Now, we're back to our bookmark
in Acts chapter 19, and I would encourage you to hold your Bible
open there as we follow along in these verses in Acts chapter
19, verse 1, down through verse 10. Now, I'm taking the title
for the message from the words found in verse 8, the thing concerning
the kingdom of God. What are the things concerning
the Kingdom of God? What's all about the Lord Jesus
Christ? He went into the synagogue, verse
8, and spake boldly for the space of three months, ninety days,
disputing, persuading the things concerning the kingdom of God,
the kingdom of God. What are these things concerning
the kingdom of God? Now if you have a kingdom of
necessity, you must have a king, right? You must have a king. Well, the Lord Jesus Christ,
He is the king in His kingdom. We studied from Psalm 2 verse
6 where God said, I've set my king upon my holy hill Zion. A couple of other Psalms we read
about the kingship and lordship of our Savior. The Lord said
it's king forever. Psalm 29 10. The Lord said it's
king forever. And he's not king by something
we do. He's not king by a democratic
process. Well, he didn't take a vote here.
God made him king. I've set my king upon my holy
hill sign. And then I looked up just a moment
ago, in Psalm 47, 7, it says, God is a king of all the earth. He's king, absolute king. And then in Psalm 44, we read,
thou art my king, command deliverance for me. He's the only one that
can do that because he's the sovereign king. He speaks and
it's done. He commands, stands fast. Now make no mistake, the gospel
of God is all about the Lord Jesus Christ and that spiritual
kingdom we have in him. He is that spiritual salvation
we have in Him. He is the King and Lord in His
kingdom of salvation. Our Lord prayed in John 17, Father,
You've given me power over all flesh, that I should give eternal
life to as many as Thou hast given to me. He is King in heaven,
right? He's King upon the earth. No
one can stay his hand, he does according to his will in heaven
and in earth, and he does whatsoever he pleases, and no one can stay
or stop his hand. He's king in creation, he made
all things by the word of his power, he's king in providence,
the things that come to pass in time come to pass because
God decreed them from eternity, and he's king in salvation. He
will have mercy upon whom He will. Wasn't that Peter's message
at Pentecost? This same Jesus whom you crucified,
He is both Lord and Christ. Now bow to Him. Bow to Him. He is the Lord, He is the King.
To this end of this purpose, Christ both died and rose, revived
that He might be King, Lord of the living and the dead. God
has highly exalted him and given him a name which is above every
name, that at that name every knee should bow, every tongue
should confess he's king, he's Lord in all things. You remember when the Lord Jesus
Christ was brought before Pilate and Pilate said to him, are you
the king of the Jews? And he said, my kingdom is not
of this world, my kingdom is a spiritual kingdom. The wise
men came and they asked, where is he that is born king, remember? He was king when he got here.
He's always been king. He's king of kings and lord of
lords. And Pilate said to him, aren't
thou a king then? Thou sayest, I'm a king. To this
end was I born. For this cause came I into the
world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Should bear witness
unto the truth. Everyone that is of the truth
hears the voice of the king. He is king. He's my God. He's my Savior and He is my King. So we preach the thing concerning
the Kingdom of God. And that is all about the person
and work of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now in this chapter we see the
Apostle Paul, Acts 19, back on the road, back on the mission
field preaching the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ just as
he was told that he must do. Go into all the world and preach
the gospel to every creature. On his way back to Ephesus, he
visited the churches there in Galatia and Phrygia. Look back
up at verse 23 in chapter 18. And here's the beginning of his
third journey. And he went after he had spent
some time there in Antioch and Jerusalem, he departed and went
over all the country of Galatia and Phrygia in order strengthening
all the disciples. Now, I looked this up, the churches
of Galatia we know because Paul wrote a letter to those churches,
but what about the churches in Phrygia? I had to look this up. It included Colossae and Laodicea. And Paul went back to those churches
and preached the gospel again to them, strengthening them with
the word of the Lord, feeding them the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ, the very milk of the word, the very bread of the word,
the very water of the word, preaching the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, Acts
19, verse 1, and it came to pass. It just didn't happen. It came
to pass because God from all eternity ordained this to come
to pass. Everything that comes to pass
in time, now you think about this, and this is just how infinite
and sovereign God is in providence. Everything that comes to pass
in time, God ordained from eternity, everything. no exceptions. And it came to pass that while
Apollos was at Corinth, Paul, having passed through the upper
