Lord, Send a Revival, and let it begin in me.
Acts 19: 8 Paul entered the synagogue and spoke boldly there for three months, arguing persuasively about the kingdom of God. ---then because of opposition--- Paul left them. He took the disciples with him and had discussions daily in the lecture hall of Tyrannus. 10 This went on for two years, so that all the Jews and Greeks who lived in the province of Asia heard the word of the Lord.
11 God did extraordinary miracles through Paul, 12 so that even handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were taken to the sick, and their illnesses were cured and the evil spirits left them.
13 Some Jews who went around driving out evil spirits tried to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who were demon-possessed. They would say, “In the name of the Jesus whom Paul preaches, I command you to come out.” 14 Seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this. 15 One day the evil spirit answered them, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know about, but who are you?” 16 Then the man who had the evil spirit jumped on them and overpowered them all. He gave them such a beating that they ran out of the house naked and bleeding.
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. 18 Many of those who believed now came and openly confessed what they had done. 19 A number who had practiced sorcery brought their scrolls together and burned them publicly. When they calculated the value of the scrolls, the total came to fifty thousand drachmas.[c] 20 In this way the word of the Lord spread widely and grew in power.
Revival in Ephesus and Asia Minor
Acts 19. This is the story of Paul’s return to Ephesus, and arguably the time of his most profitable Spiritual work. He was in Ephesus over 3 years, which is a lifetime for Paul. And out of his work there churches were established in several surrounding communities. As we read this chapter we see key signs that there is a real “revival” breaking out in the region. It tells us that, “10 This went on for two years, so that all the Jews and Greeks who lived in the province of Asia heard the word of the Lord.” “All the Jews and Greeks heard…” In verse 17 it says, “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.” And as a result “many believed” and “the word of the Lord spread widely and grew in power.”
It is also the story of the impotence of Satan: As we studied last week, the Christian has nothing to fear with Satan and demons, Scripture tells us to “Resist the devil, and he will flee.” The unsaved world has no power over him, but those in Christ do, we have “Christ in us, the hope of glory” and that’s real power.
If there is any point I want to make today, it is that Revival reveals real power
It was a revival in the region. And I don’t know about you, but when I read this account, I think, “Lord, send that to us.”
Opening illustration
Revival is the visitation of God which brings to life Christians who have been sleeping and restores a deep sense of God's near presence and holiness. Thence springs a vivid sense of sin and a profound exercise of heart in repentance, praise, and love, with an evangelistic outflow.
Each revival movement has its own distinctive features, but the pattern is the same every time.
First God comes. On New Year's Eve 1739, John Wesley, George Whitefield, and some of their friends held a "love feast" which became a watch night of prayer to see the New Year in. At about 3 a.m., Wesley wrote, "the power of God came mightily upon us, insomuch that many cried for exceeding joy, and many fell to the ground." Revival always begins with a restoration of the sense of the closeness of the Holy One.
Second, the gospel is loved as never before. The sense of God's nearness creates an overwhelming awareness of one's own sins and sinfulness, and so the power of the cleansing blood of Christ is greatly appreciated.
Then repentance deepens. In the Ulster revival in the 1920s shipyard workers brought back so many stolen tools that new sheds had to be built to house the recovered property! Repentance results in restitution.
Finally, the Spirit works fast: godliness multiplies, Christians mature, converts appear. Paul was at Thessalonica for less than three weeks, but God worked quickly and Paul left a virile church behind him.
And every revival reveals the real power—it shows the powerlessness of counterfeits, the rabid powerlessness of evil men, which we will discover next week with the story of a riot, but the real power of God
James Packer, Your Father Loves You, Harold Shaw Publishers, 1986.
How would a true revival effect my life and my world? Well, this chapter, chapter 19 in Acts, describes how a revival affected the region of Ephesus, and Asia Minor, so as we pray for revival for our church, and Wichita, there are several things we need to know that we are asking for.
