What The Devils Believe

SCRIPTURE: James 2:19 "Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble."

Matthew 8:29 "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?"

Mark 1:24 "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."

PROPOSITION: To use this text and others to show what the devils believe and how their belief affects them. To show that there are unregenerate men that believe the same way the devil's believe and they are just as lost as the devils. And also to show that there is a saving faith, but it is only for those who come to Christ with a repentant heart.

1.) What do the devil's believe?

A. They believe there is one eternal majestic God and only one. "Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe" the scripture makes it very clear that there is one Supreme glorious Being and that he is the almighty Creator of the heavens and the earth and of all creatures great and small, the devils ascribe to this. Isaiah 43:10 "...before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me."

B. They believe Christ is "the holy one of God". Often times carnal men attempt to demote the Lord Jesus Christ and make him just a great teacher and deny his diety, but the holiness of Christ is something that the devils were forced to confess when they were confronted by the Son of God. Luke 4:34 "...I know thee who thou art; the Holy One of God." Just because the devils believe who Christ is, and were forced to confess him when they were in his presence doesn't mean that they don't offer to men a counterfeit Christ, the scripture teaches that they do. 2 Corinthians 11:4 "For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him."

C. They believe Christ is the Son of God and they are willing to confess this in the same way that Judas did or a false convert would by giving and outward agreement but having an inward animosity.

Matthew 8:29 "they cried out, saying, What have we to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God?"

D. They believe that a day of judgment is coming and that hell torments await them. When the evil spirits spoke from the mouth of the maniac of gadara they asked

Matthew 8:29 "art thou come hither to torment us before the time"?

The devils believe that Christ has the power, wisdom, and the authority to measure out these torments, to give to them according to the egregiousness of their crimes, that the scales of Justice might be balanced proportionally to their transgressions, and that they will know what the wrath of Jehovah is through these torments that will be inflicted upon them. In this way the glory of God will be vindicated as it ought to be, and all the devil's believe this.

2. Why did the devils give testimony of belief while they were in the presence of Christ?

A. The devils knew Christ, they had been in his presence in heaven and they had seen the brightness of his glory and yielded allegiance to the Son of God before Lucifer had persuaded them to follow him. these glorious angels of light "kept not their first estate but left their own habitation". Lucifer is spoken of as a great red dragon and "his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth", and now these fallen angles who are the mirror of evil only find pleasure in the darkness of warring against the Lord God Almighty.

"and cast out many devils; and suffered not the devils to speak, because they KNEW him".

3.) How does a belief in God affect the devils?

A. It fills their heart with terror, so much so that they begin to tremble. "the devils also believe, and tremble". This trembling takes place because of what they know about hell torments, "art thou come hither to torment us before the time?". there are those devils that roam freely upon this earth but there are others that are incarcerated, God has reserved them "in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day." Those devils who are free to roam this earth and the devils who are incarcerated tremble because God "has appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness." and the glorified saints will take part in this judgment. 1 Corinthians 6:3 "Know ye not that we shall judge angels?"