Acts 19:1-20

Our main text will be in Acts 19, but I just want to reference the verse in Romans 1.

So I'm really grateful for the singing this morning and for us praising the Lord together through song.

! The song I'd rather have Jesus definitely has a special meaning for me right now.

It was a song I listened to a lot when I first became a Christian in the early 2000s.

And the line of saying, like, I'd rather have Jesus than houses or land means a lot to me right now.

I've been going through a house buying process.

And just, yeah, some of you have done that notice how awful that can be and how sanctifying that can be.

And, you know, and we're thankful for homes, thankful for places that we can live out kingdom life in.

And there definitely is an obsession and idolatry in our nation when it comes to houses and throwing so much money, so much money into things.

And I hope that your soul can say that, that I would rather have Jesus than anything that this world has to offer at all.

And so, with that in mind, I'm looking at Romans 1.

Really well-known verse, but I just want to use this verse as a lens to read over Acts 19.

So, to be thinking about this verse as we go through Acts 19.

So, well-known, but Romans 1 verse 16, Paul says,

Romans 1:16

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes,

to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

For in it, the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith.

As it is written, the righteous shall live by faith.

And an overarching theme this morning is I just want to emphasize to you that the gospel is not just an important message or a powerful message.

It's like the only, the most powerful message in the world.

And it has the power to save dead and rebellious sinners and deliver them from their sin and from death to God,

to raise the spiritually dead to life.

I was just a minute to get out of curiosity.

I just looked up this word, the word power here in this text.

And verse 16, it's the word dynamis.

So, that sounds like dynamite.

Well, that's where some of the origin comes from.

But listen to this.

This word power, it means an inerrant power.

A power residing in a thing by virtue of its nature,

or which a person or thing exerts and puts forth.

So, it means that the gospel itself possesses so much power that it doesn't need anything on the outside to help it.

And in our culture, we've relied so much on gimmicks and ingenuity and theatrics and cool things to think that,

and thinking that that's going to be what saves people.

When all the same, you could have the worst speaker in the world come up here.

And if he truly, genuinely knows Christ and is preaching the gospel message, God can use that.

He doesn't have to be cool.

He doesn't have to dress right.

He doesn't have to be the most eloquent speaker.

He doesn't have to have smoke and lights.

He doesn't have to have anything.

The power of the gospel is enough in and of itself and doesn't need any help.

And so, keeping that in mind, let's turn to Acts 19.

That's where our main text is.

So, we've been going through the book of Acts, if you're new here.

So, we've been in Acts for quite a while, and we're getting into chapter 19 now.

Thank you for Caleb stepped in last week and preached for me because I was not feeling good and had a lot of other things going on as well.

So, Paul has been in Europe, what we would call Europe now.

And now, him going into Ephesus is kind of the launching place for the gospel going into Asia.

And so, it's a really awesome, awesome text.

So, the evangelism of Asia is here, and it kind of starts in the city of Ephesus.

But just join me in prayer before we go through this together.

Father, Holy Father, we recognize how unworthy we are.

And God, we would all be like Peter if you approached us and said,

Go away from me, Lord.

I'm a sinful man.

Not worthy to untie your sandals.

God, I just ask that you would use me to communicate your word to your people.

And if there are those here today who do not know the power of the gospel,

the message of your Son, Jesus Christ, that you would work in their hearts today.

It's for his name's sake we ask.

In Christ's name, amen.

So, we're going to pick up in the beginning of chapter 19.

All right.

Verse 1.

And it happened that while Apollos was at Corinth,

Paul passed through the inland country and came to Ephesus.

There he found some disciples.

And he said to them,

Do you receive the Holy Spirit when you believe?

And they said, No.

We have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.

And he said,

Into what then were you baptized?

And they said,

Into John's baptism.

And Paul said,

John baptized with the baptism of repentance,

telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him,

that is, Jesus.

On hearing this,

they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.

And when Paul had laid his hands on them,

the Holy Spirit came on them,

and then began speaking in tongues and prophesying.

There were about 12 men in all.

And then he entered the synagogue,

and for three months spoke boldly,

reasoning and persuading them about the kingdom of God.

But when some became stubborn,

and continued in unbelief,

speaking evil of the way,

before the congregation,

he withdrew from them,

and took the disciples with him.

