(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

let you please bless him tonight as he preaches your word in Jesus name we pray amen all right we are continuing this evening with our study on the book of Acts and we are in chapter 19 this evening it's pretty pretty great chapter due to the fact that initially in the very beginning we see that the baptism of John the baptism of repentance is defined that's very important because of the fact that a lot of people try to use that to teach a false doctrine known as baptismal regeneration this is a great chapter to use to debunk that because he goes through that with those the 12 there in Ephesus we see later on he begins to dispute with one Tyrannus and then we see the famous story of the exorcists who were vagabond Jews these men the seven sons of Sceva who were seeking to basically cast out devils and how they get their rear ends handed to them basically and then later after that when we see Paul doing a great work he gets a lot of attention and we see that the Word of God really begins to catch a lot of momentum in Asia and specifically in Ephesus and to the point where you have men who are craftsmen and silversmith these men who literally their occupation is to make idols and to sell to those who worship Diana the god of the goddess of the Ephesians and they feel like they're being threatened you know which that's exactly what's happened right Paul is doing such a great job preaching the gospel that he's turning a lot of people who are pagans who are worshippers of these false gods he's turning them away from those false gods to worship the true God right so they feel threatened about this their occupation is in danger and by the way this shows us that you know these craftsmen these silversmiths they're not worshipping Diana because it's their conviction right it's like well this is what we believe and you know I believe that this is what the Bible says and our scripture says what is it it's wealth they're doing it because they're making they're making money they're making merchandise off of the people and there's no different than what we see today with false prophets who preach you know from a Bible they try to preach the right doctrines come to find out they're false prophets you know they they're just like these people who are doing it to make merchandise off of people they're doing it to make money off of people they're not doing it because they believe these things to be true you understand so there's a great commotion that's that started here and what we see is that a great assembly gathers together against Paul and against his companions and what we see later on is that basically this commotion ends up dying down they don't want to get in trouble with the law and therefore it just basically dies down there but what we see there at the latter end of chapter 19 is the fact that the Word of God is spreading it's becoming very influential moment Christianity is gaining momentum in Asia and rightfully so amen I mean this is what happens when you preach the Bible when you're preaching the Word of God you're spreading the gospel you know it's gonna attract a lot of people it's gonna attract a lot of people to the gospel to be saved it's gonna attract a lot of believers to come and listen to the truth and people are gonna like what you have to say so we're in chapter 19 now in chapter 19 we're already actually in Paul's third missionary journey at the latter end of chapter 18 if you remember the book of Acts records three missions trips that Paul takes the first one being with Barnabas when he sails to Cyprus goes to Pamphylia he goes to Pisidia and Antioch he goes to Lystra and Derby and Iconium they went a bunch of people to the Lord there they established churches we see that they lay hands on people and they begin to ordain pastors to establish these local New Testament churches a great work is accomplished he goes back to Antioch and then he returns to those churches to go confirm them to strengthen them to teach them to disciple them etc and he begins to disciple a lot of them and train them in the ways of the Lord and so the second time he takes that trip he goes to confirm the churches but he's also expanding the ministry because he goes a little further out does he not you know he goes to those churches that he established previously but then he goes to Troas and from Troas he sails to he sails to to Philippi, Macedonia they go to Thessaloniki they go to Berea he goes down to Athens and then he goes to Corinth and he's preaching the Word of God there and this is very significant because what do we see later on the book of 1st and 2nd Corinthians we see the book of 1st and 2nd Thessalonians we see the book of to written to the letter written to the Philippians and so obviously we have a lot of believers in this area and it's Paul's fruit I mean he's seeing a lot of people say great works are being accomplished he goes down to Corinth and he meets Aquila and Priscilla who are already saved are preaching the Word of God to become an asset to the ministry he takes them to Ephesus which I believe ends up being the church that meets at their house and he leaves them there he goes to Caesarea and ultimately ends up in Antioch once again completing the second missions trip okay he stays there for a time but you know Paul's one of those guys you just can't he's not gonna say all right well the glory days have already passed we already did a bunch of works back in the day we've already established churches let me just kick up my feet relax and just kind of put it in cruise control it's not the way he operates that's not the way we should operate amen you know if we're doing great works today we want to do greater tomorrow if we saw soul saved on Saturday amen but we want to see more souls saved in the years in the months to come amen we never want to be the kind of Christians that just live in the glory days you know the best days are ahead of us not behind us and that's how Paul's operating so he goes on his third missions trip to go strengthen the disciples look down at your Bibles at Acts chapter 18 and look at verse 22 says when he landed at Caesarea he had gone up and saluted the church he went down to Antioch and after he had spent some time there he departed so he spent some time there you know he's hanging out with the brethren the Apostles and then he's just like all right it's time to depart time to go do the work he departed and went over all the country of Galatia and Phrygia in order strengthening all the disciples so when it says that he goes there in order what is he doing he's visiting the churches that he had previously established and what is he doing he is strengthening the disciples now what is the principle that we can learn there well the principle is this is that soul winning is not always I mean it's the most important work but it's not the only work that we do because Paul here is not only getting a bunch of people saved he's making his rounds to disciple the people that he's once in the Lord and folks let me just say this is that that is extremely important okay we want to make sure we win a ton of people to the Lord get a bunch of people saved we keep the main thing the main thing and the main thing is soul winning but you know what we also have to disciple the converts you know why because of the fact that each and every one of those converts they have a common enemy known as Satan he walketh about as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour and we want to make sure that we teach them we teach converts we disciple them