Look with me again at verse 20
of Acts chapter 19. So, in this manner, is what that
means, in this manner, in this way, grew the word of God. Now, the scriptures do not grow. It's a closed revelation. But
the Word of God grows in its influence. It grows in its influence
in believers, in the world. So mightily grew the Word of
God and prevailed and was strengthened. Now, my question is what took
place that Paul or that Luke made this statement, because
I'm not real sure that there's another statement like this in
all the scriptures. So mightily grew the Word of God and prevailed. Well, let's look at three events
that are listed that took place that made Luke make this statement. Now, Paul had been two years
in Ephesus preaching the gospel. Can you imagine what a special
time that must have been to have the Apostle Paul preaching in
one place for two complete years. We read in verse 10, he continued
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.
Now, You may remember in the book of Revelation in the chapters
two and three, we have the seven letters to the churches of Asia.
And this is the beginning of those seven churches in Asia. Ephesus was the first. Now, look
what took place, verse 11. And God wrought special miracles
by the hands of Paul. So that from his body were brought
unto the sick handkerchiefs or aprons and the diseases departed
from them. And the evil spirits went out
of them. Now think about what is being
said. Some piece of cloth that Paul
had touched was brought to someone who was sick. And as soon as
they came into contact with that piece of cloth, they were healed. And there were people who had
been possessed with demons and a cloth was brought from Paul
and brought into contact with this person. And that demon was
cast out. Now those are special miracles,
aren't they? 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 preacheth." Not the Jesus we
know, but the Jesus that we've heard Paul preach. We've seen
the things that take place as a result, and we're using this
same Jesus that Paul preaches, and we're telling these demons
to be cast out in verse 14. And there were seven sons of
one Sceva, a Jew and a chief of the priests, which did so.
And the evil spirit answered and said, Jesus, I know. Paul, I know. But who are you? And the man
in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, and overcame them, and
prevailed against them, so that they fled out of the house naked
and wounded. You know, that's almost funny,
isn't it? I mean, they take upon them to do this, and look what
happens to them. And here's the third event. We've
seen these special miracles by Paul, and then the counterfeit
not far behind. The sons of Sceva trying to exorcise
the demon out of the man. And we read in verse 17, and
this was known to all the Jews and Greeks also dwelling at Ephesus
and fear fell on them all. And the name of the Lord Jesus
was magnified. And many that believed came and
confessed and showed their deeds. Many of them also, which use
curious arts. Somebody says, what's that mean?
Well, most commentators think it has something to do with black
magic. You can't really get that out of the word, but it certainly
could have been that. Certain that used curious hearts
brought their books together and burned them. They had a bonfire. They took these books that were
so precious to them, and they were actually very expensive.
Look what it says, they burned them before all And they counted
the price of them and found it 50,000 pieces of silver. Now,
the value of that in today's currency is anywhere between
1 million and $5 million. That's how valuable these books
were. But now to these men, they are
no value and they burned them. So, verse 20, in this manner,
so mightily grew the word of God and prevailed. Now this story begins with Paul's
longest stint that we read of in the New Testament of him staying
in one place preaching the gospel. He was there for three months
and after something took place, he was there for another two
years. So he was there for at least two years and three months
preaching the gospel. And as I've said in the past,
this is where the church of Ephesus came from, and through this time
in Ephesus, so mightily grew the word of God and prevailed. Now, here's the first thing. There's three different events
that took place that made Luke conclude, so mightily grew the
word of God and prevailed. Here's the first event. Verse
11, And God wrought special miracles
by the hands of Paul. It doesn't say Paul wrought these
special miracles. God wrought these special miracles
by the hands of Paul so that from his body were brought unto
the sick handkerchiefs or aprons and the diseases departed from
them. And the evil spirits went out of them. Now, probably you
have heard religious hucksters use this. I've seen it on TV
where they said, we've anointed and prayed over these claws.
