Lessons From Acts – Lesson 33
After Paul starts his 3rd journey confirming and strengthening the faith of the churches. And after he does short visits at all of them along the route, he then parks it in Ephesus for at least a couple of years.
Now before we get into Acts Chapter 19 we need to remind ourselves how much of the N.T. has been written and when. That is good information to know as we come to chapter 19.
The first book of the N.T. that was written was Matthew in 37 A.D. That is only a few years after Christ ascended. Some Atheists will take the later date of some of the gospels and use the attack that they were written 60 years after Christ.
Don’t ever fall for that. Matthew was written only about 4 years after Christ ascended. And that is it’s completed date. Some of it most likely was written only 3 years after Christ ascended.
And I don’t know if you thought about this. But what was the main job that Christ told Christians to do right before He ascended.
The great commission. And what N.T. book has the great commission very clearly defined.
Matthew. It is also in Mark as a 2nd witness. And it is in Acts as a 3rd witness.
That is just like our Lord. He had the Gospel that was written right away contain the instruction that is of top priority.
God did not have John written first or Luke, God had Matthew written first. And God had Matthew written right away so that all of the new churches could have one book of the New Testament early on to study and preach from.
And that one book contained Jesus’ final instructions before He went back to the throne. God made sure they had what they needed and that it set the priorities for them.
And I believe there is another reason only one book was written early. Coping scripture in those days was painfully slow. If they were given all 27 N.T. books right away or if they were even given 10 right away, it could very easily bog down the process.
Instead of concentrating getting one book with the most important priority for a church in it to every church, they could try to get all 10 at once. Having only one book to concentrate on coping and getting to every church was something they could handle. And even getting that one book to everyone took a few years.
By the time we get to the book of Acts a couple of decades have passed. Matthew is in and has been in all the churches for a while now.
By Acts chapter 19 Galatians, and 1st and 2nd Thessalonians and James, have been written. James has been written for about maybe about 5 years. So some churches might have James.
And then Paul wrote Galatians and 1st and 2nd Thessalonians when he was parked at Corinth for a year and a half. So those 3 have only been around 3 ½ years give or take.
So maybe only a few churches have those but that is it. So at most a church might have 5 books. At most.
Understanding that helps put things into perspective. We are still in that transitional period of going from needing signs and wonders to validate a man’s message to having the completed N.T. and once we get there what validates a man’s message is the N.T.
And the closer we get to having a complete N.T. the more and more signs and wonders are faded out. In Acts 19 we do not have much of the N.T. so signs and wonders to validate a man and his message are still in force.
There has not been much diminishing of them yet.
This helps to understand Acts chapter 19. The Pentecostal groups do not understand that and they will try to bring the things that happen in Acts 19 into today and that leads to some really crazy stuff that they believe and try to do.
In short, in Acts chapter 19 there is only a tiny percentage of the N.T. in the churches.
And those scriptures are in the hands of the leadership of the church. Very few people have their own copy. Christians are memorizing scripture and they are copying verses on broken pieces of pottery and on clay tablets or anything else.
But people in general do not have much of the N.T. in their own hands. The best place at this time to get to hear the small amount N.T. that there is, is by going to a church and listen to it being read and preached.
So it would have been common to have some average Joe on the street hear something about Jesus. Or even several things and not have any substantial size of knowledge or understanding at all.
And he can’t just go to Walmart and buy a copy of Matthew. And while news about Jesus has traveled just about everywhere in that part of the world, and while many churches have been established. There are more towns without a church than there are with churches. So you easily have people who heard a little bit but have zero access to Matthew because there is no church where they live.
So there are people around who have heard the name Jesus but don’t know very much.
Acts chapter 19 starts with Paul arriving in Ephesus
Act 19:1 And it came to pass, that, while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul having passed through the upper coasts came to Ephesus: and finding certain disciples,
Act 19:2 He said unto them, Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed? And they said unto him, We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost.
Stop. Compare scripture with scripture. It is the only way to properly understand what is going on here.
