Bound for the sake of the gospel, Acts 21

Acts has 28 chapters. We are in chapter 21. The last one-fourth of the book is devoted to Paul’s imprisonment, the occasion of it and then the details of it, and, finally, the last chapter deals with his reaching the city of Rome.  These chapters, and chapter 21 in particular, are difficult to preach in that for the most part they present a narrative of the details of Paul’s imprisonment and travel to Rome and lack some of the doctrinal principles that are easier to form a message from. 

But in looking at this chapter as a whole, we see Paul move from the position of a free man, to a prisoner.  And the word that seems to come to my mind as a result of reading this chapter repeatedly is the word bound.  Paul is warned twice that he would be bound as a prisoner, and then in vs. 33 he is bound in chains, and from that time on as far as we know, Paul is a prisoner, bound in chains for the rest of his ministry.  So this is an important transition in the life of Paul, and the narrative  spends the remainder of the chapters detailing those final years of Paul’s imprisonment.

But I think it’s important that we establish something right off the bat as we look at this new chapter of Paul’s life.  In two of the epistles which Paul would write while in imprisonment, Ephesians and 2 Timothy, he referred to himself as the “prisoner of the Lord.”  And that is essential to understanding this passage and the subsequent chapters.  Paul does not consider himself a prisoner of Rome, but a prisoner of the Lord. 

Now that is significant, because if you don’t understand Paul’s mind set, then you may make the interpretative mistake of many theologians and Bible teachers, in claiming that Paul made a mistake in this chapter, and as such he caused his imprisonment, and though God worked through it, his imprisonment was not necessary.  And some theologians, emboldened by their declaration of Paul’s supposed error,  have  taken an even greater liberty and gone so far as to say his actions in the temple in regards to observing the vow and the feast are also a mistake and he was guilty of going against his own admonitions about not being under the law. 

So we have to be careful in how we look at this chapter, because though it may seem to be just a travelogue, a poor interpretation can lead to bad doctrine.  Personally, I think that Paul is exemplary in all that he does after his conversion.  And I believe his actions here are exemplary as well.  And I think realizing that Paul did not consider physical bonds as anything limiting his spiritual effectiveness is fundamental to understanding this passage correctly.  Paul already considered himself bound to the Lord, and as such the physical bonds could not hinder his ministry whatsoever.  In fact, he said in Philippians 1:12 that “my circumstances have turned out for the greater progress of the gospel.”  And he goes on to describe that progress as a result of his imprisonment.  So Paul’s imprisonment in my opinion is not a mistake.  But it was used by God for the greater progress of the gospel, even greater than he could achieve as a free man.

Now that is a great lesson in and of itself.  That sometimes, the trials that we find ourselves in can achieve more for the kingdom than times of peace and prosperity.  And when you come to recognize that, then when you find yourself in difficult, trying situations, rather than falling apart or having a pity party, perhaps you should consider it a ministry opportunity, and start looking around you at what God might want to accomplish through you as you go through your trial.  Contrary to the teachings of the prosperity gospel proponents, God uses adversity more than He uses prosperity to accomplish His purposes.

Now as I alluded to, this passage is difficult to build an expositional message from, and a more astute preacher than I might skip right over this one.  But I’m a little bit pig headed I guess, and I can’t help but think that there are some things here which are written for our instruction and admonition.  We just may have to dig a little deeper.  The late Dr. S. L. Johnson had the following to say about expositional preaching of such difficult passages.  He said, “In final analysis, it seems to me, that the point of preaching is not to preach to the problems of a particular congregation; but rather to preach the Word of God so that you may become knowledgeable in the Scriptures and thus able to apply the Scriptures yourself to your problems. In other words, to bring you to a certain maturity in the understanding of the Word of God.”  Now I think that is good and a worthy goal.  It is very popular today to preach messages such as 7 Steps to a Better Marriage, or 10 Characteristics of a Successful Church.  Those type of messages may propose a formula for you to emulate, but they can fail to give you a sound basis on which to be able to rightly discern the scriptures and correctly apply them to your daily lives.

Now before we delve into chapter 21, let’s set the context and at the same time dispel the idea that Paul was in error by continuing on to Jerusalem by referring back to the previous chapter, 20:22, 23; where Paul said to the elders at Ephesus, “And now, behold, I am going to Jerusalem, bound in the Spirit, not knowing what shall befall me there; except that the Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city that imprisonment and afflictions await me."  So he goes forward after being told by the Holy Spirit that imprisonment will await him as he goes towards Jerusalem, and then to Rome.  In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if the Holy Spirit didn’t show him all of that in some detail, so that he knew exactly what was going to happen.

So my title today is “Bound for the sake of the gospel,” and I have four points just to give us a little outline for our exposition, and they are bound in the Spirit, bound by fear, bound by love, and bound yet delivered. 

I’ve already alluded to the first point.  Paul considers himself even before his imprisonment as bound in the Spirit.  Throughout Paul’s writings, he refers to his ministry as being compelled, constrained to preach, saying woe is me if I do not preach the gospel.  Paul’s salvation was such a dramatic conversion, after having persecuted the church for years to becoming an apostle of the Lord to the church, that he considered himself bound to serve Christ and the church with everything he had to offer.  He would later say that I consider all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Jesus Christ.  Nothing else mattered.

The Bible says that before our salvation we are all bound to sin.  We served sin, and by extension, we served the devil. We served our flesh and our base passions.  But now that we are saved, we are to serve the Lord.  That is what it means to be bound in the Spirit.  Recognizing the depravity and hopelessness of our sinful condition, and grateful for the grace God has bestowed upon us, we now serve Him joyfully, obedient to the leading of the Spirit, forsaking all the pleasures and profits of this world, for the sake of our love for the Lord.

Then our second point is bound by fear.  So Paul is traveling towards Jerusalem, en route to Rome, and he is bringing an offering to the church at Jerusalem which he has gathered from the churches in Asia and Europe that he established. And I will spare you the geography lesson as we read of Paul’s travels by ship.  But as pertaining to our outline, he lands in Tyre and stays there 7 days. 

And while there Paul searches for any disciples that might be in Tyre.  And when he does, they warn him through the Spirit that he should not set foot in Jerusalem.  Now this is where supposedly Paul errs.  However, I would suggest that the Spirit is not forbidding Paul to go to Jerusalem.  I think that the Spirit was leading him to Jerusalem and had been for some time.  That is why Paul was resolved to go there.  What the Spirit was warning was to expect to be afflicted and imprisoned.  And these warnings were not meant to alarm Paul, but to prepare him.

