Here is a figure that brings all varieties of thoughts to people’s heads. To some, the Devil is nothing more than a red Halloween costume with horns and a tail. They do not believe in the devil. He is a joke; a non-existent entity.
To others, the Devil is a god himself, to be worshipped in all kinds of sick and wicked ways. My sister in Arizona lives in a retirement village. She has a neighbor that enjoys making ceramics. But the ceramics this woman creates makes my sister very leery. She apparently makes a lot of gnome figures and she puts them around her yard, almost like a fence, but about every 3-4 feet according to my sister.
And she makes skeletons that stand about 2 feet high, dresses them in doll clothes, and then puts them along her sidewalk leading from the driveway to the front door. I would not be surprised if this is one of those people who let Satan rule over their lives as a god. But what we will find is most people who do this are not aware of what they are doing.
Among Christians, you will find much variety in how we view the enemy. Some Christians are frightened to death of the Devil. They blame him for every bad thing that happens to them, they treat him as if he were the evil brother of God, every bit as powerful, and therefore, they do not want to make him angry, any more than they desire to get God upset with them.
Other Christians scoff at the very existence of the Devil. It seems difficult for me to understand, but I have actually met Christians who believe in Christ as Savior, believe in heaven and hell, but do not believe that there is such a person as Satan. I am always amazed at this line of thinking.
What does the Bible tell us about the devil?
He is old, but not eternal like God. He was present in the Garden of Eden, and was the one who tempted Eve. But he was also a created being. Unlike God, Satan did have a starting place. God has always existed, and He is the One who created Satan. Satan is powerful, but he is not as powerful as God.
In the book of JOB we learn how Satan brought death and destruction into the life of Job. He displayed a power over the weather and he displayed power over illnesses. But let us not forget, he could do none of it without first getting permission from God.
He is intelligent, but he is not all knowing like God. If he had known the ending as well as the beginning, like God does, he would have never allowed Christ to die on the cross. Satan himself orchestrated the very plot that would condemn him to defeat!
The devil can’t seem to get anything to work out right! One the other hand, the Devil does know some valuable things. In fact, Satan knows some things that every one of us would do well to know too!
For the next few minutes, I want to preach to you about, things the devil knows. There are three things that he knows very well:
I. THE DEVIL KNOWS JESUS - PERSONALLY!
MARK 5:6-8
When he saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and fell on his knees in front of Him. He shouted at the top of his voice, “What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God?”
Here we see a man that is possessed by demons. Now, you would think that the devil would have his demons ignore Jesus or to do all manner of wicked things in His presence. I mean, the Devil hates Jesus Christ! But that is not what happens here. This man, under the influence of these demons, ran to Jesus and began to worship Him! By the way, that tells us that not everybody who worships Christ is really a Christian. Just going to church and acting religious is not a sign that you are of God!
Anyway, why is it that the demons worshipped Jesus here? I think there are two reasons shown to us in the passage:
They recognized Jesus. The demons yelled out at the top of the man’s voice, “What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God?” The devil knows that every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord to the glory of the Father.
The devil knows that Jesus is equal to God. The Devil knows that Jesus is as stated in ISAIAH 9:6.
And He will be called, Wonderful, Counselor, The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, and The Prince of Peace.
The devil knows that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. The devil knows there is no other name under heaven, given among men, whereby we must be saved. The devil knows that Jesus is the door - and that if any man enters in through Christ, he will be saved. The devil knows ALL of that; and SO SHOULD WE!
The first reason this demon possessed man ran up to Christ and worshipped him was because the demons of hell recognized Jesus’ Deity.
The second reason this man ran up to Jesus was because they recognized Jesus’ authority. They knew it was a power without limit and a power without end.
Let me tell you there isn’t a devil, or a demon that has enough gumption to shake his fist in the face of God! Only men are that foolish! These demons, upon seeing the Son of God ran to him and Begged Him for Mercy! They knew Jesus had full authority and power over them.
There are some demons that the Bible says are already chained up waiting to be judged. There are stories like this one and others, where all Jesus does is say the word, and the demons must flee. And the Bible says in REVELATION, that Jesus will condemn Satan himself to the bottomless pit, with no effort at all!
I should tell you at this point that it is possible to worship somebody without loving them. We see that as these demons worshipped Jesus. They worshiped Him because they knew who He is. They know He is God, and they knew His Authority is also over them.
We are living in a time when people worship anything BUT Christ! They worship funny little men from the Middle East, who wear red suits, and drive Rolls Royce’s. They worship religions that claim Jesus and the devil were brothers. They worship science, and money, and materialism. And just about everything else under the sun. But they will not worship Jesus, and many of them won’t even utter His wonderful name.
But I’ll tell you what they ought to do!
