Johan Malan, Mossel Bay, South Africa (September 2014)
Scripture reading: “And it happened, while Apollos was at Corinth, that Paul, having passed through the upper regions, came to Ephesus. And finding some disciples he said to them, ‘Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?’ So they said to him, ‘We have not so much as heard whether there is a Holy Spirit.’ And he said to them, ‘Into what then were you baptized?’ So they said, ‘Into John’s baptism.’ Then Paul said, ‘John indeed baptized with a baptism of repentance, saying to the people that they should believe on Him who would come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus.’ When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus” (Acts 19:1-5).
This group of twelve disciples in Ephesus did indeed believe that Jesus is the Messiah and Saviour, but they had no testimony of rebirth through the Holy Spirit. John the Baptist, who baptised them, had said: “I indeed baptise you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptise you with the Holy Spirit and fire” (Matt. 3:11). Only confessing their sins and being baptised could not save the people. Belief in Jesus Christ as the Lamb of God who would pay the penalty for the sin of the world was needed to be saved. John’s intermediary ministry had to come to an end after he had prepared the people for the coming of the Messiah and had pointed Him out to them. That is why he told them that “He must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:30). People had to stop being disciples of John and become disciples of the Messiah as only He could change them spiritually.
Firstly, Jesus brought an atoning sacrifice to cleanse people from their sins by His blood. Subsequently, He poured out His Holy Spirit to convict all those who hear the gospel of their sins, of the righteousness which Christ wrought on the cross, as well as the judgements which await those who are unrepentant. The water of baptism cannot cleanse people from their sins. Only the grace of Christ which is ministered by the Holy Spirit to a repentant soul can do that. Jesus said: “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water” (John 7:37-38). “But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive” (John 7:39).
The Holy Spirit convicts people of their sins. It they react positively to the conviction by confessing their sins and receiving Jesus as Saviour, the Holy Spirit will regenerate them and instil the new life of Christ in their hearts. That is the baptism of Christ which is ministered by His Holy Spirit. Paul says to the church: “For by one Spirit we were all baptised into one body” (1 Cor. 12:13). How can the Holy Spirit change us inwardly and render us members of the body of Christ if we are not even aware of His existence? On what divine intervention do people base their position as Christians if they are not even aware of the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit? A mere mental acceptance of Christ without a deep spiritual conviction will not bring about any real change, even if it is outwardly confirmed by a church ritual such as water baptism.
It is evident that the small group of believers that Paul met in Ephesus had not yet made the transition from an outward Christ in their minds to Christ within them. They accepted the testimony of John the Baptist that Jesus is the Messiah, but that did not lead to a personal encounter with Him. They only confessed the Saviour with their lips but their hearts remained cold and spiritually unchanged. The Lord Jesus often met such heartless and formalistic people in Israel and said to them: “These people draw near to Me with their mouth, And honour Me with their lips, But their heart is far from Me. And in vain they worship Me, Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men” (Matt. 15:8-9).
Human doctrines, creeds and lip-service are not enough to bring about a change of heart. Our hearts must be regenerated by a spiritual rebirth. Jesus also conveyed this message to Nicodemus, who was one of Israel’s prominent spiritual leaders: “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3). However, Nicodemus could not understand how a person could be born a second time, since he did not know anything about a spiritual birth. Jesus reprimanded him for his ignorance: “Are you the teacher of Israel, and do not know these things?” (John 3:10).
The following was the most important command which God gave to Israel in the Old Testament: “… you shall be holy, for I am holy” (Lev. 11:44). This command equally applies to us in the New Testament: “… as He who has called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct” (1 Pet. 1:15). True holiness which reflects the image of God can only come from the inside, from a changed heart, after the principles of God’s righteousness have been written on the tablets of a believer’s heart (2 Cor. 3:3). These principles determine your values, change your personality and behaviour for the better, and render you suitable to act as a mouthpiece for the Lord. Holiness cannot be artificially pasted on from the outside to function in conjunction with a depraved heart, as that can only lead to hypocrisy. Such a person is a whitewashed tomb which appears beautiful from the outside but on the inside it is void of any true life. He may even be regarded as very religious but because of his spiritual deadness his outside appearance is false, he covers his sins, maintains double standards, and does not convey the Lord’s truth in his conversations. In fact, he does not even understand the things of the Lord as he has a very limited and distorted understanding of God’s Word.
