We're coming into Ephesus where Paul, representing the
Lord, is bringing a confrontation with light and
darkness, and again strongholds of Satan are being
confronted.
And the greatest strongholds, many times, that Satan
has are not absolute ignorance of God, but
in religion.
Satan is a deeply religious created being, and
he can bind people up, cultures, civilizations, millions
of people in religion, and keep them from
the light of the gospel and the truth.
And wherever the gospel begins to be transmitted,
you're going to have confrontation.
And it's interesting how the apostles shared the
truth, and how God honored it, and how
it affected things.
Now, you remember in verse 20, we should
look at verse 20, this was after the
sons of Sceva learned their lesson that you
can't just use the name of Jesus to
overcome the powers of darkness if you're not
a child of God.
Absolute impossibility and a very dangerous thing to
fool around with the kingdom of darkness and
not be a true believer.
We have accounts, and I know of accounts
of people who went absolutely insane, stark raving
mad, entering into Hindu temples, trying to deal
with these things and not being born again.
Amazing what can happen to a human being
that dabbles in darkness, whether they begin to
innocently fool around with a Ouija board, horoscopes,
the occult, maybe a seeming innocent thing and
going to the state fair and sticking your
palm in some kind of a machine or
something and having your whatever read.
And then maybe one little thing might say
something that you didn't know, how could they
know that?
And the hook is there and begin to
draw you into something.
It's real.
And Satan can really lock people up in
that.
And then Jesus Christ's gospel and his light
sets us free.
And notice what was taking place.
God was following the word of God with
signs and wonders whenever he thought it was
necessary.
And it says, so mightily grew the word
of God and prevailed.
Where there is a work of the Spirit
in a heart, there's a desire for the
word of God.
When there is a true work of God
by his Spirit in a miraculous way in
a human heart, there is a prevailing and
a desire and a growth and an increase
in the word of God in that heart.
I believe with all my heart that if
someone has no desire to read the word
of God, I doubt their true salvation.
As much as I even doubt that a
baby can be born without having a food
drive or a hunger drive for the breast,
for the milk.
Because the apostle Peter declares graphically in his
epistle that as a new child, as a
baby in Christ, we are to desire the
milk of the word.
And so when the Spirit of God is
really working in a life and a heart
is converted, God supernaturally puts a hunger drive
for the milk of the word.
If that drive isn't in you, I question
my salvation.
And I will take, we'll leave allowance for
backsliding, carnality, sin and all those things.
But if there isn't a real desire for
the word of God, don't try to convince
me that you are a born again Christian.
Because the Bible says absolutely not.
There's an automatic hunger drive.
A desire to know more about the Lord.
A desire to read the word of God.
Because the Spirit of God who dwells in
the heart puts the desire there.
And we pray that nobody comes to Calvary
Chapel with the finger legs thinking that they're
going to be a saved Christian.
Because they've changed religions or denominations and started
coming to Calvary and submitted to a water
baptism.
Or intellectually agreed with what I've been saying
for years and think, well I'm born again
now.
I like Calvary.
Please don't be under that deception in this
church.
I would reevaluate, reexamine your conversion and see
if it's real or not.
It's imperative.
The Bible declares it.
I'm not trying to be Mr. Meany.
The Bible declares it.
And it's laid out graphically in the epistle
of John.
When the Spirit of God enters into a
heart, there's a change, there's a life, a
desire.
I'm even concerned about the people that come
to this church and walk in and aren't
carrying their Bibles anymore.
Either I am failing as a pastor and
I need to leave.
Or something, we definitely as a church need
to get on our faces and seek God
again.
I don't see how anybody can be a
Christian and not go anywhere and not have
their Bible and see the power that it
has.
I don't see how they can continue.
We are hearing horror stories in our church.
Families are on the brink, taking their salvation
for granted.
The calls are coming in at an alarming
rate of people that have been coming to
this church for a long time and they
can't figure out what's happened to their marriage.
What's happened?
Why is this going on?
And then invariably you find out they have
not been in fellowship, they're not reading the
Word, they haven't been praying together, they've just
taken it for granted and they've fallen asleep.
And Satan is ripping people off.
We are in the last days.
It may not be the last hour.
It'd be great if it was tonight.
Wouldn't it?
Would you give up this weekend for the
rapture?
I would.
It'd be a delight.
But it's so wonderful to see a desire
for the Word of God grow in a
heart.
I love to read my Bible more now
than ever.
I just love to get in.
I love to wake up and get into
it and see what God would have to
say.
Some new thing.
Or bring myself under conviction to know me
that I might know the corruption of my
own heart.
Realize how weak I am.
And how wonderful Jesus Christ is.
He is always there in my weakness.
So mightily grew the Word of God and
prevailed.
When God's Word is growing in a person's
heart and life, that Christian prevails over sin.
As we touched on, I think, last week,
the gates of hell cannot prevail against God's
church or His individuals in His church.
That's a promise from Jesus.
After these things were ended, Paul purposed in
his spirit, or in the spirit, when he
had passed through Macedonia, Achaia, to go to
Jerusalem, saying, After I have been there, I
must also see Rome.
When we get later in the book of
Acts, a few years later, it's going to
be wonderful to see how God gets Paul
to Rome.
And it should encourage us all when God
unexpectedly changes the routine in our life.
And again, when we begin to go into
an apathy because things are easy and all
of a sudden our Christianity becomes a routine,
God loves us enough to change the circumstances
to stir things up for our own benefit.
To keep us needing Him.
