IF WE ONLY KNEW WHAT THE DEVILS KNOW
Mark 1:23, “And there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit; and he cried out, 24 Saying, Let us alone; what have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth? Art thou come to destroy us? I know thee who thou art, the Holy One of God. 25 And Jesus rebuked him, saying, Hold thy peace, and come out of him. 26 And when the unclean spirit had torn him, and cried with a loud voice, he came out of him.”
From time to time, the scriptures offer us a glimpse into the nature of the unseen spiritual world. We learn very quickly in the gospels that demons are real. We realize, also, that Jesus had authority over them, and casting out devils was a major part of his ministry. We learn that demons have personalities, are capable of independent thought, but, at the same time, they can inhabit very small spaces. Several thousand of them lived in the body of one man. They long to live within a host. When Jesus cast the legion of demons from a demoniac, they asked permission to enter into a herd of swine.
I believe that demons are real. They are not metaphors. They exist. They afflict mankind today in every way possible. They are spirits, and are eternal. The same demons cast out of the demoniac are in the world still to this day.
One aspect of demons amazes me. It is one that, in many ways, astonishes me. And that is what they seem to know.
THEY KNOW WHO JESUS IS
Jesus kept His identity a secret, revealing it only through revelation, and only to His closest disciples. Can I tell you that, in many ways, He still does the same thing? We grow in the knowledge of The Lord. To some He was a prophet. To others a teacher. Others thought He may be Elijah. Peter finally realized He was the Son of the Living God. Even just before His crucifixion, the disciples still did not seem to fully understand who He was.
John 14:7, “If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him. 8 Philip saith unto him, Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us. 9Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?”
Even after His resurrection, Thomas did not seem to understand that, as Col. 2:19 declares, “For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.”
John 20:24, “But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came. 25The other disciples therefore said unto him, We have seen the Lord. But he said unto them, Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe. 26And after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them: then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you. 27Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing. 28And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God.”
Finally, the disciples understood. It took them a long time.
Yet the devils knew immediately.
Luke 4:40, “Now when the sun was setting, all they that had any sick with divers diseases brought them unto him; and he laid his hands on every one of them, and healed them. 41And devils also came out of many, crying out, and saying, Thou art Christ the Son of God. And he rebuking them suffered them not to speak: for they knew that he was Christ.”
James 2:19, “Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.”
If we only knew, I mean really knew what the devils know. They know who Jesus is. They know He has authority over them. They believe there is one God, and they tremble at the knowledge of it. We need to understand that Jesus is the head of all principalities and powers. When He commands, devils flee. We don’t serve a weak, ineffective savior. He is the Holy one of God. He is the head of the spiritual powers, and the head of the church.
Do you believe it tonight? Do you know what the devils know?
THEY KNOW WHO THE CHURCH IS
Acts 19:11, “And God wrought special miracles by the hands of Paul: 12So that from his body were brought unto the sick handkerchiefs or aprons, and the diseases departed from them, and the evil spirits went out of them. 13Then 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. 14And there were seven sons of one Sceva, a Jew, and chief of the priests, which did so. 15And the evil spirit answered and said, Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are ye? 16And 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.”
The seven sons of Sceva assumed that the name of Jesus could be used like so much hocus pocus to expel demons. They assumed that what worked for Paul should work for them. But, you see, the sons of Sceva were ignorant. They did not understand. They did not know what the devil they were attempting to cast out knew. The name of Jesus is not some mystical word of power. It is not hocus pocus or abracadabra. The name of Jesus can only be used by one with the authority to use it. You see, the sons of Sceva were committing forgery. They were using the name of God without authorization. Besides me, there is only one person who can legally use my name. That is my wife. You see, she took my name when we entered into the covenant relationship of marriage. If anyone else uses my name, it is unauthorized and invalid. Can I tell you the devil and his demons are legal experts. They know the law. They understand who Jesus is. They understand the power of His name. They understand and recognize the power of a people in a covenant relationship with The Lord. They understand the church is the people of The Name. We have authority to use His name.
