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Reading Acts 19:11-20 where some sons of a Jewish priest invoke the name of Jesus and Paul to capitalize on the success of the gospel going throughout Ephesus and Asia. Visit wwutt.com for all our videos!
As Paul was preaching in Ephesus, the message of the gospel was going out to many. And there were some who saw the success of this and tried to capitalize on it. You know, we'll see that same kind of thing happening today when we understand the text.
This is When We Understand the Text, a daily study of God's Word that we may be filled with the knowledge of His will. For questions and comments, send us an email to whenweunderstandthetext at gmail .com.
Here's your teacher, Pastor Gabe.
Thank you, Becky. In our study of the Book of Acts, we come back to chapter 19, where the apostle Paul is in Ephesus, preaching the gospel, and it is going out to all of Asia. Let me pick up reading in verse 11, and we'll go through verse 20.
Hear the word of the Lord. And God was doing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul, so that claws or aprons were even carried from his body to the sick, and the diseases left them, and the evil spirit went out.
But also, some of the Jewish exorcists who went from place to place attempted to invoke over those who had the evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, I implore you by Jesus, whom Paul preaches.
Now seven sons of one named Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this, and the evil spirit answered and said to them, I recognize Jesus, and I know about Paul, but who are you? And the man in whom was the evil spirit leapt on them, subdued all of them, and utterly prevailed against them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.
And this became known to all, both Jews and Greeks who lived in Ephesus. And fear fell upon them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was being magnified. Also, many of those who had believed kept coming, confessing and disclosing their practices.
And many of those who practiced magic brought their books together and were burning them in the sight of everyone, and they counted up the price of them and found it to be 50 ,000 pieces of silver. So the word of the Lord was growing mightily and prevailing.
Now you may have noticed that we heard that word prevail twice. We see this evil spirit who prevailed upon the seven sons of Sceva, but then at the end of the section, we read about how the word of the Lord, the message of the gospel was growing mightily and prevailing.
And so as we read this, may the word of God prevail over us as well. And if there is anything that you might be dabbling in that is contrary to what God commands of us in his word, get it out of your life, that we may devote ourselves fully to Christ and live in his name.
Let's come back to verse 11 here as we read the section today. And God was doing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul. So in addition to sharing the gospel, that's the last portion that we read about yesterday, Acts 19 .10, Paul's preaching of the gospel.
He did in the hall of Tyrannus. He had the message of the gospel going out through all of Asia from Ephesus. This took place for two years so that all who lived in Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks.
In addition to the preaching, Paul was doing extraordinary miracles. And as we have seen over the course of Acts, the miracles showed that the word that was being preached came from God. It could only have been from God to be able to do such miraculous signs.
So God was doing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul. What kinds of miracles? Verse 12, so that cloths or aprons were even carried from his body to the sick and the diseases left them and the evil spirits went out.
So remember that the apostle Paul was a tent maker by trade. And he would, he was working previously with Priscilla and Achilla as they were all doing tents together, either making tents or mending tents.
It was a, it was a lucrative practice and Paul was skilled in it. So maybe as Paul was working on a tent, he would wipe his face with a cloth and then somebody, maybe one of these 12 disciples that we had, we read about in verse seven, they would take one of those cloths to somebody who was sick.
And so even touching the cloth that came from Paul, they would be healed. Or if they had evil spirits, the evil spirits would be cast out of them. Even cloths or aprons were carried to the sick. So Paul couldn't go to everybody.
There's a lot of people in Ephesus. He himself physically couldn't make it to everyone, but these cloths could get there and, and, and would demonstrate the power of God that was in the apostle Paul. This was so people would hear the word that Paul preached and they would believe.
They would know that it came from God and this Jesus, whom God raised from the dead was really the savior and by faith in him, people would be saved. Remember that when Jesus healed the paralytic, he said, this was so that you would know the son of man has the ability, the authority on earth to forgive sins.
So he healed this man so that you would know he had the ability to forgive. Now, Paul doesn't have the authority to forgive, but he points to the man who does, Jesus Christ. So Paul, as an apostle, doesn't take any of that glory for himself.
