THE LIVING CHURCH
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IT IS very easy to discount the power of the devil, Satan, in the world. We see today people experimenting with the occult and spiritism in so many different ways. Halloween is one example. People do not realise how dangerous this can be. God gave a very public experience in Ephesus recorded in these verses before us which illustrates the power of Satan, and how dangerous it is to flirt with him in any way.
A Jewish Chief Priest called Sceva had seven sons. These sons had been going around seeking to drive out evil spirits. They were looking for greater power and success in this activity and so when they saw devils being cast out by the Name of Jesus, they tried to invoke the Name of Jesus themselves. They weren't disciples of Jesus. They had not believed on him as their Saviour from sin. All they wanted was power for themselves, and though they sought to do good, they had themselves and their own glory very much in view. They were seeking power for themselves and were seeking to use the Name of Jesus as a means of power.
Their experience in invoking the Name of Jesus showed how separate from Jesus they were. When believers seek healing for a person in the Name of Jesus they are praying that Jesus will exercise his grace and exert his power to deliver the person they are praying for. They don't want power for themselves. They don't seek glory for themselves. They seek the deliverance of the sufferer and the glory of Jesus. They also submit to the will of Jesus who in love works for our good. The wrong attitude in these seven Jews revealed itself by the evil spirit turning on them and attacking them, and almost killing them.
Often people act like these seven sons, and dabble in the occult, and nothing too bad happens, and some excitement is experienced. But the reality is that Satan is waiting to devour us. To dabble in evil is to place ourselves in severe danger. This awful attack on these seven sons revealed the danger in Ephesus, specially amongst the church members. They began to have a real holy fear of evil and evil practices, and the result was that many in the church confessed how they had dabbled in evil and practised in the occult, and gave up these practices. God brought about a great deliverance by this powerful illustration of the devil's power and malice.
Evil is all around us in this world. The only place of deliverance and safety is in Jesus. He alone has worked deliverance for us. We can only be delivered from Satan's kingdom by faith in the work Jesus did for us in giving his life a ransom for our sins. The only safe place to live is in faith and obedience to Jesus, and to renounce all evil and keep away from all things that are associated with Satan and evil spirits.
It is only when the church is free from evil, and walks with the Lord Jesus in faith and obedience, that the Gospel goes forth in power and grace. Verse 20 in our passage is a very telling one. As soon as the believers gave up all dabbling in evil, and sanctified themselves to the Lord, the power of the Gospel was manifest, and people believed, and more and more people were delivered from the power of Satan and brought to God. The only place of light and life is in Jesus and being translated into his kingdom through faith in him.