The Threat of the Gospel

Acts 19:1-19:41

I want to go back a few verses to the end of Acts 18 to put things in context today.

Meanwhile a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus. He was a learned man, with a thorough knowledge of the Scriptures. He had been instructed in the way of the Lord, and he spoke with great fervor and taught about Jesus accurately, though he knew only the baptism of John. He began to speak boldly in the synagogue. When Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they invited him to their home and explained to him the way of God more adequately. – Acts 18:24-26

Since we will be spending some time in Ephesus, I want to give you some information about it. Ephesus is in western Turkey, on the coast of Aegean Sea. Sail west, across the sea, and you will be in Greece. Almost due west from Ephesus on the Greek coast is Corinth. Ephesus was a large city, perhaps half a million people.


I have some pictures of Ephesus. The first is of the theater, which could hold thousands of people.

The next is what is left of the agora (marketplace) of Ephesus.

Next is all that remains of the temple of Artemis. (The two columns, not the various buildings.)

This temple was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. It was larger than a football field, and extremely tall. The next picture shows a current artist’s recreation of what it may have looked like. This picture is based on ancient descriptions, so it is probably pretty accurate.

Artemis, also known as Diana, was a goddess of fertility. Images of Artemis in Ephesus looked more like something from the Egyptians than a Greek or Roman human god. The image below shows a statue of Artemis. All statues of Artemis look remarkably similar.

People loved to have small idols made of this image for worship and good fortune. There was also a large image of Artemis at the temple.

Now Ephesus was a world center for witchcraft, sorcery, superstition, astrology, and even demon worship. Countless people made a living one way or another associated with idols and these black arts. Note that it was to the Ephesians that Paul wrote:

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. – Eph 6:12

On to the passage. Meanwhile? What is going on that lets this be “meanwhile”? As we talked about last week, Paul was strengthening the disciples in Galatia and Phrygia. Now Ephesus was a place Paul had visited near the end of his second missionary journey. He didn’t stay long, even the Ephesians asked him to. He soon sailed towards home, leaving Priscilla and Aquila, fellow tentmakers and fellow believers in the Lord to stay.

So while this was happening, a man named Apollos showed up. He knew about Jesus, but only knew “the baptism of John.” What does this mean? It probably means he knew about Jesus being the promised Messiah – we get a big clue what Apollos’ message was by looking at Luke 3:

The people were waiting expectantly and were all wondering in their hearts if John might possibly be the Christ. John answered them all, "I baptize you with water. But one more powerful than I will come, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire." And with many other words John exhorted the people and preached the good news to them. – Luke 3:15-18

In Luke 7, we see that John the Baptist had sent messengers to Jesus to ask Him, “Are you the one?” Jesus’ answer was the following:

"Go back and report to John what you have seen and heard: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor. Blessed is the man who does not fall away on account of Me." – Luke 7:22-23

How much of this did Apollos know? Did he know the “early John teachings” – simply the need for repentance, turning back to God? Did he know the “middle John teachings” – that one much greater than him, the Messiah, was coming? Or did he know the “late John teachings” – that Jesus was this person? From this passage it sure looks like it is the “late John teachings.”

I believe Apollos knew and taught that Jesus was the Messiah, that the Old Testament pointed to Him, and that people needed to repent and turn to God. But is this really the gospel? No – if you stop here, you are looking at a works-based salvation. Apollos’ message, although eloquent, and true, was incomplete. He probably did not even know that Jesus had been crucified, risen from the dead, seen by multitudes, and ascended into heaven, let alone understand what Jesus died for and what it meant in terms of salvation and becoming reconciled with God.

So Priscilla and Aquila invited him to their home. I really like this. They didn’t correct him in public, or be critical, but instead, over a nice home-cooked meal, explained, as I think Paul Harvey says, “the rest of the story.” No doubt the angels in heaven rejoiced that night.

When Apollos wanted to go to Achaia, the brothers encouraged him and wrote to the disciples there to welcome him. On arriving, he was a great help to those who by grace had believed. For he vigorously refuted the Jews in public debate, proving from the Scriptures that Jesus was the Christ. – Acts 18:27-28

It looks like right away, he went to the province of Achaia, and as the next verses show, Corinth in particular. No doubt he was further instructed in the gospel by the disciples there. Apollos now began to preach the gospel – the whole gospel. Now people were not just turning from their sins, but turning to Jesus, the “author and perfecter of our faith.”