He preaches that Christ would be known and through the power of Christ, people are even being healed of their diseases. Now you may hear of somebody today who will try to duplicate this same kind of thing.
There will be like the televangelists, for example, that will say, if you send us money, we're going to send you this cloth and you can use this cloth, rub on, you know, whatever it is on you that is sick or diseased and you will be healed.
I think that fewer televangelists are doing this today because of how easy it is to investigate this kind of thing and expose it. And anybody can get on YouTube. Like it doesn't take somebody with a television channel to expose this anymore.
You can just get on social media and say, hey, this guy is claiming that his cloths heal diseases and I can prove to you that they don't. Who was the guy, who was the televangelist guy that he gained a reputation for being known as the farting preacher because of some spoof video that was made about him?
Who was that guy? Tilton? Was it Robert Tilton? I get him and Peter Popoff confused. I think it was Tilton. So Tilton had this show and sometimes it would be on late at night. So somebody could watch, you know, one o 'clock in the morning and they're seeing Robert Tilton stuff and he's saying, send us money, we'll send you this cloth.
All of that is a fraud. None of these promises have ever been able to heal anybody. But this was definitely happening in Ephesus and Paul's fame was spreading far and wide. So now you have this group of guys, they're trying to gain something from Paul's success.
Maybe we can capitalize on this. Maybe we can make a little money or some notoriety for ourselves through this. So in verse 13, also some of the Jewish exorcists who went from place to place. So these are itinerant exorcists who will go from one town to the next, claiming to be able to cast out evil spirits.
They attempted to invoke over those who had the evil spirits, the name of the Lord Jesus. So the indication here is that these men, the sons of Sceva, well, not just the sons of Sceva, they're used as examples, but there's other Jewish exorcists here that are being talked about in verse 13.
So the indication here is they don't really believe in Jesus as the one who can forgive sins. By faith in him, you will be saved. Maybe some of them do, but it seems to indicate that they're just invoking his name.
They don't really believe in his name. So, hey, if the name works, let's go ahead and do it. So they were proclaiming in the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, I implore you by Jesus, whom Paul preaches, be gone.
Be gone, Satan. Whatever it was they were saying as they were casting out these evil spirits. So then in verse 14, now seven sons of one named Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this. So here you have an actual example.
So far, everything's been mostly broad because Luke, who is the author of Acts, as he's talking about this, he's just saying, you know, claws and aprons and things like that, that go out from the apostle Paul, they touch people and they are healed.
But Luke hasn't given us any specific examples of this. And I would also believe that this is happening beyond Ephesus. Maybe Paul is in Ephesus. He's preaching there. He's working there. But these aprons and claws can be taken to people in other places.
And when they are miraculously healed, then the one that brought this item from Paul is able to say, well, let me tell you how you got your healing. It's not me you should honor. It's not Paul you should honor.
It's Christ, Jesus, who was raised from the dead, who has this authority not only to forgive you or not only to heal you, but also to forgive you of your sins. Turn to Jesus and you will be forgiven and reconciled to God and you will have everlasting life.
And that would be their message. It would go out even from beyond Ephesus. So you have these itinerant priests and they hear about this and they're trying to do the same thing and gain some money for themselves.
So now Luke gives us a specific example. Here's one of such occasions where this happened and you can test it yourself. You can go find the sons of Sceva or you can go find people who were healed by the sons of Sceva.
And they are doing this very thing. They're saying, I implore you by Jesus, whom Paul preaches and attempting to cast out these evil spirits. But they're not actually casting out any evil spirits. Because what happens when they encounter a real evil spirit, that's what happens in verse 15.
So these sons of Sceva, these are also like many of the fraudster televangelists and what do you call the people who are doing the whole casting out evil spirits thing, the deliverance movement. So as you see the deliverance movement out there today, this is exactly what we're seeing described.
What was happening 2000 years ago in Ephesus, it's the same stuff that's going on through either the TV networks, whether it's day star or Trinity, or you have the, the YouTube channels. There's the big charismatic conferences that they'll do bringing people together, claiming that they are healing people in casting out evil spirits and speaking in tongues and all this other kind of thing.