we train them in the ways of the Lord we establish them in the faith so that when they are confronted with tribulation with false doctrine they're not like children tossed to and fro carried about with every wind of doctrine by the sleight of men and cunning craft in this whereby they lie in wait to deceive you know we want to make sure we equip people with the right type of doctrine the right type of of teaching and Christian living so they so they're formidable against their opponents you understand and that's what he's doing he's there he's strengthening the disciples he's teaching them the Word of God he's given them sound doctrine he's helping them to grow you understand this is important you know because you know you look at the parable of the seed and the sower those who fell on pond stony places the Bible says that they endured for a while but in a time of persecution what happened they fell away you know and we don't want that to happen to new believers when people come to our church you know it's great when people when they get saved one disciple them so that when tribulation comes tribulation arises because of the word they don't just fall away and go back to their old life or become afraid and stop serving God we want them to remain in this thing for the long haul amen and in fact on his second mission strip he went there I'm sorry on his first mission strip you know remember when he got stoned when he was stoned to death and and they brought him out and he died or they supposed him to be dead I think he actually died he went back and he said hey we through much tribulation must enter into the kingdom of God he's basically telling like you know you see how I look he's like you know expect this okay and amen to that and so he goes there and he goes through Galatians 4 yeah he's strengthening all the disciples and then he returns to Ephesus okay and it's important that he went back to Ephesus for a reason he had gone to Ephesus prior to him returning back home so there's something there that was calling his attention there's a lot of believers in that area but if you remember in chapter 18 that's where he runs into Apollos okay Apollos of course in my opinion was a saved individual and I think that he was an individual who was saved under the Old Testament and he believed on the Lord he just didn't know that the Lord's name was Jesus understand and so Aquil and Priscilla they take him aside they show him the way of the Lord more perfectly he leaves Ephesus goes to Corinth and Achaia and begins to preach that from the Scriptures that Jesus is the Christ so he goes there and he's just like look it's Jesus you know there's no name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved it's the name of Jesus okay becomes an asset to the ministry there now while Paul is at Ephesus remember what is he doing he's strengthening the disciples right he's confirming them he's teaching them he's going there to basically help them to mature in their faith but then he runs into a problem look at verse number one of chapter 19 it says that it came to pass that while Apollos was at Corinth Paul having passed through the upper coast came to Ephesus finding certain disciples he said unto them have you received the Holy Ghost since he believed and they said unto him we have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost so what's going on here Paul's going there and he's telling them hey have you received the Holy Ghost since he believed now at a glance you would probably interpret that many people would interpret that as saying you know are you indwelled by the Holy Spirit since you believe right but this is not what he's saying at all he's not telling them hey are you indwelled with the Holy Spirit since you believed on Jesus Christ it's not what he's asking at all what he's doing is he's asking him have you been filled with the Spirit since he believed okay and the proof of that is down in verse number let's see here look down at verse number six and when Paul had laid his hands upon them the Holy Ghost came on them and they spake with tongues and prophesied you see why is he confirming the disciples because he wants them to be spirit filled so he's going there he's like hey guys have you guys been filled with the Spirit since you believed and then they give this weird answer they're like we've never even heard there's any Holy Ghost it's like this it's like if a visitor ever comes to our church here and then you just you assume that they're saved right maybe they they found us through the movement or something like that and then you ask them a question they're just like yeah I'm still working on my salvation or something you know oh man you know it's like they're not even saved you're asking them about something completely different or you say you know have you been baptized yeah I'm already saved I you know I got what I got saved when I got baptized or something and they throw some answer I was like that's not what I was asking but I'm glad you said that right it's not necessarily I was looking for but I'm glad you said it because now we got to confront that issue they're gonna make sure you get saved so he's asking if they've been filled with the Spirit they're just like I don't even we don't even know there was a spirit scary look at verse 3 and he said unto them unto what then were you baptized and they said unto John's baptism so Paul saying so why did you get baptized then you know this is like if you don't even know there's a Holy Ghost why did you even get baptized unto what then were you baptized they said unto John's baptism now what John is there are they referring to John the Baptist right here's what's funny about that so John is the one who baptized them these 12 individuals right they don't even know the Holy Ghost exists but how can you not know that the Holy Ghost exists if what is John saying when he was preaching in his ministry that they shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost and with fire so they can't say they've never heard of the Holy Ghost or they can't say that John never preached about the Holy Ghost because he did that was part of his message that he was giving so what do we see here we see false converts okay we see false converts by John the Baptist now let me back up a little bit and I'm gonna explain some things first and foremost I want to explain first and foremost then obviously this is not referring to the indwelling of the Holy Spirit now the indwelling of the Holy Spirit is basically synonymous with salvation when someone gets saved they are indwelt by the Holy Spirit of God they're sealed until the day of redemption there's a couple things that take place when you get saved okay and you know when someone gets saved they don't know all these things but as you read the Bible you begin to learn some of the events that actually takes place at the moment of salvation for example when someone believes on Jesus Christ the Bible tells us that they are regenerated their their spirit is actually brought back to life you know in Ephesians chapter 2 the Bible tells us and you have to be quick and who were dead and trespasses and sin so an individual spirit is dead and trespasses and sin but when they get saved the Holy Spirit the Bible tells us regenerates it renews it brings it back to life this is what's known as the new man okay so you have a brand new nature in you called the new man and the spirit that dwells within you not the Holy Spirit the new man is actually sinless amen spirit is sinless it cannot sin for it is born of God the Bible tells us but it's in