Turn to Acts chapter 19. Acts chapter 19. I want to pick up where we left
off last week. I'm going to start reading from
verse 21. I'll read this chapter, then
I'll ask Frank to lead us in prayer. In verse 21, 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. I titled the message An Uproar
Over That Way. For a certain man named Demetrius,
a silversmith, which made silver shrines for Diana, brought no
small gain unto the craftsman, whom he called together with
the workmen of like occupation, and said, Sirs, ye know that
by this craft And he should have said, if he had been right, if
he had said, by this craftiness, that would have been more accurate,
wouldn't it? By this craft we have our wealth. Moreover, ye
see and hear that not alone at Ephesus, but almost throughout
all Asia, Asia cannot say they have not heard the gospel, all
Asia, this Paul has persuaded and turned away much people,
saying that there be no gods which are made with hands." Well,
that's only part of the message, wasn't it? Paul said that, but
he also preached there is one God. But as false prophets do,
they leave out half the message. So that not only this, our craft
is in danger to be said it not, 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 worshipped.
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, and traveled, they rushed with
one accord into the theater. And when Paul would have entered
in unto the people, the disciples suffered him not. And certain
of the chief of Asia," and here is God's providence. He brought
some of those chiefs, those important men of Asia, and they befriended
Paul, and God used that. God used that for this very time.
Which were his friends, they sent unto him, desiring him that
he should not adventure himself into the theatre. Some therefore
cried one thing, and some another. Listen to this verse, verse 32
here. For the assembly was confused, and the more part knew not wherefore
they were. They didn't know why they was
there. Isn't that a mark of a false
religion of ours, they don't even know what's going on. They
were there, caught up in that whole shouting and all this going
on, this confusion that was going on, and for the most part, they
didn't know why they were there. They were following the crowd.
They drew Alexander, and they say this is Alexander the Coppersmith.
You know, Paul said, Alexander the Coppersmith hath done me
much harm. And that's who they say this is, people I've read.
They drew Alexander out of the multitude, the Jews putting him
forth, forward, trying to quiet this thing down. And Alexander
beckoned with a hand and would have made his defense unto the
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. And when the town clerk stepped
forward and had appeased the people, he said, Ye men of Ephesus,
What man is there that knoweth not how that the city of the
Ephesians is a worshipper of the great goddess Diana, and
of the image which fell down from Jupiter?" A man actually
made this image, and then they said it fell down from Jupiter,
and the people fell for it. Boy, we just fall for anything,
won't we? Seeing then that these things
cannot be spoken against, you ought to be quiet and do nothing
rashly. For ye have brought hither these
men, which are neither robbers of churches, nor yet blasphemers
of your goddess. Wherefore, if Demetrius and the
craftsmen which are with him have a matter against any man,
the law is open, and there are deputies, let them implead one
another. But if ye inquire anything concerning other matters, it
shall be determined in a lawful For we are in danger to be called
in question for this day's uproar." Boy, he don't know what he said
there, does he? They're going to be called in
question one day. But he's talking about the Roman government. But
there's a higher power than that that's going to call them into
question. There being no cause whereby we may give an occasion
for this concourse. And when he had thus spoken,
he dismissed the assembly. As I said, I titled the message, and uproar over that way. The gospel will bring peace to
the heart, to the heart of those to whom God sends it. It will
bring peace. It will bring joy, but not necessarily
to your home. David said, It be not so with
my house. God hath made with me an everlasting
covenant, ordered in all things and sure. Some people enjoy the
great blessing of God saving the whole family. Some people
enjoy that. Some don't. Some families are
divided over it. But so be it. So be it. Now let's look at the rest of
this chapter. It says there that Paul purposed
in spirit. He purposed within himself to
go to Jerusalem. Then he wanted to go to Rome. Paul, being led by the Holy Spirit,
wanted to go up to Jerusalem and encourage the brethren and
take some of the support that Timothy and Erastus, who went
before him over into Macedonia, and they would take collections
of it, and Paul was going to take it to Jerusalem. and help relieve
the church there in Jerusalem. Then after that, he wanted to
go see Rome. He wanted to preach the gospel
in Rome. And while he was thinking upon
this journey, an uproar started over the gospel. The gospel began
to affect some men's pocketbooks. It began to affect some people's
pocketbooks. Some people started to leave
their superstition and believe the gospel. You remember we read
last week, I believe it was, they went and burned their books.
Well, that was costing some people some money, costing them some
jobs. And it says there in verse 23,
there arose no small stir about that way. That whole city were stirred
up by one man. You may ask, can one man cause
that much trouble? Can one man do that? One man brought the whole world
under condemnation. One man did it. Can you believe that? The whole
world came under condemnation by one man's act of disobedience. And this one man here stirred
up this whole town. I tell you this, ever since the
fall, there has been no small stir over that way. From the
time that Adam fell, and God said to Adam and Eve and Satan,
He said, is going to bruise Satan's head.
