71 Acts 19:17-20 God vs. Magic Part 2

March 02, 2025

Christopher C. Freeman

Title: “God vs. Magic” Part 2 Text: Acts 19:17-20 FCF: We often struggle to believe that God alone is sufficient for all we need. Prop: Because God’s power is greater than magic, we must fear the Lord and turn from our former ways. Scripture Intro: [Slide 1] Turn in your bible to Acts chapter 19. In a moment I’ll begin reading starting in verse 11 from the English Standard Version. You can follow along in the pew bible or in whatever version you prefer. Last week we took a deep look at the events that transpire in Ephesus surrounding the use of magic, sorcery and exorcisms and how they compare to Yahweh and His power. We saw how God stooped to demonstrate His power in an unusual way in order to prove that He is more powerful than all the magic that the Ephesians were depending on. God being more powerful than everything else must lead us to trust Him and not to try to use His name for selfish ends as some kind of good luck charm or talisman. Indeed, He cannot be used in such a way, for He doesn’t need us for anything and we need Him for everything. Today we will see the effect of these events on the Ephesians and even the Ephesian Christians. Their response will both prove that they thought God is more powerful than all other powers and it will give us a pattern for a couple other responses we should have to His great power. Please stand with me to give honor to and to focus on the reading of the Word of God. Invocation: Almighty God. We come today as Your dear children hoping to hear from You and Your Word. We know that we are sustained by the life-giving precepts which You have graciously given through inspiration of Your Spirit and preserved for us today. We ask that Your Spirit would be with us today as we peer into Your power and authority. We ask that You would show us Your might and that it would lead us to respond in a way that is pleasing to You. Help us Lord to grow in our faith in response to who You are. We ask this in the Son’s name and by His authority and power, Amen. Transition: Let us get right to the text this morning as we seek to wrap up this narrative episode. I.) God’s power is greater than magic, so we must fear the Lord and revere His name. (17) a. [Slide 2] 17 - And this became known to all the residents of Ephesus, both Jews and Greeks. i. Luke begins assessing the effect of these two episodes by looking to the city as a whole. ii. All the residents of Ephesus, both Jews and Greeks, heard about these events. iii. As is often the case in the scriptures it is ok for us to understand the word “all” not to mean all. iv. We are not doing damage to the inerrancy of scripture if we are to question whether or not Luke took a census to ensure that every single person in the city had heard about these things. v. I would say that Luke uses hyperbole as we normally do in conversation. 1. Everyone loves pizza! We might say. 2. Really? 3. Does every single person love pizza? I actually know for a fact that there are some people… if you want to call them people 😊 … who do not love pizza. vi. What we mean when we say that everyone loves pizza – is what my little joke goes on to prove. vii. Most people love pizza to the point that those who don’t are… odd. The exception that proves the rule as we might say. viii. So, Luke here is not necessarily implying that every single person in the city had heard. What he is saying is that most people regardless of station, ethnicity, or religious background… heard about these events. ix. The all here does not tell us quantity but category. All categories of people heard what had happened. x. What was the result of them hearing of all this? b. [Slide 3] And fear fell upon them all, i. The word fear here is where we get our word for phobias. ii. The word can carry the connotation of reverence and respect, but most often it means terror. iii. So, which is it here? Were the people filled with respect or terror? iv. Since there is no overt object here of what they are fearful of, it seems best to interpret this as the more common definition of the word. v. Terror. Horror. Trembling. vi. Last week we made a point that the power of God was being compared to the power of magic. God’s power was clearly superior, even though it was displayed in an unusual way. vii. This led the people to be in terror of God and His servants. viii. The magic that they trusted in was not as powerful as the power of this God. ix. And facing a power they cannot beat or control produces terror in all of them. x. Again, Luke uses the word all. And we should conclude that such fear fell on Christians and non-Christians alike. xi. More on that in a moment. c. [Slide 4] and the name of the Lord Jesus was extolled. i. It seems that if my guess was correct, that the demon did not wish to increase the fame of Jesus’ name, then it failed miserably. ii. For the fact that Paul’s apron could cast out demons but these 7 men with the pedigree of Sceva and the name of Jesus and Paul could not, only increased the fame of the Lord Jesus all the more. iii. Indeed, the fact that such a demon knew Jesus and had heard of Paul only caused more and more Jews and Greeks to extoll the name of Jesus. iv. But what does it mean that the name of the Lord Jesus was extolled? 