conjunction with your corrupt flesh okay so when we get saved we have a new man which is our regenerated spirit but then we also have the old man as well okay and that old man is corrupt according to the deceitful lust the Bible says it constantly wants to sin is not subject to the law of God neither indeed can be therefore the Bible instructs us to walk in the spirit and you should not fulfill the lust of the flesh so one of the first things that happens to us when we get saved is that we get that brand new man he's alive amen the second thing that happens is that God actually puts his Holy Spirit within us it takes up residence within us the Bible says in Ephesians 1 13 and whom he also trusted after that you heard the word of truth the gospel of your salvation and whom also after that you believed you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise which is the earnest of our inheritance unto the redemption of the purchase possession so he's saying that the Holy Spirit comes to reside within us and he operates as like a down payment okay you know we think to ourselves you know when we get saved we're redeemed right we'll have to say we've seen that song redeem redeem redeem by the blood of the Lamb and that's 100% true our spirit is 100% redeemed but the flesh is not and so what happens is God places his Holy Spirit within us as a down payment to let us know that one day he will also redeem our bodies that's what the Bible says in Romans chapter 8 that we're waiting to wit the redemption of our bodies he's bought us completely with his blood but the body has not yet been redeemed we're still waiting for that day when we are raptured and the Bible calls it the second coming well we're caught up together with them in the clouds the Bible says that this corruption shall put on in corruption this mortal shall put on immortality okay our vile body will be changed the Bible says you know this this terrestrial body shall be shall be a celestial one okay it's what we would refer to as glorification all right so the Holy Spirit that dwells within us is like that down payment that God places to let us know hey you're sealed unto the day of redemption that redempt that day referring to the rapture you know there's gonna come a time when Jesus comes in the clouds every eye shall see him and they you know the dead in Christ shall rise first and we which are alive and remain shall be caught up with them together in the clouds and so shall we ever be with the Lord that's when we are redeemed completely you understand so no salvation is not a process because of the fact that once we get saved our spirit is just redeemed period it's sealed we're just waiting for the redemptions of our body though you understand that's very important and you know this is something that we kind of you know we can't take these doctrines for granted you know because you just never know sometimes we assume that people just know what we're talking about we assume the Christian people who are in Baptist churches or they're learning from a King James Bible that they would know these things but sometimes they don't you know and then you have infiltrators that come in and they try to teach some false doctrine contrary to that because it's not being reinforced so when he says have you received the Holy Ghost since he believed it's not referring to the indwelling okay but here's the thing after salvation the Holy Spirit has a ministry in our lives he operates in different manners in our personal lives you know the Holy Spirit though he dwells within us he enables us as well okay and in fact you know he does he the Bible calls him the spirit of truth what that means is that when you read the Bible he reveals the Word of God to you when you read the Bible he gives you understanding of what the Bible means he enlightens your eyes to help you to understand what the Word of God is saying that's the Holy Spirit's ministry there you know and by the way that's why it's important that our hearts are not as fat as grease that's why it's important that we're not filling our hearts with the things of this world because what that does is it basically mutes the voice of God and we can't learn the Bible sometimes you know you're in church and you can't pay attention because you're thinking about what you're gonna eat for dinner you're thinking about you know your favorite sports team or you think about X Y & Z you know you need to have your mind in church you need to have your mind in the Word of God and allow the Holy Spirit to teach you but he's also called the comforter okay so one of the ministries of the Holy Spirit is that he teaches us all truth but he's also working to comfort us when we're going through trials and tribulation in anguish you know when you're going through a difficult time the Holy Spirit is there to bring all things to remembrance and bring you the Psalms into remembrance bring you the remembrance that God loves you that he'll never leave you nor forsake you then nothing could separate you from the love separate you from the love of God that God will always be there for you he comforts us in that manner and he makes intercessions for us according to the will of God so you know you're going through a trial like God please just tell me you know get a million dollars to pay this off and the Holy Spirit is like that's not what he needs right now this is actually what he needs so he actually translates what we're saying and actually prays according to the will of God he makes intercessions for us but then not only that he also supernaturally enables us as well okay and this is important folks you know and by the way so what is Paul doing when he goes to the Ephesians he's teaching them how to be filled with the Spirit why because it's the Spirit that enables us to do the work of God it's the Spirit that enables us to be husbands to be wives to be great employees to be great soldiers to be great preachers to just live a life that is pleasing unto the Lord we need to be spirit filled for that he's like well you know I'm just already saved I don't need to be spirit filled and yeah you do the Bible says not by might nor by power but by his spirit don't think that just because you wax eloquent or you're a good talker or you're a good gabber that you can just get anybody saved you need to be filled with the Spirit in order to do that you know it requires a spirit filled preacher to get people saved folks hey it requires a spirit filled person to be bold to go tell someone hey you're gonna go to hell you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ you know there's people out there that when they go sowing they're confronted with a false doctrine and they're just too scared to like confront that here's a track you know what is required requires a spirit filled person to say hey that's actually wrong let me show you what the Bible actually says in meekness and fear obviously not arrogantly not pompously but in love and compassion speaking the truth and love be able to say that's actually wrong but let me show you the right way oh you think you know the Bible actually I do can I show you let me show you what the Bible says you know to be confident that requires someone who has spirit filled if people fear teaching the Bible it's because they're not spirit filled because God did not give us a spirit of fear but a power love and a sound mind and perfect love casteth out fear the Bible says you know the Bible says the righteous are bold as a lion the wicked flee when no man pursueth but the righteous are as bold as a lion okay so this is the ministry