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Acts 19:8-20
 uring all the varied and long-continued ministry of Paul, he remained longer at Ephesus than at any other centre. This particular paragraph gives the account of that sojourn; and refers to two periods; first, a period of three months, during which he reasoned in the synagogue; and secondly, one of two years, during which he reasoned in the school of Tyrannus.
 n our study of the earlier part of this chapter, we saw the beginnings of the work in Ephesus. The paragraph following this (Acts 19:21-41) gives an account of the uproar in Ephesus, which eventuated in the apostle's departure. Consequently in this brief paragraph Acts 19:8-20) we have the only detailed account of that work.
 uke has given us a group of incidents, all related to each other, and enabling us to understand the work of those two years, especially if we illuminate this page of incident by apostolic words found in his address to the elders at Miletus, and by some references in his own letter at a later period. The incidents, while few, are significant; and the final statement of the paragraph gives us the key to its interpretation, "So mightily grew the word of the Lord, and prevailed." All the paragraph is needed for the interpretation of that "So." We have the account of Paul's entering the synagogue; of the "hardened and disobedient "among those who listened to him there; of his turning from them to the school of Tyrannus; of his continuation there for two years, reasoning and teaching; of the sounding forth of the Word through all Proconsular Asia; of those special and marvellous manifestations of miraculous power, the mastery over evil spirits; and of the attempt at imitation on the part of certain Jewish exorcists, with the central special illustration of the defeat of these men, in the case of the sons of Sceva. When the group of incidents has been noted, the paragraph significantly closes with these words, "So." That is, by these actions, by this means, in this way, "So mightily grew the Word of the Lord, and prevailed." It is evident that Luke did not desire to give a detailed account of that two years' ministry, but that he took from the period certain outstanding incidents, to bring the reader into a recognition of the difficulties confronted, and of the triumphs of the Word of God in Ephesus.
et us first of all consider briefly the city in the background, Ephesus; then look more particularly at the apostle in the foreground, Paul in Ephesus; and finally and principally, notice the remarkable spiritual conflict which this page reveals as having taken place in Ephesus.
 riting to the Corinthian Christians from this city, Paul said that he proposed to tarry in Ephesus until Pentecost; and he gave his reasons for this tarrying: "for a great door and effectual is opened unto me, and there are many adversaries." At Corinth Paul had stayed for a long period. He did not stay long in Athens. There were no adversaries in Athens, there was not virility enough left in Athens to oppose; and consequently there was very little opportunity for the preaching of the evangel. But in Ephesus he said, "A great door and effectual is opened unto me." The difficulties of the situation created the greatness of the opportunity in the mind of this man. The difficulties were in themselves aids to the apostolic preaching. The adversaries were compelled to contribute to the victory.
 lance then at Ephesus, at the city itself. Dr. Farrar thus described it:
"It lay one mile from the Icarian Sea, in the fair Asian meadow where myriads of swans and other water-fowl disported themselves amid the windings of Cayster. Its buildings were clustered under the protecting shadows of Coressus and Prion, and in the delightful neighbourhood of the Ortygian Groves. Its haven, which had once been among the most sheltered and commodious in the Mediterranean, had been partly silted up by a mistake in engineering, but was still thronged with vessels, from every part of the civilized world. It lay at the meeting-point of great roads, which led northwards to Sardis and Troas, southwards to Magnesia and Antioch, and thus commanded easy access to the great river-valleys of the Hermus and Meander, and the whole interior continent. Its seas and rivers were rich with fish; its air was salubrious; its position unrivalled; its population multifarious and immense. Its markets, glittering with the produce of the world's art, were the Vanity Fair of Asia. They furnished to the exile of Patmos the local colouring of those pages of the Apocalypse in which he speaks of the merchandise of gold, and silver, and precious stones, and of pearls, and fine linen, and purple, and silk, and scarlet, and all thyine wood, and all manner vessels of ivory, and all manner vessels of the most precious wood, and of brass, and iron, and marble, and cinnamon, and odours, and ointment, and frankincense, and wine, and oil, and fine flour, and wheat, and beasts, and sheep, and horses, and chariots, and slaves, and souls of men'"
 here can be no more graphic and inclusive description of Ephesus than that.