1. This is a synonym to the other meaning of the word for fear. This would be reverence and respect. 2. Jesus’ name was respected among the Ephesians. How so? 3. It was a name that was not able to be used as a talisman or to gain power over something. It was a name that was beyond the powers they were familiar with and could not be manipulated or used for personal gain. 4. Such a name would be best never to be uttered rather than to utter it irreverently. v. As we’ll see in a moment, those who were Christians have a much deeper response than simply fear and respect for Jesus’ name. vi. But to be sure the Christians of Ephesus had this same response. d. [Slide 5] Summary of the Point: Luke’s point endures from the previous sermon. God’s power is being directly compared to the power of magic. In that comparison we see our God’s power above and beyond all that is possible in this world. This is proven not just by the comparison but by the result as well. The people in Ephesus were so convinced that God’s power was greater than anything they had known that fear fell on them all and they extolled the name of Jesus. This too ought to be our response to the power of God. We must fear Him and respect His name. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and the reverence of His name is the third command. Since God is greater than any other power and has commanded us to, we ought to fear and respect Him. Transition: [Slide 6(blank)] So an understanding of the Power of God ought to lead us to fear Him and revere His name. But what about for God’s people? What should His power evoke in us? What response should His power illicit from us? II.) God’s power is greater than magic, so we must renounce all other allegiances. a. [Slide 7] 18 - Also, many of those who were now believers came, confessing and divulging their practices. i. The words translated “were now believers” is a verb in Greek that is an action that has been completed in the past with continuing results to the time period being written of. ii. Luke says that many of those who had believed in the past and were now believers came or what might be a better translation, they kept coming. iii. What did they keep coming to do? iv. Confessing and divulging their practices. v. Now the word practice can play tricks on us. We read this and we infer an ongoing idea because of the nature of the word. But if we replace this word with deeds, we might see this more clearly. vi. Indeed, the NET says “making their deeds known” and the NIV says “confessed what they had done.” vii. In other words, we do not need to necessarily infer that they were continuing to do these things up to the point when they come to confess and divulge them. viii. So, what are these deeds? ix. In the context it would seem to mean that they have participated in magic in some way. x. The difficulty presents itself in the very real question… can people be true believers and participate in magic? xi. Let’s hold off on answering that until we’ve seen what else some of these Christians were doing in response to God’s great power. b. [Slide 8] 19 - And a number of those who had practiced magic arts brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all. And they counted the value of them and found it came to fifty thousand pieces of silver. i. What we see here is that not only were some believers coming forward to admit that they had sought the help of magic of one kind or another, but some of the believing community had once even practiced the magic arts. ii. Now, we don’t know when they practiced it. iii. The aspect of this verb is punctiliar. It communicates less about when they did this and more about the fact that they did it. iv. At one point in their lives, they had practiced the magic arts. v. This is somewhat of a difficult for us on a theological level. vi. The difficulty lies in the timing of the belief of these people and how that comes together with the things they are confessing to have done. vii. Is it possible to be a true believer and still be seeking out diviners and even practicing magic themselves? viii. [Slide 9] Let’s just take a quick look between Old and New Testaments and see what the Lord says. 1. In Ex 22:18 God commands the Israelite people that they should not allow a sorceress to live. 2. Lev 20:6 says that God will turn His face against a person who turns to mediums and spiritists and will cut him off from the covenant community. 3. Lev 20:27 says that a person who is a medium or spiritist must be stoned to death and there is no bloodguilt for them – meaning Justice is complete and there is no right for anyone to seek vengeance or revenge. 4. Deut 18:10-12 – God forbids that any be found in the Covenant community of Israel anyone who practices divinations, interprets omens, practices sorcery, is an enchanter, medium, spiritist, consults the dead… why? Because whoever is like this is an abomination to the Lord and God will dispossess them from the covenant community. 5. II Kings 21:6 in a list describing how wicked Hezekiah’s son Manasseh was, it is included that he practiced soothsaying, interpreted omens, and dealt with mediums and spiritists. 