that he has in our lives and you know what I as a pastor need to constantly teach the congregation be spirit filled walk in the spirit you should not fulfill the lust of the flesh be filled with the spirit so you can be bold in the Lord to teach the Word of God to your children teach the Word of God to the your disciples of the people that you're you know mentoring so you can be spirit filled when you go out there and preach the gospel so you can be successful in the Christian life it requires for you to be spirit built not carnally minded amen the ministry requires a supernatural element in order to succeed so in order for you to succeed in the Christian life you need to be spirit filled hey in order for a pastor to succeed in the ministry he has to be spirit filled he can't rely on commentaries and encyclopedias and Jewish fables he's like I don't know what the Bible says let me just go to a commentary real quick well you know what you do have the Holy Spirit the best commentator ever he wrote the Bible you have the author living within you have him commentate anytime someone asked me hey so what kind of commentaries he used I say I got about 66 books that I reference anytime you know I'm studying the Bible who which ones are they was Genesis to Revelation and then I have the Holy Spirit that teaches me yeah but you know we're trying to get the deep things though yeah he teaches the deep things of God according to 1st Corinthians chapter 2 does that mean you know the Bible no because here's the thing I don't know everything the Bible says because maybe I'm not ready for everything that the Bible has you know Jesus said I have many things to say to you but you cannot bear them now okay so he has various operations in our lives and this is why Paul's coming to say hey guys are you guys spirit filled and then they're just like spirit what is that you know we don't even know there's a Holy Ghost says in verse 3 he said unto them unto what then were you baptized and they said unto John's baptism so these disciples in my opinion were not saved at all okay they could be called disciples but they weren't saved but they did get baptized by who by John now what does this teach us here this teaches us that you know what there's gonna be times when we go out so many we get a bunch of people saved and maybe a small percentage of those people that we got saved and get saved it happens now I believe that when we go out there and preach the gospel the vast majority of them do get saved the people that we tell you know call upon the name of the Lord believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and they do it I just believe they got saved yeah but you didn't tell them to repent of your sins yeah that's why I said I got him saved because you don't get saved by repenting of your sins right oh you know calling upon the name of the Lord they just have to believe hey what makes you think that you're wiser than God so you're saying that Romans 10 13 has no validity that we should just completely ignore and just remove it from the Bible it's nonsense folks when we talk to people we tell them about Christ we want them to call upon the name of the Lord for us to confirm okay this person believes anyone if you got a problem with that take it up with God he's the one wrote it he's the one that wrote it folks but look there's gonna be a small percentage of people that don't believe right here's an example right here and look they're baptized into John's baptism are we gonna say that John didn't hold the gospel well or something I mean this is John the Baptist this guy waxed eloquent this guy was filled with the spirit from the womb this guy was Jesus cousin I mean he knew the Word of God he's the first Baptist amen we're not gonna say all his he just didn't have a good gospel presentation no here's the thing sometimes when people don't get saved when they call upon the name of the Lord and they don't get saved it's for various reasons one can be you know maybe the soul is not thorough enough and we never want to lean to that side of a gospel presentation where it's just a one two three prayer after me type thing right there's churches that do that where it's just like one two three prayer after me they don't ask any questions they don't confirm if they understand and they just kind of try to get them to pray the prayer not have any understanding I don't believe those people get saved obviously we want to make sure that we're thorough that we're explaining that there is communication that there is response that they understand what we're talking about okay so that could be a reason you know sometimes people just they the the soul winners not thorough he's not explaining it well she's not explaining it well other times is that people they kind of go along to get along this happens too where people just you know they say yes to everything that you're saying they call upon the name of the Lord but inside they don't really believe okay because they just kind of want to get you off their back I'm sure there's people that are like that out there okay either way here's the thing is that the vast majority of the people that we win that we preach the gospel to who call upon the name of the Lord I believe they get saved but there will be times when people believe in vain which is what 1st Corinthians 15 tells us right that they believed in vain that means they didn't believe in the first place here's 12 examples right here and they had John the Baptist here's the thing though okay when a saved person preaches the gospel to a person to an unsaved individual you know let's just throw a percentage out there let's say 95% of the time they call upon the name of the Lord they get saved let's say 5% of the time they don't let's just throw that out there okay but here's the thing when an unsaved person preaches the gospel 100% of the time they never see anybody say so there's times when a saved individual you know varies maybe someone doesn't get saved when they preach the gospel to them okay I give you that but 100% of the time when an unsaved person does it they never see anybody say never we're talking about an individual who's not saved they think that they're saved but they're not saved or maybe they're just you know a false prophet some damnable heretic when they're preaching the gospel they can get them to pray the prayer they can get to get them to to agree and say yes I don't care what they make them do that person is not saved let me explain to you why because everything brings forth after its own kind that's why everything begets after its own kind that's a biblical principle across the board folks oranges beget oranges apples beget apples bananas bananas humans humans a human will never produce an animal amen dogs dogs cats cats everything produces after its own kind and look to deny that is to just call Jesus a liar let me explain to you why okay because what we're saying is that when we get someone saved that person is a saved individual because a saved individual gave them the gospel an unsaved individual cannot do that because an unsaved individual cannot produce a regenerated individual plenty examples in the Bible how about this where the Bible talks about in 1st Corinthians chapter 2 that a Paul and Apollo's are ministers by whom he believed what about John the Baptist in John chapter 1 that says this he was not that light but was sent to bear witness of that light that all men through him might believe right you know Paul said to the Corinthians he said though you have 10,000 instructors in Christ yet you have not many fathers for