Known In Hell!

KNOWN IN HELL!

Acts 19:10-16

INTRODUCTION

A. HUMOR: “When the Attack-Dog became Afraid”

1. Elizabeth Bennett told of her friend, a deputy with the sheriff’s department canine division. One evening, the deputy was dispatched to the scene of a possible burglary, where he discovered the back door of a building ajar.

2. He let the dog out of his patrol car and commanded it to enter and seek. Jumping from the back seat, the dog headed for the building. After lunging through the doorway, the dog froze and backed out. The officer had never seen the dog afraid before!

3. He was puzzled until he noticed the sign on the building; “Veterinarian Clinic.”

B. THESIS

It took a certain type of Christian, a certain type of disciple, to overthrow the Roman Empire. God has always looked for quality, not quantity.

During the ministry of Jesus, the closer He got to Calvary, the less people there were. When he was out on the hillsides of Galilee, breaking bread & feeding the multitudes, there were thousands out to watch the religious show, but when He began saying, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow Me” (Lk. 9:23), they left him by the droves.

But the Lord Jesus found 11 men who were willing to follow Him to the end. He pulled them from the tax office, the doctor’s office, and fishing boats. Those early Christians turned whipping posts into pulpits, prisons into churches, and fought wild beasts at Ephesus. They were beaten, tortured, driven from their homes, and yet they proclaimed a gospel that toppled an empire.

He changed the world with a handful of people. It won’t be the big, trendy, religious crowd that will make the difference, but the disciple who’s sold out, stepped over the line, & jettisoned their past life; who doesn’t care about prestige, position, or popularity, and who has a new, superior life in them (Zoe, the God-kind of life, 2 Pet. 1:4). The question is, “Will you be one of them?”

[adapted from Leonard Ravenhill]

C. TEXT

10 This went on for two years, so that all the Jews and Greeks who lived in the province of Asia heard the word of the Lord. 11 God did extraordinary miracles through Paul, 12 so that even handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were taken to the sick, and their illnesses were cured and the evil spirits left them. 13 Some Jews who went around driving out evil spirits tried to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who were demon-possessed. They would say, “In the name of the Jesus whom Paul preaches, I command you to come out.” 14 Seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this. 15 One day the evil spirit answered them, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know about, but who are you?” 16 Then the man who had the evil spirit jumped on them and overpowered them all. He gave them such a beating that they ran out of the house naked and bleeding. Acts 19:11-16

D. TITLE: “Known in Hell.”

I. THE IMITATION

A. PAUL'S MINISTRY IN ASIA

1. Paul’s ministry in Ephesus was truly remarkable. Ephesus was notorious for pagan worship. One of the seven wonders of the ancient world was there, the Temple of Diana, and people came from far and wide to engage in its obscene pagan rituals.

2. The Temple was twice the size of the Parthenon. It’s roof was supported by 127 columns, each of which were 60 ft (six stories) high and 4 ft in diameter.

3. The city was large, having a population of around 330,000, and its sports stadium, built by Nero, could seat twenty-five thousand.

4. But Paul’s ministry eclipsed all this. God caused Paul’s preaching to be confirmed by miraculous signs: the sick were healed, evil spirits were driven out, and even pieces of cloth that had touched Paul’s body became imbued with healing and delivering power! The whole subcontinent heard the gospel.

B. IMITATION BY JEWISH EXORCISTS

How many know, if there’s a genuine, counterfeits WILL pop up. There’s always copy-cats. In those days there were wandering Jewish exorcists who drew on nonbiblical Jewish literature and had some success. Mt 12:27; Lk 9:49

1. THE SCEVA Brothers -- to natural mind, they had a lot going for them:

a. External ASSOCIATION with SACRED THINGS.

-- There Were SEVEN Brothers -- a Divine number, completeness. This ought to increase the power of their magic.

--SCEVA -- means "left-handed", and signified a "good omen" among Greeks (Lange on Judges 3:15).

-- "CHIEF PRIEST" – they were descended from a chief of one of 24 courses of priests. (Power with God).

b. What they should’ve had by birth – the outer man - they had never strived to achieve by internal acquisition! Beware imitations! There are many look-alikes: bacon bits, nondairy cheese, iron pyrite, cubic zirconia, Impossible Burgers, knock-off watches, etc. When you get something, you want the genuine article, not an imitation.