man is sent by God to preach
the gospel in a given place, you can be sure that God will,
by one means or another, confirm his ministry, confirm the preaching
of his servant in that place. The man preaches the gospel in
the power of the Holy Spirit, with divine anointing, with that
unction from the Holy One, Something is sure to happen. Preaching,
gospel preaching, powerful gospel preaching, preaching under the
anointing of the Spirit, always produces results. Sometimes those
results are surprising. Sometimes they're even disappointing
to the preacher and to those who hear it. But if a man has
a message from God and faithfully delivers that message, The people
who hear the message will respond to it in one way or another. That is always the case. God
never sends his messengers on useless errands. He never sends
his messengers to do a work that is of no account. He never sends
one to preach the gospel without accomplishing something by the
gospel that he preaches. He says, so shall my word be.
that goeth forth out of my mouth, it shall accomplish that which
I please. It shall prosper in the thing
whereto I send it." That's always the case. Now tonight, we're
going to follow the Apostle Paul back to the city of Ephesus,
where he had left Aquila and Priscilla. While Paul was away
from Ephesus for a fairly brief period of time, Apollos came
to town. And there he learned the way
of God more perfectly, and he had already been sent along by
the Ephesians, by Priscilla and Aquila particularly, to preach
the gospel in the city of Corinth. But now Paul comes back to Ephesus
in this 19th chapter of Acts, and he meets with other disciples
in Ephesus who had joined themselves to the brethren there, who were
like Apollo. They knew only the baptism of
John. They were believers. They were
men who had professed faith in Christ, but they knew only the
baptism of John, and like Apollos, needed to be instructed in the
way of God more perfectly. Now let me try to give you some
help in interpreting the book of Acts particularly, and other
portions of Scripture in general. Anytime you try to understand
the setting of a book, and understand the message of a book in the
Scriptures, you must know something about the time in which it was
written, and the people to whom it was written, and why it was
written. Now, if we would interpret any portion of this Book of Acts,
if we would understand what's going on here, we're going to
have to remember that the history of the Church, as it is recorded
in the Book of Acts by the writer Luke, describes a period of transitional
development in the Church. That is, they were coming from
one They were coming from one state, from one condition, from
one position to another in their learning and understanding of
the things of God. It was a situation much like
that which the people of God went through during the days
of our Lord's earthly ministry. During this period, while the
church was being developed in the Book of Acts, Christianity
still looked to many like another sect of Judaism. Most people,
observing the apostles and observing the ministry of that early church,
looked upon them as just another sect of the Jewish religion,
like the Pharisees or the Sadducees. The Christians, those who believed
the gospel, generally continued to worship with the Jews in their
synagogue, and those at Jerusalem were continuing to worship in
the temple at Jerusalem. Now, they did not observe the
Old Testament laws, They were freed from those things, though
for some of them, the Jews, it took them a while to break away
from those things, but they didn't, they were no longer in bondage
to the laws and the rituals and the observance of days and so
on in the Old Testament Scriptures, though they continued to worship
in the temple and to worship in the synagogue. And many of
the believers, genuine believers, remained ignorant of many important
gospel truths for years. They remained in ignorance until
God sent them a preacher to teach them the way of the faith in
Christ more perfectly. Now, we've already seen some
of those. In chapter 10, we came across a fellow named Cornelius.
