Acts chapter 19, verses 11 through 20. I love
this story. It's one of my favorite stories.
Maybe some of you have read it before. And you
may not have read it, and that's okay too. We're
going to talk about it today. Acts chapter 19,
verse 11. Let's read through these verses, and
then we'll pray and get started. was performing
extraordinary miracles by Paul's hands, so that
even face cloths or work aprons that had touched
his skins were brought to the sick, and the diseases
left them, and the evil spirits came out of them.
Then some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists attempted
to pronounce the name of the Lord Jesus over
those who had evil spirits, saying, I command
you by the Jesus that Paul preaches. Seven sons
of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this.
The evil spirit answered them, I know Jesus and
I recognize Paul, but who are you? Then the man
who had the evil spirit leaped on them, overpowered
them all and prevailed against them, so that
they ran out of that house naked and wounded.
This became known to everyone who lived in Ephesus.
both Jews and Greeks. Then fear fell on all of
them, and the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified.
And many who had become believers came confessing
and disclosing their practices. While many of
those who had practiced magic collected their
books and burned them in front of everyone. So
they calculated their value and found it to be
50 ,000 pieces of silver. In this way, The Lord's
message flourished and prevailed. Let's pray.
God, we come to you today, and I pray, God, that
your word would speak to us. God, there's no
good word that I can say if it does not come
from you. So, God, we pray that your spirit would
open our ears today, that we would hear and open
our eyes, that we would see your word, dear Lord.
Take away any pride or any fear that's within
me, God, that I can rightly speak and preach
and teach your word today. God, I pray whatever
worries and distractions and thoughts we came
in here with today, I pray that you would free
our minds from that. I pray, God, that if there
are any that came into this building today and
they do not know Jesus, that they would know
him today. God, I pray for those who do know
Jesus, that we would know him better. God, I
pray that we would find strength in your word
and that you just speak to us today. All for
your kingdom and all for your glory. In Jesus'
name I pray it. Amen. Now Paul had been doing
some extraordinary things. Paul was one, we talked
about this some last week, Paul was one who had
really been opposed to the gospel of Jesus Christ.
He was religious in many ways and really knew
what we would call the Old Testament well and
was really zealous for God, or so he thought
he was. And then he encountered Jesus. And when
he encountered Jesus, he realized that everything
he thought he knew about God and God's law, that
he had missed the whole purpose of it. And so
he encounters Jesus, and Jesus changes his life.
And so in the first part of the book of Acts,
we see Peter. Peter, the one who had denied Jesus,
and Jesus restored him after he was resurrected.
And Peter went out, and man, one minute he's
denying Jesus, and it ain't many days later that
he is at the forefront of this Jesus movement,
of promoting the gospel and telling people about
Jesus, and not shying away, not denying Jesus,
but preaching him with all his might. And then
we see as we get about halfway through the book
of Acts, we've been introduced to Peter, I mean,
excuse me, to Paul, and we begin to shift gears
and we begin to focus on Paul and begin to see
Paul's works. Now, Paul did many miraculous things.
He was definitely anointed by God. And Jesus,
when Jesus was still alive and walking the earth,
we see scriptures where Jesus gave authority
to his apostles. Now, we talked a couple of weeks
ago that all authority belongs to Jesus. And
he says that. Before he's resurrected, he says,
look, all authority has been given to me in heaven
and on earth. And so Jesus is the authority,
and Jesus chose in his disciples to give that
authority to heal diseases and to cast out evil
spirits and demons and these type of things.
We see that Jesus gives that authority to his
apostles, and Paul had that same authority. We
see Paul raising somebody from the dead. We see
Paul casting out demons. We see Paul healing
people. We see all of these miraculous things
that Paul is doing. So he is having an impact.
He's going all over to these different places,
and he is serving the Lord, and it's hard, and
he's constantly under persecution and in prison,
and life is in danger, but God is with him, and
God delivers him, and God uses him in a mighty
way to continue to do these miraculous works.