While Apollos was at Corinth, Paul took the road through the interior and arrived at Ephesus. There he found some disciples and asked them, "Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?" They answered, "No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit." So Paul asked, "Then what baptism did you receive?" "John's baptism," they replied. – Acts 19:1-3

You could start this verse with another “meanwhile.” Back in Ephesus, Apollos has left but Paul has come. Paul is now dealing with the results of the incomplete message of Apollos. In some ways, this reminds me of talking with Catholics. Their message is also incomplete. (Parts are also just plain wrong.) But a works-based salvation message is incomplete – critically incomplete. Salvation is by faith; it is Christ’s work for those who believe; it is secure and rests on Jesus’ accomplished work on the cross; it is proven by His resurrection from the dead. The Holy Spirit lives in us and helps us to become more like Him; we are not left to this task alone!

The disciples in Ephesus knew nothing of this. They had never even heard that the Holy Spirit was available. They may have heard of its existence from the teachings of John the Baptist via Apollos, but it would have been an abstract, unknown, future thing. Paul questions them further and sees that their message is missing “the rest of the story” – the most important part!

As an aside – notice that Paul asks questions to discern what these people believe. Asking questions is a powerful aid in sharing the gospel. This is why many evangelistic groups like to use surveys when sharing the gospel – it gives you an excuse to ask questions and allows you to learn quickly what someone believes so that you can target your message to where they are at. Just as a practical note – write this down so that you will remember it – ask questions!

One more aside – Apollos is in Corinth. He is mentioned in Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians:

I appeal to you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another so that there may be no divisions among you and that you may be perfectly united in mind and thought. My brothers, some from Chloe's household have informed me that there are quarrels among you. What I mean is this: One of you says, "I follow Paul"; another, "I follow Apollos"; another, "I follow Cephas"; still another, "I follow Christ." Is Christ divided? – I Cor. 1:10-13a

Continuing with the passage:

Paul said, "John's baptism was a baptism of repentance. He told the people to believe in the one coming after him, that is, in Jesus." On hearing this, they were baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus. When Paul placed his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied. There were about twelve men in all. – Acts 19:4-7

The word for “believe” here is based on pistis, which means “saving faith.” So Luke is saying that they heard the whole gospel. And we have Acts Chapter 2 once again: speaking in tongues and prophesying, now in Ephesus.

Paul entered the synagogue and spoke boldly there for three months, arguing persuasively about the kingdom of God. But some of them became obstinate; they refused to believe and publicly maligned the Way. So Paul left them. He took the disciples with him and had discussions daily in the lecture hall of Tyrannus. This went on for two years, so that all the Jews and Greeks who lived in the province of Asia heard the word of the Lord. – Acts 19:8-10

Paul had a huge impact in a huge city. For two full years, the body of believers grew and grew. It grew well beyond Ephesus until it began to fill the entire province of Asia. It is probable that many of the churches we read about and have not discussed until now began during this time, including the church of the Colossians.

God did extraordinary miracles through Paul, so that even handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were taken to the sick, and their illnesses were cured and the evil spirits left them. – Acts 19:11-12

Notice that even Luke calls these miracles extraordinary – yes this type of thing happened with Jesus; now we see it here with Paul. There is no sign in the rest of the scriptures that Paul saw this as normal, and Luke says it was extraordinary.

Jesus did say that believers would do even greater miracles than He did, and we see some of that here. It seems these miracles of Paul were limited to this time and place. If you look at the Greek, the term for handkerchief is more literally sweatband. The aprons were leather aprons. Both were used by Paul as he did his tentmaking work. Notice that these were just his regular work clothes, not special “holy” pieces of cloth like some scam artists have tried to sell on TV.

Some Jews who went around driving out evil spirits tried to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who were demon-possessed. They would say, "In the name of Jesus, whom Paul preaches, I command you to come out." Seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this. (One day) the evil spirit answered them, "Jesus I know, and I know about Paul, but who are you?" Then the man who had the evil spirit jumped on them and overpowered them all. He gave them such a beating that they ran out of the house naked and bleeding. – Acts 19:13-16

Isn’t that a fascinating phrase these sons of Sceva use? “In the name of Jesus, whom Paul preaches, I command you to come out.” “Whom Paul preaches?” They are acting more like Harry Potter than like believers. They are using Jesus almost as an incantation in a magic formula. The result is not at all pretty. There are two different words for “know” in the demon’s response. “Jesus I know” is a deep knowing, not necessarily liking, but knowing extremely well. You can almost picture the demon scowling with recognition at to what to him is the most awful name. As for “I know about Paul,” this word is more like “acquainted with.” He doesn’t know Paul as well as Jesus, but he does know him. Another way of getting at this is that the demon has profound respect (hatred too, but respect) for Jesus, and has growing respect (and growing hatred) for Paul. As for the seven sons, he has no respect for them. Plus, all this talk about Jesus and Paul has put him in a really bad mood.

