As you are no doubt aware, many evangelicals claim that we should be experiencing the kinds of signs and wonders that we Read about in our text. Since the early 20th century, the Pentecostal made such claims, but many took them seriously. But in the late 1970's John Wimber and the Vineyard churches that he spawned began claiming that miracles should be the ordinary experience of the church. Jesus said that His followers would do greater works than He Himself did (John 14:12). Winber asserted that the main reason that we do not see such works of power is about our sceptical western mindset. Along with Peter Wagner and Charles Kraft, in 1982 wimber began teaching a course at fuller Seminary. MC510, popularly called
"sign and wonder." Hundreds of students took the course, which ran until 1986, when the seminary halted the class and appointed a task force to evaluate the material from biblical, theoretical, scientific, and pastoral perspectives (published as
Ministry and the Miraculous, edited by Lewis Smedes [ Fuller Seminary], 1987), winber did not believe that miracles will take place every time we pray, but he did reach that they are the necessary manifestations of the kingdom's presence and advance. If we are not doing miracles along with our preaching, we are not preaching the gospels as we should, according to Winber .
The hope of miraculous healing attract many people go church that claim to see such miracles happening, because there are many who are afflicted with serious, incurable illnesses. We have many in our church suffering from such diseases. I often pray for them, and I would rejoice if God miraculously healed them. sometimes God does heal miraculously, and we should pray for it. If it is His will if that anyone in town, or even in the United States, had the God-given gift of healing. It would either try to bring him here or urge those who are sick to go wherever he was, do that they might be healed.
Luke notes that these miracle in Ephesus were extraordinary, even for the apostle Paul (19:11). They seem to parallel the extraordinary miracles that Peter performed for a brief period in his ministry (5:15-+6). It is significant that apart from Stephen and Philip, who worked closely under the apostles. There are no miracles recorded as performed by anyone other than the apostles and, it seems that all who were brought to them were healed (5:16). The purpose of
apostolic miracle (according to Heb. 2:3-4), was to confirm the message of salvation that Jesus and the apostles proclaimed. In fact, throughout the entire Bible , miracles are not uniformly sprinkled as every day occurrences. Rather they are cluster at key moments, such as the exodus, where God was working on behalf of His people. Those who lived after are often reminded of these former miracles to call them back to God.
In out text, Paul's extraordinary miracles in Ephesus are contrasted with the attempts of some inept Jewish exorcist to duplicate the miracles. No doubts the early church often chuckled as it retold the story of these seven men running wounded and naked from the house after the demonic man overpowered them. By drawing this contrast, Luke wants us all to learn a vital lesson that many "Faith healers" and their follower need to learn:
We should allow God to use us according to His will for His glory, but we should not try to use Him for our own purpose.
That summaries the main difference between Paul and these Jewish exorcists. Paul was allowing God to use him according to God's will and for God's glory. But these spiritual charlatans were trying to use God for their own financial profit, and those who hired the exorcist were trying to use God's power for their own purpose. Rather, they wanted to use God as an Aladdin's Genie, and then put Him back on the shelf until they needed His services again.
Even so, many even many in the evangelical church attempt to use God for health or wealth or whatever other favors they desire. When He doesn't perform according to their expectation, they quickly look elsewhere for answers. But in their search for answers to their problems, Jesus Christ is not their Lord. They are their own lordships, as seen by their quickly turning to the world when Jesus doesn't seem to work as they had hoped.
1. We should not try to use God for own purposes.
The issue here is not whether or not Hod will bless those who come to Hin in faith for salvation. The Bibles shows that God delights to pour out His blessing to us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ" (Eph.1:3). When we come to Christ, He Grant's us "everything pertaining to life and godliness" (2 Pet.1:3). Clearly, we receive all the riches of Christ when we come to Him for salvation.
Rather, focusing on the issue of "Who is Lord?" And on the issue of repentance from our sins. If we come to God use Him to see if He works, them we are still the lords of our lives, and we have not turned from our many sins. If God works, then we'll use Him wherever we need Him, but we determined when and where that will be. Do we need a new job or a raise in our current job? Name it and claim it by faith, and it's yours! Do you need healing from a disease? Command and put in remembrance our God and He must obey your word of faith! This is what many in the Dord of Faith movement are teaching! For example, a prominent Word-Faith teacher has blatantly said.
Now this is a real shocker, but God has to be given permission to work in this earth realm on behalf of man. Yes, you are in control! So if man has control, who no longer has it? God. When Hod gave Adam dominion, that meant God no longer had dominions, so God cannot do anything in this earth unless we let Him. And the way we let Him or give Him permission is through prayer. (Fred Price, quoted by Christianity in Crisis Study Guude, 40: in The signs and wonder Movement-Exposed [ Day one Publication], ed. By Peter Glover, p.33).
