The Third Missionary Journey – The Mighty Ministry in Ephesus

All right, if you would please take your Bible turn to Acts chapter 19 We should know where we are. The book of Acts should be well worn for us and We will be tonight in verses 11 to 22, but I'm gonna ask you to turn to Hebrews 1 for a particular reason that Helps us with some of what we're studying here in verses 11 to 12 And I will give you time to mark that place Hebrews 1 we'll look at verses 1 to 4 now here we are We're back in Ephesus at Paul's ministry in the city Of course, this is during his third missionary journey, but we know that there were others involved in the ministry there I will mention a few some you may not even have even heard of Aquila and Priscilla were there according to chapter 18 verses 18 to 19 and 1st Corinthians 1619 tells us that Timothy and Erastus were there because later on in verse 22, they were sent out from Ephesus Others were there as well Gaius was there and it is possible that Titus was there Although Titus is not specifically mentioned He was associated with Paul during the time Paul was there in Ephesus now, this is my point This is why I bring up those others we've been seeing the growth and the development and the expansion of the work of the gospel in the church and Part of that work part of the growth the development the expansion was more and more people becoming a part of the work and The length of time that Paul spent in certain cities And I want to take this growth and development at the time Paul spent in these cities just a little further If we look at Paul's ministry At the end of his second missionary journey at the beginning of his third missionary journey We can see that Paul's ministry was slowing down in a sense Before in his early days like during his first missionary journey, he was moving and ministering at a very fast pace He went from place to place preaching Jesus as the promised Messiah and the gospel He was planning churches from those he believed then he just moved on real quickly Of course, he was led of God to do them do so But at the end of the second in the beginning of his third missionary journeys We can see that Paul stayed longer and longer he stayed a year and a half in Corinth and he stayed for three years in Ephesus But why the change?

Why did he stay longer? Why did his ministry kind of slow down in a way? of course, this was All part of God's purpose and plan, but there are some specifics we need to see about this Paul went out like a rocket in the beginning preaching evangelizing starting churches And he really didn't even stay long enough to get the sheets dirty Think about it But we are saying he was staying longer but notice in certain key cities And this is a part of God's purpose for first the development and the maturity of the church and Second for the spread of the gospel in the church. I'll explain God Did not only want to see churches born.

He wanted to see churches mature and grow and develop in maturity he wanted the believers in those churches to grow and mature and he wanted the churches as a whole to grow into mature and a part of what Paul was doing when he stayed longer was to teach those believers and Not only did Paul stay now that he had more ministry partners They could go out and do the very same thing as some of these other churches We've seen that Apollos went from Ephesus to Corinth and we know that he became a great leader He was a great minister and preacher of the word.

He was noted for being a very polished preacher and God wanted the gospel in the church to spread we know that he wanted More of the loss to come to Christ more churches planted, but Paul couldn't go everywhere Paul couldn't do all the work. No one person could But those mature believers in those developing and maturing churches could send out others to do the same as Paul Of course, they were not apostles, but they were certainly used to reach more of the lost and to plant more churches I Mentioned this last week But this is what we see with the church in Ephesus at this time and also later on This church became a mature evangelistic church planting Church scholars tell us Ephesus became a very very very vibrant hub a hub of evangelism and church planning activity in verses 9 to 10 Those verses tell us Paul taught in the hall of tyrannies for two years and as a result the entire region Heard the Word of the Lord Greeks and Jews Jews and Greeks We learned that Ephesus was a large trade city and that it was a great cultural and metropolitan center as well So it was easy for news to travel in and out of Ephesus It was easy for people to travel in and out of Ephesus and certainly Paul was not only teaching God's Word for two years But he was training up missionaries.

He was sending them out Scholars believe that many churches came out of the work of Ephesus You can make a strong case that the church at Colossae Laodicea and Heropolis came out of the work at Ephesus and it is probable and possible that Smyrna Pergamon fire Tyrus artists and Philadelphia came out of Ephesus as well So Paul staying longer in Ephesus was for a very good reason In reasons and tonight we find ourselves right in the middle of Paul's ministry there in Ephesus He had been there for two years.

We saw that at the end of verse 10 last week He has one more year to go and Luke gives us a lot of information about that last year The ministry now we're going to see a change to my Things get pretty wild Things get very exciting things get very interesting Things get very exciting things get very interesting But I want us to see a shift that Luke makes in verse 8 to 10 He tells us of Paul's ministry in the synagogue.

