Acts 19:11-20

So grateful for this morning, what a powerful time of worship the Lord gave to us to sing of the greatness of our Jesus, a name that is above every name. Every high thing must come down. Every stronghold shall be broken in the mighty name of the Lord Jesus Christ. And all of our lives, a testament to the power that is contained in the name of Jesus. Welcome each one of you, especially those who are worshiping with us for the first time. We welcome you to our church. So glad that you are choosing to worship with us this morning.

As we continue with our serious church on the move, let’s turn our Bibles this morning and we’ll be focusing on Acts 19:11-20. Acts 19:11-20. Last week, I talked about the importance of Ephesus in the plans of God, especially to make sure that all of the province of Asia heard the gospel clearly and exactly what God would do through the ministry of the Apostle Paul in Ephesus. As I mentioned to you last week, he stayed in Ephesus much longer than any other place, almost a span of three years, as we will see in Acts 20. We ended last week by talking about the fact that for two long years, he was in the hall of tiredness, a person that we don’t know much about, where he was teaching God’s word. And if the tradition is right, at least for five hours every single day, he was teaching God’s word for a span of two years. And because of that, God’s word reminded us in verse 10, that God’s word spread all throughout the regions of Asia through the ministry that started discipleship and mentorship that started in Ephesus by through the work of the Apostle Paul and others who were with him in Ephesus. Remarkable achievement by the work of the Spirit of God. So much so that the seven churches we read about in the book of Revelation came as a result of the ministry that started in the town of Ephesus.

In the context of sound biblical teaching consistent that is going on for a long period of time where discipleship and mentorship are happening, we come to verse 11. And God’s word, Luke writes like this, God did extraordinary miracles through Paul. In the context of sound teaching of God’s word, as he often does in the book of Acts, God would perform miracles and God’s word tells us why miracles were given by God. Miracles are not given for the sake of miracle themselves. Miracles are given almost always for the establishment and the propagation of God’s word. It is to confirm the word of God that has been spoken.

In the context of this chapter, you need to understand the importance of miracles. Ephesus, as I told you last week, was a very prominent town filled with so much history, but also filled with so much idolatry. It was also a place that was steeped in all kinds of occult and magical practices. In fact, there was a book that was even written on us, the book of Ephesians, which had a lot of magical chants that you could use to entice and cast out evil spirits. That was a book, a magic book that literally came out of Ephesus. So understand that context as we read through this passage in Ephesus and as to why the Holy Spirit worked the way it did in Ephesus. The preaching of God’s word was powerful enough, but God knew that preaching alone was not enough to convince the people of Ephesus that the God that Paul was preaching was greater than any God that they were worshiping. Because you know why? Through magic, through chanting, through evil spirits, a lot of magical things that were happening in Ephesus that was enticing and deceiving the minds of people. Someone had to come into the scene with far greater manifestation of a divine power, exactly what God would do through the work of Paul in Acts 19:11-20.

I want you to pay very attention to the way Luke writes verse 11. First of all, who did the miracles? God did. God did the miracles. Paul is an instrument in the hands of God. A lot of times we forget this in an age where we worship men more than God. There are no celebrity pastors. There are no miracle workers. There is a miracle working God who works through ordinary human beings who are instruments in the hands of an almighty God. So do not ever worship men. Worship God, who is the ultimate miracle worker. God did. And secondly, Luke tells us, they were not ordinary miracles. They were extraordinary miracles. When I was reading this, I thought to myself, when is a miracle ordinary? To me, every miracle is extraordinary. But what he is about to tell us in verse 12 is quite extraordinary, and keep that in mind. You know what that means? This is not supposed to happen every place, every time, and not only that, the church do not adapt this as a method by which you propagate healing. God’s word clearly tells us how we are supposed to pray for healing. It is by asking the elders of the church to come and pray by laying hands on them, on the sick, and God’s word says then they’ll be healed. There’s a reason why the Holy Spirit chooses the word extraordinary. It is not supposed to happen at every place and every time, nor, as many have done, should you make a theology out of what happens in verse 12.

