The Spreading of God’s Word
Acts 19:8-20
March 10, 2013
I’ve told you since the beginning that the book of Acts
Is the record of How Christ grew His church.
We have seen Him at work in so many ways,
And we have literally seen Him intervene
And not only grow the church but also set the church’s direction.
He has been the, architect, builder, and supplier of the church.
The other thing you and I must recognize in this regard
Is the agent that Christ uses to do these things.
Certainly we could say that the agent is us.
• Certainly Christ uses people in the work of evangelism and growing His church.
• Certainly the call to be His witnesses and to go, baptize, and teach are extremely significant commands.
But I think it is important to simplify it really even more than that.
While Christ does use us to grow His church,
He is still very specific in how He does this.
We as believers are used, but we are still given very specific guidelines
As to what we are called to do.
FOR EXAMPLE:
Several years ago, while in Stephenville, our church sent out a survey to the entire congregation asking various things about how we could increase attendance at the church.
(What they were looking for was some new angle or gimmick
That could be used to draw people in)
On my survey I wrote, “Free Beer”
If we had of served free beer, we most definitely would have boosted attendance, but I doubt it would have been exactly what Christ was looking for
And that is the point.
As believers were are called to do the work of the Lord in a specific way.
And that way is through the preaching of the gospel message.
In reality Christ grows His church
And the agent through which He does this IS HIS WORD.
The church is the agent that spreads the word.
Now, one of the things we talk about quite frequently, but will continue to do forever is that THE WORD OF GOD IS POWERFUL
I am convinced the church must be continually reminded of the power of God’s word.
Psalms 19:7-11 “The law of the LORD is perfect, restoring the soul; The testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple. The precepts of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart; The commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever; The judgments of the LORD are true; they are righteous altogether. They are more desirable than gold, yes, than much fine gold; Sweeter also than honey and the drippings of the honeycomb. Moreover, by them Your servant is warned; In keeping them there is great reward.”
Psalms 29:3-9 “The voice of the LORD is upon the waters; The God of glory thunders, The LORD is over many waters. The voice of the LORD is powerful, The voice of the LORD is majestic. The voice of the LORD breaks the cedars; Yes, the LORD breaks in pieces the cedars of Lebanon. He makes Lebanon skip like a calf, And Sirion like a young wild ox. The voice of the LORD hews out flames of fire. The voice of the LORD shakes the wilderness; The LORD shakes the wilderness of Kadesh. The voice of the LORD makes the deer to calve And strips the forests bare; And in His temple everything says, “Glory!”
Isaiah 55:11 “So will My word be which goes forth from My mouth; It will not return to Me empty, Without accomplishing what I desire, And without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it.”
And of course we are all familiar with Psalm 119,
Its focus on the word of God, and the effect it has on life.
God’s word is powerful.
The implication then is that you and I should fully trust it.
Trust it for life
2 Peter 1:19 “So we have the prophetic word made more sure, to which you do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star arises in your hearts.”
And as we will learn in our text tonight:
Trust if for ministry
Romans 1:16 “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.”
That was what Paul was saying.
I know the world isn’t particularly fond of the gospel,
I know people continually find a “new” “innovative” way
To grow the church.
But I really believe that the gospel is the key.
I really believe that the gospel is the power.
And I don’t mind continuing to preach it.
And this was the philosophy he passed on to other preachers.
2 Timothy 1:8 “Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord or of me His prisoner, but join with me in suffering for the gospel according to the power of God,”
2 Timothy 1:13-14 “Retain the standard of sound words which you have heard from me, in the faith and love which are in Christ Jesus. Guard, through the Holy Spirit who dwells in us, the treasure which has been entrusted to you.”
So we are reminded, that when we venture to see God’s kingdom grow, (whether here or abroad),
We must trust the power that is only found in God’s word.
Well, in our text tonight, we have here the account of Paul in Ephesus.
You will see how he trusted God’s word.
You will see how God’s word spread.
And in order to help you establish the overall point of the text,
I first want to point you to the very last verse.
Acts 19:20 “So the word of the Lord was growing mightily and prevailing.”
So you see what the point is.
Luke wants you to see how God’s word
Did in fact spread throughout the province of Asia.