True revival from God is rigorous; hard work, rewarding; results in real change, rapturous; spiritual change, not superficial, righteous; based in right doctrine and glory to the right one, reveals real power uncovering counterfeit power revolutionary; power of the life-giving Spirit at work, and riotous; powerlessness of men
prayer
Which brings us to the next part of the story. Some people heard about, or saw all that Paul was doing, and thought they could just use the right words, like a spell, and do the same miraculous works.
I. Reveals real power and powerless counterfeits
13 Some Jews who went around driving out evil spirits tried to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who were demon-possessed. They would say, “In the name of the Jesus whom Paul preaches, I command you to come out.” 14 Seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this.
What happened was this. We don’t know specifics about this man Sceva, but there were many like him that give us an indication what he was doing in Ephesus. He was apparently a local man who had some influence or notoriety as a religious leader. His name was Sceva. He is called “a Jewish chief priest.” He is a self-proclaimed high priest. He is a Jewish man of possible priestly descent who decided to capitalize on his genealogy. He hung his shingle in front of his house as a local spiritual guru or Shaman. He purports to know the secrets of God to solve your problems. He knows the words to say, the spells, the herbs to take. And, in particular, he seems to specialize in demon exorcism. Well, what did he and his sons do? Well, among other things, they gained influence by purporting to be able to cast out demons.
He uses ancient techniques; prayer, scripture, having the demon-possessed eat or drink some blessed substance, torture of the demon-possessed to somehow make the demon uncomfortable enough to want to leave or one of the favorite methods of exorcizing demons; magic words.
But let’s get back to our narrative.
13 Some Jews who went around driving out evil spirits tried to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who were demon-possessed. They would say, “In the name of the Jesus whom Paul preaches, I command you to come out.” 14 Seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this.
15 One day the evil spirit answered them, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know about, but who are you?” 16 Then the man who had the evil spirit jumped on them and overpowered them all. He gave them such a beating that they ran out of the house naked and bleeding.
So, some of the local Jewish exorcists, not believers, witnessed what Paul was doing. Paul, in the name of Jesus, was casting out demons. They thought they had the ultimate magic word-in the name of Jesus-but they were counterfeits. Now, what did it mean that he was casting out demons in the name of Jesus? Doing anything “in the name of Jesus” means you are doing it by His authority. It’s not some set of magic words that if stated give us whatever we ask for or state.
It’s like when the police yell after a fleeing individual, “Halt, in the name of the law.” They are stating that they have the authority of the law behind them. They can legally require you to stop, speak to them, be detained or even arrested. So, they are saying, “You’d better quit running away, or we will bring the full force of the law down on you.”
If they continue to run, then the officer can get a warrant for his arrest, use whatever information he has gathered to find, arrest, and imprison the individual.
Now, if I see a guy running down the street, and yell, “Halt in the name of the law.” What does that mean? It means diddly-squat. Because I have no authority, no law that gives me the authority to detain anyone.
If they ignore my directions, I can’t do anything by law to stop them.
It’s the same with the name of Jesus. When we pray in Jesus’ name, we are claiming the answer to our prayers on Jesus’ authority. What it means is that if I am praying for something that is in the plan and Will of God, it is as good as done.
But what if I’m praying for something outside of God’s will? What if I am saying, “In Jesus’ name, I call riches and health to myself?” “In the name of Jesus, I command Satan to go to Hell and stay there?” I don’t receive those things, because there isn’t a law to back up the words.
If a police officer pulls me over for speeding, and says “halt in the name of the law” then he says “you owe a fifty dollar fine for speeding,” “I’ll take it in cash, right now.” Even though he said, “In the name of the law,” doesn’t magically make his word law. I can go before a judge and testify that the officer has stepped outside the law for personal profit.
But that’s what’s happening today with the name of Jesus. We’ve got people throwing that around like it’s bubble gum at the parade. They are using the name of Jesus as some sort of magic words. But if the law, the Words of the Lord, the will of God, is not in agreement with the thing they claim, or the declaration they make, the words are meaningless.