None of that is actually happening. It is just as fraudulent as what these sons of Sceva were doing. They were claiming to do it. They were claiming the name of Jesus. They were claiming to even believe in Paul and the message that he preached.
But what they were doing was not really of Christ. They were conning people, gaining a lot of attention for themselves, gaining some money for sure. As Paul warned about in first Timothy chapter six, there are those who think that godliness is a means of gain.
So they will claim to be godly. They will claim to proclaim Christ, but they're not actually pointing people to Christ. They're just trying to get something for themselves. So the evil spirit, when they actually encountered a real evil spirit, somebody who was possessed by an evil spirit, the spirit answered and said to them, I recognize G I recognize Jesus and I know about Paul, but who are you?
So let me give you an example of somebody out there who's doing this kind of thing, gaining notoriety for themselves by claiming to cast out evil spirits. Catherine Crick. She seems to be one of the most popular on YouTube and Instagram and all of social media right now.
And a lot of the shorts that she is popular for show this very thing, her claiming to cast an evil spirit out of somebody. If she were to encounter a real evil spirit, she would not be able to cast it out.
The reaction would be much like what we see here in this interaction between the sons of Sceva and this man who has a real evil spirit. But I don't think the devil is ready to play his hand yet with Catherine Crick.
So you won't see a person who really does have an evil spirit come to Catherine Crick and overpower her and, and laugh at her because she's unable to cast it out. Because once that happens, then people are going to be able to see, oh, Catherine Crick really isn't who she says she is.
And then she can't fool as many people anymore. And the devil's just not going to lose that card in his hand. So she is continuing to con people. And that's exactly what the devil wants because she doesn't really proclaim the gospel.
She claims that the gospel is your healing. I've already done a video on this shown. This is exactly what it is that she preaches. The gospel is not forgiveness of your sins and everlasting life with God in heaven.
No, the gospel is you need to be healed of your diseases and the evil spirits that you have. That's what it is that she preaches. And, and that's a card in the devil's deck and he likes that. So he's not going to do anything right now to try to expose her and, and therefore give up the con.
But in this case, the devil did overplay his hand and you have these men who are casting out, claiming to cast out these evil spirits until they encounter somebody who really does have an evil spirit.
And he answers and says to them, I recognize Jesus. Yeah. Jesus, the name that you're preaching. I know that one. And we've seen that in the gospels, right? Right from the beginning of Mark, where there's a man with an unclean spirit.
He comes before Jesus and says, what have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy one of God. And Jesus says, be silent and come out of him. So yeah, the demons know who Jesus is.
This man with an unclean spirit knows who the son of God is. I recognize Jesus. And I know about Paul because some of his friends had been cast out by Paul. But he says to these men, who are you? I'm not scared of you.
I don't know who you are. And the man in whom was the evil spirit left on them, subdued all of them and utterly prevailed against them. This is something that we see from these evil spirits, from people who are possessed by these evil spirits.
They seem to be able to demonstrate supernatural feats. There were the men who were in the tombs and the Gadarenes, and they were possessed by legion. They could not be bound with chains. They would break the chains and continue to overcome any people that tried to come against them.
There was the boy who was possessed by an evil spirit, kept throwing him into fire or throwing him into convulsions. So we've seen all of these other occasions. We've seen several other occasions in which somebody possessed by an evil spirit also was able to possess supernatural strength.
And so this man is overpowering these sons of Sceva, beating them all up, works his demon jujitsu on these guys so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded. And this became known to all, both Jews and Greeks who lived in Ephesus, and fear fell upon them all.
And the name of the Lord Jesus was being magnified. So whatever it was this demon did here kind of backfired, right? Tried to show himself more powerful than these guys who were invoking the name of Jesus.
But now that this happened, people became aware of how these guys were not actually in Christ, and they were not partners with Paul. That there needed to be something else than just saying the name of Jesus, or you're not really in Jesus.
And so this is why fear fell upon them. And so now they extol the name of Jesus Christ. We can't just use it flippantly like this. We can't take it in vain and use it for our personal benefit and magnificence.