That kind of heresy makes man the lord and God man's servant. But the God of the Bible is the Sovereign Lord, who "does according to His will in the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth: and no one can ward off His hand or say to Him, 'What have You done?'" (Dan.4:35). These Jewish exorcist reveal the three wrong ways that we all are prone to use God for our own purpose:
A. WE ATTEMPT TO USE GOD WHEN WE USE SPIRITUAL POWER FOR FINANCIAL GAIN.
These false prophets went around from town to town making a living by supposedly casting demons out of those who were afflicted. Luke calls their father, Sceva, a Jewish chief priest (19:14). But since there is no record of any Jewish chief priest by the name, either he was a member of a high priestly family, or, more likely, he took the title for himself to impress his clientele. These men had a bag full of magic spells, rituals, incantation, oaths, and the like. They would try to gain power over the evil spirit by invoking the name of a more powerful spirit being. So when they heard about Paul's success using the name of Jesus, theyadded it to their repertoire. But they found out that if was kind of like using a hand grenade without knowing how it works. It went off in their faces and they were doing it for financial gain. The Bible says that elders who rule well should be paid for their labours, especially those who work hard at Preaching and teaching (1 Tim.5:17-18). Those who ho out as evangelist or missionaries have a right to be supported in their labours (1cor.9:3-18; 3John 7-8). But that is far different from those, like the prominent TV "evangelist" and "faith healers" of our day, who make a fortune peddling their spiritual wares on unsuspecting ppeople.I Read some of them send their appeals for funds to arrive at the same time that elderly people's Social Security checks arrive! They often travel first class, insist on staying in five-star hotels, and demand large sums of money to home for their crusades (sign and Wonders Movement exposed p.22). Theylive in personal luxury and promise their poor audiences that they, too can live in luxury if they will just have the faith and, of course, give generously to their ministries! They are feeding themselves at the expense of the flock (Ezek.34:2). They are serving mammon, not God!
B. WE ATTEMPT TO USE GOD WHEN WE MANIPULATE THE SCRIPTURES ACCORDING TO WHAT "WORKS"
These exorcists were not submitting their lives to God's Word. In fact they were in direct disobedience to the Word, which condemned false prophets who purported to speak in God's name when He had not sent them Ezek13:6). But clearly, they were in the business of using whatever worked. If one spell or incarnation didn't work, they would try another one. If Paul was having success using this name of Jesus, they would try it out. And, although the attempt to use the name of Jesus didn't seem to work for them this time, they must have stayed in business. Either through satanic power or the power of suggestion or hypnosis, they saw enough results to stay in business. But they didn't live in submission to God's Word. But whenever we use what works without regard for the truth of scripture, we've fallen into pragmatism. As John MacArthur (Ashamed of the Gospel [Cgosswsy Books]) and others have do capably shown, pragmatism has flooded into American evangelical church. We use marketing techniques to draw the crowds to our churches. We tone down the difficulty parts of the Gospel and emphasize the feel good parts so that we don't scare off potential CONVERTS.we avoid difficult doctrines and give shorter messages that focus on how people want to hear.we use psychological counselling and 12 step Groups instead of submission to the lordship of Christ to help people cope with life's problems, because these techniques seem to work. Pastors flock to conference that share the latest methods that are proven to build your church.These Jewish exorcists probably could have landed a job on the staff of many thriving evangelical churches in our day!
C. WE ATTEMPT TO USE GOD WHEN WE DABBLE IN THE OCCULT
These exorcists were directly involved in the occult. They were trying to manipulate demons by demonic power for their own or others' advantage. But they ended up getting hurt (literally), because they were playing with powers greater than they realized. Many Christian and even some Christian leader today DABBLE in the occult, sometimes without realizing what they are doing. Techniques of using visualization as a means of healing or financial success are an occult practice (Dave Hunt & T.A Mc Mahon. The Seduction of Christianity [Harvest House], pp.123-169). Many of the "Word-Faith" teachers are really promoting the occult when they tell you to visualise and speak into existence whatever you want, assuring you that God will do what you speak in faith. Astrology, fortune teller, ouija boards, and tarot card are directly demonic, and yet many Christian's think of them as innocent games. Rather than attempting to use God for our own purposes, as these Jewish exorcists did, we should follow the example of Paul.
2. We should allow God to use us according to His will God His glory
Paul was not building a following for Paul; he was pointing people to Jesus Christ. We read that "the name of the Lord Jesus [not Paul's] was being magnified" (19:17). "The word of the Lord [not Paul's techniques for healing] was growing mightily and prevailing "(19:20). Paul was willing to live or die, as long as now, as always, Christ would be exalted in his body (Phil.1:21). In Paul's experience in Ephesus and in the lives of those who responded to the Gospel there we see four aspects of those whom God uses for His glory.
