I invite you to take your Bibles at this time and turn to Acts chapter 19, as we want to continue our exposition through this wonderful book of Scripture, a historical book that lays forth for us the chronology of the gospel spreading, churches being planted, and the church of Jesus Christ growing all the way from Jerusalem to the ends of the earth, or as we'll see in the book of Acts, all the way to Rome. And if you've been with us so far in recent chapters, you've been on a journey with us. A journey with the Apostle Paul. Technically, this is his third missionary journey that we're in, in Acts chapter 19. And what we're going to see on this third missionary journey is Christ's powerful ministry through the Apostle Paul in the city of Ephesus. And that powerful ministry that we see in Paul can be true in our Christian lives as well. That's the takeaway for this section today. Now, in case you're wondering where Ephesus is, you won't find on a map modern-day Ephesus, but you will find modern-day Turkey, and that is roughly Asia Minor, where this third missionary journey has been so far. And you can see on the west coast of modern-day Turkey, the town of Ephesus. Here is where Paul stayed for approximately three years. His whole third missionary journey lasted from 53 to 57 AD, in case you want a context for it in terms of year. And while he was on this third missionary journey, he wrote three epistles that are in the scriptures, 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, and Romans. And we'll see portions of those and how they relate to our section in Acts 19 today. But what we're going to see in Acts 19 again is the powerful ministry of Jesus Christ in and through one of his servants, the Apostle Paul, in the city of Ephesus. And this section we're going to study in verses 8-41 breaks down into four main sections. We see in verses 8-10 how the word of Christ resounded from the city of Ephesus as it was preached there, and then it went out and spread into the surrounding areas. We also see Christ's power demonstrated through Paul over evil spirits as there was true spiritual warfare going on. We also see that Paul had plans For future ministry, there's a little section there of just two verses where he spells out where he's going after Ephesus. And then we see Christ's power to protect Paul from a mob in verses 23 through 41. But the main point I want you to see this morning is taken from the epistle that Paul wrote to these same Ephesians who he ministered to for three years. If his third missionary journey was somewhere between 54 and 57 A.D., and he wrote the Epistle to the Ephesians in 60 A.D. or 62, somewhere in that time frame, we know that he wrote Ephesians about five years or so after he was there, ministering to them for several years. And so what he says to them is what he taught them years ago that he is also reminding them about. And in Ephesians 1 in particular, he says that he wants them to know certain things. And note what they are, verse 19. He wants them to know what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe. And as believers in Christ, we have a certain power. What is that? according to the working of His mighty power, which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead, and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places. God wants us to know the power of Jesus Christ in raising Him from the dead, not just so that we would be sure that our bodies are going to be resurrected one day at the rapture when He comes again for us, but so that we can know that power practically in our Christian life from day to day as we face spiritual foes. And even to know that it was that power as well that seated Christ at the right hand of God, the highest place of authority in the universe, far above all principality and power and might and dominion. And that's speaking of more than just human earthly kingdoms and realms. It is speaking of the demonic hosts as well. As Christ is above all power and authority. among creation. He's above every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in that which is to come. And do you see that in verses 19 through 21, the Lord is inviting us, dear believer, to know this? We say, oh, well, that's theoretical truth. That's really good theology, but that doesn't really apply to me practically, does it? Oh, yes, it does. In fact, in Romans 6, it's very clear that the basis of the Christian life goes back to the cross again, where we see that we've died with Christ as Christ died for our sins. He also died for our sin nature to provide us a legal basis of being a victor or a conqueror over the sin nature, which has been stripped of its right to rule in our life. It has been dethroned, defanged, so to speak. And we were identified with Christ in his death, so that as he died, we died with him, the scriptures say. As he was buried, we were buried with him. As he rose, we rose with him. And as he seated, we're seated with him. And even so, our life is hid with Christ in God, and when He appears and comes again for us, we will appear with Him in glory. For we are integrally connected, intimately connected to the Lord Jesus Christ. And in light of that identification truth, We are now to choose to first of all reckon that to be true and secondly then present or yield our bodily members as instruments of righteousness in light of that wonderful truth of who we are in Christ. And as Romans 6 goes on to say, we are also to then obey the Lord as knowing, reckoning and yielding give way to obedience in our Christian life. But as we walk by faith, with the result being an overflow of good works and true righteousness and obedience in the Christian life, as Romans 6 makes clear, as we walk by faith, Jesus Christ is actually abiding in us to produce this power and victory over all our circumstances and opposition. Galatians 2.20 makes this very clear when Paul says, I have been crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. In the life which I live now in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. This is what the Christian life is in essence. And so Paul is telling the Ephesians the same thing he had taught them years before and reminding them of certain truths and as well sharing new truth. But he says in Ephesians 3, verses 16 and 17, that again he wants them to know something. He wants us to be true of them, and thus be true of us in our Christian life as well. That God would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man. And notice, does God want Christian weaklings? Well, it is true. We come to Him as weak vessels. We have to acknowledge that. We don't put our confidence in the flesh, but we are confident Christians, just not in the flesh, because our confidence is in Him. And He gives us spiritual strength. How? Through His Spirit, with the result that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, being rooted and grounded in love. We also