that
was coming after him. All they know is what John said.
And I'll tell you, and they were baptized unto repentance, baptized
unto repentance. And oh my, Paul had a certain
method of dealing with people, and we'll get into that here
in a minute. But I want you to see something with me over in
1 Corinthians 9, how Paul dealt with men, Jew or Gentile alike. 1 Corinthians 9 and verse 19. You know, he had a special method.
God used him in a wondrous way. And so he asked these fellas
two questions. Have you received the Holy Ghost
since you believed? So he recognized that there was
something about these fellas being there. And then the second
question, what then were you baptized to? If you wasn't baptized
into Christ and baptized into the name of Christ, and by the
name of Christ, what baptism did you have? Now, this is what
Paul would say in verse 19 of I Corinthians 9. He said, Though
I be free from all, I am not in bondage to anybody, yet I
have made myself servant unto all, that I might gain more. And listen to what He said, Under
the Jews I became as a Jew. What does that mean? He understood
a Jew s thinking. He understood the Law. He understood
how Jews thought. He understood what Jews trusted
in. He understood Jew because He was a Jew. He could relate
to Jews because He was a Jew, that I might gain the Jews. He
said, You won t think you re a Jew. I m a Jew. I m a Hebrew
of Hebrews. My mother s a Jew. My daddy s
a Jew. I m a full-blooded Jew. to in
all that help of son of Benjamin. And then what God, he goes on
to say, to them that are under the law is under the law. What
does that mean? Does he go back under the law?
No, he said, I can identify with you that were under the law.
Cause I know what it's like to be free from the law. I know
what it's like to not be in bondage under the law. I know what it
is to not be in bondage under the ceremonies and the rituals
and the cleansings and the prayers and the fastings. And I know
what it is. I know what it is. And oh listen, then he says,
that I might gain them under the law. And to them that are
without law, to them that are without law, as without law.
Now what does that mean? That means people like us. We
wasn't raised Jews. We didn't know anything about
the Jewish law and all the ceremonies and all the things that Moses
taught and all that. But look what he says, being
not without law to God, principles toward God, and under the law
of Christ. He said, I'm under those two.
My bondage is to God and to Christ that I might gain them that are
without law. And then I come upon somebody
weak. He come on somebody very weak, weak in the faith. He said,
I became weak. He said, you think somebody's
weak. Then he could identify with anybody in any situation
they was, because he blessed them. And then that I made all
things to all that I might by all means save some. God blessed
him to have an ability to enter into what people were going through.
And John's baptism, back over in our text, John's baptism was
under repentance. And repentance means a change
of mind. It means a change of mind. It
was a change of repentance toward a relationship with God. And
that's why he told them to flee from the wrath to come. John
was speaking of someone to come. not somebody that had come. John
was speaking of someone that was come. He was promised to
come. He was promised to be the prophet.
He was promised to be the priest and promised to be a king. He
was a prophet like Moses. He was a priest like Melchizedek,
king like David, except he came lowly, meek and lowly, riding
on a colt on the fold of an ass. And when John came, John came,
and when Christ finally came on the scene, John recognized
exactly who He was. He said, He's coming after me,
and I'm not worthy to unloose the latching of His shoe. And
then one day, John saw Him coming, and he watched Him being baptized. And he saw the Spirit of God
come down like a dove, and God told him, whoever said, whoever
you see the Spirit of God come down in the form of a dove, that's
him. And you know what John said?
That's the Lamb of God. That's one that God provided,
the one that Abraham was talking about. God will provide himself
a lamb. And that was that lamb. And oh
my, and John went on to say, I saw and bear record that this
was indeed the Son of God. Son of God. And oh, look what
happens now. Look what he said in verse four.
