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Well, please turn with me in 
your Bibles to Acts chapter 19. Acts 19, our focus will be on 
the first 10 verses, but I do want to read the chapter. This 
is Paul's ministry in Ephesus, so beginning in verse 1. 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 Holy Spirit 
when you believed? So they said to him, We have 
not so much as heard whether there is a Holy Spirit. And 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 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 
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, 
but 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, 
so that all who dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus, 
both Jews and Greeks. Now, God worked unusual miracles 
by the hands of Paul, so that even handkerchiefs or aprons 
were brought from his body to the sick, and the diseases left 
them, and the evil spirits went out of them. And some of the 
itinerant Jewish exorcists took it upon themselves to call the 
name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, 
We exorcise you by the Jesus whom Paul preaches. Also, there 
were seven sons of Siva, a Jewish chief priest who did so. And 
the evil spirit answered and said, Jesus I know, and Paul 
I know, but who are you? Then the man in whom the evil 
spirit was leaped on them, overpowered them, and prevailed against them, 
so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded. This 
became known to all Jews and Greeks dwelling in Ephesus, and 
fear fell on them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified. 
And many who had believed came confessing and telling their 
deeds. Also, many of those who had practiced magic brought their 
books together and burned them in the sight of all. And they 
counted up the value of them, and it totaled 50,000 pieces 
of silver. So the word of the Lord grew 
mightily and prevailed. When these things were accomplished, 
Paul purposed in the Spirit, when he had passed through Macedonia 
and Achaia, to go to Jerusalem, saying, After I have been there, 
I must also see Rome. So he sent into Macedonia two 
of those who ministered to him, Timothy and Erastus, but he himself 
stayed in Asia for a time. And about that time there arose 
a great commotion about the way, for a certain man named Demetrius, 
a silversmith who made silver shrines of Diana, brought no 
small profit to the craftsmen. He called them together with 
the workers of similar occupation and said, Men, you know that 
we have our prosperity by this trade. Moreover, you see and 
hear that not only at Ephesus, but throughout almost all Asia, 
this Paul has persuaded and turned away many people, saying that 
they are not gods which are made with hands. So not only is this 
trait of ours in danger of falling into disrepute, but also the 
temple of the great goddess Diana may be despised and her magnificence 
destroyed, whom all Asia and the world worship. Now when they 
heard this, they were full of wrath and cried out, saying, 
Great is Diana of the Ephesians. So the whole city was filled 
with confusion and rushed into the theater with one accord, 
having seized Gaius and Aristarchus, Macedonians, Paul's travel companions. And when Paul wanted to go into 
the people, the disciples would not allow him. And some of the 
officials of Asia, who were his friends, sent to him pleading 
that he would not venture into the theater. Some, therefore, 
cried one thing and some another, for the assembly was confused, 
and most of them did not know why they had come together. And 
they drew Alexander out of the multitude, the Jews putting him 
forward. And Alexander motioned with his 
hand and wanted to make his defense to the people. But when they 
found out that he was a Jew, all with one voice cried out 
for about two hours, Great is Diana of the Ephesians. And when 
the city clerk had quieted the crowd, he said, Men of Ephesus, 
what man is there who does not know that the city of the Ephesians 
is temple guardian of the great goddess Diana and of the image 
which fell down from Zeus? Therefore, since these things 
cannot be denied, you ought to be quiet and do nothing rashly. 
For you have brought these men here who are neither robbers 
of temples nor blasphemers of your goddess. Therefore, if Demetrius 
and his fellow craftsmen have a case against anyone, the courts 
are open and there are proconsuls. Let them bring charges against 
one another. But if you have any other inquiry to make, it 
shall be determined in the lawful assembly, for we are in danger 
of being called in question for today's uproar, there being no 
reason which we may give to account for this disorderly gathering." 
And when he had said these things, he dismissed the assembly. Amen. Well, let us pray. Our Father 
in Heaven, we thank You for the written Word of the living and 
true God. We thank You that it's given by inspiration of God and 
that it's profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, 
and for instruction in righteousness. And we pray that Your Holy Spirit, 
the Spirit who gave us the Word, would come now and illumine our 
minds and hearts, fill us with understanding, and grant us the 
grace to appreciate afresh the glorious Gospel of our blessed 
Savior, even Jesus Christ our Lord. We pray, Lord God, that 
as the people of God, we would grow in grace and in the knowledge 
of our blessed Redeemer. And for those who are unsaved, 
those who are still in their sins, we pray that today would 
be the day of salvation. Here and elsewhere, through the 
preaching of your Word, we pray that that Word would not return 
unto you void, but it would in fact accomplish the purpose for 
which you sent it, and that you would indeed save many people 
from every tribe, tongue, people, and nation throughout the world. 
Forgive us now for our sin and our transgression against a holy 
God. Thank you that we have forgiveness with you, that you may be feared. 
And we pray even now that you would cleanse us in that precious 
blood of the Lord Jesus. And we pray in His most blessed 
name. Amen. Well, we are officially starting 
the third missionary journey, and that took place in A.D. 53 
to A.D. 57. It's recorded beginning in 
chapter 18 at verse 23. We saw that last time in the 
Book of Acts, and it formally ends in chapter 21 at verse 16. Now, we can associate the first 
missionary journey with the churches in southern Galatia. The second 
missionary journey we can associate with the city of Corinth, because 
Paul spent a great deal of time there. And this third missionary 
journey, while he does visit those churches planted on the 
first and on the second, he spends most of his time in Ephesus. 