see in Ephesians 5.18 that He doesn't want us to be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation or a wasted life, but to be filled with the Spirit. And it is this Spirit-filling, the Christ-indwelling life that gives us power and victory over circumstances and the foes we face in our Christian life. Whether it is the flesh, our sin nature, whether it's the world, or whether it's the devil, the Bible says, regarding all three foes that we face, that it is the cross of Jesus Christ that has felled every foe, chopped them down, so to speak. The cross is the solution and our identification with Christ. With the result that the Christian life is to be lived no longer in our strength, but supernaturally through the strength God provides. And he brings along tests so that we would apply this truth. As I had to apply this last week, and even in the last day, thinking, Lord, I'm not up for this. And he says, I know, just trust me, and I will provide like I always do. and let my power be yours." That's what he's asking us to appropriate, dear believer. It's just like the Zechariah 4.6 principle from the Old Testament, that it's not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord of hosts. And when we're thinking this way, we can be a yielded vessel for His power and glory to manifest through us, so that the power and the excellence may be of God and not of us." 2 Corinthians 4, 7. And when we are thinking this way, we realize we can go forth into the world no matter what it throws at us, no matter what Satan throws at us, no matter how bad our flesh or sin nature may be, and we can say, He who is in me, namely the Holy Spirit and Jesus Christ, is greater than all my foes or what may be in the world. And the reason I say all this is because in our passage this morning in Ephesus, where Paul is in Acts 19, we're going to see that he faces tremendous opposition. He is going to go to one of the world's leading cities. Can you imagine if God called you to go to Tokyo, Mexico City, London, major population center, but also a spiritual stronghold of Satan, where he was in charge of the commerce and the politics of the city, the education of the city, and the religion of the city. And that city would be filled with idolatry, massive temples, and God says to you, go there and share the gospel and lead them to Christ. And by the way, great affliction awaits you. By the way, you will at times even despair of life, having the sentence of death upon you, that my power and my strength may be given to you, so that you would remember that the power that is available to you in Jesus Christ and the Spirit of God is greater than any foe that stands before you. Do you believe that, dear believer? I know you've been taught that here at Duluth Bible Church faithfully over the years, but are you applying that in finding spiritual victory? This is what he offers to us, dear believer, and this is what awaited Paul in Ephesus. Let's begin in Acts 19, verse 8, where it says, by the way, after Apollos had preceded him in ministry there, after Paul had led 12 disciples of John the Baptist to faith in Jesus Christ. That's how this church was founded. He goes on, verse 8, and it says, He went into the synagogue and spoke boldly for three months, reasoning and persuading concerning the things of the kingdom of God. Now, three months is a long time if you've been following along in Acts, and you know that Paul went from town to town to town, and usually the first thing he did was he went to the synagogue first, because to the Jew first, and also to the Greek, Romans 1.16. That was his pattern. But he usually didn't last three months. This was a very large synagogue in the city of Ephesus, probably one of the largest in the ancient empire, as it was a huge population center. A lot of Jews traveled through Ephesus, so there would have been many Jews in this synagogue. Now, what did Paul preach to them? Well, he preached Christ, no doubt. But notice it says here that he also persuaded and reasoned with them about the things of the Kingdom of God." Now, why would a Jew need to know about teaching concerning the Kingdom of God? I thought Paul was just focusing on the Gospel, how Christ died for our sins and rose again and provides eternal life to all who believe in Him. Yes, but if you were a Jew and you knew the Old Testament, you would know that there were The dozens and dozens of promises given to you and to your nation about a coming great kingdom, and all these covenants that would be made with your people, and all those would be fulfilled only through Messiah, who would come back to planet Earth, set up His kingdom, and there would be a glorious age. But how does that fit with a Messiah who has died, and not only died, but been crucified by the Romans? punished as one of the empire's worst criminals. So Paul explains to them how this fits. That all these promises are yet to be fulfilled when Jesus Christ comes back, because He not only died on the cross for all our sins, but He rose from the dead, and right now He sits at the right hand of the Father, and He's waiting for the church age to unfold, and for Jew and Gentile to be saved, and to form His church. And when the last member of the church get saved, God's purposes are fulfilled for the church age, we get caught up at the rapture. Then the tribulation happens for seven years and after that Christ comes back to planet earth and sets up that promised kingdom. So the kingdom is postponed and Jesus Christ is still the rightful Messiah. That's why he preached about the kingdom of God to the Jews. Going on though, verse 9 it says, But when some were hardened and did not believe, but spoke evil of the way before the multitude, he departed from them and withdrew the disciples, reasoning daily in the school of Tyrannus, which by the way means tyrant in Latin. Apparently the guy who founded that school was a real slave driver for a teacher. Can you imagine your teacher being a tyrant? But it was a large school in that area. Some say it met right in the temple area there that we're going to read about with the temple to Diana. But this is where they met daily, learning the word of God. And Paul worked during the day as well, we know from other passages. So he was working, he was also teaching, he was investing in these people in Ephesus. And this is how the church was formed. But some were hardened. And this tells us that the problem is not with the Word of God. The problem is with the condition of the heart. You see, some are soft towards the Lord, like wax in the sun, and the more the sun hits it, the softer the wax gets and it melts. But the sun, divine revelation or truth from God, brings out the condition of the heart. Because others, the more the sun hits them, the harder they get, like clay. And that was true of many of these Jews in the synagogue. What is the condition of your heart here today? Do you have a heart to receive the