Trusting God When Doors Close: How the Gospel Came to the Churches of Revelation - Acts 16-19

0:57A lot of closed doors. We experience them. Whether it's a closed door on an opportunity, or perhaps it's a closed door on a political hope, or maybe it's a closed door on education. Some of you are probably waiting for your letter from Texas AM. Maybe it's a closed door in a profession. It's a closed door on a relationship. Maybe it's a closed door on a great idea you had, or maybe it's a closed door on a noble ambition, even a very godly ambition, or a ministry opportunity, or a ministry ambition. The reality is, we experienced closed doors.

1:52I want to talk to you this morning about trusting God when doors close. Doors are going to close in your life. How we as children of God respond to that makes all the difference. But what I want to do is, as I am giving you an appreciation for how the gospel came to the churches of Revelation, I also want to give you an appreciation for what God is doing in your own life and that He can be trusted even when He closes doors.

2:32So I want to take some time and look at the last few chapters of Acts, or certainly Acts chapter 16 through chapter 19, and just unfold this remarkable account of how the Holy Spirit brought the gospel to the churches of Revelation, the area of Asia Minor, modern-day Turkey. The book of Acts is often referred to as the Acts of the Apostles or the Acts of the Apostles. But as you study it more and more, you realize that it's really not about the Acts of the Apostles, but the Acts of the Holy Spirit. And what the Holy Spirit was doing then, we can see patterns of what he is doing now.

3:27And so this morning, I want you to see two closed doors and two open doors so that you will marvel at the means by which God brought the gospel to Asia Minor, and as we do, that you will be encouraged to trust God when he closes doors in your own life. Well, the key city of Asia at the time is Ephesus. It's Ephesus. I'm going to give you some fun facts. It was supposedly founded by Wonder Woman.

4:07And I'm not talking about the Wonder Woman that America has come up with, but the historic Wonder Woman of the Amazons, not the red, white, and blue Wonder Woman. But the one of Greek mythology of the Amazons, you've heard of the Amazon women of old? No, they weren't named after the river in the Amazon forest. Quite the opposite, in fact, when the explorer, the Spanish explorer, was exploring Brazil and South America, he came across some fighting women while traveling down the Amazon. And so that is how the name Amazon, the river, got its name, was after these Amazon women of Greek mythology.

5:13In fact, this whole area of Ephesus and the north, all around the Black Sea, there was a legendary warrior woman. The Greeks had conflict with them. Achilles is said to have killed the Amazon queen. If you ever want to know, remember that. Achilles how do you remember that Achilles killed the Amazon queen? Just remember his name is Achille Achilles. Achilles. He went around killing the shees. Okay, okay. But according to the myth, some of these Amazon women fled from Hercules and founded Ephesus, took refuge at Ephesus. In fact, they were thought to be completely mythological until really in the 1990s they started finding these tombs of these warrior women.

6:29In fact, many of the Greek mythology we're finding archaeology is uncovering historical counterparts, that there were some elements that the stories and the myths were exaggerated and developed. But the archaeological evidence suggests that these women were about five feet six inches tall, heavily armed, and bowlegged. Sounds like we can have some of that in Texas. Of course, now everyone drives pickup trucks, so the horses are out. But it's here that in this area that we are talking about today, it was also Ephesus was a religious center, and I'm focusing in on Ephesus because it also depicts the whole region. It wasn't just Ephesus. Ephesus becomes the chief center, but it was also a religious center. The temple of Artemis the Ephesians was there.

7:41The Roman counterpart, Diana. It was about twice the size of an American football field. It was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. These guys really knew how to build. In fact, Pliny records that the length of the temple was 425 feet. Its width was 225 feet. And it had 127 columns, pure marble. By one of the first structures, pure marble, and really fascinating. And just as another fun fact, I'm going to give you a little of my civil engineering interest here. They built it on a marsh. And then, even in the several hundreds B.C., they had to rebuild it. And they built it on the same marsh. It burned. And some of the thought was, why in the world would you build this thing on a marsh? They understood a little bit about earthquake movement, even back then. And especially back then. You're going to build a marble structure, which is very brittle.

