If there are times in my life when I might wonder at the wisdom of attempting to be an expositional preacher, then today might be one of them. Today’s passage is not one that I think lends itself well to an expositional approach. It is primarily a narrative, and as such it doesn’t present an easy subject to get an outline from.

But nevertheless, I firmly believe that all scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for rebuke, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. And so I want to try to understand with you why the Holy Spirit led Luke to include this passage. And after thinking and praying about it, I must conclude that it builds on our previous message from last week. Last week, if you will remember, we saw the power of the gospel over demonic activity. Now this week, we see the counter attack by the devil’s forces.

If you recall, Paul’s preaching resulted in evil spirits being cast out of many people in Ephesus. About the same time, a traveling exorcism troupe by the name of the Seven Sons of Sceva rolled into town and begin to practice exorcisms for profit, and in attempting to use the name of Jesus and Paul the demon responded, “Jesus I know and Paul I know, but who are you?” And the demon overwhelmed these false religionists and sent them running out of town bruised and bloodied and naked.

Now God used that to great effect in Ephesus, so that the fear of God fell upon the city, so much so that the townspeople began coming out in droves to burn their occultist books and materials. They burned what amounted to in today’s money about one million dollars worth of books about the occult and sorcery. And verse 20 says that the end result of Paul’s preaching the gospel was that, “the word of the Lord was growing mightily and prevailing.”

Now that is a great spiritual victory. That’s what we all hope for when we preach the gospel. That is the goal of the church, to see the word of the Lord growing mightily and prevailing in the community, to see people confessing and repenting of their sins, to see people being saved, bringing their idolatrous and occult practices and laying them down and destroying them, renouncing them publicly. That is what we pray for, what we strive for.

But from this narrative we see that when the church gains ground and has a great victory, the devil does not necessarily roll over and play dead. We need to understand that we are engaged in a spiritual battle. And the danger oftentimes in the church is we think that because we are saved, because Jesus triumphed over death and hell, that we have been guaranteed now a trouble free existence. But the truth is, that we are in a battle against the spiritual forces of darkness in high places, and they never sleep, they never give up, because they know their eternal destiny is at stake. And so when we think we have achieved some sort of victory, and are ready to sit back on our laurels and savor for a moment or two our winnings, the devil and his cohorts are already mounting a counterattack. It reminds me of that bumper sticker I’ve seen on a few cars which says, “Keep honking, I’m reloading!” When we are celebrating our spiritual victory, the devil is actually reloading and getting ready to counterattack.

I’ve seen this happen in the lives of Christians time and time again. We see someone come to Christ and get their heart right, renounce their sins and commit their way to the Lord, and somehow there is this expectation that everything in the world now is going to be in harmony. Everything is going to click into place. All your problems are going to disappear. And in fact, the majority of the time is that immediately the devil mounts a counter attack. And before you know it, the Christian has fallen into sin, or become discouraged and if not for the grace of God they will end up falling right back into the same pit they were in, or another pit that is just as bad. We somehow forget that very basic proverb, “when you think you stand, take heed lest you fall.”

We should not be surprised when we find ourselves under attack. Peter warned of that very thing in 1Peter 4:12 saying, “Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you; but to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing, so that also at the revelation of His glory you may rejoice with exultation.” In other words, we need to expect persecution, trials, attacks against us, against our loved ones, attacks against the church, because if they persecuted Christ unto death, what should we expect as His disciples? And furthermore, when I say that Satan counterattacks the church, I do not mean that he counterattacks the edifice of the church. He does not attack the brick and mortar, but he attacks the people who are the church. We are the living stones that make up the church. And so he attacks us, he attacks our children, our wives and husbands and friends. Satan attacks individuals who constitute the church.

So that is exactly what we see here in this passage. And I believe it is instructive for that reason, that it should remind us to be prepared for the counterattacks of the devil, so that we are not ignorant of his schemes, and that we should not be surprised when those attacks come. But when they come, we might remain steadfast, immoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord.

