But who are you?

Acts 19:13-41 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

But also some of the Jewish exorcists, who went from place to place, attempted to name over those who had the evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, “I adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preaches.” ¹⁴ Seven sons of one Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this. 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 and subdued all of them and overpowered them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded. ¹⁷ 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. ¹⁸ Many also of those who had believed kept coming, confessing and disclosing their practices. ¹⁹ And many of those who practiced magic brought their books together and began burning them in the sight of everyone; and they counted up the price of them and found it fifty thousand pieces of silver. ²⁰ So the word of the Lord was growing mightily and prevailing.

“I recognize Jesus, and I know about Paul, but who are you?”  In today’s text these men received a whopping because they were not identified with Jesus. As bad as that is there is an even worse outcome for those who are not recognized and identified by and with Jesus. In Mark 8:34-38  Jesus says:    “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.  For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it.  For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul?  For what will a man give in exchange for his soul?  For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.”     In Matthew 7:21-23 He says:     “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter.  Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’  And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.’”

So not only is there the lack of authority in the life of the one who is not identified with Jesus, there is also the risk of eternal separation from God and Christ. Knowing Jesus and being known by Him requires more than a verbal acknowledgement of belief about Him. James 2:19 says: You say you have faith, for you believe that there is one God. Good for you! Even the demons believe this, and they tremble in terror. As in today’s text the demons recognize the authority of Jesus and tremble at it. But, we must have more than just a belief about or a knowledge of Him   This is not to make us fearful or doubting salvation. We can have confidence in our identity in Christ, our knowing Him and being known by Him. In John 5:24 Jesus says: "Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.”     He who hears my word and believes; in today’s text it says:        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.  Many also of those who had believed kept coming, confessing and disclosing their practices.  And many of those who practiced magic brought their books together and began burning them in the sight of everyone; and they counted up the price of them and found it fifty thousand pieces of silver.  So the word of the Lord was growing mightily and prevailing.    The word of the Lord will have a life changing impact on the one who hears and believes. Romans 10:9-10 says:  if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved;  for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.        If we believe in our heart the result will be righteousness, there will be a perceivable change in how we act. It doesn’t mean that we are immediately or ever without sin, shortcomings or failing, but if we believe in our heart that Jesus Christ paid the price for our sin through His own death on the cross, how can we not be changed? How can we not despise the sin that caused Jesus the suffering of the cross?

We must both confess with our mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in our heart. If we confess with our mouth and there is no evidence of change, if our life and our righteousness does not line up with our witness and our testimony, people will call us a hypocrite. We can’t though for fear of the world’s judgment simply hide our belief and not confess that Jesus is Lord.  Remember that Jesus says: “whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.”     It’s not the approval or the opinion of people that we should concern ourselves with, rather it is the approval of God and the quality of our testimony for Christ that we should care about. The word of the Lord will change us and others. Isaiah 55:11 says:   So will My word be which goes forth from My mouth; It will not return to Me empty,
Without accomplishing what I desire, And without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it.

Our lives should be evidence of the change that the word of the Lord causes. We should be living testimonies of Christ’s redemption and restoration. We should also be witnesses and testify with our words, proclaiming His word. If the evidence of our lives does not match the confession of our mouth the world will call us a hypocrite. If on the other hand our words are not His words, if we proclaim a gospel that does not call and cause people to change, to believe in their heart resulting in righteousness, then we misrepresent Christ. We must both know and be known by Jesus. He says:    “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him.  He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine, but the Father’s who sent Me. (John 14:23-24)    We must keep His word, resulting in a change in our lives and we must proclaim His word resulting in change in the lives of others.

Heavenly Father, Lord Jesus Christ; precious Holy Spirit thank You for the revelation of who Jesus is and what He did. Thank You that through the cross and the resurrection I can live a victorious, abundant  life. I am not ashamed, I confess with my mouth and I believe in my heart, I know You Lord and want to be known by You. May both my life and my words be evidence of the change that Your word causes, that others too will know and be known by You.   Amen.