If you send so much money, we'll send them to you. And they're
anointed prayer claws and you'll be healed through these. I've seen that happen on numerous
occasions. And I can't express The damnation, the eternal damnation
that's awaiting those people who have abused the word of God
like that, saying that they've prayed over these claws and in
order to get money, they'll, you send your money, we'll send
them to you, they'll heal your diseases. That's phony. There's
nothing real about that. Be that as it may, Isn't this
beautiful? God working these extraordinary
miracles. Now, with regard to the salvation
of a sinner, like I was thinking, well, stuff like that doesn't
happen today, but something more extraordinary happens. If the
Lord has saved you, you're a greater miracle than any prayer cloth.
What an extraordinary miracle. Now, The word miracle means an
act of power. It's something only God can do.
You and I can't perform any miracles. Only God can perform miracles. And you think of the miracles
that the Lord Jesus Christ performed. He did what only God could do.
He controlled the weather. You think of how helpless we
are before the weather. There's nothing we can do to
control the weather. He has complete control of the
weather. He raised the dead. Now you think
about how helpless we are in that. We can't raise somebody
that's dead. But Jesus Christ literally raised
the dead. He had creative power. He could bring matter into existence
that before he did it, it was not in the universe. You think
of how helpless we are in something like that. I mean, it's the acts
of creation. He brought matter into the universe
that wasn't there in the original creation. Only God could do that. He did what only God could do.
You just think of his healings when he would heal people. I
mean, there would be cripples who hadn't walked for 38 years,
he'd say, rise up, and they'd get up, perfect health restored. What miracles the Lord Jesus
Christ wrought. But oh, the special miracles
God wrought in the salvation of the sinner. Now you think
about, I don't know of anything more glorious to think of than
the incarnation of Christ. When Jesus Christ went into Mary's
womb and was there for nine months, growing, beginning as a fetus.
I guess that's the right language to use, I don't know. But he
was in that womb for nine months, came out God. Great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh. What a great miracle that is.
You think of the miracle of his life. He never sinned. Now, there's something that we
can just stand in awe of, because there's nothing we could ever
do. He never sinned. He didn't even have the potential
to sin. He's impeccable. And while I always love to think
about this, even in his sinlessness, his brothers and sisters didn't
get it. They didn't understand that this was a sinless one walking
before them. And what that reminds me of is
the fact that the natural man doesn't know holiness when he
sees it. He can talk about holiness, but the one time holiness did
walk on this earth, men did not recognize it. That's why we say,
I want people to see Christ in me. And I understand what we
mean when we say that, but they didn't see Christ in Christ.
And if they do see Christ in you, they're going to hate you.
They're not going to love you. They're going to hate you. They're going to
want to get rid of you. But the awesomeness of his perfect life,
his keeping God's law perfectly, his death, what a mystery. The God-man died. God can't die. God's eternal. It is impossible
for God to die. The God-man died. And you think about what he accomplished
in his death. He accomplished the complete
putting away of sins. The moment he died, the second
he died, he didn't go through the process of decay like you
and I will. The second he died, complete satisfaction was made
for everybody he died for. God completely satisfied, pleased
with me because of what he did. It's called justification. You
think of how he made sins to be no more. What a great miracle. You think about him giving you
the new birth. There was a time when you didn't have any desire
for God. You're satisfied with things the way they are, and
he birthed you into his kingdom and gave you a nature that was
not there before, a divine nature, born of the Spirit of God. You
think of the fact that you have been preserved up to this point,
is that a miracle? That you've preserved and that
you've continued in the faith? Oh, and when you stand before
him perfectly glorified, when I stand before thy throne dressed
in beauty not my own, when I see thee as thou art, love thee with
unsinning heart, then, Lord, shall I fully know, not till
then, how much I owe, special miracles, special miracles that
God wrought. Can I overemphasize the fact
that salvation is of the Lord? Is that possible? It's not. It's what he has done. Now, these cloths, garments,
whatever they were that had touched Paul's body, and came to these
sick people, and these demon-possessed people, and they were healed,
we see a type of the gospel in that. That's the garment of Christ's
salvation covering us and making us healed. Oh, this is a special
miracle wrought by God. And Paul was used in this, and
we see the gospel in this. But isn't the gospel special
miracles? Special miracles wrought by God. Now, that's the first point.