Reasoning daily in the hall of Tyrannus.

This continued for two years,

so that all the residents of Asia heard the word of the Lord,

both Jews and Greeks.

And God was doing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul,

so that even the handkerchiefs or aprons that he touched,

his skin,

were carried away the sick,

and their diseases left them,

and the evil spirits came out of them.

Then some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists

undertook to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus

over those who had evil spirits,

saying,

I adjure you by Jesus,

whom Paul proclaims.

Seven sons of a Jewish high priest named Siva

was doing this.

But the evil spirit answered them,

Jesus I know,

and Paul I recognize,

but who are you?

And the man in whom the evil spirit leaped on them,

mastered all of them,

and overpowered them,

so that they fled out of the house,

naked and wounded.

And this became known to all the residents of Ephesus,

both Jews and Greeks,

and fear fell upon them all,

and the name of the Lord Jesus was extolled.

Also many of those who were now believers came,

confessing and divulging their practices.

A number of those who had practiced magic arts

brought their books together

and burned them in the sight of all.

And they counted the value of them

and found that it came to 50,000 pieces of silver.

So the word of the Lord continued to increase

and prevail mightily.

So today,

just by way of introduction,

just kind of want to,

we'll get more into,

so if you keep reading,

you see like if you have subtitles in your Bible,

it says a riot and nephesis.

We'll get to that next week.

That's attached to this message though,

so it'll be kind of going into next week.

But just a little bit about the city of Ephesus.

It's modern day Turkey

on the east side of the Aegean Sea,

and it was the capital of the Roman province of Asia.

So that's where their headquarters were set up.

That's where the governor of that territory was.

Major port city.

And it was the fifth largest city

in all the Roman Empire,

which at this time

hadn't got as big as it would be,

but it was really big already.

And the big thing,

and we'll talk about this more next week,

not to get into all this now,

but the big boast that they had

was that they had the temple of Artemis,

and that was also like the Roman goddess Diana.

We'll talk more about all that next week.

So if you like mythology,

come back next week,

and you'll see how Jesus kind of plays

the trump card over mythology.

But as we go through this today,

there are going to be five lessons

that we see,

that we can learn from Paul

in like sharing the gospel,

and kind of compare that,

line that up with like how

it is in your own life,

as well as,

there are going to be intermingles,

so don't think there's just going to be

the big bullets of this message.

All right,

if this message had a title,

it would be six ways

the gospel impacts a culture.

Okay,

six ways that the gospel impacts a culture.

All right,

so number one,

the gospel causes sinners to be saved.

That's what we just read in Romans 1.

The gospel causes sinners to be saved.

Very clear explanation of this.

We're going to walk through it

like verse 1 through 7.

So Paul comes into Ephesus,

and he encounters some disciples

of John the Baptist.

Apollos was in Corinth at the time,

and so he comes in

and just kind of runs into these guys.

And they had probably moved,

relocated from Palestine

or Judea to this region

while John the Baptist had his ministry.

So they probably left

before Jesus came on the scene,

most people believe.

And it's interesting

that John the Baptist

had an influence that far,

and his teaching

had an influence that far.

Apollos would be a great example of that.

He had had the baptism of John

and fully recognized

that Jesus was the Messiah

that John's testimony pointed to.

He just needed

a little further instruction.

That's what Nathan taught on

a few weeks ago.

So these disciples

basically had a lot of pieces

of the puzzle with that

and had the whole complete picture

put together for them yet.

So as followers of John,

they would have known

that John came to prepare

the way of the Messiah.

They would have known that,

but they did not know

that Jesus was that Messiah.

So here's one of those little sub-things.

Something you can learn from Paul

in this text

is that Paul initiates

gospel conversation.

Okay?

So,

I'm not going to downplay this

because we're going to see

another example in a minute,

but most people

in the church today,

they are not proactive

in actually talking to people

about Christ.

They're more reactive.

They'll think,

I'll just go about my day

and if God just drops somebody

in front of me,

then I will just talk to them.

Or they think,

you know,

I'll get a divine appointment,

which is true.

That's very true.

But,

I'm telling you that

like the gospel and the kingdom

will not be where it is

if that's all we did.

There are people

who must go out

and hunt down people

to share Jesus with.

And,

so,

this is one of those

opportunities.

He walks up,

he sees these guys,

and he just starts talking to them

about their belief.