in Christ Jesus I begotten you through the gospel that term begotten means like I gave birth to you basically spiritually speaking and in fact he said that to the Galatians as well he says in whom I travail in birth till Christ be formed in you travailing in birds I'm giving birth to a new man I'm trying to give birth to a safe person okay but if that's not enough how about this because here's the thing this is the argument that these people like to say oh you know if they're a false prophet but they're given the gospel they can get someone saved it's possible that they can get someone saved okay then show me a convert from the Pharisees in the Bible show me a saved convert in the Gospels that came from the Pharisees right we don't we never see safe converts from Pharisees you know what we see proselytes you know what Jesus said in Matthew 23 that they're twofold more a what child of hell to themselves why because everything brings forth after its own time and Jesus told the Pharisees in John chapter 8 ye are of your father the devil he says ye are a generation of vipers therefore any proselyte that they make they make them twofold more a child of hell than themselves that's what Jesus said so to say one of the unsaved people these false prophets they can get people saved is to deny what Jesus says because Jesus says these false prophets can't do that they make them twofold more a child of hell than themselves Bible says plain and simple folks you know what people who want to teach this there's a stupid doctrine because that's exactly what it is they may want to sing the praises of sowing but what they're doing is they're undermining sowing in there they're causing it to die down they're trying to put a blanket over it and they're gonna cause their followers to basically not go sowing as much okay not only is the human element necessary to get someone saved a saved human elephant element is necessary to get them saved okay that's necessary but you have manly Perry who wants to teach aside from his other damnable Harrison he has oh you know you know save me Judas is scary to have more commerce than all the disciples well by commerce do you mean proselytes because then I can agree with you okay and here's the thing you know I see Paul's converts all over the book of Acts God names them I do you read you read about Judas's never when have you ever seen a convert from Judas in the Bible never it doesn't exist because he doesn't make them you know but here's the thing at least at least manly Perry said this he said I can't prove from the Bible he's up but I believe it oh shut my mouth well I'm glad you said that he says he could he literally said this he had a Rick James moment where he's like he's like you know I could show you tons of examples of people who got people saved and then he's just like Judas like Judas is scary I think he had more commerce than all the Apostles like can't prove from the Bible but I believe it I got tons of examples I can't prove from the Bible like tons of tons of examples from where hey cocaine's a hell of a drug okay it's a hell of a drug you know but that's what he wants to teach you know why cuz he's a damn little heretic that's why who hates the Lord he hates the Lord okay there's tons of other false doctrines that he's teaching and and don't miss this Sunday I'm preaching on Balaam son of Beaux-Arts this Sunday okay so don't miss on that sermon there because it's very applicable hey the Bible is very relevant folks it's very relevant you said I don't know who Balaam is good come to church and you're gonna learn who Balaam is you're gonna learn the Old Testament Balaam the New Testament Balaam and the 2020 Balaam son of Beaux-Arts people often believe in vain folks and look this is why Jesus you know Jesus gives the example when he talked about a saved and an unsaved person he compares them to trees right the fruit of the righteous is a tree of life and he that win its souls is wise the Bible says and in Matthew chapter 7 it says that a corrupt tree cannot bring forth good fruit he literally says that a corrupt tree cannot can you get figs of this earth grapes of thorns and figs of thistles he's saying you can't do that it's not gonna bring forth after its kind he's the one who made that law he made that law folks and don't think you can alter it or change it I know it's those sound bites sound cute and they sound like you know reasonable but it's not biblical okay so look here we find a group of people who thought they were saved but they were not and again that's gonna happen sometimes okay I'm sure there's people that I've led to the Lord over the last 14 years that I thought got saved and they didn't get saved you know I think I remember a couple maybe it was like a year ago we're out sowning here or John was out sowning here and then he you know I we picked him up as like how to go did you guys get anybody say he's like actually I think we lost souls and he says yeah we talked to some people who talked to some people from our church and but they they you know they say that they gave him the gospel whatever but they wouldn't even say you know and that's not we don't know what the situation was there but we can point to this and say that's gonna happen sometimes okay it's gonna happen sometimes not a big deal we just need to fulfill our responsibility to go out there faithful and preach the gospel and believe that people get saved amen it looks sometimes people do get mixed up a little bit especially with their their brand-new Christians they can get mixed up into false doctrine but that's why it's important that we teach them the right doctrine that's what's important that we just we don't that pastor me here doesn't do a series on just like grace for 50 weeks or something we need to talk about this stuff that's why it's important that there's a sermon on Balaam the son of bozor she's like oh man people like that actually exist folks the Bible tells us to preach the whole counsel of God okay now they said unto John's baptism so what is John's baptism go to Mark chapter 1 if you would mark chapter 1 hold your place there in Acts chapter 19 by the way I'm not gonna be able to cover all of Acts chapter 19 tonight obviously you know maybe some of you wanted to hear about the vagabond Jews the exorcists you know the seven sons of skeva but I actually covered that a couple weeks ago on my sermon on exorcisms in the light of the Bible so make sure you reference that if you want to you want a teaching on that I'm gonna mainly focus on this particular story right here I'm gonna read to you from Matthew chapter 3 verse 1 it says in those days came John the Baptist preaching in the wilderness of Judea and saying repent ye for the kingdom of heaven is at hand now notice that it says repent ye of sin yeah right it just says repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand for this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah saying the voice of one crying in the wilderness prepare you the way to the Lord make his path straight and the same John had his raiment of camels hair and leather leathern girdle about his loins and his meat was locust with wild honey and then went out to him Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region around about Jordan and were baptized of him in Jordan confessing their sins he says in verse 11 I indeed baptized you with water unto repentance but he that cometh after me is mightier than I'm whose shoes and I'm not worthy to bear he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire look at Mark chapter 1 verse number 1 it says