Jesus in His Church - Paul..

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com. That's cornerstonerbc.com. And it happened that while Apollos was in Corinth, Paul passed through the inland country and came to Ephesus. There he found some disciples and he said to them, did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?

And they said, no, we have not even heard. There is a Holy Spirit. And he said, into what then were you baptized? They said, into John's baptism. And Paul said, John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him.

That is Jesus. On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. And when Paul had laid his hand on them, the Holy Spirit came on them and they began speaking in tongues and prophesying. There were about 12 men in all. And he entered the synagogue, and for three months he boldly reasoned and persuading them about the kingdom of God.

But when some became stubborn and continued in unbelief, speaking evil of the way before the congregation, he withdrew from them and took the disciples with him, reasoning daily in the hall of Tyrannus. This continued for two years, so that all the residents of Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jew and Greeks. And God was doing extraordinary miracles by the hand of Paul, so that even handkerchiefs or aprons that had touched his skin were carried away to the sick, and their diseases left them, and the evil spirits came out of them. Then some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists took to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, I adjure you by the name, I adjure you by the Jesus whom Paul proclaims. Seven sons of Jewish high priest named Sceva were doing this.

But the evil spirit answered them, Jesus I know and Paul I recognize, but who are you? And the man in whom was the evil spirit leaped on them, mustered all of them, and overpowered them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded. And this became known to all the residents of Ephesus, both Jews and Greeks, and fear fell upon them all. In the name of the Lord Jesus was extolled. Also, many of those who were now believers came confessing and divulging their practices.

And a number of those who had practiced magical arts brought their books together and burnt them in the sight of all. And they counted the value of them and found it came to 50,000 pieces of silver. So the word of the Lord continued to increase and prevail mightily. Now after these events, Paul resolved in the spirit to pass through Macedonia and Archaea and go to Jerusalem, saying, After I have been there, I must also see Rome. And having sent into Macedonia two of his helpers, Timothy and Erastus, he himself stayed in Asia for a while.

About that time there arose no little disturbance concerning the way. For a man named Demetrius, a silversmith, who made silver shrines of Artemis, brought no little business to the craftsmen. These he gathered together with the workmen in similar trades and said, Men, you know that from this business we have our wealth. And you see and hear that not only in Ephesus, but in almost all of Asia, this Paul has persuaded and turned away a great many people saying that gods made with hands are not gods. And there is a danger not only that this trade of ours may come into disrepute, but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis may be counted as nothing, and that she may even be deposed from her magnificence, she whom all Asia and the world worship.

When they heard this, they were enraged and were crying out, Great is Artemis of the Ephesians! So the city was filled with confusion, and they rushed together into the theater, dragging with them Gaius and Aristarchus, Macedonians who were Paul's companions in travel. But when Paul wished to go in among the crowd, the disciples would not let him, and even some of the Asiarchs who were friends of his sent to him and were urging him not to venture into the theater. Now some cried out one thing and others and some another, for the assembly was in confusion, and most of them did not know why they had come together. Some of the crowd prompted Alexander, whom the Jews had put forward, and Alexander, motioning with his hand, wanted to make a defense to the crowd.

But when they recognized that he was a Jew for about two hours, they all cried out with one voice, Great is Artemis of the Ephesians. And when the town clerk had quietened the crowd, he said, Men of Ephesus, who is there? who does not know that the city of the Ephesians is the temple keeper of the great Artemis and the sacred stone that fell from the sky. Seeing then that these things cannot be denied, you ought to be quiet and do nothing rash, for you have brought these men here who are neither sacrilegious nor blasphemers of our goddess. If therefore Demetrius and the craftsmen with him have a complaint against anyone, the courts are open, and there are proconsuls.

Let them bring charges against one another. But if you seek anything further, it shall be settled in regular assembly. For we really are in danger of being charged with rioting today, since there is no cause that we can give to justify this commotion. When then they said these things, or when He had said these things, He dismissed the assembly. Amen.

Amen. The grass withers and the flowers fade, but the Word of the Lord remains forever. Brothers and sisters, let's come to the Lord in prayer and just commit this time to Him. Father, we thank You for this time. Lord, we ask that You would give us understanding, that You would open our hearts and our minds to receive the Word.

I pray, Lord, that You would remove any distractions from our mind even now. I pray, Lord, that You would give me clarity of mind and clarity of thought. I pray, Lord, that Your Word would be preached and would be taught clearly. And Father, we ask that Your Holy Spirit would be among us in a special way tonight to feed us Your Word. We ask these things in Jesus' name.

Amen. Well, brothers and sisters, we've been in the book of Acts now for several months, and we've been working through one chapter at a time. And if we have come to know anything about this book, it is indeed that Jesus is building His church. When Jesus said back in the first chapter of Acts chapter 1 that He is building His church, and that church will begin to be built, and the disciples will be His witnesses, and the church will begin to be built in Jerusalem, and then Samaria, and then Judea, and then to the uttermost parts of the earth, He meant what he was saying. And we've seen evidence of this.

We've seen how the church is growing and growing and growing. And by no means has it been an easy road. It's been a difficult road. Every step of the way, the church and the proclamation of the gospel has met with much opposition, great opposition from all avenues and from every direction. And we've looked at many of these things as we worked our way through the book of Acts.

The opposition continues to come. But the Word of God continues to prevail over it. The Word of God and the Gospel continues to pervade the darkness. and the Word of God and the Gospel of Christ continues to save sinners who were condemned under the wrath of God because of their sin and unrighteousness and He brings them into His kingdom by the power of His Spirit through the proclamation of the Gospel of these faithful men who have gone from one country to another proclaiming the good news of the Gospel. And there's no different here in Ephesus.

We see much of the same. We see that the gospel and the word of God is continued to be preached. And we see the power of the Holy Spirit bringing forth fruit of this gospel. But we also see opposition to the gospel in several ways that we'll examine here this evening. Opposition that come from demonic powers, powers of wickedness, powers of the enemy, principalities and rulers in dark places.

That's the battle. It's not a battle against flesh and blood. So now the context of our chapter is the Apostle Paul is on his third missionary journey. That journey began in the last chapter, in chapter 18. And he's in a place called Ephesus in Asia Minor.

