Do Others See Jesus In You? (AM Sermon Notes)
GIST: True salvation is powerful, results in the Holy Spirit using you, and can’t be faked.
SCRIPTURE: Acts 19:1-20
Let me start by saying I am so thankful God’s Word doesn’t need me to speak ☺️. With baby #4 trying to make his appearance way too early and Melissa having to go on bedrest this week, it has been a full one to say the least ☺️. Yet, God has reminded us again and again of His faithfulness.
What we’re coming to this this morning is the beginning of Acts 19. This is where we see Paul’s third missionary journey and his time in Ephesus start in earnest. He’s been here before, but not for very long, and his third journey started at the end of chapter 18, but we haven’t been given many details until this stop. When Luke does slow down and zoom in, he picks up with the same point we’ve been seeing the past several Sundays: salvation changes you in a dynamic way. Last week, we saw how free grace comes into our lives and changes our desires. We don’t want the same selfish things we did before, but truly long to be used to help others experience the same grace-transformation. Today, we’ll see what this looks like from another angle. I want to try to cover the first twenty verses here this morning, so we’ll be covering them a chunk at a time. However, for right now, I just want to read the last verse that wraps it all up and then dive into our gist!
“20 So the word of the Lord continued to increase and prevail mightily.”
What we’ll see this morning are several groups of people. One group believes in Jesus, but has never seen the Holy Spirit work in their lives. Another group, doesn’t claim belief at all, but wants the benefits of belief. They want to have the power they’ve seen in Paul’s life. Then, sandwiched around these two, we’ll see genuine examples of the Holy Spirit moving in the lives of believers. When Jesus left, He promised that the Holy Spirit would come after Him, the third member of the Trinity, and work uniquely in the lives of believers. In fact, probably the key verse to understanding the book of Acts is Acts 1:8 where Jesus says, “8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” That was the expectation. The Holy Spirit was going to give power. Christians were going to be equipped to be witnesses. We shouldn’t look at this as something God did “back then”. It should still be our expectation. We should expect to see God moving in our lives as we’re wholeheartedly committed to Him. Here’s our gist for this morning: True salvation is powerful, results in the Holy Spirit using you, and can’t be faked.
Let’s dive into that! First, we’ll see that→
I. TRUE SALVATION IS POWERFUL (1-7)
Look at the first seven verses. Here we’re going to encounter some people who appear to have been converted after hearing the teaching of Apollos. If you remember from last week, he believed in Jesus, but probably did not know everything about Pentecost or Jesus’ resurrection. We’ll see the impact of that teaching here. “1 And it happened that while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul passed through the inland country and came to Ephesus. There he found some disciples. 2 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." 3 And he said, "Into what then were you baptized?" They said, "Into John's baptism." 4 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." 5 On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 6 And when Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they began speaking in tongues and prophesying. 7 There were about twelve men in all.”
After reading this passage, one of the most frequently debated questions revolves around the→
Status Of These Disciples? Were they saved before this or not? Were they rebaptized here by Paul? What role does speaking in tongues play? It is easy to get caught up in debating minors here, and there are Christians who fall all over the place on some of those details. That’s fine. I believe they were saved when Paul met them because they, like Apollos, believed in Jesus as their Savior. As far as the rebaptism goes, they could have been rebaptized because they had a fuller understanding of what Christ was doing in their lives (which would by no means be a model for us to follow or anything, just a personalized experience for these people), or it could be referring to the spiritual baptism that happened when the Holy Spirit came upon them. That’s definitely what seems to be happening when Paul lays his hands on them. And the speaking in tongues is a sign of confirmation that their salvation was the real deal as we’ve seen the same thing happen often when new groups or areas first believed in Jesus. Either way, there are two key points to note hear that I don’t want us to miss in these interpretative details.
First, we are saved when we come to Jesus seeking His rescue. We come to Jesus believing He is the one, true God we desperately need because we’re sinners who need His amazing grace. Physical baptism then follows as an external sign of that internal change. It doesn’t add anything to our salvation. And just because I don’t want to gloss over it, speaking in tongues is not an external requirement for salvation either. We see that it accompanied salvation sometimes in the New Testament, but was a special gift used for a deliberate purpose at deliberate times. Salvation, as we mentioned last week, is all God’s free gift of grace. He comes into your life and rescues you completely!
However, we weren’t meant to just be rescued and then go about our business. We’re meant to be about His! Salvation is transformative. We’re being saved from our corrupt natures and being given new life. We weren’t just drowning in the middle of an ocean that we needed pulled out of; we’re a source of the ocean we’re drowning in! Remember Ephesian 2:10 from last week? → “10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them” (emphases added). Salvation isn’t just the passive reception of a gift that does nothing. Salvation is a gift you do nothing to secure, but it is a gift that then changes everything about who you are. We’re meant to be used and live boldly through the power of the Holy Spirit. True salvation is a one-time transformation. Baptism of the Holy Spirit refers to the special equipping of God that should happen again, and again, and again in our lives as we strive to serve Him! It is God working through you as you minister to the lives around you.
So the question to ask here isn’t so much about whether or not these men were rebaptized after meeting Paul. Instead, we need to ask ourselves this. Are we saved but trying to just do things our own way and in our own strength and wondering why our lives aren’t fulfilled? Why do we lack power in our witnessing? Are we praying to be filled by the Holy Spirit, so we can boldly proclaim, or are we just doing our thing?