He knew they were disciples of John.

So,

he kind of asked them,

if you look at this,

he uses very clear,

look at verses 1 through 7,

very clear,

intentional questions

to kind of draw out

what they believe.

It's that simple.

He just said,

did you receive the Holy Spirit

when you believed?

And to who were you baptized?

And their answers

just clearly revealed

that they were not quite,

I believe,

not quite born again

or saved yet.

And the reasons why,

there's two of them,

they said they had not even heard

of the Holy Spirit,

even though John taught

that Jesus would come

and baptized with the Holy Spirit

and with fire.

They hadn't even heard

of the Holy Spirit.

And then,

verse 4 reveals

they didn't even know

who Jesus was.

So,

but what's awesome,

though,

is Paul recognized

from his viewpoint

that John's legacy,

John's teaching,

had helped them recognize

what they had missed.

And so,

he basically just filled in

the missing pieces

of the puzzle for them.

So,

they were in a very,

very unique state

in redemptive history,

very similar to,

like,

an Old Testament believer

kind of waiting

for the Messiah to come.

So,

he basically is like,

oh,

okay,

I got you.

Got you.

John came to tell you

to turn away from your sins

and to prepare the way

of the Savior.

He was the voice

of the one crying

in the wilderness,

prepare the way

of the Lord.

Well,

the Lord came.

His name was Jesus

of Nazareth.

He lived,

He loved,

He died on the cross,

He was resurrected.

He is the Messiah.

And so,

they gladly received that

and were baptized

into the name

of the Lord Jesus.

And,

the result of that

is they began speaking

in tongues

and prophesying.

That's not a message

about this today.

But,

but,

very clearly,

it is done,

I believe,

in this text

as an outward

demonstration

and verification

of giving Paul

like a dramatic way

to enter Ephesus.

Because as we're going

to read,

there's a lot

of like supernatural

dark things

going on.

And for him

to kind of come

and show

in a very visible way

that the Savior

who he represented

was powerful

was very important

at the time.

And so,

these men

had deep roots

in the Old Testament

scriptures.

And so,

very clearly,

it meant a lot

to them

to hear that prophecy

out of Joel 2,

I think,

fulfilled.

So,

they were born again.

They were saved

right there.

So,

we saw that Paul

initiated gospel

conversation.

Excuse me.

Which leads to

the second thing.

Alright,

the gospel

causes sinners

to be hardened.

Alright?

See that in verses

8 through 10.

So,

right after that,

he went into

the synagogue.

So,

he happened up

on these first guys.

It just kind of happened.

So,

it was the

unintentional encounter

that he had

with John's disciples.

But now,

he very intentionally

goes into the synagogue,

which,

again,

he initiates

gospel conversation.

And,

it's almost like

a seek and destroy

mission.

He,

he sought out

the lost people

to allow the power

of God

to destroy

the sin

of their life.

And so,

he went,

as was his way,

he went into

the synagogue

to engage

with the people there

who understood

someone of the scriptures.

So,

here's some other

things we can observe

about the way

Paul engaged

in this text

right here.

If you look

at these verses,

verses 8 through 10,

just ask yourself

the question,

how did he speak

about the gospel?

Do you see him

like using

emotional manipulation

or theatrics?

It just says,

Paul spoke

the gospel boldly.

All right?

He spoke

the gospel boldly

about the things

concerning the Messiah,

the one that met him

on the road to Damascus

and saved him

from his sins.

And this idea

to speak boldly

means

to speak freely,

to speak confidently,

to speak with full assurance

about what you were saying.

Think about,

like,

how you talk about

the Savior.

Does it carry

that kind of confidence?

Like,

I know

in whom

I believed.

could you

just think about,

those of you

who are married,

think about

the confidence

you can speak of

about your spouse,

how they are yours,

that they belong to you.

And just think,

can I speak

with the same kind

of boldness

about the gospel?

So,

he wasn't unsure

or timid.

He didn't come across

uncertain or doubtful.

He was sure

about the Messiah

he spoke about.

So,

Paul spoke

the gospel boldly.

And another thing

to note under this

is that Paul

spoke the gospel

persuasively.

Okay?

Paul,

it says here,

was reasoning

and persuading them

about the kingdom

of God.