So, these 7 sons of Sceva, they thought they could just add the name of Jesus to their bag of tricks. They were in the exorcism business, and what they saw from Paul seemed like the mother lode of spells. You see, I think they saw a power far beyond anything that they had done. I think they must have had some success as exorcists. You say, “you mean they had cast out demons before?” Yes, in a sense. You see, Satan wants you to believe lies, and lying religious systems. So, if he can fool you into believing in charlatan exorcists, it serves him for the demons to come out, or go dormant, for a while. But then the demons return later. That’s what Jesus described in the unsaved. But, for the time it seems that the exorcism was successful.
So, these guys had had success as exorcists. But they had never seen the level of instantaneous deliverance that they witnessed with Paul. With Paul, it wasn’t some long drawn-out process involving incantations, and tortures over hours etc. Paul’s exorcisms, like Christ’s were instantaneous, and permanent.
So, they decide to use the name of Jesus. They don’t know Jesus, they don’t believe. They just want the spell. So, they say to the demon-possessed man, “In the name of the Jesus whom Paul preaches, I command you to come out.”
But I love what the demon says,
The demon responds to these men and says, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know, but who are you.” Real revival is righteous, but it results in counterfeit reactions. The demon says, “I’ve known Jesus from eternity past in heaven, He is God. He is the power of powers. I know Him because He cast us out of heaven, and then recently turned our new residency on earth upside down by His power over demons, and finally His power over the grave.” The demon says, “I know Jesus.” And what’s thrilling is that the demon also said that he knew Paul. Now there’s two different Greek words here for the word “know.” The demon knew Jesus well. The word he uses regarding Paul is better translated, “to be acquainted with.” He knew Jesus well. He was acquainted with Paul. By the authority of the Lord, Paul was making a splash in the demonic world.
But the demon said to these men, “I don’t know you.” Think about that. They were self-proclaimed exorcists. But they were counterfeits. Supposedly they were casting demons out of people for their profession. You have to know that anyone like Christ, or Paul who actually did that, became known in the evil spirit community. Stay away from those guys, they are bringing heaven to earth, they are sending demons into desert places. But these supposed exorcists they didn’t know. And it is because these men weren’t actually making a ripple in the spiritual world. Real revival shakes the spirit world. But it also brings a counterfeit reaction.
16 Then the man who had the evil spirit jumped on them and overpowered them all. He gave them such a beating that they ran out of the house naked and bleeding.
In southern terms, “They got a whoopin.”
Now, before we leave this little part of the story, I need to return to something I said last time. I was answering questions about demons and demon possession.
Biblical answers; Are Satan and demons real?-yes, Do they possess people?-yes, they can possess people who are unsaved- not Christian
Can a Christian be possessed? How about oppressed?
I know that talking about demons and demon possession can be frightening. But if you are a believer, greater is He that is in you, than he that is in the world. Resist the devil, and he will flee.
You won’t hear that in every church. Some churches seem to be devil obsessed. Demons everywhere. And there has been a movement in some churches that purported that Christians can be possessed of demons.
If you are a Christian, you can not be possessed. The Spirit of God lives in you, you are the temple of the Holy Spirit, and God’s Holy Spirit is not going to be roommates with the devil, or demons.
Still others will state that you can’t be possessed by demons, but you can be oppressed. Being oppressed means to be overwhelmingly tempted. Can that happen? I’ll agree that a Christian can get so involved in sin that his own fleshly nature, and possibly unclean spirits will make his life miserable. But that is not the same as a possession which is an evil spirit exerting complete control over a person.
We find our answer in the Bible.
The Bible does not make an explicit statement about Christian possession. But it does give instructions to the Christian about how to deal with Satan.
Scripture speaks to Christians about Spiritual warfare.
