What God Says and Does

The Apostle Paul had an amazing personal testimony, certainly an attention-grabbing story. So why wasn't that his go-to opening for sharing the Gospel? We'll hear the answer today on Truth for Life and find out what made Paul's ministry so effective.

Alistair Begg is teaching from Acts chapter 19. He begins today in verse 8. Now, again, I want you to note that for Luke to refer to him as dealing with the kingdom of God is not to suggest to us that he had set aside, as it were, speaking about Jesus, his life and his death and his resurrection and so on, but rather, to speak about the kingdom of God was just another way of describing what he was doing. Because it was impossible for him to explain the nature of the kingdom of God, except that he explained it in terms of who Jesus is and what Jesus has done. We should bear in mind, too, that the Jewish mind had a clear understanding of God's kingship. And indeed, if you know the Bible at all, you will know that God granted to his people the privilege and opportunity of appointing kings. So as the Old Testament comes to an end, and you go into the intertestamental period—a few hundred years of silence, if you like—the people that are standing looking over that divide still have in their minds the notion of a great prophet of God who will speak the Word to them. They still have in their mind the great notion of a priest who will offer up the ultimate sacrifice on their behalf.

And they have in their mind some vague, unfolding concept of kingship, this universal kingdom of God that will be established and will never come to an end. You can imagine, then, that where that message had been passed on from generation to generation, they were all years when, after John the Baptist was put in prison and Jesus begins to preach, what are the first words out of his mouth as they're recorded for us by Mark? Well, he says, after John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee proclaiming the good news of God. And what was this good news that he was proclaiming? Well, Mark tells us, The time has come, he said, the kingdom of God is near.

Repent, and believe the good news. So all of the expectation for the kingly rule of God is apparently going to find its focus, its fulfillment, somehow or another, in this Galilean carpenter. And you can imagine that men and women were saying, How can Jesus, after all, isn't he Joseph's son? Isn't he the carpenter from Galilee, from Nazareth? How can he stand up and say, The kingdom of God is near? Who does he think he is?

The king? Well, of course, that's the whole explanation, isn't it? The disciples had a hard time fathoming it. But by the time Jesus has risen from the dead and has opportunity to explain himself, Luke begins his second volume, Acts, by explaining that in the forty days between the resurrection and the ascension of Jesus, he got his folks together and he explained to them about the kingdom of God. And once that truth had dawned on the apostles, and once Paul—remember, the converted Saul—had had this revealed to him by the Holy Spirit, had it seen a sight of the risen Christ himself, then he went about and in his preaching was conveying this truth. And indeed, he makes it perfectly clear when he writes to the Philippians, and he says to them, You know, one day at the name of Jesus every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Now, what we're saying in following Paul to the end of his journey is that Paul gives to us an illustration of how to proclaim the gospel loudly and clearly, so that those who believe the gospel might be better equipped to convey it, and so that those who actually haven't a clue about the good news might come to believe it. And I take time on this this morning in order to make this essential point, that the news that we are commissioned to proclaim to our culture, to go out amongst our friends and others and proclaim, is something that is actually far bigger and far more significant than our own personal testimony to what Jesus means to us.

Well, of course, Paul's approach to things didn't start there. He said, I want to tell you today about the kingdom of God. I want to tell you about a kingdom that will never end. I want to tell you about a king who reigned and ruled from a cross. I want to tell you about the fact that this king is putting together a company of people who will live with him forever.

And he has asked me to come and tell you this good news so that you might be part of that company. I have also to tell you that if you do not accept the good news, he will, on the day of judgment, separate the sheep from the goats, as he put it in his own story, and some will spend all of eternity absent from the living God in what the Bible refers to as hell, while others enjoy the benefit of eternity in the presence of Jesus in heaven. Now, you see, in the time in which we're living, that message is a far more striking story. It is a far harder story to accept, and we should not be surprised if our friends and neighbors don't respond the way some did in the synagogue when Paul explained it.

Because look at what we're told in verse 9. Once he had been doing this for three months, arguing persuasively, speaking boldly, some of them became obstinate. Some of them said, This is too much for me. I thought we were going to get a nice sermon from a nice man, addressed to nice people, telling us how to be nicer, and then to go out and have a nice life.

And instead, we've got this fellow in here with all of this stuff about the kingdom of God and the judgment of God and everything else. This is disturbing. It is disturbing. But it's good news.

It's disturbingly good news. Listen on, will you? What they did was they became obstinate, and they refused to believe. And not only did they walk out the door refusing to believe, they become hardened in it. And they went out, and they began to malign the way.

That's what he says. Now, the public maligning of the way is simply the expression of their desire to rubbish the claims of Jesus and the followers of Jesus. The way became, if you like, a technical term that referenced those who had followed Jesus who said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. Now, Paul then concluded that his time at the synagogue was over. He's not going to flog a dead horse.

The talks now are apparently generating more heat than they're generating light, and so he left them. There's great wisdom in knowing when to chuck it, isn't there? There's great wisdom in knowing. He said, I'm going to go down the street.