8:56They built this so that it could move, and it lasted. The genius of ancient men is far greater than our evolutionary counterparts would suggest. They really understood some construction and some construction methods that have been lost. But to give you an idea of this temple, the temple, if you go to Athens today, you would see there on the Acropolis the Parthenon. You've heard of the Parthenon. Well, it was the Parthenon's half the size of this temple to Diana.

9:43And it only had 58 columns. There were twice as many columns. It was a spectacular sight, this temple to Artemis of the Ephesians. In fact, one visitor, ancient visitor, had this to say about the temple of Artemis. I have seen the walls and the hanging gardens of ancient Babylon, the statue of Olympian Zeus, the colossus of Rhodes, the mighty work of the high pyramids, the tomb of Mausolus. But when I saw the temple at Ephesus rising to the clouds, all These other wonders were put in the shade.

10:34Such was the religious and cultural center of Ephesus. In fact, but Artemis herself, she was no beauty. In fact, she was a grotesque-looking figure. But now, coming to some of the key facts about Ephesus, Ephesus was the commercial center of Asia. It's the largest city in the Roman province of Asia, and it had one of the most prosperous harbors of the ancient world. So it was accessible by ship, by boat, and the commerce that came out of that. It also had three major roads, one of them going all the way down to Babylon, connecting it to the rest of the East, the other roads. It was a free city.

11:28Population during Paul's time is probably somewhere around a quarter of a million people, very large for the time. So larger than our Bryan College Station area. And it's clear that Paul saw this city as a strategic place for the gospel to advance to the ends of the earth. Well, it's in this context I want us to start looking at the closed doors that God. Used to bring about some mighty good things. Closed door number one. The year is about 50 AD. And if you're in your Bibles, you can look at, follow along in Acts 15, verse 36. I'll just start there.

12:23After some days, Paul said to Barnabas, Let us return and visit the brethren in every city in which we proclaim the word of the Lord and see how they are doing. So the whole second missionary journey begins with this noble ambition, a noble ambition. Paul wants to strengthen churches and continue spreading the gospel on his way. Well, then, quickly, after that noble ambition, look back at verse 39. Actually, just read, just pick it up in verse 37.

13:06Barnabas wanted to take John, called Mark, along with them also. But Paul kept insisting that they should not take him along, who had deserted them in Pamphylia and had not gone with them to the work. And there occurred such a sharp disagreement that they separated from one another. And Barnabas took Mark with him and sailed away to Cyprus. So you Had a noble ambition followed by a sharp ministerial disagreement, a ministry disagreement. So at the very outset of Paul's second missionary journey is a ministry disagreement.

13:49But then there is this desire, a noble desire to go into Asia. Paul, look at the, you can look at the route that he was going, and you can tell he has this noble ambition to go into Asia. So he comes, here's a map. You can get an idea. Paul comes up, goes across Galatia, comes into Asia, wants to go into Asia, but then he's going to be forbidden by the Holy Spirit to go into Asia. Look at verse 16, or verse 6. I'm sorry, chapter 16, verse 6.

14:30They passed through the Phrygeon and Galatian region, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia. And after they came to Micaea, they were trying to enter Bithnia and the Spirit of Jesus did not permit them. And passing by Mysia, they came down to Troas. It's evident by the path that Paul was taken and the express prohibition by the Holy Spirit that he wanted to go into Asia. This is where he wants to be, but instead he wants to, he goes up to the north, just to the southern side of the Black Sea, and he wanted to go into the area of Pontus.

15:24But he, by the way, you know what's this is the southern side of the Black Sea. Do you know what's happening on the northern side of the Black Sea today? There's a war, right? A war between Russia and the Ukraine. So just on the north side of the Black Sea, just a little bit up the way, you have the big conflict that we're now hearing about and seeing about. Well, Paul is taking the gospel in this area, wants to go, but he is forbidden.