Ephesians 6:10-18 10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. 11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the [a]wiles of the devil. 12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of [b]the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. 13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
14 Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 15 and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; 16 above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. 17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; 18 praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints—
Now, this is not a definitive answer, but let me ask you this; allegorically speaking, where are all the elements of the Christian’s armor. Shield, shoes, helmet, etc? They are on his body. Where is Satan in this allegory? Outside the body-attacking from the outside. But more than that consider this,
Notice that in dealing with the wiles of the devil, or wrestling with principalities powers, it never tells Ephesians believers to call for an exorcist. It never instructs believers to cast out demons, or to seek for demons to be cast out. It says, “Put on the armor that Christ has already given you.”
What are you supposed to do? Put on the full armor of the Lord, which involves meditating on Scripture, prayer, faith, witnessing.
And that is the same through the rest of the doctrinal books of the Bible. It doesn’t say, “Go have a demon cast out of you.”
James 4:7 again does not tell a Christian who wrestles with evil spirits to seek an exorcism, he says
7 Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.
1 Peter 5:8-9 says the same. 8 Be [a]sober, be [b]vigilant; [c]because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. 9 Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world. So, the power in you doesn’t allow for demon possession. Satan and his demons may overwhelmingly tempt.
But, as Scripture says, 1 Corinthians 10:13
13 There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.
How do you deal with overwhelming temptation, or “demon oppression?” Again, you don’t need an exorcist if you are a Christian. Resist him, and he will flee, put on your armor, faith, Scripture, prayer, truth, gospel.
So, the last question is, are we supposed to be casting out demons today? The answer is “no.” And I am going to give you 3 reasons why we are not supposed to be casting out demons today. First, let’s note something from our story in Acts. There were these “sons of Sceva” who were called “exorcists,” who were trying to cast out demons in the name of Jesus. And Paul had cast out demons.
Well let’s make note of a couple things before we answer this question. First, this is the only place in Scripture where the word from which we get “exorcist” is used. And it is used of the sons of Sceva, people who were not Christian. Second, casting out demons is not mentioned in the Old Testament, and once we leave the time of the gospels and Acts, it’s not mentioned again as a practice in the church. Let me repeat that. There is no reference to exorcizing demons in the Old Testament, and no command to practice it. It is only practiced by Jesus and His disciples in the gospels and Acts.
So, Jesus and His disciples cast demons out of lost people, but after that it disappeared. In fact, John’s gospel, which was the latest gospel written, has no exorcism mentioned at all. That may be an indication of how it became less frequent and deemphasized as the years of the church rolled on. And no New Testament writer tells us to exorcize demons, or how it should be done. What’s more, the early church fathers, who led the church after the apostles, barely mention exorcism. They don’t practice it, it was for the apostolic age, they have no interest in it. Their focus is on Christ.
Why? Well, this gets back to a discussion we had earlier about healing and miracles. They were signs given for the 1st century. Once that time was over, we had the Word of God and so the message of a teacher doesn’t need to be confirmed by miracles. We can compare what they say to the revealed Word.
So, the chief reason we don’t cast out demons is that it is not in our authority to do so. I don’t believe it is in our power to walk up to some unsaved person and cast out their demons. So, we don’t cast out demons because we aren’t given that authority.
But let me tell you 2 other reasons why we don’t cast out demons today. As I said before, there are only two kinds of people in the world today; saved and unsaved. 2nd reason; We don’t cast demons out of the saved, because the saved don’t need them cast out. What is the only kind of person that you might cast a demon out of? The unsaved.
The saved don’t need demons cast out. They are indwelt by God’s Spirit. And a demonic Spirit and God’s Spirit cannot inhabit the same place. So, the only people who can have demons cast out are the unsaved.
3rd reason; why don’t we cast out demons from the unsaved?
But the question is this, if that unsaved person doesn’t put their trust in Jesus, have you helped them? We referenced this earlier but listen again to what Jesus said,
Matthew 12: 43 “When an unclean spirit goes out of a man,he goes through dry places, seeking rest, and finds none. 44 Then he says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when he comes, he finds it empty, swept, and put in order. 45 Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter and dwell there;and the last state of that man is worse than the first. So shall it also be with this wicked generation.”