word of God, a soft and tender heart in which the seed of God's word can fall upon fertile soil? That's what he's looking for in each of us. And so we see that after Paul spoke boldly to the Jews in the Ephesian synagogue for three months, the hearts of the unbelievers were hardened, just like Pharaoh's heart. He's a classic example of this process. And the disciples withdrew to the school of Tyrannus for two years out of Paul's three-year ministry in Ephesus. We know it's three years from Acts 20, verse 31. But actually here in Acts 19 verse 10, it says, He continued for two years there in Ephesus, teaching in the school of Tyrannus daily, so that all who dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks. Both Jews and Greeks. And so we see here that this Ephesian church became to the city it was in and the region around like a spiritual lighthouse or beacon in a very dark world. We know from other passages like 1st Timothy 1.3 that Timothy was later sent to Ephesus to minister after Paul had left. We know by the end of the first century, as John writes the book of Revelation, that there were now churches all over in the cities surrounding Ephesus. the seven churches of Asia Minor, which Jesus addresses in Revelation 2 and 3. But also from verse 10, we see that believers were part of the way, and that they taught the word of the Lord Jesus. Well, what is that in reference to? Well, the way is no doubt in reference to Jesus Christ as the way, the truth, and the life from John 14.6. as there is one particular way in which all people must be reconciled to God and have a relationship with the Creator from whom we are alienated from birth. And the Word of the Lord Jesus, in particular, I believe, is the Word of the Gospel. For when Paul writes this letter to the same church we're talking about here in Acts 19, when he writes Ephesians a few years later, what does he say? Ephesians 1.13 and 14. In whom you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. You see, you can't trust in something that you don't yet know. That's why all men have to hear the wonderful message of the Gospel, which means good news. That's why we are going to fairs and seeking to share the Gospel throughout the week and year, even apart from fairs. And that message is particularly the good news of your salvation. in reference to Jesus Christ, in whom also having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who's the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchase possession to the praise of his glory. The guarantee of your salvation. Before I was saved, I had a hope so salvation, which was no salvation at all. And when I came to understand the gospel message and the word of the Lord Jesus and the way, I came to understand that it's guaranteed by the Lord. It's eternally secure. For as Paul writes later to the Ephesians in chapter two of the same epistle, he says, and you he made alive who were dead in trespasses and sins. And for me, I had to come to realize that I was separated from God because in my thinking as a very religious person before I was saved, I thought, I'm a pretty good guy. If I died today, I'm pretty sure I'd go to heaven. Didn't have 100% assurance, but it's pretty high up the scale, maybe 80, 90% sure. Because that's who I thought I was. Oh, surely I'm good enough to go to heaven. I did not see, however, that I was dead towards God in trespasses and sins. In fact, I shared recently this last week with another brother how, looking back on my salvation, a guy from Campus Crusade shared the gospel with me. And he faithfully told me, Tom, you're spiritually dead and you need to be born again. And if you don't become born again, you will not see the kingdom of God, John 3.3. And you know, in my mind, I wanted to punch him. Seriously, I could still picture it to this day. I saw the lips moving. He's just talking to me like this and I'm picturing my fist in his forehead. You're telling me I'm spiritually dead? But you know what? That's exactly what I needed to hear. I needed to see that I was lost. How could I become born again and have new life in Christ? Unless I saw that I was spiritually dead towards God, separated from a holy God because of my trespasses and sin. but I also needed to see what Christ did for me." So going on, Ephesians 2, 1-3, Paul shares again the bad news before he gets to the good news. He says, "...in which you also walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom we all conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind. And we were by nature not children of God, but children of wrath, just as the others." So this was the lot, the background to the Ephesians that we're going to read about in Acts 19. And they were children of the devil, just as we all are before we're saved. We're not children of God until we become born again. That's the bad news. And the good news begins verse 4, but God, and this is one of those glorious contrasts in scripture. Despite how bad that is, in our B.C. days, the A.D. days are far better. but God, who is rich in mercy because of his great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses." Don't you love that? He didn't wait for us to clean up our act, make ourselves presentable, acceptable to God. No, no. The acceptance comes because of his son, Jesus Christ. And if we trust in him, we get accepted too. Jesus was the one who did it all. He made us alive together with Christ, parentheses, by grace you have been saved. And He raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show or show forth like a trophy the exceeding riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. You might say, well, my life is a mess. was before I was saved, it's still a mess. But I know I'm saved, thank God. I'm going to heaven when I die. Regardless of your walk, God is going to hold you up as a believer in his son one day and say, isn't that great? Look at that. That's a trophy of my grace. And we will glorify the Lord as a result. We will demonstrate and show His kindness, His mercy, His love, all His glorious attributes, so that He gets the praise and credit. And that's why he says, going on in verses 8-10 in this same epistle, Ephesians 2, And this is a passage I had a hard time with as well when someone presented it to me. In fact, the same guy who shared John 3.3, who I wanted to punch. But this passage wore on me over several months, and after about three months, I couldn't deny what it was saying anymore. It clearly showed, Tom, you've got to stop trusting in yourself, trust in Christ alone. And from that point on, I had assurance of salvation. Why? Because I was no longer trying to get my good to outweigh my bad. I saw that Jesus paid for sin in full, and it's like the weight of His work on one end was so heavy that it launched all my sins right out of existence, right out of the picture, no longer in God's sight. But when we come along with our good works and our inconsistent