To keep us from cooling off and fulfilling
Scripture that because iniquity will abound in the
last days, many, many hearts will wax cold.
And so God loves us so much, He
says, I don't want you to cool off.
So here's an alarming letter.
Here's a startling doctor's report.
Here's a phone call that caught you off
guard.
Here's a reaction to something from a brother
or a sister.
An event has taken place and you need
now, I really, my prayer, it's amazing how
my prayer has changed.
All of a sudden the dust is off
the Bible.
And I'm on my knees now to pray,
not to pop something in the VCR.
And so he sent unto Macedonia two of
them that ministered unto him, Timothy and Erastus,
but he himself stayed in Asia for a
season.
Now, if you look at the book of
Corinthians, you remember that Paul received love offerings
from churches that could give these gifts, particularly
the Macedonians, and he would personally take the
funds to the church in Jerusalem because the
church in Jerusalem was extremely poor.
It never became a very rich church because
of the persecution from the Jews.
Those Jews that really did follow Jesus Christ,
there was persecution.
And Paul had taught that and they would
give love offerings to Paul and Timothy and
the saints and Silas, and as they would
go back to Jerusalem, they would take the
love offerings to help the poor saints in
Jerusalem.
And this was Paul's purpose here.
And it's interesting, Erastus is an interesting guy.
He was the chamberlain of the city of
Corinth.
He was the treasurer of the city and
he was a believer.
And he was one of the individuals who
was going with Paul who was going to
take this love offering to the poor saints
in Jerusalem that were always being persecuted by
the Jews because they thought, well, you've left
the faith.
You've departed from Judaism.
You've forsaken the law of Moses.
And so they were having a difficult time
getting good employment because they were Christians now.
But they didn't deny the Lord.
They didn't deny the Lord to get a
job or make more money.
And so God provided for their needs with
the churches outside of Jerusalem when they got
word of it to get the money to
them.
And at the same time, there arose no
small stir about that way.
Now what was that way?
Jesus Christ.
Remember now, Paul is going into one of
the hot beds of idolatry of the world.
A Roman province, Ephesus, one of the main
cities to the gates of Asia.
A main highway from Ephesus to Rome.
A port city.
Magnificent city.
And Satan's stronghold in the worship of Artemis
or Diana or Aphrodite depending on what nation
was around the Mediterranean.
But it was all the same individual.
This queen of heaven.
This female goddess and deity that the known
world then prayed to.
She was the mediator between man and God.
The God Baal.
The distortion of Ashtoreth from Babylon.
And it was such a powerful thing.
They would celebrate the whole month of May
worshiping Diana.
And hundreds of thousands of people from all
around the Mediterranean would come to her magnificent
temple in Ephesus.
Remember, it was 418 feet long, 239 feet
wide.
It had 157 solid marble columns over 60
feet high.
It was greater than the Greek Parthenon.
It was one of the eight wonders of
the world.
This huge, huge temple to Diana, the queen
of heaven.
And so this is that time of year,
it's in May, when thousands of pilgrims from
all over the world would spend a month
celebrating and worshiping Diana who supposedly came from
Jupiter, a black meteorite.
And so they had images of her out
of this black stone.
As it went on, the interesting thing is
when we visited Ephesus, one of the great
commercial enterprises of tourism around Turkey and that
portion of the Mediterranean are statues or images
of Diana to this day.
They are the most grotesque things you ever
saw.
Because she was the goddess of sexual pleasure
and reproduction, they had this grotesque image of
her with the whole front of her was
breasts.
We walked into a major hotel in a
city called Izmir on the coast of Turkey
before we went up to Ephesus.
We flew into Izmir which is the Bible
named Smyrna where one of the churches of
the book of Revelation was established and they
suffered terribly persecution and poverty.
And Jesus said, you Christians in Smyrna, you
don't even have two nickels to rub together
but great is your faith.
Your faith is tremendous.
You're remaining faithful to me even in persecution.
It's interesting to this day there's an existing
church in Smyrna but in Ephesus, the city
that left its first love, there isn't a
trace of Christianity to this day.
The candlestick had been removed just as Jesus
warned.
No church, just a village with some Muslims.
This magnificent city, one of the greatest cities
in the world, is now just an archaeological,
you know, tourist thing to visit.
In the hotel lobby when we walked in,
waiting to meet up with our pastor who
was coming from inland Turkey, was a gigantic
15-foot statue of Diana in the lobby.
The most grotesque thing you ever saw.
Every archaeological site we went to, they were
selling her statues all over the area.
To this day, there's a stronghold and people
are making money selling shrines and images of
her.
Two thousand years later.
Now the way is what Jesus said.
I am the way, the truth and the
light.
Not myself and Diana.
Jesus didn't say, I and Moses are the
way.
I and the Apostle Paul or anybody else.
Jesus said I.
It's singular.
I am.
And it's the very I am.
He used the expression that he revealed himself
to Moses in the burning bush.
I am.
When Moses said, Who are you?
Who shall I say sent me when I
go to deliver the people with your hand?
He said, Tell them I am that I
am.
And so Jesus said, I am.
Over and over again, particularly in the Gospel
of John, announcing I am.
I am.
And he said, I am the way and
the truth and the life.
And that's wonderful to me.
As we've touched on this before.
He's not one of the ways.
He's the way.
Roman Catholicism is not the way.
The Calvary Chapel movement is not the way.
Baptists aren't the way.
Lutheranism isn't the way.
Jesus is the way.