So when you think third missionary journey, think of the city of 
Ephesus. Now when we look at chapter 19, 
there's obviously a lot of things going on. In the first seven 
verses, we have the meeting with the disciples of John the Baptist, 
And then in the second place, we have the ministry at the school 
of Tyrannus. So I said, well, look at those 
verses this morning. But continuing, there's conflict 
with magicians in verses 11 to 20, and then the chapter ends 
on an extended section discussing the riot that was in Ephesus 
over the proclamation of the gospel by the apostle Paul. But let's look first at this 
meeting with the disciples of John the Baptist in verses 1 
to 7. Now, there is some question concerning 
what's happening in this passage, so I want to move a bit slowly 
through it to make sure that we're all singing off the same 
page. So under this heading, I want 
to consider three things. First, the interview with the 
disciples in verses 1 to 3. Secondly, the review of the ministry 
of John the Baptist in verses 4 and 5. And then thirdly, the 
reception of the Holy Spirit in verses 6 and 7. So beginning 
with this interview, notice in verses 1 to 3, it happened while 
Apollos was at Corinth. We met him last week. He was 
that man that was ministering mightily in Ephesus, and then 
he went over to Achaia, the chief city being Corinth, and there 
Apollos took up the ministry to water the seed that the apostle 
Paul had planted or sown. And so while Apollos was at Corinth, 
Paul, having passed through the upper regions, came to Ephesus. And again, the text in chapter 
18 says that. Notice in verse 23, after he 
had spent time there, the church in Antioch, he departed and went 
over the region of Galatia, and Phrygia in order, strengthening 
all the disciples. So those places he visited on 
the first and second missionary journeys. And that is about 1500 
miles that Paul traversed in revisiting those places in seeking 
to strengthen the people of God. So now Paul comes to the city 
of Ephesus. And he finds these disciples, 
and it's important for us to understand that typically when 
Luke refers to disciples, he means disciples of our Lord Jesus 
Christ. There's a lot of varying opinions 
about these men, about these 12 persons, who they were and 
what they did. I will argue this morning that 
they were Christians. They were followers of the Lord 
Jesus Christ. They were believers in Him. They 
had received the benefits of justification by faith alone. In other words, they were forgiven 
and they had received the righteousness from God, vis-à-vis the righteousness 
of Jesus, imputed to them and received by faith alone. So these 
are disciples. And He said to them in the first 
place, did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed? Now, 
when Paul asks that, the context needs to fill out or flesh out 
for us what he means. When they answer, we haven't 
even heard that there was a Holy Spirit, they don't mean completely. These were most likely Jews that 
were disciples of John the Baptist. The Old Testament is filled with 
references to the Holy Spirit. The issue is the extraordinary 
gifts associated with the Spirit, because when Paul lays hands 
on them, according to verse 6, they then speak in tongues and 
they then prophesy. So Paul's question concerns, 
did they know that outpoured Spirit in a supernatural sort 
of way, where they experienced the benefit, of being able to 
engage in those particular activities. So the identification disciples 
usually means Christian disciples. Again, some argue that they're 
not. Now, the ignorance concerning the Holy Spirit was not total. 
As I said, as disciples of John the Baptist, they were certainly 
Jews. As disciples of John the Baptist 
that were certainly Jews, they would have known the Old Testament. 
As well, the ministry of John the Baptist was conspicuous about 
the Holy Spirit. He talked about one that would 
come after him that would baptize them in the Holy Spirit. So they 
were not completely ignorant of the presence and the power 
and the person of the Spirit of the living God. They were 
ignorant of the day of Pentecost. They were ignorant of the fulfillment 
of Joel 2, 28 to 32. The latter days, the Lord God 
sends the Spirit, and the Spirit comes upon both men and women, 
and they prophesy, and they speak in tongues. That's what they 
were ignorant of. In fact, John Stott, who denies 
that these were Christian disciples, which I think he's wrong in, 
but I think he's right in the way that he responds to their 
response when Paul says, did you receive the Holy Spirit when 
you believed? So they said to him, we have not so much as heard 
whether there is a Holy Spirit. He says, this cannot mean that 
they had never heard of the Spirit at all, for He is referred to 
many times in the Old Testament. And John the Baptist spoke of 
the Messiah as baptizing people with the Spirit. It must rather 
mean that although they had heard John's prophecy, they had not 
heard whether it had been fulfilled. So John said that there is one 
who will baptize you with the Holy Spirit. But they were ignorant 
of the events that occurred on the day of Pentecost, according 
to Acts 2. And that's what he goes on to 
say. They were ignorant of Pentecost. John Gill argues the same way. 
And I think it's good. We saw it with Apollos. Apollos 
didn't know of Pentecost either. Again, they didn't have cell 
phones in their pocket that they could Google the latest goings 
on relative to the power of the Spirit coming upon the people 
of God. So these persons did not know the supernatural phenomena 
associated with the Day of Pentecost. When the Spirit came, the people 
of God spoke in strange tongues, other languages, and then as 
well they prophesied. So that brings Paul now to ask 
them a second question, which he does in verse 3. And he said 
to them, into what then were you baptized? Now this question 
indicates a link between the Spirit and baptism. And I think 
that link is faith. When we believe the Gospel, according 
to Paul in Ephesians 1, 13 and 14, we receive the Holy Spirit. 
He is the seal and the guarantee of our future inheritance. Everybody 
who believes on the Lord Jesus Christ receives that blessedness 
of justification, which our brother Steve pointed out, forgiveness 
of sins, the imputed righteousness of Jesus, but we receive as well 
the Holy Spirit. He is the seal, He is the guarantee, 
He is the one that is resident in the lives of His people. And 
so John, or Paul rather, then asks them, into what were you 
baptized? Into what then were you baptized? 
So they said, into John's baptism. Again, this indicates that they 
had known of the Holy Spirit because John was conspicuous 
in this. He spoke of the one that was 
coming that was superior, that was preeminent to John. John 
says, I'm not even worthy to loosen the sandals on his feet. He must increase, but I must 
decrease. When he comes, he won't just 
be baptizing with water, but rather he'll be baptizing with 
the Holy Spirit. So these disciples of John had 
been baptized into John's baptism, and therefore these disciples 
knew that there was, in fact, the person of the Holy Spirit. 
