The Third Missionary Journey - The Old Testament Saints in Ephesus are Evangelized

Please take your Bible and turn to Acts chapter 19. Acts chapter 19 we're gonna be in verses 1 to 7 and this is one of those messages we will come back to next week for kind of a part two but I'm going to take the part two and add some lessons here because there are some subjects and questions here that we need to revisit but last week we started Paul's third missionary journey but we saw that that journey started out with the focus not on the Apostle Paul. At the end of chapter 18 we saw how Paul completed his second missionary journey by returning to Antioch.

I have said many times Antioch was his home church, Antioch was his sending church and after some much-needed rest and recuperation he set out again and I think it's safe to assume that just like with his first missionary journey and second the church commissioned him in a big way and in a meaningful way. Chapter 18 verse 23 says after spending some time there that's Antioch some scholars believe he spent about a year there he departed and went from one place to the next through the region of Galatia and Phrygia strengthening the disciples.

And last week we saw that the focus was on a Jew from Alexandria named Apollos and our friends Aquila and Priscilla who were there in Ephesus. We know that Paul left Aquila and Priscilla in Ephesus for two reasons. First of all they stayed behind to establish their tent making trade in business and to continue Paul's gospel witness in the city that he started out by going to the synagogue and finding those receptive Jews. And Luke told us all about this man Apollos. He was a Jew from Egypt who was eloquent, knowledgeable and well-instructed in the Old Testament scriptures and the ways of God.

He was fervent in his spirit full of great energy and conviction and he was a bold witness in the synagogue but we saw that he was terribly, terribly deficient theologically and doctrinally. His knowledge of Jesus and the gospel was incomplete. His gospel and his preaching fell short of the death of Christ, the burial of Christ, the resurrection of Jesus as well as the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost in the birth of the church. So the wonderful Christian workers Aquila and Priscilla stepped in and they encouraged him.

They tactfully took him aside and they explained the way of God more accurately helping him to become more complete. I call them problem solvers and we need all the problem solvers in the church that we can get. And we ask a very important question. Was he a believer? Well the answer to that is yes and no. Yes he was a believer in the Old Testament sense. I think it's safe to say that he was a believing Old Testament saint of God. You'll run across that if you do some study on your own. But he was liking spiritually. So Aquila and Priscilla, they encountered him there in the synagogue.

They tactfully and privately and they instructed him about Jesus, the cross, and the resurrection in the church. They completed his doctrine, his theology, and his personal faith. And whereas Luke did not give us many details at all about how Aquila and Priscilla helped Apollos, what Paul does when he first arrives in Ephesus, I believe, helps us see more how Priscilla and Aquila dealt with Apollos. But we saw more about this man, Apollos. Not only did he get his doctrine and theology straightened out, not only did he get straightened out spiritually on a personal level, he became a wonderful new worker in the work of the church.

We saw how the brothers and sisters in Ephesus sent him, along with a letter of recommendation, to the church at Corinth. Apollos felt compelled of God to go minister in Corinth and the church in Ephesus felt compelled of God to send him, to send him. And remember what I pointed out and what we are seeing. Now this is big picture. This relates to what Luke is showing us in the growth and the development of the church. As the gospel spread and more and more churches were being born, two things were happening.

First of all, Paul became not only a pioneer missionary and evangelist, he also became a disciple, a pastor of new Christians and new churches. At times he visited churches so as to strengthen them and to further establish them in the faith more and more. Again, he was a pastor to these churches. And then second Luke tells us how more and more workers and partners in the ministry came onto the scene. Paul always had men like Barnabas, Silas, and Timothy, but now we're seeing people like Aquila and Priscilla and Apollos become workers, ministers, partners in the work of the gospel and the work of the church.

I know I have said this over and over. I am very very thankful that our church is full of husband and wife teams like Aquila and Priscilla. I mean take note of that church. That's rare. Sadly that's rare, but that should be the norm. And I pray that one day we will send out a man like Apollos. I pray that one day we will send out a man, maybe his family as well obviously, and others like Apollos. The church in Ephesus sent out Apollos, one of their own, as a matter of fact, one that some would say could have been an asset to Ephesus. Again I pray that we can do the same. Now tonight we will see that Paul comes back on the scene.

