Burn Your Bridges and Kill Your Spiders!
Series: Acts
Chuck Sligh
August 27, 2017
TEXT: Please turn in your Bibles to Acts 19.
INTRODUCTION
I’m going to start off my message with what I’ll end it with, which is this statement: When you come to God’s truth, God wants you to do two things: Burn bridges and kill spiders. I know you’re thinking, “Okay, Pastor, that’s weird, even for you.” Well, stick with me, okay; it’ll make sense by the end of the message.
Acts 19:8-20 is actually a pretty cool passage—a little scary even. When you parse out all the characters and events in it, it all boils down in the final analysis to how people responded to truth.
God’s truth is a powerful weapon—believers’ most effective weapon against the forces of evil.
But truth is just truth. It has no inherent power, except as we respond to it and apply it and obey it. It’s like electricity—its power is not in its existence, but in its application. In the wires of your house, it’s just a latent, though potentially powerful, even dangerous presence. But it’s not until you plug something into a socket, and that latent electricity is harnessed for a particular application that its power can be used.
Now in Acts 19, we discover a scene in which the truth is simply let loose, resulting in an incredible transformation in the lives of people and a devastating assault upon the kingdom of darkness.
Our story takes place in the city of Ephesus, on the western coast of modern day Turkey—the most important city in the Roman province of Asia. Aside from its commercial importance as one of the great export cities, it was also one of the ancient world’s religious centers. Outside Ephesus was the great Temple of Diana, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. The ruins of this temple were discovered and excavated in the late 1800s and it soon became apparent why it had been one of the seven wonders of the world. It was 239 feet wide by 418 feet long—four times the size of the Parthenon in Athens!
But Ephesus had another, more sinister, distinction. It was a city given over to the occult. It was totally mesmerized by magical spells and charms. It was a city where superstition and the dark arts were rampant. It was a stronghold of Satan. One author called Ephesus the “Dark Castle” of Asia Minor.
But, as we’ll see from our text, it would be the place where God’s truth would invade and disarm Satan’s Dark Castle, and the warrior who would lead this crusade is none other than the hero of the second half of the book of Acts, the Apostle Paul.
Let’s see what God would teach us in this passage about God’s truth.
I. FIRST, IN VERSE 8 WE SEE TRUTH PROCLAIMED – Verse 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.”
Paul entered the synagogue and did what he always did—he began proclaiming truth. Luke tells us that he spoke boldly in the synagogue for three months straight.
In the Greek, the phrase “he spake” is the IMPERFECT TENSE, which scholars say indicates something that went on CONTINUOUSLY in the past. So, Paul was continually speaking and continually teaching and continually persuading—giving out truth at every opportunity, in every forum, by every means of instruction and persuasion at his disposal.
Sometimes we’re kind of hardheaded, aren’t we?—and we have to hear truth many times before it finally takes root in our lives. That’s true with people we come into contact with too. They don’t always respond to God’s truth immediately.
What God wants us to do is to continually expose our friends and loved ones and co-workers to the truth. Of course, that’s not always appreciated, is it?, which leads me to my second point:
II. IN VERSE 9 WE SEE TRUTH REJECTED – Verse 9 – “But when divers were hardened, and believed not, but spoke evil of that way before the multitude, he departed from them, and separated the disciples, disputing daily in the school of one Tyrannus.”
“Divers” means “different people.” Some people didn’t respond well to the truth. They heard it one time too many and got fed up and we see a progression here:
1. First, they were hardened.
When you hear God’s truth proclaimed, immediately God speaks in your conscience and bears witness with you that you are hearing truth. But just as quickly, the fallen, sinful part of you as well as the evil one, Satan, want you to reject it and continue in the way you’re going.
If you listen to that part of you instead of God, you’ll harden your heart. You’ll say to yourself—“No! I won’t listen. I don’t accept that. I won’t obey. I won’t respond. I’ll do what I want to do instead.”
