Reading: Acts chapter 19 verses 1-20.
Reminder:
• Acts is primarily a history book,
• An accurate record of the early church.
• It is not primarily a theological book, i.e. a book you base your theology from,
• That’s why we have the letters, or epistles.
• Now any theology or any events recorded in the book of Acts is and was true,
• That’s what happened,
• But we must never assume that was the norm,
• Or that is what will happen today.
The book of Acts covers a transition period:
• Christianity is ‘finding its feet’, it is ‘learning to walk’, it is being established and
• Unusual things happened that were one off’s, not the norm.
(A). True faith (Vs 1-10)
(1). Encounter (Verses 1-2):
• Paul arrives back in Ephesus,
• You might remember that in chapter 18 verse 21,
• He promised that if it was God’s will he would return.
• Well, here in chapter 19 he is able to make good that promise.
As he arrives in Ephesus he meets twelve men (vs 1b):
• They are called “Disciples”
• But that doesn’t mean they were Christians or even disciples of Jesus.
• The word “Disciple” was a common term, simply means “Learner”,
• And there were many around who were called disciples, but not Christians.
Ill:
Disciples of………..
• The Pharisees,
• Tyrannaus,
• Well many different types of people.
(2). Discussion (Vs 2-4):
• Paul asks these ‘disciples’ a significant question:
• We would say he was checking them out.
Ill:
When you meet someone, sometime during your conversation you might say;
• Do you go to Church? Which one?
• Are you believers, Christians? “Born again?”
• Often from their answers you can gage where they are spiritually,
• Whether they love the Lord or are just church goers, or religious people.
• This is what Paul is doing here;
• He is asking them a significant question, to gage where they are at.
Verse 2:
“Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?”
They answered, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.”
The A.V. or King James translation of this verse is wrong here:
• Not “Since you believed”,
• But “When you received”.
The question was important:
• Because the witness of the Holy Spirit,
• Is the one indispensable proof that a person is a genuine Christian.
• Romans chapter 8 verse 9:
• “If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ”.
• Therefore their answer revealed to Paul,
• Whether they were true converts to Christ or sincere seekers.
Verse 2b-3:
They answered, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.”
So Paul asked, “Then what baptism did you receive?”
“John’s baptism,” they replied.
• There answer makes it clear to us that they were disciples of John the Baptist.
• 25 years after his death, John the Baptist still had people who followed his teaching.
• Quote: J.B. Lightfoot comments;
• “Such groups still existed in the second century”.
Question: Where did these men come from?
Answer: Two suggestions.
(a).
• Ephesus was a sea port, and so they may have been sailors;
• Who were or had been working onboard a ship and they ended up in Ephesus.
(b).
• Some commentators have suggested,
• These men were early “converts” of Apollos.
• And you might remember from last week,
• That he had a limited understanding of Jesus Christ.
• We noted that Apollos was defective in his understanding,
• And Pricilla and Aquila were able to help him see clearly.
Chapter 18 verses 24-26:
24Meanwhile a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus. He was a learned man, with a thorough knowledge of the Scriptures. 25He had been instructed in the way of the Lord, and he spoke with great fervor and taught about Jesus accurately, though he knew only the baptism of John
These people have a different problem to Apollos:
• They are defective in their focus,
• They looked to John Baptist, when they needed to see the one John was pointing to.
• Apollos needed to see Jesus more clearly,
• These people needed to see Jesus for the first time.
(3). Conversion (Verses 4b-5):
4Paul said, “John’s baptism was a baptism of repentance. He told the people to believe in the one coming after him, that is, in Jesus.”
NOTE: Paul knew by their answer that they had not yet embraced the Christian faith:
• They had no knowledge of the Holy Spirit!
• And they had no knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ.
True to say:
• You can be a Christian and not know very much about, Bible, Church, doctrine etc.
• But you cannot be a Christian and be ignorant of Jesus.
• There are certain basic things you must understand,
• About his substitutionary death & resurrection.
Ill:
‘GSUS LIVE’:
• What is a Christian?
