The Word Made Plain

Scene in Acts 19:21-34.

Tony Clark: Satan doesn't like that people are turning to worship God. Diana or Artemis was a multi-breasted idol of fertility made out of a black stone which they said in verse 35 that we'll get to later, fell from heaven. It is believed to have been a meteorite. The festival of Diana, which they celebrated gladly, involved wild sexual orgies and parties.

The temple of Diana was magnificent. It was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. This temple was supported by 127 pillars that held up the temple. Each pillar was 60 feet tall. It was a magnificent place, and this was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. The man who instigated this particular riot is named for us in verse 24, and his name is Demetrius. He was a silversmith. His job was making silver idols of Diana for the people to worship her at home. In other words, they were household idols.

And according to the end of verse 24, he made a lot of money doing this. As is the case everywhere, you mess with a person's money and they get funny. Show me a person that is so money-conscious and money-driven, and I will show you a person that has strayed from the faith, like First Timothy 6:10 says, "For the love of money is the root of all kind of evil, for which some have strayed concerning the faith and in their greediness pierced themselves through with many sorrows."

However, here's a solution out of this dilemma when you're money-conscious, when you're stingy, selfish, and you try to keep all the money for you. There's a solution out of that. You give yourself out of your stinginess. Start giving. Giving to God through the church, giving to those in need. You give out of a stinginess. We are most like God when we give and when we forgive. But we're most like God when we give. "For God so loved the world that he gave." Jesus said in Acts 20 and verse 35, "It is more blessed to give than receive." If you obey these words, you will find that joy will fill your heart and the sorrow that the love of money brought you will disappear.

So here is Demetrius, feeling that his business is being threatened by the spreading of the gospel. He stirs up in verse 25 some of his business partners against Paul, saying, "You know that we have our prosperity by this trade." He appealed to their pockets as well. Demetrius continues in verse 26 by telling his fellow silversmiths that Paul was preaching the gospel and it had not only spread throughout Ephesus, but notice, but throughout all of Asia or Asia Minor. Look at the influence of one man, Paul.

God used him to affect not only a city, but a nation. D.L. Moody, that great evangelist, said the world has yet to see what God would do with a man fully consecrated to Him. God used Moody to preach to over 100 million people in his lifetime. God used Charles Finney in such a powerful way in the 1800s that entire cities were turning to Christ. In many of these cities, the policemen became the deacons in the church because there was no more crime for them to fight. During Finney's time, during the revivals that God used him, he said that there were some cities you could not walk down a street that you could not hear the hymns of God being sung from the homes throughout the streets.

God used Jeremiah Lanphier to start a prayer meeting at noon in 1857 that spread, and so many people came to Christ across the country that it changed the outcome of the Civil War. No longer looking at a person for the color of their skin, they began to look at them through the eyes of God, and it changed and affected the entire Civil War. Who will it be in our deepest hour? Will it be you? God isn't looking for many people per se. He's just looking for one.

God told Ezekiel in Ezekiel chapter 22 verse 30, "So I sought for a man among them who would make a wall and stand in the gap before me on behalf of the land, that I should not destroy it, but I found no one." What a sad indictment on the nation of Israel. Is God saying this about America? Is God looking for a man or woman who will build a wall, stand in the gap in prayer, but he doesn't see anyone? Look at the impact of one man, Paul, had on the entire world at his time. Is there no one in America willing to stand in the gap and pray for this country?

I was reading in Proverbs yesterday, Proverbs 14 verse 34 says, "Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people." We've been a reproach for long enough. I want to be the next Paul, the next Moody, Finney, Jeremiah Lanphier. I want for God to look down and see that I am willing to stand in the gap in prayer for America. Are you willing?

Just realize when you raise your hand and answer the call, just know that Satan will stir up a Demetrius to come against you. Please realize that. Satan's not going to take it lying down that you raised your hand and you want the baton to be passed to you. He's not going to take that lying down, so expect for him to stir up a Demetrius, just like God stirred your heart. Satan is a master imitator; he's going to stir up a Demetrius to come against you. Now Demetrius continues to tell his fellow silversmiths that Paul is teaching that there are not gods made with hands. And now we will look at the characteristics of this riot that is about to break off. Look at verses 28 to 34.

"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. Then 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! Great is Diana of the Ephesians!'"

Demetrius began his speech by playing on the fear of financial ruin in verse 27. Then he moved from financial consideration to appeal to their religious devotion at the end of verse 27. And finally, he appealed to their national pride. Let me pause right here and just ask you this simple question: Are you Demetrius? Are you stirring up a crowd at the job because you're jealous of someone who got a position you thought you should have? Are you stirring up your family against another family member because you're jealous of their promotion and they're able to buy something and you're not able to do those things, so now you're stirring up on the phone talking about this certain family member?

