We continue our studies in the rise and progress of Christianity through the ages, and we come this evening to Paul's encounter with the unruly mob in Ephesus after over two years of successful ministry in that city. And we will consider something of heathenish and Christian zeal compared. beginning with verse 21 of chapter 19. We'll read through to the end of the chapter, and then I'll come back and make some comment on the verses where comment and explanation are necessary, and then draw two or three lessons from it. After these things were ended, 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. So he sent into Macedonia two of them that ministered unto him, Timotheus and Erastus. But he himself stayed in Asia for a season. And the same time there arose no small stir about that way. For a certain man named Demetrius, a silversmith, which made silver shrines for Diana brought no small gain unto the craftsman, whom he called together with the workmen of like occupation, and said, Sirs, you know that by this craft we have our wealth. Moreover, you see and hear that not alone at Ephesus, but almost throughout all Asia, this Paul hath persuaded and turned away much people, saying that they be no gods which are made with hands. so that not only is our craft in danger, to beset it not, but also that the temple of the great goddess Diana should be despised, and her magnificence should be destroyed, whom all Asia and the world worshipeth. When they heard these sayings, they were full of wrath and cried out, saying, Great is Diana of the Ephesians! The whole city was filled with confusion, and having caught Gaius and Aristarchus, men of Macedonia, Paul's companions in travel, they rushed with one accord into the theater. And when Paul would have entered in unto the people, the disciples suffered him not. And a certain of the chief of Asia, which were his friends, sent unto him, desiring him that he would not adventure himself into the theater. Some therefore cried one thing, and some another. For the assembly was confused, and the more part knew not wherefore they were come together. And they drew Alexander out of the multitude, the Jews putting him forward. And Alexander beckoned with a hand, and would have made his defense unto the people. But when they knew that he was a Jew, all with one voice, about the space of two hours, cried out, Great is Diana! of the Ephesians. When the town clerk had appeased the people, he said, Ye men of Ephesus, what man is there that knoweth not how that the city of the Ephesians is a worshipper of the great goddess Diana, and of the image which fell down from Jupiter? Seeing then that these things cannot be spoken against, ye ought to be quiet, and do nothing rashly. For ye have brought hither these men, which are neither robbers of churches, nor yet blasphemers of your goddesses. Wherefore, if Demetrius and the craftsmen which are with him have a matter against any man, the law is open, and there are deputies, let them implead one another. But if ye inquire anything concerning other matters, it shall be determined in a lawful assembly. For we are in danger to be called in question for this day's uproar. there being no cause whereby we may give an account of this concourse. And when he had thus spoken, he dismissed the assembly. There is nothing that will bring the wrath of man down upon the Church and the gospel of Jesus Christ any more readily than when that gospel begins to affect the economy of a population. And this is exactly that which is now taking place in Ephesus. For the preaching of Paul there for approximately two years and a half has created one of the strongest churches in the Gentile world, a church strong in sound and doctrinal content as can be seen from the reading of the Ephesian epistle. Now, after this long period of time where Paul has enjoyed great peace and has won the favor of men in high places in that city, Those who made great wealth by merchandising idols had become affected in their business, and so as a result make an attempt to create a riot against the Apostle Paul and the Christians. This is what we have recorded in these verses. Coming back to verse 21, we see that first of all, Paul's ministry has ended. He is through with his labors in Asia. and in Ephesus in particular. And as a result, it is his purpose to go on through Macedonia and Achaia to Jerusalem, where, making contact there in Jerusalem with the brethren, he then would purpose to go on to Rome. This is a great ambition of the Apostle Paul that has burned in his heart from the very beginning. He has told us that Satan has hindered his going there. And then circumstances have hindered his going there. And when finally, praying that he would be permitted to go to Rome, he is allowed to do so, it is in chains and bonds, as a prisoner on his way to appeal to Caesar, to be tried by Caesar in order to obtain his freedom. As we shall see, the Book of Acts ends with Paul's first journey to Rome. And we have every reason to believe that He was delivered from that imprisonment and then came back and continued his work, which resulted in a second arrest, which resulted in his going to Rome again, which resulted, of course, in his martyrdom, where he was decapitated for the gospel's sake, under the reign of Nero, who was then