• “Isn’t it enough just to believe in Jesus?”
• My answer was “No!”
• “That is only part of it!”
That is only one characteristic of Christianity:
• Head belief, an understanding is important but it is in itself not enough!
• Christianity is not a “logical proposition of self-evident truths”
• I.e. It is not a formula 2+2=4 (not just cold facts).
• I.e. Relationship, that involves the heart and the will!
• Christianity also has to affect the body,
• How we behave and live, a desire to please the Lord.
Central to all three of those things is the person of the Holy Spirit:
• He gives us our understanding regarding Jesus.
• He gives us the power and desire to live a good life.
• He deepens our love for Christ.
Ill:
• When a person believes and asks Jesus Christ to be part of the lives:
• He enters that persons life at conversion via the Holy Spirit.
• It is something that happens automatically,
• You might not even be aware that it took place till much later on.
• But the Holy Spirit enters a persons life at conversion.
Ill:
Holy Ghost, “Ghost” is an Anglo Saxon word meaning “Guest”.
• Not a lodger with his own key who comes and goes.
• He is an invited guest who comes to stay.
• He is not a force or an it,
• You do not get part of him now and the rest later.
• He takes up residence in your life and stays “Sealed”.
• Our responsibility to “Be filled” to let him have more and more influence in our lives!!!
Verses 4-5:
He told the people to believe in the one coming after him, that is, in Jesus.”
5On hearing this, they were baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus.
• Some of you are thinking, “Oh, O! Here we go again on baptism”:
• Well let me say two things:
• (1). It’s there in our passage so I have to comment on it.
• (2). This is one of the Basic teachings of the Bible, so I have to teach it.
Quote: My job description (Matthew 28 verses 19-20)::
Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
Ill:
2 Booklets on Baptism.
Question:
• Cast your eyes back to verse 3;
• Why did Paul (vs 3) ask about their baptism?
Answer:
• Because in the Book of Acts,
• A person’s baptismal experience is an indication of his or her spiritual experience.
Ill:
• “Have you got a driving license?”
• Your answer would inform me that you had passed a driving test,
• And were competent to drive.
• Baptism in the Book of Acts,
• Was an indication of a persons spiritual experience i.e. Converted and following Jesus.
Verse 4 Paul explains John and Jesus:
4Paul said, “John’s baptism was a baptism of repentance. He told the people to believe in the one coming after him, that is, in Jesus.
Paul explained to them:
• John the Baptists message was repent,
• Clean up your lives, ready for the visit of the king.
Ill:
Know you have visitors, you tidy up.
• John’s message was Clean up your lives, ready for the visit of the king.
• Show your sorry inwardly, by doing something (being baptized) outwardly.
Now these 12 men had to learn that John’s baptism was no longer valid:
• They were trusting in an outdated message i.e. “Christ is coming”.
• It was correct for its day, but now that day was ended.
Paul explained to then that Christ has now come:
• Christian baptism is a baptism that looks back,
• Picture of death & resurrection.
• It may look the same visually as John’s baptism,
• But its meaning is totally different.
• Paul certainly explained to the men,
• Some basic truths about Jesus, that Luke did not record here for us.
• Then he baptized them,
• Because their first “baptism” was not truly Christian baptism.
Verse 5:
On hearing this, they were baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus.
• When these sincere but misguided people here the message of Jesus fully,
• They respond by being baptized,
• Another indication that water baptism is the norm for the Christian.
• This week, tonight, think it through prayerfully, form you can fill in, do something!
Verse 6-7:
When Paul placed his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied. 7There were about twelve men in all.
• Paul places his hands on these new Christians,
• As a way of expressing fellowship, oneness with them.
• The Holy Spirit comes upon them and they speak in tongues and prophecy.
• Because they had never even heard of the Holy Spirit,
• God gave them tangible proof that he had come into their lives,
• By enabling them to speak in tongues and prophecy.
What God did through Paul for these twelve men was not normative for the church today.
• Question: How do we know?
• Answer: Because it was not repeated.
