Acts 19:13-16, How Are You Recognized?
Notes
Transcript
Title
Title
Then certain of the vagabond Jews, exorcists, took upon them to call over them which had evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, We adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preacheth. And there were seven sons of one Sceva, a Jew, and chief of the priests, which did so. And the evil spirit answered and said, Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are ye? And the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, and overcame them, and prevailed against them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.
HOW ARE YOU RECOGNIZED?
Lesson
Lesson
Here we have Paul in Ephesus, (v1)..He is preaching and teaching as usual. We see him baptizing in the name the Lord Jesus, (v5).
Paul has laid hands on them and the Holy Spirit has come upon them that they are prophesying and speaking in tongues.(v6)
Paul hangs around for a few years because Ephesus had become a hotbed for all forms spiritism, magic, superstition and the black arts.
So Paul hung around to show the people both Jews and Greeks the power of God and made sure they heard of the Lord Jesus. the bible says it was special miracles by the hands of Paul that God wrought. (v11)
And Paul’s fame spread and they brought the sick and diseased and those full of evil spirits to him and the word says they departed or went out of them.(v12)
Paul was being recongized as a miracle worker....
and if i have any bible readers in here you know this is was not Paul’s first time dealing with evil spirits, if you have ever looked at Acts 16:16-18, i am sure you know this story.....TALK, PREACH....
And it came to pass, as we went to prayer, a certain damsel possessed with a spirit of divination met us, which brought her masters much gain by soothsaying: The same followed Paul and us, and cried, saying, These men are the servants of the most high God, which shew unto us the way of salvation. And this did she many days. But Paul, being grieved, turned and said to the spirit, I command thee in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her. And he came out the same hour.
the people were looking and watching.....if i may inject quickly.....people are looking and watching you as well.....TALK, PREACH....
So now we come to our text for today, and all of this watching now have certain people thinking they could do the same thing as Paul but they were doing it for money and attention not for the edification of the kingdom.
V13, these vagabond Jews were wanderers, gypsy type folk....looking to make some money and this group were exorcists…for the right price they could get the evil spirit out of you or your loved one...
They stood over or called over those with evil spirits....they started out right but ended wrong....look at the text....Acts 19:13 “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.””
TALK......they were coping Paul, trying to piggy back off of Paul so they could be recognized as healers....
First thing we need to understand, in order to be recognized as a child of God, a follower of Christ, you need to know Him for yourself....
you can not piggy back off someone else, you can not talk about that which you have no knowledge of....TALK,PREACH...
they had no idea what they were doing but this a good of example of mess around and find out....
What they didn’t realize is that even the evil spirit could recognize the have’s and the have’s not....
Paul and His Letters Paul’s Early Ephesian Ministry (19:1–22)
They had seen Paul heal in Jesus’ name and assumed the power was in the name. The power was indeed in the name and person of Jesus but not apart from the one who uttered the name. The demon made that clear. He knew the name of Jesus. He knew the Paul who invoked the name. He didn’t know these would-be exorcists. The
Look at v15… Acts 19:15 “And the evil spirit answered and said, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are you?””
in my studies what i found interesting is that in the original greek text Luke used two different greek words for the word know. The demon said he knew Jesus personally, i.e., by experience (ginosko), and he had heard about Paul (epistomai)....TALK, PREACH..
but then he asks the vagabonds, who are you....TALK
That brings up the question for today, How are you recognized?
Too know that demons recognize a true child of God, a true follower of Christ and they also recognize the hypocrites.....TALK, PREACH...
A little deeper thought, God also can recognize the true and the fake....what you dont want to hear....Matthew 7:23 “And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’” ......TALK
What you do want to hear....Matthew 25:23 “His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’”
God knows, Evil knows....when you do your self examination.....do you know?
How you are recognized means alot....not worried about this earthly thing but spiritually....let me give you an example....
on this side, i may be recognized as Robert and Jonquil’s curly head boy, I may be recognized as the undertaker, as Nikki’s husband, lexi, emrey and emilee daddy, as the Pastor of New Hope....
all of this is good but none of these will get me into heaven....Matthew said servant not nikki husband.....TALK, PREACH....
Let me give you some more good news, even though evil doesnt recognize you, they still have to get permission to bother you…come here Job.... Job 1:12 “And the Lord said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your power; only do not lay a hand on his person.” So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord.” ....TALK, PREACH...
So we can not piggy back off anyone, we need to know Christ for ourselves, in order to be recognized, you need to know something about Him,
next we need to realize that trueness and fakeness can be recognized by God and by evil...
Finally, I said earlier, this text is a good example of how you can mess around and find out. And they found out the hard way....
Acts 19:16 “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.”
If God doesn’t recognize you and evil doesn’t recognize you as a child of God and sees that His hand is not on you....that’s bad news....
Paul and His Letters Paul’s Early Ephesian Ministry (19:1–22)
The demoniac then fell upon the seven exorcists. In the melee they lost their clothes and fled the scene naked and humiliated
Because the seven sons of Sceva had no real relationship with Jesus, they had no spiritual power against the evil spirit.
a true relationship will lead to a powerful recoginition.
That recognition is one of being recognized as a true child of God. A true follower of Christ. One that dwells in the word. One that has the blood of the lamb all over them...
How are you recognized? Choose ye this day.....TALK, PREACH, CLOSE....
Kenneth O. Gangel, Acts, vol. 5, Holman New Testament Commentary (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1998), 324.