6. Mal 3:5 – Included in a list that God will be a witness against us in the final judgment, God will witness against those who those who oppress the wage earners of a family, against those who do not help foreigners in need, against those who do not fear Yahweh, against those who bear false witness and take oaths and break them, against adulterers, and finally He is also witness against those who are sorcerers. 7. Gal 5:20 – Paul says that there are deeds of the flesh and his conclusion is that those who practice such things will not inherit the Kingdom of God. Included in this list is those who practice sorcery. 8. Rev 9:21 – In the terrible calamity facing the earth as the sin of mankind is punished and the cause is clearly from the Lord, they continue to refuse to repent of their murders, sorceries, sexual immorality, and theft. 9. Rev 22:15 says that in the future eternal state, in that marvelous kingdom Christ is preparing, there are some who will be outside of it – excluded from it. IN that list including the sexually immoral, murderers, idolaters and liars – are sorcerers. ix. Now I will confess that it is possible that some of them have come to Christ very recently, perhaps even through these events that Luke has just described. 1. Therefore, the time period between when they had practiced these things and their coming forward to confess them could be a very tight window. 2. We don’t expect people to be perfect the moment they are saved. 3. And to some degree some practices of our former lifestyles cling onto us as we endeavor to follow Jesus, and must continue to be killed and repented of. 4. But as far as sins that are antithetical to the gospel, this would have been fairly high on the list. One that Paul would have corrected in those who came to Christ. 5. Paul is teaching daily in the hall of Tyrannus remember. 6. Do you think Paul would have ignored the sorcery and spiritism, witchcraft and magic in the Ephesian church? 7. I don’t think so. x. Therefore, from a theological perspective, I must insist on an interpretation that these Christians, if they have been Christians under Paul’s tutelage and were not saved out of the events recorded here in chapter 19, are coming forward confessing their shame of having been in this life before they were believers. xi. [Slide 10] But we also find something interesting of those who had practiced magic… xii. They still had the books. xiii. Books, scrolls, papyri, spells and incantations in general were expensive writings. And to burn a book in antiquity would signify a repudiation of whatever was written in it. To burn a book is to do so with malice against what is written inside. xiv. They had not left behind their former life entirely. Not to the point of renouncing it completely. xv. They had added Christ… and they had stopped practicing their magic… but they had not yet renounced and rejected that way of life in a public fashion. xvi. Why did they keep the books? 1. Perhaps because they were very valuable – which we will see soon. Perhaps they were some form of a retirement plan or a rainy-day fund? 2. Perhaps, if they were new believers, they had not yet gotten around to casting them out? 3. Perhaps, if they were new believers, they had not yet understood that these powers did not operate in conjunction with their new Lord but against Him. 4. Perhaps they kept them just in case this Jesus thing didn’t work out. xvii. In any case, because of all that had happened with Paul and the sons of Sceva, that all changed. xviii. These believers came forward bringing their valuable magic books and spells, and they publicly cast them into fire, renouncing the practice of magic and the seeking of power via these spirits. xix. If we would compare their response to that of Simon Magnus in Acts 8, we would see a stark contrast. 1. When the Holy Spirit came upon the Samaritans, Simon the Sorcerer sought to have this power for himself. 2. Peter rebuked him sharply for this. 3. The Ephesians did the opposite. 4. They rejected their former lifestyle in order to continue to follow Christ. 5. Simon thought he could add Jesus to what he was already doing. 6. The Ephesians now realized that it was either Christ or magic. Not both. They chose Christ. xx. The piece of silver is probably a Drachma which would be a day’s wage for a blue-collar worker in the Roman Empire. xxi. Our average day’s wage for a blue-collar American is around $143 dollars a day. So, if we updated this to our currency, it would come to a little over 7 million dollars’ worth of spell books burned in the fire. xxii. That… is a sure statement of a life rejected. c. [Slide 11] 20 - So the word of the Lord continued to increase and prevail mightily. i. This is one of Luke’s favorite things to do after relating an amazing story of God’s power and might. ii. The Word of the Lord continued to increase and prevail mightily. iii. What an amazing summarization of the work that the Lord is doing in the early church. iv. Ephesus is burning with the fires of spell books. v. The whole Roman Empire is being turned upside down. vi. The Lord’s church is united and triumphant. d. [Slide 12] Summary of the Point: Luke again gives us proof that God’s power is far greater than the powers that are available in the world through magic. That proof is made evident in the effect it has on those who are