And these other organizations have many, many people
that are following Jesus that happen to just
feel comfortable in those different areas on the
way.
But they better be following Jesus Christ.
I am the way, the truth, and the
life.
Now, why is that so advantageous?
He didn't say, I'll give you directions.
He says, No, I'm the way.
I will lead you.
What would you rather have me do?
If I told you, and I'm notorious for
drawing maps for people.
I've gotten more people lost getting into Franklin,
Pennsylvania.
Some people have never gotten back.
I don't know what's happened to them.
They wanted to go on a retreat down
in Pennsylvania, and we haven't seen them since.
They took one of my maps.
And I really think they're great maps.
But I'm going to tell you, this is
how you get to such and such an
address in St. Louis.
And I sit down, and I meticulously write
everything out and give you the road map
and all the different diagrams and different highways,
where to turn, where to go toward Columbus
down there, and then you go west on
Route 40, and you drive through Indianapolis, and
then you get into St. Louis.
When you get to St. Louis, go to
off-ramp Fleet Street, exit 80A, and then
go left and take a right four stoplights
down, the Safeway store, take another left, and
then I hand you the map.
I'll see you there.
Or would you rather say, Bill, could you
just jump in the car and drive us?
Because I've been there before and know all
about it.
See, what's the best way?
Jump in the car and drive you there.
Jesus said, I am the way.
I'm going to take you there.
You just go with me.
I will lead you right to glory.
I am the way, the truth.
You can trust me.
I'm the truth.
I will never lie to you.
You can never go wrong.
And I am the way.
And so God's made it very simple.
I will not only lead you, I will
do it truthfully, and there aren't two ways.
I'm one of the two ways.
I'm one of the three ways.
No, I am the way, the truth.
And that makes it so wonderful.
I don't have to worry about getting lost.
There's only one way to get there.
And it's a straight and a narrow path
without any confusion.
And all I have to do is keep
my eyes on Him.
He will lead me right there.
He will lead you right there.
And see, that's what they were teaching.
Religions of Paul's, they were saying, all paths
lead to God.
Just so you're moral and good.
Just so you're a good upstanding citizen.
Obey the laws of your country.
Do your best.
Be kind to your fellow man.
Keep the rituals and our feast days and
holy days and go through some ceremonies.
Our priests will guarantee that you'll get there
if you memorize a few prayers.
That was the Babylonian priesthood.
You memorize a few prayers and creeds and
submit to certain rituals and keep certain feast
days and holy days.
We guarantee we will get you there.
Our system will get you there.
Here you see the Gospels coming and say
there's one way.
His name is Jesus following Him.
And He is the way.
And boy, there's opposition.
See, this is throwing things off.
This is throwing light on Satan's kingdom.
It also affects something else too because it's
interesting.
Many, many, many men and women made their
living selling shrines for these special holy days.
People loved to go and visit this great
temple from all over the world and buy
little shrines and images of the Queen of
Heaven.
And they would get hooked because they were
made out of silver and gold and so
there was value in it.
And they would be blessed by one of
the pagan priests.
And boy, they'd take it home and put
it in their home, a shrine to Diana.
And so there's a lot of money made
in this religious system in the worship of
Diana.
When the people started meeting Jesus Christ, they
realized that's idolatry.
The Bible forbids that.
Having any kind of an image or a
statue or a likeness that represents God.
Not only not having it, bowing down to
it, praying to it, or having it in
our homes, you see.
And so as they were listening to Paul
teaching, they were making decisions.
Remember, we learned last week that they got
rid of all their unclean literature and their
occult books and their horoscope magazines.
They just took everything out into the center
of the street, anything that had anything to
do with their past religion and they burned
it all.
Remember, thousands and thousands and thousands of dollars
worth because they'd truly been converted.
And they realized now deity does not dwell
in some little box or shrine or a
statue.
I've been converted.
I'm a shrine now.
Deity dwells in me.
What an honor.
And so God isn't on my mantle or
in my bedroom or in a den made
out of silver or a little shrine that
I have to go to to feel holiness
or get in some kind of a mood
or light a candle before.
He's in my heart.
I'm a shrine.
As Paul said to the Corinthians who were
deeply engrossed in this, you remember, until they
were being set free in 1 Corinthians 3
.16, know you not that you are the
temple of God and God dwells within you.
The Spirit of God is dwelling in you.
You're the shrine.
What an honor and a privilege that just
a pile of dirt.
God says, I'll make you my shrine.
Just some old, worn out, beat up clay
that I have redeemed.
You've become my shrine.
Scientifically on the market, what are you worth?
About $1.67?
That's about it.
But God says, Oh, are you valuable?
So valuable, I became a man and gave
my life for you.
And I'll make your body my shrine.
Look at Deuteronomy chapter 7.
Now, please remember before Paul went into Ephesus
to preach the gospel to free millions of
people trapped by Satan in this religion.
In 1491 B.C., God Almighty revealed Himself
in His majesty on Mount Sinai.
Now the people never saw Him.
Remember He said, No man has seen God
and can live.
He said, You saw no shape, no form
that met with you on Mount Sinai.
So don't have an image or something like
that to represent me.
I want personal relationship.
And He said something interesting in Deuteronomy 7.
Because remember, God knew as soon as He
delivered Egypt, God knows the end from the
beginning.
He knows the end of the age, when
He's going to return, and what Antichrist is
going to do to the human race with
the beast.
And so God wanted to ingrain in His
people, in their minds and hearts, stay clear
of idolatry.