Now, we have to magnify Christ. And so what else happens? Verse 18, also many of those who had believed kept coming, confessing and disclosing their practices. So there are people who believe in Jesus, but they were also dabbling in some other things that were not of God.
And since this had happened, they're now convicted of heart and realizing, I can't just dabble in these other things. I actually have to be devoted to Christ. These other things don't have power. Whatever it was they were doing, it doesn't say exactly, but we have in verse 19, many of those who practiced magic brought their books together and were burning them to the side of everyone.
So they had kind of this hodgepodge religion among themselves. It was syncretism, right? All of these different religious practices. Surely one of these has got to be right. So I will believe in Jesus, but then I'll also believe in these other things.
And Jesus, I can believe he's the most powerful one, but wherever Jesus is lacking, I've got one of these other beliefs or practices, the magic, the paganism, anything else. I've got these other things I can fall back on that will fill in the gaps.
Now we've got to know that Jesus is our shepherd. I shall not want. Psalm 23, one, right? That we have all things that we could need in Christ. And he is not going to share us with anybody else. We must put away all other sinful, wicked, worldly practices and be devoted to Christ.
If you're into astrology, get rid of it. If you're into the Enneagram, get rid of that. That has pagan origins too. It is completely pagan in practice. I've done a video on it. If you're looking for it, look for WWUTT Enneagram, and it will give you all of that.
Are you trying to draw in, or maybe you're trying to like redeem some sort of practice? So I can still do tarot cards, but I'll just do it in a Christian way. No, now that is pagan and forbidden for Christians to do.
That's what's called sorcery in Galatians chapter five. And it is a work of the flesh for which you will be judged if you don't get rid of it. You have some sort of meditative practice that you do where you clear your mind and desire all these thoughts to come in and fill them.
Meditation means you read the word of God and meditate on that, and you pray to God. Don't get into anything that's like emptying your mind and let the universe speak to you or something like that. No, it's purely pagan.
And you're welcoming in evil spirits when you do something like that. Exactly what's going on here in Acts chapter 19. People are dabbling in things that are actually evil. So they disclose their practices.
They confess it. They get it out of their lives. Many of those who practice magic brought their books together and were burning them in the sight of everyone. And they counted up the price of them. Because books were not cheap back in these days.
Not like you could go to your local Walmart and they had an entire book section that you could buy up. My local supermarket has a book section. Books are everywhere. We are a high literacy culture. I mean, I'm reading on a computer monitor right here as I'm doing this devotional.
You've got your phone in your pocket that probably has your Bible on it, books on it, and all different kinds of things. We read stuff every day. We are a high literacy culture. But back then, they were not.
Making books was actually expensive. So they counted up the price of all these books that people brought out and burned them in the town square. And they found it to be 50 ,000 pieces of silver, or more accurately translated, 50 ,000 days wages of books that were burned there.
That's 137 years of financial earnings. Of course, that's combined. That's not one person's earnings. But that's how much these books were valued to have been worth. 137 years worth of personal earnings being burned right there because the people realized, I cannot share myself with other gods.
I can't share myself with all of these other pagan practices. I must be devoted to Christ. And brethren, we've got to do that as well. Especially when it comes to sin. You've got to get the sin out of your life.
What is it that's causing you temptation? And you're not able to resist the temptation. You keep giving into it over and over and over again. Get the temptation out of your life so that you may be fully devoted to Christ.
Not under the schemes of Satan. Not manipulated by his wiles. But rather, we are in Christ Jesus. And the power of Christ compels us toward obedience and holiness in the Lord. Heavenly Father, we thank you for what we've read here today.
And I pray that our hearts would be convicted. That we get out of anything that would displease you. That would compromise the relationship we're supposed to have with God. That would hinder our prayers.
Help us to get rid of any of those things. David had prayed, if I had cherished sin in my heart, you would not have heard my prayer. Let us not go after sin, but righteousness. The righteousness of Christ that we are clothed in.
Help us to live it out and demonstrate it with our whole lives. Forgive us our sins. Cleanse us of all unrighteousness. Lead us in paths of righteousness. For your name's sake. It is in the name of Jesus that we pray.
Amen.
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