coast, came to Ephesus and finding disciples there. Paul is once
again back at Ephesus. Remember back in chapter 18 verse
21, he said he would come back, Lord willing. Look at verse 21,
Acts 18. He bade them farewell, saying,
I must by all means keep this feast that cometh in Jerusalem,
but I will return again unto you if God will. And he sailed
from Ephesus. So he's back now. at Ephesus,
and when he comes back he finds these twelve men. Verse 7 of
chapter 19 says all the men were about twelve. He found these
disciples, these twelve men, like Apollos, faithful disciples
of John the Baptist, who heard John tell sinners about the Lamb
of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, and they were baptized, confessing
the Messiah as the one who would come to put away their sin. That's
what they were confessing. Their hope of forgiveness was
the coming Messiah that would put away their sin. This was
what Apollos also preached and believed. Look back at chapter
18, verse 24 and 25. And a certain Jew named Apollos,
born in Alexandria, eloquent man, mighty in the scriptures,
came to Ephesus. This man was instructed in the
way of the Lord. Now there's just one way of the
Lord. And being fervent in spirit, he spake and taught diligently
the things of the Lord, knowing only that those who look to the
Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ, were to confess Him in believers'
baptism. Now, back in chapter 19, in verse
2, down to verse 6, we have this conversation between Paul and
these 12 men, these disciples that Paul found there at Ephesus. And it's obvious if you read
what it's saying here, what it said here, that these men were
under John's ministry. 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 Spirit. Have you received the Holy Ghost
when you believe? Now, stay with me, this is not
referring to the quickening work of the Spirit of God in regeneration,
for no one can believe or repent apart from the work of God the
Holy Spirit you hath he quickened who were dead, and no man can
call him Lord but by the Spirit of God, We studied that in 1
Corinthians 12. Listen to these words. but by the Holy Spirit. But rather
what he's talking about here are the gifts conferred by the
Holy Spirit, the spiritual gifts given by the Spirit of God, and
also to the fulfillment of the Holy Spirit coming as was done
on the day of Pentecost. You remember our Lord said, when
he has come, he will quicken, he will reveal things, my things
unto you, the things of God. Now their answer does not mean
they knew nothing of the work of the Holy Spirit because John
preached that. We read that in John chapter
1. John bare record saying, I saw
the Spirit of God descending from heaven and it abode upon
the Lord Jesus Christ. But here's what he's saying,
these men were unaware and uninformed of the coming of the Holy Spirit
upon the early church in such a display, powerful display,
like on the day of Pentecost. Now remember, turn back to chapter
2. Now stay with me. Chapter 2, I'll try to bring
this all together in just a minute. In Acts chapter 2 verse 14, you
remember the promise was given by the prophet Joel in the latter
days about the coming of the Spirit of God? Peter standing
up, Acts 2 verse 14, Peter standing up with the eleven lifted up
the voice and said, you men of Judea and all you that dwell
at Jerusalem, Be this known unto you, and hearken unto my words. These are not drunken, as you
suppose, saying it's about the third hour of the day. But this
is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel, which shall come
to pass in the last days, saying, God, I'll pour out my Spirit
upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall
dream dreams. They were ignorant of the fulfilling
of what the Scripture taught about the coming of the Holy
Spirit manifested in such a clear and powerful way like on the
day of Pentecost. They were unaware of the Lord's
words of the fulfillment when the Spirit of God comes. Let
me read that to you. When the Spirit of God comes
in John 16, He said, He will reprove the world of sin, of
righteousness, and of judgment, of sin, because they believed
not on me, of righteousness, because I go to my Father, of
judgment, because the Prince of this world is judged. They
were ignorant of the fulfilling of what the Lord said concerning
His coming. Now, Acts 19, verse 3, they were
uninformed and unaware that what Joel prophesied had already taken
place. Look at verse 3. And he said
to them, unto what then were you baptized? And they said unto
John's baptism. Now Paul takes for granted that
they had been baptized or they would not have been disciples
of John. Like Apollos, like Andrew, like
John, and like Peter, they all confessed Christ under John's
ministry. I believe that's so. Also, better
than that, who else was baptized of John the Baptist? the Lord
Jesus Christ himself. He said, suffer it to be so for
us to fulfill all righteousness. And the Lord Jesus Christ was
baptized. Now we have no record of the
baptism of any of the apostles, with the exception of Paul, except
that they were followers of John the Baptist and confessed their
hope in the Messiah by submitting to John's message John's ministry,
and John's baptism. Peter, on two occasions, we find
