The People of Ephesus R1545

God has an encouraging word for you and me today through the Bible-based preaching of Dr. Don Wilton about the people of Ephesus.

In just a few moments, we'll be opening the Word of God, the Bible itself, to Acts chapter 18 with Dr. Don Wilton, well-known author and evangelist. And in this message about the people of Ephesus, we're going to discover how not only were they people like us, but we can learn, like they did, how to follow Christ better, how to become the men and women of God that we're called to be. As we do so, know that we're available for you. We'd love to pray with you and for you. We're here at the other end of 866-899-WORD.

That's 866-899-9673 or online at theencouragingword.org. So let's open our hearts and God's Word together as we study about the people of Ephesus with Dr. Don Wilton. I want you to turn in your Bibles this morning to the book of Acts, and we're going to be in Acts chapter 18. Now watch what I'm about to say to you as we journey with Paul. We're about to begin his third missionary journey. And that's what I'm focusing on is this incredible man that God used as he went from town to town, from city to city, because God told him to do that.

And what a difference he made. And it's amazing as we study this, each city presents a unique circumstance, just a unique circumstance. And today I've entitled my message, I mean, is this not brilliant? This is the most brilliant title you've ever heard, The People of Ephesus.

I mean, I came up with that all by myself. The People of Ephesus. Listen, don't you just love your own city, your own town? You know, everywhere I go, I meet people, I say, where? And they'll say, where are you from? Well, you know, I grew up in such and such a town, in such and such a state, and that's where I'm from. Or people will describe where they're from. The place you're from actually is very important. And you know, towns and cities, like churches, are all unique.

You know, one town, one city is not necessarily the same as the next one. I try to teach young preachers and pastors, just understand one thing, no congregation is the same. Every congregation has a character. And you know, as a pastor, as a pastor, it's very important for me and for us as leaders to understand the vibe of our congregation. Go and talk to our educators.

Every class is different. And it's made up of people. It's not like, well, we're just going to do this in the same way.

You tap into, if I may use the word, the personality of the people who reside there. And you don't change the message. This gospel cannot change.

But you make the application of that gospel in accordance with the personality, the character. All of us who are parents, you deal with your children coming from the same mom and dad, but you deal with each one of them in accord with the people that they are. I wish I could tell you that we treated, we loved them the same equally, but we approached them, we treated them, even disciplined them differently. My two sons who are now grown with their own families, they're only 18 months apart. And they're like this, Rob and Greg. They're the best friends in the world. They were almost like twins in some way, but they're 18 months apart. But I'm telling you, both of them are incredible preachers, ministers of the gospel today, but they are different personalities.

You with me on that? When my two sons were growing up, I could just say something to Rob, my oldest son. Son, you don't do that. That's jolly naughty of you. And it would be like I'd punished him in the worst possible way. I mean, it was like everything. Now, Greg, I'd say to him, son, you just are naughty. I'm just going to tell you, you do that again. And he'd stand there and look at me and say, what's that in your nose, daddy? It's like he never heard a thing.

I had to literally send Greg to Cyprus and ban him to an island in the Mediterranean for six weeks just to get his attention. I'm not going to go to my daughter now because she had me wrapped around her finger. Daddies and daughters are entirely different.

She was allowed to do anything she wanted and her brothers still remind me. So here's Ephesus. I want you to just take a look here. So in the last stage of his second journey, which we didn't deal a lot with, he actually stopped in Ephesus. Okay, this is the last stage here. Now he's coming back to Ephesus. He's coming back there.

He's now about to spend some serious time and I'm going to be unpacking this over the next two weeks. And this place here called Ephesus right there is a very interesting place. Probably, let me tell you a couple of things about it. First of all, very prominent in the Bible, isn't it? You know, Paul wrote his letter to these people. It's called Ephesians, the letter to Ephesians, the Ephesian people. What else would you think about with Ephesus? Do you know in the book of Revelation, chapter two, verse one, it's the first of the seven churches. In the seven churches of Asia Minor, the church at Ephesus became the leading church, Christian church.