So,

again,

unfortunately,

a lot of churches

and ministries

have used emotional

manipulation

to invoke

a certain response

from people.

I'm not even

a musician

and I know this.

I mean,

I'm not a musician,

you know.

You can play

certain musical keys

to invoke

certain emotional

responses in people.

So,

are what people

are experiencing

actually real?

Is it like

the work of God

or is it just

an emotional

manipulation?

And usually,

like 15 minutes

after that service

is over,

you can tell

which one it was

by what people

were doing

and what they're

talking about.

And how they

lived their lives

outside of that.

And so,

what we see

is in reasoning

persuading,

right?

The genuine

gospel evangelism,

it's a call

to persuade people

to Christ.

So,

to be persuaded

is not to be deceived.

It's the opposite.

You're convinced.

Like,

you show them

the evidence,

you talk about it,

here it is,

this is Jesus,

and they,

the Lord uses that

through His Holy Spirit

to convince them.

They are persuaded

to follow Christ.

So,

throughout the book

of Acts,

you see that idea

of preaching,

teaching,

persuading people

to believe.

It's an appeal

to their mind.

It changes

their disposition,

and that's why

they believe.

Hold your hand there.

I don't have many places

for you to look at it all,

outside our main text,

but look at Acts 17,

just two chapters back.

Just to kind of show you

this is a theme

in Acts.

So,

he's in Thessalonica

in Greece,

and look at

chapter 17,

verse 1 through 4,

and just jump ahead.

It says,

on three Sabbath days

he reasoned with them

from the Scriptures.

Alright?

So,

that was his authority.

He wasn't using

his own opinions

or his own ideas.

He was using

the Scripture,

explaining

and proving

that it was necessary

for the Christ

to suffer

and to rise

from the dead,

and saying,

this Jesus

whom I proclaim

to you

is the Christ.

And some of them

were persuaded

and joined Paul

and Silas,

as did a great many

of devout Greeks

and not a few

of the leading women.

So,

you kind of see

this as a theme.

He's reasoning.

He's persuading.

Shilling people

who Jesus is.

And God uses that

to draw them

to himself.

So,

those are

awesome words.

So,

just to throw this

out there,

there are certain people,

I think spiritual gifts

are a good thing.

I think they're

a biblical thing.

But I feel like

the church

is just extremely

erred in the terms

of,

I don't have the gift

of evangelism,

so I'm not

going to share.

as

nowhere in the Bible.

You're called

to share

with the ability

that God

has given you

to share.

Right?

You may not be.

There are some people

that are very

gifted by God

to communicate

the truth,

to communicate

the gospel,

but that doesn't

mean that the rest

of us

should just sit back.

We all are

heralds of the gospel.

Alright?

And,

this is

a great example

of that.

Reasoning,

explaining,

proving,

persuading.

Okay?

So,

I also want to tell you

that persuasion

takes,

it's more of an art

instead of a gimmick

or a method.

Okay?

So,

it's more like

something like

fly fishing

or painting.

You practice

and you get better

and better

and better at it.

You can't,

I think we have

such an attraction

in our culture

to five-step things

and just show me

the method

and I will apply

this method

to every situation.

You know,

those of you

who are really engaged

in serious evangelism

know that just

doesn't work.

Can you sit down,

please,

while you're drinking

your cocktail

on the beach

while I share

five things with you

and most of the time

they don't even make it

past the second thing.

If you notice,

Jesus never spoke

to people

the same way.

You ever notice that?

Like he always had,

he applied the context

of the gospel

to the situation

that he was in

at the time.

So,

it takes time,

it takes practice

to be able to learn

to talk about

Christ.

So,

exercise those muscles.

Ask him

to help you.

And so,

it's more of an art

and not a method.

Kind of throw that

out there.

Alright?

So,

something else

we can learn

just from this

few verses

about

the way

Paul shared

the gospel.

And this is a big one.

I think this was

definitely lacking

in the American church.

Paul persevered

in gospel ministry.

That's it.

Paul persevered

in gospel ministry.

Most of us

go give it a shot

and if we get shot down

we don't want to go back out.

And we think,

you know,

I tried

and it didn't work.

You know,

we have to build up

some thicker skin.

We have to

understand

that winning people

takes time

to knock down

all the walls

in their heart.

There are some people

that come to know

Christ really quickly.

