The 1980s philosopher Phil Collins once wrote, you always need to hear both sides of the story.
!
The first explanation is about people, people that God used to persuade you, to speak to you about the gospel.
The second explanation of how you became a follower of the Lord Jesus is about the grace of God and God's total undeserved kindness.
Both those things are true.
People come to faith because of the work of other people and because of the work of God.
At the end of the day they're the same thing, aren't they?
And in actual fact that reflects a reality that is true all the way through this book of Acts.
What I'm going to call two stories.
There's the story of what the early church and the early Christians were doing.
But there's also the story of what Jesus was doing by his spirit.
Acts is rightly called, isn't it, the Acts of the Apostles.
But it could also be called the Acts of God.
Both those stories are important.
And they are inextricably linked.
You always need to hear both sides of the story.
And so as we come to this chapter in Acts 19, what I want to do is I want to really talk you through the chapter in kind of four different headings.
And then I want to go back over the story and give you four things that God is doing.
So really there's eight points.
But I didn't want to tell you that.
Four really.
Versus one to seven.
Can you look it down?
It's Paul and the disciples with John.
Paul and the disciples of John.
He's been in Ephesus chapter 18.
You might remember that.
And the Ephesians have gone to him and said, Paul, can't you stay a little bit longer?
Paul has declined.
Nevertheless, he told them, I will come back if God allowed him to.
And so here is Paul and the return of Paul to Ephesus.
And when he gets there, the first people that he meets are disciples of John the Baptist.
And they obviously see themselves as believers.
But for some reason, Paul is not sure they've got the same picture.
So he asks them, have you received the Holy Spirit?
They say, received the Holy Spirit?
We haven't even heard of the Holy Spirit.
And so Paul asks them about their baptism.
And they admit, well, we received the baptism for the forgiveness of sins of John the Baptist.
So Paul helps them to understand, doesn't he, things more fully.
The first thing he does is, he says, you need to know that John's ministry, I was pointing forward.
It was pointing to the one who came after him.
So look again at verse 4 of the chapter.
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.
And so Paul baptizes them again.
And he baptizes them into the name of Jesus.
Paul places his hands upon them.
And the Holy Spirit came to them.
They speak in tongues.
And prophesied.
Again, it is a picture, isn't it, of a mini Pentecost.
That is the point.
What is happening here is unique.
It is quite unique.
Because you and I, when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, the moment that we believe in him, we receive the Holy Spirit.
People don't, ordinarily, break into tongues or prophecy.
This is an unusual time in the history of the church.
The Old Testament era has come to an end in many ways.
John the Baptist is the era's final prophet.
And the New Testament era has arrived with the coming of Jesus and the coming of the Spirit.
So this is, in the book of Acts, a transitional time.
And here we find people who have not made the switch on that day of Pentecost.
The speaking of tongues and prophecy were a sign given to the early church of this new era's arrival.
We mustn't expect what went on in the early church, in that foundational period, to be mirrored exactly today.
And that's why elements of Pentecost are again seen in Acts chapter 19.
These people must know Christ and they must have his Spirit.
And so Paul is seeking a servant at the end.
That's the first section.
The second section, and Paul preaches publicly.
8 to 11.
Paul, usual strategy, where does he go?
First of all, first stop in town, you go to the synagogue.
To the Jew first.
The Jews, many Jews, as per normal, refused to believe,
despite Paul spending three months there arguing.
And very persuasively, many had hard hearts.
They're described in verse 19, aren't they?
As stubborn, as obstinate.
They publicly criticise the Christian faith.
They refer to it as the way.
That's what the Christian faith was first known as.
The way.
I think it's referring back to Jesus saying,
I am the way.
The truth and the life.
And so as a result, Paul leaves the synagogue and goes elsewhere.
And he chooses to rent a lecture hall, a town hall,
where he's able to hold a lunchtime service.
With people who wanted to come.
People who wanted to engage.
Amazingly, he preached at lunchtimes for two years.
And the outcome, according, well, it's remarkable.
Listen, look at verse 10.
It continued for two years, Paul speaking in this lecture hall,
so that all the residents of Asia heard the word of the Lord,
both Jews and Greeks.
That is an astonishing statement.