It was very strategic. You can see it. Here's the Aegean Sea. It's a beautiful sea with all these islands here. And Ephesus was right on the edge of the Aegean Sea. It was situated between Smyrna on the north coast, north of it, and Miletus on the southern coast, which are very strategic. And during the time of the Romans, Ephesus essentially was a Greek colony.

Very important to hear that. It was a Greek colony. So it brought into the streets of Ephesus an incredibly strong Roman influence. In fact, Augustus Caesar, who was a very prominent Caesar, one that we know of most of all, Augustus Caesar introduced a whole series of reforms that impacted and were carried out in Ephesus through the Romans that were occupying and turned Ephesus into a very prosperous city. They even had a port there. Now when you go to Ephesus today, the port now sits like six miles inland because things have dried up and the topography has changed somewhat and the movements and some of the earthquakes have altered the location of the port.

So it sits like six miles inland, but it's very strategic. One of the most famous people we ever know. Have you ever wondered what happened after Jesus on the cross looked at John and said to him, John, behold your mother Mary. Remember when Jesus said that to John? John, behold. John, I'm about to die. You are my brother and there's your mother.

Take care of your mother. So what did John do with his mother? He took her to Ephesus and her grave, Mary, the mother of Jesus, died in Ephesus. John himself, we know, had the experience on the island of Patmos. This is where he received the Revelation, the book of Revelation on the island of Patmos.

I want you to see how close Patmos is to Ephesus. This was in John's backyard and John ended up writing a lot of the book of Revelation in Ephesus. The manuscripts, if you would just give me five hours every Sunday, I could explain some of this to you because you've got to go back into the early manuscripts, many of which I've had the privilege of studying because I did Greek New Testament at an advanced level and many of you have not had that opportunity.

So in textual criticism of the Greek New Testament, which is also one of my majors, textual criticism of the Greek New Testament, you go back into the original documents, this is how you connect all these little pieces together, so to speak. And so right here, you not only have Paul, we're going to talk about Paul a lot, you've got the influence of John, the influence of the doctrine of last things, you've got the death of Mary, the mother of Jesus, you've got this incredible port city and this place became quite a cosmopolitan meeting place of culture. So it became highly cultural, you were somebody if you came from Ephesus back in the day, right? And it was a good place to live, a good place to be and it was a valued place, it was a highly thought out place, so when you go to Ephesus today, you'll even see the big library of Celsus there, in fact it's very, the ruins are very prominent and then you walk down from the library of Celsus and you run into one of the most magnificent amphitheaters ever and this amphitheater seats about 2,500 people and it's very intact today and next week I'm going to talk about that because when Paul began to clash with everything that was going on in the city, they dragged him right there to the amphitheater. Why to the amphitheater?

Because that's where all the people could get together and really give it out, put it on Paul because he was telling them about Jesus. And then of course, and I'll explain this a little bit more later on, probably one of the most prominent things here is the Temple of Artemis, A-R-T-E-M-I-S, the Temple of Artemis. Very prominent, in fact the ruins still stand there today and if you want to know who the goddess of Artemis was, the Romans called her the goddess Diana. Let me tell you this goddess, she was the goddess of fertility, childbirth and there were several other things, wildlife, hunting of all things which was very prominent back in those days. This goddess, she was the goddess of chastity, so you got fertility, chastity, childbirth.

I want you to just think of all of these things. So a cult grew up around the goddess called Diana or Artemis, they erected a temple and the cult began to dictate the religious fervor of the city. People followed the cult goddess and I know historians will shoot me for saying this, I think this was part of the original hippie movement, hey man! Because everything goes, I mean this was the one who, you belong to this, you know, and you all sat around smoked a joint and felt better. See I'm bringing back my background here from the 60s and because this culture infiltrated folks, it was like it turned a highly cultural people into a cultish people. Well it's going to be through this, let's just speak, let's just love everybody and into this comes Paul.

I want you to just think about that, so think about your own city right now. I want to read to you just a few excerpts, can I do that? I'm going to read to you just a few excerpts because it's quite a long story. Acts chapter 18, let's start with verse 24. Now a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus. He was an eloquent man, competent in the Scriptures. He'd been instructed in the way of the Lord, being fervent in spirit, and he spoke and taught accurately the things concerning of Jesus.