It's a place that we know as Turkey. The name is familiar to us, Ephesus, because the apostle wrote a letter to the Ephesians, a letter we all know and love dearly. He wrote that letter in a few years' time, and he wrote it in a jail cell in Rome, one of the prison epistles or the jail epistles that the apostle wrote. Now, this is not the first time the Apostle Paul goes to Ephesus. In fact, if we turn over to chapter 18, verse 18, on the Apostle's second missionary journey, we see he had already been there in Ephesus.

But listen to what he says. Chapter 18, verse 18. After this, Paul stayed many days longer. That's in Corinth. and then took leave of his brothers and set sail for Syria, and with him Priscilla and Aquila.

At Senchrae he had cut his hair, for he was under vow, and they came to Ephesus. And he left them there, but he himself went into the synagogue and reasoned with the Jews." That's in Ephesus, natural verse 20. When they asked him to stay a little bit longer, he declined. But on taking leave of them, he said this, I will return to you if God wills.

And he set sail from Ephesus. 22. When he had landed at Caesarea, he went up and greeted the church and then went down to Antioch. After spending some time there, he departed and went from one place to the next through the region of Galatia and Phrygia, strengthening all the disciples. it was providentially God's will that Paul would return to Ephesus.

I mean, he said that earlier. He said that when he is on his first trip into that city, and it turns out that it's God's will that the Apostle Paul not only returns to Ephesus, but spends more time there than anywhere else as far as we can tell. Some three years he spends in this city. We're told in the very next chapter, chapter 20, he says he spends three years in Ephesus. And they're three glorious years because from the reading of the text this evening we can see that indeed God was at work in this place.

In fact, you could almost say that a revival broke out in Ephesus. And despite the powers of darkness, despite the fierce spiritual warfare, which is clearly evident in this city. And this city is very much steeped in pagan religion and demonic religious worship. We see this. But beloved, despite any and all of these things, I want you to get this.

The Word of God prevails in that place. If you're nothing else, absolutely nothing else from our study this evening, that's something I want you to walk away with. That the Word of God overcomes and prevails the wickedness of this world. Verse 20, just remember that verse. That's what happens.

The Word of God is a light, and it invades the darkness and overcomes it. No matter what the opposition looks like, the weapon of God's choice, beloved, the weapon that He gives to His people to yield is His Word. It's His Spirit-empowered Word, and that Word is powerful. That's the theme of this chapter, I believe. Or as the inspired author Luke says, as I said earlier in verse 20, he puts it this way, So the word of the Lord continued to increase, that is to produce fruit, and to prevail mightily.

To prevail, to conquer, to overcome, to overpower. Whatever it is that is in its way, the word of God was overpowering it. That means the word of God was on top, not on the bottom. The word of God was overpowering. You see, this is the Spirit's empowered Word.

This is how Jesus is building His church. And the book of Acts thus far has been a complete witness to this. And this is why the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. Because God is behind this work. He's behind His work.

And He's behind His Word. Now we're told that the Apostle trekked through the inland country and is now in Ephesus. The inland country is, as we just read in chapter 18, that little section we read, it's the land on the northeastern section north of the Mediterranean Sea. The Apostle went through those regions because he's already been in those regions. He went there to encourage and strengthen the disciples in Galatia, in the region of Galatia and Phrygia.

These people were added to the church in the Apostle Paul's previous missionary journeys. And he's gone back as the Apostle's heart is a pastoral heart. He's a pastor at heart very much. And he goes back to strengthen and encourage the disciples to remain firm in the faith. But upon arriving in Ephesus, he comes across a dozen or so disciples of John who had quite, it's a quite interesting occasion.

They had quite a deficient understanding of the faith. Now it's true that Luke writes for us here and calls them disciples. Disciples is normally a term that Luke writes or uses for believers, those who have come to trust in Christ and receive Him as Lord and as Savior, those who have come to trust the gospel. That's the term that Luke normally uses. But these men, he calls disciples, they must have been disciples of John, Not of Christ, as we'll see soon.

And John, by the way, John the Baptist, he's been out of the equation for some 25 or 30 years now. He died whilst Jesus was in his earthly ministry. Now the Apostle discerns something missing in these men, pretty quickly. These men come, or he comes and he meets with them, he discerns something missing, and immediately he says, did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed? He must have been giving them the benefit of the doubt because he said, when you believed.

So he must have taken them for their profession. But they answered, no, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit. Okay, at this point, no doubt the Apostle's mind is ringing with alarm bells. You haven't heard of the Holy Spirit? Putting John the Baptist's ministry aside for a moment, doesn't the Old Testament have much to speak about the Holy Spirit?

and the day that the Lord will pour out His Spirit on His people, how can you have not of heard of the Holy Spirit? Ezekiel 36, 25, I will sprinkle clean water on you on the day to come, looking forward, and you shall be clean from all uncleanliness and from all idols. I will cleanse you and I will give you a new, hear this, and a new spirit I will put within you. What do you mean you have not heard of the Holy Spirit? So the Apostle looks back at them and says, into what were you baptized?

John's baptism, they answer. Okay, it's possible that these men had left Judea before the advent of Christ. That's a possibility, and maybe they hadn't heard of the Holy Spirit, but they must not have been very close followers of John the Baptist. John was pretty clear about his mission, wasn't he? We had the privilege of going through the gospel according to John, and we spent some extensive time looking at John the Baptist's life.

He was fairly clear to everyone and towards his listeners and hearers about who he was and what his mission was. Now, I want you to think with me. When you consider John the Baptist, what's the first statement that comes to your mind in relation to his ministry and what is to come? Think with me. What's the first statement to come?

We know that John the Baptist was the one who said that Jesus is indeed the Son of God. What else? He's the Lamb of God who takes away the sin. But what is the statement he speaks of that speaks to the crowd of who he is and how his position or his mission is a temporal one? You remember what he says?

I baptize with water, he said. But the one who is mightier than I is coming, the strap of whose sandals I'm not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with what? The Holy Spirit and fire. This was John's message.

What I do is in preparation for the one to come. I'm the forerunner of the one to come. But the substance is Christ, and He's coming after me. I'm baptizing with water, but He'll baptize you into the Holy Spirit. You see, any disciple of John would have known from John's own declaration, from his own lips, that his ministry was pointing to another.