Look at verse 12. Even handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were taken to the sick, and their illnesses were cured, and the evil spirits left them. Remember what Paul is doing most of the day. He’s a tent maker. This word handkerchief is literally the piece of clothing that is tied on top of his head as he’s working as a tent maker. It is not hygienic. He’s not having shampoo on his head. Probably never have even seen a deodorant in his life. Right, he has never seen a deodorant in his life. So this handkerchief, this covering on his head, drenched in the sweat of the day, is being sent away, and even touching them are bringing healing to the sick. Many have taken this particular verse and built entire ministry on top of it. But remember verse 11. Extraordinary miracle may be never to be repeated again in the agenda of God. And because of that, we have people who worship what is known as holy relics. The Bible doesn’t teach any of that. My hair clippings is not holy. My nail clippings is not holy. The clothes that I wear is not holy. The handkerchief that I use is not holy. What is happening here is an extraordinary miracle from the hands of a God who again, is trying to show in the midst of all the magic that is happening in Ephesus, that God is doing something that is greatly, definitely greater than what any of the magicians of Ephesus has been able to do.

Remember the plagues in Egypt. The evil spirits, demonic powers, were able to imitate some of the plagues that came upon Egypt. In fact, they were able to turn water into blood, just like Moses could. But all of their magic ultimately met its match when it came, as you go through the list of plagues, they were not able to do all the plagues that Moses did to show that God’s power was greater than that. So probably, healing was happening in Ephesus because of magical powers, demonic powers. But this, they had never seen. Handkerchiefs being sent, and even the handkerchief touching, causing illnesses to be cured, and evil spirits leaving people. Luke, the physician, making a distinction between bodily illness and illness that is caused by demonic spirits. Do you know the difference between the two? Majority of the illness in the world today is because of physical phenomenon that happens in our physical body that God has given to us. But there’s also illness that can be caused by demonic spirits as well. Luke’s saying, for the spiritual cure and the physical cure, the handkerchiefs and apron that was worn by Paul was enough. Such was the power that was manifested through Paul.

But Paul did not start a ministry in Ephesus entitled Handkerchief and Apron Ministry. Paul did not start a ministry to make money. Paul did not try to make much of himself in the town of Ephesus. Any attempt by man to build his own empire, his own name, to pad his own bank account by using the word of God, by the miraculous giftings of God, by the power of the Holy Spirit, is not from the Lord. All of God’s people all throughout the ages have always attributed anything that they do to the power of the Almighty God. Ultimately, if it doesn’t point it to the saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, it is not from the Lord, it is from man. And such things we should avoid.

This man whose handkerchief and apron was able to heal people was a fallible man just like you and me. Look at 2 Corinthians 12:8. This man who has such power, three times I pleaded with the Lord to take my sickness away from me. He himself was a man who was physically sick, who never got healed in his time on earth. Understand the limitations of man. A pastor might pray for you, and God in his sovereign will might heal you of your sickness, but the pastor himself might be diabetic all of his life. The same power that flew through him and healed you is not able to heal his diabetes. Why? Not all sickness gets healed in the economy of God.

Secondly, look at Philippians 2:27. Here was a man who was very close to the heart of the Apostle Paul. And in fact, he was so close to him, he calls him my beloved Epaphroditus. But he says, indeed, he was ill. And surely when he was ill, Paul prayed for him. But what happened to him? He almost died. What happened to the apron? What happened to the handkerchief? This is the problem with taking isolated, miraculous work of God and trying to apply it to every situation. The same Paul probably had the same handkerchief. Didn’t he? Couldn’t he just put it up on Epaphroditus and make sure that he was not deadly ill? Did not happen. Why? The will of God for his life was that healing would not take place there. But look what Paul would say about that. God had mercy on him. And look at the desperation in his words. Not on him only, but also on me. It’s almost like a relief there. My goodness, I prayed and prayed and prayed. This man almost died. But suddenly, not because of my prayer, but because of the mercy of God, God heard me and what? God spared me from sorrow over sorrow.

Look at 1 Timothy 5:23. Paul is prescribing a medicine. Stop drinking only water. Use a little wine, little wine, underline the little what, because of your stomach and your frequent illness. Timothy has a stomach problem. We don’t know what it is. Probably cramping, indigestion, probably some kind of a physical ailment. We don’t know what it is. Rather than taking his apron, his handkerchief, or laying his hands on him and praying for him, and he probably did, and seeing that it was not the will of God to be healed, what did he do? He sent him to the pharmacy. And he said, stop drinking only water. Take a little bit of wine that had medicinal qualities and use it for your stomach and frequent illness. Many have taken this verse as an excuse to get drunk, but there are hundreds of verses in God’s word that tells you drunkenness is against the will of God for the life of the believer. To make matters very clear, so you don’t go home and start drinking a little bit of wine for your stomach illness, 25% of the people who ever take a sip of alcohol ends up being drunkards in their life. As I often tell you, if I told you that you would drive down on George Bush this afternoon, and there’s a 25% chance that you’ll have a car accident, how many of you will get on George Bush? Nobody will. Do not mess with alcohol. Do not play with alcohol. It is highly addictive. It is best to never take a sip of alcohol in your life. Do not try to justify things in your life of unbelief and rebellion against God by taking verses out of context and the way it was used in the first century.

