There’s Nothing Like The Real Thing, Baby

By Johnny Campbell

Text: Acts 19:1-29

1 And it came to pass, that, while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul having passed through the upper coasts came to Ephesus: and finding certain disciples,
2 He said unto them, Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed? And they said unto him, We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost.
3 And he said unto them, Unto what then were ye baptized? And they said, Unto John’s baptism.
4 Then said Paul, John verily 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.
5 When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.
6 And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Ghost came on them; and they spake with tongues, and prophesied.
7 And all the men were about twelve.
8 And he went into the synagogue, and spake boldly for the space of three months, disputing and persuading the things concerning the kingdom of God.
9 But when divers were hardened, and believed not, but spake evil of that way before the multitude, he departed from them, and separated the disciples, disputing daily in the school of one Tyrannus.
10 And this continued by the space of two years; so that all they which dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks.
11 And God wrought special miracles by the hands of Paul:
12 So that from his body were brought unto the sick handkerchiefs or aprons, and the diseases departed from them, and the evil spirits went out of them.
13 Then certain of the vagabond Jews, exorcists, took upon them to call over them which had evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, We adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preacheth.
14 And there were seven sons of one Sceva, a Jew, and chief of the priests, which did so.
15 And the evil spirit answered and said, Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are ye?
16 And the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, and overcame them, and prevailed against them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.
17 And this was known to all the Jews and Greeks also dwelling at Ephesus; and fear fell on them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified.
18 And many that believed came, and confessed, and shewed their deeds.
19 Many of them also which used curious arts brought their books together, and burned them before all men: and they counted the price of them, and found it fifty thousand pieces of silver.
20 So mightily grew the word of God and prevailed.
21 After these things were ended, Paul purposed in the spirit, when he had passed through Macedonia and Achaia, to go to Jerusalem, saying, After I have been there, I must also see Rome.
22 So he sent into Macedonia two of them that ministered unto him, Timotheus and Erastus; but he himself stayed in Asia for a season.
23 And the same time there arose no small stir about that way.
24 For a certain man named Demetrius, a silversmith, which made silver shrines for Diana, brought no small gain unto the craftsmen;
25 Whom he called together with the workmen of like occupation, and said, Sirs, ye know that by this craft we have our wealth.
26 Moreover ye 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, which are made with hands:
27 So that not only this our craft is in danger to be set at nought; 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 worshippeth.
28 And when they heard these sayings, they were full of wrath, and cried out, saying, Great is Diana of the Ephesians.
29 And the whole city was filled with confusion: and having caught Gaius and Aristarchus, men of Macedonia, Paul’s companions in travel, they rushed with one accord into the theatre.
Scholars will say, “I already know what Johnny is going to preach because Acts 19 is the ‘Fraud Chapter.'” Well, here’s one time the scholars are right. When you say 1 Corinthians 13, they say he’s preaching on “Love.” Or when you say Psalm 23, they say he’s preaching on “The Shepherd and His Sheep.” In Acts 19 we have “Fraud.”

In Acts 19, they said they were disciples of John and never heard of no Holy Ghost. You know John never preached unless he preached on the Holy Ghost — boy we need more Holy Ghost Preachers! Anyway, in verses 13-20 fake exorcists tried to cast out evil spirits in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then in verses 24 -29 there is more fraud — they didn’t care about Diana whom they professed to revere, but cared about money instead. In Acts 19, we have 1) Fake Believers 2) Fake Exorcists 3) Fraudulent Con Men.

Now I don’t like nothing artificial, counterfeit, or a phony. Simon the Sorcerer in Acts 8 was an imitator. He was not real. Examples of artificial Christianity: TBN was saying they have TV. stations in Israel. Peter Popoff faked his revelations using an ear piece as he worked the audience. A famous Christian charity ministry was reportedly found giving diet pills to the starving. Don’t forget about one of the most phony imitators of all: Judas Iscariot.

There’s nothing like the real thing, baby. Coke says its the real thing; McDonald’s says they have 100% real meat. Well, nothing is what it seem to be, is it? We have false teeth, lots of silicone, and fake hair like Jan Crouch (like good golly miss dolly). We have butter that’s never seen a cow. We have pork chops that’s never seen a pig, and we’ve honey that’s never seen a bee. Furthermore, we have so-called Christians that’s never met Christ!

But even in this day of fakery and fraud substitute, counterfeit there’s a remnant that’s still got the REAL THING BABY!!!!

A. A Real Bible

Without a real Bible (KJV) you have a counterfeit. You have a false 1) Conversion 2) Comfort 3) Commission 4) Confidence. If the Bible we stand on isn’t true, then its a fraud. But don’t worry, its the real thing, baby! It’s dynamite power — that’s why preachers who don’t use the KJV don’t have enough power to blow their nose, much less DYNAMITE. I got 66 chunks of Dynamite in my hand given to me by the Master Blaster.

B. A Real Birth

I got a bath in the red blood of Calvary! Thank God when you’re born of God. There’s no miscarriages, there’s no stillborn, there’s no birth defects. According to 1 Peter 1:23, His seed was placed in me. I believe when you got the real thing, they don’t have to run you down to go to church. My pastor never had to call to see if I was coming to church. When I got saved at twenty-eight hears old, I knew nothing about church — I showed up for church my first Sunday at 4:30 in the morning. I got The real thing, baby.

C. A Real Burden For Sinners

In Mark 2 they got that man to Jesus by tearing the roof off the house. You will have a burden for the unsaved if YOU GOT THE REAL THING, BABY!