Anything that represents me, maintain a living, vital
relationship with me through faith.
I will honor it by my spirit and
my presence.
So you will not be open to deception.
Now, as He's going to lead these people
into the land of Canaan, and remember, Babylon
has already been influencing the world.
Look at verse 25 of Deuteronomy 7.
There's a promise of victory if they'll be
obedient to Him.
And they're going into a land now that
already worship only under different nomenclature, different terminology,
a satanic lie, a female deity that you
pray to.
With a multitude of other gods.
But remember now, He said, now here's the
commandments to protect yourself, that my blessings will
be upon you.
Thou shalt not have any image that's been
graven by a tool or an instrument that
represents me in your home, a picture or
a likeness of me, nor bow down thyself
to it.
You see, He's separating His people, after their
deliverance, from paganism and the deception of Satan
for the rest of their life if they'll
be obedient.
Now look at verse 25.
The graven images of their gods shall you
burn with fire.
Thou shalt not desire the silver or gold
that is on them.
In other words, don't allow what it's made
of to stop you from being obedient to
God.
Nor take it unto thee lest thou be
snared therein, for it is an abomination to
the Lord thy God.
Now you see, here's a test of faith
for people who say they love God.
Well, I inherited this from Grandma.
Yes, but Grandma was a pagan.
But you don't know what it's going to
do to the family if I get rid
of it.
That's your choice.
You see, there's the fear of man.
There's where the fear of man will stop
a child of God from being faithful to
the Lord.
Fear of their own family.
And that's why the Bible's very faithful and
clear.
It says, see, the fear of man brings
a snare upon a life.
Be afraid what a family member will think
and not be concerned of what God will
think.
Neither shalt thou bring an abomination into thine
house.
You say, well, I don't bow down before
it.
I don't worship it.
God says, don't bring it in your house.
And again, I'm convinced.
That's why a lot of people don't want
to read the Bible.
They're afraid they're going to see something and
have to make a decision in life.
So they'd rather say, I love the Lord
and stay ignorant.
But that's not really loving the Lord.
And they don't grow.
I'd rather grow, know more, be challenged more,
and prove my love for God more.
The benefits are there.
As I see people falling by the wayside,
as we get closer and closer to the
end, I'm staying close to God.
I love them too much to be concerned
about a human relationship and be disobedient to
my Lord, who I love with all my
heart, and I know loves me so much
that He died for me.
So he says, don't even bring it in
your house, lest thou be a cursed thing
like it.
But thou shalt utterly detest it, and thou
shalt abhor it, for it is a cursed
thing.
I'll turn to Deuteronomy, I think it's 16.
God, you see, again knew that they were
going into a land where it was firmly
entrenched by Satan to worship this female deity.
The Egyptians worshipped her as Isis.
The Ephesians, Diana.
The Romans, Artemis.
The Greeks, Aphrodite.
The Babylonians, Ashtaroth, or Esther, where you get
the English word Easter.
Now they built groves to this female deity.
Beautiful groves.
If you saw the remains of the temple
in Ephesus, you can imagine how beautiful the
gardens were to this female deity.
Notice verse 21 of Deuteronomy 16.
Now this is before they even get to
the land.
God says, now this is what's there.
This is tolerated by the pagans.
All religions lead to God.
This is just part of it.
Don't let this defile you.
Thou shalt not plant thee a grove of
any trees near unto the altar of the
Lord thy God which thou shalt make thee,
neither shalt thou set thee up any image
which the Lord thy God hateth.
He hates imagery.
See, all it does really, again, is reveal
the weakness of the relationship of the individual
with God.
That they need an image or an amulet
or some kind of an icon or something
in their home to remind them of God.
When God says, you are my shrine, your
heart, but you see, does he have the
heart?
If he doesn't have the heart, I need
to resort to something else.
I need to smell incense, see a candle,
see a picture.
I haven't learned to hear the real voice.
I don't know him enough.
Is he in my heart?
Am I the shrine?
Is he taking over my heart?
You see, he wants to.
But he won't do it against our will.
Remember the woman at the well?
Jesus said, you know, you say you believe
in Jesus or Messiah, the Christ.
Now remember, he was right in front of
her and she was deeply religious and was
waiting for the coming of the Messiah and
she didn't even know who he was.
The same as today.
Many, many people believe in Christ.
They say, I believe in Christ.
They go to church every Sunday to some
organization that represents the belief in Christ.
They don't even know who he is.
And she didn't know who he was.
Remember he said, God is a spirit.
They that worship him must worship him in
spirit and truth, not in pictures and statues
and incense and candles like the pagans.
And then he revealed himself to her.
Remember?
In his marvelous forgiveness and love.
This is what he's done to you and
I.
Look at Acts 17.
Remember what Paul told them earlier?
Again, as he's preaching the gospel.
Now, he's not attacking them.
He's giving them the truth.
And it's the truth that makes us free.
Free from what?
Sin, error, wrong ideas, misconceptions.
But the truth makes us free.
Religion binds up and traps, particularly false religion.
It's such a snare.
There are people that come under condemnation if
they miss a feast day in some religion.
Or a ritual in some religion.
And Jesus Christ has set us free in
a living relationship with him.
Walking with him.
Look at verse 24 of Acts 17.
It's good to repeat this.
Paul, again, is in Athens in Greece on
the other side of the Aegean Sea before
he's gotten to Ephesus.
God that made the world and all things
therein, seeing that he is the Lord of
heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made
with hands.