Now, that brings us secondly to the review of the ministry 
of John in verses 4 and 5. Now, I've got to try and explain 
something, and I'm not trying to address it like you're all 
rubes that aren't going to follow it, but with the New King James 
and with the ESV, if you look at the end of verse 4, you have 
closed quotation marks after Christ Jesus. My suggestion is 
that you erase those, I know that you can't, but then extend 
it to the end of verse 5. Structurally, the passage highlights 
what Paul said in verses 4 and 5, and then it highlights what 
Paul did in verse 6. Most interpreters take it as 
if these disciples of John the Baptist were re-baptized by Paul 
the Apostle, according to verse 5. That's not what's in view 
here. John's baptism was, in fact, 
Christian baptism. So the structure of the passage 
is what Paul said, and he's revealing the ministry of John the Baptist 
in verses four and five, and then it's on what Paul did, and 
that's when he lays hands on them so that they receive the 
power of the Holy Spirit and that supernatural phenomena connected 
with it vis-a-vis speaking in tongues and prophesying. When 
you look at the English translations, punctuation marks are not inspired. Punctuation marks are an interpretative 
call. punctuation marks, red letters, 
the capitalization of deity. Again, that's not given by inspiration 
of the Holy Spirit, that is given by the translators of the Great 
New Testament. And as I said, those are interpretative 
calls at times, and in this one it's somewhat significant because 
persons hang a doctrine of re-baptism on this particular passage. There 
is no evidence whatsoever that the twelve apostles were re-baptized. There's no evidence whatsoever 
that anybody that had been baptized by John the Baptist had been 
re-baptized, much to the chagrin of persons who take this text 
and tell us that that's what it says. Even the language that 
Luke employs. Notice in verse 4, "...then Paul 
said," and then notice in verse 6, "...and when Paul had laid 
hands on them." So structurally, it shows us that two things are 
in view. What he said concerning the Baptist 
ministry and what he did concerning these disciples of Jesus Christ. Now notice what he says concerning 
this baptism of John the Baptist. A lot of baptism going on here 
today. I want to just try and Take a 
moment to pause and let me get my bearings in terms of baptism. 
So what Paul is doing is reviewing what John the Baptist did. And 
in the first place, he says that John baptized with a baptism 
of repentance. Notice in verse 4a, then Paul 
said, John indeed baptized with a baptism of repentance. That 
we all agree with, that we all know. You see it in Luke's gospel, 
you see it in Mark's gospel, you see it in Matthew's gospel, 
you see it consistently. He came calling the nation to 
repentance. He came calling the nation to 
faith in Messiah. He came calling the nation to 
get right with the living and true God by the grace of God. Jesus as well preached a baptism 
of repentance. Remember, he starts his public 
ministry by saying, repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. 
So we see those similarities. He baptized with a baptism of 
repentance. Luke 3, verse 3, John went into 
all the region around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance 
for the remission of sins. And in Luke 3, 8, he says, therefore 
bear fruits worthy of repentance. Remember that repentance in the 
first place is a change of mind. The fruits of repentance are 
those consequences of a changed mind. In other words, we view 
God differently now. We esteem him as thrice holy. 
We see him as majestic and glorious. We see him as wondrous and altogether 
lovely and chief among 10,000. So when our minds are changed 
concerning him, then our lives are changed consistent with that. 
In other words, there will be fruits worthy of repentance. And then the practice of John 
the Baptist was to baptize those who manifested those fruits. 
It wasn't an empty ritual for John. He didn't simply sprinkle 
water or dunk people in the River Jordan just as a matter of course, 
but it must have been the case that the persons manifested both 
faith in the Savior and repentance unto life. Notice, secondly, 
John explained faith in Jesus Christ. Notice in verse 4, John 
indeed 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. How do we not see an identity 
between the baptism of John and what we call Christian baptism? 
They are baptized having learned of Jesus, having expressed faith 
in Jesus, having manifested or demonstrating fruits consistent 
of repentance toward God, and as a result of that, John the 
Baptist baptizes them. So John, consistent with Moses, 
John, consistent with Isaiah and all the prophets, John, consistent 
with the Lord Jesus Christ, and with the Apostle Paul after him, 
pointed sinners to Jesus. And that is the most important 
thing any of you will ever hear in your lives. You may not get 
all of the sort of details that I'm trying to propound in terms 
of the identity of John's baptism with Christian baptism, but listen 
to what Paul says John the Baptist said. You need to look unto Jesus. You need to believe the gospel. 
You need to consider the reality that God is holy. thrice holy. The Bible says, the Bible is 
clear, that his eye is too pure to look upon any evil. That is 
bad news for people who traffic in evil. Those kinds of people, 
those kinds of people that all of us are by virtue of our connection 
to Adam. We drink evil like it's water. 
We engage in evil like it's sport. These are Solomon's proverbs. 
We engage in those things that are contrary to God. We transgress 
His law. That means we sin by commission. We do the things He tells us 
not to, but we sin by lacking conformity under that law. That's 
a sin of omission. He tells us good things to do, 
we don't do it. He tells us bad things not to 
do, we do it. We all stand condemned under 
a thrice holy God. We all stand liable to His wrath, 
His fury, His punishment, and everything associated with being 
lawbreakers under a holy God. And so the answer is not get 
better, fix yourselves, try harder. If you understand anything about 
the Bible's teaching concerning sin, that is like giving advice 
to a dead man on how he needs to breathe, how he needs to eat 
better food, and how he needs to drink more water. He can't 
do it. He doesn't have the wherewithal. 
