Okay, today we're looking at
the book of Acts one more time in our study, and we're turning
to Acts chapter 19. And as I usually do, I usually
try to take the title for the message from a particular text. And many times it's a struggle
for me to find a particular text of which to make the title, but
on this particular message, it came to me very quickly when
I read verse 20. You see verse 20, Acts 19, So
mightily grew the word of God, and prevailed. And prevailed. The Word of God is prevailing,
controlling, overpowering, conquering many and all things. Now, what
a blessed, blessed thought to meditate upon. Notice it says,
the Word of God. Now, when you think of the Word
of God, of course, we think of the written Word of God, don't
we? All Scripture is given by inspiration of God. But whenever
we see that written in Scripture, the Word of God, spell it with
a capital W-O-R-D. He is the Word. In the beginning
was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And the Word was made flesh and
dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the
only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. The Word of God is quick and
powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword, dividing asunder soul
and spirit. It is a quickening word. It's
of his own will begat he us with the word of truth. Faith comes
by hearing and hearing by the word of the Lord. The living
word, Christ. The written word are inseparable. One and the same. Both are powerful.
Both are prevailing. Both are controlling. Now, what
a blessed thought to think about the Lord Jesus Christ who is
the Word. The Word. He's the communication. from God to us as a prophet of
God. The Word that's all prevailing
and quickening in revelation and conquering. In Revelation
6 verse 2, And I saw and behold a white horse, and he that sat
upon him had a bow and a crown, was given unto him, and he went
forth conquering and to conquer, prevailing over all his enemies. The Lord Jesus Christ shall prevail
over all opposition, all opposition to His sovereign rule and dominion,
all demons and devils, all men saved and lost. Bow to the sovereign
claims of the Word, the Lord Jesus Christ. All will confess
He is Lord to the glory of God. All will bow, every knee will
bow, every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. to
the glory of God the Father, and the Word of God, the Lord
Jesus Christ, God our Savior, you can read it that way, prevailed,
prevailed, growing, increasing, powerfully, mightily, prevailing,
always, at all times, over all things. Isn't that a comforting
thought? Look back to verse 10 in a minute, for a moment. Acts
19 verse 10, we find the apostle Paul here in Ephesus, and God
blessed him to stay there for two years, although he was run
out of the synagogue where he preached for three months. He
went down to the schoolhouse, and they took up worship service
in the schoolhouse of one Tyrannus, verse 9, the last part. And there
they continued by the space of two years, so that all which
dwell in Asia heard the word. There it is again. the Word of
the Lord Jesus Christ, both Jews and Greeks. The Apostle Paul
and those twelve men who were converted continued two years
in Ephesus preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Word of
the Lord, so much so that they heard of the Word of the Lord
in all of Asia, all that area of Ephesus. Paul and those twelve
men went out everywhere, everywhere, doing one thing, preaching the
gospel. preaching the word of the Lord. Here we see a great evangelical
campaign. They launched out. They went
everywhere from Memphis, preaching the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ. We've seen this before in Acts
chapter 8, when Saul made havoc of the church and the church
was persecuted. Remember, they went everywhere
into Samaria and different areas and they went everywhere preaching
the word of the Lord. That's a good thing. Go into
all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. That's
the charge that God has given to His church. To preach the
Word. Preach the Word. And that involves
preaching the Word, the Lord Jesus Christ, His person and
His work. We read in Isaiah 55, the Lord
has promised to bless the preaching of His Word. Remember that verse? He said, my word will not return
to me void, it shall accomplish that which I send it, where I
plead to send it, and it shall, I love that word, prosper. It
shall prosper. The word of the Lord. What is
the word of the Lord? What is the message of the gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ? Paul writes this in 1 Corinthians
1, where the preaching of the cross is to them that perish
foolishness, but to us which are saved it's the power of God
and the wisdom of God. The Lord has not changed his
wise method to call out his elect. It pleased God through the preaching
of the gospel to call out his people. The gospel is the power
of God and salvation. That's why we make much of the