It's pretty normal pretty natural We've seen that often then he tells us of his ministry in the hall of tyrannies It is obvious he was experiencing great gospel success during the those two years there Now Luke shifts to showing us some of the results of Paul's ministry Really the results of the work of the Spirit of God Using the work of the Word of God and the work of the gospel the work of the gospel Now, let's read verses 11 to 20.

You'll see how it gets wild and you'll see how it gets rather interesting And God was doing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul so that even handkerchiefs or aprons That had touched his skin were carried away to the sick and their diseases left him and the evil spirits came out of them Then some of the itinerant that would be traveling Jewish exorcists undertook to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits saying I Adjure you by the name of Jesus Whom Paul proclaims seven sons of a Jewish high priest named Sceva Were doing this or doing the same? But the evil spirit answered them Jesus.

I know and Paul I recognize But who are you and the man in whom the evil spirit in the man in whom was the evil spirit? Left on them mastering all of them and overpowered them so that they fled out of the house naked and wounded Verse 17 and this became known to all the residents of that residents of Ephesus Both Jews and Greeks and fear fell upon them all in the name of the Lord.

Jesus was extolled or magnified also many of those who were now believers came confessing and divulging their practices and a number of those who had practiced magic arts brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all And they counted the value of them and found it came to 50,000 pieces of silver so the Word of the Lord continued to increase and prevail mightily Now notice what we have here.

I want us to make four observations in the message first I want us to see the miracles of Paul It's right there in the first two verses second the attempted miracles of certain Jews Verses 13 to 16 third the results of all of these things among the people verse 17 and 19 and then the last observation will be rather short verse 20 the gospel the great gospel success in and out of Ephesus So number one the miracles of Paul The miracles of Paul now, we just read them but I want to go back and I want us to look at verse 11 and 12 and God was doing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul in other words direct miracles

through Paul. Now notice verse 12. So that even handkerchiefs or aprons that had touched his skin were carried away to the sick and their diseases left them and the evil spirits came out of them. Those are indirect miracles. Indirect miracles. Now we can see some pretty wild things were happening here. Miracles were performed by the hands of Paul. Again, direct miracles and even handkerchiefs that Paul had touched were being used to heal sickness, disease, and cast out demons. And this word here in the original handkerchiefs literally speaks of a cloth used for wiping sweat from the face, even cleaning the nose.

Now this is kind of wild, but this is charismatic type stuff. I mean this reminds me of a beating hand healing service that we would see on television. Isn't that right? Now this is what I want to do here. I want to answer some questions. What was happening? Why was this happening? And what was the purpose of all these things? And then does any of this apply to us today? Now we have to understand what Ephesus, the city and the culture, was like in this time. Ephesus was a hotbed of all sorts of magic, superstition, and what we would call occult practices.

And Bible commentators and scholars will point to history, even secular writings of the day that speak to all of that. Later we will see that many who had been saved out of this culture were involved in all kinds of this magic, superstition, and practices of the occult. And this is what God was doing here. It really does not need to be confusing. This really doesn't need to be even overwhelming. God was really and actually meeting the Ephesians and their culture right where they were. One writer said it like this, Paul met his audiences at a point of common ground ideologically in order to lead them on to the good news of salvation in Christ.

So in Ephesus he acted in a way here depicted. So what we see here is this. Paul actually met the people right where they were. He met the Jews in the synagogue with their Old Testament scriptures, reasoning and proving that Jesus was the promised Messiah of the Old Testament. And in Ephesus he met the Ephesian people and their culture with the miraculous, but even greater miracles because that is what they were accustomed to and seeking after. MacArthur puts it like this, this was God's accommodation to the mentality of the people. I will add to that, I agree this was God's accommodation to the mentality and the practices of the people.

And these things prove to the Ephesian people that Paul was from God and that he spoke of God and for God. So God, it was God through Paul was meeting the Ephesians where they were and he was confirming and proving to them that Paul, his message and his ministry and all of his associates were actually from God. And one more detail, performing miracles was one of the marks of an apostle. Remember that. Performing miraculous miracles was one of the marks of the apostles in their ministry and their preaching. First Corinthians 12 12 tells us this. Hebrews 2 3 to 4 does as well and Acts 2 22 as well. But listen to 2nd Corinthians 12 12.