So certainly word of Paul had got out, much like
it did with Jesus. You know, people start raising
the dead and doing all these miracles. Well,
word gets out. People want to be healed of their
sicknesses. We understand that. We want to be
healed of our sicknesses, and we want our loved
ones to be healed of their sicknesses. And so
we see these miracles in this passage we look
at. God was performing extraordinary miracles
by Paul's hands so that even face cloths or aprons
that had touched his skin were brought to the
sick and the diseases left them and the evil
spirits came out. Now, I don't know about these
face cloths and these aprons. Maybe God did anoint
these materials in some way that they really
did have this miraculous power to heal. It could
have been that that's what God chose to do, to
just remind people and show people of his power.
and the power and authority that comes through
Jesus Christ, through his crucifixion and resurrection,
and that power still exists in his followers.
And he could have simply made these face cloths
and these aprons. He could have just anointed
them in some way that they really did have healing
power. However, I think that probably the healing
power came maybe not necessarily from the fabrics
and materials. but from the faith of those who
are touching them and who are receiving them.
Now, we see this throughout Scripture. You may
recall there was a woman with a problem of bleeding
for many years and had tried everything and nothing
had worked. And she said, if I can just touch
the hem of the garment of the clothes that Jesus
is wearing, then I will be healed. And she did
just that. She worked her way through the crowd.
She reached out. She barely touched Jesus' clothes.
Jesus said, who touched me? And his disciples
said, you're nuts. There's a million people.
Everybody touched you. But Jesus said, no. This
person that touched me was different. I felt
power leave from me. And this woman came forward,
and Jesus told her, your faith has healed you.
He didn't say, because you touched my garment,
it heals you. He didn't say, my garment is what
heals you, because my garment has some special
power. He said, your faith has healed you. And
here in this instance, we got people taking these
face cloths and these aprons that they had gotten,
that Paul had touched, and they're taking them
back to their sick or those who are possessed
by these evil spirits, and they're being healed.
There's somebody acting on their behalf, getting
to the sick people, and I believe there that
it's probably their faith that's healing them.
You may remember a story. There was a guy who
was too sick. He couldn't get to Jesus. He was
on a bed, and his friends couldn't get to Jesus.
There was too many people around the house where
Jesus was. And they took the roof off, and they
lowered this man down into the roof. And what
does Jesus tell them? He says, by your faith.
He says it's their faith, their faith, the man
and his friends, that has healed him. And so
we see this time and again in Scripture that
people are healed by Jesus. But we see often
after they're healed that it says your faith
has made you well. And so regardless how God
worked through these aprons or through these
face cloths, whatever means he chose to work,
it seems to me that these people who healed probably
had faith. That faith is what brings about...
healing and so these miraculous extraordinary
works were taking place and evil spirits were
being cast out let's read a little further and
see what it says in verse 13 then some of the
itinerant jewish exorcists attempted to pronounce
the name of the lord jesus over those who had
evil spirits. Now, itinerant, that means traveling.
These were traveling exorcists. In this case,
there was a guy by the name of Sceva. He had
seven sons, and his sons were going around, traveling
from place to place, driving out these evil spirits.
Now, I don't know what their motive was. Maybe
they were just godly people, and they wanted
to free people. Maybe there was some other motivation.
Maybe there was financial gain in it. I don't
know. The Scripture doesn't tell us. It just
tells us that these men were going around, Driving
out evil spirits or claiming to drive out evil
spirits, whether they were or not, is unknown.
It appears that they probably were not because
we see this encounter here. And so they know
of Paul and they know of the Jesus that Paul
preaches. But it seems clear that they do not
trust in the Jesus that Paul preaches. And so
they've heard of these things, and obviously
they know that Paul is driving out evil spirits,
and so they add this tactic to their playbook.
Now, I don't know what methods they were using,
what they were doing, what they were saying,
what actions they were doing to drive out these
evil spirits as they traveled around, but whatever
they were doing, they saw what Paul was doing,
and so they decided, then we're just going to
go this route. We're going to call on the Jesus
of Paul to drive out these evil spirits. And
so they encounter a man who has evil spirits.
And listen to what they say in the middle of
verse 13. They say, I command you by the Jesus
that Paul preaches. So that's what they say.
They go to this evil spirit and they're going
to get it out and they say, I command you by
the Jesus that Paul preaches. They're thinking
this is going to do the job because certainly
they probably had seen and heard of Paul in the
name of Jesus. Get away. Get out of this person.
And the evil spirits would flee. Paul was casting
them out. They said, we'll try that. We'll do
what Paul's doing. I command you in the name
of the Jesus that Paul preaches. But it didn't
work quite like they had hoped. Listen to what
the man possessed with the evil spirit says.