If a demon-possessed unsaved person were to have the demon cast out of them, and then went on their merry unsaved way, they can end up in worse shape in the end. They clean up their life. They get religion. But they don’t come to faith in Jesus. So, the demon, “wanders in dry places” seeking rest. After some time, he returns to the original person he inhabited, and the guy has his act cleaned up. So, the demon finds 7 demon friends, and they enter the guy, and he ends up worse than he was before.
Some of the most famous exorcisms in our time were examples of how the cure can be worse than the disease. A very famous exorcism by the Catholic church was dramatized in the book and movie, “The Exorcism of Emily Rose.” The actual event in 1975, was based around a woman named Anneliese Michel
who voluntarily underwent an exorcism of supposedly 6 or more demons. The entire process took 10 months, with 67 exorcism sessions, and resulted in her death from malnourishment and dehydration, and the conviction of the priests who performed the exorcisms for negligent homicide.
Casting demons out of the unsaved, would be like trying to kill all the rats or mice in the whole world or to try and get rid of all cockroaches. I can rid them from my house, and they go to the neighbors house, he rids them from his house, and they come back to me.
So, how do you get rid of them? Get a cat.
So, let’s say you encounter someone that you think is possessed. What do you do? Get on the bus, Gus? No, talk to them about Jesus. Do your best to lead the person to faith in Jesus. If they become a Christian, the Holy Spirit goes in, the demon comes out. Then they have all the tools they need for life and godliness.
So, reasons for not performing exorcisms, it’s not in your authority, it is unnecessary for Christians, and it is ineffective for non-Christians.
By the way, someone might ask, “Preacher, have you ever encountered a demon possessed person? I would have to honestly say, “I don’t know.”
I, like you, have encountered people in my life that made me wonder. When I served as pastor in Mound Valley, a church member brought their relative to church and warned me that he was strange, and prone to violent outbursts. I talked to him that Sunday, and he told me that he was the reincarnation of Jim Morrison, and other weird stuff. Later that afternoon he apparently went on a tiaraed in the local convenience store.
I was witnessing to an older woman once, and as soon as I brought up repentance and salvation, her look and demeanor changed so drastically that it sent shivers up my spine. Were these demon-possessed individuals? I don’t know. There was no levitation, or supernatural strength.
We always imagine a demon possessed person to be like the Gaderene demoniac. Running around naked, with super strength, living in a graveyard, filthy, yelling, screaming, hurting themselves. But I don’t believe that all demon possession looks like that. You see I don’t believe that Satan is stupid. He is one of the most intelligent and powerful beings in the universe, and his demons are intelligent and powerful as well. His purposes are usually served better by having people believe that there is no such thing as the devil, or demons. So, if a person is indwelt by demons, they may be suave and sophisticated. They may even be very religious. We’ve got to get past the notion that demons and the devil are drooling maniacs. The Bible says that Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. Satan, and his demons, have lived for thousands of years, are powerful beyond our imaginations, are intelligent, and would look deceptively good.
So, demon possession doesn’t necessarily mean crazy, wild-eyed, and self-destructive.
There’s a story in the gospel of Mark that I think of.
Mark 1: 21 Then they went into Capernaum, and immediately on the Sabbath He entered the synagogue and taught. 22 And they were astonished at His teaching, for He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.
23 Now there was a man in their synagogue with an unclean spirit. And he cried out, 24 saying, “Let us alone! What have we to do with You, Jesus of Nazareth? Did You come to destroy us? I know who You are—the Holy One of God!”
25 But Jesus rebuked him, saying, [h]“Be quiet, and come out of him!” 26 And when the unclean spirit had convulsed him and cried out with a loud voice, he came out of him.
Think about it. Jesus has come to synagogue service. He teaches. They are astonished at His teaching. Then it says,
there was a man in their synagogue with an unclean spirit.
