Transcript

“Joe Gutierrez tells five stories from his 42 years as a steelworker in the book, The Heat: Steelworkers’ Lives and Legends. In one story, called ‘Snow Danced in August,’ he describes a scene of silvery dust flakes that frequently floated to the floor in an area of the mill where steel strips rolled over pads in a tall cooling tower.

“For years, workers and visitors alike flocked to the sight, which was especially picturesque at night. Then they discovered the dust was asbestos.

“‘Everybody breathed it,’ wrote Gutierrez. He now suffers from the slow, choking grip of asbestosis as do many plant workers.

He writes, “‘Can’t walk too far now. I get tired real fast and it hurts when I breathe sometimes. And to think we used to fight over that job.’ How many things in our culture resemble the silver flakes in that steel mill? Enchanting but deadly.”

The practice of the occult resembles the silver flakes in our culture. For many it is a constant temptation to dabble in it. And there is a lot of interest in the occult today.

The occult comes in many different forms: fortune-telling, tarot cards, palmistry, numerology, astrology, séances, horoscopes, and tea leaves.

You can easily find places of business dedicated to these things and shows featuring mediums are broadcast on television now. Horoscopes are readily available. And witchcraft, Satanism, and Spiritism are practiced openly.

The term “occult” comes from the Latin term “occultus,” which refers to hidden or secret things. As we use the word in English, it refers to the incursion into the spirit realm.

The stern warnings to Israel in the Mosaic Law teach us what God thinks about the occult, astrology, and horoscopes and are enough to know that we need to avoid it.

“There shall not be found among you anyone…who practices witchcraft, or a soothsayer, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer…Or one who conjures spells, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead. For all who do these things are an abomination to the Lord” (Deut. 18:10-12).

For our good, the people of God should shun all practices of the occult. All that we need to know about the supernatural realm or the future comes through the Word of God. By faith, we should take our stand on the sufficiency of the revelation of God’s Word.

In Ephesus, the practice of the occult was prevalent. But in Acts 19, we learn of a revival that took place in which many who believed in Christ burned their books of the occult and turned to the truth of the Word of God.

Acts 19:11-13: “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.”

In 2 Corinthians 12:12, Paul wrote, “Truly the signs of an apostle were wrought among you in all patience, in signs, and wonders, and mighty deeds.”

And validating Paul’s apostleship and authenticating the message of grace he preached, verse 11 states that “God wrought special miracles by the hands of Paul.”

Acts demonstrates that Paul came behind Peter in nothing in his apostolic authority.

Luke recorded Paul doing all the same types of miracles as Peter. Both healed a lame man (14:8; cf. 3:2). Both cast out demons (16:18; cf. 5:16), both defeated sorcerers (13:6; cf. 8:18), both raised the dead (20:9; cf. 9:36), and both escaped from prison (16:25; cf. 12:7).

This passage shows that the streets of Ephesus were filled with magicians and wonder-workers, so the fact that these were “special” miracles highlights how, through Paul, God worked “special,” extraordinary miracles that these miracle workers could not do.

And so great was the power that flowed through Paul that even handkerchiefs or aprons which he touched would be carried away to the sick or demon-possessed, and healing would result.

Clothing being used to heal is not without precedent, however, as touching the hem of Christ’s garment resulted in healing during His earthly ministry (Mark 6:56).

As Mark 6:56 states, “And whithersoever He entered, into villages, or cities, or country, they laid the sick in the streets, and besought Him that they might touch if it were but the border of His garment: and as many as touched Him were made whole.”

It reminds me too of the woman with the issue of blood who, in faith, reached through the crowd, and touched His garment and was immediately healed.

These handkerchiefs were sweat-cloths. They were used to wipe away perspiration. The aprons were workman’s aprons. And both were used by Paul in his tentmaking trade.

What this teaches is that Paul did not make money from his healings. Stop and think about that for a second in regards to what often happens with so-called healings and healers today.

Instead, these handkerchiefs and aprons were used by Paul as he worked to support himself as he served the Lord and spread the gospel in Ephesus.

