True Faith Requires Jesus

Jacob Winters

Acts • Sermon • Submitted 2 months ago • Presented 2 months ago

Acts 19:1–10

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Transcript

by:Jacob Winters

Introduction

Scripture

Father God, we thank You for Who You are. A great Big God who sees each and every one of us here and cares deeply about us. We ask this day, as we are continuing in this time of worship to You, reading Your Word and hearing Your Word, that You refine us with it. Mold us, make us, shape us, rearrange us so that we can more like You, and more made into the image of Christ. Help us be a people who love You and love others so much, that we are moved into action by whatever it is You are going to show us about Yourself today and what that means in our lives. Help us do this, because all to often our selfish and sinless flesh war against our will to follow Yours. As we are doing this, and as we are coming into Your Word today, we ask that You take away any distraction that we may have, and make it go as far away as it possible can, because we want to see and we want to know You better. It’s in these things that I ask and in Jesus Christ’s Holy and precious name that I pray, Amen.

While Apollos was in Corinth, Paul traveled through the interior regions and came to Ephesus. He found some disciples 2 and asked them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?”“No,” they told him, “we haven’t even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.”3 “Into what then were you baptized?” he asked them.“Into John’s baptism,” they replied.

4 Paul said, “John baptized with a baptism of repentance, telling the people that they should believe in the one who would come after him, that is, in Jesus.”5 When they heard this, they were baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus. 6 And when Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they began to speak in tongues[a] and to prophesy. 7 Now there were about twelve men in all.

8 Paul entered the synagogue and spoke boldly over a period of three months, arguing and persuading them about the kingdom of God. 9 But when some became hardened and would not believe, slandering the Way in front of the crowd, he withdrew from them, taking the disciples, and conducted discussions every day in the lecture hall of Tyrannus. 10 This went on for two years, so that all the residents of Asia, both Jews and Greeks, heard the word of the Lord.

Context

We begin today in a new time and chapter in Paul’s life. As you will remember, last week we saw the ending of his 2nd missionary journey along with the new character, a new teacher, coming into the story named Apollos, who the text describes as a well learned and versed man who understood that Jesus was the messiah, but was missing one or two key pieces, which the beloved Pricilla and Aquila corrected him on. Apollos then, heard about the work had done in Corinth and went to minister there. Meanwhile, Paul ended his 2nd journey, went to Jerusalem, and then to his home/sending church in Antioch and remained their for a while for rest.

Now, he set out on this 3rd journey, and found his way into the town of Ephesus (in the regions referred to at this time as Asia), after passing through the regions of Galatia. This town of Ephesus, was a place he had previously visited, a place that actually asked him to stay longer after his last brief stay, would now be his kind of base of operations for this missionary journey and a place that he would remain in for some time. Right from the start here, we find people who claimed to be Christians, but were not and, and though we are not sure how they got along with this for so long, had not submitted to the Lordship of Jesus and confessed Him as their messiah. This is an unfortunate trend that has existed for quite a long time, back in ancient times like this, just decades after Jesus’ life, and remains to today and will unfortunately remain until He (Jesus returns again).

This is ultimately a sin of pride and self, thinking and believing that we are our own saviors, or perhaps someone else is, or even other ideologies. This exists all around you in your world and even for the saved believer, is a battle that will be waged in your spiritual life many times over your life time. What i’m saying is that, Some believe that Jesus is not required, but God says that is wrong. So, let’s jump in and see From the text, I want you to see these points about Faith, because A True faith requires Jesus.

Message

The first point I want you to see about faith is: Wrongly applied Faith 1-3

So, the events of Apollos being in Corinth (in modern day Greece) and Paul reveling through the interior region of what at that time is called Asia, today we call it the nation of turkey, Paul made is way to the town he had visited previously of Ephesus. There, on top of the church he planted previously, he found some other disciples (disciples meaning students/followers of Jesus and asked them something. Hey guys, did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed? To which they answered him, no and we haven’t even heard of the Holy Spirit before. So Paul asks them, so then if you are followers of Jesus, but haven’t received the Holy Spirit, then what is going on? Into what were you baptized then? To which, they replied, into John’s Baptism.