already His children. Now these believers were already committed to Christ. They had already believed on Jesus and were baptized into the church. But they had never rejected or repudiated their affiliation and their former practices of magic, sorcery, and wizardry. They had never truly left those practices or renounced them. But because God’s power so dwarfs all of these powers in this text, the response in fear and reverence to God is to abandon these powers forever. To repent, to turn from them completely and never look back. They have no need of these books and they have no need of seeking out magical ends to solve their problems. God is their all in all. As the church in Ephesus is purified of their pagan affiliations, the word of the Lord continues to prevail. So we must purge ourselves of all other allegiances and trust only in our Lord. Conclusion: So, what have we learned today CBC? How then shall we live? Doctrinal Takeaway: [Slide 13] Last week we saw God’s power directly compared to the powers of magic, sorcery, witchcraft, and exorcisms. In these events we noted that God’s power easily dwarfs the powers of magic. Today we see the effects of these events. God’s power proves to be over and above the powers of magic and that is proven true by the response of the people of Ephesus. The people of Ephesus in general respond in fear and respect for the name of Jesus, and the Christians in Ephesus respond in repentance and renunciation of all these magic practices they had formerly done. So, for us this means that we too should respond to God’s power in a similar way. We should respond in fear, respect for the name of Jesus, and repentance and renunciation of all our former allegiances. But let me get a little more specific here with our applications. 1.) [Slide 14] Mind Transformation: “What truth must we believe from this text?” or “What might we not naturally believe that we must believe because of what this text has said?” We must affirm that our God is omnipotent. a. Omni means all and potent means powerful. God is all-powerful. b. In Job 42:2 Job confesses that God can do all things and that no plan of His can be thwarted. God does not correct Job when he says this. c. God assures Moses in Numbers 11 that His arm is not too short to accomplish what He has said He would. d. When we say that God is omnipotent, we are saying a few things about God’s power. i. First, we are saying that he never lacks power to do anything that is in harmony with His Divine Will. 1. Mockers often ask whether God can make a boulder too large for Him to lift. 2. Such question has tripped up many believers in the past, but the answer is quite simple. 3. The answer is a question. 4. Why would God desire to create a boulder He cannot lift? 5. God’s omnipotence directly relates to what He has purposed to be. 6. It speaks to the fact that God never struggles, strains, or comes up short of the power necessary to accomplish His own will. 7. If God desires something to be, He does not need to try hard or save up energy to accomplish it. Neither does he fall short of accomplishing it. ii. Second, by omnipotence we are saying that God cannot be overpowered. 1. There are two opposing forces in the world. 2. The Dark and the Light. 3. But some Christians, having blended eastern thought into their Christianity, have concluded that these two forces are equal, slightly slanted toward the light, or even heavily slanted toward the light. 4. But I’d encourage you to understand that all three perceptions are wrong. 5. Although there are forces of Dark and forces of Light in the world, the attribute of omnipotence requires us to believe that these forces are not worthy to be compared to our God. 6. It isn’t like Light is 500% more powerful than dark. 7. Instead, it is that God, according to His own will, works all things through the strength of His power to accomplish His eternal decrees. 8. Not only is this conflict between light and dark only a conflict because God allows it to be, we can rest assured that God is only allowing it to be because He has determined that this is as it should be. 9. The Godhead does not wait with baited breath hoping to eventually overpower the forces of evil. 10. Instead, all things work together to accomplish the ends for which the Lord intended. 11. Even the works of evil creatures ultimately accomplish the purposes of His will. iii. Third, by omnipotence we are saying that God’s power cannot be diminished. 1. Not only does His power never fail to accomplish what He has decreed, not only can God’s power never be overpowered, so also God’s power never depletes, it never tires, it never wanes, it never dims. 2. Even the most powerful human in the world has a finite bank of energy available to spend to exert his/her strength. 