I believe that is why the scriptures warn us of tribulation and trials as Christians.  Jesus warned us that if we follow Him then we will suffer.  Jesus certainly does not want us to not follow Him because we will suffer.  But He wants to warn us; forewarned is forearmed.  That is the purpose of much of the prophecy in scripture.  It’s not to give us a code that we spend inordinate amounts of time on, trying to figure out every detail and the day and time indicated.  But it is simply to forewarn us that we are going to experience tribulation in this world, even as Jesus said.  But take courage, for He has overcome the world.  He knows what is going to happen before it happens, and He lets us have a glimpse of it, so that we might be prepared.

Then further along in the chapter, we read that Paul leaves Tyre and travels to Caesarea.  And as he is there, a prophet named Agabus gives another warning to Paul.  This one is even more explicit.  He takes Paul’s belt, and in the style of the Old Testament prophets uses it to illustrate how the Jews will bind Paul and deliver him to the hands of the Gentiles which are the Romans.  Now as I said, all of this was not to discourage Paul, but to strengthen him, and even to corroborate the previous prophecy that Paul had concerning Jerusalem given by the Holy Spirit in Acts 20 which I read to you earlier.  And one important point in that is that prophecy needs to be corroborated.  If you come to me and say you have a word of prophecy by the Holy Spirit, I don’t care how spiritual you may sound, I don’t care how esteemed you may be in the church… I will not accept it on that basis alone.  It must be corroborated by scripture, or at the least by 2 or 3 witnesses.  Paul said test the spirits.  There are many deceiving spirits out there and even if an angel were to tell you something different than scripture you are not to accept it.  Everything has to be corroborated.  Now this was especially true in the early church when they did not have the finished scriptures such as we have.  Now that prophecy is complete, God is not giving new revelation.  His word is sufficient for all knowledge, for all instruction in righteousness.

But the main point is that we are not to be bound by fear.  We are told to trust the Lord, lean not on our own understanding, but in all our ways acknowledge Him and He will direct our paths.  Listen, the whole Christian life can be summed up in the idea of trusting in God’s plan for our lives.  All rebellion, all sin is really just an attempt on our part to try to do it ourselves, to make our own decisions, to think that we can handle life on our own and do it on our own terms. That is sin because it is not of faith. But the Christian life is coming to the point of surrendering to God’s plan and trusting that His plan is good, and we can rest in His wisdom and His plan.  That is what Romans 8:28 is talking about.  Trusting that God’s plan will work out for good to them that love God and are called according to His purposes. 

And we should not allow the fear of persecution or affliction to keep us from being witnesses of the gospel.  Paul said, “For I am ready not only to be bound, but even to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus."  I would that we all had that sort of courage for the Lord.  Not in some future, imaginary scene where we are asked to renounce Christ or face the firing squad.  But in our everyday, common lives, that we were so bold as to be a witness on our jobs, in our schools, to our neighbors, not fearing the condemnation or scorn or derision.  We don’t typically face death, ladies and gentlemen, for the sake of the gospel.  We just face society’s reproach, and that is enough to silence us.

Now there is a side issue in this section that I am need to address. It is one of those passages that have caused or added to the controversy about the gifts of the Spirit as well as the roles of ministry.  And so I will skip over that part.  No, not really.  But let me forewarn you that many controversial passages are such because there is not sufficient evidence to speak clearly on a subject.  And so you have what is called an argument of silence.  I would suggest that you do not build doctrine on an argument of silence.  One passage taken out of it’s context does not make for sound doctrine.  So let’s look at this, but realize that there is not sufficient evidence to be too dogmatic about what some might like to think they see here.

The difficult section is the one referring to Philip’s four virgin daughters who were prophetesses.  Now let’s consider what it says; first of all, it says they were prophetesses.  It does not say they were preachers.  It doesn’t say they were elders.  Luke never relates a prophecy given by these women.  Second it says they were Philip’s daughters, virgin daughters.  That means that they were under the legal authority and headship of Philip.  Now Philip is described as having two offices; the first is he was one of the seven.  One of the seven men appointed by the church of Jerusalem and the apostles to serve the church.  Second, he was an evangelist; that would be a preacher of the gospel, particularly associated with traveling to churches, going to far away areas to preach the gospel and establish the church.  So Philip has the office, and his 4 daughters have some sort of gift that is called prophecy.  My position is that they did not preach, because that would violate Paul’s instructions in 1Timothy 2:12 that he did not suffer a woman to teach, but to keep silent in the church.  So what purpose did these women serve?  I would suggest they served Philip and through him the church as a source of revelation from God, in a time in which there was not the written New Testament scriptures, and in a land where there was probably not even sufficient availability of Old Testament scriptures.  And so for practical matters God provided prophetic revelation through this evangelist’s daughters which he then gave to the church.  And the fact that there were four of them is important, because they would have fulfilled the command that every fact was to be confirmed by at least 2 or 3 witnesses.  See, there can be false prophets.  There can be false prophecy.  And in regards to new revelation, sometimes that cannot be immediately corroborated as coming from the Lord.  But in this case, the plurality of testimony could confirm revelation.  And so I think it was a unique gift to the early church, particularly in this church in Caesarea, in a remote area where they did not have adequate scriptural resources.   But note that when Paul comes, the 4 daughters were there, but they did not prophecy to Paul.  Paul was an apostle first of all.  He had direct revelation from Christ.  That is what the requirement of an apostle was that he had seen Christ and been taught by Christ.  And Paul had that by revelation.   But God brought a prophet named Agabus, a man to prophecy to Paul in the church.  So this is a perfect illustration of the principle that in the church women are not to hold a position of authority, which is in keeping with Paul’s letters.

The third point then is bound by love.  Paul finally arrives at Jerusalem.  I can’t imagine how he must have felt, anticipation, maybe some apprehension, even some anxiety.  But I think Paul most of all felt adrenalin.  He wanted to get it on.  Paul is like a combatant, like a prize fighter.  He wants to go to battle.  And he is biting at the bit to do it. 

But don’t forget in all that his motivation for going to Jerusalem.  And that is he loved the Jews.  He knew he was going to be afflicted and imprisoned.  And yet he loved them so much he was willing to suffer for them.  He said elsewhere, I would to God that I was accursed for the sake of my brethren, the Israelites.  That is an amazing thing to say.  That is like a parent saying, I would to God that He would take my life, for the sake of my child’s salvation.  And maybe some of you have said that.  That is love. 

And Paul proves his love for them by going out of his way to not offend them.  The elders come up with a plan to keep Paul from harm by taking these four young men who were taking the Nazarite vow and helping them fulfill that vow.  And this is where some have mistakenly criticized Paul again.  Because in this passage he is seen attending the feast of Pentecost which lasted 7 days, he purifies himself according to the Jewish law, he may have even shaved his head, the other guys certainly did, and he offers sacrifices in the temple!  Now at first glance that is like a Christian going to mass and confession.  But it’s even worse than that, because Paul rails against that sort of thing in Romans.  But we need to consider not what Paul did but why Paul did it. 