2Co_1:22 Who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts.
Eph_1:13 In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,
Eph_4:30 And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.
When we are saved the Holy Spirit enters into our hearts. And he seals us unto the day of redemption. That is the redemption of our bodies. When this corruption puts on incorruption and this mortality puts on immortality.
Rom 8:9 But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.
The Bible is clear on this if anyone does not have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit then he is not saved. You have not been adopted into God’s family. You do not belong to God.
A person does not get saved and then because of something else get the Holy Spirit later. You do not get saved and then have to work to get the Spirit. You do not get saved and then have to learn before you get the Holy Spirit.
It does not work that way. The instant that you get saved you get the Holy Spirit. You can learn to yield to him or grieve him but that is a different issue. You get Him when you get saved. And He never leaves you.
Act 19:2 He said unto them, Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed? And they said unto him, We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost.
Paul meets them and no doubt senses that something is wrong. They are professing to be saved and that does not add up because they do not have the Holy Spirit indwelling their hearts.
Paul asks a question to get to the heart of the matter. And they answer basically we have never even heard about any Holy Ghost.
And because Matthew is everywhere and because it says to baptize in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost. Because of that Paul asks the next obvious question.
Act 19:3 And he said unto them, Unto what then were ye baptized? And they said, Unto John’s baptism.
Act 19:4 Then said Paul, John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people, that they should believe on him which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus.
Paul tells them that the baptism of John does not count. That baptism is not what Matthew is talking about. And then Paul tells them about believing on Jesus.
Ok. I think that we all understand that not everything that was said in every conversation was recorded as scripture. The Bible actually says that if it was all written down that there would not be enough books in the world to contain it all.
All we have recorded in verse 4 is Paul bringing up that people need to believe in Jesus. Now I really believe that Paul said more words to them about salvation. Working with them, making sure they understood, and answering questions.
And I believe it is implied here that they then believed and got genuinely saved right here. We just do not have recorded everything that was said between Paul and these people.
Act 19:5 When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.
You must be saved first and then baptized. They were not saved because they did not have the Holy Spirit, and now they are getting baptized. Therefore they had to get saved sometime in between verse 4 and verse 5.
Now comes something that is misunderstood by Pentecostals and like groups and it also causes confusion for others.
Act 19:6 And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Ghost came on them; and they spake with tongues, and prophesied.
Comparing scripture to scripture we have already shown that you get the Holy Spirit at salvation and you have to be saved before you are baptized. So these men already now have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in their hearts.
So Paul laying his hands upon them is not what gave them the Holy Spirit. Getting the Holy Spirit is an act of God that is done by Him at the instant of salvation.
And notice the wording real close. It does not say Paul laid his hands on them and they received.
No it is not received. They have already received. It says came on them. The context defines what that means. Remember words have meanings plural not singular. And that meaning is defined by the context.
In this verse came on them is not talking about receiving it is talking about action. About the Holy Spirit moving and working and doing somethings with them.
Another way the first few verses of Acts is misused is in the area of re-baptism. Some will try to use these verses to prove that if you were baptized in another church then you need to be re-baptized.
That is not what happened here in Acts chapter 19. They were not baptized again because they belonged to another church.
They were re-baptized for 2 reasons. The main and primary reason is they were lost. Baptism is for saved people. You believe first and then baptized.
The second reason is they did not have N.T. baptism in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost. So here in Acts 19 we have the Bible defining for us the reasons for re-baptizing someone.
And those 2 reasons are if that person was not saved before they were baptized. And the 2nd reason is if the baptism was done wrong. Specifically here it was not done in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.
I also believe that you also have to be immersed in water. Sprinkling does not count. You need to picture the death and the burial and the resurrection of Jesus for it to count.
Act 19:7 And all the men were about twelve.
After Paul deals with those 12 men, he then goes into his normal pattern and preaches in the synagogue.
Act 19:8 And he went into the synagogue, and spake boldly for the space of three months, disputing and persuading the things concerning the kingdom of God.
