Counting

[AI translation] The strange story told in these two poems is preceded by strange events. In Ephesians, the apostle Paul preaches the gospel with great power. Many are converted, many are healed, lives are transformed, miracles are performed, and the failure of the exorcists is particularly striking. Jesus showed his power so openly, his irresistible force, that everyone was afraid to see him. In short, we could say that a very powerful, Spirit-filled evangelisation was taking place in the city, but the two verses we have chosen as our main text here give us the first tangible result of this evangelisation: 'And many of the believers came, confessing and showing their works. And many of them that practised the devil's craft, having rolled up their books, were burned in the presence of all. And they counted the price of them, and found it fifty thousand pieces of silver. So the word of the Lord grew strong and took power." (Acts 19:18-20)By the grace of God, we have just completed an evangelistic week. The Word of God has intervened in many lives, has seen our sins, has exposed our troubles, has revealed the cause of the short-circuits in our lives, has shown us once again the riches of grace: may the Lord make us understand from the example of Ephesus what the first thing to do is. Yes: this is the first, decisive thing to do after an evangelization! Let us see how it is done!
We read, "Many of the believers came, confessing and showing their works." (Acts 19:18) From this we can see that a real revival has taken place in Ephesus, that a great, common confession of sin is taking place. It is not enough to recognise sin, not enough to acknowledge that God has forgiven all things by the grace of Christ, not enough to say a great thankful yes in the spirit to God's offered grace: a practical confrontation with sin involves confession.
"If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." (1 John 1:9) This is confessing my sins before the Lord. I go before my Father in prayer and tell him what I have done, who I have been, without any pretense or excuse. These are very blessed moments in the life of a believer when he can expose himself so honestly before God, but often it is not enough.
There is also a confession of sin that is not only for God, but must also be brought before men, and before the man against whom I have sinned. As we read of Zacchaeus, "And Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, 'Lord, behold, I will give half of all my goods to the poor, and if I have taken anything from anyone by perversion, I will give four times as much in his place.'" (Lk 19,8) In other words, when a person is truly converted, he tries to put his past in order himself, to visit those whom he has wronged, to whom he owes a debt, with whom he has or had a quarrel, with whom he has unfinished business, and now he is putting it all in order. Part of coming to terms is going to someone and confessing and disclosing to them my actions for which I owe reparation.
It may happen afterwards that some sin keeps a soul in such bondage that it cannot be freed from it. It is so attached to the heart that it cannot cope with it alone, nor can it get it out and lay it down before God. In such a case the apostle James recommended, "Confess your sins one to another, and pray one for another" (James 5:16).
And to these three, that is, confession of sin before God, before the offended man, and before the spiritual brother, comes the fourth: public confession of sin. So that is what we read about here, in this story. This is the most dangerous form of confession of sin, because if it is not done under the compulsion of the Holy Spirit, it becomes a shameful thing! But what happened here is that the Holy Spirit of God so empowered the people that they could not help but come forward and confess their sins openly.
No matter what form confession takes, the essence is the same: a refusal to be in solidarity with sin. Whoever confesses his sin, whether only before God or before men, is, as it were, openly denying solidarity with his acknowledged sin. He exposes the sin whose very essence is that he likes to lie low. He brings to light that which cannot bear the light, he betrays the Satan who abhors publicity! Confession is like a festering lump of pus inside a man. Such a knot of sin, such a festering of sin, must also be opened up, must be revealed. And this is precisely what happens through confession. When a person confesses his sins, he opens the way to the sin knot and begins the process of purification of the soul.
You heard again in the evangelization that there is forgiveness for all sins. The blood of Jesus Christ is eternal satisfaction, full repayment for all debts. Well: it is not enough to believe this, it is not enough to acknowledge this, but the debt must be actually written on this account. Confession of sin is nothing else than the writing down of the items of my debts to man and to God, the writing down of the items on the account which the Lord has paid. Therefore, do not keep silent, therefore confess, name, call by name your sins. Behold, we read, "Many of the believers came confessing and shewing their deeds." (Acts 19:18) Nor can you, without this, have any of your sins put to death. Without confessing, revealing, telling, revealing! There is nothing more damning than sin that is kept silent. For such a sin, forever concealed, will accuse a man at the last judgment. Unconfessed, unrevealed sins will come to light and stand accused before the Eternal Judge. If you have a sin that God has brought to light in His Word, and you have not confessed it, have not disclosed it, have concealed it, have hidden it so that you think it can never be found out, you will face the judgment seat of God! Therefore, I understand very well the Ephesians who confessed, published: made public their deeds, their secret actions, because only in this way could they get rid of them, of their memory. They did not regret what they were thought to be, they could no longer live a lie.
