Acts 19:1–7

While Apollos was at Corinth, Paul passed through the upper regions and came to Ephesus, and finding some disciples he said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” And they said to him, “No, we have not even heard whether there is a Holy Spirit.” And he said, “Into what then were you baptized?” They said, “Into John’s baptism.” And Paul said, “John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the One who was to come after him, that is, in Jesus.” When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. And when Paul laid his hands upon them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they spoke with tongues and prophesied. There were about twelve men in all.

When John the Baptist gave water baptism, he said, “I baptize you with water, but the One who comes after me, Jesus Christ, will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”

Through this word, what we must realize is that water baptism is a preparatory stage for receiving the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

Water baptism is a religious act that shows that a person who lived in sin must be born again into new life in Jesus.

Through water baptism, we come to understand more deeply the importance of repentance.

However, receiving only a formal water baptism without repenting of sin has no meaning at all.

Even without receiving water baptism, one can receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit when one repents.

And one who has already received the baptism of the Holy Spirit does not need to receive water baptism, which belongs to a more basic stage.

As an analogy, one who has already attained the level of a middle or high school student through self-study does not need to enroll again in elementary school.

Water baptism is a means that helps a person to repent of sin, and those who repent receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

When we receive the Holy Spirit, He leads all our lives toward heaven.

The Holy Spirit enables us to understand the word of Scripture and gives us the strength to obey that word.

Without the help of the Holy Spirit, no one can overcome the countless temptations of the world and Satan; therefore, all Christians must receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Christ. The Bible says that anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ cannot be a true person of Christ.

Romans 8:9
“But if the Spirit of God dwells in you, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit. If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His.”

Water baptism does not directly save us; it is a means that helps us to repent.

The Holy Spirit comes upon those who repent, and the Holy Spirit leads Christians on the path of salvation.

However, among those who have received the Holy Spirit, there are many who do not follow the leading of the Holy Spirit.

Who are these people?

They are Christians who have received water baptism and the baptism of the Holy Spirit, yet do not follow the words of Christ and do not bear the fruit of love.

They attend church diligently, yet they do not abandon human pride, do not forgive their neighbors, do not forsake worldly desires, and live in evil without repenting.

Satan corrupts Christians in this way by creating human doctrines.

Human doctrines ignore the word of the Bible. They say that once a person believes in Jesus, he has already become a citizen of heaven, and they claim that God has already divided people into those who will be saved and those who will not be saved before they are even born.

These false theories must be abandoned. One must abandon human doctrines that oppose the words of Jesus in order to be saved.

Receiving the Holy Spirit does not automatically mean that one will go to heaven; one must follow and obey the leading of the Holy Spirit. The leading of the Holy Spirit causes us to live a life of daily repentance.

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Acts 19:8–10

And he entered the synagogue and spoke boldly for three months, reasoning and persuading them about the kingdom of God. But when some became hardened and disobedient, speaking evil of the Way before the people, he withdrew from them and took the disciples with him, reasoning daily in the hall of Tyrannus. This continued for two years, so that all who lived in Asia, both Jews and Greeks, heard the word of the Lord.

Paul entered the synagogue and taught about the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God is heaven, and Paul clearly explained to those gathered in the synagogue how one can enter heaven.

At that time, the synagogue was a place where God was worshiped and where the word of God was taught. Because of national calamities, the Jews were scattered to many countries, and wherever they went, they built synagogues and used them as temples to worship God.

The synagogue at that time was like the church today. God’s people gathered there to worship God and to learn His word. The synagogue was not a place for unbelievers to gather.

Following the leading of the Holy Spirit, Paul preached the gospel of the kingdom to those who worshiped God and taught that one must enter heaven through Jesus Christ.

The core of his teaching was that only Jesus Christ is the Savior.

All God’s people must repent of their sins and receive forgiveness through the blood of Jesus, and those who accept Jesus as Savior must follow His word, forgiving one another and loving one another in order to enter heaven.

Paul preached the gospel of salvation based on the Scriptures.

When the gospel of life was proclaimed in the synagogue, there were those who accepted it and those who did not.

The hard-hearted Jews rejected the gospel. They rose up and opposed the apostle Paul in an organized way and slandered his teaching, so Paul had to go elsewhere.

Those who worshiped God rejected the will of God.

Even today, when the words of Jesus are proclaimed as they are from the pulpit in churches, there are those who do not want to hear them and oppose them. Such church members belong to Satan.

They live according to worldly desires, and their hearts are deeply corrupted and proud.

For them, living a life of repentance and obedience to the Lord’s word is too difficult and burdensome.

Therefore, such false believers prefer and follow human doctrines that say one will go to heaven simply by attending church, even without repentance and obedience.