Paul says the signs of a true apostle were performed among you. He's referring to the miracles. And with utmost patience with signs and wonders and mighty works. Now I will make up a little short observation here. If someone today tells you that they are a apostle, just make sure that they can perform the signs and wonders that Paul and these others performed. And on top of that, the apostles actually saw the resurrected Christ and ask them if they have seen the resurrected Christ. We don't have apostles today. But a question, should we expect signs, wonders, and miracles today? Should we expect the same thing today?

Well, here is where I want you to turn to Hebrews. We know these verses, but this will help us. Hebrews 1 1 to 4. Long ago at many times in many ways God spoke to our fathers by the prophets. Of course, he's referring to the Old Testament prophets. But in these days the author of Hebrews is talking about the days after the giving of Christ Jesus. Now he, thus God, has spoken to us by his son Jesus, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. He, thus Jesus, is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature. And he upholds the universe by the word of his power.

And after making purifications for sins, that's the cross, he, thus Jesus, sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high. Now notice what this tells us. In our time of God's work on earth now, Jesus is God's supreme and final revelation. And God's apostolic testimony concerning Jesus is found in the scripture. There is no need to seek new prophets. There's no need for new revelations, additional words from God, and even miracles. And this helps us see how the apostolic miracles apply to us today. The purpose of those miracles were to confirm and authenticate the apostles, their message, their ministry, even the ones with them.

Once the foundation of the church was laid, that took place through the apostles, and the scriptures were given, those validating signs were and are no longer needed. They're just not needed. And to me, if we want to give to the lost world now an authenticating and confirming miracle, to confirm Jesus in the gospel, we have one. That is to present to them the miracle of the new birth and a new and holy life in Christ. You see that?

If we want to give the lost around us, in our family, neighborhood, workplace, an authenticating and confirming miracle to confirm Jesus, to authenticate the gospel, we give them the miracle of the new birth, the miracle of a new and holy life in Christ Jesus. Let me go a little further. Church, do not fall into the trap of looking for something exciting to validate Jesus, the gospel, and God. Let me restate that. Do not fall into the trap of looking for something exciting to validate Jesus, the gospel, and God. And that is something many in the church do today.

We do not need a famous NFL or college football player to validate Jesus, the gospel, and God on national TV. We don't need a movie star to validate and prop up Jesus and got the gospel and God. Kanye West came along and you know he was going to prop up Jesus and make Jesus and the gospel and God look pretty good. Didn't work out. And we do not need scientists, archaeologists, and modern technology to prove that they have really found Noah's Ark. Any of y'all been keeping up with that?

What we need is a church full of believers who live a holy life, a consecrated life for God, who are simply sharing the gospel of Christ Jesus, which is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes. Now, would it be a bad thing if they really did find Noah's Ark? No. That would be interesting, but the lost world will not believe if we find Noah's Ark. And I do not need Noah's Ark to believe in Noah's Ark. I believe the flood happened by faith because God's Word says so.

If the lost world won't believe the testimony of creation, if they won't believe a clear presentation of the message of the gospel, they will not believe savingly of Noah sailed the ark right down the boulevard. We don't need physical evidence of Noah's Ark to come along and prop up Jesus and the gospel and God. And to me, all those things can can be just a tool of the devil to get us off the naked truth of the power of the gospel. Think about that. There will be churches and all kinds of believers that will flock to that when all we need is the naked truth of the power of the gospel.

So the miracles, the great miracles of Paul that were, and the purpose of those miracles was confirming the gospel, Paul, in all of their ministry. Next number two, the attempted miracles by these Jewish false teachers. These Jewish false teachers and their attempted miracles. Look back at verse 13 to 16. Then some of the itinerant traveling Jewish exorcists undertook to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, I adjure you by the Jesus whom Paul proclaims. Seven sons of a Jewish high priest named Sceva were doing this. But the evil spirit answered them, Jesus I know and Paul I recognize, but who are you?

And the man in whom was the evil spirit leapt on him, mastered all of them and overpowered them so that they fled out of the house naked and wounded. Now here we have more of the exciting, again this is wild charismatic stuff, but what we have here is simple. Certain traveling Jewish exorcists tried to not only perform miracles, but they tried to invoke or use or employ the name of Jesus. Now John MacArthur calls them competition. They really weren't much of competition. I call them copycat, charlatan miracle workers. A charlatan is one who makes false claims of identity or expertise and that is what they did.

