Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

If you’re under the age of 25, how will you aim the next 20, 40, or 60 years of your life?

What will be that truth that will anchor your soul, that stabilizing reality that will keep you tethered as the world swirls around you, that piercing light that will shine in the darkest night you’ll ever face?

Whatever your age… old or young… what have you learned about God that has gripped your soul, held your attention, both terrified you and drew you in?

In our passage today, we are going to read about some people who gave up their livelihood and basically left the only way of life they’d ever known.

Why would someone do that?

Do you believe in a God who can provoke that kind of radical change?

Does the gospel you share with others point to a God, a Savior, a resurrected King that changes everything?

In Acts 19, we’re back with the Apostle Paul in Ephesus, and he’s somewhere in the middle of his two-year ministry there.

Luke rewinds the time a bit, and takes us back to a particular moment of revival.

By the end of v20, the whole town seems to have at least picked up a healthy respect for Christ, and many of the believers were publicly repenting of sin and turning away from the pagan lives they’d been living before.

What happened?

What did God do that seemed to affect even unbelievers?

Let’s find out… and let’s consider what we might learn from this passage together.

Scripture Reading

Acts 19:11–20 (ESV)

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.

Main Idea:

Jesus Christ is a God to be feared, and this should lead us to repentance and faith in Him.

Sermon

1. Miraculous Signs (v11-12)

In these first two verses, Luke says that “God was doing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul” (v11).

Let’s dive right in by noting the Bible’s use of miracles and the extraordinary nature of these miracles in particular.

We’re told here that everyday items, like “handkerchiefs” (or hand towels) and “aprons” (something like welder’s bib or apron), were used as healing aids simply because they had “touched [Paul’s] skin” (v12).

You know, I’ve seen televangelists do crazy stuff with this.

I remember one TV preacher advertising a green handkerchief that you could stick in your wallet.

The green represented money, and he told people that it could “heal” their wallet from poverty.

Friends, that’s ridiculous, and most of us already see the foolishness of such a thing.

But if that’s not what we ought to do with a passage like this, then what are we to make of it?

Why did Luke include these details, and why does he want us to know that God was doing miracles like these through Paul in Ephesus?

First, let’s note that Luke explicitly says these miracles were “extraordinary” (v11).

The language here literally translates, “God was doing (or performing or causing) miracles (or mighty works or powers) that do not happen through the hands of Paul.”[1]

When we read about miracles in the Bible, the last thing we are to infer is that God wants us to see or to experience the same sort of miracles today.

Why would we think that?

Not only are miracles unique to certain times and people, but Luke makes it clear that these miracles were “extraordinary” (v11).

Second, miracles are signs of God’s unusual activity in the world.

When we read about a miracle in the Bible, we are reading about a special moment or occasion when God is revealing something big about Himself and about His unfolding plan of salvation.

In fact, if you read through the Bible, you are bound to see that miracles are generally concentrated to a handful of specific moments in history… (1) creation, (2) the giving of the law or old covenant, (3) the ministry of the OT prophets, and (4) the inauguration of the New Covenant in Jesus Christ.

In Genesis 1 and 2, miracles are happening left and right.

God created the universe from nothing, and He spoke every created thing into existence.

God uniquely created man (male and female), and God spoke directly to them in the Garden.

But after the Fall of humanity into sin, miracles are rare and scattered over vast amounts of time – there is the Tower of Babel, the Flood and Noah, and God’s gracious promise and protection over Abraham… but, as I said, miracles are rare and scattered over time.

The next major occasion for miracles is when God gave His law and covenant to Israel through Moses.

During the time of Moses, God did spectacular miracles in Egypt, striking the Egyptians with judgments in order to deliver the people of Israel.

God’s intent was to bring His people out of slavery and to lead them into the land of promise.

And fundamental to this new existence for Israel was their reception of God’s covenant and law.

In Exodus 19-20, we read about some of the most audibly and visually exhilarating stuff in the Bible: God spoke, the mountain trembled, the sky thundered and flashed, and God killed everything (even animals) if they merely touched the mountain.

After Moses and the law, again miracles were rare and scattered.

But when Israel became a kingdom, they became much like the nations around them, embracing false gods and practicing the same kinds of sins as everyone else.

So, God sent them prophets, spokesmen who warned them of God’s judgment.

And God confirmed or verified all His prophets by performing miracles, but none quite like Elijah and Elisha.