If that's you, you need to repent. It's not going to go well with you. If that's you, you know what, you're Demetrius. I believe that we have some Demetriuses in here today, stirring up a crowd, stirring up folks on social media against someone. Just know it's not going to go well with you, whoever it is you're trying to stir up and get the family against or get the coworkers to be against. It's not going to go well.

The gospel makes people angry sometimes. Do you know why? Because it confronts people and their lifestyles that they are living, like we see in verse 28. This is the first characteristic of a riot: anger. The silversmiths were full of wrath. Wrath is the explosion of anger. Anger is internal; wrath is when it's external. A person can be angry on the inside, but when that anger comes out, now it's wrath. They were filled with wrath. So don't be surprised when people get angry with you when you try to share the gospel with them, saying in anger, "You're judging me. You're judging me." The gospel brings people face to face with their sin, bringing them to a place as to whether they're going to harden their hearts and continue in their sin or whether they're going to soften their hearts and repent and turn from their sin.

Then the whole city rushed into the theater in verse 29, confused and angry. This is the second characteristic of a riot: confusion. The Bible says God is not the author of confusion but of peace. So wherever there is confusion, just know that Satan is lurking somewhere where there is confusion. And so they rushed into that theater. Now, this particular theater, the ruins of it is still preserved today. It was the normal place for town meetings to be held. It held approximately 25,000 people. For many of you who have been in the military, you've been over to Asia Minor, you've seen this particular theater.

The Apostle Paul, I love him because he was fearless. He wasn't afraid of the crowd. And according to verse 30, he wanted to go in there to speak to the people, but his friends wouldn't allow him to. He also wanted to go in there and rescue his friends Gaius, who was from the city of Derbe in the area of Galatia, and Aristarchus, who was from the city of Thessalonica in verse 29. And he wanted to defend his case against Demetrius and his charges. This is how Paul looked at it. He said, "Look here, all this the whole city is in this theater, 25,000 people? I want to go in there and preach the gospel. Let me at them." And his friends are like, "No, don't go in there." He's like, "Let me at them, I want to go in." "No, Paul, quit fooling around. Get on back here." Paul was fearless.

They didn't want Paul to risk his life needlessly. And Paul would later say in Acts 20 and verse 24, "But none of these things move me; nor do I count my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my race with joy and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God." Paul said, "I got an audience of 25,000 people, and you ain't let me go in there? I'm ready to go in there." "Well, Paul, they might rip you apart." He said, "None of these things move me." He said, "I'm not moved by that. I'm ready to go in there and get at it. And on top of that, Demetrius is trumping up some charges that's not true, and I'm going to defend myself against him too." They said, "Paul, you ain't going in. We're not letting you go in."

Now in order for us to be used like Paul was, we must have the same mentality. We must become fearless for Jesus Christ. The Bible says the righteous are as bold as a lion. And we have the power of the Holy Spirit. We have the power. We have the power that raised Jesus Christ from the dead dwelling in us. That's powerful. We have the God who created the universe living in us. Paul said, "I'm not moved by what man can do to me." He said, "If I live, I'm going to live for Christ. If I die, it's going to be gain. I'm going to go live, I'm going to go be with him forever and ever." What can you do with a man like that? He said to the church in Philippi, "For me to live is Christ, to die is gain." If I'm going to live, I'm going to live for Christ. If I'm going to die, it's going to be gain. I go be with him. So what can you do to a man like that? "I'm going to threaten to take your life, Paul." He said, "Well, I'm going to go be with the Lord." "Well, I'm going to let you live." "That's good because I get to live for Christ." What can you do with a dude like that? That dude was fearless. I love him.

So the mob comes together in this theater and some were saying one thing and others something else according to verse 32. Many of them were confused and others didn't know why they were even there. This is the mob mentality: following the crowd. I remember when my kids were in school, my son, I know he remembers this. So there was talk of a fight. And we at the time we lived walking distance from Woodside High School. And all of a sudden, I hear tires screeching and I hear these cars and I hear all this chatter, this giddy kid chatter. And so I look out the window. It's about 100 kids on my street.

Of course me, I'm the daddy of the neighborhood. I go on out there. I said, "What's going on out here?" "It's going to be a fight." And I knew the one that they were going to be involved in the fight. He lived about four houses down. I said, "You go on home. You're going to hurt somebody out here." Right now, he's a professional boxer. I said, "Get on home. You're going to hurt somebody out here. Get on home." And told them other kids, "Why you here?" "I don't know why we're here. We just came, my friend said we were coming." They didn't even know why they were here. I said, "Get to the house. Ain't nobody being no fight today. Get on, get on. And you get on, I know your mama. Get on home." Scattered that crowd. Many of you are too afraid to get involved. You'd have been peeking through the blinds.

