Good morning everyone. Another good morning. Glad to see you all here this morning and spend time with you. We're working through the book of Acts. We've been going verse by verse for a little over a year now, and we're up to chapter 19 at verse 11. This is an interesting text today. We're gonna work through it together. 

I was thinking about some of the teachings that come out of a text like this and why it's important to address that and see what's going on in the book of Acts and the founding of the church. I came across a YouTube video the other day of a man named Don Stewart. Now apparently there's two Don Stewarts in the theology realm, and one of them's good and this one not so much, but he's a televangelist who's known for his green prosperity prayer handkerchief. 

On his show, he was explaining that this handkerchief is what it is and supports using this as a touchpoint with God, as he called it, where his faith works, he said. He quoted 1st Corinthians where Paul says that God uses the foolish things of the world to confound the wise and he said the world would think this is foolish, so you see, he said it's based on the Bible. He conveyed a story about his mother who was in her 40s in 1939 when he was born, and she was dying in labor with him. A man came into the hospital and laid a green prayer handkerchief on her and told her that she would not die but she would live. He said you can get your very own touchpoint with God for a small donation and then you can cure all that ails you. 

My brothers and sisters, watching these guys makes you want to laugh, but the problem is that they ensnare and mislead so many people. This reminded me, in an odd sort of way, when I was a kid I loved trapping more than anything and I wanted to be a trapper more than anything. The state trapping convention in Indiana was being held near our home one year, so I was able to go and meet trappers and learn techniques and spend some quality fellowship with my brethren. There was a man there who was named Bob Wilson, and he was a mink and beaver trapper from the UP of Michigan. I don't think you that I even knew there was a UP of Michigan at that time, but it seemed like a wonderful mystical place as Bob described it. 

He was famous for a green beaver lure, and it was like magic to hear him tell about it. It was a great secret ingredient that made it green, and I had to have some. I figured I'd need a bigger barn to hold all those beaver I'd catch if I just had that green beaver lure. I remember about 20 years later, I was riding with my trapping partner in the north woods of Wisconsin, over in the Schwamigan Forest trapping beaver under ice, and he brought up Bob Wilson. He knew Bob Wilson, and I said, "Oh yeah, I remember that guy from when I was a kid. I saw that green beaver lure." I told him my story and my buddy said, "You know what made that lure green was food coloring." 

Kind of burst my bubble about old Bob, but it was marketing. It was merchandising, and it was effective on this aspiring young trapper. The shame is that so many men today in the realm of Christianity are simply marketing Jesus. They're marketing the name and the perceived power to heal and to make rich and to prosper. The only thing is the ones who are getting rich and prospering are the ones making merchandise of their followers. Peter says the Lord knows how to deliver the righteous and to reserve the unjust until the day of judgment. 

In our text today, we're going to see the power of God worked out through Paul in unusual ways as God is building and laying the foundation for the church in this unusual time. But we're also going to see some who are in it for the filthy lucre, as the old King James says, who try to merchandise the power of God through the name of Jesus but do not have the proper authority to do so. Now this leads to some interesting and somewhat entertaining events in our text today, but the main message of our text is that in spite of all this drama, in spite of those who are less than pure in their motives in trying to exploit the name of Jesus, the Word of God grows and prevails against these things, bringing true faith and repentance to those who will believe. 

Let's look at our text together in Acts 19:11. It says, "Now God worked unusual miracles by the hands of Paul so that even handkerchiefs or aprons were brought from his body to the sick and the diseases left them and the evil spirits went out of them." Then some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists took it upon themselves to call the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, "We exorcise you by the Jesus whom Paul preaches." Also, there were seven sons of Siva, Jewish priests, who did so. And the evil spirit answered and said, "Jesus I know, and Paul I know, but who are you?" 

Then the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, overpowered them, and prevailed against them so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded. This became known both to all Jews and Greeks dwelling in Ephesus and fear fell on them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified, and many who had believed came confessing and telling their deeds. Also, many of those who had practiced magic brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all, and they counted up the value of them, and it totaled 50,000 pieces of silver. So the word of the Lord grew mightily and prevailed. 

I'll have four points for you on your outline. First, unusual miracles. Second, unauthorized access. Third, undeniable fruit. And fourth, unfettered growth. 

