Our text this morning comes from Acts, Acts of the Apostles, or the continuing acts of Christ, by the power of his Spirit, through His apostles. We're actually going to look at all of Acts chapter 19. It's a little bit of a longer passage. This is Paul's dealings with during his time in Ephesus. I think Paul spent the most time in Ephesus of all the other churches. He'll spend at least three years in Ephesus. If you remember in Corinth, he spent probably a little over 18 months there, but he'll spend a long period of time in Ephesus. So it's a longer passage, but we're going to consider it together this morning before we read it. Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Let's pray, Our Heavenly Father, we thank you that you are not a silent God, that we can wake up in the morning and we can know even by creation, it is declaring your glory, your goodness, your Providence, your provision, your power. But Lord, we thank you that you do not leave us there, but that you have given us your word, and through Your Word, that we might know salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ, we might know how our sins might be washed away, that we might be purified, that we might be cleansed from all our uncleanliness, that we might be made righteous. And that is all, all, all, all in Christ alone, Lord, I pray that you will help us to put idolatry to death this morning and to live for the Lord Jesus Christ. Empower us by your spirit. Give us understanding this morning. Let us know Christ. And it's in Jesus's name we pray, Amen.
People of God, hear God's word for us this morning from Acts chapter 19, beginning in verse one.
And it happened that while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul passed through the inland country and came to Ephesus.
There he found some disciples, and He said to them, "Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?" And they said, "No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit." And he said, "Into what then were you baptized?" They said, "Into John's baptism." And Paul said,"John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the One who was to come after him, that is Jesus." On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus, and when Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they began speaking in tongues and prophesying. There were about twelve men in all.
And he entered the synagogue and for three months spoke boldly, reasoning and persuading them about the kingdom of God. But when some became stubborn and continued in unbelief, speaking evil of the Way before the congregation, he withdrew from them and took the disciples with him, reasoning daily in the Hall of Tyrannus. This continued for two years, so that all the residents of Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks.
And God, was doing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul, so that even handkerchiefs or aprons that had touched his skin were carried away to the sick, and their diseases left them, and the evil spirits came out of them. Then some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists undertook to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, "I adjure you by the Jesus, whom Paul proclaims." Seven sons of Jewish high priest named Sceva were doing this. But the evil spirit answered them, "Jesus I know and Paul, I recognize, but who are you?" And the man in whom was the evil spirit leapt on them, mastered all of them and overpowered them, so that they fled out of the house naked and wounded. And this became known to all the residents of Ephesus, both Jews and Greeks. And fear fell upon them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was extolled.
Also many of those who are now believers came, confessing and divulging their practices. And a number of those who had practiced magic arts brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all. And they counted the value of them and found it came to fifty thousand pieces of silver. So the word of the Lord continued to increase and prevail mightily.
Now after these events Paul resolved in the Spirit to pass through Macedonia and Achaia and go to Jerusalem, saying, "After I have been there, I must also see Rome." And having sent into Macedonia two of his helpers, Timothy and Erastus, he himself stayed in Asia for a while.
About that time, there arose no little disturbance concerning the Way. For a man named Demetrius, a silversmith, who made silver shrines of Artemis, brought no little business to the Craftsman. These he gathered together, with the workmen in similar trades and said, "Men, you know that from the business we have our wealth. And you see and hear that not only in Ephesus but in almost all of Asia this Paul has persuaded and turned away a great many people, saying that gods made with hands are not gods. And there is danger not only that this trade of ours may come in disrepute but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis may be counted as nothing, and that she may even be deposed from her magnificence, she whom all Asia and the world worship." When they heard this they were enraged and were crying out,"Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!" So the city was filled with confusion, and they rushed together into the theater, dragging with them Gaius and Aristarchus, Macedonians who are Paul's companions in travel. But when Paul wished to go in among the crowd, the disciples would not let him. And even some of the Asiarchs, who were friends of his, sent to him and were urging him not to venture into the theater. Now some cried out one thing, some another for the assembly was in confusion, and most of them did not know why they had come together. Some of the crowd prompted Alexander, whom the Jews had put forward.