All the Jews and all the Greeks.
Well, that is kind of everyone, isn't it?
Presumably, that doesn't mean that everyone came and visited the lecture hall in Tyrannus
and heard Paul speak.
But I think it's trying to suggest to you and I that those who heard Paul in that lecture hall
and maybe debated with him,
they went back to their towns and their villages all over Asia
and they talked about that message
so that the news about Jesus spread everywhere.
The reach of Paul's ministry in this way is incredible.
And I guess that's another reminder to you, isn't it?
That obstinate opposition and public criticism
cannot stop the gospel of the Lord Jesus.
Thirdly, and we turn to verses 11 to 22,
and we see there the power of God at work.
Verse 11 and 12 tell us about these miracles
that Paul was able to perform.
Verse 11, God was doing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul,
so that even handkerchiefs or aprons that had touched his skin
were carried away to the sick
and their diseases left him
and the evil spirits came out of them.
This is unique, isn't it?
Other people in Ephesus, I'm hearing about this,
they saw this, they thought it's very, very exciting
and suddenly they want a slice of the action.
I was telling somebody this week who was my age
and we were talking about when you were in school.
Do you remember on a Monday or a Tuesday of the week,
somebody would come into school with a yo-yo?
Do you know what a yo-yo is?
And by Friday, everyone in the school had a yo-yo.
It was this astonishing thing, wasn't it?
Do you children know what a yo-yo is?
You don't know what it is, do you?
Ask your parents about what a yo-yo is.
But it was this astonishing craze, wasn't it?
Everyone had a yo-yo.
If you didn't have a yo-yo by the end of the week,
you were badgering the amount of time.
You felt terribly left out.
Well, something similar is happening in verses 11 and 12.
I told these seven sons of Sceva, they're magicians.
They look at what Paul is doing
and they think we've got to get a piece of this action.
But the name of Jesus is not some talisman for these people.
It's gone, pear-shaped.
Verse 16, you have this extraordinary incident.
The evil spirit answered them,
Jesus I know, Paul I recognize, but who are you?
And the man in whom was the evil spirit leapt on them,
mastered all of them, overpowered them.
So they fled out the house naked and wounded.
But God is at work even in this, isn't he?
People of Ephesus, as a result of this,
came to realize that what Paul was doing was not magic.
He really did have the power of God.
Listen to what verse 17 says.
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 high in honor.
But if you read on, people weren't just awed,
they were also repentant.
Verse 18 and 19 tells us that they came and they confessed to what they'd done.
They confessed their sin.
Sorcerers, these magic men,
came and publicly burnt their sorcerer's scrolls
at huge personal cost, we're told.
People were turning from darkness to light,
from the occult to the gospel,
turning from their sins in repentance to the Lord.
And Paul summarizes it, doesn't he, in verse 20,
the word of the Lord, we've seen it before,
spread widely, grew in power.
The last section, verses 23 to 41, is the big uproar.
The big uproar.
A big uproar was caused by the ministry of the gospel in Ephesus.
Verse 23 calls it
a great disturbance.
No little disturbance.
It starts with a guy called Demetrius, he's a silversmith.
And he stirs up his fellow silversmiths in Ephesus,
all of whom made a lot of money
out of creating shrines to the local goddess of the time, Artemis.
And these guys have a bit of an economic problem,
because as people hear the gospel of the Lord Jesus,
they're starting to repent and turn away from their idolatry.
And as a result, there's less work for these guys to do,
and there's less trade for these guys to sell.
And the Artemis idol industry is suffering.
They can see their monthly bank balances getting smaller,
and the Christian church across the road getting bigger.
And when Demetrius tries to convince the other silversmiths
to do something about it,
he doesn't make it sound like his motive is money, does he?
He makes it sound that he's very concerned for the goddess Artemis,
and her worship.
Listen to what he says in verse 27.
And there is a danger that not only this trade of ours
may come into disrepute,
but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis
may be counted as nothing,
and she may even be deposed from her magnificence,
she whom all Asia and the world worship.
The little speech is very effective.
All the tradesmen that have got together to listen,
and Demetrius,
they are roused by this speech,
and they start shouting,
Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!