He is dead. He is physically destitute. There 
is nothing that he can do to help himself. And so when we 
come to preach the gospel, it isn't try harder, be better, 
do more, but rather it is to look and live. to believe on 
the Lord Jesus Christ, that great Savior who came into this world, 
sinners to save, that great Savior who always obeyed the law of 
his Father. I spoke of transgression and 
lack of conformity. He never transgressed the law 
and he never lacked conformity unto it. His whole life was a 
demonstration of righteousness. His whole life was a demonstration 
of how great God's law is and how great it is to obey it. If 
you ever wonder about righteousness, you have 33 years in the history 
of the world that you can study, that you can look at, and that 
you can marvel at. But he not only fulfilled that 
law for those 33 years, he's ultimately delivered up. For 
Pilate, because Pilate was a coward. The Jews, because they were envious 
and full of wickedness and rebellion. The Romans, because they were 
instruments. But he's ultimately delivered up by the Father. It 
pleased Yahweh to crush Him, according to the prophet Isaiah. 
In Romans chapter 8, the apostle says that the God who did not 
spare His Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall 
He not also with Him freely give us all things? So Christ not 
only obeyed the law perfectly, but He goes to the cross, and 
there He goes in our place. That's the beauty of atonement. 
That's the beauty of the gospel. That's the beauty of this Christian 
scheme. It's not that we have to get better. It's the reality 
that the best, the glorious one, the Lamb of God who takes away 
the sin of the world, went to that cross, and everyone who 
believes on Him will have everlasting life. That was the message of 
John the Baptist, and that is the message of New Covenant preachers 
today, and that is consistent with reference to the entirety 
of Holy Scripture. From Genesis to the book of Revelation, 
the Bible says we've sinned against the Holy God, and the only way 
of escape from His judgment, His wrath, and His fury is through 
Jesus Christ our Lord. And so if you have not believed, 
I would love for you to understand the structure of the passage. 
I'd love for you to understand the identity between John and 
Christian baptism. But the thing I would love the 
most is if sinners looked unto Jesus and lived. They saw themselves 
before a holy God the way they really are. And instead of lying 
to themselves, or instead of trying to get better, you know, 
promote a little self-help, they just saw at the end of themselves 
that the only hope is Jesus' blood and righteousness. So the 
apostle says that John explained faith in Jesus Christ. In John's 
gospel, not John the Baptist, he didn't write John's gospel, 
but John the Baptist said, behold the Lamb of God who takes away 
the sin of the world. This is he of whom I said, after 
me comes a man who is preferred before me, for he was before 
me. So his message is consistent 
with the entirety of Holy Scripture, and then notice that Paul says, 
concerning John, that he baptized those who heard and believed. 
So back to the beginning of verse 4, then Paul said, John indeed 
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. When they heard this, The people 
that John ministered to, the people that John preached to, 
the people that John said, I'm preaching a baptism of repentance, 
and I want you to look in faith unto the Lord Jesus Christ. When 
they, John's contemporaries, heard this, they were baptized 
in the name of the Lord Jesus. So verses 4 and 5 are what Paul 
said. It's a review of the ministry 
of John the Baptist. Verse 5 is not Paul's rebaptizing 
them because somehow they were not instructed properly or somehow 
they had not been taught the word. Clearly, but it's because 
they hadn't heard of Pentecost. They hadn't heard of the supernatural 
phenomena. They did not know that the prophecy 
of Joel 2.28-32 had been fulfilled, had been fleshed out, had been 
brought to fruition through the power of God Almighty. So they 
are baptized by John the Baptist. The emphasis in verse five, when 
his contemporaries heard him and believed on Jesus, they were 
baptized. Notice, in the name of the Lord 
Jesus. John Gill says, they were baptized 
in the name of the Lord Jesus. not the disciples that Paul found 
at Ephesus, but the hearers of John. For these are the words 
of the apostle Paul, giving an account of John's baptism and 
of the success of his ministry, showing that his baptism was 
administered in the name of the Lord Jesus, and not the words 
of Luke the evangelist, recording what followed upon his account 
of John's baptism. For then he would have made mention 
of the apostle's name, as he does in the next verse, and have 
said, when they heard this account, they were baptized by Paul in 
the name of the Lord Jesus. The historian reports two things. 
First, what Paul said, which lies in Acts 19, 4 and 5. and 
then what he did. And then Acts 19.6, where he 
repeats his name, Luke repeats Paul's name, as was necessary, 
as that he laid his hands upon them, which was all that was 
needful to their receiving the extraordinary gifts of the Holy 
Ghost, having been already baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 
This text does not substantiate re-baptism for the disciples 
of John the Baptist. It does not substantiate a Pentecostal 
or a Charismatic association with some later reception of 
the Spirit that is always marked by tongue-speaking and prophesying. Those things are foreign to the 
passage. bumps into these disciples in 
Ephesus, starts this conversation with them, finds out they're 
ignorant of the Day of Pentecost, and then according to verse 6, 
this is what we move to now, the reception of the Holy Spirit. 
Verses 6 and 7. And when Paul had laid hands 
on them, Peter does that in Samaria as well in Acts chapter eight. 
We need to make sure or disavow ourselves of the notion that 
there was magic power in the digits of the apostle Paul, or 
there was magic power in the digits of the apostle Peter. 
No, that's not it at all. They were representatives of 
Jesus Christ. They were ambassadors of their 
savior. They had been invested with authority and with power 
for the establishment of the local churches all throughout 
the known world at that time. It's not magic. It's not hocus-pocus. It was a symbol. It was a representation. It was an evident sign that when 
the hands were laid, the Spirit was conveyed. Again, it was done 
in Samaria in Acts chapter 8 at verse 17, and the apostle does 
that here. When Paul had laid, and we know 
this because Simon the sorcerer thought that there was a magic 
power. He thought that there was something that he could procure. 
He thought that there was something that was special with reference 
to Peter, and he wanted that ability for himself. And so Peter 
rebukes him. It's not magic power associated 
with certain individuals, but it's a representative of Jesus 
Christ invested with the authority of Christ himself, laying hands 
as a visible representation of the transaction that follows. 