gospel of God's saving and sovereign grace in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, the word of the Lord went
out, prevailed, and prospered among the Jews and also among
the Greeks, and a great many people believed on the Lord Jesus
Christ. Verse 11 and 12 in our text,
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 evil spirits went out
of them. Now this is not a myth. This
is something that actually happened. We've seen this before. In Acts
chapter 5, in Peter's ministry, when many that were sick were
brought to Peter, just the overshadow of his, just the passing by of
his shadow on them that were sick, they were healed. In Acts
chapter 5 verse 12 down to verse 16. The Lord, in his day, in
his ministry, all those who came to him that were sick, He healed
all of them that had need of healing. Luke 9 verse 11. God confirmed the message of
the apostles that they did speak for God by these mighty many
signs and wonders, these special miracles, these special miracles
God did through Paul. Now we need to get Get that part
especially. God did these through the apostles. Now God gave these men these
special gifts of healing and different gifts. God bearing
them witness with signs and wonders and miracles and gifts of the
Holy Ghost, giving them these special credentials that they
had God's message, that they were sin of God. Now, question. Do we need In this day, do we
need to perform miracles today to validate our message or our
ministry? Do I need to prove that I'm God's
servant by doing some kind of miracle? No, absolutely not. Why? Because we have the completed
Word of God. All I need to do is turn here
or turn there and preach the Gospel and teach His Word. You
see, it's the Word of God. It's the power of God unto salvation. We have the completed Word of
God and we are commanded to preach the Word of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Going to all the world and the charge is to preach the Word. Preach the Word. Now, many in
religious circles say they do miracles of healing. Many say
that, don't they? I don't watch the TV preachers,
but a lot of those TV preachers say come forward and be healed.
Or they lay hands on somebody and say, whoopee, he's healed.
Or they slap somebody upside the head and knock them down
and say, well, he's healed. Many in religious circles say
they do miracles and healings. They're all impostors and frauds,
every last one of them. Every last one. They do it for
fame and fortune. Why does Benny and the rest of
them have to rent a big coliseum and whoop everybody up with special
singing and crowds and music and pass the offering plate and
gather up all that money first? I bet this COVID thing is really
giving them a time. They've lost their crowd. But
why don't they just go into the hospital and heal everybody that's
got COVID? They won't do that. They got
to rent an auditorium, get a bunch of money, and then pretend like
these seven sons of Siva. Now, what a difference it makes
In verse 13 and following, what a difference between the 12 men
blessed of God to go out and preach the gospel and really
through that preaching of the gospel, God did heal many sick
folks. made them new creatures in Christ.
God did raise many up from the dead. And these seven men here,
these seven sons, vagabond Jews, who misused the name of the Lord
Jesus Christ, and abused the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now what a difference between those twelve men called and sent
of God, who went out preaching the gospel, and God blessed that
ministry, and these seven imposters, who tried to heal one man, and
got whooped. Who were these men who tried
to imitate the Apostle Paul? Verse 13 says, they were certain
vagabond, wandering, traveling Jews who were exorcists, like
Simon Magus, the magician, took upon them to call over them which
had evil spirits. And they said, well, we're just
going to do what Paul did. We're just going to use the name
of Jesus. It seemed to be like a hocus-pocus, like a magic formula. We just say, Heal in the name
of Jesus. I'm making fun. It needs to be
made fun of. Just like Elijah said to those
prophets, won't you just call a little bit louder? Maybe you're
God's on vacation. Maybe he can't hear you. They did that in the name of
our blessed Savior. By the name of Jesus, I charge
you, the one that Paul preached. You see, they didn't know him.
They couldn't say the one we preached. It's the one Paul preached.
And there were seven sons of Seba, a Jew, a chief priest which
did so. Verse 15, an evil spirit answered
and said, here's the evil spirit answered and said, The Lord Jesus
I know, and Paul I know, but who in the world are you? You are nobody. And the man in
whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, overcame them, and prevailed
against them so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded. And I bet those seven men, those
seven sons of Seba, that one Jew who was the chief priest,
I bet they never went out and did that again. I bet they never did that again.
