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Get Off The Ladder - The Fakes

  • Writer: Paul Downie
    Paul Downie
  • 2 minutes ago
  • 14 min read

Acts 19:13-16 NIV 

[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. 

Several years ago, while the crowds there were just about bearable, we cruised to the Greek island of Santorini. And yes, it lived up to expectations. Although there were signs already that tourist behaviour wasn’t the best and locals’ tolerance of it was wearing very thin. 


Once we got back, we posted some pictures of the place online. Of course. That’s what people do. 


A few months later, someone from my wife’s home village posted a picture of himself in Santorini. We were impressed. He wasn’t so well off, so we wondered how he'd made it. My wife was a little suspicious, but sent him a congratulatory message and asked when he’d been. 


No response. 


Then she quickly realised what had happened. He had only posted one picture because it was a fake. He had nor actually been to Santorini. 


That might be amusing, but these days the level of fakery has reached almost pandemic proportions. 


In China you can find entire shopping malls that sell nothing but faked western goods.


Some of fthem are quite convincing. Others would not pass further inspection. Some are very obvious. 


Fakery is a key symptom of those who covet. They say to themselves, ‘I don’t have something, but I’ll pretend that I do, until someday maybe I will’. It’s the feeling that propels people to take photos with expensive cars in for sale lots and pretend that it’s theirs. Or use AI to generate pictures of them in places they can’t afford to go to. 


Or even recently, agirl who faked an entire pregnancy for nine months to get attention. 


Fakery is a real problem. 


Let me tell you this straight: real Christians don’t use fakes. Christians are absolutely honest about who they are and what they do. They are children of the light (Ephesians 5:8). They act with honesty and integrity at all times because they do not ever covet something they do not have and do not ever compare themselves to other people or measure themselves relative to other people. 


Real Christians have nothing to do with the ladder of souls.

 

Are you shocked to hear me say that? 


We’re now going to study a text about a bunch of fakes who coveted something Paul the Apostle had, but they did not. The results were pretty bad news for them. 


As always with people who coveted in the Bible, what happened to them might be uncomfortable for us to read, but it’s better for us to learn from it to prevent something similar happening to us. 


Let’s start, then, by looking at what it was they were trying to fake, by examining The Real Thing. 

 

The Real Thing 

Acts 19:8-12 NIV 

[8] Paul entered the synagogue and spoke boldly there for three months, arguing persuasively about the kingdom of God. [9] But some of them became obstinate; they refused to believe and publicly maligned the Way. So 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. 

A key aspect of the first ninety days’ training for any bank teller is on how to spot genuine bank notes. They spend a long time being trained on the security features, what to look for and how a real banknote feels. They then spend weeks on the job, handling cash day in and day out. Despite all the technological tools at their disposal, the human element is also required. 


If ever there is an argument for getting into Bible reading and study, it’s so you can spot real Christians from fake ones. And not just theologically. There are plenty of people whose doctrinal thinking is on point, but their behaviours and attitudes just don’t match up.


These are the people who behave in a provocative, argumentative manner in person and online simply to get a rise out of someone else in order to crush them with their flawless logic. 


Stay away from people like that. Don’t give them the satisfaction. They are fakes. 


What was happening in Ephesus, however, was one hundred percent real. Nowadays, we would classify this as a revival. 


I want you to see three marks of revival here. 


Number 1: The Gospel is being preached. 


This is the most important of all. There can be no revival without the Gospel. Any revival without it is empty and hollow. What does Luke record? 


Acts 19:8-10 NIV 

[8] Paul entered the synagogue and spoke boldly there for three months, arguing persuasively about the kingdom of God. [9] But some of them became obstinate; they refused to believe and publicly maligned the Way. So 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. 

The revival here began to manifest itself when Paul preached the Gospel. That is how we know it was a true Christian revival and not something else. 


We also see Number 2: Lives are being changed. 


In Ephesus, this meant demonstrations of real spiritual power and supremacy: 


Acts 19:11-12 NIV 

[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. 

This passage has long been misunderstood by the church. This is not some Christianised fetishism. It was not the handkerchiefs or even Paul who was doing the healing, it was God.

 

We have to note that this only happened in Ephesus. In fact, miracles did not happen that often in the period of Acts. If they had, they would not be miracles. In no other church were handkerchiefs given to Paul to touch so that people would be healed. 


So why here? Why not in our home towns? 


Well, the same question could be asked of a number of places: Thessalonica, Berea, Athens, Corinth. Each of these cities was significant in its own way, but not in any one of them did a miraculous healing or exorcism take place. 


Yet it did in Philippi and it did in Ephesus. 


