Acts 19:1-10

All right, I think we're good to go wow that worked fast today wonderful I love when it goes so quickly Good morning. Good morning. Good morning. Welcome to coffee and devotions. This is where every day you and I we get together We have a little bit of coffee We get into God's Word and we grow in our love for the Lord together in this year 2022 We'll go all the way from the book of Acts to the book of Philemon. It's so wonderful to have you. Why don't we have some coffee?
We'll pray and we'll get into the Lord's Word this morning Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for this day. We thank you for your word, and we thank you for what a blessing it is to know of you, to know of the power of your spirit, and to have faith in who you are and all you have done. In Jesus' name, amen. All right, Acts chapter 19, the first 10 verses. Let's go ahead and jump into it this morning. And it happened, while Apollos was at Corinth, that Paul, having passed through the upper regions, came to Ephesus.
And finding some disciples, he said to them, Did you receive the Spirit when you were baptized? So they said to him, We have not so much as heard whether there is a Holy Spirit. He said to them, Into what then were you baptized? So they said, Into John's baptism. Then Paul said, John indeed baptized with a baptism of repentance, saying to the people that they should believe on him whom who would come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus. When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.
And when Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they spoke with tongues and prophesied. Now the men were about twelve in all. And he went into the synagogue and spoke boldly for three months, reasoning and persuading concerning the things of the kingdom of God. But when some were hardened and did not believe, they spoke evil of the way before the multitude.
He departed from them and withdrew the disciples. reasoning daily in the school of Tyrannus and This continued for two years for all who dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus both Jews and Greeks well, we need to stop and ask ourselves a what is this about be? What's the best verse to summarize this and see what are we called to do in response to these words? So what's going on here?
Well remember Paul has gone to Jerusalem and then he went up down to Antioch and from Antioch he decides to go and strengthen the churches in Galatia and Phrygia again. So he goes into into the heart of Turkey and what's now Turkey, ancient Asia Minor. He goes and he Spreads the or he encourages strengthens the churches there. That's what it says in Acts chapter 18 But then as he's going he goes up towards the north and he takes the river valley Down to Ephesus and when he gets to Ephesus, who does he find finds 12 disciples? Now interestingly here.
They're they're not necessarily disciples of Jesus, but they're disciples of John the Baptist and and they haven't heard of the one in whom John the Baptist was actually preaching and teaching about. Right, what did John say in Luke chapter 3? There was one coming after him that was greater than him and that he was baptizing with water but one would come who would baptize with the Holy Spirit and with fire.
And they hadn't heard this part before. So they were incomplete disciples somehow. They were followers and they had heard this great message of repent and turn to the Lord. But they weren't followers of Christ yet. They hadn't received the baptism of the Spirit yet. And this was a key marker.
This is a key marker all throughout Luke's writing of the book of Acts is the showing of when faith comes, then comes the baptism of the Holy Spirit. The spirit is received at different times in different ways. This happens with the Samaritans when John and Peter go and they lay their hands on them. We looked at that in Acts chapter 8. It happened at Pentecost with the disciples themselves.
When they were there, they had been Actually, it's assumed that they're baptized. We don't actually have anything in the text to show that they are, but we assume that they would have been baptized with John's baptism, but they don't receive the Holy Spirit when they're baptized. They receive the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. We know that Apollos is baptized in John's baptism, but he receives the Spirit in a different way. We looked at that when we were introduced to Apollos last time. But here are these Ephesians, this group of 12 guys, and they believe they've been baptized with John's baptism, but they haven't been baptized into Christ's name.
They haven't received the Holy Spirit. It's key here that we're not talking about Christians, we're talking about people right on the edge of Christianity. They've heard of repentance, but they don't know the Spirit. They don't even know if there is a spirit.
And this is what Jesus came, to bring the spirit, that he might not leave them as orphans, but he was going to give his spirit to them. And so, what does Paul do? Interestingly here, this is the only time we see in the entire Bible in all of the New Testament, a rebaptism. And it's from a Baptist baptism, from a John the Baptist disciple baptism to a baptism into Christ. And so he baptized them. When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.
And when Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them and they spoke with tongues and prophesied. Now the men were about twelve in all." And so, this amazing beginning of Paul's work in Ephesus. Remember, he had been there before. He had stopped on his way when he was going to go to Jerusalem for that feast, but he couldn't stay. They had urged him to stay, he couldn't stay, and so he keeps on going. Now these men seem to not have been associated with that or with Priscilla and Aquila. These are just 12 other dudes somehow. But now they believe. And so Paul actually stays.