Mark 16:15, “And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. 16 He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. 17 And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; 18 They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover. 19 So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God. 20 And they went forth, and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following. Amen.”
The Lord was with His people.
I am telling you that if we knew about ourselves what the devils know about us, we would never settle for church as usual. We would never settle for anything less than miraculous. We are the people of The Name, the church of the living God, the body of Christ. We have authority in His name. The early church knew this. What did they do? They preached everywhere, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following.
I pray the eyes of the church will open. I pray we get to know what the devils already know. We have the name of Jesus. We have the name of Jesus! We legally possess His name. We are baptized in His name. We are buried with Him. We are His people, the people of The Name that is above every other name.
There is power in the name of Jesus!
THEY KNOW WHEN THE TRUTH IS PREACHED
Acts 16:16, “And it came to pass, as we went to prayer, a certain damsel possessed with a spirit of divination met us, which brought her masters much gain by soothsaying: 17 The same followed Paul and us, and cried, saying, These men are the servants of the most high God, which shew unto us the way of salvation. 18 And this did she many days. But Paul, being grieved, turned and said to the spirit, I command thee in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her. And he came out the same hour.”
There is nothing more troubling to the devil than when the true servants of the Most High God preach His word. It is this word that saves the souls of men. It is this word that tears down the strongholds of Satan. There are a lot of men in the world today who call their selves servants of God, but they are not preaching the “way of salvation.” There is a bloodless, crossless gospel being preached today. It is a counterfeit gospel by men like the sons of Sceva. Prophets for profit, clouds without rain, wolves in sheep’s clothing.
But for every counterfeit, there is the genuine article. The devils know there are true men of God still preaching the true word of God, and they know there are counterfeits. They know there is a true gospel and a counterfeit gospel. I wish the church as a whole would grow wise to this bit of information. This is serious. There are people who will lead you astray if you let them. God has given the five-fold ministry to the church. These are men called of God and anointed. It is not a license from an organization, or a degree from a seminary that makes a man of God. The devils know who they are.
THE DEVILS KNOW THEIR TIME IS SHORT
Matthew 8:28, “And when he was come to the other side into the country of the Gergesenes, there met him two possessed with devils, coming out of the tombs, exceeding fierce, so that no man might pass by that way. 29 And, behold, they cried out, saying, What have we to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God? art thou come hither to torment us before the time?”
They asked him, “Have you come to torment us before the time?” What time are they talking about? It is amazing that these spiritual beings are aware that there is coming a time of torment.
My friends, there is a time of torment coming for the devil and his demons. It is coming soon. Yet so many today fail to recognize the times. The demons who spoke to Jesus knew the time had not yet come. Yet, they knew the day would inevitably come. I believe the time is short at hand.
The devils know it, too.
Look at what is happening in the world today. I marvel at it. We are living in the end of days. The signs are everywhere around us. Never before has prophecy unfolded with such rapidity as it does today. Within this century, the nation of Israel, dispersed throughout the world returned to her home. Jesus said that Jerusalem would be trodden upon by gentiles until the time of the gentiles comes to an end. In 1967, Isreal took possession of Jerusalem. We are at the end. Yet many are living with their heads buried in the sand. Even professing Christians seem oblivious to the times. These are the last days, and the devil knows it.
Revelation 12:12, “Therefore rejoice, ye heavens and ye that dwell in them, Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and of the sea! For the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time.”
Look around you. Perversion is rampant. Wickedness is unbridled. That which used to be done in the shadows for shame is now celebrated in public. The bible is clear that the end time will be a time of great sin, great evil, great darkness. But it is equally clear it will be a time of great light. You see, where sin abounds, grace does much more abound. Where there is darkness, the light shines brighter.