In verse 15. The evil spirit answered them. I
know Jesus. And I recognize Paul. But who are
you? But why didn't it work? They said the name
Jesus. Why didn't the evil spirit leave? The
spirit, he acknowledged Jesus. I know Jesus.
Yeah, I know Jesus. And I know who Paul is. I've
heard of him. But who are you? What he was saying
is, where is your authority to tell me what to
do? Who gives you authority? Now the authority
that Paul had came from Jesus Christ because
he had trusted in Jesus Christ. And what the
evil spirit is really saying, by what authority
are you commanding me to leave? You don't have
any authority over me. Now we know the one who
has authority, it's Jesus Christ. We know others,
his followers that have authority through Jesus
Christ that he gives to his followers. But these
men were not followers of Jesus Christ. They
knew his name. They believed he existed. But
they weren't his followers. Let me ask y 'all,
this is a test. This is an easy one. Man, I hope
y 'all all pass. If you're in this room today
and you believe in God, I want you to raise your
hand. I hope that's everybody's hand. I think
it is. Well, let me tell you this. You know who
else believes in God? The devil. He believes
in God. He knows God exists. He believes in Jesus.
He knows Jesus exists. Listen to this. The evil
spirit, they even spoke the name of Jesus. They
said His name. They said, I know Jesus. So even
the evil spirit can speak the name of Jesus.
We can speak the name of Jesus. We can believe
in God. But it's not just about knowing that
Jesus existed. It's not just about knowing that
God is real. It's about do you trust in Him or
not? Do you trust in Him? Have you put your faith
in Him? And these men, they knew of Jesus, but
they did not know Jesus. They looked the part.
They were going around by all accounts. It looked
like they were doing God's work. but they did
not know the Lord. And so they called on the
name of Jesus, but it didn't help them in any
way because they did not know Jesus. They weren't
under his authority. They weren't under his protection.
And so when Paul could boldly go and drive out
these evil spirits in the name of Jesus, these
men could not because they knew of Jesus, but
they did not know Jesus. And so they approached
this evil spirit and this evil spirit says, who
are you to tell me what to do? And listen what
happens to them. In verse 16, then the man who
had the evil spirit leaped on them, overpowered
them all and prevailed against them so that they
ran out of the house naked and wounded. Naked
and wounded. They were trying to go up against
the evil by their own power. Just because they
thought they had some knowledge of Jesus, they
thought that was enough. But even though they
had knowledge of Jesus, they hadn't experienced
the power of Jesus. And as a result, they took
on the evils and they lost. The evil spirit overtook
them. One man overtook seven men, and they ran
out of the house naked and afraid. They were
fearful, they were wounded, and they hit the
road running. And is that any of our stories
today? That maybe we know of Jesus. And we know
that Jesus has authority. And we know that Jesus
can heal. And we know that Jesus can drive out
evil spirits. And we know about the Word of God.
And we know God is real. And we believe that
God is real. But we don't really have a relationship
with God. We don't really have a relationship
with Jesus Christ. And we know of God, but we
don't know God. And we're going through this
world, but we're really still trying to do things
on our own the way we want to in our worldly
ways. And so many times we go up against our
sins and our temptations and the evils we face,
and they destroy us. We can't overcome them.
We can't stand up to them. They are far greater
than anything that's within us. Because Jesus
is not within us. We know about Jesus, but we
don't know Jesus. That's the case for some people.
Maybe some of you in this room, that was the
case for these men in this story. He who is within
you is greater than he who is within the world.
If he's in you. He's got to be in you. He's got
to be the Lord of your life. You've got to submit
to the authority of Jesus Christ to be able to
call on the authority of Jesus Christ. And so
many times we go up against the evils in our
life and they just destroy us. And we leave,
spiritually speaking, naked and afraid. We are
wounded and we are heading out. And we're wondering,
why didn't it work? Well, God's not fooled if
we just go through the motions. Why didn't it
work? Why wasn't Jesus there? I said Jesus' name.
Well, even the evil spirits said Jesus' name.