Now, I want to stop for a moment. We have been reading more and more remarkable things that happened in Ephesus. Here I want to ask you – do you believe it? Do you really believe this happened, just like it said? I have no reason to doubt it – Luke is so accurate with his details – with the cultures of each city and province, with the people, with the places – and is this any more remarkable than the resurrection of Jesus Christ? No. I believe it!

I want you to picture yourself as an Ephesian. Perhaps you, like these sons of Sceva, have heard the gospel, multiple times, and you wonder about it, perhaps you even profess a little bit of faith, but mostly you continue to live your life as you used to. Just to be on the safe side, you still have you good-luck trinkets and idols, and you still make some sacrifices to the local temples. You don’t meet regularly with the believers, and you conduct your business as you always have, perhaps not quite honestly. And then you see them, naked and bleeding, screaming about their horrible experience with a demon-possessed man. How would this affect you? Would this perhaps convince you that demons are real, and therefore, so is God?

The story of the sons of Sceva is funny at first, but then it isn’t. Do you suddenly realize that without Jesus you are lost? Forget Artemis, forget everything else! Seized with a holy fear of the reality of God, you desire to get rid of everything that is not of Him. No more idols. No more pretending. You join the local believers and learn about a genuine relationship with Christ. You become a believer, filled with joy, filled with the Holy Spirit, and never look back. Well, this is basically what happened on a huge, almost unimaginable scale in Ephesus. This was revival.

When this became known to the Jews and Greeks living in Ephesus, they were all seized with fear, and the name of the Lord Jesus was held in high honor. Many of those who believed now came and openly confessed their evil deeds. A number who had practiced sorcery brought their scrolls together and burned them publicly. When they calculated the value of the scrolls, the total came to fifty thousand drachmas. In this way the word of the Lord spread widely and grew in power. – Acts 19:17-20

Here we see repentance on a gigantic scale. We see confession. We see a wholesale change in the giant city of Ephesus – the fears, the superstitions, the sorcery, the witchcraft, the demon worship, the worship of Artemis, it is all coming to an end. This city of darkness is being flooded with light.

By the way, don’t think that these demonic influences are absent today. Who knows the number one book in the “advice” category on the New York Times bestseller list for weeks and weeks? It is called “The Secret,” by Rhonda Byrne. It is new-age spiritualism. It is enthusiastically endorsed by Oprah Winfrey and many others, including Jack Canfield, the “Chicken Soup for the Soul” guy.

After all this had happened, Paul decided to go to Jerusalem, passing through Macedonia and Achaia. "After I have been there," he said, "I must visit Rome also." He sent two of his helpers, Timothy and Erastus, to Macedonia, while he stayed in the province of Asia a little longer. – Acts 19:21-22

Ray Stedman has an interesting characterization of a Christian: Someone completely fearless, continually cheerful, and constantly in trouble. Let’s take a breath – the calm before the coming storm… Ready?

About that time there arose a great disturbance about the Way. A silversmith named Demetrius, who made silver shrines of Artemis, brought in no little business for the craftsmen. He called them together, along with the workmen in related trades, and said: "Men, you know we receive a good income from this business. And you see and hear how this fellow Paul has convinced and led astray large numbers of people here in Ephesus and in practically the whole province of Asia. He says that man-made gods are no gods at all.” – Acts 19:23-26

Oh, oh. At least, so far, everything Demetrius says is true. Praise God it was true!

“There is danger not only that our trade will lose its good name, but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis will be discredited, and the goddess herself, who is worshiped throughout the province of Asia and the world, will be robbed of her divine majesty." – Acts 19:27

This is emotional manipulation, pure and simple. A logical analysis would ask the following questions: Why can’t Artemis, if she is so great, defend herself? When people become Christians, and abandon their idols, why doesn’t Artemis get angry and strike them down? Maybe it is because Paul is right? But there was no one there to make these points (just as well, probably). Instead there were just a bunch of men terribly depressed about their failing idol business. “Robbed of her divine majesty” was no doubt translated in their minds as “robbed of our income.”

