Professing Or Possessing

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1Joh 3:8 He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.

Acts 19:11-20 And God wrought special miracles by the hands of Paul: So that from his body were brought unto the sick handkerchiefs or aprons, and the diseases departed from them, and the evil spirits went out of them. 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. And this was known to all the Jews and Greeks also dwelling at Ephesus; and fear fell on them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified. And many that believed came, and confessed, and shewed their deeds. Many of them also which used curious arts brought their books together, and burned them before all [men]: and they counted the price of them, and found [it] fifty thousand [pieces] of silver. So mightily grew the word of God and prevailed.

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When a child of God shouts praise, and he/she truly has a relationship with God, fear rocks the hearts of the spirits of hell.

Holy Ghost earthquakes crack the devil’s gates.

The enemy knows that such a child of God is threatening and they do not know what to expect!

A revival occurred in Ephesus without Paul even leading it.

Paul’s name was mentioned, he did not initiate the revival.

Strange reason for this revival

7 sons of a man named Sceva saw Paul’s works and felt they could perform them also.

I get the hint that these men were known to be religious.

"The seven sons of Sceva"

Felt their religious experience was just as good as Paul’s.

Their’s was a dead religion.

Were they baptized?

No.

Were they filled with God’s Spirit?

Evidently not.

For "Greater is He (Holy Ghost) that is in you than he in the world. "

They saw a man who was demon-possessed and attempted to "exorcise" the devils out.

God’s people are not "exorcists"

"Exorcists" did nothing to help this man.

The devils spoke out of the person, using his vocal chords.

They heard the sons refer to Jesus and Paul.

So it looks like these men tried getting the benefits without having given their lives.

Just continue in their religious fame

Maybe they felt outdone by Paul, so they proved they could do it, too.

Though man knew of the Sons of Sceva, obviously the devil was not impressed

"We adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preacheth."

Jesus smashed every plot the enemy devised.

Paul preached Christ so fully and totally believed and totally gave himself to do God’s will

The devils thought...

"Yes, Jesus is proper authority. We recognize that. His name is feared throughout all the Kingdom of Hell."

"Yes, Paul does preach Jesus. We know Paul’s name. Even when we had him beaten, in hopes of making him stop, trying to get him to react to love for self more than love for Jesus, in prison he worshipped! Paul preaches Jesus so much and so forcefully that we shake with fear when he comes to town."

Paul was genuine.

He had the real thing!

We see that 7 boys had watched Paul do his great work for God

Others watched too, though no one could see them

The enemy.

"But we do not know who these 7 boys are. We are aware of no threats ever made by them. We see nothing in them to be afraid of. We have no fear of these men."

And the demons used the man’s body and tore upon the boys

7 men could not keep him down.

All 7 of them ran out of the house naked and wounded.

When devils seen nothing to fear in the seven sons,

They then defeated these men.

It says they were sons of Sceva.

Why did it not say they were "sons of God?"

Obviously no real experience with God.

Fact was that Sceva stood out more in their minds than did God.

The whole city of Ephesus heard about this

They heard what the devils said and what supernatural strength the man used against the 7 men.

And the city realized something which moved into a revival.