Within the church, the wheat and the chaff always coexist, but on the last day, the wheat will go to heaven and the chaff will go to hell.

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Acts 19:11–16

God was performing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul, so that even handkerchiefs or aprons that had touched his body were carried to the sick, and their diseases left them and the evil spirits went out. But also some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists took it upon themselves to name over those who had evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, “I adjure you by the Jesus whom Paul preaches.” Seven sons of a Jewish chief priest named Sceva were doing this. And the evil spirit answered and said, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know about, but who are you?” And the man in whom was the evil spirit leaped on them and overpowered them all and prevailed against them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.

When Paul preached the gospel, extraordinary things occurred. When a handkerchief from Paul was placed on the sick, they were healed. This showed that God was with Paul and made it known to all that the gospel was being preached through him.

The miracles, signs, and gifts of the Holy Spirit are means by which the gospel is effectively proclaimed. To use the power of the Holy Spirit to exalt one’s own name and boast is to practice lawlessness.

Seeing the miracles and signs that appeared through Paul, many tried to imitate his power. Those without faith attempted to cast out demons in the name of Jesus, but the demon-possessed man attacked them and overpowered them. Instead, the demon-possessed man bound and beat them, and they fled naked.

Demons are spiritual beings and are stronger than humans. Therefore, they cannot be cast out by human strength.

However, those who believe in Jesus as the only Savior, repent, and obey His word drive out demons by the power of Jesus.

Paul healed diseases and cast out demons by the authority and power of Jesus.

When we are filled with the Holy Spirit, we also can do such works, because it is God who works.

Pastors and believers who sin and do not repent are all slaves of sin. A slave of sin is a slave of demons. A slave of demons cannot overcome the demons who are their masters.

But when one repents and obeys, one escapes the authority of the devil and restores the authority of a child of God.

Those who have restored the authority of God’s children cast out demons in the name of Jesus like the apostle Paul.

Satan also sometimes heals diseases. This is Satan’s deception. Through false prophets, Satan heals diseases and leads people to believe false human doctrines, thereby dragging them into hell.

2 Thessalonians 2:11–12
“For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie, in order that all may be judged who did not believe the truth but took pleasure in unrighteousness.”

Those who disobey the Lord’s word and pursue only miracles and signs to the end are handed over by God to Satan’s deception and come under judgment.

2 Timothy 4:3–4
“For the time will come when people will not endure sound teaching… and will turn away their ears from the truth and turn aside to myths.”

As the last days approach, those who hate sound teaching turn away from the truth of God and follow the deception of Satan even more.

2 Peter 2:1
“But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction.”

Servants of the Lord who hate repentance and obedience and prioritize worldly desires eventually bring human doctrines into the church. Such people deny the words of Jesus, follow worldly desires, and all perish.

Confessing Jesus as Savior once does not mean that one will go to heaven. One must overcome worldly temptations to the end and live a life of repentance and obedience to enter heaven.

Not everyone who performs miracles and signs is a servant of God. No matter how many powers they display, those who do not believe in Jesus as the only Savior, do not repent of their sins, and live in disobedience are all under the authority of Satan.

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Acts 19:17–20

This became known to all, both Jews and Greeks, who lived in Ephesus; fear fell upon them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was being magnified. Many of those who had believed kept coming, confessing and disclosing their practices. And many of those who practiced magic brought their books together and began burning them in the sight of everyone; and they counted up the price of them and found it to be fifty thousand pieces of silver. So the word of the Lord was growing mightily and prevailing.

When one repents and obeys the word of the Lord, one receives the Holy Spirit, and when the Holy Spirit works, the gospel is preached to all people and the work of salvation takes place.

When the work of the Holy Spirit occurs, those who see and hear it greatly fear, confess their sins, and turn their lives to the Lord.

People who had long been deceived by magicians burned their magic books, and many magicians ceased their practices.

When the power of the Holy Spirit is revealed, magic is powerless.

When light comes, darkness departs.

The value of the books that were burned amounted to fifty thousand pieces of silver, an unimaginable sum. This shows how many people had been under the control of demons before the gospel came.

When we believe in Jesus, we must repent thoroughly. When we achieve complete repentance and obedience, the Holy Spirit delivers us from sin with unimaginable power.

Many Christians attend church but are still held by Satan. This is because they follow worldly pleasures and honor more than the word of God.

By the power of the Holy Spirit, we must cut off all worldly things that bind our souls.

A life of faith lived under the control of the devil does not bring glory to the Lord.