First of all, he did not do it to establish righteousness that he might be saved.  He knew that he was saved by grace, not works.  The reason he did it was so that he could preach to the Jews.  So that he could enter the temple and preach.  If he was defiled ceremoniously according to Jewish law, he could not enter the temple.  And during the feast, this would be his greatest opportunity to be a witness to the truth of the gospel. 

Now Paul explains that in 1 Corinthians 9:20, “And unto the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews; to them that are under the law, as under the law, that I might gain them that are under the law: To them that are without law, as without law.”  He goes on to say that he becomes all things to all men that he might by all means save some.

Now that is an illustration of love. That is the love that Jesus had for us.  He became like us, a human.  He humbled Himself to receive spit and blows and rejection of men which He had created.  And that is exactly what we see Paul doing here.  That is why Paul could say be imitators of me, because he was an imitator of Christ.  And that is what we are to be; imitators of Christ.  That is how you become conformed to the image of Christ, by acting like Christ acted.

Now Paul understood freedom.  He is the one who declared the freedom we have from the law.  But true freedom is not only the freedom from the law, but the freedom to observe the law.  There are times when you may need to restrict your freedom for the sake of a brother in Christ who is weaker.  You may feel that you are free to have a glass of wine at dinner.  But there may be times when you restrict that freedom for the sake of a brother or sister that may be tempted to go back to the bondage of alcohol that they once suffered under, if they were to be eating with you.  That is why in the church, and at a church function, we will never allow alcohol.  Not because we are legalists, but because we love the brethren more than we love our freedom, and certainly more than we love alcohol.

Well, the last point is bound yet delivered.  In spite of the best laid plans, in spite of all the church’s precautions and in spite of Paul’s efforts not to be offensive, it turns out that some Jews from Asia, probably the same group that had caused a riot in Ephesus before, showed up near the end of the feast and they saw Paul in the temple.  And immediately they tried to start another riot, with the intention of blaming it on Paul and using it to have him arrested.  Their hatred for him and the gospel had not disippated.

So when they saw Paul, they started this riot on the assumption that he had brought a Gentile into the temple, when in fact Paul had gone out of his way to do the exact opposite thing to attempt to appease them.  And the whole city becomes involved in this riot, they dragged him out of the temple and started beating him to death.  But someone reported it to the Roman commander of the garrison, and he got some centurions and soldiers and ran down there and basically rescued Paul.  When they saw the Roman commander, they stopped beating Paul, and notice in vs. 33 it say that he bound Paul with chains. 

Now we read the story, so I don’t want to retell it.  But the fact is, that Paul was being murdered, and being arrested and put in chains is actually the means by which God delivered him from death.  Now that should be a lesson to us.  Sometimes, the thing which we are most afraid of, is the very thing God uses for our deliverance.  See, the Jews have been trying to kill Paul all along.  And we’re going to see in the coming chapters that they will continue to plot to kill Paul.  If Paul was not arrested, and held under Roman guard, then it would have only been a matter of time before he was murdered. 

But God wasn’t done with Paul yet.  And so God delivered him by having him arrested. God would end up using Paul  more in bonds than he did when he was free.  Paul would write most of the epistles from prison.  He would actually have the freedom to do that unhindered and unafraid of being secretly ambushed and murdered.  He would end up preaching to governors and kings and all of Caesar’s household.  And in the long run, the gospel would advance far more due to this ministry of Paul than it did when Paul personally went on three missionary journeys.  Now obviously, God used Paul’s missionary journey’s.  But I would suggest that Paul’s writings reached millions upon millions more people than he ever could have reached in person. 

So we see that God used bondage to accomplish deliverance.  And I think it comes full circle.  Because when you are in bondage to Christ, then nothing can come upon you that does not first come through the hand of God.  God will not allow you to be finished off until He is finished with you.  That is the promise of God for the person whose life is committed to the Lord. 

The crazy thing is Paul ends up being a prisoner for the next several years, and most of that time he was not charged with a crime.  In fact, King Agrippa says later that Paul would have been released if he had not appealed to Caesar.  But Paul only appealed to Caesar because a sorry governor who did not have a charge to hold him with wanted to turn him over to the Jews to judge him.  But God had a plan for Paul’s life, and Paul knew that he could trust God’s plan.  He knew that his usefulness and effectiveness depended on being in God’s plan, even when it seemed at odds with human reason.

Folks, I hope that you will consider being bound to Christ today.  I hope you will consider the baubles and trinkets of this life as worthless as compared to the surpassing knowledge of Christ and serving Christ no matter what the cost.  I hope you will not be bound by fear, but be courageous even as Paul was.  I hope that you will be bound by love, giving up your freedom, your liberty, your time, your resources, for the sake of the brethren.  I pray that your love for the church would prohibit you from putting any stumbling block in front of a another Christian.  And then I pray you will know the bondage that leads to deliverance.  There is no safer place than smack dab in the middle of God’s will.  Trying to do your will and yet appease God, or trying to keep up Christian appearances but live in the world are some of the most dangerous places you can be.  There is no better place, no safer place that fully committed to Christ.  You will never know true deliverance until you completely surrender to Him. 

The power of the gospel is the life of the church, Acts 20

 Over the last couple of months, we have been looking at many characteristics concerning the power of the gospel.  I will not review all of those messages, but just to prod your memory I’ll remind you of some of the titles; the power of the gospel over demons, the power of the gospel over anxiety and depression, the power of the gospel over philosophy, the power of the gospel over lameness, and the power of the gospel to save.  And today is perhaps the last one; the power of the gospel is the life of the church.

Now if you have read ahead, you will probably suppose that I’m going to talk about the young man that fell to his death and use that somehow as an illustration or metaphor for the life of the church.  But I doubt that is an accurate way of exegeting the text.  Rather, I think I will let that example simply be a warning to some of you here today who may have already put your shades on and are planning on catching some z’s during the message.  I should warn you that if you fall asleep and if by some reason or another you die in your sleep here this morning, I do not have the apostolic gift of raising the dead such as the Apostle Peter or the Apostle Paul had.  So go ahead and sleep if you want, but consider yourself forewarned.

However, what I do think this passage illustrates is the power of the gospel in the life of the church.  This whole passage taken together shows a slice of the daily activity of the church, the way the church was conducted.  In fact, in verse 7 we see the first time that Sunday services are really described in the New Testament church.  Some people have claimed that Saturday services were not changed to Sunday services until much later during the rule of Constantine and by his decree.  But according to this scripture that is not true.  This text clearly describes what would have been a church service in Troas on Sunday.