They ought to run as fast as they can to the Lord Jesus Christ and WORSHIP HIM, just like those demons did so many years ago! Only Jesus Christ can forgive our sins and save our souls from hell! The Devil knows who Jesus is, and so should we!
2. THE DEVIL KNOWS HIS DAYS ARE NUMBERED
In REVELATION 12:12, it says,
"But woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has gone down to you! He is filled with fury, because he knows that his time is short."
This verse says the devil knows his time is short, and so he is full of fury. He is working as fast as he can to make sure everything on this earth denies God and honors him.
Every human being needs to know his time is short too! You might not like thinking about it, but your time is very short. It’s true! Remember Suzy Powers. She did not expect to be called so this week. I doubt if she woke up Thursday morning expecting to be with the Lord by suppertime. But, Suzy was smart. Suzy made sure she was prepared. She loved the Lord and she was most grateful that she was saved.
The Bible says our life is but a vapor that appears for but a brief moment in time, and then vanishes away. The wise person lives with that in mind.
We ought to daily remind ourselves that our days are numbered
PSALM 90:12, tells us,
"Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom."
Many of us spend too much of our lives pursuing those things we find pleasurable. While there is nothing wrong in even Christians seeking some pleasure, not enough of us pursue the type of wisdom that God can give us.
2 PETER 3:18 tells us to grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ. Did you know that you cannot grow in anything unless you want to grow badly enough to pursue it?
PSALM 39:4-8 tells paints a picture showing us the difference in how important we think we are and how important we really are.
"Show me, O Lord, my life’s end and the number of my days; let me know how fleeting is my life. You have made my days a mere handbreadth; the span of my years is as nothing before You. Each man’s life is but a breath.
Man is a mere phantom as he goes to and fro; he bustles about, but only in vain; he heaps up wealth, not knowing who will get it.
But now, Lord, what do I look for? My hope is in You. Save me from all my transgressions."
Too many people in this world, including those who go to church and think they are Christians, pursue the things of the world rather than being disciplined to pursue the things of God.
Too many people ignore the truth and focus on the lie; the lie that says all is fine and to just keep on enjoying yourself. The truth is all is NOT fine and we should stop living our life with the main focus on our own enjoyment.
Knowing that our days on earth are limited and they are short, a wise person would make sure he was saved from His sins and ready to meet God! Like I said earlier, we ought to remind ourselves that our days are numbered, and the number is not as high as we would like.
Do you ever think about how you can serve your Savior? If you are like the vast majority of Christians, you don’t. Most of us spend a lot of time in our lives thinking about how He can serve us, though, don’t we?
JAMES 4:13-14 says,
"Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow, we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes."
I said that the devil knows his time is short, and that he is working overtime trying to work that much harder to compensate for it. Jesus thinks Christians should do the same. Knowing that our time on earth is short, we should not forget about our service to the Lord.
We should never fall into the trap of saying that someday we will do this or we will do that for Him. We should not say that someday we will get serious about serving Him. Today is that “someday”, and it is time to earn our keep as Christians.
There is something else the devil knows, too.
3. HE KNOWS WHERE HIS ETERNITY WILL BE SPENT
The devil knows where he is going to spend eternity, and I believe that Christians should also know where they will spend their eternity.
In REVELATION 20:10, tells us what the devil’s future will be.
"And the devil, who deceived them was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night forever and ever."
He knows where he is going to spend eternity. Do you know where you are going to spend your eternity? Do you think you should know?
Since we CAN know these things, I think we would all WANT to know these things. Jesus said He was going to Heaven to prepare a place for us there, in His Father’s house.
We are told over and over again that for those who believe in Jesus Christ, they will be Heaven-bound, but we are also told that Jesus is the ONLY way to get to Heaven. There is no other way – period.
Satan was not created to go to hell and the Lake of Fire. God created him to be the highest and most beautiful of all the angels. But Satan was not content with that. Satan chose to rebel against God, and was cast out of Heaven and condemned to the Lake of Fire. Satan had a choice, and he chose to set himself against God.
God also places before each of us a choice, too. He places the choice of accepting forgiveness of sins and salvation from hell, HIS way, or to be eternally bound in the torment of hell. The way of salvation is so simple a child can understand its precepts.
Christ did all the work for salvation. Christ did all the suffering of salvation. Christ did the dying of salvation. All we have to do is to make a decision; a decision to accept Him as our Savior and the leader of our entire life, or not to. It is very simple, but it has to be all one way, or all the other way. There are no “in betweens” on this one.
Now, all he asks us to do is trust him. If you want to go to Heaven, but you feel the slightest bit hesitant, you might want to get the assurance of salvation today. You do not know what will happen to you today or tomorrow.
Remember Suzy Powers. She made sure she was going to Heaven, by choosing to focus on Jesus rather than focus on the world. Do you want to be assured of your eternal life in Heaven, too?
INVITATION
