101 Why do you keep far away, O Lord? why are you not to be seen in times of trouble? 2 The evil-doer in his pride is cruel to the poor; let him be taken by the tricks of his invention. 3 For the evil-doer is lifted up because of the purpose of his heart, and he whose mind is fixed on wealth is turned away from the Lord, saying evil against him. 4 The evil-doer in his pride says, God will not make a search. All his thoughts are, There is no God. 5 His ways are ever fixed; your decisions are higher than he may see: as for his haters, they are as nothing to him. 6 He has said in his heart, I will not be moved: through all generations I will never be in trouble. 7 His mouth is full of cursing and deceit and false words: under his tongue are evil purposes and dark thoughts. 8 He is waiting in the dark places of the towns: in the secret places he puts to death those who have done no wrong: his eyes are secretly turned against the poor. 9 He keeps himself in a secret place like a lion in his hole, waiting to put his hands on the poor man, and pulling him into his net. 10 The upright are crushed and made low, and the feeble are overcome by his strong ones. 11 He says in his heart, God has no memory of me: his face is turned away; he will never see it.
12 Up! O Lord; let your hand be lifted: give thought to the poor. 13 Why has the evil-doer a low opinion of God, saying in his heart, You will not make search for it? 14 You have seen it; for your eyes are on sorrow and grief, to take it into your hand: the poor man puts his faith in you; you have been the helper of the child who has no father. 15 Let the arm of the sinner and the evil-doer be broken; go on searching for his sin till there is no more. 16 The Lord is King for ever and ever; the nations are gone from his land. 17 Lord, you have given ear to the prayer of the poor: you will make strong their hearts, you will give them a hearing: 18 To give decision for the child without a father and for the broken-hearted, so that the man of the earth may no longer be feared.
111 In the Lord put I my faith; how will you say to my soul, Go in flight like a bird to the mountain? 2 See, the bows of the evil-doers are bent, they make ready their arrows on the cord, so that they may send them secretly against the upright in heart. 3 If the bases are broken down, what is the upright man to do?
4 The Lord is in his holy Temple, the Lord's seat is in heaven; his eyes are watching and testing the children of men. 5 The Lord puts the upright and the sinner to the test, but he has hate in his soul for the lover of violent acts. 6 On the evil-doer he will send down fire and flames, and a burning wind; with these will their cup be full. 7 For the Lord is upright; he is a lover of righteousness: the upright will see his face.
121 Send help, Lord, for mercy has come to an end; there is no more faith among the children of men. 2 Everyone says false words to his neighbour: their tongues are smooth in their talk, and their hearts are full of deceit. 3 The smooth lips and the tongue of pride will be cut off by the Lord. 4 They have said, With our tongues will we overcome; our lips are ours: who is lord over us? 5 Because of the crushing of the poor and the weeping of those in need, now will I come to his help, says the Lord; I will give him the salvation which he is desiring. 6 The words of the Lord are true words: like silver tested by fire and burned clean seven times. 7 You will keep them, O Lord, you will keep them safe from this generation for ever. 8 The sinners are walking on every side, and evil is honoured among the children of men.
191 And it came about that while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul, having gone through the higher country, came to Ephesus, where there were certain disciples: 2 And he said to them, Did you get the Holy Spirit when you had faith? And they said to him, No, we have had no knowledge of the Holy Spirit. 3 And he said, What sort of baptism did you have? And they said, The baptism of John. 4 And Paul said, John gave a baptism which goes with a change of heart, saying to the people that they were to have faith in him who was coming after him, that is, in Jesus. 5 And hearing this, they had baptism in the name of the Lord Jesus. 6 And when Paul had put his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them; and they had the power of talking in tongues, and acting like prophets. 7 And there were about twelve of these men.
8 And he went into the Synagogue, and for three months he was preaching there without fear, reasoning and teaching about the kingdom of God. 9 But because some of the people were hard-hearted and would not give hearing, saying evil words about the Way before the people, he went away from them, and kept the disciples separate, reasoning every day in the school of Tyrannus. 10 And this went on for two years, so that all those who were living in Asia had knowledge of the word of the Lord, Greeks as well as Jews. 11 And God did special works of power by the hands of Paul: 12 So that bits of linen and clothing from his body were taken to people who were ill, and their diseases went away from them and the evil spirits went out.
13 But some of the Jews who went from place to place driving out evil spirits, took it on themselves to make use of the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, I give you orders, by Jesus, whom Paul is preaching. 14 And there were seven sons of a man named Sceva, a Jew and a chief priest, who did this. 15 And the evil spirit, answering, said to them, I have knowledge of Jesus, and of Paul, but who are you? 16 And the man in whom the evil spirit was, jumping on them, was stronger than the two of them, and overcame them, so that they went running from that house, wounded and without their clothing. 17 And this came to the ears of all those, Jews and Greeks, who were living at Ephesus; and fear came on them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was made great. 18 And a number of those who had faith came and made a public statement of their sins and all their acts. 19 And a great number of those who were experts in strange arts took their books and put them on the fire in front of everyone: and when the books were valued they came to fifty thousand bits of silver. 20 So the word of the Lord was increased very greatly and was full of power.
(Read Acts 19:1-7)
Paul, at Ephesus, found some religious persons, who looked to Jesus as the Messiah. They had not been led to expect the miraculous powers of the Holy Ghost, nor were they informed that the gospel was especially the ministration of the Spirit. But they spake as ready to welcome the notice of it. Paul shows them that John never design that those he baptized should rest there, but told them that they should believe on Him who should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus. They thankfully accepted the discovery, and were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. The Holy Ghost came upon them in a surprising, overpowering manner; they spake with tongues, and prophesied, as the apostles and the first Gentile coverts did. Though we do not now expect miraculous powers, yet all who profess to be disciples of Christ, should be called on to examine whether they have received the seal of the Holy Ghost, in his sanctifying influences, to the sincerity of their faith. Many seem not to have heard that there is a Holy Ghost, and many deem all that is spoken concerning his graces and comforts, to be delusion. Of such it may properly be inquired, "Unto what, then, were ye baptized?" for they evidently know not the meaning of that outward sign on which they place great dependence.
(Read Acts 19:8-12)
When arguments and persuasions only harden men in unbelief and blasphemy, we must separate ourselves and others from such unholy company. God was pleased to confirm the teaching of these holy men of old, that if their hearers believed them not, they might believe the works.
(Read Acts 19:13-20)
It was common, especially among the Jews, for persons to profess or to try to cast out evil spirits. If we resist the devil by faith in Christ, he will flee from us; but if we think to resist him by the using of Christ's name, or his works, as a spell or charm, Satan will prevail against us. Where there is true sorrow for sin, there will be free confession of sin to God in every prayer and to man whom we have offended, when the case requires it. Surely if the word of God prevailed among us, many lewd, infidel, and wicked books would be burned by their possessors. Will not these Ephesian converts rise up in judgement against professors, who traffic in such works for the sake of gain, or allow themselves to possess them? If we desire to be in earnest in the great work of salvation, every pursuit and enjoyment must be given up which hinders the effect of the gospel upon the mind, or loosens its hold upon the heart.
