When devils believe and man will not. On this occasion and others, when Jesus cast out demons, they would openly confess Jesus as God. This is as honest as you’ll ever hear the devil speak. You cannot trust the devil, yet he cannot lie in the presence of the Lord. Think about what the devil and the demons believe about God. Then think on what you believe. Do you need more faith, more belief in God? Yes. Yes. Yes. This is the key: our faith in HIM. It’s not by our might or power but through and by our trust in God and him alone. If a person stumbles and falls, it is because he stops trusting the Lord. The devil would have to be honest and say that Jesus is the Son of God. That should be easy to grasp. Yet many believe the lies of the devil and won’t believe God.
Mark 1:21 And they went into Capernaum; and straightway on the sabbath day he entered into the synagogue, and taught. 22 And they were astonished at his doctrine: for he taught them as one that had authority, and not as the scribes. 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. 27 And they were all amazed, insomuch that they questioned among themselves, saying, What thing is this? what new doctrine is this? for with authority commandeth he even the unclean spirits, and they do obey him. 28 And immediately his fame spread abroad throughout all the region round about Galilee.
Andrew just had bypass surgery. He had faith in that surgeon. He’s one of the best in the country. When you go in for something like that you don’t want a mechanic; you want a heart surgeon. In the same thought, there is no reason we can’t trust Jesus. The people at Capernaum were amazed at how Jesus taught. It was unlike how the scribes taught it. Theirs was purely academic; Jesus taught with authority. He knew it was the Word of God and he was the Word made flesh. He had the credentials of God.
Mark didn’t start the book with the nativity as did Matthew and Luke. He started with the gospel. God directed him this way. Jesus had been in the wilderness being tempted by Satan. What did Jesus do? He did not use his divine power and ability to resist the devil. He could have bound the devil up and put him in the bottomless pit. Instead he faced the devil as a man, just like we have to. Jesus taught us to overcome by the authority of his Father’s Word. You and I can trust in the ability of God. Jesus could have faced the devil in his almighty power, but the devil was as afraid of the Word. He tried several times to tempt Jesus and get him to doubt God and himself. What did Jesus say? “It is written.” “It is written.” “It is written.” He used the Word of God and overcame the devil. He relied on his Father and his Word. Jesus was obedient to God all the way, even to the death on the cross. He faced it as a human to let us know we can face it too. We can do it by relying on the Word of God.
Jesus taught the Word and it squeezed at the hearts of the people. If the Bible rubs you the wrong may, it is trying to squeeze something out of you that is not to be there. The presence and authority of God is there to help us overcome. We need to believe the Lord more than we believe the devil. The demons knew who Jesus was. Notice they said “let us alone.” Plural. There were many of them. They all knew who he was and where he was from: Jesus of Nazareth. They knew his earthly address was Nazareth but they knew he was from God.
We have to keep ourselves together not being satisfied with our faith. Jesus told Peter that he was praying for him that his faith wouldn’t fail. Your health may fail. Your finances may fail. Don’t let your faith fail. I don’t care how many devils are on your back, the Lord is stronger. The devils believed it because they knew. They used to be angels in heaven. They served God. They knew he was the eternal One. Lucifer got it in his heart to overthrow God. Some of the angels followed him instead of God. They were all cast out of heaven. So they knew and they believed.
Our faith needs to be stronger than this. We’re called upon to believe even though we haven’t seen. Yet we can see his touch everywhere. Jesus taught with such great authority that it stirred up the devils. When the man was before Jesus, he didn’t speak to the man. He spoke to the devils. He told them to come out of the man and they had no choice but to obey. Why? Because he is the authority.
Because we believe, we also know. That knowledge is enough to make us overcomers. Let’s be a Christian in the authority of the One we trust to be our Savior. For it is written. Because God says it, we believe it. We know it. That’s a whole lot stronger than the belief of the devils. Let’s pray for a devil busting, overcoming faith. Pray for help to live in his presence as we trust him. Don’t we all need this kind of faith!
Adwolfe Freewill Baptist Church 