Notice in vs. 7 it says on the first day of the week, when they were gathered together to break bread.  Now that is a reference to communion, to the Lord’s supper.  And many theologians believe that the Lord’s supper was a weekly part of the service in the early churches.  So you have here a description of a typical Sunday service at a typical New Testament Gentile church.

But just for the sake of clarification for anyone who is not a regular at our services, let me point out that when we talk about the church, or church life, we are not speaking of a building, nor a denomination, nor an organization nor a program.  Ekklesia, the Greek word for church, means the called out ones.  The assembly of believers.  It refers to the body of Christ.  And we are the body of Christ, if indeed the Spirit of Christ dwells in you.  Do you understand that?  We are the flesh and blood body of Christ, you and I, if we have the Spirit of Christ living in us, using us for His glory and His purposes.  That is the reason for the gospel; to make us righteous, so that we might be filled with His Spirit and do the things which He tells us to do.

That is the purpose of being saved.  Not just to escape hell, though that may be sufficient motivation.  Not just to be forgiven of our sins, though we should desire that.  But that we might do the works of God and so that we might have fellowship with God which was impossible when we were dead in our trespasses and sins.  Now that we are made righteous through the blood of Jesus Christ, we are made temples of the Holy Spirit, we offer up acceptable sacrifices unto God in our bodies which is simply by obedience to the Word of God.   We are now by the grace of God made a part of His body.

But listen, remember what Paul told the Corinthians; no part of the body can exist  without the support and connection to the other parts of the body.  No man is an island.  We were made part of the body, the church of God so that we might join one another in a local fellowship, in a local assembly.  And all the parts are made to work together, just like in your human body.  The hand, Paul said, cannot say “I don’t need the rest of the body. I just want to go off and do my own thing.”  But it finds it’s life in the body and usefulness and purpose in the body. So each of you are called to be part of a local body of believers.  And that is exactly what we see going on here in Troas.

Now there are several characteristics of this church presented here which should be emblematic of the church today.  And some of these I just want to mention in passing, and some we will spend a bit more time on.  But let’s follow the order in which they are presented.

First of all, there is the matter of giving.  Church life is revealed by their love for one another, and one major way is by giving to supply the needs of those who are in need.  And the church in Jerusalem was in dire need.  They were being persecuted by Jews and Romans alike, people could not hold a job because they were excommunicated from Jewish life,  there was no way to feed their familes, or support their families.  And so Paul in 1 Corinthians 16 says that he was collecting an offering from all the churches in Asia and in Europe as he traveled and his intention was to deliver it to Jerusalem by the feast of Pentecost. 1Cor. 16:2-3 “On the first day of every week each one of you is to put aside and save, as he may prosper, so that no collections be made when I come. When I arrive, whomever you may approve, I will send them with letters to carry your gift to Jerusalem.”  You might note in that passage a reference again to the practice of meeting on the first day of the week, Sunday.  So that is the day they would take up an offering.  And notice back in our text in vs. 4 that Paul is accompanied by various members of churches who will make up that delegation to Jerusalem.

Jesus said they will know you are my disciples by your love for one another.  And love offerings are one tangible way that we show love for one another.  James said in chapter 2:16, if you say “’Go in peace, be warmed and be filled,’ and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that?”  So a characteristic of the body of Christ is that we will supply the needs of one another and give freely even as Christ gave Himself to the church.

Secondly, a characteristic of the church which we have already alluded to was that they met on the first day of the week.  Now that is not the only day that the church met.  In the last chapter, we saw that Paul was teaching daily in the school of Tyrannus and we have often read how they met in houses and were taught throughout the week.  But there is a definite description here of corporate worship on Sunday. Hebrews 10:25 tells us to be mindful of  “not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.” 

Listen, church is the assembly of believers.  I already went over that.  We are to be part of a local body.  Today in this age of technological advancements, there is a tendency among some to think that you can watch a TV show or download a message on the internet or something and accomplish church without having to get out of your bathrobe.  But folks, that is not church.  Church by it’s definition is a physical assembly of spiritually and physically connected parts of Christ’s body in a local congregation. 

Some pastor once said to me that if you do not have  membership then you do not have a church.  He was talking about being on the church rolls. Well, I beg to differ.  But I will say that if you are not deliberately participating in and regularly in the assembly of a local body, then you are probably not a part of the church of Christ.  Local church participation and fellowship is essential to the Christian life.  It is not optional.  In fact, if you want to become a backslider, if you want to fall away from the Lord, if you want to fall into temptation and the snare of the devil, simply stop going to church.  You will do so to your ruin.

Thirdly, we see the characteristic of the life of the church is communion, or breaking bread, or the Lord’s supper.  I would take issue with the idea that the Lord’s supper has to be taken every week, or even should be taken every week.  Jesus said on the night before His crucifixion, “As often as you do this, do it in remembrance of Me.”  And what were they doing?  They were celebrating the Passover.  And how often did they celebrate the Passover?  Once a year.  Now there is no prohibition against celebrating the Lord’s supper every week, but neither is there any command to do so.  There are commands however as to how it should be conducted. 

But more importantly than how often we do it is what it represents.  It is a physical reminder of the Lord’s death. 1Cor. 11:26 “For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until He comes.”  So what does that mean then?  It provides us with an opportunity for introspection and repentance, for getting right with God.  Vs.29 “For he who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself if he does not judge the body rightly.” Then Vs.31 “But if we judged ourselves rightly, we would not be judged.”  Now that introspection and repentance is the essence of the gospel, and it is illustrated in communion which is part of the life of the church. You can’t do that at home alone watching television by the way.

Fourthly, the life of the church is characterized by the preaching of the gospel in vs. 7.  Now I would love to camp out on this one.  But I won’t belabor it.  However, notice that Paul preaches until midnight. Modern Christianity cannot suffer a preacher to speak longer than about 20 minutes on average.  And even then, you better keep it interesting and tell lots of stories and jokes or you soon won’t have much of a congregation. 

1Cor. 1:18 says “For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.”  You know, the preaching of the word of God is sort of like taking your spiritual temperature.  If you can’t really stand to hear the gospel preached, if you find it boring, or can’t understand it, or are disinterested, you should be as alarmed as if you have a 104 degree temperature.  Because if you have the Spirit of God in you, then you will appreciate the Word of God being preached.  It will be your food, your drink, your sustenance that will be life to your spirit and sustain you throughout the week. 

