The Word Made Plain

Guest (Female): Welcome to The Word Made Plain with Senior Pastor Tony Clark of Calvary Chapel Newport News in Virginia. Currently, Pastor Tony is teaching a study in the book of Acts. Please open your Bible to Luke chapter 20.

Tony Clark: All right, let’s dive into the Word of God together. Turn with me in your Bibles to the book of Acts, chapter 19. We’re going to be looking at verses 18 through 20. We kind of glossed over these verses last week, but there are some other things that we need to talk about in these verses.

Father, we pray that Your Holy Spirit would teach us, Lord, and guide us into all truth. Lord, I just pray that Lord, You would do a work in our hearts. Lord, that the Word of God will speak, that Your Spirit will convict, Lord, that You would do a work that only You can do. In Jesus' name. Amen.

Acts chapter 19, looking at verses 18 through 20. The title of this message is "Evidence of Salvation." Now, this is such an important message because a lot of people call themselves Christians, call themselves followers of Jesus Christ, and there is no evidence of Christ in their lives. Or if there is evidence, it is very little. Maybe an occasional visit to a church when something tragic has happened to them. Or they come to church because they want to hit God up this week about something, so they come to church for that very reason.

And so, are there any outward signs that shows that Jesus Christ is in us? And this is the subject of these verses. Now by way of background, the last time we were together, we saw how God worked unusual miracles by the hand of Paul, according to verse 11.

So that people took his handkerchief—well, we know that were the sweatbands—and his apron and laid them on the sick, and they were healed. We also saw that a group of believers, a group of brothers—well, actually, yeah, they were brothers, natural brothers, called the seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish—the sons of the Jewish chief priest—tried to cast a demon out of a man. And the demon said in verse 15, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know, but who are you?”

And the man in whom had the evil spirit jumped on them and overpowered them, and these seven sons ran out of the house naked and wounded, according to verse 16. Of course, the news of this incident became known to all the Jews and Greeks dwelling in the city of Ephesus, and fear fell upon them, and the name of Jesus was magnified, the end of verse 17 says.

Now we pick up the story in verse 18. Look what it says there in verse 18: “And many who had believed came confessing and telling their deeds.” Now many of the people who believed the gospel message came confessing and telling their deeds. Now the Greek word for deeds is *praxis*, and it refers to their secret magic spells, which were generally believed to be rendered useless if they were told.

See, Ephesus was a center for black magic and other occult practices. The people would create formulas to give them wealth and happiness and success in marriages. And superstition and sorcery were commonplace. Many of the Ephesian converts had been involved in these dark arts.

However, because they saw the power of Jesus Christ over the demonic world through the incident with the seven sons of Sceva, they knew that they had to turn away from these evil practices. Oh, this was huge because they believed that the power of these magic spells resided in their secrecy, and which they renounce in confessing and telling their deeds, the end of verse 18 says.

However, it is one thing to confess your evil deeds and practices; it is another thing to change your ways. And this is a sign that Jesus Christ has changed you. You will renounce your old life, confessing it as sinful. The word confess is an amazing word in the Greek language. It is *homologeo*, and we all know *homo* means "the same" and *logeo* means "to speak." So *homologeo* means "to speak the same thing."

You're saying that what you are doing or what you were doing is sinful. You’re agreeing with God that your lifestyle prior to Christ was sinful. You’re speaking the same thing. Oh, look what it says there in 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 fifty thousand pieces of silver.”

These Ephesian believers who were once involved in the occult, they turned from their evil practices to the Lord. Just like the Thessalonian believers in 1 Thessalonians 1 and verse 9, it says they turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God. Notice how it doesn’t say that they turned from idols to God. Nor does it say that the Ephesians turned from the occult to God.

My point is this: we can’t clean ourselves up and then come to God. It is the other way around. We turn to God first, and then He gives us the strength to turn from the occult and from our idols. Oh, many people say—you've run into them—"Well, let me clean myself up first, and then I’ll come to God." Well, you will never turn to God because you can’t clean yourself up. If we could, then there was no need for Jesus to come and die on a cross.

Oh, by the mere fact that Jesus came and died on the cross for our sins shows that there is nothing we can do to clean ourselves up. And so the believers in Thessalonica and Ephesus turned to God first, then they had the power to turn from their idols and from the occult practices. So many of them who had practiced magic, notice, they brought their books together and had a big yard sale? No.

No, they brought all their books together and took them to an old bookstore? No, no. They brought their books and burned them in the sight of them all. This is the true evidence that a person is truly saved. This is also a beautiful example of what 2 Corinthians 5:17 says: "If any man is in Christ, he is a new creation. Old things are passed away"—magic books, occult practices, idols—"and behold, all things become new."

When we are a new creation in Christ Jesus, notice, old things are passed away. No longer do I want to worship idols or practice magic, nor do those things you once did. Why? Because you’re a new creation. You’re born again. So as born-again Christians, God gives us new desires, new wants, and a new perspective on life. It’s like being blind and suddenly God gives you sight.

