“The test of Sincerity”
Acts 19:1-20
Pastor Allan Kircher
Shell Point Baptist Church
Introduction:
The founding of a Church of Ephesus:
* The capital city of the Proconsul of Asia
* A great center of Greek and Asiatic life.
* The place of concourse of all Ionia for its celebrated games
* The seat of the famous temple of Artemis, known as one of the wonders of the ancient world.
Two years had elapsed since the Holy Spirit had expressly prohibited the preaching of the Word in Asia, for reasons we do not know, but now that prohibition is removed.
As powerful as Ephesus was, Paul was not at all intimidated by the city;
Rather, he was thoroughly challenged by the scope of the work that beckoned to him as he neared Ephesus.
God says to let your light shine….
* Where does a light shine the brightest? Not in church.
* In the dark corners of our world.
* In the workplace of the unbelievers, w/darkened family members.
And that is exactly what the apostle Paul did….
* He planted his foot firmly on the soil of Asia.
* taking possession in the Name of the Lord Jesus.
The banner in which he set up has never been taken down to this present hour.
the simplest word spoken in the kingdom of God,
the simplest actions taken in the Name of the Lord Jesus,
It may be the instrument used by the power of God for advancing His own purposes of grace and salvation to untold multitudes.
o You shall never know the impact you have till you reach heaven.
o In every fresh effort you make to preach Christ where He is not known
o There is a glorious uncertainty as to the ultimate consequences of such effort.
That special attitude, or friendly smile in the midst of darkness at your work or conversations ….
• May turn that wilderness into a pool of living water.
• It may turn dry land into a spring of water.
• It may bring to life those dead bones.
One Heaven-born thought in the mind of a man of God,
• one prayer in the Holy Spirit
• one faithful word of truth
• may be the seed of a sacred history which shall fill
• Not earth only, but heaven also with enduring fruits of joy and salvation.
1 Cor 15:58…”Therefore my brothers stand firm, Let nothing…..
Sermon.
Acts 19:1-7
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I. The essential (Faith) but the insufficient (works).
At Ephesus Paul met with disciples who had been baptized “unto John’s baptism”, but who had not learned to exercise faith in Jesus Christ, nor even heard that there was a Holy Spirit.
These men were well on the way to salvation by Jesus Christ, but they were far from the goal.
1. Repentance is essential, but it is not sufficient of itself.
It is essential; for without it the heart remains far from God
o the soul unturned from self and sin,
o A life unrelieved of that which is false and wrong;
Without it there is no sense of that spiritual need
No sense of zeal for God works.
No sense of witnessing power.
No sense of Godly common good.
The Christian disciple who has not experienced it is fatally short of fulfilling the condition of acceptance with God.
2. It is not sufficient if it leaves the soul without any pledge of Divine forgiveness.
It leaves the heart without that personal union with Jesus.
Which is the very essence of spiritual and eternal life.
It leaves the spirit of man without the abiding indwelling and quickening influence of the Spirit of God.
Therefore, make much of your light in the faith of Jesus Christ and continually testify not only “repentance towards God,” but “faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Is your religion genuine? Is it profound?
Is it a living consciousness of God within your soul?
Or is it a dependence on forms, creeds or merely ideals?
How many trained and taught as Christians must answer, “We know not yet the Holy Spirit!”
The new birth, the love, “the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father!”
o What means the name “Christian” that you bear?
o Is the devil and all his works daily renounced?
3. Our lessons from the disciples of John the Baptist.
They are typical, as we have seen, of many among us;
Those who resemble them among us should be treated in like manner.
There are those who stand upon a lower step of faith.
They know the gospel requires them to give up sin;
Perhaps they say, “not yet can I obtain perfect trust and the love that casts fear in me.”
They confess themselves to be ignorant if questioned of this “higher life.”
The testing question.
A living faith and a breathing faith
a life in conformity with the baptismal profession
A sanctified speech and life, give the only satisfactory answer.
The gift of the Holy Spirit is not a mere endowment
It is a seal upon the faith in Christ and his spiritual kingdom is accepted and an entire change of position and of life takes place.
Do you see that, do you feel that, do you experience that?
o You see, the faith which evangelizes is not a cold assent to truth
o not a mere principle of religious reverence and order regulating the individual life
o not a mere setting of Christ on the throne of your mind
o But a faith with works by love through the energy of the Spirit within.
You believe, and therefore speak. The test of true faith is its aggressive tendency.
That which sits in idleness is paralyzed.
4. The progression in Divine revelations.
They answered, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.”
