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Revelation
12:12
Introduction:
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. To others, the Devil is a god himself, to be worshiped in all kinds of
sick and wicked ways. Among Christians, you will find almost that same amount of
variety.
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. AMAZING TO ME!
Now, the Bible tells us several things
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, not
so with the Devil.
He is POWERFUL,
but he is not as powerful as God. In the book of Job we learn how Satan brought
death, destruction, and despair into the life of Job.
He displayed a power over the weather.
He displayed a power over unsaved armies, and He displayed a power over
illnesses. But do 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 condemned him to defeat!
I almost feel sorry for the devil, he
can't get anything to work out right! On 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!
And so, for the next few minutes, I
want to preach to you about, Things the Devil Knows (And you should too!)
There are three of them I would like
for you to consider with me:
I. THE DEVIL KNOWS WHO JESUS IS!
Mark 5:6_8 But when he saw Jesus afar
off, he ran and worshiped him, And cried with a loud voice, and said, What have
I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of the most high God? I adjure thee by God,
that thou torment me not. For he said unto him, Come out of the man, thou
unclean spirit.
Here we see a man that is possessed by
demons. Now, you would think that the Devil would have his demons to spit on
Jesus, to curse Him, and 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 tell 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 worshiped Jesus here?
I think there are two reasons shown to us in the passage:
1. They recognized His DIVINITY
Jesus, thou Son of the most high God.
Say, the Devil KNOWS that Jesus is the 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 express image of God and the fullness of the
godhead bodily.
The devil knows
that Jesus is ... Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father,
The Prince of Peace. (Isa 9:6)
The devil knows
that Jesus is The way the truth and the life
The devil knows
That no man cometh unto the Father except by Christ
The devil knows
that 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 know ALL OF THAT and SO SHOULD
WE!
The first reason this demon possessed
man ran up to Christ and worshiped him was because they Recognized
Jesus Divinity.
The second reason was because
2. They Recognized Jesus Authority
I adjure thee by God, that thou torment
me not. They recognized that Christ had an authority, and a power they could not
withstand.
Let me tell you There isn't a Devil, or
Demon one 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 HE HAD THE 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!
These Demons worshiped Jesus because
they knew who Jesus is. They knew His Divinity, and They
knew His Authority
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 Royces.
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 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! Because ONLY Christ can forgive our sins and save our souls from hell!
The Devil knows who Jesus is, and so should we!
Secondly,
II. THE DEVIL KNOWS HIS DAYS ARE NUMBERED
Rev 12:12 Therefore rejoice, ye
heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhibitors 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. (KJV)
The Devil, this verse says, KNOWS his
time is short, and so he is working as earnestly as He can! Every human being
needs to know his time is short too!
Most people don't like to think about
the fact that they only have a short life. But it is true. The Bible says our
life is but a vapor that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.
Since that is true, the wise person LIVES WITH THAT IN MIND! We ought remind
ourselves that our days are numbered
1. So We Can Apply Ourselves to Wisdom
Ps 90:12 So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto
wisdom.
Our life on this earth ought to be
spent in the pursuit of that type of Wisdom that only God can give. To know the
Lord To know the Bible
2 Peter 3:18 says But GROW in grace and
IN THE KNOWLEDGE of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. We ought remind ourselves
that our days are numbered
2. So We Can Assure Ourselves of
Salvation
Ps 39:4 LORD, make me to know mine end,
and the measure of my days, what it is; that I may know how frail I am.
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!
We ought remind ourselves that our days
are numbered
3. So We Can Serve Our Savior John 9:4
I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh,
when no man can work.
James 4:13_14 Go to now, ye that say,
To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and
buy and sell, and get gain:
Whereas ye know not what shall be on
the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a
little time, and then vanisheth away.
Consider Satan again, He knows His days
are short, so he works that much harder! Jesus Said we Christians ought to be
just like that. Knowing that our time on earth is short We shouldn't postpone
our service of God.
We shouldn't say, "Someday,
I'm going to make that visit, or take that Sunday School Class. Someday I'm
going to get Baptized, or join the church. Someday I'll begin to tithe,
someday I'll read my Bible clear through."
You don't know you have any day but
TODAY And you don't even know for sure if you will get to have all of it!
The Devil knows Who Jesus is.
So Should We The Devil Knows His Days are Numbered. So Should We.
Finally,
III. THE DEVIL KNOWS WHERE HE WILL SPEND ETERNITY, AND
SO SHOULD WE!
Rev 20:10 And the devil that deceived
them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false
prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.
Obviously, we should not want to go
where the Devil is going. But we should want to KNOW where we are going to go
when we go into eternity.
The Devil knows He is going to go to
hell and the Lake of Fire forever But you and I can know that we are going to
heaven forever and ever.
Jesus said, Let not your hearts be
troubled. Ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many
mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for
you, and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you
unto myself, that where I am, there ye may be also.
1 John 5:13 says These things have I
written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God that ye may KNOW
that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God
We can KNOW that we have eternal life,
and that we are going to live forever with God in heaven.
And since we can know, WE OUGHT TO WANT
TO KNOW! We know everything the devil knows in this regard.
He knows there is a heaven and hell So
do we. He knows the Bible So do we. He made his choice And so must we. The
tragedy with Satan is that he 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. God places before each of us the choice of
accepting forgiveness of sins and salvation from hell, HIS way, or to be
eternally bound in the torments. The way of salvation is a simple as it could
have been made.
Christ did all the work of salvation Christ suffered all the
pain for salvation Now, all he asks us to do is TRUST HIM and call out and ask
him to save us.
If you have never done that, Why don't you trust Christ as
Savior right now?
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