Scripture: Acts 19:11-22 (cf. v. 15)
Title: Who In Hell Knows Your Name?
INTRO:
Grace and Peace from God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Today’s passage is a remarkable section of Scripture. It is full of all kinds of strange stories and events. When you first read it, you might wonder what kind of world the Apostle Paul and the Early Church faced.
One of things that you can understand is that there was quite a bit of supernatural activity going around Ephesus. Ephesus was well known as a city of that dabbled in the magical arts and the occult. It was a city where you could find numerous people who could cast spells, perform exorcisms and practice a level of control over supernatural spirits for a bit of coin.
From what we can read here in our passage, it seems that were at least a few Jews that would go around the city trying to cast a spell and drive out a demon or two. There was a “chief priest” by the name was Sceva who had seven sons that attempted to practice the ministry of exorcism.
I don’t know about you, but when I think of the word “Exorcism” those old movies from the 1970’s and 80’s come to mind. But just recently, I was searching exactly when those movies came out and was surprised by how many supernatural movies about demonic possession and exorcism have come out in the last few years. Five have already come out this year alone (2022).
Perhaps this story we find in our passage isn’t so strange as we might think.
That said, it does have a rather odd twist to it. Or at least that is what I think.
Sceva’s seven sons thought that they have found a new key in casting out demons. They had been watching Paul go around the city having success bring healing and wholeness to quite a few people. They noticed that when someone was healed or when someone was freed from a demon that the name of Jesus was used.
They thought that they had hit on a key. There was something about the name of Jesus that had power over sickness and demonic possessions. They believed that they had found the “genie in the jar”. All they had to do was to call forth the name of Jesus and they too would be in the healing and freeing business.
After all, that is what others in the town had been trying to do. Instead of the name of Jesus they had been using the name of this god or that goddess. They had been calling upon the name of this ancestor or that ancestor.
However, they quickly discovered that playing with the devil was not fun and games. They discovered that just mentioning the name of Jesus and not having a personal relationship with Jesus could lead to disaster. Merely quoting the name of Jesus in a spell did nothing except in their case it got them humiliated and beaten up.
That’s what happened to these seven sons. They bit off more than they could chew and instead of the demon(s) being under their control they got the beating of their lives. Instead of them looking good to the others around them they had to run away naked and defeated.
Now, that is the story in a nutshell.
What I want us to do this morning is to look for a few moments at verse 19 –
“Jesus I know, and I know about Paul, but who are you?
There is more here than at first meets the eye. There is something going on here that we need to take some time and think about.
What do our spiritual enemies think of us this morning?
How are we viewed by the Devil and by Hell?
Do they take the time to talk about us and discuss how much of a headache we are to them?
How are we to be viewed and spoken about by demons as individuals and as a collective Church body?
Let’s take some time this morning and look at this passage in more detail.
I. The Devil/Demons knew Jesus
The name of Jesus was well known to the Devil and to the other demons. After all, they had been in battle with Jesus on numerous occasions.
+The Devil had done his best to kill Jesus when he was a child (Matthew 2:13-18).
+The Devil had done his best to manipulate Jesus in the Wilderness (Luke 4:1-13)
+The Devil had done his best to get others to kill Jesus right at the start of Jesus’ public ministry by enticing them to throw Him off a high cliff (Luke 4:28-30).
+The Devil had prompted Judas to betray Jesus leading to Jesus’ crucifixion (John 13:27-30).
And the Gospels are full of references that let us know that the demons knew Jesus:
+ When the sun was setting, all those who had any that were sick with various diseases brought them to Jesus; and He laid His hands on every one of them and healed them. And demons also came out of many, crying out and saying, “You are the Christ, the Son of God!” And He, rebuking them, did not allow them to speak, for they knew that He was the Christ. (Luke 4:40-41)
+ Suddenly, a man in the synagogue who was possessed by an evil spirit cried out, "Why are you interfering with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are — the Holy One of God!"— Mark 1:23-24 NLT
+ And they cried out, saying, “What business do we have with each other, Son of God? Have You come here to torment us before the time? – Matthew 8:29
From all of this we know that the Devil and the demons knew Jesus. They knew Him before He came to this earth. They knew Him as the Son of God. They knew Him as their Creator and LORD.
They knew Him and hated him. Jesus stood for everything they did not. Jesus stood for love, peace, joy, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
They on the other hand stood for everything opposite; hate, anger, malice, sexual immorality, impurity, idolatry, witchcraft, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, greed and envy.
