Do you ever watch any of the shows that feature pawn shops? You can see folks come in and try to sell or pawn things to these shops for some extra cash. Oftentimes, the pawn shop employees will bring in an expert to verify if something is authentic. It may be a piece of jewelry, an autograph, a baseball card, or some antique from long ago. If the item is authentic, it may have some real value. However, if the item is fake, it’s worthless.
Today, in the Book of Acts, we get to a glimpse of a similar scenario. We get to see something that is real, and something that is fake.
Today’s sermon is entitled “The Authentic Power of God.”
Let’s go to the Lord in prayer, then we’ll look at our passage together.
(prayer)
Ok, let’s look at our passage. Look at Acts 19:11-20:
1 God was performing extraordinary miracles by Paul’s hands, 12 so that even facecloths or aprons that had touched his skin were brought to the sick, and the diseases left them, and the evil spirits came out of them.
13 Now some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists also attempted to pronounce the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, “I command you by the Jesus that Paul preaches!” 14 Seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish high priest, were doing this. 15 The evil spirit answered them, “I know Jesus, and I recognize Paul—but who are you?” 16 Then the man who had the evil spirit jumped on them, overpowered them all, and prevailed against them, so that they ran out of that house naked and wounded. 17 When this became known to everyone who lived in Ephesus, both Jews and Greeks, they became afraid, and the name of the Lord Jesus was held in high esteem.
18 And many who had become believers came confessing and disclosing their practices, 19 while many of those who had practiced magic collected their books and burned them in front of everyone. So they calculated their value and found it to be fifty thousand pieces of silver. 20 In this way the word of the Lord flourished and prevailed.
Ok, let’s notice three displays of power in this passage today.
First, notice . . .
I. Healing power.
We’ve seen healing all throughout the Book of Acts, haven’t we?
Here, we see Paul still in Ephesus, and God is working through Paul to bring healing to people.
Notice in verse 11, Luke (the author of Acts) says, “God was performing extraordinary miracles by Paul’s hands . . . ”
Who was performing miracles? It was God who was doing powerful miraculous acts, and He was doing them through Paul.
Notice also the different types of miracles that were taking place.
Verse 12 points out that diseases were leaving people and evil spirits were leaving people. They were witnessing physical healing and spiritual deliverance.
Also, notice this fascinating part about how even facecloths and aprons that touched Paul’s skin were being used by God to bring healing.
You might think this sounds strange, and it does, but it’s not unheard of in the early stage of Christianity.
In fact, in the Gospels, we hear about the hem of Jesus’ garment healing a woman.
In Acts 5, we hear about people trying to simply reach an area where Peter’s shadow might touch them so they could be healed.
Here’s what we must remember about these situations, church: God is the one who is healing, so He can use any means He desires to bring healing.
God can use Peter. God can use Paul. God can use the hem of Jesus’ garment. God can use Peter’s shadow. God can use Paul’s sweat towel. God could choose to use a potato, a toy car, a rake, a pair of suspenders, or a laptop to bring healing. The healing power is God’s, and God’s alone. He is the healer!
In God, there is healing power!
He can heal us of physical ailments, spiritual oppression, emotional chaos, mental confusion, sexual perversion, financial messes, cultural lostness, family brokenness, and so much more.
There is healing power in God.
Second, in this passage, we see . . .
II. Pretend power.
We learn in verses 13-17 that there are Jewish itinerant exorcists.
Now, you might wonder, “What in the world is a Jewish itinerant exorcist?” A Jewish itinerant exorcist is someone who is a Jewish person, probably a priest or healer or sorts, who travels around from place to place seeking to cast out evil spirits from people.
In fact, in the ancient world, there were lots of magicians, sorcerers, and so-called spiritual healers.
Many times, these professional spiritual healers would do whatever they could to add tools to their toolbox, including more spiritual influences, more names of gods, and more credibility from other respected spiritual people.
That’s what we see happening here. We see these seven sons of a man named Sceva (that’s a sketchy-sounding name, isn’t it?), who are trying to add to their healing arsenal by invoking the names of Jesus and Paul.
They likely realized that the name of Jesus carried great power. They also likely realized that Paul was doing great works by the power of God. So, they likely wanted to get in on that action. They wanted to heal in the name of Jesus. They wanted to experience the power of God in their exorcism business.