Well first, in our text we see unusual miracles by the hand, even the sweat cloths and aprons of Paul. In verse 11, it said he worked unusual miracles by the hand of Paul, and there's no question at the time of the book of Acts in the ministry of Paul, it was an exciting time with a tremendous witness of the gospel of Jesus Christ crucified and God's powerful testimony to this truth through signs and wonders which he worked through the hands of the Apostles. But I want you to notice a very important word in our text, and it's the word translated "unusual." It literally means uncommon. We could translate this verse this way: God continued doing works of power through Paul but not in the usual way. 

Here's the point: these works were not normative even for the time of Paul in the book of Acts. These were special unusual works done by God for an express purpose in that place. We see later in our text that this place was a place of tremendous superstition, of mysticism, the use of magic. God wanted to show true power through Paul in order to confirm that the message that Paul spoke was from God and that it was true. Now we could argue whether this was the right way to go about it, but I think that would be a futile argument since God is the one doing it and since it is clear that through this the word of the Lord prevailed, and we see amazing repentance from these magic arts, and we see people turning to faith in Jesus. 

Well, the point here is that these were not common, they were not usual, they were not normative even for the transition time in the book of Acts. They were indeed extraordinary exhibitions of power through the Apostle Paul. Now we've studied the purpose of the signs and wonders that were done in the book of Acts before and God's purpose in them and why they ceased, but it'd be good for us to revisit this here, I think, in just a couple of passages. Turn over to Mark 16 with me please. This is where Jesus gives the Great Commission to the Apostles, and he talks about some extraordinary things they're going to experience and some powers that they're going to have in those verses leading up to verse 20, Mark 16. 

What I want you to notice is the explanation of that after Jesus sends them out. In verse 20, it says, "...and they went out and preached everywhere." That's what they were commanded to do, to go and preach the gospel to every creature, "...they went out and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word through the accompanying signs." That's what God was doing, confirming the word through the signs. Now turn over to Hebrews 2 with me please, another very clear passage; there are several of these. Hebrews 2 at verse 1, the author of Hebrews writes, "...therefore we must give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard, lest we drift away. For if the word spoken through angels prove steadfast and every transgression and disobedience received a just reward," he's talking about the Law of Moses, "...how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord and was confirmed to us by those who heard Him?" Now look at verse 4, "...God also bearing witness both with signs and wonders, with various miracles and gifts of the Holy Spirit according to His own will." 

Ephesians 2 tells us that the Apostles' doctrine formed the foundation of the church, Jesus being the chief cornerstone. But in the book of Acts, in the founding of the early church, there was no New Testament, there was no Word of God in this sense; the Bible was still being written, still being laid down as a foundation through the Apostles' doctrine. So God did mighty works, He did signs and wonders through the Apostles, so that men would know that what they taught was true and was from Him. Paul in 1 Corinthians 12 calls these the signs of the Apostles, and he says that they would cease. 

And my friends, these signs outlived their usefulness when the Word of God was complete. They were no longer needed. When a man comes preaching and teaching today, we don't need signs and wonders because we have the completed Word of God. Remember we saw Paul said that the Bereans were more noble than the Thessalonians. Why? Because they searched the scriptures daily to see if what Paul said was true. We search the scriptures to see if what men say is true. In fact, Paul says to the Thessalonians that in the end times, signs and wonders will be indicative of the work of Satan, not of God, deceiving those who are not grounded in the Word. He calls them lying signs and wonders meant to deceive the simple, those who perish because they did not receive the love of the truth. 

These were amazing works. They were unusual, extraordinary, even for this time, where they took Paul's handkerchief, literally his sweat cloths and his aprons, his working aprons, and even touching these healed people and drove away the evil spirits. But this is certainly not normative for the church or for our time. And I would suggest you don't send any money up to Don Stewart and get you a green handkerchief for your touchpoint with God. Rather, those who delve into this kind of superstition and healing power do so without authority in order to make merchandise of people. We see this was the case even in Paul's time in our text today. 

Look at verse 13. It says, "...then some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists," these traveling preachers, these traveling exorcists, "...took it upon themselves to call on the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, 'We exorcise you by the Jesus whom Paul preaches.'" And then we see the seven sons of Siva, a Jewish chief priest. I don't think he was actually a chief priest, but perhaps called himself that. And it says, "...the evil spirit answered them and said, 'Jesus I know, Paul I know, but who are you?'" You see, there was no authority. God didn't give them authority to do these things, and this demon-possessed man leapt on them and whooped up on them, made them naked and wounded, and they went running down the street. That must have been quite a scene. 