Now let’s look at this narrative and see if we can pick out some common characteristics of how the devil counterattacks the triumphs of the gospel. I believe this event illustrates some common themes in the devil’s schemes.

First of all note as I pointed out earlier, that this counterattack comes on the heels of a great victory in the church at Ephesus. Paul has been there about two and a half years at this point. And as we saw, the word of the Lord was growing mightily and prevailing in the community. The entire region was being turned upside down. Paul’s fame had spread to the point that even the demons knew his name, and false religionists were trying to use Paul’s name for profit.

So as they reach this point there is a sense perhaps that they can let Timothy and Erastus, two of the other ministers of the church, leave and go into Macedonia to check on other churches. Paul himself is making plans to leave, to go first to Jerusalem, and then he believes the Lord is directing him to go to Rome. And he will eventually go to Rome by the Lord’s will, in the Lord’s time. But he still has a few battles left here in Ephesus that he isn’t aware of yet. They were experiencing perhaps a time of peace. A time of growth. A time when they sat back and were thinking of plans for the future. And suddenly there is a great disturbance that seems to almost threaten the very existence of the church and it’s leadership. We see that expressed in vs.23, “About that time there occurred no small disturbance concerning the Way.”

No small disturbance is an understatement. It ends up being a city wide riot. The Way is just another way of referring to the gospel. And a riot breaks out in town because of the gospel. Now that speaks volumes about the power of the gospel. It caused a riot. This is no little riot in a back street somewhere, but this thing erupts in the theater, which holds upwards of 25,000 people. So that is some kind of riot.

Now what started this was the gospel had affected the economics of the people of Ephesus. We already saw how a million dollars worth of occultist books were burned in the town square. And in vs. 24 we see that a man named Demetrius, who was a silversmith that made his living making idols of the god Artemis, rallies the other craftsmen of his trade, and those who made their living serving the great temple to Artemis, and he speaks to them a highly inflammatory message.

You should understand that the temple to Artemis or Diana, same thing, was considered one of the seven wonders of the world. It was supported by 127 pillars, each 60 feet high, and was adorned with great sculptures. Kings and nations from all over the world actually used this temple as a sort of bank for their treasures under the protection of the goddess. So it was visited by people from all over the world and as such the trade in idols and miniature copies of the temple were a substantial part of the economics of the townspeople.

So there is this great temple, which served to supply not only the religion but the economics of the people of Ephesus. And when the spread of the gospel was perceived as threatening their income, the townspeople revolted, resulting in a riot. They picked up two of the prominent members of the church, Gaius and Aristarchus, and the whole town rushed into the theater, which as I said earlier could hold upwards of 25,000 people.

Now I want to make a point here that I think is integral to understanding the text, but isn’t immediately apparent in our English translations. And that is that Luke uses the word assembly several times in this passage to describe this riot, this huge mob of people who have gathered in the theater. And the interesting thing is that the Greek word translated assembly is the word ekklesia, which is the same word elsewhere translated as church. Luke is calling this mob, this riot a church. And I don’t think he does so without purpose.

I think the purpose of Luke choosing that word ekklesia is because he is trying to contrast the church of our Lord with the church of the devil. And even though the mob does not seem to constitute what we normally think of as a church, I believe it fills the bill on several levels.

I believe scripture makes it clear that worshipping idols is equivalent to worshipping demons. Paul said in 1Cor. 10:19, “What do I mean then? That a thing sacrificed to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything? No, but I say that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons and not to God.” Jesus said that Satan is the father of lies, and so we see here that he even lies to his own people. He disguises himself under the title of a false god, an idol, or a false religion, but in effect they are worshipping demons. 1Tim. 4:1 Paul again equates false religion with demon worship saying, “the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons.”

So Satan’s church is not usually advertised as such. To the contrary, it is usually advertised as an arbiter of truth. It’s presented as a means to God, as a means of finding personal happiness and peace. And yet if it is not of Christ, faithful to the word of Christ, then it is of the devil. And consequently, people that worship there are worshipping the devil in ignorance.

So Luke through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit is indicating that this counterattack on the Lord’s church is actually of demonic origin, fomented by idol worship and an idol’s temple which serves as the church of Satan, and that brings persecution and trials against the church of God.