Caesar, who was possibly the worst and most brutal of all the Caesars that had reigned over the Roman Empire. But it was the right of a Roman citizen, however unimportant he might be considered to appeal to Caesar. This meant, then, that he would be personally heard by the Caesar himself, because the Caesar was a man who had no enviable position in view that he had to not only try to run an empire without a cabinet that was as large as the United States of America, If you can visualize the President of the United States trying to assume full responsibility of this vast nation without a cabinet and without those who would be his deputies to work for him. He was also head of the Army. He also or something like a prime minister, in that he had to sit in the Senate and there regulate the Senate in its activities, but at the same time, if there was agreement, any citizen had a right to go to the Caesar and lay his case out before the Caesar and allow the Caesar to make the decision as to whether he was guilty or not. Now, it is no wonder, as one historian has said, that the Caesars usually ended up becoming totally or perverted in other ways, and that their lives and health were broken, having to spend twenty hours or more per day in administration of the empire. For example, it was Augustus that was going out of the city on one occasion in a chariot to join his armies to put down an uprising, when suddenly a woman stopped the chariot and said, I appeal to Caesar. And he said to her, Woman, can't you see that I am involved in matters more important? And she came back with this reply, If you then as Caesar are too occupied to listen to the grievances of your citizens, then it's time for you to cease being Caesar. At which time he thought the carriage got out and sat down and heard her case in detail. These men had no easy task. whatsoever. So Paul would make his appeal to the Caesar. Here we are beginning to move into the fulfillment of that desire where Paul would go into Rome. Then we go on to note that in anticipation of his going on to Jerusalem, having ended his work there in Ephesus, he sends his companions on ahead of him into Macedonia. Timothy in But he stayed in Asia for a season, probably to make sure that everything was in order before he took his leave from them. It was at this point, with his ministry being finished, that God lifted his restrained hand and allowed the people to express the rebellion of their heart. So we read in verse 23, and at the same time that Paul was making these preparations to leave, there arose no small stir about that way. Now that statement, that way, has reference both to the Lord Jesus Christ and to the Christian faith. Christ himself said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. So this is a great stir, a great antagonism, against the Lord Jesus Christ and against his truth. And so there was a great stir about that way. And in verse 24 we are introduced to the instigator of that stir. There was a certain man named Demetrius. Now, we don't know a great deal about Demetrius, and the common haters are totally divided about any identification of this man. But Demetrius was a silversmith, and it is here said that he made silver slimings for Diana, which brought him no small gain or brought him in great wealth as a result of his craftsmanship. Now, this simply meant that Demetrius was a silversmith who was in the business of casting likenesses to the temple or the shrine built in honor of Diana. And then these were sold at large sums of money to those who worshiped this goddess. Now, in our Bible, the word Diana appears in the original text as more in keeping that the name is Artemis rather than Diana, and the reason for the mixture is that the Romans worshipped Diana and the Greeks worshipped Artemis. And once Rome took Greece over, it was nothing for one goddess to be identified with the other. But Diana was always a beautiful goddess who was armed with bow and arrow and shield, whereas Artemis was a many-breasted goddess. In other words, it was an image of a woman with breasts all over her body, showing the fruitfulness of nature. And so she was a fertility goddess, to whom was sacrificed all kinds of orgies for the purpose of fertility and prosperity. because of her being identified here with Jove, or Jupiter, and the tradition that her image fell out of the heavens, more fitting that this is Artemis, the many-breasted goddess, because the image that was worshipped around Ephesus and the images still remain to this day that were cast in silver were of the many-breasted goddess Artemis. And so this man, simply along with his jewel, silver-smith gild made images to the goddess and also of the shrine. As a result, Demetrius called together the workmen of light occupation and said to them, Sir, as you know, that by this craft we have our wealth. Now, you will see at this point that Demetrius himself is not concerned with his personal devotion to Diana. This doesn't even enter into It's only secondarily that he brings up the fact that her majesty and excellence is being questioned, and that in order to win over those who might have a religious attachment to her. Undoubtedly, the only interest that Demetrius had was the money. He got out of playing upon the superstitions of the people in that day in making