this, that he confessed the Lord Jesus Christ, when our Lord said,
whom do men say that I am? And he said, thou art the Christ. And when those people walked
away from the Lord, and he said, will you also go away? And Peter
said again, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal
life. We believe and we are sure thou
art that Christ. We do have the record of the
Apostle Paul being baptized. And we do have the record of
Paul baptizing others. But Paul's baptism and John's
baptism were both confessing the same thing. Faith in the
Lord Jesus Christ. Now look at verse 4 and 5. Concerning
John's baptism, this is what Paul said. This is what Paul
said, the apostle of John the Baptist's ministry. John verily
baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people
that they should believe on him. There's repentance and there's
faith. Believe on him which should come after him. Remember they
asked John, who are you? He said, I'm the voice of one
crying in the wilderness, behold the Lamb of God. That is, on
Christ Jesus. So what was John's ministry all
about? Pointing sinners to the Lord Jesus Christ. No doubt about
that. Here's what Paul said concerning
John's ministry. He fully and totally says that
his ministry was all about Christ and Him crucified. Same as Paul's. Paul said, I'm determined not
to know anything among you but Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
What did John say? Same thing, behold the Lamb of
God, the sacrifice of God, John baptized those that were granted
repentance toward God in faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Just
as they were baptized under Peter's ministry, and as they were baptized
under Paul's ministry as well. Now look at verse 5, and when
they heard this, they were baptized in the name
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now who's that referring to?
It's not referring to those 12 men. They were not re-baptized. It's referring to those who were
under John's ministry. That's who they heard this. What did they hear? They said
they heard John preach, there's the Lamb. Confess Him in repentance,
confess Him in faith, and confess Him in believers' baptism. You see, baptism is not salvation. Christ is salvation. We confess
him in believers baptism, repentance toward God, and faith in the
Lord Jesus Christ. Now read on, look at verse 6
and 7. And when Paul had laid hands on them, now it didn't
say here that Paul baptized them. It didn't say that, did it? Why
didn't Paul baptize them? Because they were already baptized
under John's ministry. See what he's saying there? But
Paul did do this. He laid his hands on them. and
the Holy Ghost came on them. That is, the Holy Ghost came
on them in a special way conferring those spiritual gifts of prophesying,
of preaching, and of speaking the gospel in a language they
had never learned. It would be like if that gift
was given to me, I could go to France, or Spain, or Mexico,
or anywhere in China and fluently preach the gospel in a language
that was native to those people. Now, Does God still give those
gifts to certain men? I don't know. That's his business,
not mine. Is he able? Absolutely. Absolutely
so. I do know some men, some missionaries
in Mexico, Brother Walter, Brother Cody, Brother Milton Howard,
fluent in Spanish. God gave them that gift, but
it was something they had to go to school and learn. They
just didn't stand up and start speaking in Spanish. I know when
I was down there several times, I've been there preaching to
those people in those pueblos. You know, language is such a
barrier. I mean, it is such a, it's a stone wall. You want to
tell those people, but they don't know what you're saying. They
speak back to you. You don't have a clue of what they're saying.
There's that kindred of spirit. You can feel that kindred of
spirit and fellowship, brethren in the Lord. But that language
barrier is, and you just want to reach out so much, so forth. But these apostles, Peter and
John and others, they had this special gift, the apostles did,
of conferring these gifts to other men. It says in verse 7,
and there was about 12 of them. 12 were these men who were given
the special gift and here's what they did with those gifts. They
continued there two years, verse 10, so that all that dwelt in
Asia heard the word of the Lord. And then in verse 20 of Acts
19, so mightily grew the word of God and prevailed. So God
sent these 12 men out just like he sent the 12 apostles out preaching
the gospel in all Asia. All that area, heard them preach
the Word of God. Now, verses 8, 9, and 10, we
see the beginnings of the Lord calling out a multitude of His
elect among the people at Ephesus. establishing there a gospel church
just like he did at Corinth. Remember he said, Paul you stay
there. He stayed there for 18 months.
Why did the Lord tell him to stay there? He said, I have much
people in this city. Well in Ephesus he must have
had a lot of people there because Paul spent two whole years. He spent three months in the
synagogue and then down in verse 9 it says he spent two whole
years in the school of Tyrannus. Preaching the gospel because
God had much people there now. Let's concentrate for a moment
on verse 8 Paul spake boldly in the assembly of the Jews and for the space of three months.