Our hearts and lives must be transformed, and the Holy Spirit must dwell within us. When the Holy Spirit speaks, we must obey. The Holy Spirit reminds us of the words of Jesus Christ, makes us aware of sin, and leads us to believe in the power of the blood of Jesus. When we follow the Lord’s guidance, repenting and obeying daily, we go to heaven.

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Acts 19:23–29

About that time there arose no small disturbance concerning the Way. For a man named Demetrius, a silversmith who made silver shrines of Artemis, was bringing no little business to the craftsmen. These he gathered together, along with the workmen of similar trades, and said, “Men, you know that our prosperity depends upon this business. You see and hear that not only in Ephesus but in almost all Asia this Paul has persuaded and turned away a great many people, saying that gods made with hands are not gods. There is danger not only that this trade of ours may come into disrepute, but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis may be regarded as worthless, and that she whom all Asia and the world worship will even be dethroned from her magnificence.” When they heard this they were filled with rage and cried out, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!” The city was filled with confusion, and they rushed together into the theater, dragging along Gaius and Aristarchus, Paul’s companions from Macedonia.

As the apostle Paul preached the gospel in various nations, he proclaimed that only the Creator God is God, and that idols made by human hands are not gods.

Those who made and sold idols as gods for profit faced a great crisis.

In order to protect their means of income, they opposed the apostle Paul. Everyone must abandon idols and believe in God to escape destruction and be saved.

But those who are bound by money, honor, and worldly things reject the gospel of life. This is a rejection of forgiveness of sins and salvation.

All religions and idols made by humans are a rejection of believing in the Creator God and a rejection of salvation.

An even more serious problem is that Christians who attend church refuse to listen to the word of God.

Today, many pastors and church members set aside the word of the Bible and follow human doctrines.

Human doctrines are idols within the church.

Human doctrines also emphasize that God is a God of love, yet they do not love one another. Not loving is sin. Those who sin must repent and wash their sins with the blood of Jesus to be saved.

Yet they claim they were already saved before they were born, and while living in sin daily, they do not repent. They oppose the word of the Lord.

A more serious problem than people in the world worshiping carved idols is that those inside the church do not follow the word of the Bible but follow human doctrines.

Human doctrines divide the one and only God into three. Such believers cannot experience the presence of the Holy Spirit; their faith is bankrupt.

Believing in the one and only God and obeying His word is the only way of salvation. Christians who walk the path of salvation continually experience and feel the presence of the Holy Spirit.

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Acts 20:17–21

From Miletus Paul sent to Ephesus and called the elders of the church. When they came to him, he said to them:

“You yourselves know how I lived among you the whole time from the first day that I set foot in Asia, serving the Lord with all humility and with tears and with trials that came upon me through the plots of the Jews; how I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable, and teaching you publicly and from house to house, testifying both to Jews and to Greeks of repentance toward God and of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Paul preached the gospel with humility and tears. Although the Jews continually plotted and persecuted him, he did not yield or compromise. Paul proclaimed the pure gospel to the end.

Paul preached to them without leaving out anything of God’s word necessary for salvation. To those who worship idols as God, to proclaim, “Idols are false; abandon the false and believe only in God,” is by no means easy; it requires giving one’s life.

Giving his life, Paul urged idol worshipers to repent of their sins before God. The persecution he suffered because of this cannot be fully described in words.

He taught that Jesus Christ is God Himself and proclaimed that everyone must repent and be cleansed of their sins by the blood of Jesus in order to be saved and enter heaven.

This aroused anger among the Jews who did not accept Jesus as Savior. They persecuted the apostle Paul severely.

Thus, the idol-worshiping Gentiles and the Jews who did not believe in Jesus as Savior joined together to persecute Paul.

As a result, the apostle Paul walked a thorny path day by day and constantly faced death.

The whole world lies under the authority of Satan. Because of sin, Satan reigns as king. To preach the gospel of life in a world ruled by Satan, we must lay down our lives.

People of the world are captivated by money, pleasure, and honor, and most churches are bound by human doctrines. This is the condition of the last days recorded in the Bible.

In such a world, to be saved, one must overcome the temptations of the world and believe in the one and only God without compromise.

This is to obey the words of Jesus alone. What are the words of Jesus?

It is to repent of our sins daily, strive to be at peace with our neighbors, and keep a humble and pure heart until the end of the world. All Christians must fulfill the role of the light and salt of the world. This means doing good deeds and making peace; we must live a life that does not harm others.

Human doctrines are the deception of Satan. Through them, Satan causes people to believe in Jesus only outwardly; as a result, the hearts and lives of many Christians become evil and corrupted, and they live in selfishness.

Christians who have fallen into human doctrines are far from God. If they do not repent to the end, they will ultimately face God’s judgment and perish.