He wasn't the one receiving the glory. He was pointing to one who deserves the glory. He says, he is greater and mightier than I, of whose sandals I'm unworthy to untie. And when Jesus came onto the scene, John steps aside and gives the center stage to Jesus. And although he had a multitude of followers, and indeed his influence was like no other, His influence was incredible, the greatest influence that first century Palestine had ever seen.

But with the advent of Christ, the best man doesn't stay where he is. He moves to the side and allows the bridegroom to come and take his rightful place in center stage. This was John's heart. And it was summarized in his precious words when he added those words, the words that I love, and I'm sure you do also, I must decrease and he must increase. I baptize with water, but he baptizes in the Spirit.

But for whatever reason, these men weren't aware of that teaching, which is so aware to us who have read the Gospels. They had come to believe to some degree of John's message, but had not come to know this Jesus who fulfills everything that John was preaching about. Remember, there is no other name under heaven by which one must be saved. So the Apostle, in essence, begins to reiterate the truth, this same truth, to these twelve or so men. The truth about Jesus being the Christ.

The truth about Jesus being the one that John the Baptist was pointing to a forerunner, preparing the way for this Jesus, explaining that John's baptism is one of repentance. John spoke of a one who is more powerful than him who would come and baptize in the Spirit. They needed to understand this truth. Their trust was to be placed in this Jesus as Christ, the one that John spoke of. It's Jesus they needed to know.

And they couldn't put all this together, but the apostle was teaching them how this all fit and how it is that John all the while was speaking about the Christ. And although Luke is brief in his writing, it's obviously clear to us that these men came to believe this truth. And when they believed, they were baptized in the name of Jesus so as to be identified with Christ. The baptism they were baptized in was a baptism of repentance. That's John's baptism, but the baptism of Christ and identification in Christ's death and his resurrection into the newness of life.

They were baptized into Christ to declare faith in Him, and after this, the Apostle laid his hands upon them, and they received the Spirit, and they began to speak in tongues and prophesy." Now, there's a couple of things I just want to say here. When we began this book, I tried to make it abundantly clear that we need to be very, very careful when we're reading through the book of Acts. Discerning, and by God's grace we need to be wise as we read through this book, because we have to be very careful to understand that there are many things in this book that are quite unique for that time in history and for a particular place when the church or the early church was still in its infancy. So the events that we have in the book of Acts are never to, some events at least, are never to be repeated again.

Much of this book is descriptive. It tells us of what happened. It is immensely valuable and edifying to our soul. And many of the principles are eternal principles, but many of the events are descriptive and are unique. for a particular time.

Now this is difficult because there's a time of overlapping. There's a time where the Old Testament was coming to a close and the New Testament was beginning in Christ and the outpouring of the Spirit. And you have that time of overlapping and that's why it can be a little bit confusing. So you think about events such as the outpouring of the Spirit in mass in Pentecost. That's a once event.

Think about the apostleship. We don't have apostles today. They're the first century apostles. Unique to their era. Think about the powerful signs and wonders that authenticated the apostles' ministry.

Think about the speaking in tongues. Think about the delays of the spirit of the people in Samaria, the believers in Samaria, receiving the Holy Spirit until the apostles Peter and John came and made the journey to Samaria before they received the Holy Spirit. That's unique. Now we explained why that was, but that's certainly not normative. It was unique to that time and place, and it's not a pattern for the church to follow for all time.

See, many have veered into great error. because they've taken all that is found in the book of Acts and made it all normative, made it all normal. They press the church, if you don't look like the book of Acts, if you're not producing that sort of supernatural wonders and miracles, if you're not speaking in tongues, then something's wrong. Some churches have gone that far. Some churches have actually gone as far as denominations, as far as to say, if you don't speak in tongues, that means you don't have the Spirit.

Beloved brothers and sisters, the rest of the New Testament helps us discern what is normative in the book of Acts, and what is unique to that book. So we need to take the Bible as a whole, and understand, and read, and meditate through the Bible as a whole. Now having to teach through the whole chapter, this chapter, in just one hour, I'm going to have to be very brief in what I say. So, I'm going to emphasize what is of critical importance, I think, of the burden of my heart this evening to give to you, at least in this section of chapter 19, and that is that we make crystal clear the reception of the Holy Spirit, or how one receives the Holy Spirit. It's important to understand what is normative in the reception of the Holy Spirit.

You see on this the New Testament is absolutely crystal clear and this is it. Every true believer upon believing and coming to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ receives the Holy Spirit. That's now the norm. That's the norm. What happens here with the Apostle Paul laying his hands upon these men, and what we saw in Samaria when Peter and John needed to journey over there in order to impart the Holy Spirit by seeing and laying the hands on the Samaritans, that's not the norm.

The transitional period that these men experience is now over for us. The apostolic writings, we have. But the apostles themselves, we don't. And beloved, we don't need the apostles themselves to lay hands anymore. For starters, because there are no apostles, that's not even a possibility, right?

But the Bible is emphatically clear. If you belong to Christ, you also have His Spirit dwelling within you. Said another way, if you don't have the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit dwelling within you, if He is not in your life, in your being, then you're not a Christian. It's black and white as far as the Bible is concerned. There's no delay.

There's no second blessing. You're not saved at one point in history. And then a second work of grace at a later date whereby you receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit or a greater dose of Him. The charismatics or those in the charismatic persuasion, they teach this. But this is an error, beloved.

And it cannot be validated biblically. If you are in Christ, you have the Spirit of Christ. Your Spirit of God dwells in you. That's all there is to it. Listen to how the Apostle Paul puts it in Romans chapter 8 verse 9.

He says, You, however, are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit. If, in fact, the Spirit of God dwells in you, anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to Him. You hear that? Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to Him. Either you have the Spirit, or you don't.

Either you belong to Christ, or you don't. Again, the Apostle in 1 Corinthians 12 writes, For in one Spirit we were all. We were all, not some. All, speaking of the Christians, baptized into one body, Jews and Greeks, slaves or free, and all were made to drink of one spirit. All Christians have the Spirit of God.

Okay, but one might ask, when? When do we receive the Spirit of God? In his letter to the Ephesians, the Apostle Paul tells us. Let's open up to Ephesians chapter 1 from verse 13. Ephesians chapter 1 from verse 13 reads, in him you also when you heard the word of truth the gospel of your salvation and believed in him were sealed with the promise Holy Spirit 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it to the praise of his glory.