15:57A closed door. Closed door, number one. And the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Jesus, forbid him to go. I'm reminded of the Proverbs 16:9: the mind of man plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps. This reality was true in Paul's life. It's true in our life. But God. Closes doors sometimes for his glory and for our good. You can be sure when God closes a door in your life, it's for his glory and for your good, because that's who he is.

16:53Even such a noble ministry ambition, such as preaching the gospel in Asia, God closed the door, at least for a time. Next, I want you to see an open door, open door number one. But even though the Holy Spirit closed the door to Asia, he opened the door to Greece and really to the whole European continent. This will be the first time the gospel steps foot on the European continent. Look at Acts 16, 9. A vision appeared to Paul in the night. A man of Macedonia was standing and appealing to him, saying, Come over to Macedonia and help us. When he had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.

17:58So he closed a door in Asia. But he opens a wide door in the area of Greece. And God gives Paul two very fruitful years in Europe. It began in Philippi, quickly spread to Thessalonica and Berea, and Athens and Corinth. The work of the Holy Spirit was exciting, was doing exciting things in Europe. But I want you to see what he was also doing in Paul's life and specifically Paul's ministry team. Notice that Paul was picking up some friends along the way.

18:49First, in Acts chapter 16, verse 1, he picked up Timothy, a Greek. Timothy, a Greek, somebody who was going to be very important in the future. That disagreement created a job opening, and that job opening needed to be filled, and Timothy, who was also Greek, filled that role. The next thing you know, there is Paul going into Greece. But also notice, He picked up another companion. His name was Luke. This companion who was a doctor, a historian, and an author who wrote more words than any other New Testament writer did. What an incredible addition.

19:50You can see this in Acts 16:10. When he had seen the vision, immediately we circle that. We. We sought to go into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them. Prior to this, he's speaking about Paul in the third person. What Paul did, what Paul and Tim did. Then, all of a sudden, in Acts chapter 16, verse 10, it's we, it's us. Paul had picked up a mighty resource, the historian, Luke, the doctor, Luke.

20:32But about the time, about the time that Paul was forbidden to go into Asia, something was happening in Rome. Guess what that was? The Emperor Claudius wanted all the Jews out of Rome. And so he ordered all of the Jews to leave Rome. A pogrom. Pilgrim, a Jewish expulsion sanctioned by the state. Get them out of here. And yet, this expulsion of the Jews proved to be very important for the gospel in Asia. Turn ahead to Acts chapter 18. Let me show you what takes place here.

21:26Just read to you Acts 18:1. After these things, he left Athens and went to Corinth. And he found a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, having recently come from Italy with his wife, Priscilla, because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to leave Rome. He came to them, and because he was of the same trade, he stayed with them, and they were working, for by trade, they were tent makers. So think about that. A pogrom, Jewish expulsion. More friends. Priscilla and Aquila joined the team.

22:18And their rendezvous point was in Corinth. And at the time, God was forbidding Paul to go into Asia. He's also stern. The heart, not that God is responsible for the evil, but he turns the heart of the king whichever way he chooses. And that pogrom resulted in Priscilla and Aquila coming to Corinth about the same time Paul came to Corinth. And they just happened to be of the same trade. Don't you love it? You can even back it up further and see the hand of God, even earlier in these men's lives, is choosing their own profession and equipping them.

23:14It was their profession that brought them together. So sometimes God closes doors even on our noble aspirations, but we can trust Him. We can trust Him. He wants us to aspire to noble things. And He wants to equip us and sanctify us to do those things that please Him most. That's who He is. I want to take you to a second closed door. So you start getting the picture. He wanted to go to Asia originally, and then He. He has to go all the way above, comes to Troas, spends a couple of years making his way down into Corinth. And then something happens.