In some sense, it was sacramental. But the Spirit comes, and notice 
what happens now to these disciples of Jesus who were trained or 
taught by John the Baptist. And when Paul had laid hands 
on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they spoke with 
tongues and prophesied. Now the men were about twelve 
in all. So you see, that's the end, that's 
the purpose, that's the reason for Paul's interaction with these 
particular men. And it is very similar to Acts 
2 and the day of Pentecost when the Spirit comes upon the church 
in Jerusalem. It's very similar to Acts chapter 
8 in Samaria when the Spirit comes in power upon those disciples 
there. It's very similar to Acts chapter 
10 with reference to the Gentile Cornelius. When they believe 
the gospel, guess what happens? The Spirit comes upon them and 
they speak in tongues and they prophesy. This is not normative 
for every Christian forever that they'll always be gifted with 
the ability to speak in tongues and prophesy. But at these critical 
junctures in the missionary enterprise, God the Lord is showing us that 
the promise of Joel 2.28-32 has been fulfilled. And each of those 
particular instances follow the outline of the book of Acts. 
In Acts chapter 1, Jesus says, you'll be my witnesses, where? 
Jerusalem, and then Judea, Samaria, and then to the uttermost parts 
of the earth. These disciples of John were sort of the last 
ones to hear that the power of the Spirit had come in a great 
way. So this does not validate, again, 
the Pentecostal or charismatic idea that that every believer 
must always speak in tongues. That is contrary to the book 
of Acts. In fact, Luke, not, I don't think 
it's Luke Thompson, it's Thompson, don't know his first name, I'm 
thinking Luke because Luke wrote Acts, but he says Luke's focused 
in these texts, specifically 2, 8, and then 10 and 11. So 
2, Jerusalem Pentecost, Acts 8, some have called that the 
Samaritan Pentecost, and then Acts chapter 10, some have called 
that the Gentile Pentecost. He says, Luke's focus in these 
texts is on the fulfillment of prophecy, salvation history, 
and the beginning of the last days, rather than paradigms or 
patterns for individual experiences. In each of these chapters, Luke 
emphasizes corporate experience. Again, it's not just what do 
individuals get when the Holy Spirit comes upon them. In terms 
of that larger issue, every believer, as I said, according to Ephesians 
1, 13 and 14 receives the Spirit as the seal and guarantee. Not 
everybody speaks in tongues, not everybody prophesies, not 
everybody has the same gifting by the Spirit, and neither had 
it been the case throughout the history of the Church. Again, 
in these crucial junctures in the missionary enterprise, this 
was confirmation that Christ was at the right hand of the 
Father and He was in charge of giving the Holy Spirit to the 
Church in a powerful and manifest way. So that's the issue. Some have seen significance in 
the fact that there were 12 disciples of John the Baptist and they 
connected to the 12 apostles. I don't. I don't see that. It's 
just, you know, an interesting thing that there were 12 of them. 
So that's the idea. So verses four and five, what 
Paul said, verse six, what Paul did. Paul didn't baptize them, 
Paul didn't re-baptize them, because what they had received 
at the hands of John the Baptist was in fact Christian baptism. 
It was a baptism unto repentance, it was a baptism concerned with 
looking unto Jesus Christ in faith, and it was a baptism for 
the remission of sins. All the things that Christian 
baptism answers to. So there's no difference, no 
distinction, and it's not the case that Paul engaged in anabaptism 
at this particular juncture. Now let's look, secondly, at 
the ministry in Ephesus. And here we'll just confine ourselves 
to verses 8 to 10. First, he ministers at the synagogue, 
and then he ministers at this lecture hall of Tyrannus. It's 
kind of an interesting situation. But notice his custom. Always, 
when he goes into these various cities, wherever there is a Jewish 
population, he goes to the synagogue. He knows there, there are going 
to be people familiar with the Old Testament, and he's going 
to preach Jesus as the Christ. As well, there are God-fearers. 
Those are Gentiles enamored with the God of Israel and interested 
and curious, so they would find themselves in synagogues on Sabbath 
as well. So verse eight tells us, he went 
into the synagogue and spoke boldly for three months, reasoning 
and persuading concerning the things of the kingdom of God. 
So again, he goes there and he speaks boldly. We saw that with 
Apollos as well. The man of God is not to apologize. The man of God is not to sort 
of meekly offer up what he has to say. The man of God is to 
cry aloud, spare not, and lift up his voice like a trumpet. 
Because sinners are perishing, hell is a reality, and if they 
don't repent and believe on Jesus, they're going to end up there. 
So we don't go trying to, you know, encourage sleepy sinners 
with sleepy preachers. Rather, we sound the alarm, and 
we call them to repentance and faith. So he spoke boldly there 
for three months, and then notice again something characteristic 
of his preaching, reasoning and persuading. That is absolutely 
crucial as well. This isn't just a rah-rah session. 