Actually, he dwells in temples made with a
sperm and an egg.
He's designed.
In a marvelous, biological, wonderful miracle.
Neither is he worshipped with men's hands.
He's not impressed with fancy buildings.
As though he needed anything.
Seeing he giveth to all life and breath
and all things, and is made of one
blood.
We're all one blood, folks.
There's no inferior, no superior human being, no
matter what color they are, what their racial
background is.
We're all of one blood.
All nations, for men to dwell on the
face of the earth, and he hath determined
the times before appointed and the bounds of
their habitation.
He's even designed the races and their national
boundaries, first purposes.
As he's landlocked them through different circumstances and
cultural changes and language changes and genetic locks,
where they begin to change in their features
and lock in a different pigmentation in their
skin, a slant of the eye.
You see, God's designed it all for his
glory.
And he's glorified in all of it.
All the beauty of the different races.
And he's appointed the bounds of their habitation.
That they should seek the Lord, if happily
they might feel after him and find him,
though he be not far from every one
of us.
He's right at the door of our lips
if we just call on him.
And he loves, you see, he's there for
every race, every culture, every type of people
on the earth.
That's his door.
He loves to reveal himself.
Anybody will call on him.
And not change their culture, just all of
a sudden glorify the culture even more in
the true knowledge of who God is.
That was one of the biggest problems of
American missionaries.
They'd go into different countries to share Christ
and try to make everybody they converted into
Americans.
Dress like an American, eat like an American,
think like an American, sing like an American,
adopt American Christian music.
No way.
God doesn't do that.
He doesn't change the culture.
He's designed the cultural differences and he can
be glorified in all of it.
Whether it's worship from one country to another,
it doesn't have to be identical and cloned.
That was one of the biggest failures of
American missionaries.
Now you're saved.
You can't run around with a loincloth in
the Amazon River Basin.
Why not?
Where does it say that in the Bible?
You've got to put a suit and a
tie on after you meet Jesus.
And I don't have to go down there,
you see.
Now this is what Paul said.
He said he became all things to all
people.
So whatever culture he was in, he adopted
their culture, their lifestyle, their food, everything, that
he might win them to Christ.
That's true missionary.
For in him we live and move and
have our being, as certain also of your
own poets have said, for we are also
his offspring.
Now, people say, well, you know, Bill, the
10 Commandments are the Old Testament and it
talks about not having a graven image or
a picture or something and having it in
your home or bowing down to it and
worshipping.
That's the Old Testament.
This is the book of Acts.
What testament is the book of Acts in?
Before we read this again.
New Testament, right?
The Age of Grace, right?
Look at verse 29.
For as much then as we are the
offspring of God, we ought not to think
that the Godhead is like undue gold or
silver or stone or graven by art and
man's device.
And the times of this ignorance, God winked
at.
But now, this is the Age of Grace.
New Testament, what's he say?
What are we supposed to do now?
He commandeth all men everywhere to repent.
Don't do it anymore.
Now, Paul's bringing this message.
He did it in Athens.
And remember, riots.
Satan's upset.
Now, he's coming to Ephesus across the Aegean
Sea, another stronghold of Satan, in the worship
of this Diana.
And people are making their living, loving these
holidays and these feasts.
People showing up.
The tourists, the pilgrims by the thousands from
all over the known world come and visit
the shrine and buy the little silver statues
and shrines of Diana.
Unless they're converted and know the truth and
leave that pagan idolatry.
And a certain man named Demetrius, a silversmith,
which made silver shrines for Diana, brought no
small gain unto the craftsmen.
They made a lot of money.
They made their living off the pilgrims buying
their shrines.
Whom he called together with the workmen of
like occupation and said, Sirs, you know that
by this craft we have our wealth.
This is how we make our living.
Off the pilgrims buying the shrines.
Moreover, you see and hear that not alone
at Ephesus, but almost throughout all Asia.
This Paul hath persuaded and turned away much
people, saying that they be no gods that
are made with hands.
People aren't buying the statues anymore.
Now, isn't it interesting?
People are being converted and coming into a
real relationship with God, but because it affects
someone's livelihood, they'd rather withhold their idolatry and
uphold the pagan system and something that violates
God, than rejoice in a life being converted.
They'd rather have to stay an alcoholic and
bow down before the statue than be born
again and delivered.
Remember in Mark, and I think in Matthew,
the other accounts of the demon-possessed men
of the Gadarenes.
And people didn't, you know, they had a
social program for them.
They'd lock them up in chains and put
them in a nice comfortable cave.
It might have been a padded cave, but
they'd put them in chains and they said
they had a plan to take care of
them.
It says, but because of the demons, he
was so strong, he'd break the chains right
off of them in his padded cave.
Jesus goes across the Galilee, and this guy
goes running down to the feet of Jesus,
falls on his face and acknowledges him as
Lord and God, and he's converted, and Jesus
cast the demons out.
Remember, his name was Legion, and 6,000
demons were in him.
You talk about someone being labeled a paranoid
schizophrenic with multiple personalities.
Can you imagine what the psychiatrist would tell
this guy today?
You are definitely schizophrenic, Bob.
Can you imagine how many voices would speak
out of him if they had him, you
know, trying to psychoanalyze him?
Jesus delivers them, and the demons are horrified
because they know where they're going and they
know what their end is, and they plead
with Jesus not to put them in that
place of torment, in the pit before their
time.
And Jesus acknowledges that and lets them go
into a herd of swine, and a whole
herd of swine go absolutely berserk, run down
off the cliffs of Galilee there, into the
Sea of Galilee, and drown.