2. That leads you to the second step—you refuse to believe truth, even though the Holy Spirit confirms in your heart that it’s true. – Verse 9 goes on to say they did just that when it says they “believed not.”
3. That leads to the third step—verbalization of what you believe in your heart.
They “…spoke evil of that way before the multitude…” You see, what we believe in our hearts eventually finds its way to our lips.
Jesus said, “…out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things.” (Matthew 12:34b-35)
Do you see how dangerous it is to reject God’s truth?! When God speaks to your heart, BELIEVE God’s Word and OBEY God’s Word!
In verses 10-12, we see that Paul was persistent in teaching God’s Word in Ephesus, and in addition, mighty miracles were done there – “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.”
God was revealing His power in extraordinary ways in Ephesus, which sets the scene for our next point:
III. IN VERSES 13-14 NOTICE HOW TRUTH WAS MANIPULATED – Verses 13-14 – “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.”
Now our story starts to get really weird! All through history people have believed in the spirit world, and they’ve always tried to use it for their own benefit—whether it’s the witch doctor and his fire, or the soothsayer and his potions.
So here in Acts 19 we find these traveling exorcists who exercised control over superstitious people by their spells and incantations. One author writes, “First century magicians were syncretists [a “syncretist” is someone who tries to fuse or blend different religious systems together; he continues…] “and would borrow terms from any religion that sounded sufficiently strange to be deemed effective.”
So, these Jewish exorcists of Ephesus heard Paul cast out demons by the power of Jesus’ name, and they saw it in superstitious terms. To them the name of Jesus was a powerful spell; a superstitious name to be manipulated to their own ends. Casting out demons in Jesus’ name seemed effective for Paul, so they gave it a try.
Boy, were they in for a surprise! – Look at verses 15-16 – “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.”
Let me make two quick observations here:
1. First of all, the name of the Lord Jesus is not some MAGICAL INCANTATION to be used against the demonic world.
Jesus’ name isn’t some enchanted charm—some formula—for power to be manipulated for our own use. Eastern religions tend to use Jesus’ name like a mantra, claiming power through the repetition of His name.
But Jesus’ name is not like that. His name is powerful because of Who it represents, and its power is effectual only in those properly related to Him by spiritual birth.
2. Second, God’s enemies—the demonic world—know who is truly a follower of Christ and who is only acting the part.
These men fled out of the house, were beaten up, their clothes ripped off of them just like their spiritual façade. These demons clearly knew who Jesus and Paul were—but they immediately recognized that these men were counterfeits. That’s kind of scary, isn’t it?
Illus. – Suppose a demon-possessed person came to our church and suddenly disrupted the service and I called on you to deal with this person and the demon. What would happen? Would the demon shrink in fear because you possess the Lord Jesus Christ, the most powerful person in the world, or would you be left bruised and bleeding, exposed as a spiritual imposter?
See, you can pull the wool over people’s eyes, but there are two entities you can never deceive: God and the spirit world. So, the question is, Are you truly one of God’s children? If there’s any doubt about that in your mind, trust in Jesus as your Savior today.
IV. FINALLY, LET’S OBSERVE TRUTH OBEYED.
The effect on the Ephesian church and other witnesses of this strange demonic encounter was that IT SCARED THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS OUT OF THEM! I guess so!
Look at verse 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.”
The lost were filled with fear, and the name of Jesus was magnified.
But there was a response from believers as well. The reality of the spirit world came home to these believers. Suddenly, they said to themselves, “Wow! That was WAY out there! I wouldn’t want to experience the power of Satan like that!” And even as they said that, I think they began to think of all kinds of ways they had surrendered ground to Satan in their lives.
Look what happened in verses 18-19 – “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.”
You know what happened? – They obeyed the truth and they experienced freedom! I want you to see two types of results that occurred:
1. First, there were INTERNAL results in verse 18:
There was confession of sin. – They recognized that they had compromised and allowed all kinds of sin to coexist with their relationship with God, and they confessed it to God.
