Acts 19:11-20:1 - Riots and Demons

Podcast Transcript (Auto-Transcribed by Apple Podcasts)

Hello, and welcome back to Tabernacle Talk. Hope that you are having a great day so far. And if not, hopefully, this time in God's Word, we'll bring you some encouragement.

Let's dive right in. We are in Acts 19, and we are in verse number 11 today. We've got a little bit of ground to cover.

We've been with Paul as he went to the city of Ephesus again and is seeing many wonderful things happen. Many people are being saved. He's actually been here for two years.

We read about this in verse number 10. This went on for two years so that all the residents of Asia, this is kind of the Asia Minor region specifically. Nowadays, Turkey, both Jews and Greeks heard the word of the Lord.

So amazing things are happening. This isn't just a drop in the pan. This isn't him just being there for a couple of days and then getting in trouble.

He's been here a while. And now after two years, here's what we see happen in verse number 11 of Acts 19.

God was performing extraordinary miracles by Paul's hands so that even face cloths or aprons that had touched his skin were brought to the sick and the diseases left them and the evil spirits came out of them. And I want to mention here something.

I don't know that I've gone into detail yet. As we are in the Book of Acts, there are some extraordinary miraculous things that are taking place that help corroborate the message that the Apostles are declaring. So they're saying that Jesus has come.

Jesus is the Messiah. He was God in the flesh. He came teaching, bringing the good news about the Kingdom of God, having come to earth and that He was crucified for sin.

He was buried and He rose again three days later and was now ascended. This was a miraculous set of claims that were being made. And so they at that time didn't have the Word of God to be able to say, hey, here's what God has said.

And it was just their word of mouth of we're telling you that this happened. And to corroborate their account, God gave during this particular time period in history an extraordinary outpouring of the Holy Spirit's power in unique ways.

Here that even things that touched Paul could heal people. This didn't even last for the entire time that Paul was on earth.

Later in his ministry, you can see that he has companions in the gospel that fall sick, and he can't do anything to help them. We've been traveling through the Book of Philippians in our study on Sunday morning. And he can't heal Epaphroditus.

It didn't matter how much faith Epaphroditus had or how much faith Paul had, God had not chosen at that point in time to work in that exact same way. So I want to give one word of caution.

There are some preachers, some maybe denominations or things out there that would say, we can give you healing from God. If you just believe hard enough, if you just send us enough money, then you can get healed.

And that's not the way that it worked in the Bible. It's not the way it worked with Paul, that sometimes when God wanted to work in a specific way, it happened and miracles occurred.

Other times, Paul himself was sick, and Epaphroditus was sick, and he had to leave companions behind. You can read about that in 2 Timothy chapter 4. So there's not a guarantee of health.

So I want to draw that out real quick as far as we're reading through. And we go, OK, well, I see that mention in Scripture, but I don't see it much today.

If someone claims that they can miraculously heal someone, I would invite them to help out at the nearest hospital to find those that are struggling with mental illness or with physical illness and to heal them.

And that would be a wonderful thing if it were the case. But we know that sometimes God works in truly mysterious ways, that we don't know why He allows some people to be able to overcome cancer.

I was talking with some people even on Sunday who were testifying of that, that they had deep cancer, that by any human metric they shouldn't be alive at the moment.

But because of the prayers of God's people, because of God's specific divine providence in their life, they're still here today. And other people that we know of, that God chose to take them home.

And we don't know why God always does what He does, why He leaves who He leaves and takes who He takes, but we trust Him. And we don't pretend that we are God and that we are in command of healing or fixing people.

We ask God, we pray to God, we do not demand of God that He work in particular ways. So, verse number 13. Now, some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists, what a way to start off a sentence.

The itinerant Jewish exorcists also attempted to pronounce the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, I command you by the Jesus that Paul preaches.

What a testimony that here these people that were going around and it was their job that they were casting demons out of people, that they used the name of Jesus. Verse number 14, seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish high priest, were doing this.

The evil spirit answered them. I know Jesus and I recognize Paul, but who are you? Then the man who had the evil spirit jumped on them, overpowered them all and prevailed against them, so that they ran out of that house naked and wounded.

When this became known to everyone who lived in Ephesus, both Jews and Greeks, they became afraid, and the name of the Lord Jesus was held in high esteem. Here we see a warning against nominal religion.

The name of Jesus is not a lucky rabbit's foot that you can rub and make it do anything you want. You can't just say... I might step on a couple of toes here.

There is a somewhat popular song on Christian radio right now that says, In Jesus' Name. And it's a bunch of declarations of good things that we can pray for, that we can ask God to work in these particular ways.

But there's a few maybe groupings of beliefs that would say, OK, if I say, In Jesus' Name, then whatever I say, it's definitely going to happen, or maybe I just don't have enough faith that it will happen. Jesus' Name is not a rabbit foot.

And that's what the seven sons of Sceva discovered as they tried to use it like that, that they wanted to use Jesus to accomplish their means.

It wasn't them submitting to his Lordship and saying, God, whatever you want, that's what we're going to do. Whatever you want to do in this person's life, we're just calling on you to work as only you can.