God wrought special miracles. Now this is how the word of God
mightily grew and prevailed because God wrought special miracles. And beloved, he's doing that
today. He's doing that today. Everybody he saves, there's an
example of a special miracle that he has wrought. If he saved
you, you're a special miracle that he has wrought. Now let's go on reading verse
13. Now wherever you have the truth, you're going to have the
counterfeit not far behind. It's going to happen every time.
Look what happened. Verse 13, then certain of the
vagabond Jews, exorcists. I remember when I was a nine
or ten years old. Seems like there was a movie
that came out called The Exorcist. Maybe you all remember that.
And you have some priest coming in and he does things that somebody's
head turning around and demon possessed. And he does things
to exorcise the demon, get him out. Exorcists. Then certain
of the vagabond Jews, exorcists took upon them to call over them
which had evil Now, whenever you have God working special
miracles, you'll have man's counterfeit not far behind. And here we have
man's counterfeit. Now, this is actually a very
clear description of the average preacher. Vagabond Jews. Vagabond. Now, what does vagabond
mean? It means itinerant. It means
you don't have any one place you stay. You're all over the
place. A vagabond Jews. It means wandering
about. And the word is used when Paul
talks about those women in 2 Timothy who are idle, wandering about
from house to house. They don't have a fixed place.
They wander about from house to house. The only fixed place
is Christ. The only place you're gonna be
fixed is Christ. In him. That's the only stable
place. That's the only fixed place.
These fellas didn't know anything about a fixed place. They wondered
about. Now, if my preaching in any way
is contrary to in Christ being everything, I'm wondering about
all over the place, aren't I? The only place of stability is
in Christ. All God has for me is in Christ, by way of acceptance,
by way of salvation, by way of mercy, by way of love. It's all
in Christ. Christ is all. Now these fellows didn't know
anything about this. They were vagabonds, running about, wondering
about. And they were exorcists. I'd never really looked up this
word before, but the word means, by definition, saying a formula. That's what an exorcist is. He's
someone who has a formula. And they used the name of the
Lord Jesus Christ in their formula, trying to exorcise the demon.
They heard Paul doing this, And they said, well, we're using
that same formula Paul used, and it'll work for us. I tell
you to get out of here by the name of the Jesus whom Paul preaches. They got a formula. Isn't that
what most preaching is about? You get a formula. Here's a formula
for your salvation. If you do this, and if you stop
doing that, and if you start doing this, you'll be saved. A formula. Here's a formula. Here's a formula. Turn from your
sins and trust Christ. That's a formula. Now somebody
says, are you saying that we ought not turn from our sins?
Of course I'm not saying that, but that's a formula. You do
this. I'm not going to put anything
more trust in Christ in the first place. Turn from your sins and
trust Christ. All somebody hears when they
hear that is, well, I need to turn from my sins. I need to
do this. I need to do that to be saved.
That's not the case. It's not a formula. It's trust
Christ. That's not a formula. There's
only one thing to do. You look to Christ, but they
have this formula and they used it. We adjure thee, that's part
of the formula, by the Jesus that Paul preached. It worked
for him, it'll work for us. It's a formula. Now that summarizes
most preaching I hear. It's a formula. You do this,
you fill in this blank, you fill in that blank, you will be saved.
A formula, an equation for salvation is given. An equation, that's
another way to put it. And that's what these fellows
were doing. They were exorcists. And look what it says they did,
verse 13. Then certain of the vagabond
Jews, exorcists, they had them a formula,
took upon them. They took this to themselves. You know, there's nothing worse
than a self-called preacher. They took this to themselves.