Some of us would be there just beating it to death. But the example of Paul is clear. We're going to go somewhere else. And so he took his disciples with him, and he had discussions daily in the lecture hall of Tyrannus. And this went on for two years. Now, that's quite a seminar program, isn't it? Daily discussions for two years. Presumably, he worked his job up until eleven o'clock, quit at eleven, went into the hall, had his discussions five hours a day, and considered it a privilege to do this for two years.

For two years. And as a result, all the Jews and the Greeks who lived in the province of Asia heard the word of the Lord, presumably because the people that were attending the classes spilled out into the community and told their friends. They went out and spoke the word of the Lord.

Look, he's very careful, isn't he? He doesn't tell us that everybody in the province of Asia heard about Paul. That would have been one thing, but what was more important was that everyone in the province of Asia heard the word of the Lord. And what you have, really, in that little section, verses 8–10, is just a description of the impact of the word of the Lord. You'll see it again down in verse 20.

In this way, the word of the Lord spread widely and grew in power. Now, verses 8–10 give to us Luke's directive, listen to what God says. Then verses 11–19 give to us his directive, and look at what God does. Look at what God does. Because while Paul was engaged in the teaching of the Bible, God sent accompanying miracles through Paul. Now, notice very carefully that it begins with God in verse 11, God did extraordinary miracles through Paul. God is able to do all kinds of things through all kinds of people. This is not Paul doing extraordinary miracles.

In fact, the very terminology suggests that in a world of miracles where God does miracles, these were actually unusual ones, even in the scope of miracles themselves. Now, let me give you a reference, a cross-reference, that is vital to this and all times you encounter this. It's 2 Corinthians 12–12. That is 2 Corinthians chapter 12, verse 12. And Paul, referencing what God has chosen to do in the apostolic era, says, "…the things that mark an apostle…" What things?

"…signs, wonders, and miracles were done among you with great perseverance." So what you need to write against this section in your Bible is a little phrase that says, the signs of the apostles. These were marks of apostleship. These were substantiating marks building the link between the power of the risen Jesus and the power of those who were the foundation upon which the church was to be built. What do we also know that is main and plain? That the apostles were a unique, unrepeatable group of individuals who shared in the fact that they had each had a sight of the risen Christ and had him speak to them.

What do we also know? That there are no apostles today. Therefore, we can deduce that the signs which were given to authenticate apostolic activity are no longer given to authenticate what we do. Because all that God has done, he has put for us in the Bible and has given to us his Word as a Word made more sure.

Now, don't misunderstand me. By saying that, I am not for a moment suggesting that God is no longer willing and able to do things that run contrary to the laws that we have established for ourselves and which make sense of our existence. God remains sovereign. He may choose to heal. He may choose to intervene. But in my limited journey of life, in my experience of reading, in listening to my friends and neighbors speak, it seems to me that many of the more bizarre claims to this kind of activity are simply that—bizarre claims—and that they do not bear the testimony of God the Holy Spirit in them. What God is doing is he is displaying his power over disease, illnesses were cured, displaying his power over demon possession, evil spirits left them, and displaying his power over those who are sorcerers and magicians who are engaged in these forms of exorcism. I was greatly helped by these words from John Stott in relationship to this.

I wonder if you'll find them helpful too. The wisest attitude to these handkerchief miracles is neither that of the skeptics who declare them spurious nor that of the mimics who try to copy them, like those American televangelists who offer to send to the sick handkerchiefs which they have blessed, but rather that of Bible students who remember both that Paul regarded his miracles as his apostolic credentials and that Jesus himself condescended to the timorous faith of a woman by healing her when she touched the edge of his cloak. Now, I think that's the best way to do this, and that's why we can move quickly to a close. Because what you have here by Luke is presumably not the totality of what was happening in a two-year period in Ephesus, but an indication of the kind of thing that was happening in a two-year period. Daily he is involved in the teaching of the Bible, and during that period of time, as the Word of God increases in its power and as it spreads widely, all of these various activities are taking place. And that's the significance of the story, verse 14 and following, of the seven sons of Seva. Seva the chief priest and his seven sons are doing exorcisms. And the way you did exorcisms was to make sure that you had a name stronger than the name of the evil spirit inhabiting the individual. So as long as you had a name that was stronger than this evil name that invaded the person, then you could use the stronger name to call out the weaker name. And they were always on the lookout for a good name.

And so when the Word was going around that Paul was preaching in this way and that these dramatic things were happening, Seva said to his boys, I think we ought to use Jesus' name. Seems to be doing some remarkable things. Oh, I wish I'd been present for this one.

This is terrific! You can just see them. I don't know if it's the first occasion they tried it, but it's certainly one occasion. And they began doing this. In the name of Jesus whom Paul preaches, I command you to come out. And the evil spirit answered them directly, I know Jesus, and I've heard about Paul, but who are you? It's kind of embarrassing, isn't it? You know, you got all the people together for the exorcism. Don't worry, we've got you covered.