And Alexander, motioned with his hand, wanted to make a defense to the crowd. But when they recognized that he was a Jew, for about two hours, they all cried out with one voice, "Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!" And when the town clerk had quieted the crowd, he said, "Men of Ephesus, who is there who does not know that this city of the Ephesians is temple keeper of the great Artemis, and of the sacred stone that fell from the sky? Seeing then that these things cannot be denied, you ought to be quiet and do nothing rash. For you have brought these men here who are neither sacrilegious nor blasphemers of our goddess. If therefore Demetrius and the craftsmen with him have a complaint against anyone, the courts are open, and there are proconsuls. Let them bring charges against one another. But if you seek anything further, it shall be settled in the regular assembly.
For we are really in danger of being charged with rioting today, since there is no cause that we can give to justify this commotion." And when he had said these things, he dismissed the assembly.
He who has ears, let him hear the Word of God. Please be seated. At the end of chapter 18, you might recall, this is at the end of Paul's second missionary journey. He stops briefly in Ephesus, but he tells them, if God wills, I will return. And he then goes back to Antioch, back to his home church, some mother church, he reports to them, and now, he is beginning his third missionary journey, and apparently God didn't have other plans for him.
So his first big stop on his third missionary journey is here, in this great city of Ephesus. Ephesus is the commercial and economic center of that region. It is the fourth largest city in the Roman Empire. Ephesus is also one of the most religious cities in the ancient world. It has the Temple of Artemis, as we read, as people were crying out, great is Artemis of the Ephesians. The Temple of Artemis was one of the seven wonders of the world.
There in Athens, you had the Parthenon, which maybe some of you have seen, or at least pictures of it. The Temple of Artemis was three times larger than the Parthenon in Athens.
Athens was, or I'm sorry, Ephesus was a very city that was full of religious activity, devotion and sincerity. But as you will see, none of that means spiritual life. Having religious activity, being devoted to something or even being sincere, does not mean life. A city can be full of temples. A city can be full of cathedrals and even churches, and yet be empty of Christ. And therefore. Are lost dark.
There are maybe some cities we might think of in the United States that are similar to that very religious maybe Salt Lake City, a very religious city, but very dark city, city without Christ, Dearborn Michigan, another city, very religious city, a city without Christ, a very dark city, maybe even clear water Florida, very religious city, but very dark city. And so Ephesus is like that, a very religious city, but a city without Christ, which means it's a city that is very lost and very dark, great religious devotion, but very spiritually dark. And what we see in this text is not really so much a revival of the Holy Spirit working in the city of Ephesus.
It is a collision. It is a war that the Spirit brings to the city of Ephesus, to overpower and conquer all counterfeit gods, to attack all cherished idols and idolatry. And that is my prayer for us, that that was what the Spirit of God will do to us this morning. It will attack our spiritual idols and seek to put them to death that we might live for the Lord Jesus Christ. Do you remember that you have come here to a place of worship, and it is, in fact, in some ways, not a safe place for you, that is not for anything that is contrary to the Lord Jesus Christ, God, by the power of his Spirit, through His word, is going to attack now anything in your heart that does not bring glory to the Lord Jesus Christ. I've heard it said that the Spirit of God takes no prisoners. That is the spirit of God demands full and absolute submission to Christ. It is Jesus Christ or die. That is what the work of the Spirit does to glorify Christ, and anything that seeks to diminish Christ or steal his glory. The spirit is going to attack when we see that, we see the very power of the Spirit of God working in this text in several ways. We're going to first see the Spirit of God in His saving power to save and rescue. Then we also see the Spirit of God to set idolatry ablaze. And then finally, the Spirit of God at work that we might treasure Christ above all things. So first, the Spirit of Christ, making Christ known and saving sinners in verses one through seven, Paul arrives in Ephesus, and he comes, he perceives that there are these disciples. There's about 12 men, we're told. And Paul begins to talk with them, and he realizes that they know John, the Baptist, but they don't know Jesus. They're following John, but not Jesus, not yet. Anyway, he asked them in verse two, did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed? And they said, No, we've not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit. And he said, into what were you baptized? And they said, in the John's baptism, if you remember about John's baptism, I think we just talked about this last week, I'd have to go and listen to my sermon. But I don't even remember, which means you might not remember either. John's baptism was a baptism that was preparatory for the people of Israel. It was, prepare your hearts the Messiah is coming.