In fact, if you find it that boring and uninteresting, then perhaps you are like the young man sitting in the windowsill named Eutychus described in vs. 9 who fell asleep and fell down three floors and was dead on arrival.  Maybe you too are spiritually dead.  Maybe you need to be revived by the Spirit of the Lord.  Becoming spiritually alive is a supernatural event, ladies and gentlemen.  Eutychus is lying there dead, he cannot pick himself up by his bootstraps.  He cannot speak life to himself.  He needed the supernatural miracle of the Spirit of God to give him life.  And if you are unsaved today, if your body is not the temple of the Holy Spirit, then you must be born again by the Spirit of God.  That is not something  you can do by coming to church, or trying to be good, or by cleaning yourself up.  It can only occur by the power of the Holy Spirit as we are forgiven of our sins and given new life by the gift of God.

Well, in the interest of time let’s move on, I don’t want any of you perishing along the way.  Luke changes gears from the church at Troas to the church at Ephesus in vs. 17.  Paul has left Troas and is on his circuitous route to Jerusalem, and he stops in Miletus and sends for the elders, that is the pastors, of the church in Ephesus.  Now these probably were pastors from several churches in the city of Ephesus.  And Paul gives a message to these pastors.  We could easily spend a Sunday just studying this message of Paul’s. But for the moment I want to continue our train of thought concerning the characteristics of the life of the church as a result of the power of the gospel.  And there are some characteristics of the gospel presented here which I want to point out. 

The first thing of note in Paul’s message is he explains or describes the gospel that he has been faithfully preaching.  And Paul starts by saying that he has been serving the Lord and them even through tears, through trials and persecutions.  Nothing has deterred him from preaching the gospel.  That is his calling, his stewardship, and nothing would stop him from faithfully declaring the whole truth of the gospel. 

I find it kind of sad that Paul always seemed to have to be in defense mode about his ministry.  He sacrificed everything for the sake of the gospel. He says in vs. 24 that he gave his life for the church, for the sake of the gospel.  That doesn’t necessarily mean he died for the church, but it means he died to everything else in life for the sake of the church and the gospel.  And I believe that is a mark of a godly shepherd of the flock.  I find myself feeling jealous sometimes of these pastors that can take off for several Sunday’s a year for all kinds of reasons, conferences, sabbaticals, vacations, you name it.  I have a book at home that was given to me which is called “On Being a Pastor”, written by a couple of guys who I really respect, but I was floored when they talked about the time off that they expected to receive, and what many pastor’s routinely get as part of their benefits.  They talked about a month long sabbatical - goodness, I had to look up the word sabbatical to make sure I wasn’t missing something.  I don’t know, I guess that would be great.  I don’t want to start a pity party, but I haven’t missed a Sunday in 9 years of preaching.  And I think I have taught at least 50 Wednesday’s a year for I don’t know how long.  I don’t say that to make you feel sorry for me. I want to be here. But I do say that to make the point that a true shepherd willingly gives his life for his sheep.  I dare not leave my flock any more than I can possibly help, even if my flock is but a little one.  It is still my charge.  And I believe that is what Paul is saying in so many words.  He spent his life preaching and serving the church above all other considerations.  Acts tells us that Paul went on 3 different missionary journeys over the course of his life, lasting many years.  And coming up we will see that he spent the rest of his life in and out of prison.  But I will tell you something.  You will never read that Paul went on vacation.  Never happened.  Nothing wrong with a vacation.  I hear they are fun and quite relaxing.  But you don’t see Paul doing it.

And then notice the nature of the message Paul was preaching.  It’s one thing to say he preached the gospel, that we are saved by the power of the gospel.  But what is the gospel? And what makes it powerful? I would hope that those of you that have been faithful here this summer could answer that question.  But if not, Paul reiterates what I’ve been saying all summer; the gospel rests on two essential pillars – repentance and faith.  And that is the message that Paul was preaching.  He makes it very clear in vs. 21 , he was “solemnly testifying to both Jews and Greeks of repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.”  That is the gospel.  And that is the power of the gospel which gives life to the church.  That is the way to have life in Christ, to be supernaturally made part of His body, through repentance and faith.

Now please forgive me, but I cannot move too quickly from this point, because it is so essential.  I’m afraid that the gospel is being misrepresented today and as such it is robbed of it’s power to save.  And the way that it is being misrepresented is by an over emphasis on faith alone and neglecting to preach on repentance.  First of all, there is a reluctance to preach about sin at all in the modern church.  But if you preach on sin, then you must preach about repentance, in order to receive forgiveness of sin.  The great disconnect between faith and practice so often seen in contemporary Christianity hinges upon the lack of repentance.

The great English preacher Charles Spurgeon put it this way: “Repentance and faith must go together to complete each other. I compare them to a door and its post. Repentance is the door which shuts out sin, but faith is the post upon which its hinges are fixed. A door without a door-post to hang upon is not a door at all; while a door-post without the door hanging to it is of no value whatever. What God hath joined together let no man put asunder; and these two he has made inseparable—repentance and faith.”

Now let me try to define repentance briefly for you by saying what repentance is not.  Repentance is not merely feeling a sense of shame because your sins have become exposed.  Repentance is not merely grief because of the consequences of your sin.  Repentance is not simply a horror at the future prospects of punishment of sin. All of those may be felt at the exposure of your sin, but they are not necessarily repentance. 

Let me say clearly what repentance is.  Repentance is the realization that you have greatly offended God.  When David repented of his adultery and murder in Psalm 51, he said, “Against You and You only have I sinned.”  Sin is first and foremost a grievance against God.  It is recognizing our rebellion against our Creator. 

And to extrapolate on that idea, repentance is recognizing our neglect of God.  God designed us for His purposes, and instead we served our purposes, even when it caused our own destruction.  Though you may never have been convicted as a murderer or an adulterer, yet you are guilty of neglecting God all these years and serving yourselves.  You have robbed God of what was due Him as your Maker.

And we must not compare ourselves to one another and so excuse our sin as less than someone else’s.  Repentance requires that we compare ourselves to God’s standard of righteousness, which is no less than the spotless Lamb of God.

Furthermore, repentance is increased as your faith is matured.  Some people think that because they repented when they were converted, that they need not repent any more.  But the truth is that the greater the faith, the deeper the repentance.  That is why Paul said, “O wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of death?”  As righteous as Paul was, he was ever more aware of his own weakness, and found himself doing the very things that he hated.

Repentance and faith will each grow  as the other grows: the more you know the weight of sin, the more will you lean upon Jesus, and the more will you know his power to uphold to you. Repentance is looking at the way you have been living - at fulfilling your fleshly desire, at your dependence upon the old nature - and changing your mind. That is what repentance means. To repent means to stop thinking and acting and living the way you have been. Instead, step out in faith. Trust the living Lord who is in you to operate through you, and walk in obedience.