Cornelius was a true believer. He was a devout man, one who
feared God, who worshipped God with all his heart. He was a
man who worshipped God according to the revelation that he had
been given in the Old Testament scriptures. He worshipped God
according to the truth, in the light of the truth which God
had given him, which up to that time was simply the revelation
of the Old Testament. And he remained in that condition
until God sent Peter, and Peter told him that the Savior whom
he trusted, the Savior whom he anticipated would come, had already
come. and that he had finished the
work of redemption and ascended back into glory, and now God
grants to all who believe repentance and remission of sins and justification
from all things from which they could not be justified by the
law of Moses. Now this man, Apollos, believed
before Peter heard, or before Peter preached to him, but when
he heard what Peter declared, he believed with fuller confidence,
with fuller knowledge than he had had before. And he, like
the other disciples, followed the Lord in baptism. We also
saw in chapter 18 this man Apollos. He was a man who came preaching
the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. But this man Apollos
was totally unaware of the events that had taken place since the
day of Pentecost. He was totally unaware of the
outpouring of the Spirit. And so when he came to Ephesus,
Aquila and Priscilla took him aside, and they instructed him
in the way of the Lord more perfectly. Now, Apollos and Aquila, neither
of them were misinformed. They were just uninformed, and
there is a big, big difference. Neither of these men were heretics. They did not embrace a false
gospel. They simply believed the truth
as fully as they knew it. They trusted Christ according
to the light they had. And when God gave them more light,
they readily embraced it, received it, believed it, submitted to
it, and obeyed it. Now we have another group of
twelve men whom Paul meets at Ephesus. They too were true believers,
but they knew only the baptism of John. They knew the teachings
of the Old Testament, and they knew the teachings of John the
Baptist. They were disciples of John the Baptist. They knew
what John said would come to pass. They knew how John had
declared that he who came after him, of whom he was not worthy
to speak, whose shoes he was not worthy to unloose, that he
would baptize them with the Holy Spirit and with fire. They knew
it was going to happen, but they had not been told that it had
taken place. They weren't there when the Spirit
was poured out on the day of Pentecost. And now Luke is describing
for us the Apostle Paul's ministries to these people. I want us to
look this evening at verses 1 through 12 in Acts chapter 19, and I'll
call your attention to five things as we go through here. The first
thing Luke deals with in this chapter is the question about
the Holy Spirit. Look at verses 1 through 3. And
it came to pass that while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul, having
passed through the upper coast, came to Ephesus, as he promised
he would do, 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, Unto what
then were you baptized? And they said unto him, Unto
John's baptism. Now these men were disciples
of Christ. They trusted him, they professed
faith in his name, and they were publicly baptized, either by
John the Baptist himself or by one of John the Baptist's disciples.
And after some discussion with them, we don't have the full
story here, but after some discussion with them, Paul asked them, have
you received the Holy Ghost since you believed? Now there have
been all kinds of heretical doctrines that have been developed from
that statement in Acts 19 and verse 2. the Pentecostals jump
on it and run wild. But if they would bother to read
that which is written in the proper construction of the original
language, if they would bother to read any modern translations
and compare them with our King James, they would find out literally,
quite literally, this is the way the question ought to read.
I would suggest that you write it down somewhere in the margin
of your Bible or somewhere. Paul was not saying Did you at
one time believe and since that time have you received the Holy
Ghost? That's not what he says. He is saying this, quite literally,
did you receive the Holy Ghost when you believed? Much the same
thing could be asked of us. Did you receive the Holy Spirit
when you believed? And their response was, we have
not even heard whether there be any Holy Ghost. Now, quite
clearly, They were not talking about the person of the Holy
Spirit. They were not saying we've not
heard whether or not the Holy Spirit exists or whether or not
he's coming. That's not what they were saying.
These were John's disciples. John's primary message was, there's
somebody coming who's going to baptize you with the Holy Spirit.
They knew the Holy Spirit was coming. They read the prophets
in the Old Testament scriptures. They read the prophecy of Joel,
how that in the days of Christ the Messiah, when the king had
ascended to glory, he would pour out his spirit upon all flesh.
They read the prophecy of Ezekiel in the covenant promises. They
knew the Holy Spirit was coming. What they were saying is this.
We don't know anything about the coming of the Spirit. Quite
literally, this is a paraphrase, it is not as I gave you that
other translation, it's not a translation, it's a paraphrase. When Paul
said, when you believed, did you receive the Holy Spirit?
They said, you mean he's come? You mean he's come? We didn't
hear about it. We didn't know anything. You
mean that one of whom John spoke has come? You mean the king has
sent down his spirit upon all flesh? They knew that he was
coming, but they didn't know anything at all about the outpouring
of the spirit. They didn't know anything at
all about the extraordinary gifts of the spirit that had accompanied
the ministry of the apostles since the day of Pentecost. These
things were plainly predicted by John the Baptist. But these
men didn't know it. They knew that the Spirit was
promised, but they didn't know the Spirit had been given. You
can compare back in John 7, verse 39, where our Lord was speaking
of the Spirit. He said, if anybody thirsts,
they'd come to me and drink of the water of life. And He said,
it shall be in him a well of living water, springing up into
everlasting life. And then there's a little parenthetical
statement. He said, this is fake. concerning the Spirit, but the
Holy Spirit was not yet given because Jesus was not yet glorified. They knew he was coming, but
they didn't know he had gone. And then Paul asked, unto what
then were you baptized? Now you'll note that Paul simply
assumed that since they professed to be believers, they had been
baptized. There wasn't any debate or any
question about that. These fellows were disciples. These fellows
came and joined themselves with the children of God. And Paul
just assumed, since they professed to be followers of Christ, they
had been baptized because that's what the followers of Christ
do. He said to them, unto what then were you baptized? And this
is what he's saying. Let me paraphrase again. I hope
it'll help you to understand exactly what's going on. He said,
if you weren't baptized, in the name of the Father and of the
Son and of the Holy Spirit. In what name were you baptized?