And the merchants are all upset and want
Jesus to get out of the country.
Now, it's forbidden in the law for the
Jews to raise swine.
It's an unclean animal.
They're making a living raising swine.
They see one of their own citizens delivered
from demons, freed from his mental torment in
his right mind.
They're frightened.
They want Jesus out of town because he's
destroyed their livelihood.
They'd rather have the swine and a sick
human being than have Jesus deliver somebody and
have to give up their business.
We'll design a social program and take care
of this sick guy, but don't destroy our
livelihood.
We're not going to stop raising pigs.
Same thing.
They should be rejoicing.
We have a citizen in our country, in
our town, who's been mentally unstable.
We couldn't keep him with chains, living in
tombs, cutting himself, trying to commit suicide.
Look, they didn't say one thing about him
being in his right mind.
They said, what have you done to our
swine?
Please leave, Jesus.
You see, you go up right down Canaan
and Dagua's main street and some of the
side streets, you see the swine.
We don't care if we make them alcoholics,
but don't touch our swine.
Don't take away our liquor license.
Don't kill our swine.
You see, Satan can trap millions of people
in religion and still keep the swine.
And the society will build systems that take
care of the people, the very people they
destroy, but they're going to keep raising their
swine.
Jesus comes along.
They want to get rid of Jesus.
Not religion, but Jesus.
And this is exactly what took place.
People are getting saved, but the people that
are building the shrines are losing money.
The pilgrims are getting saved.
So that not only this, our craft is
in danger, to be said it not, but
also that the temple of the great goddess
Diana should be despised.
And her magnificence should be destroyed, whom all
Asia and the world worshipeth.
It's interesting.
When Marco Polo went to China and began
to share his Catholic faith, he was shocked,
because in China's religion from their past that
preceded Catholicism, they already had beads that they
prayed over and they prayed to the Virgin.
Only they had a different name for her,
from Babylon.
It's firmly entrenched in the whole human race,
you see, from the Garden of Eden, from
the Tower of Babel, from Babylon, just under
different nomenclature, different names.
And when someone comes to the true knowledge
of Jesus Christ and says, Lord, I love
you in Scriptures more than myself, more than
what my family may think, more than what
it may be worth, because it's made out
of silver and gold, it's a no-brainer,
Lord.
I love you.
It's out of my house.
It's out of my life.
When they heard these sayings, they were full
of wrath.
And that does happen.
And there's that confrontation again, the firmly entrenched
thing of Satan with a religion, and Jesus
Christ comes on the scene.
There's anger.
There's wrath.
And they cried out saying, Great is Diana
of Ephesians.
Now, the theater there is the main street
of Ephesus, holds 20,000 to 30,000
people.
It's a magnificent theater.
You can still see it today and visit
it.
We walked right into it.
The main street, solid marble, and this magnificent
theater.
It put Frontier Field to shame.
Made out of marble.
And so it's filled up with 20,000
to 30,000 people that are upset because
here this guy is teaching about Jesus Christ
in the way, and people are letting go,
of Diana.
And so they stirred the crowd up.
The merchants stirred up the people.
They're attacking our religion.
And so they began to chant, Great is
Diana of Ephesians.
Trying to overcome Jesus Christ.
And the whole city was filled with confusion.
And having caught Gaius and Aristarchus, the men
of Macedonia, Paul's companions in travel, they rushed
with one accord into the theater.
Man, here comes the whole mob.
Paul's probably thinking, Great, I'm going to have
a captive crowd here.
They think they're going to beat me to
death.
I'm going to preach before they kill me.
I'm going to have 20,000, 30,000
people.
When Paul would have entered in unto the
people, the disciples suffered a knot.
And certain of the chief of Asia, which
were his friends, sent unto him desiring him
that he would not adventure himself into the
theater.
Some therefore cried one thing, some another, for
the assembly was confused.
You get 20,000 people.
Or feeper.
People, you know, that are deeply religious and
angry.
Can you imagine the chaos and the confusion?
For the more part knew not wherefore they
were come together.
You know, when you get a crowd of
people rushing down the street and pretty soon
the crowd's growing, all they see, hey, it's
a chance to throw a rock through a
window.
It's a chance to just rob a store.
Burn it.
Set it on fire.
Grab a TV.
There's something going on here.
Somebody's angry.
Let's get in the crowd.
Human nature hasn't changed, has it?
And some of the people don't even know
why they came together.
It's a chance to vent and scream and
hate the government.
And they drew Alexander out of the multitude,
the Jews putting him forward, and Alexander beckoned
with a hand and would have made his
defense unto the people.
But when they knew that he was a
Jew, all with one voice about the space
of two hours, cried out, Great is Diana
the Ephesian.
So they start chanting again, crying out, how
great Diana the Ephesians are.
Or is.
And when the town clerk had appeased the
people, he said, You men of Ephesus.
Now here's the thing that's so remarkable.
You men of Ephesus, what man is there
that knoweth not how that the city of
the Ephesians is a worshiper of the great
goddess Diana and of the image which fell
down from Jupiter?
What deception.
How Satan could deceive.
When you look at the skill and the
scientific technology and what these people could do
and yet what dupes they are when it
comes to religion.
See, it doesn't matter what the IQ is,
Satan can deceive a person so easily when
they don't know the truth.
It's amazing the stupid things that intelligent people
do when they don't know the truth.
Seeing then that these things cannot be spoken
against, you ought to be quiet and do
nothing rashly.