n that great city the central religious fact was the temple devoted to the worship of Artemis. This temple was the banking-house of the merchants, and so there was the most intimate relationship between the commercial prosperity of Ephesus, and the religion centred in this great temple. That temple of Artemis had been made a sanctuary into which people of all kinds were allowed to come. Farrar in his Life of Paul, said that, "The vicinity . . . reeked with the congregated pollutions of Asia," and we may have some slight understanding of what that meant by remembering that for a furlong radius the temple gave sanctuary to all the most evil things. The worship itself was unutterably vile. The atmosphere of the city was electric with sorcery and incantations, with exorcists, with all kinds of magical imposters. Jewish exorcists were there, trafficking upon the credulity of the people, superadding to all the incantations and sorceries of their own religions, declarations of ability to cast out evil spirits by the citation of words out of the Hebrew ritual.
nto this city of Ephesus, wealthy, profoundly religious, with a religion that was in itself worse than an utter absence of it, the apostle came. There were many adversaries; adversaries among his own brethren in the synagogue, as he revealed in his subsequent appeal to the elders at Miletus; adversaries, not so much among the ruling classes, as among those whose trades were interfered with; adversaries principally in that worship which had so remarkable a manifestation in the evil courses and habits of the eunuch-priests and virgin-priestesses. It was to the Church at Ephesus Paul wrote:
"We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world-rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places."
t was in Ephesus that this man became supremely conscious of that world of spiritual antagonism which his writings so clearly revealed, and which we need to recognize even to-day. It was in Ephesus that the forces of the underworld of evil were massed, patently manifest. Here, far more than at Athens, Corinth, or Philippi, or any other of the places which he had visited, he came-if we may use so material a figure for spiritual things-face to face with naked opposition in the spirit world.
 ow let us look at the man himself in that city, in the midst of its wealth, its luxury, surrounded by all those religious influences which were of the most evil kind, supremely and sensitively conscious of the antagonism of spiritual adversaries. He was occupied in making tents. That fact does not appear in this paragraph, but when the elders of Ephesus came to meet him at Miletus, he said, "I coveted no man's silver, or gold, or apparel. Ye yourselves know that these hands ministered unto my necessities, and to them that were with me." This great apostle of Christ, this missionary of the Cross, in this city made tents to support himself, and those who were with him, thus fulfilling this ministry. Mark well the significance of this. In a city where financial gain was the inspiration of all the service of religion, this man declined to take either the silver, the gold, or the apparel of any, even of Christian people, but ministered to his own necessities, making tents, supporting himself by his own labour.
otice in the next place, that he was in Ephesus as the great Christian apologist; for three months reasoning and persuading in the synagogue; and when those of his brethren in the synagogue began definitely to oppose his teaching, deliberately turning from them, and separating the disciples from that Jewish community, taking them out with him, going to the school of Tyrannus, and there reasoning. We must keep these two things in close connection, to get the picture of the man. Tent-making and supporting himself day by day; the great Christian apologist in the school of Tyrannus, in the midst of all the evil influences of the city, preached the Kingdom of God, telling the story of Jesus, for he had no other message for these dead or dying Grecian cities, than Jesus and the resurrection. But this was not the whole of his occupation. In the twentieth chapter, where his address to the elders of the Church is recorded, he said, "I shrank not from declaring unto you anything that was profitable, and teaching you publicly, and from house to house. ... By the space of three years I ceased not to admonish every one night and day with tears" (verses 20 and 31). He was not only the tent-maker, not only the logical and brilliant Christian apologist, but the pastor of the flock teaching with tears, admonishing; watching, with jealous and zealous love, the growth of those who bore the name of Christ.
his teaching in the school of Tyrannus "continued for the space of two years; so that all they which dwelt in Asia "that is Proconsular Asia-"heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks." That is one of those verses that may be read and passed over; but it is a window, through which we see Proconsular Asia, those seven churches referred to in the book of Revelation, to which the final epistles of the risen and glorified Lord were sent, which were scattered through that region. Paul then at Ephesus was making tents, conducting a great course of apologetics for Christianity, fulfilling the function of the pastor, watching over the flock, admonishing with tears, and teaching from house to house; but he was also directing a great missionary enterprise to that whole region round about Ephesus. In all probability it was here in Ephesus that Philemon was brought to Christ, and sent to Colosse for the formation of that Church. Probably also it was at Ephesus that mighty fellow-worker with Paul in prayer, Epaphras, who watched over another Church, was first brought to Christ. The mighty apostle himself perchance sometimes journeyed from Ephesus, and was in perils from robbers there.