No one wants to go back to the old life of being blind, go back to living in darkness, and go about stumbling and staggering around in this world. No one wants to go back. I never heard of anyone who was blind and they received their sights and, "You know what? I think I'll go back to being blind." No one does that. Once you get sight, you don't want to go back to the old life of stammering and staggering around in the darkness.

What I love about this verse is how they burned these books, not allowing themselves to be tempted to go back to them. Oh, they didn’t just put them on the shelf and just let them sit there. Satan would allow those books to call you back to dabble in them again. I just wonder, is there something in your life that you need to burn? Not necessarily physically, but maybe you do need to do it physically.

Maybe you need to have an Acts 19:19 burn party. I almost entitled this message "Burn, Baby, Burn," but I would have been telling my age from the disco era. I would have told my age there. But maybe there are some books, maybe some CDs, maybe some social media chats, and the list goes on and on that needs to be burned.

That you used to have in your old life that needs to be severed from your life. Burning them speaks of getting rid of them, to the point where you can't go back to them again. Well, Pastor Tony, you don't know. I spent a lot of money on these things. Are you saying that I can't sell them and try to get some of my money back? Well, first of all, I'm not telling you to do anything.

I am only telling you what the Ephesian believers did to outwardly show that a change had taken place in their lives. Oh, secondly, why would you want someone to get ahold of that mess that had you in bondage and for them to be in bondage themselves? And it can link back to you selling it to them, so to speak. Why would you want that?

Oh yes, you spent a lot of money on these things, but so did they. When they counted up the value of them, it totaled 50,000 pieces of silver. What a staggering amount of money, showing how deeply involved they were in the occult. Oh, Matthew 6, verse 21 says, “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

So 50,000 pieces of silver. The piece of silver referred to was the drachmas. That was the Roman money. It's equivalent to the denarius, the Jews' money, which was equivalent to a day's wages. So they counted up all the books—watch this—and it added up to 50,000 pieces of silver. And if a drachma was a piece of silver that represented a day's wages, it was equivalent to 50,000 days working, or equivalent to several millions of dollars in our money.

They were really involved in this sort of stuff. So if you spent a lot of money on a movie collection, music, or whatever it is that was a critical part of your life, let it go. Let it go. Don't worry about what you spent. It’s spent. It's over. It's done. It's gone now. Let it go. Get rid of anything or anyone who would keep you connected to your old life of sin.

And someone needs to hear this today. And I say this because this is true salvation, when we turn from these things. Not talking about God but still seriously involved in these things. And that's what a lot of Americans are. We can talk that God talk. Before I was a Christian, I talked that God talk because I was brought up in the church.

And I wasn't a Christian. I just talked that talk, "You know the Lord, yeah, yeah, you know, and God, and you know, the Lord is good, too blessed to be stressed." And I've got all these rhymes and things and talked the talk because I've been around church stuff, but I was no more saved than the man on the moon. I wasn't saved at all. And there are a lot of people in America claiming to be Christians and they just added a little Jesus onto their sinful life.

That’s not what we're talking about. Christianity is not just adding Jesus onto your sinful life. No, true Christianity is turning away from these things altogether. And this is what we see the believers in Ephesus were doing. And they did it where everyone could see them, the first part of this verse says. Christianity is not to be done in secret, like they practiced their magic.

We sin in secret. This is why the parties are always jumping at night in darkness. The Bible says men love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil. We want to do things in dark, in secret. "Hey, girl, I'll meet you tonight sometime." And we want to do it in secret. Christianity is not to be done in secret.

The only party that’s happening in the daytime is a birthday party—a kids' birthday party at that. But you know the real party is not happening until late because it’s in the dark. Why do you think at parties and stuff we—remember, for those of you my age you know, remember those basement parties? It's dark with a little strobe light, shining on those velvet posters we used to have. Oh, I'm showing my age. I'm sorry. Some of y'all don't even know what I'm talking about. I'm sorry.

Christianity is not to be done in secret, like they practiced their magic. No, Christianity is to be lived out so all can see Jesus in our lives. You know, our world today needs to see Jesus in us. Oh, I believe it is true today what John 12, verse 21 says: a group of people came to Philip, one of the disciples of Jesus, and said, "Sir, we wish to see Jesus."

The world today is screaming this to the church and saying, "We wish to see Jesus." You've heard me say this many times before: the world isn't turned off to Jesus; they're just turned off to our portrayal of Jesus. That's what they're turned off at. I even talk to my atheist friend all the time. He said, "You know, I don't have a problem with Jesus. Jesus was, yeah, what I know about Jesus, yeah."

He’s turned off by the church, our demonstration of Jesus, our representation of Jesus. That's what the world is turned off at. And the world is screaming to us, the church, and saying, "We wish to see Jesus because what we're seeing now, that’s not Jesus." So when they see us doing everything they’re doing, talking like they are talking with the colorful four-letter words with them, when they see us on the weekends partying like a rock star, they are confused and say the church is full of hypocrites.