Luke tells us that Paul made his way from the region of Galatia and Phrygia, strengthening the churches, finally getting to Ephesus. Well that leads us to our verses. Let's read them, verses 1 to 7, Acts 19. "And it happened that while Apollos was in Corinth, Paul passed through the inland country and came to Ephesus. There he found some disciples and he said to them, 'Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?' And they said, 'No.

We have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.' And he said, 'Into what then were you baptized?' They said, 'Into John's baptism.' And Paul said, 'John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe and the one who was to come after him, that is Jesus.' On hearing this they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. And when Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them and they began speaking in tongues and prophesying. And there were about twelve men in all." There were about twelve men in all. Now this is how I want to approach the verses. I want us to make four observations here.

First of all, I want us to see the growth in the work. I've already alluded to this, but I want to touch on it again. That's at the beginning of verse 1. And then second, I want us to see Paul's arrival in Ephesus. Third, the incomplete believers that he found there. And then fourth, the work of completion in them. And what we have here is very, very important. Luke shows us these events. Luke shows in these events how the last piece of the puzzle in the completion and the birth of the church comes into place. And this will surprise some of you. This will surprise some of you. So let's get started.

The beginning of verse 1, the growth of the work. The growth of the work. Now we touched on this quite a lot last week and this week, but here Luke shows us the rest of the story from chapter 18 verses 27 to 28. Apollos felt called of God to cross the Aegean Sea into Achaia and to the church in Corinth. And the brothers in Ephesus felt called of God to send him, so they sent him along with a letter of recommendation. And from what Luke tells us here in verse 1 and what Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians, Apollos became a very, very respected and very capable leader, minister, and preacher in the church.

So we see the growth of the work of the church. But think about something now. The Ephesian church sent out one that could have been a very, very great asset to the work there in Ephesus. He was a great asset in Corinth. No doubt he could have been a great asset in Ephesus. We could say that he really, they really did send out one of their best. In Luke church many times God calls the church to send out one of their best. Many times God calls the church to send out even the strongest for gospel work and the work of the church elsewhere. I give you a great anchored-in-truth story and example.

Many of you know Pastor Derek from Grace Life Church prior there at Melton and his wife Stacy they've been with us. But one of the elders at Grace Life prior who's been there for who's been there for quite a while is Jason Cummings. Well through God's working in Jason's life and some connections with an anchored-in-truth Jason Cummings is about to leave prior and go take a church in Illinois. That church in Illinois is connected with an anchored-in-truth church in Illinois and the church he's taken used to be a very large vibrant church and now it's on down to about 30 people. It's a church replant revitalization.

So what I'm aiming at is this. Grace Life prior is taking one of their best elders in sending him out of state. As a matter of fact not only are they sending him but he will receive all kinds of anchored-in-truth support. It's just a team effort. It's a team effort and again maybe we will do the same soon. But that's in God's hands. Alright next number two Paul arrives in Ephesus. We see that at the last part of verse 1. Paul arrives in Ephesus. Now I know that Luke does not say much about Paul's arrival in the city but there are quite a few things we need to see that set the stage for us to understand all that took place in Ephesus.

You may not realize it but all of chapter 19 is about Paul's ministry in Ephesus and Paul stayed in Ephesus longer than he did in Corinth. Really he stayed in Ephesus longer than he did anywhere else and Ephesus was a key church for many reasons. But first we need to take a look at the city. We have seen that Paul ministered in small cities. Maybe we would call them villages and some very very big cities. Corinth was big, Athens was big, Ephesus was big. Historians tell us the population in Paul's day was between 200 and 250 thousand people.

That's a large city and we need to understand what Ephesus was like because what Ephesus was like comes into play soon. Ephesus was on the west coast of Asia Minor at the mouth of the Castro River. You can see that if you look at your maps. So it was a port city and in its day it was a secondary port city to Miletus but when the harbor in Miletus silted up all of the commerce and great economic power shifted to Ephesus. So Ephesus was a very important trade city, a very wealthy city and the city relied on two things for its wealth and prominence.