It says it spread all over. People heard about this, and it really must have been impressive. It became known to both the Jews and Greeks dwelling in Ephesus, and fear fell on them, and the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified. I want you to notice it says, "...they took it upon themselves." You see, all of the works that Paul did, all the signs, miracles, even his preaching and teaching, and his very message were based on the authority that God had given to him, the calling that he had to preach Christ. Jesus said, "...all authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth, and I command you to go out and preach the gospel to every creature, and lo, I am with you always." 

Every work, every healing done was done by God through Paul, by the authority of Jesus, and it was not some incantation, as these guys thought. It was not magic words. It was the authority granted by God through Jesus Christ, and these men did not have this authority. It's so amazing to see that the demons know this as well. Jesus has authority over all, over the visible, the invisible, over demons and spirits in high places. We see all through the Gospels that the spirits obeyed Him. What a marvel. What an amazing truth. Even the waves obeyed Him, and even the evil spirits obeyed Him. There was never a question. 

You remember that one event when the Apostles tried to cast out a demon and they could not, and Jesus just said the word, and out He went. It is Jesus that has the authority, the power, and He gives that authority to the Apostles, specifically here to Paul in this time in the book of Acts, to witness, to give testimony to Paul's preaching, to the gospel. And we see what happens to those itinerant Jewish exorcists, to the sons of Siva, when they attempt to utilize this power without authorization. The evil spirit said, "Jesus I know, Paul I know, but who are you?" You don't have authority, and they attacked him. 

This is a somewhat comical account of what happened, but not so funny for these guys. But it conveys an important truth for us. The works that were done through Paul were only done because he had been granted the authority to do them, and that authority comes only through Jesus. I think one of the most fascinating stories in the Gospels is found in Luke 7. I'd like for you to turn over to Luke 7 with me. Luke 7 at verse 1, it says, "'Now when He had concluded all His sayings in the hearing of the people, He entered Capernaum. And a certain centurion's servant who was dear to him was sick and ready to die. So when he heard about Jesus, he sent elders of the Jews to Him, pleading with Him to come and heal his servant. And when they came to Jesus, they begged Him earnestly, saying that the one for whom He should do this was deserving, for He loves our nation, and He has built us a synagogue. Then Jesus went with them. And when He was already not far from the house, the centurion sent friends to Him, saying to Him, 'Lord, do not trouble Yourself, for I am not worthy that You should enter under my roof. Therefore I did not even think myself worthy to come to You, but say the word, and My servant will be healed. For I also am a man placed under authority, having soldiers under me. And I say to one, Go,' and he goes, and to another, 'Come,' and he comes, and to My servant, 'Do this,' and he does it. When Jesus heard these things, He marveled at him and turned around and said to the crowd that followed Him, 'I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel.' And those who were sent, returning to the house, found the servant well who had been sick.'" 

"I too," He said, "am a man under authority." The centurion was a man of authority. When he told a soldier to go, he went; to come, he came. Whatever he told him to do, he did it. And this authority came from the government of Rome. It was delegated to this man to be a commander. And he observes that Jesus also had power because He was under authority, given to Him by God. Remember Jesus' words. He said, "'All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. All authority has been given to Me, given by God.'" 

Jesus was a man under authority in His earthly ministry, and the works He did were done through Him by the power of the Father. John 14:10 says, "'Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority, but the Father who dwells in Me does the works.'" This is such an important principle for us to understand. The reason the demons whipped up on the sons of Siva and left them naked and wounded running down the street was because they attempted to exercise authority that had not been given to them. 

Paul was given the authority. Jesus did the works through him. This was the case with Peter and John as well. You remember back in Acts 3, they went up together to the temple at the hour of prayer and there was the lame man there and they healed him. He wanted money. He looked to them for silver and gold. And Peter said, "'Silver and gold I do not have, but in the name of Jesus Christ I command you to stand and walk.'" And they healed that lame man. And all the people saw him walking and praising God. And they were in amazement at what had happened. And the lame man was holding on to them. He was rejoicing. 