Now we’ve read the narrative, and I don’t want to just regurgitate that and call it exposition. But rather I think it would be good to take some characteristics of this event as illustrative of the typical type of counterattack to the gospel of the church. What kind of characteristics are true of false religion. What kind of characteristics are common to the counterattacks of Satan on the true church of God.

First I would point out the monetary motives of false religion. Demetrius clearly appeals to the economic reasons for maintaining their religion. It was a source of great income for the townspeople. They had a thriving business as a result of the temple and idol worship. And so they were motivated by money. Jesus said that money and God are in opposition to each other, saying in Luke 16:13 “No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.”

And love of money is true of false teachers today. They are always asking for money. They are always using the ministry to defraud people of money. And such were the excorcists we saw earlier in this chapter. Such are the televangelists who promise you blessings if you will send in your offering, while they fly around the country in their private planes. Peter warned about those types in 2Pet. 2:1-3, “But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves. Many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of the truth will be maligned; and in their greed they will exploit you with false words; their judgment from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.” In their greed they exploit you… So that is the first characteristic of false religion, the church of Satan, is money is their motivation.

Secondly, the false religionists appeal to the veneration of edifices, statues, temples and tradition. Notice how Demetrius appeals to the national fervor surrounding the temple of Artemis, the international veneration of her religion, the magnificence of their religion’s prominence in the world due to the splendor and opulence of the temple.

False religions love to emphasize the brick and mortar of their religion. They love their great churches, their vaulted cathedrals. They appeal to your awe to support those great architectural wonders, to give to their building programs, their universities, etc. They focus on the physical structures, but God isn’t there. Paul in his message recorded in Acts 17 said, “The God who made the world and all things in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands.” God dwells in the hearts of righteous men and women, who are the temple of the Holy Spirit. We are the true church. No building can contain the God of the universe. But Satan loves to focus our attention on edifices and property and statues, which are nothing more than repositories of idols.

Then closely related to that is the appeal of pride. Demetrius appeals to the pride of the craftsmen, the pride of the Ephesians for their great temple. The pride of the work of their hands. But pride has no part in the gospel of Jesus Christ. Unless a man humbles himself even as a child, he will not be exalted in the kingdom of God.

Then notice in vs. 28, the characteristic of demonic counterattack is anger. They were filled with rage. Christianity makes people mad. Because people don’t like to be confronted with their sinfulness. And they don’t like to have to face the fact that their entire way of life and their entire system is wrong. The more they have invested in the false system the greater their rage against the authority of the Bible.

The gospel is not designed to be a theoretical exercise we do on Sunday mornings only. It’s supposed to impact your livelihood, your day to day life, the way you conduct business. And when it does that, you should expect people to get mad at you. A lot of churches spend a lot of effort to make sure that they don’t offend anyone. But the truth of the gospel is by nature offensive. We should not batter people to death with it, but neither do we try to mitigate the destruction of the defenses it is designed to break down.

Then in vs. 29, we see another characteristic of the demonic church’s counterattack is confusion. “The city was filled with the confusion.” Paul said in 1Cor. 14:33, “God is not a God of confusion but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints.” Listen, make no mistake; if a church is a place of confusion, it is not a work of the Lord. It may very well instead be a place of the doctrines of demons. God is not the author of confusion in the church.

Paul said that because in the church at Corinth everyone was running around with a word of prophecy, speaking in tongues, singing songs, etc, and there was no order. So if it is true that God is not the author of confusion, then conversely, the devil is the author of confusion. And he especially likes to confuse the gospel, to twist the word, to add new revelations and prophecy to the word. To add words of knowledge to that, and holy laughter to that, and barking like a dog to that, and glitter falling from the ceiling to that, and people falling out on the floor to that, and the whole thing is just one big batch of confusion. And such is not of God. Period.

In vs.32, we see another characteristic of the false religionists, and that is ignorance. Some were saying one thing and some were saying something else. And most of them didn’t even know what they were rioting about. They were just caught up in the euphoria. False religion plays on people’s ignorance, superstition and emotions.