They took this position to themselves. God never sent them. They took
this to themselves. They 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. You see, they
saw it as a formula. It worked for him. It'll work
for us. And that's what they did. As I said, that's a spot on description.
of the average preacher. Verse 14, and there were seven
sons of one Sceva, a Jew, and a chief of the priests that did
so. Now look at the evil spirit's
response. And the evil spirit answered and said, Jesus, If
they knew who he was, you remember how they would grovel in his
presence. They'd have to ask permission to go from one place
to another. They would say, I know thee who thou art, the Holy One
of God. They knew he was God the Son.
You know, the devils believe in tremble. They were scared
to death of the Lord Jesus Christ. They showed him much more respect
than the average religious person does. I mean, they were afraid
of him. And this demon-possessed man said, Jesus I know, but look
what he said next. He said, Paul, I know. Now, the man who preaches the
gospel of Jesus Christ is known in hell. And the emphasis is
not the man. Let me repeat that. The emphasis is not the man,
but the gospel that the man preaches. which is the power of God unto
salvation. Now, you remember when the Lord
said of Peter, thou art Peter, and upon this rock I'll build
my church? Is he talking about Peter when
he says that? Why, Peter was an inconsistent, contradictory,
weak, cowardly man at times. I mean, there's so many problems.
You think the Lord would build his church on Peter? Let me assure
you, no. Thou art Peter, upon this rock,
upon this confession of me, I'll build my church. And the gates
of hell shall not prevail against it. Hell is not able to keep
her prisoners in when he comes to knock the door down and bring
them out. Jesus, I know, Paul, I know,
because of the message that Paul preached, he was known in hell.
But who are you? You think I would obey you? Who
are you? And the man, verse 16, in whom
the evil spirits was, leaped on them and overcame them and
prevailed against them. And I remember this was seven
men. He whipped them all. And they fled out of that house
naked and wounded. I bet they didn't try that formula
anymore. They found out it didn't work for them. They were going
to have to come up with some other kind of formula. And this was known
to all the Jews and the Greeks also dwelling in Ephesus, and
fear fell on them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified."
Now remember, this is what was taking place for the word of
God to grow mightily and prevail. First, God brought special miracles. That's a gospel. That's the gospel. And secondly, the counterfeit
right behind, the sons of Sceva coming up with a formula that
they thought would work because they saw the results of Paul. But here's the third thing that
took place. Verse 18, and many that believed. Now, believe what? They believe that Jesus Christ
is the son of God. You believe that? Do you believe
he's the creator? Do you believe he's the second
person of the Trinity? Do you believe he's God's Christ? Do
you believe he's God's prophet? God's priest and God's king?
Do you believe that if he died for you, you must be saved? Do you believe that? Many that
believed. That's what believing is. It's
believing him. It's not what you believe about
yourself. It's what you believe with regard to him. Many believe. came and confessed and showed
their deeds. Now, this word confess is very
simple. It means to speak the same thing.
You know, our confession, if we call it confession of faith,
it means it's what we all believe. When you confess your sins, the
same word is used, it means you're in agreement with what God says
about your sins. When you confess the gospel,
you're confessing what God has said. That's what confession
is. It's agreement with God. I confess Him by identifying
with the gospel that's preached here. You're here, you're confessing
Him. This is the gospel, I believe.
That's a confession, it's a public confession. Many confessed and
showed their deeds. Now, does that mean that they told everybody about the sins
they'd committed? No. No, not in any way. Don't confess
your sins to another human being. They can't do anything for you.