Second, they exposed their “deeds.”
The words “shewed their deeds” sounds funny until you understand what it meant. The word deeds here is the Greek word praxis which, in reference to the occult, referred to secret magic spells which were considered useless if they were divulged. So, Luke’s saying that they were “spilling the beans” so to speak. In other words, they not only confessed their involvement in the occult, but they exposed their secret spells, which indicated A COMPLETE TURNING from their magic to God.
In other words, THEY BURNED THEIR BRIDGES behind them. They were putting the old life behind them once-and-for-all. They weren’t holding on to the old life with one hand and God’s hand with the other.
Once they divulged these spells, in their minds, they knew these spells and incantations would then be forever powerless for them. Their faith was wholly and exclusively in God and HIS power. They went ALL OUT for God—no holds barred, nothing holding back.
2. Second, there were EXTERNAL results in verse 19:
They brought all their occultist items and burned them in a big bonfire! Whenever God does something in the heart, it always manifests itself in the outward life. Just as the REJECTION of truth found its visible expression in speaking against the Gospel of Christ, so the RECEPTION and OBEDIENCE of truth manifested itself in a visible, public expression that all could witness.
They were REALLY burning their bridges now because these articles they were placing in the fire were extremely expensive, some irreplaceable heirlooms passed down for generations.
Now as I studied this, I discovered a startling fact that blew me away. – The people who confessed and turned from their magic and occultism WERE BELIEVERS! By this point in the story, Paul had been ministering among them for TWO YEARS, and yet there were believers in their midst who were STILL struggling with leftover sin from the old life—and very serious sin, at that!
Now think about that!—Let that sink in. Here were believers, some perhaps two years old in the Lord, STILL involved in the OCCULT! That’s mind-boggling!
Let that be a reminder to us that though Christ changes us from sinners to saints, sometimes we let sin go on in our lives...and that can have dangerous effects. I don’t suppose most Christians continue to struggle with involvement in the occult. But we often allow sin to coexist with our Christian walk. There are sometimes things that we have not dealt with in our lives that have allowed us to live incongruously with God in our lives. And these have caused spiritual cobwebs in our lives that trap us like a spider web traps a fly.
Illus. – The story is told of a man who went forward to kneel and pray every Sunday after the service was over. Every Sunday, when everyone had left, he would loudly pray the same prayer, “Lord, take the cobwebs of sin out of my life.” Sunday after Sunday he did this. One Sunday the pastor knelt beside him, and when he prayed, “Lord, take the cobwebs of sin out of my life,” the pastor prayed aloud, “Yes, Lord, and while you’re at it, just kill that spider!”
No spider—no cobwebs! What spiders have you allowed to roam in your heart and mind and life? Look at verse 20 –“So mightily grew the word of God and prevailed.” Wouldn’t you like to see that in your life?
CONCLUSION
Now, to “get to the point” of the sermon, here it is: God wants you to burn your bridges to sin and kill the spider that has spun a web of defeat in your life.
This passage exposed believers who were compromising by involvement with sinful deeds. They had believed in Christ, but still had some secret sins they needed to deal with. What did they do?—They terminated once-and-for-all their involvement with sinful practices. They burned their bridges behind them once-and-for-all and killed the spider good and dead. Isn’t it time you did that this morning?
Let’s have a spiritual bonfire this morning like these Ephesians believers did! What do you need to forsake and put in the fire today?—Evil thoughts? Bitterness? Anger? Hatred? Jealousy? Envy? Materialism? Selfishness? Worry? Lust? Anything that draws you away from holiness, purity and godliness, and diminishes your testimony—that which entices you and tempts you and silences your witness— should be forsaken and burned! Kill the spider, and the tangled cobwebs of sin will cease to enslave you.
Today, I challenge you to burn some bridges and kill some spiders.