Then Paul said, John barely baptized with a baptism of repentance,
saying unto the people that they should believe on him which shall
come after them, that's on Christ. And Andrew and them absolutely
did. They started following him. Now
listen to this now. And when they heard, when they
heard, they were baptized in the name
of the Lord Jesus. When they heard, Here's the thing,
you know why God sends preachers? You know why God sends preachers
and raise up preachers? How shall they believe on Him
of whom they have not heard? These fellas couldn't believe
on Christ because they've never heard of Christ. They just heard
of John talking about somebody to come, and when they heard,
when they heard, and how shall they call on him whom they have
not believed, and how shall they believe in him of whom they have
not heard? And how are they going to hear, except God send them
a preacher? Well, God sent these men a preacher. Huh? Oh, my. And I tell you, the whole
purpose of God, of sending preachers is for people to hear. And do
you notice that hear has got E-A-R in it? That means if God gonna get to
you, he gonna get through the ear gate. That's what old John
Bunyan said. John Bunyan said, God bombard
that ear gate, and he sets up his engine and starts firing
until he gets in that ear gate. And when he gets there, he gets
in the understanding, and understanding right then and there says, oh
my. And oh my. And I'm telling you,
their message must not only be right, it don't have to be deep,
You know what it has to be? Consistent. Consistent about
Christ who has come. Christ, what He accomplished
when He came. Christ, who He died for. Christ,
why He died. Christ, where He is now. And
that's what we gotta be consistent about Christ. And then they were
baptized in the name of the Lord. Oh my. And here's the thing about
it. I told you all about that preacher
in Florida, that Billy Argeropoulos, well, he s meeting with a group
in another building now, but anyway, he s going to go over
to Greg Amquist on August the 27th, and he s going over there, you
know why? To be baptized since he s been a believer. He'd been
baptized before, but he said, since I know Christ, since I
know the gospel, since I know what the gospel is and I know
who Christ is and what He did for me, I want to be baptized
as a believer, not as a religious fellow, not as a church member,
not as somebody who had an experience. I want to be baptized as a believer
and as a preacher. That's a preacher. Oh my, and
I tell you what, if their baptism was right, why'd
they have to be baptized again? You know, you can always tell
a fella that always goes back to his Armenian days. He says he believes in sovereignty,
believes in election, he believes that God chose him, but if they
are ever brought to see their sinfulness and their need
for Christ and they actually trust Christ instead of going
back there and feel like I've learned some more, I just know
more than these fellas over here. So I'm gonna stay over here in
this Armenian bunch and I'm gonna try to instruct them in things.
I don't know. You ain't going to struck them
in anything. They're going to make you sick. But anyway, if
you hold to Armenians and run around with a bunch of Armenians
and CLAIM that you know the doctrines of grace and believe the doctrine
of grace, there's something bad wrong with you. When God saves
a man, he believes grace from the top of his head to the sole
of his feet. He believes that if God didn't
save him, he wouldn't be saved. And that's what these fellows
learned. They believed on Christ, never heard of him. They believed
on him when Paul preached to him. They trusted him when Paul
preached to him. Oh my, and then look what happens
now. In verse six, and when Paul laid
his hands upon them, this is what happened. The Holy Ghost
came on them and they done like they did on the day of Pentecost,
spake with tongues and they began to preach. They began to prophesy,
they began to talk, they began to say some things about Christ. Now, did they speak in a tongue
that Paul didn't understand? No. Did they speak in a tongue
that other people didn't understand? No. They spoke in a language
that somebody there understood what they were saying. It wasn't
a bunch of jibber jabber. It wasn't a bunch of that at
all. And oh my, and the Holy Ghost
came on them and that proved that they were believers now.
They believers now. And look what it said in verse,
and all the men were about 12. There's about a dozen of them.
Oh my. I tell you, you could start a
congregation with 12 men like that. And if these fellows were married
and their wives was a believer, you'd have 24 strong believers. That's a dozen of them. And oh
my. And I tell you, the Word of God
prevailed over these John's disciples, prevailed over the gospel, prevailed
over the Holy Ghost coming on them, prevailed when they heard
the word of God. And I tell you what, and then
Paul said, look what he said here in verse eight. And he went
into the synagogue, that was his custom. He went into the
synagogue and spake boldly, boldly, with great liberty and with fearlessness
for the space of three months, disputing and persuading the
things concerning the kingdom of God. Oh my, he spake boldly
of God's kingdom. Now what in the world, when he
talks about God's kingdom, what is God's kingdom? Where is it
at? When will it come? Well, I tell you what, I think
he preached when he preached, you know, the Kingdom of God.