Can you still stand it? For how long? You can't be accountable without an honest, honest confession! Don't be afraid to do it! Jesus prayed on the cross for his enemies, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do" (Lk 23:34). And these Ephesians went even further: "And many of them that practised devilish works, folding up their books, were burned in the sight of all." (Acts 19:19) The flames on the pyre rose high and consumed even the memory of the sinful deeds of many people. It was a complete slaughter! In other words, even confessing one's sin and making it known is not enough for a radical reckoning. For human depravity is so great that one can confess one's sins, become emotional, and then pick up where one left off. I'll confess again, he thinks to himself! - Well, this fire here in the main square of Ephesus is a complete break! The destruction of the bridge to the past that links you to your confessed sins! By burning the books, they express that they no longer even want to know what they have done. It really ends here, now. Something like what Jesus says when he says: "And if your right eye offends you, gouge it out and put it away; and if your right hand offends you, cut it off and put it away" (Mt 5,29-30). There is no room for pretence here. There is no reconciling what has been found to be for the fire: to the fire with it! Don't want to carry old sins into your new life. If God has judged something in you, in yourself: break with it, throw it away. If you feel held captive by something: let it go! But all the way! Like these men here in Ephesus: they not only put aside their books full of satanic doctrine, they burned them! Threw them into the fire! They burned every bridge behind them! They've insured themselves against going back to their old sins. They didn't give it to someone else, they set it on fire. They didn't say, "Good, I won't read it anymore! That would not have been enough, because someone else might read it, someone else might be infected by it!
Don't you have a book, a writing, a memory, a photograph, a letter, an idol that could be burned?! There are plenty of superstitious books, spiritualist and other occultist so-called "literature" in circulation today, which are really not suitable for anything but fire! It's not enough that you don't read it anymore, it's not enough that you've put it aside. Someone else will find it and get infected! It should not be put aside, it should be set on fire. Literally on fire! - It's like a clean-up. It's good to look around in the drawers: is there anything else you should throw out?! But we should also look in the drawers of our souls! Maybe you have outdated views on certain issues, maybe God has long since judged your social views, your economic views, your principles, but you dare not give them up, because they would blame you for having given in. Well, Brother, dare to deny what God has judged, dare to tear away what has long been torn away, only you are still holding it together, dare to throw into the fire what has long been burning in the fire of God's judgement, dare to start a new life! Dare to do as the apostle said, that I should forget those things which are behind me, and should lean on them, and should go on with a faint heart... (Phil 3,14)
We then read that after they were burned, they calculated the price of the books. "They counted the price of them, and found it fifty thousand pieces of silver." So they burned them first and then counted their value. That is the correct order! Many people reverse this: they count first, they calculate what it will cost them if they repent, what it will cost them if they want to radically reckon, what it will cost them to start a new life and therefore never burn! They find: the sacrifice God asks of them is too great! They shrink back and never get to the real reckoning. The 50,000 pieces of silver that these books cost is no small sum. And yet they are not sorry! Somehow it is that when one comes to know the grace of God in Jesus Christ, things are reassessed! What was precious and dear now loses its value - and vice versa: what was not necessary and boring before, now becomes the most necessary. What once lost its value, one does not regret to sacrifice. So it is not a heroic act on the part of these Ephesians, it is not a sacrifice on their part to be able to dispose of such a valuable collection of books, but it is natural, reasonable, self-evident.
What they are doing is almost businesslike. Just as when the forint came in, no one was sorry to throw away all those mill pennies and bill pennies, because they were no longer of any value! Do you not still keep such things, spiritual millpens, whose value has long since been devalued, even destroyed? It is no longer worth anything! Why are you still holding on to it? Just make the same gesture as when someone grabs something and throws it into the fire! As those books are burnt in the fire, so God takes from you all that you give to him! Don't look at what it costs you, what you lose, but what you have gained in Christ! For you are rich! Feel free to throw out the trash! Get it all settled so you can truly start a new life!
Let us pray in the words of the song:
O Lord of Abraham, behold I hear your holy voice;
I seek only that salvation which your hand gives.
The earth's fleeting good And desire I forsake,
And choose him to be my keeper and my shepherd.
O Lord of Abraham, thy holy mercy to me
My joy, my delight, guide me in my way.
Thou art my friend and my God:
Save me for the blood of Jesus and give me salvation.
(Canticle 425 verses 2-3)
Amen
Date: 18 May 1952.