And the minute you do that, you're going to resent them. And you
think, they've got something on me. They're going to remember
that. And they're going to feel, just don't do it. Don't confess
your sins to a man. It's wrong every time. But I
tell you what you do when you confess your deeds. You confess
what John confessed. If we say we have no sin, we
deceive ourselves. And the truth is not in us. And
if we say we've not sinned with regard to anything we do, if
we say we've not sinned, we make him a liar. We call God a liar
because God says we have. Now that's what it is to confess
your deeds. You confess the guiltiness of all of them and your need
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now let's go on reading. Many
of them also which used curious arts brought their books together
that was about their curious arts. Now this word Curious arts. The word means, literally, about deeds, about works. Now, is it talking about black
magic? Maybe. There are people who practice
that kind of stuff. I don't want to have anything
to do with that. Stuff just scares me. I don't even like thinking about it. If you just simply go by the
word, the word means about works or about deeds. It's the Greek
prefix, about, and then the Greek word for work or deed. About
works or about deeds. What they did, they had a book
burning party. Now I remember when I was in
junior high, there was a fundamentalist church in Ashland, and every
so often, they'd have a record burning. Maybe some of you all
remember things like that where all the kids take their records
that are supposed to be evil and throw them in a fire and
burn them up and get rid of them and bonfire, get rid of those
records. They generally go out and buy
them a couple of days later, the same things they threw away,
but got a bonfire going on. And I was thinking about bonfires
like they had. You couldn't have those today,
because people have to be throwing their cell phones in a bonfire,
because that's where all the music comes from. Ain't nobody
going to do that. That'd be very expensive. But at any rate, these
people, they took these curious books about curious arts, and
they made a bonfire. Now, that has been used to get
people to get the bad stuff in your life and throw it in a bonfire
and get rid of it. Anything bad in your life, that'd
be good practice. That'd be good practice. I'm not saying anything
against that. But that's not what this represents.
When God saves a man, he sees that all of these curious hearts,
every one of his works, are not worth anything but to be burned. You have a work-burning bonfire
when you hear the gospel. All your works, all your works,
before you heard the gospel, before you believed the gospel,
all your religious works were works of the flesh, they were
works of sin, they had nothing to do with your salvation. And you have a bonfire. burn all those works. And if you don't, in your heart,
if you don't right now have a bonfire, burning all your works, looking
to Christ alone, it's because you've not really believed. And
that's how important this is. One of the best things I've ever
read by Charles Spurgeon, and I think about it from time to
time, I love it, I've told it from time to time. Charles Spurgeon
said, when I do an inventory of my works, And I look at my
good works and I look at my evil works. I find an amazing similarity
between the two so that I can't tell the difference between the
two. And the only safe thing for me to do is throw them all
overboard and go into heaven on the plank of pure, free grace. Now that's what a work-burning
bonfire does. Burn your works, they're no good.
And you look to Christ only as the only way you'll be brought
into glory. Now, here we have three events. First the special miracles, then
the counterfeit that always comes close behind, and then you have
this book-burning party. They really heard the gospel.
They believed it. They really believed the only
righteousness they had was Christ's righteousness. They didn't have
a thread of human righteousness in their righteousness. It was
all his righteousness. And they burned up anything that
was contrary to that. So mightily, verse 20, so mightily
grew the word of God and prevailed. And if that's gonna happen, and
it does, every time God saves somebody. A lot of times, preachers
talk about, we're looking for revival. We're looking for revival. And all this talk about revival. Well, anytime God saves someone,
there's true revival in there. And the Lord is always doing
his work. But wherever The gospel, the
works, the special miracles of God are preached. And you have
that counterfeit right behind the Sons of Sceva giving these
formulas for salvation, the Roman road, the four spiritual laws,
all those different formulas that you've heard of. And those are exposed as false. That which you once valued, like
these fellas valued, great value, these curious arts, these books,
whatever they represent. But when you hear the gospel,
you burn them. There's a work burning party.
And you look to Christ only in that manner. The word of God
grew mightily and prevailed. May we see that even tonight. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you for the special,
miraculous work of salvation that thy son accomplished. Lord,
we ask that you would give us discernment to not go on with
these formulas that religious people make for salvation that
aren't real. Give us discernment and understanding.
And Lord, enable us to burn all of our dead works and look to
Christ only at all times as everything in our salvation. And Lord, cause
the Word of God to grow mightily and to prevail. In Christ's name
we pray.