He preached that God rules this world through His Son, the Lord
Jesus Christ. That God rules this world and
everybody else through His Son. God's rules in Christ. If you
want to know God and have a relationship with God, it's got to come in
Christ, and Christ is not somebody that you're going to bargain
with. And you know, where is the Kingdom of God? Look in Luke
17, I want you to see this. I think we need to see this in
Luke 17. Luke 17, oh my, what is it? It's the kingdom of God, God's
rule in Christ. He hath translated us into the
kingdom of his dear son. God's got a kingdom and I think
I'm in that kingdom. I do, you know, these Jehovah
Witnesses, you know, they talk about a kingdom to come. Listen,
the king's already got a kingdom here right now, and I'm a subject
of that kingdom. I live in that kingdom. I love
that kingdom. I got a king in this kingdom.
Look what he said here in verse 20 of Luke 17. And when he was DEMANDED of the
Pharisees, can you imagine somebody demanded something of Christ?
But these guys were so high on their self and so arrogant and
so full of their selves, and when he demanded of the Pharisees
when the Kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said,
The Kingdom of God don't come with you LOOKING for it, with
observation, with an outward SHOW. Neither shall they say, Oh, it
s over here, it s over there. Now listen to this, The Kingdom
of God is within you. Huh? That s where it s at. It s not over here, it s not
over there, it s in people! It s in people! And oh my, that
s what, and then when it came, oh, when His King came running
into Jerusalem, say unto Zion, Thy God reigns, His born King
of the Jews, And so as he persuaded these things for three months
in the synagogues, look what happens in verse nine. But when divers, so many different
people were hardened, hardened. And believe not. Now that's enough
right there. That's enough to be hardened.
God hardeneth whom he will. And this is the people that scripture
says they hardened their hearts. Well, when God hardens a man's
heart, he ain't gonna hear the gospel. And these fellas hardened
their hearts. And I tell you, when God gives
up on a man, he's in trouble. Look what happens now. And no,
it's bad enough to harden your heart and believe not, but they
went another step farther and spake evil of that way before
the multitude. My it's bad enough to have a
hard heart It's bad enough to be not a believer It's but oh
my to turn around and speak evil of what they're doing Speak evil
of these men and what they're preaching To say these guys are
wicked. They're miserable. They're telling
lies on God Can you imagine somebody being that way? I? But oh my,
that's awful. And I tell you, God will harden
whom He wills, not enough to reject it, but to turn around
and speak evil of it. That's awful. And I know a preacher,
he's dead and gone now, but he told people to stay away from
me and Bruce Crabtree. We went off the deep end on election
and particularly redemption and God's sovereignty. And when we
had a conversation about it, I told him that God, I said,
man is so desperately lost, so dead that if God don't quicken
him, ain't no hope for him. He said, oh, I believe in total
depravity, but the one thing that God left free, one thing
that he left free in the fall, he left his will free. And that man never changed, never
changed, never come to me and said, I'm sorry. He went on and told time and
time again, don't listen to them fellas. Don't listen to them
fellas. Went off the deep end. Well,
I tell you what, I'm glad I did. I'm glad I went, I'm glad I went,
I'm glad I got in so deep that nobody can get me out of it,
not even God. He won't get me out of it. That's a good way to get deep,
ain't it, Brad? Oh, my! And then Paul went to
school. Look what it says here in verse
10. No, verse 9, excuse me. They
hardened and they spake evil of that way, and he said, Listen,
you fellas don t want to believe it, your heart s hardened, and
God s gave you up, said, You know what I m going to do? I'm
gonna leave you fellas alone. I'm gonna leave you fellas alone.
I'm gonna just walk off and leave you to God and His judgment and
His wrath and His condemnation. I'm gonna leave you with God
Almighty. And He departed from them and
separated. Then all the disciples went with
Him. Nobody stayed in the synagogue.
Nobody stayed in false religion. Everybody's a disciple went with
wherever Paul was preaching. And look what happens now. And
he separated disciples and disputing daily in the school of one tyrannous. He went to school. And all these
Jews are going to this school, and all these people are going
to this school. Well, Paul, he went to that school. He said,
listen, I'm going to teach you all something here at school.