But what the evil spirits didn't do was trust
in Jesus. What the devil doesn't do is trust
in Jesus. And that's the difference. God doesn't
just want us to know about him. He wants us to
trust in him. He doesn't just want us to know
who somebody is. He wants us to have a relationship
with him. There's no authority in just knowing
who someone is. If I leave tomorrow and I go
up to Washington, D .C., and I tell all the congressmen
and women, let me tell you what, in the name
of Donald J. Trump, you need to do what I tell
you to do. And guess what? They ain't going to
do nothing. I'm going to say, I know Donald Trump.
I've seen Donald Trump. I see him all the time.
But guess what? I know who the president is.
I know him. But I don't know him. I don't have
any authority. that anybody's going to listen
to me if I say in the name of Donald J. Trump.
I've got no authority. Now, if I was close to
him, if I was real close to him, people knew
I was close to him, if I said his name, they
probably would do what I ask them to do. So if
we call on the name of Jesus, but we really don't
know Jesus, we really haven't trusted in Jesus,
we really haven't put our faith in Jesus, then
we're not experiencing the freedom and the power
that come through Jesus Christ. We're trying
to face all of the evils of this world on our
own, and we cannot do it. The word of this story
spread quickly throughout the area. A lot of
people there that was practicing some sorcery
and some other things, it says at the end of
this passage. And it says that fear spread throughout.
And guess what happened after this event? People
said, whoa, hold up. Hold up a second. There's
something to this Jesus that Paul preaches. And
we're not just going to call on the Jesus of
Paul. We're going to call on Jesus to be our
Jesus too. And it says that they begin to burn
all of their magic books, all their sorcery books,
all their spells, whatever it was they were doing.
It says that they begin to get together and they
begin to burn all of these materials up that
they've been trusting in and living by. All the
things of the world that they had been seeking
for security and protection and guidance. They
realized they weren't good enough, and they said,
we have to get rid and get away from the things
of the world if we're going to trust Jesus. And
it says that they burned up stuff that equaled
up to about 50 ,000 pieces of silver. That's
a lot of silver. Some of your translations may
say 50 ,000 drachma. That was a form of money
in those days. So one drachma was a day's wages.
So a drachma is a day's wages. The books and
the materials that they had been trusting in,
they considered them worthless. Even though they
were of great monetary value, they considered
them worthless in the presence of Jesus Christ,
and they burned up 50 ,000 days' worth of money
in books when they came to Jesus Christ. If you're
curious, if you do the math, that's 136 years.
That'd be 136 years' worth of wages. And their
life was changed by Jesus Christ. They didn't
just want to know about the Jesus of Paul. They
just didn't want to hear his name. They didn't
want to be just familiar with him. They wanted
to know him and they wanted to follow him and
they wanted to trust him. And they did. And it
changed their life. And they gave up their old
ways. And they began to follow Jesus Christ.
And that's the same choice that you and I are
faced with today. Praise the Lord. You all believe
that God exists. You all raise your hand. That
is fantastic. If you didn't raise your hand,
I'd love to talk to you sometime and we'll talk
about it. But we all believe on some level, hopefully,
that God exists. I want to tell you today that
Jesus Christ is the Son of God, that we are sinners,
that Jesus was sent to save sinners, that He
was nailed to a cross, He was placed in a tomb,
and He was resurrected. I want to tell you today
that Jesus Christ is real and he wants to forgive
your sins today. And you've heard that. If you
weren't daydreaming in the last 15 seconds, you've
heard that. You know the gospel of Jesus Christ.
I want to tell you that he loves you, but it's
not just enough to know that he loves you if
you haven't trusted in him. It's not about looking
apart. It's not about knowing of him. Knowing
of Jesus doesn't make you a Christian. Your family
knowing of Jesus doesn't make you a Christian.
Knowing Jesus personally does make you a Christian.
So we don't want to be those who look the part.
We want to be those who have experienced Jesus
Christ. Some of you may have noticed today I'm
wearing this nice Wrangler shirt. And I'll tell
you why I'm wearing this wrangler shirt today.
Partly because of our t -shirt reveal. But also
because I'm a cowboy now. And y 'all didn't know
that. Well, it ain't funny. We got a cow a couple
of weeks ago. We did. We got a cow. And I was
informed last night that I was not a cowboy,
that I was a cattleman. So I don't know what
I have to have to have a cowboy. I don't know
if I have to have a horse, if I need boots, a
hat. I don't know what the requirements are,
but I believe I'm a cowboy. And y 'all can think
what you want to think. And I'll wear my Wrangler
shirt and my boots. And y 'all laugh. Y 'all
laugh at that because you know that I'm not a
cowboy. I've got a Wrangler shirt on. And I do
have a cow, a small cow. Her name's Little Cow.