here the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ the Son of God as it is written in the prophets behold I send my messenger before thy face which shall prepare thy way before thee the voice of one crying in the wilderness prepare you the word the way of the Lord make his path straight John did baptized in the wilderness look what it says and preached the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins so we see two actions being taken here he says he baptized in the wilderness and he preached the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins these are two separate things the first baptism that we see there is the fact that he physically baptizes people okay but then we see that he also preaches back that this doesn't mean he's like spitting out water he's like preaching water and waters coming out people are just getting baptized of him this is the message that he has the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins now here's the thing Pentecostals and those who belong to the Church of Christ projectors as I like to call them they want to use this to say well that's why you got to get baptized in order to be saved you have to have the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins now what is remission of sins means it means forgiveness of sins right remission of sins means to be forgiven of sins now the question is this according to the Bible when are we forgiven of our sins is it when we get baptized physically no actually happens when we believe on the Lord all right and in fact we see in Acts chapter 10 that to him give all the prophets witness that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins is that a contradiction no the Bible is telling us that when someone believes on Jesus Christ they will receive that forgiveness of sins okay turn with me if you would to Luke chapter 24 Luke chapter 24 I'm gonna read to you from Romans chapter 3 verse 25 says whom God had sent forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are passed through the forbearance of God so when the Bible talks about that he it says that he's preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins it's referring to the fact that he's preaching not water baptism he's preaching that baptism saves you now let me explain what that means because baptism today has a connotation of what only water baptism but what does the term baptism mean means to be immersed and you know what happens when we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ we are immersed in Christ we're placed within the body of Christ see in these days that really you know that the baptismal regeneration thing didn't really exist so people can say you know baptize you know John the Baptist could preach the baptism of repentance and people understood what that meant today because false doctrine has permeated our society and baptismal regeneration is so prevalent prevalent you know you can't really use that terminology because it's gonna confuse people you understand but when it says that he preached the baptism of repentance is referring to the fact that he preached believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and they will be immersed they will be placed into the body of Christ okay look at Luke 24 verse 47 says it says in that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations beginning at Jerusalem now here's another thing when people hear the word repentance automatically they have a connotation that it's of sins turning from their sins and look there's times in the Bible when that is true but there's other times when it's not like for example repentance from dead works and faith toward God what is that talking about changing your mind of what you're trusting them for salvation to place it on Jesus Christ so when the Bible says repentance when the Bible talks about repentance from dead works it means you're not trusting in your dead works to get you saved you're trusting in Jesus Christ you're placing your faith in God you're placing your faith in Jesus Christ okay go with me if you would to turn to Roman chapter 6 go to Romans chapter 6 Colossians 2 12 says buried with them in baptism wherein also you're risen with him through the faith of the operation of God who hath raised him from the dead folks the Bible tells us in Ephesians chapter 4 there's only one baptism and what is that referring to it's not referring to the water baptism it's saying there's one baptism because there's one faith there's one manner of salvation there's one Lord one Lord one faith one baptism means there's only one way of salvation I am the way the truth and the life no man cometh unto the Father but by me that's what Jesus said so when we get saved yet we're baptized into the body of Christ okay look at Romans chapter 6 verse 1 says what shall we say then shall we continue in sin the grace may abound God forbid how shall we that are dead to sin live any longer therein knowing not that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death let me ask you a question when you were physically baptized were you baptized into his death no folks you're baptized in water you're baptized in a horse trough if you got baptized here with the mold at the bottom I'm just kidding sort of you know you're baptized some some of you were baptized in fire too because you know Mark left the heaters on there for too long and you know people people you know I baptized certain people and they come out like a skeleton or something just like because it's so hot or sometimes you know during the winter we forget to put the heaters in there and you know some people do get baptized unto death you know this is just like like hey at least he was saved you know I'm just kidding folks you cannot insert water baptism in Romans 6 3 that's not what it's talking about knowing that there's so many businesses were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death if you're placed in Jesus Christ when you believed on him you're placed into his death so it's saying therefore we are buried with them by baptism into death they're like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father even so we also should walk in newness of life now I'm not belittling water baptism because we're Baptist amen that's what we do we baptize converts that's what we do and we know what when we baptize people we baptize them in the name of the Father the Son the Holy Ghost we buried him in the likeness of his death we raised him in the likeness of his resurrection in the likeness it's not the very like this it's there it's not the very image it's just the likeness of it it's symbolic okay now this I would say yeah you have to be baptized in order to be safe you have to be immersed in Christ you have to be placed in Jesus in order to be safe but water baptism no you don't need that to be safe okay now go back to Acts if you would actually after 4 or chapter 19 look at verse number 4 he defines it here says in verse number 4 then said Paul John barely baptized with the baptism of repentance saying unto the people that they should believe on him which should come after him that is on Christ Jesus I sure I share this with like these Church of Christ rejectors and they just they just want to ignore this completely it's like what about John's baptism it's defined in Acts chapter 19 that they should believe on him which should come after him that is on Christ Jesus now it could be that the vast majority of the people that he's speaking to Paul in this in this region they were probably baptized by John because remember there there was a time when John didn't