First its position is a major trade center as I have said but historians tell us that several things contributed to its economic decline due to the over harvesting of trees in the region, due to the burning of coal and over grazing in the region. Scholars tell us the topsoil washed into the streams. That caused the streams to turn into marshes and because of storms and the rains that contributed to the mouth of the river silting up. So that meant that the harbor silted up which ruined the harbor and in Paul's day Ephesus had passed her commercial and economic pinnacle. But the second thing Ephesus relied on for wealth and prominence held on.

That was the worship of Artemis and the temple dedicated to the worship of Artemis which was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. But the goddess Artemis sometimes it's called the goddess Diana was this gross multi-breasted goddess of fertility and the temple built to worship Artemis was four times the size of the Parthian and Athens. Worship at the temple centered on all types of pagan rituals, prayers, animal sacrifices and all of these festivals honoring the goddess associated with fertility, childbirth and prosperity. And with all of these pagan goddesses and gods that would have involved all kinds of debauchery as well.

And scholars tell us that with the decline of Ephesus commerce and trade due to the loss of the harbor the prosperity of the city depended more and more on tourism and pilgrims and the trade associated with the temple and the worship of Artemis. So this is the city of Ephesus that Paul came to evangelize. Her great economic and trade power had passed but the prosperity and the wealth they did possess and enjoy was centered on more and more the temple and the worship of Artemis. And again this will come into play here soon in Paul's ministry.

But second, remember Paul's initial contact and promise back in chapter 18 verses 19 to 21 we saw that Paul made a quick stop in Ephesus while on his way to Jerusalem and then the Antioch and while he was there he went to the synagogue and he preached the gospel as he always did. And to our surprise he found some receptive Jews. So he had an open door he had a golden opportunity but he could not stay. He was committed to go to Jerusalem to fulfill that Nazarite vow but he promised those curious Jews that he would return. So Paul's initial contact now was very very positive. And then third look what he found when he finally did get back.

Luke tells us that upon his return he found some disciples the text says. But as we will see just like with Apollos the disciples that he encountered their doctrine their theology their gospel their faith was terribly incomplete. So taking a step back look at what Luke tells us. Paul's first contact with the Jews in Ephesus was positive and he promised to return and he did but when he did return he found a group of disciples that were incomplete believers. They were at the same place Apollos was. Their faith was incomplete and flawed. Their theology was incomplete and flawed. Their doctrine was, their gospel was, their faith was.

I read where some speculate that the disciples Paul encountered here were disciples of Apollos before he was straightened out. Maybe that's the case and that these incomplete believers could not have had any contact with the church there in Ephesus because they would have straightened them out. And I do want to say this in application I do believe we can run into people like this. Now let me explain what I mean. We can run into genuine believers who have flawed theology even horribly flawed theology. And you know we need to be like Aquila and Priscilla.

We need to kindly lovingly step in to try to help brothers and sisters like that especially when they come into our church. But we are seeing that these were Old Testament saints but yet they weren't believers. And what I'm aiming at here is this. We have all around us all kinds of quote-unquote Christian believers who are really not converted. We have them everywhere. Our job and our task is to evangelize evangelicals. Our job and our task is to lead believers who are not true believers to come to saving faith. And we dealt with some of that this past Sunday when we looked at the lessons from the Parable of the Sower. But let's continue.

Next, number three, these incomplete believers. These incomplete believers. Let's look at verses two and three again. "And he thus Paul said to them, 'Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?' They said, 'No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.' And he said to them, 'Into what then were you baptized?' And they said, 'Into John's baptism.'" John being John the Baptist. Now here it really seems that these disciples had the very same problem Apollos had. They had an incomplete theology and gospel, but these were not secondary matters. Remember that?

These were vital matters of doctrine and faith, therefore they had an incomplete faith. And notice what Luke tells us. Several things. First he tells us they were disciples. Now at first glance, because Luke uses this word disciples, we could assume they were true believers, but as we will see they were disciples of John the Baptist, not Jesus. And there was and is a difference. But that leads us to a question now, were these disciples Christian? Were they saved? Were they lost? We'll come back to that. We'll come back to that. Second, Paul asked if they had received the Holy Spirit. You notice that?

