Thursday, February 24, 2011

Something Satan Doesn't Want You to Know

"And just then there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit; and he cried out, saying, 'What do we have to do with You, Jesus of Nazareth? Have You come to destroy us? I know who You are - the Holy One of God!'" (Mark 1:23-24)

I wasn't quite sure what to entitle this week's devotional thoughts, beloved. I considered something like A Great Sermon from a Bad Spirit and then Three Things the Devil Knows that He Doesn't Want You to Know. As you can see here, I opted for a shorter version of the second choice. Whatever it might have been called, however, one thing is sure. Here are three truths of which the enemy is convinced but which he hopes you and I never learn!

Note first here what the demon that confronted Jesus in the synagogue in Capernaum said to Him as he railed against His presence there. In his question concerning what they had to do with Him, we discover the glorious truth that the holy and the unholy have absolutely nothing in common! Do you recall what the Apostle Paul wrote to the saints in Corinth about this very issue?

"Do not be bound together with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness? Or what harmony has Christ with Belial, or what has a believer in common with an unbeliever?" (2 Corinthians 6:14-15)

As darkness is merely the total absence of light, beloved, so personal righteousness and unrighteousness have nothing whatsoever in common. We cannot walk both sides of the street as Christians and still expect that we shall be witnesses of God's grace to others.

Secondly, the demon asked Jesus if He had come to destroy them all. In that question put to the Master he acknowledged clearly that Satan knows for certain that he has already been defeated. Jesus made that truth completely clear Himself when He said of the Holy Spirit:

"And He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin, and righteousness, and judgment; concerning sin, because they do not believe in Me; and concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you no longer behold Me; and concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged" (John 16:8-11)

So we discover thus far, beloved, that the holy and the unholy have nothing in common and that Satan knows that he has already been judged by God and is a conquered foe - two truths that the enemy certainly does not want the believer to know, much less act upon!

Finally, the demon declared aloud before the entire assembly there in the synagogue that He, Jesus of Nazareth, was in fact "the Holy One of God." In other words, that minion of Satan acknowledged openly that Jesus is Lord!

"Therefore also God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those who are in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father" (Philippians 2:9-11)

Our personal righteousness as Christians can have nothing to do with the unrighteousness of this sinful world!
Satan is, beyond all else that he may boast to be, a defeated foe!
And whatever we face at whatever time in life, Jesus is Lord!


No wonder that the devil does not want us to know these truths or to act upon them in our daily living, beloved! My prayer is that you not only know these things but that you are living them out for the glory of God and the advancement of His kingdom!

Ron