even recognize who Jesus was it wasn't till he came and he said behold the Lamb of God is you take away the sins of the world and then God is the one who told them when you see the Spirit of God descending upon him like a dove that's him and at that point recognize okay this is the Christ which is interesting because they're cousins you know you kind of wonder like how did you not know that was him but there was a time when he did not know so people are getting saved they're getting baptized into John's baptism and then finally he says look behold the Lamb of God as you take away the sins of the world his disciples leave him and they go with Jesus because now they know this is the very Christ okay now it says there verse 4 verse 5 when they heard this look what it says they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus people these one is Pentecostals love this verse the Jesus only movement okay and the reason they like is because they want to they want to baptize in the name of Jesus right and you think yourself what's the problem with that you know baptize in the name of Jesus he's our Savior well first and foremost there's a bunch of damnable heresy that's attached to that very thought and you know they want to make it seem as though they revere and respect and reverence the name of Jesus but in actuality they're actually taken away from his deity because the very people who want to practice this Jesus only baptism they think that Jesus is the Father completely taken away from his eternal sonship okay you know you got like these not just one is Pentecostals you know even independent fundamental Baptists are practicing this now so-called obviously Tyler Baker and these others who want to baptize in the name of Jesus and they'll use verses like this acts 238 they'll use passages from acts to try to prove well you're supposed to baptize in the name of Jesus okay so let's just just forget everything that Jesus said in Matthew 28 when he gave the instruction to his disciples to baptize in the name of the Father and of the Son of the Holy Spirit well let's just forget all that right and just go with what these guys are saying well first of all they're not saying that he they got baptized in the name of Jesus like I baptized you in the name of Jesus when it says there that they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus they're saying that they got baptized with the authority in the authority of Jesus you know like for example I don't know if you remember cartoons back in the day like stop in the name of the law in other words what the law is authority you should stop right cease one like manner what they're doing here is he's basically baptizing them in the name of Jesus with the authority of Jesus okay look a great example that is actually found in Acts chapter 19 where you have these exorcists you're like we adjure thee by Jesus whom Paul preaches they're trying to do it with the authority of Jesus didn't work because they don't have the authority to do that just like today you have people who baptize people who don't have the authority to do that that's an authority given by ordination by a man of God by a pastor or whatever it may be but let me give you an example of this go to 1st Corinthians chapter 1 1st Corinthians chapter number 1 by the way Acts 19 is great is great proof to show us that salvation precedes baptism because Paul's like they already baptized because the only reason you should be baptized is if you're saved why did you get baptized so this shows us that when someone gets saved and they say well I've already been baptized it's like no you just got wet that's all that's all that happened it has no significance whatsoever you need to get baptized again okay because of the fact that baptism comes after salvation look at 1st Corinthians 1 verse 12 it says now this I say that every one of you sayeth I am of Paul I have Apollo's and I have Cephas and I have Christ is Christ divided was Paul crucified for you are we baptized in the name of Paul so he's saying are you baptized with in my authority no everyone who gets baptized here this church was baptized in the authority of Jesus right with the authority of Christ because Paul is not Jesus who's Paul who's Apollo's but my minister is by whom he believed they don't have it's not like well Paul we have the authority of this divine person named the Apostle Paul you know he's like a pope and he has this divine authority no Jesus is the only one who has that authority he's the head of the church the Bible says right so he says I thank God that I baptized none of you but Christmas in chaos lest any should say that I had baptized in my no name with my own authority he's saying I came in the authority of Jesus and this matches up with the whole entire book of first first and second Corinthians because what is the main thing that's being questioned by the Corinthians to Paul his authority constantly question his authority and he's like do I need to come with you with the rod he's there aren't you guys the one I want you guys to the Lord you know have not I done the signs of an apostle do not I have authority over you guys you know I'm gonna want you to Christ I'm gonna start at his church why are you bucking my authority he's like I'm coming in the name of Jesus okay and by the way this is not only known within local churches even the spiritual realm understands this because what are the demons say in Acts chapter 19 well Paul I know and Jesus I know who are you so you got these guys are like we had trained by Jesus and Paul preaches and they're just like why I've heard of Paul I definitely know who Jesus is I have you're you're a no-namer you're some lame dude some Jew exorcist some vagabond what authority do you have no authority so it shows you that those are just words because the the spiritual realm had no respect for that whatsoever they just kind of like mock them just like make fun of them and they got their rear ends handed to them they took their hinder parts and handed it to them okay they referred to actually just like one demon who did that to seven guys okay whereas Paul comes in they're just like he's just casting out demons left and right not because he's anything special but because he comes in the name of Jesus now today we don't have the ability to exercise demons and you know slap people on the forehead and then just get the alcohol demon out of them or whatever you know it's just like I got this cigarette demon in me or whatever you just addicted is what you are okay but we do have the authority hey we have church authority I have Church authority to redeem hey I have Church authority to cast out heretics and people who need to be excavated from the church you know what Jesus said that if it's bound here on earth it shall be bound in heaven Jesus gave me that authority so people when they disagree like oh you should have you you can't throw me out who what gives you the right you have so much nerve to do X Y and Z it's just like well Jesus actually gave me that authority Steve police who try to get mad at me uh what gives you the right you don't have the right texting me you know saying all manner of evil against me bucking God's authority who gave me the authority to do that and guess what it's bound and you know what I told him I told him who are you who are you who are you to tell people in our church because he look the people who left our church these flat earthers I don't know there were flat earthers when they were here found out later he knew there were flat earthers and you he told him he felt he had the authority