Paul did so because he didn’t want his motives in sharing the gospel with lost souls to be questioned. He so desired lost souls to be saved that he worked to support himself so he didn’t need to ask for money from those he ministered to and was trying to reach.

And in this, we are being shown a contrast between the sincerity of Paul, a true servant of God, and the insincerity of the unbelieving vagabond Jews mentioned in these verses.

Very much unlike Paul and his handkerchiefs, today prayer cloths are used as a fund-raising device. Those that use and promote them sometimes encourage people to send their name and address and perhaps a short prayer request.

In return, the viewer receives a prayer cloth, with instructions such as “place it in your Bible for one night” or “put it under your pillow” or “write your name on it,” and an envelope is provided to return the cloth with a substantial donation.

Or people are asked up front to donate $50, $100, $1,000, or even more to receive a prayer cloth.

And then this passage is used as a basis for people to expect miraculous answers to prayer and healing through these cloths. But these kinds of healings and miracles have passed.

They took place during the Acts period. They were signs of an apostle and they were gifts for the early church, but when the Word of God was complete, these things ceased.

Seeing the power of the name of the Lord as God wrought special miracles by the hands of Paul, and trying to imitate what they thought was Paul’s formula for success, some vagabond Jewish exorcists decided to add Christ’s name to their repertoire of incantations.

And thus, when attempting to cast out an evil spirit, in a superstitious manner, they would say, “We adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preacheth.”

And you can see the separation, and no relationship these unbelieving Jews had with Jesus Christ by it, as they adjured evil spirits, by Jesus whom Paul preaches.

It’s been said well that “In the same pattern, there are many people, many churchgoers, who will perish in hell because they have no personal relationship with Jesus Christ. They only know ‘the Jesus the pastor preaches’ or ‘the Jesus my spouse believes in’ instead of the Jesus of their own salvation.”

The term “vagabond” means wanderers, travelers. They had no settled place to live. These Jews were far from the promised land, the land of Israel, and their wandering symbolizes Israel’s current set aside state in God’s eyes.

And also as Pastor Cornelius Stam wrote, “…these Jews were ‘exorcists’ men who expelled, or presumed to expel, evil spirits, not, of course, by the power of God, but by magical rites, incantations and other means, the implication being that they went from place to place offering to cast out demons for a price.”

All this shows how low these Jews had fallen spiritually, they were homeless, wandering vagabonds, who for personal gain, used the name of the Lord Jesus, their Messiah whom they rejected, as they trafficked in evil spirits which was strictly forbidden under the law and was punishable by death.

Acts 19:14-16: “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.”

Among these vagabond, itinerant Jewish exorcists were seven sons of a leading priest, named Sceva. On one occasion, they tried to cast out a demon, by “saying, We adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preacheth” (v. 13).

And, humorously, verse 15 reads, “And the evil spirit answered and said, Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are ye?” Or who do you think you are?

The demon knew Jesus and Paul when they said, “We adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preaches,” but he didn’t know who the “we” was in “We adjure you.”

A Middle Eastern king was down on his money and began to sell off his valuables. The last of these was the Star of the Euphrates, at that time the most valuable diamond in existence. He went to a pawnbroker who offered him $100,000 rials for it.

“Are you crazy?” said the king. “I paid one million rials for this gem! Don’t you know who I am?” The pawnbroker replied, “When you wish to pawn a star, it makes no difference who you are.” To cast him out, it made a difference who you are to this demon.

The demons knew and know Jesus, because, after all, He created them and they were once in heaven with Him. They’ve known Jesus Christ since their creation.

And He has authority over them as the Creator, the Son of God, and Lord over all. In His earthly ministry, in the synagogue in Capernaum, a demon said to Christ, “I know Thee who Thou art, the Holy One of God” (Mark 1:24).

They knew Paul because of his calling and authority by God as an apostle. They also knew Paul by his zeal in reaching lost souls and spreading the truth of Christ, and being a threat to their kingdom of darkness.

In Philippi, a demon said of Paul, Silas, and Luke, “These men are the servants of the most high God, which shew unto us the way of salvation” (Acts 16:17).

But asking, “Who are you?” the demon was stating that these sons of Sceva who used the name of Christ had no authority over him, and he rejected their attempt to cast him out of his victim.