And before you know it,
the whole city is up in arms.
There's an angry mob.
And they're looking for a scapegoat,
and so they lay their hands on a couple of Paul's colleagues,
Gaius and Aristarchus,
and they take them to the theatre.
Paul wants to go and speak in their defence,
but his friends talk him out of the commotion.
And so verse 32,
most of the crowd are in such an uproar,
they don't even know why they're there.
They're just swept up in the moment.
A Jewish man, Alexander, at that point,
stands up,
and he speaks to the crowd,
but he's shouted down,
Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!
Well, in the end,
the authorities get wind of it,
the city clerk turns up,
and he manages to settle the whole thing down.
And he urges the people,
don't get so worked up.
As if the great god Artemis
needs you to defend her.
He reminds the crowd that Gaius and Aristarchus,
they're not guilty of any crime.
And he says that if Demetrius and his mates
want to make a complaint,
go to the courts,
and he sends them all home.
I guess it's a little reminder to you and I,
that God sometimes will use
secular officials to provide justice
and to protect his people
as they speak about his word.
It won't always be like that,
but sometimes it will be like that, isn't it?
That's what we're praying
with the Assisted Suicide Bill,
that even those who don't want anything
to do with the gospel,
that God would cause them to vote
to protect life.
Well, that's a quick summary of Acts 19.
At least from one side of the story.
It's what Paul and his colleagues are doing
and how people are responding to them.
But what I want to do now is to look at the other side of the story
in Acts 19,
the story of God's work.
Four observations.
One from each of the sections.
Number one,
the necessary spirit of God.
It's the most obvious observation of all
to make in Paul's interactions
with the disciples of John.
In verses 1 to 7,
Paul believed that they must have the Holy Spirit.
Paul was not content to leave them as they were.
He thought it was imperative
that they know more about Jesus
and they receive his spirit.
So much so that he baptized them again.
And that reminds you and I
that the spirit of God
is absolutely necessary
for the Christian life.
If you want to know
and follow Jesus,
the receiving of the spirit
is not a secondary matter.
It is essential.
The Holy Spirit is not
an optional extra.
we need the Holy Spirit
to help us to see
who Jesus really is.
We need the Holy Spirit
to help us to grow
in the likeness of the Lord Jesus.
We need the Holy Spirit
to enable us to serve Jesus.
And it is for those reasons
that the New Testament
talks often about the Holy Spirit
and what he does in the life of the Christian
and what he does in
the Christian church.
We need the Holy Spirit
like we need the Lord Jesus.
We depend on him
like we depend upon God
our Father in heaven.
And it ought to be
a source of great rejoicing
for people like us
in the fact that God
gives his Holy Spirit
to people so generously.
And what we see here
calls for gratitude.
And this is what God does
all the time, isn't it?
He knows what we need
before ourselves.
And he supplies what we need
with generous grace.
And that is definitely true
when it comes to the Holy Spirit.
If you are a Christian this morning
if you are a follower
of the Lord Jesus
then the Bible says
that you have
God's Holy Spirit
living inside you.
What does he do?
He assures you
of God's love for you.
He points you
to our future in heaven.
He teaches you
about the Lord Jesus.
He shows you your need.
He grows you
in the character
of the Lord Jesus.
He brings about
the fruit of the Holy Spirit.
Love, joy, peace,
patience, kindness,
goodness, faithfulness,
gentleness,
self-control.
The Holy Spirit
has given you gifts
that you might build up
the body of Jesus
as you serve.
And God has given us
all of that
by giving us himself
his spirit.
And we ought to be
very, very grateful.
The second thing we see
about God's story
in this passage
is the irrepressible
word of God.
The unstoppable
word of God.
That's the section,
second section, isn't it?
Paul is preaching
in the synagogue,
in the lecture hall,
and there's great obstinance,
great stubbornness
on the part of his hearers.
But the word goes out
so much that we read
in verse 10
that all the residents
of Asia
heard the word of the Lord,
both Jews and Greeks.
And that is astounding.
And not only that,
in the next section,
there are people out there
trying to muscle in
on Paul's gig.
Trying to reproduce
his miracles
only to discover
that Jesus is not
a genie in a lamp.