Act 19:9 But when divers were hardened, and believed not, but spake evil of that way before the multitude, he departed from them, and separated the disciples, disputing daily in the school of one Tyrannus.
Act 19:10 And this continued by the space of two years; so that all they which dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks.
So after those that rejected Christ could take it no more they got ugly. Paul just took those that did believe and found a place to meet and kept preaching Jesus.
And as Paul was preaching God would have Paul do some signs and wonders to show that He was truly preaching God’s Word.
Act 19:11 And God wrought special miracles by the hands of Paul:
Act 19:12 So that from his body were brought unto the sick handkerchiefs or aprons, and the diseases departed from them, and the evil spirits went out of them.
Now some people who were lost would see what Paul did and they took it wrong. They did not take it as it was intended. A validation of Paul’s message.
They took it as some kind of Power that Paul had. And they wanted to wield that power. And they thought that it must be the name Jesus that gives that power.
Kind of like a talisman. A magic saying. Of course that is loony toons. It does not work that way. So this will not turn out well for them.
Act 19:13 Then certain of the vagabond Jews, exorcists, took upon them to call over them which had evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, We adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preacheth.
Act 19:14 And there were seven sons of one Sceva, a Jew, and chief of the priests, which did so.
Act 19:15 And the evil spirit answered and said, Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are ye?
Act 19:16 And the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, and overcame them, and prevailed against them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.
Can you take a moment and just try to picture this. I mean can you see the arrogance of these men thinking they can use Jesus’ name as a talisman against demons.
And then the shock on their faces as the demon says Paul I Know and Jesus I Know but who are you and then proceeds to just woop up on them. They ran out naked and wounded. That is some terrible kind of whooping.
I mean a major whooping. This was a huge event. 7 prominate sons of the community and the chief of the priests. Just totally humiliated. Totally 100 percent wrong about the name of Jesus. And their error is on display for everyone to see and in an embarrassing way.
Of course this news spreads like wildfire. And a valuable lesson is taught to literally thousands.
Act 19:17 And this was known to all the Jews and Greeks also dwelling at Ephesus; and fear fell on them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified.
Act 19:18 And many that believed came, and confessed, and shewed their deeds.
And this led to many getting saved. The Lord Jesus was magnified. And we are talking genuine salvations that changed lives. It changed the way they thought and acted. And it changed what they thought was important and valuable. It changed people.
Jesus does that. He can totally change a life.
Act 19:19 Many of them also which used curious arts brought their books together, and burned them before all men: and they counted the price of them, and found it fifty thousand pieces of silver.
I love this. They now thought that which before was valuable is actually not valuable.
They now understand that those books are actually wicked. And now they don’t sell them. They don’t give them away.
They would rather burn 50 thousand pieces of silver worth, than to let them fall into someone else’s hands.
They obviously now want the truth of Jesus to spread and not the wicked error of those books that they used to value.
Act 19:20 So mightily grew the word of God and prevailed.
So we see God once again working and changing lives.
And we see Him doing it here once again by using the Word of God. And by using circumstances, in this case the humbling of those 7 sons and the chief priest.
And contrasted to that the way God was using Paul to heal people and God was having those opposed to salvation in Jesus getting whooped up on when they try to use the name of Jesus as a talisman.
People saw the power of Jesus, and heard His precious word. Which at this time would have been the sections of the O.T. that pointed to Jesus and of course the gospel of Matthew.
While the sign gifts ended when the N.T. was finished. And were even diminished more and more as more of the N.T. was written.
While that is true, God has never stopped using the circumstances of life and the experiences someone goes thru along with His Word to get people saved.
They are saved by the Word of God. And they cannot be saved without the Word of God.
I am only saying that God will at times work in a life to get them to where they need to be to hear the Word of God. He will work ahead of time to get someone prepared to get saved.
Some people need to go thru some hard times first. Some need their arrogance and pride knocked out of them first. Some need something shocking to wake them up so they can accept the truth of God’s word and get saved.
And that is what we see in this section of chapter 19.