ACTS 19:8

The Bible says in Acts 19:8-10, “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. 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. 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.” Paul is in the city of Ephesus on his third missionary journey. We see that he is still following the same pattern that he has been following all along. When he first goes into a city, he goes straight to the Jews of that city and usually that means to the synagogue; and he takes the gospel first to the Jews. Of course, that is the will of God. Even Jesus appeared first to the Jews, because Jesus Himself was a Jew.

Paul explained this principle when he wrote to the Christians in Rome, and it says in Romans 1:16, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth: to the Jew first and also to the Greek.” Of all the people in the world, the Jews had the first chance to hear about Jesus and be saved. That was God’s will. Paul knew it was God’s will, and so he followed the same pattern when he went into a particular city. Of course, Paul was also a Jew and he had a particular love for his own Jewish people. In Romans 9:1-3 Paul wrote of the Jewish people, “I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost, That I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart, For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh.”

The results of Paul going to the Jews in the synagogue in Ephesus again followed a pattern that he had seen in other cities. Some of the Jews believed in Jesus, but as time went by, more and more of the Jews who did not believe in Jesus came to oppose the preaching of the gospel of Christ. At first they welcomed Paul as a visiting Jewish teacher, to see what he had to say. But like everyone in the world who hears the gospel but does not accept it, they finally oppose the gospel. Just as it says here in verse 10, they became “hardened” to the gospel. Once Paul saw that that happened, he wanted to go find those who were not hardened, and so he turned to the Gentiles. What he did was the right thing to do. Even Jesus said to His disciples in Mark 6:11, “And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear you, when ye depart thence, shake off the dust under your feet for a testimony against them. Verily I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment, than for that city.”

In Antioch of Pisidia Paul said to Jews when their hearts had grown hardened, “It was necessary that the Word of God should first have been spoken to you: but seeing you put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles.” Remember that Paul was talking to the Jews of that particular city. In the very next city that Paul went to, Iconium, again Paul went right to the synagogue of the Jews. Earlier in Paul’s second missionary journey, when he was in Corinth, some of the Jews opposed Paul and Paul said to them in Acts 18:6, “Your blood be upon your own heads; I am clean: from henceforth I will go unto the Gentiles.” Don’t try to read too much into any one of these statements. They do not have any far-reaching theological meaning. They were localized statements made to local groups of Jews who had resisted the gospel when Paul preached Jesus to them. Other Jews in other places and other times are just as likely to receive the gospel as anyone. Do not give up on them because of these statements in Acts.

The Bible says in Acts 19:11-16, “And God wrought special miracles by the hands of Paul: 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. 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. And there were seven sons of one Sceva, a Jew, and chief of the priests, which did so. And the evil spirit answered and said, Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are ye? 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.”

One of the things that can be learned from this passage is the fact that individuals who are not true believers just might use the name of Jesus as if they were true believers. Just because someone uses the name of Jesus with their mouth does not mean that they believe in Jesus in their heart. Any human being can go into a church, learn the language that everyone else uses, and then start parroting that language. That is one of the reasons that people who claim to be Christians fall away, and then never show any desire to live for God again. Some of them were never true Christians in the first place. A subset of these individuals is probably being spoken about in Hebrews 6:4-6 that says, “For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame.”

This also helps to explain how some pastors can end up doing such horrible things that some have been guilty of doing. Perhaps those that do the horrible things, were never truly saved. This definitely is the means by which some false teachers have entered into organized Christianity. They go to school, they get a degree, and they get ordained by man. But a person could do all of that and still not truly be saved. Jude verse 4 says, “For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.” How did they get in “unawares?” At the first they used the same words as everyone else, but later they changed.

The Bible says in Acts 19:17-19, “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. And many that believed came, and confessed, and showed their deeds. 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.” In these verses we are talking about people who were true believers. The things that proved that they had become true believers in Jesus was not what they said, but what they did. Jesus said, “By their fruits ye shall know them.” If you really get to know someone, and the life-style that they live, and the things that they do; then you will know if they are a true believer or not. Someone who has not had some kind of change in their life, has not become a true believer in Jesus. It says in Second Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things are passed away: behold, all things are become new.”