Look at 2 Timothy 4:20. Erastus, he says, stayed in Corinth. What happened to Trophimus? I left Trophimus sick in Miletus. What happened to Trophimus? Paul couldn’t heal him. He left him sick over there. Again, all of this to say, this man that God used to perform this extraordinary miracle, not mention anywhere else in God’s word, was still a fallible man who did not get answers always to his cry for sickness in his own body or the body of his own dear companions.

Why? God’s greatest goal in your life and my life is not physical healing. It is spiritual healing where our soul is restored into a relationship with the living God. If it means that it is your physical healing that will bring you closer to God spiritually, he will make you remain in a state of physical sickness. You know why God brings problems into our life? To teach us humility that we will never learn if we did not have problems in our life. You know why our children sometimes become rebellious against us? It is to teach us as parents humility in our life, to drive us to our knees, to pray. It is not because of a lack of faith. It is not because you didn’t do everything right as a parent. God will make us go through the crucible of testing and fires in our life because his ultimate goal in our life is not to make this physical body the best it could be, but the inner man that is living inside of me to be more into the likeness of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is a travesty of the gospel message if you only focus on the exterior shell of who you are as a person and not on the most important part that is in the core of who you are as a human being that is a part of you that will never die again, the eternal spirit that God has given to live inside of you. God is most concerned about that. To many people today, the only thing that matters is what is on the outside. God is most concerned about the inner man that is on the inside.

So seeing this miraculous thing, we come to verse 13. I remember in our family prayer, we would read through scriptures years ago and this was one of the toughest portions to read without laughing out loud because you have to read this to understand it. Some Jews who went around driving out evil spirits and we saw this in the gospels as well, the Jews at that time were known for their ability to drive out evil spirits and it was not necessarily because of God’s power but they had all these magical things they would do and among all the groups of people on that day, the Jewish people were known as having extraordinary giftings to do this casting of evil spirits. They heard about this man, Paul, who was driving out evil spirits and the way you drive out evil spirit is by basically commanding them to come out in the name of someone else that is greater than them. So many of these magical spirits would teach them the hierarchy in demonic spirits. So if you go to a person who is possessed with a demon and he find out that he is possessed with a certain demon, they would actually refer to their book and find out who is ahead of him and they would do the chanting based on that to drive out the smaller demon based upon the name of the higher demon. Now they find out, man, there is a greater one here in Ephesus than anything we’ve ever heard before. So here’s what they do. They would say, in the name of Jesus, whom Paul preaches, I command you to come out. They were so happy. Finally, we got somebody that is greater than any of the spirits that we know. This Jesus guy is doing sort of miracles. We don’t know him. Nor we do have any relationship with him. But we know about this guy, Paul, who preaches in his name. You know what we’re gonna do? We’re gonna make some money off of this. We’re gonna go and lay our hands upon people who are demon-possessed and say what? In the name of Jesus, and I love the way they’re very honest at least. They don’t say, in the name of Jesus, I believe. In the name of Jesus, whom Paul preaches, I command you to come out.

The danger of doing, commanding people in the name of Jesus without having a relationship to Jesus is evident in verse 14 and 15. Seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this. Now, we have no idea who this person is. We don’t even know if it was a real priest or he was just claiming to be a priest to make money. But he had seven sons. They were going around doing all this. One day, we don’t know how long they did this. They probably made some money from this. The evil spirit answered them. The evil spirit had enough. All this torture and coming and commanding and all this, the evil spirit answered. Don’t you love it when the evil spirit has more sense than the person that he’s possessed with? And he says, Jesus, I know. Paul, I know about. Who are you?

Do the evil spirits in Rowlett know who you are? They should. Do the demonic spirits in Louisville know where you live? You should. If they do not know you, you’re not a child of God. Trust me, they know who their enemy is. They know clearly who is in control and who is praying against them. Jesus, I know. Paul, I know about. But who are you? They know who their enemy is.