Now we know exactly what he was doing there, because we've seen
this repeated pattern. He went there preaching, not
himself, but the Lord Jesus Christ. He says they're disputing or
reasoning with them. Look back at chapter 18, verse
4. He reasoned, same thing he did
there when he came to Corinth. He reasoned in the synagogue
every Sabbath day, persuaded the Jews and the Greeks, and
when Silas and Timothy would come from Macedonia, Paul was
pressed in the spirit and testified to the Jews that Jesus is the
Christ. Same thing Apollos did in Acts
18 verse 28. And he mightily convinced the
Jews, and that publicly, showing by the Scriptures, that Jesus
is the Christ. So when we go preaching the Kingdom
of God, we go preaching the Lord Jesus Christ, who is King in
His Kingdom. disputing and reasoning with
them that he is the Messiah, the one Son of God, the anointed
prophet, priest, and king. And then it says there, secondly,
he not only disputed with them, reasoning with them, but persuading
them. Now, it wasn't a physical thing
that he did, persuading them, bending their arm, or begging
them. He preached the gospel, persuading
them to believe the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, to fully
trust him for all of salvation. We're going to study, in 2 Corinthians
chapter 5, where the apostle Paul says, knowing the terror
of the Lord, We persuade men. That's what we do when we come
preaching the gospel. I would persuade you and convince
you to trust the Lord Jesus Christ for all of your salvation. Now
let me give you an example of this. Turn to Acts 26. You remember when Paul was brought
before Festus and Felix and King Agrippa. Festus, Felix, and then
King Agrippa. In Acts 26, verse 20, let's start
at verse 24, Acts 26. And he thus spake for himself,
and Festus said with a loud voice, Paul, thou art beside yourself. Much learning doth make thee
mad. And he said, I'm not mad, I'm not crazy, most noble Festus. but speak forth the words of
truth and soberness, for the king knoweth of whom these things,
before whom I speak freely, speaking of the king Agrippa. For I am
persuaded that none of those things are hidden from him, for
this thing was not done in a corner. Now look at verse 27, Acts 26,
then king Agrippa King Agrippa, believeth thou
the prophets? Well, I know you believe the
prophets. And King Agrippa said unto Paul, almost thou persuaded
me to be a Christian. Paul was persuading them, convincing
them to believe the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, the
third thing we see in verse eight, He went into the synagogue and
spoke boldly for the space of three months, disputing with
them, persuading them concerning what? The kingdom of God. The kingdom of God. Now we've
seen that statement before. Turn all the way back to the
book of Acts chapter 1. You remember how we started here.
In Acts chapter 1 verse 3. "...to whom also he showed himself
alive after his passion, after his suffering." Acts 1 verse
3, "...by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days,
and speaking of things pertaining..." What did the Lord speak about?
"...things pertaining to the kingdom of God." Turn over here
to Acts chapter 8, Acts chapter 8 verse 12, Acts chapter 8 verse
12, when Philip the Evangelist, this is not Philip the Apostle,
this is Philip the Evangelist, when he was down in Samaria and
a revival broke out, verse 12 of Acts 8, but when they believed
Philip preaching the thing concerning the kingdom of God and the name
of the Lord Jesus Christ, they were baptized both men and women. What did he speak about? concerning
the kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, let me read two
other references for you. In Matthew chapter 4, Verse 17, it says of our Lord
and Savior, He began to preach, repent for the kingdom of heaven
is at hand. Again in Matthew chapter 4 verse
23, Jesus went about all Galilee preaching the gospel of the kingdom. He did the same thing. Speaking
about the king himself. I want you to turn to one or
two more places in the book of Acts. And we'll see this statement
again in Acts 28, the last chapter, Acts 28, verse 23. Acts 28 23 turn there read with
me and when they had pointed him a day This is Paul in Rome
in prison under arrest for the gospel there came many to him
into his lodging to whom he expounded and Testified the kingdom of
God persuading them concerning Jesus both out of the law of
Moses and the prophets from morning till evening He expounded he
testified and then he persuaded them to believe The thing concerning
the kingdom of God. Okay? Acts chapter 28 verse 30. Paul dwelt two whole years in
his own hired house and received all that came in unto him, preaching
the kingdom of God, and teaching those things which concern the
Lord Jesus Christ with all confidence, No man forbidding. So we can
say that preaching and persuading about the kingdom of God is preaching
the gospel of God concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. The kingdom
of God is the same as the gospel of God. That's the power of God
and the salvation to everyone who is blessed to believe it.