3. God uses His power and knows when it is being used, but His power never diminishes. God never tires from overexertion. God never spends too much and empties His stores. e. This is what we mean when we claim that God is omnipotent. That He is all powerful. f. If God desires to do something – nothing can and nothing will prevent Him from doing it. g. Because God is all powerful, there are several actions we see happening in this text that we must also take. 2.) [Slide 15] Exhortation: “What actions should we take?” or “What is this passage specifically commanding us to do that we don’t naturally do or aren’t currently doing?” We must fear the Lord. a. Many times, when we speak of fearing the Lord we mean respecting, honoring, and revering Him. b. That is not what I am talking about in this application. c. We’ll get to reverence in just a moment… but we must first speak of the holy terror we must have of God the Almighty. d. This is an important aspect of fearing the Lord that I think we are quick to dismiss. We ought to fear Him – even to be terrorized by Him. e. Not because He isn’t good, but because He isn’t our definition of good. f. Not because He isn’t merciful, but because He shows mercy on those whom He chooses, not those whom we think deserve it. g. Not because He isn’t loving, but because He loves first those whom He chooses to love and His love does not extend to those who continue to love their sin. i. Psalm 5:5 and 11:5 indicate to us that God hates sinners. ii. If you have heard that God loves the sinner but hates the sin, this is not true. God hates sin and sinners too. He hates them so much He crushed His Son to change sinners into an obedient servants. iii. And in the New Testament, James says that if anyone loves the world the love of the Father is not in them. h. We must fear the Lord – not just respect… but feel some level of terror – because our God is not under our control and He is not subject to what we think He should or should not do. i. That is the true terror all these people experienced that day. A power this great that cannot be tamed… is a power you must fear. j. God can do as He wishes with whom He wishes and no one can slap His hand away and no one can tell Him… NO. k. It is good and even healthy for us to fear the Lord in this way. For fearing Him in this way helps to foster respect and reverence. i. Ask any firearm instructor. ii. In order to have a healthy respect for a firearm, you must first understand and even fear what the weapon is capable of doing. iii. Understanding intimately that the lump of metal you hold in your hands can take a living thing’s life in a matter of seconds, fosters a healthy respect for the weapon and causes you to wield it carefully as a tool to accomplish the purpose it is needed for and only when it is needed. l. Although this is a crude illustration – it helps us to understand the difference between Fearing God and respecting Him. m. We fear Him because although we may know Him, although He is merciful, gracious, loving, kind, generous, and abundantly benevolent – He is also jealous, just, vengeful, wrathful, powerful, and untamable. Not out of control – simply unable to be controlled. n. We must fear Him. o. But that fear must also lead to reverence. 3.) [Slide 16] Exhortation: “What actions should we take?” or “What is this passage specifically commanding us to do that we don’t naturally do or aren’t currently doing?” We must revere the name of the Lord. a. We spoke about a specific permutation of this last week when we discussed people using the name of Jesus as a good luck charm or talisman. b. But to revere or respect the name of the Lord goes beyond simply misusing it. c. Certainly, to use God’s name as a curse word would be one misuse. d. But reverence for the name begins first in our hearts. e. If we have not confessed and called on the name of the Lord to be our Lord and our Savior, then we really have no business using His name at all. f. And if we have confessed and called on this name to save us, then as believers, the names Yahweh, Jesus, Christ, the Holy Spirit or the Holy Ghost, and God should be used in their appropriate contexts, and should be used worshipfully and respectfully. g. If we use His name flippantly or as a punchline to a joke, or even to endorse things God would disapprove of, this also disrespects the name of God. h. The Jews took this so seriously that they actually refused to use Yahweh, the name of God. i. We need not go that far. But we must be sure that when we speak of Him or use His name that it be used in a way that it would be honoring, glorifying, praising and pleasing to Him and in accordance with His will. j. His name is holy. We must treat it as holy. 4.) [Slide 17] Exhortation: “What actions should we take?” or “What is this passage specifically commanding us to do that we don’t naturally do or aren’t currently doing?” We must renounce all former allegiances. a. God’s omnipotence should also cause us to inspect ourselves for any allegiances we still may yet possess to other powers or idols. b. Since God is all powerful and is able to work all things for our good and His glory, making us into what He desires us to be – we must search our hearts for any things, people, or lesser gods that we have put our hope and trust in. c. It is good for us to be financially responsible. It is good for us to save and to plan and to budget – but to put our hope in wealth is the same as these Christians still owning their magic books. d. It is good for us to love our spouse and to care for them and cherish them. It is good for us to care for our children. It is good for us to help and love our family members. But to put our hope and trust in them is idolatry. e. It is good for us to love the freedoms