They were trying to get God to work on their timetable. And it doesn't fool God. And as we can see here, it doesn't fool the devils that those that are most opposed to God see through our hypocrisy.

I saw one thing the other day that had a sentiment I've definitely heard before, that if you don't say things out loud that the devil can't know. Well, the devil doesn't have physical ears. He is a spiritual being.

It is a spirit that is interacting as here in this passage. And so the devil knows your thoughts. He doesn't have a literal physical mouth.

He doesn't have literal physical ears. It's in a whole different dimension, if you will. It's a different mode of reality.

So people that are mute, that can't speak, they can still have temptation from Satan. And so I want to reiterate, Jesus isn't a rabbit's foot. Give you that one thing about demons.

And then we're going to go on to verse number 18. So we see miracles are happening. Demons are being cast out.

People are trying to use Jesus to accomplish their own means. And the demons aren't having it. God's not in that at all.

Then verse number 18, many who had become believers came confessing and disclosing their practices. Well, many of those who had practiced magic collected their books and burned them in front of everyone.

So they calculated their value and found it to be 50,000 pieces of silver. In this way, the word of the Lord flourished and prevailed. Here we see an act of repentance.

That those that believe confess and forsake sin. And this is the call to every believer. That all of us have sins that we love.

Sometimes it might be something like this, where someone comes and they go, hey, I've been involved in this sin that maybe has a physical something, and so I'm going to be rid of it. I don't need this anymore.

Here are their books and the different things that were involved in the occult and in witchcraft, and they say, I'm done with these. I don't want these anymore. And they were things that were valuable to those people.

They were worth 50,000 pieces of silver. And they said, it's not worth anything to me anymore. Jesus, following him, following his way, is worth it all.

And while we might not have physical memorabilia of sin, maybe we have an attitude in our life.

Maybe we have a relationship that we need to sacrifice to God, that we say, God, I know I've been friends with this person for a long time, but our relationship is causing me to just keep on sinning. And so I'm going to, you know, maybe sever ties.

Maybe I'm going to tell that person, hey, I love you. I will always be here for you, but I can't go to that place with you anymore. I can't partake in this activity with you anymore.

Maybe it might be, you know, something where you put install, you know, software or something on your computer that you'd have some accountability with someone else to be able to say, hey, I know that I'm addicted to gambling.

I'm addicted to pornography. I'm addicted to treating people badly on social media. I don't know, whatever it might be that you would proverbially burn that bridge that you'd say, I'm not going back that direction.

I am confessing and forsaking my sin. Verse number 21, after these events, Paul resolved by the Spirit to pass through Macedonia and Achaea and go to Jerusalem. After I've been there, he said, it is necessary for me to see Rome as well.

After sending to Macedonia two of those who assisted him, Timothy and Erastus, he himself stayed in Asia for a while. About that time, there was a major disturbance about the way, about Christianity.

For a person named Demetrius, a silversmith who made silver shrines of Artemis, provided a great deal of business for the craftsmen.

When he had assembled them, as well as the workers engaged in this type of business, he said, men, you know that our prosperity is derived from this business.

You see and hear that not only in Ephesus, but in almost all of Asia, this man Paul has persuaded and misled a considerable number of people by saying that gods made by hand are not gods.

Not only do we run a risk that our business may be discredited, but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis may be despised and her magnificence come to the verge of ruin, the very one all of Asia and the world worship.

When they had heard this, they were filled with rage and began to cry out, Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!

So the city was filled with confusion, and they rushed all together into the amphitheater, dragging along Gaius and Aristarchus, Macedonians who were Paul's traveling companions.

Although Paul wanted to go in before the people, the disciples did not let him. Even some of the provincial officials of Asia who were his friends sent word to him, pleading with him not to venture into the amphitheater.

So Paul's like, Hey, I'll go tell these people that are angry about what I've done. I'll go tell them about the gospel. And everyone's like, No, Paul, Paul, dangerous.

Do not do this. Verse number 32. Some were shouting one thing and some another because the assembly was in confusion.

And most of them did not know why they had come together. They just went along with the crowd. Some Jews in the crowd gave instructions to Alexander after they pushed him to the front.

Motioning with his hand, Alexander wanted to make his defense to the people. But when they recognized that he was a Jew, they all shouted in unison for about two hours. Great is Artemis of the Ephesians.

So he's continuing in their continuing in this call. They're not even letting him talk. Verse number 35.

When the city clerk had calmed the crowd down, he said, People of Ephesus, what person is there who doesn't know that the city of the Ephesians is the temple guardian of the great Artemis and of the image that fell from heaven?

They would be kind of a meteor that was very sacred to the Ephesian people.

He says, Therefore, since these things are undeniable, you must keep calm and not do anything rash, for you have brought these men here who are not temple robbers or blasphemers of our goddess.

So if Demetrius and the craftsmen who are with him have a case against anyone, the courts are in session and there are proconsuls. Let them bring charges against one another. But if you seek anything further, it must be decided in a legal assembly.