Satan bruises his heel, but he's going to bruise his head. And
ever since then, there's been no small stir over him. Wherever Christ enters, there
are those who believe and those who believe not. He separates. He causes the separation. And
there was no small stir over that way of grace alone through
Christ alone. There was no small stir over
that way. That way that gives God all the glory causes a stir
among fallen men. Satan will always be an enemy
of Christ to the way of God. He'll always be an enemy. And
men will always be an enemy to that way. I thought about this
last night. If Satan were to perish and exist
no more, and all the angels and demons that have followed him
exist no more, men would still be evil. We don't need Satan
to be evil. We have a nature born from Adam. We have a fallen nature that's
evil without Satan. Without him, we haven't. We have. Men are natural-born
enemies of God. There was a movie out. I didn't
see it, but I remember the title of it. Natural-born killers.
That explains the human race. Natural-born killers. There is a natural-born enmity
to God in every human heart. Therefore, the way God saves
sinners will always be a target. It will always be a target for
that enmity to shoot at. And Christ will always be that
target that they shoot at, because He is God's glory and salvation.
Men always choose the way. They always choose the way that
most promotes self. I know this one by experience.
We always, by nature, choose the way that most promotes self
until God comes along, until God speaks in power, until God
makes a difference, until He makes a change. Men will always
choose that way that most promotes themselves. Men seek the way
that gives them the most glory and the most boasting power.
But the gospel excludes boasting, and that causes an uproar. It
causes an uproar with natural men. I want you to look over
in Isaiah 54. Look in verse 8. Let me read verse 7 along with
it. Let the wicked forsake his way, his way, his way of unrighteousness,
his way of saving himself the way he thinks God saves. Let
the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts.
And let him return unto the Lord and bow to him. And he will have mercy upon him.
And to our God he will abundantly pardon for my thoughts. are not
your thoughts. We don't think on that level.
God says you don't think on this level. This is why we trust Him,
because we can't see and comprehend all that He is and does. Neither
are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens
are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your
ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. I'm glad we have a God. I'm glad God Almighty's ways
are higher than my ways. And I'm sure glad His thoughts
are higher than my thoughts. My thoughts aren't very, and your
thoughts, we're all men and women of like passion. Our thoughts
don't go too high. They don't go too high. I'm sure
glad that He's, God said, now you just trust me. You trust
me. My thoughts are higher than your
thoughts. My ways are higher than your
ways. You just trust me. Man's ways are motivated by sense
and sin. God's is righteousness and holiness,
which is the right way. But he's speaking here about that way, singular. He's speaking about a particular
way. God's way of showing mercy to
sinners is one way. It's not one of many ways. There's
only one way. I'll tell you what, they knew
it too. They understood it. A lot of
them didn't like it, but they understood it. There's only one way. by which mercy and truth can
meet together, and righteousness and peace kiss
each other. There's only one way that can
happen. There's only one way that God
Almighty can make a sinner righteous before Him. There's only one
way that you and I can stand before God Almighty righteous. There's only one way. Not many
ways. There are many ways preached
in our day. There's only one way. There's only one way for
God to justify sinners. There's only one way that God
Almighty can justify me, clear me of all charges, and be a just
God in doing so. There's only one way. And that
one way is Jesus Christ, His Son. Christ Himself said, and
you've heard, we've heard this over the years, we've read it
many times, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man
comes unto the Father but by me. He's the way. And Paul made
it very clear that there was only one way to be accepted with
God. Only one. And that one is Jesus
Christ Himself. Accepted. He hath made us what? Accepted. You know who he wrote
that to? The Ephesians. Let's look over
there. This is why they're upset. Just
look over at the letters that he wrote to the Ephesians. Where's that at? I didn't write
it down. He hath made us accepted in the Beloved. Here it is, verse
6. Well, let me just read part of
this chapter. This will give you a sense why
there is such an uproar. He says here, Blessed be the
God and Father, in verse 3, of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath
blessed us with all spiritual blessings and heavenly places
in Christ, according as He has chosen us in Him before the foundation
of the world. Paul preached election to them,
that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love. Boy,
you talk about predestination nowadays around people, and you
get some upset people. They don't understand it. God
predestinated us to be like His Son. That's what it's about.
Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus
Christ Himself according to the good pleasure of His will, to
the praise of the glory of His grace wherein He hath made us
accepted He didn't just make us acceptable. He made us accepted
in the Beloved, in the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul made it very clear
when he preached to those Ephesians the Gospel and the way to God
and the way God saves sinners. He made it very clear. And they got upset about it. No one was confused when Paul
preached, was they? Now, when they came to that assembly,
Demetrius got them all shook up. They came to that assembly,
and it was confused. But when they heard Paul preach,
I guarantee you, they were not confused. They knew exactly what
he was preaching. That's why they got upset, because
they heard him. They knew what he was saying.