24:15A very important haircut. That's what happens. Look at verse 18 of chapter 18. Paul, having remained many days longer, took leave of the brethren and put out to sea for Syria. And with him were Priscilla and Aquila. In Chintria, he had his hair cut, for he was keeping a vow. They came to Ephesus, and he left them there. Now he himself entered the synagogue and reasoned with the Jews. Now, what's going on there? He had a vow. He took a vow. Prior to heading to Ephesus, in Chintria, he gets a haircut.

25:09He evidently had taken some kind of Nazarite vow. And part of the responsibility, you can read about it in number six. Even back then, in number six, the vow, the hair, was to be presented at the tabernacle. And that seems to have continued even in the temple area and even down to Paul's time. He had taken a vow, let his hair grow out, and then he gets the haircut. And then he's now obligated to present that probably within 30 days in Jerusalem. So now he boards a ship and he's heading to Jerusalem. Why did he take the Nazarite vow? Don't really know, but probably had to do with something about being devoted to God in this mission trip. Maybe even it was a cry for protection as the persecution was very brutal during that time. Whatever the case, Paul had taken a vow and was now on his way to Jerusalem. But guess what happens along the way? Now, the year is about 53 AD at this point.

26:25And he comes to Ephesus, probably the boat goes to Ephesus to charge up and then heads on down to Israel. So probably is a short stop. But he happened to go into the synagogue. Look at what happens in verses 20. Verse 20. He, when they asked him to stay for A longer time, he did not consent, but taking leave of them, saying, I will return to you again if God wills, and he set sail from Ephesus. So, look at what's happened. He's come, now he's in Asia. Now he's in Asia, he's got an open door to preach in the synagogue. Except he's made this vow and he has to go and get back home.

27:29Back to Jerusalem. The haircut. He had to leave. And he, I will come back if the Lord wills. But look at what he did happen. He left some people there, didn't he? They came to Ephesus and he left them there. Who did he leave there? Priscilla and Aquila. So now the year is about 53 AD. 53 A.D. And meanwhile, God has been working in the life of another man. His name is Apollos. And Apollos, he was a great preacher, mighty in the scriptures.

28:20However, he needed some tutoring. Just pick up that account in Acts chapter 18, verse 24. Now a Jew. Named Apollos, Alexandrian by birth, an eloquent man, came to Ephesus, and he was mighty in the Scriptures. This man had been instructed in the way of the Lord, and being fervent in spirit, he was speaking and teaching accurately the things concerning Jesus, being acquainted only with the baptism of John. And he began to speak out boldly in the synagogue. But when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately.

29:06So if you think about what's happening here, Paul is now discipling somebody he has never met, Apollos, who is mighty in the scriptures, who is a profoundly good speaker. In fact, look down in verse, I'll just keep reading. And when he wanted to go across to Achaia, the brethren encouraged him and wrote to the disciples to welcome him. And when he arrived, he greatly helped those who had believed through grace, for he powerfully refuted the Jews in public, demonstrating by the scriptures that Jesus was the Christ.

29:50The word of God was advancing powerfully. He didn't have radio back then. This is the next best thing. This was the radio ministry. This was the proclamation. And God brought Apollos there to Ephesus. And he has a successful preaching ministry there. And he is tutored by Priscilla and Aquila, friends that never would have joined the team had Paul not been forbidden to go into Asia and make this huge long route around into Greece and come to Corinth. Do you see how the Holy Spirit was involving, involved in so many aspects of the ministry into Asia?

30:37Well, and you can see this big circuit route that Paul had to go on years. And then he comes to Ephesus and he has to leave again, go all the way down there, back to Jerusalem. But then the third missionary journey is going to be a direct line into Ephesus. Actually, that's a bigger picture of it all. I guess I've. But sometimes God does that. He takes us on these long routes. He closes doors and he takes us on these seemingly long routes. But he's doing something. He's doing something. And so.