They knew that one day they would have to bow their knee to Jesus and proclaim once again that He was King of Kings and Lord of Lords. They knew that one day they would be condemned to an existence where God does not exist – a place called Hell. And for all of that and even more they hated Jesus.
But they also knew that at the name of Jesus they were defeated. They knew what Paul wrote to the Colossians about in Colossians 2:13-15 to be the truth:
“When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.”
II. The Devil and the demons also knew about the Apostle Paul
Paul’s name was known by the devil and by many of the demons. It was known by those who were against the Early Church. It was known by the demons that worked around the cities of Ephesus, Colossae and Philippi.
The longer Paul lived and the more he did to promote the message of Jesus the more demons knew his name.
The Bible tells us that for a time the Apostle Paul had worked alongside the causes of evil. When he was known as Saul, he had done his best to rid the earth of those that believed in Jesus.
Saul had believed that Jesus was not the Messiah, but instead was a fake Messiah. He had believed that the Temple and the Temple authorities had been right in seeing Jesus convicted and put to death.
He saw it as his mission to do everything he could to stop those who were proclaiming Jesus as Messiah.
And then the event recorded in Acts chapter nine happened. Paul encountered the risen Jesus, and it changed his life forever. He went from being a Jesus hater to a man who gave his life for the message and mission of Jesus. He became one of the greatest missionaries of all times.
None of that happened without the Devil and his demons being unaware.
In saying that we do have to remember a thing or two. We must remember that neither the devil nor his demons are all powerful, all knowing or all present.
+No demon not even the Devil knows everything.
+No demon nor the Devil is all powerful.
+No demon nor the Devil can be at more than one place at one time.
That is important for us to remember. That is why Luke tells us that these demons said – we know about Paul.
They knew Jesus. They had seen Jesus in Heaven. They had at one time worshipped Jesus in Heaven.
But these demons working around Ephesus had not yet encountered the Apostle Paul. He was just making his way up and around their area of influence.
Paul was becoming known. He was becoming known in the area of Macedonia. This included areas like Philippi, Thessalonica, Berea, Corinth and Ephesus.
He had been busy preaching and healing people. He had been busy helping people understand the truth that Jesus was the Way, the Truth and the Life. He had been busy baptizing people and helping them understand what it meant to be infilled with the Holy Spirit.
As we read in verses 19-20, a multitude of people were coming to Jesus and rejecting their former ways of practicing sorcery. In fact, they destroyed over 50,000 drachmas of occult materials because they had come to faith in Jesus.
A drachma was a silver coin worth about a day’s worth of wages. In today’s world that would be over 12 million dollars’ worth of material they destroyed.
I would say that taking all that into account you could see that these demons were beginning to know who the Apostle Paul was and what he was up to in their area. They knew that he was the real deal.
You didn’t want to go into battle against the Apostle Paul. He was a true believer. He was a prayer warrior. He was a spiritual force to be reckoned with. He was a conduit of the Holy Spirit and through Him the Holy Spirit was able to bring healing, wholeness and freedom.
Please understand, Paul didn’t defeat Satan in his own strength or power. Luke makes sure that we understand that in verse 11 – “God did extraordinary miracles through Paul …”
Paul did not do these miracles under his own ability. He was infilled with God’s Holy Spirit, he was anointed into a special ministry and as God’s ambassador, Paul was able to do some amazing and wonderful things.
The difference between these seven sons of Sceva and Paul was their relationship with Jesus and who they were wanting to give honor to when a miracle happened.
The seven sons didn’t really want a relationship with Jesus. They just wanted the power of His name. They just wanted to use Jesus’ name as one would us a name in a spell or a charm. They wanted the power but not the person. They wanted the ability but didn’t want to surrender their heart, life and mission to the LORD.
This is what the demons saw. They knew these men had no power. They knew that they were pretenders and so they took the opportunity to beat them up and make them look bad for all the people of Ephesus to see and hear about.
One on seven. It must have been a sight to see one man be able to beat up seven young men.
Lesson: Don’t mess with a demon in your own power and might.
All of this leads us to asking ourselves some important questions this morning:
1. How are we viewed by the demons and by Hell as individuals?
2. How are we viewed by the demons and by Hell as a Church?
Our writer, St. Luke was not only a gifted doctor and writer, but I also believe he was an excellent teacher as well.