life, it's like putting a feather on the scale to pay for our sins. Thinking of Ephesians 2, 8, and 9, I like how one brother shares the gospel. He told me when he goes to fairs and he goes over Ephesians 2, 8, and 9, he says, you know, everybody says they believe practically. You tell them about Jesus Christ, oh yeah, I believe that. Well, do you really get it that he and he alone is the one you should trust in? So he has this chart that he gives with Ephesians 2, 8, and 9 at the top, and grace on one side and work salvation on the other. And he shows the contrast with Ephesians 2, 8, and 9. For by grace you have been saved through faith. Contrast other column and that not of works, not of yourself. It's the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. And so to get the point really across, he says, well, do you believe that Christ died for your sins, was buried, rose again? And the person says, oh, yeah, I believe that. Well, let me ask you, do you think that you have to go to church one time after you believe in Jesus Christ to make sure you go to heaven? Well, no. Going to church would be a work. Do you have to give $1 to the church after you believe he died for your sins and rose again. Well, no, that would be clearly works. Jesus paid it all, not, not me paying. Okay. Well, let me ask you this. Do you have to repent of your sins? Well, yeah, of course you do. The guy says, oftentimes, uh, do you have to promise to God that you're going to faithfully serve him when you leave here today? Well, yeah. Well, isn't that works too? And so he goes down a list and he says, do you have to persevere to the end? Do you have to remain faithful and not lose your faith? You see, all it takes is a moment of faith to be eternally saved, because God does the saving once we trust him for the very first time, and he keeps us saved. That's eternal security. But oftentimes people think, well, Christ saves, but that means I have to keep holding on to Christ to stay saved. Well, no, then it turns faith into faithfulness, and your faith really becomes a work. Or you become the object of your trust, rather than Jesus Christ. Who's really holding on to who? And so this can be very effective, and I'd encourage you, when you share the Gospel, to not only explain how you are saved, that it's by faith, but also clarify how you're not saved, that it's not by works, and particular works that people seem to be hung up on. And that's why we go over this often at Duluth Bible Church. Because when people's eternal destinies are at stake, can you really be too clear? No, you can't. So this is the word of the Lord Jesus Christ that Paul preached to these Ephesians, later written about in Ephesians 1 and 2. But going on back to Acts 19, We see that after the word of Christ was preached, it says verse 11, Now God worked unusual miracles by the hands of Paul, so that even handkerchiefs or aprons were brought from his body to the sick, and the diseases left them and the evil spirits went out of them. This is an unusual miracle, sort of like in Acts chapter 5, if you recall with Peter, when he would walk by people in Jerusalem and merely his shadow would fall upon them and, wow, they would get healed as a result. And again, the power was not in Peter or Paul themselves, the power was God. That's why I love what this passage says in verse 11, that God worked. It wasn't Paul working, it was God working. As Paul simply trusted or walked by faith, God did all the work. He fought all the battles. And that's very liberating when we approach the Christian life that way. Now what would be the result if God wasn't working, yet Paul tried to do all these things? Well, it would just become a religious operation like so much that we see in Christendom today. A work of the flesh and not a real effective outcome either. And I think there's a principle for us here today, not that we can go and work the miracles that Paul worked, but that we have that same power available to us, the power that raised Jesus Christ from the dead inside of us. Jesus said in John 15, five, apart from me, you can do nothing. But if you abide in me and I abide in you, you will bear much fruit. Spirit of God will produce it. Things like love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness. All those things that Paul lists in Galatians 5.22. You say, again, well I know all that doctrinally. I've heard that before. Well, let me ask you then. Do you have love in your life right now? Do you have joy? Do you have peace? Do you have patience? Well, not really. Are you gentle with others? Well, not, no. In fact, I don't even like you asking. So where's the fruit? It's one thing to know these things, it's another to apply them, dear believer. To lay hold of what's available to you, if you're willing. Are you willing to just trust the Lord and watch him work through you? That was the lesson in Exodus 14 with the parting of the Red Sea, remember? Moses said to the grumbling Israelites behind him, stand still, zip your lips, stop complaining, and watch the Lord work. See the salvation of the Lord. The Lord will go forth and fight for you today. That's the principle here. And just like in Moses and Joshua's day, Elijah and Elisha's day, Jesus' day, so in the apostles' time there were clusters of these unusual miracles that God was using to jumpstart his church and to validate the ministry of Paul and the apostles. By the way, I don't think we can use this story of the handkerchiefs and aprons to justify what are common practices among Pentecostal ministers today. Oftentimes if you watch Pentecostal TV like TVN or other channels, you'll see these programs where the minister gets on and he says, I've anointed a prayer cloth. I've prayed over it. It's a special cloth. And if you send in your love gift for X amount of dollars, I'll send you this special towel or cloth that will have power for you in your life. Now my question is, why don't you just give them out for free? Why do you have to wait for the money to come in? You pay up first and then you get the blessing. Well, that's not how God works. That's not how things worked here in Ephesus with Paul. Paul evidently was laboring as a tent maker or leather maker we saw in a previous study. And by the way, it gets really hot in the Middle East, so he was probably sweating from the brow and he'd throw these sweat rags aside. That's literally what the handkerchiefs and aprons are referring to. And people would pick them up and they noticed, hey, people are getting healed just by touching these things. This is incredible. What was going on in Paul's day is not what is happening today. It was the real deal back in Paul's day. But going on in this passage, it says, verse 13, then some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists took it upon themselves to call the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, we exercise you by the Jesus whom Paul preaches. Boy, that's