They said, oh, we're not going to use that name. You see, that's
the name that God has given, a name which is above every name
that every knee will bow and every tongue will confess. They thought these seven men,
they thought that they'd use this scheme to scam a bunch of
people and to get gain. and it quickly came to an end.
God sent judgment on them through this evil spirit. When they tried
to cast out a demon spirit in the name of the Lord Jesus, that
demon spirit overcame them. We see another example of the
sovereign control of the Lord even over the demon spirits.
Even the demon spirits recognized and bowed to the Lordship of
Christ. Even they defended His name when
His name was misused. You remember our Lord came upon
two demon-possessed men in the tombs there in the city of Gadarenes,
of the Gadarenes, and they cried out to the Lord Jesus and said,
What have we to do with thee? Jesus, thou Son of God, are you
here? to torment us before our time.
We know who you are. You're the Holy One of God. Are
you come to torment us before our time? Even the demon spirits
recognize his lordship. Even the demon spirit bow to
the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, these men were overcome by this one demon-possessed
man, and he whipped up on seven men, and they fled out of the
house wounded and naked." Now, we can learn from that. God even controls demon spirits
to accomplish His own purpose. He evens fallen angels and elect
angels to serve His will and purpose. Now, warning. There are many modern so-called
sons of Seba today in pulpits, on the Internet, on radio, TV,
who abuse and misuse the name of the Lord Jesus Christ for
their own fame and fortune to control people and to get gain. The Lord will deal with them
in his own good time, will and pleasure, just like he did to
Herod who sat upon his throne, who would not give God the glory.
You remember in Acts chapter 12? He sat upon the throne and
made a great oration, and the people said, He's a God. You
remember what happened? He was smitten and eaten of worms,
and died on the spot. Acts chapter 12, verse 21, 22,
and 23. Now look at verse 7, and this was known This was known, this wasn't done
in a corner, it wasn't a secret thing, that these men, these
seven men who tried to use the name of the Lord Jesus Christ
when they were defeated and overcome by this one demon-possessed man,
this was known to all the Jews and Greeks. dwelling at Ephesus,
and fear fell on them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus Christ,
the word of the Lord, the name of the Lord Jesus Christ was
magnified." Now, two things that happened in Ephesus as a result
of the preaching of the gospel and the confirmation of that
by these miracles, special miracles that God wrought. Number one,
fear fell on them. The enemies of God have every
reason to fear him. The holy character of the Lord
God will by no means clear the guilty. Fear fell on them all. And the name of the Lord Jesus
Christ was magnified. You know, it's a fearful thing
to fall into the hands of the living God. The wise man Solomon
said the beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord. The second thing we see, fear
fell on them and then we see the name of the Lord Jesus was
magnified. You see that in the last part
of verse 17, glorified or honored or esteemed. You see, that's
the grand design of everything God does in His glorious scheme
of salvation. The grand design of redemption
is what? The glory of the Lord Jesus Christ.
the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. But of him are you in Christ
Jesus, who of God is made known to us wisdom, righteousness,
sanctification, and redemption, that according as it is written,
Jeremiah 9, 23, he that glorieth, let him glory only in the Lord. The name of the Lord Jesus Christ
was glorified, magnified, honored, Psalm 115 verse 1. Not unto us, O Lord, not unto
us, but unto thy name give glory for thy mercy and for thy truth's
sake. Psalm 115 verse 1. You see, the aim and desire of
every believer is the same. That's the aim and desire of
every believer, isn't it? To glorify and honor the Lord
Jesus Christ by believing Him, by submitting unto Him. That's
the aim, goal, and desire of every believer, and that's certainly
the aim and goal of this ministry. the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what it's all about here.