Others,

it's just a

constant battering

at their sin,

the idols in their life

and eventually

they are saved.

But just notice

that

it says that

Paul reasoned

and shared Christ

in the synagogue

for three months.

Alright?

And then

he did it daily

in the hall of Tyrannus.

He said it continued

for two years.

That's a lot of

teaching,

reasoning,

and explaining.

He said he did it daily.

He said that

all the residents

of Asia

heard the word

of the Lord,

both Jews and Greeks.

But as this

bullet says,

some are hardened.

Okay?

And that's what we read

that some of these

men in the synagogue

were hardened.

Don't bring

that junk in here.

We don't want to hear it.

It's against

everything we've ever

been taught.

And so,

the gospel can say,

but the opposite effect

is it can harden.

Men love darkness

rather than the light.

So,

when I think about

perseverance,

I think of

a hero of mine.

His picture's in my

study down there.

Some of you may know

who he is,

but his name was,

funny last name,

William Wilberforce.

And he was a

British

parliamentarian

in the late

1700s,

early 1800s.

Young guy.

was best friends

with the prime minister.

It was William Pitt.

But,

on October

28th,

1787,

he

dedicated his life

to two goals.

He says,

God Almighty

has set before me

two great objects,

the suppression

of the slave trade

and the reformation

of morals.

So,

he had not been

a believer

for a long time

and then he came

to know Christ

right at the height

of his political

popularity,

which any politician

would know.

That's like a big deal

because like,

now I've got to turn around

and tell everybody else

the opposite thing.

So,

he was really feeling

the weight of that

and he hated,

appalled,

the slave trade.

Cool enough,

his pastor

was John Newton,

the guy who wrote

Amazing Grace

and a man who was

a slave trader

before he became

a Christian.

And,

so Newton encouraged him,

take it out,

attack it,

God be with you,

you know,

I'm here.

And,

so,

the slave trade

and the reformation

of morals

in the British society,

none of those

were going to be

accomplished

in a quick speech.

None of them.

He knew it would

take years

and years.

John Wesley

wrote to him

in 1790

and listen to what he said,

unless God

has raised you up

for this very thing,

you will be worn out

by the opposition

of man

and of devils.

But if God

be with you,

who can be against you?

So like,

you're going to fail.

Like,

if this is a mission

you're going to undertake

on your own,

if God hasn't raised you up

for this,

then you're going

to be burned out.

So,

just think about it.

Walking into

a place like Congress.

So,

how many of you

are actually aware

of like,

you ever watch

like a British

Parliament thing

on TV?

It is nothing

like ours at all.

Like,

they make fun

of each other,

like severe sarcasm.

They make fun

of the highest office.

It's like a comedy show

sometimes.

So,

there's not that

respect.

Sometimes we might

see in ours,

but ours could be

going that way.

But anyways,

so when he went in there

the first time,

can you imagine this?

Like,

hundreds of men

sitting in this room

and probably 70%

of them have some

involvement in the

slave trade.

And then they're

standing up and

saying like,

I want to propose

that we make a motion

to end the slave trade.

Like,

the outrage

that came out.

So,

he knew that wasn't

going to come down

in one speech.

He knew it was

going to take years

and years to bring

it down.

So,

what he learned

about perseverance,

he wrote this

in a letter.

He says,

I daily

become more sensible

that my work

must be affected

by a constant

and regular

exertions

rather than

by sudden

and violent

ones.

In other words,

he understood

that if this

was going to happen,

it was going to

be a marathon run

and not a sprint.

And we have to

think of

sharing the gospel

that way.

It's a battle.

So,

I mentioned

Cody Klikner

a little while ago.

So,

when you see him

congratulating,

they won their

conference,

and now they're

going and playing

to some other

big things in the

nation.

And Cody really

seeks to live out

gospel life

on the baseball

team.

Very few people

who do that.

but,

so we were,

I did a lot

of ministry

with the

baseball team.

And there

was one year,

man,

we were just

shot down

and shot down

and shot down

like nothing

we did

was working.

And every week

we just renewed

our strength

in the Lord.

And finally,

we were able

to put together

an evangelistic

Bible study

after it was

just shot down

multiple times.

Guys didn't

show up.

We were like,

you know,

order food,

show up,

and like 15

guys said

they were going

to be there

and like two

were there.

That happened

multiple times.