James 2:19, James told us the same thing. You believe that there is one God, good. Even the demons believe that and look what happens to them. They do something that human beings usually don’t do. They shudder at the thought of knowing who God is. How do these demonic spirits know about Jesus? We don’t know how long, maybe millions of years before. They were worshiping him every single day, beholding his glory in the heavens. They know about him. They know who he is. They also know about Paul. You know why they know about Paul? Not because Paul is famous. Because Paul is also bearing the name of Jesus and they know that he is not a person to be messed with. Do the demonic spirits in your town community know that your house is not to be messed with? How does that happen? Because you have ADT security? No. Because you have a sign in front of your yard? No. It happens because you are on your knees, praying for God’s protection to cover over you. That’s the only thing they’re scared of. They could care less about all your chantings and all these methodologies of casting out spirits. None of those things matter. The one thing that scares them the most is a man of God, a woman of God, crying out to God on their knees, asking for the angels to protect what God has given to them and the demonic spirits know them and they’re able to say, we know Jesus, we know Paul. Who are you?

Verse 16. Then the man who had the evil spirit jammed on them and overpowered them all. How many were going up against him? Seven. Look at the power of the evil spirit that’s inside of him. Giving him inhumane strength, he overpowered them all. What happened to them? This is why I would laugh during our family prayers. He gave them such a beating that they ran out of the house naked and bleeding. I guarantee you these seven sons never prophesied in the name of Jesus again. Nor did they command in the name of Jesus. Quite a beating.

Why did God do this? Verse 17. When this became known to the Jews and Greeks living in Ephesus, they were all seized with fear and the name of the Lord Jesus was held in high honor. In fact, some of you translators says when the people there living heard this, the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified. That is the purpose behind what God did here. He is using evil spirits to what? To do the work of the Lord. They needed a beating, God used evil spirits to accomplish that and the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified in the midst of it.

Verse 18. Many of those who believed now came and openly confessed what they had done. This is what the fear of the Lord does. In fact, if you are somebody who says I have the fear of the Lord and you don’t do this, you don’t really have the fear of the Lord. You know what the fear of the Lord does? It leads to confession. It leads to coming before a holy God and say, you know me fully well. I can’t hide anything from you. I need to change my ways and you confess your sins before God. That genuine repentance was happening among the people of Ephesus. But they were not just lip service either. Look at verse 19. A number of them who had practiced sorcery and magic brought their scrolls together and burned them publicly. When they calculated the value of the scrolls, that total came to 50,000 drachmas. We don’t know exactly what 50,000 drachma is. A Greek coin thought to be maybe equal to a denarii. That is the case. 50,000 drachma denarii is equal to 50,000 days of working. Because one denarii was paid in one day. 50,000 days of working equals to the amount of money that those scrolls were worth. These magical scrolls were not just piece of paper. They were probably some of the most prized possession that these people had. But when they met the Lord Jesus Christ, they came and burned them publicly. Why? They were sacrificing what was most valuable to them because they had met someone who was more valuable than any of the things that they have at home and the question comes to all of us today is this. What sacrifices have you made in your life because you came to the Lord Jesus Christ? What habits have you given up in your life because you are a believer of the Lord Jesus Christ? What price have you paid because Jesus has saved your soul? These people were willing to burn publicly their prized possessions because now they were caught by the love of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is estimated that this amounts to today’s $10,000 worth of scrolls were burned on that day. Not a small amount. This was probably their life savings but it didn’t matter because they knew that this sorcery and magic was against what the word of God would teach them and they did it publicly to show their public confession and their belief and trust in the Lord.

Why do we do that? Why did these people do that? Look at John 3:20-21. Everyone who does evil hates the light and does not come to the light that his deeds will not be exposed. What happens to everyone who does evil? They won’t do this. Only those who are in the light will hate evil. Evil and light don’t coexist. Darkness and light doesn’t notice evil and good which means that Christians should not be practicing magic, sorcery, should not be looking at the next horoscope. Christians should not be looking at the stars. Christians should be looking to the one who made the stars. Christians should not be worried about all these Hindu traditions. I hope that none of us ever do things like that, wondering when we should go to marriage or when we should stay home. All of these things are detestable practices in the sight of God. Do they have meaning to people who practice them? Yes, because there are magical evil spirits that are contained in them. But you have the Holy Spirit living inside of you and as such, all of these practices should be avoided by believers at all costs because they are all openings by which demonic, evil spirits can have possessions in your life. So take an inventory of our own life. What do we believe in? Does the day that I was born really matter? God is the one who ordained it. My sign and all those things only have value to an extent. God is the one who designed me, who made me to be born on that day. My future and everything is in his hands. I don’t need to turn to a newspaper to find out what is gonna happen to me next week. I just need to open the words of God’s word and trust in the plans of God for my life. The one who practices the truth comes to the light that his deeds will be revealed having been performed in God. There’s an openness to it. There’s an open confession to it. There’s an open acknowledgement to it.