The Bible says that people perish for lack of knowledge. False religions are built on half truths and flat out lies, so there is no truth, no saving truth. Jude warns that those false prophets will be destroyed by the things that they do not understand. “But these men revile the things which they do not understand; and the things which they know by instinct, like unreasoning animals, by these things they are destroyed.” The church of the Lord, on the other hand, is built up on sound doctrine, and is unified in doctrinal purity, being saved by the knowledge of the truth. God’s word is the truth. It only is reliable, and authoritative.

And the last characteristic of a false religion, of the counter attack of Satan’s church, is closed mindedness. Notice that in vs. 33, the Jews put up this guy named Alexander, who was probably going to try to make sure that the riot wasn’t blamed on the Jews, but when he opened his mouth and they recognized him as a Jew, the whole mob started shouting for two hours straight, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!” They didn’t want to listen to anything. They wanted to just shut up any perceived opposition to what they wanted to believe.

I can attest to closed mindedness being a hallmark of the false religions. I’ve noticed that such people often are unteachable. They take their stand on a vision they have seen, or some word of special revelation that they had, or on some experience that they had or what some priest said. And it doesn’t make any difference what the Bible may say to the contrary. They put tradition or experience above God’s word.

Well, this huge assembly vastly outnumbered the disciples. They out yelled them, out chanted them, and just attempted to intimidate the church of Ephesus as much as they possibly could. But Paul wasn’t afraid of them though. He wanted to go in there and face them and perhaps preach the gospel. I would say that wasn’t foolishness of Paul. That was his assurance that God had promised to do certain things in his life, and he was sure that God would keep his promises. God had indicated that he would go to Rome. So Paul knew that if he went in there and it turned bad, somehow God would deliver him.

But God had other plans to deliver His church. And we must remember that God promises to deliver His church from the attacks of the devil, and even from false prophets. Denominations may fall, temples may crumble, church buildings may become vacant, but the word of God will endure forever. Jesus said, “I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.”

So God used an unsaved man to dismiss the mob. He didn’t need to use Paul to do it. God preserved Paul by having what amounted to the mayor of the town come out to the assembly and quiet them down by reasoning with them. He assured them that Paul and his companions had not defiled the temple of Artemis. He said they were neither robbers nor blasphemers of the goddess Artemis. And then he ended up reminding them that there were lawful ways to handle disagreements in the courts, and they were subject to the judgment of the courts as well, if they did not disperse and prevent a riot. So by a miracle, the crowd disperses. After hours of chanting and shouting and so forth, God brings about Paul and his disciples deliverance.

Listen, we need to remember that the battle is the Lord’s. He will fight for us. It is His church. When we try to fight in human means we end up ostracizing the very people were are called to win to Christ. There are surely some things we are to do. But for the most part we are told to stand firm, to speak the truth in love, to be steadfast, immoveable. We are not told to form political action committees or to seek to win over people through legislation or force. But rather we should wait on the Lord. Let the Lord fight our battles while we stand by and watch.

Moses said that very thing in Exodus 14:13, “But Moses said to the people, “Do not fear! Stand by and see the salvation of the LORD which He will accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians whom you have seen today, you will never see them again forever. “The LORD will fight for you while you keep silent.”

We need to remember Eph. 6:12 which says, “our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.” There is a good possibility that when John wrote 3John the Demetrius that he mentions there is the same Demetrius that is leading the riot here. If so, he eventually became a Christian by the steadfast, faithful witness of the church. We need to remember that is the goal of our endeavors as the church of Christ.

Satan will rage, and his assembly will attempt to dissuade as many as possible to join their ranks, they will counterfeit the truth of the gospel, but ultimately, the gospel of Jesus Christ will prevail. We need to stand fast in the word of God, stand together as the church of the Lord, and be a witness to the truth of God’s word. And when we do that, the gates of hell will not prevail against this church. Let us be wise as serpents, and harmless as doves, so that we may win the lost.

1Cor. 15:58 “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord.”