To what purpose were you baptized? And they answered, we were baptized
unto John's baptism. That is, believing the message
of John concerning the coming of Christ, we were baptized as
we had been commanded. Now that lets you know what went
on there. Let me try to apply it to you and me. They put these
questions to us, applying them pointedly to your heart and mind. We profess faith in Christ. I
think every adult in this building has confessed faith by public
baptism. We claim to be the followers
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Answer these two questions. Did
you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed? Now this is the
glaring difference between the true believer and the carnal
prophet. Those who truly have the Spirit
of God are those who believe. And those who do not have the
Spirit of God do not have real saving faith. The Apostle Paul
said, if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none
of his. If you have real faith, If your
faith is more than just a presumptuous profession, if your faith is
more than just a creed, if your faith is more than just something
you said because you think it's right to say it or something
somebody talked you into, if your faith is a living principle
in your heart, you have the Spirit of God. All of God's people have
the Holy Spirit. Turn over to Romans chapter 8.
Romans 8, I want you to see this. Those who truly believe have
been born from above. They have been given life by
the power and grace of God the Holy Spirit. Romans chapter 8,
and let's begin reading at verse 9. The apostle Paul says, you're
not in the flesh. That is, you're no longer under
the dominion and the rule of the flesh. But you're in the
spirit. You're in the spirit. If you
believe, you're in the spirit. He says, now if any man have
not the spirit of Christ, he's none of this. He's none of this. And if Christ be in you, the
body, the body of flesh is dead because of sin. But the spirit
is life because of righteousness. But the spirit of him that raised
up Jesus from the dead, if the spirit of him that raised up
Jesus from the dead dwell in you, He that raised up Christ
from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit
that dwelleth in you. Now you see what Paul is saying?
He's saying if you have real faith, if you're redeemed and
justified by the grace of God, if you've been called to life
and faith in Christ, the Spirit of God dwells in you. The Spirit
of God dwells in you. Let me show you how he dwells
in you. Paul is saying that if my faith
is genuine, I have the Spirit of God, and if I have the Spirit
of God, at least these four things are true of me. Number one, the
Holy Spirit frees me from the reigning power and dominion of
sin. Look at verse 12. Therefore,
brethren, we are debtors not to the flesh to live after the
flesh. For if you live after the flesh,
you're going to die. But if you through the Spirit
do mortify the deeds of the body, you shall live. We're no longer
under the dominion, under the ruling power of sin. Oh yes,
sin's there. The flesh is still there. The
flesh is still as corrupt and vile as ever it was, but it's
no longer the ruling principle of the believer's life. No longer. The believer is a man whose heart
is set on Christ and the bent of his will, the bent of his
heart, the character of his life is Christ Jesus. He's seeking
Him. Now, do you have the Spirit of
God? Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed? There's
no pretense here. Either you have the Spirit or
you don't. The Holy Spirit is described like fire. There's
nothing like it on the earth but by it, and if you're around
it, you know it. And there's nothing on this earth
like the Spirit of God dwelling in a man's heart but the Spirit
of God. I read a story today of a fellow
who had a pet monkey, and the little monkey got out of his
cage in the dead of winter and got outside, and he got cold. And finally he found a house
somewhere and he scampered up a tree and found an opening and
went into the house and he saw what he had seen in his owner's
house so many times before. He saw a fireplace. And he went
over and stood by the fire to warm himself just like his owner
had done, like his owner taught him to do. He stood there and
warmed himself by that fire. And he stood there and froze
to death in front of that fire because the fire was just tingling
on the wall. It was just tingling. It looked
like fire. He thought it was fire, but there
was no fire there. Just a picture of fire. And many,
I'm afraid, have something that looks like faith. They think
it's faith, but there's no fire in their soul. And they're freezing
to death, standing in what they think is fire. Have you received
the Holy Spirit? Did you receive the Holy Spirit
when you believed? The Holy Spirit, secondly, if
I have Him, leads and directs me in the path of obedience to
Christ. Look in verse 14. Now, if I had
the Holy Spirit, you can bank on this, He leads me. For as
many as are led by the Spirit of God, they're the sons of God. The Spirit of God directs my
heart to Christ in faith. He takes the things of Christ
and reveals them to me and gives me faith in Christ. He calls
me to trust Christ. Trust Christ not only in the
beginning for redemption and for justification and acceptance
with God, but trusting Christ day by day to live by faith in
Christ. He directs my mind in the way
of truth. He takes the truth and reveals
it unto us. And he directs my steps. in the
will of God tugging gently but effectually upon the strings
of my heart. Thirdly, if I have the Spirit
of God, then the Holy Spirit gives me the witness of my adoption
and acceptance with God through Christ. Look at verse 15. Now,
you have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear, but
you've received the spirit of adoption Whereby we cry, Abba,
Father. That's baby talk. Daddy, Daddy. Father, Father. So that we with
confidence, by the Spirit of God, lift up our hearts to God
in heaven and say, Father. I thought when Merle was praying
a little bit ago, our Father, when he said that, I thought
to myself, my soul, what a friend. for worms of flesh and blood,
to call the eternal God with reasonable confidence, our Father,
our Father. The Spirit of God teaches us
to do that. We don't do it in pretense. We don't do it for
show. We do it with our heart. We turn to God, our Father, our
Father, our Father, with confidence, with joy. He says in verse 16,
the Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit. That is, he
teaches our hearts that we're the children of God. And if children,
then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if so
be that we suffer with him, that we may be glorified together.