In fact, we run a risk of being charged with rioting for what happened today, since there is no justification that we can give as a reason for this disturbance. After saying this, he dismissed the assembly.

After the uproar was over, Paul sent for the disciples, encouraged them. After saying farewell, he departed to go to Macedonia. I think it's so fun in that story that here you have these men living out Psalm 2.

So Psalm 2, why do the nations rage? And the people's imagine, plot, meditate on empty things against God and against His Messiah.

And here it uses some of those exact phrases that Demetrius and some of the other craftsmen that made these physical gods for people to worship. They literally raged against what God was doing through Paul. And I'd like to encourage you today.

Sometimes people might get mad at you for being a Christian. Sometimes people might call you a bigot. Sometimes people might accuse you of being backwards, of being hate filled.

And I'd like to give two thoughts. Number one, let it not be true that we ever hate anyone. If God still allows another person to be able to live, then we are called to love them.

We are called to love everyone, called to love our neighbors. And God defines neighbors as even those people that are most diametrically opposed to our lifestyle. You can think back to the story of the Good Samaritan.

And Samaritans were hated by the Jewish people. They were seen as half breeds is what they would call them. They would call them dogs.

There was immense hatred for them because they didn't, they weren't full blooded Jewish people. They had intermarried with some of the nations around Israel. They worshiped in a different place other than the temple.

They had some different religious customs that they observed. And so they were deeply hated.

And in the story of the Good Samaritan, Jesus says, Hey, even the people that you are so diametrically opposed to, that you hate racially and religiously and politically, that person is your neighbor, that you are called to love. As yourself.

That the care and love you give to feeding yourself, clothing yourself, making sure that you have the good life, that is what we are called to do for the sake of others. So we are called to love our neighbors. We're called to love our enemies.

So sermon on the mount. You know, Jesus says, You've heard it said, love those that love you and hate your enemies. He says, but I say unto you, love your enemies, pray for those that persecute you, pray for those that despitefully use you.

And I think if more of us as Christians had that Christlike love towards people, maybe we wouldn't see quite the situation that we have in our world today. But the situation in our world today being what it is, let's pledge to do two things.

Number one, let's love people enough so that the charge that we hate those that are pursuing alternate sexual lifestyles or pursuing a gender that God did not give them at birth, let it be very clear, those that are in maybe religions like Islam or

Judaism, atheism, whatever it is, let the charge that we hate people be laughable because of the love that we are actively showing to people, not just, oh no, I love them. You would never know it from my actions or from my words, but I love them on

the inside. I get a nice warm feeling. No, no, no. Let our actions and words demonstrate our love that we have for people so that a charge of hate would be laughable.

And then let's not be ashamed of standing for the gospel.

This was Paul's heart here in this chapter that he wanted to go in and defend Jesus, defend the way, defend Christianity and the gospel and declare it to an angry mob that he said with his attempted actions, like, hey, I don't care what happens to

me. It's fine if they want to hurt me, but I'm going to share the gospel with them. I'm going to stand for God. He didn't have a heart and said, I'm going to shirk away from trouble.

He was actively trying to get into it, and everyone was going, don't do it, Paul. They had to hold him back. And maybe we have that heart as we interact with a world that is opposed to the way of Jesus as it has always been.

Let us have a dedication that, God, I'm not going to shirk away from proclaiming your word.

I'm not going to shy away from saying that we need to repent from our sin, that we are not right with God and not shying away from maybe what some of those things might be. I'm going to declare it.

I'm going to say it in appropriate circumstances to when it comes up, all of that. I'm not advocating for people to be the crazy guy on the corner that everyone kind of has the, oh, all right, am I safe if I'm around this person?

Not that kind of thing. But as it comes up in your life, as people mention things, as they ask you questions, don't be ashamed to stand for God in the way that Paul and these other men did.

And I see here the wonderful truth that God continues to protect and to save his own.

And these people that could have been mauled by a mob, that could have been killed or hurt or stoned as Paul had even experienced in other cities, God protected them.

And I want you to realize that the same God that protected these men, that protected Paul, that protected Jesus in his temptation with Satan, in times when people wanted to throw Jesus off of a cliff, in many different times, God protects his people

until such time as God says, All right, I've got a special moment for this person. Maybe it's a time of suffering where we get to show who Jesus is.

Maybe it's a time, not often here in the US but across our world today, that maybe someone gives their life for the gospel, that because they follow Jesus, because they follow Jesus in baptism, that their family or their country persecutes them or

kills them because of faith in Christ. And when it comes to those moments, we know, hey, this is coming directly from God.

I think of the verse that Satan tried to take out of context to force Jesus to tempt God, where God says he will give his angels charge concerning you so that at no time you dash your foot against a stone.

You can't stub your toe without it being directly mandated by God for your good, for his glory, for lifting and building up others.

So, no matter if you are seeing miracles happen, if your hanky is healing people or if you're in the middle of a riot in Ephesus with people chanting for hours, great is Artemis of the Ephesians. God is with you.

So go forward today with confidence, with boldness, with love for others that you would care about people. You would want to share the Gospel with them. You would want to declare God's truth.

Thank you.