Lechem Panim #208 “The Sons of Sceva” (Acts 19:13-20) Pastor Cameron Ury

Hello and welcome to Lechem Panim. So glad you could join us today for a time of Bible Study as we continue to look at the book of Acts together. In recent weeks we have been in chapter 19, taking a look at Paul’s ministry in the city of Ephesus. And really God has been doing some amazing things through the apostle Paul. Paul has been preaching and teaching, but also performing many amazing miracles, healing people of various diseases and also driving out demons. And it that last point that is of central importance in our passage today; because here God is revealing through Paul the authenticity and authority of the person of Jesus Christ; and that Paul is in fact speaking for God. And much of what we encounter in our passage today has to do with that authority; what happens to the sicknesses; how the demons respond to that authority.

“I’m a Lighthouse”— I am reminded of a story shared [In U.S. Navel Institute Proceedings, the magazine of the Naval Institute, {in which} Frank Koch illustrates the importance of obeying… Two battleships assigned to the training squadron had been at sea on maneuvers in heavy weather for several days. {He says} I was serving on the lead battleship and was on watch on the bridge as night fell. The visibility was poor with patchy fog, so the captain remained on the bridge keeping an eye on all activities.
Shortly after dark, the lookout on the wing reported, "Light, bearing on the starboard bow."
"Is it steady or moving astern?" the captain called out.
The lookout replied, "Steady, Captain," which meant we were on a dangerous collision course with that ship.
The captain then called to the signalman, "Signal that ship: 'We are on a collision course, advise you change course twenty degrees.'"
Back came the signal, "Advisable for you to change course twenty degrees."
The captain said, "Send: "I'm a captain, change course twenty degrees.'"
"I'm a seaman second-class," came the reply. "You had better change course twenty degrees."
By that time the captain was furious. He spat out, "Send: 'I'm a battleship. Change course twenty degrees.'"
Back came the flashing light, "I'm a lighthouse."
We changed course.] Well, this is kind of like what was happening with Paul. Mighty battleships that had held sway over the lives of people for years and years (battleships of sickness, fear, and superstition) were now giving way to a much greater power; the Light of Jesus Christ. And Paul was like the keeper of that lighthouse, sharing the Light of Christ.

Authority vs. No Authority— And in a second we are going to see the difference between having the authority of God on your life and not having that authority. Because, within this context of healing and expulsion of demons, we find that some men come to town who are part of the exorcism business; and (seeing all these great works) they try to cast out demons by the same name that Paul was casting them out. And that is because, as [John Polhill explains, Ancient magicians were syncretists and would borrow terms from any religion that sounded sufficiently strange to be deemed effective….Paul’s “spell” (if you want to call it that, though of course it wasn’t) in Jesus’ name seemed effective for him, so they gave it a try.]. It says in…

Acts 19:13 (LSB)— 13 But also some of the Jewish exorcists, who went from place to place, attempted to invoke over those who had the evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, “I implore you by Jesus whom Paul preaches.”

Exorcists— Now here the word exorcist refers to someone who uses a name to bind and cast out a demon. Interestingly, this is the only place in scripture where this word occurs. Demons are often cast out by Jesus and His followers, but those were not true exorcisms because exorcisms always involved formulaic rituals in which you would use a name to drive out a demon. Exorcists during that time would often recite a whole list of names in their incantations in order to be sure they included the right deity, by whose name they hoped to drive the demon out. And they would often do this for money. Now you might ask, “Well, what if they failed to pay the exorcist? Did they get repossessed?” I don’t know. Maybe so.
    But one of the most important things we need to recognize about these so-called exorcists is that they were frauds. No doubt they had some success in their business, or else they wouldn’t be in business; but what we have to understand is that people like this are often used by Satan to further his hold on people. And though demons may leave after one of their ridiculous incantations, this was not because of their authority or the effectiveness of those incantations. Rather, the demons might leave in order to help keep the superstitions and fears of the people alive. [As Ed Murphy points out, this was a case of evil spirits battling each other—that is, the evil spirit in the possessed person battled the demonized exorcists. {Now} How can we harmonize this fact with Christ's statement that Satan will not be divided against Satan? {Well, that’s easy; because there is no division.} Demons can expel and attack other demons {when doing so serves} to enhance the control of demons over people. {Because} Such demon-to-demon attacks only increase Satan's hold over people.] And that also includes the exorcists, who believe they have this power. And here they see that the name of Jesus has great affect over demons, and so a group of Jewish exorcists (and there were a good number of these during this time) began trying to use the name of Jesus as part of their incantations. Now it may surprise you to see Jews dabbling in this kind of thing; and even more so to know that there were Jews during this time who dabbled in magic. But F.F. Bruce points out that “among practitioners of magic in ancient times Jews enjoyed high respect, for they were believed to have exceptionally effective spells at their command.” And in verse 14 we meet seven of these so-called Jewish exorcists. It says…

Acts 19:14 (LSB)— 14 Now seven sons of one named Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this.