The Bible tells us that when we are born again there are still two natures, the old man, and the new man.  Faith is choosing to live according to the new nature, and repentance is putting to death the old nature.

So, you see, there are the two basic steps, and you must take them over and over again. The way you begin the Christian life is to repent and believe. And that also constitutes your walk through the Christian life. A walk is more than a single step. When faced with a situation, you should take the first step and repent, think through the old way of life and say to yourself, "I've been going at this the wrong way." But that is not yet a walk. You must take the next step and believe, have faith in the Spirit of God who leads you through the Word. Then, on the next occasion that comes, you go through the same procedure over again -- you repent, and then believe -- repent and believe -- repent and believe -- and you are walking! That is what the Christian life is all about. In every circumstance, every situation, this is the two-fold way by which the Christian lives in the power of a living God: repent of the old way and act in faith in the new way.

Now that we are Christ’s body, our body is not our own, we are bought with a great price, the price of Jesus’ blood.  So we live from now on no longer to fulfill our desires of the old man, but to fulfill God’s desires as we live in the new man.  And we find the strength to do that by the Spirit who is within us, as we lean on Him and trust in Him.

There is one final aspect to Paul’s message that just bears mentioning for now, I will not go into great detail as it really needs very little explanation.  As Paul gets ready to depart from the elders of the church he expects that he will not see them again.  Some commentators say that he did in fact see them once more.  But at that moment, they were preparing for the worst.  And so Paul gives them a warning.  The first warning was to feed the flock. Vs. 28, “Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.”  The Greek word used for shepherd the flock there is better understood as feeding the flock.  And pastors are to do that by preaching the word of God, the whole counsel of God, undiluted, unadulterated.  Not trying to please people, but telling them the truth, because only the truth can set you free.

And secondly, he tells them to guard the flock because savage wolves will come in to devour the church. Vs. 29-30 "I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them.” Jesus said that too.  He talked about wolves in sheep's clothing, unregenerate men and women who, talking and acting like Christians and perhaps even thinking they are Christians, but who are not born again, will come into the church. They will be religious but will deny the power of true faith, they will deny the fundamentals of the gospel, and they will disturb and try to ruin the church of God. They rob people of the truth, and so they deprive them of the salvation that comes from truth.

So he says, be on the alert.  The devil goes about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.  You know wolves tend to prowl around the edges of the flock, looking for stragglers, looking for ones who are weak, who are not within the safety of the flock.  That again emphasizes how essential it is to stay in fellowship in the church and not go off on your own. 

And then stay in the Word. "I commend you to the Word," he said. Everything you need is in the Word. It is the life of the church. It is able to build you up and complete you. It contains the power of the gospel which is able to give you life, life in Christ, the power to walk the walk.  It is able to convict you of sin.  It is able to lead you in righteousness.  And so Paul concludes with that emphasis, to preach the word, to stay in the word, and to obey the word.  That is the source of life in the church.  The gospel is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believes.  I hope that you have that life in Christ.  If not, you can receive it through repentance from your sins and faith in what Jesus has done for you on the cross by paying the penalty for your sins so that you may be forgiven and made righteous.  Call on Him today and trust Him, and commit to live no longer for the flesh but for God by the power of Christ which is given for you.   

Satan’s counterattack against the gospel, Acts 19:21-41

If there are times in my life when I might wonder at the wisdom of attempting to be an expositional preacher, then today might be one of them.  Today’s passage is not one that I think lends itself well to an expositional approach.  It is primarily a narrative, and as such it doesn’t present an easy subject to get an outline from. 

But nevertheless, I firmly believe that all scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for rebuke, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.  And so I want to try to understand with you why the Holy Spirit led Luke to include this passage.  And after thinking and praying about it, I must conclude that it builds on our previous message from last week.  Last week, if you will remember, we saw the power of the gospel over demonic activity.  Now this week, we see the counter attack by the devil’s forces.

If you recall, Paul’s preaching resulted in evil spirits being cast out of many people in Ephesus.  About the same time, a traveling exorcism  troupe by the name of the Seven Sons of Sceva rolled into town and begin to practice exorcisms for profit, and in attempting to use the name of Jesus and Paul the demon responded, “Jesus I know and Paul I know, but who are you?”  And the demon overwhelmed these false religionists and sent them running out of town bruised and bloodied and naked. 

Now God used that to great effect in Ephesus, so that the fear of God fell upon the city, so much so that the townspeople began coming out in droves to burn their occultist books and materials.  They burned what amounted to in today’s money about one million dollars worth of books about the occult and sorcery.  And verse 20 says that the end result of Paul’s preaching the gospel was that, “the word of the Lord was growing mightily and prevailing.” 

Now that is a great spiritual victory.  That’s what we all hope for when we preach the gospel.  That is the goal of the church, to see the word of the Lord growing mightily and prevailing in the community, to see people confessing and repenting of their sins, to see people being saved, bringing their idolatrous and occult practices and laying them down and destroying them, renouncing them publicly.  That is what we pray for, what we strive for. 

But from this narrative we see that  when the church gains ground and has a great victory, the devil does not necessarily roll over and play dead.  We need to understand that we are engaged in a spiritual battle.  And the danger oftentimes in the church is we think that because we are saved, because Jesus triumphed over death and hell, that we have been guaranteed now a trouble free existence.  But the truth is, that we are in a battle against the spiritual forces of darkness in high places, and they never sleep, they never give up, because they know their eternal destiny is at stake.  And so when we think we have achieved some sort of victory, and are ready to sit back on our laurels and savor for a moment or two our winnings, the devil and his cohorts are already mounting a counterattack.  It reminds me of that bumper sticker I’ve seen on a few cars which says, “Keep honking, I’m reloading!” When we are celebrating our spiritual victory, the devil is actually reloading and getting ready to counterattack.

I’ve seen this happen in the lives of Christians time and time again.  We see someone come to Christ and get their heart right, renounce their sins and commit their way to the Lord, and somehow there is this expectation that everything in the world now is going to be in harmony.  Everything is going to click into place.  All your problems are going to disappear.  And in fact, the majority of the time is that immediately the devil mounts a counter attack.  And before you know it, the Christian has fallen into sin, or become discouraged and if not for the grace of God they will end up falling right back into the same pit they were in, or another pit that is just as bad.  We somehow forget that very basic proverb, “when you think you stand, take heed lest you fall.”