I went out there and said, "No, y'all get on to the house. Go on home." Sent those kids to the house because, see, it's the mob mentality, the crowd following the crowd. They want to see a fight. "Ooh, it's going to be a fight." 100 kids on, can you imagine the street you live on, 100 kids and several cars and pulling up and four or five deep jumping out and you know, "Get to the house." Send those kids to the house because it's the mob mentality.

They threw a man in this case named Alexander out of the multitude in verse 33, and he tried to quiet the crowd. But when they found out that he was Jewish, the mob went crazy and started shouting for two hours, "Great is Diana of the Ephesians! Great is Diana of the Ephesians!" for two hours. The amazing thing is Alexander is believed that he was trying to quiet the crowd because it's believed that he was representing the unbelieving Jews who pushed him forward to try to quiet the crowd and say, "Look, the Jews have nothing to do with this new religion. We're good with, we ain't, hey, we good. We have nothing to do with them." But then when they found out that he was Jewish, because they thought that Christianity was just another sect or denomination of the Jewish religion, they just went crazy and just started shouting, "Great is Diana of the Ephesians!" just for two hours, just went nuts for two hours. So what happened next? Well, you've got to wait until next time because we're going to see how this crowd got calmed down and what was said to send them like I did, send those kids to the house. We're going to see that God's will next time.

Let me conclude with this: Today we saw how Paul answered the call of God upon his life, and he was used in a powerful way in the city of Ephesus. We saw how the gospel message will cause riots and people being full of anger at how the message confronts their sinful lifestyle. This is the power of the gospel. This is why I've had people say all kind of things when I try to share the gospel. "Get that mess out of my face." I've had all kind of stuff said. And me being who I am, especially in my younger years, I would say, "But I bet if I was telling you how you could win $100 million, you'd be all ears." See, it's keep in mind, it's not you they're rejecting. It's the message, the message of the gospel because to understand the truth of the gospel is to understand why Jesus came. Why Jesus came? He came to save sinners.

That means you must acknowledge that you are a sinner that he came to save. If you can save yourself, there was no need for Jesus to come. If there's some kind of way you can hope God has a giant scale in heaven and he weighs your good and your bad, or hope that God is a giant teacher in heaven that he grades on the curve and because you can always find somebody worse than you. No. He came to save sinners. And Paul said, "I'm chief of them. And I've obtained this grace to do what I'm doing for the Lord." So don't be shocked nor surprised when this happens to you when you share the gospel with people.

Finally, we saw how God is looking for men and women who will answer the call in this generation. Who will stand in the gap for America? Will you answer the call? Will you be written about in American history like D.L. Moody, like Jonathan Edwards, the founder of Princeton? Princeton's come a long way. Jonathan Edwards was considered the most brilliant man to ever step on American soil. And God used him in the First Great Awakening. Will they write about you? Will they write about me in church history? Only time will tell, but all of us can pray.

We can pray for America at noon like Jeremiah Lanphier did. Let's start crying out to God at noon for our nation, praying that God will be merciful, that he will bring another revival like he did because righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people, and we have been a reproach for long enough. It's time to pray that America, that righteousness can exalt this nation like never before. That's my prayer. That's my heart.

But the amazing thing about it is Paul put his life on the line for the gospel message. Must be some powerful truth in the gospel message in order for a person to put their life on the line. All the disciples except for one, all of them died cruel deaths for the gospel. All of them. Peter crucified upside down. They were going to crucify Peter, and Peter said, "Oh, I'm not worthy to die as my Lord did." And he requested that they crucify him upside down. Many of them were sawed in two, all for the gospel message.

Jesus came to save sinners. Unless you realize that you're a sinner, you won't see your need for a savior. If you've told one lie, if you've stolen one thing, if you've looked with lust, if you've not honored your parents, if you've not placed God first, if you have not taken one day in seven to worship him in spirit and in truth, if you use his name in vain, which means to take the name that is above every name to bring it down to a level to describe your disgust or your frustration or your anger. That's blasphemy. "Jesus Christ," "Oh my God," that's blasphemy. You're blaspheming the holy name.

If you've done one of those things, I just quoted off about five. If you coveted—covet means to be materialistic or to be greedy for gain. If you look, "Oh, I want one of those," that's coveting. The Bible says don't covet anything that belongs to your neighbor. The Apostle Paul said it was coveting that got him. He said, "I would not have known sin unless the law said that I've sinned." He mentioned covetousness as being the thing that nailed him. If you never repented of your sin and accepted Christ, we're going to give you an opportunity today to get right with God. Because if you don't know that if you died right now that you would go to heaven, if you don't know, you can be for sure. You can be certain today as we close in prayer. Let's pray. Father, I pray that your spirit will come down upon your people here. Lord, touch them. Lord, minister to them.

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