Study #62: Satan tried to kill Paul with a riot (19:21

Study #62: Satan tried to kill Paul with a riot (19:21 - 20:1)

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The Golden Ratio outline of Acts Chapter 2.3:

Acts, Chapter 2.3: The Gentiles of Ephesus violently opposed the efforts of Paul to teach the Word (18:23 - 20:38)

§Unique Introduction: Aquila, Priscilla, and Paul guided disciples of John the Baptist to a better understanding of the Gospel (18:23 - 19:7)

¶Opposite Aquila and Priscilla guided Apollos, a disciple of John the Baptist, to a better understanding of the Way of God (18:23 - 28)

¶Opposite Paul guided twelve disciples of John the Baptist to a better understanding of the Gospel, including baptism (19:1 - 7)

§Complement Body: The silversmiths in Ephesus instigated a riot against Paul and his preaching against idolatry (19:8 - 20:12)

¶Opposite Paul worked for two years to train his converts in Ephesus in the Word of God (19:8 - 12)

¶Opposite The failed exorcism by the sons of Sceva resulted in a great revival in Ephesus (19:13 - 20)

¶Complement While Paul was staying in Ephesus, the silversmiths instigated a riot against him (19:21 - 28)

¶Complement The mob of angry idolaters praised their idol Diana loudly and enthusiastically (19:29 - 20:1)

¶Unique Paul raised Eutychus from the dead while preaching in Troas in Asia Minor (20:2 - 12)

§Complement Conclusion: Paul preached a final message of warning to the elders of his church at Ephesus and said goodbye (20:13 - 38)

¶Complement In Miletus, Paul preached a message of warning to the elders of his church at Ephesus (20:13 - 31)

¶Complement Paul said goodbye to the elders of his church at Ephesus (20:32 - 38)

We continue our study of the Book of Acts, Chapter 2.3 with the third and fourth paragraphs in the Body Section, both of which have the Golden Ratio design of “UCC-OO”; or one unique, two Complement, and two opposites. Their themes complement each other, and their internal subparagraph designs are the same.

¶Complement While Paul was staying in Ephesus, the silversmiths instigated a riot against him (19:21 - 28)

Unique _After these things were ended, 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.”

Complement So he sent into Macedonia two of them that ministered to him, Timotheus and Erastus;

Complement but he himself stayed in Asia for a season.

Opposite And the same time there arose no small stir about that way: for there was a certain man named Demetrius, a silversmith who made silver shrines for Diana, which brought no small gain to the craftsmen, whom he called together with the workmen of like occupation; and he said, “Sirs, you know that by this craft we have our wealth. Moreover you see and hear, that not only at Ephesus, but almost throughout all Asia, this Paul has persuaded and turned away many people, saying that they are not true gods which are made with hands, so that not only this our craft is in danger to become despised; but also that the temple of the great goddess Diana should be despised, and her magnificence should be destroyed, whom all Asia and the world worships.”

Opposite And when they heard this, they were full of wrath; and they cried out, saying, “Great is Diana of the Ephesians!”

Comments: Paul was about to complete his third missionary tour of Greece and Asia Minor (today’s Turkey), when Satan tried to kill Paul through a riot.

Recall in the previous paragraphs, that Paul had been training Bible students in the city of Ephesus for two years:

Acts 19:10 “And this continued by the space of two years, so that all they who dwelt in Asia heard the Word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks.”

Now Satan hates nothing more than the spread of the Gospel of Jesus Christ among those who had been his slaves, because many were being saved; and as a result, they no longer worshiped his idols of Diana or other false gods.

This is something that many do not understand. The Bible teaches that God has allowed Satan to rule the kingdoms of this world:

Luke 4:5-8: “And the devil, taking him up into a high mountain, showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And the devil said to him, “All this authority will I give you, and their glory: for that has been delivered to me; and to whomsoever I will I give it. Therefore, if you will worship me, all shall be yours.” And Jesus answered and said to him, “Get behind me, Satan! For it has been written, ‘You shall worship [Jehovah] your God, and only him shall you serve.’”