The people who were converted in Ephesus under Paul’s ministry:
• All received the gift of the Holy Spirit when they trusted Christ as Saviour.
• Paul makes this clear in Ephesians 1:13-14, and this is the pattern for us today.
And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, 14who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.
(B). Real Authority (verses 11-20).
The pattern for Paul’s evangelistic ministry in Ephesus was similar to that in Corinth:
(1st): He entered the synagogue Verse 8:
Paul entered the synagogue and spoke boldly there for three months, arguing persuasively about the kingdom of God.
• Three months teaching in the synagogue,
• A period of 12 or 13 Sabbaths trying to persuade the Jews about Jesus and his kingdom.
• It is remarkable that Paul was able to witness so long before he had to leave.
(2nd). Rejection (Verse 9): As in Corinth.
“But some of them became obstinate; they refused to believe and publicly maligned the Way”.
• When the Jews refuse to believe,
• And hardened their hearts to the message of Jesus.
• They started speaking evil things about “The Way”.
• To discredit Paul’s teaching and prevent him having influence,
• He is aggressively slandered. Note the name “The Way”
• Which was the name given to early Christianity, and to the first Christians.
• Realizing there was nothing more to be gained by staying in the synagogue,
• Paul leaves and takes away “the disciples” (those who had become Christians).
(3rd). He rented a building (Verse 9): As in Corinth.
So Paul left them. He took the disciples with him and had discussions daily in the lecture hall of Tyrannus”.
Quote F.F. Bruce:
“Tyrannus no doubt held his classes in the early morning hours. Public activity ceased in the cities of Ionia at 11 A.M. to 4 P.M……
more people would be asleep at 1.00pm than 1.00am. But Paul after spending the early hours of the day at his tent-making (e.g. 20:34) devoted the hours of burden and heat to his more important and more exhausting business, and must have infected his heares with his own energy and zeal, so that they were willing to sacrifice their siesta for the sake of listening to Paul”.
• Question: How long did he do this for?
• Answer: A week, a month, six months, a year?
(3). Teaching Verse 10: “Two years”.
This unassuming verse teaches us two things:
• (1). The eagerness of Paul to teach.
• (2). The eagerness of the Christians to learn.
• They would have worked all morning and all evening,
• Then when others rested, they seized that time for learning.
Verse 10:
• As a result of Paul’s commitment,
• “All they who dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks”
• Without ever leaving Ephesus,
• How could he have made such an impact?
Two factors made this possible:
• (1st) Through his converts,
• Who he trained, and then let them go from place to place with the message of Jesus,
Ill:
It was the great preacher Dr Lyman Beecher who used to say:
“That the reason why he was so blessed to the conversion of men was, that he had so many pulpit reflectors, who lived out and diffused everywhere the gospel”
• (2nd). Through “Special miracles”.
• God enabled Paul to perform miracles in Ephesus to confirm his message (vs 11).
(4th) The supernatural - Miracles (Verse 11-12):
• In Corinth God gave Paul a supernatural vision,
• In Ephesus God helps Paul through miraculous healings.
1God did extraordinary miracles through Paul, 12so that even handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were taken to the sick, and their illnesses were cured and the evil spirits left them.
• The “Handkerchiefs” mentioned were sweatbands that a workman wore around his head,
• To absorb the sweat as he worked.
Question: Why work this way:
Answer:
• In the absence of a written New Testament by which to measure someone’s teaching,
• God used signs and wonders to authenticate his message.
• Notice: “God did extraordinary (lit: special, extraordinary) miracles through Paul”,
• It doesn’t say; “Paul did extraordinary miracles”.
• God was the source, the worker of the miracles,
• Paul was the vessel that God chose to work through.
Simple application:
Quote: “God is looking for hands to use,
We may not be able to work miracles with our hands.
But without doubt we can give them to God, so that he may work through them.
(5). Counterfeit (Verse 13):
13Some Jews who went around driving out evil spirits tried to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who were demon-possessed. They would say, “In the name of Jesus, whom Paul preaches, I command you to come out”.