Verse 12 says, when Peter saw it, he responded to the people, "'Men of Israel, why do you marvel at this? Or why look so intently at us as though by our own power or godliness we made this man walk? The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified His servant Jesus whom you delivered up and denied in the presence of Pilate when he was determined to let him go. But you denied the Holy One and the Just and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, and killed the Prince of Life whom God raised from the dead, of which we are witnesses. And His name, through faith in His name, has made this man strong whom you now see and know. Yes, the faith which comes through Him has given Him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all.'" 

Peter did not do this work of his own power. Jesus worked through him because Jesus gave authority to the apostles to do these works as a testimony of their preaching and teaching. I don't have this authority today. And neither does the green handkerchief man. Because I have the Word of God. Not signs and wonders, but gospel truth. And the authority that we have is to preach the gospel, the good news, and point men to Jesus and judge what men say based on the Scriptures. It's important that we understand this so that we are not taken captive by aberrant doctrines, my friends. Not led astray by false teachings so that we are able to discern and not be tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine and rendered useless by the enemy. 

We see in our text unusual miracles. We see unauthorized access, and next we see undeniable fruit. This is really something. Verse 17, this became known both to all Jews and Greeks dwelling in Ephesus, and fear fell on them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified, and many who had believed came confessing and telling their deeds. Now look at verse 19, also many of those who had practiced magic brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all, and they counted up the value of them, and it totaled 50,000 pieces of silver. This is truly amazing, my friends. 

What happened when Paul came preaching the truth with power to Ephesus? This wicked pagan place filled with magic arts and divination and all kinds of idolatry. Those who heard and believed, that's how it works, you know, a man must hear a message, the true message about Jesus, who He is, what He's done at the cross. He must hear, and when he hears, he is presented with a choice. He must choose to believe the gospel, to believe Jesus, to turn to Him by faith alone, and then that man is saved. He's saved from the wrath of God for his sins, given eternal life as a gift through faith in Jesus. 

This is how a man is justified; this is how he's made right with God. And what we see in our text is that for those who heard, who believed, who were saved, who were recreated, they bore amazing fruit, my friends, undeniable fruit of their salvation. They burned all of their books, and it totaled 50,000 pieces of silver. There was no confusion. They did not just add Jesus to their pagan religion. They repented, they turned from the idolatry, they turned from the magic arts to Jesus and Jesus only, and we see the fruit of that conversion in their acts, their choice to reject, abandon, even burn their magic books, and they burned them, it says, in the sight of all. 

This is truly awesome. What a testimony, a witness to the amazing transforming power of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Now there's a bit of uncertainty as to which silver coins are referred to here, but the best estimate was that the present-day value of these magic books would be about seven million dollars. There was a lot of pagan worship going on in Ephesus. That's really something. Can you imagine today all the religions and philosophies of men, all the psychologists bringing out their textbooks and idols, their tools of the trade and burning them in the town square for everyone to see as a profession of their newfound faith in Jesus and His sufficiency? 

Rather, so many Christians today turn from Jesus to the philosophies of men, of the world, for their sufficiency. But those in this city, which must have been a great number, shook that place and its accepted religion to its core with a powerful testimony and demonstration of fruit, the burning of seven million dollars' worth of false religious literature. Remember, there's true salvation, there's true repentance and faith and fruit. And we see that here, my friends. 

So we see in our text unusual miracles, unauthorized access, undeniable fruit, and finally we see unfettered growth. Let's begin again in verse 11. Now God worked unusual miracles by the hands of Paul so that even handkerchiefs or aprons were brought from his body to the sick and the diseases left them, and the evil spirits went out of them. Then some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists took it upon themselves to call the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, "We exorcise you by the Jesus whom Paul preaches." 

Also, there were seven sons of Siva, Jewish chief priests, who did so. And the evil spirit answered and said, "Jesus I know, and Paul I know, but who are you?" Then the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, overpowered them, and prevailed against them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded. This became known both to all Jews and Greeks dwelling in Ephesus, and fear fell on them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified, and many who had believed came confessing and telling their deeds. Also, many of those who had practiced magic brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all, and they counted up the value of them, and it totaled 50,000 pieces of silver. 

Now look at verse 20. So in light of all that and all that happened and all this that came against them and all that was going on in that place, so the word of the Lord grew mightily and prevailed. You can imagine the resistance to the gospel as Paul preached in Ephesus, this center of pagan worship, idolatry, and magic arts. He was just a simple man with a simple message preached faithfully. But you see, my brothers and sisters, the gospel is the power of God unto salvation—the dunamis, the dynamite that blows up an entire city and a religious institution. And this is the case everywhere the gospel goes. 