Repent of your sins and be ready to receive the Christ the Messiah. Turn from your sin, turn to God and men did that.
The people, many people in Israel, there in Jerusalem, they were baptized. They were preparing their hearts for the arrival of the Messiah, but they didn't know who that yet was.
Their hearts were prepared, but they're still waiting, in many ways, for the Messiah to show up. They hadn't yet heard that the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world was Jesus.
They hadn't yet heard of the life of Christ that he was born.
And then he would he would die for sinners like you and me, and then he would rise again from the dead and ascend to heaven and sit at the right hand of the Father. You see that they had prepared their hearts for the Christ, but they hadn't yet heard of Jesus. And so Paul tells him plainly, John told you to believe and the one who was to come after him and whose sandals he wasn't even. Worthy to one tie. That's Jesus, everything the Old Testament.
You know this now, right? You should, if you've been here for any time, the Old Testament, all of it, all of its pictures and images, are directing us to Jesus, and he's come. The Savior of Man has come. The Messiah has come believe in him, and they do. They receive the Lord Jesus Christ. They're baptized. And they're baptized in the way that Jesus gave to His disciples.
Jesus, his name is, is emphasized there that they're believing in the Lord Jesus Christ. But this is, no doubt, the baptism that Jesus gave to His disciples to baptize. And they not only received the symbol, but they received the reality. That is, they received the very spirit of Christ, not a second blessing of the spirit, but a reality that whoever believes in the Lord Jesus Christ has the very power of the Holy Spirit within them or you, if you believe. And the speaking of various languages here is not something that every believer ought to experience. Paul himself when he believed that didn't happen to him, but these tongues in languages are accompanying the works of the Apostles in this transitory transition period of the Old and New Testament Now, Paul, when he goes to Ephesians, when he goes to the Ephesus, to the Ephesian people. What's Paul's typical practice when he shows up at his city? What's he do? Goes to the synagogue. That's right, you know, you know his pattern now, and that's what he does. He goes to the synagogue. And also, guess what he's doing there?
He's reasoning from the scriptures that the Messiah had to die, that the Messiah would rise, and that the Messiah is Jesus. This is what Paul would do. And maybe even, if you remember from last week, maybe he's even talking about his new haircut. Remember that Nazarite vow, and how the Nazarite vow pointed to Jesus, the one who would be wholly separated to God, the One who would not have his hair cut off, but who would be completely cut off like circumcision, that we might have life. And Paul is even using his hair as the visual picture of Jesus. The scriptures are about Christ. Salvation is in Christ if you want your sins washed away, if you want to be pardoned, if you want forgiveness, it's found in Christ. It's all in Christ, and He is there reasoning from the Scriptures with the word opened.
And some believe. But also, not surprisingly, there are those who do not believe. They are stubborn, stiff necked. Many continue in unbelief, speaking evil of the Way and what's the way Jesus? Jesus said himself in John chapter 14, I'm the Way, the Truth and the Life. No man comes to the Father except through me. So Paul leaves the synagogue, and he sets up, actually, something like a seminary in Ephesus, and he rents a place and teaches His disciples there for two years, reasoning, reasoning. Remember, reasoning from the scriptures, not just blind faith, but looking, reasoning, understanding, the world view of understanding life. It makes sense. It all makes sense in Christ. Now, we need to know the Bible as well. We need to know Jesus and the people in Ephesus and the surrounding areas in Asia, as Paul's disciples are going out. They're not now all hearing the Word, and that's how Christ is building his church, through the word being studied and shared, and it's going out all around, not only in Ephesus, but around Ephesus. Now the Spirit of God is increasing the word and making Christ known.
That's what the Spirit of God does, makes Christ known.
Christ's kingdom is advancing on Ephesus, and Ephesus is starting to shift, to change slightly.