It must be exegetical. It must be expositional. It must 
be opening up and unfolding the truth of God's Holy Word. If 
faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God, then preachers 
shouldn't preach themselves. They shouldn't preach their experiences, 
they shouldn't try to engage in therapy at the corporate level, 
but rather they speak boldly and they reason and persuade 
concerning the things with reference to the Kingdom of God. Entrance 
into the Kingdom of God, no doubt Paul would have touched on. Entrance 
into the Kingdom of God is not through money, it's not through 
works, it's not through merit, but it's rather through faith 
in Jesus Christ our Lord. He would have talked about maintenance 
of communion with God while dwelling in that kingdom. And that is 
the spirit's presence in the lives of his people. It is the 
provision of God's word. And as well concerning the kingdom 
of God, he would have looked forward to the future, the manifestation 
of that coming kingdom of God in its glory and power. We looked 
a bit at the Lord's prayer recently. And there I made the distinction 
between the kingdom of grace and the kingdom of glory. In 
that petition, we are told, may your kingdom come and may your 
will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Well, there is a present 
manifestation of the kingdom and the visible representation 
of that is the church of our Lord Jesus Christ. And so with 
reference to the Kingdom of Grace, we pray, Lord God Most High, 
send the Spirit upon the preaching, send the Spirit upon the hearing, 
so that sinners can be born again by sovereign grace, to believe 
on Jesus and repent from their sins. So we pray for the coming 
of the Kingdom of Grace in terms of God's blessing and God's provision 
of the Spirit on a weekly basis. But in the hearts of all of us, 
as God's people, there ought to be, and I hope there is, a 
longing for that kingdom of glory. A longing for that kingdom of 
glory wherein righteousness dwells, wherein the people of God will 
stand redeemed by the blood of the Lamb. before the throne and 
confess that salvation belongs to our God and to the Lamb who 
sits upon the throne. That kingdom of glory where there 
isn't the sorts of things that mark the life of God's people 
in this earth. That kingdom of glory where there's 
no abortion. That kingdom of glory where there's 
no euthanasia. That kingdom of glory where there's 
not the sorts of things that we see vis-a-vis the transgression 
of God's holy law on this earth. Brethren, Paul would have spoken 
about those things because they are glorious. And as the people 
of God, we need to consider those sorts of things to encourage 
us along the way. This is not everything. We have 
been blessed tremendously. We have been transferred from 
the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of the son of God's 
love. That obtains, that's our reality. Paul says in Philippians 
chapter three, our citizenship is in heaven. sojourners, we 
are pilgrims, we are passers-by here on earth, and while we enjoy 
great benefits from the living and true God, it's not yet what 
we will receive in that place where there's no more sorrow, 
and there's no more pain, and there's no more hunger, and there's 
no more thirst, and there's no more death. There's no more effects 
of sin and the ravages of those things that have affected us 
in such horrific ways. We'll have perfect fellowship 
with the God of heaven and earth. We'll have perfect fellowship 
with one another. We'll have perfect fellowship 
in a place wherein righteousness dwells. Would Paul have spoken 
of these things? Most certainly. He spends three 
months in the synagogue. But as we've come to expect, 
we see rejection by the Jews. Notice in verse 9, but when some 
were hardened and did not believe, but spoke evil of the way before 
the multitude, they were hardened and unbelieving. In the letters 
to the Corinthians, in both the first and the second letters 
that Paul writes to the Corinthians, he speaks of great suffering. 
He speaks of great turmoil and he speaks of great hardship. 
And in two places, at least in 1 Corinthians, he associates 
it specifically with Ephesus. He says in chapter 15 that he 
fought with beasts in the city of Ephesus. Some have suspected 
that that meant that the gladiator games, or the games rather, where 
the Christians were fed to lions. He's talking about people. He's 
talking about hardships. He's talking about, you know, 
bumping into those who reject it, those who resist it, those 
who blaspheme not only Christ, but slandered and spoke ill of 
the Apostle Paul. So he understood what it was 
to go to a place and not see flocks of people coming and attending 
his preaching and bowing down to the Lord Jesus Christ and 
confessing their faith in him. He speaks concerning that hardship 
in the correspondence to the Corinthians. But we see, they 
were hardened and unbelieving, and then they spoke evil of the 
way. They did this to discredit the apostles. They did this to 
discredit the church. But most of all, they did this 
to discredit Jesus the Nazarene. They resisted and rejected the 
reality that He was in fact the Messiah, and as a result, they 
spoke ill of Him. They spoke evil concerning Him. 
They hardened their hearts, they engaged in unbelief concerning 
Messiah, and then they spoke ill of the very Messiah that 
Paul preached. They spoke ill of Paul as well, 
and anybody who would side with Paul and the other disciples. 
It really is a very consistent testimony that we see even up 
until our own day. You go out and you tell people, 
I believe in unicorns. They might look at you odd. They 
might look at you with a puzzled look, but they don't typically 
try to oppose you in any sort of violent way. You tell them, 
I believe in Jesus Christ as the Messiah. I believe in Jesus 
Christ, the only savior for sinners. What happens then? People lose 
their minds. They go nuts at the prospect 
that we follow this man, this God man, the Lord Jesus. I mean, 
look at the various sort of attempts to stop the spread of Christianity, 
not only in this book of Acts, but it continues unabated even 
to our own day. People reject him and resist 
him, and people show or demonstrate that it's not so much unbelief, 
but it is rather contempt. It is rather hatred. I'm not 
sure if you've ever talked to an atheist, and somewhere along 
the line, you realize or you conclude with reference to that 
atheist, it's not that they don't believe in God, it's that they 
hate God. And it's always intrigued me 
that, at least for the most part, could just be that we're in the 
Western world, who do the atheists target? They target the Christian 
God. Again, I think there's atheists 
out there that would target Allah and, you know, sort of the Muslim 
conception or Islam conception of God. But by and large, atheism 
has an axe to grind against the living and true God. So it's 
a very consistent response from the non-people of God relative 
to the proclamation of the gospel. We see it every step of the way 
in the first missionary journey. We see it in the second missionary 
journey. We're going to see it in the third missionary journey. 
You're going to see it from the end of the apostolic age, through 
the time of the fathers, through the medieval church, through 
the Reformation, and up until our own generation. There is 
this opposition, this hardening of heart, this unbelief and then 
this speaking evil of the way. Now notice what Paul does as 
a result of this. He departs from the synagogue. 