He said, hey, these fellows come in there, and he'd dispute with
them and persuade them. Well, you know, they'd bring
up a verse of Scripture, and Paul said, well, that Scripture
means this, and then you go on, he'd go on to the next Scripture,
and he'd persuade them from the Scriptures that these things
were so. Thank the soul, oh my. And then
I'll tell you, he just, now not only on the Sabbath day, but
it says he did this daily, disputing daily. He quit going just on
the Sabbath day. Every day he was there. And look
how long he stayed there. And verse 10, this can continue
by the space of two years. He stayed there two years, preaching
in that school. Preaching in that school, huh?
And oh, listen to this now. So that all dwelt in Asia, everybody
in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks. It didn't say all of them believed,
but they all heard, they all heard. And I tell you what, it'd
be better for you to never heard than to hear it and leave it.
That's a fact. Then look what happens in verse
11. Look what happens in verse 11. And
God wrought special miracles by the hands of Paul. You remember
our Lord said, and He done all these wondrous works and all
that, and He says, these men that follow after me, these disciples
are gonna do greater works than these. And there's one of those
instances where they've done greater works than Christ. When
people would touch the hem of Christ's garment, they'd be made
whole. And they'd get at His feet and touch His garment at
His feet. But here is somebody that they're not touching Paul's
garments. Now listen to what happens now.
God brought special miracles by the hands of Paul. Oh my. Here they're healed by taking
parts of Paul's garments. So that from his body, they took
clothes off of his body. And you remember when Simon Peter
would just walk by somebody and his shadow would fall over and
they'd be healed. That's how God used these men
in a miraculous way to let people know that they were His people.
Peter had walked by people, walked down the street, and His shadow
would come over them, and they would be healed. And look what
it says here. They brought unto the sick handkerchiefs
that came from Him, or aprons, anything that come off His body.
And they took them to people, and the diseases departed from
them, and the evil spirits went out. Went out. Oh, my. I tell you, you think about that. And all these healers. Shirley was telling me this today
about somebody that was talking about this healing and that. People used to watch people on
TV, and I guess they still do, where somebody said, you know,
and they'd say, listen, I'm going to make his leg, one leg short
and I'm going to make that leg grow out. They take that leg
and they stretch it out there. That's as funny as a $3 meal.
Then they tell you, you know, I've got this special part come
off my body. You send me $50 and I'll send
this to you and you'll get healed. Huh? I'll send you some special
anointing oil. But it always, and listen, if
you ever find any healer, anybody that's performing miracles, preaching
the gospel of the grace of God, I'll listen to them. And if they
can really perform miracles, the first place they ought to
start is children's hospitals. And people just, they just eat
that stuff up like it's ice cream with a big spoon. But I'll tell
you what, you know, and Hebrews 2 says this, that these men,
God gave them special, special powers, and when the Word of
God came, the miracles ceased. All these things ceased. When
the Word of God was complete, these gifts ceased. When the
Scriptures were complete, these were special gifts given to chosen
men. And I tell you what, the greatest
miracle that God ever done for a man, Now I tell you what, you
can get sight and still perish. You can get your hearing restored
and still perish. You can get healed of cancer
and get over cancer and still perish. But one thing you can't
do, if God does a miracle, and it is a miracle, salvation is
an absolute miracle of the working power of God himself on the soul
of a man. That's the greatest miracle God's
ever done for anybody in this building. is to save him. And
you know what? He saved him in spite of himself.
We were a bunch of rebels and he come made us, made us his
children. Well, let me just give you these next
few verses. I hope I'm not, you know, then
verse 13. And it won't take me but just
a few minutes to go there. Then certain of vagabond Jews. You know what a vagabond Jew
is? Those folks that didn't think anything in the world about the
law, nothing. They was rebels of even the Jewish
people. They did not attend and acknowledge
the Jewish tradition. Then certain vagabond Jews, exorcists. Everybody knows what an exorcist
is, they supposed to be able to cast out devils. And took
upon them to call over them which had evil spirits, the name of
the Lord Jesus saying. And they come up over this fellow
and said, we adjure you, we command you by Jesus, listen to this
now, whom Paul preaches. to Paul, and they said, Boy,
Jesus has got some power, and look what Paul s doing by the
name of the Lord Jesus Christ. And there were seven sons of
Sceva, a Jew, and chief of the priests which did so. Now, watch
what happens now. Oh, my goodness. Listen to this. Well, I'll find it here in a
minute. Where am I? Well, well, well, well, well.