Now watch this little note here. Even though he only knew of the baptism of John, very important. All right, let's go to chapter 19. This is in Ephesus. And it happened that while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul passed through the 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 to them, into what then were you baptized? And they said, into John's baptism. Before I read the next page, I'm just going to ask a question. Is there anyone here who would suggest that John could save anybody?

Forgive the interruption. We'll be back with more of Dr. Don's message on the people of Ephesus. If you'd like to discover more about Dr. Don Wilton and all of us at The Encouraging Word, meet us online at theencouragingword.org. It's a great resource for other messages like this, key elements in your daily Bible study that will help you grow, and so much more. Again, that's online at theencouragingword.org. Or if you need to just talk with someone or pray with someone, not just now, but 24 hours a day, you can call our care line at 866-899-WORD.

That's 866-899-9673. Even though the world is becoming an increasingly challenging place to live in as a Christian, Jesus' ultimate sacrifice on the cross remains a message of hope for everyone. Discover a deep understanding and appreciation for our Savior's death on the cross in Dr. Wilton's powerful sermon, The Cross, along with the bonus book, The Cross of Jesus, by Warren W. Wiersbe, which explores the entire crucifixion in detail. These powerful resources are yours to have with your gift of support to The Encouraging Word.

Thank you for listening today. Now back to today's message, The People of Ephesus with Dr. Don Wilton. Let's go down to verse 8.

This is all happening in Ephesus. And he entered the synagogue, and for three months he spoke boldly, reasoning and persuading them about the kingdom of God. But when some became stubborn and continued in their unbelief, speaking evil of the way of the Lord before the congregation, he withdrew from them and took the disciples with him, reasoning daily in the hall of Tyrannus, who by the way was a great teacher. The word Tyrannus is the derivative of the word tyrant. And some historians, why am I telling you this? I don't know.

I'm just telling you little tidbits of information here. But some historians, the word derivative is tyrant. Tyrant, they believe that he was so astute, he was so learned, he was so highly held, that students referred to him as the educated tyrant. Man, you get in front of Tyrannus. Boy, he's a tyrant. He'll put so much education on you, you won't even begin to think anymore.

You'll get an overload. All right, let's go down to verse 11. And God was doing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul, so that even handkerchiefs or aprons that he touched, that touched his skin were carried away to the sick and their diseases left him and the evil spirits came out of them.

Now go down to verse 20. So the word of the Lord continued to increase and prevail mightily. So the people of Ephesus, as we try to get an understanding as a people as to what exactly is it that God is trying to teach us, what about these people? What about Ephesus?

I'm going to make the statement again. In order to effectively reach anybody for Christ, make it your business to know who they are. You want to reach a city for Christ, become well versed in the cultural, social, political, societal make up of the people into which you are bringing the gospel. Dr. Billy Graham told me frequently over 25 years, he would tell me so often about crusades in parts all over the world. Do you know that with the Billy Graham crusades and now with Franklin and Will preaching all over the country and what God is doing, Mr. Graham would look at me and he'd say to me, Don, you know we would go into a city sometimes two years before the crusade began. They would have advanced teams going in and those advanced teams would go and live among the people and they would prepare.

Why? The number one reason was to understand the city into which he was bringing the gospel. Mr. Graham would spend literally days, days if not months, getting reports and studying and preparing his heart. Whether he was in England or whether he was in India, whether he was in Africa or Asia or the United States, he would spend countless amounts of time understanding the people and the culture and the make up and the politics into which he was bringing this message which is unalterable, unchanging. So what can you say about the people of Ephesus?

I'm going to just touch on this. Number of things among these people. Well, first of all, some of them were taught passionately when Paul arrived there. There was passionate teaching going on. Apollos was there and he was just one of many and he was teaching the word of God passionately. So there was the presence of the gospel even though the Bible tells us that he was doing it not with the full complete understanding of the gospel because it hadn't reached him yet. It was still, Jesus was still fresh.