Now, with this witness, Paul says, I reckon that the sufferings
of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the
glory that shall be revealed in us. And I reckon he was right. The sufferings of this this earthly
existence. Why, what's that to compare with
having God for my Father, Christ for my Redeemer, and glory for
thy eternal inheritance? Turn over to Galatians chapter
5. I'll show you one more thing. If I have the Spirit of God,
if I have received the Holy Spirit, then the fruit of the Spirit
will be found in me. Galatians 5 verse 22 Every man or woman born of God
has the fruit of the Spirit He has the fruit of the Spirit.
It's not something we develop By our works not something we
produce by our efforts It's something produced in us by the presence
of the Spirit of God The fruit of the Spirit is one is love,
joy, peace. We look to God, our Father, because
the Spirit dwells in us. Dwells in our heart and our soul. He tells us we're born of God.
We look to God, our Father, and we love Him. And we have joy
and peace. And we have peace with God. He's
our Father. He's our Father. The fruit of the Spirit is longsuffering,
gentleness, and goodness. Because the Spirit of God dwells
in our hearts, we look at one another with all our weaknesses
and infirmities and sins, and we have a heart attitude, a heart
attitude of long-suffering, gentleness, and goodness toward one another.
The fruit of the Spirit in a man's heart is faith, meekness, Now
that's the characteristic of a man who's born of God. He's
faithful. That's what the word means. Faithful.
He's dependable. He's just dependable. He's faithful
to God his Savior. Faithful in the things of God.
Faithful, honest, dependable. You can lean on him. He's faithful. Meekness. That doesn't mean he's
a whining wimp. That means he knows who he is
before God. He's a worthless worm in the
sight of God. So that he looks upon God with
faith, reverence, and penance. That he is ruled over himself. Ruled by the Spirit of God over
himself. Now those things are not perfect.
None of them are perfect in any other universe. But if the Spirit of God's present,
they're there, either in the seed or in the tender plant,
just springing out of the ground, or in the ear, in the plant.
But those things are there. This is the fruit of the Spirit.
Now I ask you, did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed? Or was your profession just a
hoax of Satan? This other question, that Paul
asked of these might be asked of us as well. Unto what were
you baptized? We've all been baptized. We've
all, at least outwardly, followed Christ in obedience to this gospel
ordinance. Why? Why were you baptized? What's the meaning of that sacred
ordinance? I expect it would be well if
we were reminded more often than we are of what we professed in
our baptism. Look with me at Romans chapter
6. I want you to see this. Romans chapter six and verse
three. The apostle Paul says, know you
not that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were
baptized into his death? Therefore, we are buried with
him by baptism into death. That like as Christ was raised
up from the dead by the glory of the father, even so we also
should walk in the newness of life. For if we have been planted
together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the
likeness of his resurrection, knowing this that our old man
is, literally, has been crucified with him, that the body of sin
might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. When
we were buried with Christ in baptism, buried in the watery
grave, this is what we profess. This is what we profess. First
of all, by my baptism, I have publicly acknowledged to all
men that I trust Jesus Christ as my Savior. I trust Him. I believe that when He died,
He died for me and I died in Him, and that when He arose,
He arose for me, and I arose in Him, and that God accepts
me on the merit of His Son. That's what baptism says. By
my baptism, I have been raised from death to life by the grace
of God. That's what I'm saying. As we
were symbolically buried in the watery grave and raised up out
of that grave, we're saying that God, by his Spirit, by the Spirit
of Christ, has invaded our dead heart and he's raised us up from
the tomb of spiritual death. And now we live, live before
God, live by God, and live for God. By my baptism, I have said
to the church of God and to all men everywhere, from this day
forward, I shall not only live a new life in Christ, but I am
resolved by the grace of God to live that life for Christ
in hope of the resurrection. Now that's what I said at that
time. That's what you and Levon said a couple weeks ago, Father.