3 things:
God’s Word Spreads:
#1 THROUGH ENDURING COMMITMENT
Acts 19:8-10
• Ok, as you know Paul has now come back to Ephesus.
• We saw him preach there for a short time and then leave.
• He was followed by Apollos who preached a short time and then left.
• And finally Paul has come back.
We most recently witnessed those 12 men get truly saved,
As evidenced by their receiving the Holy Spirit.
And so now the ministry is beginning full force.
(8) “And he entered the synagogue and continued speaking out boldly for three months, reasoning and persuading them about the kingdom of God.”
And there again we see Paul doing as his custom.
Certainly he was preaching, but that wasn’t all he was doing.
As I told you earlier, his goal was always full understanding.
And so Paul no doubt was open to questions and even debate.
He would present a truth and then allow them to question or challenge,
To which he would refute their notions and continue to proclaim Christ.
He was “reasoning and persuading them about the kingdom of God.”
I don’t mind telling you that it takes
An extremely confident and convicted person to do this.
• It takes a person who has himself spent hours upon end studying the Scriptures…
• It takes a person who has spent time in the presence of God and wrestled out the deep meanings of certain passages….
You don’t just take your preconceived ideas in
And expect people to swallow them.
In order to do this Paul had to know what he believed,
And he had to fully believe it.
What this shows us is Paul’s commitment to knowing the truth.
I’ve often told people that the key to being a good teacher
Or a good preacher is first found in being a good learner.
Proverbs 2:1-6 “My son, if you will receive my words And treasure my commandments within you, Make your ear attentive to wisdom, Incline your heart to understanding; For if you cry for discernment, Lift your voice for understanding; If you seek her as silver And search for her as for hidden treasures; Then you will discern the fear of the LORD And discover the knowledge of God. For the LORD gives wisdom; From His mouth come knowledge and understanding.”
No doubt Paul had done that,
And that is why he was able to debate and reason and persuade.
A man who is simply riding on another man’s coattails cannot do this.
EXAMPLE:
A couple of weeks ago the basketball team I am coaching got thrashed. Since I am a realist, I quickly recognized it was a coaching problem. I texted Lenny and said, “I’ll give you $1000 to help me at my next practice”.
Man he came in and was running drills and teaching and coaching
And it was an awesome practice.
So, the next week I just decided to run the same drills and do what he did.
IT’S NOT THE SAME
He knows why he has them running certain drills, I don’t.
He knows why an offense works, I don’t.
At the first hint of trouble or debate, I was sunk.
I tell you this, because it is important that you understand that
Being one who is committed to proclaiming the word
Doesn’t require you to copy what I do or some other preacher.
Being a faithful proclaimer of truth requires you
To get in the word yourself and wrestle out truth for yourself.
That is where conviction comes from.
No doubt Paul had done that.
He was faithful, he was thorough.
But that doesn’t mean it all went according to his desires.
(9) “But when some were becoming hardened and disobedient, speaking evil of the Way before the people, he withdrew from them and took away the disciples, reasoning daily in the school of Tyrannus.”
Now we learned this principle back in Corinth didn’t we?
There Paul dealt with blaspheming Jews in the synagogue so Paul said, “That’s it, I’m leaving and going to the Gentiles”
He shook the dust off of his feet and moved on.
Well, he is doing the same thing here.
In the synagogue at Ephesus, some believed, but some continually hardened their heart and the result was disobedience.
Eventually they even began to speak evil of “the Way” of Jesus
Before the people.
So what did Paul do?
He took all the believers out of the synagogue
And started meeting somewhere else.
“he withdrew from them and took away the disciples, reasoning daily in the school of Tyrannus.”
One commentator pointed out that this school
Would have had a break during the heat of the day for rest,
And so it is quite likely that this is when Paul used the facility.
Some have suggested that since Aquila and Priscilla where in Ephesus
That Paul would have made tents in the morning,
Preached through the heat of the afternoon, and did ministry in the evening.
This would have been a grueling schedule.
And yet:
(10) “This took place for two years, so that all who lived in Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks.”
It was a grueling task and yet Paul did it for 2 years.
And the result is phenomenal “all who lived in Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks.”
This would have been the province of Asia or Asia minor.
