“In this way the Lord’s message flourished and prevailed.” vs20

The Lord has a strange way of making His message flourish and grow. He causes it to sprout wings like an eagle and soar by the failures of others.

1 He takes hypocritical preachers, and He exposes them. Let this be a warning to us: We cannot hide from the Lord. We must have true faith. Let this be a warning to you: You cannot trust Christ in word only.

“Now there were some itinerant Jewish exorcists who tried to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those with evil spirits. They would say, ‘I bind you by Jesus, whom Paul proclaims.’ Seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this. Eventually, one of the evil spirits answered them, ‘Jesus I know, and I know about Paul, but you, who are you?’ Then the man with the evil spirit jumped on them and overpowered them all. The attack was so violent that they ran out of the house naked and wounded. This became known to all the Jews and Greeks living in Ephesus, and fear came over all of them. So the name of the Lord Jesus was held in high honor.” vs13-17

2 “Many who had believed now came forward, confessing and disclosing their deeds [vs18].” They confessed the secret things in the closet - how they’d come to Christ but coddled sin… how they held onto things that were disgusting. God exposing the unbelievers caused these true believers to take note and cleanse themselves [2 Cor 7:1]. No longer did they keep it in the closet and say, “It is OK,” but the fear of the Lord came upon them.

Let us see the failures of others - the dominion of sin - and let us fear with godly fear. Let us call out to God with reverence, “Lord, I don’t want to keep this thing in the closet. I don’t want to be a Christian in name only. I don’t want to fake your power. I want to be real.” And, He will cleanse you [Ps 51]. He delights to show mercy, as He did to David, and in His good pleasure, He’ll cause His face to shine, giving you victory, so that your testimony is real. Let us not be hypocrites but CONFESS our struggles and absolute failure! Let it never be, “Jesus that Paul preaches”, and may it always be, “The Jesus that I believe myself [2 Cor 4:13].”

3 The wicked took notice too. “And a number of those who had practiced magic arts brought their books and burned them in front of everyone. When the value of the books was calculated, it came to fifty thousand pieces of silver [vs19].” Those who lived openly in rebellion saw their doom is sure and turned in repentance. They saw the mighty fall, and knew that God can’t be mocked. They saw sin strong and dreadful - something that had to be overcome. Playing games was eliminated.

Recently, I shared how the Lord brought me back by sovereign grace. I’d wandered far away in shame and temptation, but my hair began to grow, like Samsons, as I began to read my word [Judges 16:22]. Reading led to writing - not to post as a preacher, but as a person convicted, taking notes, trying to get the strength that I needed. It was better than the world’s comfort. Then, God showed me, “But the righteous are glad; they rejoice before God and celebrate with joy [Ps 68:3].” It will be better to be righteous in the Great Day, than to perish in my sin. Then the pursuit started happening! I wanted to be righteous more than anything. I wanted God to work a miracle, after He showed me what it meant to be a Christian, and what was required of me, which is a blameless life so that others can be saved [Titus 2:7]. Then, I tasted repentance and forgiveness. The power of sin was broken. The Holy Spirit came!