Sermon Tone Analysis

Calling of the name of Jesus

Calling on the name of Jesus

And God was doing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul, 12 so that even handkerchiefs or aprons that had touched his skin were carried away to the sick, and their diseases left them and the evil spirits came out of them.

13 Then some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists undertook to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, "I adjure you by the Jesus whom Paul proclaims."

14 Seven sons of a Jewish high priest named Sceva were doing this.

15 But the evil spirit answered them, "Jesus I know, and Paul I recognize, but who are you?"

16 And the man in whom was the evil spirit leaped on them, mastered all of them and overpowered them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.

17 And this became known to all the residents of Ephesus, both Jews and Greeks.

And fear fell upon them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was extolled.18

Also many of those who were now believers came, confessing and divulging their practices.19

And a number of those who had practiced magic arts brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all.

20 And they counted the value of them and found it came to fifty thousand pieces of silver.

So the word of the Lord continued to increase and prevail mightily.

11 And God was doing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul,

12 so that even handkerchiefs or aprons that had touched his skin were carried away to the sick, and their diseases left them and the evil spirits came out of them.

13 Then some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists undertook to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, "I adjure you by the Jesus whom Paul proclaims."

14 Seven sons of a Jewish high priest named Sceva were doing this.

15 But the evil spirit answered them, "Jesus I know, and Paul I recognize, but who are you?"

16 And the man in whom was the evil spirit leaped on them, mastered all of them and overpowered them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.

17 And this became known to all the residents of Ephesus, both Jews and Greeks.

And fear fell upon them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was extolled.18

Also many of those who were now believers came, confessing and divulging their practices.19

And a number of those who had practiced magic arts brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all.

20 And they counted the value of them and found it came to fifty thousand pieces of silver.

So the word of the Lord continued to increase and prevail mightily.

15 But the evil spirit answered them, "Jesus I know, and Paul I recognize, but who are you?"

16 And the man in whom was the evil spirit leaped on them, mastered all of them and overpowered them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.

17 And this became known to all the residents of Ephesus, both Jews and Greeks.

And fear fell upon them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was extolled.18

Also many of those who were now believers came, confessing and divulging their practices.19

And a number of those who had practiced magic arts brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all.

20 And they counted the value of them and found it came to fifty thousand pieces of silver.

So the word of the Lord continued to increase and prevail mightily.

This passage asks the timeless question concerning calling on the name of Jesus.

At the name of Jesus, every knee shall, bow and every tongue confess, in heaven, on earth and under the earth and proclaim that He is Lord!

So I ask you this morning is there power in the name of Jesus?

The answer is yes!!!

All the power attributed to the name of Jesus originates in the Person of Jesus.

When we “believe in Jesus’ name,” we are trusting in the finished work of the risen Christ on the cross and we believe that He hears us when we pray.

, says this, ‘And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him.’

‘And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him.’

Jesus is not a magic word, but it is a meaningful word.

There is nothing special about the arrangement of the letters in His name.

Had Jesus not been God in the flesh that lived a perfect life, which died for the sins of all who would believe, and rose again for the death, we wouldn’t even be talking about His name.

All power that Christians access through the name of Jesus comes from their true faith in who Jesus is and what He does for sinners.

There is no magical power in the name of Jesus—there is only power in Jesus Christ, Himself.

By simply calling out the name of “Jesus,” one cannot expect a special power, an alter outcome, or better standing with God.

Yet, the name of Jesus is precious, however, and brimming with meaning.

‘And you shall call his name Jesus,’ the angel told Joseph, ‘for he will save his people from their sins’ ().

Jesus is more than a great teacher, more than an enlightened man, more than a worker of miracles, more than a source of meaning in life, more than a self-help guru, more than a self-esteem builder, more than a political liberator, more than a caring friend, more than a transformer of cultures, more than a purpose for the purpose driven He, Jesus is the Savior of sinners.

All acts of saving, healing, protecting, justifying, or the redeeming power of God resides in the Person of Christ, and Jesus is His name.

So I ask, how has our omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent Creator of the universe choose to wield His power?