When were you sealed with the Holy Spirit Christian? When you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and you heard it, and you believed, and you believed. You see, with the rest of Scripture, we're able to emphatically and certainly say that the reception of the Holy Spirit comes upon believing in Christ. And so, these men, these men didn't receive the Spirit up until the point they met with Paul, which made them not Christian. They weren't Christians.

They weren't Christians. They needed to learn of Christ and believe in Him. And the one they need to understand that this is the one who fulfills John's teaching. You might ask, what about Apollos? You might remember that from last week.

Apollos, in the previous chapter, we're told that he knew only the baptism of John. That's interesting, but there's a difference. We're told in chapter 18 also, Apollos was well acquainted or well instructed, he says, with Christ and his work. He was fervent in spirit and he is apt to teach accurately the things about Jesus. He was well-versed in the Word.

He knew, he understood, he knew Christ personally, and he was able to teach accurately. And then, of course, Priscilla and Aquila taught him a better way, but he was able to teach accurately. These men here in Ephesians, in Ephesus, were not. They needed to be taught. They didn't even know about the Spirit.

So Paul teaches them. Paul proclaims to them, essentially gives them the Gospel. And they obviously believe and are baptized, and at which point they receive the Spirit of God, Now they are Christians united in Christ by His Spirit. These were what we would call, beloved, Old Testament saints. Old Testament saints.

See, in the early church, the apostles and the evangelists may have come across some of these. Now they were definitely, if they're Old Testament saints, trusting the Lord, then their trust and their belief is by the power of the Holy Spirit. But the indwelling and the pouring out of the Spirit in power, as it was on the day of Pentecost, Well, that comes through trusting and believing in Christ. But that's no longer a problem now because we don't have that transitional period before us. So what is normative for us is to preach the gospel and then to trust that the Lord is able to, by His power, the power of the Spirit, redeem lost sinners.

And when He does, He gives them regeneration and faith to apprehend Christ, to trust in Jesus, at which point immediately immediately they receive the Holy Spirit. No exceptions. No exception. That's God's Word and it can be trusted. Brief, brief explanation, but I hope it helps.

Let's move on. Moving on to the rest of the chapter, Luke tells us that Paul reasoned with the Jews in the synagogue for some three months. That's got to be a record for the Apostle Paul, wouldn't you think? Three months. Normally it's like two or three weeks and he gets kicked out.

We don't want to hear you anymore, Paul. He just causes a strife. because the gospel is in defense to these people. But here they heard him for three months. They gave him their ear for some three months because the Lord wanted him there longer for the benefit of many of the Jews who heard the message.

He was persuading them of the kingdom of God, we're told. You see, they had the Scriptures, and if they had the Scriptures and they believed in the Old Testament, they were awaiting, awaiting the Messiah, they were awaiting the Messianic King. And where the kingdom of God is, is where the King reigns, and the King Jesus has come. So Paul was persuading them of the kingdom of God, that this Jesus is the Messianic King that you read about in your Scripture. That's how he was persuading and reasoning with them.

to show them that through the scripture that Jesus is the Messiah. They gave him their ear for three months, but then we have verse 9. But when some became stubborn and stubborn and continued in unbelief, speaking evil of the way before the congregation, he withheld from them and he withdrew, my apologies, from them and took the disciples with him, reasoning daily in the hall of Tyrannus. You see, I think I think there's a lesson for all of us here. You see, we are, as Christians, those who have been saved and redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ, we have a desire to preach and to share the gospel of Christ, do we not?

We want to see others come to the saving knowledge of Jesus to bend their knee to the one who is worthy of all honor and all worship and all glory. And we want to see our fellow brothers and sisters, our fellow humans, we want to see them saved from the wrath of God as we were saved by grace and by grace alone. We do it with gentleness and we do it with respect. And we hope and pray that as we do preach that gospel, that the Lord will press that truth upon their heart because there is no other hope. There is no other remedy.

There is no other name under heaven by which one must be saved. We have that desire and we persist and we persist and we persist. But there comes a point where we need to back off. And that point for Paul was when these Jews with stubborn, unbelieving hearts began to speak evil of the Lord and his gospel. Luke says they spoke evil of the way, calling Jesus the way, because remember he is the way into the kingdom of God.

Jesus is the way. You see, the heart and the gospel is the way. The hearts were hardened of these Jewish men in the synagogue and their rebellion, and their rebellion caused them to talk evil. And as they were talking evil, they come to the point after three months, where now they were heaping more and more judgment upon themselves with every word of disobedience. But beyond that, they were also poisoning the atmosphere.

They were poisoning the atmosphere with toxic talk for those who were eagerly listening, for those who were interested with what Paul was saying, for those that the Spirit was actually drawing unto Christ through the gospel. You see, the enemy uses these types of people to distract, to discredit the gospel. to plant doubts in people's minds who are starting to think maybe what this Paul is saying has got some merit. Maybe it's true. We're looking through the scriptures and he's actually explaining it well.

I can see that. But then these people begin to speak evil and maybe they start to influence. In fact, you've probably experienced something like this yourselves. Maybe when you're evangelizing with a group of people or on the streets and sometimes a group of young people come along and one of the people seems to be interested, but the others are not interested at all. And so one wants to give you his ear, but the others are ridiculing and mocking and making fun of Jesus and the gospel and you.

But one seems to be a little bit interested, but he doesn't give that he's interested. And you're thinking in your heart, if only I can remove that toxic influence, those mockers, so I can spend some time with this young man or woman, because it seems like they're drawn to what I'm saying, trusting that maybe the Lord will peace their heart and bring salvation that day. Now, I don't undermine the Spirit's power to bring salvation, even though there are obstacles. He is powerful. It's the power of God.

But it's on us, beloved, to be wise and to plan the best possible reception of the Word without hindrances. That's a wisdom call. And so the Apostle Paul makes a wisdom call and he withdraws from within the synagogue after about three months. and then he departs with his disciples for the sake of others because he's ridiculing, there's blasphemy going on in that place, and he goes to a place where the gospel can be received clearly without those distractions. In this case, once again, we see that the blood of the Jews is upon their heads.

They've rejected the gospel again, and although the apostle is willing, and we hear this in Romans 9, willing not only to put down his life, but a lot more his love for his kindred. Yet, yet they deny the gospel with hardened hearts. And so for Paul, it's time to move on. So he goes over the hall, goes over to the hall of Tyrannus, taking his disciples with him. And now he's free to preach, for the most part, in freedom, the gospel of Christ.

And the Lord gives him at least two years, we're told. Verse 10, all the residents of Asia heard the word of the Lord by Jews and Greeks. incredible, so amazing. All the residents of Asia. A short stroll away from where the Apostle was in the synagogue, the Lord gave the Apostle Paul and his companions a platform, a platform that was reasonably free of distractions to preach and to reason daily.

Every day, the gospel of Jesus Christ, the word of God. And all the residents of Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Gentiles or Greeks. Imagine that. Imagine that. The apostle Paul is allowed to remain at least two years in a pagan city known for its idolatrous pagan temple worship.

Steeped in all sorts of wickedness is Ephesus. and he's able to stay there for two years. You see, Ephesus is a bustling commercial city. It's actually the third or the fourth, at this point, most populated city in the Roman Empire. So it's busy, it's a commercial city.

And so listeners would come from all over the known world into Ephesus. And the Apostle Paul was there, every day, preaching the gospel. Every day, reasoning that Christ is Messiah. Every day, He was teaching the Word of God because the Lord had given the platform for him to do so for at least another two years. Lost sinners from several hundred kilometers away were able to come to Ephesus and hear the Word.

And not only that, those who heard were going back to their homes and other places. And before you knew it, the whole of Asia had heard about the powerful Word of God that is being preached in a city called Ephesus by an apostle by the name of Paul. You see, the Jews wanted to muffle the Word of God. They were trying to bring disrepute to it. They were trying to deride it, to mock it.

Disparage Paul by speaking evil of it. But they couldn't. The Gospel will advance. And it's like the floodgates opening of a dam. It will sweep any obstacle in its path.

The fruit of this ministry was amazing. The book of Ephesus evidences this, beloved, but also churches planted in surrounding areas were a likely result of this fruit in this city. We can't quantify the extent of the fruit produced by Paul's ministry in Ephesus and the power of the Spirit through the preaching of the Word, but it was powerful. The church plant in Colossae, for example, is quite likely, Colossae is to the southeast, it's quite likely by Epaphras from the fruit of this time when the apostle Paul was here in Ephesus. And the Lord was at work in mighty power.

His Word was preached boldly and effectively. And He was authenticating the Apostles' mission with much power, we're told. Healing and casting out demons. Even aprons that touched the Apostle Paul were taken back to the sick and the ill and the unwell, and they were made well. Even demons were cast out.

Much power. But where the Gospel is reaping much fruit, We know there's always, always going to be strong opposition, don't we? See, the enemy never takes things like this lying down. He hates it. He hates the work of the gospel.

He hates the Lord's word. He hates the word or the work of the missionaries. He doesn't like it at all. And he's not going to take it lying down. And so what we see is a couple of instances here in chapter 19 of the enemy at work.

were told firstly that there were seven sons of a Jewish priest named Sceva who were in the exorcism business, casting out demons. Matthew 12 and Luke 11 tell us of this and make us aware that this was actually a traitor among the Jews. Jesus points that out. They were engaged in casting out demons. That was their occupation.

But the seven sons of Sceva must not have been very successful in what they do. They must not have been very good at their incantations. Because they were searching for a better method. See, if their method was working, they wouldn't search for a better method. They witnessed the Apostle Paul.

And they witnessed the Apostle Paul's, the power of God in his ministry to heal and to cast out demons. And then they must have seen the Apostle Paul casting out demons in the name of Jesus Christ. In the name of Jesus Christ, he casts out demons and it clicks to them. That's it, they're thinking. That's the magical power we're waiting for.

It's all in a name. There's magic in that name, Jesus. So let's use that name. Let's adopt that new strategy. Let's invoke the name of Jesus from now on.

Obviously, there's power in the name. But here's the thing. Paul wasn't simply invoking the name of Christ. as though he had some sort of mystical power, like some today would have a cross, and when they're afraid, they'd bring it up and say, if there's any demons in here, I've got a cross, you better stay away. There's no place for that sort of mysticism in the Christian faith, none, none at all.

True Christianity is about a saving relationship with a loving God through Jesus Christ. It's personal and it's predicated upon true knowledge of Jesus wrought by His Spirit. Paul knew Jesus that way. He had an intimate love relationship with Jesus Christ. Beyond that, he was uniquely empowered by him to do the work of an apostle.

Remember back in 2 Corinthians 12, 12, in Paul's defense, because he was defending that he is an authentic disciple, my apologies, apostle to the Corinthian churches, because it was attacks and attacks from all directions. And the apostle says this, he says, the signs of a true apostle were performed among you with utmost patience, with signs and wonders and mighty works. In other words, you saw what I did, the power of Christ in and through me, and the power to heal and to exorcise demons. You saw this, and therefore you should know that I am a true apostle. He was empowered by the Lord to do the supernatural, and the miraculous signs, and to cast out the demons.

But the sons of Sceva, they were not believers, and they didn't understand this. Plus they were frauds, looking for an easier and more successful way of streamlining their trade. They were looking for a magical formula, they simply chose to add Christ to their toolbox, looking for what works. They didn't renounce their error, they didn't acknowledge Jesus as Christ, and they didn't bend their knee to him as the messianic king. They flippantly adopted his name to assist in their selfish endeavors as though God will allow for syncretism.

We'll just bring Jesus along and make him as, we'll put him in our toolbox with the other things that we use. This is a pagan practice, beloved. The Athenians did it. Remember, they erected an altar to an unknown God. So just in case we missed one, let's cover our bases and put one up for them.

We don't know who it's for, but we'll appease whoever it is that's out there. On similar lines, these Jews were thinking, who knows? Maybe this Jesus will simplify our work. We've seen the Apostle Paul. He invokes the name of Jesus, and we've seen some mighty things that man has done.

So there must be magic in the name. Let's just use that. But these men will learn a very, very important lesson. Christ is not a magical act to add to your performance. And his name is to be revered, not dishonored.

So when they try their new magical formula to exorcise these demons, verse 15, Jesus I know, this is what the demons say, Jesus I know and Paul I recognize, but who are you? 16, and the man in whom was the evil spirit leaped on them, mustered all of them and overpowered them, seven of them, so that they fled out of their house naked and wounded. That's incredible. What a lesson. It shouldn't surprise us, beloved, that evil spirits know.