He goes and for three months he's reasoning in the synagogue. He's debating with them. He's going back and forth. He's trying to convince the people in the synagogue. And while last time when he was in the synagogue people were like, whoa, dude, this is great. You need to stay. And he leaves. Now he stays.
But some of their hearts are hardened. More than just hardened hearts and sitting in their chairs folding their arms and we're not going to listen to this guy, they actually start speaking against him. They start speaking against the way. This is the term for Christianity. They start trying to actively convince people that Paul is wrong. So what does he do? Well, he leaves the synagogue and he goes next door to the Hall of Tyrannus.
Now, in our text, the word is skule or skole, which is where we get our word school from, but it's more like an auditorium or a lecture hall, something like that. There are some manuscripts of this that say that they would meet from about 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. So, in the ancient world, people would work from about sunrise up until 11 a.m. They would have meal, they would have siesta, and they would go on with their own work or their own business for the day.
And so Paul's renting this hall during a time where it's most likely not used very much. All the business has been done for the day. And he's there and he's teaching, he's preaching. He's there for two years. This is the beginning of this great fruit that we'll see that happens in the city of Ephesus. It's this beautiful thing where we're about to get into a section in the book of Acts where things are going to shift in the next couple chapters. This is where Paul is going to spend the last majority time of his unimprisoned life, and it's here in Ephesus. And we're going to find that there's a great deal of amazing things that happen. and Ephesus, and as we look through it, it's going to end with quite a bit of turmoil. So, what's the best verse to summarize this?
Well, in my Bible, I have underlined, indeed, John baptized with a baptism of repentance, saying to the people that they should believe on him who would come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus. So I have verse 4 underlined in my Bible. Maybe you would underline something else. What are we called to do in response to this? Well, Let me ask you, this is a theological question that has personal application.
Has the gospel in your life meant nothing more than repent of your sin? That's part of the gospel. But have you received the spirit? I'm saying that see there's a difference between following the disciple who was or the John the Baptist, this man who was to prepare the way for Jesus. But that's right on the fringes of Christianity. Yes, it is. It is at the very core of the fringe, right? That's part of the gospel. Turn from your sin, repent for the kingdom of God is at hand.
But the question is, are you in Christ Jesus? Have you heard of his atoning death and of his resurrection? Is the Spirit alive in you? Do you believe in Christ? Do you believe, do you confess with your mouth that he is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead? If so, then you do have the Spirit.
This is what Paul was getting at. See, they needed to believe, not just repenting from their sins, but they needed to believe in the line of the tribe of Judah. They needed to come to truth, saving faith in the one who could atone for their sins. They needed to come and bow to the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords who is coming again to judge the living and the dead. They needed to come and believe at the one who had risen from the dead and ascended up into heaven and now sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. They needed to believe in the Lamb who was slain before the foundations of the world. Do you believe in Jesus Christ? with faith in Christ comes the Holy Spirit.
This is not some strange thing. Yes, I'm of the cessationist camp. I think that this ended with the tongues and the prophesying and things like that in their ecstatic sense. I think that that stopped after the apostles laid hands on these people and it was the next generation. And by the time we get to Revelation, those gifts are fading away. But there's something better than those charismatic gifts now. We still have the same spirit, the same baptism, the same hope, the same Lord Jesus Christ.
So do you believe? Does his spirit reside in you? Does he make you love him more? Does he make you love others more? Come, come to Jesus Christ. Come to the fount of living water that you might never thirst again. Let's pray. Father, we thank you that you have given us your spirit. We thank you that you have given us faith in your only begotten son. And we pray that as we cling to you, that you might protect us. We pray that you would strengthen our faith and that we would walk in your ways. In Jesus' name, amen. Well, may the Lord bless you today. May you rejoice in the Lord always. And I'll see you tomorrow. Bye.
And thanks for listening to this week's message from God's Word for You, a ministry of Sharon R.P. Church in rural southeast Iowa. We pray that the message would be used by God to transform your faith in your life this week. If you'd like to get more information about us, feel free to go to the website, SharonRPC.org. We'd love to invite you to worship with us. Our worship time is 10 a.m. every Sunday at 25204 160th Avenue, Morning Sun, Iowa, 52640. May God richly bless you this week.