(modern day Turkey)
It is fair to assume that during this time Colossae formed a church
As well as those seven churches we find in the Revelation.
But after 3 missionary journeys and tremendous commitment,
Asia has now been fully exposed to the gospel of Jesus Christ.
HOW DID THAT HAPPEN?
Enduring Commitment
From one town to the next, into synagogues
And even when being run out of one, Paul would continue on.
And this is how Asia received the gospel.
Romans 10:14 “How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher?”
We must never underestimate the importance of being faithful to preach.
2 Timothy 4:1-5 “I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths. But you, be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.”
If God’s word is going to spread
Then someone will have to be faithful to learn it and preach it.
There is no substitute for this.
God’s Word Spreads through Enduring Commitment
#2 THROUGH EXCLUSIVE CAPABILITY
Acts 19:11-17
This would explain why God’s word continues to be received.
This is what separates the word of God
From the various fads that will take our world by storm.
At various times we have seen a book or a movie literally spread throughout the globe,
And yet after a while it falls away or drifts off into the shadows.
But not God’s word.
WHY?
Because God’s word does what none other can do.
It has exclusive capability.
And that is seen here.
First we see God bearing witness to the message Paul is preaching.
(11-12) “God was performing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul, so that handkerchiefs or aprons were even carried from his body to the sick, and the diseases left them and the evil spirits went out.”
What we have here is God validating Paul’s message.
God did this with Jesus:
John 5:36 “But the testimony which I have is greater than the testimony of John; for the works which the Father has given Me to accomplish — the very works that I do — testify about Me, that the Father has sent Me.”
And we have mentioned this before,
But the works that these men did were specific for their time.
When Jesus came, or the apostles, there was no New Testament.
They were bringing about new revelation.
In order to validate their new revelation
God ordained for them to perform miraculous works.
Such as the healing that was occurring here at the hands of Paul,
To an extent that even articles of clothing from Paul were healing people.
These were apostolic signs.
2 Corinthians 12:12 “The signs of a true apostle were performed among you with all perseverance, by signs and wonders and miracles.”
But this was not intended to be the norm for all believers.
Even later, as the New Testament was being formed the writer of Hebrews
Spoke of these types of gifts in a PAST TENSE.
Hebrews 2:2-4 “For if the word spoken through angels proved unalterable, and every transgression and disobedience received a just penalty, how will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? After it was at the first spoken through the Lord, it was confirmed to us by those who heard, God also testifying with them, both by signs and wonders and by various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit according to His own will.”
But what you have here is
God vindicating the message that Paul was preaching.
God was doing extraordinary things for the purpose of
Giving Paul credibility that his message should be listened to.
Now, here is why I call it exclusive capability.
Because it couldn’t be manufactured.
(13-16) “But also some of the Jewish exorcists, who went from place to place, attempted to name over those who had the evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, “I adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preaches.” Seven sons of one Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this. And the evil spirit answered and said to them, “I recognize Jesus, and I know about Paul, but who are you?” And the man, in whom was the evil spirit, leaped on them and subdued all of them and overpowered them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.”
Now there is an event.
• This “Jewish chief priest” (no record one named Sceva)
• Had seven sons who liked to use incantations to remove demons.
(Incidentally Satan works in confusing and strange ways. It is not uncommon for him to let his house be divided in order to deceive and manipulate. If these men ever had success it was only for the purpose of Satan using it to confuse and deceive)
None the less, they think they have found a new effective formula
For advancing their trade.
So they start trying to command demons “by Jesus whom Paul preaches”
But it didn’t work out so well for them.
This demon knew they had no authority
And he overpowered all seven of them.
These men left beaten, bloodied, and humiliated.
They did not have the power that Paul had.
They did not have the authority that Paul had.
What we learn here is that God and His word have exclusive capability.
God heals
God delivers
God intervenes
And He alone can do this.
Psalms 115:1-8 “Not to us, O LORD, not to us, But to Your name give glory Because of Your lovingkindness, because of Your truth. Why should the nations say, “Where, now, is their God?” But our God is in the heavens; He does whatever He pleases. Their idols are silver and gold, The work of man’s hands. They have mouths, but they cannot speak; They have eyes, but they cannot see; They have ears, but they cannot hear; They have noses, but they cannot smell; They have hands, but they cannot feel; They have feet, but they cannot walk; They cannot make a sound with their throat. Those who make them will become like them, Everyone who trusts in them.”