There we go. There we go. I'll find it. But
anyway, and the evil spirit, now listen to what happens now.
We're Jews. We command you. See, this is
new magic. This is magic to these people.
They said, oh my, Paul's casting out demons just by his clothes. So we adjure thee, command thee
by Paul, Jesus by whom Paul preaching. This was a new magic thing to
them. They were like Simon Magus, and
they felt like they was gonna have a special power. Well, what
happened to them? Well, the evil spirit, now listen
to this now. Jesus I know, now this is that
spirit in this man talking to these seven men. and the evil
spirit, and it's Jesus I know, and Paul I know, but who in the
world are you? Who are you? We know who Jesus
Christ is. We know who Paul is. old Barnard
said, This is a preacher known in hell. Paul was a preacher
known in hell, and they was. And look what it says here, And
the man in whom the evil spirit was jumped on them, leaped on
them, I mean, there's seven of these fellas there, and he got
so, I mean, you're talking about getting power. He jumped on these
fellas, and he overcame these fellas. I mean, seven of them.
He's whooping seven people, seven men, and overcame them and prevailed
against them, so they fled out of that house naked. He ripped
their clothes off, and they was wounded. They had black eyes
and bruises and bruised jaws and Maybe a broke rib or two,
I don't know, but they was in bad shape when they left that.
And oh my, look what happened over this happening. And this
was known to all the Jews and Greeks also dwelling at Jerusalem. Here's the first thing that happened.
Talking about the word of God prevailing. Fear fell on them
all. And listen to this, and they
magnified the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's magnify,
make his name to be up here great and glory above anybody else's
name that's ever been named. And look what it says, and many
that believed came and confessed. And when it says showing their
deeds, that means that they came to the light confessing that
their deeds were evil. And listen to this now, and many
of them also with curious hearts, that means witchcraft, books
of magic, soothsaying and all that kind of stuff, many of them
also with curious hearts brought their books together and burned
them before all. They had a bonfire. What kind
of books was they getting rid of? Well, it d be like me getting
rid of a bunch of Armenian books. But, you know, take them and
burn them. But that's what these fellas
did. They brought all their books and set them on fire, and they
counted the price of them and found it 50,000 pieces of silver. That's how many books they burned
right there. And the word of God grew mightily. It prevailed. And I tell you,
the word of God, it's quick and powerful, sharper than any two-edged
sword. But I tell you what, next time
you see one of these here priests or one of these preachers says
he's gonna cast out a devil, you ain't gonna do it. You ain't
gonna do it. If there's a real devil in them,
they're gonna get whipped. They're gonna get whipped. If
they got a real devil in them, they're gonna get whipped. Huh? Oh my. Because I tell you, Jesus
we know and Paul we know, but who in the world are you? That's
what they would say to us. That's why I'm not going, but
Christ done stepped on his head. Christ done crushed his head.
Might have healed his, you know, bruised his heel, but he crushed
his head on the cross. And that's all I need to know
about the devil, ain't you? Our Father, oh, thank you. I praise you and bless you for
your great and abundant mercy given us. Lord, you allowed us
another time of worship, another time of hearing the word of God,
hearing about our Lord Jesus and who he is and how people
believe on him and how they confess him and what they do when they
confess him. Oh, Lord, we're so thankful for
your word, teaches us these things, shows us these things. And oh,
Lord, bring glory to yourself through all of us here. Oh, Lord,
help us to glorify you and honor you in our lives, and do it for
Christ's sake. Amen. Amen. Thank you, Lord, for saving my
soul. Thank you, Lord, for making me
whole. Thank you, Lord, for giving to
me Thy great salvation so rich and free. See you Sunday, God
willing.