(1) WHO ARE YOU?

(2) Acts 19:11-17

Acts 19:11–17 (NKJV)

(3) Now God worked unusual miracles by the hands of Paul,

(4) so that even handkerchiefs or aprons were brought from his body to the sick, and the diseases left them and the evil spirits went out of them.

(5) Then some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists took it upon themselves to call the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, “We exorcise you by the Jesus whom Paul preaches.”

(6) Also there were seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, who did so.

(7) And the evil spirit answered and said, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are you?”

(8) Then the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, overpowered them, and prevailed against them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.

(9) This became known both to all Jews and Greeks dwelling in Ephesus; and fear fell on them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified.

PRAYER

(Play video- Magic at Ephesus at the very beginning)

There were a lot of things going on in the city of Ephesus, as you can imagine. And this portion of scripture is very intriguing to me. Allow me to share with you some of what I find intriguing as we unpack these verses this morning.

It starts from the very first verse in this narrative. (10)“Now God worked unusual miracles...”. (11)Wait, what? Let’s remember what has already occurred in this record of the time after the ascension of Christ. In chapter 2 we read about the Holy Spirit resting upon those in the upper room, Peter finds his preaching voice and over 3000 souls are added to the kingdom in one service, chapter 3 opens with the healing of a man who was lame from his birth, Peter and John are arrested and when speaking to the Sanhedrin they are asked in whose name and by what authority did they heal the lame man to which they reply in part, “there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” (12)We see prisons opened, the chuch continue to grow, and lives impacted for the kingdom of God. (13)And now we’re told that God worked unusual miracles, like any of this was usual. I mean, these must be some over the top kind of miracles. (14)Or perhaps the implication is that when we are Christ followers, the supernatural should not surprise or frighten us. That would go against the grain here in Ephesus, there were many sorcerers and magicians that made their living on the fear of the supernatural by claiming to be able to control the demon possessed. You can already tell this isn’t going to end well for someone. Right?

So, the miracles that God had worked had been heard about and these sorcerers tried to take advantage of what God was doing. What i want to point out here is that they wanted what Jesus could do for them but they didn’t want Jesus. They said, “We exorcise you by the Jesus whom Paul preaches.” (15)Does that resonate with anyone this morning? Maybe we aren’t trying to cast out demons but sometimes we want what Jesus can do for us without wanting Him in our lives. We ask Him to bless our comings and goings but we don’t want Him directing our path. We ask Him to bless our finances but we don’t want to turn those same finances over to serve the kingdom. I mean let’s be honest, sometimes we think it would be so much easier if He would just give us His blessing and let us go and do whatever we want. I bet you haven’t said it out loud but i bet you’ve thought something similar. We’re about to see the foolishness of that line of thinking.

Sceva was one of these sorcerers and he had at least 7 followers who were engaging in this. Until one day when one of the demons verbally addressed them. (16)How would you answer that question? We know Jesus and we know Paul but who are you? The question is really, by what authority are you commanding us? Why should we listen to you let alone do as you say? It would seem to me that the demons knew who their enemies were or at least who to fear. Would any of us be known among the demonic as one to pay attention to? This had to be an eye opening experience for these men; but, not as eye opening as what was about to happen.

I believe that while these 7 men were contemplating the question posed to them, the demon possessed man pounced on them and gave them something to remember. Now, we can look at this and smile or laugh and think what a sight that must have been. (17)I think it should serve as a reminder that this is a spiritual war and we are combatants. We are in a fight and our adversary is counting on the fact that we don’t know how to fight to protect ourselves or the ones we love. If you know what the UFC is, raise your hand. Would you step into the cage to fight any of those fighters? Why not? Even if you are proficient at defending yourself, the majority of people would feel extremely inadequate. Intimidated would be a good word to describe the felling. Here’s the difference. These men were standing in their own power and calling on Jesus but not because of their relationship with Him; but, because of Paul’s. (18)If you are a Christ follower, you can rely on your relationship with the risen Messiah. These 7 men were run out of the house naked, beaten, and bleeding because they really had no idea what they were doing. (19)Do you?