Acts 19: Put it in the burn pile!

We read Acts 19 and watch the gospel overturn a city, from Spirit-filled new believers to a public backlash that turns Ephesus upside down. We also sit with the hard question of costly repentance and what it looks like to leave old spiritual practices and comfortable sins behind. 
• Paul meets disciples in Ephesus and explains baptism in Jesus’ name and receiving the Holy Spirit 
• bold synagogue teaching then daily instruction in the lecture hall of Tyrannus 
• extraordinary miracles and the warning against using Jesus’ name as a formula 
• the sons of Skeva and a blunt lesson on real spiritual authority 
• believers confessing practices and burning expensive magic books as a public break with the past 
• Demetrius, Artemis, and how the gospel threatens idols tied to money and status 
• a practical challenge to repent with action even when it costs pride, time, relationships, or money 

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Transcript

Welcome And Mission Journey Context

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Hey, welcome to the Out Loud Bible Podcast. This is Mike. We're reading through the book of Acts, and we've been following Paul on some missionary journeys as he's been going to various cities throughout the region of the Mediterranean, and he's been met with different types of responses, especially from the local Jews who are most offended and frankly have the most to lose about the gospel being preached, as it kind of up-ends their whole religious system of beliefs. But we've seen a lot of fruitful ministry come of this as well, as Paul has connected with various individuals who have believed and taken the gospel to the rest of their city, or even beyond, as we saw with Apollos, as he believed and he learned more about the messaging that was being taught by Paul and got trained in that and sent out. And so we continue Luke's account of Paul's missionary journeys here in the book of Acts, chapter 19 today, in the New English Translation.

Baptism, Belief, And The Holy Spirit

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While Apollos was in Corinth, Paul went through the island regions and came to Ephesus. He found some disciples there and said to them, Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed? They replied, No, we've never even heard there is a Holy Spirit. So Paul said, Well, into what then were you baptized? Into John's baptism, they replied. Paul said, Oh, John baptized with a baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him, that is, in Jesus. And when they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. And when Paul placed his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they began to speak in tongues and to prophesy. Now there were about twelve men in

Teaching Daily As The Gospel Spreads

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all. So Paul entered the synagogue and spoke out fearlessly for three months, addressing and convincing them about the kingdom of God. But when some were stubborn and refused to believe, reviling the way before the congregation, he left them and took the disciples with him, addressing them every day in the lecture hall of Tyrannis. This went on for two years, so that all who lived in the province of Asia, both Jews and Greeks, heard the word of the Lord. God was performing extraordinary miracles by Paul's hands, so that when even handkerchiefs or aprons that had touched his body were brought to the sick, their diseases left them and the evil spirits went

Sons Of Skeva And Spiritual Authority

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out of them. But some itinerant Jewish exorcists tried to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who were possessed by evil spirits, saying, I sternly warn you by Jesus, whom Paul preaches. Now, seven sons of a man named Skeva, a Jewish high priest, were doing this. But the evil spirit replied to them, I know about Jesus, and I'm acquainted with Paul. But who are you? And the man who was possessed by the evil spirit jumped on them and beat them all into submission. He prevailed against them so that they fled from that house naked and wounded. This became known to all who lived in Ephesus, both Jews and Greeks, and fear came over them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was praised.

Confession And Burning Magic Books

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Many of those who had believed came forward, confessing and making their deeds known. Large numbers of those who had practiced magic collected their books and burned them up in the presence of everyone. When the value of the books was added up, it was found to total fifty thousand silver coins. And in this way the word of the Lord continued to grow in power and to prevail. Now, after all these things had taken place, Paul resolved to go to Jerusalem, passing through Macedonia and Achaea, and he said, After I've been there, I must also see Rome. So after sending two of his assistants, Timothy and Erastus to Macedonia, he himself stayed on for a while in the province

