July 6, 2008
Scripture:
Scripture:
When John was writing this, he was addressing Jesus Christ. And it seems as if in verse five that he bursts into praise. “Unto Him,” and characteristic of John, he identifies Him as “Him Who loveth.” He could have identified Him as the One who created all things, or as the One who upholds the Universe. But Creation is going to come to an end. He, however; will ever love us. He loved us before the foundation of the world, and He will love us when time is gone and eternity is here. “Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood. And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.” So precious! That love, which had no beginning and will have no ending, is the love that we’ve been drawn into. He is worthy of that praise for ever and ever.
Hymn 309 – I think when I read that sweet story of old
Prayer
We’ll continue our study of the book of Acts; who is the main person we have seen in Acts? It’s Paul; and what journey are we on? Last time, we finished the second journey and started the third journey (ch. 18:22 & 23); I’m not sure if we noted that.
As we begin chapter 19, we see that Paul is in Ephesus; at first, he is talking to some young Christians who don’t know much about the Holy Spirit; in v. 8, Paul goes into the synagogue, as is his custom. But there were some who did not like what he was saying and spoke evil about him. From then on, he taught at the school of Tyrannus. He spent two years in Ephesus preaching, v. 10. He healed many people, v. 11, even to the extent that he sent handkerchiefs and aprons that he had touched to people and they were healed by touching them.
Vv. 13 & 14 – Here we find that some of the Jews, specifically the seven sons of Sceva, wanted to cast evil spirits out of a man. They tried to do so through “Jesus whom Paul preacheth.” The evil spirits knew Jesus and Paul, but they didn’t know who these men were. They were not disciples of the Lord. The man turned on them and prevailed over them; they ended up fleeing. (Notice that word prevailed; we’ll see it again in a minute.) I once heard a story about a new Christian who went to prayer meeting and prayed that the Devil would know who he was. When an older brother asked him why he said that, he pointed to this verse. Is Satan afraid when he sees you coming? Does he know you as one who is dangerous to his kingdom?
Read vv. 17 – 20; many people listened to Paul and were saved; however, many of these people practiced witchcraft. After being saved, they brought all their evil books together and burned them. V. 20 tells us that the word of God prevailed. What does that mean? It means that the scriptures overcame the wickedness around. God’s one Book won out over all the other books that were burned. When the Lord was temtped, he used the scriptures to overcome Satan. We can do that as well. Read Psalm 119: 11, 105 & 130. In James we read about the engrafted Word. It’s possible to engraft branches onto a tree so that you would not be able to tell that the branch was not originally part of the tree. It should be the same for us: we should memorize and engraft scripture into our hearts so that we can use it when tempted. We can always remember that God’s word will help us prevail over sin.
We won’t read the rest of the chapter; it’s the story of Demetrius, a silversmith, who didn’t like what Paul was doing because it endangered his income. But nothing really came out of that.
What is the everlasting kingdom, v. 11? This is not talking about the Millennium; the Lord’s kingdom is comprised of all those who recognize the authority of the Lord. His kingdom is actually the whole world, but that is not manifest right now. It will be in a future time, when He will come to set up His kingdom. We can give Him that honour now, so that we will come in, in full sail. If we do, we will have a greater reward in Heaven than if we refuse to honour the Lord. It is all part of that kingdom aspect.
How sad it is to see those who have been raised in a Christian family and have the potential to live for the Lord give it all up. They will still get there, but what a loss! If we are going to have an abundant entrance, we must live the Lord’s way now, so there will be no hesitation or transition when we get to glory. This goes back to what we said about being diligent in “these things.” This is why Peter says he will continue to remind them about it until the day he dies. Does your violin have only one string, Peter? But how important it is to be reminded, because it is so easy to be distracted. May the Lord give us diligence. It is so important to read the scriptures over and over to be reminded of these things. And it won’t be boring; you will find something new each time. For example, The Psalms of degrees (Psalms 120 – 134) can be seen as the songs that the children of Israel sing when they are going back to Israel from captivity in Babylon. Also, they have been said to be the songs that they sang as they went up to Jerusalem every year for the feasts. Finally, they may be seen as psalms we can receive encouragement from as we travel home to glory. Scripture is applicable anywhere, anytime. We must be established. v. 12, in the truth of the scriptures.
Hymn 182 – O Jesus, Friend unfailing
Prayer