But that leads me to a couple of questions. Why did Paul ask that question? Why didn't he ask them if they believed in Jesus? Warren Wiersby says that Paul asked this question because, and I'm quoting, "The witness of the Spirit is the one indispensable proof that a person is truly born again." Now this is a short statement, but it's loaded. And I'm gonna repeat it and then unpack it. Wiersby says that he asked this question because the witness of the Spirit is the one indispensable proof that a person is truly born again. And that is true. Not because Warren Wiersby says it, but because the scriptures say it.

And there are some scriptures here that we will come back to and we'll see how this applies, but the scriptures here help us. In Romans 8-9, Paul says, "Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him." In Romans 8-16, Paul says, "The Spirit," capital S, himself bears witness with our spirit, small s, the little spirit, means human spirit that we are children of God. In 1st John 5-10, the Apostle John says, "Whoever believes in the Son of God has the testimony of himself that would speak to the spirit." So by asking them if they had received the Holy Spirit, Paul was doing two things.

First, he was looking for a witness of the Holy Spirit from them. If they did possess the Spirit, he knew that the Spirit of God would have cried out, spoken out in and through them. Second, he was indirectly saying that to possess true saving belief in Jesus was to possess the Holy Spirit. He was and is saying that to possess the Spirit was to possess Christ Jesus savingly. Now make sure you get this church because we will come back to this. Paul was looking for a witness of the Spirit from within them, from out of them.

And he was saying that to possess the Spirit was to possess Christ, to possess Jesus and saving faith was to possess the Spirit. And look at how they replied. Not only did they confess that they did not possess the Spirit, they said they had not even heard of the Holy Spirit. And take note of what this tells us of their faith. By their own admission, their faith, their belief, their theology was terribly deficient. So were they believers? Were they not? They're Old Testament saints, but yet they need to be converted to Christ. You see the question? We'll come back to that. Third, Paul asked what baptism they received.

Now we may not see this at first, but this question was spot-on. Paul hit the bullseye of their problem because this question went right to the heart of who they were spiritually. And to see this we have to see and remember the pattern, standard, and expectation seen all throughout the book of Acts, all throughout the New Testament really. Now let me explain what I'm getting at. The pattern, the standard, the expectation seen all throughout the book of Acts was that the lost would hear the gospel, savingly believe, and then be baptized as a public profession of their saving faith and belief in Jesus as the Messiah. Let me repeat that.

The pattern, the standard, the expectation seen all throughout the book of Acts was that the lost would hear the gospel, savingly believe, then be baptized as a public profession of their saving faith and their belief in Jesus as the Messiah of God. So by asking what baptism they had, Paul was asking them to share their personal spiritual experience and testimony. And by asking this question and how he responded, Paul was saying that baptism was expected of and connected to truly and savingly believing in Jesus. Now he was not saying that baptism produces saving faith or somehow adds to saving faith. No, that's works-based.

But he was saying that baptism was a result of and expected of saving faith. Let me repeat that. He was saying that baptism was a result of and expected of saving faith. And look at how they replied. They told Paul that they had been baptized according to John the Baptist baptism. And we saw this last week with Apollos. Even though this was over 20 years since John the Baptist is teaching and disciples were still around, different scholars and commentators point out that John's disciples were still around teaching and influencing others. And all this leads to that question. Were these people saved? Were they lost?

Were they Old Testament saints like Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob? Luke says they were believers but they did not have the spirit. So that means they did not have Jesus. So who and what were they? They needed Christ. They were lost. It's important to see that at this point in time in the book of Acts we are still in a tremendous time of transition here. Even though this was some 20 years since the death of Christ, there were still some Old Testament believers and saints out there. And that is what we have here.