Clearly, something is wrong here. As we know and as we have seen in every other situation in the New Testament Church, when someone truly believes in Jesus and chooses to follow Him, they receive the indwelling presence of God the Holy Spirit. So, something is up here. You can’t blame it on John the Baptist either, as he frequently taught on the Holy Spirit and vocally taught and pointed towards Jesus as the Messiah and that we should be baptized in His name. So, if these were disciples of John the Baptist, they either were not very good ones or they a major lack in teaching and were not truly disciples yet, but they were kind of, almost, disciples. Now, John the Baptist was a great teacher, in fact of all human the teachers and prophets, Jesus said that John the Baptist was the greatest. However, Jesus never taught, and neither did John the Baptist, that we are to follow anyone other than God Himself.

Your faith shouldn’t be based upon teachers, religious leaders, fiery pastors, or relationships in your church body. Rather, those are gifts to us, The Church, from Jesus to build us up and encourage us to trust and base our faith upon who it is supposed to be! God the Son, Jesus Christ the righteous! You have probably seen this in your life time, maybe this was even you at some point, a charismatic teacher or preacher comes into a church, and many people come in, but after while it is observed that many of those people that came in were not believers of Jesus, but lovers of that person. Believer, hear me, putting your faith in anyone or anything that isn’t one of the three persons of God (God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit), is going to fail you miserably. That was what the state these disciples were in, and it’s a good thing for them that Paul came along and told them truth and they responded “Yes” to it, because the Bible clearly says that you must accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior to be saved, even though these people were close, they were not yet saved and if they had perished, it wouldn't have been good for them. The same is true for every, “almost” believer you have ever met or someone who claims to be a Christian but shows no fruit of The Spirit. So, if you know that person share the Gospel with them, or if you are that person, believe and repent and be made whole! Some believe that Jesus is not required, but God says that is wrong. Do not have a wrongly applied faith.

The next point I want you to see about faith is: Christ Centered Faith 4-7

So, Paul replies to them, saying. John’s Baptism was one of repentance, that they should repent of their sins and turn towards the one to come after Him, who in John’s own words Who’s sandals he was unworthy to even take off. This was Jesus Christ, the messiah. John pointed towards this messiah, and I don’t know how or why but you missed this point and if you really believe John’s teaching, you must accept Christ as your Lord and Savior. They heard this, believed, and were Baptized, but this time in the Name of The Lord Jesus, not in the name of repentance. Look what happens, Paul prayed over them and then BAM! God the Holy Spirit comes upon them! God the Holy Spirit begins doing signs and wonders through these disciples, which means what!? It means, that God has come to live in them, it means they are saved, it means finally they had a Christ centered faith that is required for salvation.

Earlier this week, I heard some sound bites from some so-called, “holiness” preachers. Now granted, I only heard a few moments of each sermon from 3 preachers, but I thought it was disturbing how never once did I hear the name of Jesus or Christ or Messiah or Jehovah or anything about God in their sermon. Instead, they pointed at how bad someone else was and pointed at how great they were. While I agree with the statement and truth that we are to pursue holiness, as God said Himself, be Holy for I am Holy. However, Holiness does not start and end with how a person dresses, how they speak, where they are from, or what their vices are or were. The fact is, we cannot be Holy without Jesus Christ cleansing us from our sin! Everything else comes later and not of no importance but of less importance when compared to being made new and renewed daily in Christ.

Man made rules and regulations do not make a person Holy, the blood of Jesus makes a person Holy. Commiting to the Lordship of anyone or anything that isn’t Jesus (even if that person seems like they have) does not make you Holy. Unfortunately what happens in many of the churches or movements that focus on holiness or a particular part of Holiness, is that despite all the good they are trying to do, they forget that Christ is supposed to be the center and most important piece and either people believe they are saved or not, or an outside perceives that something is wrong (because it is) and they turn away from Jesus because He has been sinfully misrepresented. Remember, the only thing Holy about you is that you are saved by Jesus and God the Holy Spirit lives you. Just as these 12 realized, the only way to be saved, the only way to be made holy (which means set apart/different), is to have a Christ centered faith. Anything else false shorts. As we saw in this section today Some believe that Jesus is not required, but God says that is wrong. In this case God the Holy Spirit said so. True faith requires Jesus, so, is you faith in the right place or the wrong place believer?