really authoritative, isn't it? We don't know this guy, Jesus, but we know Paul knows him, and so we're just going to use his name like a spiritual rabbit's foot. And also there were seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, who did so. Now in the city of Ephesus, there was a lot of occultic activity and idolatry, as we'll see. And so a lot of Jews, as they came by, said, hey, look, there's a lot of demonic activity going on here, and hence a need for deliverance. By the way, were there Jewish exorcists in the first century? Not just Christian exorcists? Absolutely. Remember Jesus said in Matthew 12, 27, And if I cast out demons by Beelzebub, who you are accusing me of doing, you Jews, by whom do your sons cast them out? Evidently they were going around trying to do this as well. And here we have a Jewish high chief priest, Sceva, and he had seven sons. And notice what they did. And notice the demon's response, verse 15. And the evil spirit answered and said, Jesus I know, and Paul I know, but who are you? There's no power of the Holy Spirit in unbelievers. The demon was not intimidated. In fact, notice what he did to them. Verse 16, then the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them and overpowered them and prevailed against them so that they fled out of the house naked and wounded. Now, I'm going to give you the graphic here where they're actually clothed. I didn't want to put on the PowerPoint the conclusion to verse 16. But can you picture this in the ancient world? By the way, what kind of clothing did they wear in the ancient world? Usually these togas or whatever they wore was like a towel wrapped around them, right? So if you pulled hard enough on one side, the whole thing came off. I mean, the guy would run away with very little left, right? So the seven sons of Sceva became the seven streaking spectacles in the city of Ephesus. Do you think God has a sense of humor? I think Luke, as he's writing this, recalling the historical event, he is laughing to himself as he puts this down. But despite this serious satanic, demonic conflict going on, there's a little bit of humor here. And so the result of this was that it became known both to all Jews and Greeks dwelling in Ephesus, this incident, with the result that fear fell on them all in a holy reverential way, an awesome fear of God, an appropriate fear of God. And the result was the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified. Think of what that word magnified means. It means to blow something up bigger and bigger. Jesus Christ became bigger in the estimation of the lost world. as a result of believers being willing to be a vessel for God to use for His power. As the Holy Spirit's ministry, when He fills us, where does He put the spotlight? Jesus Christ. And if you are being a yielded vessel in your Christian life, people are going to see Jesus Christ, dear believer, and He's going to get magnified and glorified. That's what happened here. And I think the Lord used this example of the seven sons of Sceva the seven streakers, to provide a contrast with the bankrupt Jewish tradition that was being held to by these hardened Jews there in the large city and synagogue of Ephesus. and he used it in contrast to magnify Jesus Christ to both Jews and Greeks. Notice twice in the passage here we see the emphasis on both Jews and Greeks. Jews and Greeks. Why does he say that? Because remember what God was doing there in the city of Ephesus, He was uniting formerly separated Jews who thought they were too good to dwell with dirty Gentiles. He says, I'm going to bring them together in one body in Christ. And it's going to be through the cross that's going to break down the middle wall of separation, Ephesians 2 says, and form in one body. the church, one new man, that Ephesians 3 also describes. And this was something new in this dispensation of grace that the Lord was doing, unlike the dispensation of law, which Israel was operating under here. So again, we see the transitional nature of the book of Acts and what is unfolding here, moving from law to grace. But going on in the passage, we see in verse 18, It says, and many who believed came confessing and telling their deeds, no doubt their deeds about the occult. Also, many of those who had practiced magic brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all. Now these books were not like Books with a spine like we have today, that form of book writing and containing documents really didn't become prevalent until after the first century. So when you see books, think scroll. They had these scrolls in their homes, and on them they had incantations, they had magic formulas, they had things like that. And believers still had these in their homes. And apparently, because of the righteous fear of the Lord that they had, and seeing the contrast of what these seven sons of Sceva had done to them, and the demonic realm, these believers got convicted in a good way and said, you know what, we shouldn't even have these things in our homes. Because what's going to happen? Oh, we might want to use them for reference later. Well, you know what? These documents we used before to invoke demons, we don't want anyone playing with that. The best way to get rid of it is just to burn it. So they had a bonfire. Now, some people have used this passage and said, see, this is a proof text for why we should go out and burn books like Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn and things like that. Book burnings. And that's happened down through history. Now if you want to burn a book, go ahead. I'll skip the funny story I was going to tell you. I've actually burned some books in my past and it was, I actually regretted it later because I wanted to go back and get those books to use for reference, but too late, they were already burned so I had to pay for them again. But the difference between a lot of these public book burnings that have happened historically is you get a mob of citizens all worked up, and then they compel others to do the same, and it becomes this enforced thing oftentimes. Here, what we see in Ephesus, this is entirely voluntary among these believers saying, you know what? This is not good. This is interfering between me and my walk with the Lord. In fact, the result of this, of these supernatural events among the Ephesian believers was separation from occultic practices and greater practical sanctification. As we are justified at a point in time, saved from the penalty of sin, declared righteous in the sight of God, God wants us to be separated more and more unto him, set apart unto him, that's sanctification from sin to him. in a practical way and we grow in that throughout our Christian life until one day at glorification will be entirely set apart from the very presence of sin. And this is a process that goes on as part of our spiritual growth. You know, thinking of sanctification, 2 Corinthians 6 says this, verses 14 and following, do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. And I don't think that means you can't have a co-worker who's an unbeliever. You can't be on the same sports team with an unbeliever. I mean, this can go too far, right? I think what it means is don't have any pretense to fellowship or worship with someone who's not even really saved. This is a spiritual context for this passage. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? And what accord has Christ with Belial, a name for the devil? And so these believers in Ephesus were saying, look, we used to have our tarot cards and our Ouija boards, and we realized, well, that was just a doorway to the demonic realm and evil spirits. How can we be walking according to the Spirit of God, filling us in our Christian life, with these practices as well. They're inconsistent. So they had no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, Ephesians 5.11, but rather they exposed them. And they grew in the process of sanctification as a result by God's grace. And what was the result of all this as well? We see in Acts 19 verse 20, that the word of the Lord grew mightily and prevailed. You see, the more and more we yield ourselves for the Lord to use, the more His Word can go forth from us, and the more Jesus Christ and His Word prevail and are magnified. Now what effect did this have regarding God's Word? That it grew and prevailed. Well, secondly we see that it also was used, these incidents were used, to confirm the authority and authenticity of the Apostle Paul and his ministry. 2 Corinthians 12.12 says, truly the signs of an apostle were wrought among you in all patience, in signs and wonders and mighty deeds. The average minister couldn't go out and do the same things Paul did. So when Paul did a miracle like that and it was extraordinary, It gave authority to the books that he wrote that have been added to the Old Testament and are now New Testament revelation. We now have a collection of Paul's epistles. So he backed up what he wrote and taught by the miracles that he did, or the Lord did through him. And this was all predicted, as Mark says at the end of his gospel in Mark 16, 20, that they went out and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them. Notice it's the Lord doing it again. And the Lord did this. He confirmed the word through the accompanying signs. That's what we see in the book of Acts as well. Now going on, verse 21, back to Acts 19, we see a little shift here in a new section. We see Paul's future ministry plans. And when these things were accomplished, 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. And he sent into Macedonia two of those who ministered to him, Timothy and Erastus, but he himself stayed in Asia for a time. So we see Paul's thought, his plan in verse 21. We see he sends out two men in advance of that plan, but he stays back in Ephesus. But where was he planning to go? Macedonia and Achaia, or Greece. and he would go there as we'll see in future chapters very shortly. But notice he says here in verse 21 that it was necessary for him to do these things. He felt called and compelled by the Lord to go to these certain places and certainly it was necessary for him to go to Rome, that was part of God's divine plan right from the very beginning as he would testify before kings and those in authority. including Caesar himself. There's question as to whether or not it was God's plan for him to go to Jerusalem at this time, as we'll see in Acts 21. But nevertheless, this is where he would go. He'd circle back to Macedonia and Achaia or Greece. He also sent ahead a team, Timothy and Erastus, to take up a collection on behalf of the Gentile believers, who would give this collection to Paul and his team so that when he went to Jerusalem, he could give it as a love gift to the church there of Jewish believers. And it was a show of agape love and unity between Jewish believers and Gentile believers. Now if you were to read Romans 15 where he talks about this, you would see again Paul has plans to go to Rome. He's writing to them saying, I want to come to you, but I've been prevented at this point. And he also mentions going to Spain. Does the New Testament ever say Paul went to Spain? No. It says he wanted to go there. So many people think there was a fourth missionary journey of Paul after Acts 28. It's not recorded in the New Testament. We know at the end of Acts, he gets released from prison there by Caesar. He's cleared of charges. He's free to go out. He has a few more years before he's re-imprisoned and martyred. And in that interval between his first Roman imprisonment and his second Roman imprisonment, many think that's when he probably went to Hispania, another region of the ancient Roman Empire. But again, that's speculation. We don't know. However, we do know he did go to Rome, just not as he planned. He envisioned himself going to the Roman church, having fellowship among them, sitting down, singing, eating together, and so forth, teaching with them. I don't think he envisioned going there in chains, as he will when he sees them. Now, what does all this imply about God's will in our Christian life? Well, it's a reminder to us that we can make plans, but God has the eraser, and so we make our plans in pencil, right? That's why we need to think in terms of James 4, verses 13 and following. Come now, you who say, today or tomorrow, and we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit. whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. Instead, you ought to say, if the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that. Because we don't know what tomorrow holds, dear believer. We can plan, but we have to let the Lord direct our steps from day to day. As we're a yielded vessel, walking by faith, then we can know and do His will. but oftentimes we don't know what lies around the bend, so to speak. That is set up by Him and His sovereignty. Now the last section we see here in Acts 19 is a very powerful section dealing with mob violence, as we go back there. Paul has made his plans, there's been some spiritual battle going on, and Jesus Christ has been magnified so far. But now Satan is going to drum up a crowd to presumably attack Paul so as to end his life in verses 23 through 41. And there are some things we need to know before we look at these verses. We need to know some facts about the city of Ephesus first of all. And here are some facts about it. It had a population of about 250,000 at the time, and that's a conservative estimate. I've seen others higher than that figure. What that tells us is that this was the third largest city in the Roman Empire, right behind Rome itself and Alexandria, Egypt. So it was a very prominent city. And Ephesus was the capital of that Roman province of Asia, what we call Asia Minor today. Don't think, you know, Japan, China, that kind of Asia. This was an Asia of the Roman