Demons know Christ, all right? It shouldn't surprise us. Actually, they had the most clarity out of everyone. When no one had clarity, they had clarity. Demons had clarity about who Jesus was in His earthly ministry.

They're the ones who said, this is the Son of God. You are the Son of the Most High. They would shudder at His authority, and at times pleading with them not to destroy them. They knew Jesus. Oh, they knew him.

And they also knew of his authentic power, the power of Christ and the power he'd given to the apostle, a power that would render them completely inept. It will render them impotent of power and the authority that they just could not deny. When the apostles would say in the name of Jesus, come out, they could not deny it. That authority is over them. They had no other option other than to obey.

No other option other than obey. But the sons of Sceva, they were frauds. And the demon knew it. So the possessed man with the demonic power overcomes the seven and gives them all a beating they'll never forget. The apostle John says in his first epistle, only those who are born from God are protected by Christ.

These men are not under the protection of God, and they weren't entrusted to yield his power. Beloved, I'm not going to harp on this point for long, but using Christ for our own personal gain is absolute wickedness. The context from then to now may be different, but the principle is the same. To use Christ for our own personal selfish gain, our fleshly desires being satisfied, is wickedness. These men invoked Christ in the hope that he would improve their trade in exorcism.

But there are numerous ways that you and I can think of where we can use Christ irreverently to enhance our lives or to better our positions. I'm not going to give examples, but it was suffice to say that if we do that, then it's wickedness. He's to be reverenced. He's to be loved. He's to be honored as God.

His name and His word is to be reverenced in our hearts. And he is to be sanctified as God, and to him belongs all glory. The psalmist says in chapter 138, he says, for you speaking to God, for you have exalted above all things your name. And they, the Jewish exorcists, were flippantly using the name of Christ. You exalted above all things your name and your word, and so should we.

But what they meant for evil, the Lord meant for good, because news of their beating travelled far and wide. Imagine being known for that, that you were beaten almost senseless, bleeding and naked, running out of a house. Not exactly something you want to be remembered for. But that was what they were remembered for. And the Lord used it for his glory.

And the enemy, the demon that beat them, I'm sure he had no idea of the profound glory that God would get from even this occasion. The repercussions of his work throughout the whole of Ephesus is heard. Because the result of the defiling of the name of Christ by the sons of Sceva was this, verse 17, "...and this became known to all the residents of Ephesus, both Jews and Greeks, and fear fell upon them all, and the name of the Lord was extolled." There must be something to this Jesus.

There must be something to this Jesus that Paul preaches about if demons know who he is. If demons know who the Apostle Paul is, yet these sons of a high priest are not even known by him. There must be something to what the Apostle Paul speaks. There must be something about this Jesus. So if the demons can name both the Apostle Paul and Christ, and by the way, the knowing, when the demon said, Jesus we know, and the Apostle Paul we recognize, they're different words for one with the other.

But if they can recognize both, then it's completely oblivious to the Jewish sons of Sceva. Then the basic impression is this, we need to give Paul our ear. We need to hear what he has to say. Because if the demons know him... If the demons know this Jesus, then we need to hear what they have to say.

And fear and reverence was driven into the bones of these people because of what they heard of this event. Not only would the lost listen to the preaching of Paul and come to know Christ by the saving power of God, and they do, but also the sanctifying work that happens in the hearts of the believers is incredible. The Spirit of God is mightily at work cleansing these people and purifying them through the Word. Because the language of verse 18 is spoken of believers divulging their evil, wicked, pagan practices. How does that work?

Now, whether they lacked understanding when they first believed and yet and were yet to be discipled into acknowledging that not even a hint of idolatry or anything that points to idolatry should be removed and destroyed from their homes, maybe, or whether they were simply ignorant of the fact that they still had material that belonged to pagan, their old life of pagan temple worship and the magical arts. We cannot be sure, but we know this, that the Lord brought revival upon Ephesus. People were being saved and the Christians were being sanctified. He brought a heightened awareness of sin among the people. They began to feel the weight of how dishonoring to God and to Jesus, the one who they bend the knee to, how dishonoring their magic arts and their books are.

These false deities are promoted through those books and they're a violation of God's first commandment. The Spirit of God was now pressing them to the importance of purifying themselves of all wickedness and purifying their homes of all wickedness. To truly desire Christ and with all their hearts and soul and their strength and mind and to be totally devoted to God, no matter who He is, no matter the cost. No matter the cost. And they do.

The Word of the Lord, through preaching of the Apostle for over two years, was bringing massive revealing and bringing up the sin among the people and giving them a great desire for true repentance. A repentance that is accompanied by the fruit of the Spirit, beloved. You see, the Ephesians Christians now, they gather all their books, everything that pointed to the magic arts that was depictive of their previous pagan lifestyle. They bring them all in the side of all and they collect them in the middle of the city. And what do they do?

They put them up in flames. We want everyone in the city to see this. That life is behind us. It's worthless to us. That's the statement they're making.

We're over it. We have received light and now we know the truth. Jesus is Lord. These things are worthless. We're burning them.

Jesus is enough. It's incredible how they did not care about the cost. Beloved, Luke tells us the cost for a reason. The value of the books was 50,000 pieces of silver. Even the most conservative estimates, because it's hard to understand or know really what one piece of silver is, there's a couple ways to look at it, but even the most conservative estimates, we're talking hundreds of thousands of dollars.

But if it is indeed the natural currency, which is one piece of silver per day's wage, then what we're looking at here, due to sums, is millions and millions of dollars worth being burned, up in flames, up in smoke. The pragmatists would say, sell the books. Use the money. Fund more missionary journeys. Pay copyists to print more books or to copy or scribe more books.

Feed the poor with that money. Does that sound like someone? But that thought didn't even cross their minds, beloved. We don't need that dirty money. Our Lord owns the cattle on a thousand hills, and our Lord owns the thousand hills themselves.

How can we allow His creatures, the ones who were created, to worship Him? How can we allow, even for millions of dollars, His creatures to practice that which is blasphemous in His eyes? How can we use that money even for the furtherment of the gospel? Even for good things? Supporting more missionaries, making more Bibles, feeding the poor, good things.