of our nation, but when we put our hope and trust in a president, a party, a military, or a constitution, we are worshipping an idol. f. Search your heart today for any lingering allegiances to anything except for God. g. Our God is all powerful – we do not need a back up plan in case He fails. h. And remember our God is a jealous God. He will not share glory with anything. And He glorifies what He wishes to glorify. i. As these Ephesian Christians did, we must also renounce and burn away any other allegiances to anything but God alone. j. God demands exclusive, unmixed, unpolluted worship. k. But there is another application I think we need to make here as we connect this context with our world today. l. It is an application of something we must be sure not to do as followers of Christ. 5.) [Slide 18] De-Exhortation: “What actions should we stop doing” or “What behaviors do we naturally practice that this passage tells us to stop doing?” We must stop consulting other powers for guidance. a. Our God has given us a complete revelation in the words of the scriptures. b. Jesus was the fullest revelation of God and He taught His apostles and His apostles recorded His teachings and marked them down in the 27 books of the New Testament. c. Although the bible does not answer every single question we may ever have, it is sufficient for life and godliness. d. Furthermore, God has given us His Spirit indwelling us. Among many of His functions in our hearts the Holy Spirit guides and leads us into truth and helps us to be wise. e. With the Word of God available to us and the Spirit of God indwelling us, there is literally no other place any Christian must look to find guidance on how to live, how to be godly, or what to do in any given circumstance. f. We may consult other experts or seek counsel from those who are wise – in fact this is actually a biblical concept to seek wise counsel. g. But the Scriptures and the Spirit ought to be our primary and final authority. h. That means two things. i. First, there are some forms of guidance that we as believers ought to never seek. i. Astrology and horoscopes ii. Tarot Cards iii. Palm readings iv. Mediums v. In light of the scriptures, we saw earlier in the sermon, these forms of guidance are at best fakes and shams and at worst powered by dark powers opposed to our God. vi. We ought not seek these even in addition to the scriptures because the best they can do is pollute the Lord’s wisdom and guidance. j. Second, there are some forms of guidance that we as believers ought to receive with great caution. i. Any form of the wisdom of men we must be very careful what we receive and how much weight we give it. ii. From scientists debating the origin of the universe, to historians contradicting the scriptures, to doctors insisting that the next drug will be the cure all to whatever ails you. iii. We must be very careful that we do not trust the wisdom of men over the wisdom of God and the leading of the Spirit. iv. And while things like Enneagrams and personality tests, and even psychological analysis can be illuminating - we must put them in their proper place as mostly wisdom from godless and wicked men. v. Many trust and obey their doctors like they should trust and obey Jesus. vi. We must be very cautious who we consult and be sure that the Scriptures and the Spirit are our final authority. 6.) [Slide 19] Comfort: “What comfort can we find here?” or “What peace does the Lord promise us in light of this passage of scripture?” Our God promises to grant mercy to the contrite. a. As powerful as God is in this text, we also would do well to understand the great love of our God. b. These Ephesians came forward and renounced and rejected their former life as a response to the power of God. c. But because of the Powerful Love of God, they were granted mercy. d. God always gives mercy to those who come to Him with a repentant and contrite heart. e. When we come with our hands opened, begging for mercy, and turning from our former sins, we can expect this great and powerful God to be powerful in His mercy as well. [Slide 20] Let me close with a prayer from the church father Augustine of Hippo Great are you, O Lord, and greatly to be praised. Great is your power. Your wisdom is infinite, and we praise you. We, who are just a particle of your creation. We, who carry our mortality with us— the witness of our sin, and the witness that you resist the proud. Yet we praise you. You awaken us to delight in your praise. For you made us for yourself, and our heart is restless until it finds its place of rest in you. And whoever seeks the Lord will praise him: for they that seek will find him, and they that find will praise him. I will seek you, Lord, by calling on you. And I will call on you, believing in you, because you have been preached to us. With the faith you have given me, I will call on you. That faith has inspired me, through the incarnation of your Son, through the ministry of the preacher. We pray this in Jesus’ name, amen. Benediction: May the Lord send you help from His sanctuary And grant you support from on High, May grace and peace be to you from the God Who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age. Until we gather for the Lord’s Supper tonight, go in peace.