The kingdom of God is concerning His person his person and his
mediatorial work. Concerning his person, he is
the king and lord in his kingdom. 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. So when we see that
statement, The persuading thing concerning the Kingdom of God
is all about the King, who He is, as the sovereign Lord of
heaven and earth, who has salvation in His hand. Salvation is of
the Lord. And the second thing, not only
concerning His person, but how about His redeeming work? Why
did He come? What did He accomplish? Well,
He made atonement for our sin with the sacrifice of Himself.
We studied in Romans 14, the Kingdom of God, the Kingdom of
God is not meat and drink, but righteousness, peace, and joy
in the Holy Ghost. Righteousness, what? Established
by Christ. Peace with God, He made peace.
for us with his own blood and joy with joy in God through the
Lord Jesus Christ. And then we studied in first
Corinthians 420 the King of God is not in word only but in power. In power. He blesses his word
to the salvation of his people. Now notice this verse 9 in closing. When divers were hardened hardened. They were hardened against that
message. And believed not, but spake evil of that way before
the multitude, he departed from them, and separated the disciples,
disputing daily in the school of one Tyrannus. I don't know anything about this
man Tyrannus. I take that to mean that they
met in this schoolhouse for two years preaching the gospel of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul faithfully preached and
I'm sure that many believe the gospel. Many were persuaded to
trust the Lord Jesus Christ in his kingdom. Remember we said
And we studied Acts 13, 48, as many as were ordained to eternal
life believed. But many, it says there, look
what it says. What a sad thing to say about
someone. They were hardened, hardened,
and they believed not. And they spoke evil of the way
of grace. They spoke evil of the way of
grace. You remember in chapter 18 verse
6, they opposed themselves and blasphemed and shook his raiment,
and then he shook his raiment, and said to them, your blood
be on your own head. I'm clean from henceforth. I'll
go to the Gentiles. They spoke evil of that way and
believed not. Now the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ has a two-fold effect. It hardens some, and it breaks
others. It hardens some, to some it's
a saber of death unto death. To those who are broken, nigh
them of a broken heart, those to whom He calls by His grace,
His elect, His people, the gospel's a saber of life unto life. You
remember the preaching of Christ crucified is a stumbling block
to the Jews, foolishness to the Greeks, but to them which are
called, The power and the wisdom of God. Paul departed and separated
from them and left them to perish in their own willful rebellion
and unbelief. Our Lord in His earthly ministry
with His disciples. Remember one time the disciples
ate and didn't wash their hands? That was a big no-no in the Pharisees'
circle. And our disciples came to the
Lord and said to them, they were offended by what you said. He
told them that it's not what you put in your mouth, it's what
comes out of your heart that defiles a man. And they were
upset. And the disciples came to the
Lord and said, you know, they were offended by what you said.
You remember what the Lord said? He said, leave them alone. They'd
be blind, leaders of the blind. If the blind lead the blind,
they'll all wind up in the ditch. That's what Paul's doing here.
He preached the gospel to them, but they put it from themselves.
They would not have the gospel. And so he left them to perish
in their own rebellion. He shook his reign against them
as well. And this continued by the space
of two years. All they which dwelt in Asia
heard the word of the Lord Jesus Christ. As I read earlier, verse
20, so mightily grew the word of God and prevailed. The Lord
will bless the preaching of his word. You remember in Isaiah
55, he said, it will not return to me void. The world by wisdom
does not know God, Therefore, please God by preaching the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. May God give us grace
to hear this message of the king in his kingdom who has salvation,
who gives it to whom he will, and take our place before him
as the absolute sovereign and ask him for mercy. He's never
turned a mercy beggar away, not one time. I've never read in
scripture one time, any sinner coming to the Lord seeking mercy
was turned away. He spoke harshly to those Pharisees. He said, you know, they would
justify yourself before men, but God knows your heart. That
which is highly esteemed among men is an abomination in the
sight of God, but he's never turned a sinner away. May God
bless us and enable us to hear his gospel, to believe it, and
to trust the Lord Jesus Christ for all of our salvation.