I please God to bless us together
this evening as we continue our meditation in the Acts of the
Apostles. And tonight we'll speak on chapter 19 and from verse
13 to verse 20. So we just read together those
verses. Acts chapter 19 from verse 13. 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 you? And
the man in whom his evil spirit was, leapt 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 showed 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 50,000 pieces of silver. So mightily grew the
word of God and prevailed. It's wonderful as we read the
Word of God to observe how the Lord works in some cases very
unusual ways. But in those ways he brings to
pass that which fulfils the great purpose of the name of the Lord
Jesus Christ being lifted up and honoured and glorified. Indeed, as we read here, his
name was magnified. So, we see here these false people,
these vagabonds, it's called, 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. Well, they clearly heard Paul
preaching. They'd also been observers of
the gifts that Paul had received. And of course, the last verse
that we considered last week spoke like this, so that from
his body were brought unto the sick handkerchiefs or aprons
and the diseases departed from them and evil spirits went out
of them. So having observed this, these
people thought they would try and do the same things. But of
course they had totally the wrong spirit, they weren't really believing
in the Lord Jesus Christ, they were only concerned for their
own gratification, and there was no favour towards them. And so we hear this statement,
and there were seven sons of one, a Sceva, a Jew, and chief
of the priests, which did so. So there were these seven sons,
they gathered together, and they endeavoured to cast out these
evil spirits. And the evil spirit answered
and said, this was the person in who was the evil spirit, obviously,
and this person, the spirit responded in this way, Jesus I know, and
Paul I know, but who are ye? So we see this person, that these
vagabonds were trying to bring about a healing, so the spirit
departed from them. He asked the question, and he
asked who they were. He knew Jesus, and he knew Paul,
but he didn't know them. And what happened then? And the
evil spirit answered and said, Jesus I know, Paul I know, but
who are ye? And the man then, in whom the
evil spirit was, leapt on them, and overcame them, and prevailed
against them. So they fled out of that house
naked and wounded." Well, he must have been a very strong
man, because he attacked these seven people, and tore off their
clothes, so they were all scared and they all ran out. And they
ran away, and they were naked and wounded. So that was the
situation which came upon those who were pretending to be able
to bring about healing and cause the evil spirit to depart. Well,
we see now the good effect that these evil things had. And this
was known to all the Jews and Greeks also dwelling at Ephesus. Now we know of course that Ephesus
was the main city, the capital really, in that part of Asia
and fear fell on them all and the name of the Lord Jesus was
magnified. Well how wonderful it is when
the name of Christ is magnified. See the Lord brings different
situations to bear so that his name is lifted up and who would
have thought perhaps at the beginning when these seven vagabonds tried
to convince this man that the Spirit should go from them. They
never recognised that they would be attacked or thought they would
be attacked, and I'm sure they never thought that the result
would be that the name of the Lord Jesus, who they were mocking
really, in the act that they were doing through this situation,
would be magnified. we have a great God, a God who
can bring good out of evil. And then of course this situation
developed and many that believed came and confessed and showed
their deeds. What a blessing it is when the
work of grace in a sinner's heart moves them like these people
were moved, that they were blessed with that faith to believe And
having been blessed with that faith to believe, what did they
do? Well, they confessed their situation, who they were, what
they were, and they confessed the name of the Lord Jesus Christ,
and they showed their deeds. And these people clearly had
not been godly people previously, because we read many of them
also which used curious arts, and by that we can think of magic
and that kind of situation. Curious arts, what did they do? Had the Spirit of God moved them? Had it had an effect upon them?
Well, it certainly had. And they brought their books
together and burned them before all men, and they counted the
price of them and found it 50,000 pieces of silver. So these books
were very valuable books. But what we observe is that the
Spirit of God working powerfully in the hearts of men enables
them to part with all their wealthy goods if they are not in accordance
with the Word of God. If they do not add to the honour
and glory of God, These people have been occupied in these wrong
deeds. And so now, as they were convinced
of their wrong deeds, they didn't just say, well, we'll still hang
on to these books because they're valuable, and of course we appreciate
them. No. The Spirit moved them, so they
took them all and burnt them. Well, there was no going back
then, was there? There was no putting them to one side and
saying, well, I think we'll just keep them for a little bit and
see how things develop. Not at all. The Spirit of God
moved them in a wonderful way to take these wrong things and
get rid of them and to burn them. Well, it's a good example, isn't
it, to the Church of God today. Because there may be those things
which are not convenient, those things which are not bringing
glory to God. And here is the result. what
we should do to get rid of them. It may not be perhaps just like
burning them, maybe some other way that we can get rid of them,
but definitely not to hang on to them. And again we see the
wonderful effect that these things had. So mightily grew the Word
of God and prevailed. The Word of God grew and it prevailed. How we need that today, don't
we? That the Word of God might grow
and prevail. Think tomorrow, God willing,
of the market stored in our calendar distribution and how we need
the Lord to then appear in that situation. So the Word of God
might indeed grow. And when we think of this word
of growing, it really means that the Word goes into the good ground. And that word then produces a
growth, a root downward and fruit upward. Wouldn't it be wonderful,
wouldn't it? And may we pray with faith, remember
to pray in faith, nothing wavering, as we thought upon recently,
the relevance of that. And here we have it before us
here this evening. So mightily grew the word of
God. And we know the word of God does
grow. And we also know this truth.
The Lord says, my word shall not return unto me void, but
it will accomplish that which the Lord pleases. So may again
we take these words and bring them before our God and pray
that he may indeed do great things so there may be a wonderful outpouring
of the Holy Spirit so the word of God may grow and prevail. See, when God's work appears,
it prevails. Because the devil cannot stand
against the work of God or the word of God. And it does prevail. And may we therefore have that
living faith to understand the truth of these words and pray
to our God that we may observe his work, his word, and that
we may see the prevailing of it. Sinners moved as these people
were. These sinners were moved by these
situations. And we come to the same God that
same God today who worked that mighty work in these days. I
am the Lord, I change not. The Lord is the same yesterday
and today and forever. And may our faith be increased
to pray that his name may be lifted up and honoured and glorified
and many souls blessed eternally. Amen.