If you're looking for something else, you need to go somewhere
else, because this ministry is all about the honor and glory
of the blessed Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, in verse 18
and 19, we see a remarkable conversion story. These men who were so
possessed with idolatry and these curious arts They were converted
by the grace of God, it says there in verse 18. Many believed
and they confessed. They believed the gospel of the
Lord Jesus Christ. They believed the word, the message
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And they magnified him by faith.
Abraham was strong in faith, giving God the glory, being fully
persuaded that all that God had promised, God is able to perform. And many that believed, How did
they believe? You remember what it says over
here in Acts chapter 18 verse 27. Who when he was come helped
them much which had believed through the grace of God. We only believe the gospel by
the grace of God. As many as were ordained, What
is that? Where is that at? Acts 13, 48.
As many as were ordained. Acts 13, 48. As many as were
ordained to eternal life, they believed the gospel. What a miracle
it is that many believed and then it says they came and they
confessed. And they showed their deeds.
What did they confess? What is a sinner who believes
the gospel? What do they confess? Well, I
think basically two things. They confess what I am and they
confess what he is. They confess they're sinners.
You see, you know really what repentance boils down to? Repentance
boils down to taking God's side against myself. When God says
guilty, You don't say, whoa, whoa, wait a minute, not me.
You see, a repentant heart says, you're right. I agree with God
against myself. I'm guilty. I am a sinner. We confess that we're sinners
before God, that we have sinned and come short of the glory of
God. And then we confess the Lord Jesus Christ as our only
hope. We confess the Lord Jesus Christ as our only hope. Many believe and confess their
hope of salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ. And they were brought,
we used to say brought to faith in Christ, but we switched that
around because it's more accurate to say we are brought to Christ
in faith, by faith. And they confessed that they
were sinners. Wretched all wretched man that
I am who shall deliver me from this body of death. I thank God
through Jesus Christ our Lord He didn't come to call the righteous
came to call sinners. This is a faithful saying this
is worthy of all acceptation Lord Jesus Christ came to call
sinners unto repentance we confess our sins and unto God, we take
our place before him as mercy beggars, and the Lord has never
turned away a mercy beggar. God, be merciful to me, the sinner. That's my prayer constantly.
God, be merciful to me, the sinner. And God delights to show mercy.
He's never turned a mercy beggar away. He said, come, come. You need mercy? Come. Oh, everyone
that's thirsty? Isaiah 55, ho everyone that's
thirsty, come. Don't stay away, come to Christ.
Come unto me all you laborers. Every laden, I'll give you rest.
Notice what else they did. They demonstrated their faith
in Christ. They demonstrated that God had
given them repentance in their heart. Because look what they
did. Many of them, I take that to mean all them that believe,
which were one time idolaters, one time steeped in idolatry,
they brought all their curious arts that they used, and all
their books of idolatry, and they brought them all together
in one big pile and set fire to them, burned them, saying
that what I believed and what Where we were before is worthy
of condemnation. They poured condemnation on their
former idolatry, and they turned their back on it, and they demonstrated
so by what we used to say, the guy's burning his bridges behind
him. That means there's no retreat. That means we can't go back.