And I will say you're definitely right. You’re right. See, can I help you? Let me just help you. Many people think that a hypocrite is a Christian that is doing sinful things. Yeah, to a certain degree, but not really. A hypocrite, the Greek word is *hypocrites*. It meant an actor. It was the actors who used to act on stage, and they used to wear masks. The masks with exaggerated expressions on them so the people in the back can see the emotion that they were trying to act out.

So here it is: a hypocrite is not a Christian at all. They’re just wearing the mask of one. And then when they get home or they leave the church, they take the mask off. So a hypocrite is not even a Christian, just wearing the mask of one. And there are many who call themselves Christians, and you just got a mask on. Because it’s not who you are.

As soon as you leave here, you take the mask off because, see, everybody's a Christian sitting in here. I wouldn't be here if I wasn't a Christian. No, you're here for all kind of reasons. There are many reasons that brought you here. But here's the thing: when the world looks at us and see us doing what they're doing, talking like they're talking, partying in the club right along with them, when they see us at the bar drinking just like them, when they see us doing all that kind of stuff, surely when they say the church is full of hypocrites, don't get in your feelings about that.

Because it's true. It's true. There should be a difference. There's supposed to be a difference. And we’re not different. They just want to see Jesus. When they came to Philip and said, "We just wish to see Jesus," the world is screaming that to us. I just want—you talk about this Jesus, I wish to see Him. Because it's very obvious that many of you who call yourselves Jesus followers, that’s not Jesus. They even know that.

And all they can do is just compare your life with theirs, and then they say, "There’s no difference between us, but you’re talking about you're a Jesus follower. We wish to see Jesus." The world is screaming that to the church today. So the Ephesians burned everything or the main thing that dominated their lives, and it was very costly to them, and they didn’t care.

My point is, there’s a cost to be a follower of Jesus Christ. For many Christians around the world, it’s costing them their lives. So what? So what is a collection of things you once found pleasure in? Let it go. Who cares? There are people dying for the name of Jesus, and you’re worried about a movie collection or a CD, music collection.

There’s a cost in following Jesus Christ. There’s a cost, and I know we don’t see that here in America, that cost, but there’s a cost in following Jesus Christ. I just wonder, are we even beginning to pay that price to follow Jesus Christ? In America, it’s just so easy. We were talking about this morning in our leadership, it's just so easy.

Somebody says, "Oh, I don't want to hear that mess about Christ or the Bible," and we go away saying, "I was persecuted today." Are we serious? Really? Are we serious? There are people losing their lives. You can live if you renounce Jesus Christ, or if you claim Christ, we’re going to take your head off. And there are many people bowing, seeing their heads come off.

And the world just wants to see Jesus. That’s all they want to see. Look what it says there in verse 20: “So the word of the Lord grew mightily and prevailed.” What a powerful verse. Notice: when did the Word of God prevail? When they burned their junk in verse 19.

So if you want the Word of God to prevail or to grow in your life, you too must burn the junk. Whatever that is in your life: deleting certain apps that’s getting you into trouble, deleting certain social media outlets that has you doing or participating or looking at evil things. Or if you look at your life and maybe you’re burned out on Bible study, burned out on prayer, burned out on spiritual things, chances are you need to burn something up.

When my appetite is dull, when I’m not interested in spiritual things the way I once was, when I find worship a drag, it is time to hit the brakes and cry out to God, evaluate my life spiritually, and have an Acts 19:19 party, a burn party. I pray, Lord, show me what needs to be burned in my life that is robbing me of my appetite for spiritual things.

Lord, am I filling up on the junk food of the world, the empty calories of the mind, the twinkies of the spirit? Lord, give me the strength to burn these things and turn away from this junk so I can have an appetite for the meat of the Word of God and the things of God. This is a great prayer for all of us to pray.

Because if you look at your life right now and you can care less about spiritual things, you’re okay with maybe a visit to church once every six weeks, or if you have no hunger for the Word of God. You hear that there’s a prayer meeting; that’s the last place you want to be. I can tell you now, you need an Acts 19:19 party.

There’s something that needs to be burned up because it’s robbing you. You’ve been pigging out on the junk food of this world, and now you have no appetite for that which is nutritious spiritually. And I’m looking at many of you here, and you know that that’s you. Maybe some tragic situation drug you here today. Maybe you want to hit God up for something next week and that brought you here today.

But it wasn't out of just wanting to draw closer to God, want to hear His voice speak to you, want to worship him. That wasn't the case. It was something totally different. I guarantee you, you need to have an Acts 19:19 party. There’s just this junk food of the world that you've been pigging out on, and now you have no appetite for that which is nutritious spiritually.

When you care more about the scores on TV than about the Word of God, when you can quote stats and can’t quote Bible verses, when you are so sold out for Jesus that you wear your team stuff all the time, it’s all about your team. There's nothing wrong with being a fan, but are you a fan of Christ? Fan is short for fanatic.

Are you a fan? Are you just as much of a fan for Jesus as you are for your team? I can tell you, you need to have an Acts 19:19 party, whatever that means for you. Because I don't want you to come next time and say, "You know, Pastor Tony, I burned so-and-so and so-and-so just like you said." I didn't tell you to do a thing. I told you what the Ephesian believers did.

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