For you have brought hither these men, which
are neither robbers of churches...
Now notice the example of the apostles.
They didn't create a picket.
They didn't go into town with placards attacking
Diana, calling everybody heretics.
They taught the truth.
They used Scripture to show it's idolatry and
perfect love.
They did not create an uproar and march
outside or stand outside the temple of Diana.
On one side of the street screaming and
yelling that they were all idolaters and pagans.
And their character, knowing Jesus Christ in the
way that they did, shared Christ in such
a way, you see that people are responding.
And look what the local authorities had to
say.
These men neither robbed churches nor were blasphemers
of your goddess.
They did not attack Diana.
They didn't rant and rave as a group
outside the temple and try to win people
to Christ that way.
And the town clerk, who, you see, was
ruling over it because of Rome, it was
a Roman province, quelled the riot and said,
you know, this can't go on.
These men are being falsely accused.
And remember, he had to worry.
Rome was tolerant of anything but riot and
civil unrest.
And so he had to quell this confusion,
this riot quickly.
He said, you have no right.
These men have not done what you're saying.
And there again, you see, they didn't condemn
the worshippers of Ephesus.
They proclaimed the truth.
They didn't attack, but they spoke the truth
in love.
They said, you're in idolatry.
You say you worship God?
Well, this is what God's Word says.
True worship is.
And so then these people were making decisions
and meeting the true and living God, and
they didn't need those things anymore.
They were making their own choices.
The apostles were not attacking.
They did not blaspheme the goddess Diana.
They proclaimed the truth.
They lived the truth.
And by their actions and their character, you
see, that's what won people over.
And as Peter said, they were ready to
give an answer if there was a question.
Wherefore, if Demetrius and the craftsmen which are
with him have a matter against any man,
the law is open, and there are deputies.
Let them implead one another.
But if you inquire anything concerning other matters,
it shall be determined in a lawful assembly,
for we are in danger to be called
into question for this day's uproar, there being
no cause whereby we may give account of
this concourse.
The things that you're trying to do to
these men are false.
They have not robbed your churches, your temples.
They haven't desecrated or defamed the buildings in
any way.
And they have not blasphemed your religion.
You see, the thing to do is to
know the truth so well that people see
it.
To know the truth concerning Jesus Christ to
such a degree and have a relationship with
Jesus Christ to such a degree that people
say, I want what you want or what
you have.
I see it in your life.
The problem is, you see, too many people
hear someone say they're a Christian and don't
see anything in their life that's different from
their own.
So there's nothing worth going after.
They look at maybe the sticker on our
car.
They may hear us say something nasty about
a cult or attack someone's pagan belief, but
they look at our lives because they work
with us, they live with us, and they
don't see it.
They don't see anything desirous.
They hear what we say with our mouths.
They hear the jokes we tell, what we
laugh at at the water cooler, like everybody
else at the office.
They see what we do on the weekends,
the places we go, the way we act,
and they say, they're no different than us.
Why should we change our religion?
In fact, he smokes the same brand I
do, drinks the same beer I drink.
But see, with these people, they saw something.
There was something there, you see.
And when he had thus spoken, he dismissed
the assembly.
You see, if we live the light, Jesus
said, let your light so shine that people
might see your good works and glorify your
Father which is in heaven.
The only thing that stops my light from
shining is that I'm a dirty reflector.
There's no light to see.
There's dirt on the reflector.
All we have to do is reflect it.
People say, wow, I see the way to
go.
I want that.
Not condemning and attacking, but just proclaiming it
and living it in such a way to
say, you have something I don't have, and
I know when I'm around you, what is
it I want?
It's the way.
It's not religion.
The question comes up, what religion are you?
What denomination are you?
I'm not.
I'm following the way, Jesus Christ.
Now, again, why is God so concerned about
idolatry?
Let's just close with this.
Turn to Revelation chapter 13.
Do you realize that Satan has billions of
people in the palm of his hand right
now conditioning them for the Antichrist?
Do you realize that this country now, right
now the United States, is ready to accept
a dictator?
That there is a man in Washington that
is defying our Constitution, thumbing his nose at
the very people who voted him into office,
lying, and has a group of men around
him that almost laugh at our Constitution.
And people don't care because of the economy.
And this is supposed to be the Christian
nation.
Satan has this nation and the rest of
the world in the palm of his hand
for a dictator.
They don't care what immorality is.
I don't care what the Constitution says.
Leave the poor guy alone.
The economy's good.
That's a dictatorship.
That's people saying, we don't care who it
is.
We'll submit to him.
I can buy the extra car.
Now, this is a Christian nation, supposedly, that
should know better.
Stop and think of the pagan nations around
the world who are praying to trees, rocks,
being swept up into the New Age, being
prepared and conditioned for the Antichrist.
If this nation is in the palm of
Satan's hand, what about the third world?
Now, why is God so concerned?
Because look what's going to take place at
the end.
Look at Revelation 13, verse 14, speaking of
the beast.
Now, remember, because the Bible refers to it
as beast or creature, we think of something
ugly and grotesque.
Remember, this beast is the false Christ.
He's going to claim to be Jesus.
The beast is going to claim to be
Jesus, and he's going to make an image
of himself.
And he deceived them that dwell on the
earth by the means of miracles, verse 14,
the false prophet, which he had power to
do in the sight of the beast, saying
to them that dwell on the earth that
they should make an image to the beast.