idols for them. So he calls the craftsmen together, the workmen that work in silver. And he says moreover, you see and hear, that not alone at Ephesus, but almost throughout all Asia, this Paul, this Paul, that's the language of this respect, degradation, this Paul, hath persuaded and turned away much people, saying that they be no gods which are made with hands. Again, their concern with Paul was not that he was being instrumental in the hand of God in tearing down this idolatry by bringing men to true faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, but by the fact that through his preaching many people were being persuaded away from idolatry. And the more people who gave up idolatry, as a result, ceased buying his energy. And so he was constantly in danger of losing his material wealth. So he says there be no gods which are made with hands. So that not only this our craft is in danger to be set at naught, this being his major concern, but in the event there are those devoted to the worship of Diana, but also that the temple of the great goddess Diana should be despised and her magnificence should be destroyed whom all Asia and the world worship it. Now, she was considered the chief of the goddesses, and when they say, Great is Diana of the Ephesians, the title Great is a title. Not simply their chanting that she's great, but this is a title. Like we speak of the Almighty God, then she was the Great Diana. This was a title that belonged to her. So he now appeals to those that are attached by saying the Temple is despised and her magnificence is being destroyed. When we were in the south of France, it means, I believe it was, which was a Roman city, That had been built prior to the time of Christ, where you had your Roman baths that were still there, the large Roman amphitheater that was still there, being used at the present time for bullfights, where the Roman theater that was used prior to the time of Christ was still being used for productions. a shrine to Diana. It was not an elaborate thing, just a stone shrine that went up, and then inside they would place an image of Diana, very much like Roman Catholic shrines of today, where they would put a doll or an image and come and do homage to it. So this is probably what the Temple was similar to, a shrine where they had this little image that they claimed had fallen out of the heavens, which we'll look at in a moment. So in verse 28, he says, And when they heard these sayings, that is, these members of the guild of silversmiths, they were full of wrath, and cried out, saying, Great is Diana of the Ephesians. So they pledged their allegiance and described greatness to her. Furthermore, in the next verse, the whole city was filled with confusion. These men had created the effect that they desired by bringing about confusion within the city. And the people, as a result, caught Gaius and Aristarchus, men of Macedonia, Paul's companions in travel, those who aided him in the establishment of churches, and they rushed with one accord into the theater. Now, I agree with J. Alexander in his commentary that the language here seems to tell us that they did not go out and deliberately and willfully hunt down Gaius and Aristarchus and drag them into the theater as if they were going to try them, because they left Paul along with them. When Paul was advised by especially one of the chief men of the city not to go down to the theater, no one came at them. They knew where he was, he did not hide himself. But the picture is that there is such massive confusion that these two men of God, these companions of Paul, were there in the city, and as they rushed into the theater, they just grabbed them and went in with them as well, so that they were caught up into the mob and with the mob and carried inside of the theater. Now again, we must remember that a theater that is spoken of in the Bible was not a theater as we think a theater to be in our own time where you're going to sit down in a seat and you look on a stage and you watch a production. This was an amphitheater. It was like the theaters where the gladiators fought. And it was the theaters where, because of the tiers of seats round about a circle, the people would gather in public meetings. for public announcements and things of that nature. It was where they had their sports and other matters. This is the kind of theater that they rushed into at this time for a public meeting. We are told in verse 30 that when Paul would have entered in unto the people, the disciples suffered him not. In other words, Paul would have voluntarily and willingly gone down into that crowd to speak to them, but his disciples wouldn't let him go. And a certain of the chief of Asia, and who this is we are not told, which were his friends, sent unto him desiring him that he would not adventure himself into the sea. Now, this word chief, chief of Asia, has reference to a class of men who were elected on a yearly basis, who had to finance themselves. which means that they were men of high standing and of wealth, to supervise the offering up of sacrifices and religious ceremonies and also the games that were carried on within the field. Now, whether these men were converted at this time or not, we don't know. But we do know by the writings of the early Church Fathers that by the