How can we use this dark, wicked money knowing that this is putting more wickedness in the hands and in the hearts of the people against the God that we love? No, there must be not. It must not be so. No matter how much we can get for them, we're burning these books. That's where they belong.

Burnt, incinerated, gone forever. For us, Christ is enough. I love that. That's a wonderful statement. Christ is enough.

You know, it was the apostle's burden. A few years later, when he was in that prison in Rome to write for the people in Ephesians or Ephesian Christians to actually press, to press that point into their hearts. that they would know that Christ is enough, that they would know of the riches of being in Christ. I suspect the apostle already knew through his relationship with these people in Ephesus, his brothers and sisters, that they already had come to a knowledge of the value and the infinite worth of Jesus. But I think that as he wrote that apostle, he wanted to press it further and further into their hearts.

This is what he writes in Ephesians 1, 15 through 18. If you want, you can open and you can follow with me. Ephesians 1, 15 through 18. For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you spirit of wisdom and revelation and the knowledge of Him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened. Here it is, that you may know that this what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the same.

Oh, that we would know the depth of this truth, beloved brothers and sisters, to have a zeal for his glory, but also a deep awareness that Christ outweighs, the treasure that is Christ outweighs all the treasures of the world. Nothing compares to knowing Christ. That which used to satisfy, no longer satisfies. It's dung before him, isn't that what the Apostle Paul said? May the Lord press that truth upon our hearts.

Now from verse 21 through 22, there's another occasion of evil, of the enemy attacking the church in a different way. Luke tells us that it was Paul's intention. My apologies, this is from 23 onwards, but from 21 and 22, Luke sort of takes us on a bit of a parenthesis. He gives us Paul's intention in the spirit to return to Macedonia, and then to go to Jerusalem, and then go to Rome. We know why Paul wanted to go to Rome, because he wanted to go and reap a harvest where no one has sown.

He wanted to be the one that sows. And he will eventually go, but in chains. But for now, what he does is he sends Timothy and Erastus. while he stays in Ephesus just a little bit longer. And then we have this narrative, an interesting narrative that spells out the demonic power.

that was opposing the work of God. I won't read it again for the sake of time, but it's needless to say that the business owners in Ephesus weren't impressed with the Apostle Paul and what he was teaching. In particular, led by a man by the name of Demetrius, a silversmith, a craftsman, a tradesman, an artisan in silver works. And he and the other tradesmen were absolutely outraged. They were outraged at what they were witnessing.

What were they witnessing? An immense and amazing power of the Spirit of God working through that city like nothing they've ever seen. Nothing they've ever seen. For years their businesses were thriving. They were an idol making business.

That's what they did. From silver they were crafting up little temples and little like statues of Artemis. to sell. Practically, they lived in the pagan central of the entire empire, Ephesus. Ephesus was a city known for its pagan places of worship.

In particular, we said before, the Temple of Artemis or the Temple of Diana to the Romans. A pagan goddess thought to be the daughter of Zeus. She was revealed and revered and loved by many. But the attraction to Ephesus from all over the world was to visit the temple that bore her name. It was a special thing.

It was expensive. It was huge and it was state-of-the-art. Remember, this building was built some several hundred years BC. It was the first structure in the ancient world to be completely built with marble from top to bottom. Now think about that.

This structure spanned 140 meters long, 70 meters wide, and it was almost 20 meters high. pure marble. It was held up by 127 big pillars that held up the roof. It was massive. It was actually listed as one of the seven wonders of the world.

And in fact, in the time it was built, it was the biggest building in the world. It had a commanding presence there on a hill in Ephesus. And the people came from all over the world, eager to see this impressive structure for themselves. Ephesus being a sea port city, a major commercial capital, a major business center, getting there wasn't a problem. All roads were leading into Ephesus.

So getting there wasn't a problem. The tourists could easily find their way into Ephesus. It wasn't a hard journey. It wasn't a difficult track. Pilgriming to Ephesus was no issue for the tourists, and they made their way in quite large numbers.

The city, as I said earlier, was a big city. It was the third or fourth largest city in the Roman Empire, housed about 200,000 and 250,000 in population. Now we know where the tourists are naturally there are people who want to make money off the tourists and there are those who make souvenirs. And the silversmith trade was booming. They were making mini idols made from silver dedicated to Artemis.

And they were selling them both to the superstitious locals. We know the Ephesians were very superstitious. And they were selling them to them. And they were also selling them to the tourists who would come in to see this monument structure. But now, with Paul preaching every day in the lecture hall, and the city going through what seems to be a revival, a powerful working of the Holy Spirit through the Word of God, their income had diminished.

These Christians are burning all their idols. They're burning all their magic books. They're burning anything associated with pagan practices. And they're not buying them anymore. And others are now doing the same.

And they're influencing people, not only in Ephesus, but all over Asia, all over the known world. What's going on? Our business is going bust, and our great goddess Artemis, the goddess of Asia, the one who everyone worships, we're told, she's no longer going to be recognized for her magnificence, her beauty. She's going to be seen as nothing. And that's not what they wanted, right?

Their money depended upon it. Now, of course, the city's identity was attached to Artemis, or the temple of Artemis. After all, she was the draw card for the people and the tourists to come into the city, which really essentially made the money for these people. And also we've seen elsewhere in the book of Acts, this point. There's sometimes an overemphasis is placed like these men have done, Dimitris and the other trades people.

How could we? We're patriots. We're all for Ephesus. We want to make sure that the city continues to thrive. We want to make sure that our goddess is looked after.

We're just noble, but that is under the guise. We're losing money. Let's just face it. We're cut. We're losing all this money and we want this money.

That's the heart of it. Demetrius was really cut to the bones because he's losing his income. And so the other craftsmen joined with him and they begin to say, they begin to plan and hatch something that is incredible, almost a riot looking thing. So they drag two of the men that were known to be associates of Paul, Gaius and Aristarchus, and they drag them into the theater, all the while chanting as they walk through the city, Great is Artemis of the Ephesians. Great is Artemis of the Ephesians.

And they flock into this huge amphitheater, the theater that housed a massive building, that housed 25,000 people. And they've gone in there. and the city all follows in after them. They're seeing this chanting and the dragging of these men and all the tradespeople going in and the locals go, we need to go. In classic herd mentality, they follow into the theatre thinking something big is going down and we want to be there to see what's going on.