We should not be surprised when we find ourselves under attack.  Peter warned of that very thing in 1Peter 4:12 saying, “Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you; but to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing, so that also at the revelation of His glory you may rejoice with exultation.”  In other words, we need to expect persecution, trials, attacks against us, against our loved ones, attacks against the church, because if they persecuted Christ unto death, what should we expect as His disciples?  And furthermore, when I say that Satan counterattacks the church, I do not mean that he counterattacks the edifice of the church.  He does not attack the brick and mortar, but he attacks the people who are the church.  We are the living stones that make up the church.  And so he attacks us, he attacks our children, our wives and husbands and friends.  Satan attacks individuals who constitute the church.

So that is exactly what we see here in this passage.  And I believe it is instructive for that reason, that it should remind us to be  prepared for the counterattacks of the devil, so that we are not ignorant of his schemes, and that we should not be surprised when those attacks come.  But when they come, we might remain steadfast, immoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord.

Now let’s look at this narrative and see if we can pick out some common characteristics of how the devil counterattacks the triumphs of the gospel.  I believe this event illustrates some common themes in the devil’s schemes.

First of all note as I pointed out earlier,  that this counterattack comes on the heels of a great victory in the church at Ephesus.  Paul has been there about two and a half years at this point.  And as we saw, the word of the Lord was growing mightily and prevailing in the community.  The entire region was being turned upside down.  Paul’s fame had spread to the point that even the demons knew his name, and false religionists were trying to use Paul’s name for profit. 

So as they reach this point there is a sense perhaps that they can let Timothy and Erastus, two of the other ministers of the church, leave and go into Macedonia to check on other churches.  Paul himself is making plans to leave, to go first to Jerusalem, and then he believes the Lord is directing him to go to Rome.  And he will eventually go to Rome by the Lord’s will, in the Lord’s time.  But he still has a few battles left here in Ephesus that he isn’t aware of yet.  They were experiencing perhaps a time of peace.  A time of growth.  A time when they sat back and were thinking of plans for the future.  And suddenly there is a great disturbance that seems to almost threaten the very existence of the church and it’s leadership.  We see that expressed in vs.23, “About that time there occurred no small disturbance concerning the Way.” 

No small disturbance is an understatement.  It ends up being a city wide riot.  The Way is just another way of referring to the gospel.  And a riot breaks out in town because of the gospel.  Now that speaks volumes about the power of the gospel.  It caused a riot.  This is no little riot in a back street somewhere, but this thing erupts in the theater, which holds upwards of 25,000 people.  So that is some kind of riot.

Now what started this was the gospel had affected the economics of the people of Ephesus.  We already saw how a million dollars worth of occultist books were burned in the town square.  And in vs. 24 we see that a man named Demetrius, who was a silversmith that made his living making idols of the god Artemis, rallies the other craftsmen of his trade, and those who made their living serving the great temple to Artemis, and he speaks to them a highly inflammatory message. 

You should understand that the temple to Artemis or Diana, same thing, was considered one of the seven wonders of the world. It was supported by 127 pillars, each 60 feet high, and was adorned with great sculptures.  Kings and nations from all over the world actually used this temple as a sort of bank for their treasures under the protection of the goddess. So it was visited by people from all over the world and as such the trade in idols and miniature copies of the temple were a substantial part of the economics of the townspeople. 

So there is this great temple, which served to supply not only the religion but the  economics of the people of Ephesus.  And when the spread of the gospel was perceived as threatening their income, the townspeople revolted, resulting in a riot.  They picked up two of the prominent members of the church, Gaius and Aristarchus,  and the whole town rushed into the theater, which as I said earlier could hold upwards of 25,000 people. 

Now I want to make a point here that I think is integral to understanding the text, but isn’t immediately apparent in our English translations.  And that is that Luke uses the word assembly several times in this passage to describe this riot, this huge mob of people who have gathered in the theater.  And the interesting thing is that the Greek word translated assembly is the word ekklesia, which is the same word elsewhere translated as church.  Luke is calling this mob, this riot a church.  And I don’t think he does so without purpose.

I think the purpose of Luke choosing that word ekklesia is because he is trying to contrast the church of our Lord with the church of the devil.  And even though the mob does not seem to constitute what we normally think of as a church, I believe it fills the bill on several levels. 

I believe scripture makes it clear that worshipping idols is equivalent to worshipping demons. Paul said in 1Cor. 10:19,  “What do I mean then? That a thing sacrificed to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything? No, but I say that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons and not to God.”  Jesus said that Satan is the father of lies, and so we see here that he even lies to his own people.  He disguises himself under the title of a false god, an idol, or a false religion, but in effect they are worshipping demons. 1Tim. 4:1 Paul again equates false religion with demon worship saying, “the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons.” 

So Satan’s church is not usually advertised as such.  To the contrary, it is usually advertised as an arbiter of truth.  It’s presented as a means to God, as a means of finding personal  happiness and peace.  And yet if it is not of Christ, faithful to the word of Christ,  then it is of the devil.  And consequently, people that worship there are worshipping the devil in ignorance. 

So Luke through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit is indicating that this counterattack on the Lord’s church is actually of demonic origin, fomented by idol worship and an idol’s temple which serves as the church of Satan, and that brings persecution and trials against the church of God.

Now we’ve read the narrative, and I don’t want to just regurgitate that and call it exposition.  But rather I think it would be good to take some characteristics of this event as illustrative of the typical type of counterattack to the gospel of the church.  What kind of characteristics are true of false religion.  What kind of characteristics are common to the counterattacks of Satan on the true church of God.

First I would point out the monetary motives of false religion.  Demetrius clearly appeals to the economic reasons for maintaining their religion.  It was a source of great income for the townspeople.  They had a thriving business as a result of the temple and idol worship.  And so they were motivated by money.  Jesus said that money and God are in opposition to each other, saying in Luke 16:13 "No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth."

And love of money is true of false teachers today.  They are always asking for money.  They are always using the ministry to defraud people of money.  And such were the excorcists we saw earlier in this chapter.  Such are the televangelists who promise you blessings if you will send in your offering, while they fly around the country in their private planes.  Peter warned about those types in 2Pet. 2:1-3, “But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves. Many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of the truth will be maligned; and in their greed they will exploit you with false words; their judgment from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.”  In their greed they exploit you… So that is the first characteristic of false religion, the church of Satan, is money is their motivation.

Secondly, the false religionists appeal to the veneration of edifices, statues, temples and tradition.  Notice how Demetrius appeals to the national fervor surrounding the temple of Artemis, the international veneration of her religion, the magnificence of their religion’s prominence in the world due to the splendor and opulence of the temple.