Sons of Sceva— Now there is no record of any Jewish chief priest named Sceva, leading some (like F.F. Bruce) to think that the title “Jewish chief priest” may have in fact been a self-designation taken on by Sceva to lend credibility to himself and his practice. And this may be because (as F.F. Bruce points out) ["the fact that the name of God was not pronounced by vulgar lips was generally known among pagans, and misrepresented by them according to regular magical principles." By contrast, "the Jewish high priest was the one man who was authorized to pronounce the otherwise ineffable name {of God}. {And so} Such a person would therefore enjoy prestige among magicians."] Can you see why that might have motivated Sceva to take on that title? However, despite that, we will see that through his seven sons, their practice will be discredited as the fraud that it was; because they come to a man who is demon-possessed and try to cast out the demon through the practice of exorcism. However, they were in for a surprise, as it says…

Acts 19:15-16 (LSB)— 15 And the evil spirit answered and said to them, “I recognize Jesus, and I know about Paul, but who are you?” 16 And the man, in whom was the evil spirit, leaped on them, subdued all of them, and utterly prevailed against them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.

Didn’t Know Jesus— You know, it’s amazing to see how completely and utterly they fail; and the reason they failed was because they tried to use the name of Jesus like an incantation. Now although we recognize that there is power in the name of Jesus, we must also recognize that we ought never to seek to exercise the power of that name apart from a relationship with Jesus. These sons of Sceva were doing just that; calling on the name of Jesus without knowing or even being interested to know Him personally; they were only hoping to use Him. But God was not willing to allow His Son to be manipulated or used. And these sons of Sceva discover this in a very potent way, as the demon (through the man) leaps upon them, subdues them, tears off their clothes, and sends them running for their lives buck naked. And so we have the birth of the practice of streaking.

Demons Profane The Sacred Image— Now at my church (Renton Park Chapel) I preached not long ago on Jesus’ driving out a host of demons out of a man who had been wandering among some tombs. And one thing that leapt out at me (I might say) about that passage (and which I think relates to this one) is that when the demon-possessed man came to Jesus, he was completely naked. And that is because the demonic forces at work in our lives always seek to dehumanize us and humiliate us. They seek to profane and mar the sacredness of the image of God in Whom we are created. And we see this here as well. The demon dehumanizes these Jewish exorcists and sends them running away naked. And it says in…

Acts 19:17-18 (LSB)— 17 And this became known to all, both Jews and Greeks, who lived in Ephesus; and fear fell upon them all and the name of the Lord Jesus was being magnified. {Now notice the transition. In the beginning of our passage all of the focus was on Paul; but now the focus has shifted to where it belongs, on the name of Jesus. It says:} 18 Also, many of those who had believed kept coming, confessing and disclosing their practices.

Spells Rendered Inoperative— And what this probably means is that the people are [revealing the content of their spells. {And the reason for this is because} “According to magical theory, the potency of a spell is bound up with its secrecy; if it be divulged, it becomes in-effective. So these converted magicians renounced their imagined power by rendering their spells inoperative.”] Furthermore, it says in…

Acts 19:19-20 (LSB)— 19 And many of those who practiced magic brought their books together {(meaning scrolls of magical spells and formulae; “Magical papyri were rolled up in small cylinders or lockets used as amulets around the neck.” So they brought them together)} and were burning them in the sight of everyone; and they counted up the price of them and found it fifty thousand pieces of silver. {And those pieces of silver were what are known as drachmas. One drachma was a day’s wage for an average worker. And so what we have here is fifty thousand days’ worth of wages. What an amazing thing to see these Ephesians breaking with all that opened the door for Satan to move in. And after this Luke highlights the ripple effect even more. He writes:} 20 So the word of the Lord was growing mightily and prevailing.

3 Lessons— Now we learn a number of things from this passage. First, demons are very real and they are very powerful. So don’t underestimate them (see Jude 1:8-8). Secondly (and this is good news for us), they recognize and always submit to the authority of God. That is why we don’t have to be afraid of them; because (as 1 John 4:4 says) greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world. And third, Jesus’ name is not some magic word by which demons can be cast out. No incantation (even ones that use Jesus’ name) can genuinely cast out demons. Because the power is ultimately in Jesus, not in any ritual. The power belongs to Him and to Him alone. And the greatest mistake made by the sons of Sceva was that they failed to realize that it wasn’t Paul who was driving out the demons. It was Jesus who was freeing people through Paul. And he was doing that because Paul had a relationship with Jesus; not one where Paul was using Jesus to do things; but where Jesus was using Paul to work out His plans and His purposes.
    And you know, the same is true with us. If we want to have victory over sin and the powers of darkness, the greatest thing we can do is be in a relationship with Jesus Christ. It is in Him and in Him alone that the forces of evil in our lives are driven out and we become lighthouses who in turn help to drive away the shrouds that lay upon the lives of other people. So let us commit to truly know and walk with and allow ourselves to be used by Jesus. Amen.