Promising Liberty

"Then certain of the vagabond Jews, exorcists, took upon them to call over them which had evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, We adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preacheth.

"And there were seven sons of one Sceva, a Jew, and chief of the priests, which did so.

"And the evil spirit answered and said, Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are ye?

"And the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, and overcame them, and prevailed against them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded." --Acts 19-13-16

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The devil will not go away just because somebody tells him to, or pretends that he is not doing his devil-work. Only Christ has authority over the devils and His power reveals that the kingdom of God has come (Mt 12:28). There are many voices crying in the wilderness that are part of the wilderness. They pretend that they can overcome evil, but the evil in their own hearts shows them to be liars.

A man is incapable of banishing malice and ill-will from his own heart. The strong man keeps the city and will not let it go. Ill-will toward our brother is as natural as breathing.

"Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God." --Galatians 5:19-21

Satan keeps his kingdom and rules it with lies and malice, and no one can deliver himself. Man pretends, of course, for the natural man is a great hypocrite and is capable of a form of godliness that denies the power. He calls evil good and good evil, but none can deliver his own soul.

"He feedeth on ashes: a deceived heart hath turned him aside, that he cannot deliver his soul, nor say, Is there not a lie in my right hand?" (Isa 44:20)

Being unable to deliver himself from the power of the devil, how does a man think he can save others? Seven times nothing is still nothing, as the sons of Sceva discovered. They are blind leaders of the blind, clouds and wind without rain, in bondage to their own corruption and promising to deliver others. Deceived and deceivers.

"While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage." (2Pe 2:19)

"Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart: 19 Who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness." (Eph 4:18-19)

"Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin. And the servant abideth not in the house for ever: but the Son abideth ever. If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed." (Joh 8:34-36)

It is the Promise of God


Pr 10:8 The wise in heart will receive commandments: but a prating fool shall fall.
Pr 10:10 He that winketh with the eye causeth sorrow: but a prating fool shall fall.

Two kinds of empty hearts are described here:

The ignorant man, void of wisdom in the heart: Pr. 10:8 says that the prating fool who is empty of wisdom in the heart will fall. His wisdom is only of the lip [prating fool, roughly from the Hebrew means "fool of lips."] He has a show of wisdom and talks a good talk, but he has only a show. His folly will be revealed and he falls. Pr 25:14 "Whoso boasteth himself of a false gift is like clouds and wind without rain." There is a great deal of bluster and blow and the foolish are deceived, but the clouds and wind produce no rain.

The man who speaks hypocitically and winks with the eye. He is another kind of prating fool. He speaks one thing and winks to his comrades to show that he means something else. The politician, after the primary is won, moves toward the center, saying things to appeal to the general polulation, but there is always a "wink, wink" [figurative, of course] to let the base know that he doesn't really mean it.

Both types of fools "fall" because their "wisdom" is of the lips only. The offense of the second is probably the worse, because he is deliberately deceptive. But the end of both is the same, utter destruction and ruin.

The effect of ignorance, however, can be the same as that of hypocrisy. In both cases the heart is far from God.