God has chosen to wield through His Son Jesus and in His name.

Jesus was born in humble circumstances—a Babe with all the power of the King.

Jesus laid down His life to save sinners, and He exercised His authority to raise it up again, He said no one takes my life, but I lay it down, because I can pick it up again.

So when we call on His name in faith can receive forgiveness of sins and salvation for all eternity.

Everyone who calls on the name of Jesus will be saved.

That is the resurrection power of the Savior—He alone is the force behind His name.

It is in Jesus’ name that God instructs us to pray

, ‘In that day you will ask nothing of me.

Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in my name, he will give it you.

Until now you have asked nothing in my name.

Ask and you will receive, that you joy may be full.

Believers are invited to pray in Jesus’ name with an expectation that God answers prayers endorsed by Jesus’ name.

Praying in Jesus’ name means praying with His authority and asking God the Father to act upon our prayers because we come by faith in the name of His Son, Jesus.

Praying in Jesus’ name demonstrates our faith in God’s power to act when we believe.

Praying in Jesus’ name is more than just a grouping words together but it is a representation of ours faith in who He actually is.

The only thing that sets apart the name of Jesus of Nazareth is the Person it belongs to and what He did for us.

In Jesus Christ “all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form” ().

In Jesus Christ is “the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being” ().

In Jesus Christ all things become new and glorious!

But where there is no faith, no relationship, or no submission to His lordship, the name Jesus is nothing but a word.

We are wise to guard ourselves from the temptation to misuse the name of Jesus.

This morning we are going to look a story in our Bibles that tells an intriguing story of a group of seven Jews in Ephesus who attempted to cast out demons using the name of Jesus.

These men did not know Jesus.

They were not believers and they did not have faith in Him.

But instead they sought the admiration of others, they sought the applause of others, and they sought the attention of others.

They sought an opportunity to make names for themselves instead of lifting up the name of Jesus.

It is in the name of Jesus, the one who saves His people from their sins; any servant gathers and is given the power of the mighty Creator Himself.

It is in the name of Jesus, who gives believers the authority to serve, work, and pray in His name, when we do so believing in Jesus’ saving power and desiring to do God’s will.

Jesus, with the authority of the Father, exercised power to save sinners, and His name is the only name we can call on for salvation.

Paul will teach us three things in this passage this morning about calling of the name of Jesus.

(1) When we call on the name of Jesus it brings recovery to the sick.

(2) When we call of the name of Jesus it brings rebuke to the unsaved.

(3) When we call of the name of Jesus it brings repentance to the saved.

When we call on the name of Jesus, we participate in His power and find that “the name of the LORD is a fortified tower; the righteous run to it and are safe” ().

Like many truths of the Bible, we can and will attempt to misuse and thwart what is good for our own gain—but our God cannot be deceived.

We only encounter God’s holy power when we place our faith in Jesus Christ.

Let us pray...

When we call on the name of Jesus it brings recovery to the sick

The mighty works God accomplished through Paul in Ephesus were ‘extraordinary’, and in certain respects they parallell those attributed to Jesus and Peter.

Paul’s preaching about the kingdom of God further illustrates the way God’s power was at work throughout his ministry.

And God was doing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul, 12 so that even handkerchiefs or aprons that had touched his skin were carried away to the sick, and their diseases left them and the evil spirits came out of them.

God did extraordinary miracles through Paul and when he called on Jesus name it brought recovery.

So much so that even handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were taken to those who were ill, and their illnesses were cured ‘removed’ and the evil spirits left them.

The words here translated handkerchiefs and aprons, are most likely items connected with Paul’s work as a tentmaker, items which had made contact with his skin.

They were sought after because of the widespread ancient belief that the bodies of particular people, or whatever touched them, had healing power.

There is a parallel here with Jesus’ ministry in , And he came down with them and stood on a level place, with a great crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea and Jerusalem and the seacoast of Tyre and Sidon,18 who came to hear him and to be healed of their diseases.

And those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured.19

And all the crowd sought to touch him, for power came out from him and healed them all.