I am resolved, being converted and redeemed by the grace of
God, I am resolved to give myself body and soul to the glorious
My soul, that's some statement to make. That's some statement
to make. There are a lot of reasons why I don't
encourage young children to be baptized. Matter of fact, I about made
up my mind that if they ask me to, I ain't going to do it anymore. The gospel addresses men and
women as responsible, moral, rational people. By moral, I
mean they've got their senses about them. I don't mean that
they're good people. And I'd just rather doubt Rex,
that boy sitting beside you, is capable of making such decisions. I'd rather doubt that he's capable
of that. You still have to tell him what to eat and what to wear,
when to go to bed at night, when to get up. And you mean to tell
me that he's responsible and capable of making such a commitment
of his soul and his life to God? Boy, that's shimmy. That's absurd.
It's most reasonable that men and women should be told plain
up front. When you step into that pool,
my friend, you're confessing to the world and to God in glory
that you're healers. By my baptism, I have professed
to all men that I belong to the Lord Jesus Christ. I wear his
name, and I'm not ashamed of it. I'm not ashamed of it. It's been my privilege to go
out of this country preaching the gospel on several occasions.
I've been into Canada and Mexico, into the West Indies. And believe me, when you go out
of this country, every now and then you find some smart aleck
who likes to malign this country. I'm not much of one for wearing
symbols, but I thought about having a suit made out of the
American flag to let everybody know where I'm from. Somebody
says, oh, you're one of those Americans. And about the time
they get American out, I said, wait a minute, bud, let me tell
you something. If it weren't for this country, you wouldn't
have a country. If it weren't for this country,
you'd be in bondage. If it weren't for this country,
nobody in this world would be free. If it weren't for this
country, you'd be starving to death. We feed the world and
protect the world. Don't tell me anything about
America. I am an American and proud of it. I'm delighted for everybody to
know I'm here. And I'm delighted for everybody
to know that I am one of those despised people who follow Christ
upon this earth. I'm committed to them and committed
to his glory. Oh may God grant both you and
me grace to live according to our profession. Now turn back
to Acts 19 and look at verses 4 and 5. In these verses Luke records
Paul's instruction to these men and it gives us the explanation
of John's baptism. There's been debate, sometimes
heated debate, throughout the history of the Christian church
about John's baptism. Was it Christian or was it not?
A lot of folks say that John's baptism was not Christian at
all, and that these men were re-baptized by Paul after they
heard Paul preach the gospel. Well, this passage teaches exactly
opposite. Indeed, Paul explains to us that
John's baptism was exactly the same as what we practice today.
Look here in verse 4. Then said Paul. Now, if you have
a pen, you'd be wise to put some quotation marks right there.
beginning at the word John. 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. Now don't put the quotation marks
there, that's not where they go. They go at the end of verse
5. When they heard this, that is, when those people to whom
John preached heard that they should believe on him who was
to come, the Lord Jesus, they were baptized in the name of
the Lord Jesus. That's where the quotation marks
go. Paul is here explaining to us what John's baptism signifies. And he was specifically explaining
to these men that what they had heard from John and what they're
now hearing from him are exactly the same thing. They were both
the messengers of God. There are two requirements for
baptism. John required repentance and faith. So do we. John said
unto the people that, or Paul said John baptized with a baptism
of repentance saying to the people that they should believe. They
should believe on him which should come after him, the Lord Jesus
Christ. Baptism is to be administered
only to those who repent of their sins and believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ. It's not a family ordinance.
It's not something that we sprinkle a little water on our baptism
and we say we're baptizing them, nor do we bring them before the
congregation and sprinkle a little water on them and call it dedicating
them to God. It's the same thing. We don't
observe such things because contrary to the word, baptism is for believers,
only for believers. Philip said to the eunuch, if
thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest be baptized. That's what baptism is. It's
for believers only, and it is by immersion only. That ought
not to even need be said. Baptism is the immersion of believers
in water. The word baptized means immerse. How can I illustrate it? I'll
find something. I just baptized those people.