These disciples that Paul engaged with were like Apollos, Old Testament saints, but they were lacking in their theology, gospel, and personal faith. So we have these incomplete believers. They were Old Testament believers but not believers in Jesus. And as we will see, Paul gave them Christ like Aquila and Priscilla gave Christ to Apollos. And to me now, how Paul dealt with these disciples sheds light on how Aquila and Priscilla dealt with Apollos. Last, number four, the completion of these believers. The completion of these believers. Look back at verse four and five.

And Paul said, "John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him, that is Jesus. And on hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. And when Paul laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them and they began speaking in tongues and prophesying. There were about 12 men in all." Now here we see Paul's response. Like I said, they were incomplete Old Testament believers. So he met them where they were and notice he took them to Jesus and salvation. And that is important to see. Let me restate that. Paul met them right where they were. You see that?

Paul met them right where they were. But notice how he takes them along to a place of savingly believing in Jesus. First he explained John's baptism and that John's ministry had been fulfilled. Notice he did not rebuke them. Remember he met them where they were. He did not scold them for not knowing of Jesus. He met them where they were. When he understood that they were disciples of John the Baptist, he explained that John's baptism was a baptism of repentance, telling of the one who was to come, the promised Messiah of God Jesus. And that is what we must see right here, folks.

John's baptism was a baptism of repentance, not the new life in Christ. John's baptism was not the same as believers baptism. And that is because John's entire message and ministry was telling of the one who was to come, Jesus the promised Messiah of God. John's entire ministry and message was that of preparation for the Messiah. Listen to what John MacArthur says here and this will help us understand better what was happening in all of these events. And I'm quoting him, "The Apostles statement offers further proof that these disciples were not Christians.

They apparently did not know that Jesus was the promised Messiah whom John proclaimed." And he goes on to say and I'm quoting, "Paul did not instruct them about how to receive the Spirit but about Jesus." So notice what Paul did. He explained to them the meaning of John's baptism, the meaning of John's message, the meaning of John's message ministry, and that led him to telling them of Jesus and the gospel. And look, church, there is a very, very practical lesson here. When we are witnessing the people, we meet them where they are. Paul met them where they were. He didn't rebuke them. He met them where they were.

And look, when we run across a person who does not believe in God, we meet them where they are. Our teenagers, our children, we meet them where they are. Our religious family and friends, we meet them where they are. But no matter where they are in their lostness, we love them. We're not rude to them. We're not dogmatic and hateful to them. And we take them to Jesus who is the only hope. We meet them where they are. Then second, he baptized them. Now notice what this tells us. They savingly believed.

Even though Luke does not say that they savingly believed, we know that to be the case because the clear pattern seen in the book of Acts is this. The Gospels preached, people savingly believed, then they are baptized. Hold on to that pattern. Don't ever forget it. The pattern in the book of Acts and throughout the New Testament is the Gospel is preached to the lost, the lost savingly believed, then they are baptized. MacArthur says, and I'm quoting, "They were baptized, signifying their spiritual union with him by faith." And there is a lesson here, folks. We must be careful in how we interpret the blank spaces of the Bible.

Let that phrase sink in. We're gonna come back to that next week. We must be careful in how we interpret the blank spaces in the Bible. Although Paul does not say these Old Testament saints savingly believe in Jesus, we can say that they did because the clear pattern in the book of Acts in the New Testament is that people hear the Gospel, they savingly believe, and they express that, then they are baptized. Third, they laid their hands on them that they may receive the Holy Spirit. Now here we come to some strange verses, and this causes quite a bit of confusion for some, and some abuse what we see here horribly.

But we need to see what was happening here, and I'll ask a question. Why did Paul lay his hands on them so that they could receive the Spirit? Why did Paul lay his hands on them so that they could receive the Spirit? Well, we have to understand that here in Acts chapter 19, we are at a new phase in the birth of the church. Let me explain. In Acts 2, we saw the birth of the church when the Spirit of God fell on the Jews. We know that to be Pentecost. Of course, they savingly believed after they heard Peter preach the Gospel at Pentecost, and they were baptized. That's when the Jews were born into the church.