Well, we also see the power of the Spirit, not only to save but to expose false idols. Verse 11, God was doing extraordinary, or extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul. Now that's kind of a funny statement. Aren't miracles already kind of unusual now, these are extra unusual miracles. There's a heightened sense of darkness and in Ephesus and we are told handkerchiefs and aprons that Paul. Had touched, maybe when Paul was making a tent, and he used a handkerchief and wiped his sweat on it, and it's taken and it's being carried off, and it's healing sick and casting out demons. This is almost very similar to remember the woman who had the flow of blood for 12 years, and she just very quietly, if I can just touch his robe, I'll be healed, and God does it. It's very similar to that, but putting faith in Christ and in this very miraculous way, Paul will even write to the church in Corinth in Second Corinthians, chapter 12, he said, These are the signs of the apostles. That is, it's authenticating their ministry and and that their message not to be expected. I'm not selling handkerchiefs, okay? And you shouldn't buy handkerchiefs from people on television expecting miracles to occur. Don't do that. This is a particular extra ordinary thing that was happening, especially for the apostles here now, the sons of skiva. They do not believe the gospel, but they notice how great and how powerful Jesus is and the name of Jesus, and they want that kind of power. They don't want Jesus. They want what Jesus has. And they traveled around. They used to make their living using different formulas and names and rituals. Sometimes it appeared to work. They thought simply by uttering the name of Jesus, it would be some kind of magical incantation that would drive these spirits away.
Now, people use Jesus's name in vain all the time, don't they to try to get ahead in life, try to get influence over people and things and money and and power.
People use Jesus for selfish gain all the time. I mean, even James and John, they tried to do that. Jesus, we want to sit at your right and left. We want to use you right. And even in the product the parable of the prodigal son, you have two sons, but they're both just wanting to use the father to get his stuff that neither of them really love the Father. They just want what the Father has his stuff. And that's what the sons of skiva are they. They don't really want the father. They don't really want Christ. They just want his power. So they say, I adjure you by the JESUS whom Paul proclaims. They speak this to this man who's possessed by the spirit, and the evil spirit responds to these seven men, Jesus, I know Paul, I recognize but who are you? I don't know you. I know Jesus. And somehow, which is interesting, they also know Paul, and I think they also know the children of God. And I think one of the reasons that they know the children of God, they recognize even who Paul is, because they recognize they can't touch the children of God.
We aren't theirs any longer. We aren't instruments of theirs any longer, there's even some recognition in the spiritual world that the spirits even know who are the children of God, because they can't be used as God as their instruments anymore. But these other sons of skiva, they are nameless people.
Now this one demon possessed man overpowers these seven men and beats them so badly that these seven full grown men leave naked and wounded. And the point here is that there's no power. They have no power. And this became known to the rest of Ephesus, and look at verse 17, and the fear fell on them all. And you would think that fear fell on them all over the spirits, right? That spirit may just beat up seven guys. Shouldn't they fear him? No, because they see that actually the real power is not in the spirit. It's not even in the men. It's found in Christ. Christ has the power, and that's why the sons of skiva wanted to use the name, because they even recognize that there's power in the Lord Jesus Christ to save and to release and have freedom. And so the the name of Christ is being extolled, that is, it's being adorned. It's being worshiped. It's similar to what happened to Ananias and Sapphira. There's a certain fear of the Lord that that starts to spread throughout Ephesus and Ananias and Sapphira lie. And they, they saw the holiness of God. And people are worshiping Christ. And they see this, and people are worshiping the Lord.
These believers know they they can't live. A mix now of Christianity and their form and pagan darkness. They are experiencing more and more the power of Christ in their life to be free from these things. And so they bring their magic art books together, and they burn them in the sight of all this public display of repentance.