There were various prominent believers in the Old Testament whose hearts were changed by the Lord. Hebrews 11 contains an honorary list of heroes of faith from this time. They could all bear witness of a changed heart, which the Lord alone could bring about: “And the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live” (Deut. 30:6). They received, by way of speaking, a spiritual heart transplant. The Lord says: “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them” (Ezek. 36:26-27).
It is incredible that Nicodemus did not realise the necessity of a changed, regenerated hart. No wonder that the ordinary members of his society only paid lip-service to the Lord while their hearts were far removed from Him. The most important reason for their fatal lack of understanding was ignorance on what God says in His Word. The poor insight of this teacher is still prevalent among some of the religious leaders of today: “You are the spiritual leaders of your church communities and yet you do not know that only the Lord can give a sinner a changed heart through rebirth?” Likewise the rebuke of formalistic Israelites reverberates throughout the centuries and still is applicable to church members of today: “It is in vain that you try to serve the Lord by only observing the commandments of the church leaders without true spiritual motivation and loving the Lord your God with all your heart.” Lip-service alone is not enough to please God; that is why Jesus said: “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven” (Matt. 7:21). The Lord’s will should be done with regard to a reborn heart and a changed life, as this is the only way in which a person can be spiritually and morally renewed from the inside.
The disciples whom Paul met in Ephesus were the victims of ignorance; that is why they said without hesitation that they had never heard of the Holy Spirit. That means that they were unaware of His work of conviction or any of His other ministries. Although they had heard about Jesus and decided to become His disciples, they did not know the conditions of discipleship, and neither were they conscious of the role of the Holy Spirit to guide them into these truths.
The same problems of ignorance regarding the basic principles of the gospel of Christ existed throughout the church age, and that explains the wide occurrence of a mere form of godliness in the world. Paul refers to nominal believers and describes them as people “having a form of godliness but denying its power” (2 Tim. 3:5). He then commands Timothy to turn away from such people and to have no part in their dead religious practices. Church members who today are also unable to testify about the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit, should be questioned and taught: “Do you know the Holy Spirit and did you trust Him to convict you of your sins and lost state? Only He can regenerate you and make you share in the new life of Christ. Only He can make Jesus Christ a reality in your daily life and guide you into all the divine truths without which you will not be able to correctly understand the Bible.”
Modern preachers should consider the following questions: “Do you appreciate the key role of rebirth in the salvation of sinners, i.e. that nobody can inherit the kingdom of heaven without being born again? Did you personally have an experience of rebirth when you came over from darkness to the marvellous light of Christ? Or do you only rely on the doctrine of predestination and the application of covenant signs to render people saved children of God? How can these things change a person in the core of his being without regeneration?”
The spiritual growth of believers in Ephesus – and in many cases their lack of growth – has a very direct message to the end-time church, as the same principles also apply to us. During his third missionary journey in the middle fifties of the first century AD, Paul stayed in Ephesus for more than two years while giving meticulous instruction to believing Jews and Greeks. His extensive teaching emphasised the fact that there is a long process of spiritual growth which follows upon the rebirth of a person. The role of the Holy Spirit in this regard is of cardinal importance. After a sinner repented, accepted Jesus as Saviour and was quickened by the Holy Spirit, he must also be filled, empowered and guided into all truth by the Holy Spirit while he grows up to spiritual maturity.
