Sermon Central
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Do You Know Who The Devil Is?
Contributed by Bruce Ball on Sep 1, 2005 (message contributor)
Summary: A sermon explaining just who the devil is; what he tries to do to us; and how he accomplishes it. A sermon most Christians should hear.
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!
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!