Now they could have sold these books, and we're told the value was 50,000 pieces of silver, 50,000 days of work, maybe is what we could think, or $50 million but couldn't they have done a lot with that money, a lot of good? Couldn't they have built a church or done something else good with that money? Why didn't they do that? Well, I just want the point is that they're coming to hate their idolatry. They're coming to hate the things that are not of Christ, and I'm not going to keep them around. I'm not going to have any temptation to go back to it. I'm going to set it ablaze, and I'm going to follow Christ, because there is freedom. There is power. I need Jesus is what they're crying out. That's what we should cry out. This is what Thomas Chalmers talks about, this expulsive power of of a new affection, their affection for darkness and idolatry, is being changed as they now are starting to see the power and beauty and glory of their Lord, Jesus, Christ. And it doesn't matter what, if it's wealth or possessions or anything, I'm gonna let it go, go that I might follow Christ. Jesus is greater.
Jesus is better. I long for Christ. Give me more of Christ.
And I think this is also just one of the things for us to think about now and even in our homework. What are the books and habits and loves in our own lives, of the things of the world that we are refusing to give up, to burn, if you will, to let go? What we see here is not simply a moral renovation.
This is a resurrection power, the same power that raised Christ from the dead, is a is at work here in Ephesus, to all who believe and in us who believe in Ephesians, chapter one is Paul would write, then to the church in Ephesians, he will even talk about power be praised that they would know the immeasure, the immeasurable greatness of the power of Christ for us who believe because Ephesus is spiritually dark, this powerful influence of darkness, but Christ overcomes it. The power of this Holy Spirit is changing Christians and changing the city, which leads us to the last point that the Spirit of God enables us to treasure and then obey Jesus, verse 23 about that time, there arose no little disturbance concerning the way the gospel is starting to unsettle, not only just individual Christians, but now The entire city. And this is not the first time riots have followed the name of Jesus. And won't be the last. It's not the Christians who are rioting.
Christ is being proclaimed, and lives are being changed. And as people change, the city is changing. And even you remember Priscilla and Aquila, they got kicked out of Rome. Why? Because there were riots. Something similar was happening in Rome that kicked Priscilla and Aquila out and ended up in Corinth, where they met Paul. Now the same thing is happening here in Ephesus, when God's people are transformed by the gospel and they live for Christ. They aren't living for money and for power and cultural praise. It affects the community. It affects those around them, and that life is disruptive to an idolatrous economy, an economy that is focused primarily on the acquisition of money, the building of money, a culture of sex and lust and of sports or whatever it is, it's going to affect it if Christians are living a holy lives set for Christ and not for those things.
Now we're introduced to a man named Demetrius. He is a silversmith. He makes a great deal of money crafting small silver shrines at Artemis. You might think of like, like the gift shop at the the Temple of Artemis and Demetrius. He's the he's like the union boss of the gift shops, right? And they sell these little, little idols, little silver idols that they've made, and they make a lot of money doing this. There's a lot of tourism that has been coming to Ephesus. And he gathers the craftsmen together, and he gives a speech. And listen carefully to how he begins. He says, Men, you know that from this business, we have our wealth.
His opening argument, it's not some. Theologically, you know, this is affecting our souls, and it's there's not devotion, it's money, which is the god of Ephesus, really, and so often the God of our culture. Now too money, and he continues this, Paul has persuaded and turned away a great many people saying that God's made with hands are not God's Paul's hurting our wallets, the way is bad for business. Our profits are collapsing because people are turning to Christ, and only after that he adds this little religious layer after the month, the whole money thing. This is a danger, not only to this trade, but of ours, but it might come into disrepute, but also the temple of the great goddess Artemis. This may be counted as nothing. There's economic fear, and he prides to their he appeals to their civic pride. If Artemis becomes nothing, Ephesus will become nothing. If Ephesus becomes nothing, we don't have a job. Paul's bad. We got to get rid of Paul. And when their money is threatened, the whole city erupts. They will not tolerate their idols being challenged. The crowd is unified, but they're unified in this confusion, resentment and rage, and they just gather together. And some people not even sure exactly why we're gathering or what's happening, but they for two whole hours, they're just chanting, great is Artemis of the Ephesians. Great is Artemis of the Ephesians. Two whole hours, the whole city has just erupted in this chant.
Where's Artemis today? Where's the temple today? It's not there. It's just a pond. It's been burnt and destroyed. But where is Jesus today? Risen reigning, has a people, has a kingdom, who sits on his throne.