Artemis Backlash And The City Riot

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of Asia. And at that time a great disturbance took place concerning the way. For a man named Demetrius, a silversmith who made silver shrines of Artemis, brought a great deal of business to the craftsman, and he gathered these together along with a workman in similar trades and said, Men, you know that our prosperity comes from this business, and you see and hear that this Paul has persuaded and turned away a large crowd not only in Ephesus, but at practically all the province of Asia by saying that gods made by our hands are not gods at all. There's a danger not only that this business of ours will come into disrepute, but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis will be regarded as nothing, and she whom all the province of Asia and the world worship will suffer the loss of her greatness. When they heard this, they became enraged and began to shout, Great is Artemis of the Ephesians! The city was filled with the uproar, and the crowds rushed to the theater together, dragging with them Gaius and Aristarchus, the Macedonians who were Paul's traveling companions. But when Paul wanted to enter the public assembly, the disciples wouldn't let him. Even some of the provincial authorities who were his friends sent a message to him, urging him not to venture into the theater. So then some were shouting one thing, some another, for the assembly was in confusion and most of them didn't know why they had met together. But some of the crowd concluded it was about Alexander because the Jews had pushed him to the front. Alexander, gesturing with his hand, was wanting to make a defense before the public assembly. But when they recognized that he was a Jew, they all shouted in unison, Great is Artemis of the Ephesians, for about two hours. After the city secretary quieted the crowd, he said, Men of Ephesus, what person is there who does not know that the city of the Ephesians is the keeper of the temple of the great Artemis, and of her image that fell from heaven? So because these facts are indisputable, you must keep quiet and not do anything reckless, for you've brought these men here who are neither temple robbers nor blasphemers of our goddess. If then Demetrius and the craftsmen who are with him have a complaint against someone, the courts are open, and there are proconsuls. Let them bring charges against one another there. But if you want anything in addition, it will have to be settled in a legal assembly, for we are in danger of being charged with rioting today, since there is no cause we can give to explain this disorderly gathering. After he had said this, he dismissed the assembly.

Why Repentance Can Cost A Lot

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We'll pause there for today. We'll keep it brief and bring attention to this really fascinating response to the gospel here in Ephesus. And of course, this will be the church that Paul writes to in the book of Ephesians. We can go and read that and see that messaging later. But for now, we see two profound responses, one beautiful response by the believers, the new believers, who turn to Christ and make a costly sacrifice. Sacrificing all combined, 50,000 silver coins worth of books. We might today call it New Age paraphernalia. Ways they had been communing with the spirit world, which was really just communing with demons, now recognizing that as followers of Jesus, that is all completely inappropriate and needing repentance. And they did so, and their repentance cost a lot. They had spent a lot of money on this paraphernalia that they used to commune with their the the spirit world and all these demons, whether or not they knew they were communing with demons as what was going on. Today we see the same thing with New Age. And I uh Kelsey and I talked to a couple recently who were saved out of this New Age philosophies and practices, and they were in deep, they were practitioners of it. And God put it on their heart that as part of their repentance, they had to sell the business, they had to get rid of their paraphernalia, they had to move their home, get out of their home, and completely relocate. It was a costly repentance. But Jesus' sacrifice was a costly sacrifice, and we can never even come close to paying him back. The least we can do is do whatever it takes to repent and to get on the right path and follow him, even if it costs us money, even if it costs us relationships, even if it costs us a way of life that we had become comfortable with and accustomed to. I'm not just talking about repentance for the first time becoming a believer. I'm talking about the process of whenever we sin, and we need to repent. And that may cost us something. That may have to cost us our pride if we have to go back and apologize to someone. It may cost us our time to spent making it right with people or setting up guardrails or boundaries so that we don't sin again. That may cost us some money to set up, may cost us some time. But are we willing to do whatever costly thing it takes to show that yes, we follow Jesus now. That life that I used to live is behind me. I'm not going back to that. You may need to burn your books today. I don't know if it's literal books, but you need to burn something to make sure you do not go back to it. You cannot go back to it. That's the Thinking Out Loud thought

What God Asks You To Burn

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for the day. Today's episode was a little bit of a shorter one. I hope you take your extra time here that maybe you were planning on listening to podcasts. And now that you find a little bit more of it, talk to God. Ask him what he sees in your life that he would like you to burn and put behind you, repent of, and move forward in righteousness following Jesus. Take some time today. Thanks for being here. We'll see you next time in the Out Loud Bible Podcast.