That is why being a Christian involves repentance. To repent means to change your mind and turn to God from a sinful way or an unspiritual way of doing things. If you have never repented, you have either never sinned; or you have never become a Christian. Jesus said, “Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.” We know that these new believers in the city of Ephesus repented, because they made changes in their behaviors. It says that they “showed their deeds.” In other words it was obvious to people that they had changed their ways. That was the problem with some of the people who came to be baptized by John the Baptist: he would not baptize them unless they had shown by a change in behavior that they had turned from their sins. Concerning John the Baptist and his message, the Bible says in Luke 3:7-8, “Then said he to the multitude that came forth to be baptized of him, O generation of vipers, who has warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance…”

The specific change of behavior exhibited by the new believers in Ephesus showed a lot of wisdom of what they needed to do to make a proper change in their lives. It says in Acts 19:19, “Many of them also which used curious arts brought their books together; and burned them before all men.” These new believers realized that the wrong books were a bad influence on them. They recognized that it is important what you think about, and what you think about will be greatly determined by what you allow yourself to be exposed to. The books that you read, the magazines that you look at, the music that you listen to, the videos or movies or television shows that you watch: are all a part of the information that you are taking into your mind and what you think about. And then what you think about will go a long way in deciding what you do. Philippians 4:8 says, “Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.” Philippians 2:5 says, “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus.” Romans 12:2 says, “And be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God.” In this crazy world in which we live, every Christian should ask themselves the question: is there anything that they can do like those in Ephesus did to make sure that what goes into their minds is pure and godly?

The Bible says in Acts 19:20-22, “So mightily grew the Word of God and prevailed. After these things were ended, Paul purposed in the spirit, when he had passed through Macedonia and Achaia, to go to Jerusalem, saying, After I have been there, I must also see Rome. So he sent into Macedonia two of them that ministered unto him, Timotheus and Erastus; but he himself stayed in Asia for a season.” There are a couple of things that we can see from these verses, especially concerning the Apostle Paul. It is a good thing to see the kind of person that Paul was. God chose this person to write more of the New Testament than anyone else. God chose this person to relentlessly take the gospel to the Roman world. Paul wrote in First Corinthians 11:1, “Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ.”

We see in these verses that Paul set goals for himself: big goals. He could have stayed busy and productive for the rest of his life in the cities where he had already evangelized and established churches, but he chose not to do so. We can easily understand why Paul was attracted to Jerusalem, the capitol of the Jewish state, and to Rome, the capitol of the Gentile Roman Empire. Paul always went to Jews and Gentiles, and it is no wonder that he wanted to go to their respective capitol cities. Paul had goals. Already we see here that he is saying to his co-workers: “I need to go to Jerusalem, and I need to go to Rome with the gospel.” Obviously Paul set big goals. That is a good idea. You cannot do any better than what you are aiming for. If you are going to accomplish great things for the gospel, you must attempt great things.

Another reason that Paul accomplished so much was that he understood the need for teamwork, and he was not afraid to get other people involved and to use their abilities to the maximum. Instead of going to Macedonia himself, verse 22 says that Paul sent Timothy and Erastus there. By delegating authority and by including as many as he could in his ministry, his own ministry and influence only grew from doing so. Unwise are those who fear the gifts and abilities that they see in others. They only reduce themselves and what they could have accomplished when they are like that. Teamwork is so important in any endeavor, and it is even more important in the church of Jesus Christ. We need each other. By ourselves we can do a few small things, but with teamwork there is no limit to what can be done for the glory of God. One of the reasons that we need teamwork is because we are all members of the body of Christ. Each member must do its duty, working with the other members in order to get the greatest effect. First Corinthians 12:4-6 says, “Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all.” And then First Corinthians 12:13-14 says, “For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit. For the body is not one member, but many.”

If you are not a part of the body of Christ, then you can become so by turning from your sins and turning to Jesus for salvation.

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