God is not like the rest, He is real, and He has power.
He has exclusive capability.
When we face the wrong thinking of this world, we do not have to be timid or afraid in presenting the truth of the gospel.
You don’t have to worry about the Quran,
Or the book of Mormon, they don’t have power.
God’s word wins out every time.
TURN TO: JEREMIAH 10:1-16
And of course the point is that God is higher, God is greater,
God is stronger and His word endures.
God proved that in Ephesus.
And the result of this demonstration?
(17) “This became known to all, both Jews and Greeks, who lived in Ephesus; and fear fell upon them all and the name of the Lord Jesus was being magnified.”
The end result was that the truth was now magnified.
• By Paul’s preaching the truth was fully heard.
• By God’s power the truth was magnified.
Through Enduring Commitment Through Exclusive Power
#3 THROUGH EVIDENT CONVERSION
Acts 19:18-19
And we certainly love what we see here.
We know what Paul told the Corinthians:
2 Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.”
God’s word changes people’s lives.
Paul has preached, God has testified
And now as people accept God’s word lives are changed.
(18-19) “Many also of those who had believed kept coming, confessing and disclosing their practices. And many of those who practiced magic brought their books together and began burning them in the sight of everyone; and they counted up the price of them and found it fifty thousand pieces of silver.”
First they came and confessed.
And then they came and fully repented.
• Imagine the scene of those one time magicians all coming out and declaring their works worthless.
• Imagine the scene of those satanic sorcerers burning all their books of spells.
And this was no little thing.
Luke says, “they counted up the price of them and found it fifty thousand pieces of silver.”
That would have been about 50,000 days wages for the common laborer.
WHY DID THESE MEN DO THIS?
Because their heart had been changed.
They didn’t need that stuff anymore and they certainly didn’t want someone else getting their hands on it and become enslaved by it.
These men tossed it aside.
And what a testimony this is to the power of God’s word.
It changes lives.
When Paul wrote to the Corinthians in defense of his ministry, he wrote:
2 Corinthians 3:1-3 “Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, as some, letters of commendation to you or from you? You are our letter, written in our hearts, known and read by all men; being manifested that you are a letter of Christ, cared for by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.”
In his letter to the Thessalonians he wrote:
1 Thessalonians 1:8-10 “For the word of the Lord has sounded forth from you, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place your faith toward God has gone forth, so that we have no need to say anything. For they themselves report about us what kind of a reception we had with you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve a living and true God, and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, that is Jesus, who rescues us from the wrath to come.”
Paul himself had been a great testimony in this same regard
Galatians 1:22-24 “I was still unknown by sight to the churches of Judea which were in Christ; but only, they kept hearing, “He who once persecuted us is now preaching the faith which he once tried to destroy.” And they were glorifying God because of me.”
It is the testimony of a changed life.
It is the testimony of one who is now different.
And then the point of the whole passage:
(20) “So the word of the Lord was growing mightily and prevailing.”
Not just “growing”, but “growing mightily”
And not just spreading, but “prevailing”
ISN’T THAT WHAT WE WANT IN CHURCH?
• Don’t we want God’s word to spread and prevail?
• Don’t we want to see lives changed?
• Don’t we want to see this sort of thing occur?
WELL, HOW DOES IT HAPPEN?
• It happens when faithful believers, faithfully endure to
proclaim God’s word amidst hardship and even rejection.
They faithfully preach
They faithfully endure
They faithfully proclaim throughout the scorn and hardship
• And as they do, God faithfully honors His word and bears
witness to what is being said.
In their day it was through miracles,
In our day it is through the conviction of His Spirit.
• And as some submit their lives to the Scriptures and their
lives are transformed they become a testimony to other
non-believers and the process keeps repeating itself.
The important thing for you and I to recognize is our part in it.
God testifies, God changes the sinner
Our part is to faithfully proclaim the word.
• In season and out of season
• Persevering through hardship and difficulty
• Trusting that God will never allow His word to return void.
Let me encourage you to continue to speak the word of God
In the world in which we live, don’t be discouraged.
Speak it again and again and see what God does.