It was mayhem. We're told some people chanting one thing, other people chanting another. Everyone was confused. Some didn't even know why they were there. They're in this theater and they're hearing these noises and they don't even know why they're there.

They just come in because of the chanting. You have to give it to the Apostle Paul. He wanted to go in after them. He's a brave man. He's no coward, this apostle, but is held back by his disciples and by some of the leading men in that place.

They knew that if he goes in there, he's going to be killed. It'll be the end of the apostle. We don't know how many people were there, but hundreds, maybe thousands were in that theater and they were angry. They were angry. It's like a mob.

And at this point, we're told that some bright sparks among the Jews throw a man by the name of Alexander into the clouds and say, you do your thing, Alexander. He must have drawn the short straw or something to go in front of these people. But when the locals recognized that he's not one of them, actually he's a Jew, they had no interest in anything he had to say. He didn't settle the crowd. In fact, they became louder.

And now they're chanting, we're told, for two straight hours, Great East Artemis of the Ephesians. For two hours they're just chanting and chanting these words. A real patriotic chant to get everyone worked up. This is our goddess. She's our identity.

She provides for us income and other things. We pray to her. This is our goddess you're talking about. We don't want you Paul, and we don't want the Christ you're teaching. You can go now.

We love our goddess. This is how they gathered everyone and drew them in emotionally. That's what they're saying essentially. And then eventually the town clerk was told, the guy who's probably the one who has the most authority in that place at that time, the guy they would listen to. He comes in and dresses the crowd, talks some sense into them.

And he tells them that, look, if the tradesmen, Demetrius and the tradesmen have a problem with the Christians, you know there are right ways of dealing with those problems. There are courts and magistrates and they can deal with that problem in the proper way. Let's stop this madness. And they do. People wake up to themselves, because a lot of them didn't even know why they were there.

They wake up to the commotion, and the commotion settled just as quickly as it began. He dismissed them, and the crowd went away. That could have ended very badly for the Apostle Paul, but it didn't. You know why it didn't end badly, beloved? Not because the clerk was a great guy who had the reasoning ability to settle the crowd, but because the Lord and His Word They were behind the Apostle.

The power of the Spirit was in that place and he wanted the Apostle to continue to preach God's Word and to move powerfully amongst the Ephesians and beyond, into Asia. You see, none of the Christians stood up in front of the temple with pickets in their hands, writing or saying or chanting, get rid of the temple of Artemis. None of the Christians took big posters and stood in front of the silversmiths, chanting, you're idol makers, you're damned, and chanted that all day long. But through the ordinary means of preaching the gospel, through the ordinary means of preaching the gospel, this city called Ephesus was turned upside down. 50,000 pieces of silver was the value of the books that were burnt.

This is incredible. These silversmiths, the tradespeople, were completely overwhelmed by the impact of this gospel. How many people are they? Is there a spell over these people? What's going on?

How could some message have such a great influence over so many people beyond Ephesus? They just couldn't figure it out. It was the power of God unto salvation. That's the gospel, beloved. And the gospel brings about salvation and it brings about reformation of the heart.

And as a pagan city, a city that had been steeped and deeply rooted in pagan religious worship and idolatry, as that city was turned upside down, it was turned upside down in the space of two years. Not through violence, not through programs, not through human initiatives, but through the preaching of the gospel and the reasoning with people to believe in Jesus Christ, the Savior of their souls. The opposition, even demonic, wicked opposition will always be there, beloved. Persistence in the means that Christ has ordained is what we Christians should set our hearts upon. He knows what he's doing and he's given us his chosen weapon.

And that is the word of God, the gospel of Christ. And that's what we should be yielding day in and day out. And beloved, I'm going to end with this. I skipped a verse in our explanation, which I think is likely the key to the whole text. Turn your eyes back to chapter 19, verse 20.

So the word of the Lord continued to increase and prevail mightily. I really believe that's the key to understanding this whole text. I believe that's the key to understanding the whole book of Acts. The word of the Lord was increasing, that is, it was producing fruit, and it was prevailing mightily, overcoming, overpowering all that comes against it. You see, we can't see this in English, and I think it's a shame, but when Luke wrote this narrative, He uses the same word twice, but it's translated different words in the English.

Back in verse 16, it's translated in your Bibles, overpowered. That's when the sons of Sceva were overpowered by the demon-possessed man. And here in verse 20, the verse that I'm referring to is translated, prevailed, but it's the same Greek word. Do you see the big picture? When the men Like the sons of Sceva, when they try to oppose the powers of darkness, apart from knowing Christ, apart from recognizing and believing the word and the gospel through their own understanding and through their own endeavors by human efforts, they're defeated badly.

They're overpowered by the enemy. and they run out of that place bleeding, wounded, and ashamed because they're naked and in a lot of pain. The schemes of men are no match for the schemes of the enemy. Beloved, hear that. The schemes of men are no match for the schemes of the enemy.

He is far more powerful, he's far too formidable, and he will prevail and overcome and overpower all the schemes of men. However, the word of the Lord yields almighty power. The very power of God, and when the word is proclaimed in truth, Jesus is behind that word. And nothing in this world, visible or invisible, is able to subdue it, or overpower it, or overcome it, or prevail against it. A demon overpowered seven men, like those sons of Sceva, as if they were nothing, as if they were nothing, beat him up, bleeding, running out of the place.

Yet a whole city attempts to subdue the Christians and get rid of their influence, and they were unable to. Why? The power of the Word of God prevails. Not even the gates of Hades themselves can subdue it. It's the Spirit-empowered Word, beloved.

The Word is powerful, and God's people would do well to remember that. This is why the Apostle Paul tells young Timothy in 2 Timothy 4 to preach the Word in season and out of season. Preach the Word, he says. What does he mean in season? It doesn't matter.

You're either in the season or you're out of the season. So what he's saying to Timothy is preach the Word always. Always preach the Word. Ephesus saw revival in his time, new converts and Christians being illuminated to the sins of the heart and brought to confess those sins, divulge of their wicked practices and bring them to the Lord who is able to forgive, renouncing the sins no matter what the cost. This is the power of the Word of God.

This is the means that Christ is using for his church to grow and advance. That's why by God's grace we commit to preach the Word. And we continue to preach the word because the schemes and the programs and the wisdom of men will be overpowered. But the word of God prevails mightily. Let's pray.