Oh, they knew that Paul was preaching that the way to God, the way
of salvation, the way of righteousness, the way of justification is in
the Lord Jesus Christ. They didn't like it, but they
knew what he preached. It's like those vagabond Jews. Remember
what they said over here? We'll go back over here in verse
13. Yeah, this is chapter 19, verse
13. 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 preaches. They knew exactly who Paul preached. They didn't say, We adjure you
by what Paul preaches. No, they said, We adjure you
by Jesus, whom Paul preaches. They were not confused over when
they heard Paul. Even those vagabond Jews said,
Paul preaches this Jesus. He preached a person. He didn't
preach a what. He preached a person. And they
knew it. And now Demetrius, this silversmith,
a trade, a crook by choice, he stirred the other cracksmen up.
He got the cracksmen union to get through here. And he stirred
them up. He made them believe that their
wealth was in danger. He knew where to hit them at,
didn't he? You want to start somebody up, hit them in the
pocketbook. He didn't speak to their reason. He spoke to their
pocketbook. The first thing people want to
do is take care of themselves. They want to make sure that everything
on the home front is taken care of. And he knew what he was doing. He knew what he was doing. Lost
men and women are much more concerned about
their personal welfare, and this is sad, it really is, more concerned
about our personal welfare, and we were this way before God saved
us, called us by His grace, revealed His Son in us, more concerned
about our personal welfare than the truth of God, in the eternal
destiny of our souls. That's sad. We ought to be so
much more concerned about the end of all things than the beginning
of it. And old Demetrius said, if we
leave Paul alone, we'll go broke. We will go broke. And you answer this question. Is it better to be broke and
have Christ than to be rich and perish? Where did the rich man lift up
his eyes from? Poor man. The rich man. This man was rich. The scripture
says he's rich. He's a rich man. And he lifted
up his eyes in torment, being in these flames. But that poor
man Lazarus, who was a child of God, was in the bosom of Abraham.
He was in peace, rest. He was with the Lord. Be careful. Be careful who and
what you let yourself Get stirred up about it. Make sure it's over
the gospel. Make sure it's over the gospel.
I worked at a place one time. It's out of business now, years
ago. Those guys would go on a wildcat strike just like that. I mean,
two guys get bent out of shape. The next thing you know, the
whole shop has been out of shape. And they walk out on the street.
Probably out of business. But they walk out on the street,
and most of the people, most of the guys, would walk out there
because they wanted to be on a break. I mean, it didn't matter
what the situation was. It didn't matter. It didn't matter
what the situation was over. The guys that were upset got
their way. They got the people to walk out, and the guys that
walked out, they got a break. In a company without business,
be careful what you let yourself get stirred up over. These men had become wealthy.
They had become wealthy, especially Demetrius. He probably headed
this thing up. But they had become wealthy over
men and women's ignorance of that way. They took advantage of the people.
You know, people are religious by nature. They want to believe
something. They just know something's missing
and so you present a god to them Little G. And they'll follow
it. They'll follow it. So what Demetrius and them did,
they made trinkets. Like today, they make crosses. People buy these crosses and
they wear them around their necks and their earrings and all these
little trinkets and all these little statues. That's what these
men did. It hasn't changed. It hasn't
changed. They made these trinkets of the goddess of Diana. And
people would buy them, especially people from out of town. They
would come into town. This is one of the seven wonders
of the world, they said, this temple. And this goddess, they
made of diamond. And they'd take it home, and
they'd put it up on a shelf, and worship in front of them.
And worship. People were so steeped in darkness
and idolatry, they couldn't see. They couldn't see. Have you ever
tried to see what's pitch black? I don't care how wide open your
eyes are, you can't see. I have been in darkness before
to where I could put my hand like this and I could not see
my hand. That's the way every man and
woman, that's the way they're born into this world. Absolute
darkness. They can't see the hand in front
of them. I can't see it. We can only see if God commands
the light. If God commands the light to
shine into your heart and give you the knowledge of the glory
of the Lord Jesus Christ, of the knowledge of God in the face
of Christ, you'll see. You'll see the foolishness. You'll
see the foolishness of just world religion. You'll see the foolishness
of yourself. You'll see. You'll see His glory. His grace and His mercy. And
there won't be an uproar with you. You'll bow to Him. No, you'll
bow to Him. And here's the effects of false
religion in verse 29. Confusion. The whole city was
filled with confusion. Stirred. Stirred up over this. And they came together. But they
couldn't tell you why. Most of them could not tell you
why. They were on the Broadway. I
was thinking last night, what an appropriate name for all these
actors wanting to play Broadway. They all feel like they made
it when they won. Made it to Broadway. Well, the whole world's
on Broadway. And false religion is on stage
acting it out. And they're all going to perish.