second century And into the third century, the theologians and the ministers were writing instructions how these chiefs were to perform their duties without infringing upon their Christian testimony, their Christian faith. So it may be that this man in particular, and some of these in general, had come under a knowledge of the gospel through Paul. But at any rate, Whomever this may be, he is said to be a friend of Paul. They, in the plural, are his friends, sent unto him desiring him that he would not adventure himself into the field. This gives us an insight into the ministry of Paul. Paul's ministry was not limited simply to the down and out, simply to the persons who have not. Because here are men who hold the highest positions of respect and of wealth in the city of Ephesus, coming to his aid at a time when he would endanger his life by making a public appearance. Furthermore, we are told in other places that many who believed under Paul's ministry were members of Caesar's household. And that statement, Caesar's household, does not simply mean slaves who served the Caesar. nor members of his immediate family, it has reference to his official cabinet. This means, then, that those who held positions in government in Caesar's cabinet were Christians, had been brought to a knowledge of the gospel. Continuing in dissuading him from going into the theater, we are brought back now to the where Luke tells us that some therefore cried one thing and some another. Which simply means that these people who were stirred up emotionally and swept into the theater didn't even know the reason for their gathering there. For some were chanting one thing and others were chanting something else. They were not at all aggrieved because they didn't know why they were there. And it shows how quickly mobs can be stirred up. and put into action, not even knowing the purpose for that action which they take part in. Now we read, the assembly was confused, and the lower part, that means the greater part, knew not wherefore they were come together. They didn't even know what the argument was. They were just on the bandwagon. They loved the crowds. And they drew Alexander out of the multitude, the Jews putting him forward. And Alexander beckoned with the hand and would have made his defense unto the people. Now, this may be Alexander the coppersmith. Well, Demetrius the silversmith, and you remember Paul, tells us in his epistles that he was set upon by wicked men who would have destroyed him, and he names Alexander the coppersmith. Here it seems that Alexander the coppersmith is put to the forefront by the Jews, not by the Latriots, not by the Greeks, not by the Romans, in interest of Diana, but by the Jews who would have defended the position of the Jews against the teachings of the Apostle Paul. Therefore, to stir the Jews up in antagonism against the Christian faith. So Alexander is now put forth in defense of the position of the Jews, but when they, that is the Romans and the Greeks that were stirred up over Diana, knew that he was a Jew, all of one voice about the space of two hours cried, great is Diana of the Ephesians. So you can imagine the confusion of Alexander, who probably was a man of great prestige, standing there trying to make a speech while the mob chanted Grace is dine of the Ephesians for two hours. Now, you could have had a real charismatic movement to grow out of that because there's nothing that will move the emotions and bring one to an ecstatic state like a chant over a long period of time by hundreds of voices. And this is what was being done here in Ephesus. However, at the end of this two-hour period, the town clerk appeased the people, that is, he quietened them down. He got their attention and he was able then to reason with them and to point out the danger in which they had placed the whole city of Ephesus in particular and Asia in general. Now, the word town clerk does not convey the real dignity of that man. Something like Secretary of State would be more like the position which he occupied, because he was not simply a town clerk down in the mayor's office who kept the records. This was the man who was in charge of all official records as though he were the Secretary of State in Asia for the Caesar. He held a tremendous position of authority. This is why he could get their attention. So the town clerk now pleads for the cause of Paul, by no means a Christian. Here is the strange hand of God. Now, the town clerk appeased the people. He said, "'Ye men of Ephesus, what man is there that knoweth not how that the city of the Ephesians is a worshipper of the great goddess Diana?' There's a little bit of sarcasm there. He said, you've been chanting for two hours, Glory is Diana of the Ephesians. Now you tell me, he said, what man is there here that's ignorant of the fact that the Ephesians worshiped Diana? And it shows that he's a true politician and an orator. So he goes on to say, and of the image which fell down from Jupiter, of Job's image. Now, the tradition is that a wooden image of this mini-breasted goddess, with breasts all over her body, had survived several temples. These temples had been destroyed by weather, storms, earthquakes, armies. and that this image had survived generation after generation until eventually, with the rebuilding of