• They were sincerely religious men; they are called “disciples,”
• And yet—though it seems incredible to us—they heard nothing of the Holy Spirit.
• You see, Apollos could only teach as much as he knew.
We can only do so much in our own will!
But only the grace of God can sustain our fervency for Him.
• When Paul arrived he noticed a lack of spiritual gifts among these men.
• Perhaps, also, a lack of peace, joy, and brightness
• Things that are evident in the fruit of believers.
They showed signs of asceticism (a self-denying life)
and outward signs of repentance and mortification
But something was manifestly lacking for their spiritual completeness.”
Perhaps you know of people like this?
o People who show signs of being a “good person”
o People who seem to do the right things
o People who put their time into the house of God.
o People who show a religious piety.
o Even people who show zeal and fervor for God.
o But their works show a complete contrast to their faith.
o Their attitudes of worldly things show a contrast to their faith.
a. There is a progression in Christian truth.
There is progression in our apprehension of the Christian truth.
* No man can grasp it all at once.
* It comes to us bit by bit.
* Some of the advanced truths cannot possibly be grasped until certain other and preparatory ones are well learned.
* This is why our Lord says that we will be sanctified through and through by the Holy Spirit.
We must continue in the Word and continue to pray to God to reveal more of His truths to us as we grow.
Unfortunately, most do not heed the warning of Rom. 10:17.
All spiritual life is always by the energy of God’s spirit.
God “takes the things of Christ, and reveals them unto us.”
Our Lord said of Him, “He shall receive of mine, and shall show it unto you.”
We should be most jealous of the doctrine and the personal experience of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
* Our sin is of unspeakable sadness will quench/grieve the Spirit.
* The sin that does not have forgiveness is sin against the HS.
We must continually humble ourselves, and repent
Submitting ourselves the Spirits work.
Knowing of this gentle, gracious, comforting Holy Spirit,
Let us not be found neglecting his Divine indwelling.
The Holy Spirit is the last and highest revelation of God to men; let us not “grieve the Holy Spirit of God, whereby we are sealed unto the day of redemption.
II. The valuable but the Temporary (Ver. 6).
“When Paul placed his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied.
o Isn’t it desirable then to say the presence and power of the Spirit should be manifested by “signs and wonders?”
o Isn’t your genuine salvation experience a wonder?
o A sign of God’s movement in your life?
o It gives assurance to those who it came, and evidence to those who “were without.” Amen.
Experience soon proves (e.g. the Corinthian Church) that this order of evidence and influence was open to abuse.
o People fall into the false perception of being saved
o They never seeing any results in their life, and continue in their falsehood.
o But God has given us that which is better
o That in which we will be content,
o For the perfection of which we should strive and pray.
He gives us, as the consequence of our faith…
The response to our believing prayer, quickening influences in our soul.
A Divine action within the spirit of our souls
The working of the Spirit is always in us.
We may not be conscious of it on a moment to moment basis.
But the effects are obvious to ourselves and to others.
The working of the Holy Spirit is of these:
1. An assurance of sonship…Rom. 8:16.
2. A desire to bear witness unto Christ
3. A knowledge to overcome all obstacles
3. An excitement to speak of him and for him.
3. And, a holy heart and a beautiful life.
Verses 8-10
I. The Power of the gospel seen in the activity of Paul.
It becomes a two-edged sword in his hand against all the powers of darkness.
Three months’ continuous preaching of great evangelical truths
It laid the foundation of spiritual building for the lifetime of many souls.
The influence of the gospel is felt in three ways here:
1. upon the hard and unbelieving hearts.
We do not need to throw pearls before the swine.
We need to manifest God’s spirit in us to witness gently, boldly, and by example to all those unbelievers in our world.
• God places you in your particular situation wherever it is or whatever it is it is for God’s expansion.
• You may not know why you where in that particular place yesterday.
• Or why you are at your particular job. Or Gas station.
• But you can be assured this morning that God knows.
You are His representative. Can you believe that!
2. upon forms of sickness
It was not Peter’s shadow at Jerusalem, nor Paul’s handkerchief here at Ephesus which brought the cures, but the living spiritual force in the will, that is, the faith of the worker.
• Salvation from that which in the nature of things has no healing power.
• Nor is the expectation of life and spiritual health from rites and ceremonies.
• It is the spirit of God and the faith of the recipient that heals.
3. upon the dark works of godless magic
The people placed in trust of God’s Word had fallen into the practice of the most foolish magic arts.
They tried to imitate the apostle Paul.
Not in teaching the truth nor in converting souls
but in the wondrous deeds of the apostle
They yearned to seek to secure it like credit.
