Exorcism
The word exorcist in the New Testament is only used one time here in this passage. Jesus came into the world the Bible says in Hebrews 2:14, "that trough death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil.” We see it prophetically in the book of Revelation where we see Satan in prophecy bound for 1000 years, then released for a moment, and then thrown forever into hell.
But also we see the power that Jesus Christ had over the works of the devil and over demons. Mark 1:32-34 says, “At evening, when the sun had set, they brought to Him all who were sick and those who were demon-possessed. 33 And the whole city was gathered together at the door. 34 Then He healed many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons; and He did not allow the demons to speak, because they knew Him.” Here Jesus Christ also controls them, He didn't permit them to speak.
In Mark 5, Jesus goes to the east side of the Sea of Galilee, the country of the Gadarenes. And there was a man with an unclean spirit. Now all demons are evil and anti-God, but when it says unclean spirit, it means that that demon is the vilest. Verse 3-4, “who had his dwelling among the tombs; and no one could bind him, not even with chains, 4 because he had often been bound with shackles and chains. And the chains had been pulled apart by him, and the shackles broken in pieces; neither could anyone tame him.”
So this involves a supernatural strength. Mark 5:5-7, “And always, night and day, he was in the mountains and in the tombs, crying out and cutting himself with stones. 6 When he saw Jesus from afar, he ran and worshiped Him. 7 And he cried out with a loud voice and said, “What have I to do with You, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I implore You by God that You do not torment me.” The demons know Jesus. How did they know Jesus?
Demons have been in existence since before the world was created. They knew Him when they were still holy angels in heaven. They worshipped Him before the fall of demons. They also knew Him because the word was out. Luke 4:33-34 says, “Now in the synagogue there was a man who had a spirit of an unclean demon. And he cried out with a loud voice, 34 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!”
Even the demons know what the ultimate end is. Verse 35-36, “But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be quiet, and come out of him!” And when the demon had thrown him in their midst, it came out of him and did not hurt him. 36 Then they were all amazed and spoke among themselves, saying, “What a word this is! For with authority and power He commands the unclean spirits, and they come out.”
The Lord never did want any publicity from demons. Now whenever Jesus dealt with demons, it was never a case of exorcism, it was always a case of authority. There was never a struggle, there was only absolute authority. And Jesus gave this very same power over demons to some of His followers. In Mark 16:17 it says, “In My name they will cast out demons.” This does not mean using the name of Jesus like a magical formula. It means on the basis of His power and His person demons should be cast out.
Luke 10:17 says, “Then the seventy returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name.” So Christ granted to them the power over demons. And that was a special granting in the Gospel accounts. In Acts, after the Holy Spirit had come, the Apostles had this power. And they used it always in the in the case of unbelievers.
Acts 5:12, 16, “And through the hands of the apostles many signs and wonders were done among the people. 16 Also a multitude gathered from the surrounding cities to Jerusalem, bringing sick people and those who were tormented by unclean spirits, and they were all healed.” Acts 8:7, “For unclean spirits, crying with a loud voice, came out of many who were possessed; and many who were paralyzed and lame were healed.”
In Acts 16:18, Paul did it to that girl who kept coming along and she was demon possessed. Paul turned around and said to the spirit, "I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her and he came out the same moment." Jesus cast out demons by authority. Jesus passed that same authority onto His Apostles. The Apostles also could cast out demons authoritatively with a word. And they were gone. Now that is one of the apostolic gifts.
No apostolic gift exists today where an individual could out a demon from an unbeliever in the name of Jesus Christ. In Hebrews 2:3-4 it says, “how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation, which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed to us by those who heard Him, 4 God also bearing witness both with signs and wonders, with various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit, according to His own will?”
Prior to the time of Christ, all during the Old Testament, right up to the cross, demons existed. And demons would indwell people. Well how did they get rid of them then? Here is the answer that Jesus gave in Matthew 17:21, “However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.” Under the Old Testament pattern, demons came out in an answer to prayer. People prayed and fasted over spiritual issues, like demons.
But when Jesus came, it all changed. He came in absolute authority over demons. And He passed on that authority to His apostles and they did the same thing. Why did God give them the authority and not us? God gave them the authority for the confirmation of the Word which they preached. Why would these listeners believe the Word? Because they also did supernatural wonders to attest to its truth.
Now today we don't need miracles to confirm the Word. God still does miracles, but not confirming miracles because the Word is already here in our hands. You can judge any man's message, by whether it squares with the Bible. What about us? Well there are people today who are still trying to do it in an apostolic fashion. There's a preoccupation today, especially in Indonesia, with getting rid of demons.
The power of Jesus Christ alone can overrule Satan. There is no other way. And no demon can overpower Jesus Christ. There is no religious rite, there is no formula and there is no exorcism that works. But what about all of these so-called exorcisms that are being done by people? They all do not work. If something is not of Christ, it is of Satan.
Does Satan cast out Satan? No. Would Satan like you to believe he cast out demons? Sure. Satan is the deceiver. And that way he extends his power. There are people today who use the name of Jesus as a gimmick. Listen to Matthew 7:22-23, “Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!”