What? You mean there was a demon possessed man sitting there in synagogue service the whole time? How could that happen? I’ll tell you how. He wasn’t foaming at the mouth. His head wasn’t spinning around. He wasn’t causing a commotion. He blended in perfectly with the rest of the crowd that day. You see, I think the demon-possessed can walk among us and we won’t know. Maybe we’ll get a vibe that that guy is creepy. Don’t use that as a demon indicator. That creepy guy may just be creepy. But nothing radical. You say, well if he was just a normal looking guy, why did he cry out ““Let us alone! What have we to do with You, Jesus of Nazareth? Did You come to destroy us? I know who You are—the Holy One of God!”
Well, remember that I told you before that the Old Testament doesn’t talk about demon possession, and the New Testament ceases talking about it after Acts. I think that the normal mode of operation for Satan and demons is to remain as anonymous as possible. Then God unleashed His New Covenant and came into the world to save us. Along came Jesus. On this day Jesus goes to the synagogue. Now this demon, possessing this man, normally would come and go in society without much of a notice. But on this day, he goes to synagogue, and he sees Jesus speaking. And the demon knows Jesus. Jesus is God in flesh, existent into eternity past. The fallen angels knew him. And what ‘s more, Jesus knew them. So, if you can imagine this, he goes to the synagogue, he sees Jesus, and Jesus sees him. And do you know what I think the unspoken communication was that passed between them. Jesus’ eyes meet the eyes of the demoniac, nobody else knows that this man is demon-possessed, and with one look, Jesus conveys to him, “I see you, and I’m going to deal with you.”
Can you imagine? Jesus preaches a whole service. The demon-possessed man is fidgeting. The demoniac tries to move the man to leave. He’s saying, “Hey guy, let’s get out of here.” But Jesus’ power says to him, “you’re not going anywhere.” Until the whole service is over. And the demoniac has been sweating and trembling the whole time. Until finally he can’t stand it any longer. He can’t hold in the anxiety. He cries out, ““Let us alone! What have we to do with You, Jesus of Nazareth? Did You come to destroy us? I know who You are—the Holy One of God!”
And I wouldn’t be surprised if immediately after he said it he covered his mouth surprised at his own words. I think that while Jesus walked the earth, any demon who encountered Him couldn’t help but expose himself to the world. The Spirit in Jesus was like a blazing light vanquishing all darkness. And the same held true for the time of the 12 apostles. It was a time when God was announcing to the world the arrival of His Son; God in flesh. But once that time was over, the devil and his demons are primarily back to incognito mode.
So, exorcism isn’t part of the mandate of Christians as they go out in the world. Now, that doesn’t mean we walk away from those struggling with evil. We can pray with them and for them. We can share the gospel. But they have to choose Christ over evil. And if they do, the Spirit comes in, and demons go out.
Now, that was a long point about revival and the counterfeits that arise. The overall message we need to remember is that we have to be prepared as we pray for Revival. It is rigorous, rapturous, rewarding, and righteous.
Revival reveals the real power in this world, and it’s not the devil.
Writing in Moody Monthly, Carl Armerding recounted his experience of watching a wildcat in a zoo. "As I stood there," he said, "an attendant entered the cage through a door on the opposite side. He had nothing in his hands but a broom. Carefully closing the door, he proceeded to sweep the floor of the cage." He observed that the worker had no weapon to ward off an attack by the beast. In fact, when he got to the corner of the cage where the wildcat was lying, he poked the animal with the broom. The wildcat hissed at him and then lay down in another corner of the enclosure. Armerding remarked to the attendant, "You certainly are a brave man." "No, I ain't brave," he replied as he continued to sweep. "Well, then, that cat must be tame." "No," came the reply, "he ain't tame." "If you aren't brave and the wildcat isn't tame, then I can't understand why he doesn't attack you." Armerding said the man chuckled, then replied with an air of confidence, "Mister, he's old -- and he ain't got no teeth."
Our Daily Bread.
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