the temples, tradition built up that this image had fallen down out of the heavens from the hand of Jupiter, or Jove. And so miraculously given, and this is why it had not been destroyed. And of course, which gave great power to the superstition that she was a goddess. At the same time, there was more than likely a meteorite that had fallen to the ground, which stone might have been kept with her for a long time, or might have been kept there at that time, also being claimed as an image that had fallen down from Jupiter. Because all superstitions, all superstitions are a perversion of facts. So that if you go far enough behind legend and mythology and superstition, you'll find in fact what it was that created that, you see. And so this is how this undoubtedly had grown to be. Well, continuing, the town clerk says, seeing then that these things cannot be spoken against. That image has survived, Temple. If it fell down out of heaven, as it's what we say it is, it can't be heard. whom speak against it. You ought to be quiet and do nothing rashly. Now, having really put them on the spot, your intelligent means, you know that everyone knows that we worship Diana. There's no need of chanting it. And furthermore, if this image has come down out of heaven, come from Job himself, Why should we be this upset if someone has spoken against it? Can words destroy that which falls out of heaven? And then he says, if that be the case, then you ought to be quiet. Then you ought not to act rashly. And now he really puts the dagger in. So he turns right around and accuses them of this very thing, being rash. You ought to be quiet. They haven't done that, and they've certainly been rash, because he says, "...for ye have brought hither these men." He just swept them right in here. And then he watches defense, "...which are neither robbers of churches," now, of course, that's Christian language, and that's not what he said at all. What he said was, "...and not defamers of temples." Now, you bring one bit of evidence here, and we'll get a court hearing. if they have ever defamed any temple in this city. These are not defamers of temples. And he goes on further, "...nor yet blasphemers of your goddess." You've never heard them speak in terms of blasphemy against the goddess. But if he inquires, or he says, wherefore is Demetrius, you see, he saw what was behind it. He put the monkey right back on the shoulders of Demetrius. He said, therefore, if Demetrius and his craftsmen, which are with him, have a matter against any man, this is not the way to say it. Mob wound is not the answer. The law is open. And your marginal reading here is the best. The court days are kept. They know that on Tuesday at 9 o'clock the court's open. They know court days are kept regularly and on time if they have a matter against these men. The law is over. And they are deputies. Let them implead one another. Let them bring their charges and bring them against them in court. But if you inquire anything concerning other matters, If you are here on other matters, not the business and finances and economy of Demetrius, if you are here on other matters, it shall be determined in a common or an ordinary court, literally. And our ordinary courts are meeting every day. You settle those things there. And here is what dispersed the crowd. He says, You have endangered the whole city of Ephesus. We are in danger to be called and questioned for this day's uproar. There being no cause whereby we may give an account of this concourse." Now, concourse is where you have tributaries or passageways that violently meet one another. I think they named them right in these airports. Because when you get out of a plane and you get into one of those concourse, and when it starts coming together with the others, it's just a violent meeting of a mad mob of people. And this is the word, and this is what it means. And what he's saying is that you know that Caesar and Roman law does not tolerate mob rule. And you know that it does not allow this kind of behavior against a Roman citizen, which Paul is. And you know that you have endangered this city so that our constitutional liberties might be taken from us and we'll be put under martial law." It was a serious matter for any man or men to raise up an assembly of people and turn them into a mob in the Roman Empire. That was one thing that Rome kept as its order. And so, having warned them of this, when he had thus spoken, he dismissed the assembly. Therefore Paul was saved in Ephesus by the wise advice of men in high places, which advice he followed, and by the intervention of men in high places of authority, pleading against the people and their unreasonable. And yet we see how, when the gospel comes into a city, no longer can that city remain the same. Idolatry, however deeply embedded, will be abused. So with that, I want to give just two or three thoughts with reference to this zeal of these persons over their pagan customs. In verse 34 we read, But when they knew that he was a Jew, all with one voice about the space of two hours cried out, Great is Diana of the Ephesians. Now, you'll have to admit, that's zeal, right? Where do we find Christians anywhere crying out for the space of thirty minutes in honor of God when his name has been blasphemed? Here is a zeal, a zeal