Tis the way of all false teachers and spurious imitators;
They can mimic the gesture, but cannot catch the spirit.
The faith of very many is but a faith in the faith of someone else—a dependence on hearsay, like that of these teachers.
• But the evil spirit defies the feeble imitator
• it will not yield to his spells
• And knows the difference between the man filled with and the man empty of God.
Paul disclaimed all power of his own, and simply invited faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
We must claim Phil. 2:13-16 and live it out in our lives.
Verses 13-17
I. The natural cannot do the special work of the spiritual.
o These exorcists were successful as far as people believed them and thought they had strange power over the insane and possessed.
o Their deceiving and iniquitous profession was one for gain,
o But it was for gain only in their hearts.
But when they used the name of Jesus, they failed disgracefully.
In this respect there are those who attempt to do God’s work without Divine weapons at their side.
Only the spiritual can do spiritual work. …….
Now take heed to this:
It is true that unspiritual men may:
• Understand much of the Divine thought.
• Speak what they know with skill and force.
• Assume a sacred tone and spirit, and may affect men by this assumption.
• Maintain for years a reputation for devotion and usefulness.
But it is also true that:
o If any spiritual result should follow, it will be through the overruling power of God—it will not be their own work.
o No considerable or permanent results will follow
o such unreal conditions will not stand the test of time
o There will come exposure and humiliation, either here or after.
Let us recognize this brothers and sisters in Christ.
Let us:
1. Welcome to our heart the first teaching and leading of the HS.
2. Establish our whole life on the basis of the spiritual;
3. Live and walk “in the Spirit”
4. Let us realize that outward shows are nothing to great spiritual realities.
Let us do the work of God with spiritual weapons given to us.
• Not attempting to build up/kingdom/God by our efforts.
• We will be discovered, sought out and revealed for our inner faith.
• We must make men “hear the words of the Lord Jesus,”
• We must speak of those things with distinctively “concern the kingdom of God.”
• We must utter Christian doctrine, and look for positively Divine influence.
God may and will place us in these circumstances to see and test our faith.
A. we cannot create an inspiration!
Mock enthusiasm will be found out! Take it to the bank!
A genuine true expressed faith cannot be acted upon.
“Jesus and Paul I know; but who are you?”
Does the devil know your name this morning?
Try to preach without believing your own doctrine!
Speak of Jesus as a friend while the heart is far from him!
If you do, the mocking voice of the fiend will be heard within
Your efforts to convince others will be as blows of one that fights into the air.
The lie of the heart will paralyze the mightiest eloquence of your speech.
The simple truth of the conscience will be a power made manifest in weakness.
The false believers are impotent in the presence and the attack of the passionate evil spirit;
They fall by the wayside in humility and disgrace.
The devil is a thankless master, and puts to shame his most zealous servants.
In the long run…..
A naked and wounded soul is all that we can expect from the service of falsehood.
B. Falsehood bows before the majesty of truth.
“Fear fell on all.”
The devils give witness to Jesus.
His Name is glorified by the triumph of his servants and the subjection of his foes.
Silence was broken, guilty reserve vanished.
Probably both converted and unconverted had sin to confess.
Fear is in the soul of men, what the earthquake and the tempest, are in the physical world.
It breaks up the hard crust of habit in your heart
It lets the pent-up ways breaks forth
And it brings purification and health in its stead.
Verses 18-19 “The sign of sincerity”
I. When we accept Jesus Christ we yield ourselves to Him.
To exercise a living faith in Him is to take everything from Him and to give everything to Him.
o To give our lives in service to Him.
o Not the things we want, the things we must.
o Not what we think we should give him.
o Maybe I’ll give him 5 mins today in prayer.
One little drink doesn’t really mean anything…
I’m not gossiping but you need to know this…..
That beggar is only going to use the money for liquor….
Christ gave all….1 John 3:16 , “this is how we know what love is…
It is to recognize and respond to His supreme claims on our hearts and our lives.
To put away all that is false and impure in our lives.
Putting away from your eyes the things that feed temptation.
And living life to glorify our Father in heaven.
Was He glorified in what you did yesterday?
II. Earnest Christian life is always Antagonistic to the former life.
A man may take up religion as a mere matter of profession, and find that it makes little or no demand for change in his general sentiments or conduct.
o But if a man is truly regenerate
o if your walk is a serious, searching reality
o You will soon find out it is out of harmony with your former life.
You see, you cannot give up your life with Christ, you must give up the old habits and indulgences.