You just got

to remember

like they're

going to resist

and they're

going to be

hard-headed

and they're

going to be

stubborn.

But God,

the power of

the gospel,

can draw them

to himself

when he's ready.

And he did.

And several

guys came to

know the Lord

that year

through the

teaching of the

word.

So we have

to keep with

it.

We can't just

be upset

and run

away with

our tail

between our

legs every

time something

doesn't work

out.

Paul taught

two years,

almost daily,

to get to

where all the

residents of

Asia have

heard the

word.

So persevere

in gospel

ministry.

So I should

tell you that

Wilberforce,

he started

that battle

in 1787.

Or excuse me,

I flipped it

over the wrong

time.

Yeah,

1787.

1787.

So on

February

1807,

so nearly

20 years

later,

the slave

trade was

taken down

at 4 a.m.

in the

morning.

That's 20

years of

constant

slander,

being attacked.

And he saw

it as a

work of God,

a work of

the gospel,

not as

just political

change.

So such

is gospel

evangelism.

We have

to persevere.

Number

three,

the gospel

causes

miraculous

acts.

Verse 11

through 12.

So a

good while

back,

I did a

message on

things like

this.

You can

go back

and look

it up

later.

But

miracles

and acts,

healings,

they're usually

a means for

God to open

the door,

to get the

attention of

people in

these contexts,

to show

that Jesus

is the

Christ,

and to

confirm the

messenger,

that he is

being used

by God.

And in the

last message

that I said,

does stuff

like this

still happen?

Absolutely.

Why don't

we see more

of it in our

culture?

Either we're

not looking,

or I also

believe the

greatest barrier

to people in

the West or

in America is

more ideologies

and wrong

thinking and

secular humanism.

That's where

if you go

to a place

like the

jungle,

or I

have a good

friend of

mine from

India,

his nickname

is Jojo,

that's what I

call him.

He has

literally long

beard and

dreadlocks and

he has a

ministry in

Delhi,

and he sees

a lot of

this.

Well,

that is where

people are

oppressed

in a spiritual

way that does

come out in a

demonic fashion.

and so

Paul was

going around

healing people

and God was

validating that

message that he

was the messenger

sent by God.

And the whole

handkerchief,

apron thing,

there's a very

constant belief in

the ancient East

that objects

associated with

holy people

had power,

power,

but really

the idea is

like God

saw fit to

give Paul

an extra

measure of

power,

that the

faith of,

it's like

touching Jesus

to him in

his garment.

Jesus' garment

didn't heal the

guy,

Jesus did.

It's the same

kind of concept.

So it wasn't

these were

magical objects,

but rather

God saw

please to

manifest his

power so

intensely through

what Paul is

doing.

This happened

at Cyprus

and at

Philippi,

previously in

Acts.

So,

another

observation

about Paul

here was

Paul was a

yielded vessel

for the

gospel,

okay?

He allowed

himself to

be used

by God.

He yielded

to the power

of the Holy

Spirit.

He had no

ability in

himself to

save or

heal anyone.

Ephesians

Ephesians 3:7

3,

verse 7,

Paul said

this,

writing later

on to the

church that

was planted

here.

He says,

of this

gospel I

was made

a minister

according to

the gift

of God's

grace,

which was

given me

by the

working of

his power

to me

through who I

am the

very least

of the

saints.

So,

I'm no one

special.

This grace

was given

to preach

to the

Gentiles

the

unsearchable

riches

of Christ.

So,

you don't

have to be

special.

You don't

have to

have a

seminary

degree.

You just

need to

know the

scripture,

know the

Savior,

know the

gospel,

in order

for God

to use

you.

Be a

yielded

vessel for

the gospel.

Number

four,

the gospel

causes false

teachers to

be exposed.

This is one

of those stories

that is like

definitely

rattled the

cage.

Verse 13

through 16,

we see that

there were

some itinerant

Jewish

exorcists,

right,

who were

around

Ephesus.

And there's

a lot of

history and

ancient records

that kind of

give people

ceremonies and

rituals and

formulas to

cast out

evil spirits.

And they

would collect

them in

books and

sell those

books.

And so,

even for the

Jews in this

time, in the

first century,

there was a

lot of these

kind of spells

and there was

a lot of

demonic activity

and they

would try to

use their

words to

get rid of

these evil

spirits.