They were trying to make claims that they did not have. They were trying to identify themselves as true teachers and miracle workers and they were not. But here I want to answer who, what, and why. Who were these charlatan miracle workers? What were they doing and why? And then I want us to see the results. First, who were they? We have seen this kind before. In chapter 8 verses 9 to 25 we saw Simon Magnus, Simon the magician, who was a false Jewish teacher. Then in chapter 13 verses 6 to 12 we saw Bar Jesus, who was the same. Both were false Jewish teachers, charlatans.

They made false claims claiming to be of God and to possess the powers of God. But notice in Ephesus we had these traveling Jewish exorcists and then this seven sons of a high priest named Sceva. Now who were these people? Scholars and historians tell us that in this time men like this were very, very prevalent. They were like gypsy fortune tellers, the scholars tell us. And the Jewish people were really addicted to these people and their practices and their schemes where they used spells and some kind of sorcery connected with the name of Solomon using the Old Testament.

Remember they were Jewish and extra biblical writers like Josephus and others, they wrote about these men. But these seven sons of a Jewish high priest named Sceva, who were they? What was this? Scholars say that Sceva is not known and there was never a high priest by that name. Some ancient manuscripts describe him as a ruler, not a high priest. But this is what many say right here. He was either a member of one of the high priest's families or he just stole that affiliation to gain some kind of an influence. But either way he was a Jewish false prophet. He was a religious charlatan. He made false claims as well.

But notice second what they were doing. They were exorcists. They were trying to exorcise or cast out evil spirits, we would say demonic spirits, and they were trying to use the name and the authority and the power of Jesus to do so. Verse 13 says they tried to, and I'm quoting the verse, invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits. In this invoke here it means to force or to take an oath, to administer an oath. But language scholars tell us this is a very strong word and it means more than calling on the name of Jesus.

They were truly trying to bind and command the evil spirit by appealing to Jesus' name, Jesus' authority, and Jesus' power. So notice they were trying to use Jesus. But third why? Of course on the surface they were trying to cast out evil spirits to free the person, but that's not their, that was not their ultimate reason. As with any kind of a false teacher, they were seeking power, prominence, and position among the people. We see that in how Peter rebuked Simon the Magician in Acts 8 and how Paul rebuked Bar Jesus in Acts 13. All were false teachers and all were just alike. And this is what must be seen about these men.

They were fakes and fraudsters. They were charlatans, which means they were willing to do anything and to say anything to obtain power, prominence, position, and money. MacArthur describes them as competition. I would say they were attempting to be competition by being copycats. They were trying to be like Paul in a way, but it really didn't work out too well. Fourth the results. The results. Again I want to go back to the verses because this is so interesting. Verse 15 and 16. Verse 15 and 16. But the evil spirit answered them. Now this is a demonic spirit now. Jesus I know and Paul I recognize, but who are you?

And the man in whom was the evil spirit left on them mastered all of them and overpowered them so that they fled out of a house naked and wounded. That's a pretty pretty good beating. And this is wild. I mean again this is exciting. The evil spirit said, Jesus we know, we've heard about Paul, but who are you? Many of you read William McDonald. He quotes F.B. Meyer here and it's a funny quote. It's on the money. I have F.B. Meyer's material. I use it from time to time. But Meyer says, and I'm quoting, when the sons of Sceva started on the demon, he turned on them and he said, you little dwarfs, you Lilliputians. You know what that word means?

It means small and petty. He says, the demons were saying, you little dwarfs, you're just small and you're petty. And Meyer goes on to say, I know Paul. I don't know you. I've never heard about you before. Your name has never been talked about down in hell. No one knows you nor about you outside of this little bit of a place called Ephesus. It's kind of interesting. Now right here I want to pause and I want to point out something we need to see here. The main point is not the power of the evil spirits or the false teachers who were beaten up and they ran for the hills. That's not the main point.

The main point is that God stopped them and revealed the true nature of everyone involved. He revealed the confusing, conflicting, and disorderly nature of the demons and the demonic activity. Think about it. The demons turned on the ones who were trying to work for them and he revealed the false teachers. So the main point is God revealed them all. You make an ad to that and say, pastor, the false teachers kind of got what they deserved. Now this is my point. God will expose false teachers in his time, in his way, and Satan nor his demonic forces can stand against God. The demons and the demonic forces, they can't even work together.