Empire, considered east of Rome. It was also deemed a free city in the eyes of Rome. That means this city could run itself. In essence, it was trusted by the Romans. In Ephesus they had their own Senate and their own legal proceedings and such. And this was a privileged status that some cities had, but it could be lost if Rome didn't think you were operating your city well enough. And that comes into play in our story in just a moment. And as you can tell, it was very Roman in its architecture. This is what it's depicted to be now. It had a great arena. It had an amphitheater. You can see its temples and buildings and such looked very Roman. It was also the commercial hub. of Asia because it was right there on the western coast of Asia Minor. It also had a river going by it and it was along a strategic trade route to the east. So a lot of traffic came through Ephesus, which by the way would mean it's a great place to share the gospel, to set up a little table and have a John 3 16 banner and say, would you like to hear the greatest news the world has ever heard? However, this city was also the center of idolatry in Asia Minor, with the temple of Diana, as we're going to read about in our English translation. And the name for Diana is just Latin for the Greek goddess Artemis, as her name is stated in Greek. And that temple that we're going to read about there in Ephesus was unbelievable. It was massive. In fact, it's even hard to wrap my mind around it as I came to find these figures. Think of the size of an American modern football field. How big is a football field? Well, we know it's 100 yards long, right? So it's at least 300 feet long. But then when you add the end zones and such, you're looking at about 360 feet long. And then how wide is it across? About 160 feet wide. you could take a modern American football field and put it inside of the temple to Diana and still have plenty of room left on the ends and the side. According to one ancient writer named Pliny of the first century, he said that this temple was 425 feet long by 225 feet wide and 60 feet high. And it was surrounded by 127 columns that were each six feet wide at the base. That's staggering. It was the largest building in the ancient world, and no wonder it was considered one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. And so if you went to Ephesus as a traveler, you didn't want to miss going to the Temple of Diana, just to behold it with the eye gate. And if you went inside the Temple of Diana, you would see a 50-foot tall statue of the goddess herself, made out of gold and ivory. And so the worship of Diana was known all throughout the ancient world. In fact, there have been about 30 other temples to Diana that have been discovered in the Mediterranean world. Now as massive and magnificent as this structure is, here's what remains of it. One column, a partial column, there in modern day Turkey. And isn't that an object lesson to us? that when you built upon the sands of the flesh, the world, the devil, it's all gonna go away. But what is done through abiding in Jesus Christ and the Spirit of God and Jesus Christ in and through us, that lasts forever. So we read, going on, Acts 19, verse 23, and about that time there arose a great commotion about the way. For a certain man named Demetrius, a silversmith, who made silver shrines of Diana, brought no small profit to the craftsmen." Remember they had basically trade unions back then too, and the silversmiths had their own union. And it was this teaching about the way was hitting them in the pocketbook and they didn't like it, verse 25. And Demetrius called together with the workers of similar occupation and said to them, men, you know that we have our prosperity by this trade. Moreover, you see in here that not only at Ephesus, but throughout almost all Asia, this Paul, you can almost see the contempt or hear it in his voice, this Paul has persuaded and turned away many people, saying that they are not gods, which are made with hands. So not only is this trade of ours in danger, of falling into disrepute, our careers are in jeopardy, but also the temple of the great goddess Diana may be despised and her magnificence destroyed, whom all Asia and the world worship." Note what it said there in verse 26, it's very important. Did Paul ignore idolatry in towns that he went to? Well, we've already seen from Acts that he didn't. He called idolatry out. because it stood in the way of the genuine worship that Jesus Christ is worthy of. In fact, he exposed idolatry, just as he says to do in Ephesians 5.11. Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them. And this became a great threat to the polytheistic religion of the Ephesian Gentiles. Now, throughout most of Acts, we've seen thus far that the problem of religion mainly lies with the Jews who opposed Paul's teaching. But now it's the Gentiles here in Ephesus. They had their stronghold, and Paul's teaching of the gospel was a threat to that. By the way, who is behind all religion and idolatry? We're told in 1 and 2 Corinthians, in these passages, that it is clearly Satan, the god, small g, of this world system. And that is why when the Lord calls us to go up against the empires of the world that are under great satanic forces, we have to realize that we in and of ourselves are no match for that, as demons are far smarter and more powerful than we are, just like the holy angels. Yet, don't forget the one who indwells you, dear believer. That's why Paul said to these Ephesians to be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might and to put on the full armor of God. Each piece is a spiritual piece of armor that is more than sufficient for every foe we face. So going on, verse 28, it says, Now when these silversmiths heard all this, they were full of wrath, and they cried out, saying, Great is Diana of the Ephesians! So the whole city was filled with confusion and rushed into the theater with one accord, having seized Gaius and Aristarchus, Macedonians, Paul's travel companions. And when Paul wanted to go in to the people there in the theater, the disciples would not allow him, no doubt to preserve his life. And I can just picture this as well. Paul's thinking, hey, look, we've got the whole amphitheater here in Ephesus filled up with an audience. Who cares if they're preaching Great is Diane of the Ephesians? Look at them all. Here's my opportunity to share the gospel with 25,000 people. And Paul's companions pull him back and say, there's a time to preach the gospel, Paul, and there's a time to be quiet, and we're going to save your life right now. But you can just see the heart of the Apostle Paul here, can't you? Then some of the officials of Asia, the Asiarchs as they're called, who were his friends in high-ranking places, sent to him pleading that he would not venture into the theater. They saw it as a threat too. Now why? Well, this is the remains. It's been restored quite a