When they heard this, they were furious and began shouting: "Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!" Soon the whole city was in an uproar. The people seized Gaius and Aristarchus, Paul's traveling companions from Macedonia, and rushed as one man into the theater. Paul wanted to appear before the crowd, but the disciples would not let him. Even some of the officials of the province, friends of Paul, sent him a message begging him not to venture into the theater. – Acts 19:28-31

Even some of the officials have apparently become Christians, or they are getting close to becoming Christians. They sense the anger of the crowd in the theater, and tell Paul, who is the most visible representation of their anger, to stay away. Paul of course, saw this as an opportunity, and he did not care whether he lost his life in the attempt. To live is Christ, to die is gain.

The assembly was in confusion: Some were shouting one thing, some another. Most of the people did not even know why they were there. The Jews pushed Alexander to the front, and some of the crowd shouted instructions to him. He motioned for silence in order to make a defense before the people. But when they realized he was a Jew, they all shouted in unison for about two hours: "Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!" – Acts 19:32-34

The hatred was apparently spilling out beyond Christians to anyone who didn’t worship Artemis, including Jews, who were known to not buy the figurines. Probably, Alexander’s goal was to say that “We Jews having nothing against you! We are not trying to convert you! It is Paul and the Christians you should be angry at!” But he didn’t get his chance. If you have been to a Clemson football game, you have an idea of what a crowd chanting sounds like. But can you imagine this single chant for two hours?

The city clerk quieted the crowd and said: "Men of Ephesus, doesn't all the world know that the city of Ephesus is the guardian of the temple of the great Artemis and of her image, which fell from heaven? Therefore, since these facts are undeniable, you ought to be quiet and not do anything rash. You have brought these men here, though they have neither robbed temples nor blasphemed our goddess. If, then, Demetrius and his fellow craftsmen have a grievance against anybody, the courts are open and there are proconsuls. They can press charges. – Acts 19:35-38

Some think the reference to falling from heaven may mean that the image of Artemis on the temple may have been carved from a meteorite. Why was this so important? Because Ephesus was a “free city,” not under martial law controlled by Roman troops. The one thing Romans hated was lack of peaceful behavior. If they couldn’t quiet the crowd, and it turned ugly, the city officials knew that it would be very bad for relationships with Rome. So the city clerk, probably waiting on purpose until the crowd was worn out (they were probably whispering by now), reminds them of the rule of law.

If there is anything further you want to bring up, it must be settled in a legal assembly. As it is, we are in danger of being charged with rioting because of today's events. In that case we would not be able to account for this commotion, since there is no reason for it." After he had said this, he dismissed the assembly. – Acts 19:39-41

What a wonderfully quiet end to what could have been a terrible rampage. We know how it ends, so we find it hard to imagine how it might have ended. There could have been a full-scale massacre at hand, where all Christians (and perhaps Jews too) were sought out and imprisoned or killed. Recall that a long time ago Paul had been the ringleader of such a crackdown!

Paul may have referred to this event in II Cor. 1:

We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about the hardships we suffered in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life. Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us, as you help us by your prayers. – II Cor. 1:8-11a

I want to close as we take some time in reflection about the following things:

1. Do you live as if you really believe in demons? Do you live as if you really believe the gospel?

Are there things in your life that are not reflective of a life devoted to Jesus? Are you holding back in certain areas of your life? Or has your walk become shallow – going through the motions? Suppose the events in Ephesus 1950 years ago were happening right now in Clemson. Would that make a difference? It shouldn’t. As we spend some reflective time in silent prayer, consider these things, and pray as the Spirit leads you.

2. Do you rely on yourself or on God?

One of the key signs you rely on yourself is worry. Another is feeling under pressure. If this describes you, tell God in prayer and ask Him to help you release your burdens and instead rely on Him. To paraphrase II Corinthians, He has delivered you from a deadly peril – the most deadly peril there is, an eternity of separation from God – and He will deliver you. Not necessarily from suffering, or challenges, or struggles – although He might do just that – but He will deliver you through these things.

3. Are you willing to step out of your comfort zone and reach out to the lost in the Clemson area?

If you are available, or can make yourself available, please join us as we reach out in our "Mission Trip to Clemson." It is our chance to write another chapter in the book of Acts. All that happened in Ephesus started with a dozen or so people. Who knows what God will do?