And so this passage is not so much as great as Artemis of the Ephesians. This passage is to remind us, great is Jesus of Nazareth? Great is he? You know, it's striking how easily people unite around what they love. And you know, living up in Philadelphia around playoff time, people would everywhere you go. In Philadelphia around playoff time, you would just hear people gathering together, E, A, G, L, E, S, eagles, just gathering together, shouting. It doesn't happen so much here in Tampa sometimes. But you know, what are the things people gather together and stadiums and voices are being raised, devotion on display. What do you love loudly? What are you unashamed to proclaim and to lift your voices high? What captures your money, your time, your passion? I think, as I read this text, I think the question I was even wrestling is, you know, we have this riot that were talked about in Rome, Aquila and Priscilla come about, come out of it with about Christus. And then here, even in Ephesus, there's a riot over the way over Jesus. You know, why is it that we don't see that kind of opposition to Christ now, you know? I mean, why is it that we don't really see riots about Jesus here in Tampa? And could it be it's because we're just living in a nominal Christian society? Could it be that the gospel really isn't being preached or that it's at least veiled or softened, because nominal Christians are really not a threat to idols. Nominal Christian living is not really a threat to the cultures of money and sex and sports. And I think one of the things I want us to really wrestle with is even even to pray this afternoon, is, where is a place that I have lived like the world, rather than for Christ? To really wrestle with that question. And if you're not sure, maybe your spouse could tell you. Or if you're not sure, you could even go back to what we read in in Exodus, chapter 20, and review the 10 Commandments, because a people full of Christ will live differently, a people of Christ will be holy. We are to be holy, set apart for Christ. But so often, as a people, we have just, just conformed to the culture. We're not so different.
You know, you do your thing.
I'll do my little Christian thing, and that's fine. You know, not going to ruffle any feathers. Artemis isn't great.
Her Temple is gone. Now, what's interesting, it ends that the crowd is calmed, but it's actually calmed over a lie that this, this clerk, he comes and says, you know, they they haven't offended us, but they have. Paul has absolutely attacked Artemis, this is not a god. It's a fake god, it's a false god, it's a worthless God, it's a powerless God. And I think Paul's friends, they're trying to keep Paul from going into the theater, because they know that Paul's got would say something, if Paul goes into that theater with this mobbing crowd, he's going to say, You're absolutely right. Artemis is false. Artemis is dead, and nothing to worship. Artemis is blasphemous. Put it to death, burn the temple, put it down and worship Christ. Now I don't know. It's hard for me to say if it's right or wrong that they were holding him back, but in God's providence, it happened, but the crowd is quieted and goes its way. But Jesus Christ lives. Jesus Christ reigns.
Great is Jesus Christ of Nazareth, and one day, all of us will stand before him. All of us will stand before His great throne, and we will have to give an account for the way we lived our lives. And Christians, you know that all of your sins, not in part, but the whole, are washed away in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you don't have to fear but let us stir us. Let us stir. Let us. Let that stir us in such a way that we stop conforming to the things of this world, that we stop just enmeshing ourselves in worldliness, and that we are indeed a people set apart for the Lord Jesus Christ, that Jesus, Jesus Christ, is known as great and nothing else that we are not afraid to lift up our voices and proclaim it great is Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Let's pray.
Our Father, we confess to you.
We have so often been idolatrous, Lord, we have loved the things of this world, and we haven't loved Christ. Lord, I pray that you would forgive us and cleanse us. Help us to see the beauty and love of Christ, for us to remember that why we were yet sinners, why we were not like the Nazarite but the adulterous woman Christ would come to save, to wash, to cleanse, Lord, I pray that you will help us to put any affections that seek To rob Christ aside that he truly would be our pearl of great price, that we would not just be a people of word who say Christ is great and wonderful, but we would live it out, and as we live it out, as we are a people set Apart, a holy people for yourself, it would change Tampa.
It will change our neighborhood.
It will change our workplaces.
It will change our families, because Lord you are changed us by the power of your spirit. You have saved us. You have revealed false gods in our life to us.
And Lord, you have made Christ lovely to us. Please be merciful to your people and bless us in the Lord Jesus Christ, and it's in his name we pray, amen.