bit of the ancient amphitheater there in Ephesus. Again, this was huge. It seated at least 24,000 people. Now, put that in perspective. How many of you have ever been to a Timberwolves game down at the Target Center? That place holds 20,000. The XL Energy Center, where the Minnesota Wild play hockey, holds 18,000. This held 24,000 people. This was a mob. Preaching great is Diana of the Ephesians for two hours. Verse 32, some therefore cried out one thing and some another for the assembly was confused and most of them didn't even know why they had come together. It's kind of like in junior high when you'd see a mob forming. Everybody would run over and more people would join the mob. What's going on? Oh, I think I heard there's going to be a fight. Nothing. This is how mobs often form. Verse 33, and they drew Alexander out of the multitude. Why? Because he was a Jew, evidently. Remember, the Jews were against idolatry too, though they weren't very effective in reaching a Gentile world. And the Jews, putting him forward then, and Alexander motioned with his hand and wanted to make his defense to the people, like, be quiet, I want to speak. But when they found out that he was a Jew, guess what? They cranked up the volume. And all with one voice cried out for two hours, great is Diana of the Ephesians, to drown him out. Verse 35, and when the city clerk had quieted the crowd, by the way, a city clerk back then, you know, don't think of somebody behind a desk, you know, getting paid slightly above minimum wage working down at City Hall. That's not the city clerk we're talking about here. The term city clerk actually refers to somebody who is essentially the mayor. So the mayor of Ephesus basically shows up and with his authority says, this has got to stop. He said, men of Ephesus, what man is there who does not know that the city of Ephesians is temple guardian of the great goddess Diana and of the image which fell down from Zeus. See, in Greek mythology, Diana, or Artemis, was the daughter of Zeus and sister to Apollos. So she was a very high-ranking god in the pantheon of Greek deities. Verse 36, Therefore, since these things cannot be denied, you ought to be quiet and do nothing rashly. For you have brought these men here who are neither robbers of temples, and by the way, back then, temples were the banks, because they were big, and you weren't going to, you know, bulldoze them over or anything. And so they actually had banks right in the temple, and that's where they stored their money, and it was secure. But these men are not robbers of temples, nor are they blasphemers of your goddess." Now that's an interesting statement. And I've thought about this for a minute. Verse 26, Paul clearly preached against idolatry, but apparently he had not transgressed in a legal sense against the goddess Artemis. So he was careful as a missionary when he went there. He preached Christ more than anything. He didn't seek to single out Diana per se. And the point is, he has done nothing wrong illegally. Therefore, he says, if Demetrius or his fellow craftsmen have a case against anyone, the courts are open and there are pro-councils, let them bring charges against one another. There's a legal way to handle this. But if you have any other inquiry to make, it shall be determined in the lawful assembly. For we are in danger of being called in question for today's uproar, i.e., by the Roman authorities, there being no reason which we may give to account for this disorderly gathering." In other words, we may have our free city status revoked if Rome thinks there's a mob forming here and we can't control it. And when he had said these things, he dismissed the assembly. And note this, after the uproar had ceased, Paul called the disciples to himself, embraced them, and he departed for Macedonia. So this riot marks the exclamation point, the emphatic conclusion to Paul's ministry there in Ephesus. Now, just as a historical note to keep in mind as we study the book of Acts, that remember, I think Acts is basically a defense document for Paul as he goes and stands trial before Caesar in Rome. Luke wrote up part one, the Gospel of Luke, part two. The Book of Acts. That's why so much of Acts is about Paul, and so much of it seems like a legal defense, because I think it was. And so this is a very important situation that is carefully described where Theophilus or even Caesar could send and verify all the things that Paul is saying here, that Paul is not an insurrectionist. He's not the troublemaker that he's being made out to be by those who are opposed to the gospel. So keep that in mind in the historical context of Acts. Now, what can we learn from Paul's ministry in Ephesus about God's power to deliver? In Romans 16, verses 3 and 4, it mentions Aquila and Priscilla, that other couple who supported Paul in Ephesus. And it says in that passage that they risked their lives for Paul at Ephesus. We don't know how. Perhaps they were here in this mob and they restrained Paul and shielded him from bodily harm, but they are commended for this in the Word of God. Likewise, in 1 Corinthians 15, verse 32, Paul says, I fought with wild beasts at Ephesus in a chapter dealing with the resurrection and how God can preserve our lives. We don't know if that's literal beasts or figuratively in reference to this angry mob. In 1 Corinthians 16 verses 8 and 9, he says that he had many adversaries there in the city of Ephesus. But who stood with Paul? The Lord. And the power that was with Paul was greater than anything he faced. Paul's power came from trusting in the God who raises the dead. And this is the last passage we'll look at today. 2 Corinthians 1 verses 8 through 10. Paul says, I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, of our trouble which came to us in Asia. That would be Asia Minor and no doubt Ephesus. That we were burdened beyond measure, above strength, so that we despaired even of life. Do you ever feel that way? We all do. Yes, we had the sentence of death in ourselves. And why does God allow trials like that and for us to be in those situations? That we should not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead, who delivered us from so great a death and does deliver us in whom we trust that he will still deliver us. This lesson in Ephesus was powerful for Paul going forward, that he could trust in the resurrection power of his God, no matter what he faced. That is the power available to all of us as well. Let's pray. Father, thank you for your word today and for these vivid lessons we see from the life of the Apostle Paul. And though we're not miracle workers or apostles like him, we still have the same person of the Lord Jesus in the Spirit of God available to us today. I pray for us as saints at Duluth Bible Church that this truth would grip us, that it would transform us, and that you would be magnified through it all in your Son. We pray this now in his name. Amen.