The demonic forces turned on the very ones they should have partnered with and used. So notice what we have here. The attempted miracles by the Jewish false teachers. They tried to use not just the name but the power and the authority of Jesus. They tried to use Jesus to cast out evil spirits for their own power, prominence, position, and gain. But it all backfired because the evil spirit beat them all up and they ran out of town. Thus the Jewish false teachers were revealed. Now there are some interesting lessons here. Three, be careful how you use the name of Jesus. We take the Lord's name in vain more than we realize.

Now taking the Lord's name is not just attaching his name with a curse word. We shouldn't just casually use his name. We shouldn't just throw the name of Jesus and God around. I remember one time when I was a kid, I made the statement to my dad, I promised to God, oh I got it.

lecture. I remember right where I was. He explained to me that I was taking the Lord's name in vain. You do not make statements like that. Folks, we should be careful how we use the name of Jesus and God. Second lesson, be careful what you blame on God. Preachers and churches do this a lot. I have a little phrase, churches and pastors will do things in the life of the church that are clearly not biblical, and I'll make a comment, poor God, he got blamed for all that. See, be careful what you blame on God.

Pastors and churches do it a lot, but also folks will commit grievous sins and suffer the ramifications, and they'll say, well God's just taking me through a trial. No, that's not a trial. That's not a trial. If you throw a rock up in the air and it hits you on top of the head, it's not God's fault. Be careful what you blame on God. The third lesson, be careful how you use and employ the name of Jesus and God in life. Be careful how you use and employ the name of Jesus and God in life. Be careful how you invoke the power and the authority of Jesus.

How many of these football players get on TV and talk about how Jesus helped them score a touchdown? Hmm, does anything rhyme with scoring a touchdown? No. I thought about it like this, how many wars have been fought in human history where both sides claim to be on God's side, and both sides played for God's blessing, praying for God's power and authority? Here are the lessons. Be careful how you use the name of Jesus and God. Be careful what you blame on God. And be careful, be careful not to make the same mistake as the false teachers here in this text, using and employing and invoking the power and the authority of Jesus when we shouldn't.

So the attempted miracles of these Jewish false teachers, they were proven counterfeit, cheap competition, and of course the ploys of the devil were revealed. Next, number three, the results among the people. The results, number three, among the people. Look back starting in verse 17. You'll see the shift. And this, we can say it like this, all of this became known to all of the residents of Ephesus, both Jews and Greeks. And fear fell upon them all, and the name of the Lord was extolled, magnified. Also, many of those who were now believers came, confessing and divulging their practices.

And a number of those who had practiced magic arts brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all, and they counted the value of them and found it came to 50,000 pieces of silver. So the word of the Lord continued to increase and prevail mightily. Here Luke tells us that all that God did up to this point had this profound supernatural effect on two groups of people. The people of the city now, Jews and Gentiles, that's the lost, and believers, that's the church. It's simple. Paul's miracles and the bloody defeat of the charlatan false teachers had a supernatural, otherworldly impact. First, with the loss of the city.

In verse 17, we see that fear fell on them all. Fear fell upon them all. And this is just what it says. This fear, it means dread, it means terror, which means striking fear and terror in the heart. And this is simple. Because of all that had happened, because of all that God did, fear and terror gripped the people. These are lost people. And look at what this fear and terror produced. In the name of the Lord Jesus was extolled. The name of the Lord Jesus was extolled. The legacy standard, the New American says, the name of the Lord Jesus was being magnified.

This literally means that in the hearts and the minds and the lives of the lost, Jesus, in the name of Jesus, was made more famous and respected. Barnes says the name of Jesus acquired increasing honor because of all of these events. Now, notice what this teaches us. Notice the lesson here. Lost people can honor, respect, and fear the name and the person of Jesus, but it doesn't mean they're saved. Many times we will see that in how the lost view us as we live before them in the Lord. Many times we will see that in how the lost view our church and what God is doing in our church.

They are not fearful to the point, they are not respectful and honoring to the point where they're being saved, no. But they have a level of fear and respect and honor for what God is doing and they acknowledge that. But look at the believers in the church. Luke tells us that a great work came about in the church and there were many things that took place. Now, I do want us to put our eyes on these verses because there's a lot here we've got to see. Verse 18 to 19. Also, many of those who are now believers, this is the church, came confessing and divulging their practices.