How do you get rid of demons? There is only one way a unbeliever is going to get rid of demons is by receiving Jesus Christ. You cannot exorcise a demon out of the heart that belongs to Satan. Well what about a Christian? How does he get rid of those demons? Where does the Spirit of Christ live? In me. Right? For a Christian to get rid of the problem of demons is in the area of confession and holiness.
If I have Jesus Christ in me, I have His power. Colossians 2:9-10, “For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; 10 and you are complete in Him.” If the Holy Spirit dwells within me, I can deal with Satan in the power of Christ that is mine alone. Now maybe I need believers to point out sin to me, to pray along with me, but that's what Christ can handle in my life as I confess and repent of sin.
All you need to understand is that if I lean on the power of the Spirit of God, He delivers me from whatever it is. Now the word exorcism then doesn't belong in the Christian's vocabulary. There may be times when a counseling session in admonishing and prayer needs to take place, but that depends on that person's willingness to confess his sin. The demon is gone when the Spirit of God is in control.
1 John 4:4, “You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.” You can't be filled with Christ and something else. Exorcism only appears once in Acts 19: 13, “Then some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists took it upon themselves to call the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, “We exorcise you by the Jesus whom Paul preaches.”
The dictionary definition of exorcism is the process of expelling evil demons. But exorcism is really the process of thinking you have dispelled demons. Because exorcism doesn't happen and doesn't work. But Satan just loves to get people preoccupied with it. The key was supposedly the magical words and all kinds of little formulas that involved the names of gods and all kinds of things that are used to expel demons.
These have been found around Babylonia, Syria and Egypt, and in some of the ancient writings. Missionaries have found exorcism to be a part of everything from South Africa to Asian cultures, and from South American to Europe. And one of the most common ways they use in these incantations is pain. There's a shrine in India where people go to have their demons exorcised through severe beatings.
Can Satan influence Christians? Sure, if a Christian strays from the real issue of his life which is his own sin and his own honest confession and his own dealing with his own sin nature and his own dealing in the Word of God, if he blames everything on demons, Satan will likely keep him there. And then the Christian life turns into a demon hunt.
But when Jesus arrived, all demons wanted out. And by simple faith in Him, He dwells in you. You have nothing to fear. Now if there is willing, willful, protracted, unconfessed and sin that you have not repented from, you have given place to Satan. Historically the Roman Catholic Church has been involved in rites of exorcism and they have all the secret formulas for it. But that is not biblical. Christianity mixed with anything, is not Christianity.
Now let us get back to Acts 19. Paul in his third missionary journey started out in Antioch as always. Remember on the end of the second journey he had left Corinth and on his way to Jerusalem, he had stopped at Ephesus. And then went back to Antioch. Now he again returns to Ephesus. There he found certain disciples John the Baptist. He led them to Christ, they were saved, and the church nucleus began.
Now the number one feature of Ephesus was the Temple of Diana. And it was a place where all kinds of sorcery and witchcraft existed with magical exorcists all over the place. Here Paul was really confronted with this power of the underworld of evil against the Gospel. The very beginning of verse 8 says, “He spoke boldly for the space of three months." Here we see the power of the Word. Verse 20, "The Word of God prevails mightily."
The power of the Word in Ephesus is in, its proclamation, its confirmation, its competition, its conviction and its domination. And we are going to discuss point one this evening. The Word that was powerful in Ephesus, because it was proclaimed. Paul was disputing and persuading. He was trying to explain and prove the things concerning the kingdom of God. He is preaching the whole area of the kingdom of God.
Acts 28:30-31 says, “Then Paul dwelt two whole years in his own rented house, and received all who came to him, 31 preaching the kingdom of God and teaching the things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ with all confidence.” Verse 9, “But when some were hardened and did not believe, but spoke evil of the Way before the multitude, he departed from them and withdrew the disciples, reasoning daily in the school of Tyrannus.”
The word there for ‘hardened’ is in Greek in the imperfect tense which means they were continuing to be hardened. Gradual rejection of Jesus Christ results in hardening of your heart. They just weren't passive in their non-belief, they were active. They spoke evil of the Way to Christ. And that same word in Matthew and Mark, is translated as, they cursed Christianity from the very beginning.
So these people cursed the Way before the whole town. How can you teach somebody who is standing up and cursing you? So Paul departed from there and reasoning with disciples daily in the school of Tyrannus. And here's the first church and the school. An ancient Greek manuscript adds that Paul taught in this hall of Tyrannus from the 5th to the 10th hour (from 11 till 4). Five hours every day. What hunger of the people.
Do you want to know why Ephesus grew so much? It was because one man saturated those people with the Word of God. Verse 10, “And this continued for two years, so that all who dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks.” All seven of the churches in Revelation 2 and 3 were founded during these two years. All of Asia Minor was evangelized to the point where at least six other churches began.
Paul even had evening home Bible studies. Acts 20:20 says, “I kept back nothing that was helpful, but proclaimed it to you, and taught you publicly and from house to house.” So during the day he taught he school of Tyrannus, and at night he taught in the homes of believers. And in the process he evangelized the whole area of Asia Minor.
By the time he left, he had a whole group of elders all ready to take over as his pastors. He said takeover, shepherd the flock, I commend you to the Word. You know what makes a difference in this church? Teaching the Word of God and at every point of false doctrine, Satan is defeated. Let's pray.