Here you find that demons know who their enemies are, in this case, Christ and Paul.

So that begs a couple questions. Do the demons know you? Do you pose a threat to them and their work? They know you if you are saved because you are then their enemy and they scheme against every believer to keep them from growing in their faith and from being a bright testimony for Christ.

And the demons especially know you if you are actively serving, standing for the truth, making the gospel known, and making an impact for Christ.

Pastor Frank Barker comments on this verse by saying, “As Christians, when we move about, does it cause reverberations in the kingdom of darkness?

“Do they say something to this effect, ‘Oh, no! John is working at that place of employment we’ve held captive for so long. His going there is a dangerous situation for us, because he verbalizes [and lives] his faith. He prays. He stands up for the Lord Jesus Christ.”

One of the manifestations of demon possession is extraordinary physical strength. Of the man possessed by demons in Gadara, Mark wrote that “and no man could bind him, no, not with chains: Because that he had been often bound with fetters and chains, and the chains had been plucked asunder by him, and the fetters broken in pieces” (5:3-4).

In verse 16, you see this extraordinary physical strength, by how one man possessed by a demon “leaped on them, and overcame them, and prevailed against them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.”

It’s been said that “The name of Jesus, like an unfamiliar weapon misused, exploded in their hands; and they were taught a lesson about the danger of using the name of Jesus in their dabbling in the supernatural.”

These exorcists had no power to command demons, and so the demon attacked them viciously. He single-handedly overpowered all 7 of them, beating, wounding, and tearing off their clothes. He sent them flying. And I picture them jumping out of doors and windows and running away in terror.

These 7 Jewish men were symbolic of Israel as a whole in their setting aside. They were powerless, and Satan had prevailed against them, leaving them spiritually naked, wounded, and humiliated.

And as a result, in this account, we see salvation going to the Gentiles through Israel’s fall, and through their fall there is grace for all, for both individual Jews and Gentiles.

Acts 19:17-20: “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.”

Instead of this event disgracing the name of Christ, the event magnified His name and caused the Word of God to spread even more rapidly. It resulted in a revival in Ephesus.

Despite the working of Satan, despite the working of unbelievers who were just out for money and themselves and had no true spiritual concern for others, despite the name of the Lord being misused, by God’s working, the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified.

God turned the event to defeat Satan and to bring conviction to those who were still involved in the occult and magical arts and to turn to Christ and believe in Him as a result.

The Lord’s name was magnified by the SUCCESS of the special miracles that God worked through Paul and the evil spirits that were cast out by him, and it was further magnified by the FAILURE of these imposters being unable to do what Paul was able to do so simply, even through handkerchiefs and aprons, in the name of the Lord Jesus.

The Lord’s name encompasses all that is true about Him. The word “magnified” means to enlarge, to make great. To magnify the Lord’s name means for who He is to be enlarged and more highly esteemed in others’ eyes.

In 2004, scientists pointed the Hubble telescope at a blank-looking patch of sky near the Orion Constellation. The Hubble stayed focused on that spot for over 11 days.

The patch of sky they were looking at is no bigger than a grain of sand held out at arm’s length. And in that tiny patch of sky, they discovered over 10,000 galaxies!

It’s been said well that “There are two kinds of magnifying: microscope magnifying and telescope magnifying. The one makes a small thing look bigger than it is. The other makes a big thing begin to look as big as it really is.”

Just like the Hubble telescope did when it revealed how big, how magnificent, and how much is beyond in that tiny patch of sky.

When Scripture speaks of the Lord being magnified, it does not mean, that like a microscope, “I will make a small God look bigger than He is.” It means, like a telescope, “I will make a big and glorious God begin to look as big and glorious as He really is.”

In Philippians 1:20, Paul wrote: “According to my earnest expectation and my hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ shall be MAGNIFIED in my body, whether it be by life, or by death.”

Paul desired for Christ to be honored, to begin to look as big and magnificent as He really is through him and his life and even in his death. Like Paul, we should make it our purpose to magnify and glorify Christ in all we do and say and by the decisions we make.