And a number of those who had practiced magic arts, they were involved in the occult now, brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all and they counted the value of them and found it came to 50,000 pieces of silver. So the word of the Lord continued to increase and prevail mightily. Now, I want us to see four specific things that took place in the believers in the church. First, they were gripped by great conviction. Well, how do we know that? Luke does not use that word in the verse. Conviction of sin had to have taken place for the other events to come about. They were gripped by great conviction of sin.

Second, they confessed their sin. The English Standard says they came forward in some manner confessing and divulging their practices and verse 19 says these practices were of the magic occultic arts. I love what Jim Boyce here, Jim Boyce says here. I'm really putting it in my words. It is obvious that many of these believers have been involved in the occult, but as the gospel was preached and the Lordship of Christ Jesus was emphasized, the believers saw it was not possible for them to confess Jesus savingly and hold on to these occult practices. And to me, no doubt this came about through Paul's preaching.

Remember, he'd been preaching for two years in the city, not just to the lost but to the saved. So what did they do? The conviction of God brought them to confess their sin and notice what happened next. Third, they repented of their sin. The next step for proper confession that comes from godly sorrow and grief is true repentance. They demonstrated and exhibited what Paul talks about in 1st Corinthians 7 10. Paul says, for godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, but worldly grief produces death. There is a godly sorrow and a worldly sorrow. Question. And this is a serious one.

Since you have come to saving faith in Christ, is there sin you need to confess and repent of? Since you have come to saving faith, is there sin you need to confess and repent of? Years ago in the life of the church, I had a lady come to me and say, you've been my pastor for seven years. Every single time you stood up to preach, I knew there was a sin I needed to confess. Maybe you've been grieved over that sin. Maybe even to the point of not being able to make it at times, but you've not gotten to the point of godly grief that leads to confession and repentance.

If you are a believer holding on to unconfessed sin, don't stay in your place of misery and defeat. Confess it. Truly repent of it, but to the right people. I'll come back to that. But notice that Luke tells us more of what the repentance looked like. Fourth, they counted the cost of their repentance. They counted the cost of their repentance. Verse 19, and the number of those who had practiced magic arts brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all. Now here's the cost. And they counted the value of them and found it came to 50,000 pieces of silver.

Now this is hard for us to see because we are so culturally disconnected from these things, but notice the cost of their repentance. Luke tells us that those who had held on to their magic occult practices and the books associated with them,

associated with those things, together they burn them all in the presence of all. Now there's a lesson here. Very public sin must be repented of publicly. The gravity of the sin determines the gravity of the confession and repentance. Let me restate that. Very public sin must be repented of publicly. The gravity of that sin determines the gravity of the confession and repentance. These people had committed heinous public sins. I'll never forget. This is an example of the wrong way. I'll never forget years ago I saw a lady in the life of a church speak, giving her testimony. And she spoke of her pre-salvation life.

She really didn't need to confess that publicly. In my opinion, she should have sought out a lady and confessed that in private. It was not a public sin at all. But I have known church leaders who sinned grievously in the life of the church, and they stood behind the pulpit and confessed and repented publicly. They had sinned publicly for the whole church to see and know, so they confessed and repented publicly. I'm going to come back to that. Just remember, the nature, type, and gravity of the sin determines what that confession and repentance looks like. Women with women.

If you're dealing with a sexual sin or personal struggle with a husband, that kind of thing, seek out a woman and meet with them. Men with men. If you're dealing with pornography and things like that, find a man to talk to. Personal struggles in the home and the life, look, find a man to talk to. And look, if you need help in knowing how to deal with that, I can help you. One of the elders can help you. But back to the circumstance here. Look at the great cost of their repentance. Luke tells us, he says that the value of the books burned were 50 pieces of silver, and in their day, one drachma was a day's wage for a common laborer.

Now, right here is where I had to go to AI and do some calculations. ChatGPT helped me. If it's wrong, blame Chat. According to ChatGPT, this 50,000 drachmas would be, in terms of wages and purchasing power, that would be worthy in the neighborhood of six to ten million dollars in today's economy. Yeah. Now, think about it. They were not just burning a few ungodly romance novels. They were publicly burning an enormous amount of valuable property to the Ephesian culture now that it could have been sold to recoup a lot of money. No doubt there were some believers thinking, honey, if we sold it, we could pay off the mortgage.