to tell them well don't tell anybody at the church because you might get kicked out if that happens well who gives you the right and the authority to do that you're like that exorcist you that vagabond no authority whatsoever so he wants the buck God's system in God's authority folks even if there's a church out there that I don't agree with doctrinally on you know secondary issues I'm gonna respect that authority because that's a God-given authority even if it's like a watered-down pastor who just doesn't preach deep doctrine but the guy is saved and he's ordained and he's qualified you know what the guy has authority I'm not gonna go over there and try to tell that guy what to do because whatever he binds in that church God is already bound in heaven that is the authority that God gives to a local New Testament Church into a pastor we come in the name of Jesus amen people like police come in their own name just throw that out there for free and yes I mentioned him by name so what we see here is authority being shown and Paul's basically explaining to them like look you need to get saved and look by the way John came in the name of Jesus as well but the problem with these 12 people these 12 guys is that they just didn't understand they just weren't paying attention or something it's like he preached about the Holy Ghost how can you guys not even know about that that's weird you know but hey they got saved amen they got saved and then they were baptized and then I'm sure they became fruitful members of that church there so we're gonna have to stop right there because I'm out of time later on we see Paul's reputation you know there there's a small stir that there's no small stir excuse me about that way you know his fame goes abroad the way of the Lord begins to permeate all of Asia and at that point you have these silversmiths and you know these people who are making shrines to Diana they feel like they're threatened because people are turning away from these false gods and they're serving the true God and amen to that by the way I like what he says look look down look down at a verse number 27 it says so then not only this our craft is in danger to be said at naught but also that the temple of the great goddess Diana should be despised so what he's saying he's like man these guys are causing people to hate our false god that's awesome Paul's mad he's awesome so he's not only teaching them to love the Lord he's also teaching them to hate evil as well right he's like you should hate Diana this false god of the Ephesians it's a devil we ought not to have fellowship with Devils you know it's a false god we ought to love the Lord and we should despise idols and amen to that you know what I teach my kids to hate idols I teach them to hate idols Buddhist idols Catholic idols I teach myself we ought to hate that because it's an abomination unto the Lord and God is God is mad at that little children keep yourselves from idols the Bible says that's why we have idol bashing Sunday give the kids a hammer just bash that thing to pieces because that's how God feels well that's not politically correct we shouldn't do that that's not very nice yeah well you can we can see how much you love the Lord you know God's way is we destroy those idols burn those idols mock those idols because they're dumb the Bible says you know they're wicked I don't know if I share this story here but I'll finish with this and if I share this story I'm gonna share it again we're done with Acts chapter 19 right so the other day it was I don't know about a month and a half ago or something like that I don't remember what it was we were you know we often as we as our manner is we have to go to our hearts afterwards you know as a church or whatever and and my son he just like despises that Buddhist temple over there he hates it he he hates it and you know something he's like that is so wicked and I'm like yeah it's wicked yeah but this night he was particularly very upset and he's just like he's like God why are you allowing this this temple to be and he's just going off I'm like amen son you know it's a wicked place and there's idols there and God's not pleased with that he's very upset at that you know it's an abomination and he's just like he's like we need to pray against that place dad I'm like amen and he's like let's pray and he's like you know he's in his car seat and I'm like driving he's like let's pray dad let's pray and then he closed he starts praying he's like God please destroy that place and he's like destroy that place cuz it's such a wicked place of idolatry and I know you hate it and then my wife and I were like you know we're having but then it really touched our hearts because he was just like it was super sincere and he goes he says God I'm small I can't destroy that place he's like but God I know you're big and you can do it you know and I'm like oh man the next day when I came to work in the morning I drove by just to check you just never know hey that kid has the faith of a child you know and I'm like man is that thing burned down or something or what and he's just like destroy it Lord because it's it's a mockery of you and he's just saying all these words he's like in Jesus name Amen and then he was kind of like placated you know who's just like all right you know at least I did everything I could kind of thing hey but I'm thankful that my son feels that way about idols and he should feel it you know what if some adults can feel like that I think God will be pleased with that if we could just get some adults to have that fervency and hatred towards idols maybe God will bless our country a little more right you know instead of focusing on who's the president of the United States why don't we focus on praying down these wicked idols these temples of Satan that God hates you know so he's a little zealous he's not saved yet okay you know we were driving by there there's this Armenian Orthodox temple or whatever by our house and every time we drive by he's like that's a wicked place those people he would go he would say that those people are wicked and my wife would be like well not everyone in there is wicked son you know those people that still need to be saved it's the leaders who are wicked the leaders are teaching the false gospel so now my daughter we drive by and she goes that church is wicked those people are wicked and Bruce goes not everyone in there's Kyla it's the leaders people there need to be saved okay and she goes okay you know so he's the he's discipling his sister amen funny let's pray father we thank you so much for your word and Lord thank you for the fact that once we believed we were baptized into Jesus we were immersed into Jesus and Lord we're thankful for salvation the fact that we have eternal life help us to have that same fervency of Paul what a work ethic that he had and what a great work that he's accomplished I don't really see any of the Apostles during this time doing as much as he's doing he's starting churches all over Asia and into Greece and even in Acts chapter 19 saying he's gonna go into Rome I mean the guy has vision I pray that you'd help us to be the same way Lord and may you use us Lord may your hand be upon us help us to be spirit filled that you would use us to not only see a lot of people saved but disciple the multitudes as well to show them the right ways of the Lord and Lord and thank you so much that we can come in your name we can come in the authority of Jesus to accomplish the work that you've called us to do we love you so much and we thank you pray these things in Jesus name Amen