That's it. That's what the word means. It
doesn't mean to take those keys and sprinkle a little water on
them. Sprinkling is sprinkling. Pouring is pouring. Immersing
is baptizing. Now that's simple enough, isn't
it? We're buried in a watery grave with Christ. Anything short
of that is a denial of the ordinance altogether. Immersion is not
a mode of baptism. It is baptism. The authority
for baptism, the authority for it, is the Lord Jesus Christ
himself. John came baptizing because Christ
told him to come baptize him. Paul went baptizing because Christ
told him to go baptize him. We baptize repentant believing
sinners not on the authority of the church, not on the authority
of the Pope, not on the authority of any man or group of men, not
on the authority of a board of deacons or a board of elders,
but upon the authority of the King of Heaven. Men profess faith
in Christ and we baptize them according to the authority of
God himself. Baptizing men in the name of
Christ, we're baptizing them in the name of the eternal God.
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, for Jesus Christ is the embodiment,
the revelation, and the representation of the divine Trinity to all
mankind. He himself is the fullness of
the Godhead. Now thirdly, Luke describes for
us the communication of the Holy Spirit to those men by Paul laying
his hands upon them. Look in verse 6. And when Paul
had laid his hands upon them, these men who had just heard
him explain what baptism was all about, when he laid his hands
upon them, the Holy Ghost came on them, and they spake with
tongues and prophesied, and all the men were about to wail. Just
as Peter and John had laid their hands on the believing Samaritans
whom Philip had already baptized, Paul laid his hands upon these
believers whom John had already baptized. And this teaches us
two things plainly. First of all, Paul was evidently
confirmed as an apostle of Christ because only the apostles could
lay their hands upon one, and by laying their hands upon them
communicate the miraculous gifts of the Holy Spirit. Now many
people received the gifts, but only the apostles could communicate
This is one reason I don't care for the practice of laying hands
upon men when they're ordained to the ministry. Mrs. Virgin said, it's not going to
do you any good or me any good to lay my empty hands on your
empty hands. I'm not an apostle. I can't communicate anything
by laying my hands on somebody's head. We set men apart for the
ministry and we dedicate them to God by our prayers and by
theirs. But we cannot communicate to
anybody the gifts of the Spirit. When Paul laid his hands on Timothy,
Timothy received those gifts. When Paul laid his hands upon
these men, they received the Spirit of God. But only the apostles could do
that. And so this passage teaches something else. Not only was
Paul here confirmed as an apostle, we recognize the symptom where
the apostles of Christ could communicate these miraculous
gifts to others. Then those gifts must have ceased
when the apostles died. These supernatural gifts were
temporary signs. Read it in Hebrews 2 verse 4.
They were temporary signs that confirmed these men as the messengers
of God. They confirmed these men as the
messengers of salvation to perishing sinners. And when these men had
given us the message of God, here it is, When they've given
us the message of God, we do not need tongues or visions or
signs of any other kind. We have, as Peter said, a more
sure word of prophecy, the word of the living God. And this is
how God speaks to me. You'll either hear his word or
you'll perish. Now, fourthly, we read in verses
eight and nine, of the separation of the believers
from those who oppose the gospel. As I told you before, the Church
of God at this time still met with the Jews in their synagogues.
They earnestly sought the salvation of the Jewish people, but they
could not remain united forever with men and women who hated
their God and saved them. Now listen to me. There comes
a time when those who follow Christ must separate themselves
from those who oppose the gospel. This comes a time when it's got
to be done. I know people say, well, you're bigoted and hard
and mean. You ought to try to get along
with folks. My dear Daddy keeps telling me,
he says, Don, you can catch more flies with honey than you can
with spinach. And I keep telling him, I ain't
trying to catch flies. I'm trying to kill sinners. We're
not being mean. We've got to be honest with folks.
And there comes a time when you draw the line and you say, let
those who fear God stand with me and let everybody else be
damned. Now there comes a time And that's
not being hard, that's being honest with men. Being honest
with men. I want you to look at this, verse
8. When he went into the synagogue and spoke boldly for the space
of three months, disputing and persuading things concerning
the kingdom of God. The apostle Paul, for three months,
boldly preached Christ in the synagogue at Ephesus. He reasoned
with them from the scriptures and pleaded with them from his
heart. concerning the things of the kingdom of God. He told
them that the kingdom of God is not carnal but spiritual.
He told them it's not earthly but heavenly. He told them that
it's not a temporary throne upon which some man might sit in Palestine,
but it's an eternal throne upon which the God-man sits forever.