But because they were truly repenting of their past lives in the occult, and they knew the nature of the evil of those things, the sacrifice was worth it. Have y'all ever known someone that confessed sin and went down the road of repentance that could have cost them a lot? I've heard of people who came to faith in Christ, and they had to grapple with the fact that they cheated their way all through college, and their conscience wouldn't let them rest, with university presidents to sit down and confess and see what they needed to do about it.

I knew a guy one time who came to faith in Christ, and when he was in high school, he ran over a man and killed him. Couldn't sleep. He had to make it right. He went to the sheriff, sat down, and confessed it. He had made preparations with his wife, thinking he could be arrested that night. Again, I have to ask you, is there an unconfessed sin that haunts you, and you can't get victory over because you know you need to make it right, confess it? Well, the results among the people. The lost, they were impacted, and the believers in the church were impacted. Last, number four, and I'll be quicker here.

The gospel success in and out of Ephesus, verse 20. Now, I know I've been going back and forth to the verses, but I've done that on purpose. But now, I want us to look back at verse 10, which is the conclusion of last week's. This continued for two years, so that all the residents of Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks. Great gospel success there. Then verse 20, so the word of the Lord continued to increase and prevail mightily. Great gospel success there. That is easy for us to see. And what I'm trying to point out is this. We see more and more gospel success in and out of Ephesus. Now, question.

Did this great gospel success right here come about because of the miracles? Did this great gospel success come about because of the charlatan false teachers were defeated? Of course, that could have certainly played a role, and it did. But I think this happened for another reason. The believers repented of known public and secret sin, so the church was cleaned up. You see that? The believers, the church, individual believers repented of known public and secret sin, so the church was cleaned up. An application I love, what William McDonald says here, and I'm quoting him.

Perhaps if modern Christians would burn their trashy books and magazines, the word would prevail much more. Perhaps if we would burn the trash in our lives, the sin in our lives, and make things right, the word would prevail much more. But look at what Luke is telling us here. It's real simple. We have seen these kind of descriptive, broad statements before. The word of the Lord, the gospel, increased and prevailed mightily. This is great and greater gospel success. Now, in closing, I want to do two things, and I'll be short. First, I want to give us the title of the message. Second, I want to close with five very short lessons.

First, the title of the message. This is all about the mighty ministry in Ephesus. The mighty ministry in Ephesus. This is the third missionary journey now. The mighty ministry in Ephesus. Now the five lessons. Now, I got these from Albert Barnes, but I put them in modern language and I shortened them all. Lesson number one, the gospel has the power to break sins. Power and control on a person's life and livelihood. These were people who were involved in the occult. Not only did they get saved, but they seriously and radically divorced themselves from that previous life.

The gospel has the power to break sin's power and sin's control on a person's life, even their livelihood. Number two, when a person truly comes to Christ, he will abandon habits and practices that dishonor God, the gospel, and the church. When a person really comes to Christ, now it may take them a little time with some, they will abandon habits, practices, notice that dishonor God, the gospel, and the church. Do you think if any of these believers held on to some of those occult practices, it would have brought shame to the church? Number three, when sin has been heinous in public, repentance should be accordingly.

When sin has been heinous in public, repentance and confession should be made accordingly. I said I would come back to this. I remember years ago in my home church, my home church pastor passed away today. Long battle with sickness. But I remember in my home church there were a few deacons that gave Brother Dennis fits. Gave Brother Dennis fits. Everybody knew it. Well, I'll never forget one came to faith. He was a deacon now and an adult man, James Wilkerson. He got gloriously saved. He got behind the pulpit, confessed how he had been giving Brother Dennis trouble for years, publicly repented, asked him for his forgiveness.

See, his confession and repentance matched his sin. Number four, true repentance before God is willing to obey God no matter the cost. True repentance before God and to God is a willingness to obey God no matter the cost. And number five, true repentance before God does not stop in participating in the sin and the evil at hand. It refuses to profit by enabling others to continue in that sin and evil. Let me restate that.

before God does not stop in participating in the sin and the evil, it refuses to profit by enabling others to continue in that sin and evil. They could have sold the material, recouped some money, but others would have continued in sin. That one you might have to think on, think on a little and let it sink in. So the title of the message, The Mighty Ministry in Ephesus.