31:30I want to take you now to open door number two. So now we've looked at open door one, closed door, or closed door number one, open door number one. We've looked at closed door number two. Now I want you to see open door number two. The year is now 54 AD, and Paul sets out on his third missionary journey. This time he makes a straight line for Ephesus, the key city of Asia. Notice chapter 19. God did not forbid Paul to go into Asia this time. The land had been prepared. After four years, the time for Paul to preach the gospel in Asia had finally come.

32:21And what an effective three-year ministry it was. In fact, look at Acts 19:10. This took place for two years so that all who lived in Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks. Circle that verse. Also, and right in the margin, see 16.6. In fact, you should probably circle Acts 16.6 in your Bible, where the Holy Spirit. Forbid Paul to go in to Asia. And now we come to chapter 19 and 10. Paul evidently had a desire to go into Asia, but now in 19:10, we read these words: so that all who lived in Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks.

33:22What a ministry. In fact, if you look at where Acts goes, one of the significant church, the significant development, is in Ephesus. Many chapters are devoted to the ministry there in Ephesus. In chapter 19, first he meets up with John the Baptist or the disciples of John the Baptist. They receive the Holy Spirit. Then he ends up reasoning for two years in the school of Tyrannus, so that all in Asia heard. What takes place after that is really kind of exciting. Have you heard of the sons of Skeva? Seven sons of Skeva? All of a sudden, they're saying they're trying to cast out demons. And the evil spirit, seven sons of Skeva, in verse 14, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this, and the evil spirits answered and said to them, I read. Recognize Jesus, and I know about Paul, but who are you? And the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them and subdued them all and overpowered them so that they fled out of the house naked and wounded.

34:46Wow, this became known to all. Yeah, I guess so. What an event. This became known to all, both Jews and Greeks, who lived in Ephesus, and fear fell upon them, and all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was being magnified. People were selling and getting rid of all of their magic arts, and they were great, a great turning took place. Look at verse 20 of Acts 19. So the word of the Lord was growing mightily and prevailing.

35:27And you know what it did? It really impacted the worship at the Temple of Diana. The Temple of Diana. There's a big religious practice. There's a lot going on there. And then they run into this guy named Demetrius. The industry was being impacted. So you can kind of think of Demetrius as a union chief. And his industry is threatened. And so he calls together some of his union thumbs. To go out and get rid of Paul. A huge riot breaks out.

36:08And what takes place is a regional, major spiritual shift. Listen, I have lived through many boycotts of companies that have offended Christians in this country, participated in some of them. I'm sure you all know what I'm talking about. When a company does some bad things, there have been Christians have called for boycotting. But I don't think I've ever seen an industry, let alone a company, brought to its knees because of Christian boycotts. What took place in Ephesus was massive. They didn't even call for the boycott. They preached the gospel. The gospel was received. And a major regional spiritual shift took place so that the industry, the worship of pagan deities, was dealt a crippling blow.

37:20That's the kind of ministry that came to this area. Started with a closed door. If you look at subsequent New Testament history of Ephesus, in 62 to 64 AD, Paul was imprisoned. 64 A.D., Paul was released. He returned to Ephesus and left Timothy there. He left Timothy there to teach or to instruct certain men not to teach strange doctrines. And so this church became very skilled in recognizing false doctrine and dealing with false doctrine. 66 AD, as Paul is removed from the picture, prison, John the Apostle comes to Ephesus and ministered there for three decades, exiled to Patmos, probably died and then released for a short time and died shortly after.

38:33But the prominence of the Ephesian church is seen in the fact that it is the recipient of eight New Testament books. The Gospel of John, 1 and 2, and 3rd, John, Revelation, 1st and 2 Timothy, and Ephesians. All of those were written to this church. Corinthians was probably written from Ephesians. And so When we enter into chapter 2 and chapter 3 of Revelation, Christ Himself is going to address these churches and give us a prophetic snapshot into the issues they were facing, which are very much applicable to us today. And so I hope you'll look forward to our time in chapters 2 and 3 as we walk through these seven churches.