By these events, the Lord’s name was magnified, it was like a telescope, it made the all-powerful, all-glorious Lord begin to appear as powerful and glorious as He really is. And this resulted in fear in Ephesus among all and belief in the Lord by many.

This event resulted in fear, belief, and also conviction. As those who believed in Christ, who had been involved in magical arts, confessed and told of their practices.

And then many “brought their books [of sorcery, the occult, and black magic incantations] together, and burned them before all men.” They had a large, public bonfire in Ephesus.

And the worth of all the burned up books was “fifty thousand pieces of silver.” 50,000 pieces of silver represents how much involvement there was in the magic arts in Ephesus, and it shows how many turned from it and were converted.

Like the Thessalonians turned to God from their idols, the Ephesians turned to Christ from the occult.

There’s a good teaching here for new believers as the burning of their occult books symbolized an irreversible repudiation of their past beliefs and superstitions. They made a clean and final break, so they might move forward in their faith in Christ.

You find Satanic books in verse 19, but then you find God’s book in verse 20. You find Satan’s books burned up, but God’s living and powerful book, growing and prevailing. All the Satanic forces of the occult arrayed against the Word could not overpower it.

The Word prevailing reminds us of the spiritual battle here. You have light and darkness, truth and error, victory and defeat, victors and losers throughout this account. You see the victory of light over darkness, truth over error, and God over Satan.

You have the light and victory of Paul and his true miracles and healings, and the darkness and defeat of the vagabond Jewish exorcists and the sons of Sceva.

You have the victory of faith, the name of the Lord Jesus, and the Word of God, and the defeat of unbelief, Satan, and Satanic books of the occult.

And the spiritual victories all resulted in a mighty revival in Ephesus. Verse 10 teaches how the Word of the Lord Jesus powerfully went out FROM Ephesus to all Asia Minor. Verse 20 teaches how the Word of God prevailed IN Ephesus.

And likewise, in our individual lives, God desires for His Word to grow and prevail in us, and then for that Word to go out from us as we share it with others.

In 1949 a Texas doctor named Julius Hickerson decided to become a missionary to Colombia, South America. When he told his family and friends about his plans to serve in Colombia, they all thought he was crazy and told him he would be wasting his life.

They questioned why he would leave a successful career as a doctor and give up all the money he could make.

When Julius Hickerson arrived in Colombia, he worked two long years preaching the gospel and attending to the medical needs of the Colombian natives.

But the Colombians were resistant to the good news of salvation, and after 2 years of sharing with the natives, Julius did not win one person to Christ.

And then one day, when Dr. Hickerson was on a plane flying medical supplies to a remote Colombian village, tragically, the plane crashed and Dr. Hickerson died. It seemed like all of Julius’ efforts to be a missionary for Christ were a waste.

But the story about Julius Hickerson does not end with him dying in a plane crash where nobody gets saved.

After Julius Hickerson died, new missionaries arrived in Colombia to continue Dr. Hickerson’s missionary work.

And once when the new missionaries were having a Bible study at Barranquilla, Colombia, a group of Colombian natives asked to participate in the service and worship with them. These natives said that they were also followers of Christ and had built many churches throughout the nearby jungles.

The new missionaries were surprised because they were not aware of any other missionaries serving and preaching Christ in that remote area of Colombia.

They asked these natives, “How did you hear about Jesus Christ?” They replied that they had found a book that came from heaven.

The book that the natives found was a Bible written in their language lying open on the ground several miles from where Julius Hickerson’s plane was lost.

After the natives found this Bible, they began to read it and show the Bible to other natives in the jungles.

One by one, as that Bible was shared and read, many believed and gave their lives to Christ and then began to build churches throughout those jungles.

After hearing this amazing story, one of the missionaries asked to see the Bible, and when he opened it, he rejoiced when he saw the name on the inside: Julius Hickerson.

Because Julius Hickerson was faithful and dedicated as a missionary to Colombia, the Lord used his Bible after his death to save multitudes in Colombia.

And by this, the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified and shows how great and glorious He is in how He works, and we see an example of the power of the Word of God, and how as verse 20 states, “So mightily grew the Word of God and prevailed.”