We're looking here at the word back then. They didn't have the means. They didn't have the printed scriptures, right? So some taught passionately, but some also believed sincerely, but they didn't know. The Bible tells us in chapter 19, one of the first things Paul did in the context of these people was say to them, have you received the Holy Spirit? They kind of, he asked them the most important question you could ever ask because he understood what was going on, but they were very sincere in what they believed through John the Baptist. You can go to any city in the United States of America and you're going to find some, a lot of very religiously sincere people.

You can believe deeply in your heart that your church into which you are born is the means by which you have salvation, but the Bible doesn't say that the church can give you salvation. But you can be some of the most wonderful, sincere people I've ever met in my life who really believe that their church, you belong to the church and you're going to heaven, and they're very sincere about it. I've got friends who are very sincere about doing works.

Your works can. I mean, some of the most unbelievably sincere people in the world believe, genuinely, they genuinely believe because they go on a mission trip or they give their money or they do things or they pray certain prayers and they are as sincere. And I respect them. Paul came in and said, listen, have you been baptized in the Holy Spirit?

And who is that? And they said, well, John, they were very sincere. Paul didn't get up there and say, now give me a break. You know that only Jesus can save you. Listen, you could be so sincere that you deeply respect the pope and you absolutely believe that the pope is the man and he is absolutely what he says, what he does. And you believe that you can be as sincere as you can possibly be, but the pope cannot give you salvation. You could be so sincere that you believe that Billy Graham is the man. And what an amazing man.

That's what happened to you. And our world today is full of religious sincerity, but do you know Jesus? I present to you Jesus.

I'm so grateful that these wonderful churches and institutes, I'm so grateful. I think Paul here was looking at this cosmopolitan group of people. Paul said to them, John baptized with the baptism, telling the people to believe in the one who was to come. That is Jesus.

People listen to this. You only have and only can receive forgiveness through Jesus. Not John the Baptist, not the pope, not Don Wilton, not your church membership, not your goodness. It's Jesus. It's Jesus.

Indeed, he is the one. Are you ready to give your life to Christ? Are you ready to talk about it? Are there questions you need answered? We're here for you right now at 866-899-WORD. I pray you jot that number down, store it in your cell. It's available 24 hours a day to connect with one of us. Happy to talk, to listen, to pray. That's 866-899-9673. Or meet us keyboard to keyboard on our website at theencouragingword.org.

That's theencouragingword.org. And now our pastor and chief encourager, Dr. Don Wilton. God has spoken to you, hasn't he? And you ready to give your heart to Jesus?

I'd love to help you right now. Would you pray this prayer with me and accept Jesus into your heart and life? Dear God, I know that I'm a sinner.

I know that Jesus loves me and died for me on the cross. Right now, I repent of my sin and I confess my sin to the Lord Jesus Christ. Come into my heart and save me today and forgive me for my sin. In Jesus' name, I pray.

Amen. If you've prayed that prayer, we'd love to get alongside of you and celebrate with you and send you some literature and help you as you begin to grow. And I want you to know that I love you very, very much. And by the way, don't leave.

Don't go away, whatever you do, because I'll be right back. Now, if God has stirred your heart in the message of the pastor today, I pray you'd let us know how we can minister to you. You can meet us on our website, theencouragingword.org, or give us a call. Let us begin a conversation with you at 866-899-WORD.

That's 866-899-9673. It's our joy to report that every single day someone new says yes to Jesus Christ for the first time through the ministries of the Encouraging Word. And it all happens because many of you have chosen to become encouragers. Hello, my friends. I want to speak to you personally today from my heart to yours.

I don't think there is ever a better or more important time for us to respond to our world by standing up for righteousness. Now, with this in mind, I would like to invite you to become an encourager ministry partner. And to know that you are standing with me financially enables me to move forward with confidence to do the work God has called me to do. So please call the number on your screen and just simply say, I want to become an encourager. Thank you so much for helping me. That number again is 866-899-WORD. Jot it down, store it in your cell. We'd love to pray with you, give you more information about being encouragers and more. That's 866-899-9673 or online at theencouragingword.org.