Very original. Her name is Little Cow. And I
can wear shirts and I can get cows, but I'm not
really a cowboy. When we got our cow, I stood
there. A man drove up with a trailer. He backed
it up to another man's pasture and unloaded our
cow, and I did this. I just watched. Watching
a cow wearing a shirt or boots. It does not make
you a cowboy. It's your experience that makes
you a cowboy. Are you doing the things that cowboys
do? Are you living the life? What about as a
Christian? Maybe today you say, I'm a Christian.
Are you? Maybe you are. Maybe you're not. Maybe
you look the part. Maybe you dress the part.
Maybe you even know the right words to say. But
if you have not trusted in Jesus Christ today,
you are not a Christian. You are up against the
evils and all of the stresses and the worries
and the pain of this world and they are tough.
But I want you to be able to call on Jesus Christ
as your Lord and Savior today. Not because your
parents were Christians or your grandparents.
Not because of anybody else. Don't call on the
Jesus of somebody else. Make Jesus your Jesus
today, your Lord and Savior today. We'll know
if we're a Christian by our actions. Not if we
look the part, but how we live our life. And
we can know today without a shadow of a doubt.
That if we call on the authority of Jesus Christ,
if we have trusted in him, he will hear us and
he will deliver us. But if we continue to go
through all the things of this world on our own,
we will be defeated. And we will leave naked
and afraid just like these men did. There are
many who saw this story in real time and they
said, hold up. We want to follow Jesus. And they
turned from their ways, they repented of their
ways, and they turned to Jesus Christ. And that's
what God calls you to today. If you don't trust
in Jesus Christ, He calls you to repent, to put
your evils aside, to turn from your ways, to
turn to Jesus Christ and call on Him from your
heart, and He will hear you. You will search
for me and find me when you seek. for me with
all of your heart, the scripture says. Are you
seeking Jesus today? I pray that you are. Let's
pray. God, we come to you this morning. We thank
you for your good word. I pray that we would
learn something from this text today, God. Maybe
there are some in here today that know about
you. They may have come to this church or other
churches or read their Bible and they know all
about you, dear Lord. They know about Jesus,
but they have not ever really trusted in Jesus.
They know of him, but they don't have a relationship,
dear Lord. God, there are so many times that
maybe we go through this world and we're trying
to depend on our own power and to do it our way.
God, and man, the things of this world just knock
us upside the head and just get us down, dear
Lord. But I pray, God, that we would not trust
in our abilities today, but that we would trust
in Jesus Christ. That it not just be a word that
we say, God, that comes out of our mouth, but
it be a cry for help and deliverance that comes
from our heart. So God, I pray that if there
are any in this room today that don't really
know Jesus, that never have put their faith in
Him, I pray today that they would repent. That
whatever it is in their life that's keeping them
from Jesus, that's been what they've been depending
on, God, I pray that they would repent of that
today. They would give that to Jesus Christ.
God, I pray for those in here that are yours,
and maybe there are some, God, and they just,
they know you, but they haven't been living like
it. Maybe they've been looking to part. And maybe
by all accounts on our end, we'd look at them
and say, oh, they're a godly man and woman. But
dear Lord, you look far deeper into their heart.
And God, you convict us. You let us know. We
know what's in our heart, God. If we don't know,
I pray that we'd seek you now that you would
help us to know. God, we don't want to be those
who play a role. We want to be those who know
Jesus and experience Jesus, that our lives would
be changed by Jesus. So God, I pray. That this
morning you forgive us of our sinfulness. That
you would just break our hearts. That in these
few moments as we sing, God, that if you have
spoken to any today, that if there are some that
do not know Jesus Christ, that today they would
repent and put their faith in him. That they
would come down this morning, dear Lord, as we
sing. That they'd come down, let me pray with
them, rejoice with them. Maybe there are some
here today, God, and they're yours and there's
just some things that they just need to go to
you and bring before you. I pray, God, that they
would open their heart out to you today. And
I ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen.