Acts 19:1-10 - Little Lights And Big Rejections

Podcast Transcript (Auto-Transcribed by Apple Podcasts)

Hello, and welcome back to Tabernacle Talk. Today, we are in Acts 19. And we have been journeying with Paul.

He came back from his second missionary journey. Now, he's kind of out on his third journey. And yesterday, we interacted with someone named Apollos.

And he was one that didn't know about Jesus, just had followed what he knew that God had given him up until the baptism of John. And so that's what he was proclaiming.

And he came to Ephesus and was declaring those truths that everyone needed to repent and turn from their sin to God. And Aquila and Priscilla, they took him aside and they told him about the way of Jesus. And they discipled him.

And he went around convincing the Jews especially because of his background in knowing the Hebrew Scriptures.

He knew all about what they told him of Jesus and how every text of the Old Testament declares the Messiah and who he is and what his character is.

And so he went from Ephesus where he had met Aquila and Priscilla and he went on even as far as Corinth. And that's where we find him in Acts 19 and verse 1.

While Apollos was in Corinth, Paul traveled through the interior regions and came to Ephesus. He found some disciples and asked them, Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?

So he's trying to figure out, all right, where at in kind of your faith journey are you? No, they told him, we haven't even heard that there is a Holy Spirit. So they have no idea about even some of the things that John was talking about.

So John the Baptist back in when you read some of the early portions of the Gospels, he was telling everyone, hey, I'm baptizing you with water, but the Messiah is coming and when he comes, he's going to baptize you with fire and with the Holy Ghost.

The thought is he's going to baptize you with the presence of God. Into what then were you baptized? He asked them.

So he says, okay, if you don't even know about the Holy Spirit, like when you got baptized, why did you get baptized? What purpose and they said into John's baptism, they replied.

Paul said John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people that they should believe in the one who should come after him. That is in Jesus. So he tells them, hey, like the whole point of John's baptism was Jesus is coming.

The Messiah is coming. Verse five, when they heard 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 they began to speak in other languages and to prophesy.

Now there were about 12 men in all. So here, just as with Apollos, there were other people that had traveled, that they had heard about what John had preached.

And with the light that they had, with the light of God's revelation that was given to them, they were faithful to obey it. And when new revelation came along to them that said, hey, it's all about Jesus, they wholeheartedly jumped in.

And I think that's true for many, many people.

Even as Paul mentioned in his sermon in the Areopagus, he talks about the fact that God is not far from every one of us, and he's placed us in the times and places that we are, he says so that we would feel after him, that we would, as we are kind of

spiritually blinded in the dark, that we would, with the little bit of light that God does give us, that we're able to follow that. And when we follow that light, he gives us more light to understand.

I can think even of the testimonies of some people.

I believe the one apologist's name is Nabil Qureshi, and he was a person that was a Muslim, and he was far away from any Christian influences until God sent an angel to him in a dream and told him that he needed to talk with this person, this

specific Christian, about Jesus. And so he went and he talked with him, and you can read, I believe he's got an autobiography as well as some tremendous books talking about the truthfulness of the Christian faith and kind of how he was able to get a

front row seat to that in that God actually interacted with him in calling him to go to a Christian who then explained the gospel to him that with the little bit of light that he was given, he followed and God saved him, even though he was not in an

area where maybe missionaries came to him or that he noticed Christians around, but it was that God worked a very unique thing in his life. And as we are faithful to interact with the light that he has given us, he gives us more light. But I think of

the truth that he mentions in the gospels, to whom much has been given, much more will be required that if we know much about God's word, then we have a responsibility to follow through, to obey it. And we should never take lightly the fact that God

has shown himself to us, that he has communicated his truth to us. And if he has given us his word, then we are responsible to follow it and to obey it. So these men, they follow wholeheartedly, they are baptized. This is the only time.

I just mentioned this today in our First Steps class. This is the only time in Scripture that there is a rebaptism of someone that's mentioned. And here it's because the people were not baptized in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

They were not baptized after faith, after professing faith in Jesus. And so that is the only circumstance in which Scripture talks about people being rebaptized.

And some people feel as though they need to be rebaptized upon maybe they've spent some years backsliding, or they've done bad things, and so they want to recommit themselves to the Lord, and so they think they need to be rebaptized again.

And if they believe that they were not saved before, but now they are turning entirely to God, that maybe they prayed a prayer before, but now they're actually declaring Jesus as Lord of their life, that they are repenting from their way and turning

to Him, maybe that would be an instance in which someone would be baptized again. But simply rebaptism as a commitment we don't find in Scripture itself. That would be kind of an extra biblical practice that some people hold to.

What I encouraged the class with this morning was, hey, or I guess yesterday morning at the time that you're watching this, if you're watching it on Monday, what I encouraged them with was this.

What God wants from you is not for you to get rebaptized, but for you to live out the Christian life.

That's the commitment that God wants to have you show publicly to people that with your words, with your actions, you're actually living your new faith, not just that you got re-dunked.

So here's that section that what's happening with Apollos is happening with other people as well.

And then in verse number eight, Paul entered the synagogue and spoke boldly over a period of three months, arguing and persuading them about the kingdom of God.

But when some became hardened and would not believe, slandering the way in front of the crowd. So that's one way in which people described Christianity. It was the way.

So slandering the faith, slandering the way in front of the crowd. He withdrew from them, taking the disciples and conducted discussions every day in the lecture hall of Tyrannus.

This went on for two years so that all the residents of Asia, both Jews and Greeks heard the word of the Lord. What an incredible thing here that in kind of opposite, so these are put it parallel.

So for some people, they knew only about the baptism of John, and as soon as they heard the new light about Jesus, they went, oh, yep, totally. We're in. Like that was always the goal, is the Messiah.

And so then they dedicate themselves to the Messiah. They're baptized and they received the Holy Spirit. As opposed to this other group of people, they heard the gospel for three months in their synagogue.

And then even though they've been given three months worth of light, they turn their back and they harden their hearts and they begin to slander Christianity. And when that happens, Paul says, all right, I've done all that I can do.

So we talked whatever amount of time ago about when Paul did this, when he was in Ephesus before of, all right, I've given you what light I can. And now that he says, you know, your blood's on your hands.

What you do with the light that you have been given is now up to you. I've been faithful to give the light, but that's all I can do. I can't do anything more for you.

I can't make you believe. And here, that's what he does for them. Okay, if you no longer want to interact with this, that this isn't a, oh, I can't see it from scripture.

Well, he's shown, he's reasoned, he's argued with them from scripture. Here's what the Bible says. They go, well, I still don't want to believe it.

And I think you guys are this, that, and the other. And so Paul goes, all right, I can't give any more light than I've already given. They've hardened their heart.

So now I'm going to take it to a new area. And now instead of being in the synagogue, now he's in kind of the lecture halls of Greek culture.

And there he, I believe, if I remember what I read correctly, over the space of two years, he's there and many, many Jews and Greeks come to know the Lord.

Sometimes God has us transition into a new place or into a new area in which we witness because we are maybe faithful to give the light in one area. And God goes, all right, you've given the light there and you can't force it on someone.

What they do with it is now up to them. Maybe you should go to this different area. Maybe you should try this other venue in which you can communicate the gospel.

And he's got that for us. And it's not that God, it's not that we were successful or we were great or we did something in one place or that God blessed in one place and God didn't bless us in another place.

It's just we are doing our master's bidding that what God wants done there in the synagogue, Paul did. What God wanted done in the halls of Tyrannus. Paul did that as well.

So we need to be faithful to realize, okay, if I can't make anyone be saved, if I can't make anyone accept Christ, if I can't make anyone follow the Lord, then what I need to do is I just need to be faithful to follow what God has for me.

And maybe I need to switch it up and realize, okay, maybe God had me doing this for a time, but now I'm doing this other thing.

And I think that can be one takeaway that we have from today, the other being, let's be responsible to respond to the light that God has given us.

Just as those disciples of John did that they had been baptized because they received that light from the Lord, said, hey, repent of your sin. They said, okay.

And as soon as they heard about Jesus, they were all in whatever light they received from the Lord, they were all in as opposed to the people that for three months heard an apostle after they had heard previously from Apollos, who the scripture says

was well-learned in the Hebrew Old Testament and that he powerfully reasoned with the people proving that Jesus was the Messiah. They had heard these incredible preachers of the gospel, and yet they hardened their heart.

It's not that if people just have more information, they are guaranteed to be saved. It is a choice of the will. It's a volitional thing that people have to choose if they're going to believe.

And so let's not have hard hearts. Maybe you have accepted some light from God before. It's not a guarantee that you'll always accept the light.

And so make an intentional choice. God, whatever you show me from your word, whatever steps of obedience you want me to take, I am going to follow. And I think that would be a wonderful thing for all of us to do.

Tomorrow, there is a riot in Ephesus, and it's going to be a really, really fun time. I'm looking forward to discovering what kind of trouble Paul gets into next. And I know it's going to be a good time.

So see you tomorrow and have a wonderful day.