Ephesians 6:12: “for we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this Age, and against evil spirits in high places.”

This truth is confirmed by the fact that many famous movie stars and musicians openly confess that they have sold their souls to Satan in exchange for fame and money. Why would they do that unless Satan was real and he has this power to give money and fame to whoever he chooses?

This also explains why the governments of this world are so evil, because they are controlled and ruled by Satan! When a person who refuses to serve Satan wants to run for office, then it seems like the entire world is against him or her; they are called all kinds of names and attacked without reason and with many lies. The reason for this is that Satan doesn’t want these people to win or to stay in office. The news media and evil politicians are often his mouthpieces to do this kind of evil, but Satan can also use his puppets to do things to try to embarrass people; or even set them up to destroy them.

¶Complement The mob of angry idolaters praised their idol Diana loudly and enthusiastically (19:29 - 20:1)

Unique And the whole city was filled with confusion; and, having caught Gaius and Aristarchus, men of Macedonia, Paul’s companions in travel, they rushed with one accord into the city theater. And when Paul would have entered in to the people, the disciples did not allow him; and certain of the leaders of Asia, who were his friends, sent to him, asking him that he would not adventure himself into the theatre.

Complement Therefore some cried one thing, and some another: for the assembly was confused; and the greater part did not know why they came together. And they drew Alexander out of the multitude, the Jews putting him forward; and Alexander beckoned with the hand, and would have made his defense to the people.

Complement But when they knew that he was a Jew, all with one voice about the space of two hours cried out, “Great is Diana of the Ephesians!”

Opposite And when the town clerk had appeased the people, he said, “You men of Ephesus, what man is there that does not know how that the city of the Ephesians is a worshiper of the great goddess Diana, and of the image which fell down from Jupiter? Seeing then that these things cannot be spoken against, you ought to be quiet, and to do nothing rashly: for you have brought here these men, who are neither robbers of temples, nor yet blasphemers of your goddess. Therefore if Demetrius, and the craftsmen who are with him, have a matter against any man, the court days are open, and there are proconsuls: let them bring a charge against one another. But if you inquire anything concerning other matters, it shall be determined in a lawful assembly: for we are in danger to be called in question for this day’s uproar, there being no cause whereby we may give an account of this gathering.” And when he had said this, he dismissed the assembly.

Opposite And after the uproar ceased, Paul called the disciples, and embraced them, and departed to go into Macedonia.

Comments: The same thing happened here in Ephesus with the Apostle Paul: all that he wanted to do was to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ and win souls to Him. Satan wanted to stop this activity, because he was losing control of many people in Asia Minor when they stopped worshiping his idols and false religions and turned to the one true God to save them from their sins.

So Satan and his demons stirred up a mob (a tool that is very useful to the devil, and often used by him) of evil people, and provoked them to hysteria and madness.

“And the whole city was filled with confusion; and, having caught Gaius and Aristarchus, men of Macedonia, Paul’s companions in travel, they rushed with one accord into the city theater.”

“But when they knew that he was a Jew, all with one voice about the space of two hours cried out, “Great is Diana of the Ephesians!””

Mobs are always a favorite tool of Satan to manipulate and control people to do evil. These sinful people were trying to defend their favorite idol, which was nothing more than a tool of the devil to control them and to keep them away from Jesus Christ.

This is sad, because Satan doesn’t want you to be saved or to serve the one true God, Jesus Christ! Satan doesn’t care about you; he doesn’t care which false god you worship, as long as you stay away from the Lord Jesus Christ and the only hope of Eternal Life in Heaven.

He doesn’t even care if you claim to be a Christian, as long as you are a false Christian!

Satan is such a liar that he has tricked these Hollywood stars into selling their souls to him, when the truth is that they cannot truly do this. No one can actually sell their soul to the devil, because he already owns them!

The truth is that when we are born into this world, we already belong to the devil; we are already children of Satan, because we are sinners, just like Satan.