He gives us these wonderful two books – The Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostle. They were not just to provide for us some historical context, but to share with us what can happen when we allow Jesus to be Savior and Lord of our lives.
Luke wants us to see Jesus as the Risen Lord. He wants us to experience what it means to be baptized in the Holy Spirit. He wants us to be a part of the Jesus’ Movement. He wants us to come together and be the Church that has been called to share the message of Jesus and transform the world.
This story is not just to tell us about a few things that happened around Paul’s ministry.
He writes them to get us to thinking.
+What do the demons think about us as individuals and as a collective group?
Do they know about us?
Do they fear us?
Do we matter to them?
Are we a threat to their mission and plan?
It is not by accident that Paul writes about the armor of God in Ephesians chapter six.
Paul knew that because of the work that the LORD had done through him and the way that the people had responded to the Kingdom, that the demons in that area were not going to stay quiet. He knew that as the LORD had defeated them and that they would be doing their best to regain territory.
Hundreds of people’s lives had been transformed and millions of dollars’ worth of occultic material had been destroyed. Millions of dollars’ worth of material that could have enslaved another generation or two in the sins of immorality, witchcraft, sorcery, idolatry, hatred and greed were now ashes.
These demons might be sent to another area. Ephesus might have been won for Jesus and they could no longer deceive, infiltrate and destroy people’s lives.
But they would not go quietly in the dark. That is why Paul writes Ephesians 6:10-20. Paul wants them to always be ready for battle. He wants them to always be ready to not just defend themselves and others but to be able to make an advancement over evil, Hell and the grave.
Paul wants his readers to be able to do what God had done through him. The ability to bring healing, wholeness and freedom to those around them.
Paul wants them to be known in Hell and to the demons around Ephesians. He wants them to be on Hell’s hit list.
I know this isn’t the typical Sunday morning message in many churches today.
Many churches don’t take any stock in supernatural things happening in and around their churches. It’s just a bunch of nonsense. There is no overarching evil that is trying to take over our area. We are good people who live in a good area.
That may in part be true; we may live in a good area.
But the reality this morning is we do have an enemy. In fact, the Bible tells us that we have many enemies.
Once again, the questions are:
Do our enemies know us?
Are we a threat as an individual or as a collective group?
Those are sobering questions.
And yet, they are questions that this passage is asking us to examine, reflect on and then give an answer at least to ourselves.
Perhaps a better question might even be – How can we make sure that we are a danger to evil, to the demonic horde or to Hell itself this morning as individuals and as a collective group?
+It all starts with the Spiritual Practice of Prayer and Fasting
Jesus answered, “This kind cannot come out, except by prayer.” Mark 9:29
+It all starts with us asking and receiving from the LORD a renewed mind:
“Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovingly, whatever is admirable – if anything is excellent or praiseworthy – think about such things.” – Philippians 4:8
“Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.” – Colossians 3:1-2
+It starts with being determined to get rid of evil in our lives
“Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry.” – Colossians 3;5
“Hold on to what is good, reject every kind of evil.” – 1 Thessalonians 5:21-22
+It all starts with us being determined to Study and Reflect on God’s Word
“All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” – 2 Timothy 3:16
“For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” – Hebrews 4:12
+It all starts with us understanding that we must start well, continue well and end well
“But you, man of God fell from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses. In the sight of God, who gives life to everything, and of Christ Jesus, who while testifying before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, I charge you to keep this command without spot or blame until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which God will bring about in his own time – God, the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords” – 1 Timothy 6:11-15
This morning, we seen where Evil knows Jesus’ name and they are afraid.
We have seen where more and more they were beginning to know about the Apostle Paul’s name as he was being used by the LORD to bring people to faith and freedom.
We have seen where the sons of Sceva were tossed around like rag dolls and defeated because they were not connected to Jesus’, to His mission nor to his message. They were pretenders who paid a pretender’s price.
As we close, let’s take up the challenge as individuals and as a Church to be more than just a member of the crowd that proclaims their love and devotion to Jesus.
Let’s take up the challenge to cause the Devil and all the demons that have been stationed here and around some headaches, some defeats and for them to look over at our Church and say that is a Powerhouse of Prayer, of Bible Study, of Commitment, of Freedom, of Encouragement, Of Love, Joy and Peace.
Let’s take up the challenge to be a Powerhouse for the Cause of Christ with our lives, with our voices and with our actions.
Let’s take up the challenge to make a difference in our community.
Invitation/Prayer/Blessing