We're using the name today. In the name of Jesus whom Paul preaches, I command you to come out. And the evil spirit speaks directly back. And then the man who had the evil spirit jumped on them and overpowered them all.

And so he should have! Bunch of nonsense! I came here for an exorcism, and look what's going on! Some kind of exorcist you are, Seva, and your seven boys. You think I'm coming back to your medical practice?

I'll never be back. Come here, I'm gonna give you all a good hiding. And he jumped on them, and he gave them such a beating that they became the seven streakers of Seva. And they ran out the house naked and bleeding, running down the street. All these naked guys going through Ephesus' bed were going, What in the world happened to Seva and his boys? I don't know.

Do they have clothes on? I don't think so. What is that about? Oh, we'll have to find out about this. And when they found out about it, verse 17, when it became known to the Jews and the Greeks in Ephesus, they were all seized with fear.

Why? Because they realized that nobody could fool with the power of God, that nobody could play fast and loose with the name of the Lord Jesus. And the sense of awesomeness and reverence and fear resulted in the fact that the name of the Lord Jesus was held in high honor and out of the shambles of verse 16 comes the transformation of verses 18 and 19.

What an amazing change! Many of those who believed. It's not the unbelievers that came and confessed their evil deeds. It's the believers who came and confessed their evil deeds. Believers need to confess evil deeds, don't we? Are you a believer today? Do you have any evil deeds in your life? Are you evil-free? I don't think so.

You can't be. You're not in heaven yet. They had evil deeds, and they came and they confessed their evil deeds. They brought them out into the open, and a number of them who had practiced sorcery actually brought their scrolls together and had a big bonfire.

And the value of the scrolls—this was costly—came to fifty thousand drachmas, and a drachma was one man's wages for a day. This is a costly event. This is a significant bonfire. What's going on with the bonfires?

Oh, these people are burning their magic scrolls. That's costing them, isn't it? Costing them their livelihood. Costing them their enjoyment.

Costing them their influence. Don't let's miss something here, and with this we'll wrap it up. All of us bring to our newfound Christian faith much, much that is incongruous with our profession of faith.

Right? Somebody says, if you will believe in Jesus, you will be saved. Said, fine, I understand that, and I want to believe in Jesus. Yeah, but you've got a filthy mind.

You're a filthy mouth. You're riddled with jealous thoughts or whatever it might be, and all of that is brought to our newfound Christian faith. And not all of it is eradicated in one little sweep, you know. Many of those who believed said, you know, if Jesus really is the King, I can continue with this. If Jesus is actually Lord, if he died for all my evil deeds, if he died for all my dirty thoughts, if he died for all of my rebellion against him, then how can I on the one hand declare Jesus as King and the power of his cross in changing me, and then at the very same time engage in all of this? And the penny dropped. And they did what they had to do. They believed, they confessed openly.

They were changed. That's the power of the kingdom of God. That's the power that is needed, a power outside of ourselves, to bring about the change. That's why Jesus said to Nicodemus, unless you're born again, you can't see the kingdom of God. You can't enter the kingdom of God.

And where is the power of the King displayed? It is displayed in the power of the cross. Because it is in the cross that God pardons those who believe, even though we've sinned and deserve his judgment.

Were that not the case, we would be excluded from him forever. And in the cross, the Lord Jesus displays and satisfies God's perfect justice. Sin has to be judged and punished. And without that, God wouldn't be true to himself. And it is this very message that Paul was proclaiming. It was a message that the response was obstinacy and unbelief and the maligning of the way. Its foolishness to those who are perishing, but to those who are being saved, it's the power of God.

Essentially, what Paul was saying is what I say to you, what God's Word says to me, come bow before the king. And if, as a believer, you're trying to play it up the middle of the road, then bring your scrolls and burn them. Well, I don't know what they might be, what would be represented as scrolls in your life, something that holds you in its grip, something that's a burden to you. They tell me that internet pornography is a grip in so many men's lives.

If that is true, then presumably there are a number here on a routine basis in every service for whom that has a stranglehold on you. Well, then, burn the scrolls. Burn the scrolls and bow beneath Christ's kingship. That is Alistair Begg, emphasizing the importance of God-centered witnessing. You're listening to Truth for Life. If Paul's bold proclamation of the Gospel inspires you to share the message of God's salvation with friends and family, let me encourage you to pick up some copies of a Gospel tract titled The Story. This is a little booklet designed to help you introduce others to Jesus. It's a few short pages, and it walks readers through the storyline of the Bible from God's creation in the Garden of Eden to how it was spoiled by sin and how it will one day be renewed in perfection. Most importantly, The Story explains why everyone has to be saved. It teaches about God's rescue plan and shows those new to the Gospel how to receive God's gift of salvation. The booklets are available for purchase at our cost of just 50 cents each.

You'll find them on our website at truthforlife.org slash store, or you can call us at 888-588-7884. Thanks for joining us today. Not everyone who hears the Gospel receives it as good news. Tomorrow we'll learn about the mixed response to the Gospel in Ephesus. The Bible teaching of Alistair Begg is furnished by Truth for Life, where the Learning is for Living.