He told them that the way to the kingdom is Christ the door,
and the only grounds of entrance into the kingdom is the blood
of Christ, and that the only basis of acceptance in the kingdom
is the righteousness of Christ. But most of them hardened their
hearts in rebellion. Look at it, verse 9. But when
divers were hardened and believed not, now because, because they
would not hear his message, Paul led a church split in Ephesus. He led a church split. I hear preachers say I'd never
have anything to do with church splits. Paul did. Paul did. He shook the dust of his feet
off of his feet as a witness against Christ's enemy. They
had rejected God's messenger, and they had rejected God's word,
and in so doing, they had rejected God himself. Now look at verse
9. They spoke evil of that way, of the way of faith, of the way
of redemption by the blood of Christ. They spoke evil of that
way before the multitude. They blasphemed the name of God.
Therefore Paul departed from them, and he didn't just say,
I'm leaving. He said, anybody who loves Christ
is going with me. Look at what it says. "...and
separated the disciples, disputing daily in the school of one Taranus." Paul left the church and he took
God's people with him. He didn't stand there and dispute
over that beautiful synagogue with their stained windows. He
said, you can have the synagogue of Satan. And he took those few
believers You know where they went? They went and met in a
little school room in a man's house by the name of Terenas.
But let me tell you something. Oh, they were the laughing stock
of Ephesus. Look at Paul. Look at his followers. Look how
many he's got going with him. And he says he's the apostle
of God. And we're all wrong. Look at
Paul! He's meeting up there in that
little old schoolroom. Why, you could spit from one
end of the building to the other. Look at Paul, the Apostle of
Christ! Let me tell you something. Mocked
as he was, God was with him. And those few people meeting
in that little schoolroom worship God in peace. In peace, in unity,
in harmony. And God honored them. Church
splits are not always bad. They're not always bad. When
the gospel of God's grace and glory in Christ are at stake,
something's got to happen. Something's got to happen. Merrill,
if I oppose the gospel and you love it, either I got to leave
you or you got to leave me. It's just that way. It's just
that way. If you oppose the gospel and
I love it, either you got to leave or I got to leave, one
of the two. We can't walk together. How can two walk together except
they be agreed? Oh, we're not going to blow up
the first and buy it. But what color carpet we put
on the floor? What kind of lights would hang in the building? But
anything involving the gospel of God's grace and glory, there's
going to be a fight on your hands! And there better be. There better
be. If it ceases to be preached in
this place, give it up. Give it up. Go somewhere and
find somebody worshiping God and preaching the gospel. Don't
tolerate any indifference in this matter. Don't tolerate it.
I'd rather see this building a heap of ashes, as to hear anything
other than the gospel of God's free and sovereign grace in Christ,
proclaimed from this pulpit. I'd rather you turn it into a
barn to feed cows, or to store their manure, than to have anything
else preached in it. Now lastly, I want you to see
how Luke describes the confirmation of God's message. Paul and his
little band were despised, They were mocked by everybody in town,
ridiculed and abused by the whole community. But God confirmed
his word, confirmed his messenger, and confirmed his people, clearly
demonstrating his pleasure in them. He always does. Look at verse 10. This continued,
that is, they stayed up there and met in that little school
room by the space of two years, so that all they which dwelt
in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks,
and God wrought special miracles by the hands of Paul, so that
from his body were brought unto the sick handkerchiefs or aprons,
and the diseases departed from them, and the evil spirits went
out of them." Do you mean that really happened? Yes, sir. It
really happened. God does strange things to confirm
his sayings. Paul wiped sweat off his brow
while he was preaching and he'd say, uh, Joe, carry that over
there and lay it on that crippled man and watch him stand up and
walk. That's exactly what happened. I'm not being facetious. Now, if you get one of those
handkerchiefs from one of these fools today that's had a special
anointing, I'd suggest that you do a lot of things with it and
send it back to it. But God's Apostle Paul had that
special gift, that special gift. God was saying, look here Ephesians,
this is my message, hear it, hear it. Now we don't look for Such signs
in our day don't even want them, don't even desire them. But God
still has ways of confirming his service. Ways that are just
as miraculous in the eyes of those who have eyes to see. Many of you will remember when
Brother Gary Shepherd was rather impolitely asked to leave the
church in Jacksonville, North Carolina. They decided they didn't
want to hear him anymore, and we can get another preacher,
and we don't need you and don't need your God. Amen. Some of the folks asked Gary
if he would meet with them. He said, well, if you're serious,
you want somebody to preach to you, I'll preach to you. So they
left that fine, beautiful, big, elaborate brick building. Nice
facility, nice person. Walked out and left that thing.