I’ll try to be briefer on this next point because I’ve already started to develop it here in the first ☺️. True salvation is powerful and→
II. RESULTS IN THE HOLY SPIRIT USING YOU (8-12)
These next couple verses give us our first glimpse today of what a Spirit-filled life will look like. Christianity without God’s power working through us is missing out, but when God is working in the life of a believer, you won’t miss it. Look at the next couple verses here. “8 And he entered the synagogue and for three months spoke boldly, reasoning and persuading them about the kingdom of God. 9 But when some became stubborn and continued in unbelief, speaking evil of the Way before the congregation, he withdrew from them and took the disciples with him, reasoning daily in the hall of Tyrannus. 10 This continued for two years, so that all the residents of Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks. 11 And God was doing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul, 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.” Ok, so there are some awesome things happening here, and I want to make at least two observations. What we see here, ultimately, is God’s sovereignty. Paul is used because he’s faithfully serving the God who is 100% in control. Notice first that→
God Opens Doors Even When Others Seem To Be Slammed. Paul has more reception in Ephesus when he first arrives than nearly any other place he has visited. He’s able to boldly proclaim the gospel in the synagogue for 3 months! And people were listening and coming to know Jesus in this context. That’s crazy! Still, opposition arose. In fact, we’ll see next week that it just kept on rising. He ends up being ran out of the synagogue. Yet, rather than throw in the towel, he just migrates locations! Somehow, he ends up being able to use the hall of this man name Tyrannus (not be confused with his cousin Rex. ☺️ Yeah, I know, that was awful… ☺️). Other sources point to Paul using this property in the middle of the day when it was too hot for people to work and most were taking naps or relaxing. There was a ready-made time built into this culture where people were more available and a ready-made place for them to come and meet. Hm, yeah I’d say that was God moving in Paul’s life to spread JESUS’ life-saving message. This continued for 2 years, and all of Asia, a place he was prohibited from visiting before, was impacted by this! When God is moving in your life, He’ll be doing things even when it looks like there couldn’t possibly be anything done! Secondly→
God Moves To Make His Name Known However He Needs. These last two verses might have struck you as odd. And they should. Handkerchiefs that touched Paul were being used to heal people. What’s happening here? If you remember from our study in Mark, miracles always point to deeper truths. Ephesus, as we’ll see next week, was a city steeped in paganism and superstitions. They had all kinds of false gods that they served and all kinds of misguided expectations for what these gods should have been able to do. Paul shows up proclaiming the one, true God and then performs these incredible miracles to alleviate any doubts in the minds of these people who needed to see the truth trumping their preconceived notions. We get so scared people won’t believe what we tell them out Jesus. Let Jesus work in their hearts. He made those hearts and knows what they need to see the truth.
Now, in closing, true salvation is powerful and results in the Holy Spirit using you→
III. AND IT CAN’T BE FAKED (13-20)
I’m not saying people don’t try. I’m not even saying everyone who fakes it is found out by other people. But what I am saying is that fake salvation won’t fool God. These last few verses are some of my favorites in Scripture. Not only do they make me chuckle because I’m still a twelve-year old boy at heart and these mentions of nudity are comically scandalous to me, but there is also a really powerful truth imbedded in what happens here that has stuck with me since I was a teenager. Let’s look at this last chunk. “13 Then some of the itinerant 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." 14 Seven sons of a Jewish high priest named Sceva were doing this. 15 But the evil spirit answered them, "Jesus I know, and Paul I recognize, but who are you?" 16 And the man in whom was the evil spirit leaped on them, mastered all of them and overpowered them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded. 17 And this became known to all the residents of Ephesus, both Jews and Greeks. And fear fell upon them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was extolled. 18 Also many of those who were now believers came, confessing and divulging their practices. 19 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 fifty thousand pieces of silver. 20 So the word of the Lord continued to increase and prevail mightily.” What we have here are→
Contrasting Realities. Remember, this city is very superstitious. Some see what God is doing in Paul’s life and just decide they’ll try and make this a formula for theirs. They don’t have a relationship with Jesus; they just want to use His name. It… doesn’t go so well. They end up being beaten and ran out naked and bleeding. True faith can’t be faked. It isn’t just something you try and muster or words you try to repeat. It doesn’t fit a cookie-cutter mold, or easily fall under 5 simple steps. Real faith is the result of really giving your life wholeheartedly to Jesus. We’re meant to live dynamic lives because we serve a dynamic Savior. I need to draw closer to Him, because without Him I’m stumbling through this life as lost as anyone else. My life has no power. My words have no impact. But He makes all the difference!
And that’s how this passage ends. There are those who try to fake it, but when the truth is revealed, this entire community is flipped upside down. They burned what equates to millions of dollars worth of occult books because they realized they were completely useless. It was just junk clogging up their lives, so they got rid of it. Has Jesus so moved in your life that you’ve gotten rid of the junk and clung to Him? See, that’s the end goal. The Holy Spirit’s work in your life will always be pulling you and others closer to Him!
Let’s hit two quick(ish) →
TAKEAWAYS
1. Salvation should extend beyond an “experience” and result in not only active life change, but also active life usage as the Holy Spirit equips you and uses you.
2. So, are you known, even by Satan, for your commitment to Jesus Christ? This is the question I remember being asked by a youth minister when I was a teenager. He was preaching on this passage and pointed out that the demon said he knew Jesus and was familiar with Paul, but had no idea who these men using those names were. Do you want to be a threat to the enemy? Then be known for being wholeheartedly dependent on Jesus!
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