Jesus is not at the disposal
of anyone
who just uses his name.
But even that incident
causes people
to fear
God
and to honour
Christ's name.
People repent
of their sins
and that familiar phrase
that we read
in Acts 6,
do you remember it?
The word of the Lord
spread widely
and grew in power.
And if only that
were true
in our day,
in our city,
if only people
in Ealing
and the surrounding area
would hold
the name of Jesus
in high honour,
as verse 17 says,
if only
the Lord's word
would spread
and grow in power,
as verse 20 says,
if only
everyone
who lived in Ealing
might hear
the word of the Lord,
verse 10.
And I trust
that,
like me,
you are praying
for those things.
You are asking God
to make them happen
on your street.
And of course,
we can have
very real confidence,
can't we,
that this is a prayer
that God wants to answer.
Because the word of God
is irrepressible.
opposition
cannot hold it back.
Imposters
cannot knock it
off course.
Circumstances
cannot derail it.
It's one of the
great themes
in the book of Acts,
isn't it?
God's word
is uncontainable.
You cannot stop it
no matter what you do.
God's work
does its work.
And as we talked
about last week,
I think the book of Acts
has been written
for us as a church
to grow expectancy
in our hearts.
To make us
confident of this.
I don't know about you
but I don't know
who you're thinking
of inviting
to Hope Explored.
There's two neighbours
who live over the road.
I have great fun
with them
and I'm terrified
of asking them.
I was speaking
this week
and I nearly
asked them
and I didn't.
I bottled it.
But the book of Acts,
isn't it,
it must give us
confidence
as we think
of the people
that we want
to come and hear
the gospel
that the word
of God
is unstoppable,
uncontainable.
Of course,
there will be days
when there will be
opposition,
there will be neighbours
that say no to us.
And there are times
when opposition
to the gospel
seems very great
and it looks like
nobody wants to listen.
But there will be days,
there are days,
when people hear
the gospel
and respond with joy.
When they welcome
God's message.
When they say to us,
I'd love to come,
I'd love to hear.
And they repent
of their sins
because God's word
is powerful to do that.
Do you believe that?
Because God's word
is powerful to do that.
Do you believe that?
Very enthusiastic.
And we ought to trust
him confidently
to do it.
Number three,
the transforming
power of God.
That's the thing
we see in the third section,
isn't it?
We saw how God's word
changes people's lives.
We see how it
draws them
into costly repentance,
costly turning away
from their sin
and their idolatry
and walking towards God.
And in that moment
of repentance,
the Ephesians,
the Ephesian believers,
they set an example
for you and I,
for all who would
come after us.
So,
for me
and for you,
one of the implications
of this chapter
is to ask ourselves
some pretty hard questions
about repentance.
Is God's word
transforming our lives
like it did here?
Or are we
resistant to it?
And I guess
that is one of the
most striking things,
isn't it,
about the repentance
of these Ephesian
sorcerers.
Verse 19,
they are willing
to give up something
that was very,
very valuable
to them
because they saw
that Jesus
is worth
far more
than what they
previously valued.
And so they were
willing to give up
their sin.
If you're here
this morning
and you're somebody
that wouldn't
describe themselves
as a Christian
or you're not sure
that you are,
I think this raises
a fundamental question.
Could it be
that the very thing
that is stopping you
from becoming
a Christian,
living for the Lord
Jesus,
is deep down
you know
that you would
have to give up
some things?
Probably one thing.
Maybe you're
a young person
here and
you've been taught
the truth of the
gospel,
you've been taught
to know and love
the Lord Jesus,
you can never
remember a time
when you weren't
prayed for,
you can never
remember a time
when your mum
and dad didn't
tell you
about the Lord
Jesus.
But there's
something stopping
you following
him.
And there's
something stopping
you living for
him.
And do you
know what it
is?
Let me tell you
what it is.
it is that
deep down
you know
that you
would have
to give
up something.
Maybe it's
some secrets
and maybe
it's not that.
Maybe it's
being in the
in crowd.
Maybe it's
one of those
kind of things.
But you're
hanging on to
it and you
will not
give it up.
And the
Ephesians
tell us,
they tell you
this,
give it up,
it's worth
it.