In other words, a statue to the one
who calls himself Jesus, the Antichrist, which
had the wound by a sword and did
live, a miraculous resurrection from the dead.
And he had power to give life under
the image of the beast.
The statue that is called Jesus will speak.
Now, let me tell you again, if there
are millions of people in this nation that
are overwhelmed when an image in Pittsburgh in
a Catholic church of Jesus or Mary has
a tear go down the cheek and it
makes CNN and reporters drive all over the
country and people by the thousands flock to
see the statue bleed of Jesus, wait until
the statue of Jesus speaks because the Bible
says it's going to take place at the
end.
Why do you think God is warning people?
Why do you think John, after his magnificent
epistle of five chapters, ends it by saying,
my little children, keep yourself from idols?
It's for our own good.
And millions are being conditioned.
They're worshiping already before images and statues violating
Scripture.
They have things in their homes.
Well, I don't pray to it.
Wait until it calls your name.
What would that do to you psychologically?
You say, well, that won't affect me.
Uh-huh.
It doesn't even speak and you can't let
go of it.
You say it won't do anything to you.
It doesn't even speak now and you can't
let go of it.
He had the power to give unto the
image of the beast that the image of
the beast should both speak and cause that
as many as would not worship the image
of the beast should be killed.
And it's so satanically powerful and deceptive, he'll
cause people to receive a mark in their
hand and not use a credit card anymore
to buy or sell.
And that technology is right at the doorstep.
I'll stop and think how close the coming
of the Lord is for the church.
If that technology is at the doorstep, and
this takes place in the middle of the
Great Tribulation, three and a half years after
the rapture, look how close we are.
And I'm going to say, and you can
call me false and leave the church, but
I'm going to tell you right now, I
can predict more than likely, within less than
a year, you're going to hear of a
new breakthrough in technology that pretty soon they're
going to start saying no more credit cards.
We've designed a system that we can put
the number on your skin.
It won't harm you.
It'll be invisible.
You don't have to worry about remembering your
Social Security.
You won't have to worry about your driver's
license, your phone number, your computers.
Everything's right in your number.
In a worldwide system, buy and sell, travel,
airlines, everything's quicker, no trouble.
Just run your hand under a scanner.
Mark my words.
In less than a year, we'll probably hear
of a new technological breakthrough.
Turn to verse 9 of chapter 14.
And here again is the love of God
for the world, warning, saying don't allow yourself
to be caught up and open to this
deception.
Why?
Verse 9 of Revelation 14.
The third angel followed them, saying with a
loud voice, if any man worship the beast,
that's the living Antichrist, and his image.
You see, there are people that bow down.
You look at the animus in the third
world, the people that are really ignorant and
really trapped by Satan, they'll kneel before a
statue and pray to it, trying to reach
their God through the image.
And so God knows that.
So he's warning the church, if any man
worship the beast, who is going to call
himself Jesus, will be the Antichrist, and his
image, and receive his mark in his forehead
or in his hand, the same shall drink
of the wine of the wrath of God,
which is poured out without mixture under the
cup of his indignation.
And he shall be tormented with fire and
brimstone, and the presence of the holy angels,
and the presence of the lamb, and the
smoke of their torment ascendeth up forever and
ever.
They have no rest day nor night, who
worship the beast and his image, and whosoever
receiveth the mark of his name.
The human race is being conditioned right now
to be swept into the last great lie
of the false Jesus.
Isn't it wonderful to know the truth?
And as Jesus said, the truth will make
you free.
And Jesus said, I am the way, the
truth, and the life.
I think it's important that you know the
Bible, because you can never get caught off
guard.
The discernment is wonderful.
And all you have to do is hear
one little blurb on television, or a little
article on the eighth page of the paper,
maybe a paragraph, and you see prophecy.
It's closer, and half the church isn't even
aware of it.
Or, they're so afraid of what their family
will think, the fear of man has made
them a snare, and they're afraid to make
the right decision, as God wants them to.
And so they open themselves up to delusion.
Don't let that happen to you.
Jesus loves us so much that he's done
everything he can to protect us, to protect
you, to keep you from deception.
Fall more in love with Jesus.
Don't be deceived.
It's in him that we move.
We live, we move, we have our being.
There's nothing greater, nothing safer than putting your
trust in the way, that way.
And sure, it may cause a ruckus.
Praise God.
Because, you see, when the government began to
give the church an easy way, the church
began to cool down.
There's a danger in having it too easy.
It's amazing how people cool off when things
are easy.
It's the fire of trial, and the persecution,
the strain of the battle, that keeps us
being purified by the Spirit of God, and
keeps us sharp and alert, and sober, and
strengthened by Jesus Christ himself, because he says,
I'm not going to let anything happen to
you.
Shall we stand?
Lord, we thank you that you are willing
to take these clay pots, especially my pot,
Lord, after all these years.
It's really starting to show.
And you'd consider that a shrine for your
presence.
And you're not impressed with the most skilled
artisan, whether it be gold, or silver, or
platinum, or whatever, that you don't dwell in
things that are made with hands.
And you don't honor little statues and images,
no matter how beautiful they are.
And even if they represent you, Lord, you
are telling us to repent, and to learn
to worship you in spirit, and in truth,
that you might reward us with more of
your presence, and a personal everyday experience.
Jesus, we love you so much.
And we stand before you tonight, Lord, and
ask you to strengthen us, Lord, to open
our ears, that we really begin to hear
you, as you want to lead us, and
guide us, and protect us, in your love,
in your truth, and in your way.
In Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.