So, these exorcists, who by all indications were not genuinely followers of Jesus, sought to harness the power of Jesus. Let’s see how it turned out for them. Look again at verses 15-16:
15 The evil spirit answered them, “I know Jesus, and I recognize Paul—but who are you?” 16 Then the man who had the evil spirit jumped on them, overpowered them all, and prevailed against them, so that they ran out of that house naked and wounded.
This is what happens when you try to fake the power of God in the face of real evil.
The power of evil is real. Make no mistake: The power of God is more powerful than the power of evil, but you better not try to face the power of evil with pretend power. If you do, you may end up running away wounded and naked.
In today’s world, there are many who display pretend power. We have fake healers, we have fake prophets, we have fake pastors, we have fake Christians, and more.
Be sure of this: God will deal with them in His timing.
You should also be sure of this: Evil is real. Demons are real. Spiritual oppression is real. By the way, I have a sermon on demons in the series, “Spiritual Things,” which you can find on our website.
These evil forces know about the name of Jesus, and they know about the power of God.
James 2:19 says, “ . . . the demons believe—and they shudder.”
This is a serious matter, church. So, we ought not to face the evil of this world with pretend power.
We need the power of God.
We need the power that is found in the name of Jesus.
We need the power that was found in the ministry of Paul.
We need the power that we receive when the Holy Spirit of God comes upon us and we are witnesses for Jesus.
We shouldn’t want pretend power; we should desire authentic power.
That takes us to our final point:
III. Authentic power.
The people of Ephesus saw the difference between pretend power and authentic power.
Look at what happened when they experienced authentic power. Look again at verses 17-19:
17 When this became known to everyone who lived in Ephesus, both Jews and Greeks, they became afraid, and the name of the Lord Jesus was held in high esteem.
18 And many who had become believers came confessing and disclosing their practices, 19 while many of those who had practiced magic collected their books and burned them in front of everyone. So they calculated their value and found it to be fifty thousand pieces of silver.
The word translated as “afraid” here comes from the Greek word phobos, which means fear.
You see, there’s a good kind of fear that can happen when you realize God is truly present.
A fear of God is an awareness of the awe, wonder, and power of the Almighty God.
These people realized that the power of God is real, it cannot be faked, and it really does have power over evil.
Notice two results of this authentic power:
First, notice that the people who followed Jesus changed their behavior.
They realized that following Jesus is for real. God really wants all of our lives, including us giving up any of our former sinful practices.
So, these people turned away from the evil they were practicing and even burned the material possessions that contributed to their evil practices.
Second, notice that the gospel continued to spread.
Look again at verse 20: In this way the word of the Lord flourished and prevailed.
When others saw the authentic power of God at work, and they saw the change in the lives of the followers of God, the word of the Lord flourished and prevailed in Ephesus.
Church, wouldn’t it be something if the authentic power of God took root in our lives? Wouldn’t it be something if people saw changed lives among God’s people and the gospel flourished and prevailed in our region?
That takes us to our bottom line:
Bottom Line: The power of God should lead us to reverence and obedience.
When we truly experience the power of God, we should turn ourselves over completely to Him in reverence and obedience.
Reverence means we acknowledge how wonderful God is, showing Him proper respect and worship.
Obedience mans we follow Him in all of our lives not holding anything back.
The authentic power of God should change everything about our lives.
Challenge yourself this week in these two ways:
Weekly Challenge #1 – Celebrate an example of God’s power.
Thanksgiving is this week. As you reflect upon all that for which you are thankful, take some time to be thankful for and celebrate an example of God’s power.
Celebrate God saving you from your sin. Celebrate God healing you from something. Celebrate God comforting you in the midst of suffering. Celebrate God sustaining you through a difficult season. Celebrate God working through our church.
Celebrate the power of God this week.
Weekly Challenge #2 – Pray for more of God’s power.
Don’t you want more of God’s authentic power?
I know I do. I know I need more of God’s power. I know my family needs more of God’s power. I know our church needs more of God’s power. I know our community needs more of God’s power. I know our country needs more of God’s power. I know our world needs more of God’s power.
Church, may we get on our knees before the Almighty God and beg Him for His power among His people.
(Gospel presentation)
(closing prayer)
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