that ate them up. And this was great zeal, but there are two or three things that needed to be seen about it. First of all, it was blind. It was blind. Who was Diana? What had she done for these people? The honor given to an idol goes beyond all reason and sense, and yet it was reasonable people that were here giving themselves over to zeal for idolatry. And yet when we look among Christians and those who claim to be Christian, we find that they have no more sense in their view. Men are formed to honor tradition and idols in the name of Christianity, and it seems that it's more easily to attract them to that which is visible and physical and yet powerless than it is to the true God through Jesus Christ and the preaching of his gospel. I've told you about some of the things that I saw down in Mexico in the name of Christianity. A woman, well-dressed, fine-looking woman. You could tell she was a woman of class and what of the heart. Down on her knees on cobblestones with her knees bent, calling And every few steps stopped to say the rosary to Ave Maria and fall again. Tears pouring out of her eyes, down her face. A woman in true anguish and agony. I stepped inside of the court because in Mexico you see all religion is against the law. Now they tolerate it, but in the revolution religion was overthrown. Now this means, then, that a person could be arrested for practicing religion. It also means that priests and nuns cannot wear their habits outside of their own church grounds. They have to wear street clothes. So just standing inside of the grounds were two priests, in long robes, who didn't dare go outside, talking and laughing, carrying on about heaven knows what, while this woman out of her agony, and she crawled as far as from here across the road. And her whole purpose was to relieve herself of some sense of guilt by getting to a so-called virgin that had been brought into that city that was one of the special virgins and put in a glass cage in the church. Well, I walked inside to examine what it was that attracted so much sacrifice. And I did, and it was a little cornstarch doll with a Cupid doll head on it and a little silk ribbon. Now that was evil. And that would put us to shame. And yet many people, many people have that kind of zeal, and it's dangerous. It's dangerous. Christians need Christian zeal to the point they'd be willing to go to the stake and die rather than compromise the truths of Christ. But the Christian zeal is not blind, it's rooted and grounded in the knowledge of the word of God. Again, the zeal of these people there in Ephesus was interested zeal. I mean by that they had a self-interest in their zeal. Demetrius was losing money. His first interest was his pocketbook. His second interest was the honor of the goddess Diana. A Christian is one who must have a disinterest in zeal. His zeal is not for personal gain and reputation, but rather for the honor and the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ himself. Furthermore, it was an impure zeal, and I mean by that it stirred the people up to riot. And where there is a misplaced zeal that is blind and ignorant, it will lead to persecution. Look at how many people have been burned at the stake, put into prisons for life, who have been deprived of all religious freedom and liberty simply in the name of religion. The zeal of so-called Christians in time past who would put to death those who would not agree with them, who would not compromise their convictions on the word of God. today, communists putting to death Christians by the hundreds of thousands in zeal for their religion of humanism and naturalism. Therefore we commend zeal, but it must be Christian zeal founded in knowledge, rooted in Christ, regulated by love, wherein we seek first the glory of God and secondly the good of man. It must be tempered with discretion in that it should be about things essential and not for things indifferent. In other words, when it comes to things indifferent, that does not pertain to truth, matters of truth, and the glory of God, to give up our own opinion. But when it comes to the glory of God, things that are essential, then we must be zealous to the point that we are immovable. Our zeal should begin with ourselves, in our own heart, being zealous to know that we are in Christ, and that we are growing in grace and in knowledge of him, and then in zeal for others that they might be brought into the kingdom of God, that they might be brought to a knowledge of the truth. Our Father, we thank thee for the history of thy church which thou hast left us in thine inspired words and in the writings of men outside of the inspired words, that we might profit and learn therefrom. We thank thee that wherever thy gospel is preached and penetrates a culture, that the empire of Satan is weakened and brought down, and that the truth as it is in Christ is established. We pray that thou wilt invade our epicity in these days, and that thou wilt weaken the world's worship of their as we might see the kingdom of God more and more established. We thank thee for this, our people, and these who are assembled here this evening. Watch over and keep us through this night. Increase our knowledge of thy word and help us to grow in thy grace. We pray in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.