This doesn’t just apply to the major evils of immorality, but also to the more minute forms of questionable indulgence.
Earnest Christian life is found to be corrective of even our cherished ideas
our view of truth and duty;
and even the most moral an amiable man is made sensitive to purity and truth by his regeneration
And he finds something in his former life and thoughts which is out of harmony with his new life.
And you correct them to match your walk.
III. Christian life can only be maintained by living Rom 12:1-2.
• You may know how opposed you are to the ways of your former life
• But you make no effort to readjust your ways.
• You may try to live in your old self-willed life
• But at the same time try to keep your faith in Christ and your soul-allegiance to Him.
And the point I must insist is you cannot do that.
If you do, you endanger your Christian life.
You keep yourself open to Satanic temptations.
You are in a hopeless state and you live as those in the years past who, “feared the Lord and served other gods.”
Full consistency between life and Christ is absolutely necessary.
In any case of conflict between the two, the Spirit of God will help us to victory.
If, even in small matters, we fail to keep the full harmony between piety and conduct, piety loses its tone and gradually its very life.
Formalism can allow license. Piety never can
IV. Efforts to match your life with Christ may involve serious sacrifice.
As in the case of these Ephesian Christians, they destroyed books representing great wealth.
• They might have sold them
• but others might have been corrupted by them
• So they destroyed them.
If we want to know how deep and true your convictions are, we ask what deep-rooted habits you will cut away.
What cherished treasures you will put aside.
What keen enjoyments you will forego.
What money you will sacrifice.
What prized but hurtful friendships you will surrender.
This is the test of true sincerity.
A man that will do one or more of these things, “we know the proof of him.”
The burning of these profitable books was the very best guarantee that could be given of the sincerity of the Ephesian converts.
If you made your list this afternoon of the things in which you have withdrawn from…
Would there be profitable evidence to convict you of being a Christian?
Is it a list that has become unwavierable in the midst of time?
Is it a list that delights in the eyes of the almighty God?
Or is it list that must be revisited time and time again?
Verse 20 The prevailing power of the Word.
1. The growing power of God’s word.
The effects of the gospel message.
The tidings brought to us concerning Jesus Christ.
The message brought by Jesus Christ
the message centering in, and gathering round, Jesus Christ.
It has molded and shaped and formed all humanity.
The “Word of the Lord” is this:
The heavenly Father has himself overcome the hindrances and separating difficulties dividing him from his children.
He is become a reconciling God
and in Jesus Christ his Son he is willing to pardon:
He is waiting to welcome back home every returning, repenting, believing child.
The gospel message is a “living thing,” so it is “growing.”
Wherever there is life there is growth.
If there be life in the seed, there will be growth of blade, breaking the soil, and shooting up into the light.
If growth ever ceases in our bodies, death ensues.
And so, if there be life in God’s gospel, it will have the power of widening, spreading, and enlarging its influence.
o The sign of growth noticed is the power which Christian truth increasingly gained over the feelings and the conduct of the Ephesian disciples
o Leading them to a most impressive public act of self-denial.
o Do you have that growth in you this morning?
Closing:
The growth takes two forms:
1. Inward growth; the gospel as the soul’s new life, gaining an ever-increasing self-mastery.
2. Outward growth; the gospel as a testimony, winning more and more adherents as it is proclaimed more fully and widely.
These two growths are mutually related/mutually helpful.
Inward spiritual life always should bear its fruit in Christian activity.
Since there is life in the Word, and that life is seen in growth it will be sure to meet with opposition.
• If the apostles ceased to witness for Christ, they would have suffered no persecution.
• If any of us will let the life in Christ fade down and die within us, the world will cease to present any opposition.
o The dead in trespasses and sins have no difficulties
o But “they that will live godly must suffer persecution.”
It is a simple condition of growth, it involves resistance; it pushes its way against opposition.
And in the case of your earnest piety, this opposition becomes more than resistance—it is enmity and willful endeavor.
Having troubles and resistance and opposition in the world….
Great….keep it up!
• Since there is life in the Word, you may be sure to persevere.
• And you will gain mastery.
• “Greater is He who is in me, than who is in the world.”
Show how the prevailing power of the Word is in your experiences.
o And in the gradual mastery of your personal habits.
o And in your external relations and circumstances.
Impress that faith in the “growth” and “prevailing power” of Christianity need to be kept alive in the Church and in all our hearts in everything you do.
And such a faith would prove an abiding inspiration to holier living and nobler laboring.
May the Lord Jesus Christ continue to grow you and mold you into the living stones He has called to be….
Hymn of Invitation.
