Acts 19:8-20 Truth and Consequences

 

Good morning! We are going to be looking at Acts 19:8-20 this morning, page 928 in the pew Bibles. We are picking up with the Apostle Paul in Ephesus. You may remember from last week, Paul dealt with twelve men who were almost Christians, who believed Jesus was the Messiah but didn’t know about His atoning death and resurrection and the giving of the Holy Spirit to those who trust in Him.

Today we are going to look at some other errors that were plaguing the people of Ephesus and the power of the gospel to overcome errors.

Let’s read the text and then we’ll pray and jump in.

⁸ And he entered the synagogue and for three months spoke boldly, reasoning and persuading them about the kingdom of God. ⁹ But when some became stubborn and continued in unbelief, speaking evil of the Way before the congregation, he withdrew from them and took the disciples with him, reasoning daily in the hall of Tyrannus. ¹⁰ This continued for two years, so that all the residents of Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks.

¹¹ And God was doing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul, ¹² so that even handkerchiefs or aprons that had touched his skin were carried away to the sick, and their diseases left them and the evil spirits came out of them. ¹³ Then some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists undertook to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, “I adjure you by the Jesus whom Paul proclaims.” ¹⁴ Seven sons of a Jewish high priest named Sceva were doing this. ¹⁵ But the evil spirit answered them, “Jesus I know, and Paul I recognize, but who are you?” ¹⁶ And the man in whom was the evil spirit leaped on them, mastered all of them and overpowered them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded. ¹⁷ And this became known to all the residents of Ephesus, both Jews and Greeks. And fear fell upon them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was extolled. ¹⁸ Also many of those who were now believers came, confessing and divulging their practices. ¹⁹ And a number of those who had practiced magic arts brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all. And they counted the value of them and found it came to fifty thousand pieces of silver. ²⁰ So the word of the Lord continued to increase and prevail mightily.

Let’s pray.

Here in these verses we can see that this was a time of very successful gospel ministry for Paul. Though the gospel was eventually opposed in the synagogue, Paul went from speaking about the kingdom of God weekly to preaching and teaching daily in the Hall of Tyrannus for two years. Some manuscripts say specifically between the hours of 11 and 4. That’s five hours a day, reasoning with, not just Jews but Greeks as well.

What may have looked like a bad thing at first turned out to be a huge blessing! Lots of people from all over what is now Turkey were hearing the Good News about Jesus as a result of the stubbornness of the Jews in that synagogue.

Verse 11 is where things get spicy.

¹¹ And God was doing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul… Who was doing the extraordinary miracles? Paul? No, God was, I just wanted to be clear on that.

This I part of the evidence for the power of the gospel preached. Miracles were confirmation of the gospel, it was a proof of the power of God at work in the Apostles.

It was never power for power’s sake, but a confirmation of the word of the Lord spoken by the Apostles.

¹¹ And God was doing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul, ¹² so that even handkerchiefs or aprons that had touched his skin were carried away to the sick, and their diseases left them and the evil spirits came out of them.

Again, who was doing extraordinary miracles? Aprons and napkins? No, God was doing extraordinary miracles.

The Catholic church still teaches the worship of relics; as if maybe the bones of John’s finger had magic powers or the sandals of Saint Francis. They mistakenly base that teaching on these verses. But this is idolatry.

The worship of relics, as if the power was in the handkerchief or the apron, is like expecting salvation and power from a dead hand instead of the hand of the Living God; relying on dead works of pilgrimages and ceremonies and not on a living faith in Jesus as a connection to the Father.

There’s a fine line between setting apart a thing for God’s use, and holding up a thing as holy and worshiping it. Whatever you do, do not sit on the holy furniture!

The problem is the mistaken opinion that the power and holiness is in the thing itself. That makes it nothing more than a lucky charm.

So if magical objects are the first error, magic words are the next.

¹³ Then some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists undertook to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, “I adjure you by the Jesus whom Paul proclaims.” ¹⁴ Seven sons of a Jewish high priest named Sceva were doing this. ¹⁵ But the evil spirit answered them, “Jesus I know, and Paul I recognize, but who are you?” ¹⁶ And the man in whom was the evil spirit leaped on them, mastered all of them and overpowered them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.