Why? 


Because it was needed there. 


It happened in Philippi because Paul was irked by the demon possessed slave girl who wanted to own the Gospel narrative (Acts 16:16-18). 


It happened in Ephesus because it was a centre of idol worship and had been for many years. It happened in Ephesus because there were many who had been involved in spiritism and witchcraft (Acts 19:13-20). It happened there because these miracles showed Jesus to be more powerful than their idols and spirits.  


It did not happen in Thessalonica, Berea, Athens and Corinth because God did not deem it necessary. 


There are parts of the world, mainly in Africa, where this power ministry is still required. That is where it still takes place. But in our cynical, questioning Western culture it doesn’t happen quite so much. 


We should not covet their experience of God over our own. To covet is to sin. We should instead trust God. 


We see Number 3: People were repenting. That is, people were recognising their wrongdoing and repenting of it. 


Acts 19:17-20 NIV 

[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. [20] In this way the word of the Lord spread widely and grew in power. 

The Gospel does not exist to confirm our lives. No, it exists to confront and challenge them. Grace loves us as we are, but loves us too much to let us stay there. True Gospel ministry is a ministry of repentance for the forgiveness of sin. That is what Jesus Himself preached (Mark 1:14-15). If Jesus did it, so must we. 


True revival is not just a good night out or a nice sight to see, it challenges and changes our lives.


And that was what was happening on Ephesus through Paul. This was the real deal. It was no fake. 


However, some people thought they could fake it. After looking at the real thing, we will now look at The Fake. 

 

The Fake 

Matthew 11:12 NIV 

[12] From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been subjected to violence, and violent people have been raiding it.  

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/mat.11.12.NIV)


Acts 19:13-14 NIV 

[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.  

When I was a teenager, nuclear power was at its peak in the UK. Its promise of clean, dependable and relatively cheap energy was widely believed to be the future. 


But, of course, the nuclear isotopes needed to generate this energy are very, very dangerous. They need to be carried in lead-lined containers.  


Imagine, if you will, someone who does not believe all the warnings about just how dangerous they are and is determined to put some Uranium 238 isotopes into a supermarket Bag for Life and take them home to show his family. That would be an act of extreme folly. Apart from the likelihood that he wouldn’t make it home, he would irradiate everyone who came near to him, not to mention his loved ones. It would likely lead them, at best, to suffer from severe radiation burns, with the high possibility that they would suffer from cancer and die a horribly painful death. 


We have to believe that no-one in the world would be that stupid. 


Yet by trying to pass themselves off as great spiritual men, disciples of Paul and Jesus, these men were playing with deadly forces well beyond their control or comprehension. 


They should consider themselves blessed that they lived to tell the tale. 


So why would anyone do anything so utterly dangerous and stupid? 


The reason is simple but profound: 


Covetousness. 


They coveted Paul’s spiritual and influential power. His ministry was on the rise. Theirs was likely on the wane. They saw the power he had in Christ to cure diseases. They thought they would copy him. 


The story is told of a boy who was not very streetwise. His teacher caught him copying from a more intelligent pupil  in an exam. 


‘Why did you copy Jimmy’s answers?’ she glared at him. 


‘I didn’t!’ he protested. 


‘Really?’ she retorted incredulously. ‘For question five, he wrote “I don’t know.” And you wrote “Neither do I!”’ 


The seven sons of Sceva were attempting to commit an act of spiritual plagiarism. 


And it was both stupid and dangerous. They had no idea what they were dealing with. 


Friends, we have to understand the warning from this passage. ‘Fake it till you make it’ does not exist in the Kingdom of God. You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you cannot fool God any of the time. 


Galatians 6:7 NIV 

[7] Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.  

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/gal.6.7.NIV)


Listen to me: if you try to fake spirituality because you covet the attention and power and influence that better Christians than you have, then be assured of this: you will be found out.


Maybe not like these men were – at least, you’d better hope not. But your reckoning will come. 


If any part of your walk with God is not real and is just pretend or for show, fix it, because God is not fooled.


So we have seen, then, what the real thing looks like and how these men coveted what Paul had, so they decided to fake it and claim power and authority they did not have. What happened next is quite something: The Outcome. 

 

The Outcome 

Acts 19:15-16 NIV 

[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. 

You may not have heard of Khairun Nisa. She is a 22 year old Indonesian woman who failed an interview to get a job as an air stewardess with Batik Air. However, she decided to dress up as one and see if it could get her on a flight. It did. However, flaws in her work, in the instructions she was giving to passengers and her clothing gave her away as a fake. She was caught and made to apologise to the airline. 