Looking unto the Lord Jesus Christ, who's the author and finisher
of our faith, we don't look back, we reach forward unto Him. They
publicly denounced their former religion as idolatry, worthless,
and they turned from it by showing this and demonstrating it publicly. Now, we don't need to go home
and clean out all of our books and burn them to confess our
faith in Christ. God has given us the ordinance
of baptism. And we publicly confess in the
waters of baptism His death, His burial, and His resurrection,
not to be saved, not to wash away our sin, but to confess
that Christ is our only hope of salvation. So, verse 20, so
mightily, I just love this verse, so mightily, powerfully, grew,
increasing, The Word of God prevailing over all opposition. The Word
of God prevailed, prevailed, prevailed. It says in Acts chapter 12 verse
24, we've seen this before where it says the Word of God grew
and multiplied. The Word of God grew and multiplied. You see, this Word of God is
alive. It's a living sword. It grows
and it multiplies and accomplishes the purpose of God. The Word
of God and the Gospel of God is prevailing. Thanks be to God
who's given us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Thanks
be to God who always causes us to triumph in Christ. We are
more than conquerors to the Lord Jesus Christ who loved us and
gave himself for us. The word of God will not return
void. It will accomplish that which
God said, which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing
whereunto I send it. I got thinking about that word
prevailing. Prevailing. Prevailing. And it
led me to the word prosper. Prosper. The word of the Lord
shall prosper. And then in Isaiah 53 10, don't
turn let me just read it to you. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise
him. He hath put him to grief, when thou shalt make his soul
an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong
his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his
hand. He shall see the travail of his
soul, and be satisfied." Isaiah 53, 10 and 11. By his knowledge
shall my righteous servant justify many, for he shall bear their
iniquity. The gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ gets the job done. When we use the word efficacious
and effectual, that just means it gets the job done. It accomplishes
the purpose of God, prevailing. The gospel prevails, overcomes,
and will conquer all opposition by the sovereign will of God. Prevailing, the word of God shall
prosper, and then I thought of another word that begins with
P. I'm persuaded. Aren't you? I'm persuaded, like
Paul said, I know whom I have believed, and I'm persuaded that
all He has promised, He will accomplish. That is 1 Timothy
1.12. And then in Romans chapter 4,
verse 20, we say with the Apostle, that I am persuaded that all
that God has promised, God is able to perform. I'm persuaded. Aren't you? I'm persuaded. He shall prevail, He shall prosper,
and He does persuade men. We had that recently, didn't
we, in a message? In Acts 19 verse 8, He went into
the synagogue and spake boldly for the space of three months,
disputing and persuading the things concerning the kingdom
of God. Persuading. The Lord Jesus Christ has prevailed. The Lord Jesus Christ is prevailing. Now I thought about these four
things. I'll give them to you very quickly.
The Lord Jesus Christ has prevailed to conquer all enemies. Right? In the book of Colossians
Don't turn, let me read it to you. In the book of Colossians,
chapter 2, it says, Having spoiled principalities and powers, he
made a show of them openly, triumphing over them, or prevailing over
them himself. Christ has prevailed, number
one, to conquer all enemies. Number two, the Lord Jesus Christ
has prevailed to establish all righteousness for us by His faithfulness. We just wrote it a moment ago,
not by the deeds of the law are we justified, but by the faithfulness
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ has prevailed to establish
all righteousness for us and to freely impute that to us. Impute that to us. Christ is
the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believe it. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord imputeth righteousness without works. Romans 4 verse 6. Thirdly, the Lord Jesus Christ
hath prevailed, not only to conquer all enemies, not only to establish
all righteousness for us, as a surety of the covenant. Thirdly,
to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. You see, I not only
need a righteousness, I need that added to me, but I need
something taken away from me. I need an addition, I need a
subtraction. Well, Christ is the addition
and the subtraction is that He took away our sin. He appeared
once in the end of the age to put away sin by the sacrifice
of Himself. He has prevailed to put away
sin and to obtain eternal redemption for us. He is prevailing. When He by Himself purged our
sin, He sat down on the right hand of the throne of God. Fourthly,
the Lord Jesus Christ has prevailed to accomplish all salvation for
His people. You remember Peter and John,
they stood before that council. That council said, by what means?
We want to know by what means that you made that man whole.
Whose name did you use? How was this done? And he said,
be it known unto you. in the name of the Lord Jesus
Christ and by His power. And oh, by the way, neither is
there salvation in any other but the name of the Lord Jesus
Christ. He has prevailed to accomplish
the Father's will in saving His people. Call His name Jesus.
He shall save His people from their sin. All that the Father
has given to Him, they will come to Him. And those that come to
Him, He will never cast them out. Take that home with you this
week. So mightily grew the Word of the Lord, the Word of God,
and it prevailed. Prevailed.