Alistair Begg said that the seven sons of Sceva turned into the seven streakers of Sceva!

These fake sorcerers saw that there was power in the Name of Jesus but they attempted to use the Name of Jesus like a magic word without a personal faith and relationship with Him. This is the very definition of the violation of the third Commandment, “You shall not take the Name of the Lord in vain.” This is also a very common practice still today.

These posers confessed that they had no real connection to Jesus by invoking Paul’s name alongside Jesus’ Name and the demon saw right through them and gave them the beating of their lives.

Paul would write to Timothy near the end of his life in 2 Timothy 1:12

“…I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that he is able to guard until that day what has been entrusted to me.”

Paul preached Jesus because he believed in Him.

The power is from Jesus and it’s only available through a personal connection with Him through repentance and faith. If you want to experience the power of God you must trust in Jesus yourself, you cannot rely on the faith of another. If anyone ever asks you how you became a Christian and your answer is “well, because my parents were Christian,” and not, “because I trust in Jesus who died on the cross for my sin,” that’s relying on the faith of another, and not on Jesus, for salvation.

JP Lange wrote, “Men who boast of the truth, without knowing it or presume to be teachers, without having themselves any knowledge, or announce the covenant of God, while they detest all wholesome restraint, or pronounce the Name of Jesus with their lips, while in their hearts and works they deny Him, must expect to encounter Satan in all their ways, and to be dismissed with the words: ‘Jesus I know, but who are you?’”

This epic beatdown became known around town and it got people’s attention for sure.

¹⁷ And this became known to all the residents of Ephesus, both Jews and Greeks. And fear fell upon them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was extolled. ¹⁸ Also many of those who were now believers came, confessing and divulging their practices. ¹⁹ And a number of those who had practiced magic arts brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all. And they counted the value of them and found it came to fifty thousand pieces of silver. ²⁰ So the word of the Lord continued to increase and prevail mightily.

What we see here in these final verses is conviction at work. The power of the Holy Spirit at work in the hearts of believers through the gospel.

It has been said that, “The gospel destroyed the influence which the magical arts of unscrupulous imposters had over the hearts of the believers. It broke apart the magical bonds of satanic possession by its vital and saving power. It exposed the magical delusions of sanctimonious hypocrites. By sincere repentance it broke the magical chains which years of service to sin had bound its victims. And it consumed the magical books and scrolls of a deceitful wisdom with the fire of divine truth.”

The people were convicted, confessed their sin, and burned their scrolls. They completely rejected their past practices and cleansed their lives from them by tossing the books and scrolls on the fire.

It shows that at first they had a faith in Jesus but had not fully turned away from their old heathen ways. Not a totally foreign concept even in our day.

So, what’s the solution for us? Burn the scrolls. Rid your life of the things from the old you, the things that tend to draw you back into that sin. It may be books, it may not be. If it’s unwise for an alcoholic to keep alcohol in their house, why isn’t it unwise for us to keep the things that tempt us to fall back into sin?

But before they burned the equivalent of a laborers salary of 137 years, they confessed their sin and divulged their evil practices.

You’ve heard, I’m sure, that confession is good for the soul. Well that’s not a quote from the Bible.

But the Bible does say in James 5:16 “confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.”

And also in 1 John 1:9, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

Martin Luther said, “We therefore teach what an admirable, precious and comforting privilege confession is, and we exhort men, that, in view of our great need, they should not despise such a rich blessing. Now if thou art a Christian, no compulsion, no command will be required, for thou will constrain thyself to confess. Hence, when I exhort men to make a confession, I do nothing else than exhort everyone to be a Christian.”

And the Word of the Lord continued to increase and prevail mightily.

Let’s pray.

“Lord grant your grace, so that you may bear such testimony in favor of every congregation that confesses your Name; and that the earnest efforts of your people to free themselves from the most secret cursed thing may be made manifest, so that the world may have no other reproach to make except this – that they zealously follow holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord.

Amen.