Resisting Evil July 16th, 2023
Guide us, O God, by your Word and Spirit, so that we may see clearly the way to follow you and have the courage to live by your truth revealed in Jesus Christ. Amen.
Daniel Defoe is best known as the author of the novel, Robinson Crusoe, which is said to be second only to the Bible in the number of translations published. Amongst his many other writings can be found these lines of poetry, “Wherever God erects a house of prayer, the Devil always builds a chapel there. And ‘twill be found upon examination; the latter has the largest congregation.”
An unknown author wrote something similar, “Where Christ erected his church, the Devil in the same churchyard will have his chapel.” And that seems to be the lesson which we can take from today’s reading from the book of Acts, wherever Christ is at work, the Devil is not far behind him.
What has taken place is that the Apostle Paul is still in the town of Ephesus, which was in modern day Turkey. Things were going well for him, so well that he had spent over two years there, preaching the message of salvation through Jesus Christ to all who would listen. The foundation of a strong church was being built and many people were coming to faith in Christ.
God was clearly at work through Paul, so much so that we’re told in this morning’s reading that, “God did extraordinary miracles through Paul, so that when the handkerchiefs or aprons that had touched his skin were brought to the sick, their diseases left them, and the evil spirits came out of them.” Now these handkerchiefs and aprons were used by Paul in his work as a tentmaker, the aprons were work aprons, and the handkerchiefs were actually pieces of cloth which he wore around his forehead to keep the sweat out of his eyes while working in the hot climate of that region.
The fact that people could be healed just by touching such items sounds strange to us today, but it was not the first time that someone had been cured in such a manner. As a matter of fact, Jesus himself healed people in the same way. This is what we’re told in the Gospel of Luke, “Now there was a woman who had been suffering from haemorrhages for twelve years; and though she had spent all she had on physicians, no one could cure her. She came up behind him and touched the fringe of his clothes, and immediately her haemorrhage stopped.” (Luke 8:43-44)
And a similar example can be found earlier in the book of Acts when the Apostle Peter was beginning his ministry in Jerusalem and God worked through him to bring many people to faith. The Apostle Luke, the author of Acts, tells us, “Yet more than ever believers were added to the Lord, great numbers of both men and women, so that they even carried out the sick into the streets, and laid them on cots and mats, in order that Peter’s shadow might fall on some of them as he came by. A great number of people would also gather from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing the sick and those tormented by unclean spirits, and they were all cured.” (Acts 5:14-16) We don’t hear as much about such miracle healings today, but God is still at work in his world. The miracles God performs are not always visible to us or people are hesitant to talk about them in our secular world, but they still take place.
And if you doubt miracles, then you should think again, because the Bible is filled with them. God created the world out of nothing, we believe in the miracle of the virgin birth, the miracle of the resurrection, and the miracle of having our sins forgiven and receiving the promise of life eternal. In the Gospel records there are some 37 incidences of Jesus performing miracles. And nothing had changed in today’s world, miracles don’t happen all the time, but they still do happen.
But, as I said earlier, where God is at work, the Devil is not far behind. As a result of those miracles of Paul this is what took place, “Then some itinerant Jewish exorcists tried to use the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, ‘I adjure you by the Jesus whom Paul proclaims.’ Seven sons of a Jewish high priest named Sceva were doing this.” They were pretending they had the power to perform miracles. There’s always someone looking to make an easy dollar anyway they can.
These exorcists were false prophets who went from town to town making a living by supposedly casting demons out of those who were afflicted. These men used magic spells, rituals, and oaths to try and heal the afflicted. They would try to gain power over the evil spirits by invoking the name of a more powerful spirit being. So, when they heard about Paul’s success using the name of Jesus, they added it to their repertoire.
Those seven sons of Sceva knew a good thing when they saw it. They recognized that here was an opportunity to use religion, and the interest in religion, to advance their own cause and to gain profit from it as well. So, they attempted to jump on the bandwagon, and by using the names of Jesus and Paul as though they were some kind of magic formula, they tried to cast out evil spirits by saying, "I adjure you by the Jesus whom Paul preaches."
But that trick backfired on them, we’re told, “But the evil spirit said to them in reply, ‘Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are you?’ Then the man with the evil spirit leapt on them, mastered them all, and so overpowered them that they fled out of the house naked and wounded.” They had the tables turned on them and instead of making a tidy sum by invoking the names of Jesus and Paul they end up being embarrassed by the evil spirit who chased them out of the house in front of the crowds who were looking on. No doubt they were discredited and that would have ended their money making schemes. As we all know from scripture, God doesn’t suffer fools gladly.
But what was bad news for the seven sons of Sceva turned out to be good news for Christianity. When the people of Ephesus, many of whom believed in magic at that time, saw what had happened, they were so amazed that they praised the name of the Lord Jesus. Luke tells us, “When this became known to all residents of Ephesus, both Jews and Greeks, everyone was awestruck; and the name of the Lord Jesus was praised. Also, many of those who became believers confessed and disclosed their practices. A number of those who practised magic collected their books and burned them publicly; when the value of these books was calculated, it was found to come to fifty thousand silver coins. So, the word of the Lord grew mightily and prevailed.”
What was going on was that many of the Ephesian people who had professed faith in Christ were still secretly holding on to their old magic practices, just in case Jesus “didn’t work” for them! But now they went public, confessing and disclosing their sinful ways. And as a proof of their confession, they brought their magic books and made an enormous public bonfire. The combined price of these books was huge. In today’s terms it would have amounted to about 5 million dollars. And so, the Lord’s message spread and became even more powerful. Although it was costly, they were willing to publicly show their faith in God and to turn from evil.
Someone once said, “The best trick the Devil ever played was convincing the world he doesn’t exist. If people don’t believe you exist, they won’t try to stop you.” And that’s true in today’s world, as well. We think we’re much more practical today and that everything has to be based on physical proof and scientific fact. We live in an age where we value rationality and evidence over intuition and faith. We tend to dismiss anything that cannot be measured or proven by science as being superstition or fantasy. We pride ourselves on being practical and realistic, and we often look down on those who hold different views or beliefs.
We’re not even comfortable using the word devil, because it suggests a supernatural force that is beyond our control. We prefer to think of our adversaries as human beings who have made bad choices and can be held accountable for their actions.
But we all agree that evil exists in the world, and it has to come from somewhere. The Bible warns us over and over of the demonic being and our need to be aware and ready to denounce evil. This example of the seven sons of Sceva makes very clear the means by which sin seizes hold of people.
So, as uncomfortable as it might make us, we still need to be aware that all the evil in the world is not totally man’s fault. There are forces out there trying to invade our lives. The Devil does exist, and he is not a mythological creature or a just a symbol of evil. He is a real being, a fallen angel who rebelled against God and was cast out of heaven. He is the leader of the demons, who are also fallen angels who followed him in his rebellion. He is the enemy of God and of all who belong to him. He is the source of all sin, temptation, deception, and suffering in the world. We must always be on our guard against him. When we hear the expression, put on the Armour of God, it is a warning for us to be ready. Let’s all be ready this week!
Let us Pray:
Our heavenly Father, we thank you for the truth that is revealed here. Gracious Lord, you are our Loving Father who grants our protection and guides our actions. We pray that you will always guard our spiritual well-being. Help each of us to keep trusting you, recognizing your victory over the devil and acknowledging the strength you give us to resist him. Amen.