• Ephesus was a center for the occult (verses 18-19 illustrate that).
• The city had a reputation as a center for the learning and practice of magical arts.
• The phrase “Ephesian writings” (“Ephesia grammata”),
• Was commonly used in antiquity for documents containing spells and formulae.
Quote Clinton Arnold:
“Points out the significance of the fact that Paul’s most complete study of spiritual powers and of the battle Christians face against them comes in his letter to Ephesus”
With Ephesus being the center for the Occult:
• This naturally attracted Jewish exorcists,
• Who could make a good living out of peoples misery.
Quote John Polhill explains:
“Ancient magicians were syncretists and would borrow terms from any religion that sounded sufficiently strange to be deemed effective. These Jewish exorcists of Ephesus were only plying their trade. Paul’s “spell” in Jesus’ name seemed effective for him, do they gave it a try”
Verses 14-16:
4Seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this. 15One day the evil spirit answered them, “Jesus I know, and I know about Paul, but who are you?” 16Then the man who had the evil spirit jumped on them and overpowered them all. He gave them such a beating that they ran out of the house naked and bleeding.
• These Seven sons of Sceva, add this new name to their repertoire.
• And they get a bit of a shock.
• Thinking Paul’s power was in his own fakery or demonic activity,
• They assume it is something they could manipulate for their own purposes.
• Ancient exorcists attempted to expel demons,
• By invoking the name of a more powerful spirit being.
• Exorcists were common in the ancient world,
• Even among Jews (Matthew 12:27, Acts 13:6)
• Their fanciful spells and ritual formulas were very different,
• From the simplistic authority of Christ that was exercised by the apostles.
Now these Jewish exorcists:
• May have fooled the gullible Ephesians,
• But they could not fool the demon! He knew they had no power over him.
• Speaking through the human voice of its victim,
• The demon challenges their authority and says; “Who are you?”
The Jewish exorcists:
• Had no right to use the name of Jesus or Paul,
• And no power over the demons.
• To their amazement, the demonized man:
• Viciously attacked these seven priests
• They are battered, defrocked and humiliated,
• And forced to flee from the house.
Verse 17:
7When this became known to the Jews and Greeks living in Ephesus, they were all seized with fear, and the name of the Lord Jesus was held in high honor.
Notice how God used this situation to defeat Satan:
• It brings conviction to the immature Christians, who were trying to follow Christ,
• But who were secretly still involved in magical arts.
(6). Repentance (Verse 17-20):
“Many of those who believed now came and openly confessed their evil deeds”.
• The expression “Confessed their evil deeds” literally means “Practices”,
• “They confessed and disclosed their practices”.
• It is referring to secret magic spells,
• Which were considered to be rendered useless if divulged.
• These people had just seen the power of the living Christ,
• And therefore the futility of pagan magic.
Verse 19-20:
19A number who had practiced sorcery brought their scrolls together and burned them publicly. When they calculated the value of the scrolls, the total came to fifty thousand drachmas. 20In this way the word of the Lord spread widely and grew in power.
• Many people who had been involved in this sorcery, got converted,
• And they repented, e.g. burned their scrolls & books publicly.
• The total value of the magical books and spells that they burned,
• Was equivalent to the total salaries of 150 men working for a whole year!
• These people did not count the cost
• But repented and turned from their sins.
Verse 20:
20In this way the word of the Lord spread widely and grew in power.
• News of this event spread like wild-fire,
• Instead of disgracing the name of Jesus,
• The event magnified His name,
• And caused the Word of God to spread even more rapidly.
Our section closes with:
• Dr Luke’s summary statement which pulls the passage together,
• And emphasizes the dominant position the word of God achieved in Ephesus:
• That emphasis seen throughout the passage,
• Verse 8: “Paul boldly spoke, proclaimed the word”.
• Verse 9: “They discussed it”.
• Verse 10: “All Asia heard it”.
• Verse 13: “Paul was known for preaching it”.
• Verse 20: “It spread rapidly”.