These men got a much worse punishment. But to be honest, they still got off fairly lightly. It could have been a lot more painful. 


Note their position: they were Jewish exorcists in a very spiritually sensitive place. This would no doubt have brought with it a degree of notoriety. 


Note their patronage: they were sons of a Jewish high priest. This would have brought them increased standing and authority. 


Note their practice, and this was the really interesting part here. These were copycats, not innovators: the sense of the passage is that other people were doing it too, and these men were copying them. 


Do you see what we, in essence, have here? To use modern parlance, these men are spiritual nepo-baby influencers: they are riding off their father’s position and other people’s power to build a reputation for themselves. They are the exorcist version of a karaoke singer.


They aren’t doing anything original, they are simply riding other people’s coat-tails. 


There is nothing real about what they are doing. It’s all fake.  


And that’s the problem. That’s why these men took a beating from the demoniac. Everything they claimed, and the authority they tried to use, was not theirs. It seems ironic that  a messenger from the father of lies would see through their lie, but that’s how it goes.  


Almost every other day we hear fraud cases and embezzlement cases and people being caught out in dishonesty. Despite our crazy world’s false promises that we can be whoever we want and do whatever we want, the gravitational pull of the real world tells us this is one hundred percent not true. 


We can admire what someone else has. We can appreciate the blessing they have received. We can be happy for them. 


But don’t ever try to fake it. 


You will be found out. 

 

Conclusion  

Acts 19:13-16 NIV 

[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. 

The 1992 movie ‘Leap of Faith’ featured a marvellous performance from Hollywood favourite Steve Martin as a travelling conman ‘fake-healer’ who extorted money from people by promising them a revivalist experience where lives would be changed, when all that really changed was their bank balance – and negatively. The movie hinges on a third act twist when, despite the cynical exploitation, something genuinely miraculous happens. Then the conman had to figure out how will deal with it.  


What we see here is a whole bunch of conmen using Jesus’ Name purely because they covet Paul’s successful ministry. But Paul’s ministry was real; theirs was a poor imitation. The outcome of their con was a beating. They received a harsh lesson they would not forget. 

Something else happened too – something these conmen and fakes would not have anticipated: 


Acts 19:17-20 NIV 

[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. [20] In this way the word of the Lord spread widely and grew in power. 

These men had wanted to share the glory of God. They had wanted to exploit Jesus’ Name.


They were not interested in following Him. They were not interested in obeying Him. They just wanted His power and His glory for themselves. 


The result was that they lost. Their reputation as exorcists was roundly trashed as the demons they were supposed to be exorcising used them as a punch bag. They were exposed as fakes. 


But the true Gospel flourished. The genuine Gospel caused many to realise just how powerful it is and to renounce their deceitful ways. 


 Those foolish sons of Sceva tried to steal for Jesus’ honour to elevate themselves, but they were debased while Jesus was honoured. 


And those who dabbled in occult spirituality reacted in fear and repented of it.

  

Here we see a powerful lesson for us all. 


A few years ago, a poster advertising an evangelistic service appeared in our train station. I was happy to see it – at first. 


But then I noticed that the evangelist’s face and name were way bigger than anything to do with God, and the miracles that were lauded on the poster were being attributed to the man, not his God. 


That was when I realised this man was a fake. He might had been preaching words from the Bible about God, but his real God was himself. 


God will not ever be mocked. The first commandment is that we should not have a god before or beside Him (Exodus 20:3; Deuteronomy 5:7). That commandment doesn’t just talk about wooden, bronze, silver or gold idols. It means anything. Including our very selves. 


Coveting something – anything – is a sign that we are not grateful for what God has given us and we want more. It is a form of idolatry that makes the object of our covetousness more important than God Himself. 


Coveting and then using ‘fake it till you make it’ to fool others, or even yourself, that you are more than you really are, isn’t just folly: it is sin. Borrowing to get somewhere we cannot afford is especially stupid as it makes us slaves to our lenders (Proverbs 22:7). 


Take my advice: get off the ladder. Stop comparing yourself to other people. Stop trying to be them or to better them. It’s a fool’s game. 


You will be so much happier when you learn to live with integrity and be the person God created you to be. 

 

Prayer 

Lord Jesus, I am done pretending to be someone I am not. I am done coveting what I do not have. I know You died for me so I am someone worthwhile. I will be grateful from now on and will seek to be the person You made me. Amen. 


Questions for Contemplation 

  • Why did the seven sons of Sceva do what they did? Why was it so wrong? 

  • What does this teach us about coveting? What does it teach us about trying to be someone we are not? 

  • What can we learn from this? 

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