And look what happened, verse 20. In this way, the word of the Lord spread widely. And grew in power. Some of you translated it says, the word of the Lord prevailed. Nothing can stop the word of the Lord, can it? There are many times attempts have been made by people to somehow stand against God’s word. But only to their own peril. God’s word will always prevail.

Let me end with this. Jeremiah 36, we have a very tragic story of a man by the name of Jehoiakim. He was a king, mighty in power, but he had a problem. He despised God’s word. When God gave God’s word to Jeremiah and Baruch in Jeremiah 36, as they read God’s word, they understood the value of God’s word. They went into hiding in Jeremiah 36:19-20. Even the scroll that they wrote in was hidden so that the king would not get a hold of it. But by the time we get to Jeremiah 36:21, we see that the king finds the word that was written on a scroll by Jeremiah. Look at what he did. Whenever Jehudi had read three or four columns of the scroll, the king cut them off with the scribe’s knife and threw them into the fire pot until the entire scroll was burned in the fire. Jehoiakim, the king, burned the scroll that was written by Jeremiah. Not only that, Jeremiah 36:24, the king and all his attendants who heard all these words showed no fear, nor did they tear their clothes. Even though they heard about the judgment of God, they showed no fear towards God, nor did they tear their clothes. Rather, they burned God’s word that was written against them.

But you cannot burn away God’s word. God’s word, again, comes to Jeremiah, Jeremiah 36:28. Take another scroll and write on it all the words that were on the first scroll which Jehoiakim, king of Judah, burned up. Not only that, God told him, keep adding more words to it. What are the words God added? Jeremiah 36:30, therefore, this is what the Lord says about Jehoiakim, king of Judah. He will have no one to sit on the throne of David. His body will be thrown out and exposed to the heat by day and the frost by night. I will punish him and his children and his attendants for their wickedness. I will bring on them and those living in Jerusalem and the people of Judah every disaster I pronounced against them because they have not listened. He burned God’s word. God’s judgment came before him. If he was a little bit smarter, he would have read the rest of the scrolls. He would have seen that his judgment was already written by God. God’s word continued. God’s word always prevailed.

Voltaire, the famous French atheist, once declared, in 20 years, Christianity will be no more. My single hand, he said, shall destroy the edifice it took 12 apostles to rear. That’s what he said. By my own hand, he said, I will destroy what 12 apostles wrote. Voltaire said further that within 50 years, no one would even remember that Christianity ever existed. That very year that he said that, the British Museum paid the Russian government $500,000 for a manuscript of the Bible. Look at the value of God’s word. At the same time, copies of Voltaire’s book were selling in the London bookstalls for only eight cents. What is the value of one copy of God’s word at that time? $500,000. How much does Voltaire’s book cost? Eight cents. That’s how much it’s worth, really. 50 years later, Voltaire’s home became the headquarters of the Geneva Bible Society, and was used to spread scriptures all around the world. Our God definitely have a sense of humor when it comes to these things. Why? God’s word always prevails. You can’t destroy it. You can’t chain it. You can’t burn it up. It comes from the very throne of God, established even before the foundations of the earth were laid. It will last forever. Remember, the grass fadeth, the flower fadeth, the grass withereth, but the word of the Lord will remain forever, and that exactly we read, the word of God prevailed on that day. Why? Because of the power that is contained in the name of Jesus. His name is not to be played with, but to those who believe in him, unlike the sons of Sceva, when we acknowledge the name of Jesus, no demanding spirits can stand against us because he is greater than every power in this world.

Heavenly Father, we thank you. We praise you for your word. What a privilege it is to learn and preach this word that has prevailed for thousands of years and will remain forever, even when heaven and earth shall pass away. Help us to obey it and follow it all the days of our life. Thank you for hearing our prayer. In the name of the Lord Jesus, I pray.