 nce again in the second Corinthian letter, in chapter eleven, there are certain words, written almost certainly immediately after his departure from Ephesus. The first had been written while he was in Ephesus. Arguing concerning the rights of his apostleship, and the dignity of his ministry, and producing the evidences thereof, he described the circumstances through which he passed:
"In labours more abundantly, in prisons more abundantly, in stripes above measure, in deaths oft. Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one. Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day have I been in the deep; in journeyings often, in perils of rivers, in perils of robbers, in perils from my countrymen, in perils from the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren, in labour and travail, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness. Beside those things that are without, there is that which presseth upon me daily, anxiety for all the churches."
ook at this worker in Ephesus, making tents to supply his own needs, a great Christian apologist, the pastor of the flock, admonishing with tears; the evangelist, going out to the regions beyond; enabled to do in Proconsular Asia what he had been forbidden to do on that second missionary journey; planting churches, sending out the great message; and all along entering into the fellowship of the suffering of his Lord, so that he could write such a passage immediately after leaving Ephesus as that in the second Corinthian letter.
hink of this man. Think of the forces in Ephesus against him, against his Gospel, against his Lord. Think of that great heart of his, bearing the burden of these churches that he had planted in the earlier missionary journeyings. Think of the poverty, the hunger, the anxiety, the stress, and the perils. How did he finish that paragraph in the Corinthian letter? "If I must needs glory, I will glory of the things that concern my weakness."
"So mightily grew the Word of the Lord, and prevailed." First the difficulties of the city creating the opportunity; secondly, one man absolutely at the disposal of his Master, so consecrated to Him that of determination he would be independent of the suspicion that his business was the business of financial gain, and laboured through the long dark hours of night that he might be free during the day to argue and reason concerning this Kingdom of God; and to see his people, and admonish them with tears; and all the time the care of the churches on his heart; news reaching him of those untrue and needing rebuke; letters to be written out of great passionate longings; one man in the city. "So mightily grew the Word of the Lord, and prevailed."
e now turn to that which is the supreme matter of interest, the spiritual conflict in Ephesus. And first let us observe the opposing forces. On one hand there was the presence and prevalence of the occult in Ephesus, of magic, and of sorcery. We are inclined, in the presence of magic and sorcery to-day-for we have not outgrown these things-to smile, and to speak of them as mere chicanery. The New Testament never treats them in that way. In the presence of this magic in Ephesus, and in other places, of these dark arts, the New Testament never speaks of them as trickery, as though they were the work of clever rogues. The New Testament says that these things are Satanic, and always attributes them to the agency and activity of spiritual personalities, who are possessed and mastered by evil. This is a matter we need very carefully to face and consider in our own days. To take the New Testament outlook, all this is not merely the trickery of rogues, but the actual activity of demons. Through the black arts, and clever manipulations, actual messages are spoken to men, and actual results produced, that cannot be denied. The man who denies the actuality of things done in the name of magic and spiritism, has never examined them carefully. These were the forces in Ephesus, the degraded and demoralized principalities and powers, the rulers of darkness.
n the other hand, in Ephesus with the coming of Paul there came the opportunity for the activity of the Spirit of God, and for the proclamation of the victorious name of the Son of God. This one man, and those associated with him, became the instruments or in their corporate capacity as a church, the instrument through which the Spirit of God could act, as against the spirits of evil; the instrument through which the great Name, the victorious Name of the Christ might win its victories over the demoralizing and degrading and damnable forces of the underworld that were so terribly blighting Ephesus itself.
n this connection notice very carefully what this passage declares. In verse eleven we read: "God wrought special miracles by the hands of Paul." Here is a distinction not to be lightly passed over. Luke did not say that Paul wrought miracles in Ephesus, but that God wrought them by the hands of Paul. In the first sermon preached in the power of the outpoured Spirit, which sermon was the result of the illumination and explanation of Christ through the Spirit to the preacher, Peter spoke of the miracles, and said quite distinctly, "Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God unto you by mighty works and wonders and signs, which God did by Him in the midst of you." This man did not work miracles, nor even our Lord Himself, in the loneliness of His human nature; they were both instruments through whom God was able to perform things that were wonders to men, who could not understand the higher laws by which they were made possible. A miracle is not a violation of law, but an activity of law in the realm of laws higher than we know, and, therefore, full of surprise to men, but of no surprise to God. God is not imprisoned within those few laws that man has been able to discover. God is bound by the laws of His own universe, but we do not know them all; and consequently, when we see an activity within the realm of the ultimate and final laws, we call it a miracle, and so it is, a thing of wonder and surprise, but not a violation of law, not a setting aside of law.