He doesn't stay there when they have embraced this threefold 
resistance to him and to his message. So at the end of verse 
9, it tells us, he departed from them and withdrew the disciples. Don't miss that. He withdrew 
the disciples, certainly the 12 of John the Baptist, but also 
any others that had believed in the three-month period that 
he had been preaching. So Paul says to them, we're not 
going to stay here. We're not going to stay with 
these people that are hardened against us, these people that 
are showing us their unbelief, and these people that are going 
to continually speak evil of the way. Listen to how John Calvin 
describes this departure with the disciples. He says, Paul 
did separate the disciples, lest the goats should with their stink 
infect the flock of sheep. Secondly, that the pure worshipers 
of God might make profession freely. So in other words, he 
got them out of there. He didn't just leave them, but 
rather he says, come on, let's go. And then curiously, he goes 
to the school of Tyrannus. Now, we don't know if Tyrannus 
was the philosopher or the lecturer who spoke there, or Tyrannus 
owned the building. But either way, the apostle probably 
shelled out dough from his own pocket in order to rent this 
particular hall. And it's intriguing because the 
Western text, that's a variant reading, tells us that the times 
that Paul rented the place was between the 5th and 10th hour, 
which would have been 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Now just by way of 
a personal autobiographical note. When I was in Southern California, 
we had a ministry at the prison. And we'd go to the California 
State Penitentiary there in Lancaster, California. Typically, it would 
be every other Tuesday night, and we'd preach the gospel and 
pray and hand out books and Bibles and that sort of thing. And for 
whatever reason, we fell into a brief rotation on Sunday afternoon. And so Sunday afternoon, I think 
just a couple of times, I would go there at like 1 o'clock, 1.30 
in the afternoon. Now, for those of you who are 
not aware, Southern California is hot. What we're seeing today, 
you see a lot there. In fact, I took the sun for granted. 
When I moved here, I learned to appreciate the sun. When it 
comes out like it does today, you just kind of stand there 
and soak it in, feel the vitamin D course through your veins. 
But I remember going to preach in this penitentiary at 1 p.m. on a Sunday afternoon, and it 
was hot. And as you might expect, they 
didn't have the air conditioning cranked. These were prisoners 
in a penitentiary system. Now, remember, they had just 
eaten as well. It was tough, brethren. Everybody 
in there wanted to sleep. I mean, that's just the reality 
of it. Paul would have faced that too. Historians say that 
more persons would have been asleep at 1 p.m. in this environment 
than they would have been at 1 a.m. Still common in Mexico 
to take a siesta in the afternoon. Why? Because it's hot. And if 
we can avoid some of that direct brutal heat, we can spare our 
bodies so that we can do work in the morning and do work in 
the afternoon. So, Paul rents this facility and he has the 
sort of 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. block of time. But 
notice how God blesses this. Notice that Paul didn't have 
to deal with a sleepy people. Paul didn't have to contend with 
people who had a full belly and who were glutted and who just 
wanted to snooze. No, the Apostle Paul preached 
in that environment in such a way that Luke expresses the impact 
of the ministry there. Notice at the end of verse 9, 
he departed from them and withdrew the disciples, reasoning daily 
in the school of Tyrannus. And this continued for two years, 
so that all who dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus, 
both Jews and Greeks. Now, it was likely that at this 
time, Epaphras was converted. Epaphras is mentioned in the 
book of Colossians and as well in the book of Philemon. So Epaphras 
likely got converted at this particular time, and then Epaphras 
goes back to what's called the Lycus Valley, and there he either 
A, plants or helps plant the church in Colossae. He plants 
as well a church in Laodicea, and he plants a church as well 
in a place called Herapolis. Most likely the other churches 
of Asia Minor that were listed in Revelation chapter 2 and 3 
were planted at this particular time as well. So he's not having 
to deal with a sleepy people. He's not having to deal with 
the people that don't want to be there, but rather he's preaching 
to people such that the Word of God is going out through the 
entirety of this Roman province. It is most glorious and excellent. 
Calvin again says, Luke does not mean that the men of Asia 
came tither to hear Paul. but that the savor of his preaching 
went throughout all Asia, and that the seed was sown far and 
wide, so that his labor was fruitful not only to one city, but also 
to places which were afar off." So even in that, in terms of 
God's providence, had the Jews not opposed him, had the Jews 
not expressed their hardened hearts, had the Jews not spoken 
evil of the way, Paul might have stayed in that synagogue in Ephesus. But you see in the goodness and 
wisdom and glory of God, he uses even the persecution of the church 
to get Paul out of the synagogue into the school of Tyrannus so 
that he can proclaim the word so that the entirety of this 
province can hear the gospel of Jesus Christ our Lord. Christ 
promised and Christ makes good on that promise to build his 
church and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. 
He said it in Matthew 16. We see it displayed here in Acts 
chapter 19. And if we have eyes to see, we're 
seeing it in this present evil age. The Lord Jesus Christ is 
not cast down. The Lord Jesus Christ is not 
knocked off his throne. The Lord Jesus Christ is not 
in a position of disadvantage. As much as it may seem otherwise, 
as our brother read from Romans chapter 4, we need the faith 
of Abraham, who in hope, or rather who contrary to hope, in hope 
believed the promises of God. He didn't waver at unbelief. 
Christ promised we walk by faith in that blessed promise. We see 
it exemplified and illustrated here in the ministry of the Apostle 
Paul. Well, in conclusion, with reference 
to the meeting with the disciples, as I've already mentioned, Charismatics, 
Pentecostals who see a second work of grace, who see that tongues 
and prophesying always connected to the reception of the Spirit, 
they're simply not right. They're simply incorrect. This 
is not the teaching of God's word as we consider it holistically. And then as well, the misunderstanding 
of Luke's statement concerning disciples in verse 2. Again, 
some would write these men off, say they were not disciples, 
they were not even Christian believers. But then the idea 
that rebaptism is taught here is foreign to the context. It 
cannot hang everything on quotation marks. The Spirit doesn't give 
inspiration to quotation marks. That is an interpretative call. 
And I think the 4, 5, and 6 structure bears out further investigation. So there's no doctrine of re-baptism 
that we see here in this passage. Listen to Matthew Poole. He says, 
the baptism of John in Christ, which he commanded, are one and 
the same. John's baptism did respect Christ 
and obliged the baptized to believe in him, as also to repent. And 
more, it was a seal unto them of the remission of sins, as 
is expressly observed, so that the baptism of John and the baptism 
of the apostles afterward had the same sign and the same thing 
signified in them both, as also they had both the same end, and 
therefore they were both the same. You know, we baptism taught 
here. The disciples of John the Baptist 
were Christians. They were believers in Jesus. 