We see it in every city, everywhere Paul went in the book of Acts. Some rejected, hated the truth, attacked Paul. But many believed, just as it was with Jesus. And for those who believed, it was a transformation, it was a recreation, and all who saw this knew that there was power in the name of Jesus. Can you imagine what the leaders thought, the religious people, when they burned seven million dollars' worth of valued books? Can you imagine the testimony of changed lives? This is what happens when the gospel is preached, when the power and authority is in Jesus' name according to His Word, His truth, and by His working in and through us. 

Even here, they believe and they're saved. Because as mighty as all the powers of Satan are, as pervasive and powerful as his system in this world is, as much as his minions in religion and false worship faithfully follow his lying ways in deception and destruction, as much as it seems everything in this world is against us, against Christ, against the gospel, the truth is that the Word of the Lord prevails. Truth wins. 

My friend Stephens is here from India. Many of you are familiar with his father, Philip Samuel. It's so good to have you here with us this morning, Stephen. He came up last night and had dinner and saw the farm and traipsed around in the mud and said, "I'm sorry it's so muddy," and he said, "It's cleaner than the mud in India." We'll hear a report from Stephens after the message. 

When I was in India, I stayed in the home of Philip Samuel for a week or so. You know, India's an interesting place. There's rampant paganism, all kinds of gods, religion. As we went out each day to preach the gospel, to share the good news, to shine the light of the truth of Jesus Christ into that darkness, we had some interesting experiences. Stephen did some translating for me when I was there in homes in the villages, and we just went out and preached Jesus and Him crucified, and people were just coming, coming to faith. I was amazed at how friendly and receptive and joyful the people were everywhere we went in these villages in the poorest of places I'd ever seen. 

But we had one especially interesting experience in a native tribal village way up in the mountains, and I've told you before about how we went out with about six men, and Guy Folsom and I, and we're traveling with them in a bus up the mountain through the beautiful papaya and sunflower fields, and the shepherds were herding their goats right down the roads and winding paths. One sight struck me as we drove by. It was an elderly couple sitting alongside the road with a big pile of rocks on one side of them and a large pile of gravel on the other side of them, and they had a hammer and a chisel, and they were breaking the big rocks into gravel. Amazing sights you see in India. 

Well, as we traveled up the road toward the village, Philip expressed concern and said that it was good that there were several men with us because last time they went to this place, it got a little rough. The guy's interest was piqued. He said, "Guy, you know, what do you mean a little rough?" Well, we arrived at the village, and the men were all out working in the fields so we didn't have any trouble, but it was a stark contrast in this native village where there was government housing and provision. There were several women who were drunk, and they were unkempt people, and they were missing teeth, and it was such a contrast with all the other places we visited. 

One of the men started pounding a drum that came with us to call attention, and people came out from everywhere and they came all around, and we preached Jesus. And most were uninterested. Some were hostile. But the reason I bring this up is because there was a young couple there with a new baby. I'll never forget them. They were so encouraged. They came eagerly to us and embraced us and told us that they were believers, that they were living in this place trying to be witnesses for Jesus. 

Even in that dark place where Satan had such a stronghold on the people, the Word of the Lord prevailed. His Word does not return void. Those who are willing and hear and believe are a witness to His grace and power and mercy. 

My brothers and sisters, this was true in Ephesus for Paul, this is true in India today, and this is true in Winchester, Wisconsin as well. It may seem that there's no hope. That wicked men succeed all around us in this world and that Satan has a firm grip. But the truth is that where the gospel is faithfully preached, the Word of the Lord will grow, will prevail, will accomplish God's will and purpose. 

And my friends, it is our privilege as believers in Jesus Christ to be the preachers of that good news message. That's why we're here, to bring hope and life to a lost and dying world. Let's close in prayer. 

Father, we're so thankful for your Word, your truth. You continue to teach us, you do what's best for us. You're our good and gracious Father, and we love you, we praise you, we thank you. Help us to trust you and believe you every day and not leave the simplicity that is in Christ, the truth of your Word that you have revealed and kept and preserved for us that we have so freely to read and study every day. Thank you for Jesus, our salvation. It's in His name we pray.