ake the instances given here. It is affirmed that men took from the person of this man Paul, handkerchiefs and aprons, and carrying them to sick people, they were healed by touching them. That is a miracle to us; but if God so chose through this man Paul, to work the healing wonder, I deny that it was incredible. There is a humanness in all this, and it is very interesting. They took the handkerchiefs and the aprons. "Handkerchief " is a most misleading word. To be quite literal in our translation, they took the sweat-cloths and aprons, the two things that Paul made use of as he worked. Paul did not work the miracle. God wrought the miracle; and if God shall honour the faith of superstitious people within the realm of a magic they understand, who am I that I should question God? God wrought special miracles, like the very magic with which these people were acquainted; and by the working revealed the fact that the magic itself was of spiritual activity; and therefore there needed to be no acceptance of a philosophy because its propounders wrought wonders. Evil men have often wrought wonders. The devil can work miracles to our poor blind eyes; and demons have astonished men by the wonders they have wrought. The miracle is not a demonstration that the spirit producing it is good. It is a demonstration of spiritual activity, of an activity in a realm beyond and outside that of which we are conscious.
 o in this city full of magic, full of humours and systems and incantations and exorcisms, God wrought special miracles; and people, taking even the garments Paul wore in his work, their sick were cured, and evil spirits were cast out. God condescended to work not on a higher plane, but on a lower plane; for every miracle wrought in the material is a miracle wrought on a lower plane than the miracles wrought in the spiritual. The greater triumphs were not the healing of these people, but the spiritual wonders wrought in those who were made children of God, and brought to high morality of life. Yet for the capture of these people, and their convincing, it was shown them that the wonders that they associated with an evil form of religion, could be wrought, and were wrought, in the Name, the holy Name, which this man taught and preached.
hese victories created a crisis. There were exorcists who now attempted to work with Paul's method. They had used other charms and incantations, but now they began to say, "I adjure you by Jesus Whom Paul preacheth." The result was immediate. Victories cannot thus be won by people who are so far apart from the One Who wins the victory. When these men said, "I adjure thee by Jesus Whom Paul preacheth," in a moment the answer came from the evil spirit, "Jesus I recognize, and Paul I know; but who are ye?" These men found that they could not traffic with the name of Jesus. That which impressed the city, and filled it with fear, was not the wonders wrought by Paul, but the fact that when some one else tried to work with his tools or implements, or Name, they were defeated.
hus through the victories won over these forces of evil by the Spirit through His servant, the Name was magnified, and the Church was purified. That sacrificial fire, that burning of the books of magic was not the burning of books belonging to the Ephesians still remaining in idolatry. They were books belonging to people in the Church. They came, confessing that they still practised the black arts, and still had traffic with these unholy things, and so the fire was lit.
"So mightily grew the Word of the Lord, and prevailed." That was the impression made upon Luke as he heard or knew the story of these years at Ephesus, and committed it to those brief pictures. The word "mightily" means with resistless and overpowering strength. All kinds of facts and forces were pressed into the service of the Word, and made tributary to the carrying on of the work; the synagogue of the Jews, or the school of a Greek teacher; special miracles wrought; imitation mastered; the anger of demons. All these things were made tributary to the victory of the Word, and led up to the final statement; all must be included within it; "So mightily grew the Word of the Lord."
f we have Paul's vision, Paul's conception, we shall not say, There are many adversaries, therefore we must abandon the work; but rather we must stay until Pentecost, and prosecute His great enterprises, "Buying up the opportunity, because the days are evil." That is the spirit of this story. The days were evil days. Evil days created the opportunity for God-sent men.
f we would see the Word of God grow mightily and prevail in our own city, we need to ponder this story carefully, and find out the secrets here revealed; to yield ourselves to this Spirit of God; to serve this same Lord with equal lowliness of mind, and sincerity, and sacrificial earnestness, as did this man Paul. Then the Word of God to-day as ever, will grow mightily, and prevail.
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