Even among reborn Christians there is great ignorance on the further ministries of the Holy Spirit, and that is the reason why so many of them stagnate spiritually and eventually become involved with deceptive teachings. It is in this context that revival is of great importance, as this experience alludes to new life and dedication among people who are already spiritually alive. Christians who lost their vision and became spiritually lukewarm, prayerless and materialistic, who start justifying sin, losing their discernment, exposing themselves to spiritual error, and gradually withdraw from evangelistic work, should be challenged to search themselves and make a new commitment to serve the Lord. When they are again cleansed and endued with power from on high (i.e. revived), they will start witnessing and then the salvation of souls will be the fruit of revival. Only a spiritually healthy congregation in which believers walk in and by the Spirit can be used by the Lord to make a difference among unsaved people, and also among carnal and deceived Christians.
Paul dedicated himself towards training young believers to become disciples who have a good knowledge of all aspects of God’s will, and who fully understand what it involves to walk in the fullness of the Holy Spirit. At the end of his stay in Ephesus he said: “… I have not shunned to declare to you the whole counsel of God” (Acts 20:27). He offered thorough expositions of the doctrines of justification and sanctification, and also ensured that believers realised that the dispensation of the law had been replaced by the dispensation of grace. As part of this transition he established the practice of meeting together and celebrating the Lord’s Supper on Sundays, which is the resurrection day of Christ: “Now on the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul … spoke to them” (Acts 20:7).
Only the full truth of God’s Word can protect believers against spiritual deception. Jesus Himself said: “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:31-32). However, not even all the elders in the church of Ephesus were fully grounded in all the aspects of divine truth, and Paul was aware of this problem. In his farewell address to the church counsel he said: “… take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood. For I know this, that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. Also from among yourselves men will rise up, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after themselves. Therefore watch, and remember that for three years I did not cease to warn everyone night and day with tears” (Acts 20:28-31).
Paul did not only warn them against deception that would be imposed upon them from outside the church, but also against deceptive teachings that would originate in the inner circles of the congregation. The same phenomenon is also characteristic of the modern church, as the big enemy of the true church still uses every possible channel to deceive Christians. According to the Bible, the devil will continue unabated with his efforts until the multireligious false christ, the Antichrist, has gained control over the entire world. The fact that the spirit of the antichrist is already exerting a strong influence in various Christian churches and theological seminaries, renders proof that the great falling away of the last days is in an advanced stage: “Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons” (1 Tim. 4:1). Ravenous wolves are still engaged in perpetrating their destructive work in the lives of nominal believers as well as those members of Christian churches who are carnal and hence spiritually immature.
In 60 AD Paul sent an epistle from the prison in Rome to the church in Ephesus. According to this letter he prayed God that the eyes of their understanding might be enlightened to fully understand the gospel message (Eph. 1:18). He also prayed that they might be strengthened with the Spirit of the Lord in the inner man, be firmly established in the love of Christ and be filled with all the fullness of God (Eph. 3:14-19). To practically experience the fullness of God we need to grow in our dedication and filling with the Holy Spirit, “to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine” (Eph. 4:13-14). We must have the spiritual insight to be able to discern between right and wrong, and also the strength to prevail against temptations and sin.
Paul reminds the Ephesians that children of the Lord are involved in a war against the devil and his evil works, and that they should strongly resist and not “give place to the devil. Let him who stole steal no longer. … Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth. … And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them” (Eph. 4:27-29; 5:11). When believers are guilty of these things they would grieve the Holy Spirit, and such situations should be avoided at all cost (Eph. 4:30). Deception and moral sins are at variance with a life which is filled with the Holy Spirit and cannot be reconciled with it: “And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit” (Eph. 5:18).
The doctrine of sanctification as a deeper work of grace is offered to the congregation as the only solution to domination by sinful lusts. They are reminded that their former, sinful life was established through the force of habit, and that it should be put down in a definite step of full surrender. In its place, believers must trust the Lord that the Holy Spirit will enable them to fully put on the new life in Christ. He challenges them, “that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness” (Eph. 4:22-24).
The subject of holiness is of such great importance that Paul reiterates it in the same epistle and also explains its significance in terms of complying with the requirements that the bridal congregation have to appear before the heavenly Bridegroom in a clean robe: “… Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish” (Eph. 5:25-27). After the first purging of our sins Christ wishes to sanctify us completely so that we can appear before Him without blemish at the wedding of the Lamb.