Another point I want you to see about faith is: Continuing in Faith 8-10

So, while in Ephesus, Paul enjoyed something that he never had before ever in his ministry. What is it? For an entire 3 months, he caught to preach in the Jewish synagogue without their being a major up roar of some kind. The next says he even persuaded some into the kingdom, but sure enough all good things come to and end and some jews would begin to slander the way of Jesus. So, what did Paul do? He left, he adjusted his plan to see God glorified, as we had spoke about before, and he moved into a new place. In this case, it was a lecture hall belonging to man named Tyrannus, now this probably wasn’t his name, but what people called him, implying this guy was a tough cookie, being called “Tyrant.” Paul would go on and with the support of both himself and others, as other historical accounts share, rent out or reserve this lecture hall for 2 times a day every day for 2 years. So, needless to say, Paul committed here to seeing Jesus Honored and Glorified and the Kingdom Growing, so he continued in faith doing this ministry for quite awhile, even to the point of difficulty to himself.

So, Paul continued for 2 years, and you know he had to deal at least sometimes with this person people referred to as “Tyrant.” Not to mention he was in a town that had the Jews starting to work against him once again, and their is little mention of help for him. He even mentions in other letters that this time in Ephesus he suffered many afflictions, yet he remained focused and committed to to Christ based faith and message.

Continuing in faith, doesn’t mean just continuing when things are easy. It means you keep going when things are hard to. A true and honest faith in Jesus isn’t one that hops on and off the faith train whenever you please, or whenever it is convenient. No, it is one that is diligent in your own faithfulness and commitment. Yes, because of ailments and the season of life you are in, your expectations and assignments from God will differ and be of different degrees of difficulty and involvement, but they always involve: Committing to prayer, committing to spending a daily time with God, gathering with the saints for worship and instruction, sharing your time and resources with the church body, and sharing your faith with others so long as you have the physical ability to do so. Many have strayed, and don’t want to be believe this or follow this, but if you have been reading through this book of Acts, you will see time and time again that these are base level expectations for believers, not what the advance believer does, the advanced goes above and beyond because they see God and His kingdom as more important than anything else you will ever encounter or do in your life. Jesus said this and showed it, and his earliest followers and leaders believed it. Some believe that Jesus is not required, but God says that is wrong. So continue in your faith, that is, continue growing but as you grow, remember that true faith requires Jesus.

Conclusion

Beloved brother and sister, this is a message and story we have seen time and time again, so it’s clear that it is good for us to remember these things and look to ourselves often on these matters our faith. Do you have a Wrongly applied Faith 1-3? If so, you need to fix it and fix it now and turn it towards a Christ Centered Faith 4-7 because this is the only true a good faith worth having. Then once you have that, continue in that faith, until as that song we sing “In Christ Alone” says, until He returns or calls me home, here in the love of Christ I’ll live.

With all of that being said, I would be remised if I didn’t share the Gospel (or the Good News) of Jesus Christ with you today, for the benefit of both believer and non-believer in the room. This begins all the way back at the beginning, God created everything, and he created all things good. He gave His most treasured creation (us, mankind) the ability of free will, the ability to choose Him or rebellion. Man was deceived by Satan and desired to be like God and sinned (or rebelled against God). This brought the curse of sin and death into the world and it remains with us to this day; which separates us from God. God though, loved His creation (mankind) so much that He worked through history to redeem all mankind that would turn to Him from sin so that we can experience a full and perfect relationship with Him again. This was through the perfect and final sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the pay for sins. Accepting this free gift from God, makes you new and forgiven. All you have to do accept this free gift by repenting and believing in the Lord Jesus and you will get to experience the good side of God’s justice forever. So, now that you know this, you can no longer plead ignorance. I invite and urge you to respond today non-believer and apply this to every part of your life believers in the audience today.

With that, Let’s conclude. Brothers and Sisters, I love you all. During our last song together, if you need prayer, or want to talk more about Jesus, or have something you want to talk about, I’ll be here, don’t be afraid to come on down. Let’s pray. Father God, we thank You for who You are and what You are doing to us here in this place. May whatever it is that You are doing in each of heart here, continue as we leave go out into the world this week. Change us, mold us, make us, re-arrange us, that we can be both better lovers of You and better showers of You. It’s in these things that I ask and in Jesus Christ’s Holy and precious name that I pray, Amen.

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