39:31But also, I want to tell you a little bit about the subsequent history of Ephesus and these churches of Asia. In 269, Ephesus and the surrounding area was devastated by the Goths. Temple, later centuries, closed down, completely abandoned. Even the emperor wouldn't reopen it. It became a quarry for building materials. You know how to get rid of a big old pagan temple? Tell everybody, yeah, come build your house, get what you need out of it. Temple served as a quarry for building materials. Several early church councils convened in the area around Ephesus. Well, some were in Ephesus, Nicaea, Chalcedon, all those in that area. Today, the ancient city is in ruins. Its harbor is. Now silted in. They needed a good ocean engineering guy that could keep the sediment from getting in the harbor. It's silted in, so now it's several miles away from the sea.

40:45The city is in ruins, the ancient city. You can tour the site today, but the lessons remain. The exhortations remain. And that's what we're going to be looking at. It's important. I mean, if you have the time to tour the site, but more important is to heed the exhortations. Blessed are the individuals who read and obey the words that are written to these churches. So just in summary, what all did the Holy Spirit use to advance his gospel in Asia?

41:32Well, here's a few. Noble aspirations, personal sacrifices, disagreements, riots, visions, vows, young people, old people, common occupations, secular employments, Greeks, Jews, old friends, new friends made along the way, enemies, disappointments, persecutions, emperors, pogroms. Expressions of love, expressions of hate, open doors, and closed doors. Just take a moment to marvel at what all God used to advance his gospel, not only in breadth, but in depth. And don't miss what this says about your own life. Don't miss what this says about what God is doing in your life through closed doors.

42:36Trust Him. Trust Him. And don't miss what this says about our church and our times. You can trust God when the doors close in your own life. And instead of letting closed doors get you down, trust God. He is at work to bring about your good. He is at work to bring about His glory. In fact, I want to close with maybe somewhat of an embarrassing word. Oh, maybe I shouldn't. I guess it's too late now, right?

43:25Nance and I were talking the other day, and she reminded. Me of this. I'll probably embarrass her as much as I embarrass myself. But we were having a long-distant relationship, and one of those occasions we were visiting. She had come down for a visit. Well, I was living out at the boys' ranch, and we got to talking, and I was like, you know, I'd really like to know how our relationship's going to turn out. Remember this conversation? And I was excited. I was so taken with Nancy, and I was like, well, I just, I can't imagine God ever bringing somebody more wonderful in my life than Nancy Whitehead. I was like, wow, just, and I remember as we were talking, and as she remembers and reminded me, I was saying, oh, I wish I knew how things were going to go. And I said, but I'm excited one way or the other because either God's going to bring us together or He's got somebody even better than you planned out there. So either way, I go home a winner.

44:40Not because I deserve any better, but because God is that good. And I think that's the message: that whatever's going on, whatever gets closed, if a good thing gets closed, just be sure that God, because of who He is, has got something better. What a joy! Joy. What a joy to serve a God like this. And that's the message. Trust God, even when doors close. Wow. Not just trust, but marvel. He is doing good things because that's who He is. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, indeed, we come before you and thank you for the promise of your goodness, for the steadiness of your love and devotion to us.

45:32Father, we don't deserve any of it. And Father, it is in your good pleasure that you lead us in things and in ways that always please you the most. Help us to walk in those ways. Help us to be thankful in our current circumstances. Even if we can't see all that is going on, we know who you are. Help us to trust. Forgive us for our faithlessness and for ascribing to you bad things or evil intentions. Far be it from us, Father.

46:07Thank you for all that you've done. Thank you that you are still calling people to yourself. Even here this morning, as this word is proclaimed, you are calling people to yourself to grow not only in breadth, but in depth. So thank you in Jesus' name. Amen.