Just walked off and left. And they went and found an old
one-room school that was the eyesore of the community. A dilapidated,
run-down piece of junk that hadn't been painted in years and years
and years. Everybody wished they'd burned
it down. That's where they met. That's where they met. It's a
beautiful place now. I mean, it's beautiful. Beautiful.
But when they started over there, everybody in town was slapping
up their sleeves. Everybody. We fixed him. See, he'll never preach anywhere
again. We fixed him. So they called
the associational missionary in. And you know, he wanted to
pump everybody up a little bit, get them fixed up right. He stepped
in the pulpit. Now, this is a true story. I
ain't lying to you, Linda. I'm telling you the truth. He
stepped in the pulpit. He told them what a fine church
they were, and what fine people they were, and how that God had
used them for so much, and God had blessed them, and God was
going to prosper them. And when Gary first met with
those folks, there were just 40 or 50 of them who came out.
And after he got done with all that, fine, fine folks you are,
God just can't get along without you, neither can Southern Baptist
Convention. He knelt down to pray, just like I'm doing here,
dead as I am. Dead as I am. The next Sunday,
that old dilapidated school building wouldn't seat everybody who came
to hear Gary preach. God has a way of confirming his
messages. He has a way of doing it. And I say all of that and bring
this example before you. Don't ever seek to defend yourself. Never seek to defend ourselves
and set ourselves up. Say, look here, this is the way
things are. If we're God's servants, if he's pleased to defend us,
he knows how. And if we seek his honor, he'll
maintain our honor as it best honors him. And that's okay.
That's okay. but let us ever give ourselves
entirely, oh God help us, ever to give ourselves entirely to
this one business of preaching the gospel and seeking the glory
of Christ. In two years, in two years, that
little band of folks meeting in that little school room in
that fellow's house, meeting in a borrowed room, didn't have
a thing of their own. In two years, with diligence
and with grace, every Jew and every Greek in Asia heard the
gospel. In two years. My friends, we have no other
business with this. And if we're willing to be used
of God, willing to pay the price of serving him, Our God will
you for the glory of his own great name. As it came to pass
in Ephesus, it shall come to pass in Danville. As God has
spoken, them that honor me, I will honor them. Now turn with me if you will
to Revelation chapter 2. There are just a whole lot of
things about this little congregation in Ephesus. that are comparable
to this little congregation in Danforth. A whole lot of that. But I give you one word of warning. Unto the angel of the church
of Ephesus write, These things saith the Lord Jesus Christ,
he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, who walketh
in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks, I know your works,
I know you labor hard, and I know your patience, and I know how
you can't bear them that are evil, and how that you've tried
them which say they're apostles and are not, and you've found
them liars. You've got the truth, and you're born, and you have
patience, and for my name's sake, you've labored, and you have
not fainted. Nevertheless, I have somewhat
against it. This little congregation, when
it was so small, was so great. And when it was so great, it
became so small. Because thou hast left thy first
love. You did, at one time, have your
heart set on me. You didn't have anything but
me. But now you've got a name. And now you've got a reputation.
And now everybody looks up to the church at Ephesus and your
heart set on you. Repent, therefore, remember from
whence thou art fallen. Repent and do your first works,
or else I will come to thee quickly and will remove thy candlestick
out of its place, except thou repent. But this thou hast, you
hate the deeds of Nicolaitans, the ungodly, which I also hate.
He that hath an ear to hear, let him hear what the Spirit
saith through the churches. To him that overcometh will I
give to eat of the tree of life which is in the midst of the
paradise of God. Oh may God give us grace to set
our affection on Christ and keep it there. And keep it there. God has blessed us. Oh my, he's blessed us. God's done some tremendous things
through you. He's done some tremendous things.
Let me speak plain to you. This little band of men and women,
this little band, is known all over the English-speaking
world. Can you imagine that? Now, I'm not speaking out of
order here. I know what I'm talking about.
I get letters from people in Canada, in England, parts of
France and Italy, West Indies, Mexico, all over this country.
I get letters from people everywhere who have been affected by the
ministry of this little band of men and women who have been
faithful by the grace of God to give themselves to making
Christ known. Don't let anything take you from
that. Don't let anything take you from
that. There's nothing more important. Nothing more important. I got
a letter from Brother Bill Clark yesterday. He was writing with his Irish fire. He travels all over
the world and sees missionary works. They're building hospitals,
feeding children, clothing the naked, and all those things,
and that's fine. That's fine. I'm not suggesting that's bad.
But what this world needs desperately is for somebody to preach the
gospel of Christ to and that not anybody much do. Let's do it. Let's do it for
Christ's sake. Amen.