So,

Jesus was

able to

cast out

demons by

the power

and authority

that he

had.

We all

know that.

And he

gave that

same authority

to his

disciples,

his apostles.

So,

in a very

pragmatic

matter,

you know,

these guys

are watching

Paul do

this with

the real

power of

Christ and

they say,

hmm,

Jesus Christ.

Maybe that's

another word

or name I

can throw

into my

formula book.

To practice

the same

kind of

thing,

that'd

be kind

of cool.

So,

they go

out and

try this

and they

just get

it handed

to them

severely.

So,

why didn't

it work

for them?

Okay?

Well,

number one,

these,

they failed

to know

the Savior

himself.

Okay?

If you're

going to

invoke

somebody's

authority,

you have

to know

that person.

You have

to have

a relationship

with that

person.

It can't

just be

a magical

word that

you just

kind of

throw out

there.

Example,

if you

were coming

from Caesar

in this

day as a

messenger and

you evoked

his authority,

that carried

a lot of

power with it.

Right?

But,

if you

did not,

if you

were a

false

messenger,

it could

cost you

your life.

So,

the power

of someone's

name carries

authority,

but only as

far as that

relationship is

there.

So,

these

chance to

get rid of

evil spirits

did not

work.

And,

they were

stripped

naked,

and they

ran away.

That was a

great picture

of shame

and humiliation,

and that

scared the

blank out

of the

people in

Ephesus.

Because,

they were

like,

wow,

these guys

were at

the top

of our

school here,

and they

just got

handed to

them by

a real

demonic

spirit.

These books

must not

work.

This is

dangerous.

Let's

get rid

of these.

So,

that flows

into the

next thing.

Number

five,

the gospel

causes

idolatry

to be

renounced.

Verse 17

through 20.

Alright?

So,

very,

very strong

belief in

magical

incantations

in this

period to

cast out

evil

spirits.

They had

spells for

protection,

to get

somebody's

love,

to have

good

child

birth,

to have

all kinds

of stuff.

So,

they had

so many

rituals.

So,

50,000

pieces of

silver,

probably

referring to

the Greek

dragma at

the time,

around

six million

dollars

in today's

currency.

So,

not just

like threw

away comic

books,

they threw

away like

seriously

published

quality books

at that

time,

and they

renounced

it.

And it

says that

it was

all in

the name

of the

Lord

Jesus.

It was

extolled.

He was

extolled.

And so,

a severe

book burning

of the

right kind,

that's

associated

with a

very negative

thinking,

but of

the right

kind,

idolatry

is renounced.

Okay?

So,

when someone

comes to

know Christ,

idolatry is

a big thing

that they

will face.

Okay?

It says

in Romans

1 that

we've

exchanged

the truth

about God

for a lot.

Romans 2,

excuse me.

And so,

all of us

have worshipped

idols.

It doesn't

have to

be a

statue of

something.

We all

have loved

and given

our attention

to things

that are

infinitely

lesser

than God.

And God

calls that

idolatry.

It's making

things into

ultimate

things over

God.

And so,

Paul wrote

in 1 Thessalonians

1.9,

he says,

I remember

how you

turned to

God from

idols to

serve the

living and

true God

and to

wait for

His Son

from heaven

whom He

raised from

the dead,

Jesus who

delivers us

from the

wrath to

come.

So,

idolatry is

renounced.

These people

who have

this deep

pagan past

turned away

from it

and turned

to Christ.

So,

ask yourself,

though I'm

not worshiping

a statue

or reading

a spell

book,

what are

idols in

my life

that still

compete

highly for

my love

and my

attention

to love

more than

the Savior?

So,

number six

and lastly,

this is what

we'll get to

next week,

the gospel

causes hostility,

severe hostility.

That's number

six and that'll

be the rest

of this chapter.

chapter.

But,

I thought

it would be

fitting

to read you

something

because I

have a great,

there's a great

tendency of

people in

the western

church to

think that

this stuff

isn't real

anymore.

It is.

So,

there's a

ministry that

I supported

in years past

called

The Every

Tribe.

I encourage

you to look

them up.

They're very

gospel-centered,

solid,

reform,

mission group

to every

tribe.

This is,

the founder

of it is a

man named

David Seton

and he did

a ton of

ministry in

Papua New

Guinea and

the tribes

and jungles