What was the reaction to Paul’s instruction, admonitions and encouragement to members of the church in Ephesus? It was a mixed bag. Some of the members proceeded with their dead, formalistic practices without having a personal encounter with the Lord. Others were truly born again but not filled with the Holy Spirit. They lived carnally, morally permissive, and were inclined towards forms of spiritual deception from which certain benefits could be derived. Contrariwise there was also the minority of Spirit-filled children of the Lord who took a strong stand for the truths of the Word, and because of their strict standard of holy living they were unpopular among the majority of church members.
Eventually, a form of godliness in association with spiritual deception became prevalent, and the congregation started apostatising. The Name of Jesus was still confessed, but a holy walk and spiritual fruitfulness became very rare. In AD 95, when John was banned to the isle of Patmos, the glorified Christ in heaven dictated a letter to John which was addressed to the church in Ephesus. In this letter the congregation is praised for their dedicated service to the church of Christ, and also for the fact that they resisted extreme forms of deception that was promoted by certain sects. However, in the secret, spiritual sphere of their lives they failed the test. They still confessed Christ with their lips, but their hearts were not focussed on Him and were instead filled with other kinds of love, e.g. love for their church. They did not have a personal relationship with Christ, and because of that He was on the verge of withdrawing His Spirit from them. He says to them: “Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place – unless you repent” (Rev. 2:4-5).
The lampstand with its oil symbolises the Holy Spirit who makes the light of Christ shine in the church. When the Lord removes this lampstand, spiritual darkness will prevail in the church, which will allow deception and dead formalism, as well as various other works of darkness, to proliferate. Apart from a small group of faithful believers, the church however also failed to respond to this warning of Christ, and ultimately the church as a whole ceased to exist.
Forty years after Paul had met the twelve disciples in Ephesus who knew nothing about the Holy Spirit, virtually the entire congregation had left their first love and could no longer testify about a personal relationship with Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit. Members of the upcoming generation were no longer faced with the challenge of rebirth and were therefore not established in the fear of the Lord. Because of this serious deficiency, the backslidden congregation not only grieved the Holy Spirit but also resisted and quenched Him.
In the light of the lessons which we can learn from the experiences of the church in Ephesus there are a number of probing question which we should ask ourselves:
· Are we aware of the Holy Spirit’s conviction of sin, as well as His power to regenerate, or do we only pay lip-service to Christ without His presence in our lives on a spiritual level?
· Are we conscious of the dangers related to a carnal Christianity consisting of people who are saved but not filled with the Holy Spirit?
· Do we realise that babes in Christ (immature believers) do not have any insight in the doctrine of sanctification, neither a clear concept of sin?
· Do we understand the doctrine of sanctification and all the commands that go along with it, i.e. the putting down of the old nature and all the inclinations associated with it, and to also put on the new nature of Christ?
· Are we mindful of the danger posed by divisions in the congregation which are the inevitable consequence of deception that is not exposed and resisted?
· When will we discover that a church which is spiritually sick cannot, in a convincing way, reach out to carnal Christians as well as the heathendom around it?
· Are we really prepared to comply with the demand of holiness, thereby living up to God’s standard, so that He can use us effectively in His service?
· Have we already made the discovery that a feeble prayer life, poor knowledge of the Bible, as well as insufficient exposure to good preaching, can spiritually incapacitate us to be used by the Lord in His service?
The Lord is immutable, His love for sinners boundless, and He is always prepared to equip true servants to be His witnesses. Even though sin has abounded, grace abounded much more. Christ is mighty to forgive and also to protect us against the increased attacks from Satan and his kingdom. He is also more than willing to revive anyone who desires it and prays for it, even though the majority may remain backslidden and indifferent. Accept the challenge to be among the faithful minority who do not hesitate after receiving the blessing of justification, but strive after holiness with their whole heart. There were a few committed men and women in Ephesus, and hopefully there is also a healthy core group in our time who are trusting the Lord for complete sanctification. They should come forward and report for duty in the expansion of His kingdom.