It is so,
so worth
it.
Give it up
for Jesus.
They would
say what
you gain
in Jesus
is infinitely
more than
60,000 pieces
of silver
or however
many it
is.
Jesus is
far,
far more
worthy.
Will you
turn away
from your
sins and
start living
for Jesus?
Of course
you might
say,
well,
I need
to know
more,
I'm not
ready to
make that
decision.
Well,
come to
Hope
Explored.
Come again
to it,
sign up to
it,
talk to
someone
about it
after the
service.
But Acts
19 also
raises
questions,
doesn't it,
for those
of us who
already are
Christians.
Because
repentance
is not
just how
the Christian
life begins,
is it?
It's how
the Christian
life continues.
And being
honest with
ourselves and
with God
about our
failures,
and honest
with others
and confessing
our sin and
turning away
from them,
it's costly.
Repentance
is still
costly for
the Christian,
isn't it?
It may be
this morning
that you've
been a
Christian for
many years,
and it's
still possible
for you to
find yourself
in a situation
a bit like
these Ephesian
sorcerers,
that you're
doing something
that you know
is not
right.
And as you
think about it
now,
you feel the
heat of it
and your
conscience
burns within
you.
And to
repent of
it would be
very embarrassing
perhaps and
confronting,
but these
verses ask
us whether
we're ready
to do
that.
and they
ask us to
see Christ
clearly,
to see
who Jesus
is clearly
and so also
to see that
what we're
hanging on
to is
actually not
very much
at all
compared to
Jesus,
compared to
Jesus and
the forgiveness
that he
offers.
And Acts
19 provokes
you and I
to think
hard this
morning about
where we see
the transforming
power of God
in our lives.
And are there
things this
morning we've
just got to
let go of?
The final
thing from
God's side
of the story
is this
passage invites
us to see
something about
the divine
majesty of
God.
The divine
majesty of
God.
I choose
that phrase
carefully because
it's used
in the
passage,
but you'll
have noticed
it was used
about Artemis,
the false
God.
Verse 27,
Demetrius expresses
this anxiety
that he feels
if more and
more people
turn to
Jesus,
then their
goddess is
going to be
robbed of
her divine
majesty.
And we may
wonder,
mightn't we,
whether a
God who can
be robbed of
her divine
majesty is
actually very
majestic at all,
or very
divine.
And then you
see the crowds
chanting,
great is
Artemis of
the Ephesians,
great is
Artemis of
the Ephesians.
And it's
hard not to
think,
isn't it,
they're
trying to
talk
themselves
into it.
Don't
misunderstand me,
the one
true God
doesn't need
anyone to
protect him.
God's
divinity and
his majesty
can never be
stolen from
him.
You cannot
rob God of
that.
He doesn't
need people
to declare
his greatness
in order to
be great.
God has
demonstrated
his unique
power and
wisdom in
the world
and in
human history
from the
very beginning
until now,
supremely in
the death
and resurrection
of his
son,
the Lord
Jesus.
And those
who worship
God,
we do not
need to
whip ourselves
up into
a frenzy,
do we?
Because we
have a
settled and
a quiet
assurance in
our hearts
that God
is who
he says
he is.
And that
Jesus,
God's
son,
is to
be held
high in
honor.
God's
God.
The people
here in
Acts 19
are desperate
to shore
up Artemis'
image and
future.
And while
many in
Ephesus are
chanting
Artemis'
name,
great is
Artemis
the Ephesians,
the one
true God
goes about
his work
really quietly,
making his
word known
by his
spirit,
transforming
his people's
lives.
love
and he
is the
one we
worship
and the
only one
who deserves
to be
worshipped.
And so
once again,
can I make
sure this
morning that
you see
that?
you see the
divine majesty
of God.
And I want
to encourage
you to keep
worshipping him
today,
now and
always.
Grateful for
his spirit who
is with you,
confident in
his irrepressible
word that
cannot be
stopped,
and continually
repentant
because of
his power.
May the
story of
God's work
in Ephesus
be the
story of
his work
here in
us and
amongst us
that we
may know
as a
church the
word of
the Lord
spreading
and growing
in power
to the
high honour
of Jesus.
Amen.
Let's pray.