In Acts 8, we saw the birth of the church when the Spirit of God fell on the Samaritans. Of course, they savingly believed, and they received the Holy Spirit when the Apostles Peter and John arrived to pray that they would receive the Spirit. In Acts 10, we saw the birth of the church when the Holy Spirit fell on the Gentiles. They savingly believed when they heard the Apostle Peter preach the Gospel. So let me pause. We see the birth of the church in phases. The birth of the church with the Jews. The birth of the church with the Samaritans. The birth of the church with the Gentiles.

Well, here in Acts 19, we see the birth of the church when the Spirit fell on those who these 12 disciples represented. The 12 disciples here, mentioned here, represent the last of the Old Testament saints of God. So the point of Paul laying on his hands is this. Apostles were present at each new phase of the birth of the church. As Christ's chosen apostles, they were authoritative witnesses to the ones who had believed at each phase of the birth of the church. That's what that means. Of these 12 men, John MacArthur says, these 12 men like Paul and Apollos before them illustrate the transitional nature of Acts.

The church which had embraced Jews, Gentiles, and Samaritans now gathered in the last group the Old Testament saints. So Paul laid his hands on them so that they would receive the Spirit. These were apostolic times and the church was still in this great time of transition in birth. Now, notice a lesson here for this church. These things right here are descriptive for us, not prescriptive. Let me restate that and I will explain. These things here are descriptive for us, not prescriptive. These things are descriptive of, once in a lifetime, never repeated events. These things are never to be repeated.

So that means that these things are not prescribed for us and that we are not to do the very same thing. Going all the way back to Pentecost, should we pray for another Pentecost today? No. There's only one. Fourth, they spoke in tongues and prophesied. Now this really gets interesting. Here Luke tells us that these freshly born again Old Testament believers who have become New Testament believers, they spoke in tongues and prophesied. And the meaning of these things is simple. This was proof pointing to the fact that they were indeed a part of the church. And right here, Warren Wiersby points out something that will help us here.

It helped me. He observes that this is the last instance of the gift of tongues seen in the book of Acts. Let me restate that. Wiersby points out that right here is the last instance of the gift of tongues as seen in the book of Acts. Now what does that mean? In Acts 2, the believing Jews spoke in tongues at Pentecost. In Acts 10, the believing Gentiles did the same thing. And here we see the same thing of these Old Testament believers believing in Jesus. And this is the point. Tongues were proof pointing to the fact that the ones who had believed had truly believed in and been accepted by God. And this leads to a question.

And this is a question that some of you want me to answer. Do believers speak in tongues today? Should we speak in tongues today? Should we speak in tongues today to prove that we really do have the Spirit? You might not realize it, but some of our Pentecostal friends believe that. I have a Pentecostal friend that I engage with at times, and he will take me to these verses and say if you don't speak in tongues, you know you don't give evidence that you have the Holy Spirit. So what do we do with these things? How do we handle these things? I'll come back to that next week. So notice what we have here.

Paul met with these Old Testament saints right where they were. He explained to them why their baptism was insufficient and who they needed to trust in. Jesus, the Messiah that John spoke of, they savingly believed, they were baptized, they received the Spirit, and they spoke in tongues signifying, testifying, and proving that they were truly a part of the church just like the Jews, just like the Gentiles, just like the Samaritans. Thus the birth of the church was complete. The Jews were in, the Gentiles were in, the Samaritans were in. Now the Old Testament saints were in the kingdom.

Now this is how I want to close, and this is what I will do next. This is all about the third missionary journey, the Old Testament saints evangelized in Ephesus. This is all about those Old Testament saints now being evangelized in Ephesus and brought into the church. And get this church, this is all about the completion of the New Testament church. And next week I'm going to pick up with these verses, and I will take what we have here a little further. And that is because we need to ask and answer some very important questions that come out of these verses and others.

And sadly this is where so many make some terrible mistakes, get all kinds of folks confused and lead so many astray. So these questions, how do we receive the Spirit? Is there a delay between our salvation and receiving the Spirit like we see here? Do these verses teach a second feeling of the Holy Spirit? Are we supposed to speak in tongues as proof of our salvation? And is speaking in tongues valid today? So the third missionary journey, the Old Testament saints were evangelized. The church is completed.