The devil knows his time is short. Church, the time is short. If we only knew what he knows. There is a world to be won. There is an urgency in the spirit. We are in a battle for the souls of men, and the time is short. The clock is ticking. It’s a minute to midnight. We can’t afford to be sleeping when we ought to be preaching. We can’t afford to have church like normal.
Satan knows it and his followers know it. I would that the church of the living God knew it!
THE DEVILS KNOW WE ARE AT WAR
Eph. 6:12, “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.”
We are at war with an angry devil who knows what time it is. We are here to bring in a new kingdom; to replace the kingdom of darkness with the Kingdom of God. This world system is controlled by the devil and his demons. We are the only hope the world has.
We discover in the bible the devil has an organized kingdom. They are united with one purpose, to enslave the souls of mankind. He wants to take as many souls to Hell as he possibly can. His kingdom is working night and day. His followers no longer hide their loyalty to his kingdom. Satanic worship, witchcraft is rampant, openly displayed. Satanism is now a sanctioned religion. Music stars and celebrities perform actual satanic worship and rituals on stage. Satan knows his time is short. He has come out of the shadows. The world is growing darker. A woman was beheaded yesterday while at work. Christians are being literally slaughtered around the world. Isil is growing at an alarming rate, intent on setting up a caliphate and marching on Jerusalem. The satanic army is growing, the satanic army is fighting.
What is the army of The Lord doing? Woe to them that are at ease in Zion.
Too many who name the name of The Lord are at ease. Many act like they have no idea we are in a war. But, my friend, we are certainly in a war, a war for ourselves, our families and the entire world!
We cannot stop fighting. We cannot give up on our lost loved ones. We cannot be at ease in Zion. God is calling warriors. He is forming an army in the last days. We are here to fight.
The devils know that the church is the only hope for the world today. There are no other people with the power to overcome the works of the devil.
2 Cor. 10:3, “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: 4(For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) 5Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God…”
Luke 10:19 Behold I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy; and nothing shall by any means hurt you.
THE DEVILS KNOW A KINGDOM DIVIDED AGAINST ITSELF CANNOT STAND
Mark 3:22, “And the scribes which came down from Jerusalem said, He hath Beelzebub, and by the prince of the devils casteth he out devils. 23And he called them unto him, and said unto them in parables, How can Satan cast out Satan? 24And if a kingdom be divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. 25And if a house be divided against itself, that house cannot stand. 26And if Satan rise up against himself, and be divided, he cannot stand, but hath an end.”
We see here that Satan’s kingdom is not divided, but united. The devils understand the power in unity. It is for this reason that one of the greatest plots the devil has unleashed upon the church is to divide it. Think about it. There is only one God, only one bible, yet there are more than 41,000 denominations in the professing church! Many of these denominations do little but fight against the other denominations. Satan has managed to divide the church, to cause the church to war against itself. Let me ask you this question: How many denominations are there in the book of Acts? The answer is none.
There is one church. Let me say it again. THERE IS ONE CHURCH! There is one body of Christ! Not two, not 41,000! One!
It is time to throw off the barriers between people who are truly seeking The Lord, who love Him and want to know Him! Do they not have the truth you have? Teach it to them in love, peace and unity. You may be surprised what you will learn from them.
We are in the last days. The Lord is raising up an army. Where there is darkness, the light shines brighter. Satan has a powerful army. I am here to tell you God has an army. He has warriors. He is raising up men and women of power. Men and women who will do His will. Who will finish the work. It is time for the people of God to unite together. It is time to take a stand.
It is time for the church to be the church! It is time for the church to rise up. It is time for the army of The Lord to rise up in the last days, to tear down strongholds, cast out devils, deliver captives, to put the enemy on the run. Through the name of Jesus, through the power of the Holy Spirit, we will.
1. I am not going to be blind any longer.
2. I am not going to sleep any longer.
3. I am not going to warm a pew, have church as usual.
4. I am not going to allow the devil to have my family.
5. I am part of the body of Christ.
6. I am part of the Army of the Lord!