False religions love to emphasize the brick and mortar of their religion.  They love their great churches, their vaulted cathedrals.  They appeal to your awe to support those great architectural wonders, to give to their building programs, their universities, etc.  They focus on the physical structures, but God isn’t there.  Paul in his message recorded in Acts 17 said, "The God who made the world and all things in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands.”  God dwells in the hearts of righteous men and women, who are the temple of the Holy Spirit.  We are the true church.  No building can contain the God of the universe.  But Satan loves to focus our attention on edifices and property and statues, which are nothing more than repositories of idols.

Then closely related to that is the appeal of pride.  Demetrius appeals to the pride of the craftsmen, the pride of the Ephesians for their great temple.  The pride of the work of their hands.  But pride has no part in the gospel of Jesus Christ.  Unless a man humbles himself even as a child, he will not be exalted in the kingdom of God.

Then notice in vs. 28, the  characteristic of demonic counterattack is anger.  They were filled with rage. Christianity makes people mad. Because people don't like to be confronted with their sinfulness. And they don't like to have to face the fact that their entire way of life and their entire system is wrong.  The more they have invested in the false system the greater their rage against the authority of the Bible.

The gospel is not designed to be a theoretical exercise we do on Sunday mornings only.  It’s supposed to impact your livelihood, your day to day life, the way you conduct business.  And when it does that, you should expect people to get mad at you.  A lot of churches spend a lot of effort to make sure that they don’t offend anyone.  But the truth of the gospel is by nature offensive.  We should not batter people to death with it, but neither do we try to mitigate the destruction of the defenses it is designed to break  down.

Then in vs. 29, we see another characteristic of the demonic church’s counterattack is confusion. “The city was filled with the confusion.”  Paul said in 1Cor. 14:33, “God is not a God of confusion but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints.”  Listen, make no mistake; if a church is a place of confusion, it is not a work of the Lord.  It may very well instead be a place of the doctrines of demons.  God is not the author of confusion in the church.

Paul said that because in the church at Corinth everyone was running around with a word of prophecy, speaking in tongues, singing songs, etc, and there was no order.  So if it is true that God is not the author of confusion, then conversely, the devil is the author of confusion.  And he especially likes to confuse the gospel, to twist the word, to add new revelations and prophecy to the word.  To add words of knowledge to that, and holy laughter to that, and barking like a dog to that, and glitter falling from the ceiling to that, and people falling out on the floor to that, and the whole thing is just one big batch of confusion.  And such is not of God.  Period.

In vs.32, we see another characteristic of the false religionists, and that is ignorance.  Some were saying one thing and some were saying something else.  And most of them didn’t even know what they were rioting about.  They were just caught up in the euphoria.  False religion plays on people’s ignorance, superstition and emotions.

The Bible says that people perish for lack of knowledge.  False religions are built on half truths and flat out lies, so there is no truth, no saving truth.  Jude warns that those false prophets will be destroyed by the things that they do not understand. “But these men revile the things which they do not understand; and the things which they know by instinct, like unreasoning animals, by these things they are destroyed.”  The church of the Lord, on the other hand, is built up on sound doctrine, and is unified in doctrinal purity, being saved by the knowledge of the truth.  God’s word is the truth.  It only is reliable, and authoritative.

And the last characteristic of a false religion, of the counter attack of Satan’s church, is closed mindedness.  Notice that in vs. 33, the Jews put up this guy named Alexander, who was probably going to try to make sure that the riot wasn’t blamed on the Jews, but when he opened his mouth and they recognized him as a Jew, the whole mob started shouting for two hours straight, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!”  They didn’t want to listen to anything.  They wanted to just shut up any perceived opposition to what they wanted to believe.

I can attest to closed mindedness being a hallmark of the false religions.  I’ve noticed that such people often are unteachable.  They take their stand on a vision they have seen, or some word of special revelation that they had, or on some experience that they had or what some priest said.  And it doesn’t make any difference what the Bible may say to the contrary.  They put tradition or experience above God’s word.

Well, this huge assembly vastly outnumbered the disciples.  They out yelled them, out chanted them, and just attempted to intimidate the church of Ephesus as much as they possibly could.  But Paul wasn’t afraid  of them though.  He wanted to go in there and face them and perhaps preach the gospel.  I would say that wasn’t foolishness of Paul.  That was his assurance that God had promised to do certain things in his life, and he was sure that God would keep his promises.  God had indicated that he would go to Rome.  So Paul knew that if he went in there and it turned bad, somehow God would deliver him. 

But God had other plans to deliver His church.  And we must remember that God promises to deliver His church from the attacks of the devil, and even from false prophets.  Denominations may fall, temples may crumble, church buildings may become vacant, but the word of God will endure forever.  Jesus said, “I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.”

So God used an unsaved man to dismiss the mob.  He didn’t need to use Paul to do it.  God preserved Paul by having what amounted to the mayor of the town come out to the assembly and quiet them down by reasoning with them.  He assured them that Paul and his companions had not defiled the temple of Artemis.  He said they were neither robbers nor blasphemers of the goddess Artemis. And then he ended up reminding them that there were lawful ways to handle disagreements in the courts, and they were subject to the judgment of the courts as well, if they did not disperse and prevent a riot.  So by a miracle, the crowd disperses.  After hours of chanting and shouting and so forth, God brings about Paul and his disciples deliverance.

Listen, we need to remember that the battle is the Lord’s.  He will fight for us. It is His church.  When we try to fight in human means we end up ostracizing the very people were are called to win to Christ.  There  are surely some things we are to do.  But for the most part we are told to stand firm, to speak the truth in love, to be steadfast, immoveable.  We are not told to form political action committees or to seek to win over people through legislation or force.  But rather we should wait on the Lord.  Let the Lord fight our battles while we stand by and watch. 

Moses said that very thing in Exodus 14:13, “But Moses said to the people, "Do not fear! Stand by and see the salvation of the LORD which He will accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians whom you have seen today, you will never see them again forever. "The LORD will fight for you while you keep silent." 

We need to remember Eph. 6:12 which says, “our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.”  There is a good possibility that when John wrote 3John the Demetrius that he mentions there is the same Demetrius that is leading the riot here.  If so, he eventually became a Christian by the steadfast, faithful witness of the church.  We need to remember that is the goal of our endeavors as the church of Christ. 

Satan will rage, and his assembly will attempt to dissuade as many as possible to join their ranks, they will counterfeit the truth of the gospel, but ultimately, the gospel of Jesus Christ will prevail.  We need to stand fast in the word of God, stand together as the church of the Lord, and be a witness to the truth of God’s word.  And when we do that, the gates of hell will not prevail against this church.  Let us be wise as serpents, and harmless as doves, so that we may win the lost. 

1Cor. 15:58 “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord.”