Just Be Quiet Series

JUST BE QUIET

Text: Acts 16:16-24

Introduction

1. One of the things that I love about preaching through a book of the Bible chapter by chapter, paragraph by paragraph, and verse by verse is that it forces me to preach about topics that are difficult to talk about. But they are topics that the congregation needs to hear.

2. Today is one of those texts. The topic that today’s text deals with is demons. It is not a topic we like to talk about, but we need to hear because they are real. We need to know they exist and how to deal with them.

3. That’s what today’s text shows us.

4. Read Acts 16:16-24

Transition: The first thing we need to know about demons is…

I. We Have Authority Over Them in Jesus’ Name (16-18).

A. Demon-Possessed Slave Girl

1. In the city of Philippi, the Lord dramatically changed the lives of three people. The first one, Lydia, we talked about last week.

2. Today we will discuss the second, a demon possessed servant girl. Luke begins the narrative by saying, “One day as we were going down to the place of prayer, we met a slave girl who had a spirit that enabled her to tell the future. She earned a lot of money for her masters by telling fortunes.”

a. Luke continues his first-hand account of the missionary journey by telling us they went back to the place of prayer, which was outside the city at the riverbank.

b. On their way, they encountered a slave girl who was possessed by a demon that enabled her to tell the future.

c. In the Greek, it says she had a “python spirit,” which was something that goes back to Greek mythology.

d. Later the word was used to designate a person who had the power to tell fortunes and was thought to be inspired by the serpent called Python (Arrington, 619).

e. Fortune telling was popular in both Greek and Roman culture, and they used numerous methods trying to see the future, from interpreting omens in nature to communicating with the dead.

f. This slave girl had an evil spirit inside of her, and she made her masters rich by interpreting signs and fortune telling. Her masters were using her unfortunate condition for personal gain.

3. Next, Luke tells us in v. 17, “She followed Paul and the rest of us, shouting, “These men are servants of the Most High God, and they have come to tell you how to be saved.”

a. Now, what the slave girl was saying about the missionaries was true, they were servants of the Most High God, and they had come to tell them how to be saved.

b. So, if what she said was true, why did it annoy Paul so much?

c. Well, if Paul allowed this continue, he would appear to be linking the gospel with demon related activity. In doing so, he would damage the message of Christ by linking it to Satan.

d. We see this same kind of activity happening in the world today.

e. People use the ability to tell the future for personal gain.

f. Some of them are fakes and charlatans, and others do it through demonic influence.

4. Now, we see Paul take authority over the situation. In v. 18 Luke tells us, “This went on day after day until Paul got so exasperated that he turned and said to the demon within her, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.” And instantly it left her.”

a. Apparently, the young slave girl followed them around every day.

b. Finally, Paul had had enough of this nonsense. Our text tells us he became exasperated and so irritated that he turns toward the girl, speaks directly to demon inside of her saying, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her!”

c. Notice that he doesn’t speak to the girl, but directly to the demon. He wasn’t upset with the girl, but rather with the demon because it was the one causing the trouble.

d. Paul takes authority over the demon in the “name of Jesus Christ.” Notice that Paul doesn’t confront the demon in his own authority, but in the mighty name of Jesus.

e. It is true that demons are powerful, and in and of ourselves we are no match for them.

f. However, they are no match for the powerful name of Jesus Christ!

g. It is obvious that it was no match for the name of Jesus because it immediately left the girl.

h. There is no match in the physical or spiritual realm for the authority of Jesus Christ!

B. They Will Cast Out Demons in My Name