I John 3:7-10: “Little children, let no man deceive you; he that works righteousness is righteous, even as Jesus is righteous. He that continually sins is of the devil: for the devil sins from the beginning. The Son of God was manifested for this purpose, that he might destroy the works of the devil. Whosoever is born of God does not continually sin: for his Seed remains in him; and he cannot continually sin, because he is born of God. In this the children of God and the children of the devil are revealed: whosoever does not do righteous works is not of God; neither he that does not love his [Christian] brother”

So if Satan can get you to “sell your soul” to him, he has tricked you! You cannot sell your soul to the devil, because he already has your soul! You are a sinner and belong to his world that is controlled by him.

The truth is that if “you sell your soul to Satan”, you are only serving Satan willingly; whereas before, you were serving him blindly; but the end result is the same: Hell, and later, the Lake of Fire: forever and ever and ever. IT IS NOT WORTH IT! SATAN IS A LOSER AND A LIAR. YOUR ETERNAL SOUL IS NOT WORTH GIVING HIM EVEN ONE SECOND OF YOUR LIFE.

But, when a person believes in Jesus Christ and repents of their sin and asked Jesus to come into their life and become their Savior, the power of Satan is broken, once and for all time! Amen.

When you receive Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, you are freed from the power of Satan, and he cannot control you; neither can he take you into Hell with him. Then you belong to the Lord Jesus Christ, the King of kings, Lord of lords, and God of gods. You have become a child of the King, and Satan must ask Jesus for permission to attack you, just like he did to Job:

Job 1:9 - 12: “Then Satan answered Jehovah, and said, “Does Job fear God for nothing? Have you not made a protective hedge around him, and around his house, and around all that he has on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands; and his substance is increased in the land. But now put forth your hand, and touch all that he has, and he will curse you to your face.” And Jehovah said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your power; only do not put forth your hand upon himself.” So Satan went forth from the presence of Jehovah.”

Only the children of the King of kings, Jesus Christ, have this kind of protection from the devil. Are you a child of God or are you a sinner? You are a sinner if you are a worshiper of false gods, such as “allah”, Buddha, Shiva, or any of the thousands of false gods all over the world.

You are also a sinner if you claim to be a Christian, but you pray to false gods such as Mary or the saints, who have no power to save anyone. Whoever told you that you should pray to Mary or the saints told you a lie that is not found in the Bible.

You cannot be a child of God until you have been born again; and you cannot be born again until you have repented of your sins and asked Jesus Christ to come into your life to become your Savior. This is done by your prayer of faith in the Finished Work of Christ on the cross, and not by the water of baptism or by church membership or by your good works.

Ephesians 2:8-9: “For by grace you have been permanently saved through faith; and that faith is not out of yourselves: it is the gift of God; not of our own works, lest any man should boast”

Romans 10:8-13: “But what does it say? “The Word is near you, even in your mouth, and in your heart”; that is to say, the Word of faith (which we preach), that if you shall confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and shall believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you shall be saved: for with the heart man believes into righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made into salvation: for the Scripture says, “Whosoever believes on him shall not be ashamed.” For there is no difference between the Jew and the Gentile: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him: for [it is written], “whosoever shall call upon the Name of the Lord shall be saved.”

If you want to be saved, and become free from the devil, here is how you do it: if you believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and that He died on the cross for your sins, and that He rose from the dead on the third day, you may pray this prayer to receive Him as your Savior and be saved:

“Lord Jesus, I know that I have sinned against YOU. I am no good, and you are righteous! You are my only hope for salvation! I believe that you died on the cross for my sins, you were buried, and you rose again from the dead on the third day. I want you to come into my life and be my Lord and Savior. Please come into my heart right now. Forgive me for all my sins, and save my soul. In the mighty Name of Jesus, I pray, Amen!”

If you have turned from your sins and accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and only Savior from sin, please message me through Facebook and let me know that you have done that, so that I can pray for you and rejoice with you in what God has done in your life. Amen.