They had taken seriously what John said. They had repented. 
They had looked in faith to Messiah. They received water baptism. 
They weren't ignorant of the Holy Spirit. They were ignorant 
of the day of Pentecost and the supernatural phenomena associated 
with the fulfillment of Joel 2, 28 to 32. Now, in terms of 
re-baptism, as Reformed Baptists, we are not re-baptists. We are 
not Anabaptists. Our brothers who wrote our Confession 
of Faith in the first edition wrote specifically to distance 
themselves from the Anabaptists. So it's just not a good charge 
when persons say, oh, you're Anabaptists. No, we reject that 
and all that is associated with it. We are those who are convinced 
of the covenantal structure of the Old and the New Testaments. 
We're convinced of God's grace and mercy, and we're convinced 
of salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ and water 
baptism as a result, as a consequence, of those who believe the gospel. 
So there's no re-baptism. The apostle in Ephesians chapter 
4 talks about one baptism, one faith, one Lord. We don't just 
willy-nilly keep baptizing people every time they have some, you 
know, pang of conscience and perhaps think they weren't as 
holy as they should have been back in the... That's not the 
way baptism is to be administered. And for those who have come from 
paedo-baptist context and ask the question, well, do you have 
to re-baptize us? You know my answer. Paedo-baptism 
is not baptism. If we ask the Bible, what is 
baptism? The answer is not paedo-baptism 
as it's commonly understood. So if that wasn't baptism, when 
you do go into that tank, that's not re-baptism, that's baptism. Whatever happens as an infant 
in terms of the sprinkling of water, that does not satisfy 
the biblical definition and requirement for baptism. So we are not rebaptists. We are not anabaptists. We are 
particular baptists, or what we call them today, reformed 
baptists. In the second place, we ought 
to marvel at the Apostle Paul. Not because he's God. Not because he's the fourth person 
of the Trinity, but because he sets forth a pattern for the 
church subsequent. In other words, this is the kind 
of Christianity that gets the word out to the entirety of Asia. This is the kind of Christianity 
that moves men. Not because Paul has it in himself, 
but because he preaches the mover of men. He preaches Christ and 
Him crucified. He does it painstakingly. He does it tirelessly. He does 
it marked by a boldness. He does it marked by an intellectual 
capability to demonstrate from the Scriptures that not only 
does the Old Testament teach that Messiah must suffer and 
be raised the third day, but this Jesus whom I preach to you 
is the Christ. He does this with persuasion, 
not by paying people off or not by some sort of you know, every 
head bowed, every eye closed, every hand up. He doesn't do 
it that way. He persuades them with the power 
and the truth of Holy Scripture. Again, I leave this with your 
conscience. Pray to the Lord of the harvest to raise up men 
to labor in the harvest field. Much passes today for what is 
supposed to be Christian preaching. that has no connection whatsoever 
to the ministry of the Apostle Paul. There isn't demonstration, 
there isn't persuasion, there isn't boldness, there isn't an 
importunateness, there isn't a zeal and a fervor that is governed 
by knowledge and intellect. There isn't that sort of thing, 
and that is precisely what God has called us to. 1 Timothy chapter 
3, and all that it entails, he must be apt to teach. If we ask 
the question, what does that look like? We should look at 
Paul, we should look at Apollos, and our prayers ought to reflect 
that kind of a situation. Lord, we want laborers. We want 
men that even out of their own pockets will rent a lecture hall 
that was probably used in the morning for some philosophical 
lectures, and then later Paul would take up and he would proclaim 
the truth. And he does this for two years. We read this stuff, 
we just, oh, two years. Two years is a long time to be 
in one spot and to be doing what it is he's doing, to be proclaiming 
day in and day out, to be testifying of Christ and Him crucified. 
This is the caliber of ministry that we ought to seek after. I know we're not going to get 
Paul's, we're probably not going to get Spurgeon's, we're probably 
not going to get Owen's, you know, dropped out of heaven, 
sort of reincarnate to do the job of the ministry. But we ought 
to pray, brethren, that God raises up men that engage in this kind 
of activity. And I want to conclude with this 
thought. Look at Paul's words again in verse 4. John indeed 
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. You can sort of boil down every 
man's ministry to that, isn't it? What's John known for? Telling 
people to look unto Jesus. What's Paul known for? Telling 
people to look unto Jesus. What's Apollos known for? Telling 
people to look unto Jesus. What was Isaiah's job? To tell 
people to look unto Jesus. What did Moses do? In all five 
books of the Pentateuch, he told people to look to Jesus. You 
see the consistent theme? There's a lot in the Bible, and 
there's a lot that we consider. There's a lot that we should 
study. Everything, all word, all of scripture is given by 
inspiration of God, and it is profitable. But brethren, the 
one thing that must be the chief aim in all gospel preaching is 
the gospel. It's Christ and Him crucified. 
Paul can say to the Corinthians, I determined to know nothing 
among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. We need Christ. We need gospel. We need grace. We need to be directed to the 
Lord of glory. We need faith in Him. We need 
to walk by faith as believers. Unbelievers, you need to look 
to Him. You need to listen to John the Baptist's message. You 
need to listen to the Apostle Paul's message. Believe on the 
Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. Well, let us pray. 
Our Father, we thank you for your word, and we thank you for 
your grace, and we thank you for the great things that we 
learn of in the book of Acts concerning the making of disciples 
and the planting of churches. I pray that you would raise up 
men of this caliber, you would raise up men that boldly speak 
the truth, they have a zeal, but it is according to knowledge, 
and that would indeed cry aloud and spare not, and lift up their 
voices like trumpets. We give thanks to you for the 
work of the Gospel going on throughout the earth today. We pray for 
other ministers, we pray for other churches, we pray for the 
people of God as a whole, that they would make much of Christ 
and Him crucified, and that many sinners would come to know Him 
as Lord and Savior. And we ask this through Jesus 
Christ our Lord. Amen.