Except for those whom God steps in and plucks out. Like a branch
out of a fire. But God protected Paul here.
This city was confused over this uproar. Over that way. That way it gives God all the
glory. But God protects His servant. His disciples told Him, said,
Paul, don't you go in there. And I'm sure Paul was saying,
I'm going to be alright, because two of the disciples were dragged
into there. And Paul's going to go in there.
Paul's going to go in there. I'm telling you, he's going to
go in there and die. He's going to go in there, stand before
those men, and if he had to, if it came to this, he's going
to die. For that way. He was going to die for that
way. But these chief of Asia, these important men, what we
would call important men, they had befriended Paul. They had
become friends of Paul. And this is providential. They
became friends of Paul for this hour. That mob would have torn
him apart if God had allowed him to go in there. But they
begged him. And he didn't go in. He stayed
out. But I want you to notice something here in closing. Paul
did not personally attack the goddess of Diana. I was looking at this yesterday.
He did not personally come out and say, you see that statue? That statue is worthless. He
didn't do that. He really didn't do that. She's not real. Why do you want
to attack something that's not real? You know what he did? He said, there be no gods which
are made with hands. It doesn't matter if it's Diana
or who or what. There's only one God. Paul preached
one God. That's what he preached. Don't
you look over here in verse 37. This town clerk says here in
verse 37, He hath brought hither these men which are neither robbers
of churches, nor yet blasphemers of your goddess. Now here's the point I'm wanting
to make. Paul didn't attack that goddess, that statue. Paul spoke to the heart. Paul spoke to the heart. The
problem is the heart. Idolatry is a heart problem. Paul directed the message to
the heart. He didn't point to a statue. He pointed to the heart.
He said the problem is idolatry. There's only one God and there
are no gods that are made with hands. It doesn't matter if it's
Diana or whatever. He spoke to the heart. Men and
women's problem Our heart problems. We all, by nature, have heart
problems. I'm not going to preach against
any one particular sin. I'm not going to harp on one
particular sin. As though if you straighten that
up, everything's all right. What if they had quit worshiping
the God of Diana? What if they just burnt Diana
up? If they missed that way, they're
still lost. Paul preached that way. And he
preached from the heart. And it exposed the idolatry and
sin of the heart. That's what he did. He exposed
the heart of sin and the nature of sin. That's what he did. Paul preached
Christ crucified the way to God. And in doing so, it exposed their
idolatry. It exposed the sin of the heart
in preaching Christ and Him crucified. Christ is the way of righteousness.
He's the way of redemption. He's the way of acceptance. You
know, the scripture says, straight is the gate and narrow is the
way. Narrow in the sense that there's only one way. There's
only one way. But what fullness? What fullness
there is in that way? It says, all the fullness of
the Godhead dwells vitally in Christ. All that God is, all
the fullness of God, we can't comprehend that. But I tell you
this, all the fullness of God dwells in that way. It dwells
in that way. And it's the only place it dwells,
is in Him. The fullness of mercy dwells in Him. The fullness of
grace dwells in Him. The fullness of love dwells in
Him that way. That way that they may such an
uproar over. Now that God has given you grace
and mercy and opened your eyes, aren't you amazed at the uproar
that happens over that way? Isn't it amazing that God saves
a sinner, a wretch, plucks him out of the fire, makes him a
trophy of His grace, and people get upset about it? When the Lord healed the blind
on the Sabbath, they got so upset
because He did it on the Sabbath, they wanted to kill Him. Oh, the wickedness of human nature. Now this will cause an uproar
in families and cities and countries if God sends it, but I tell you
this, it will cause joy in you if you have it. If you possess
that way, you possess that way, it will bring great joy and peace
and everlasting life. That's what it will do. And I thank God, I thank God there is a way for
sinners to come home. Isn't it? I thank God there's
a way for the prodigal to come back. Aren't you glad the father
didn't build a wall up down the road that his son couldn't get
over? We're not building walls, we're tearing them down. I'm so glad that He made a way
that we could come home, that we could come into His presence,
and we could sing the praises this morning with heart and meaning. I'm so glad there's a way that
we can call God our Father. I'm so glad there is a way that
we can sue for mercy and get it, that we can sue for forgiveness
and have it. I'm so thankful that there is
a way that God Almighty can have something
to do with us. And that way is Jesus Christ,
the Son of God. He's the way. He's the way. There's a way that seems right
to men, but what? The end thereof is destruction
every time. Every time. The bridge is out
on every one of those roads. But Christ is the way. is the
way home.