These are the quintessential prophets.

Through Elijah, God stopped the rain from falling for years (1 Kings 17:1), He raised a dead boy back to life (1 Kings 17:17-24), and He sent fire from heaven to consume an entire altar that had been drenched with water (1 Kings 18:20-40).

God also worked many miracles through Elisha, but he and Elijah were unusually miraculous, even for prophets.

And yet, for the vast majority of the Old Testament era, daily life for the Israelites was pretty non-miraculous.

There were dreadful horrors and wonderful rescues, but most of these were according to God’s providence… His normal governance of the world… not miracles.

Then, when the Messiah finally came, during His earthly ministry, and during the time of the Apostles, miracles lit up the scene again.

That’s what miracles are in the Bible… they are giant signals that God is doing something big.

First, creation… then, deliverance from slavery and the Mosaic covenant… then, various prophets who all reminded Israel of their Redeemer and their covenant… and then, the arrival of the Redeemer-King who inaugurated a New Covenant, the Messiah or Christ who would once again unite heaven and earth.

We know very little about Jesus’s life before His 30s, but His conception and birth were surrounded by miracles.

When Jesus did begin His earthly ministry, He healed sick people, He delivered demon possessed people, and He even raised dead people back to life again.

No other time in history had as many miracles concentrated on one person and one period.

And all of these miracles were to show that Jesus was the Christ, the Messiah, the promised Redeemer-King who would usher in the kingdom of heaven on earth.

Therefore, miracles are not just unusually good things that happen to people sometimes.

Miracles – especially New Testament miracles – are specific and supernatural ways that God is showing us who He is.

Jesus and His Apostles walked the earth during the most pivotal and profound moment in God’s plan of redemption.

Jesus’s message and the message of the Apostles was/is that the Messiah has dealt with sin once and for all, and He is the one in whom there is full reconciliation between God and sinful men.

In other words, in Christ, there is forgiveness of sins, love and fellowship with God and with His people, and a full reversal of God’s curse upon creation.

During the time of Jesus and the Apostles, miracles were happening everywhere.

But the miracles were always accompanied by the gospel announcement, and they always pointed to the specific renewal of all things in Christ.

Because of sin, God cursed all creation… people get sick, demonic forces oppress and confuse, and (in the end) people die.

But, because of Christ… God has poured out the curse upon Jesus… every sin on Him was laid… and sickness, demons, and even death itself are all coming to an end!

That’s what miracles signify!

That’s why the Bible calls them “signs.”

John said, “Now Jesus did many other signs… which are not written in this book; but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name” (Jn.

20:30-31).

Friends, you can know that Jesus is the Christ, and that He has the power to forgive sin and resurrect His people from the dead… because that’s the stuff that happened when He came the first time, and He has promised to do it all in full when He comes again.

2. A Superstitious Counterfeit (v13-16)

Christianity is about reconciling sinners to God, through the power of God’s Spirit, on the basis of the person and work of God’s Son, according to the plan and will of God the Father… and all to the glory of the triune God.

And there are marvelous benefits to this work of reconciliation and renewal.

As I’ve said already, there is forgiveness of sin, there is right relationship with God, and there is a full eradication of all that pains and grieves us so on this side of eternity.

These are all benefits that Christians enjoy now (at least in part), and we shall enjoy them in full on that final day when Jesus returns to make all things new.

But Christians aren’t the only ones who want to feel less guilty… or more connected with their Creator… or less afflicted by the curse of sin.

Non-Christians also want to remove their guilt, they want to rise above the futility of a life without God, and they want to be protected from evil.

So, religions and gurus and philosophies of all sorts offer people such things without a Redeemer-King.

These are counterfeit, they aren’t real, but they’re trying to meet a real need.

Brothers and sisters, sometimes we are even tempted to offer non-Christians all the benefits of the gospel without calling them to repent and believe (i.e., to turn from sin and trust in Jesus Christ alone to save them).

No non-Christian has ever gotten mad at me for saying that God loves them or for saying that Jesus forgives… but calling for repentance and faith has gotten me in trouble plenty of times.

In verses 13 through 16, we meet seven guys who were like traveling gurus or faith-healers.

They offered people healing from evil spirits for a small fee.

Luke says they were “itinerant Jewish exorcists” (v13) or “Jewish exorcists who went from place to place” (NASB).